Archive for November, 2016
Ya’ll Need to Come and Get Your Boys
Bill O’Reilly famously declared back in the spring that if any Republican other than Trump won the nomination that the GOP could count on the white aggrieved voters that powered his campaign would stay home. They didn’t stay at home, of course, because Donald Trump executed a campaign of dog whistles, outright demeaning rhetoric and spectacular lying to pick at the scab that is this country’s white grievances.
Trump famously blamed trade deals and government complicity in the disappearance of the kind of good middle-class jobs at places like Bethlehem Steel or US Steel or American Motors or RCA that let you support a family right out of college. He told voters that he would bring these jobs back and that he would get rid of the trade deals, the regulations and the taxes that were holding back job creation in the US. On top of that, he blamed immigrants for taking jobs, used Obamacare as a proxy for poor people taking your stuff and impressively – for a guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth – made these people believe that he felt their pain.
The Death of a Moderate
Most likely you have never heard of the writer Jake Hinkson, but that’s okay. He writes excellent crime fiction that is published by small and obscure book publisher, but that’s not important here. He recently wrote a short political essay entitled “The Death of a Moderate: My Radicalization”.
The November 14, 2016 Thread
David Remnick: “The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump’s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President—a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit—and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.”
Brussel Sprout Derangement Syndrome
We were having this big family reunion and my mother decided she was going to make several brussel sprout casseroles for the dinner. The thing is I don’t like brussel sprouts, but if I have to, yeah, I’ll eat them. I talked to my mother and tried to get her to make her amazing kugel, a noodle casserole that is out of this world. You see the problem with brussel sprouts is that not many people like them, but people love some kugel.
Someone check in on Celia
There are a lot of politics going down in the First State and she hasn’t posted anything since the 8th. A special election in the 1Oth SD? Patti Blevins getting Blovened? And yet, crickets are chirping in her corner of the world wide web.
She even passed on writing up something on Return Day, which is like her Christmas. When not writing about Mike Castle or Tom Carper, she maintains what she probably considers an icy, and detached objectivity. Maybe this election was too much for her? It was too much for me, and don’t carry the extra burden of feigning objectivity.
Here’s What’s Headed Our Way – No Surprises
It hasn’t even been a week. 1. Bye-bye Medicare Paul Ryan has been pushing to phase out Medicare and replace it with private insurance for several years. But now it’s real with unified Republican government. He just said he will try to rush it through early next year while repealing Obamacare. 2. Repealing the ACA […]
I’m Back
The reason why I was gone was that I had a business trip to New Orleans planned for immediately after the election. I thought I was going celebrating. But it turns out it was good to be away from the constant newstream of Twitter and Cable News and your normal routine during what was the most shocking election result in all history, and the most heartbreaking. The only way I can describe the feeling was it was like I just lost two friends (Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton) in the same car accident. So there was actual grieving. Tears would well in my eyes for no reason, well, yes, there was a reason, but you know what I mean. But I had to force the sadness and shock away so I could concentrate on the real world business meetings. So that helped. Being away helped. I’m still devastated. I’m in the anger/acceptance stage of grieving. But I am ready to fight back now.
First thing I want to do is apologize to Jason330. His pessimistic view of the election and the electorate was, in the end, proven right. I was wrong. I was relying on polls, data, demographics, and early voting results, but they were wrong. And I am sure I argued with a number of readers, commenters and even some contributors aside from Jason330, like El Somnambulo. I am sure I was arrogant in my analysis. My apologies extends to you all as well.
Second, we have to lay down a marker for all Democrats everywhere but especially here in Delaware: we demand full, complete, and hostile obstruction and opposition to every single thing the …. god… President Trump does. The Republican playbook of 2009-16 is now yours. Use it. There shall be no bipartisan agreements to deport 11 million people. There shall be no bipartisan agreement to repeal and replace Obamacare. There shall be no bipartisan agreement to end Medicare. There shall be no bipartisan agreement to cut taxes for the rich.
Senator Carper, Senator Coons, and Representative Rochester, if you vote yes on a single Republican bill just one time, you might as well join the Republican Party that very same day.
We just elected Hitler, and your first instinct should not be to cut deals with him. Your first instinct must be resistance. No matter if your life or livelihood are in danger.
Third, I have no interest in re-litigating the 2016 primary or debating whether Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden would have done better. I have my opinions on that, and I am sure others have theirs, but really, what good does that debate do us except turn us against each other? You know what we should do? We should take the Democratic Platform as it stands now, which was agreed to by both the Clinton and Sanders campaigns, and use it as our starting point when we discuss how to move forward and what policies to change. It was the most progressive platform in party history.
Autocracy: Rules for Survival
Masha Gessen, who grew up in Putin’s Russia, has six rules for getting through the Trump years.
Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization. This will happen often: humans seem to have evolved to practice denial when confronted publicly with the unacceptable. Back in the 1930s, The New York Times assured its readers that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was all posture.
Why We Need a New Democratic Party
“Bill Clinton and Obama also allowed antitrust enforcement to ossify – with the result that large corporations have grown far larger, and major industries more concentrated. The unsurprising result of this combination – more trade, declining unionization and more industry concentration – has been to shift political and economic power to big corporations and the wealthy, and to shaft the working class. This created an opening for Donald Trump’s authoritarian demagoguery, and his presidency.
Now Americans have rebelled by supporting someone who wants to fortify America against foreigners as well as foreign-made goods. The power structure understandably fears that Trump’s isolationism will stymie economic growth. But most Americans couldn’t care less about growth because for years they have received few of its benefits, while suffering most of its burdens in the forms of lost jobs and lower wages.”
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