Sunday thought - The tide may be turning Robert Reich - Jun 1
Posted by Sia on June 4, 2025, 1:30 pm ADMIN
Sunday thought - The tide may be turning
Robert Reich - Jun 1
Friends,
It’s easy to be depressed, discouraged, dumbfounded by the cruelty and brainlessness of Trump and the people around him.
But today I want to celebrate what may be a turn in the Trump tide.
Elon Musk had to exit Trump world not because he couldn’t continue as a special government employee (there are a hundred ways around this), but because most Americans have become infuriated with Musk’s attacks on things they value, like veterans benefits and Social Security. Musk had become a huge political liability.
I call this progress.
Musk also had to leave because Tesla was tanking, partly thanks to you and so many others who wouldn’t be caught dead in a Tesla after what Musk has done.
I call this progress, too.
The nation’s major trade court has found that Trump doesn’t have authority to impose tariffs (i.e. taxes) on American consumers. Although a court of appeals has temporarily paused the ruling, it makes mincemeat out of Trump’s attempts to “negotiate” tariffs with other nations. Why negotiate when Trump may well lose his authority?
More progress.
And Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” — which, if enacted, would be the largest redistribution of income in American history, from the poor and working class to the rich and ruling class — is bogged down in the Senate.
Republican senators are finding it impossible to accomplish three things simultaneously: protect Medicaid, deliver a huge tax cut mainly to the rich, and prevent the budget deficit and national debt from exploding. Two of the three are possible, but not all three. (Even Musk understands this.)
Which means the bill’s chances of survival are plummeting. And its poison pill to render the courts powerless to enforce orders may never see the light of day.
Even more progress. .
Trump’s polls are plummeting. The vast majority of Americans are rejecting him.
When I say the tide is turning, I don’t mean we’re out of danger. As we know only too well, Trump gets even wilder and crueler when he feels cornered — and he’s capable of just about anything.
And his main henchmen — Stephen Miller, Russell Vought, and JD Vance — are as ruthless and authoritarian as he is.
We still have our work cut out for us. We must continue to be vigilant and courageous. We must stand up to his neo-fascism and call out those who are unwilling to do so.
We must continue to protect the vulnerable — including people in our community exposed to Trump’s dragnet, and judges whose lives are being threatened because of Trump’s vicious rhetoric.
We cannot relax.
But at least we can breathe a bit easier today. The forces of sanity, decency and the rule of law are pushing back.
Be safe. Be careful. Hug your loved ones. We will prevail.
I have seen tides come in and go out. For small boats it makes a difference whether you step onto the thing, or jump into it. For larger ships it changes angle of the gangplank a little.
Bay of Fundy tides rise and fall by 50 feet. If the tide doesn't kill you, the fall will.
I saw a tide come in and turn a dead whale. Don't know if its name was Robert Reich. I don't know if Robert Reich is a whale either. I suppose there could be a whale somewhere named Robert Reich. But the fact the tide turned him suggests he was at sea, and that's natural for whales. Especially dead ones on the beach.
The Eel River makes a bend just before it flows into the Pacific Ocean. When a tide surges up the Eel, at the bend it turns direction. The tide turns there twice a day.
I bought a box of Tide once. Very large box, and took forever to use it. Before I used it all, it turned hard. Don't know how long that took, but safe to say the Tide was turning while it was in the box. Pity Tide didn't sponsor As the World Turns. A detergent sponsoring a soap opera is priceless. Could have capitalized on a whole ad campain based on As the Tide Turns.
Dottir would call this dad humor. Beloved would walk away wringing hands a little, possibly muttering a few comments I best never hear. Except I do, and the result is stories like this. It is encouraging.
There was a Tide on WKRP when Johnny Fever was contracted to MC a disco dance show called "Gotta Dance" The Tide turned. Sometimes he turned around, and sometimes he either turned people on or off. You can look away from a painting, but you can't listen away from a symphony
Ha! Hey, I've been to The Bay of Fundy! Highest, fastest tides in the world! We were out
hunting for semi precious rocks and stones (rockhounding) with our parents when my Dad's watch timer went off. He told us to RUN! We ran as fast as we could back to the rocky beach to scramble up the steep stairs to high ground. The water was chasing us faster than we could escape it, but we kept our heads above water at least. That water rushed in to completely obliterate the entire beach and rose up at least 50 feet in short order!
We were so sad that we had to leave behind so much of our day's work knowing it would go back out with the low tide again, way too far to get it again.
on June 4, 2025, 1:30 pm
