DL Open Thread Monday, Aug. 19, 2024
The Harris/Walz ticket is riding high right now, and the chattering classes seem to think the Democratic National Convention, which starts today, is going to keep the positive vibes flowing. I’m too old to think a Democratic convention in Chicago is likely to go without a hitch. Indeed, the media should be counted on to dwell at great length on whatever protests occur. The city has beefed up security, which, given the history of Chicago policing, isn’t much guarantee that protests will remain peaceful.
The reason Kamala Harris should avoid saying anything detailed about anything should be obvious. After bashing her for vagueness on the economy, the media pounced all over every specific, rather than taking a big-picture view: She’s confronting corporate price-gouging. They prefer to ape the GOP line that it’s all the fault of Democrats, because they refuse to cast their source of funding in an unfavorable light. Always remember this – I’m going to shout, because it’s important: THE MEDIA IS IN IT FOR THE MONEY.
Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo often highlights reader emails, and this one makes an important point: The media is covering Trump’s public display of mental incapacity as if it were a failure of campaign tactics instead of what it is, prima facie evidence that’s he unfit for any office, let alone the presidency. If he can’t stay on topic for 10 minutes in a presser, it should be treated as a fatal flaw rather than a personality quirk. FWIW, I’ve yet to see an MSM outlet report the obvious – that Trump’s idea of campaigning is just insulting people and using buzzwords like “Marxist” that he couldn’t begin to understand. If reporters were worth anything, one would ask him to define a Marxist. For extra fun, ask him which brother was his favorite.
While polls continue to show a close presidential race, the signs from actual voting results continue to show a different story. This Daily Kos diarist in Wisconsin points out that two GOP ballot initiatives designed to strip power from the Democratic governor expected to pass easily instead went down in decisive defeat. They would have lost even eliminating the votes from Milwaukee and Madison, the state’s Democratic strongholds. Trumpists are demoralized. Democrats are not, and they’re now motivated by more than just the desire to defeat our fascistic foes.
The floor’s yours.
One way to address the media’s laziness is to bypass them, at least for voters of a certain age:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/18/us/politics/democratic-convention-harris-social-media-influencers.html
I suppose it is good politics to take a stand against “corporate price-gouging” and “greedflation.” And it is even better politics to avoid committing to specifics about how exactly a President will accomplish that.
I am unfortunate to know just enough economics to know some of the “right” ways to counter price gouging, none of them especially great applause lines:
– Revive the moribund anti-trust laws and break up monopolies.
– Limit stock buy-backs.
– Tax the rich, especially capital gains.
– Do we still have that damned carried interest loophole for hedge funds?
Complete agreement, let us remember the wisdom of the ancient and enforce these laws. These laws effectively stopped the rise of the rich to total dominance, we now live in an age where billionaires rule us all.
I don’t think the media’s favorite election story line “Its a tie!” is bad for Harris right now. It works against complacency.
Re Gaza: I get the protesters. Gaza is being fucked over, but good. No doubt Biden is in part responsible for that fucking (as is Hamas). But when the other guy wants to annex the West Bank and thereby create 3 million refugees +/- a million dead bodies, it is easy to see which evil is the lesser.
Don’t forget the waterfront property. There’s money in that, boys.
Another question is will the Palestinian protestors at the Dem convention replicate the chaos, and the resulting “Police Riot”, of the 1968 Chicago convention, you can bet the corporate media hopes so and will milk it for all it is worth.
Trump uses deepfakes to push misinformation. He’s truly sick:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/19/trump-ai-swift-harris-musk-deepfake-images
He’s in epistomological collapse. He’ll do anything to maintain his self-delusion of popularity.