This Week in PurpleAmerica (through 2/7/2025)

Fizzled Protests, The Super Bowl and Your Subscriber Mail

It was a tough week here at PurpleAmerica. My frustrations with Democrats/Liberals came to a head in a couple of pieces. The first, which could have been titled “Please don’t exagerrate when describing things” absolutely blew up. The response from liberals was overwhelmingly negative. Apparently, questioning whether what Elon Musk can be accurately described as a “coup” is complete heresy in liberal circles today. It’s just to be a given that it is, that he has complete control of the country and that even if Trump wanted to get rid of him there was nothing he could do. In response to setting the terminology straight, I was called a “Fascist,” a “gaslighter” a “Trump Bros,” a “Nazi,” and “one of those Germans who looked the other way as millions were sent to the Holocaust.”¹ Someone was even like “So this is the hill you are going to die on, verbal semantics?”² My favorites were the ones that cited OTHER authors calling it a coup; as if liberal commentators have no interest in sensationalizing anything for reader counts. Needless to say, the over the top response for poking a hole in one of their favorite punching bags was way disproportionate to the actual context of a person writing an online piece about using correct terminology.

Mind you, it didn’t matter that the very next day I posted a piece in defense of USAID, something I strongly believe in. Nope. To the liberals that was roundly ignored altogether. The responses continued to come in from the “Coup” article nearly 10:1. Who would have thought that making the case that ‘words matter’ and trying to get liberals to describe things accurately would result in this level of profound backlash? It’s almost like they didn’t care what I said, they just took it as me “defending Musk” (read it again, it’s not something I did) and decided that it was heresy.

So I wrote a complete screed that was posted Thursday, “Dear Liberals, There is No Need to Embellish.” In it, I expressed the main frustration I have had with liberals ever since first publishing this Substack— the idea that they can’t just accept reality, and instead choose to live in this extreme, hyperbolic, sensationalized atmosphere. The words they use to describe this dystopia HAVE to be exaggerated, and embellished, AND WRONG, otherwise it’s like siding with the enemy. The main point I want to get across was this one:

Genuinely, I want to be on your side. I agree with a lot of things you believe in, and that the country needs to go in that direction. I just wish you’d make it a helluva lot easier to be on your side, because frankly, it’s much easier to write this piece describing why it’s so easy to hate you and ripping you guys to shreds than it is to be your ally.

The next thing I wrote was a piece I was going to post today announcing I was going to stop writing PurpleAmerica. It just wasn’t worth the headache and stress anymore.

Then three things happened that changed my mind.

1. My subscribers shot up 15%. The first post was continuing to make the rounds, became my second largest read piece in 2 years of doing this and people were agreeing with it and subscribing. The people commenting on it were all liberal trolls, demonstrating every reason why the Democratic Party is now at 30% approval and dropping, but the quiet, sensible readers out there were agreeing and SUPPORTING what I was saying.

2. I was getting emails from many of you IN SUPPORT of everything I wrote this week. The Purple masses were speaking directly to me, getting what I was saying and praised what I was doing (some of which I put down below in the mail section). Some very nice ones even took the time to write how frustrated they were with things and how me calling this out struck a chord with them. My god, to those who wrote, THANK YOU. I needed to hear that right at this time.

3. I read a number of articles this week, but three that stood out were one by Liam Kerr at The Welcome Party, one by Julie Roginsky and another by Ruy Teixeira at the Liberal Patriot, largely AGREEING with my position on things and where I was coming from, and encouraging me to go on. They reassured me that I am still on the right track, that there are millions out there like me, utterly disturbed and frustrated by the extremism dominating the public discourse. That the way forward isn’t for publications to cater to online trolls, it’s to state the truth. There’s an audience there for that being entirely overlooked and underrepresented by what is already out there.

So I shelved my resignation note for now. I don’t know for how long. We’ll see. I may bring it out, but not yet. I’m reinvigorated to continue. All I needed to hear was a little encouragement from many of you out there.

Thank you. God bless.

PurpleAmerica’s People of the Past Week

The Good

Special shout out to William McCartan for his very kind message. Not all of it is included below, but a particularly thoughtful portion of it is. Thank you man, I needed to hear that.

And while we’re at it, Casey Smietanski, Steve Robertshaw, Jana Bridgers, Tom Rutledge, Matt Lapoint, Jonathan Lewis and Tina Rubino—thank you, you’re far too kind. It’s amazing how casual notes of encouragement can really change your outlook on things. Thank you.

The Bad

The Super Bowl this year. Tired of the Chiefs. Could care less about the Eagles. Tom Brady is a bit of a dud as a commentator. Don’t really like Kendrick Lamar. When the best thing to look forward to are commercials, we have a problem.

The 50 state protests on Wednesday. Really, you think you build up all this energy and animosity towards Trump and that is what results? Talk about duds. Maybe next time have them on a weekend when the only people showing up aren’t unemployed professional protesters.

The Grammys. When nobody cares who wins and all the music sounds pretty much the same, we’re overdue for another Nirvana to come along and shake things up.

The Ugly

Perpetual entry Donald J. Trump for his Gaza plan. No need to go further into the apocalypse setting idea.

Elon Musk for everything. Again, no need to go further. But he gets bonus points for the level of douchiness in which he does it.

All the asinine commentators airing their grievances at me this week. In every word they just reaffirmed why the vast majority of Americans hate liberals and why you can’t ever seem to get a governing majority. Loosen up. Lighten up. Be nicer. The root word for politics is the same as “polite.”

Have a nominee for us to consider? Send an email to purpleamericanunity@gmail.com!

PurpleAmerica Pop Culture Random Top Five

This week: The Top 5 Worst Trump Appointees.

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a Friday piece. This has been on my mind since Trump won the election and started naming people to his cabinet— which one is going to be the absolute WORST appointee. Now, Elon isn’t eligible, because we’re going by needing an actual Senate confirmation as the threshold. However, that still gives us a plethora of pathetic options.

5. Pete Hegseth. It’s not often a news personality with a history of misogyny, spousal abuse and alcoholism gets nominated. It’s even rarer when they get through. But that pretty much describes the GOP these days—nothing but a rubber stamp for the orange MAGA nut.

4. Tulsi Gabbard. It was a tough call between who should be 4 or 5. Alas, Hegseth has some military experience which gives him some insight into the military. Gabbard has never had an intelligence job in her career, and was in fact viewed as a security threat after unauthorized meetings with Putin and Bashar al assad. Naturally, the GOP committee pushed her though.

3. RFK Jr. Wow, putting a guy with a brain worm, who disagrees with settled medical science and opposes vaccinations in charge of our nation’s health care system is ballsy. And people wonder why American life expectancy is declining at such a rapid rate while the rest of the world’s is getting better.

2. Kash Patel. If you think what Elon is doing is offensive (it is) what Patel has planned to do to the FBI is outright galling. He’s Trump’s handpicked apparatchik and wrecking ball to our nation’s police force. If it doesn’t make sense as to why anyone would want that, just consider what one could do if there were no enforcement mechanism for the law.

1. Matt Gaetz. Not only was he wholly unqualified to be the nation’s Attorney General, he left Congress immediately after his appointment so that they could not release an ethics report on him describing his proclivities for underage hookers and blow. That Trump appointed him to be the top prosecutor in America says something. But Gaetz was so horrible a pick even Trump had to withdraw his support after some of the details leaked out anyway (or more exactly, after too many GOP Senators told him that Gaetz would not make it through to confirmation). Instead, we’re left with newly confirmed Pam Bondi, which is a step up, but let’s be honest, it’s a low bar here.

PurpleAmerica’s Subscriber Mail

When we here at PurpleAmerica Respond to the Teeming Millions (well, we’re still working on that first million)

Have I told you lately how much I love the Teeming Millions out there? Guys, I hit a wall this week, and it was your support and encouragement that got me through it. Here is but a taste of some of the emails.

PurpleAmerica-

…Your voice is important. Every day I get up and check my inbox and yours is the first newsletter I read. Do you know why? Not just because I agree with a lot of what you say, but because I can get the gist of how and why the two sides of our politics are describing every issue. After reading PurpleAmerica, I can read something from CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, the Bulwark, Fox, whatever, and it conforms EXACTLY to the dynamics you describe. People like you, who are articulate, smart and as frustrated as the rest of us, need to have their voices raised up, not shouted down. Don’t be disheartened by the stupid trolls on your comment board, retreading the same tired statements of the parties. You’re the voice of the people in the middle of the spectrum, and you’re doing a pretty damn fine job of it. I wish so much that there were more people writing like you—we need them to drown out the crazy extremists out there currently running our public square. Please keep it up. “

—William McCartan

Dear William,

I’m a little choked up about your entire message to me. I don’t think I can express it entirely with words, so when I say “Thank you” please know its more than just a casual statement, it’s genuinely sincere. — PA.

PurpleAmerica-

PA: “Liberals condescend and talk down to everyone they disagree with.”

Random Commentator: “You’re completely wrong, a liar and a gaslighter, and here is my 100 page manifesto describing why.”

Man, where do you find them? Rest assured, you have them pegged to a T. Not sure though whether half of the commentators on the “Coup” piece were serious or LARPers because they seemed to demonstrate everything you were saying about them. It’s become a stereotype and cliche at this point.

Your letter to Liberals should be handed around at the next DNC meeting. Maybe then it’ll sink in why they’re polling is in the shitter.

— Brittney Gilmore, Decateur, IL

Dear Britt-

I know, right? —PA

OK Ok. I know. Some of you really look forward to the doozies and the crazy out there. On a normal week, I get maybe 20-30 emails. Admittedly, I havent beenwriting much so it’s tailed off, and haven’t been reading them much lately (sorry about that), and deleted my inbox last week. But this week? 215 emails. Probably 10 to 1 negative. Almost all of the negative was to the “coup” piece and all of that were people wondering how I could defend Trump and Musk (again, didn’t do that, re-read the piece if you think that).

For the most part, my inbox with inundated with a lot of commentary similar to this one posted on the Coup piece (honestly, about 75% of it was like this):

When you break a long list of laws and refuse to enforce laws to implement a political ideology, it is a coup. Some apologist, retard level commentary but that’s what folks like you are all about. Dude, you are a goose stepper with zero redeeming qualities

—Nicholas Widener

Typically, I don’t like reposting the names of the more offensive ones, but he just seemed so nice in his completely ignorant response, I didn’t really have any reservations about it this time. It’s the least I can do for someone who so flagrantly uses the “r-” word. Here was my response:

You're the one trolling comment boards calling people you don't know Nazis and r--s. (unlike you, I don't use that word). I mean, if you had read ANY of the posts I put up the last two years you'd realize how stupid you sound right now.

Not to mention incorrect. So let me help you out. Here is how Websters describes a coup: "a sudden decisive exercise of force in politics and especially the violent overthrow or alteration of an existing government by a small group." Nothing in your definition conforms to that; you just like SAYING that because it makes it SOUND what is going on is worse. What I still don't get is why liberals are spending so much energy pushing that idea and when confronted by people on your side who want you reel in the crazy, you attack THEM. To that end, what Musk and Trump are doing IS ALREADY BAD, and requires no embellishment. Yet, calling something by what it is, using accurate language to describe things right IS WHAT OFFENDS YOU? Good luck winning elections with that attitude.

In that too, you may want to read today's piece that you can find here, because maybe then it might sink in why the Democratic Party is at its lowest since the Reagan years. https://purpleusa.substack.com/p/dear-liberals-you-dont-need-to-embellish

But really, BOY do I have a good one this week—this isn’t even HALF of the letter—it went on and on, some of it outright offensive and personal directed at me (I omitted that part). So without further ado…

PURPLEAMERIKKKA (sic) MY A**!

YOUR (sic) JUST ANOTHER F**KING TRUMP/MAGA GASLITER (sic). YOURE (sic) REALLY A MUSK WANNABE FANBOY, PROBABLY JUST SOME COLEGE (sic) KID WHO SPENDS ALL HIS TIME PLAYING VIDEO GAMES INSTEAD OF GOING TO CLASS. I BET YOU BOUT (sic) A TON OF THAT DOGECOIN WHEN TRUMP NAMED DOGE HIS NEW AGENSY (sic)… YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT GOVERMENT (sic)—WHERE DID YOU GET YOUR LAW DEGREE? I KNOW KIDS IN HIGH SCHOOL THAT BETER (sic.) UNDERSTAND CHECKS AND BALANCES… WE DIDNT (sic) SIGN UP FOR THIS SHIT. WHATS (sic) OCCURRING (sic) NOW IS BEYOND JUST A COUP, ITS (sic) AN OUTRIGHT TAKEOVER OF OUR GOVERMENT (sic)! ELON APPEARS AT A FAR RIGHT NAZI GERMANY (sic) RALLY AND NOW HES (sic) TAKEN OVER OUR GOVERMENT (sic)! WE DIDNT (sic) ELECT HIM! HOW CAN YOU DEFEND THAT? ITS (sic) SO OBVIOUSLY A COUP. OUR NATION IS NOW IN AN AUTOCRASY (sic) AND IT IS ONLY A MATER (sic) OF TIME BEFROE (sic) WE HAVE TO START REFERING (sic) TO HIM AS KING TRUMP!…

ITS (sic) RACIST MISOJINISTIC (sic) A**HOLES LIKE YOU THAT ARE THE REASON WHY HARRIS ISN”T (sic) PRESIDENT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE WHAT IS COMPLETELY WRONG WITH AMERICA AND WE NEED TO TAKE IT BACK FROM MAGA NITWITS LIKE YOURSELF. YOUR (sic) SO INTIMIDATED BY A STRONG BLACK WOMAN THAT YOU GET WISKEY (sic) D**K WHEN YOU INCOUNTER (sic) ONE. [Editor’s note: Here is my endorsement of Harris last year]

[NINE more paragraphs, including insinuating that I may be Chinese AI bot, possibly a CIA deep state “false flag” operation, and that I am an agent of Putin by recycling his talking points. I’m not making this shit up. I digress. It continues…]…

YOU NEED TO GO AWAY. LEAVE THE WRITING AND COMENTARY (sic) TO THE PEOPLE WHO REALLY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND HOW GOVERMENT (sic) WORKS. F**K YOU AND YOURE (sic) MAGA FREINDS (sic). PISS OFF!

Dear “You seem nice,”

1. If you want people to listen to you, shouting at them doesn’t really work. Undo the caps lock next time.

2. On another note, your rant is full of misspellings, errors in grammar and clearly erroneous on many points. If you are trying to tell someone they’re wrong or incorrect, and the writing from a fifth grader looks better, they are going to assume you are completely off your rocker or an imbecile. I suspect in this case it may be both.

3. Going out of your way to write the author of an article that you disagree with to write something of this stellar quality only tells me one thing— you have way too much time on your hands, have never heard of ChatGPT to edit papers, and need a hobby. Try pickleball. They probably have a league at your retirement community.

And I’ll reiterate. I’m not MAGA. I think Trump is a moron. If you don’t believe me you can read this, or this, or this, or this, or this or… or better yet become a subscriber so you read regularly how often and hard I completely rip on MAGA/Trump, instead of just assuming I must be MAGA because I have the audacity to criticize the left for all the stupid ridiculous shit they do. Thanks for playing.

Have a question you want us to answer? Email us at purpleamericanunity@gmail.com

PurpleAmerica’s Dad/Uncle/Cheesy Joke of the Week

Why do the Quarterbacks get all the women?

Answer: Because they’re making passes all the time.

[Ba-Dum Bum]

And with that…

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Footnotes and Fun Stuff

1. These were all things liberal emails went out of their way to send me this week. So the next time a liberal screams about “tolerance and empathy” this is what I’m going to remind them about.

2. Yes, words have meaning. There is no need to exagerrate or grandstand. When you give out facts and use the right words, people get what you are saying. When you embellish and overinflate everything, people don’t buy what you are selling and ignore it. This is why liberal messaging goes nowhere these days.