Hartmann Report

Back in 1938, a group of economists and philosophers met in Paris to consider how to save the world from itself.[iii] At the time, Mussolini, Hitler and Franco were turning their nations into fascist concentration camps while in Russia Stalin was killing millions of citizens he considered disloyal or unreliable, using everything from famine and gulags to firing squads. After those three European democracies had gone full fascist, and Russia had bypassed democracy altogether to embrace a tyrannical form of communism, the Paris delegates were understandably worried about the future of democratic governance both in Europe and around the world. And the rise of communism and fascism had impacted every one of their lives personally.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Trump seems to delight in the suffering and even deaths of others, a characteristic common among sociopathic dictators, so it shouldn't surprise us that he wants to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War. — Trump is preparing to hand Europe over to Russia if Putin decides to go for it. — "Weird Stephen" Miller, who Trevor Noah calls "Sméagol in a suit," is, according to The Washington Post, running Trump's militarized takeover of Washington DC. — Trump has some problems with his base; when James O'Keefe goes after you, look out. — CNN has uncovered audio of Bob Kennedy describing Trump supporters as "belligerent idiots," "outright Nazis," "cowards," and "bootlickers," while also comparing Trump to Adolf Hitler. — A Democrat introduces a bill to eliminate taxes on social security. Didn't Trump promise that? What will the GOP do now? — We're the only developed country in the world where we've handed our nation's healthcare off to massive for-profit corporations, and, wow, are they ever raking it in! — The economy continues to slide toward recession as Trump's tariff taxes bite and his attacks on the Fed cause the rest of the world to move away from US investments. — NATO's chief is warning that China and Russia are preparing for a "long-term confrontation." — Republicans are pushing a gun ban to create a national registry of Trans people they can harass and perhaps one day imprison. — Trump's newest nominee, the guy who he wants to take over the Bureau of Labor Statistics (because he fired the previous director for telling the truth about unemployment) turns out to behave like a racist, sexist bigot. — Hunters in a Farmer's World: Where are ADHD Traits Not Just Useful, but Essential? — Wisdom School: Should Lithium Become Part of the Standard Toolkit Against Alzheimer's?

By protecting him from accountability, the Court gave him power to end lives at will — and he’s wasting no time using it… When the Court says Trump is above the law, who speaks for the eleven dead on that boat? Their lives ended not in a battlefield crossfire or a clash between nations, but at the whim of one man emboldened by six justices who declared him untouchable. Trump simply ordered human beings erased, confident the Court had given him immunity from any consequence and the leaders of his military would obey an illegal order. Eleven souls were sacrificed not just to his cruelty, but to a judicial betrayal that transformed the presidency into a license to kill.

Trump's fear of exposure, his criminal past, and the GOP's refusal to stand up to him are unraveling 249 years of hard-won democratic progress… Could Trump's weakness and the GOP's cowardice mean the end of democracy around the world? Could Trump's apparent participation in the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell be the proverbial horseshoe nail that brings down majority rule and representative government worldwide? The world's first modern major confrontation between authoritarianism (in this case, a kingdom) and democracy was the American Revolution in 1776. Outside of tribal societies, democracy had been largely dormant all over the world for the previous two thousand years, but we installed an early version of liberal democracy here in 1789. Our first president, George Washington, not only fought the fascist forces of King George, but he was also a fanatic proponent of democracy itself, to the point that he refused to serve a third term in office so as not to set a "king-like" precedent. But 80 years later, America faced her second major confrontation with fascists who wanted to end our democracy and replace it with a strongman autocracy.

Voters don't rally behind policy papers: they rally behind leaders they can see and believe in. Democrats must end the era of weak, divided messaging and rise with a chorus of commanding voices… Illinois Governor JB Pritzker isn't pulling any punches. Yesterday, he gave a speech calling out Trump's and Miller's fascist cosplay, their lies and distortions, and predicting federal troops will soon be on the streets of Chicago. He came right out and said Trump is doing all this for his own wealth and power.

Machiavelli warned us. Bodin defined it. Brzezinski studied it. And now, Trump is dragging America into it... America is at risk of abandoning its founding principle of government, "by and for the people," in favor of a system older than democracy itself: rule by one man. Pretty much everybody understands that the United States and the old Soviet Union both had governments based on ideology or principle. The main notion of the US was expressed in the Declaration of Independence and has guided us toward what Lincoln called "a more perfect union" for 249 years.

If we let Bob Kennedy, MAHA madness, and his billionaire patrons redefine America as a place where only the strong survive, we will lose not just our health but our souls. Former Republican strategist and operative Rick Wilson called out Bob Kennedy as a "heroin addict, sex addict, anti-vaccination lunatic and aspiring architect of millions of deaths" who's dedicated to replacing real scientists with "radical eugenicists." And why would Kennedy be doing this?

Milton Friedman’s feet didn’t touch the floor. This was the University of Chicago 1975 and Prof. Friedman was God. God sat in a chair, the little man’s feet dangling, as he humiliated students who deviated in the slightest from the Gospel of Friedman, what he dubbed, "Neoliberalism." I kept my head down. Friedman didn’t know I was sent to study with him and his Chicago Boys by the city’s labor leadership. They wanted to know if this Friedman was as dangerous as he seemed. Friedman was the not-so-hidden hand behind the new dictatorship of Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet liked to throw dissenters out of helicopters, whatever it took to create what Friedman called, “The Miracle of Chile,” a radical right-wing makeover of the nation’s economy. Bless Thom Hartmann for exposing the neo-lib Genesis story, the “Miracle” in Chile was a con. Hartmann notes that Chile’s economy went into free fall under the Chicago Boys’ regime; unemployment hit 30%.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — The Appeals Court for the Federal District just ruled 7-4 that when the Constitution says only Congress can impose tariffs, it means exactly that. — Trump's fascist plan to militarize Blue cities to intimidate voters and flip states Red in the 2026 and 2028 elections takes clearer shape. — Trump's plan to destroy Medicare goes into effect. — Russia threatens to march on Paris. — We need fighters like FDR, not someone to send another "strongly worded letter." — If the Atlantic current collapses, Europe will descend into famine and chaos. — Trump is offering $5000 checks to voters who go GOP. — Crazy Alert! Bob Kennedy thinks kids should again be able to bring guns to school? — Geeky Science: Chinese company files a patent for a battery that will take a car 1800 miles on a single charge and can be recharged in 5 minutes or less.

Mamie Till did it in 1955. One grieving mother will do it again, and the gun industry will never recover… Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the brutal murder of Emmett Till. The day also brought us another mass school shooting, this time in Minneapolis with two children dead and 17 others in the hospital. There are lessons we must learn from both, as I'll lay out in a moment.