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We've been here two weeks. Both full of cold and cough so off to a slow start. We did visit Lumphini last Sunday afternoon. Very enjoyable. QS is a bit tired but the location is perfect. 

You may have indirectly answered your own question, @lookin What US President actually has been honest?  "Honest Abe" comes to mind.   And Jimmy Carter.  Which did not work out great for Democrats. Two of the three people you mentioned were historically transformative leaders.  Arguably more important than many or even most elected Presidents or Prime Ministers.  That may be where the action is.   For all his flaws, Trump is the leader of a massive right-wing populist movement.  What might have happened if Bernie had been elected instead, ushering in left-wing populism?   Back in Trump 1.0 I somewhat arrogantly described Trump as the leader of a "failed peasant's revolt."  And by failure I was not talking about Trump.  I was talking about the peasants.  And I was mostly right.  There were plenty of news articles in 2020 about how these American shit holes in the Rust Belt that were bad in 2016 were actually worse off after four years of Trump.  So far, once again, Trump 2.0 has given us massive tax cuts to the rich and even more enormous deficits.  What did the peasants get?  Let them eat cake.   Well, okay, let them eat no taxes on tips. I'd be looking less for a new partisan leader, and more for a successful peasant's revolt.  There are words for these things.  The New Deal.  The Great Society.  The Civil Rights Movement.  The War On Poverty.  Led by the kind of guys you mentioned. I remember reading some post from a Sandernista several years back, when Biden was POTUS, basically saying all hope is lost.  Her point was that 2016 and the Sanders insurgency was the one chance a New Deal-like populist movement had.  And we didn't need Trump to crush it.  The Democratic Establishment crushed it before it could even get to Trump, she argued.  There's some truth to that.  How's that for honesty and integrity on the part of Democrats? But I think that prediction will be wrong, in the long run.  2024 was a hot mess where Trump barely squeezed in in part because young Zoomers really had no leader.  Trump went on some podcasts.  And Joe Rogan proved he is a gadfly.  And that was about it.  Zoomers were pissed and Trump was the least bad option for many of them.    Hey, it was at least worth a try.  When he fucked up his first term they didn't even have pubic hair yet.  Can you blame them? My guess is it may take a real crisis to get you and me what we want.  Arguably, The Great Recession was that crisis, and Obama was that leader.  As my conservative nephew likes to say, that apparently did not solve the problem.    So who knows.  I sure don't.  But history may figure it out for us.

Yesterday I went to a Stop Ice rally and learned a few things.  I stopped by the DSA table and asked them about Mamdani's need to raise campaign funds for the New York mayoral race and how he squared it with removing money from politics.  They said he got his money from lots of small donors and that set him apart.  I don't know who would donate to Jack Smith's campaign besides me.  And I don't know if anyone could get elected President without spending a lot of money. I also learned from someone at the Green Party table that my Representative had voted for a bill to provide weapons that ended up killing Palestinian civilians.  Another person reminded me of the importance of staying connected with my Representative.  I've called once, went to a couple town halls and sent a few checks.  The person told me that the other side is calling his office, so I'll plan to do more of that. Democracy seems like such a simple concept.  Until ill-intentioned folks get their hands on it and turn it on its head.

Bezos has become a trump suck ass. I canceled my subscription to the Washington Post over the shit he pulled on it sucking up to Trump.

I like Jack Smith.  From the beginning, he impressed me as a no-nonsense, effective prosecutor. He would bring integrity, no matter what the MAGA playbook claims about him. Would he choose that path, to run for office? Perhaps he could serve as AG under the next term, if not special prosecutor for Trump administration crimes. But after dealing with the current judicial system, e.g. Aileen Cannon, and also the Gavel Gang at SCOTUS, one might not blame Jack Smith if he washes his hands of the US political system.