Today, the major domestic news was last night’s Axios interview, in which reporter Jonathan Swan challenged Trump’s assertions and revealed just how shallow the president’s understanding of the pandemic, mail-in voting, and so on, really are.
The Swan interview was beyond belief, which, these days, is getting harder and harder to pull off. But the matter that really interests me -- and appalls me -- is the semi-turnabout that fearless leader made as regards mail-in voting. I say "semi" because it seems to apply only to Florida and other reliably "red" states (although FL is actually purple, and fast becoming a bluish-purple). While this is partly a move on Trump's part to retain power at all costs, it also reveals something disturbing about the Republican mindset as it currently exists.
For a Liberal Republican Democracy to persist, all sides must view the parties out of power to be "the loyal opposition." Disagreements about policy can (and should) be vehement, but those who do disagree must be acknowledged as fellow participants in a common legislative and administrative project. Otherwise you have civil war by other means: each side views the other as ILLEGITIMATE, and seeks to advance the political vision of THEIR side and its "people" only.
This was the view of the right-wing German political theorist Carl Schmitt (1888 -- 1985), who provided a neat rationale for the Nazis. For Schmitt, politics is NOT about cooperative inquiry and rational debate. It is about winning and losing, friends and enemies, and ONLY about that. It does not only permit but REQUIRES contempt for one's political opposition's legitimacy to hold and wield power. There's no sharing: it's a zero-sum, transactional game. (Essentially the ethos of the entire Trump family, excepting Mary.) What we see now is the outcome of the "Republican Revolution" of Gingrich's 1994 Congress -- a revolution of the PARTY into an ideological orthodoxy that required of its members that they fall in line, or else. We're reaping that whirlwind right now.
Trump is the perfect "politician" for these Schmittian times, regardless of his imbecility. The clearest sign of this is his (and Kushner's) abandonment of any national COVID-19 strategy when they concluded -- wrongly -- that the epidemic would be consigned to blue states. Who cares about them? They're not "our people".....
My question is: what does this do to the principle of Federalism? For New Yorkers like myself (and Californians, and Oregonians, and New Jerseyites, etc.) the Federal government has become less than useless: it is positively harmful to our health, both medical and economic. Trump and the Republicans have not only run roughshod over the Constitution and its rule of law: they've effectively undone the principle of Federalism -- that the United States not only "are" but the United States also "IS" -- and have come close to a repeat of Jefferson Davis. I am perplexed by this, and would like to know how true American Federalism can be revived, or if it is a dead letter. I am not hopeful.
Newt Gingrich must have read Carl Schmitt, because that is exactly the attitude he promoted as Speaker of the House. He even told him members not to bring their wives and families to DC, because, Heaven forbid, they might socialize together as in days gone by, and realize their opposition members were real people and not paper cut-outs.
Prior to his scorched earth policies, members often played bridge together, went to the same church services, had dinner parties that weren't limited to members of one party. He considered all that fraternizing with the enemy.
Now members sleep on their office couches, 'work' only 3 days a week, travel 'home' on weekends to raise more money.
The saddest, scariest part of all this is how few Americans these days have a clue about any of this. Another reason why it's vital to know and understand the history.
I am almost finished with "Burning Down the House," which is a history of Gingrich's storming into the House and beginning from day one his divisiveness. Today's dysfunction does appear to be on him.
The Republican party, whatever that is today, holds its power by owning the maps – the electoral district maps. I suspect Trump’s interference with the Census has some connection to this.
Taking control of State Legislatures and continuing to challenge grossly partisan gerrymandering should be of paramount concern and would, in my opinion, be a step in the direction of securing Federalism.
I would say that the foundational idea of the "loyal opposition" is seriously undermined by the assumption of "capitalism" as the center of the election process. As long as elections are a "consumer product" that invites the "selling" of a candidate---how many pleas for MORE money do we need to receive?!---the concept of democracy and all it implies is doomed. The expanding length of the election period, and the sensationalized "enemy" campaign ads, also need reform. Campaign finance reform, for starters.
I agree with the need what campaign finance reform. I see it as a foundational issue.
Who benefits financially from political campaigns? I would like to see journalists investigate this. However, since the corporations who employ them probably benefit the most because of campaign advertising, we are not likely to get such an investigation.
After reading the excellent "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," I became interested in the reign of Rafael Truillo, the U.S. installed dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic with incredible viciousness for many decades.
My reading emphasized that pre-Truillo, the D.R. was ripe for such a dictator. In the years before the U.S.-backed takeover by Truillo, the government frequently changed hands between "blue" and "red" parties (once four times in one year, I seem to recall) who, in turn, did everything they could to reward their friends, family, and supporters with money borrowed from European investors, and everything they could to kill, obstruct, and disenfranchise their opponents. There was no conception of the "common good;" the government wouldn't even build a road if there was a chance that their opponents would drive on it.
I thought of Truillo and the D.R. when I read the interview between Dr. Richardson and Bill Moyers, where she recounted her "wow" moment when she realized that the Republicans had not the slightest interested in the truth, but only in gaining advantage and assembling a narrative that supported their personal fortunes. For them, there is no longer a "common good," there is only what benefits themselves and their party. Even their supporters are expendable, so long as they believe the lies their told.
(Gods, I hate being that insulting and negative, but by God, events seem to justify it.)
Thank you, Laura Nelson, for taking trump’s display of individual idiocy and malevolence to the macro level of the Movement Conservatives and oligarchs. That’s where the heartless brains are operating to build power and wealth—on the international playing field.
People do not think of Gingrich very often these days. That's a mistake. For all of Reagan's idiocy, I don't think he thought of Democrats as enemies to be crushed. (E.g., his friendship with Tip O'Neill.) Gingrich did. I think that his 1994 congress was the tipping point. Trump is not just a break with "normal"; he is just as much its logical, predictable outcome.
And so sorry, Laura, I was so involved in my own little diatribe that I forgot to praise your excellent post, where you rightly put so much of the blame for today's devolution on the decidedly-undemocratic tactics of Newt Gingrich. I used to live in Cobb County, Georgia, and one of the fruitless pleasures I had during that time was the opportunity to vote against that evil, evil man.
And the Carl Schmitt zero-sum transactional playbook was not just to get elected to a fun title, but to use the power of the state and its military to amass wealth by incrementally changing the laws. These laws opened the doors to appropriate the wealth, particularly of the Jews, and then to conscript and enslave labor on a massive, deadly scale for expansion of the state.
These laws also controlled the media and propaganda machine to reshape the ideology of the populace in support of the regime and against the Others. By the end of World War II, the Nazis had reared a new generation who had grown from Hitler Youth into trained soldiers brainwashed since childhood to fight to the death for the Führer.
Are you assuming that there is such a thing as a "Liberal Republican Democracy"? As far as I can see, the only people talking about a "Loyal Opposition" are the parliamentary democracies of Europe and the Commonwealth. It’s appearing (to me) more and more like the Republican Party is aiming for a one party state combining regressive social policy and an oligarchic plutocracy. Look to reading Robert Paxton’s "5 Stages Of Fascism" as a reference.
I bet most Republicans have not read Schmitt. But they have all read Ayn Rand and her! distorted zero-sum game philosophy based on her experience in the Soviet Union! They have turned Atlas Shrugged into their Bible and Objectivism into their religion. Add in some Frederick Buchanan & Milton Friedman who value property over people and capital over labor...and even customers, and you have today's mentality that is being promoted in Business and Law schools backed by Billionaires!! Feudalism is coming if we don't stop the republicans.... Conservatism is an organizational sickness.
<sigh> Kanye West's family speaks honestly about his mental health issues. It would be helpful if Donald Trump's family would do the same about his mental health issues.
Really, it's too bad you didn't finish the book. As bad as it was leading up to the end, the net effect of the final 10 pages was just stunning. I'm now re-reading the whole thing. I do empathize with your disgust while reading, though.
I really hope Kanye's name on ballots does not distract voters this time around. Remember, Bernie's campaign helped split the vote before. We do not need that again.
Well, it looks as though he's missed the deadline in some states and presented incomplete petitions and/or sketchy petitions in more than one instance. (The signatures look suspiciously similar)
I made myself watch all of the Axios interview, and it was horrifying. Nothing about it surprised me, but to see the bald ignorance and callousness in such an unvarnished setting was shocking. Why does he continue to expose himself like that? Does he really have nobody asking him not to talk in public?
I was upset when Kanye West announced he wanted to run for President, but not because I was afraid he would siphon off votes - it was too late for anything approaching an impactful campaign. What upset me was that Kanye was clearly not managing his bipolar disorder properly, and those around him are not doing a sufficient job of helping him manage it.
I feel the same about Trump as I do about Kanye, wishing that there was someone within his orbit who could help him manage whatever it is that is going on with him. But of course, it is exponentially worse with Trump because his cognitive decline and crippling personality disorders wreak havoc on those of us in the real world. This has to end, and those who have enabled Hurricane Trump need to experience some significant consequences for their actions and, in many instances, their inaction.
Kanye West's family has tried to get him help, but he refuses, and there is nothing they can do. He is not considered a danger to himself or others (yet), so family can do nothing to force medication adherence, etc. As for tRump...there is Article 25, but the repubs will never vote to have him removed. Meanwhile, we have to sit and watch while he continues to make a fool of himself and this country. Instead of "sitting" we need to prepare to have him forcefully removed from the WH after Nov 3. He will not "go gentle into that good night."
Well said. I don't watch much Trump but I did sit through the interview.
The last sentence of your post is the one that resonates most profoundly with me. What price they pay and how it will be exacted remains to be seen, but the Trump era has not been politics as usual and we must not let these scoundrels wiggle off the hook they have set so deeply, consistently and malevolently.
Article 25 In which cabinet members, all trump enablers, take action to remove him. Even if they considered it, they’ll rationalize it’s too close to the election. Besides they're grifters Too.
Swan's interview was unbelievable! My initial thought was gloomy: I bet that the 38% of the population that supports Trump will never watch it. My second thought was brighter: I bet every U.S. senator did (whether they will admit it or not). This has got to shake every R. senator to the core! What will this mean? How will this affect November and down-ballot voting?
I cannot imagine Trump's aides allowing another one-on-one interview -- Swan provides such a great roadmap for how to handle Trump in that situation. What does this means for the debates? Biden should be able to mop the floor as Trump's lies are always predictable and repeated. A little preparation, and boom....
I think that Biden should be very circumspect about debating the idiot as he will only be there to do what he can to destabalize him. It'll be nothing to do with "debate" and policy but he will try to turn each session into a circus act. GOP are even "demanding" more debates to cover the period of mail-in voting too. Biden's team will have to set in stone during the pre-debate negotiations fixed rules about positioning on stage, proximity of the candidates and length of responses etc to prevent this "king" of irreality TV from turning the sessions into a farce. Biden will need all his skills and experience to maintain a calm composure so that Trump looks like the crazy fool that he is. They will also need to put the debates in the hands of journalists who have sufficient character to impose discipline including doubtless the ability to shut off the microphones when rules are not obeyed.
One additional provision, probably difficult to get, would be a period after each candidate's response to a question or his opponent, for the journalists and their backups, to fact check each part of the candidate's statement.
Certainly each statement by Trump will be a Gish gallop of outrageously false claims, meant to capture the emotions of his supporters and other ill-informed observers, in a rapid-fire attack that limits the ability of that type of observer to come close to fact-checking each one. The result is that they are swept up in an emotional rush and end up thinking Trump is a "thoughtful" person, doing what is needed for the country. The assumptions needed for each false claim to be believed need to be examined and shown not true.
The unexamined cascade of lies must be prevented. And most observers of the debate will not stay around for later fact-checking, so it must be done real-time.
It is so difficult each day to find words sufficient to express the depth of outrage and sadness at what this corrupt administration has done to our country, especially with the mishandling of the pandemic, and the enabling by the Republicans. Seeing the brief segment of him dismissing the 156,000 deaths from coronavirus by saying “it is what it is" was just surreal. What a nightmare. We must not only vote, but encourage everyone we know to also vote in less than 100 days.
It is so hard to convince Republicans! They have their eyes closed by Fox Entertainment, which they believe is the gospel. I have so many friends and family that are Republicans. Of course, I live in Indiana. Sports are a primary concern over education!
I didn't miss the juxtaposition of his "It is what it is" about our 15x,000 dead with his expression of sympathy to the victims of the terrible explosion in Beirut--good behavior for a potential business location later? And he was sure it was a terrorist attack as opposed to an accident. The deaths occurring here are just meh, not a terrorist attack or riot (that he could use as further proof that the world needs his law-and-order kind of smack-down leadership) and certainly not his fault--and not his "people"--you know, only brown, black, and poor people. We got more of those when we need them, right? Who cares about the ones dying when we have so many more to fill their places at the assembly line? The Grinch's shriveled heart is glowing with empathy compared to this tiny man's.
This is more discouraging news about the destruction of our presumed democracy by the partisan efforts of malignant ppl protecting the oligarchy. Earlier in my history with the SSSR we were told it was a struggle between capitalism and communism and we did many destructive wars under that banner. We thot that was what Khrushchev was talking about when he said, “We will bury you.” But he didn’t say when.
So, here we are two generations later, watching the demise of our nation by the U.S. oligarchs colluding with the Russian oligarchs using their imbecile plant in the White House and their conniving operative in the Senate, dismantling all controls by putting Repugnant Partisan hacks in key positions. It looks like the plot of some spy thriller, only it is happening.
I read Heather’s letter this morning, wrote my comment from my feelings at that moment and realized how pessimistic it was but posted it anyhow. Then I read all the other comments and realized I wasn’t alone.
No, you’re not alone. I had come to the same conclusion a long time ago. I see it as realistic rather than negative. I believe it is becoming more likely by the day that we will become a trump family dictatorship with a high likelihood of seeing Russian troops on American soil in our lifetimes and it makes me sick. Very “negative” and “pessimistic” and I try not to dwell on it but the thoughts are there and you are not alone.
YES, that article is important and we all need to heed the advice. We have to stay involved at every level. The election is extremely important but no matter how many Dems are elected, it will not solve all our problems. Stay active in your communities, everyone!
Further evidence that the Wharton professor whose class Trump AUDITED (he was too unqualified to be accepted to the school, which back then was not as selective as it is now, which says something about how unqualitied Trump was) was right when he said "Donald Trump was the dumbest freaking (only he didn't say "freaking") student who ever walked in my classroom."
As another commentator said today about the interview, Trump was the kid who wrote his book review without reading the book, and Swan was the teacher who made him get up in front of the class and read that review. Watching him stumble with his graphs - it was clear he was looking at them for the first time and trying to figure out which was what by reading the titles - was embarrassing, only exceeded by his 2 year old's whine "You can't do that!" when Swan corrected him on what the relevant death figure it (percentage of population, not percentage of cases). Calling him "dumber than a bag of rocks" is an insult to rocks.
As far as the rest of the news of the general Republican incompetence, maliciousness, mendacity and malevolence, one is reminded that President Truman was right 72 years ago when he said "The only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies."
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA), and ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Mark Warner (D-VA) were clear that foreign actors are attacking us."
"...these efforts must be deterred, disrupted and exposed,” they wrote."
So why aren't they exposing those efforts?
I would pose the same question to the 4 Democrats that I posed to my Senator, Dick Durbin who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee. I had seen him giving a speech on the Senate floor on C-SPAN claiming that his committee knew from its investigation in the run up to the Iraq Invasion that President Bush's claims that Saddam had WMD were false. In a one on one interview I asked Sen. Durbin why he had not told the American public what he knew as a member of the Intel Committee. He responded that he couldn't becuase he had taken a confidentiallity oath as a member of the committee. I asked him why his oath to the Constitution hadn't precluded or superseded any oath that required him to hide the truth from the public. He grew visibly angry and walked away without responding.
As a progressive Democrat I'm disappointed in Democrats who know the truth about Russian meddling but refuse to reveal that truth to the public while at the same time criticizing the GOP for hiding the same truth. They should honor their oath to the Constitution and tell the public what it needs to know regardless of the consequences to themselves.
The Democrats are held back because the information they are referring to is classified, and they do not have the power, by themselves, to declassify it.
What Democrats are trying to do is publicize the fact that information does exist, hoping that will create a big enough push to force Trump to declassify it, which is, unfortunately, the best that can be done.
As they say, "Elections have consequences," and 2016 was an election with HUGE consequences.
Trump is a SYMPTOM of the rancid culture that permeates the whole GOP apparatus/apparatchiks, a culture that was started back in the 1930s or earlier, but given a big boost into the controlling faction by Newt Gingrich.
As an example of Gingrich's malevolence, upon gaining the Speakership, one of his first actions was the dismemberment of the Congress's Office of Technology Assessment in 1995:
This Office was in existence from 1972 to 1995 to provide members of Congress with objective and authoritative analysis of complex scientific and technical issues that needed governmental action.
Here is a direct quote from yesterday's briefing and how Donald has determined that our numbers are among the lowest in the world. He is EXCLUDING NY and NJ deaths! He is as mad as a hatter. The reporter asks the question at 20:23. Donald Responds at 20:54.
"Well, a lot of our numbers were based on the New York, had a very tough time as you know. New York, New Jersey, that area. And when you take them out, just as an example, take a look at Florida relative to New York. That's not to say anything wrong with New York. It was just a very tough place. People are close together, it's crowded. It's not easy. But when you take that out, our numbers are among the lowest."
Kayleigh McEnany is about the only thing working for Trump now. She's as good at spin as anyone I've seen. Throwing in Martha McSally's name was a clear intent to try to help her not lose in Arizona. And the usual spin blaming the Dems for not agreeing to the Republicans' bill. But we have to trust the American people, that enough have seen what they need to see. And I expect a strong turnout, no matter what Trump's minions try to do.
Trump, well, yeah, he's really losing it, and everyone on his staff is afraid to tell him not to do such stupid things as agree to these interviews, because they'll bear the brunt of his rage. So he's burning his own ship.
But the news about the Republicans excluding reporters is huge. I can't imagine they will try to run someone else, but they are cooking something. I'm curious. And there will surely be leaks. It's an interesting time, if a frustrating, enraging time watching this Republican party do all they can to destroy what they can as fast as they can.
I watched part of her news briefing yesterday, if you can call it that. At one point, the camera caught her eyes, and it literally sent a chill down my spine. Empty human bot came to mind. The cross that is around her neck does not jive with the words out of her mouth
If there's a Democrat who will not be returning to office this year, I'm all in for disclosure of the information. This is out of character for me to suggest but I am so sick of the blatant Republican disregard for the "rules." When they had the briefing that excluded Dems, that was the last straw for me. This information needs to get out!
The interview was disturbing once again! Interesting the “mail in voting” allegations are back firing. Gotta admit, kind of glad to hear it. He said when he went to Oklahoma, covid numbers were down and didn’t spike until after his rally. We teach cause and effect in elementary school! When did killing off your base become a good reelection strategy?! Thank you for all the information! Hope you can get a good restful night now!
There was also the delusion that there were 12,000 people at the Tulsa rally ("But you people wouldn't report it") and the place was so full "It was like an armed camp, you couldn't move." He says that stuff and there's the tape to prove his lie in a second. He is delusional.
The Swan interview was beyond belief, which, these days, is getting harder and harder to pull off. But the matter that really interests me -- and appalls me -- is the semi-turnabout that fearless leader made as regards mail-in voting. I say "semi" because it seems to apply only to Florida and other reliably "red" states (although FL is actually purple, and fast becoming a bluish-purple). While this is partly a move on Trump's part to retain power at all costs, it also reveals something disturbing about the Republican mindset as it currently exists.
For a Liberal Republican Democracy to persist, all sides must view the parties out of power to be "the loyal opposition." Disagreements about policy can (and should) be vehement, but those who do disagree must be acknowledged as fellow participants in a common legislative and administrative project. Otherwise you have civil war by other means: each side views the other as ILLEGITIMATE, and seeks to advance the political vision of THEIR side and its "people" only.
This was the view of the right-wing German political theorist Carl Schmitt (1888 -- 1985), who provided a neat rationale for the Nazis. For Schmitt, politics is NOT about cooperative inquiry and rational debate. It is about winning and losing, friends and enemies, and ONLY about that. It does not only permit but REQUIRES contempt for one's political opposition's legitimacy to hold and wield power. There's no sharing: it's a zero-sum, transactional game. (Essentially the ethos of the entire Trump family, excepting Mary.) What we see now is the outcome of the "Republican Revolution" of Gingrich's 1994 Congress -- a revolution of the PARTY into an ideological orthodoxy that required of its members that they fall in line, or else. We're reaping that whirlwind right now.
Trump is the perfect "politician" for these Schmittian times, regardless of his imbecility. The clearest sign of this is his (and Kushner's) abandonment of any national COVID-19 strategy when they concluded -- wrongly -- that the epidemic would be consigned to blue states. Who cares about them? They're not "our people".....
My question is: what does this do to the principle of Federalism? For New Yorkers like myself (and Californians, and Oregonians, and New Jerseyites, etc.) the Federal government has become less than useless: it is positively harmful to our health, both medical and economic. Trump and the Republicans have not only run roughshod over the Constitution and its rule of law: they've effectively undone the principle of Federalism -- that the United States not only "are" but the United States also "IS" -- and have come close to a repeat of Jefferson Davis. I am perplexed by this, and would like to know how true American Federalism can be revived, or if it is a dead letter. I am not hopeful.
Newt Gingrich must have read Carl Schmitt, because that is exactly the attitude he promoted as Speaker of the House. He even told him members not to bring their wives and families to DC, because, Heaven forbid, they might socialize together as in days gone by, and realize their opposition members were real people and not paper cut-outs.
Prior to his scorched earth policies, members often played bridge together, went to the same church services, had dinner parties that weren't limited to members of one party. He considered all that fraternizing with the enemy.
Now members sleep on their office couches, 'work' only 3 days a week, travel 'home' on weekends to raise more money.
The saddest, scariest part of all this is how few Americans these days have a clue about any of this. Another reason why it's vital to know and understand the history.
I am almost finished with "Burning Down the House," which is a history of Gingrich's storming into the House and beginning from day one his divisiveness. Today's dysfunction does appear to be on him.
The Republican party, whatever that is today, holds its power by owning the maps – the electoral district maps. I suspect Trump’s interference with the Census has some connection to this.
Taking control of State Legislatures and continuing to challenge grossly partisan gerrymandering should be of paramount concern and would, in my opinion, be a step in the direction of securing Federalism.
I would say that the foundational idea of the "loyal opposition" is seriously undermined by the assumption of "capitalism" as the center of the election process. As long as elections are a "consumer product" that invites the "selling" of a candidate---how many pleas for MORE money do we need to receive?!---the concept of democracy and all it implies is doomed. The expanding length of the election period, and the sensationalized "enemy" campaign ads, also need reform. Campaign finance reform, for starters.
I agree with the need what campaign finance reform. I see it as a foundational issue.
Who benefits financially from political campaigns? I would like to see journalists investigate this. However, since the corporations who employ them probably benefit the most because of campaign advertising, we are not likely to get such an investigation.
After reading the excellent "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao," I became interested in the reign of Rafael Truillo, the U.S. installed dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic with incredible viciousness for many decades.
My reading emphasized that pre-Truillo, the D.R. was ripe for such a dictator. In the years before the U.S.-backed takeover by Truillo, the government frequently changed hands between "blue" and "red" parties (once four times in one year, I seem to recall) who, in turn, did everything they could to reward their friends, family, and supporters with money borrowed from European investors, and everything they could to kill, obstruct, and disenfranchise their opponents. There was no conception of the "common good;" the government wouldn't even build a road if there was a chance that their opponents would drive on it.
I thought of Truillo and the D.R. when I read the interview between Dr. Richardson and Bill Moyers, where she recounted her "wow" moment when she realized that the Republicans had not the slightest interested in the truth, but only in gaining advantage and assembling a narrative that supported their personal fortunes. For them, there is no longer a "common good," there is only what benefits themselves and their party. Even their supporters are expendable, so long as they believe the lies their told.
(Gods, I hate being that insulting and negative, but by God, events seem to justify it.)
Thank you, Laura Nelson, for taking trump’s display of individual idiocy and malevolence to the macro level of the Movement Conservatives and oligarchs. That’s where the heartless brains are operating to build power and wealth—on the international playing field.
People do not think of Gingrich very often these days. That's a mistake. For all of Reagan's idiocy, I don't think he thought of Democrats as enemies to be crushed. (E.g., his friendship with Tip O'Neill.) Gingrich did. I think that his 1994 congress was the tipping point. Trump is not just a break with "normal"; he is just as much its logical, predictable outcome.
I agree!
These really aren't Trump-policies and attitudes - he's just normalizing what the GOP-base wants and feels.
The GOP is an anathema to democracy.
And so sorry, Laura, I was so involved in my own little diatribe that I forgot to praise your excellent post, where you rightly put so much of the blame for today's devolution on the decidedly-undemocratic tactics of Newt Gingrich. I used to live in Cobb County, Georgia, and one of the fruitless pleasures I had during that time was the opportunity to vote against that evil, evil man.
And the Carl Schmitt zero-sum transactional playbook was not just to get elected to a fun title, but to use the power of the state and its military to amass wealth by incrementally changing the laws. These laws opened the doors to appropriate the wealth, particularly of the Jews, and then to conscript and enslave labor on a massive, deadly scale for expansion of the state.
These laws also controlled the media and propaganda machine to reshape the ideology of the populace in support of the regime and against the Others. By the end of World War II, the Nazis had reared a new generation who had grown from Hitler Youth into trained soldiers brainwashed since childhood to fight to the death for the Führer.
Are you assuming that there is such a thing as a "Liberal Republican Democracy"? As far as I can see, the only people talking about a "Loyal Opposition" are the parliamentary democracies of Europe and the Commonwealth. It’s appearing (to me) more and more like the Republican Party is aiming for a one party state combining regressive social policy and an oligarchic plutocracy. Look to reading Robert Paxton’s "5 Stages Of Fascism" as a reference.
That was, indeed, Gingrich’s promise to Republicans in 1994: to make the GOP a “permanent majority”.
I bet most Republicans have not read Schmitt. But they have all read Ayn Rand and her! distorted zero-sum game philosophy based on her experience in the Soviet Union! They have turned Atlas Shrugged into their Bible and Objectivism into their religion. Add in some Frederick Buchanan & Milton Friedman who value property over people and capital over labor...and even customers, and you have today's mentality that is being promoted in Business and Law schools backed by Billionaires!! Feudalism is coming if we don't stop the republicans.... Conservatism is an organizational sickness.
<sigh> Kanye West's family speaks honestly about his mental health issues. It would be helpful if Donald Trump's family would do the same about his mental health issues.
Mary Trump writes a scathing book about her uncles severe mental illness. It's clear he's been mentally ill since childhood.
I had to stop reading Mary Trump's book 3/4 of the way through. The family is SO toxic, SO dysfunctional that I couldn't stomach it any more.
Really, it's too bad you didn't finish the book. As bad as it was leading up to the end, the net effect of the final 10 pages was just stunning. I'm now re-reading the whole thing. I do empathize with your disgust while reading, though.
I really hope Kanye's name on ballots does not distract voters this time around. Remember, Bernie's campaign helped split the vote before. We do not need that again.
Well, it looks as though he's missed the deadline in some states and presented incomplete petitions and/or sketchy petitions in more than one instance. (The signatures look suspiciously similar)
His neice has just done that in her book.
I made myself watch all of the Axios interview, and it was horrifying. Nothing about it surprised me, but to see the bald ignorance and callousness in such an unvarnished setting was shocking. Why does he continue to expose himself like that? Does he really have nobody asking him not to talk in public?
I was upset when Kanye West announced he wanted to run for President, but not because I was afraid he would siphon off votes - it was too late for anything approaching an impactful campaign. What upset me was that Kanye was clearly not managing his bipolar disorder properly, and those around him are not doing a sufficient job of helping him manage it.
I feel the same about Trump as I do about Kanye, wishing that there was someone within his orbit who could help him manage whatever it is that is going on with him. But of course, it is exponentially worse with Trump because his cognitive decline and crippling personality disorders wreak havoc on those of us in the real world. This has to end, and those who have enabled Hurricane Trump need to experience some significant consequences for their actions and, in many instances, their inaction.
This is why I call him "President Dunning Krueger." A moron who thinks he's a genius.
Kanye West's family has tried to get him help, but he refuses, and there is nothing they can do. He is not considered a danger to himself or others (yet), so family can do nothing to force medication adherence, etc. As for tRump...there is Article 25, but the repubs will never vote to have him removed. Meanwhile, we have to sit and watch while he continues to make a fool of himself and this country. Instead of "sitting" we need to prepare to have him forcefully removed from the WH after Nov 3. He will not "go gentle into that good night."
Well said. I don't watch much Trump but I did sit through the interview.
The last sentence of your post is the one that resonates most profoundly with me. What price they pay and how it will be exacted remains to be seen, but the Trump era has not been politics as usual and we must not let these scoundrels wiggle off the hook they have set so deeply, consistently and malevolently.
Could not agree with you more. Where is the power to deem trump unfit now and for renomination?
Article 25 In which cabinet members, all trump enablers, take action to remove him. Even if they considered it, they’ll rationalize it’s too close to the election. Besides they're grifters Too.
Swan's interview was unbelievable! My initial thought was gloomy: I bet that the 38% of the population that supports Trump will never watch it. My second thought was brighter: I bet every U.S. senator did (whether they will admit it or not). This has got to shake every R. senator to the core! What will this mean? How will this affect November and down-ballot voting?
I cannot imagine Trump's aides allowing another one-on-one interview -- Swan provides such a great roadmap for how to handle Trump in that situation. What does this means for the debates? Biden should be able to mop the floor as Trump's lies are always predictable and repeated. A little preparation, and boom....
I think that Biden should be very circumspect about debating the idiot as he will only be there to do what he can to destabalize him. It'll be nothing to do with "debate" and policy but he will try to turn each session into a circus act. GOP are even "demanding" more debates to cover the period of mail-in voting too. Biden's team will have to set in stone during the pre-debate negotiations fixed rules about positioning on stage, proximity of the candidates and length of responses etc to prevent this "king" of irreality TV from turning the sessions into a farce. Biden will need all his skills and experience to maintain a calm composure so that Trump looks like the crazy fool that he is. They will also need to put the debates in the hands of journalists who have sufficient character to impose discipline including doubtless the ability to shut off the microphones when rules are not obeyed.
One additional provision, probably difficult to get, would be a period after each candidate's response to a question or his opponent, for the journalists and their backups, to fact check each part of the candidate's statement.
Certainly each statement by Trump will be a Gish gallop of outrageously false claims, meant to capture the emotions of his supporters and other ill-informed observers, in a rapid-fire attack that limits the ability of that type of observer to come close to fact-checking each one. The result is that they are swept up in an emotional rush and end up thinking Trump is a "thoughtful" person, doing what is needed for the country. The assumptions needed for each false claim to be believed need to be examined and shown not true.
The unexamined cascade of lies must be prevented. And most observers of the debate will not stay around for later fact-checking, so it must be done real-time.
It is so difficult each day to find words sufficient to express the depth of outrage and sadness at what this corrupt administration has done to our country, especially with the mishandling of the pandemic, and the enabling by the Republicans. Seeing the brief segment of him dismissing the 156,000 deaths from coronavirus by saying “it is what it is" was just surreal. What a nightmare. We must not only vote, but encourage everyone we know to also vote in less than 100 days.
The Lincoln Project’s podcast yesterday was a thoughtful interView with Stuart Stevens, a former Republican activist. I found it very enlightening.
Agreed! Both enlightening and sobering. If folks aren’t following The Lincoln Project, they should.
It is so hard to convince Republicans! They have their eyes closed by Fox Entertainment, which they believe is the gospel. I have so many friends and family that are Republicans. Of course, I live in Indiana. Sports are a primary concern over education!
I didn't miss the juxtaposition of his "It is what it is" about our 15x,000 dead with his expression of sympathy to the victims of the terrible explosion in Beirut--good behavior for a potential business location later? And he was sure it was a terrorist attack as opposed to an accident. The deaths occurring here are just meh, not a terrorist attack or riot (that he could use as further proof that the world needs his law-and-order kind of smack-down leadership) and certainly not his fault--and not his "people"--you know, only brown, black, and poor people. We got more of those when we need them, right? Who cares about the ones dying when we have so many more to fill their places at the assembly line? The Grinch's shriveled heart is glowing with empathy compared to this tiny man's.
This is more discouraging news about the destruction of our presumed democracy by the partisan efforts of malignant ppl protecting the oligarchy. Earlier in my history with the SSSR we were told it was a struggle between capitalism and communism and we did many destructive wars under that banner. We thot that was what Khrushchev was talking about when he said, “We will bury you.” But he didn’t say when.
So, here we are two generations later, watching the demise of our nation by the U.S. oligarchs colluding with the Russian oligarchs using their imbecile plant in the White House and their conniving operative in the Senate, dismantling all controls by putting Repugnant Partisan hacks in key positions. It looks like the plot of some spy thriller, only it is happening.
I read Heather’s letter this morning, wrote my comment from my feelings at that moment and realized how pessimistic it was but posted it anyhow. Then I read all the other comments and realized I wasn’t alone.
No, you’re not alone. I had come to the same conclusion a long time ago. I see it as realistic rather than negative. I believe it is becoming more likely by the day that we will become a trump family dictatorship with a high likelihood of seeing Russian troops on American soil in our lifetimes and it makes me sick. Very “negative” and “pessimistic” and I try not to dwell on it but the thoughts are there and you are not alone.
I found this opinion piece interesting especially since there has been discussion here about what we can do.
Don’t Believe the Lie That Voting Is All You Can Do https://nyti.ms/3fqA3EG
I also have to remind myself that giving up means "they" have won. Which is part of the strategy...
BetsyC, thanks for sharing!
YES, that article is important and we all need to heed the advice. We have to stay involved at every level. The election is extremely important but no matter how many Dems are elected, it will not solve all our problems. Stay active in your communities, everyone!
Further evidence that the Wharton professor whose class Trump AUDITED (he was too unqualified to be accepted to the school, which back then was not as selective as it is now, which says something about how unqualitied Trump was) was right when he said "Donald Trump was the dumbest freaking (only he didn't say "freaking") student who ever walked in my classroom."
As another commentator said today about the interview, Trump was the kid who wrote his book review without reading the book, and Swan was the teacher who made him get up in front of the class and read that review. Watching him stumble with his graphs - it was clear he was looking at them for the first time and trying to figure out which was what by reading the titles - was embarrassing, only exceeded by his 2 year old's whine "You can't do that!" when Swan corrected him on what the relevant death figure it (percentage of population, not percentage of cases). Calling him "dumber than a bag of rocks" is an insult to rocks.
As far as the rest of the news of the general Republican incompetence, maliciousness, mendacity and malevolence, one is reminded that President Truman was right 72 years ago when he said "The only 'good Republicans' are pushing up daisies."
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA), and ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Mark Warner (D-VA) were clear that foreign actors are attacking us."
"...these efforts must be deterred, disrupted and exposed,” they wrote."
So why aren't they exposing those efforts?
I would pose the same question to the 4 Democrats that I posed to my Senator, Dick Durbin who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee. I had seen him giving a speech on the Senate floor on C-SPAN claiming that his committee knew from its investigation in the run up to the Iraq Invasion that President Bush's claims that Saddam had WMD were false. In a one on one interview I asked Sen. Durbin why he had not told the American public what he knew as a member of the Intel Committee. He responded that he couldn't becuase he had taken a confidentiallity oath as a member of the committee. I asked him why his oath to the Constitution hadn't precluded or superseded any oath that required him to hide the truth from the public. He grew visibly angry and walked away without responding.
As a progressive Democrat I'm disappointed in Democrats who know the truth about Russian meddling but refuse to reveal that truth to the public while at the same time criticizing the GOP for hiding the same truth. They should honor their oath to the Constitution and tell the public what it needs to know regardless of the consequences to themselves.
The Democrats are held back because the information they are referring to is classified, and they do not have the power, by themselves, to declassify it.
What Democrats are trying to do is publicize the fact that information does exist, hoping that will create a big enough push to force Trump to declassify it, which is, unfortunately, the best that can be done.
As they say, "Elections have consequences," and 2016 was an election with HUGE consequences.
The Democrats are almost as rancid with political expediency as the GOP. The DNC wants Trump-failure to mortally damage the GOP
Trump is a SYMPTOM of the rancid culture that permeates the whole GOP apparatus/apparatchiks, a culture that was started back in the 1930s or earlier, but given a big boost into the controlling faction by Newt Gingrich.
As an example of Gingrich's malevolence, upon gaining the Speakership, one of his first actions was the dismemberment of the Congress's Office of Technology Assessment in 1995:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Technology_Assessment
This Office was in existence from 1972 to 1995 to provide members of Congress with objective and authoritative analysis of complex scientific and technical issues that needed governmental action.
Here is a direct quote from yesterday's briefing and how Donald has determined that our numbers are among the lowest in the world. He is EXCLUDING NY and NJ deaths! He is as mad as a hatter. The reporter asks the question at 20:23. Donald Responds at 20:54.
"Well, a lot of our numbers were based on the New York, had a very tough time as you know. New York, New Jersey, that area. And when you take them out, just as an example, take a look at Florida relative to New York. That's not to say anything wrong with New York. It was just a very tough place. People are close together, it's crowded. It's not easy. But when you take that out, our numbers are among the lowest."
Link to transcript & recording
https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/yBrcQgO3CZ8_KIPB_U87qU_0wMtuqvqwD935feRz180jmOeq2ANxJZ16htl219NDAW9REU8kv2ONDzIh7_mQB3ACa0I?loadFrom=PastedDeeplink&ts=1254.19
I almost fell out of my chair when I heard him the first time and went back to check that I wasn't having auditory hallucinations.
Kayleigh McEnany is about the only thing working for Trump now. She's as good at spin as anyone I've seen. Throwing in Martha McSally's name was a clear intent to try to help her not lose in Arizona. And the usual spin blaming the Dems for not agreeing to the Republicans' bill. But we have to trust the American people, that enough have seen what they need to see. And I expect a strong turnout, no matter what Trump's minions try to do.
Trump, well, yeah, he's really losing it, and everyone on his staff is afraid to tell him not to do such stupid things as agree to these interviews, because they'll bear the brunt of his rage. So he's burning his own ship.
But the news about the Republicans excluding reporters is huge. I can't imagine they will try to run someone else, but they are cooking something. I'm curious. And there will surely be leaks. It's an interesting time, if a frustrating, enraging time watching this Republican party do all they can to destroy what they can as fast as they can.
I watched part of her news briefing yesterday, if you can call it that. At one point, the camera caught her eyes, and it literally sent a chill down my spine. Empty human bot came to mind. The cross that is around her neck does not jive with the words out of her mouth
After the Occupation, can we shave her head and march her thru the streets of D.C.?
Dem Senators need to grow a pair and tell Americans what Russia is doing for trump in 2020 election!
Trump is anti-Yosemitic
If there's a Democrat who will not be returning to office this year, I'm all in for disclosure of the information. This is out of character for me to suggest but I am so sick of the blatant Republican disregard for the "rules." When they had the briefing that excluded Dems, that was the last straw for me. This information needs to get out!
I am equally disturbed by Kayley Mc Inane-y’s dismissal of Democrats and their exclusion from the Yo, Semite! event.
That Axios' interview was epic! Worth the money I pay for HBO 😊
It was mind boggling. BUT the more people who see it the better off we are!
FYI the full interview appears to be freely available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaaTZkqsaxY
I've just watched it. Horrendous! He really doesn't understand anything.....and doesn't give a hoot!
Yes, I've watched it.
The interview was disturbing once again! Interesting the “mail in voting” allegations are back firing. Gotta admit, kind of glad to hear it. He said when he went to Oklahoma, covid numbers were down and didn’t spike until after his rally. We teach cause and effect in elementary school! When did killing off your base become a good reelection strategy?! Thank you for all the information! Hope you can get a good restful night now!
There was also the delusion that there were 12,000 people at the Tulsa rally ("But you people wouldn't report it") and the place was so full "It was like an armed camp, you couldn't move." He says that stuff and there's the tape to prove his lie in a second. He is delusional.
I picked up on that too. Swan didn’t push back on that whopper. (He certainly did elsewhere and his frustration was showing in his face!)