Everything Falls Apart.
I think we’re there. I have never been as pessimistic about our future as I am now. And I’m a pessimist at heart: We’re all gonna die, right? The Big Lie has taken hold, aided and abetted by the Democrats and the media. You know, the ones who ‘soul-search’ after each election, then revert to horse-race coverage rather than covering the demise of democracy.
This is taking hold across much of the world. Check out the extreme coalition that has returned Netanyahu to power:
The coalition that Likud leader Bibi Netanyahu is riding back into power is the Israeli equivalent of the nightmare U.S. cabinet I imagined above. Only it is real — a rowdy alliance of ultra-Orthodox leaders and ultranationalist politicians, including some outright racist, anti-Arab Jewish extremists once deemed completely outside the norms and boundaries of Israeli politics. As it is virtually impossible for Netanyahu to build a majority coalition without the support of these extremists, some of them are almost certain to be cabinet ministers in the next Israeli government.
Netanyahu has been propelled into power by bedfellows who: see Israeli Arab citizens as a fifth column who can’t be trusted; have vowed to take political control over judicial appointments; believe that Jewish settlements must be expanded so there is not an inch left anywhere in the West Bank for a Palestinian state; want to enact judicial changes that could freeze Netanyahu’s ongoing corruption trial; and express contempt for Israel’s long and strong embrace of L.G.B.T.Q. rights.
It’s happening here–state by state. With a Supreme Court handpicked to ensure they won’t do anything about it. Take, for example, Wisconsin:
If Wisconsin Democrats lose several low-budget state legislative contests here on Tuesday — which appears increasingly likely because of new and even more gerrymandered political maps — it may not matter who wins the $114 million tossup contest for governor between Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Tim Michels, a Republican. Those northern seats would put Republicans in reach of veto-proof supermajorities that would render a Democratic governor functionally irrelevant.
Even though Wisconsin remains a 50-50 state in statewide elections, Democrats would be on the verge of obsolescence.
They’re already obsolete in Florida, thanks to the anti-democratic actions of DeSantis and the legislature.
You’ve got Rethugs running on the Big Lie. Some will get elected to positions that will allow them to destroy democratic norms.
Both the Democratic Party and the media have failed (or chosen not to) make this existential threat to democracy and fair elections the centerpiece of all this campaign.
We’re seeing the Big Lie repeated in other countries as well. Does anybody really think that Bolsonaro will just fade away?:
Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has cultivated strong ties to the military since his 2018 election, winning over the political sympathies of some of the top brass.
Like many politically conservative Brazilians, he has often waxed nostalgic for the 1964-1985 military dictatorship. Lula, by contrast, was jailed in the 1970s for protesting against the military government.
I’d mention Trump favorite Georgia Meloni of Italy, but the government seems to change there every month or so. Why is she a Trump favorite?:
“I can’t define myself as Italian, as Christian, mother, woman — no!” Meloni says in the clip, from a 2019 speech. “I must be citizen x, gender x, parent 1, parent 2.”
The clip, liked more than 200,000 times, went viral among Trump-aligned Republicans. And the reviews were fawning.
“So beautifully said,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.).
“Spectacular,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
“A model for Nov 8th candidates here,” said Steve Cortes, a former Trump campaign adviser.
Can anyone talk me down? Will someone please talk me down?
If everything falls apart, it looks more likely that Twitter will go down with it. Elon Musk is such a tool. Read. Enjoy. We won’t even charge you eight bucks. The Twitter human carnage has begun:
Mass layoffs have begun at Twitter, where reports suggest upward of 50% of the social media site’s jobs ― roughly 3,700 ― could be eliminated.
Employees received a message Thursday evening notifying them that layoffs were beginning, according to The New York Times. They were told not to come to the office on Friday.
Meanwhile, how pathetic is this?:
Author Stephen King summed it up succinctly in an exchange with Musk himself this week.
“$20 a month to keep my blue check?” King tweeted Monday to his 6.9 million followers. “Fuck that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.”
“We need to pay the bills somehow!” Musk responded. “Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about $8?”
This could be the long-running schadenfreude we need to take our minds of the fact that everything is falling apart.
RIP George Booth. One of the greatest cartoon creators in the history of the New Yorker. Really liked this piece about what makes his work so funny. I’d be remiss if I didn’t close with this iconic canine:
https://twitter.com/doc_nad/status/888219269263224833/photo/1
What do you want to talk about?