How to Lose in One Word The Liberal Backbone, Chapter 12

The new podcast episode / Liberal Backbone chapter is up.

My new song is live today: “Outside in the Rain” by The Desert Mothers. linktr.ee/desertmothers

My latest, up now at Substack and elsewhere. I’ll be talking about it at 2pm PT/5pm ET on WCPT Radio Chicago with Joan Esposito. Streams live and also appears on Joan’s podcast starting this evening.

The Iron Cage: The Liberal Backbone, Chapter 10 It's the alienation, stupid.

The new podcast episode/chapter is up.

The latest chapter of The Liberal Backbone is out now on the Dastardly Cleverness podcast, on YouTube, and at this Substack link: open.substack.com/pub/spencerc...

CEOs: “This is the Trump recession… Without faith that the government knows what is doing, it is impossible for businesses to thrive… He has surrounded himself with an incompetent cadre of yes men and women.”

That's better.

Trump’s Commerce Secretary just said seniors shouldn’t “call and complain” if they stop getting their Social Security checks: “A fraudster always makes the loudest noise screaming and complaining.”

Defending Enlightenment: The Liberal Backbone, Chapter 8 How did reason become controversial?

“Of all the potential causes of liberal confusion, few are more confusing than this: being reasonable has become controversial.”

Clip: The "Neo-Reactionary" Attack on Democracy: Joan Esposito Show, March 3, 2025 YouTube video by Dastardly Cleverness

They’re not shrinking the government, they’re destroying it: the Dark Enlightenment in the White House. Full interview: Joan Esposito podcast, Mar 3, 2025, starting at 1:41:43. Apple Podcasts link: youtu.be/Qg7yO1xiZnc?...

Trump: From Leader of the Free World to Junior Bad Guy. Full interview here: open.substack.com/pub/spencerc...

“Trump thinks that Putin is his friend. But in fact, Putin thinks Trump is an easy mark.” — former Trump admin National Security Advisor John Bolton to @nicollewallace.bsky.social today.

While Trump lied yet again about Russian election interference today, Marco Rubio sat feet away, silent as usual in his shame and dishonor. Rubio, in a statement as acting chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2020: “We found irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling.”

What’s the way forward for Democrats? I really enjoyed being interviewed by Bob Gatty — great questions and the all-important great follow-ups too.

On GPS: In defense of USAID | CNN Fareed takes up some of the Trump administration’s claims about USAID and debunks them, one by one.

The truth about USAID “fraud.”

Just watched, that was awesome.

The new chapter of my book-in-progress The Liberal Backbone is up: find it at Substack or on the Dastardly Cleverness podcast or YouTube channel. open.substack.com/pub/spencerc...

Trump's frequent betrayal of allies isn't just immoral, it's suicidally stupid. I shared some thoughts with India's NDTV network: x.com/NDTVWORLD/st...

Attacks on Catholics, Lutherans suggest new Trump approach on religion Allies of the president are leveling attacks on religious groups, including Catholics and Lutherans, and questioning their efforts to help migrants.

Trump stops hiding his hostility to Christian values — you know, the ones Jesus actually taught.

NDTV India: "The Last Word," Feb 7, 2025 YouTube video by Dastardly Cleverness

To pretend that Trump might not be a race-baiting demagogue requires us to pretend to be stupid — an important goal for a dictator. Some thoughts from a debate on an India’s NDTV about images of Indian deportees in shackles. youtu.be/jpXLwDqrBHs?...

Of Course Donald Trump Didn’t Enjoy Hearing a Truly Christian Message Exhortations for mercy are never easy for the powerful to accept.

Of Course Donald Trump Didn’t Enjoy Hearing a Truly Christian Message - The Atlantic www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Analysis | The GOP’s stunning response to Trump pardoning those who assaulted police Trump has worn his party down, and few events crystallize it like the GOP’s muted — and, in some cases, positive — response.

“The response from Republicans has been strikingly muted. And some are even giving Trump a nod of approval, a remarkable episode that shows how Trump gradually lures his party to vouch for the previously unthinkable.”

At first I thought people might possibly be overreacting in accusing AfD fan Elon Musk of actually making Nazi salutes. But then I saw them.

The inauguration of us Trump isn't who we are, we used to tell ourselves. But he is. Can we change?

Anand Giridharadas, echoing the equally brilliant Pogo: “The truth that was harder to accept was staring at us all along: This man was not alien to us, a foreign invader. He was us.” open.substack.com/pub/anandwri...

New at Substack: open.substack.com/pub/spencerc...

Why I'm quitting the Washington Post Democracy can't function without a free press

Brilliant cartoonist Ann Telnaes is quitting the Washington Post because the paper killed her cartoon about billionaires in tech and media kowtowing to Trump. Sadly, the Jeff Bezos-owned Post proved her point.
Support the media truth-tellers. Reject the media cowards.

Is Bezos, the world's second-richest man, afraid of a cartoonist?

Thanks for your comments!

New at Substack: first draft of Chapter 5 of The Liberal Backbone: From Marx to Theory to Wokeness. open.substack.com/pub/spencerc...

Reading the pardon coverage...I don't think the significance of the Gaetz/Patel/Bondi nominations has sunk in. People still aren't getting what a politicized DOJ and FBI, with the power to arrest/bug/harass anyone for any reason, would be able to do.