Who Do You Blame?
Americans, as a nation, can't seem to do anything without a scapegoat. We remain paralyzed until we can rally around blame, accusations, and pious outrage. In modern politics, a common whipping boy unifies far more than a shared vision.
Both major parties routinely point fingers at each other, yet both have adopted so many litmus tests and purity check-boxes that they’ve fractured into self-recriminating factions. They can't make a convincing show of unified outrage and pious opposition any longer. The major parties are just beating dead horses and reliving the past rather than moving forward.
President Donald J. Trump has served as the ultimate lightning rod for political piety and righteous anger for a decade. President Trump eagerly volunteered for the role, rarely missing a chance to use his bully pulpit to capture the spotlight. The finger-pointing rally cry of 'not Trump' worked well for the opposition in both parties. But his usefulness as the nation’s primary scapegoat is waning. As domestic and global events unfold, it’s becoming clear that bravado only goes so far. Trump is entering the lame-duck phase of his influence much earlier than expected.
Blaming Trump no longer quiets internal dissension or automatically rallies opposition with a simple declaration of 'not Trump'. After a decade America has become stuck in a rut of knee-jerk blame and rote outrage where promises to stop Trump ring hollow. Until a new unifying scapegoat is found there is a real danger the country atomizes into a circular firing squad. Trump has run his course, it's time to move on.
So, who are you going to blame now?
Article is LOCKED by author/seeder
What do we do now? Beat dead horses?
"Dirty Diaper Donnie" is in your realm of observable KAOS and, Nerm_L, you want to support a CHILD RAPIST, a demented old fart who is pure selfishness and has no interest in humanity.
What in HADES attracts a belligerent, hate-filled, maniacal SOB who is destroying our country and has bombed 10 countries that he pilfered from, stole their funds, and stuck them in his pockets?
Trump is NOT only the WORST PRESIDENT in the history of our country, but the worst person in the world!
FUGAZI, this POS! And all the MORONS who are stupid enough to follow or support his craven lust for total control.
Beating a CHILD RAPIST would be a good place to start. It's NOT Republicans vs. Democrats!
You dont seem to understand that this situation requires justice.
You have already said you would vote for Trump again over a Democrat. Now you want everyone to let Trump off the hook.
Uh, no.
Justice does not require a scapegoat. Justice would be beating a dead horse.
That's incorrect. I've said I would vote for a better alternative. Biden and Harris were not better alternatives.
I will no longer vote for a Democrat just because they are a Democrat. They'll have to be a better alternative.
What scapegoat? Trump is not a scapegoat, he's a criminal.
Trump is not intellectually, morally, or ethically fit for office- any office. He never has been. End of story. People who will not admit that are much more the problem than they are the solution.
How many times has Trump been impeached, investigated, indicted, and prosecuted over the last decade? Either Trump is Teflon or we've been lied to about justice. Listing the facts of Trump's criminality doesn't change anything at this point.
So, Trump is a sleazebag. Most rich rat basturds are. That's the America created by third way politics. Bill and Hillary Clinton kissed Trump's ass for donations. Even Barack Obama gave a pass to rich rat basturds after they crashed the economy in 2008.
Blaming everything on Trump won't cut it any longer. Every day fewer people care about these empty rants because they accomplish absolutely nothing. People aren't buying into the idiocy of repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result.
Politicians thinking their outrage directed at Trump will garner winning support are either lazy, crazy, or incompetent. They're gonna need a new scapegoat. Who will it be?
Trumps popularity is allegedly sinking like a rock. Blaming Trump for his mountainous faults and mistakes is not only working it is necessary.
True. I think it was proven by Trump who clearly believed using conservatives outrage directed at Democrats would garner winning support, which is, as you point out, lazy, crazy, and incompetent, except for the fact that Trump apparently knew his audience was exactly that lazy, crazy and incompetent.
So, perhaps those Democrats believe their constituents are also lazy, crazy and incompetent. That would be a pretty good bet these days regardless of which side of the aisle you're on.
The outrage of the citizens should be directed at the Republican Party who has let Trump FCK this country up something fierce! They are the ones who had the pwere to reign him in, yet have proven that "their' power was more important than our countries well being. They are a Total FCKN DISGRACE !
But what about when there are no "better alternatives"?
But . . .was it significantly better in the past?
A whole bunch of times, and he deserved every one of those times. He should have been impeached when he fired the FBI guy, but they had to wait until way later when it was obvious that he respected nothing and no-one to try on the mobster phone call to the Ukrainian President. Of course the R's in the Senate won't convict an R. Blah-blah, it gets worse until the jerk claims that the election has been stolen from him, which is patently false. Once again, the Rs close ranks and walk, butt cheeks at tight to asshole range, right out of office claiming that he can be investigated, Indicted and prosecuted as a normal citizen. Blah blah everybody does the slow walk. Oops, now the SCotUS is in on it, "Hi Donald! We love you! We are going to give you a big get out of jail free card!"
and so on and so forth. He's not teflon, he just has everyone under a protection racket. What a pos. No justice? No, not from congress or the SCotUS.
Not changing anything should tell you that we need some serious electoral realignment in this country.
Touché.
What it comes down to is that while he was impeached, indicted, prosecuted and found guilty of multiple felonies, our system of consequences for criminal acts is based essentially on public opinion. If you can convince a third of the population to support you no matter what you do, and close to a quarter who support you most of the time because you're scratching their backs, then, as a President, you are above the law in this country. Unless the congress and the senate, whose leashes are held by their constituents, hold the President accountable for his crimes, there is nothing the other half of the country can do about it other than go out and vote and be vocal and active in exposing the corruption of this administration.
Ultimately, no matter how long they try to keep things covered up, the truth will out and there will be a reckoning for this administration and for the Christo-fascists trying to corrupt and replace our constitutional Republic. But it's going to take some time before that third of bitter bigots will ever admit to being wrong even when shown the proof. And unfortunately, there is no guarantee they will ever allow their scum bag hero to be held accountable for his crimes.
and that there, is one fckd up accurate [problem for US.
But, but, but ... Democrats controlled Congress for 4 of the last 10 years. With a Democratic President? Why couldn't they deliver on the anti-Trump promises they made/
Either waste your vote - or - hold your nose and try to choose the least worst candidate.
Must have been since everyone wants to go backward to beat dead horses.
But our two-party system has become so corrupt that voting for independent or 3rd party candidates wastes the vote.
The entire system is so corrupt that actual vote tallies (including wasted ballots) are not reported. It's no longer possible to vote in protest because that won't be reported and no one will every know.
But, but , but, have you ever bothered to read my Moniker Lewinski, cause yes, it blows, but it is also damn accurate so before you turn up your knows, how about realizing all of the damn bliss,that be more than enuff to get one to be a tad pissed, about the stupidity and ignorance that a near majority of voters quite obviously have experienced as Trumps' two elections example far too ample.
The GOP has shown it is far nastier and plays buy rules bought via gobs of money, judges sorta funny, and spineless pussies TRump easily scooped up with his tiny little hands down her heavy pants on fire super fckn LIAR who blinded CULTISTS follow like a pie eyed piper 'RIGHT" over the cliff, perhaps hoping to read the Cliff Notes on the weigh down they have sunk US All because too stupid or proud to accept their MAJOR CONTRIBUTION in OUR FALL, for the Torrid Aitumn is around the bend, be sure Trump will claim major election friction, irregardless of the total FICTION when it comes to robbing candidates, and all as he male inn votes while using the and/ore irony of non ferrous femail male men as a tool to keep the public from being herd mentality is absolutely a threat, just as my original thought had done trap set, the GOP have FCKD US ALL, and not saying the Dems haven't also dropped the ball, but get real, there is not an apple to apple comparison nthat cvan be maid, cause made up is the beds they have LIED INN, and remain, and those a tad short of a full brain, haven't yet been the abutmeant for they from that trane, of thought, Billions of dollars have most definitely bought, Citizens United by default, and it is and has been an assault, way out of season, asz I'd call it treason, annd not teasin
getting a BJ in the oval office is only impeachable if the elected recipient is a democrat ...
It wasn't that he got a BJ in the oval office that was the issue Republicans claimed to have had, it was that he lied about it! Can you imagine? A President daring to tell a lie? What else could Republicans have done with that kind of blatant lying from a President? I mean, he said, "I did not have sex with that woman" and if a BJ is your definition of sex, then he definitely lied and thus, no choice but to try and impeach. We simply can't allow our leaders to lie with impunity or else no one will take our nation seriously and they won't be able to trust anything we sign like treaties and memorandums of understanding and if that happens, well then who in the world is left to trust? So obviously, long story short, they had to attack him for the lie as conservatives will never, under any circumstance, suffer liars in positions of leadership. /s
well, that sure blows, cuz the way the GOP attempts hypocrisy is just plane and simply too complex to not fly over all of our heads,,,,, except Monica's'
I actually agree on the first part, kinda. Maybe not in Kansas ...
The second part is fantasy. The voting process is not opaque. The reporting by the various media on the results may be, but the public functions are not. Every ballot is accounted for in the official canvass, and every valid vote is included in the certified totals.
BIDEN & HARRIS are human beings. Trump is not!
[✘]
I never said or posted that comment.
I have, and to this day, have great RESPECT for John Russell. At 84.10 yrs., I, too, am having difficulty with typing and dementia.
Please accept my apologies for the mistake!
The voters.
That's nothing new. Obama did it. Clinton did it. Biden did it. Even Harris blamed voters. Republicans have blamed voters since Reagan shifted blame onto the government.
So, both parties have engaged in the bad habit of blaming the victims.
The voters are always responsible. They can't be the victims. They control the parties. People just can't take responsibility so it's easier to blame "parties" or any other structure.
Politics is always downstream of culture and democracy delivers the politicians they deserve.
If voters control the parties then how do you explain the candidacy of Kamala Harris?
Have to disagree with you on this. Voters do not control the parties, the voters are just sheep. The parties were almost a law onto themselves, there's just too much money and power in each party. Politicians first allegiance is to their party because they all want to be re-elected in order to continue to feed at the public trough and if they don't follow the dictates of their party then the party will primary someone else for that seat.
If voters really controlled the parties and their respective politicians, then a lot of the issues in this country we see daily would have already been solved. Politicians don't really want to solve those problems but rather continue their sniping with sound bites in order to convince their followers on where to stand and the sheep continue their partisan bullshit rather than hold the politicians' feet to the fire.
Now you and I both know that there are some that just can't leave that alone. For them it HAS to be one or the other (usually the opposition) and that is a hill they will die on.
That's the problem with democracies-- the candidates who have the most people voting for them win-- and are voted into office.
(But that problem doesn't exist in dictatorships . . .)
[✘]
And your proof is where?
Sean, when the so-called P A R T Y supports a CHILD RAPIST, PUTIN CONTROLLER, MURDERER, CAREER CRIMINAL, known suspect in his FIRST WIFE'S DEATH, it is not the voters' responsibility to solve this TRUMP creative mess.
Everybody? I think the SCotUS is ripe for the pricking.
I agree that SCOTUS is a ready made scapegoat. But that only marks a change in the party doing the scapegoating.
Seems to me that both parties are gravitating toward blaming class disparities. The emerging DSA influence seems to be scapegoating the rich rather than Trump. And the DSA doesn't seem shy about scapegoating the 'party establishment' as an obstacle to progress. Even Zohran Mamdani staged a photo-op with Trump.
MAGA certainly did not emerge as a defense of the rich. MAGA has been scapegoating the rich, the elite, and the establishment since it arrived on talking-head TV. Trump may have hoped to protect his rich ass but now cracks are appearing in the Trump brand.
So, I expect the coming wave of finger-pointing, blame, and scapegoating will be more class oriented rather than ideologically motivated.
BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!
They embraced trmp like he was the Messiah....and he's not rich??? What about Elon Musk? They hero worship that mother fucker
No, it's not bullshit. The grassroots MAGA movement was anti-establishment, anti-elite, anti-government, and definitely anti-left wing. Hillary Clinton and the media made Donald Trump the leader of MAGA because they thought he would be easy to beat.
So, a penthouse billionaire from New York became the voice of MAGA because of Democratic dirty politics that didn't pay off. And Democrats continue to boost Trump by adopting the most outrageously stupid left-wing politics they can find.
Trump is only a Messiah because the Democratic Party provides a lot of political fodder and absolutely no alternatives. Why trade Trump for a crazy left-winger that advocates stupider shit than Trump?
The MAGA movement wanted "their" country back. At the time Trump was a known racist, having perpetrated the birther garbage. That is how he became a darling to what became the MAGA crowd.
Exactly!!!
Yes, they did.
The birther bullshit was only racist to left-wing loonies. Normal people saw it as an attack on a Harvard educated lawyer (that did not practice law) who used race to game the system. Obama was a community organizer of Black communities who talked smack and played up racial grievances. Obama is exceptionally racist.
Everyone ignores that Trump had to defeat the Republican Party to become the nominee. MAGA wasn't very fond of the Republican establishment. MAGA rallied around Trump because he kicked Republican ass.
Trump wasn't intimidated by Hillary Clinton's attempted dirty politics, either. So, Clinton played a much larger role in making Trump the face of MAGA than Democrats want to acknowledge.
Harvard is in Hawaii?
Every time I think you are starting to make some sense you say some crap like this. There never was a mystery about Obamas birth. Period. Nor was there a mystery about his college education.
Trump wanted to run for president in 2012. He did not have a constituency but he knew the white grievance crowd that made up the birthers would appreciate his efforts.
CHAT GPT
Birtherism was racist in both its origins and its political effect, although individual people who repeated the claim may have had different motives.
The key reasons:
There is an important distinction, though: saying birtherism was racist does not mean every person who believed or repeated it consciously intended to express racial hatred. A person can participate in or promote a racially charged political narrative without consciously thinking of themselves as racist.
So, historically, I'd characterize it this way:
That sounds plausible, at least. Haven't you noticed that MAGA focuses its attention on immigrants? That's the constituency Trump courted during the general election. What was Hillary Clinton's response to wall building? Stronger together.
Even the stupid birther attack on Obama was anti-immigration. The questions about Obama's birthright citizenship was not because he is Black (or half-Black). Obama was considered an anchor baby. Obama was an immigrant who gamed the system and got a ride through Harvard.
Weird...
Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1991, practicing civil rights and voting law in Chicago for the law firm Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland and taught law for 12 years. Is it not racist to attack an educated lawyer and distinguished academic claiming he used race to game the system when he clearly earned it through years of hard work and dedication?
Complete nonsense. Barack Obama was not an immigrant.
COPILOT
No. Barack Obama was not an anchor baby — not by any definition used in U.S. immigration debates, and not by the colloquial political meaning of the term.
Concise answer
An anchor baby is a U.S.-born child of non‑citizen parents, used in political rhetoric to imply the child’s citizenship could later help the parents gain legal status. Obama’s mother, Ann Dunham, was a U.S. citizen, so the term simply does not apply.
Obama never held a full time job for longer than 4 years before becoming President. His resume was legitimately terrible for a Presidential candidate. .
And yet he was awesome at it and remains incredibly popular for legit reasons.
On one hand we had Obama , editor of the Harvard Law Review and a US Senator. On the other hand we had Trump, a known conman, cheat, pathological liar and game show host.
Not a fair comparison.
Yep. He was so awesome the most unpopular candidate in history defeated his chosen successor and has now pretty much rejected his policies in favor of those of Bernie Sanders.
That's how the academic elite and Democratic establishment framed the issue. The left leaning factions portrayed Barack Obama as a victim which is consistent with their political playbook. But at its core, birtherism questioned Obama's birthright citizenship and Constitutional eligibility for the Presidency. Birtherism tapped into the immigration and sovereignty concerns of the grassroots MAGA movement. The birthright citizenship concerns voiced against Obama are still central to MAGA expectations for immigration policy. The MAGA rally cry of 'we want our country back' is about immigration and national sovereignty rather than race.
And trump did? Really? He's never worked a day in his life.
With Trumps' interpretation take on who is considered a removed immigrant, Trump cannot even prove his immigration crackdown has done anything to beat Obama's deportation numbers, or even Bidens' I believe I read, due to Trumps' harping on and on about how immigrants were the reasons for so many failing white Americans, when obviously he just blaabbbed on and on about the horrors of immigrants who would rape your cats and dogs, and eat your children, cause the dumbing down by the GOP is damn plain and easy to see, as the maga crowd sure ain't done bliss proud, but Hell, Ignorance has been pushed, significantly increased, and all cause it has been promoted and allowed aloud, and so stupidly proud and bragged about, cause Trump sure does love him those damn uneducated voters, voters who wish to blame ANYONE but their damn lazy asz's who conveniently accept these immigrants as being WHY, they continue to fail, need government handouts, can't get ahead, as the wealth of our very rich nation consistently funnels to the top, cause that trickle down the wealthy's one , or two leggs up on our average Joe as sold, shore a piers to be one giant Golden Shower saturating a Republican Sponge Bobbin for apples, inn the pickle jarred loose from some fruits Caboose suckin all the pure urine stream steady flow, all as to the top, the wealth continues to go and grow, cause who are the bitches, and who is gettin the Hoe, cuz not the sharpest tool in the shed and shredded fax, that the machine might just be a tad lax, and laxatives needed to free them of so much SHIT they have brought and sold the gullible ignorant wons who have lost, buy believing their LYING eyes blinded buy the shiny sewer grate distractions that Trumps' legions and factions promised and repeated, over and over, how "prices will come down on everything on the first new Trump day, and he would make the Russian Ukraine War just up and go away, on that same 24 hour day, and those damn Dems would our sons and daughters send, to fight more useless Middle East Wars to know end, all as he and his kin and crowd, make BILLIONS and the R's have allowed this corruption, with out even interruption, due to fear of their own loss of power, fck the US Constitution and anything else Trump can Deflower, asz he Beez obsessed with birds, and pussies, and little kids, and enemies for his DOJ to for US RID.
Cannot B leave ewe canknot sea how deeply U have lost this Race Card played, as Trumped again and again, cause many angry white women and men who were just beggin for others like Obama Brothers and illegal murders and rapists to be deported to cease and desist the destruction of our country by poor mostly uneducated peoples from other countries coming here and totally outworking most of these lazy fcks who werre told of American Exceptionalism that was owed to US, just because, we are US, and that is not what too many would cause a plus, more like an Orange blob of puss who sure has made a fuss out of our once great country, cause if one opens ones eyes, theirs is a very feeble disguise, where citizens United to divide, shore have taken US fore a ride, and we've lost much skin in this game, and Americans should rightfully own this shame, cause the gullibility and IGNORANCE that rules, this nation of far too many fools, toting Coal and Fossil Fuels as the New American Weighing US All back down as our competitors just give US a little reach around, cause Trump and the GOP has SOLD US ALL OUT, and Know Hocus Pokus Hokey Pokey, just what it is all about
He taught law for twelve years.
He was a part time lecturer. He did not have the academic record to become a tenured professor.
He had what it takes to be the best POTUS of our generation (provided you’re not an outright racist).
Fucking knock it off Sean.
why wasnt obama tenured at u. of chicago - Search
Why Barack Obama Was Not Tenured at the University of Chicago
Barack Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 until his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004. His official titles were Lecturer (1992–1996) and Senior Lecturer (1996–2004)
lawshun.com +1 .
Senior Lecturers are considered members of the Law School faculty and are regarded as professors, but they are not on a tenure track and do not have the same long-term job security as tenured or tenure-track faculty
WHYY +1 . Tenure-track positions are designed to allow faculty to build a sustained research and teaching record over time, with the possibility of earning tenure after meeting performance and service requirements.
Obama was invited to join the faculty in a full-time tenure-track position , but he declined those offers
TalkLeft . His career path was focused on public service, and he chose to prioritize political work over the full-time, tenure-track role.
In short, Obama was not tenured because:
He never accepted a tenure-track appointment.
His role as a Senior Lecturer was part-time and non-tenure-track.
The University of Chicago Law School’s own statements confirm he was “considered a professor” but not on the tenure track
TalkLeft .
This distinction is important in academia: “professor” can be used broadly for senior faculty, but “tenured professor” specifically refers to someone who has earned tenure after meeting the school’s requirements.
The Univ of Chicago Law School is the #2 ranked law school IN THE COUNTRY. Obama taught there for 12 years. Case closed.
2026 Best Law School Rankings
Of course, Trump or Elon NEVER did.
Why are we fighting ourselves when Trump and Elon are the culprits?
And so are "DIRTY DIAPER DONNIE" & "ELONGATED MUSHROOM FACE"!
So, who are you going to blame now?
The usual suspects; by now they're used to it with many displaying a penchant for self-immolation.
Now Trump has a solution....
Trump will blame the scapegoat du jour just as Biden did. Anybody and anything is Trump's scapegoat.
But there are fewer people accepting Trump's scapegoating. The Reflecting Pool debacle revealed that. So, there's a blame vacuum developing. People need new scapegoats. And I doubt scapegoating Canada will satisfy the unwashed masses.
Who will be the next scapegoat that can unify the country in blame? There's Epstein fatigue so that's not politically useful. There's still some value in scapegoating immigrants (since some are pretty Karen). AI datacenters seem to be attracting blame but that may be a media phenomena.
The country needs to blame someone or something to move forward. Who are what will it be?
Let’s see, culture wars are set for a reboot starting Labour Day, maybe several of them can be repackaged as one rage-against-the-machine. /s
Rally round the family, with a pocket full of shells", and they ain't 8647 beach Comey's...
TRUMP!
CORRUPTION, A DEMENTED POTUS, GREED, and UNAUTHORIZED WARS are the power drivers, not American Citizens that have different political views!
Now that I see this topic revived I will be more serious with my opinion tnan I was a month ago. I have told this story before more than once over the years, but here we go again. Almost three quarters of a centuy ago, when I was a teenager, many of us Canadian kids who lived on the Niagara Peninsula (I lived in Hamilton Ontario back then) would gather during summer vacation at Crystal Beach, Ontario, on the north shore of Lake Erie across the Niagara River from Buffalo, NY. We mixed with teens who came from the Buffalo area. They would bitch about their final marks (scores) they achieved in their high school year. We would hear comments like "Damn it all, my buddy got 100% in Social Studies and all I could get was 97%". We would stand there open-mouthed because we were considered geniuses if we could achieve a final score of 75%, which was considered honours level. In other words we had to bust our asses studying while American kids could virtually breeze through school. As well, our teachers were highly qualified, and not afraid to fail us if we didn't keep up.
So my opinion about who to blame for the situation you Americans are experiencing today is the failure of much of your education system to educate so many to the level of being able to think critically. It is the deficit in that ability among too many that has allowed poor choices to be made that led to the kind of leadership that exists today.
LOL. I guess nobody wants to defend the American education system, which proves my point.
Corruption in POLTICS is a major issue, as well as the uber-rich billionaires who want to rule the WORLD.
Selfishness is a predicament.
There are great schools, like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.
Locally, there are wonderful high schools and grade schools in America.
Of course, some aren't as good as others, but America has always had sophisticated, brilliant academic institutions.
Educational Institutions aren't the main cause; it is more likely GREED that sucks the soul out of folks, and politicians who are bought off.
And, everyone but "DIRTY DIAPER DONNIE"!