I waver between bewilderment and rage when reading these daily summaries. I can almost "understand" his more political moves - installing loyalists, withdrawing troops, even trying to sell access to the Defense Department's wavebands. I don't agree or condone these actions, but they're consistent with his approach to governance to date.
What's comprehensible is ignoring - in any and every way - the coronavirus and its impact. Unconscionable doesn't begin to describe his failure to acknowledge the deaths of 280,000 Americans, or to endorse any means of protecting each other as best possible. It's inhumane. It's devoid of empathy, morally vacuous, and ethically deplorable. It is unequivocally and unalterably wrong.
And yet 74,000,000 thought it acceptable to return him to office. McConnell has personally obstructed any efforts to extend relief for 8 months and counting. It's Hobbseian in its social brutishness. Even Hobbes might be appalled. And Republican leadership is mute.
I'm almost beyond shock. Since the beginning, many thought each of Trump's transgressions would be the last straw, yet nothing happened. The only apparent imposition of accountability is his having lost the election. Court losses haven't swayed him. Our perverse campaign finance laws have given him license to steal despite the misleading fine print. His Cabinet, always incompetent for the task, is asleep, silent, or in on the game. Each day goes by with no visible effort to limit his efforts to salt the earth in advance of his successor. And Republican leadership ignores or enables him to proceed unhindered.
He's unmoored. He's looking to preemptively pardon family and loyalists who are most likely would be criminally liable but haven't yet been charged. His most ardent supporters are almost insane (read Giuliani and Powell) or seditious (read Flynn and Lin Wood). And still the Republican party watches with bloodless faces and dead eyed stares, saying not a word.
What is one to think? How does one explain this to children? How can one reason with any family, friends, or acquaintances who somehow believe Trump is in the right, brought low only by a grand, silent conspiracy of wrong minded citizens and foreign actors?
Perhaps history can look upon Trump's reign of terror more dispassionately. Today, however, I and many others feel like we're helpless, our minds and sensibilities best represented by the visage of horror in Edvard Munch's The Scream.
Thank you for such a well thought and equally well written post Scott Krasner. But I challenge you and any readers of HCR to reconsider this, and I don’t believe I’m considering only semantics: REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP - there isn’t any. There might be sycophants, there might be elected Republican officials, there might be RINO’s, call them whatever, but they are not leaders. They may be long serving Republicans or Republican majority in the Senate. However, I can’t give oxygen to their fire by calling them leaders. Romney has shown courage in the face of opportunity (finally but apparently didn’t have enough courage during the impeachment hearings), Charlie Baker (R Governor MA) has finally stepped up this year to speak out against Dumpster Fire but showed his cowardice in 2016 but announcing he voted for Dumpster FIre, Larry Hogan has consistently spoken up against Dumpster Fire . . . But as far as I can see, the vast majority of elected Republicans (or maybe name brand republicans) are cowards. Consider this, if McConnell, Hogan, Romney, Murkowski, Sessions, Collins were on an executive search committee to consider a CEO for a major organization, there is NO WAY they would put forth the CV of Dumpster Fire as a candidate. It would be laughable.
I know, the government isn’t a business. But it is simply the best analogy I can come up. All these individuals are guilty and it is their cross to bare but our collective mess to clean up.
The last 4 years have been a complete waste with countless lives lost and destroyed. What frustrates me is that Biden/Harris +team have even MORE work to do - to clean up but also put effective policy in place to improve lives. SMH
Laurie, good point, well made. I'm at a loss for any real shorthand term since they are technically in power. I agree that they've exhibited no leadership whatsoever. And for the most part, any Republican who has "spoken up" without qualification has been too little, too late.
AGREE. I’m so grateful for this community. In no way do I assume we are all the same or that we would all agree on policy. But we appear to be a thoughtful, rational, well-read group of individuals who cannot fathom how this imposter was elected.
I am entirely frustrated with the lack of experienced people that have been put into a position of power or leadership in the WH administration. Lewandoski’s appointment is my latest example. Good Grief - what we need is the A team and what we have is a bunch of thugs and members of the farm league for the D team.
You have eloquently expressed my outrage at what is happening in this country, and especially the total disregard for human life. 74M people are equally as guilty as the man in charge. WTF????
A lot of this has to do with the fact that he has enabled their racism and hatred of anyone who does not think and look like they do. Part of this is also certain types of religious folks who see him as a way to address hot button social issues and all the other things they whine about. My home county is Elkhart County in Indiana, which is very conservative and made the WaPo in an article about how bad the virus is there and how public health officials are justifiably worried about getting people to comply with the guidelines. Some time ago one of my classmates posted something which was an attempt to undermine the covid numbers. I did respond. Very recently one of her best friends passed away from the virus and she now posts about following the guidelines, so some do respond when it strikes close to them. In the obit for this person was the best written account of covid and a plea for people to follow the guidelines that I have seen anywhere. Will this do anything about support for death star, no, because they don't see the connection. Here in Salem, OR, where I now live, we have a local nurse who now is has national notoriety for her Tik Tok post about how she, an oncology nurse at the hospital, doesn't follow the guidelines while not at work. She has been suspended and we will see what happens. Then we have a doctor who has his own clinic in a nearby town and was seen at a local protest about mask wearing bragging how at his clinic, they don't bother with any of this. I would have to check, but he may be on his way to losing his license. We had a procedure at the hospital this week and on the main street where people turn in or exit for parking were two younger people with antimask signs. A local gym owner defied the governor's orders about closure and has been fined 90k. The person who signed the fine found a crowd in front of his house to protest his doing his job. (Thank you Google). In the crowd were young children. The gym owner has been ranting about like he cares about the people who go to his gym while the whole enterprise is a tax write off. In the meantime, we had the worst daily number for cases and deaths thus far. But the whiners do not see the connection between this and their behavior. They actually believe the governor likes shutting down businesses or limiting them. I don't see anyway to reach people like this. Biden and Harris have their work cut out for them, so I hope people do not expect miracles. And I hold Mitch equally responsible for the failure to help people...talk about craven.
Your post encapsulates my fears, outrage, and perfectly expresses my disgust of the present administration. These despicable cons have not only fooled one half of our citizens, but have unleashed such hate and violence. I’m concerned about what the coming days hold for our Nation.
Scott this reflects my thoughts and feelings much more articulately than I can state. Not only screaming, but scared at the bottomless well of evil contained in this single human specimen.
This "specimen" would not have power to be so evil and wreak havoc on us without his henchmen. One pull-back of the big RED curtain by enough significant henchmen and the weak and vulnerable Oz would be seen in his glutinous nakedness and fake everything. However, there is a cadre of characters in there with him beginning with putin, the mercers, manafort, bannon, conway, flynn, etc., and we have no idea who it will end with yet.
Why am I feeling this strange, twisted, rather forgotten feeling that might be called pleasure at the deposed Ivanka today for her doubling the bills of inaugural costs at her family hotel. Was that just DAY ONE of the crime family's bilking of America? Circus music. Stayed tuned because the show must go on. Thank you to the justice departments that still work!!
Scott, you have articulated so well my thoughts on what has become of our country that is no longer functioning for its citizens, and barely holding onto democracy.
You expressed what I’ve been feeling, perfectly. Last night, I had another “good cry.” What have we become? As a country and as Humanity. It feels like being in an apocalyptic Zombie movie.. which makes this community so very important and helpful to me. Where do we go from here, and how do we best effect change?
"What is one to think? How does one explain this to children? How can one reason with any family, friends, or acquaintances who somehow believe Trump is in the right, brought low only by a grand, silent conspiracy of wrong minded citizens and foreign actors?"
Just refer to Nazism. Just a different version. You know, "I didn't know what was going on." and "I was just following orders.".
Scott, for me the way to "take it all in" is to revert to the simplicity of my childhood. That some people are just evil, that there is good and there is bad. Thats it! Once you get into the nuances of human character and think about shades of grey etc. you lose your way. The absence of connections to our physical and metaphysical universe that keeps us in balance produces evil. The presence of evil is overwhelming as is the presence of sentient and caring beings.
Scott, it occurred to me when I read your list of wrongdoing by 45 and his administration without any consequences, that there is only one right thing that has been accomplished. And that is that the people voted him out of office. Now we are stuck having to wait before our new president can begin.
One of the things that has gotten me over the past four years, and moreso this past month in which four years of Trumpcrap has been compressed into 30 days, is that I cannot figure these people out. I have for a number of years worked as a creator of dramatic fiction, during which time I gained a reputation for being able to create "honest, believable characters." Not that all were honest, moral people, but rather that they were honest portrayals of people who might do the good, bad or indifferent. But with these Trump people, I really can't figure them out, how they got to the level of awful they inhabit. I mean, how did an otherwise unremarkable kid from a middle class Jewish home full of what appear to be decent people, become this kid who went out of his way to be an asshole, who got his jollies from the outraged responses of others to his assholery, become Stephen Miller, who I can only compare to Reinhard Heydrich, even though he likely doesn't have the stones to become the author of a Holocaust? Lewandowski, Bossie, O'Grady, mentioned here tonight. You look at who they were and their previous unremarkableness is the constant. What turned them into monsters, or were they always monsters but just able to maintain a facade? And why were/are they? Most of them don't appear to be getting rich from their involvement with Trump, but they're drawn to him like moths to a candle.
'Tis a puzzlement.
And then there's the response they raise in me, which is best left to the Dylan line - "If my thoughts 'n dreams could be seen, they'd probably put my head in a guillotine."
As an emergency physician this is not so confusing. Nor is it an unknown. We have good evidence from Functional MRI that the patterns in the brain of an individual that has experienced near absolute power, or even one who thinks he has, conform exactly to the patterns seen in addictive disease. Power is the most addicting experience a human can have. Addiction is a condition that will lead the afflicted to do irrational, self centered, self justifying actions often right up to the brink of death or to death itself. Trump has been addicted to power for many years but the experience of being president has pushed his condition to its logical conclusion. The problem with addiction to power is that it does not carry the same destructive power to the body itself as other addictions. Also in power addiction a cohort of like addicted personalities are often drawn in to support the central figure. They can then all act in an irrational manor together thus supporting their delusion while continuing their self denial and self aggrandizement. This behavior will function at shorter and shorter time scales and exhibit greater amounts of energy until the end, whatever form that takes.
So I submit that what is happening is not a puzzle. What to do about it seems to be.
Thank you, Dr. Munson, This makes sense to me for both the individuals with power and those who are followers. I have always been very interested in the function of the brain. My personal experience with absolute power as an orchestra conductor could be described as a high without drugs. Just holding a little stick you control a hundred or more people in that moment. And, you don't make a sound. The sound comes from the musicians who grant you your power by following you. Getting high on music feels good and has the advantage over addictive drugs in that you can choose when you come off the high. Again with functional MRI they show that playing a musical instrument lights up the entire brain and is a total body workout. Here's a favorite TED talk on this https://www.ted.com/talks/anita_collins_how_playing_an_instrument_benefits_your_brain/transcript?language=en
But, what to do about it... Don't think a 12 step program would have any takers. One approach might be having a government that focuses on the well-being of everyone using a Well-Being Index. This would include building resilience so people are less susceptible to this kind of addiction. And, change our culture's sleep habits so we get enough N3 deep sleep which cleans out toxins like amyloid betas linked to Alzheimers accumulated by the brain during the day and REM sleep which give you more resilience in dealing with situations you encounter. Shorter term it would be helpful to stop negative campaigning which works because our brain pays attention to negative things in order to survive if something bad is coming at you. Interesting enough, it is the candidate using hope and a vision of a positive future who will win in a healthy society. Wish I had some more immediate answers to this.
I will add just one thought. Addictive disease has been with humanity, likely, from the start. It has generally been accepted as a norm. It is only recently that it has even been thought of as a disease and that realization hasn't fully penetrated society yet. The companion to addictive disease is co-dependence. This is a non addicted personality that is attracted to the addicted personality where a predictable dance of behavior ensues. The co-dependent attaches to the addict with the energy stream, of ideas, money, allegiance, etc. between the two crippling both. The hallmark of this dance is denial.
If people in general can come to recognize addiction and to be able to see the denial that supports it then progress may be forthcoming.
Yes, his base restricts the President in many ways. What is the co-dependence of the silent Republican elected officials or is it just fear of not getting re-elected. Term limits would go a long way to solving that.
News commentary and discussion groups like this one need to start practicing positive journalism which not only tells you what is going but also what can be done about it. I do hope we'll discuss remedies here and stay out of the weeds. Sometimes we also need to step back and try to see the whole picture.
So true, Cathy- thanks. When we let ourselves get drawn down the rabbit hole of analyzing negative things, we get disconnected from our ability to even see solutions. I've worked with dozens of groups whose existence was to identify the nature of problems and find the means to resolve them. Part of that process was to keep them looking for possible solutions even while trying to understand the problem. Not fix as you go, but having that positive outlook alongside the problem analysis to keep the process afloat.
Your suggestion of establishing a governmental Well-being Index is brilliant, Cathy. That would be a significant way to embed different--healthy--values in our societal structure. Thanks for posting the TedEd Talk. Emphasizing creativity's empowerment is key to our cultural healing and evolution.
I'm certainly promoting the idea but it is already happening in countries like Great Britain. And, the US Army has a Comprehensive Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness program. This is based on the work of Dr. Martin Seligman and his theory of Well Being. So, there are already examples on how to set this up. https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/learn/soldiers
Yes, I knew you weren't originating the idea, but sharing it, Cathy. People need to know about this extremely important solutionary concept! Thanks for sharing this link. As visuals are important and reveal a lot of hidden meaning, it'd be so much better if the peripheral circles in the Venn diagram overlap in the center, instead of being somewhat separate. That would powerfully illustrate how interconnected thinking--instead of problematic dualistic thinking--leads to optimal fitness. I like the text describing the goal to develop optimal fitness skills, especially where it says: "when facing uncertainty and adversity, these same skills help these individuals to put the problems into an appropriate perspective, find meaning in their lives, reduce rumination and catastrophic thinking, and focus on finding solutions." We definitely need that these days!!
As a double boarded NP working in addiction and psych I appreciate your input on this and agree that this is not a puzzle but that the challenge is to find a solution. Sadly, I am not sure there is a workable one. As I’ve posted several times before, these people are not going away. Our biggest challenge moving forward will be to keep them out of power and to remove those already there. I fear it will not end well.
Not only are they not going away, but this is not a new phenomenon. They have always been among us. Hopefully, with a sane administration and nobody manning the dog whistle, they will fade from the forefront. Of course, that will require removal of the worst who remain in positions of authority. I doubt it will happen in my lifetime, but we could witness the beginning.
I just started reading "The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence", by Dacher Keltner, of Berkley. He mentioned the fMRI studies on a radio interview so I got his book. He said it is true that 'absolute power corrupts absolutely", in that it literally changes the brain. I'd never heard that before and am very intrigued to read the book and learn more.
One of the basic gains of a child from his parents is the understanding of the limits that society imposes on acceptable behaviour. Absolute power blows away the limits....and with it all the accumulated benefits of childhood "socialization".
Thank you, Dr Munson, for your clarifying explanation! It is very helpful in understanding this phenomenon. Interestingly, your comments align with what Stuart Attewell said earlier albeit in a different way, that being a Trumper gives them their one shot at feeling like a master of the universe. Both explanations illuminate how insecure people feel empowered through identification with this cult/ ideology. I think the attraction of trumpism lies in one's sense of insecurity. (Perhaps Miller feels insecure in relation to his other upright family members? As people take different roles in family systems, it's not unusual for a family of upstanding people to include a deviant or outcast.) As most people feel insecure, the potential number of such cultists in the future is vast. When we identify the problem as you have done, then we can mitigate it. Clearly, we need to find other ways for people to feel empowered.
Miller apparently was a social outcast early on in life....vengence is sweet in his mind. Whereas people didn't listen before now they are afraid of what he'll do next! What a rush for this "loser".
Yes, definitely! Unfortunately, our highly competitive, highly acquisitive culture often undermines the bonds of a loving family. Sadly, it is called a rape culture for a reason. I agree that love in its widest, most active form--love of self, each other, and the Earth--is the answer. With it, children grow up with a belief in their inherent goodness and creativity, a sense of acceptance of their own and others' limitations, a positive sense of shared community, and a deep connection with the Earth. The mutual aid that is proliferating during these tumultuous times is an expression of such love, and is extremely hopeful.
I loved that Paul (of Peter, Paul & Mary) responded on this site to HCR's recent question about our ideas for a new narrative for America. Paul (Noel Paul Stookey) offered a song instead: America The Beautiful, with 2 additional verses he wrote: (https://www.amazon.com/America-the-Beautiful/dp/B008XTXZ7K
Your comment, Imogene Drummond, feels like that same gooodness.
It appears we are already slipping into that rabbit hole. This is not the only kind of problem analysis we can use- but it is the one that our culture is conditioned to turn to, particularly the tendency to "individualize" both problems and solutions. Other societies and cultures are already using other ways of looking at things, and some have been doing so for centuries. I wonder why we repeatedly return to the particular perspective we have- even while we think we are learning from the way others have of thinking?
Without your medical knowledge, I was about to say that these cohorts have similar psychological makeup, and his being in control gives him the opportunity to grant permission to display their base instincts. Thank you, Dr. Munson!
So, G.K. Chesterton was right, way back in the day, when he observed that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Good to know,. Thank you!
FWIW, Chesterton may have riffed on the theme, but the quote is from Lord Acton in a letter (1887) insisting on the necessity of evaluating and condemning the actions of past leaders, with particular objection to justifying the cruelties of Popes:
"Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority."
A shortened version of the letter is available at:
Great post – befuddlement in understanding the Trumpists is something we share.
You probably recall the rampant greed, entitlement and general rapacity with which aspiring finance and real estate scum waded through the cocaine cloud that was the 80s. “American Psycho” was the hyperbolic testament to those times. I was living in Manhattan then and never could get my head around those folks – they were such unrepentant Arschlochs.
I don’t do Twitter, but I came across a story this morning about the NYYRC (New York Young Republicans Club) who held a maskless get together yesterday hosted by young Gavin Wax with special guest Matt Gaetz (R) Florida – one of the world’s signature Arschlochs.
The Tweet, complete with a photo of the group jammed in nice and tight, rich with exuberant décolletage, goofy looking men – and a strange hand gesture that must be some kind of secret club thing, was a stomach turner.
I can’t reproduce the picture (it’s searchable), but the text read:
Ashley StClair
@stclairashley
Catch us if you can, Commie aCuomo.
The show will always go on for patriots...
Thanks for organizing an amazing America First event!
@GavinWax
@NYYRC
They NYYRC slipped into New Jersey to hold their super fun, super spreader event.
Explain these folks to me if you can – and this is the next generation! Lord help us.
"cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare". (Anyone can err, but only the fool persists in his fault) Cicero, Philippica XII, 5.
Covid......and life.....will take care of arrogant ignoramuses.... if they survive!
True, my dear husband is a benign Republican - though socially liberal (one of a very small group). I'm hopeful for his enlightenment, and frequently provide printouts of Heather's letters. He would never attend a superspreader. . . .
Unfortunately, the virus is opportunistic and does not give a hey ho who its' victims are. Darwinism only applies to a certain percentage of the losses in this viral war.
Statistics suggest that they will likely survive it if they get it, since they are young. The fatal consequence could fall on their more elderly family and/or acquaintances. Would they accept responsibility or feel guilt for any harm that their foolishness might produce?
I see this as a great example of survival of the fittest. The stupid and arrogant will not survive hopefully making the populace that is left is a little smarter. I don't think we get of the arrogance though...
NJ has worked long and hard to remove toxic substances from its environment – they do not need Matt Gaetz spreading his Codswallop across the Garden State.
Now here's a nasty thought. While wise people wear masks when out of their homes, avoid crowds, frequently wash their hands and observe social distancing, perhaps they should add to that the avoidance of any people, including neighbors, whom they know to be Republicans. Not a joke. It is possible that such people have had contact with others who may have attended super-spreader events, if not having been at one themselves. You never know with folks who were gullible enough, or sufficiently ignorant, to vote for Trump, or live in areas like the one that elected Matt Gaetz to Congress, or perhaps in the entire State of Florida where the GOP governor and legislature refuse to support masking mandates, even locally.
Matt Gaetz is a flaming a$$hole! Of course he’s one of our Florida congressmen. I donated to his opponent, Phil Ehr, but the Flori-duh idiots thought Gaetz was a better candidate than the fighter pilot.
Politico reported that NJ Governor Phil Murphy laid into Gartz for headlining at that gathering, calling him "a fool," and "Matt Putz." He also said he didn't ever want Gaetz to come to New Jersey again. Well done by Governor Murphy!
Had to look that one up: " a foolish or contemptible man] ice hole [vulg.] [ deliberate mispronunciation of arsehole / asshole] Arschloch {n} [vulg." Thank You.
How ironic, I was just thinking about American Psycho yesterday! (And Bonfire of the Vanities...). These people will be looking for another Ronnie Reagan to carry their standard in 2024 because they aren't going away any time soon...
I think the STATE of NJ should "consider suing THEM! Considering the fact that there will be an increase of virus in the area. I assume these idiots didnt wait on themselves at this event - certainly werent their own caterers. Those are the people I would be concerned about.
In the case of Gaetz, he's second generation of this bullshit. Grew up in it and knew no other. Likely the case with many of the others. I find that often among the "upper ranks" of the Far Right Wing.
It really is a cast of unbelievable characters. Even their dialogue is melodramatic and preposterous. They are like charicatures of charicatures. Boris Badenov even had a more understandable motivation. Renfield was more symapthetic. They do present a challenge to the fiction writer, to be sure. They push the envelope of incredulity so far, we are left wondering where it will end.
I was telling a friend recently that if, back when I was the guy at the show who writers met with and pitched ideas, someone had come in and pitched the last five years, I would have risen up, grabbed them by their lapels, and told them they were the worst fabulist I had ever met, that I was going to call everyone I knew and tell them never to take a meeting with this person, that a modicum of reality is needed in such stories.
As a teacher, I see many students who can listen to and absorb history lessons about absolute monarchies, fascist dictators, and tyrants, can write essays about yellow journalism and Nazi propaganda, and then turn around and parrot the nonsense they hear on FAUX News because that's what's on at home. For far too many, history is what happened a long time ago to someone else - they can't see the history they are part of, because they can't (or won't) internalize the lessons of history. I personally blame the focus on testing - the students (the ones who are invested in even a small way in graduating) only really care about memorizing just enough to get the grade they want, and teachers don't have enough time to dig deep into historical analysis to open the students' eyes to what is really important. I teach English, and when I teach literature like Elie Wiesel's "Night" I not only reinforce the history of the Holocaust, I stress the overarching theme of "us vs them" as the main cause of so much pain in suffering in human history. We read about and watch interviews from survivors, I show them the Oprah episode with Wiesel when they walk through Auschwitz - I try to put a face to the words. I think in the moment their eyes are opened a bit more than they were before - but I have no idea if they in any way generalize the lesson. And for some, they get much more exposure to the polar opposite lesson of "Night" at home and on social media.
I wish I had teachers like you when I was in school. At nine I read the Diary of Anne Frank on my Christmas vacation and I was never the same. And none of my friends wanted to read it or talk about it. I read it once a year and tried in vain to educate myself about how dictators rise and how so many people could follow someone like Hitler and not rebel against his superiority and evil crimes against humanity insanity. Whilst we do not have human ovens, we do have a virus that Lame' Duck a l'OrangeI completely does the opposite about, so I have witnessed this deadly brainwashing in my own country. We need teachers like you so we can learn to think for ourselves and not repeat history. Thank you for doing such wonderful and often thankless job...
I am so grateful that I was long gone from high school before the 'teaching to the test' insanity was put in place. Because of that, I was blessed with a history teacher much like HCR. It changed my life, literally.
Ah, like the fabled Ivory-billed Woodpecker, thought to be extinct until discovered living quietly in an Arkansas swamp, here we have an Actual Very Good Teacher! God, I would hate to be you, someone who obviously knows, understands and loves your subject, who would have no trouble actually EDUCATING your students, stuck in that godawful Teach-to-the-Test No-Child-Left-With-A-Mind bullshit that passes for current American public miseducation.
After watching my grandson do "math" - the sheer stupidity in how he is being taught blows my mind. How any of these kids manage to get thru high school escapes me. On the other hand the fact that so many DO - makes me wonder exactly what they have learned. Thank heavens both my kids loved to read. And so do most of my grandchildren.
Thank you for your engagement of your teaching skills. My parents were Holocaust victims. Never knew my grandparents. Regardless, if nothing else comes of this horrendous debacle we are enduring, I sincerely hope that there is a demand of the absolute truth in future history books, written by scholars such as HCR, who explain exact events in their entirety.
I wonder if teaching them also those events closer to home at the same time, the things our nation has done and is doing, showing the similarities, might make a difference in making the connection for them.
I think you're wrong about Miller. He'd happily lead a Holocaust. We just haven't yet gotten to the point where our institutions would allow it. Heydrich, too, was a self-dealer who waited until he could do his evil within the framework of Hitler's government.
Thanks for posting this..it is DAUNTING! Don't you just love the fact that Miller mentioned he has "no family"? After he and Sessions committed this act on immigrants, his family disowned him. He and Kushner have not given any of us who were born Jewish a great name. They both should be locked up in those cages with other GOP members. You think then any of them can be reformed to a place of decency? I don't.
I would be surprised if any of have any integrity left. I am kind of amazed how little integrity is evident among Republican Senators, especially those who were elected years before Trump was on anyone's radar. Including our own Susan Collins. How is it that that none of them can find that decency they had once possessed.
I believe Anne Applebaum’s article, History Will Judge the Complicit—will answer your question. If you chose to do so, you can read OR listen to it here:
"What turned them into monsters, or were they always monsters but just able to maintain a facade?" I think they were born monsters-in-the-making. All it took was the right catalyst. It is said that no one is "born" bad, but I have a hard time believing that, now more than ever.
As for your Dylan quote, I'm right there with you.
Last night I broke a rule of mine never to respond to a comment on a public Facebook post unless it is to wish someone a happy birthday, congratulations, etc. I save any other comments to private groups. I also have found the snooze and unfollow feature of Facebook to be very handy tools. However, last night, a story from a local news station about an organization here in Lexington helping with food insecurity garnered unexpected comments, especially in this uber religious area of the country. The first comments I would have expected is "God bless their work." Instead comments were made "Get a job", "You are only helping lazy people", and my personal favorite "Learn to grow and hunt your own food." To be clear, there were comments commending the project and push back on the negative comments. The comment I had to comment on was about why hasn't the Democrats, specifically Ms. Pelosi, pass a coronavirus relief bill. I pointed out that they had passed such a bill in the House last spring but that that bill along with many others are stalled in the Senate thanks to Mr. McConnell. First I was told that "Mitch does this because it doesn't make any sense to pass any bills the president is going to veto anyway" and then a diatribe about how evil Nancy Pelosi is and how the Democrats only want to burn cities, etc. I signed off with a grace to you and obviously we disagree. I have pondered on these comments. I could say they need a civics lesson (they do) or that they are crazy or uninformed. However, the main theme I see and hear is fear. Fear of losing everything. Fear of their health. Fear of the other. All sides of the political, religious, media and other secular organizations are responsible for this fear. And I believe this fear led to the rise of 45 and to our current situations. I believe ignorance can be overcome. Fear is more difficult. And 45 and his ilk are masters of stoking this fear. Heck, they are fearful themselves and fear is contagious.
As far as the unmasked gatherings, these remind me of "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe. Invincible in their own minds until they are not.
I see that we as citizens have a lot of work to do if we value our democracy. I stand with Lincoln and his vision. It is worth the work.
Rebecca, on the PBS Newshour last night (Friday 12/4), commentator David Brooks spoke of this very thing -- fear is what motivates so many, apparently, to lash out violently and blindly, and to demand nothing good for anyone (except themselves). I agree with you (and Brooks) that this is the case, and I lament that we in the U.S. (and elsewhere in the world) have come to this point. One thing that Brooks said really captured my attention... that there is no way to "reason" with people to try to dissuade them from following a dumb line of thinking. He said they will just become more entrenched in their views. He advocated dialogue and listening to others. Giving people an opportunity to express where they are coming from. My take on everything he said was THAT is the way to begin to change things, to move people away from their fearful stance and (hopefully) towards a place where all can find places of agreement and then begin to build something of value. I'm not saying this very well, but you get my drift, I hope. Check out the PBS Newshour online; there is a way to view previous broadcasts and/or read transcripts... :-)
Cold rational argument can of course not dent irrational fear...only accentuate it; the uncontrolled and un-named emotions get badly in the way. The extreme psychic stress that such fear subjects people to blocks them such that only their mostly unconscious personality elements function.....which of course they can't handle very well. To bring them back to their preferred dominant, conscious personality a calm, empathetic approach is essential; the level of stress has to be brought down. They are not mad.....just not themselves.
There is a FaceBook group called Smart Politics that offers some truly valuable content and discussions regarding how progressives can communicate effectively and “be more powerful messengers for our cause.” I first learned about it from someone on Heather’s FaceBook page. Dr. Karen Tamerius, the Group Administrator, has created some impressive content that has been helpful to me. After many failed efforts, I am short on the patience needed to engage in conversations with Trump supporters, but when I see comments such as you mention, Rebecca, that I simply can’t, in good conscience, ignore, I go to Smart Politics to review Dr. Tamerius’ Change Conversation Cycle to remind myself of how I might respond most effectively. This is a private group, so you need to go to the page and submit a request to be added, which includes answering a few questions. I highly recommend it as a valuable resource.
I've unFriended everyone who makes me want to scream, so my feed has become more pleasant - when I remember to look at it. I try to remember to not post anything Public-ly.
Hannah Arendt's book (based on her reporting for The New Yorker), "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil" encapsulates the issues TCinLA and the people who posted replies to it raise. I have read only bits of it but what she presents is a picture of evil that is stripped of glamour and that indicts everyone. As she says about Eichmann, "Except for an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement, he had no motives at all." If you have access to JSTOR (you can read online for free but not download if you don't have access through a library) there is a great short article in The History Teacher (1981) that discusses Arendt and her book in clear and concise terms. https://www.jstor.org/stable/493684
Miller and most everyone else surrounding the Deranged Cheeto--including the criminal enablers in Congress--fit Arendt's description perfectly. They are not monsters. They are not (most of them) pathological narcissists. They are sterile, unoriginal, uncreative people who have decided that personal advancement through doing terrible things is fine with them. It is actually harder, in our modern world, to be a good person than to be an awful one. Empathy, emotional maturity, awareness, and wisdom all require effort on the part of the individual. One has to engage, one has to become self-aware, one has to be brutally honest with oneself. Evil simply requires reaching down to that lowest common denominator of the id: a desire for self-advancement by any means necessary.
This is why they all seem so petty, so puerile, so childish, so joyless. This is why their tantrums are so infantile. And this is why Biden and Harris seem, by contrast, so refreshingly mature, so willing to allow joy. Both have been radically affected by what Hegel referred to as the "slaughter-bench" of history. The subhumans surrounding the Unelected Ex-President have not got enough imagination to be affected by anything except their own hunger.
I have often thought of Hannah Arendt's philosophy on the "banality of evil" during the past four years, especially, when watching the icy, expressionless faces of DT's henchmen defending/responding to lie after lie after lie. Poor Arendt lost the admiration of many friends and colleagues over her assessment of Eichmann, but she was spot on.
Four years. And one of the most glaring issues we face (or avoid) is the 4 centuries of despair America inflicted on the people it chose as its victims. This is not pointed at you, Rowshan. I would just like us all to open our eyes to where this whole issue started and it wasn't four years ago. This is a continuation, aided and abetted by our entire society over centuries.
Oh, Annie! I agree with you 100% and am ashamed that I didn't highlight that myself, as it is an horrific injustice with which I struggle on a daily basis. Thank you for bringing it to the fore.
I read the article at JSTOR, and the whole time I read, I kept thinking, "This could have been describing Stephen Miller OR Mike Pence." I disagree with you, however, on the point of whether or not they are monsters. I remember reading a long time ago that the etymology of "monster" is the latin "monstrare," which means "to demonstrate." The take from this is that monsters reveal something to us, and most likely not something we want to see. Monsters also serve as a warning to us; if we cannot face them, we are at their mercy.
How Stephen Miller could still be employed by the Federal government and sitting in the White House offices after the unspeakably cruel immigration policies he has been credited with drafting is a mystery to me. He may not have a Dr. Mengele as his henchman -- although I could argue that Dr. Scott "Let Them All Get the Virus To Strengthen the Herd" Atlas runs a close enough parallel -- but he is, in my book, absolutely a monster.
I think this is spot on, Linda: “They are sterile, unoriginal, uncreative people who have decided that personal advancement through doing terrible things is fine with them.”
And beginning with "Empathy, emotional maturity, awareness, and wisdom all require effort on the part of the individual. One has to engage, one has to become self-aware, one has to be brutally honest with oneself...", we see the beginnings of separating ourselves from "them", who in the next paragraph become "subhumans", and the beginning of our denial of responsibility. Are we so different?
While I agree with you that the choice of the word "subhumans" is not only unfortunate, it is also incorrect (as those traits listed at the beginning of the paragraph are specifically and solely "human" traits), I do think there are people who WILL not be reached, either because it is too late to mend the early wounds that made them that way in the first place, or because they don't and won't care about anyone unlike themselves (and perhaps not about many of those).
What do you see as the responsibility of compassionate progressives at this time in our history? It does not appear that dialogue is possible in the current climate. How can we dialogue with people who did this: This weekend, pro-T**** protestors rallied in my town, overflowed onto a church lawn, knocked down the pastor who asked them to stay off church property (she suffered a severe blow to the head on contact with the concrete steps), and beat up a protestor from an opposing viewpoint. The police in my town were non-responsive - claiming that there is nothing they can (or are willing?) to do; meanwhile, on their scanners in convo with each other they are calling the pro-T****ers "patriots"! As though the counter-protestors are not? As though working for the overturning of the Presidential election is not a seditious act meant to overthrow the civil government? I'm pretty sure that I would not be capable of dialogue with the thugs who are doing this kind of thing around the country. I have sent an email protesting the PD response to our mayor, but there's only so much she can do. I don't think I would yield to the desire to throw some punches the next time I run into one of the frequent pro-T**** rallies we are having in my mostly blue town, but I also don't think I would hesitate to shout some very unhelpful remarks. I'm no saint.
A brilliant analysis Linda. I wonder if Mengele fits in to the category of sterile unoriginal people or is there another cadre of people under an evil regime that enable its propagation. Once of the great tragedies that can never been fully expressed to my satisfaction is how Mengele was allowed to roam the countrysides of S America for decades in middle class comfort without having to face justice. Must have taken more than a village of sterile people to keep him alive.
"Exactly what Trump is doing with this packing of the Defense Department is unclear."
I see Putin's fingerprints over all of this, including hi-tech defense hardware sales to small-time Middle East players.
I see every Trump appointee in the Defense Dept. as a de facto Russian agent. Joe McCarthy's paranoid assertion that the US government is riddled with communists has come a cropper, though modern Russia under Putin is about as far away from Marxist/Leninist communism as one could get.
We'll see if enough Senate Republicans have the moxie to stop those arms sales. They may have to buck not only Trump but Moscow Mitch McConnell as well.
I always naively thought it could never get this bad or such a criminal would never hold such a high office because the FBI or CIA would protect the country from such evilness. Obviously I was very wrong. It also makes me wonder how much of Congress on both sides are corrupt but are just more discreet about it.
I agree with you, and he's going to make it difficult for them. He is the Commander in Chief, however utterly unfit for that title he might be, and in itself that tradition makes it a challenge to defy him. And that slim edge of the wedge is all he needs to try to bend reality his way. I don't think he will succeed, but I think it will be terrifyingly violent and horrible for a time because in addition to attempting to leverage the armed forces, I am sure Trump and proxies like Flynn are planning militia aggressions.
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure there are some lower ranking officers and possibly an alarmingly large number of enlisted who would be willing to go along with suspension of the Constitution and a re-do of the election (in other words, the kind of election we see in decaying or fragile democracies - where the votes don't determine the outcome).
Thanks Heather. This is certainly alot to unpack, but so worth the read. I honestly did not realize the people involved in the 5G deal. Thanks for the clarification.
I was at the Doctor's today and she was mentioning how COVID-19 is truly effecting us all in ways we may not consider. She has been a General Practitioner for many years and is seeing the tally on literally everyone that comes through the door. The infected and those who have family, friends, employees, the neighbor down the street etc and the crippling fear of contracting it is so damaging. The spectators are ending up quite ill from it like nothing she has seen. Depression, anxiety, gastrointestinal problems, cardiac problems, PSTD are some of what she has seen for months attributed to COVID-19.
I would expect some issues may recede as the Covid numbers go down and the Medical field gets a handle on this. I imagine years from now we will see reports on this phenomenon.
I've said it before, but please be safe, be well. Take a breather from what you have control over and what controls you, my friends.
I am in private practice supporting teenagers who have returned home all over the nation and world from boarding schools. I can tell you, the impact on them is tremendous. And those who live in southern USA states are appalled that their family and neighbors refuse to wear masks and still send their siblings/children to school. Rather bittersweet to know that they are educated in the north and understand what needs to be done to stay safe. They have many months now of in vivo experience in living safely in small pods in boarding schools not go off campus and endanger your pod. These are teens!! And their schools have been safe because the dedicated, hardworking adults took good care of them because they love them.
Then, these young, educated in pandemic people are sent back into the alternative realities of America and witness the opposite. Anti-maskers moving around freely, traveling for the holiday, gathering in large groups, going to school without masks, even. It is heartbreaking to see them so utterly isolated and fearful at their friends, siblings and family members who look so ignorant to them. And they are isolated and in much less control than you or I.
Under normal circumstances they should be feeling invincible and and taking risks. For some, walking out the door feels like a risk because no one out there wears a mask to protect fellow humans, including them. Siblings walking IN the door is scary-- what were they exposed to today? A war zone with absolutely unnecessary landmines everywhere. The Pandemic Generation needs a lot of support. They are told not to do risky and dangerous things and then they see their supposed "role models" from the so-called president on down, acting like insane, self-serving circus idiots endangering everyone. And they see the death tolls rise.
This coup on our government by our own people is hard enough for intelligent people to understand, much less for developing brains.
I need to walk my talk which is: Stop whining and offer solutions if you must whine. Elsewhere on this forum I offer a sample solution to prepare and empower us for this inevitable and massive change and re-building the world we find ourselves in. Something called Transition Towns, which began in the UK and has spread out might provide a framework as we take stock of our communities, community assets and care of one another, post T***p Era. Visit Trainsitions Towns https://transitionnetwork.org.
Penelope, thank you for offering a solution. I will look into this. I am interested in living in a like-minded community, due to the anxiety and isolation I feel living in Florida.
Thank you for this. There are communities in Vermont who are doing things very like this, and also many Indigenous communities all across this continent who are incorporating traditional ways into taking on transitions from various causes. It's exciting to see communities themselves seeking ways to heal from within, because just as keeping ourselves healthy helps maintain the health of other people, so it is with communities and beyond.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Praying that Biden and his team can sidestep whatever comes their way in the remaining lame duck days. Wear your mask. Keep your distance. Wash your hands.
Maybe trump thinks that if he packs the Pentagon with his civilian toadies (sorry toads everywhere) that they can force the men and women at the Pentagon and in the military around the world to support a coup to put him in lifelong power. That he always has and always will seek the spotlight without having done anything worthwhile to deserve the attention will haunt the GOP for years unless SDNY can lock him and his crime family away for a good long stretch.
That he keeps shuffling people around even this late in the game speaks of nothing but desperation and a loss on a grip of reality. I hope the GOP suffers for years for lacking the spines to push for use of the 25th Amendment to remove him and the gutlessness of not being willing to convict him at the impeachment proceedings.
I never thought that I could feel such disdain for a leader of the United States of America, a country that I so admired since childhood. Sadly, that contempt has also surfaced for his family, his followers, and his henchmen.
I hate these sentiments that burn through to the very core if my being, most of all because of the reality of the death, sorrow, and destruction that he has inflicted on so many good people. I knew that he would not leave without some form of revenge, but I'm beginning to think that my imagination hadn't envisioned such malevolence from one who feigns to love his country.
I said all along, the T**** "team" isn't sharing the vaccine distribution plan with the Biden transition team because there is no plan. The "plan" is the same as it has been all along since the pandemic started: let the free market decide.
I believe there's documented evidence that the T****-Kushner "plan" was to allow the virus to burn through the population unchecked, especially after they learned that it was Black and brown people and the elderly who were dying at the fastest rates.
The burning story is definitely Covid now that we are inching towards the 300,000 mark. Politics has always been ugly but never has it been this horrendous where our economy is tanking and a leader of our country could care less about the people. It not be easy for me to forgive those who voted for this moron to run us into the ground. For what?? For money? Greed? Do the Republicans not equate that some of their people who supported them have died?
Sessions did rightfully recuse himself about his contacts in Russia but what he and Stephen Miller did to those families is unconscionable! Tonight, we found out that the administration actually did have phone numbers of places where those children were sent to. All of this time, they lied that they didn’t keep any notes as to their whereabouts. Those children and families have suffered terribly. This is an act of unmitigated cruelty. I haven’t rested easily because of their disappearance and I won’t until all of them are found.
Marlene, is that all you got out of that intensely thoughtful post? I'm sad for you. It's only grammar, after all, and therefore arbitrary. It also happens to be a construction that I sometimes use myself, learned from my grandmother and other elders in my family. It's not only an old construction, but also one that lends itself readily to typing fingers and quick minds. I'm so glad.
I truly do not understand what you are saying to me. I was merely correcting my sentence structure from what I had said earlier which is right above my second reply.
Marlene, I truly owe you an apology. Thank you for pointing out what would have been obvious to me had I been paying attention. This is a classic mea culpa. Your first post was beautifully and thoughtfully written. I read it several times to appreciate what you were saying and then somehow failed to notice that you were answering yourself. No wonder you couldn't understand- and that's my fault.
Amazing how the Hatch Act and Emoluments Clause have both not just been ignored by Trump, but trampled in the dust. From the incredible amounts charged by the Trump hotel to the RNC Inaugural Committee (Yes, Ivana) to this 5G fiasco, he has been more openly money-grubbing than even Vlad Putin. How magnanimous of him to forego his salary....
Once again nearly speechless with these revelations, with regards to the purging of competent experienced people and their replacement with unqualified IQ45 loyalists. I hope Biden/Harris will be able to clean house when they take office. These past few weeks seem to have intensified the crafty (Putin) lunacy of 45 as he tries to destroy and disrupt as much as possible before the coming succession. Sad.
I have one nit with this post -- it is the word winning: "Trump’s obsession with WINNING an election he has clearly lost has brought into relief the struggle for control over the Republican Party." While Trump is clearly obsessed with remaining President, he has only one route to do that, and that is to STEAL the election. When we way he is trying to "win" the election, we are giving credence to the idea that there is some legitimate path for him to win. There is not.
It is exhausting and depressing to try to figure out how 74 million people could support a sociopathic fascist and yet we have to keep trying. He’s not going away and we will have to listen to people in our own families repeat his lies. Idiocracy, The Dead Zone, The Animal Farm, 1984 have already showed us what can happen and we ignore it. Good luck TC in LA. For nonfiction, there is always Hitler.
Trump's recent actions move me to reject the prevailing view that he is merely a power-hungry egotist. Labels like "insane" or "mad man" sound flip and over-dramatic, but Trump's current behavior is so vindictive, paranoid, and fueled by fantasy, that he seems actually unhinged.
I don't believe he is "acting out" just because he once thought he was untouchably powerful yet now faces a different reality. And while I understand that maintaining an extreme fiction about election fraud helps him financially, I disagree that his desperate craftiness shows he's "in control."
Given the trajectory of his unruly behavior apparently beginning in childhood (not to mention his family's mental health record, e.g. addiction, dementia, etc.) what is happening now cannot be attributed to garden-variety, anti-social behavior. It is much worse than that and should be approached as such.
Look at where we are now. Millions are hungry. Whole segments of the economy face ruin. Hundreds in government (both elected and appointed) are doing nothing. Every day, people are dying by the thousands. It is anyone's guess what our situation in the U.S. will look like if and when we get to January 20, 2021. I am terribly fearful for us all.
I wish I didn't agree with you, Rev.Judith. IMHO, nothing short of physical expulsion will stop this individual. IMHO, words about rules don't matter without action to back them up. I am not condoning this at all but do not see any other way other than hunkering down until January 20.
I don't think we can do anything about him, but there are things we can do to support Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in the Georgia Senate runoff. It's imperative that we get them elected.
I waver between bewilderment and rage when reading these daily summaries. I can almost "understand" his more political moves - installing loyalists, withdrawing troops, even trying to sell access to the Defense Department's wavebands. I don't agree or condone these actions, but they're consistent with his approach to governance to date.
What's comprehensible is ignoring - in any and every way - the coronavirus and its impact. Unconscionable doesn't begin to describe his failure to acknowledge the deaths of 280,000 Americans, or to endorse any means of protecting each other as best possible. It's inhumane. It's devoid of empathy, morally vacuous, and ethically deplorable. It is unequivocally and unalterably wrong.
And yet 74,000,000 thought it acceptable to return him to office. McConnell has personally obstructed any efforts to extend relief for 8 months and counting. It's Hobbseian in its social brutishness. Even Hobbes might be appalled. And Republican leadership is mute.
I'm almost beyond shock. Since the beginning, many thought each of Trump's transgressions would be the last straw, yet nothing happened. The only apparent imposition of accountability is his having lost the election. Court losses haven't swayed him. Our perverse campaign finance laws have given him license to steal despite the misleading fine print. His Cabinet, always incompetent for the task, is asleep, silent, or in on the game. Each day goes by with no visible effort to limit his efforts to salt the earth in advance of his successor. And Republican leadership ignores or enables him to proceed unhindered.
He's unmoored. He's looking to preemptively pardon family and loyalists who are most likely would be criminally liable but haven't yet been charged. His most ardent supporters are almost insane (read Giuliani and Powell) or seditious (read Flynn and Lin Wood). And still the Republican party watches with bloodless faces and dead eyed stares, saying not a word.
What is one to think? How does one explain this to children? How can one reason with any family, friends, or acquaintances who somehow believe Trump is in the right, brought low only by a grand, silent conspiracy of wrong minded citizens and foreign actors?
Perhaps history can look upon Trump's reign of terror more dispassionately. Today, however, I and many others feel like we're helpless, our minds and sensibilities best represented by the visage of horror in Edvard Munch's The Scream.
Thank you for such a well thought and equally well written post Scott Krasner. But I challenge you and any readers of HCR to reconsider this, and I don’t believe I’m considering only semantics: REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP - there isn’t any. There might be sycophants, there might be elected Republican officials, there might be RINO’s, call them whatever, but they are not leaders. They may be long serving Republicans or Republican majority in the Senate. However, I can’t give oxygen to their fire by calling them leaders. Romney has shown courage in the face of opportunity (finally but apparently didn’t have enough courage during the impeachment hearings), Charlie Baker (R Governor MA) has finally stepped up this year to speak out against Dumpster Fire but showed his cowardice in 2016 but announcing he voted for Dumpster FIre, Larry Hogan has consistently spoken up against Dumpster Fire . . . But as far as I can see, the vast majority of elected Republicans (or maybe name brand republicans) are cowards. Consider this, if McConnell, Hogan, Romney, Murkowski, Sessions, Collins were on an executive search committee to consider a CEO for a major organization, there is NO WAY they would put forth the CV of Dumpster Fire as a candidate. It would be laughable.
I know, the government isn’t a business. But it is simply the best analogy I can come up. All these individuals are guilty and it is their cross to bare but our collective mess to clean up.
The last 4 years have been a complete waste with countless lives lost and destroyed. What frustrates me is that Biden/Harris +team have even MORE work to do - to clean up but also put effective policy in place to improve lives. SMH
Laurie, good point, well made. I'm at a loss for any real shorthand term since they are technically in power. I agree that they've exhibited no leadership whatsoever. And for the most part, any Republican who has "spoken up" without qualification has been too little, too late.
AGREE. I’m so grateful for this community. In no way do I assume we are all the same or that we would all agree on policy. But we appear to be a thoughtful, rational, well-read group of individuals who cannot fathom how this imposter was elected.
I am entirely frustrated with the lack of experienced people that have been put into a position of power or leadership in the WH administration. Lewandoski’s appointment is my latest example. Good Grief - what we need is the A team and what we have is a bunch of thugs and members of the farm league for the D team.
Or, as Rachel Maddow suggested - the G team! Frankly I think D or G is giving them far too much credit.
The F (for failure) Team
Correct!
You have eloquently expressed my outrage at what is happening in this country, and especially the total disregard for human life. 74M people are equally as guilty as the man in charge. WTF????
A lot of this has to do with the fact that he has enabled their racism and hatred of anyone who does not think and look like they do. Part of this is also certain types of religious folks who see him as a way to address hot button social issues and all the other things they whine about. My home county is Elkhart County in Indiana, which is very conservative and made the WaPo in an article about how bad the virus is there and how public health officials are justifiably worried about getting people to comply with the guidelines. Some time ago one of my classmates posted something which was an attempt to undermine the covid numbers. I did respond. Very recently one of her best friends passed away from the virus and she now posts about following the guidelines, so some do respond when it strikes close to them. In the obit for this person was the best written account of covid and a plea for people to follow the guidelines that I have seen anywhere. Will this do anything about support for death star, no, because they don't see the connection. Here in Salem, OR, where I now live, we have a local nurse who now is has national notoriety for her Tik Tok post about how she, an oncology nurse at the hospital, doesn't follow the guidelines while not at work. She has been suspended and we will see what happens. Then we have a doctor who has his own clinic in a nearby town and was seen at a local protest about mask wearing bragging how at his clinic, they don't bother with any of this. I would have to check, but he may be on his way to losing his license. We had a procedure at the hospital this week and on the main street where people turn in or exit for parking were two younger people with antimask signs. A local gym owner defied the governor's orders about closure and has been fined 90k. The person who signed the fine found a crowd in front of his house to protest his doing his job. (Thank you Google). In the crowd were young children. The gym owner has been ranting about like he cares about the people who go to his gym while the whole enterprise is a tax write off. In the meantime, we had the worst daily number for cases and deaths thus far. But the whiners do not see the connection between this and their behavior. They actually believe the governor likes shutting down businesses or limiting them. I don't see anyway to reach people like this. Biden and Harris have their work cut out for them, so I hope people do not expect miracles. And I hold Mitch equally responsible for the failure to help people...talk about craven.
Just saw that the doctor has had his license revoked.
Actually that should read suspended. I hope it is ultimately revoked.
Too bad. He should loose his license but hey! It’s Indiana. They probably praise him there
Actually, although I grew up in Indiana, I am in Salem, OR. We have plenty of people here who are concerned about their "rights."
If I encountered anti-maskers demonstrating outside a hospital, I'd have to restrain myself from spraying them down with an economy size can of Lysol.
We gave the thumbs down. Now I wonder if this was the nurse and her spouse.
I'd hope I didn't have my baseball bat in my car.
Your post encapsulates my fears, outrage, and perfectly expresses my disgust of the present administration. These despicable cons have not only fooled one half of our citizens, but have unleashed such hate and violence. I’m concerned about what the coming days hold for our Nation.
Scott this reflects my thoughts and feelings much more articulately than I can state. Not only screaming, but scared at the bottomless well of evil contained in this single human specimen.
This "specimen" would not have power to be so evil and wreak havoc on us without his henchmen. One pull-back of the big RED curtain by enough significant henchmen and the weak and vulnerable Oz would be seen in his glutinous nakedness and fake everything. However, there is a cadre of characters in there with him beginning with putin, the mercers, manafort, bannon, conway, flynn, etc., and we have no idea who it will end with yet.
Why am I feeling this strange, twisted, rather forgotten feeling that might be called pleasure at the deposed Ivanka today for her doubling the bills of inaugural costs at her family hotel. Was that just DAY ONE of the crime family's bilking of America? Circus music. Stayed tuned because the show must go on. Thank you to the justice departments that still work!!
Frighteningly, all so true.
Wow, Scott, you've read my mind.
Scott, you have articulated so well my thoughts on what has become of our country that is no longer functioning for its citizens, and barely holding onto democracy.
You expressed what I’ve been feeling, perfectly. Last night, I had another “good cry.” What have we become? As a country and as Humanity. It feels like being in an apocalyptic Zombie movie.. which makes this community so very important and helpful to me. Where do we go from here, and how do we best effect change?
"What is one to think? How does one explain this to children? How can one reason with any family, friends, or acquaintances who somehow believe Trump is in the right, brought low only by a grand, silent conspiracy of wrong minded citizens and foreign actors?"
Just refer to Nazism. Just a different version. You know, "I didn't know what was going on." and "I was just following orders.".
In on the game!!!! In my opinion, THAT'S just what the republicans have been!!!!
And people HAVE TO VOTE THEM OUT IN THE FUTURE!!!! NO EXCUSES!!!!
Scott, for me the way to "take it all in" is to revert to the simplicity of my childhood. That some people are just evil, that there is good and there is bad. Thats it! Once you get into the nuances of human character and think about shades of grey etc. you lose your way. The absence of connections to our physical and metaphysical universe that keeps us in balance produces evil. The presence of evil is overwhelming as is the presence of sentient and caring beings.
Scott, it occurred to me when I read your list of wrongdoing by 45 and his administration without any consequences, that there is only one right thing that has been accomplished. And that is that the people voted him out of office. Now we are stuck having to wait before our new president can begin.
One of the things that has gotten me over the past four years, and moreso this past month in which four years of Trumpcrap has been compressed into 30 days, is that I cannot figure these people out. I have for a number of years worked as a creator of dramatic fiction, during which time I gained a reputation for being able to create "honest, believable characters." Not that all were honest, moral people, but rather that they were honest portrayals of people who might do the good, bad or indifferent. But with these Trump people, I really can't figure them out, how they got to the level of awful they inhabit. I mean, how did an otherwise unremarkable kid from a middle class Jewish home full of what appear to be decent people, become this kid who went out of his way to be an asshole, who got his jollies from the outraged responses of others to his assholery, become Stephen Miller, who I can only compare to Reinhard Heydrich, even though he likely doesn't have the stones to become the author of a Holocaust? Lewandowski, Bossie, O'Grady, mentioned here tonight. You look at who they were and their previous unremarkableness is the constant. What turned them into monsters, or were they always monsters but just able to maintain a facade? And why were/are they? Most of them don't appear to be getting rich from their involvement with Trump, but they're drawn to him like moths to a candle.
'Tis a puzzlement.
And then there's the response they raise in me, which is best left to the Dylan line - "If my thoughts 'n dreams could be seen, they'd probably put my head in a guillotine."
As an emergency physician this is not so confusing. Nor is it an unknown. We have good evidence from Functional MRI that the patterns in the brain of an individual that has experienced near absolute power, or even one who thinks he has, conform exactly to the patterns seen in addictive disease. Power is the most addicting experience a human can have. Addiction is a condition that will lead the afflicted to do irrational, self centered, self justifying actions often right up to the brink of death or to death itself. Trump has been addicted to power for many years but the experience of being president has pushed his condition to its logical conclusion. The problem with addiction to power is that it does not carry the same destructive power to the body itself as other addictions. Also in power addiction a cohort of like addicted personalities are often drawn in to support the central figure. They can then all act in an irrational manor together thus supporting their delusion while continuing their self denial and self aggrandizement. This behavior will function at shorter and shorter time scales and exhibit greater amounts of energy until the end, whatever form that takes.
So I submit that what is happening is not a puzzle. What to do about it seems to be.
Thank you, Dr. Munson, This makes sense to me for both the individuals with power and those who are followers. I have always been very interested in the function of the brain. My personal experience with absolute power as an orchestra conductor could be described as a high without drugs. Just holding a little stick you control a hundred or more people in that moment. And, you don't make a sound. The sound comes from the musicians who grant you your power by following you. Getting high on music feels good and has the advantage over addictive drugs in that you can choose when you come off the high. Again with functional MRI they show that playing a musical instrument lights up the entire brain and is a total body workout. Here's a favorite TED talk on this https://www.ted.com/talks/anita_collins_how_playing_an_instrument_benefits_your_brain/transcript?language=en
But, what to do about it... Don't think a 12 step program would have any takers. One approach might be having a government that focuses on the well-being of everyone using a Well-Being Index. This would include building resilience so people are less susceptible to this kind of addiction. And, change our culture's sleep habits so we get enough N3 deep sleep which cleans out toxins like amyloid betas linked to Alzheimers accumulated by the brain during the day and REM sleep which give you more resilience in dealing with situations you encounter. Shorter term it would be helpful to stop negative campaigning which works because our brain pays attention to negative things in order to survive if something bad is coming at you. Interesting enough, it is the candidate using hope and a vision of a positive future who will win in a healthy society. Wish I had some more immediate answers to this.
I will add just one thought. Addictive disease has been with humanity, likely, from the start. It has generally been accepted as a norm. It is only recently that it has even been thought of as a disease and that realization hasn't fully penetrated society yet. The companion to addictive disease is co-dependence. This is a non addicted personality that is attracted to the addicted personality where a predictable dance of behavior ensues. The co-dependent attaches to the addict with the energy stream, of ideas, money, allegiance, etc. between the two crippling both. The hallmark of this dance is denial.
If people in general can come to recognize addiction and to be able to see the denial that supports it then progress may be forthcoming.
Yes, his base restricts the President in many ways. What is the co-dependence of the silent Republican elected officials or is it just fear of not getting re-elected. Term limits would go a long way to solving that.
They are far too complicit for fear to be the whole explanation.
They can see their advantage and intend to outstay him.
Hey, we need to brainstorm and get ideas out there!! This is great’
News commentary and discussion groups like this one need to start practicing positive journalism which not only tells you what is going but also what can be done about it. I do hope we'll discuss remedies here and stay out of the weeds. Sometimes we also need to step back and try to see the whole picture.
Brilliant comment Cathy. We need to create the world we wish. Like:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/11/22/marshall-plan-middle-america-eight-mayors/
a Marshall Plan proposed by eight mayors of Ohio River cities
and ....
https://www.maine.gov/future/sites/maine.gov.future/files/inline-files/MaineWontWait_December2020_printable_12.1.20.pdf
the action plan to date, from the Maine Climate Council
So true, Cathy- thanks. When we let ourselves get drawn down the rabbit hole of analyzing negative things, we get disconnected from our ability to even see solutions. I've worked with dozens of groups whose existence was to identify the nature of problems and find the means to resolve them. Part of that process was to keep them looking for possible solutions even while trying to understand the problem. Not fix as you go, but having that positive outlook alongside the problem analysis to keep the process afloat.
A type of ‘Marshall Plan’ perhaps?
Yes, that's a great example and incredibly successful one at that!
I agree, Penelope!
Your suggestion of establishing a governmental Well-being Index is brilliant, Cathy. That would be a significant way to embed different--healthy--values in our societal structure. Thanks for posting the TedEd Talk. Emphasizing creativity's empowerment is key to our cultural healing and evolution.
I'm certainly promoting the idea but it is already happening in countries like Great Britain. And, the US Army has a Comprehensive Comprehensive Soldier and Family Fitness program. This is based on the work of Dr. Martin Seligman and his theory of Well Being. So, there are already examples on how to set this up. https://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/learn/soldiers
Yes, I knew you weren't originating the idea, but sharing it, Cathy. People need to know about this extremely important solutionary concept! Thanks for sharing this link. As visuals are important and reveal a lot of hidden meaning, it'd be so much better if the peripheral circles in the Venn diagram overlap in the center, instead of being somewhat separate. That would powerfully illustrate how interconnected thinking--instead of problematic dualistic thinking--leads to optimal fitness. I like the text describing the goal to develop optimal fitness skills, especially where it says: "when facing uncertainty and adversity, these same skills help these individuals to put the problems into an appropriate perspective, find meaning in their lives, reduce rumination and catastrophic thinking, and focus on finding solutions." We definitely need that these days!!
Thank you. Powerful.
As a double boarded NP working in addiction and psych I appreciate your input on this and agree that this is not a puzzle but that the challenge is to find a solution. Sadly, I am not sure there is a workable one. As I’ve posted several times before, these people are not going away. Our biggest challenge moving forward will be to keep them out of power and to remove those already there. I fear it will not end well.
Not only are they not going away, but this is not a new phenomenon. They have always been among us. Hopefully, with a sane administration and nobody manning the dog whistle, they will fade from the forefront. Of course, that will require removal of the worst who remain in positions of authority. I doubt it will happen in my lifetime, but we could witness the beginning.
Thank you, doctor.
I just started reading "The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence", by Dacher Keltner, of Berkley. He mentioned the fMRI studies on a radio interview so I got his book. He said it is true that 'absolute power corrupts absolutely", in that it literally changes the brain. I'd never heard that before and am very intrigued to read the book and learn more.
One of the basic gains of a child from his parents is the understanding of the limits that society imposes on acceptable behaviour. Absolute power blows away the limits....and with it all the accumulated benefits of childhood "socialization".
Thank you, Dr Munson, for your clarifying explanation! It is very helpful in understanding this phenomenon. Interestingly, your comments align with what Stuart Attewell said earlier albeit in a different way, that being a Trumper gives them their one shot at feeling like a master of the universe. Both explanations illuminate how insecure people feel empowered through identification with this cult/ ideology. I think the attraction of trumpism lies in one's sense of insecurity. (Perhaps Miller feels insecure in relation to his other upright family members? As people take different roles in family systems, it's not unusual for a family of upstanding people to include a deviant or outcast.) As most people feel insecure, the potential number of such cultists in the future is vast. When we identify the problem as you have done, then we can mitigate it. Clearly, we need to find other ways for people to feel empowered.
Miller apparently was a social outcast early on in life....vengence is sweet in his mind. Whereas people didn't listen before now they are afraid of what he'll do next! What a rush for this "loser".
I can’t believe he found a woman to marry him!
Well, from what I've read about her involvement with the children being held in detention - they are very compatible!
Being asocial is not a masculine prerogative
Excellent analysis.
Love, rather than money or things, might be a good start beginning in the early years. .
Yes, definitely! Unfortunately, our highly competitive, highly acquisitive culture often undermines the bonds of a loving family. Sadly, it is called a rape culture for a reason. I agree that love in its widest, most active form--love of self, each other, and the Earth--is the answer. With it, children grow up with a belief in their inherent goodness and creativity, a sense of acceptance of their own and others' limitations, a positive sense of shared community, and a deep connection with the Earth. The mutual aid that is proliferating during these tumultuous times is an expression of such love, and is extremely hopeful.
I loved that Paul (of Peter, Paul & Mary) responded on this site to HCR's recent question about our ideas for a new narrative for America. Paul (Noel Paul Stookey) offered a song instead: America The Beautiful, with 2 additional verses he wrote: (https://www.amazon.com/America-the-Beautiful/dp/B008XTXZ7K
Your comment, Imogene Drummond, feels like that same gooodness.
Peter, Paul and Mary...part of a marvelous period of humanity. Our youth with Dylan, Joan Baez and many more. The times they are a changing...
Autumn 1965, Peter, Paul & Mary concert at Darmouth College, Hanover NH. Good times!
Wow, what a fantastic compliment, MaryPat!!! Thank you so much! 😍 How terrific that Paul responded and in such a wonderful way.
It appears we are already slipping into that rabbit hole. This is not the only kind of problem analysis we can use- but it is the one that our culture is conditioned to turn to, particularly the tendency to "individualize" both problems and solutions. Other societies and cultures are already using other ways of looking at things, and some have been doing so for centuries. I wonder why we repeatedly return to the particular perspective we have- even while we think we are learning from the way others have of thinking?
Unfortunately we are not talking about rats in a laboratory but about rats in the WH and the Senate.
No kidding! A sad tale.
Without your medical knowledge, I was about to say that these cohorts have similar psychological makeup, and his being in control gives him the opportunity to grant permission to display their base instincts. Thank you, Dr. Munson!
So, G.K. Chesterton was right, way back in the day, when he observed that "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Good to know,. Thank you!
FWIW, Chesterton may have riffed on the theme, but the quote is from Lord Acton in a letter (1887) insisting on the necessity of evaluating and condemning the actions of past leaders, with particular objection to justifying the cruelties of Popes:
"Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority."
A shortened version of the letter is available at:
https://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/165acton.html
Always good to be able to come here and depart more knowledgeable than I was on arrival.
Yes, I also get a lot of useful perspectives and references. Cheers.
Good point, Doc - my working hypothesis is a mass form of Folie à deux. But as you say, what to do is the issue.
Great post – befuddlement in understanding the Trumpists is something we share.
You probably recall the rampant greed, entitlement and general rapacity with which aspiring finance and real estate scum waded through the cocaine cloud that was the 80s. “American Psycho” was the hyperbolic testament to those times. I was living in Manhattan then and never could get my head around those folks – they were such unrepentant Arschlochs.
I don’t do Twitter, but I came across a story this morning about the NYYRC (New York Young Republicans Club) who held a maskless get together yesterday hosted by young Gavin Wax with special guest Matt Gaetz (R) Florida – one of the world’s signature Arschlochs.
The Tweet, complete with a photo of the group jammed in nice and tight, rich with exuberant décolletage, goofy looking men – and a strange hand gesture that must be some kind of secret club thing, was a stomach turner.
I can’t reproduce the picture (it’s searchable), but the text read:
Ashley StClair
@stclairashley
Catch us if you can, Commie aCuomo.
The show will always go on for patriots...
Thanks for organizing an amazing America First event!
@GavinWax
@NYYRC
They NYYRC slipped into New Jersey to hold their super fun, super spreader event.
Explain these folks to me if you can – and this is the next generation! Lord help us.
"cuiusvis hominis est errare, nullius nisi insipientis in errore perseverare". (Anyone can err, but only the fool persists in his fault) Cicero, Philippica XII, 5.
Covid......and life.....will take care of arrogant ignoramuses.... if they survive!
Stuart, from your mouth to the goddess's ear. . .
I've often thought that superspreaders among Trumpers might not be all bad, but, of course, I'd never say that. . . .
Oh how naughty of you...!
Thanks!
As I said yesterday,He has been trying to kill off his supporters at his rallys.
It is a fallacy to attribute something to an entire group. All Rottweilers are not bad. But, stupid maybe...
True, my dear husband is a benign Republican - though socially liberal (one of a very small group). I'm hopeful for his enlightenment, and frequently provide printouts of Heather's letters. He would never attend a superspreader. . . .
You bad, bad person, you. Welcome to the club. :-)
Thanks so much. Nice to be in good company.
Unfortunately, the virus is opportunistic and does not give a hey ho who its' victims are. Darwinism only applies to a certain percentage of the losses in this viral war.
Statistics suggest that they will likely survive it if they get it, since they are young. The fatal consequence could fall on their more elderly family and/or acquaintances. Would they accept responsibility or feel guilt for any harm that their foolishness might produce?
Not likely....but when the old man disinherits them because of their callousness...perhaps. But don't your breath for either.
I see this as a great example of survival of the fittest. The stupid and arrogant will not survive hopefully making the populace that is left is a little smarter. I don't think we get of the arrogance though...
Not the best charactoristics for ensured survival, that's sure. Keep your fingers crossed!
I heard about that happening and I believe the governor of New Jersey told Gaetz he was never to enter the state again!
Good for Gov. Murphy!
NJ has worked long and hard to remove toxic substances from its environment – they do not need Matt Gaetz spreading his Codswallop across the Garden State.
Now here's a nasty thought. While wise people wear masks when out of their homes, avoid crowds, frequently wash their hands and observe social distancing, perhaps they should add to that the avoidance of any people, including neighbors, whom they know to be Republicans. Not a joke. It is possible that such people have had contact with others who may have attended super-spreader events, if not having been at one themselves. You never know with folks who were gullible enough, or sufficiently ignorant, to vote for Trump, or live in areas like the one that elected Matt Gaetz to Congress, or perhaps in the entire State of Florida where the GOP governor and legislature refuse to support masking mandates, even locally.
I've been following that advice since before the pandemic, since 2015.
Matt Gaetz is a flaming a$$hole! Of course he’s one of our Florida congressmen. I donated to his opponent, Phil Ehr, but the Flori-duh idiots thought Gaetz was a better candidate than the fighter pilot.
Politico reported that NJ Governor Phil Murphy laid into Gartz for headlining at that gathering, calling him "a fool," and "Matt Putz." He also said he didn't ever want Gaetz to come to New Jersey again. Well done by Governor Murphy!
Had to look that one up: " a foolish or contemptible man] ice hole [vulg.] [ deliberate mispronunciation of arsehole / asshole] Arschloch {n} [vulg." Thank You.
How ironic, I was just thinking about American Psycho yesterday! (And Bonfire of the Vanities...). These people will be looking for another Ronnie Reagan to carry their standard in 2024 because they aren't going away any time soon...
One response to that post:
The Hoarse Whisperer
@TheRealHoarse
Genius Ashley here bragged about the NY Young Republicans breaking COVID restrictions.
They were in New Jersey not New York.
NJ’s Governor is Phil Murphy not Andrew Cuomo.
He caught them. Now the restaurant is shut down.
Nice work, Ashley.
(and Matt Gaetz)
This party was featured on the news in my area (DC) It may have even been on Lester Holt's Nightly News (I can't remember). But the footnote was they are considering suing I'm not sure who! (either Cuomo or Murphy) for violating their right to hold a political rally which apparently allows for more than 100 people. https://www.nbcnews.com/video/new-jersey-governor-calls-matt-gaetz-putz-for-maskless-indoor-fundraiser-doesn-t-want-him-back-in-state-97137221917
I think the STATE of NJ should "consider suing THEM! Considering the fact that there will be an increase of virus in the area. I assume these idiots didnt wait on themselves at this event - certainly werent their own caterers. Those are the people I would be concerned about.
Why do you think Mitch wants employers indemnified against covid suits from employees?
Absolutely, Maggie!!!
Of course they are.
If they called it a religious service, they'd have the Supremes on their side.
True!
In the case of Gaetz, he's second generation of this bullshit. Grew up in it and knew no other. Likely the case with many of the others. I find that often among the "upper ranks" of the Far Right Wing.
Fortunately, it's not all of the next generation.
I always thought Steven Miller looks like Goebbels.
I call him the Nazi whisperer. Insidious.
Yes, a good argument for reincarnation.
He's actually quite close in look to Heydrich. If I could figure out how to attach pix here, I'd show you.
Looks more like Roy Cohn to me.
Miller is Fake 45’s Cohn but so is Rudy!
Also looks like Adolf Eichmann. You know he and his wife are getting ready to have a baby? That, in itself, is horrid!
Poor little kid.
They already spawned. :-(
OH NO! They did?? Was it Rosemary's baby?
Daughter Mackenzie Jay Miller born November 19, 2020 to Stephen and Katie Miller (Katherine Rose Miller (née Waldman)
🤢 big UGH
Poor child.
It really is a cast of unbelievable characters. Even their dialogue is melodramatic and preposterous. They are like charicatures of charicatures. Boris Badenov even had a more understandable motivation. Renfield was more symapthetic. They do present a challenge to the fiction writer, to be sure. They push the envelope of incredulity so far, we are left wondering where it will end.
A writer might get criticized for creating a character so craven as to be deemed inhuman, a caricature. And yet, here they are, sadly all too real.
I was telling a friend recently that if, back when I was the guy at the show who writers met with and pitched ideas, someone had come in and pitched the last five years, I would have risen up, grabbed them by their lapels, and told them they were the worst fabulist I had ever met, that I was going to call everyone I knew and tell them never to take a meeting with this person, that a modicum of reality is needed in such stories.
As a teacher, I see many students who can listen to and absorb history lessons about absolute monarchies, fascist dictators, and tyrants, can write essays about yellow journalism and Nazi propaganda, and then turn around and parrot the nonsense they hear on FAUX News because that's what's on at home. For far too many, history is what happened a long time ago to someone else - they can't see the history they are part of, because they can't (or won't) internalize the lessons of history. I personally blame the focus on testing - the students (the ones who are invested in even a small way in graduating) only really care about memorizing just enough to get the grade they want, and teachers don't have enough time to dig deep into historical analysis to open the students' eyes to what is really important. I teach English, and when I teach literature like Elie Wiesel's "Night" I not only reinforce the history of the Holocaust, I stress the overarching theme of "us vs them" as the main cause of so much pain in suffering in human history. We read about and watch interviews from survivors, I show them the Oprah episode with Wiesel when they walk through Auschwitz - I try to put a face to the words. I think in the moment their eyes are opened a bit more than they were before - but I have no idea if they in any way generalize the lesson. And for some, they get much more exposure to the polar opposite lesson of "Night" at home and on social media.
I wish I had teachers like you when I was in school. At nine I read the Diary of Anne Frank on my Christmas vacation and I was never the same. And none of my friends wanted to read it or talk about it. I read it once a year and tried in vain to educate myself about how dictators rise and how so many people could follow someone like Hitler and not rebel against his superiority and evil crimes against humanity insanity. Whilst we do not have human ovens, we do have a virus that Lame' Duck a l'OrangeI completely does the opposite about, so I have witnessed this deadly brainwashing in my own country. We need teachers like you so we can learn to think for ourselves and not repeat history. Thank you for doing such wonderful and often thankless job...
Lame' Duck a l'Orange. Yup.
I am so grateful that I was long gone from high school before the 'teaching to the test' insanity was put in place. Because of that, I was blessed with a history teacher much like HCR. It changed my life, literally.
Ah, like the fabled Ivory-billed Woodpecker, thought to be extinct until discovered living quietly in an Arkansas swamp, here we have an Actual Very Good Teacher! God, I would hate to be you, someone who obviously knows, understands and loves your subject, who would have no trouble actually EDUCATING your students, stuck in that godawful Teach-to-the-Test No-Child-Left-With-A-Mind bullshit that passes for current American public miseducation.
After watching my grandson do "math" - the sheer stupidity in how he is being taught blows my mind. How any of these kids manage to get thru high school escapes me. On the other hand the fact that so many DO - makes me wonder exactly what they have learned. Thank heavens both my kids loved to read. And so do most of my grandchildren.
Thank you for your engagement of your teaching skills. My parents were Holocaust victims. Never knew my grandparents. Regardless, if nothing else comes of this horrendous debacle we are enduring, I sincerely hope that there is a demand of the absolute truth in future history books, written by scholars such as HCR, who explain exact events in their entirety.
I wonder if teaching them also those events closer to home at the same time, the things our nation has done and is doing, showing the similarities, might make a difference in making the connection for them.
We can only hope...
I think you're wrong about Miller. He'd happily lead a Holocaust. We just haven't yet gotten to the point where our institutions would allow it. Heydrich, too, was a self-dealer who waited until he could do his evil within the framework of Hitler's government.
Yeah, but the difference is Miller hasn't got the "follow-through," at least I hope not.
Miller hasn't got the power. He has done so much evil with the power he has had; I'd rather not find out if he has any limits.
It brings us back to the Cohen Bros 2006 film "Idiocracy".
you mean Mike Judge
Yeh! I keep getting stuck on it being co-written by Etan Cohen!
Did you see this article from the March 2 issue of The New Yorker? https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/02/how-stephen-miller-manipulates-donald-trump-to-further-his-immigration-obsession
Thanks for posting this..it is DAUNTING! Don't you just love the fact that Miller mentioned he has "no family"? After he and Sessions committed this act on immigrants, his family disowned him. He and Kushner have not given any of us who were born Jewish a great name. They both should be locked up in those cages with other GOP members. You think then any of them can be reformed to a place of decency? I don't.
I would be surprised if any of have any integrity left. I am kind of amazed how little integrity is evident among Republican Senators, especially those who were elected years before Trump was on anyone's radar. Including our own Susan Collins. How is it that that none of them can find that decency they had once possessed.
I believe Anne Applebaum’s article, History Will Judge the Complicit—will answer your question. If you chose to do so, you can read OR listen to it here:
https://amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/612250/
WOW. This artcle is so illuminating and powerful. "Just try to be decent."
Impressive, isnt it? Which shines a light on these wimps in Congress& the Senate. I hope that the old saying "what goes around, comes around" is true.
"What turned them into monsters, or were they always monsters but just able to maintain a facade?" I think they were born monsters-in-the-making. All it took was the right catalyst. It is said that no one is "born" bad, but I have a hard time believing that, now more than ever.
As for your Dylan quote, I'm right there with you.
'tis banality.
In France we are starting to talk about Absurdistan! And thats's our experience over here, where does that put the US currently then?
Gehenna!
Oh, yikes. That is so painful to acknowledge the reality of that...ugh...
Last night I broke a rule of mine never to respond to a comment on a public Facebook post unless it is to wish someone a happy birthday, congratulations, etc. I save any other comments to private groups. I also have found the snooze and unfollow feature of Facebook to be very handy tools. However, last night, a story from a local news station about an organization here in Lexington helping with food insecurity garnered unexpected comments, especially in this uber religious area of the country. The first comments I would have expected is "God bless their work." Instead comments were made "Get a job", "You are only helping lazy people", and my personal favorite "Learn to grow and hunt your own food." To be clear, there were comments commending the project and push back on the negative comments. The comment I had to comment on was about why hasn't the Democrats, specifically Ms. Pelosi, pass a coronavirus relief bill. I pointed out that they had passed such a bill in the House last spring but that that bill along with many others are stalled in the Senate thanks to Mr. McConnell. First I was told that "Mitch does this because it doesn't make any sense to pass any bills the president is going to veto anyway" and then a diatribe about how evil Nancy Pelosi is and how the Democrats only want to burn cities, etc. I signed off with a grace to you and obviously we disagree. I have pondered on these comments. I could say they need a civics lesson (they do) or that they are crazy or uninformed. However, the main theme I see and hear is fear. Fear of losing everything. Fear of their health. Fear of the other. All sides of the political, religious, media and other secular organizations are responsible for this fear. And I believe this fear led to the rise of 45 and to our current situations. I believe ignorance can be overcome. Fear is more difficult. And 45 and his ilk are masters of stoking this fear. Heck, they are fearful themselves and fear is contagious.
As far as the unmasked gatherings, these remind me of "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe. Invincible in their own minds until they are not.
I see that we as citizens have a lot of work to do if we value our democracy. I stand with Lincoln and his vision. It is worth the work.
Rebecca, on the PBS Newshour last night (Friday 12/4), commentator David Brooks spoke of this very thing -- fear is what motivates so many, apparently, to lash out violently and blindly, and to demand nothing good for anyone (except themselves). I agree with you (and Brooks) that this is the case, and I lament that we in the U.S. (and elsewhere in the world) have come to this point. One thing that Brooks said really captured my attention... that there is no way to "reason" with people to try to dissuade them from following a dumb line of thinking. He said they will just become more entrenched in their views. He advocated dialogue and listening to others. Giving people an opportunity to express where they are coming from. My take on everything he said was THAT is the way to begin to change things, to move people away from their fearful stance and (hopefully) towards a place where all can find places of agreement and then begin to build something of value. I'm not saying this very well, but you get my drift, I hope. Check out the PBS Newshour online; there is a way to view previous broadcasts and/or read transcripts... :-)
Cold rational argument can of course not dent irrational fear...only accentuate it; the uncontrolled and un-named emotions get badly in the way. The extreme psychic stress that such fear subjects people to blocks them such that only their mostly unconscious personality elements function.....which of course they can't handle very well. To bring them back to their preferred dominant, conscious personality a calm, empathetic approach is essential; the level of stress has to be brought down. They are not mad.....just not themselves.
<sigh> Stuart, I don't feel much like myself anymore, either. :-/ Thank you for your calm approach to my stress!!! LOL!!! :-)
for some of them yes but not all. some like Guilliani , Ellis etc are just either insane or delusional. many are like them
There is a FaceBook group called Smart Politics that offers some truly valuable content and discussions regarding how progressives can communicate effectively and “be more powerful messengers for our cause.” I first learned about it from someone on Heather’s FaceBook page. Dr. Karen Tamerius, the Group Administrator, has created some impressive content that has been helpful to me. After many failed efforts, I am short on the patience needed to engage in conversations with Trump supporters, but when I see comments such as you mention, Rebecca, that I simply can’t, in good conscience, ignore, I go to Smart Politics to review Dr. Tamerius’ Change Conversation Cycle to remind myself of how I might respond most effectively. This is a private group, so you need to go to the page and submit a request to be added, which includes answering a few questions. I highly recommend it as a valuable resource.
Thank you. I will investigate
Thanks for reminding me why I no longer deal with Widdle Markie Schmuckerberg's local pub where the drink of the day is mainlining political heroin,.
I've unFriended everyone who makes me want to scream, so my feed has become more pleasant - when I remember to look at it. I try to remember to not post anything Public-ly.
Hannah Arendt's book (based on her reporting for The New Yorker), "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil" encapsulates the issues TCinLA and the people who posted replies to it raise. I have read only bits of it but what she presents is a picture of evil that is stripped of glamour and that indicts everyone. As she says about Eichmann, "Except for an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement, he had no motives at all." If you have access to JSTOR (you can read online for free but not download if you don't have access through a library) there is a great short article in The History Teacher (1981) that discusses Arendt and her book in clear and concise terms. https://www.jstor.org/stable/493684
Miller and most everyone else surrounding the Deranged Cheeto--including the criminal enablers in Congress--fit Arendt's description perfectly. They are not monsters. They are not (most of them) pathological narcissists. They are sterile, unoriginal, uncreative people who have decided that personal advancement through doing terrible things is fine with them. It is actually harder, in our modern world, to be a good person than to be an awful one. Empathy, emotional maturity, awareness, and wisdom all require effort on the part of the individual. One has to engage, one has to become self-aware, one has to be brutally honest with oneself. Evil simply requires reaching down to that lowest common denominator of the id: a desire for self-advancement by any means necessary.
This is why they all seem so petty, so puerile, so childish, so joyless. This is why their tantrums are so infantile. And this is why Biden and Harris seem, by contrast, so refreshingly mature, so willing to allow joy. Both have been radically affected by what Hegel referred to as the "slaughter-bench" of history. The subhumans surrounding the Unelected Ex-President have not got enough imagination to be affected by anything except their own hunger.
I must say that I SOOOO admire anyone who can deliver such withering invective without resorting to obscenity!
Thank you--but don't read my FB posts! :-D
I have often thought of Hannah Arendt's philosophy on the "banality of evil" during the past four years, especially, when watching the icy, expressionless faces of DT's henchmen defending/responding to lie after lie after lie. Poor Arendt lost the admiration of many friends and colleagues over her assessment of Eichmann, but she was spot on.
I'm just starting on her work. The Origins of Totalitarianism are on my Christmas list.
That is excellent! I think you'll find that every other paragraph relates to what we have witnessed during our four years of despair.
Four years. And one of the most glaring issues we face (or avoid) is the 4 centuries of despair America inflicted on the people it chose as its victims. This is not pointed at you, Rowshan. I would just like us all to open our eyes to where this whole issue started and it wasn't four years ago. This is a continuation, aided and abetted by our entire society over centuries.
Oh, Annie! I agree with you 100% and am ashamed that I didn't highlight that myself, as it is an horrific injustice with which I struggle on a daily basis. Thank you for bringing it to the fore.
Bless you, Rowshan.
I read the article at JSTOR, and the whole time I read, I kept thinking, "This could have been describing Stephen Miller OR Mike Pence." I disagree with you, however, on the point of whether or not they are monsters. I remember reading a long time ago that the etymology of "monster" is the latin "monstrare," which means "to demonstrate." The take from this is that monsters reveal something to us, and most likely not something we want to see. Monsters also serve as a warning to us; if we cannot face them, we are at their mercy.
How Stephen Miller could still be employed by the Federal government and sitting in the White House offices after the unspeakably cruel immigration policies he has been credited with drafting is a mystery to me. He may not have a Dr. Mengele as his henchman -- although I could argue that Dr. Scott "Let Them All Get the Virus To Strengthen the Herd" Atlas runs a close enough parallel -- but he is, in my book, absolutely a monster.
I think this is spot on, Linda: “They are sterile, unoriginal, uncreative people who have decided that personal advancement through doing terrible things is fine with them.”
And beginning with "Empathy, emotional maturity, awareness, and wisdom all require effort on the part of the individual. One has to engage, one has to become self-aware, one has to be brutally honest with oneself...", we see the beginnings of separating ourselves from "them", who in the next paragraph become "subhumans", and the beginning of our denial of responsibility. Are we so different?
While I agree with you that the choice of the word "subhumans" is not only unfortunate, it is also incorrect (as those traits listed at the beginning of the paragraph are specifically and solely "human" traits), I do think there are people who WILL not be reached, either because it is too late to mend the early wounds that made them that way in the first place, or because they don't and won't care about anyone unlike themselves (and perhaps not about many of those).
What do you see as the responsibility of compassionate progressives at this time in our history? It does not appear that dialogue is possible in the current climate. How can we dialogue with people who did this: This weekend, pro-T**** protestors rallied in my town, overflowed onto a church lawn, knocked down the pastor who asked them to stay off church property (she suffered a severe blow to the head on contact with the concrete steps), and beat up a protestor from an opposing viewpoint. The police in my town were non-responsive - claiming that there is nothing they can (or are willing?) to do; meanwhile, on their scanners in convo with each other they are calling the pro-T****ers "patriots"! As though the counter-protestors are not? As though working for the overturning of the Presidential election is not a seditious act meant to overthrow the civil government? I'm pretty sure that I would not be capable of dialogue with the thugs who are doing this kind of thing around the country. I have sent an email protesting the PD response to our mayor, but there's only so much she can do. I don't think I would yield to the desire to throw some punches the next time I run into one of the frequent pro-T**** rallies we are having in my mostly blue town, but I also don't think I would hesitate to shout some very unhelpful remarks. I'm no saint.
Still sounds pretty monstrous to me.
A readable and downloadable copy of Whitfield's article is at:
http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/news/uploads/Whitfield_Arendt.pdf
A brilliant analysis Linda. I wonder if Mengele fits in to the category of sterile unoriginal people or is there another cadre of people under an evil regime that enable its propagation. Once of the great tragedies that can never been fully expressed to my satisfaction is how Mengele was allowed to roam the countrysides of S America for decades in middle class comfort without having to face justice. Must have taken more than a village of sterile people to keep him alive.
"Exactly what Trump is doing with this packing of the Defense Department is unclear."
I see Putin's fingerprints over all of this, including hi-tech defense hardware sales to small-time Middle East players.
I see every Trump appointee in the Defense Dept. as a de facto Russian agent. Joe McCarthy's paranoid assertion that the US government is riddled with communists has come a cropper, though modern Russia under Putin is about as far away from Marxist/Leninist communism as one could get.
We'll see if enough Senate Republicans have the moxie to stop those arms sales. They may have to buck not only Trump but Moscow Mitch McConnell as well.
I always naively thought it could never get this bad or such a criminal would never hold such a high office because the FBI or CIA would protect the country from such evilness. Obviously I was very wrong. It also makes me wonder how much of Congress on both sides are corrupt but are just more discreet about it.
I think all of the above plus an attempt at a coup around January 15th. That's my forecast.
I think our military generals have made it pretty clear that they will uphold our Constitution.
I agree with you, and he's going to make it difficult for them. He is the Commander in Chief, however utterly unfit for that title he might be, and in itself that tradition makes it a challenge to defy him. And that slim edge of the wedge is all he needs to try to bend reality his way. I don't think he will succeed, but I think it will be terrifyingly violent and horrible for a time because in addition to attempting to leverage the armed forces, I am sure Trump and proxies like Flynn are planning militia aggressions.
Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure there are some lower ranking officers and possibly an alarmingly large number of enlisted who would be willing to go along with suspension of the Constitution and a re-do of the election (in other words, the kind of election we see in decaying or fragile democracies - where the votes don't determine the outcome).
They won't. They're all a bunch of craven, greedy arse-holes.
and they couldn't organize their way out of a paper bag other than by huffing and puffing!
Thanks Heather. This is certainly alot to unpack, but so worth the read. I honestly did not realize the people involved in the 5G deal. Thanks for the clarification.
I was at the Doctor's today and she was mentioning how COVID-19 is truly effecting us all in ways we may not consider. She has been a General Practitioner for many years and is seeing the tally on literally everyone that comes through the door. The infected and those who have family, friends, employees, the neighbor down the street etc and the crippling fear of contracting it is so damaging. The spectators are ending up quite ill from it like nothing she has seen. Depression, anxiety, gastrointestinal problems, cardiac problems, PSTD are some of what she has seen for months attributed to COVID-19.
I would expect some issues may recede as the Covid numbers go down and the Medical field gets a handle on this. I imagine years from now we will see reports on this phenomenon.
I've said it before, but please be safe, be well. Take a breather from what you have control over and what controls you, my friends.
I am in private practice supporting teenagers who have returned home all over the nation and world from boarding schools. I can tell you, the impact on them is tremendous. And those who live in southern USA states are appalled that their family and neighbors refuse to wear masks and still send their siblings/children to school. Rather bittersweet to know that they are educated in the north and understand what needs to be done to stay safe. They have many months now of in vivo experience in living safely in small pods in boarding schools not go off campus and endanger your pod. These are teens!! And their schools have been safe because the dedicated, hardworking adults took good care of them because they love them.
Then, these young, educated in pandemic people are sent back into the alternative realities of America and witness the opposite. Anti-maskers moving around freely, traveling for the holiday, gathering in large groups, going to school without masks, even. It is heartbreaking to see them so utterly isolated and fearful at their friends, siblings and family members who look so ignorant to them. And they are isolated and in much less control than you or I.
Under normal circumstances they should be feeling invincible and and taking risks. For some, walking out the door feels like a risk because no one out there wears a mask to protect fellow humans, including them. Siblings walking IN the door is scary-- what were they exposed to today? A war zone with absolutely unnecessary landmines everywhere. The Pandemic Generation needs a lot of support. They are told not to do risky and dangerous things and then they see their supposed "role models" from the so-called president on down, acting like insane, self-serving circus idiots endangering everyone. And they see the death tolls rise.
This coup on our government by our own people is hard enough for intelligent people to understand, much less for developing brains.
I need to walk my talk which is: Stop whining and offer solutions if you must whine. Elsewhere on this forum I offer a sample solution to prepare and empower us for this inevitable and massive change and re-building the world we find ourselves in. Something called Transition Towns, which began in the UK and has spread out might provide a framework as we take stock of our communities, community assets and care of one another, post T***p Era. Visit Trainsitions Towns https://transitionnetwork.org.
Penelope, thank you for offering a solution. I will look into this. I am interested in living in a like-minded community, due to the anxiety and isolation I feel living in Florida.
Thank you for this. There are communities in Vermont who are doing things very like this, and also many Indigenous communities all across this continent who are incorporating traditional ways into taking on transitions from various causes. It's exciting to see communities themselves seeking ways to heal from within, because just as keeping ourselves healthy helps maintain the health of other people, so it is with communities and beyond.
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R!! Praying that Biden and his team can sidestep whatever comes their way in the remaining lame duck days. Wear your mask. Keep your distance. Wash your hands.
That actually is a great name for the departing wannabe dictator: A Lame Duck. About as sad as you can be.
But with all due respect to the duck!
How about this: Lame’ Duck a l’Orange
Maybe trump thinks that if he packs the Pentagon with his civilian toadies (sorry toads everywhere) that they can force the men and women at the Pentagon and in the military around the world to support a coup to put him in lifelong power. That he always has and always will seek the spotlight without having done anything worthwhile to deserve the attention will haunt the GOP for years unless SDNY can lock him and his crime family away for a good long stretch.
That he keeps shuffling people around even this late in the game speaks of nothing but desperation and a loss on a grip of reality. I hope the GOP suffers for years for lacking the spines to push for use of the 25th Amendment to remove him and the gutlessness of not being willing to convict him at the impeachment proceedings.
Can Biden remove all those people?
Exactly.
I never thought that I could feel such disdain for a leader of the United States of America, a country that I so admired since childhood. Sadly, that contempt has also surfaced for his family, his followers, and his henchmen.
I hate these sentiments that burn through to the very core if my being, most of all because of the reality of the death, sorrow, and destruction that he has inflicted on so many good people. I knew that he would not leave without some form of revenge, but I'm beginning to think that my imagination hadn't envisioned such malevolence from one who feigns to love his country.
I said all along, the T**** "team" isn't sharing the vaccine distribution plan with the Biden transition team because there is no plan. The "plan" is the same as it has been all along since the pandemic started: let the free market decide.
It is also possible "they" do not want a plan (to weaken us further...).
I believe there's documented evidence that the T****-Kushner "plan" was to allow the virus to burn through the population unchecked, especially after they learned that it was Black and brown people and the elderly who were dying at the fastest rates.
& supposedly the "blue states"!
The burning story is definitely Covid now that we are inching towards the 300,000 mark. Politics has always been ugly but never has it been this horrendous where our economy is tanking and a leader of our country could care less about the people. It not be easy for me to forgive those who voted for this moron to run us into the ground. For what?? For money? Greed? Do the Republicans not equate that some of their people who supported them have died?
Sessions did rightfully recuse himself about his contacts in Russia but what he and Stephen Miller did to those families is unconscionable! Tonight, we found out that the administration actually did have phone numbers of places where those children were sent to. All of this time, they lied that they didn’t keep any notes as to their whereabouts. Those children and families have suffered terribly. This is an act of unmitigated cruelty. I haven’t rested easily because of their disappearance and I won’t until all of them are found.
Ugh...it not be easy?? *It won't be easy!
Marlene, is that all you got out of that intensely thoughtful post? I'm sad for you. It's only grammar, after all, and therefore arbitrary. It also happens to be a construction that I sometimes use myself, learned from my grandmother and other elders in my family. It's not only an old construction, but also one that lends itself readily to typing fingers and quick minds. I'm so glad.
I truly do not understand what you are saying to me. I was merely correcting my sentence structure from what I had said earlier which is right above my second reply.
Marlene, I truly owe you an apology. Thank you for pointing out what would have been obvious to me had I been paying attention. This is a classic mea culpa. Your first post was beautifully and thoughtfully written. I read it several times to appreciate what you were saying and then somehow failed to notice that you were answering yourself. No wonder you couldn't understand- and that's my fault.
No apologies needed. My fingers seem to get carried away. :) Wish Substack allowed us to make corrections.
Amazing how the Hatch Act and Emoluments Clause have both not just been ignored by Trump, but trampled in the dust. From the incredible amounts charged by the Trump hotel to the RNC Inaugural Committee (Yes, Ivana) to this 5G fiasco, he has been more openly money-grubbing than even Vlad Putin. How magnanimous of him to forego his salary....
Once again nearly speechless with these revelations, with regards to the purging of competent experienced people and their replacement with unqualified IQ45 loyalists. I hope Biden/Harris will be able to clean house when they take office. These past few weeks seem to have intensified the crafty (Putin) lunacy of 45 as he tries to destroy and disrupt as much as possible before the coming succession. Sad.
Darkest before the dawn?
I have one nit with this post -- it is the word winning: "Trump’s obsession with WINNING an election he has clearly lost has brought into relief the struggle for control over the Republican Party." While Trump is clearly obsessed with remaining President, he has only one route to do that, and that is to STEAL the election. When we way he is trying to "win" the election, we are giving credence to the idea that there is some legitimate path for him to win. There is not.
It is exhausting and depressing to try to figure out how 74 million people could support a sociopathic fascist and yet we have to keep trying. He’s not going away and we will have to listen to people in our own families repeat his lies. Idiocracy, The Dead Zone, The Animal Farm, 1984 have already showed us what can happen and we ignore it. Good luck TC in LA. For nonfiction, there is always Hitler.
Trump's recent actions move me to reject the prevailing view that he is merely a power-hungry egotist. Labels like "insane" or "mad man" sound flip and over-dramatic, but Trump's current behavior is so vindictive, paranoid, and fueled by fantasy, that he seems actually unhinged.
I don't believe he is "acting out" just because he once thought he was untouchably powerful yet now faces a different reality. And while I understand that maintaining an extreme fiction about election fraud helps him financially, I disagree that his desperate craftiness shows he's "in control."
Given the trajectory of his unruly behavior apparently beginning in childhood (not to mention his family's mental health record, e.g. addiction, dementia, etc.) what is happening now cannot be attributed to garden-variety, anti-social behavior. It is much worse than that and should be approached as such.
Look at where we are now. Millions are hungry. Whole segments of the economy face ruin. Hundreds in government (both elected and appointed) are doing nothing. Every day, people are dying by the thousands. It is anyone's guess what our situation in the U.S. will look like if and when we get to January 20, 2021. I am terribly fearful for us all.
I wish I didn't agree with you, Rev.Judith. IMHO, nothing short of physical expulsion will stop this individual. IMHO, words about rules don't matter without action to back them up. I am not condoning this at all but do not see any other way other than hunkering down until January 20.
I don't think we can do anything about him, but there are things we can do to support Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock in the Georgia Senate runoff. It's imperative that we get them elected.
Right, Ruth. Been donating!
Yes!!!!
<sigh> Me, too. :-(