Bankrupting Yet Another Enterprise; Threatening Your Life August 11, 2025 Note to an old friend who says we Dems predicted all sorts of terrible things that never happened in Trump’s first term — and now we’re just doing it again: I have three favors to ask: 1. Just to get you in the mood for the second and third favor, please watch this 60-second video of protestors being beaten. This is Trump’s America. 2. Watch this Rachel Maddow segment — no matter how much you may dislike her – because I think it is profoundly important. 3. Read What A Soft Coup Looks Like at the end of yesterday’s post. I’m sure you’ll find things that seem exaggerated or unsubstantiated. But in the main, THIS IS REALLY WHAT’S HAPPENING. We have a very short time – and, I would argue, an obligation to the generations who fought and died for democracy and to the generations to come – to prevent it from playing out. Fascism never ends well. Recent headlines: > Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reposts video of pastors saying women shouldn’t vote > Trump Orders State Department to Overlook International Human Rights Abuses > Donald Trump Is Mostly a Crypto Billionaire Now, Group Says (He made an alleged fortune bankrupting businesses — and now a real one as he bankrupts the United States. Think about it: what does an enterprise need to succeed? Revenue! In the case of governments: tax revenue! Yet Trump has rammed through what he calls the biggest tax cuts in history — and simultaneously crippled the already undermanned agency tasked with collecting it. Like the CEO of a debt-ridden, money-losing company saying, “I have an idea, fellas! Let’s charge less for our services and not check to see whether we’re paid!” Since January 20, our credit rating has been cut and the value of the dollar has fallen more than the stock market has risen . . . but that’s okay — the bulk of Trump’s wealth is on crypto. And that’s risen sharply.) How RFK Jr. Mastered Fake Science—and Screwed Us in the Process He has perfected the art of undermining public confidence in vaccines by leaning on a tiny handful of fringe researchers and then sounding “sciencey”—throwing around bits of medical jargon—to give the impression he’s an expert himself. “This is what upsets me about him the most—and believe me, there are a lot of choices—but what upsets me most about him is that he couches his reasoning in scientific terms,” Paul Offit told me, “when he doesn’t know what he’s talking about at all.” Offit is one of the most widely respected, widely quoted vaccination experts on the planet. So in order to get a reality check on Kennedy’s rhetoric—and some perspective on his decision to pull mRNA funding—I asked him and a few of his peers to evaluate some of the key claims from last week’s HHS video. Here’s what they had to say. . . . You are welcome to read it all, of course. But the bottom line is that millions will die — possibly you yourself — because of the decisions he’s made and the research funding he’s cut off. Former Trump defense attorney Ty Cobb: He is worse than anyone in our history in my experience and opinion. . . . In case you don’t agree, take a minute to read it all? Join Indivisible. Support the opposition. Spread DIS-disinformation.