The November 27, 2016 Thread

Filed in National by on November 27, 2016

Oliver Willis speculates that the Trump administration may face a formidable opposition in the form of a “shadow government” led by President Obama. As evidence, he cites comments Obama made last week in Peru.

“I want to be respectful of the office and give the president-elect an opportunity to put forward his platform and his arguments without somebody popping off in every instance.”

But he added, “As an American citizen who cares deeply about our country, if there are issues that have less to do with the specifics of some legislative proposal or battle but go to core questions about our values and our ideals, and if I think that it’s necessary or helpful for me to defend those ideals, then I’ll examine it when it comes.”

Dana Milbank is ready to see Democrats under new management.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, will be 77 next year.

Steny Hoyer, her deputy, will be 78.

Jim Clyburn, the No. 3 Democratic leader, will be 77.

Their current ages, if combined, would date back to 1787, the year George Washington presided over the signing of the Constitution.

It is time for them to go.

Democrats would benefit from some fresh blood to take on Donald Trump, the oldest president ever elected for the first time, and to revive enthusiasm among millennials, who didn’t turn out in the numbers Democrats needed.

Andrew Smith wonders if fake news > democracy.

The most interesting question about 2016 is not why the Brexit result and Trump happened, but whether historians will regard both as incidental; whether this will go down as the year democracy revealed itself unworkable in the age of the internet – in which reality, already engaged in a life-or-death struggle with inverted commas, finally gave way to “alt-reality”.

In the past week, however, the collective postmortem – on the left and right of politics – has focused on a concern with far greater long-term impact: the accidental or deliberate propagation of misinformation via social media. Many millions of people saw and believed fake reports that the pope had endorsed Trump; Democrats had paid and bussed anti-Trump protesters; Hillary Clinton was under criminal investigation for sexually assaulting a minor. About the only accusation not leveled at Clinton was implication in the murder of JFK, and that was because Trump had already used it against his Republican primary rival Ted Cruz. If democracy is predicated on reliable information, it’s in serious trouble right now.

Hans Noel fights back against a growing false post mortem narrative that the Democrats gave up on the working class.

[I]s it true that the party really has, as a matter of policy goals, ignored the working class? Among the policies that the Democrats and President Obama enacted in the past eight years are:

* The Affordable Care Act, designed to make it easier for working people to get access to health care.
* Financial sector regulation, including Dodd-Frank, the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and reform of the credit industry
* Extending the auto industry bailout
* The stimulus package
* Updated overtime rules to protect workers from unpaid overtime

In addition to these accomplishments, the party actively sought to do more, including:

* A major infrastructure bill
* The American Jobs Act
* Improved access to community college
* Trade Adjustment Assistance, meant to directly address the impact of trade on American workers
* A $12 minimum wage

These last attempts failed or were significantly diluted because Republicans, who have controlled the House of Representatives since 2011, did not like them. In an era of divided government, both parties get a say. Republicans can and did argue that these were bad policies, but it’s hard to look at the list and conclude that the Democrats have cozied up to the 1 percent.

“In the scarcely two weeks since Donald Trump’s surprise victory over Hillary Clinton, he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have spoken at least twice by phone,” McClatchy reports. “Their aides have had additional contacts.”

“That’s more contact than Trump is known to have had with any other world leader since he defeated Clinton in the Nov. 8 election. But it is a concrete display of what many predicted would be a reversal in the standoffish relations between the two nuclear powers should Trump win election.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) “is already reaching out to top Hillary Clinton donors about the 2020 presidential race,” the New York Post reports. “If she were to run, it could set up an interesting clash of New Yorkers for the Democratic nomination. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already made it clear he wants to make a run for the White House.”

President Obama called Hillary Clinton to persuade her to concede the White House on election night, according to a forthcoming book on Clinton’s defeat, The Hill reports.

“Obama’s call left a sour taste in the mouths of some Clinton allies who believe she should have waited longer, and there’s now a fight playing out between the Obama and Clinton camps over whether to support an effort to force the Rust Belt states to recount their votes.”

“Wisconsin will hold its first-ever presidential recount in the coming weeks and the state could risk losing its ability to have its 10 electoral votes counted if it doesn’t meet key deadlines next month,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

“Hitting a Dec. 13 deadline could be particularly tricky if Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein is able to force the recount to be conducted by hand… A federal ‘safe harbor’ law requires states to complete presidential recounts within 35 days of the election to ensure their electoral votes are counted. This year, that’s Dec. 13.”

Hillary Clinton now leads Donald Trump by 2.2 million votes nationally, according to the Cook Political Report. David Wasserman forecasts Clinton’s final lead will be roughly 2.5 to 2.7 million votes, or about 2%.

About the Author ()

Comments are closed.

«
»