Author: Thom Hartmann

With nepo-daughter-in-law Lara Trump taking over the GOP, Donald Trump has essentially declared that the party of Reagan, the “old Republican Party,” was dead, arguing that it no longer exists in the form it had taken since the 1970s. At a Virginia rally a week ago Saturday, Trump said his neofascist MAGA movement has taken over the Republican Party, that it “represents 96%, and maybe 100%” of Republicans, and that, “We’re getting rid of the Romneys of the world. We want to get Romneys and those out.” While many in the GOP love the nativist, authoritarian turn the party’s taken, others...

While many trace the beginning of the modern rightwing fascist-friendly MAGA-type movement to the 1954 Brown v. Board decision and the way it put the John Birch Society on steroids, another interesting origin story for today’s GOP base is grounded in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the years immediately leading up to the 1970 creation of the EPA, pollution in America had gotten so bad it was impossible to ignore and was quickly becoming a political issue. Rachel Carson had published Silent Spring in 1962, a book about how DDT was killing birds worldwide, that electrified Americans and...

There is little doubt that Russian President Vladimir Putin has succeeded in achieving near-total control over the Republican Party. They are gutting aid to Ukraine (and have been for over a year), working to kneecap our economy, whipping up hatred among Americans against each other, promoting civil war, and openly embracing replacing American democracy with authoritarian autocracy. Putin has declared war on queer people, proclaimed Russia a “Christian nation,” and shut down all the media he called “fake news.” Check, check, check. Most recently, the three-year “Biden bribery” hysteria Republicans in the House have been running — including thousands...

If Trump is re-elected, he would be America’s 47th president, so he has named the plans for his second term “Agenda 47.” At best, it is a dystopian nightmare. At worst it means ending our current system of American government, aligning the U.S. with Russia and other autocratic nations, with the U.S. leading the charge against democracy and in favor of authoritarian, strong-man forms of government across the world. Over at his website, Trump lays out the details of his governing agenda, complete with short videos promoting each of the steps he plans to take. They, and his many...