DL Open Thread Sunday, March 14, 2021

Among the generally strong reviews of Joe Biden’s first presidential address, a few pundits are pointing out that the most important part wasn’t even spoken out loud: The overthrow of Ronald Reagan and the GOP’s insistence that “the government is the problem.” It’s even being noted that the current Joe Biden is a lot more liberal than the Joe Biden of the ’90s.

In truth, government isn’t the problem — Republicans are. Yale history professor Timothy Snyder lays out the modern GOP’s philosophy of “sadopopulism” in four easy steps:

1. Identify an “enemy.”
2. Enact policies that create pain in your own constituents.
3. Blame the ensuing pain on the “enemies.”
4. Present yourself as the strongman who can fight the enemies.

The sad part is that so many Americans are so fucking stupid they fall for it, leading to the inescapable conclusion that lemmings, which in reality don’t throw themselves off cliffs, are smarter than Americans.

Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, a strong candidate for America’s Stupidest Senator, showed that there is no “quiet part” that Republicans won’t say out loud, telling a radio yakker that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot didn’t scare him because the rioters were white, but the scary monsters of Black Lives Matter and antifa would have been something to be scared of. It’s hard to believe this is the same state that used to elect Ron Feingold.

Today’s scary climate story comes from yesterday’s New York Times, which published a two-page graphic showing the potential collapse of the Gulf Stream, which has far-ranging implications for the climate and sea level rise in the Northern Hemisphere.

WDEL has video of the I-95 demolition on the lanes through Wilmington.