Mark Bagby
@mrclemens.bsky.social
Interested in … well, nearly everything. Retired journalist, award-winning photographer and filmmaker. Mark Twain aficionado. Film music enthusiast. Fitness practitioner. Moviegoer. Sometimes actor/singer in community theatre.
Reposted by Mark Bagby
the decades-long project to make sure nothing like Watergate can ever hurt a Republican president again is one of the most successful political projects ever enacted, to our everlasting detriment
The astonishing thing about Watergate, in contrast to today, is how the President was actually shamed into leaving office.
Imagine that: shame.
Imagine that: shame.
August 9, 2025 at 5:32 PM
the decades-long project to make sure nothing like Watergate can ever hurt a Republican president again is one of the most successful political projects ever enacted, to our everlasting detriment
Reposted by Mark Bagby
Trump doesn’t have policies so much as he has urges.
His constant chatter is a desperate plea that we keep him front of mind—and not his direct assaults on the democratic and constitutional order.
His constant chatter is a desperate plea that we keep him front of mind—and not his direct assaults on the democratic and constitutional order.
In 100 Days, Trump Has Invented Something New: Clown-Show Fascism
The Trump administration is a serious threat to democracy. They’re also laughably incompetent. But the result is no laughing matter.
newrepublic.com
April 29, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Trump doesn’t have policies so much as he has urges.
His constant chatter is a desperate plea that we keep him front of mind—and not his direct assaults on the democratic and constitutional order.
His constant chatter is a desperate plea that we keep him front of mind—and not his direct assaults on the democratic and constitutional order.
Reposted by Mark Bagby
He sat his dumb fat ass down in the Resolute and started jacking up tariffs like a crazy old demented actor not named Ronald Reagan. Republicans put our lives & well-being at risk — they ruined our economic & political standing in the world — to allow papaw one more ride around the park. I’m pissed.
April 29, 2025 at 7:02 PM
He sat his dumb fat ass down in the Resolute and started jacking up tariffs like a crazy old demented actor not named Ronald Reagan. Republicans put our lives & well-being at risk — they ruined our economic & political standing in the world — to allow papaw one more ride around the park. I’m pissed.
Reposted by Mark Bagby
"He keeps finding that it's the same as the rules of schools, that judges don't faithfully enforce the law when he pushes on them, and thus that laws are ultimately a fraud and a yoke that can be cast off if you have the courage." www.liberalcurrents.com/a-rich-kid-t...
A Rich Kid Taking It All the Way
Trump and his hangers-on create anew the organization of social affairs they've known since youth.
www.liberalcurrents.com
March 16, 2025 at 5:33 PM
"He keeps finding that it's the same as the rules of schools, that judges don't faithfully enforce the law when he pushes on them, and thus that laws are ultimately a fraud and a yoke that can be cast off if you have the courage." www.liberalcurrents.com/a-rich-kid-t...
Reposted by Mark Bagby
The irony of MAGA wanting to take over Canada and Greenland but can't handle being outside in the cold for a single day for Donald Trump's inauguration.
🤦♀️
🤦♀️
January 17, 2025 at 7:48 PM
The irony of MAGA wanting to take over Canada and Greenland but can't handle being outside in the cold for a single day for Donald Trump's inauguration.
🤦♀️
🤦♀️
Reposted by Mark Bagby
Moderate Neoliberal leaders are dropping like flies, leaving authoritarians in charge and subordinate moderates to normalize their brutality and grift.
This is the cycle and it’s only going to get worse until we demand actual representation through coalitions. Otherwise, it marches on.
This is the cycle and it’s only going to get worse until we demand actual representation through coalitions. Otherwise, it marches on.
January 6, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Moderate Neoliberal leaders are dropping like flies, leaving authoritarians in charge and subordinate moderates to normalize their brutality and grift.
This is the cycle and it’s only going to get worse until we demand actual representation through coalitions. Otherwise, it marches on.
This is the cycle and it’s only going to get worse until we demand actual representation through coalitions. Otherwise, it marches on.
Reposted by Mark Bagby
Everyone’s directing their hate at Garland today, but I’ve got enough rage go around. John Roberts and the corrupt Seditious Six can GFT. 🖕🤬
November 25, 2024 at 11:33 PM
Everyone’s directing their hate at Garland today, but I’ve got enough rage go around. John Roberts and the corrupt Seditious Six can GFT. 🖕🤬
Reposted by Mark Bagby
Reposted by Mark Bagby
No, one is above the law.
November 25, 2024 at 7:12 PM
No, one is above the law.
Helluva thread.
I’m saying it now with hopes that it sinks in: Donald Trump cannot take any oath of office until he is granted amnesty for breaking the last one he swore. That’s just straight up in the Constitution. 2/3 of each House. That’s the bar.
November 21, 2024 at 6:53 PM
Helluva thread.
Reposted by Mark Bagby
For the @nytimes.com I wrote about how Enough is Enough with the incumbent president and his cabinet of folly and let’s stop coddling Trump voters and be real clear-eyed about what lies ahead. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/o...
Opinion | Enough
To suggest we should yield even a little to Trump’s odious politics is unacceptable. Even if we did, it would never be enough.
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2024 at 2:13 PM
For the @nytimes.com I wrote about how Enough is Enough with the incumbent president and his cabinet of folly and let’s stop coddling Trump voters and be real clear-eyed about what lies ahead. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/o...
Reposted by Mark Bagby
NEW: The great Trump-Musk crackdown is coming. And it will hit hard & fast. Journalists will be first. But everyone else is next.
I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social
1/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social
1/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world | Carole Cadwalladr
In the wake of Trump’s unnerving appointees, the investigative journalist and veteran of the libel court offers pointers on coping in an age of surveillance
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2024 at 10:18 AM
NEW: The great Trump-Musk crackdown is coming. And it will hit hard & fast. Journalists will be first. But everyone else is next.
I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social
1/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social
1/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Mark Bagby
The power of a con artist is that they appear to be everything to everyone. People see what they want to buy from him, not what he’s actually selling. Added to the fact that government is complicated and they lead busy lives…why not believe that he can do what he says?
It’s utterly baffling, especially after we all spent four years watching Trump attempt to do pretty much all the awful things he said he’d do.
What the hell is this impulse to reject the obvious about what Trump is and what he’s going to try to do?
What the hell is this impulse to reject the obvious about what Trump is and what he’s going to try to do?
November 17, 2024 at 7:10 AM
The power of a con artist is that they appear to be everything to everyone. People see what they want to buy from him, not what he’s actually selling. Added to the fact that government is complicated and they lead busy lives…why not believe that he can do what he says?
Reposted by Mark Bagby
fascism is stopped when enough people say one of two things:
1) "nah, I'm not doing that"
2) "nah, you're not doing that"
a lot of people want to imagine how they'll say the second thing, but you should *really* start practicing the first one
1) "nah, I'm not doing that"
2) "nah, you're not doing that"
a lot of people want to imagine how they'll say the second thing, but you should *really* start practicing the first one
November 17, 2024 at 4:32 AM
fascism is stopped when enough people say one of two things:
1) "nah, I'm not doing that"
2) "nah, you're not doing that"
a lot of people want to imagine how they'll say the second thing, but you should *really* start practicing the first one
1) "nah, I'm not doing that"
2) "nah, you're not doing that"
a lot of people want to imagine how they'll say the second thing, but you should *really* start practicing the first one
Reposted by Mark Bagby
We should acknowledge that MAGA and Trump’s victory were enabled by internet platforms whose business models reward fear and outrage. Dems had 8 yrs after FB enabled Trump and never had a floor vote in either chamber on a single bill that could possibly have addressed the harms. 🧵1/x
November 16, 2024 at 7:18 PM
We should acknowledge that MAGA and Trump’s victory were enabled by internet platforms whose business models reward fear and outrage. Dems had 8 yrs after FB enabled Trump and never had a floor vote in either chamber on a single bill that could possibly have addressed the harms. 🧵1/x
Reposted by Mark Bagby
Assuming that there will be no rule of law, no checks or constraints of any kind, is a form of complying in advance.
Asserting that there _ought_ to be such things is a form of demanding them, and forcing their elimination to be seen as a rupture.
Asserting that there _ought_ to be such things is a form of demanding them, and forcing their elimination to be seen as a rupture.
November 15, 2024 at 2:25 PM
Assuming that there will be no rule of law, no checks or constraints of any kind, is a form of complying in advance.
Asserting that there _ought_ to be such things is a form of demanding them, and forcing their elimination to be seen as a rupture.
Asserting that there _ought_ to be such things is a form of demanding them, and forcing their elimination to be seen as a rupture.
Reposted by Mark Bagby
We have to move beyond tired notions of politics and grasp that unchecked capitalism has led to oligarchs co-opting our government in order to cement their control, line their pockets, demolish democracy, and crater our standard of living.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/the-oligar...
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/the-oligar...
The Oligarchical Order: A Bonus Audio From A Collapsing State
The United States has been co-opted by oligarchs hellbent on destroying democracy, lowering our standard of living, and delivering a new world order
jaredyatessexton.substack.com
November 14, 2024 at 8:03 PM
We have to move beyond tired notions of politics and grasp that unchecked capitalism has led to oligarchs co-opting our government in order to cement their control, line their pockets, demolish democracy, and crater our standard of living.
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/the-oligar...
jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/the-oligar...
Reposted by Mark Bagby
Listen. There will be less than no opposition from the political and media class. They will get in line even as the farce becomes undeniable.
You can either accept this and resign yourself to literal hell or you can use it as motivation to change things yourself. Those are the choices.
You can either accept this and resign yourself to literal hell or you can use it as motivation to change things yourself. Those are the choices.
November 13, 2024 at 9:02 PM
Listen. There will be less than no opposition from the political and media class. They will get in line even as the farce becomes undeniable.
You can either accept this and resign yourself to literal hell or you can use it as motivation to change things yourself. Those are the choices.
You can either accept this and resign yourself to literal hell or you can use it as motivation to change things yourself. Those are the choices.
After the maelstrom of the current iteration of Shitter, uh, former bird site, comes better weather. Blue skies and sunshine, indeed.
a black and white photo of a woman sitting in a wicker chair talking about the weather .
ALT: a black and white photo of a woman sitting in a wicker chair talking about the weather .
media.tenor.com
November 12, 2024 at 6:25 AM
After the maelstrom of the current iteration of Shitter, uh, former bird site, comes better weather. Blue skies and sunshine, indeed.