Michael Moore got a lot of attention immediately post-election because he was one of the few on the left who had correctly read the tea leaves and predicted a Donald Trump victory. I remember reading some of his predictions in the weeks leading up to the election, and I dismissed his Prophetic Cassandra routine as merely Moore’s last-ditch effort to scare leftie voters into voting and believing that their votes would make a difference. Perhaps it was a little bit of both – like, Moore understood the deep resentments held by white voters in the Rust Belt, and wouldn’t you know, those were the voters who swung the election. Anyway, Moore attended the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend and he was asked about Trump and impeachment and all of that. His latest predictions made me sick to my stomach.
Michael Moore loves to predict things about Donald Trump. He thinks the new U.S. president is going to get everyone killed; he believes Trump will absolutely build a border wall and ban all Muslims. (Lest we forget, Moore also wrote a prescient essay predicting Trump would win.) Anyhow, Moore is back on the offensive and predicting another pressing matter on the minds of many citizens, specifically, when will Trump get impeached? “I would say some time in the middle of his second term,” he explained at a Tribeca Film Festival screening when asked about impeachment. “I think the equation is simple. It’s the American equation. Dumb down the population and make them ignorant and stupid. Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate. Trump knew that part of the equation really well. And hate leads to violence.” Moore also encouraged people to not easily give into fear if there’s a terrorist attack:
“We’re hours, months, weeks away from our own Reichstag fire. When that happens, I really encourage people to not get onboard the fear train, the terrorist train, the war train, whatever Trump will do. There will more than likely be some kind of terrorist act in this country. I fear that he will use that to such an awful extent. We have to fight that when it happens and not be afraid to fight it.”
If we have four years of Trump and then he is legitimately re-elected, America is over. I’m not saying that to be funny, like a #BiglyTrumpIsOverParty. I mean that we’re not even 100 days in and I just don’t see how Trump won’t be impeached or forced to resign in the next two years. It is impossible. Is Michael Moore just playing the same game, trying to force progressives and liberals into the thought-exercise to spur us into action? Or does Moore – our modern day Nostradamus – really believe that this is the way it’s going down?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
There needs to be a good candidate to run against him, someone good, respectable, smart…I’m sure it won’t happen though
Someone like Cory Booker.
Cory Booker is great but I don’t think he could beat Trump. Dems know they need a good candidate, I’m keeping my fingers crossed that one will emerge, kind of like how Jon Ossoff took his race by storm.
Booker is a hypocrite. He takes BIG MONEY just like the rest of them.
@pf it is impossible to get elected without big money. Everyone takes it.
Purity tests — partly created by the left wing and partly disseminated by Russian propagandists — are a big problem. If the Democratic party represents your interests better than the Republican party, you can support it. If you join it, you have some power to shape it.
Is it a purity test when someone votes against a medical bill because it impinges on their big pharma donors? That’s what Cory Booker did in January this year.
How about publicly saying he is against Betsy Devos when afew months ago he was at an event honouring her and charter schools? He didn’t just attend, he gave a speech in support.
I understand purity tests and what an impossible standard that is, but that doesn’t mean one should stand for a blatant hypocrite and liar because otherwise why object to Trump since he can’t pass any purity tests.
Yeah agreed. Someone without any scandal too (which is absurd Trump is riddled with them but it is what it is).
I think the Democrats will need to have a man run. I hate to say, but the blatant sexism during the last campaign made the dream of a female President a harder one to attain.
Pia,
A thought that tortures me quite often. The way they hurled their slime at Hillary, and now have turned it to Elizabeth Warren, makes it clear that they will never, ever accept a democratic, female president, and they don’t respect women enough to let a republican woman get that far either. It’s so f*cking depressing that I cried about it the other day.
Hmm Hilary still did win the popular vote. And lost the EC by a hair. I think a lot of what happen she had a lot of baggage as a Clinton and they knew for about 2 to 3 years that she was the top of the ticket. And just decimated her (plus she was attacked from the left) My personal favorite to run is Kirsten Gillibrand. She’s telegenic, she’s had red state constituents and she’s seems clean as a whistle.
Just not a woman with so much baggage. Hillary was the most qualified. However, she is polarizing.
If a woman is picked she has to have charisma and be a good speaker. Hillary is neither.
This is a weird thought that I have, but I think conservative women are more likely to be elected than liberal women. If you look at history, this often proves to be the case. So if we ever do have a female president, it’ll probably be a Republican president, not a Democrat. At least at first. Voters in general in our f**ed-up society seem to be more comfortable with a certain archetype of woman as a leader.
For what it is worth, Tulsi Gabbard for president!!!
Waiting 3.5 years for the perfect candidate isn’t going to save the country if we don’t fight back now. The election was rigged — in favor of Republicans — and Jeff Sessions is in place to keep more people from voting. The Senate intelligence committee is an empty sham (call!). The House committee is weakened. The Supreme Court is now 5-4 dominated by conservative judges with at least 3 right-wing. I really hope the media doesn’t lure us down the path of distraction over who will be the perfect candidate, but it probably will, because it sells. First we have to oppose and expose everything, then get the House back if at all possible in 2018. And that means getting good people into politics NOW on the ground floor.
Yes!
You are spot on. Call legislators every day. Keep giving money to trusted orgs and institutions. We can’t let this draw out. Our future hangs in the balance if we do not act now!
ITA
I totally agree…and #45 or which ever one he is, even TOLD us the election was rigged. He just never came out to say it was rigged in HIS favour!!
That’s my fear too, that he will be president for the next eight years. You can never know…
It’s not even 100 days but it feels like 100 years. I seriously do not think I can make it to year 2, must less term 2! Perhaps our best hope is that Bigly strokes out before then. He is obviously in poor health.
Yup, I’m Italian and here we’re still mystified how Berlusconi (our very own Trump, without nukes) got himself elected and elected again and again. Nevertheless we did non get rid of him for nigh on 15 years… Never underestimate the ignorant voter. Once the ‘poor persecuted President, evil commie media’ narrative is in place, it’s almost impossible to dislodge a media-savvy populist… good luck, America!
Thank you Oriane, this is getting terrifying….
Moore also predicted that the electoral college wouldn’t vote him in so…I’m hoping he’s wrong about this too.
I respect Moore a lot but I think its easy to forget how close everything was on election day. If the pendulum swung in the other direction Moore would be seen as an exaggerator/not some prophetic political predictor.
On a positive note, that American University professor who has accurately predicted nearly every election in the past few decades predicted Trump would win but he also predicted he would be impeached before he’s able to get a second term…but he also said a lot is up to the DNC to bring in a challenger that inspires people in the way Kennedy and Obama did.
He also said that he knew for a fact that Trump just wanted to see how far he got, but was actually going to stop a few days before the elections, and step down as a candidate.
Moore is smart, but I’m starting to question his sanity.
My work revolves around the White House and Congress so we have spent a lot of timing thinking about the next 4 – 8 years. Depending on how the SCOTUS rules on the next gerrymanding case, the demographic shifts needed to retake the house and gain a super majority in the Senate show a long journey. 2022 is a best case scenario, which would be half way through Trump’s second term. Republicans are never going to impeach him. Democrats would need a massive wave election in 2018 to oust him in his first term and, mathematically, I don’t think it can happen.
Progressive advocacy organizations are ramping up their litigation so hopefully the worst of Trump can be tied up in courts until he is impeached.
Yes! Moore was right about one thing. It was a big thing, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to trust his word on anything else. He’s been wrong on many other things. (Truthfully I can’t stand him)
If there’s no Reichstag Fire incident, and if Democrats manage to do well in 2018, then it might happen (or alternatively he’ll just lose the 2020 election). Those are just “ifs” though…sigh
The ‘Reichstag Fire’ prediction seems a bit over the top, to be honest: there may well be some racist attack, but the majority of the population will not condone them. From what I can see, the population in the US is polarized towards one side or the other, there are no ‘fellow travellers’ that will give that crucial silent support to despicable behaviour. Basically, you already know who you are dealing with – and you already know who won the popular vote.
“There will more than likely be some kind of terrorist act in this country. I fear that he will use that to such an awful extent.”
We all know this will happen. And when it does, this will seal his is second term win.
I watched a TimesTalks with Camille Paglia and Andy Cohen who both said he would be re-elected too. Seemed a little soon to be saying that, but I guess it’s a feeling out there.
I agree that it’s way too soon. Unfortunately saying such things actually helps to make it true. People start to get used to the idea, same as with him being a candidate, then president, etc.
It’s also effective in making people feel powerless.
The Democrats are in trouble. Who is their leader right now? And no, it’s not Bernie. They need to get their sh*t together because I can absolutely see Trump getting elected again. Elections usually come down to the economy and jobs, and if both of those things are doing well four years from now, then people might not see a reason to make a change.
And honestly, I don’t see an impeachment happening. We’re in this for the long haul.
Yeah, sadly impeachment doesn’t look likely. And it doesn’t even make sense in the context of what Moore is saying, it sort of contradicts it, actually.
Take it from a left-of-centre Britisher – voters don’t turn out for divided parties. Or parties that don’t own their part in their own losses.
I’ll probably get tarred and feathered for my naivety, but I can’t get behind this “own their part in their own losses” narrative that’s coming up about Clinton’s defeat time and time again.
Clinton received 3 million + more votes than Trump. How do the people who want the dems to own their loss explain that? Had the vote in a couple of states shifted by just a *few* percentage points, she would have won the electoral college. It could even be argued that she would have gotten those few percentage points in those couple of states, had James Comey not decided to drop a bomb on her campaign 10 days before the election.
IMO, it’s really clear that racism, Russia, and James Comey all played a huge part in getting Trump elected. Honestly, I just don’t see how the Democrats are supposed to own that.
Tar and feather away.
Sorry Shambles, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if Hillary won the popular vote. It’s a numbers game and she lost every swing state that Obama won in the last 2 elections. When the election is truly determined by a few million independents, she was just the wrong candidate. Too much baggage. Look at how the people rejected Jeb Bush in the primaries? This was not the year to run a Clinton for President
@Shambles — No tar and feathering here intended, but I do disagree with your read on this. In fact, I think its Dems holding on to this ‘she really won’ narrative that continues to create and further damage to the chances of the Democratic Party. Clinton didn’t win, and when candidates are running for the electoral vote, the popular vote becomes meaningless. Both Clinton and Trump were tremendously unpopular candidates, with historically high unfavorable polling. If the Dems want to start winning again they need to put the Clinton days behind them, and start to recognize that allowing the party old-timers to take complete control and ice out new voices will continue to be a death sentence for them. Dems need to get it through their heads that Trump may be a clown, but he’s a clown that beat what they were willing to offer voters. And in the end its the voters that have the final word. Trump was easily beatable, but not by Hillary Clinton.
BTW, check out the new book about the Clinton campaign called “Shattered”. It will give you a genuine wake up call.
However it happened though, Shambles, the Democrats lost. It’s a waste of time even thinking about HRC now. Done and dusted. What matters is what happens going forward.
Voters do not turn out for parties that have no positive offer. Voters do not turn out for parties that say “No fair! Not our fault! Russians! Racists! Electoral college! Bernie Bros! Misogyny!”
It doesn’t even matter a flying fig if those WERE the reasons why HRC lost. Voters won’t vote for divided parties who are blaming everyone else. Whether everyone else is at fault or not? Doesn’t matter. It’s not about what’s fair. It’s about what voters will turn out for. And that’s only a party with a UNITED POSITIVE VISION. So the Democrats stateside had better hurry up and get working on it.
Thanks for the insight, you guys.
It’s races like we’re having here in my home state that give me hope. Dems were happy to rally around Jon Ossoff, and even though he didn’t win outright, he certainly made waves. And I think he has a chance in June. Either way, it proved that the Dems were willing to unite behind one candidate who, though he did speak about the national implications of the race, had an energized and positive message for the local community. If we can keep that kind of momentum up all around the country, we have a shot.
@pf and Ariella – nope, I could not disagree more. She did get more votes, a lot more. She faced Russian involvement from all angles – Trump was working with them, Stein seems to have been working with them, whether or not he was witting, Bernie definitely benefited from Russia too with “BernieBro” pretenders who were actually paid trolls (and as far as Bernie himself goes, I bow to Propane Jane’s take on that hooligan. He can just step off quietly now). That’s not to mention the media that gave Donald a billion dollars of aw, shucks, can you believe this guy? media time all the while falling to their knees crying, but emailz, EMAILZ!!, as well as gerrymandering and voter suppression!
Hillary may be a terrible campaigner, but she faced all this and more people voted for her.
(My own personal conspiracy? Russia totally manipulated the vote count in the necessary states. What did he “win” by, across all those states, 70k? No, seriously? That’s baloney.)
At the end of the day, Hillary lost the states she needed to win…she didn’t even bother visiting/campaigning in some states and that hurt her. I never in a million years thought Trump would win on the simple fact that he had no experience and is awful in every single way but he won the states needed even if he lost by 3 million votes. I agree that these (less than) 100 days seem like years, i can see impeachment or one of his die hard supporters snapping when they realize he’s garbage. PLEASE NO SECOND TERM 💔😭
Shambles, recent ABC/WaPo says Trump would win pop vote over Hillary if an election were held now.
The Demos need to own up to their own losses because they’re blaming everything but themselves and mostly because it should have been a cinch to win against someone like the Orange. They should have won by 20, 30 per cent or whatever even with the James Comey thing. It should have been a landslide victory against a racist, sexist buffoon. That new bestseller Shattered goes behind the scenes of the Hillary campaign and it was supposedly a complete mess.
Look at what’s happening in France right now. People are rejecting the traditional parties for alternatives. Obama won because he marketed himself as a new force for change. That’s what the Democrats need – someone like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, but realistic probably someone younger, charismatic, and male (sorry) with a populist touch.
HRC ignored areas that could have helped her win. Whatever ‘strategy’ they used for blue-collar areas was flawed (I think it was overconfidence, and I voted for her). Plus, she does not have the same ability to connect with people as Bill does.
The Dems have a lot of work to do, in order to recreate the broader appeal they once had.
Way to start my Monday, how depressing! How about some good news, are Harry and Megan engaged yet?
I don’t think we can definitively say THIS MAN IS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING EVER just because he happened to be right about the election. I understand the tendency, though. I think we’re all looking for some sort of stable and dependable weather vane, something that can guide us through these crazy times.
I think there will be charges/articles of impeachment brought against Trump by this time next year, at the latest. We’ll see if it actually gets him out of office, and then wtf happens after that.
I’m uneasy, very uneasy. But I also refuse to let this man kill all my joy and enjoyment of life, so I’m just trying to be present from moment to moment.
There won’t be any charges of impeachment in April 2018 because the GOP will still be in control of both the House and Senate. Best case scenario is early 2019 after the new representatives are sworn in and a Democratic victory at the 2018 midterms.
Even then, I could see Minute Maid Mussolini being reelected. (non white) voter supression is still going strong and the Dems are running after Don the Con’s white working class racist voters while completely ignoring working class POC and redifining the party’s position on choice. Things are not going so well for the Dems while the Rethugs always fall in line at the end (and Donny is still popular with his base who will be motivated for the midterms, somethings Dems tend to ignore altogether).
@kate:
“…while completely ignoring working class POC and redifining the party’s position on choice.”
What’s there to redefine?
Cheap abortion upon demand. What’s wrong with that?…since the majority of the country is pro-choice.
@Triple Cardinal, sorry my comment won’t embed any further. Not trying to put words in kate’s mouth (kate’s keyboard??), but I wonder if she is referring to recent news of how Bernie and Tom Perez supported anti-choice Dem Heath Mello? The Dems need to tread very carefully here and not throw reproductive healthcare under the bus in order to pander to imaginary red voters who would switch for an anti-choice Democrat.
@kate: Sorry if that’s not what you were referring to at all! 🙂
Yes, sorry guys If I was not clear enough. I was referring to what’s going on with Bernie, Perez and Mello. Thanks @Sandy Eggo
Thank you Shambles, I needed that. I have spent the whole weekend in an anxious mess worrying about nuclear war and what to do, where to go if something happens. I’m so on edge all the time. I am going to really try to take your last paragraph to heart.
I feel it too, Sam.
But we deserve to have full and happy lives, in spite of our current nightmare of a president. We can’t let him steal our joy. *hugs*
Actually, Moore was predicting a Trump win long before you’ve give him credit for. I think he was already predicting Trump in May or June 2016. Moore may be too liberal for some, but he’s demonstrated a pretty good read on the recent political scene. I wouldn’t dismiss what he has to say too quickly.
Until Democrats stop it with the circular firing squad on each other, it’s entirely conceivable that Trump gets a second term. Too many people are concerned with purity tests, or won’t consider new approaches: until that stops and taking down Trump becomes priority over taking down each other, what Moore says seems pretty viable.
One thing I have learned throughout this process is not to underestimate Trump or his idiotic following, so I am pretty much on board with what Moore is saying. I think Trump will easily make it through this term and could be re elected unless there is a strong, likeable democratic candidate to run against him. My first concern is 2018 though. Gotta shake things up in congress so we have a fighting chance against Trump and Ryan’s policies.
Trump will start World War III if needed to create distraction. Look at what happened when he bombed Syria. Most of his voters and many Democrats went happy-clappy. I can totally see him dragging away impeachment for a long time.
I think he’s a puppet when it comes to military strategy. Wasn’t he much less hawkish than Hillary during the campaign? The military want him to stay in office maybe. He’s a vulnerable president (impeachable) and they can press his button easier, maybe.
I pray Moore is trying to shock people into moving more strongly against Trump through marches and legal means and doesn’t quite believe what he’s saying. I hope his statement is wrong but he understands the deep resentments, especially of white folk, and how fear works to the advantage of demagogues and bullies like Trump . No democracy is safe!!! Trump is the biggest wake up call ever.
I feel like someone like Joe Kennedy III could be a surprise winner in an election, if he was entrusted with the task. If people long for the way things were, what better way than a Kennedy, and a great one to boot? Yes, he’s young, but he seems fantastic and could clearly do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POHzNG3Z_GU
I agree about Joe Kennedy III. I’m pinning my hopes on him.
Take the long view. Encourage voters to get involved, be engaged, register, begin at the local, county and state levels and please get away from idea of The Big Daddy who will save us all. Do the long and hard work against gerrymandering. This can only be the start of the long road and 2018 is only one benchmark. No one knows what will happen in the next minute let alone 2020. Everyone is talking and Cohen and Paglia are simply entertainment value and click baits.
Best advice! We have to get rid of our “hero” mentality and get behind the hundreds of strong, capable candidates around the country who will help us get rid of gerrymandering and the Electoral College.
He’s not the Nostradamus of our time. He said Trump would win, and got that right. So? He also said Trump would quit before his inauguration. He’s trying to instill fear himself! Hypocritical.
Yeah. I tend to ignore most of what Michael Moore says. He’s a shit stirrer too.
To me, Michael Moore is a prophet of doom. And I don’t think that’s what we need.
As a die hard Democrat, I really hate baby fists and every day I feel sick to my stomach. But I had an epiphany while driving to work and listening to NPR. For both political parties it’s all about “winning” and about raising tons of money. I don’t think either party truly cares about the electorate. The Dems are not clearly articulating anything to put our world into perspective and how we are undergoing a seismic shift in how the world works. Right now the people who are mourning the loss of our very privileged post-WWII and short-lived position as world leader and wealth are the ones with the clearest message. They are unbelievably uneducated and dim, but they have tangible complaints that, without proper context, make sense to alot of people. And don’t forget the majority of apathetic, clueless US citizens who just don’t care enough to vote and be informed.
I agree with everything President Obama stood for and accomplished, which the Republicans are dismantling simply out of spite. But when will we have someone inspirational like President Obama again in my lifetime? Probably never.
The DNC is a mess. I was at the rally last week in Miami with Bernie and Tom Perez and I was shocked at how many Bernie or bust people are out there. Many people Boo’d Tom Perez, without even giving him a chance. I like Bernie and wanted him to get the nomination but he is not helping the party, he is just making the party more divided. Bernie or Bust people are just as bad as Trump voters. They should had sucked it up and voted for Hillary, in my opinion they have no right to complain about Trump when they elected him by voting for Jill stein
I feel like this whole cry that he will get impeached is a way to cope with this pile of shit. I don’t see anyone trying to impeach this fool.
The biggest threat to peace is the USA. Forget Russia being sanctioned. I really wish the US would be sanctioned the same way.
I
he needs to shut up. There is not going to be a second term for this maggot.
I’m terrified. He could be right because there have been so many grounds for impeachment yet not even a whiff at it. The DNC needs to get its act together and stop being wimps and the RNC need to not just vote with the party.