Please forgive the interruption but this is the only way I can reach David. I am an experienced organizer and I have a permit for a protest at Lafayette Park in front of the White House on Sunday 10/12 from 10A to 6P. I would ask you to adopt this as your own. It is called the Internet's October Surprise and it is an attempt to get the powerful anti-Trump community online to step out into the world, to see each other and make a noise that everyone in the White House will hear. If I can get an e-mail address for any of you I can send the actual invitation. More info at https://torpedotrump.com/surprise. In all cultures and all epochs the way tyrants are toppled is by people showing up in the capital with their bodies to demand change. Nothing else has ever worked. Please help me with this. David Lytel david@torpedotrump.com
You seem pretty convinced as to what the media got wrong. My question is how do you know?
You say stories about his political orientation are wrong. How do you know this?
You say his political leanings would be towards the more extreme elements of the right. How can you possibly know this based on the sparse information we’ve received so far? You say the media got the facts wrong. How do we even know what the facts are? Everyone is entitled to their opinions but declaring you know what the facts are seems a bit irresponsible.
David, you have provided the best, most thoughtful response to the situation we face with the hostile, uninformed reaction to the single-shooter incident of the murder of Charley Kirk I have seen. The hysterical rightwing immediate reactions and interpretation (especially by our presumptive president) magnify the problem (rather than calming our nerves as would befit his office), only adds fuel to the fire and deflects attention from the actual problem.
Since the whole world seems to be caught up in the panic-and-attack mode on one hand or denial mode (alternate-reality) on the other, it deserves a larger frame. I think the amygdala-hijack problem has to do with a felt-but-not-acknowledged sense of existential threat. I see it as similar to the shell-shock reaction after World War I. I’ll take it from there in my own post (“Living through Flux”) since this is getting too long. Again, thank you for your sanity!
There's been rampant political violence since inauguration day. Almost all of it is political violence inflicted by the elites on the working class. It looks like masked paramilitary ICE agents violently arresting immigrants and citizens alike, jailing and deporting them without due process. It looks like the continued funding and political support for the genocide and famine in Gaza. It looks like the extortion of students, colleges, and universities over students protesting the genocide in Gaza. It looks like cutting healthcare payments, medical research, and treatments such as vaccines, all of which harm vulnerable people. It looks like the military occupation of cities run by black mayors under the guise of fighting crime. It looks like the criminalization of the houseless, the scapegoating of the mentally ill, and the dehumanization of LGBTQ people. It looks like attacks on our free and fair elections through gerrymandering and voter suppression. All of this political violence is part the Trump/MAGA/Project 2025 agenda, fully supported by tech billionaires. The media doesn't denounce any of this political violence, because the victims aren't elites.
We need to stop referring to our legacy media aka "the media" they are the state media propagandists vs the new peoples media which can be found here on Substack.com or podcasts and the like. Society must reframe who and what our media is and who we ought to listen to or not listen to.
I read in many places about "political divide". But that assumes two different but equally reasonable viewpoints. Fascism, white supremacy, violence from the RW; none of that is objectively a reasonable alternative viewpoint. Why do people play it up like it is?
The bigger problem (I know, it’s hard to believe there is a bigger problem) is how do you get this “truth” out to the general public. FUX news won’t report it. Major media is too afraid. How do you get this reality out to the maga nuts? (Sounds like a candy bar)
Good question, richard: "how do you get this 'truth' out to the general public.” I've been of two minds about it. I go back and forth between attacking Trump/MAGA hoping that my criticism (and that of many others who are more adept at it than I am) will eventually sink in and possibly help get the truth out to them and the general public OR holding back because attacking might be counter-productive in that I’m just adding my anger and criticism to an already-vitriolic public conversation.
I like David Rothkopf’s critiques because they are so well written and effective (he’s one of the "others who are more adept at it than I am") so I’m in the midst of a long period of attacking Trump/MAGA. That, for now, feels right.
I always seek David's take on things. He is one of the few thought leaders who dares to have a grip on reality. Last week, I was deeply bothered by the willingness of "elite"pundits to look leftward at the news of Kirk's shooting, ignoring FACTS that indicate that these kinds of assassinations (and attempts) as well as mass shootings largely come from folks who lean right and are steeped in gun culture. A fact that should curtail any rush to judgement.
I was embarrassed by the press and even some "liberals" making Kirk a martyr by saying he was a champion of free speech. The truth is he was a recipient of free speech who spent time trying to destroy speech for the vulnerable. That doesn't justify anybody's murder. I did not follow Kirk and the times I noticed any references to him, his statements were vile, period. But, he had the right of free speech and he used it, but did not champion it. It was performance speech.
I can't figure why pundits find their explanation of what's going wrong with this country with the left. Is it that the right is so insane, so crazy, so upside down, it's useless to get comment from them, to scrutinize, to debate them? So to get some reasonable, sane, uncrazed reaction, go to the "intellectuals" on the left who still have ability for empathy and make them explain and even answer for this. And worse, those in the center (the former Republicans and Never Trumpers, except for Dowd), call on those more left to answer for something they didn't do. And maybe even worse, the "liberals" respond wringing their hands as if they are responsible for the mayhem.
The right says it's your identity politics, your open borders, your endless cases of voter fraud (all not proven) that make us mean, vile and crazy. It's that Antifa group all over the place (crickets at push back). And the pundits (David not included) embellish the craziness. To even entertain a discussion that this horrible occurrence results from the left is punditry and journalism malpractice. The Right wing has gone crazy and should be reported as so.
Very insightful and all too true commentary. We have a President that thinks only Republicans judges can be fair and that all Democrats are "lunatic leftists". He cavalierly dismisses half of his fellow countrymen as lunatics and to make matters worse uses his own social media platform to spread lies and express his personal pathologies. If that's not enough his ex- best buddy and current enemy (frenemy?) does the same. I get the distinct impression that neither of them can even define what " the Left" actually is except people they disagree with. Makes me recall that Dylan song " Idiot Wind".
Speech doesn’t exist in a vacuum, detached from emotion, identity, and consequence. That’s not how humans work.
Language shapes behavior. We internalize it, react to it, and often act on it. Dehumanizing speech doesn’t just float in the ether, it embeds itself in culture, policy, and relationships. It primes people to see others as threats, as less-than, as disposable. That’s not theoretical; it’s observable across history and psychology.
Violence rarely erupts spontaneously. It’s cultivated through repetition, normalization, and rhetoric that numbs empathy and inflames fear. Words don’t pull triggers, but they can load the gun.
To dismiss the power of language is to misunderstand the architecture of human behavior. We don’t just act, we narrate, justify, and rehearse our actions through speech. That’s why words matter. That’s why they can wound, and why they must warn.
And if this provokes a response, especially one that insists speech is harmless, it only proves the point. Words move people. That’s why they matter. That’s why they must be used with care.
Beautifully said, and I’d add this: language doesn’t just reflect bias, it codifies permission. The words we normalize become scaffolding for exclusion, policy, and violence.
Encouraging mindful language starts with disrupting that scaffolding. Not by policing tone, but by interrogating intent:
• Who benefits from this phrasing?
• What does it make permissible?
• What does it erase?
In my work, I try to strip language down to its operating system…not just what it says, but what it enables. Because when words become weapons, silence isn’t neutrality.
I agree completely, and thank you for posting this. As an aside, on my way to and from work, I pass a large polo field, hosting international competitions. The roadside fence has flags of all of the countries, including the US, posted along the fence. Yesterday morning, the US flag was at half mast (glaringly inappropriately, IMHO). Yesterday evening, ALL of the international flags were also at half mast, and they were having some big event. Unbelievable! I am rapidly losing hope that this nation will survive this.
David, impressed you are not exhausted. We have so much work ahead of us. I will elaborate later. David, my one observation is folks don’t really understand how tightly woven Trump, Kirk and the rest are using “religion”as their shield for the largest political power grab in our history. It is what makes Kirk’s assassination such an opportune time to jump the shark. It’s fueling Trump & MAGA. They now believe the dye has been cast and they will act on it using every lever of power. It’s coming a mile a minute now. They seem fine to let foreign events play themselves out without us. No one connects the dots better than you and IMO it’s one script in several acts. Thanks
Please forgive the interruption but this is the only way I can reach David. I am an experienced organizer and I have a permit for a protest at Lafayette Park in front of the White House on Sunday 10/12 from 10A to 6P. I would ask you to adopt this as your own. It is called the Internet's October Surprise and it is an attempt to get the powerful anti-Trump community online to step out into the world, to see each other and make a noise that everyone in the White House will hear. If I can get an e-mail address for any of you I can send the actual invitation. More info at https://torpedotrump.com/surprise. In all cultures and all epochs the way tyrants are toppled is by people showing up in the capital with their bodies to demand change. Nothing else has ever worked. Please help me with this. David Lytel david@torpedotrump.com
You seem pretty convinced as to what the media got wrong. My question is how do you know?
You say stories about his political orientation are wrong. How do you know this?
You say his political leanings would be towards the more extreme elements of the right. How can you possibly know this based on the sparse information we’ve received so far? You say the media got the facts wrong. How do we even know what the facts are? Everyone is entitled to their opinions but declaring you know what the facts are seems a bit irresponsible.
David, you have provided the best, most thoughtful response to the situation we face with the hostile, uninformed reaction to the single-shooter incident of the murder of Charley Kirk I have seen. The hysterical rightwing immediate reactions and interpretation (especially by our presumptive president) magnify the problem (rather than calming our nerves as would befit his office), only adds fuel to the fire and deflects attention from the actual problem.
Since the whole world seems to be caught up in the panic-and-attack mode on one hand or denial mode (alternate-reality) on the other, it deserves a larger frame. I think the amygdala-hijack problem has to do with a felt-but-not-acknowledged sense of existential threat. I see it as similar to the shell-shock reaction after World War I. I’ll take it from there in my own post (“Living through Flux”) since this is getting too long. Again, thank you for your sanity!
There's been rampant political violence since inauguration day. Almost all of it is political violence inflicted by the elites on the working class. It looks like masked paramilitary ICE agents violently arresting immigrants and citizens alike, jailing and deporting them without due process. It looks like the continued funding and political support for the genocide and famine in Gaza. It looks like the extortion of students, colleges, and universities over students protesting the genocide in Gaza. It looks like cutting healthcare payments, medical research, and treatments such as vaccines, all of which harm vulnerable people. It looks like the military occupation of cities run by black mayors under the guise of fighting crime. It looks like the criminalization of the houseless, the scapegoating of the mentally ill, and the dehumanization of LGBTQ people. It looks like attacks on our free and fair elections through gerrymandering and voter suppression. All of this political violence is part the Trump/MAGA/Project 2025 agenda, fully supported by tech billionaires. The media doesn't denounce any of this political violence, because the victims aren't elites.
We need to stop referring to our legacy media aka "the media" they are the state media propagandists vs the new peoples media which can be found here on Substack.com or podcasts and the like. Society must reframe who and what our media is and who we ought to listen to or not listen to.
Perceptive and, in my opinion, correct! Thank you 🙏.
I read in many places about "political divide". But that assumes two different but equally reasonable viewpoints. Fascism, white supremacy, violence from the RW; none of that is objectively a reasonable alternative viewpoint. Why do people play it up like it is?
The bigger problem (I know, it’s hard to believe there is a bigger problem) is how do you get this “truth” out to the general public. FUX news won’t report it. Major media is too afraid. How do you get this reality out to the maga nuts? (Sounds like a candy bar)
Good question, richard: "how do you get this 'truth' out to the general public.” I've been of two minds about it. I go back and forth between attacking Trump/MAGA hoping that my criticism (and that of many others who are more adept at it than I am) will eventually sink in and possibly help get the truth out to them and the general public OR holding back because attacking might be counter-productive in that I’m just adding my anger and criticism to an already-vitriolic public conversation.
I like David Rothkopf’s critiques because they are so well written and effective (he’s one of the "others who are more adept at it than I am") so I’m in the midst of a long period of attacking Trump/MAGA. That, for now, feels right.
We have a cannibal king and all of his cooks are seeking to satiate his appetite.
I always seek David's take on things. He is one of the few thought leaders who dares to have a grip on reality. Last week, I was deeply bothered by the willingness of "elite"pundits to look leftward at the news of Kirk's shooting, ignoring FACTS that indicate that these kinds of assassinations (and attempts) as well as mass shootings largely come from folks who lean right and are steeped in gun culture. A fact that should curtail any rush to judgement.
I was embarrassed by the press and even some "liberals" making Kirk a martyr by saying he was a champion of free speech. The truth is he was a recipient of free speech who spent time trying to destroy speech for the vulnerable. That doesn't justify anybody's murder. I did not follow Kirk and the times I noticed any references to him, his statements were vile, period. But, he had the right of free speech and he used it, but did not champion it. It was performance speech.
I can't figure why pundits find their explanation of what's going wrong with this country with the left. Is it that the right is so insane, so crazy, so upside down, it's useless to get comment from them, to scrutinize, to debate them? So to get some reasonable, sane, uncrazed reaction, go to the "intellectuals" on the left who still have ability for empathy and make them explain and even answer for this. And worse, those in the center (the former Republicans and Never Trumpers, except for Dowd), call on those more left to answer for something they didn't do. And maybe even worse, the "liberals" respond wringing their hands as if they are responsible for the mayhem.
The right says it's your identity politics, your open borders, your endless cases of voter fraud (all not proven) that make us mean, vile and crazy. It's that Antifa group all over the place (crickets at push back). And the pundits (David not included) embellish the craziness. To even entertain a discussion that this horrible occurrence results from the left is punditry and journalism malpractice. The Right wing has gone crazy and should be reported as so.
You’ve written a very perceptive and, imo, truthful analysis, Cassandra. It was a pleasure to read it.
Very insightful and all too true commentary. We have a President that thinks only Republicans judges can be fair and that all Democrats are "lunatic leftists". He cavalierly dismisses half of his fellow countrymen as lunatics and to make matters worse uses his own social media platform to spread lies and express his personal pathologies. If that's not enough his ex- best buddy and current enemy (frenemy?) does the same. I get the distinct impression that neither of them can even define what " the Left" actually is except people they disagree with. Makes me recall that Dylan song " Idiot Wind".
Thankyou for this insightful essay.
Speech doesn’t exist in a vacuum, detached from emotion, identity, and consequence. That’s not how humans work.
Language shapes behavior. We internalize it, react to it, and often act on it. Dehumanizing speech doesn’t just float in the ether, it embeds itself in culture, policy, and relationships. It primes people to see others as threats, as less-than, as disposable. That’s not theoretical; it’s observable across history and psychology.
Violence rarely erupts spontaneously. It’s cultivated through repetition, normalization, and rhetoric that numbs empathy and inflames fear. Words don’t pull triggers, but they can load the gun.
To dismiss the power of language is to misunderstand the architecture of human behavior. We don’t just act, we narrate, justify, and rehearse our actions through speech. That’s why words matter. That’s why they can wound, and why they must warn.
And if this provokes a response, especially one that insists speech is harmless, it only proves the point. Words move people. That’s why they matter. That’s why they must be used with care.
Johan
Professor of Behavioral Economics
Professor, I think there have been several perceptive, helpful posts in this thread and yours is among them. Thank you!
I truly appreciate that.
Thank you.
Beautifully said, and I’d add this: language doesn’t just reflect bias, it codifies permission. The words we normalize become scaffolding for exclusion, policy, and violence.
Encouraging mindful language starts with disrupting that scaffolding. Not by policing tone, but by interrogating intent:
• Who benefits from this phrasing?
• What does it make permissible?
• What does it erase?
In my work, I try to strip language down to its operating system…not just what it says, but what it enables. Because when words become weapons, silence isn’t neutrality.
It’s complicity.
Heather Cox Richardson - Letters From an American - got it right. She may be the only one who got it right.👇🏽
https://www.youtube.com/live/Wr9WhdjOPIQ?si=YfUW_SG3ixmPk0S6
I agree completely, and thank you for posting this. As an aside, on my way to and from work, I pass a large polo field, hosting international competitions. The roadside fence has flags of all of the countries, including the US, posted along the fence. Yesterday morning, the US flag was at half mast (glaringly inappropriately, IMHO). Yesterday evening, ALL of the international flags were also at half mast, and they were having some big event. Unbelievable! I am rapidly losing hope that this nation will survive this.
Wow!
David, impressed you are not exhausted. We have so much work ahead of us. I will elaborate later. David, my one observation is folks don’t really understand how tightly woven Trump, Kirk and the rest are using “religion”as their shield for the largest political power grab in our history. It is what makes Kirk’s assassination such an opportune time to jump the shark. It’s fueling Trump & MAGA. They now believe the dye has been cast and they will act on it using every lever of power. It’s coming a mile a minute now. They seem fine to let foreign events play themselves out without us. No one connects the dots better than you and IMO it’s one script in several acts. Thanks