137 Comments

Goldfinches are wonderful! So glad that you are enjoying them.

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Talk about "stolen valor" ... these pictures of Trump as if he is in uniform. As if he is defending his country instead of being a whiny baby who used bone spurs as his way out of Vietnam. What a disgrace to consider him for President. I don't understand anyone who actually served as in our military and took an oath to preserve the Union - would follow someone who is disgusted by their service. I want to have this coward crushed in December - Kamala and Walz are going to change the trajectory of our nation for the good.

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What a laugh. Such a travesty of integrity. We are not going back!!!

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Can’t wait to read what your writing for what happens after the election. I’m thinking it’s going to be a real shit show with the Maga’s, Trump and who knows what else.

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There’s a huge gap between ‘winning an election’ and ‘keeping an election victory’. It’s something your estimable colleague Prof Nichols still can’t get his head around. All you need to do is vote he says. Well, no. You need way more than that. You need a bold plan after victory to arrest any election delayers. An election delayed is an election denied.

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Great post Charlie.

I've been wondering where Trump's helicopter near-death experience came from. I thought he might be channeling Hillary or Brian Williams. Good to know there is at least a crumb of truth to it. But I loved the "we all look alike" line. That made me laugh out loud.

I really am getting tired though of the media focusing on crowd size. To Hell with crowd size, let's fry this dipshit on his policies. If he tries to bring up anything else, walk away from him. He'll be left with Fox, Newsmax and Sinclair. All media outlets he already controls.

I want to know about health care and not his BS "I'm going to give you the BEST health care" that he tried to pawn off back in 2016. I want a concrete plan, not BS slogans. He was President and he had control of Congress for two freaking years and all the guy could do was give billionaires tax cuts.

I also want him to explain Agenda 47 in its entirety. Quiz him daily on it and make him flesh it out. It contains lots and lots of ideas, but hardly anything specific. Never mind the fact that it is an opportunity to let him totally bollox things up and say something wrong.

I also want him to explain why he refused to allow James Langford's immigration bill to get a vote? I think we all know the answer, but I want him to say it and admit he doesn't want to fix problems because if he does that, he and MAGA will have nothing to complain about.

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Surely no political analyst here, but I can’t help but perceive that the “turning of the page,“ is a real thing. People seem to be exhausted to the point of despair with Trump and his all encompassing meanness, his thoroughly corrupt character, and the insulation that his cult followers wrap around him against any kind of accountability or consequences. I have felt like one of the shorn, gray, despairing inmates in the “1984” Apple ad. Yet here comes Kamala the Liberator, with her velvet hammer in the form of an avuncular midwestern guy. Charlie, I honestly think she could walk away with this thing if she keeps on message, retains her confidence about tacking towards the center, and prosecutes the case against this parenthetical man. After all we’ve been through, I know I may be wishcasting. But that’s the way I feel right now, because that feeling is all around me.

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Aug 12Liked by Charlie Sykes

Thank you, Charlie! Always appreciate your humor and the dog photos.

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Aug 12Liked by Charlie Sykes

I live in Trump country and I’ve been reluctant to admit my support for an 81 year old man. Now that Kamala is the nominee (mind you I am not a democrat) I will shout it from the mountain “I accept the assignment”.

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How many like you,where you live? Surely,very few.

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Is it irrational to feel hope? I keep thinking of a scene in that animated Christmas special, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, where the reign of the Burgermeister Meisterburger finally ends, and a torn poster of his face flaps in the breeze.

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It strikes me that Kamala’s campaign has actually permitted and encouraged non-Trumpers to shout out loud that we love America and we believe in America. It’s about time that MAGA nation is confronted with the truth that the rest of us are American patriots who love our country and democracy and freedom. Thank you Charlie, for all that you do and for your sage and reasoned observations.

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The photo shopped pic putting draft dodger donOld on the face of an actual hero is vomit inducing!!!!! I hope the photo owner and Celine dion both sue his a** ! He is beneath pond scum.

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He aspires to be pond scum. He couldn’t even welcome the Russian hostages back to America. He likes people who don’t get captured.

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I shouldn't laugh....but I'm afraid I did, a little.

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Thanks for this Charlie. I know I felt absolutely miserable with TFG hogging the headlines since the beginning of the year. I kept taking 1 day a week off social media. But things changed.

7/20 my precious ESA/purrimedic that comforted me when my pain levels were really bad and got depressed and worried about TFG winning again was really sick. Tests confirmed on 7/22 she had inoperable cancer at age 10 but it was like a new day of a different feel. I wasn’t depressed but felt like I would make it without her. We spent 18 extra days of joy, cuddles, chats but no depression from politics! I was better able to handle the situation of hospice care without the dread of looming utter defeat that TFG was gonna kill us all that opposed him. Harley Girl and I enjoyed watching Harris take over the nomination, dominate the news with being a “joyful warrior”, the memes were sofa king great and I laughed more over my tears of love and Harley purred more which kept up her fighting spirit. She even picked her replacement at an overly full humane society way up in the mountains (she knew I hated driving up narrow mountain roads). Walz was picked on Tuesday, she and I were happy but Harley’s body said different later that night. The next day I let her frail body go, she purred till the end.

I tell you this as much as we don’t realize how those of us fighting to keep a horrible human from taking power can really affect our daily lives. He’s been a cancer on the world since 2015 with his constant negativity, doom, gloom, attention hog with a God complex, wearing Americans down to the point that we would just give up so he’ll shut up.

Harris/Walz offers change for the good of all! No more going back to a time when women’s and minorities rights were limited, bigger opportunities and a chance for a person that’s not rich to become anything they want. Obama offered Hope, Biden gave us Soul but Harris is giving us Change which is much bigger than what TFG gave us which was Gloom.

To finish the story, after I left the vet I made that 30 mile trip up in the mountains where I had never ventured yet after moving here. The shelter was packed full of dogs (109) and cats (149) with most being kittens. Izzy was born on the same date as my cat Furby that trained Harley 4/30. It’s the first cat she picked, another calico. She will be spayed sometime this week provided they get rid of her kitty cold (Harley also had one when I got her) and I will make the second trip to Toccoa to retrieve my baby.

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My heart goes out to you in your loss of your precious Harley. It’s so hard to make that decision, especially when you’re suffering yourself; one more loss. I’m glad you have Izzy and I hope she’s a joy to you. Cats in shelters often have “kennel cough”, an upper respiratory infection. With antibiotics she’ll be fine. Wishing all blessings to you. 💕

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I applaud your strength in your heartache. Harley was loved. Sadly not all loving pets are. You were blessings to each other. What's the baby's name?

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I have been a paid subscriber for 2 weeks now. All you guys in the Bulwark make me happy and RELIEVED. I feel that Charlie Sykes is always wise and that your inner self is never touched by the grotesque happenings you must report on. What is happening now feels just like what happened when Obama won. I've lived in Chicago all my life and the night that McCain so graciously conceded I was close to tears watching our guy beam with joy and hope and humility as he accepted. My younger brother was IN Grant Park but I was happy to watch it on TV. And now seeing Kamala and Tim waving and smiling I feel some of the same. Thank you Mr. Sykes and Tim Miller and the rest of the crew I'm just learning about now.

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Certainly not the first to say it, hopefully not the last, but ... DJT's heart just doesn't seem to be in this thing. All of his movements and gestures and words feel like he is going through the motions, reprising all the same schlock but at a lower energy level and with no latent enthusiasm, whereas HarrisWalz looks and acts like two people who genuinely want the jobs and enjoy the work involved in making it happen.

He may still win the election, through the sheer inertia of his rabid followers and enough anti-liberals on the middle right to carry his corpulent frame over the goal line. But with each passing day it seems more and more like DJT and the movement want all the results, but for little to none of the effort, while the Dems are willing to work for it. The lack of spirit is a tell, and people pick up on those things pretty quickly. I'd love to see someone in the media ask him directly if he still would be running for President if he were not facing criminal charges and seeking to dismiss the federal cases if he wins. If he appears so unenthusiastic about doing the job at this stage, how much effort do you think he will expend if he actually gets back in again?

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My theory is that he's deteriorating at a more rapid pace. Whether it is rapid enough to completely collapse before the election, I have no idea, but I entertain it as a possibility.

I'd also offer this free advice to the Harris campaign: For the debate, hold some stuff in reserve for after the first 20 minutes. He faded last time against Biden, he'll likely do it again. I'd also perhaps plan some, "I'd like to go back to what you were saying earlier." moments. Test that fabulous memory.

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THANK YOU 😁

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