February Vignettes

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• The Wild Reeds of Diamond Lake
• Protesting Trump’s “Dystopian” Immigration Policies
• Today’s Economic Blackout
• “This Isn’t Politics Anymore. This Is Treason”
• My Daily Mantra of Late
• Happy Birthday, Buffy!
• Remembering Carl Anderson
• Return to the Great South Land
• February Vignettes (2024)
• Winter Vignettes (2023)
• Winter . . . Within and Beyond (2020)
• Winter . . . Within and Beyond (2019)
• Winter . . . Within and Beyond (2017)
• Passion, Tide and Time
• Guruk Seascapes, from Dawn to Dusk (2017)

Images: Michael J. Bayly.

Today’s Economic Blackout

The People’s Union USA is a grassroots movement dedicated to economic resistance, government accountability, and corporate reform.

Founded by John Schwarz, the People’s Union is not a political party, but a movement for all people, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or political affiliation. The goal of the People’s Union is to unite Americans against the corruption and greed that has kept everyday citizens struggling for decades.

In response to the plutocratic coup currently underway in the United States, the People’s Union is calling citizens to participate in an “economic blackout.”

Following is author, lawyer, and political commentator Robert Reich’s thoughts on today’s economic blackout.

______________

Friends,

A grassroots movement is calling on all Americans to abstain from shopping with major retailers – including Amazon – [today], February 28, as part of an “economic blackout.”

The purpose is to send a clear message: We have the power. We don’t have to accept corporate monopolies. We don’t have to live with corporate money corrupting our politics.

We don’t have to accept more tax cuts for billionaires. We don’t have to pay more of our hard-earned cash to Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg or the other billionaire oligarchs.

We don’t have to reward corporations that have abandoned their DEI policies to align themselves with Trump’s racist, homophobic, misogynistic agenda.

We have choices.

Most Americans are struggling to keep up. Most live from paycheck to paycheck. Most can barely afford housing costs, food prices, and pharmaceuticals – kept high by monopolies, and fueled by private equity.

If politicians won’t hear the voices of average Americans who are being shafted by corporate America, we have to deliver our message to corporate America directly.

From midnight tonight to midnight Friday night, please: No Amazon, no Walmart, no Best Buy, no Target, no Disney, no Google, no Facebook. Don’t spend on fast food, major retailers, or gas.

Avoid using credit or debit cards to make nonessential purchases.

Buy essentials such as medicine, food, and emergency supplies, of course, but make those purchases at small, local businesses.

Consider this a test run. If lots of people participate, I’m sure a longer one will be organized.

[Today’s] economic blackout is an initiative of The People’s Union USA, which describes itself as a “grassroots movement dedicated to economic resistance, government accountability, and corporate reform.”

I hope you'll join.

– Robert Reich
via social media
February 27, 2025

Related Off-site Link:
A Movement Is Calling for an "Economic Blackout' on Friday. Here's What to Know – Chandelis Duster (NPR News, February 27, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
• Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• “An Extremely Clever Ruse” by and for the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup
• “To Be a Rib in This Body of Our Country”
• Quote of the Day – February 21, 2025
• Robert Reich’s Ten Reasons for “Modest Optimism” During the Trump-Vance-Musk Regime

Remembering Carl Anderson

It’s the birthday of the late, great American vocalist Carl Anderson (1945-2004). He would have been 80 today.

In the past I’ve done whole series of posts celebrating Carl at around this time of the year (see, for example here, here and here). This year I’m opting to simply share an example of Carl doing what he did best – singing with heart and soul.

But first . . . I dare say that for most people, Carl Anderson is best remembered for playing Judas Iscariot in the 1973 film adaptation (right) and numerous stage productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s rock opera, Jesus Christ Superstar. (For more about Carl’s groundbreaking portrayal of Judas, click here, here, here and here.)

Yet it would be remiss of me not to state the obvious: There is much more to Carl Anderson than Jesus Christ Superstar. Indeed, for over three decades Carl was an accomplished and well-respected song stylist, artfully blending jazz, soul, pop, and R&B influences into his own unique and unforgettable style.

Between 1982 and 1996 Carl released nine albums. In addition, he made memorable duets with other artists and provided solo guest vocals on a number of songs by others.

Artists Carl worked with included Weather Report, Nancy Wilson, The Rippingtons, Michael Paulo, Maynard Ferguson, Gerald McCauley, Eric Marienthal, Brenda Russell, Lisa Deveaux, and Linda Eder.

It’s one of these collaborations that I share today in celebration of Carl’s birthday – “You Let Me In,” a track on Dan Siegal’s album Late One Night for which Carl provided the lead vocal. Enjoy!

Talk to myself
Laugh in thin air
Don’t go to my room ’cause there’s no one there
I played the part, shut down my heart
Trying to hide what I feel inside

And just when I think
I got it all under control
You smile and I know you’re the one
I’ve been waiting for

You let me in
You unlock all the love inside of me
You hold the key to set my lonely heart free

Too many times I sacrificed
I walked the line only later to pay the price
It was there all the time
But I closed my eyes
To lonely to see what’s in front of me

And just when I turned
I caught you staring back at me
Then we touched
Didn’t know that I needed your love so much

You let me in
You unlock all the love inside of me
You hold the key
To set my lonely heart free

You let me in
When I thought I had nothing left to give
You’re all I need to believe in love again

Next to me is where I want you to be
Safe within my arms
I wanna thank you for
The love you brought to me
That made me feel like I’m alive again

The Wild Reed’s February 2021 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Remembering an Artist and Vocalist Extraordinaire
• An Electrifying Spectrum of Emotions
• “Fare Thee Well, My Nightingale”
• “He Was Bigger Than Life . . . Very Philosophical, Very Warm and Honest”

The Wild Reed’s February 2020 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Carl Anderson: On and On
• Carl Anderson and The Black Pearl
• Carl Anderson in The Color Purple
• Carl Anderson: “Let the Music Play!”

The Wild Reed’s February 2019 Celebration of Carl Anderson:
• Remembering and Celebrating Carl Anderson
• Carl Anderson: “Pure Quality”
• Carl Anderson’s Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar: “The Gold Standard”
• Carl Anderson’s Judas: “A Two-Dimensional Popular Villain Turned Into a Complex Human Being”
• Carl Anderson: “Artist and Vocalist Extraordinaire”
• Playbill Remembers Carl
• Remembering the Life of Carl Anderson: “There Was So Much Love”

For more of Carl at The Wild Reed, see:
• Remembering Carl Anderson (2024)
• Carl Anderson: “Still One of the Greatest Interpretations of Judas on Film”
• Remembering Carl Anderson (2022)
• Carl Anderson: “Like a Song in the Night”
• Carl Anderson: “One of the Most Enjoyable Male Vocalists of His Era”
• With Love Inside
• Carl Anderson
• Acts of Love . . . Carl’s and Mine
• Introducing the Carl Anderson Appreciation Group
• Forbidden Lover
• Revisiting a Groovy Jesus (and a Dysfunctional Theology)

Related Off-site Links:
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part I: A Broadway Legend with Lynchburg Roots – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org, May 12, 2015)
A Profile of Carl Anderson – Part II: The Legend Lives On – Holly Phelps (LynchburgMuseum.org,June 10, 2015)
Carl Anderson – Jazz Legend: The Official Website
Carl Anderson Memorial Page
Carl Anderson at AllMusic.com – Ron Wynn (AllMusic.com)
Carl Anderson Biography – Chris Rizik (Soul Tracks)

Return to the Great South Land

NEXT:
Heavy Seas and Grey Skies

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Trusting the Flow
• Surrendering in Sacred Trust
• Seeking Higher Perceptions
• Wisdom at the Edge

Image: the southeastern Australian coastline, north of Sydney – Wednesday morning, 2/26/25. (Photo: Michael J. Bayly).

Robert Reich’s Ten Reasons for “Modest Optimism” During the Trump-Vance-Musk Regime

Yesterday author, lawyer, and political commentator Robert Reich shared a piece on his substack that offers “10 reasons for modest optimism” to those “experiencing rage and despair” in response to the actions of President Trump and his “advisor” Elon Musk.

______________

Friends,

If you are experiencing rage and despair about what is happening in America and the world right now because of the Trump-Vance-Musk regime, you are hardly alone. A groundswell of opposition is growing – not as loud and boisterous as the resistance to Trump 1.0, but just as, if not more, committed to ending the scourge.

Here’s a partial summary – 10 reasons for modest optimism.


1. Boycotts are taking hold

Americans are changing shopping habits in a backlash against corporations that have shifted their public policies to align with Trump.

Millions are pledging to halt discretionary spending for 24 hours on February 28 in protest against major retailers – chiefly Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy – for scaling back diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in response to Trump.

Four out of 10 Americans have already shifted their spending over the last few months to be more consistent with their moral views, according to the Harris poll. (Far more Democrats – 50 percent – are changing their spending habits compared with Republicans – 41 percent.)

Calls to boycott Tesla apparently are having an effect. After a disappointing 2024, Tesla sales declined further in January. In California, a key market for Tesla, nearly 12 percent fewer Teslas were registered in January 2025 than in January 2024. An analysis by Electrek points to even more trouble for Tesla in Europe, where Tesla sales have dropped in every market.

X users are shifting over to Bluesky at a rapid rate, even as Musk adds more advertisers to his ongoing lawsuit against those that have justifiably boycotted X after he turned it into a cesspool of lies and hate (this week, he added Lego, Nestle, Tyson Foods, and Shell).


2. International resistance is rising

Canada has helped lead the way: A grassroots boycott of American products and tourism is underway there. Prime Minister Trudeau has in effect become a “wartime prime minister” as he stands up to Trump’s bullying.

Jean Chrétien, who served as prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003, is urging Canada to join with leaders in Denmark, Panama, and Mexico, as well as with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to fight back against Trump’s threats.

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum is standing up to Trump. She has defended not just Mexico but also the sovereignty of Latin American countries Trump has threatened and insulted.

In the wake of JD Vance’s offensive speech at the Munich security conference last week, European democracies are standing together – condemning his speech and making it clear they will support Ukraine and never capitulate to Putin, as Trump has done.


3. Independent and alternative media are growing

Trump and Musk’s “shock and awe” strategy was premised on their control of all major information outlets – not just Fox News and its right-wing imitators but the mainstream corporate media as well.

It hasn’t worked. The New York Times has done sharp and accurate reporting on what’s happening. Even the non-editorial side of The Wall Street Journal has shown some gumption.

The biggest news, though, is the increasing role now being played by independent and alternative media. Subscriptions have surged at Democracy Now, The American Prospect, Americans for Tax Fairness, Economic Policy Institute, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, The Guardian, ProPublica, Labor Notes, The Lever, Popular Information, Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American, and, of course, this and other Substacks.

As a result, although Trump and Musk continue to flood the zone with lies, Americans aren’t as readily falling for their scams.


4. Musk’s popularity is plunging

Elon Musk is underwater in public opinion, according to polls published Wednesday. Surveys by Quinnipiac University and Pew Research Center – coming just after Trump and Musk were interviewed together by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, with Trump calling Musk a “great guy” who “really cares for the country” – show a growing majority of Americans holding an unfavorable view of Musk.

In Pew’s findings, 54 percent report disliking Musk compared to 42 percent with a positive view; 36 percent report a very unfavorable view of Musk. Quinnipiac’s results show 55 percent believe Musk has too big a role in the government.


5. Musk’s Doge is losing credibility

On Monday, DOGE listed government contracts it has canceled, claiming that they amount to some $16 billion in savings – itemized on a new “wall of receipts” on its website. Almost half were attributed to a single $8 billion contract for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency – but that contract was for $8 million, not $8 billion. A larger total savings number published on the site, $55 billion, lacked specific documentation.

In addition, Musk and Trump say tens of millions of “dead people” may be receiving fraudulent Social Security payments from the government. The table Musk shared on social media over the weekend showed about 20 million people in the Social Security Administration’s database over the age of 100 and with no known death.

But as the agency’s inspector general found in 2023, “almost none” of them were receiving payments; most had died before the advent of electronic records. These kinds of rudimentary errors are destroying DOGE’s credibility and causing even more to question allowing Musk’s muskrats unfettered access to personal data on Americans.


6. The federal courts are hitting back

So far, at least 74 lawsuits have been filed by state attorneys general, nonprofits, and unions against the Trump regime. And at least 17 judges – including several appointed by Republicans – already have issued orders blocking or temporarily halting actions by the Trump regime.

The blocking orders include Trump initiatives to restrict birthright citizenship, suspend or cut off domestic and foreign U.S. spending, shrink the federal workforce, oust independent agency heads, and roll back legal protections and medical care for transgender adults and youths. In other cases, the Trump regime has agreed to a pause to give judges time to rule, another way that legal fights are forcing a slowdown.


7. Demonstrations are on the rise

We haven’t seen anything like the January 2017 Women’s March, the day after Trump 1.0 began, but over the past weeks, demonstrations have been increasing across the country. Last Monday, on Presidents Day, demonstrators descended upon state capitol buildings.

In Washington, D.C., thousands gathered at the Capitol Reflecting Pool, chanting “Where is Congress?” and urging members of Congress to “Do your job!” despite nearly 40-degree temperatures and 20-mile-per-hour wind gusts.

The nationwide protests are part of the 50501 Movement, which stands for “50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement.” One of its leaders urged the crowd of protesters in Washington to stand united in order to “uphold the Constitution”:

To oppose tyranny is to stand behind democracy and remind our elected officials that we, the people, are who they’re elected to serve, not themselves. The events over the past month have been built to exhaust us, to break our wills. But we are the American people. We will not break.

I expect that in the coming weeks and months protests will grow larger and louder.

Acts of civil disobedience are also on the rise, as are resignations in protest against the regime. This week, former NFL punter Chris Kluwe was hauled out of a Huntington Beach City Council meeting after speaking out against Trump during public comments against plans to include a MAGA reference in the design of a library plaque.

As cheers erupted from the audience, Kluwe told the council, in words that should be repeated across the land:

MAGA stands for trying to erase trans people from existence. MAGA stands for resegregation and racism. MAGA stands for censorship and book bans. MAGA stands for firing air traffic controllers while planes are crashing. MAGA stands for firing the people overseeing our nuclear arsenal. MAGA stands for firing military veterans and those serving them at the VA, including canceling research on veteran suicide. MAGA stands for cutting funds to education, including for disabled children. MAGA is profoundly corrupt, unmistakably anti-democracy and most importantly, MAGA is explicitly a Nazi movement. You may have replaced a swastika with a red hat, but that is what it is.

When he was done speaking, Kluwe said he would “engage in the time-honored American tradition of peaceful civil disobedience.”


8. Stock and bond markets are trembling

Trump has not lowered prices; in fact, inflation is rising under his control. Trump’s wild talk of 25 percent tariffs is spooking the market. Yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which measures the performance of 30 large-cap U.S. stocks, dropped by more than 1.40 percent. Treasury bonds also dropped after a report showed more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected – an indication the pace of layoffs could be worsening.

The latest University of Michigan survey finds that consumer sentiment plummeted 10 percent in February, largely due to concerns about Trump’s tariffs. Farmers who voted for Trump are nervous about the impact on their livelihoods.

The Fed won’t lower interest rates. Transcripts of the last Fed meeting showed that officials discussed how Trump's proposed tariffs and mass deportations of migrants, as well as strong consumer spending, could push inflation higher this year.

Economic storm clouds like these should be troubling for everyone but especially for a regime that measures its success by stock and bond markets.


9. Trump is overreaching – pretending to be “king” and abandoning Ukraine for Putin

Trump’s threats of annexation, conquest, and “unleashing hell” have been exposed as farcical bluffs – and his displays this week of being “king” and siding with Putin have unleashed a new level of public ridicule.

On Wednesday, following his attempt to kill a new congestion pricing program for Manhattan, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!” The White House shared the quote accompanied by a computer-generated image of Trump grinning on a fake Time magazine cover while donning a golden crown.

Negative reaction was swift and overwhelming. Social media has exploded with derision. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said, “We are a nation of laws, not ruled by a king.” Illinois’s Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, said, “My oath is to the Constitution of our state and our nation. We don’t have kings in America, and I won’t bend the knee to one.”

The reaction to Trump’s abandoning Ukraine and siding with Putin has been more devastating, putting congressional Republicans on the defensive. Prominent Republican senators Roger Wicker of Mississippi and John Kennedy of Louisiana criticized Putin. Bill Kristol, a former official in the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations, noted that “Nato and the U.S. commitment to Europe has kept the European peace for 80 years. It’s foolish and reckless to put that at risk. And for what? To get along with Putin?”


10. The Trump-Vance-Musk “shock and awe” plan is faltering

In all these ways and for all of these reasons, the regime’s efforts to overwhelm us are failing.

Make no mistake: Trump, Vance, and Musk continue to be an indiscriminate wrecking ball that has already caused major destruction and will continue to weaken and isolate America. But their takeover has been slowed.

Their plan was based on doing so much, so fast that the rest of us would give in to negativity and despair. They want a dictatorship built on hopelessness and fear.

That may have been the case initially, but we can take courage from the green shoots of rebellion now appearing across America and the world. As several of you have pointed out, successful resistance movements maintain hope and a positive vision of the future, no matter how dark the present.

More than 55 years ago, I participated in the resistance to the Vietnam War – a resistance that ultimately ended the war and caused a once powerful president to resign. That resistance gave us courage we didn’t even know we had. It changed American culture, inspiring songs such as “The Times They Are A Changing,” and “Blowin’ In The Wind.”

No one person led that anti-war movement. It was an amalgam of groups and leaders spanning more than six years of mobilization and organization, at all levels of society.

The Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required over 18 years of organizing, demonstrating, and mobilizing.

The current coup is less than five weeks old, and resistance has only begun. The Trump-Vance-Musk regime will fail. Even so, the Democracy Movement now emerging will require at least a decade, if not a generation, to rebuild and strengthen what has been destroyed, and to fix the raging inequalities, injustices, and corruption that led so many to vote for Trump for a second time.

Those of you who want the leaders of the Democratic Party to step up and be heard are right, of course. But political parties do not lead. The anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement didn’t depend on the Democratic Party for their successes. They depended on a mass mobilization of all of us who accepted the responsibilities of being American.

We will prevail because we are relearning the basic truth — that we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.

– Robert Reich
“Ten Reasons for Modest Optimism”
RobertReich.substack.com
February 21, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
“Never Meant to Be Ruled by a Dictator or a King”: The DOGE Backlash Hits Trump Districts – Heather Digby Parton (Salon, February 21, 2025).
“Gum Up the Works”: David Sirota’s Advice to Democrats on Reversing Trump’s Power Grab – Democracy Now! (February 21, 2025).
Why Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Message Still Matters in the Second Trump Era – John Hope Bryant (TIME, January 23, 2025).
I Know What Trump Means for Our Planet. I Still Choose Hope – Aaron Regunberg (The New Republic, January 22, 2025).
How to Not Lose It Completely During Trump’s Second Presidency – Rebecca Gordon (The Nation, January 9, 2025).
Hope in the Era of Trump – Douglas Roche (Global Security Institute, December 6, 2024).


UPDATES: We Will Not Accept a Dictatorship or Monarchy: Why Trump’s Support Is Melting – Robert Reich (RobertReich.substack.com, February 23, 2025).
How the Stupid Coup Is Going: Week Five – Rebecca Solnit (Meditations in an Emergency, February 23, 2025).
The Heart’s Response to This Worrisome Hour: Sometimes Love Says No – Marianne Williamson (Transform, February 23, 2025).
Democrats Are MIA – Just When the Country Needs Them to Counter the Trump-Musk Blitzkrieg – David Corn (Mother Jones, February 24, 2025).
If You’re a Democrat Annoyed by Outraged Voters, You Are Doing It Wrong – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, February 24, 2025).
People Get Ready: Trump’s Reichstag Fire Is Coming – Thom Hartmann (Common Dreams, February 24, 2025).
Sen. Bernie Sanders Says Senate Should Probe DOGE and Subpoena Elon Musk – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, March 6, 2025).
“An American President Is Not a King”: Judge Reinstates Labor Regulator Illegally Fired by Trump – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, March 6, 2025).
Courts Just Say No to Trump’s Authoritarian Power Grabs – Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan (Democracy Now!, March 6, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
• Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
• Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• “An Extremely Clever Ruse” by and for the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup
• Quote of the Day – February 21, 2025
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Signs of the Times: The 2025 People’s March
• How Empires Are Built and Rebellions Are Born
• Neoliberalism vs Neofascism: Cornel West on the State of U.S. Politics
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• What the Republican Party Now Stands For
• Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living in Very Serious Times and We Need to Be Very Serious People”
• Chris Hedges on the End of the American Empire
• History Matters
• Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis in U.S. Electoral Politics
• Will We Let Fascism Come to America?

Fighting the Rich and Their Two Parties

Following is the livestream of today’s “Fight the Rich and Their Two Parties” conference in Seattle.

Organized by Workers Strike Back, this “organizing conference” features Kshama Sawant, Jill Stein, Chris Hedges and others.





Related Off-site Links:
Fight the Rich – Kshama Sawant (CounterPunch, January 27, 2025).
Jill Stein and Kshama Sawant on the Fight the Rich Movement – Sabrina Salvati (Sabby Sabs, January 26, 2025).
Bernie Sanders Launches Copycat Tour to Stall Third Parties – Sabrina Salvati (Sabby Sabs, February 15, 2025).
One Month of the Trump Administration: The Oligarchy vs. the Working Class – Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (February 20, 2025).
“Democrats Are Never Coming Back After Genocide Support”: An Interview with Butch Ware – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, February 4, 2025).
Trump Is Unpopular – and So Are the Do-Nothing Democrats – Jeet Heer (The Nation, February 18, 2025).
Defeating the Democratic Party Elites Is Just the First Step – Joseph Geevarghese (The Nation, February 4, 2025).
Why Are the Democrats So Spineless? – Moira Donegan (The Guardian, February 3, 2025).
“Working People Feel Betrayed by Democratic Elites”: An Interview with Marianne Williamson – Rising (January 15, 2025).
Marianne Williamson on Why Americans are Rejecting the Status Quo – NewsNation (December 28, 2024).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly
• “It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• What the Republican Party Now Stands For
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Butch Ware: “You Can Actually Vote Your Conscience”
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• The “Green Smoothie” Option
• Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Butch Ware in Minneapolis
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• History Matters
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green

“This Isn’t Politics Anymore. This Is Treason”

“The long, strange saga of
Donald Trump, Russian asset”

Closer to the Edge is a reader-supported publication on the Substack platform. It posted the following article earlier today.

There is something rancid in America, a slow, creeping rot that smells like cold McDonald’s fries, aerosol hairspray, and the unmistakable musk of a country too sedated to recognize its own hostage situation. For years, the idea that Donald Trump was compromised by Russia was dismissed as paranoid fantasy – just another wild-eyed conspiracy theory, another overblown headline in the endless saga of American political dysfunction.

But now, two former Soviet intelligence officers – Alnur Mussayev and Yuri Shvets – are saying it outright: Trump was recruited by the KGB in 1987, groomed as an asset, and remains under Russian control to this day.

And the worst part? He’s already back in the White House.

That’s right, America. You did it. You walked face-first into the banana peel of history, slipped, and fell straight into the arms of Vladimir Putin. Trump was kicked out in 2020, spent four years plotting his comeback, and now he’s returned, like a bloated, orange cockroach that just won’t die. The Kremlin’s favorite stooge is running the country again, and this time, he knows exactly how to stay in power.

If you think this is just another round of the Trump Show, you’re not paying attention. This isn’t politics anymore. This is treason. This is foreign subversion. This is a goddamn coup in slow motion.


The Smoking Guns: The Spooks Have Spoken

Let’s break it down, nice and simple.

Alnur Mussayev isn’t some Twitter conspiracy theorist with a tinfoil hat and a podcast. He’s the former head of Kazakhstan’s National Security Committee, which means he knows exactly how Russian intelligence works – because he was part of the system. And what he’s saying should make every American’s blood run cold.

According to Mussayev, Trump was identified, recruited, and compromised by the KGB in 1987 during his first trip to Moscow. They saw him for what he was: a narcissistic, greedy, attention-starved buffoon who could be easily manipulated. The KGB flattered him, promised him business deals, and planted the seeds of political ambition in his empty little head. And from that moment on, he was their man.

But Mussayev isn’t alone. Former KGB major Yuri Shvets said the exact same thing in 2021: Trump was cultivated by Soviet intelligence because he was an easy mark – too stupid to realize he was being played, too egotistical to care. They saw him as a useful idiot – a man who could one day be nudged into power, a walking, talking Trojan Horse for Russian interests.

And now? The plan has worked. Trump spent four years in office weakening America from within, got booted out, and now he’s back for round two.


The Circus of Silence

If you had told the American public in 1962 that a Soviet-backed asset would one day sit in the White House, they would have burned Washington to the ground before letting it happen. But today? Nobody seems to care.

The media treats this like just another wacky subplot in the never-ending Trump reality show. Congress is too busy fighting over meaningless culture war nonsense to do anything about it. And the American public? Exhausted. Numb. Checked out. Years of scandals – Russia collusion, Ukraine blackmail, classified documents, tax fraud, sexual assault, an attempted coup – have fried the country’s brain like an overcooked steak at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump has done the impossible. He has committed so many crimes, so openly, so brazenly, that none of them matter anymore.

And now, with Mussayev’s revelation that Trump is an active foreign asset, we have finally reached the point where the biggest political scandal in American history is met with a collective shrug.

This is how democracy dies – not with a bang, but with a goddamn eye-roll.


How Many Smoking Guns Do We Need?

This is the part where the skeptics start clutching their pearls. “Oh, come on,” they say. “If Trump were really a Russian asset, wouldn’t there be more proof?”

To which I say: Are you blind, or just willfully stupid?

Let’s go through the evidence, shall we?

Trump spent his entire first term doing exactly what Russia wanted. He attacked NATO, calling it “obsolete” and threatening to pull the U.S. out. He tried to blackmail Ukraine into manufacturing dirt on Joe Biden, because weakening Ukraine helps one man and one man only: Vladimir Putin. He pulled U.S. troops out of Syria, handing power over to Russian forces. He picked fights with Canada and Europe while cozying up to dictators.

Even now, in his second term, he is more openly pro-Putin than ever. He has made it clear that he will not protect NATO allies from Russian aggression. He is actively dismantling America’s alliances, just as Russia planned. And while Americans scream at each other over whether Target should sell rainbow t-shirts, Trump is quietly selling the country to the Kremlin.

At some point, you have to stop calling it a coincidence and start calling it what it is: treason.


What Needs to Happen (If We Want to Stop the Kremlin’s Favorite Stooge)

The United States is running out of time. If Trump serves out this term without being removed, America as a functioning democracy is finished.

The media needs to wake up. Enough with the “Trump fatigue” excuse. This is not just another scandal – this is the single greatest infiltration of American power in history. Journalists need to dig into Mussayev’s claims, demand declassification of intelligence files, and treat this like the national emergency that it is.

Congress needs to subpoena Mussayev immediately. His testimony must be public, and every document he has should be reviewed. If there is proof that Trump has been compromised since the 1980s, the American people need to know.

The Justice Department needs to stop pretending that Trump is just another politician. If there is evidence that the sitting president of the United States is working in Russia’s interests, he must be removed from office and prosecuted for espionage.

And the American public? You have one last chance. This is not about Republican vs. Democrat. This is not about taxes, gas prices, or whatever nonsense outrage is dominating the news today. This is about whether the United States remains a sovereign nation, or if we spend the rest of the century as a Russian client state with a golf course.


The Final Warning

Well, Trump got caught. Over and over again. And yet, nothing happened. The sheer volume of his corruption, the blatant nature of his crimes, the mountain of evidence that should have ended his political career a hundred times over – none of it mattered. He survived it all, not because he was innocent, but because he drowned the country in so much scandal that nothing stuck.

But this time, it’s different. If Mussayev and Shvets are right, this isn’t just another chapter in the endless Trump circus. This is the culmination of a decades-long Russian intelligence operation to install an asset in the White House.

There is no coming back from this. If America lets Trump serve out this term without removing him, then the United States as a democratic republic is finished. The country won’t collapse overnight. There won’t be tanks in the streets. Instead, the destruction of democracy will happen in slow motion – buried under lawsuits, propaganda, and corruption so blatant that people stop caring.

If America lets this happen – if Trump is allowed to complete his mission – then Putin wins. The West crumbles. And the people who could have stopped it will look back, years from now, and wonder how they let it happen.

Good night, and good luck. Because if people don’t wake up, America is going to sleepwalk straight into its own funeral.

– Closer to the Edge
“In the Kremlin’s Pocket”
February 21, 2025

NEXT:
Robert Reich’s 10 Reasons for “Modest Optimism”
During the Trump-Vance-Musk Regime

Related Off-site Links:
Donald Trump Was Recruited by KGB with Codename “Krasnov,” Claims Ex-Soviet Spy – Christopher Bucktin and Billy Gaddi (Yahoo! News, February 21, 2025).
“KGB Recruited Trump in 1987”: Explosive Ex-Soviet Officer’s Claim Ignites Social Media Firestorm – Times of India (February 22, 2025).
Former KGB Chief Admits to Recruiting Donald Trump – TrumpFile.org (February 25, 2025).
CNN Analyst: 18 Reasons Why Trump May Be a Russian Asset – CNN Newsroom (January 14, 2019).


UPDATES: Assessing New Allegations That Trump Was Recruited by the KGB – Alexander J. Motyl (The Hill, February 26, 2025).
What to Know About the Rumor Trump Was Recruited by KGB in 1987 – Amelia Clarke and Jack Izzo (Snopes, February 26, 2025).
Author Explains Donald Trump’s Russia and KGB Connections – Kyiv Independent (February 26, 2025).
Vladimir Putin’s Investment in Donald Trump Pays Off Bigly – David Corn (Mother Jones, February 27, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Marisa Kabas: “We’re Witnessing a Coup By an Unelected Billionaire Propped Up By a Felonious President”
• Timothy Snyder on Resisting the Oligarchs’ “Logic of Destruction”
• “This Is Essentially Viktor Orbán’s Playbook”
• “An Extremely Clever Ruse” by and for the Rich: Owen Jones on Elon Musk’s Coup
• Quote of the Day – February 21, 2025
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Signs of the Times: The 2025 People’s March
• How Empires Are Built and Rebellions Are Born
• Neoliberalism vs Neofascism: Cornel West on the State of U.S. Politics
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• What the Republican Party Now Stands For
• Venice Williams on How We Get Through the Next Four Years
• Progressive Perspectives on Kamala Harris’ Faltering Presidential Campaign
• Marianne Williamson: “We’re Living in Very Serious Times and We Need to Be Very Serious People”
• Chris Hedges on the End of the American Empire
• History Matters
• Progressive Perspectives on the Crisis in U.S. Electoral Politics
• Will We Let Fascism Come to America?

Quote of the Day

These two buffoons [Donald Trump and JD Vance] love to cosplay as warriors, champions of testosterone in a world gone soft. But let’s take a look at what they’re actually doing. Trump, a man who dodged the draft because of imaginary bone spurs, is threatening to withhold federal funding from Maine because its governor won’t bow to his demands. And JD Vance, a man who once wrote an entire book about the dangers of sucking up to elites, is now licking Trump’s boots so hard you’d think they were made of chocolate.

Masculinity, real masculinity, is about strength, courage, and integrity. It’s about standing up for what’s right, even when it’s hard. It’s about protecting the vulnerable, not attacking them for political gain. It’s about facing adversity head-on, not throwing a fit when someone tells you “no.”

By that measure, Trump and JD Vance are about as masculine as a wet paper towel.

Trump can puff out his chest and scream at governors all he wants, but at the end of the day, he’s just a blustering coward who folds under the slightest pressure. JD can cry about the decline of masculinity, but no real man spends his days groveling at the feet of a guy who wouldn’t piss on him if he were on fire.

The irony is that the people they’re attacking – women who stand their ground, LGBTQ people fighting for equality – are showing more guts, more resilience, more true strength than either of these pathetic frauds could ever muster.

Trump and JD don’t represent masculinity. They represent the weak, whimpering, flailing desperation of men who know, deep down, that they are frauds. And nothing is more pathetic than a man who has to constantly remind you how strong he is.

– Closer to the Edge
Excerpted from “The Bully and the Bootlicker:
Trump, JD Vance, and the Cowardice of Fake Masculinity”
February 21, 2025

NEXT:
“This Isn’t Politics Anymore. This Is Treason”


See also the related Wild Reed posts:
• A Warrior’s Heart
• Vulnerability Is Power
• A Fresh Take on Masculinity
• Manly Love
• Rockin’ With Maxwell
• Reclaiming the Power of Male Touch
• Beloved and Antlered

See also The Wild Reed’s “What a Man!” series:
Ben Cohen | Sean Avery | Hudson Taylor | John Kriesel | Nick Youngquest | Chris Kluwe | Brendon Ayanbadejo | Nick Symmonds | Andrew Ference | Connor Beaton

Related Off-site Link:
The Divine Masculine Principle – The Leveret (September 15, 2018).

Image: Kristen Solberg.

Happy Birthday, Buffy!

– Image: Julie Jocsak (2017)

Trail-blazing and influential singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie turns 84 today.

Happy Birthday, Buffy!

As regulars readers will know, I’ve long admired Buffy Sainte-Marie and enjoyed her music. Indeed, I find her to be a very inspiring figure. (I even chose her song “It’s My Way” as my theme song when I turned 50 in 2015!)

Left: With Buffy after her August 26, 2016 performance at The Dakota in Minneapolis.

I especially appreciate and am inspired by Buffy’s passion and purposefulness – and by the way she blends her art and social activism.

I’ve seen her four times in concert, and had the privilege of meeting her on three of these occasions. She’s creative, articulate, warm, and funny – a very human human being.

Buffy’s most recent album is the award-winning Medicine Songs (2017), about which Buffy says the following.

[Medicine Songs] is a collection of front line songs about unity and resistance – some brand new and some classics – and I want to put them to work. These are songs I’ve been writing for over fifty years, and what troubles people today are still the same damn issues from 30-40-50 years ago: war, oppression, inequity, violence, rankism of all kinds, the pecking order, bullying, racketeering and systemic greed. Some of these songs come from the other side of that: positivity, common sense, romance, equity and enthusiasm for life.

I really want this collection of songs to be like medicine, to be of some help or encouragement, to maybe do some good. Songs can motivate you and advance your own ideas, encourage and support collaborations and be part of making change globally and at home. They do that for me and I hope this album can be positive and provide thoughts and remedies that rock your world and inspire new ideas of your own.

Above: Buffy and guitarist Anthony King performing at the Big Top Chautauqua, Bayfield, WI on Saturday, August 27, 2016. (Photo: Michael J. Bayly)

Buffy was in the news recently after the Canadian government rescinded its appointment of her to the Order of Canada, the country’s most prestigious civilian accolade. Although no specific reason was given for the termination, it seems to be the result of the October 2023 CBC documentary that challenged Buffy’s long-standing claims of Indigenous ancestry. Today’s post isn’t about any of this, in large part because I’ve addressed the fall-out from this documentary previously at The Wild Reed (see, for example, here, here, here, and here). Instead, I celebrate Buffy’s life and work in their totality today, her 84th birthday.

I start this celebration Buffy by sharing the haunting ballad “Must I Go Bound,” the opening track of Buffy’s second album Many a Mile, released in the year of my birth – 1965. It’s followed by excerpts from Andrea Warner’s Buffy Sainte-Marie: the Authorized Biography, published in 2018.

[Buffy] confronted colonialism in her activism and with her music. On her 1965 album, Many a Mile, she covered several British traditional folk songs [including “Must I Go Bound”], but her originals were deeply rooted in her activism and core beliefs, including “Welcome Emigrante” and “The Piney Wood Hills.” She didn’t always get the credit she deserved as a songwriter, but Sainte-Marie was accummulating professional power. She continued to use the spotlight to talk about Indigenous issues and alternative conflict resolution, but she also began to push her sound away from coffee-house acoustic.

. . . [Many a Mile also includes] two glorious covers – Bukka White’s “Fixin’ to Die” and Patrick Sky’s “Many a Mile.” [Buffy] also recorded what would be her own most covered song of all time: “Until It’s Time for You to Go.” It quickly became a pop standard, and was a hit for everyone from the Four Pennies to Neil Diamond to Elvis Presley.

– Andrea Warner
Excerpted from Buffy Sainte-Marie:
The Authorized Biography
Greystone Books Ltd, 2018
p. 92 and p. 278

Related Off-site Links:
Singer-Activist Buffy Sainte-Marie Stripped of Order of Canada, the Country’s Most Prestigious Civilian Honor – Karen Bliss (Variety, February 8, 2025).
Junos Head Says Organization Faces “Complicated” Questions Around Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Awards – David Friend (The Canadian Press via Rocky Mountain Outlook, February 11, 2025).
Longing and Belonging: Birth Certificate of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Aunt Indicates “Non-White” Ancestry – Brian Halpin (Before We Were White, March 20, 2024).
Buffy Saint-Marie Documentary, Carry It On, Wins International Emmy Award – CBC News (November 20, 2023).
Buffy Sainte-Marie Says CBC Investigation Into Ancestry Includes Fabricated Evidence: “These Allegations Do Not Shake Me” – Christy Piña (The Hollywood Reporter, November 23, 2023).
Buffy Sainte-Marie Pushes Back Against CBC Investigation Contradicting Claims to Indigenous Ancestry – Kelly Geraldine Malone (The Canadian Press, November 23, 2023).
Buffy Sainte-Marie Says CBC Investigation Into Ancestry Includes Fabrications
– Jessica Wang (Entertainment Weekly, November 23, 2023).
“I Have Never Lied”: Buffy Sainte-Marie Pushes Back On Probe Into Indigenous Ancestry – Kelby Vera (The Huffington Post, November 25, 2023).
What’s the Point of “Pretendian” Investigations? – Michelle Cyca (The Walrus, November 20, 2023).
The Problem With Labelling People “Pretendians” – Drew Lafond (The Globe and Mail, May 28, 2022).
Buffy Sainte-Marie May Not Be Native But She Could Be Jewish – Barbara Aiello (The Times of Israel, November 20, 2023).
Discovering Buffy – David Rovics (This Week With David Rovics, November 6, 2023).
Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Adoption by Indigenous People Vital – Doug Cuthand (The Star Pheonix, November 4, 2023).
“Be Gentle With Yourself': Indigenous Northerners Wrestle With Legacy of Buffy Sainte-Marie – CBC News (November 1, 2023).
Anishinaabe Singer Says Contested Ancestry of Buffy Sainte-Marie “Doesn’t Take Away the Inspiration” – CBC News (October 31, 2023).
Two Indigenous Artists React to the Questions Raised About Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Ancestry – CBC Arts (October 30, 2023).
Revelations About Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Ancestry Are Having a Devastating Impact on Indigenous Communities Across Canada – Lori Campbell (The Conversation, October 29, 2023).
“We Claim Her, End of Story”: Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Piapot Family Hurt by Allegations – Haley Lewis and Melissa Ridgen (Global News, October 27, 2023).


UPDATES: Buffy Sainte-Marie Returns Her Order of Canada, Says She Never Denied Having American Citizenship – David Friend (The Canadian Press via CBC News, March 4, 2025).
Buffy Sainte-Marie Stripped of Juno and Polaris Music Awards Following the Singer’s Statements About Not Being Canadian – Kevin Maimann (CBC News, March 7, 2025).


For The Wild Reed’s special series of posts leading-up to the November 10, 2017 release of Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Medicine Songs, see:
• For Acclaimed Songwriter, Activist and Humanitarian Buffy Sainte-Marie, the World is Always Ripening
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: “I’m Creative Anywhere”
• Buffy Sainte-Marie Headlines SummerStage Festival in NYC’s Central Park
• Buffy Sainte-Marie, “One of the Best Performers Out Touring Today”
• The Music of Buffy Sainte-Marie: “Uprooting the Sources of Disenfranchisement”
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: “Things Do Change and Things Do Get Better”
• Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Medicine Songs

For The Wild Reed’s special series of posts leading-up to the May 12, 2015 release of Buffy’s award-winning album, Power in the Blood, see:
• Buffy Sainte-Marie and That “Human-Being Magic”
• Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Lesson from the Cutting Edge: “Go Where You Must to Grow”
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: “Sometimes You Have to Be Content to Plant Good Seeds and Be Patient”
• Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Power in the Blood


For more of Buffy Sainte-Marie at The Wild Reed, see:
• “The Real Deal”: Maurice Switzer on the Legacy of Buffy Sainte-Marie
• Kyle Irving: Quote of the Day – February 26, 2024
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: “It Is Time for Me to Shine a Light on the Truth, My Truth”
• David Rovics: The “Big Picture” of the Buffy Sainte-Marie Controversy “Necessitates Holding Contradictory Things to Be True at the Same Time”
• A Music Legend Visits the North Country: Buffy Sainte-Marie in Minnesota and Wisconsin – August 2016
• Buffy Sainte-Marie on Indigenous Peoples’ Day: “There’s an Awful Lot of Work Yet to Be Done”
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Pope’s Apology Is “Just the Beginning”
• Sweet America
• Carrying It On . . . Into the New Year
• Buffy Sainte-Marie’s “America the Beautiful”
• Two Exceptional Singers Take a Chance on the “Spirit of the Wind”
• Photo of the Day – January 21, 2017
• Buffy Sainte-Marie Wins 2015 Polaris Music Prize
• Congratulations, Buffy
• Happy Birthday, Buffy! – 2016 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2023
• Actually, There’s No Question About It
• For Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Well-Deserved Honor
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: Singing It and Praying It; Living It and Saying It
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: Still Singing with Spirit, Joy, and Passion
• Something Special for Indigenous Peoples Day
• Buffy Sainte-Marie: “The Big Ones Get Away”

Opening image: Buffy Sainte-Marie in concert in 2017. (Photo: Julie Jocsak)