Four years ago today, racists, antisemites, white nationalists, Ku Klux Klan members, neo-Nazis, and other alt-right groups met in Charlottesville, Virginia, to “Unite the Right.” The man who organized the rally, Jason Kessler, claimed he wanted to bring people together to protest the removal of Confederate general Robert E.
1. I am the director of nursing for a small detention center in NH. The residents cannot leave, the Delta variant is present here (all parameters indicate this), yet our Republican governor, who is running for senate on a "trumpist" platform, refuses to allow a mask mandate.
2. While threatening high level public officials as a political strategy is abhorrent, I worry most about the grass-roots school board members, election precinct volunteers, etc., who basically have no protection from such tactics.
The people that threaten me and many I number as my friends for doing our jobs have made their choices. It has turned them into thugs. This impulse has been present in humanity for a VERY long time, it is now just much clearer for us now in the US who is who. The rest of us also have choices. Do we hide in our own echo chambers, develop our own brand of thuggery, or use competence and the rule of law to manage this horrible situation for the next couple of generations? I am glad President Biden seem to have chosen the latter. A much harder task, but the only one that will work. Thanks Joe, thanks Heather, thanks to ALL of the people who keep this nation running, and make our people a People.
Steve Abbott, I will add you to my prayers. I feel for the Healthcare profession. It was heartbreaking watching that ICU nurse being interviewed on "The Rachel Maddow Show" last night. That poor woman was spent. The Republican Governors who are in denial that the federal government is coming to their state to help makes me furious. I remember Reagan line about the federal government coming to help. At the time, I bought into it, because at the time it did not seem like the government was helping. Thank God for President Biden! He is saving our country in so many ways. I said many prayers for him.
Steve, thank you. 1-Your actions. 2-Your thoughts. Biden is clearly above the fray in all this and leading through doing. There is always a third way and Biden knows it and is on it.
When we went thru the upheaval of the 60s, have you ever thought about what the country would have faced if MLK had not responded to the call of that moment? Now it is Joe Biden and I remember the moment he signaled it to listeners at a debate in March. “our country is an peril. I know what to do and I’ll hit the ground running on day 1.”
The next day I went to early voting for the primaries and all of us in line were discussing this moment of clarity.
His strategy is mature and wise and a mystery to the authoritarian mindset. This community Heather has opened up is a big part of this huge movement for real change. The way is opening.
It’s unfortunate the others have more weapons and torches tho.
The other day I cast my mind back to the Democratic primaries. As all will remember, it was by no means certain, possibly not even likely, until South Carolina that Joe Biden would win. His debate performances had been mostly unfortunate, his policy prescriptions very middle of the road and lacking in flash, and his energy level middling on a good day.
Then he got the all-important nod from Senator Clyburn and the rest of the field pretty much excused itself from further competition, with the exception of Bernie Sanders who fought on quixotically.
How much doubt many many Democrats felt. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were huge contenders, Harris, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Booker had all had their moments. There was doubt for a while whether the party would rally behind Biden or whether there would be a huge and ugly internecine fight, leaving a broken candidate to face the Republican machine.
The Democrats held together thankfully. But more than a few felt that Biden would be much more than a “not Trump”.
Of course, Biden found his footing before the Convention, came out much the better human being and politician in the debates and on the stump than his addled, vicious opponent and won the Presidency. And here we are.
Thank God it was Biden who emerged. Under the most trying, bizarre and disastrous circumstances for the nation, he has governed majestically to this point. And part of his governance lies in the elite team he has picked. There have been no holes in the lineup.
In a time that demands daring solutions, Biden has governed far to the left of what any Americans could have expected. He has used his years of experience to take a fractious party and find common ground in order to bring about mature solutions. The hydra-headed infrastructure legislation will test his Presidency as nothing else has done. There is potential for a brawl that ends in failure. And the voting bills await, as the nation’s numerous red states continually burp out noxious legislation to tilt the playing field in obscene ways.
It is an axiom that the Presidency makes the man - one which TFG turned on its head in a New York minute.
But assuming for a moment that there is truth in that saying, which of Biden’s primary opponents would have got the country this far this fast (“fast” is being used in its loosest sense here)?
It’s highly doubtful to me that Sanders could have won, much as I respect him. Elizabeth Warren, had she won, would have provided the bones and flesh of much needed legislation. But I’m not sure she would have been as sure-footed as Biden in trying times. And she would have been a hated target for the far right - that in itself could have been distraction enough to throw the country further off course. Klobuchar and Harris may grace the Presidency in time. But neither was ready for this moment.
For now I offer a paean to Biden - and I never thought I would do so. He has been sure-footed, comforting, commanding at times. A blessed relief from the flamethrower who preceded him. I have doubts whether it is within his powers to get infrastructure and voting rights done. To a huge extent his hands are tied. But…should the stars align correctly for a brief minute and he is able to seize the opportunity he will go down in history as one of the greatest Presidents in American history.
I fear that the the times are too turbulent and the problems too vexatious for this to happen. But I thought it appropriate at this time to give President Biden an A+ for his first months in the Presidency. He has been an inspiration in a quiet way. There are many many politicians, most notably on the other side who might re-examine the noise they make in their efforts to dent the wall. They are not aging well.
An excellent analysis Eric, thank you. I must however offer one difference of opinion. You termed Sander’s continuing candidacy as quixotic. It was anything but.
Sanders understands his role with the Progressive wing, particularly on issues of healthcare for all, and climate change among others. He stayed in the race very deliberately, in order to retain the attention of the DNC and the Biden Centrists. He knew he could keep his people moving with Biden if very public negotiations happened for the Democratic platform so that we knew that our voices were being heard. By design and quite well done. Evidence? The 3.5T budget reconciliation package adopted yesterday. Sanders fingerprints are all over it!
I know much of what is in the plan to address climate change because I worked with and for many who developed the policies and advised Sanders and now Biden. While cautiously optimistic about the focus, it still isn’t enough. But in seeing what you see in Biden’s quiet leadership, I will remain hopeful. I appreciate this post and perspective!
Sheila and others, I think Sanders has served a purpose in giving voice to economic issues, and -- even more important -- inspiring some excellent candidates to run and get elected to Congress. They're already showing themselves more effective politically than he has ever been. But please don't ignore what developed on the outskirts of his campaign: a vocal, mostly but not entirely male contingent that went about shouting down anyone who disagreed with them, especially women, both in person and on social media. This is a feature, not a bug, of populist, personality-focused campaigns. The similarities to the Trump campaign are not coincidental. If you're familiar with the (male-dominated) New Left of the 1960s and very early '70s, which is where Sanders came from, you might share my reservations and be very grateful that he didn't get close to the presidency.
I share your reservations Susanna. Was merely pointing out that Sanders is as cagey a politician as they come - his decision to stay in the race was absolutely calculated (and yes, he would have gladly accepted Biden stepping aside so he could step in, lol). I spent my career as an environmental activist surrounded by some of the smartest people imaginable. Their skills were and are over the top excellent. They also had (and have) egos the size of Texas - with chauvinism to match. But in a dog fight, as is the fight to combat climate change, given the resources of the oil and gas lobby, I'll take my chances with those who understand and are willing to push, versus those who live in denial who will gladly start the fire and watch it all burn down. And I will take them, warts and all ('cause we all have 'em, if we are honest.)
Sheila, I appreciate your take on Bernie and why he stayed the course. I really admire and respect Bernie and how he conducted himself during the campaign for 2020 Presidency. The "Bernie Bros" on social media hurt him more than helped IMO.
And I appreciate both of you! I am of mixed thoughts about Bernie, my own senator whose efforts have helped us, seniors, especially. However, Greg Olear had a scathing commentary this week about the international mafia types (mostly located in the break-away nations from the old USSR) who have manipulated our elections with dark money incentives such as have been traced to many Republicans currently in office. No doubt directed by Putin, their highest goal is to undermine democracy. I was aghast to find that Bernie is on the list of spoilers who were "gifted" to dilute the votes for Hillary and Biden. Just as these Mafiosi infiltrated the NRA, I'm pretty sure they are fomenting the thugs, too. Let us all be aware and wary.
Thank you. I am not sure folks are keeping in mind the Russian influence on where we are today. While waiting for "The Great American" novel to be written about the last six years, I have settled for other fiction and non fiction works. Having just finished The Cellist by D Silva, I have to point it out. Its the Mueller Report in fiction, focusing on the Russian oligarchs reaching into the 2016 presidential election and the present, the laundromat Deutschbank, Trump as a Russian asset, and Qanon. The reader will recognize characters from Congress, especially those from Ohio, Texas, and Colorado.
"I am not sure folks are keeping in mind the Russian influence on where we are today." I'm not sure either, Kathy. I take my cues from media that I trust and there are several references to this, not the least of which is the Mueller report, which we have never seen in full. Sigh...
Thank you, Eric. Like you, I was not all that optimistic about Biden's success, even after his election, but have realized that he had many abilities that were underappreciated. His years of experience have served him well, and I have been amazed at his deep dive that began on day one.
I, too, am apprehensive about the possibility that the infrastructure bills will go off the rails, and I try not to awake in the middle of the night to worry about whether voting rights bills will even be presented, and if they are, whether they will be sufficient to outrun and outfox the fascist right wing. I think most of us have become aware that Biden reveals little of his strategic goals, but it's clear that he and his stellar team are working non-stop behind the scenes, so I try to relax a bit.
The one concern/criticism I have is that it seems that this administration has not done enough to prepare to help the Afghan interpreters and others who worked with us during our stay there, and now face imminent gruesome death at the hands of the Taliban. I don't understand why there appears to have been little negotiation with refuge countries for them and logistical support for getting them out of harm's way. Unless there is a plan being implemented, but not discussed, I don't see how we can rescue more than the 1,500 already out of reach - a Herculean task under any circumstances.
Their future is paralyzingly frightening if they're not rescued. Considering what Biden inherited when he took office, it's not shocking that he has run into problems with this matter, but I just wish he could assign someone to take over and at least move these people to Guam or another country until their visas can be processed. He has done an amazing job of righting this country's ship, but if this matter is not resolved quickly, our reputation is in the sewer, to say nothing of the fate of these thousands of people.
Eric, you make good observations. I am more optimistic. Am reminded of the children's story, The Tortoise and the Hare. Biden keeps his head down and steadfastly climbs toward his goals. The Repubs toss out dazzle and flash to try to distract him. They are preoccupied with tactics to win 2022 and 2024. Meanwhile, Biden plugs along, ignoring their bait, and quietly gets things done. I agree that lifting children out of poverty, creating jobs through infrastructure initiatives, strengthening and extending healthcare, and providing educational opportunities that were previously out of reach for many Americans puts him at the top of the list of great presidents.
Cheryl, I agree, and that's my view of Biden, too. I am worried about the Voting Rights bills, though, and just pray that they can be dealt with after the Senate break. Gerrymandering is coming up now, and you know that every Red state will be rushing changes through, in addition to already-passed voter suppression and nullification. It's urgent. He already qualifies for an FDR comparison, and if he can fix voting rights, we can toss in LBJ, too.
Eric, thank you for so eloquently putting into words my thoughts on Joe Biden from early 2020 to now where he stands as our compassionate, calm, sage, intelligent and unifying President. I feel comfort knowing that he is the person leading us through the darkest times I've ever experienced in my 66 years. EW was my first choice but I now understand why Joe Biden is the best person for this moment.
Eric, I truly agree with your post. What makes Biden the best man to me is his true humanity and the love, respect and admiration he has for his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. No more pouty faced Melania. Dr. Biden is a woman of grace, intelligence and absolutely dedicated to her chosen profession of teaching at the community college level. (Not lost on me is that free community college is part of the human infrastructure bill). She may be our new Eleanor Roosevelt, a first lady who brought equality and great intelligence and energy to her roll as first lady. At Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage at Valkill on the greater estate at Hyde Park, her cook was often frustrated because when she met an interesting person on the train, she would bring them (all!) home for dinner. Also, Eleanor hung her first cousin Alice's (TR's oldest child) picture in a small corner about 3 feet off the floor. Alice was not a nice person!
Hi Eric. I thought to check in. The only significant subject, free-press in the USA, left for us for bat around will be addressed on the forum. I will look for your comments about it. It is broiling here, so it is a catch up reading and paper organizing day. Cheers!
Broiling here in Vancouver as well. Beyond alarming. The Couve, as it is fondly called, might average highs of 75 - 80 in a typical summer. We are well above that.
Climate change has become the climate crisis.
Free speech, which has been a pedal to the medal concept historically in the States, still reassures me at this moment. We have to put up with so much sludge from so many angles, but dissidence is not suppressed. Yet.
The anger at the local level vis-a-vis mask mandates and schools is beyond shocking. I would quit teaching if I was threatened and abused, as teachers and administrators have been recently. There will be gun violence I’d bet. And from there, who knows? The tinder is dry.
Hi Eric. I suggest that you read 'Facebook's Broken Vows' by Jill Lepore, August 2nd, in The New Yorker. A discussion of the free-press in the USA requires recognition of Facebooks role is disseminating material to the public. See link below:
Very good to hear from you. I'm working online now, putting some of my photographs in a book.
I hope you saw my apology. That comment to you was rolling around my mind, the prick of conscience.
As to the victims of the lie, which is all of us and the children -- this is the curse. Rightly or not, I was not in favor of the country going into Afghanistan, but leaving the people this way - another curse. Were you aware of our abandonment of the Kurds. Eric...
This is an entirely enraging situation. The war in Afghanistan should never have been started. 9/11, as tragic as it was, did not arise out of a vacuum. Bin Laden did not pick countries’ names from a hat when he chose America. Much of America’s Middle East history has been born of hubris. Yes, it was about the oil. It was about a geopolitical slap to the USSR. But behind it all, there was American hubris. I defended America in the 80s and 90s to other Canadians because I thought the post war Marshall Plan was farsighted.
But I had an increasing number of Canadians who were simply put off by what seemed a perpetually bellicose attitude. The “USA USA USA” chants came to represent America more than any other thing.
After 9/11, there was an immense amount of sympathy for America. Our country flipped because of our revulsion at the deeds of Al Qaeda.
But why a full scale war in Afghanistan? Why not a multi-nation police action limited to capturing bin Laden?
And then all sympathy was lost with the invasion of Iraq. By that point, it seemed to me that Americans were profoundly shaken and the Bush government was way out of step with its people.
And our hands aren’t clean. We fought in Afghanistan, mostly to resist the “you’re for us or against us” pressure of the American government. Of Afghanistan and Iraq, the former was clearly the lesser of two evils.
Yes, I know of the American abandonment of the Kurds, firstly to the tender mercies of Saddam Hussein, and then recently by Trump.
And Abu Ghraib. And the pointless wars, like in Granada. Who invades Granada?
It’s ruinous Fern. Biden is going to need good management and good fortune to avoid electoral disaster. The Mexican border situation has exploded. Afghanistan was abandoned with no plan. Covid rages because of stupidity and spur in the South. The climate crisis is upon us.
This feels so much like a reap what you sow situation. And the bitter fruits are all harvesting now.
I find it so depressing, to be honest. There’s so much good in American people (such as yourself), but it’s getting dispiritingly hard to cheer for the U.S.
I'm happy that Biden won, but disappointed that Sanders or Warren didn't get that nod. That shows you the country is not really ready to move forward on progressive issues as we really need to. I'm wondering when that will ever be?
Don't forget that Biden might have felt it was too dangerous to move them from the Senate, considering our razor-thin margin. Even with the tiniest majority, we still have Manchin, Sinema, and others who are concerning.
IMO, Warren would have been an excellent president -- I campaigned hard for her, and still tithe monthly to Warren Democrats. Sanders, not so much. What it shows, I do believe, is that "the country" has a better grasp on what the country needs than those of us who get carried away with our devotion to particular candidates.
Thank you, Steve, and all who are in the healthcare field and on the front lines every single day. But who is listening to you? The numbers of infected or dying seem to make no difference to those who continue to deny this scourge. I have family members who still deny the science, and it makes me angry (one, however, is in the Navy, and I'm hoping she will be told to be vaccinated). There is an obstinance about this that is nonsensical, and I frankly can't understand it.
One of HCR’s followers coined the phrase “belligerent ignorance” to describe current Republican philosophy. It can also be applied to this nonsensical obstinance and selfishness. It defies logic.
A perfect description, "belligerent ignorance." I don't think logic has anything to do with it, unfortunately. Those who seek to gain or keep power recognize the importance of public opinion. The worst of them--The Former Guy and his Republican sycophants--have no scruples about manipulating the public with relentless blatant lies, if they think that the manipulated public will give them more power. That many voters are so easily manipulated and have no concept of logic is due to the decline in the 20th century of public education, and the rise since the 90's of the unregulated internet. Trump and the Trumpists are happy to weaponize anti-mask and anti-vaccine lies if it gets them more attention and power, never mind that they're killing millions of people with Covid. The conflation of anti-mask and anti-vaccine non-logic with "freedom" is very similar to the NRA's decades-long push to rewrite the Second Amendment. They wanted more power and they wanted to prompt people to buy a lot more guns. So they worked for decades to shift public opinion on whether the Second Amendment was ever intended to confer an unlimited, individual right to own guns. (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/nra-guns-second-amendment-106856/)
They manipulated the public's fear and rage to persuade them that their freedom was under threat. And the NRA conflates unlimited gun ownership with "freedom" and equates any kind of common sense regulation of firearms with "tyranny." Again, never mind that their advocacy of unlimited gun ownership gives America a wildly higher rate of gun deaths by homicide, suicide, and accidents than all other wealthy countries. (https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/24/980838151/gun-violence-deaths-how-the-u-s-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world).
Sorry for the long rant. The phrase "belligerent ignorance" nails the passionate symbiosis between aggrieved low-information voters and the unscrupulos politicians who are happy to manipulate them.
Alexander Moss (VA), I understand why you can't understand their insane anti-vax stance, because it makes no logical sense. The way I see it, all this idiocy is like a childish triumph at the level of "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks" or "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school." It is pure bile.
An interesting perspective. I remember singing that song when I was eight or nine years old. At that age, kids are champing at the parental bit, and that increases through the “teens” until finally tamed (somewhat) by hard knocks of adulthood.
It seems to me that these anti-everything but me sorts are the remains of children who once expected to be rewarded or outright paid for whatever they accomplished — whether good, bad, or indifferent. Pure bile it may be, but extended self-focus might fit as well.
Much love to you Steve Abbott for persisting in the battle for our better nature to prevail. It sure helps to give me hope to hear words like yours. ❤️
Steve, I appreciate your comment and your dedication.
I wonder if you and other leaders in your community - and elsewhere across this community and our country - can knit together in one's community with the police and first responders. Have an open discussion before city council, which is often televised in Cable TV for all to see. Bring in the school district leaders, corporate and business leaders, the Kiwanis and other service groups, veterans groups, etc. Leave no stone unturned, as we are better than this.
Perhaps we need to invite these ’thugs’ to reveal who they are - invite them to come before the city council, school boards, police and fire departments, and share their grievance.
We can find who they are, and not turn away, but turn toward them, in a peaceful way. Show then our interior, for within this, is our healing.
Frederick, that is a fine and admirable approach, and certainly the only one that will work. Getting those diverse groups to convene together would be a marvelous accomplishment. No matter what direction we look these days, the world seems to be crashing inward: the suppression of voting rights and an obvious effort by the Trumpists to form an authoritarian government with the right-wing media's support; global warming and climate change; the growing pandemic.
When you lump them together, the challenges seem insurmountable. Taken one by one, each challenge offers a path to overcoming the obstacles. No easy feat, especially considering the width and breadth of each problem.
I believe all of us here hold the hope that humanity can come together to save itself. Biden is certainly taking the correct approach despite being skewered by everyone in the "other camp." I feel sorry for him. I believe I am especially sorry because I feel people who support him simply aren't being vocal enough to combat the constant pounding of the drums coming from the other side.
Frederick, your idea for inclusive meetings requires a blueprint that folks with a grassroots mindset can follow and achieve success. It is a daunting challenge to organize something like that and a) formulate an agenda that's going to address everyone's concerns and establish goals; b) identify the groups who need to be there; c) develop an invitation that ensures everyone will get X amount of time to air their thoughts/grievances; d) establish ground rules to avoid excessive arguing; e) select moderators from both sides who will keep the meeting moving and its participants on task; f) select a secretary from the group of moderators to take notes and have them synthesized by the end of the meeting so that a chairperson from the group can provide a summary of the meeting's highlights before the meeting ends; g) announce a date for a followup meeting and get a show of hands of those who want to attend. Two of the moderators should greet people as they arrive and get contact information. Local media should be invited and provided with minutes from the meeting by the next morning. A meeting location should be neutral; a fire hall would be a good place or a community center.
I am sure others here have additional suggestions to make such a meeting work.
In my mind the development of an agenda is the most critical component of the meeting. What topics are to be covered? Don't go whole hog in one fell swoop. You can't cover voting rights, global warming, and COVID in one night, but you can conduct a meeting to discuss how those issues can be addressed civilly across the community.
How are the topics presented in a manner that won't offend anyone? How is order kept - and by whom - if and when things get out-of-hand, which they certainly may.
Tough job, but things like this have to be done to gain peace and save people from each other. In a sense, whoever puts these meetings together is undertaking a job that Biden and various offices of the federal government try to accomplish on a national level. And as you know, the federal government experiences mixed outcomes all the time. The difference is that these are local meetings with a narrower scope. But that's why it's called grassroots, little movements that gain momentum over time and often provide powerful impacts to big issues.
Dennis, I appreciate your thoughtFULL comment! You have put thought and heart into this. Thank you. I like your way of thinking through the agenda of the gathering. However .... I am more inclined to think of this as a, say, “an Activists Anonymous Meeting,” where certain invited people have the chance to lecture, vent, spew, reflect, reconsider, perhaps grieve and breakdown, etc or whatever.
IMHO, there are a lot of people who are acting-out their need to be heard. Once heard, I feel all participants will have a new, fresh and perhaps greatly humbling view of “the other”.
Because, I feel, in every one of us there is enough pain and hurt to weave bonds that bring us together.
Steve, as a fellow NH nurse, I salute you! Thank you for the work you are doing, on all levels. We cannot let the slippery Susnowem-with -folksiness take Senator Hassan's seat. The only NE governor who waited til after he was safely re-elected in November to enact a mask mandate (expired in April) , just signed the first state school voucher, anti-abortion, anti-divisive concepts bill is a dangerous Senatorial candidate.
Local-level people do have protection - from concerned citizens who show up with their cell phone cameras and record what happens. It's not bodyguards but it is the community knitting together and what could be stronger than that?
Your Governor, by going full demagogue, manipulating the issue of masks, is teaching the mob how to go full fascists in the streets for power grab latter.
These Republican Governors broke the rule and they will be defeated, I just don't see how you can deny and downplay the pandemic, as hospitals go over capacity, kids get sick, and field hospitals are set up in the parking garages, and just continue to make it all worse.
Voters will send Abbot and Destantis home with blood on their hands. You cant go full Demagogue during a pandemic and not pay the political consequences. What we are seeing in Florida and Texas are crimes against humanity.
Your governor in NH has joined the ranks of the stupid along with my governor Greg Abbott and Florida's gov. Ron DeSantis, maybe others. What they are doing for the sake of retaining power is beyond criminal. Don't they realize their non-masking, non-vax followers can't vote if they are hooked to a ventilator in an ICU or have protested their way into a casket?
Listening to him to do a press briefing right now. He's very carefully walking what I'm sure he considers a middle road, a fine line. He isn't even going to discuss an executive order to prohibit mask mandates but he isn't going to enact one either. He is, fortunately, a big proponent of vaccines and said that several times again today. However, he's so wishy-washy about masks in schools where children under 12 aren't eligible for vaccination and most older children aren't vaccinated; he keeps saying "it's not all about the masks, it's about the vaccine, that's what's going to get us out of this". But hello ?! If you're not eligible and you're forced to be in school, where it's hard to physically distance, it IS all about the masking.
He got thrown for a loop when a reporter informed him they just got verification from Wentworth Douglass Hospital in Dover that they are going to require their staff to be vaccinated (and I thought my hospital would be next, wrong!). The reporter stated with umbrage that that is a very personal choice and did he think that employers were within their rights to demand this. He actually said yes. "There's a lot of tools in the toolbox and the best one is the vaccine........this could be with us for a long time..........build and practice our many mitigation measures.........vaccine, vaccine, vaccine."
Do you remember the Stanford Prison Experiment? Situations can turn good people into "evil doers". " The Lucifer Effect" by Zimbardo profoundly illuminates this dark side of humanity.
One of the most shameful moments in modern US history. Not just the rally, but Trump's support, the lack of Republican criticism, and the clear demonstration that the racism we thought we'd made progress in combating has just been simmering under the surface the whole time. Of course, if we (and I mean me and liberal white culture) had paid attention to our BIPOC friends, we would have already realized it never really went anywhere at all. My fear is now that these reactionaries have moved into open revolt, attempting the violent overthrow of the US government, but have not seen any real consequences, that we will only see all of this emerge much worse and better organized in the future. Every congressional representative and senator who signed the letter questioning the legitimacy of the election should have never been seated.
I read from Jeff Sharlet yesterday: " A little while ago I drove slowly across the country visiting rightwing churches & individuals. What I found confirms a change I've been observing for the last 5 yrs: It's really, truly, not issue-driven. What the Rightwing base wants, fundamentally, is a fight. Which, of course, is a core principle of fascism, albeit in its rapidly mutating, inchoate American form: A longing for redemption through violence, identity through the destruction of your foes.
The January 6 beating and attempted murder of Officer Michael Fanone makes that clear. As Officer Fanone has noted, he was down on the ground, incapacitated--and yet the mob kept beating him and calling for his death. He was, he notes, not an "impediment" to their stated goal of gaining entry to the Capitol to "stop the steal"; and yet instead of pursuing that goal, they kept beating him. Some of this is mob frenzy; but I've encountered the same sensibility among people sitting calmly in church lobbies: A desire to destroy one's enemies as an end in itself.
So Trying to finesse policy differences or even "cultural" differences (read: white supremacy self-aware or not) isn't noble, or pragmatic; it *misses the point.* The point, of much of the Right now, is conflict for its own sake, a belief that fighting will make them whole, or "great" again."
Thank you for this, Elizabeth. It helps answer a question that has been rattling around my brain for weeks now. Watching people who should know better, as well as people who are just thugs (DeSantis, I'm talkin' to you), I've wondered just exactly what they expect to happen? Some of these governors are literally killing their constituents. and in a normal world, there would be a political price to pay for that. Obviously, this is not a normal world. They are, in fact, reaping political rewards for doing what they're doing; at least for now.
I hadn't really considered that the fight is the point. Yes, I knew many of my neighbors are pissed at realizing they are no long top dog. But silly me never thought that what they were really relishing was the fight itself. I guess years of Limbaugh's 'own the libs' and other like mantras from their far right icons has brought us to this. Blind rage.
What I don’t understand is how radio shows, TV shows, podcasts & written publications are not mandated to declare or state that their content is purely Opinion intended for Entertainment Purposes Only, and not based in real news or truth telling, as shared by historian Heather Cox Richardson and others like Timothy Snyder (read On Tyranny)!
Yes! As is equating elections and all that attends them with zero sum games, sports and other competitive events: has to be one winner and that's all that matters. I dearly wish the media would report more responsibly, but what we see is chasing after audience,popularity, and, of course, the money.
Fox is propaganda disguised as entertainment. They have had an evil intent of brainwashing for a long time. Efforts to clarify rights of free speech versus rights to be free from evil intentioned influence is long overdue. https://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/
Elaine, you come here every day and spout some type of nonsense intended, I'm sure, to provoke the readers here. If I hear your "both sides" again, I will blow a gasket which is probably what you want!
"Some of these governors are literally killing their constituents." At first, Covid was killing incapacitated elders (many in nursing homes and dependent on Medicaid), BIPOC, and the poor. I think these population groups are detested by Trump and his minions, thus it was okay to turn a blind eye. Sorry to say that, but it was/is similar to steps taken to create Aryan supremacy.
Damn, Elizabeth, you have hit the nail dead on the head.
I used to tell my once-reasonable, measured, sensible, lovable father (he's gone now): "Why don't you turn off Fox News for a week, take a break, READ your news? Just one week. I bet your blood pressure would drop, your shoulders would relax, you wouldn't be so darn snappy and sharp-tongued and on the edge of a blowup all the time." (Granted, I'd make a terrible diplomat or negotiator.)
Murdoch and Crush Limbaugh and the rest of those pot-stirrers have taught their audiences how to be intensely angry ALL THE TIME. It was inevitably going to lead to physical violence.
I'd bet that's one reason Biden hesitates declaring mandatory vaccinations. He might as well announce: "OK, everybody, Civil War 2.0 in three ... two ...."
My father also became a very angry man - partly from his constant ingestion of right wing media. The point [for that sort of media] is to constantly stir the pot and point out different objects to be angry about/at. It is pretty effective, particularly when certain people have that kind of unfocused "spoiling for a fight" floating around in their personality. Every time I saw my father he attempted to start a fight with me. I realized the fight was the point. It energized him.
I'm so sorry to hear that. My dad (long gone now) was a strong Republican. My brother and I had lively arguments over the dinner table about Vietnam. But, thank God, he was never an angry guy. I do think he would be appalled at today's Republican party for the hate and underhanded tactics they now espouse.
My father was also and every time I was visiting, he argued with me. I always thought that he was partly angry because I simply was not following him as a Republican. I have often wondered how he would feel now, but he did ask me once if I listened to Rush and got an earful. So I don't know.
MSNBC is not much better, nor are the late night comics. Media present what appeals to the audience. NPR has turned into a lot of hand wringing, some of the hosts trying desperately to elicit a certain response. Fresh air is the only talk show I can listen to. The right wants to fight and settle things once and for all as though life were a western movie. Everything is twisted for effect. This split goes back to the sixties, when the dems lost a lot of blue color people over Vietnam and civil rights and picked up the growing number of college educated. The left wants to prove that the right is stupid and the right wants to prove that the left doesn’t know anything about real life. The left believes in planning and the right thinks that clean air and water is for sissies. Pity the motorcyclist who wears a mask in sturgis, SD.
Can you provide examples of twisted news stories, misinformation, personally belittling of far-right broadcasters and accusing republicans as well as supporters of the right-wing of stupidity on MSNBC's programs and by on-air anchors. Sometimes people compare Fox News' and social media's anti-public health and anti-democracy propaganda as well as conspiracy theories with that on liberal media outlets. I would not be asking you this question if you provided any evidence for lumping the two together. It terms comparing their journalistic standards, Fox News and MSNBC appear to be in different worlds. Generally, Fox News does not uphold journalistic principles. That does not dismiss the sharp and nasty comments made about several of Fox New's popular hosts. Most often, the complaints refer Fox's attack on the facts.
I agree, Fern , it is a faulty comparison. I particularly like Nicolle Wallace (still a registered Republican) whose analysis is spot-on, Lawrence O'Donnell, and many others. When they make mistakes, they own them, and although their opinions are generally not favorable to the right wing (how could they be?), they give credit where it's due and hold the Democrats' feet to the fire when they make bad calls. They don't lie, but the same can't be said for Fox and other ultra conservative outlets.
Like Sandra said, this is helpful to see, Elizabeth. I keep thinking about an incident that seemed small at the time but has haunted me since. I'm an election officer in my county, which is usually a fairly peaceful gig, and I love doing it. All the election officers arrived last November 3rd to find the many campaign signs for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris slashed to ribbons but left fluttering on their frames right outside the polling entrance. What pure anger and rage must have led that person to make that many cuts? Again, no one was beaten or threatened, but the visual was clearly meant for the election workers and voters that day. The fight is what they want. As Adam Serwer aptly put it about the former guy, "the cruelty is the point."
That desire to fight "for its own sake" is why the right-ists and Republicans have very little to say about policy, about providing and administering leadership or services. They want to shift debate to issues that are argued emotionally rether than factually or logically. By taking this approach, they can involve the many who only manage to navigate life by using emotion rather than reason, making them immune to rational arguement.
I have been pointing out for some time now that sadism is a key component of fascist psychology. It always has been. Fascism is the ideology of cowards, bullies, and weaklings. That's why it makes a fetish of what it perceives as "strength," which consists entirely of the ability to inflict pain, injury, and death on others.
For the fascist, the cruelty is the point. It is, in fact, self-justifying.
But, of course, the fascists can't admit this. They need a fig leaf that allows them to see themselves as victims acting in self defense rather than the violent monsters that they actually are. When the monster looks in a mirror, it never sees another monster. It just sees a victim.
This is why fascists are constantly accusing the rest of us of the things they themselves are doing or plan to do if they can get away with it. They're building their justification. Hence the fake victim mentality.
Bear in mind the the Nazis always saw themselves as the real victims. They invented the International Jewish Conspiracy to justify their own fear and hatred.
P.S. One need not buy into all the theoretical constructs of Freudian psychology (I don't) to recognize the accuracy of the descriptions of the various defense mechanisms.
Thanks. Hardly original with me, though. Anna Freud had it nailed a long time ago: projection, reaction formation, and other defense mechanisms of the ego. SS, DD. Vaillant's 1977 categorization is useful in this regard: http://thomas-n-ruth.com/misc_articles/ego-defense-mechanisms.html Note that pretty much everything we get from the right these days falls under Levels 1-3.
Reading this reminded me of all those so called "rallies." What I saw of them were red faced screaming angry men (and women) who seemed desperate for violence. They used their voices and their chants and their MAGA caps and t-shirts and their flags, but what they REALLY seemed to want was pure thuggery.
If only the energy for fighting could be transferred to fighting to save our only planet. There will be so much more to fight over if we don’t drop our personal interests and look at what is coming our way if we don’t act together for our common good.
Here is what keeps me up at night.
1. I am the director of nursing for a small detention center in NH. The residents cannot leave, the Delta variant is present here (all parameters indicate this), yet our Republican governor, who is running for senate on a "trumpist" platform, refuses to allow a mask mandate.
2. While threatening high level public officials as a political strategy is abhorrent, I worry most about the grass-roots school board members, election precinct volunteers, etc., who basically have no protection from such tactics.
The people that threaten me and many I number as my friends for doing our jobs have made their choices. It has turned them into thugs. This impulse has been present in humanity for a VERY long time, it is now just much clearer for us now in the US who is who. The rest of us also have choices. Do we hide in our own echo chambers, develop our own brand of thuggery, or use competence and the rule of law to manage this horrible situation for the next couple of generations? I am glad President Biden seem to have chosen the latter. A much harder task, but the only one that will work. Thanks Joe, thanks Heather, thanks to ALL of the people who keep this nation running, and make our people a People.
Steve Abbott, I will add you to my prayers. I feel for the Healthcare profession. It was heartbreaking watching that ICU nurse being interviewed on "The Rachel Maddow Show" last night. That poor woman was spent. The Republican Governors who are in denial that the federal government is coming to their state to help makes me furious. I remember Reagan line about the federal government coming to help. At the time, I bought into it, because at the time it did not seem like the government was helping. Thank God for President Biden! He is saving our country in so many ways. I said many prayers for him.
Steve, thank you. 1-Your actions. 2-Your thoughts. Biden is clearly above the fray in all this and leading through doing. There is always a third way and Biden knows it and is on it.
When we went thru the upheaval of the 60s, have you ever thought about what the country would have faced if MLK had not responded to the call of that moment? Now it is Joe Biden and I remember the moment he signaled it to listeners at a debate in March. “our country is an peril. I know what to do and I’ll hit the ground running on day 1.”
The next day I went to early voting for the primaries and all of us in line were discussing this moment of clarity.
His strategy is mature and wise and a mystery to the authoritarian mindset. This community Heather has opened up is a big part of this huge movement for real change. The way is opening.
It’s unfortunate the others have more weapons and torches tho.
The other day I cast my mind back to the Democratic primaries. As all will remember, it was by no means certain, possibly not even likely, until South Carolina that Joe Biden would win. His debate performances had been mostly unfortunate, his policy prescriptions very middle of the road and lacking in flash, and his energy level middling on a good day.
Then he got the all-important nod from Senator Clyburn and the rest of the field pretty much excused itself from further competition, with the exception of Bernie Sanders who fought on quixotically.
How much doubt many many Democrats felt. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were huge contenders, Harris, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Booker had all had their moments. There was doubt for a while whether the party would rally behind Biden or whether there would be a huge and ugly internecine fight, leaving a broken candidate to face the Republican machine.
The Democrats held together thankfully. But more than a few felt that Biden would be much more than a “not Trump”.
Of course, Biden found his footing before the Convention, came out much the better human being and politician in the debates and on the stump than his addled, vicious opponent and won the Presidency. And here we are.
Thank God it was Biden who emerged. Under the most trying, bizarre and disastrous circumstances for the nation, he has governed majestically to this point. And part of his governance lies in the elite team he has picked. There have been no holes in the lineup.
In a time that demands daring solutions, Biden has governed far to the left of what any Americans could have expected. He has used his years of experience to take a fractious party and find common ground in order to bring about mature solutions. The hydra-headed infrastructure legislation will test his Presidency as nothing else has done. There is potential for a brawl that ends in failure. And the voting bills await, as the nation’s numerous red states continually burp out noxious legislation to tilt the playing field in obscene ways.
It is an axiom that the Presidency makes the man - one which TFG turned on its head in a New York minute.
But assuming for a moment that there is truth in that saying, which of Biden’s primary opponents would have got the country this far this fast (“fast” is being used in its loosest sense here)?
It’s highly doubtful to me that Sanders could have won, much as I respect him. Elizabeth Warren, had she won, would have provided the bones and flesh of much needed legislation. But I’m not sure she would have been as sure-footed as Biden in trying times. And she would have been a hated target for the far right - that in itself could have been distraction enough to throw the country further off course. Klobuchar and Harris may grace the Presidency in time. But neither was ready for this moment.
For now I offer a paean to Biden - and I never thought I would do so. He has been sure-footed, comforting, commanding at times. A blessed relief from the flamethrower who preceded him. I have doubts whether it is within his powers to get infrastructure and voting rights done. To a huge extent his hands are tied. But…should the stars align correctly for a brief minute and he is able to seize the opportunity he will go down in history as one of the greatest Presidents in American history.
I fear that the the times are too turbulent and the problems too vexatious for this to happen. But I thought it appropriate at this time to give President Biden an A+ for his first months in the Presidency. He has been an inspiration in a quiet way. There are many many politicians, most notably on the other side who might re-examine the noise they make in their efforts to dent the wall. They are not aging well.
An excellent analysis Eric, thank you. I must however offer one difference of opinion. You termed Sander’s continuing candidacy as quixotic. It was anything but.
Sanders understands his role with the Progressive wing, particularly on issues of healthcare for all, and climate change among others. He stayed in the race very deliberately, in order to retain the attention of the DNC and the Biden Centrists. He knew he could keep his people moving with Biden if very public negotiations happened for the Democratic platform so that we knew that our voices were being heard. By design and quite well done. Evidence? The 3.5T budget reconciliation package adopted yesterday. Sanders fingerprints are all over it!
I know much of what is in the plan to address climate change because I worked with and for many who developed the policies and advised Sanders and now Biden. While cautiously optimistic about the focus, it still isn’t enough. But in seeing what you see in Biden’s quiet leadership, I will remain hopeful. I appreciate this post and perspective!
Sheila and others, I think Sanders has served a purpose in giving voice to economic issues, and -- even more important -- inspiring some excellent candidates to run and get elected to Congress. They're already showing themselves more effective politically than he has ever been. But please don't ignore what developed on the outskirts of his campaign: a vocal, mostly but not entirely male contingent that went about shouting down anyone who disagreed with them, especially women, both in person and on social media. This is a feature, not a bug, of populist, personality-focused campaigns. The similarities to the Trump campaign are not coincidental. If you're familiar with the (male-dominated) New Left of the 1960s and very early '70s, which is where Sanders came from, you might share my reservations and be very grateful that he didn't get close to the presidency.
I share your reservations Susanna. Was merely pointing out that Sanders is as cagey a politician as they come - his decision to stay in the race was absolutely calculated (and yes, he would have gladly accepted Biden stepping aside so he could step in, lol). I spent my career as an environmental activist surrounded by some of the smartest people imaginable. Their skills were and are over the top excellent. They also had (and have) egos the size of Texas - with chauvinism to match. But in a dog fight, as is the fight to combat climate change, given the resources of the oil and gas lobby, I'll take my chances with those who understand and are willing to push, versus those who live in denial who will gladly start the fire and watch it all burn down. And I will take them, warts and all ('cause we all have 'em, if we are honest.)
Sheila, I appreciate your take on Bernie and why he stayed the course. I really admire and respect Bernie and how he conducted himself during the campaign for 2020 Presidency. The "Bernie Bros" on social media hurt him more than helped IMO.
And I appreciate both of you! I am of mixed thoughts about Bernie, my own senator whose efforts have helped us, seniors, especially. However, Greg Olear had a scathing commentary this week about the international mafia types (mostly located in the break-away nations from the old USSR) who have manipulated our elections with dark money incentives such as have been traced to many Republicans currently in office. No doubt directed by Putin, their highest goal is to undermine democracy. I was aghast to find that Bernie is on the list of spoilers who were "gifted" to dilute the votes for Hillary and Biden. Just as these Mafiosi infiltrated the NRA, I'm pretty sure they are fomenting the thugs, too. Let us all be aware and wary.
Thank you. I am not sure folks are keeping in mind the Russian influence on where we are today. While waiting for "The Great American" novel to be written about the last six years, I have settled for other fiction and non fiction works. Having just finished The Cellist by D Silva, I have to point it out. Its the Mueller Report in fiction, focusing on the Russian oligarchs reaching into the 2016 presidential election and the present, the laundromat Deutschbank, Trump as a Russian asset, and Qanon. The reader will recognize characters from Congress, especially those from Ohio, Texas, and Colorado.
"I am not sure folks are keeping in mind the Russian influence on where we are today." I'm not sure either, Kathy. I take my cues from media that I trust and there are several references to this, not the least of which is the Mueller report, which we have never seen in full. Sigh...
Wow! I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Bernie was "gifted!"
I don't understand this term gifted in this context. Someone please explain.
Thanks, Liz. Just subscribed to The World Beneath podcast.
That is a really interesting perspective. I much appreciate the time you took to shine light on a too simplistic point I made. Thank you. :)
Thank you, Eric. Like you, I was not all that optimistic about Biden's success, even after his election, but have realized that he had many abilities that were underappreciated. His years of experience have served him well, and I have been amazed at his deep dive that began on day one.
I, too, am apprehensive about the possibility that the infrastructure bills will go off the rails, and I try not to awake in the middle of the night to worry about whether voting rights bills will even be presented, and if they are, whether they will be sufficient to outrun and outfox the fascist right wing. I think most of us have become aware that Biden reveals little of his strategic goals, but it's clear that he and his stellar team are working non-stop behind the scenes, so I try to relax a bit.
The one concern/criticism I have is that it seems that this administration has not done enough to prepare to help the Afghan interpreters and others who worked with us during our stay there, and now face imminent gruesome death at the hands of the Taliban. I don't understand why there appears to have been little negotiation with refuge countries for them and logistical support for getting them out of harm's way. Unless there is a plan being implemented, but not discussed, I don't see how we can rescue more than the 1,500 already out of reach - a Herculean task under any circumstances.
I share your concern. These people and their families need a safe haven here in our country. They have proved their worth in supporting our troops.
Their future is paralyzingly frightening if they're not rescued. Considering what Biden inherited when he took office, it's not shocking that he has run into problems with this matter, but I just wish he could assign someone to take over and at least move these people to Guam or another country until their visas can be processed. He has done an amazing job of righting this country's ship, but if this matter is not resolved quickly, our reputation is in the sewer, to say nothing of the fate of these thousands of people.
Eric, you make good observations. I am more optimistic. Am reminded of the children's story, The Tortoise and the Hare. Biden keeps his head down and steadfastly climbs toward his goals. The Repubs toss out dazzle and flash to try to distract him. They are preoccupied with tactics to win 2022 and 2024. Meanwhile, Biden plugs along, ignoring their bait, and quietly gets things done. I agree that lifting children out of poverty, creating jobs through infrastructure initiatives, strengthening and extending healthcare, and providing educational opportunities that were previously out of reach for many Americans puts him at the top of the list of great presidents.
I love this analogy, Cheryl. You are spot on.
Cheryl, I agree, and that's my view of Biden, too. I am worried about the Voting Rights bills, though, and just pray that they can be dealt with after the Senate break. Gerrymandering is coming up now, and you know that every Red state will be rushing changes through, in addition to already-passed voter suppression and nullification. It's urgent. He already qualifies for an FDR comparison, and if he can fix voting rights, we can toss in LBJ, too.
Eric, thank you for so eloquently putting into words my thoughts on Joe Biden from early 2020 to now where he stands as our compassionate, calm, sage, intelligent and unifying President. I feel comfort knowing that he is the person leading us through the darkest times I've ever experienced in my 66 years. EW was my first choice but I now understand why Joe Biden is the best person for this moment.
Eric, I truly agree with your post. What makes Biden the best man to me is his true humanity and the love, respect and admiration he has for his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. No more pouty faced Melania. Dr. Biden is a woman of grace, intelligence and absolutely dedicated to her chosen profession of teaching at the community college level. (Not lost on me is that free community college is part of the human infrastructure bill). She may be our new Eleanor Roosevelt, a first lady who brought equality and great intelligence and energy to her roll as first lady. At Eleanor Roosevelt's cottage at Valkill on the greater estate at Hyde Park, her cook was often frustrated because when she met an interesting person on the train, she would bring them (all!) home for dinner. Also, Eleanor hung her first cousin Alice's (TR's oldest child) picture in a small corner about 3 feet off the floor. Alice was not a nice person!
Hi Eric. I thought to check in. The only significant subject, free-press in the USA, left for us for bat around will be addressed on the forum. I will look for your comments about it. It is broiling here, so it is a catch up reading and paper organizing day. Cheers!
Broiling here in Vancouver as well. Beyond alarming. The Couve, as it is fondly called, might average highs of 75 - 80 in a typical summer. We are well above that.
Climate change has become the climate crisis.
Free speech, which has been a pedal to the medal concept historically in the States, still reassures me at this moment. We have to put up with so much sludge from so many angles, but dissidence is not suppressed. Yet.
The anger at the local level vis-a-vis mask mandates and schools is beyond shocking. I would quit teaching if I was threatened and abused, as teachers and administrators have been recently. There will be gun violence I’d bet. And from there, who knows? The tinder is dry.
Hi Eric. I suggest that you read 'Facebook's Broken Vows' by Jill Lepore, August 2nd, in The New Yorker. A discussion of the free-press in the USA requires recognition of Facebooks role is disseminating material to the public. See link below:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/02/facebooks-broken-vows
Very good to hear from you. I'm working online now, putting some of my photographs in a book.
I hope you saw my apology. That comment to you was rolling around my mind, the prick of conscience.
As to the victims of the lie, which is all of us and the children -- this is the curse. Rightly or not, I was not in favor of the country going into Afghanistan, but leaving the people this way - another curse. Were you aware of our abandonment of the Kurds. Eric...
This is an entirely enraging situation. The war in Afghanistan should never have been started. 9/11, as tragic as it was, did not arise out of a vacuum. Bin Laden did not pick countries’ names from a hat when he chose America. Much of America’s Middle East history has been born of hubris. Yes, it was about the oil. It was about a geopolitical slap to the USSR. But behind it all, there was American hubris. I defended America in the 80s and 90s to other Canadians because I thought the post war Marshall Plan was farsighted.
But I had an increasing number of Canadians who were simply put off by what seemed a perpetually bellicose attitude. The “USA USA USA” chants came to represent America more than any other thing.
After 9/11, there was an immense amount of sympathy for America. Our country flipped because of our revulsion at the deeds of Al Qaeda.
But why a full scale war in Afghanistan? Why not a multi-nation police action limited to capturing bin Laden?
And then all sympathy was lost with the invasion of Iraq. By that point, it seemed to me that Americans were profoundly shaken and the Bush government was way out of step with its people.
And our hands aren’t clean. We fought in Afghanistan, mostly to resist the “you’re for us or against us” pressure of the American government. Of Afghanistan and Iraq, the former was clearly the lesser of two evils.
Yes, I know of the American abandonment of the Kurds, firstly to the tender mercies of Saddam Hussein, and then recently by Trump.
And Abu Ghraib. And the pointless wars, like in Granada. Who invades Granada?
It’s ruinous Fern. Biden is going to need good management and good fortune to avoid electoral disaster. The Mexican border situation has exploded. Afghanistan was abandoned with no plan. Covid rages because of stupidity and spur in the South. The climate crisis is upon us.
This feels so much like a reap what you sow situation. And the bitter fruits are all harvesting now.
I find it so depressing, to be honest. There’s so much good in American people (such as yourself), but it’s getting dispiritingly hard to cheer for the U.S.
I'm happy that Biden won, but disappointed that Sanders or Warren didn't get that nod. That shows you the country is not really ready to move forward on progressive issues as we really need to. I'm wondering when that will ever be?
Don't forget that Biden might have felt it was too dangerous to move them from the Senate, considering our razor-thin margin. Even with the tiniest majority, we still have Manchin, Sinema, and others who are concerning.
IMO, Warren would have been an excellent president -- I campaigned hard for her, and still tithe monthly to Warren Democrats. Sanders, not so much. What it shows, I do believe, is that "the country" has a better grasp on what the country needs than those of us who get carried away with our devotion to particular candidates.
Thank you, Steve, and all who are in the healthcare field and on the front lines every single day. But who is listening to you? The numbers of infected or dying seem to make no difference to those who continue to deny this scourge. I have family members who still deny the science, and it makes me angry (one, however, is in the Navy, and I'm hoping she will be told to be vaccinated). There is an obstinance about this that is nonsensical, and I frankly can't understand it.
One of HCR’s followers coined the phrase “belligerent ignorance” to describe current Republican philosophy. It can also be applied to this nonsensical obstinance and selfishness. It defies logic.
I rather like the term "tyranny of the minority" which I heard yesterday from someone on MSNBC.
A perfect description, "belligerent ignorance." I don't think logic has anything to do with it, unfortunately. Those who seek to gain or keep power recognize the importance of public opinion. The worst of them--The Former Guy and his Republican sycophants--have no scruples about manipulating the public with relentless blatant lies, if they think that the manipulated public will give them more power. That many voters are so easily manipulated and have no concept of logic is due to the decline in the 20th century of public education, and the rise since the 90's of the unregulated internet. Trump and the Trumpists are happy to weaponize anti-mask and anti-vaccine lies if it gets them more attention and power, never mind that they're killing millions of people with Covid. The conflation of anti-mask and anti-vaccine non-logic with "freedom" is very similar to the NRA's decades-long push to rewrite the Second Amendment. They wanted more power and they wanted to prompt people to buy a lot more guns. So they worked for decades to shift public opinion on whether the Second Amendment was ever intended to confer an unlimited, individual right to own guns. (https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/05/nra-guns-second-amendment-106856/)
They manipulated the public's fear and rage to persuade them that their freedom was under threat. And the NRA conflates unlimited gun ownership with "freedom" and equates any kind of common sense regulation of firearms with "tyranny." Again, never mind that their advocacy of unlimited gun ownership gives America a wildly higher rate of gun deaths by homicide, suicide, and accidents than all other wealthy countries. (https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2021/03/24/980838151/gun-violence-deaths-how-the-u-s-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world).
Sorry for the long rant. The phrase "belligerent ignorance" nails the passionate symbiosis between aggrieved low-information voters and the unscrupulos politicians who are happy to manipulate them.
You absolutely hit the belligerent nail on the head. Grateful for your rant!
Spot on, absolutely no need to be sorry. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
Alexander Moss (VA), I understand why you can't understand their insane anti-vax stance, because it makes no logical sense. The way I see it, all this idiocy is like a childish triumph at the level of "No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks" or "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school." It is pure bile.
An interesting perspective. I remember singing that song when I was eight or nine years old. At that age, kids are champing at the parental bit, and that increases through the “teens” until finally tamed (somewhat) by hard knocks of adulthood.
It seems to me that these anti-everything but me sorts are the remains of children who once expected to be rewarded or outright paid for whatever they accomplished — whether good, bad, or indifferent. Pure bile it may be, but extended self-focus might fit as well.
Thanks for your comment.
Much love to you Steve Abbott for persisting in the battle for our better nature to prevail. It sure helps to give me hope to hear words like yours. ❤️
Best wishes to you and the folks like you trying to help.
Steve, I appreciate your comment and your dedication.
I wonder if you and other leaders in your community - and elsewhere across this community and our country - can knit together in one's community with the police and first responders. Have an open discussion before city council, which is often televised in Cable TV for all to see. Bring in the school district leaders, corporate and business leaders, the Kiwanis and other service groups, veterans groups, etc. Leave no stone unturned, as we are better than this.
Perhaps we need to invite these ’thugs’ to reveal who they are - invite them to come before the city council, school boards, police and fire departments, and share their grievance.
We can find who they are, and not turn away, but turn toward them, in a peaceful way. Show then our interior, for within this, is our healing.
Yes! Shine the light.
Well, my experience is the lack of darkness, with the shine of the light. Even within the “thugsters” is their light. Right?
Sounds very similar to an admirable Quaker teaching. We need more Quakers, but not many people can adapt completely to that life, including me.
All of us, however, are given the Light. Don't have to be Quakers....
Frederick, that is a fine and admirable approach, and certainly the only one that will work. Getting those diverse groups to convene together would be a marvelous accomplishment. No matter what direction we look these days, the world seems to be crashing inward: the suppression of voting rights and an obvious effort by the Trumpists to form an authoritarian government with the right-wing media's support; global warming and climate change; the growing pandemic.
When you lump them together, the challenges seem insurmountable. Taken one by one, each challenge offers a path to overcoming the obstacles. No easy feat, especially considering the width and breadth of each problem.
I believe all of us here hold the hope that humanity can come together to save itself. Biden is certainly taking the correct approach despite being skewered by everyone in the "other camp." I feel sorry for him. I believe I am especially sorry because I feel people who support him simply aren't being vocal enough to combat the constant pounding of the drums coming from the other side.
Frederick, your idea for inclusive meetings requires a blueprint that folks with a grassroots mindset can follow and achieve success. It is a daunting challenge to organize something like that and a) formulate an agenda that's going to address everyone's concerns and establish goals; b) identify the groups who need to be there; c) develop an invitation that ensures everyone will get X amount of time to air their thoughts/grievances; d) establish ground rules to avoid excessive arguing; e) select moderators from both sides who will keep the meeting moving and its participants on task; f) select a secretary from the group of moderators to take notes and have them synthesized by the end of the meeting so that a chairperson from the group can provide a summary of the meeting's highlights before the meeting ends; g) announce a date for a followup meeting and get a show of hands of those who want to attend. Two of the moderators should greet people as they arrive and get contact information. Local media should be invited and provided with minutes from the meeting by the next morning. A meeting location should be neutral; a fire hall would be a good place or a community center.
I am sure others here have additional suggestions to make such a meeting work.
In my mind the development of an agenda is the most critical component of the meeting. What topics are to be covered? Don't go whole hog in one fell swoop. You can't cover voting rights, global warming, and COVID in one night, but you can conduct a meeting to discuss how those issues can be addressed civilly across the community.
How are the topics presented in a manner that won't offend anyone? How is order kept - and by whom - if and when things get out-of-hand, which they certainly may.
Tough job, but things like this have to be done to gain peace and save people from each other. In a sense, whoever puts these meetings together is undertaking a job that Biden and various offices of the federal government try to accomplish on a national level. And as you know, the federal government experiences mixed outcomes all the time. The difference is that these are local meetings with a narrower scope. But that's why it's called grassroots, little movements that gain momentum over time and often provide powerful impacts to big issues.
Dennis, I appreciate your thoughtFULL comment! You have put thought and heart into this. Thank you. I like your way of thinking through the agenda of the gathering. However .... I am more inclined to think of this as a, say, “an Activists Anonymous Meeting,” where certain invited people have the chance to lecture, vent, spew, reflect, reconsider, perhaps grieve and breakdown, etc or whatever.
IMHO, there are a lot of people who are acting-out their need to be heard. Once heard, I feel all participants will have a new, fresh and perhaps greatly humbling view of “the other”.
Because, I feel, in every one of us there is enough pain and hurt to weave bonds that bring us together.
Steve, as a fellow NH nurse, I salute you! Thank you for the work you are doing, on all levels. We cannot let the slippery Susnowem-with -folksiness take Senator Hassan's seat. The only NE governor who waited til after he was safely re-elected in November to enact a mask mandate (expired in April) , just signed the first state school voucher, anti-abortion, anti-divisive concepts bill is a dangerous Senatorial candidate.
Local-level people do have protection - from concerned citizens who show up with their cell phone cameras and record what happens. It's not bodyguards but it is the community knitting together and what could be stronger than that?
God bless our cell phone cameras and video. Molly, You make a really great point!
Your Governor, by going full demagogue, manipulating the issue of masks, is teaching the mob how to go full fascists in the streets for power grab latter.
These Republican Governors broke the rule and they will be defeated, I just don't see how you can deny and downplay the pandemic, as hospitals go over capacity, kids get sick, and field hospitals are set up in the parking garages, and just continue to make it all worse.
Voters will send Abbot and Destantis home with blood on their hands. You cant go full Demagogue during a pandemic and not pay the political consequences. What we are seeing in Florida and Texas are crimes against humanity.
"Never go full demagogue"
from a movie if you haven't seen it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6WHBO_Qc-Q
Thank you Steve. I grew up in Cheshire County. I fear thuggery and repression that's stalking our Nation.
Thank you for doing what you do. Such a vital function of our system that gets so little recognition.
Your governor in NH has joined the ranks of the stupid along with my governor Greg Abbott and Florida's gov. Ron DeSantis, maybe others. What they are doing for the sake of retaining power is beyond criminal. Don't they realize their non-masking, non-vax followers can't vote if they are hooked to a ventilator in an ICU or have protested their way into a casket?
Listening to him to do a press briefing right now. He's very carefully walking what I'm sure he considers a middle road, a fine line. He isn't even going to discuss an executive order to prohibit mask mandates but he isn't going to enact one either. He is, fortunately, a big proponent of vaccines and said that several times again today. However, he's so wishy-washy about masks in schools where children under 12 aren't eligible for vaccination and most older children aren't vaccinated; he keeps saying "it's not all about the masks, it's about the vaccine, that's what's going to get us out of this". But hello ?! If you're not eligible and you're forced to be in school, where it's hard to physically distance, it IS all about the masking.
He got thrown for a loop when a reporter informed him they just got verification from Wentworth Douglass Hospital in Dover that they are going to require their staff to be vaccinated (and I thought my hospital would be next, wrong!). The reporter stated with umbrage that that is a very personal choice and did he think that employers were within their rights to demand this. He actually said yes. "There's a lot of tools in the toolbox and the best one is the vaccine........this could be with us for a long time..........build and practice our many mitigation measures.........vaccine, vaccine, vaccine."
As my husband sez..." I can't fix stupid!"
Yep, he's got that right!
Well said. Stay safe.
We thank you, Steve.
Do you remember the Stanford Prison Experiment? Situations can turn good people into "evil doers". " The Lucifer Effect" by Zimbardo profoundly illuminates this dark side of humanity.
Wow Steve, well put. I'm with you.
One of the most shameful moments in modern US history. Not just the rally, but Trump's support, the lack of Republican criticism, and the clear demonstration that the racism we thought we'd made progress in combating has just been simmering under the surface the whole time. Of course, if we (and I mean me and liberal white culture) had paid attention to our BIPOC friends, we would have already realized it never really went anywhere at all. My fear is now that these reactionaries have moved into open revolt, attempting the violent overthrow of the US government, but have not seen any real consequences, that we will only see all of this emerge much worse and better organized in the future. Every congressional representative and senator who signed the letter questioning the legitimacy of the election should have never been seated.
They should be arrested for sedition. They have no right in our government.
Indeed..
There is a truth that goes like this :: when you protect a person from themself, you create a bigger monster.
I read from Jeff Sharlet yesterday: " A little while ago I drove slowly across the country visiting rightwing churches & individuals. What I found confirms a change I've been observing for the last 5 yrs: It's really, truly, not issue-driven. What the Rightwing base wants, fundamentally, is a fight. Which, of course, is a core principle of fascism, albeit in its rapidly mutating, inchoate American form: A longing for redemption through violence, identity through the destruction of your foes.
The January 6 beating and attempted murder of Officer Michael Fanone makes that clear. As Officer Fanone has noted, he was down on the ground, incapacitated--and yet the mob kept beating him and calling for his death. He was, he notes, not an "impediment" to their stated goal of gaining entry to the Capitol to "stop the steal"; and yet instead of pursuing that goal, they kept beating him. Some of this is mob frenzy; but I've encountered the same sensibility among people sitting calmly in church lobbies: A desire to destroy one's enemies as an end in itself.
So Trying to finesse policy differences or even "cultural" differences (read: white supremacy self-aware or not) isn't noble, or pragmatic; it *misses the point.* The point, of much of the Right now, is conflict for its own sake, a belief that fighting will make them whole, or "great" again."
Thank you for this, Elizabeth. It helps answer a question that has been rattling around my brain for weeks now. Watching people who should know better, as well as people who are just thugs (DeSantis, I'm talkin' to you), I've wondered just exactly what they expect to happen? Some of these governors are literally killing their constituents. and in a normal world, there would be a political price to pay for that. Obviously, this is not a normal world. They are, in fact, reaping political rewards for doing what they're doing; at least for now.
I hadn't really considered that the fight is the point. Yes, I knew many of my neighbors are pissed at realizing they are no long top dog. But silly me never thought that what they were really relishing was the fight itself. I guess years of Limbaugh's 'own the libs' and other like mantras from their far right icons has brought us to this. Blind rage.
What I don’t understand is how radio shows, TV shows, podcasts & written publications are not mandated to declare or state that their content is purely Opinion intended for Entertainment Purposes Only, and not based in real news or truth telling, as shared by historian Heather Cox Richardson and others like Timothy Snyder (read On Tyranny)!
Sensationalized content is exciting and makes more money than plain factual news reporting.
Yes! As is equating elections and all that attends them with zero sum games, sports and other competitive events: has to be one winner and that's all that matters. I dearly wish the media would report more responsibly, but what we see is chasing after audience,popularity, and, of course, the money.
Fox is propaganda disguised as entertainment. They have had an evil intent of brainwashing for a long time. Efforts to clarify rights of free speech versus rights to be free from evil intentioned influence is long overdue. https://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/
Hahaha. Don’t sit around waiting for the news media to do anything but spout off any babble they can find to increase their ratings. Both sides.
Elaine, you come here every day and spout some type of nonsense intended, I'm sure, to provoke the readers here. If I hear your "both sides" again, I will blow a gasket which is probably what you want!
"Some of these governors are literally killing their constituents." At first, Covid was killing incapacitated elders (many in nursing homes and dependent on Medicaid), BIPOC, and the poor. I think these population groups are detested by Trump and his minions, thus it was okay to turn a blind eye. Sorry to say that, but it was/is similar to steps taken to create Aryan supremacy.
Damn, Elizabeth, you have hit the nail dead on the head.
I used to tell my once-reasonable, measured, sensible, lovable father (he's gone now): "Why don't you turn off Fox News for a week, take a break, READ your news? Just one week. I bet your blood pressure would drop, your shoulders would relax, you wouldn't be so darn snappy and sharp-tongued and on the edge of a blowup all the time." (Granted, I'd make a terrible diplomat or negotiator.)
Murdoch and Crush Limbaugh and the rest of those pot-stirrers have taught their audiences how to be intensely angry ALL THE TIME. It was inevitably going to lead to physical violence.
I'd bet that's one reason Biden hesitates declaring mandatory vaccinations. He might as well announce: "OK, everybody, Civil War 2.0 in three ... two ...."
My father also became a very angry man - partly from his constant ingestion of right wing media. The point [for that sort of media] is to constantly stir the pot and point out different objects to be angry about/at. It is pretty effective, particularly when certain people have that kind of unfocused "spoiling for a fight" floating around in their personality. Every time I saw my father he attempted to start a fight with me. I realized the fight was the point. It energized him.
I'm so sorry to hear that. My dad (long gone now) was a strong Republican. My brother and I had lively arguments over the dinner table about Vietnam. But, thank God, he was never an angry guy. I do think he would be appalled at today's Republican party for the hate and underhanded tactics they now espouse.
My father was also and every time I was visiting, he argued with me. I always thought that he was partly angry because I simply was not following him as a Republican. I have often wondered how he would feel now, but he did ask me once if I listened to Rush and got an earful. So I don't know.
I posted this link just above. Sorry for duplicating but if you haven’t seen it you might find it meaningful. https://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/
Yes, thank you. I’ll watch it for sure.
Exactly right.
MSNBC is not much better, nor are the late night comics. Media present what appeals to the audience. NPR has turned into a lot of hand wringing, some of the hosts trying desperately to elicit a certain response. Fresh air is the only talk show I can listen to. The right wants to fight and settle things once and for all as though life were a western movie. Everything is twisted for effect. This split goes back to the sixties, when the dems lost a lot of blue color people over Vietnam and civil rights and picked up the growing number of college educated. The left wants to prove that the right is stupid and the right wants to prove that the left doesn’t know anything about real life. The left believes in planning and the right thinks that clean air and water is for sissies. Pity the motorcyclist who wears a mask in sturgis, SD.
Can you provide examples of twisted news stories, misinformation, personally belittling of far-right broadcasters and accusing republicans as well as supporters of the right-wing of stupidity on MSNBC's programs and by on-air anchors. Sometimes people compare Fox News' and social media's anti-public health and anti-democracy propaganda as well as conspiracy theories with that on liberal media outlets. I would not be asking you this question if you provided any evidence for lumping the two together. It terms comparing their journalistic standards, Fox News and MSNBC appear to be in different worlds. Generally, Fox News does not uphold journalistic principles. That does not dismiss the sharp and nasty comments made about several of Fox New's popular hosts. Most often, the complaints refer Fox's attack on the facts.
I agree, Fern , it is a faulty comparison. I particularly like Nicolle Wallace (still a registered Republican) whose analysis is spot-on, Lawrence O'Donnell, and many others. When they make mistakes, they own them, and although their opinions are generally not favorable to the right wing (how could they be?), they give credit where it's due and hold the Democrats' feet to the fire when they make bad calls. They don't lie, but the same can't be said for Fox and other ultra conservative outlets.
I wondered when the first attempt at false equivalence would show up.
Like Sandra said, this is helpful to see, Elizabeth. I keep thinking about an incident that seemed small at the time but has haunted me since. I'm an election officer in my county, which is usually a fairly peaceful gig, and I love doing it. All the election officers arrived last November 3rd to find the many campaign signs for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris slashed to ribbons but left fluttering on their frames right outside the polling entrance. What pure anger and rage must have led that person to make that many cuts? Again, no one was beaten or threatened, but the visual was clearly meant for the election workers and voters that day. The fight is what they want. As Adam Serwer aptly put it about the former guy, "the cruelty is the point."
Ha ha, thanks! Appreciate the suggestions for additional podcasts - I'm going to check these out
That desire to fight "for its own sake" is why the right-ists and Republicans have very little to say about policy, about providing and administering leadership or services. They want to shift debate to issues that are argued emotionally rether than factually or logically. By taking this approach, they can involve the many who only manage to navigate life by using emotion rather than reason, making them immune to rational arguement.
I have been pointing out for some time now that sadism is a key component of fascist psychology. It always has been. Fascism is the ideology of cowards, bullies, and weaklings. That's why it makes a fetish of what it perceives as "strength," which consists entirely of the ability to inflict pain, injury, and death on others.
For the fascist, the cruelty is the point. It is, in fact, self-justifying.
But, of course, the fascists can't admit this. They need a fig leaf that allows them to see themselves as victims acting in self defense rather than the violent monsters that they actually are. When the monster looks in a mirror, it never sees another monster. It just sees a victim.
This is why fascists are constantly accusing the rest of us of the things they themselves are doing or plan to do if they can get away with it. They're building their justification. Hence the fake victim mentality.
Bear in mind the the Nazis always saw themselves as the real victims. They invented the International Jewish Conspiracy to justify their own fear and hatred.
Grunt, and watch Pasolini's Salo. (read the Wiki commentary first)
Brilliant. It fits every single one of those I know personally to a "t."
P.S. One need not buy into all the theoretical constructs of Freudian psychology (I don't) to recognize the accuracy of the descriptions of the various defense mechanisms.
Thanks. Hardly original with me, though. Anna Freud had it nailed a long time ago: projection, reaction formation, and other defense mechanisms of the ego. SS, DD. Vaillant's 1977 categorization is useful in this regard: http://thomas-n-ruth.com/misc_articles/ego-defense-mechanisms.html Note that pretty much everything we get from the right these days falls under Levels 1-3.
"to justify their own fear and hatred" hits the nail on the head.
Reading this reminded me of all those so called "rallies." What I saw of them were red faced screaming angry men (and women) who seemed desperate for violence. They used their voices and their chants and their MAGA caps and t-shirts and their flags, but what they REALLY seemed to want was pure thuggery.
If only the energy for fighting could be transferred to fighting to save our only planet. There will be so much more to fight over if we don’t drop our personal interests and look at what is coming our way if we don’t act together for our common good.