Thank you for this sharp and sobering piece. You’ve laid out the stakes with clarity and courage…not just the authoritarian threat, but the behavioral blind spots that keep the opposition from mounting a credible response. I deeply appreciate your willingness to name the dysfunction on both sides without falling into false equivalence.
Your line about “people can’t feel statistics” hits especially hard. That’s the behavioral gap—-the place where fear, perception, and narrative override data. And it’s precisely where demagogues thrive.
You’ve articulated something many feel but struggle to name: the behavioral asymmetry between authoritarian spectacle and democratic inertia.
Grateful for your clarity and courage in naming what needs to be named.
— Johan
Professor of Behavioral Economics & Applied Cognitive Theory
Democrats ARE winning in most local contests. These winning strategies need to be adopted at the national level by new, younger and more grounded leaders.
Look at Gary Kasparov lecturing the US what a "winning opposition" should do. Remind us how you "won" as opposition to Putin? We are just lucky that our "putin" is way dumber, older and sloppier than yours. But thanks for the advice. Never miss a chance to stomp on the victim here (Democrats).
Thank you for this informative piece, Garry. You expressed my thoughts beautifully and more. I am an old Saul Alinsyite. His model for community organizing was working in the world-as-it-is; not the world-as-it-should-be. This strategy gave him a path into that space between extremes that acknowledged reality and invited opposites to the table. While Alinsky today is still considered the father of community organizing (demonized by the Right while embracing his strategies), his core motivation has long been forgotten and ignored by both sides. I don’t know if it will ever return.
Says the guy trying to ruin Jeffries and Schumer’s attempt at a shutdown. The same shutdown Garry begged democrats for. We’ve gone from “Be brave! Take risks!” to “haha look at these Democrat losers.”
Your messaging is all over the place. Calling your only allies “losers” because they aren’t conditioned to be snakes like the GOP is foolish. It’s schoolyard trash rhetoric that I expect only from MAGA.
There is nothing democrats can do to satiate you. You just bait and switch. It’s predictable and exhausting.
The only reason I stay subscribed to this channel is to hold your nonsense accountable. You are seriously out of touch with young Americans. Maybe posting another Charlie Kirk eulogy will help.
I keep hoping for an actual move. Shut down or not. Specifics on strategy, actual moves. The social media algorithims combined with politicians caustic rhetoric are killing democrats. Meantime the ignited masses cry for more. We are devolving. But it is not in the core nature of a democrat to be cruel. What is the move against a bully? I say shut down, general strike and go full on Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela. But people are dying and its going to get worse. So stop with the pie in the sky and let's get down to middle game and end game.
Trump and members of Project 2025, as well as the DIMs (Democrats), treat politics as a zero-sum game, seeking win-lose or lose-win positions. Reminds me of Greece's politics ,where they fight over percentage of the economic pie, without any realistic plan to increase the size of the pie.
Win-Win scenarios? Game theory is not some mysterious analytical tool, especially since A Beautiful Mind popularized Nash.
Well, that's the forest-for-the-trees. I don't teach anymore and didn't enjoy it when I did. As for DIMs rolling up their shirt sleeves and doing the real work necessary to offer an more attractive alternative, as Gary is suggesting, I don't see it. Evan Barker recently started a Substack site, and her analysis is grassroots and spot on. But she is a young female, so the DIM trolls such as Hillary Clinton and Barack/Michelle Obama and James Carville will never admit Evan is better than they are. Also, I find Sasha Stone's Substack enlightening, with many posts about the sociopaths and psychopaths that are forming a core within the DIM party.
Gary, you are certainly familiar with the repercussions of political assassinations, and I was US Navy Intel before getting my PhD, at a time when Putin was Soviet Navy Intel and in line to be the head of the KGB. No one trusts anything Putin says or does, but he played Trump so easily that The Donald has just woken up to Putin's tricks. So, can you accept that Netanyahu is Israel's Putin? Or are you a Zionist at heart, believing that there is a contract from God in the Ark of the Covenant that confirms Jews as God's chosen?
As an expert, I don't believe anything linking Tyler Robinson to the shooting, unless he was a lookout. Candace Owens and Roger Stone are alone in uncovering the truth. I knew the FBI and Utah police were lying when I saw a video showing the route to the roof. Never would there be a single shooter sitting for minutes in that sniper's nest because it is easily accessible by any one of the 45,000 students that attend Utah Valley State College. Here is the link and watch minutes 7:00 to 8:00. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/09/watch-independent-journalist-retraces-tyler-robinsons-exact-path/
Also, an enhanced video of the young man running across the roof and dropping to the ground reveals that person was not carrying a rifle.
Mikie Sherrill the Democratic Congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate for New Jersey is now being attacked by Cheeto’s Nazi regime by releasing her military files to the public including private information of her parent’s address, Social Security number, and other discretionary material that should never be in the public sphere
Let’s be clear If Cheeto and his Nazi allies can go after a political opponent at a governor’s level then they will go after any American citizen who is a registered voter This is the reason that DOJ is after registered voter rolls in 9 Democratic states The vigilante challenge that came out of a Georgia experiment as reported by Greg Palast disenfranchised Georgia registered voters
Keep this in mind for future elections because the Nazis are coming after your legitimate voting status
President - or the perception of “leader of the free world”- extends
🎃's political longevity while killing
Democrats' credibility
That would likely better suit this essay (despite not reading it yet), because I REFUSE to accept that 🎃 is leading the charge in this well PLANNED CORRUPTION that the @RepublicanParty of 🇺🇸 has ALLOWED to occur as conducted by 🎃 himself, America!
Think about it… I’ve been trying to figure it out myself, and this long comment belongs on my social media feed rather than here.
You forgot perhaps the most important issue: translunacy. Dems digging the feet in on boys competing in girls' sports is utter suicide. Polls show it's almost 80-20 opposition, yet the Dems can't seem to understand the average person's view. Beyond the sports, the majority of folks are ill at ease with Bruce Jenner and the whole trans concept. Does "Bud Light" conjure up any thoughts on this topic? Dems need to back off on the new amorality and new-age religion. Why can't Dems recall Bill Clinton's Sister Souljah stance, or Barrack Obama's opposition to redefining marriage? Why can't they spell "moderate"?
Be real: Comey is charged with lying under oath, and the precipitating act is Andrew Weissman testifying that he did tell Comey about the leaks. Comey's FBI charged Mike Flynn and Martha Stewart with the same offense, which they paid a penalty. Saying Comey's indictment is a political stunt is lying to your readers. Please don't 'gaslight' your readers, be honest.
Thank you for this sharp and sobering piece. You’ve laid out the stakes with clarity and courage…not just the authoritarian threat, but the behavioral blind spots that keep the opposition from mounting a credible response. I deeply appreciate your willingness to name the dysfunction on both sides without falling into false equivalence.
Your line about “people can’t feel statistics” hits especially hard. That’s the behavioral gap—-the place where fear, perception, and narrative override data. And it’s precisely where demagogues thrive.
You’ve articulated something many feel but struggle to name: the behavioral asymmetry between authoritarian spectacle and democratic inertia.
Grateful for your clarity and courage in naming what needs to be named.
— Johan
Professor of Behavioral Economics & Applied Cognitive Theory
Former Foreign Service Officer
Democrats ARE winning in most local contests. These winning strategies need to be adopted at the national level by new, younger and more grounded leaders.
Look at Gary Kasparov lecturing the US what a "winning opposition" should do. Remind us how you "won" as opposition to Putin? We are just lucky that our "putin" is way dumber, older and sloppier than yours. But thanks for the advice. Never miss a chance to stomp on the victim here (Democrats).
Thank you for this informative piece, Garry. You expressed my thoughts beautifully and more. I am an old Saul Alinsyite. His model for community organizing was working in the world-as-it-is; not the world-as-it-should-be. This strategy gave him a path into that space between extremes that acknowledged reality and invited opposites to the table. While Alinsky today is still considered the father of community organizing (demonized by the Right while embracing his strategies), his core motivation has long been forgotten and ignored by both sides. I don’t know if it will ever return.
Says the guy trying to ruin Jeffries and Schumer’s attempt at a shutdown. The same shutdown Garry begged democrats for. We’ve gone from “Be brave! Take risks!” to “haha look at these Democrat losers.”
Your messaging is all over the place. Calling your only allies “losers” because they aren’t conditioned to be snakes like the GOP is foolish. It’s schoolyard trash rhetoric that I expect only from MAGA.
There is nothing democrats can do to satiate you. You just bait and switch. It’s predictable and exhausting.
The only reason I stay subscribed to this channel is to hold your nonsense accountable. You are seriously out of touch with young Americans. Maybe posting another Charlie Kirk eulogy will help.
I keep hoping for an actual move. Shut down or not. Specifics on strategy, actual moves. The social media algorithims combined with politicians caustic rhetoric are killing democrats. Meantime the ignited masses cry for more. We are devolving. But it is not in the core nature of a democrat to be cruel. What is the move against a bully? I say shut down, general strike and go full on Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela. But people are dying and its going to get worse. So stop with the pie in the sky and let's get down to middle game and end game.
Trump and members of Project 2025, as well as the DIMs (Democrats), treat politics as a zero-sum game, seeking win-lose or lose-win positions. Reminds me of Greece's politics ,where they fight over percentage of the economic pie, without any realistic plan to increase the size of the pie.
Win-Win scenarios? Game theory is not some mysterious analytical tool, especially since A Beautiful Mind popularized Nash.
Well, that's the forest-for-the-trees. I don't teach anymore and didn't enjoy it when I did. As for DIMs rolling up their shirt sleeves and doing the real work necessary to offer an more attractive alternative, as Gary is suggesting, I don't see it. Evan Barker recently started a Substack site, and her analysis is grassroots and spot on. But she is a young female, so the DIM trolls such as Hillary Clinton and Barack/Michelle Obama and James Carville will never admit Evan is better than they are. Also, I find Sasha Stone's Substack enlightening, with many posts about the sociopaths and psychopaths that are forming a core within the DIM party.
Gary, you are certainly familiar with the repercussions of political assassinations, and I was US Navy Intel before getting my PhD, at a time when Putin was Soviet Navy Intel and in line to be the head of the KGB. No one trusts anything Putin says or does, but he played Trump so easily that The Donald has just woken up to Putin's tricks. So, can you accept that Netanyahu is Israel's Putin? Or are you a Zionist at heart, believing that there is a contract from God in the Ark of the Covenant that confirms Jews as God's chosen?
As an expert, I don't believe anything linking Tyler Robinson to the shooting, unless he was a lookout. Candace Owens and Roger Stone are alone in uncovering the truth. I knew the FBI and Utah police were lying when I saw a video showing the route to the roof. Never would there be a single shooter sitting for minutes in that sniper's nest because it is easily accessible by any one of the 45,000 students that attend Utah Valley State College. Here is the link and watch minutes 7:00 to 8:00. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/09/watch-independent-journalist-retraces-tyler-robinsons-exact-path/
Also, an enhanced video of the young man running across the roof and dropping to the ground reveals that person was not carrying a rifle.
Garry, read Paul Waldman’s substack from today. It explains the rhetorical traps you’ve fallen into.
Elections and Cheeto’s Interference
Mikie Sherrill the Democratic Congresswoman and gubernatorial candidate for New Jersey is now being attacked by Cheeto’s Nazi regime by releasing her military files to the public including private information of her parent’s address, Social Security number, and other discretionary material that should never be in the public sphere
Let’s be clear If Cheeto and his Nazi allies can go after a political opponent at a governor’s level then they will go after any American citizen who is a registered voter This is the reason that DOJ is after registered voter rolls in 9 Democratic states The vigilante challenge that came out of a Georgia experiment as reported by Greg Palast disenfranchised Georgia registered voters
Keep this in mind for future elections because the Nazis are coming after your legitimate voting status
President - or the perception of “leader of the free world”- extends
🎃's political longevity while killing
Democrats' credibility
That would likely better suit this essay (despite not reading it yet), because I REFUSE to accept that 🎃 is leading the charge in this well PLANNED CORRUPTION that the @RepublicanParty of 🇺🇸 has ALLOWED to occur as conducted by 🎃 himself, America!
Think about it… I’ve been trying to figure it out myself, and this long comment belongs on my social media feed rather than here.
🤭 Sorry author!
I’ll read your take and 🛑
You forgot perhaps the most important issue: translunacy. Dems digging the feet in on boys competing in girls' sports is utter suicide. Polls show it's almost 80-20 opposition, yet the Dems can't seem to understand the average person's view. Beyond the sports, the majority of folks are ill at ease with Bruce Jenner and the whole trans concept. Does "Bud Light" conjure up any thoughts on this topic? Dems need to back off on the new amorality and new-age religion. Why can't Dems recall Bill Clinton's Sister Souljah stance, or Barrack Obama's opposition to redefining marriage? Why can't they spell "moderate"?
Be real: Comey is charged with lying under oath, and the precipitating act is Andrew Weissman testifying that he did tell Comey about the leaks. Comey's FBI charged Mike Flynn and Martha Stewart with the same offense, which they paid a penalty. Saying Comey's indictment is a political stunt is lying to your readers. Please don't 'gaslight' your readers, be honest.
TrumpStein address mixed rhetorical, “The past administration — they did not treat you with respect. They’re Democrats. They never do.”