Delaware Liberal

The November 23, 2016 Thread

Delaware Dem

I hate the term “identity politics.” It is a made up word by privileged white conservatives that privileged white liberals mindlessly parrot because Bernie Sanders mindlessly parroted the term because Bernie Sanders wants to solely focus all political discussion on an economic message to the exclusion of a rights message. But since the term is here to stay, when you see the term “identity politics,” read it to mean “a politics that combats efforts to deny people fundamental rights because of their identities.” Because that is what we Democrats and liberals and progressives do.

Remember, we Democrats, we liberals, and we Progressives are supposed to be fighting for the equality, rights and opportunities of ALL OUR CITIZENS. Not just the white ones. Not just the straight ones. Not just the male ones. And guess what, when one party, the Republican Party, actively commits to ending the rights and opportunities of African Americans, Latinos, Gays and Lesbians and women, then “Identity Politics” becomes the mission of our lives. It is a monstrous betrayal for privileged white liberals and progressives, some of whom read and write comments on this blog, to demand we abandon African Americans, women, Latinos, and gays and lesbians just because we lost the white working class vote in one fucking election, or just because some racist whites say so, or just because one Senator wants the party to focus solely on economics and not rights. To these traitors I say a hearty fuck you, and get the fuck out. Join your racist Republican white friends and relatives.

We, as Democrats, liberals and progressives, will do both. We will fight for an economic message that wins back the white working class and we will protect and advance the rights of minorities.

And with that, Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

“Retired Marine Gen. James Mattis has emerged as President-elect Donald Trump’s leading candidate to be defense secretary, people familiar with the transition said Tuesday, but the choice would require Congress to pass a special law clearing the way for a recently retired military officer to take the Pentagon’s top civilian post,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “The law would be required because the former top officer has been out of the military only 3½ years. U.S. laws designed to ensure civilian control over the military require a time period of seven years.”

Meanwhile, Trump has picked South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) to become his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the Charleston Post and Courier has learned. “The move, expected Wednesday, continues the steep political rise of the daughter of Indian immigrants that started six years ago when the Bamberg native was elected as South Carolina’s first female and minority governor.” Washington Post: “If confirmed, Haley would be replaced by South Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Henry McMaster, a top Trump ally. His ascension is seen inside of Trump’s inner circle as a welcome consequence of her departure, the person said — a way to promote them both.”

Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told MSNBC that President-elect Donald Trump will not pursue any investigations into Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server and the Clinton Foundation. Said Conway: “I think when the president-elect, who’s also the head of your party now, Joe, tells you before he’s even inaugurated he doesn’t wish to pursue these charges it sends a very strong message, tone, and content to the members… If Donald Trump can help her heal then, perhaps, that’s a good thing.”

It is not the President’s decision to prosecute and not prosecute anyone, especially when the FBI has already investigated a person and found absolutely no evidence of any crime being committed whatsoever. If Trump were to decide to prosecute Hillary absent any evidence, it would be a violation of the Constitution, impeachable, and worth starting violent revolution over.

President-elect Donald Trump’s charitable foundation has admitted to the IRS that it violated a legal prohibition against “self-dealing,” which bars nonprofit leaders from using their charity’s money to help themselves, their businesses or their families, the Washington Post reports. “Such violations can carry penalties including excise taxes, and the charity leaders can be required to repay money that the charity spent on their behalf.”

Ezra Klein: “More Americans voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump. More Americans voted for Democratic Senate candidates than for Republican Senate candidates. And while we don’t have final numbers yet, it looks likely that more Americans will have voted for House Democrats than for House Republicans.”

“So why aren’t Democrats acting like it? Why aren’t they trying to force Republicans, the media, and the emergent Trump White House to act like it?”

“This is not an argument that the election was rigged, nor that Trump’s win is somehow illegitimate. The president is chosen by the Electoral College. The Senate is built to favor small states. Gerrymandering is legal. America does not decide national elections by simply tallying up votes. But the will of the voters still matters, or at least it should.”

“So much for the latest draft Joe Biden effort — the vice president won’t be a candidate for chair of the Democratic National Committee,” Politico reports. “The prospect of Biden leading the official party apparatus had been drawing interest in Washington and beyond over the past week. Other candidates have begun to step forward, but several party leaders — most recently, former DNC chair and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell — had begun motioning for the vice president to do the job.”

“Republicans warned for years that Obamacare would blow up the nation’s individual insurance market. Instead, their own rush to repeal the health care law may be what triggers that death spiral,” Politico reports. “GOP lawmakers say they plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act as soon as President-elect Donald Trump takes office, including a transition period of a year or two before it takes effect… But repealing the law without a replacement is likely to spook health insurers, who might bolt from the markets prematurely to avoid losses as some people stop paying their premiums, while other people rush to have expensive medical procedures before losing coverage.”

“Insurers would have little incentive to stick around without knowing what to expect at the end of the transition. And that could spell chaos for consumers.”

Jonathan Chait: “Donald Trump’s presidential campaign bludgeoned modern norms about the acceptability of racism. The candidate proposed a religious test for immigrants, and called a federal judge unfit on the grounds of his heritage. Trump could have decided to put the racial demagoguery of the campaign behind him, and it could have been remembered as a divisive ploy to win that did not define his administration, like George Bush’s manipulation of white racial panic to defeat Michael Dukakis in 1988. But Trump, perhaps predictably, is making a different choice. His early staffing choices are redefining the boundaries of acceptable racial discourse in Republican politics.”

James Hohmann: “Trump and the congressional Republicans who have chosen to make their bed with him are responsible for what happens from now on. There is now no one to blame if they can’t pass budgets, avoid shutdowns, deal with sequestration, replace Obamacare, destroy ISIS or reverse the continuing loss of manufacturing jobs. If climate change gets worse, it’s on them. If Syria continues its downward spiral, it’s on them. If more countries acquire nuclear weapons, it’s on them. It may be totally unfair, but that’s the way our system works.”

“This is a rude awakening that faces every president, regardless of party, but it will be especially acute for someone who has demonstrated a preternatural unwillingness to take personal responsibility for anything.”

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