Anthony Aguero is the type of "conservative" "Republican" that drove my 97-almost-98 year old father from the Republican Party. He voted Democratic for the first time in his life this time around, and was proud when Biden won the election. In his words, "I did not fight in two wars to defend a country that produces this type of politicians and idiocy. I cannot vote for a party that allows this to happen." Rock on, Dad!!!
Please offer your dad my deepest gratitude and respect. That cannot have been easy for him to do. And thank him for his incredible service to our country.
America is in danger of losing something very important in politics: the concept of a Loyal Opposition. It ensures continuity from one administration to another, particularly through the peaceful transfer of power. Also central is the notion that minority parties can legitimately criticize, even oppose, the government without automatically committing treason or a crime. The origins lie in late 17C England after the "Glorious" Revolution of 1688, as the country moved from the turmoil of the Stuart era into the more stable and prosperous 18C. It actually predates democracy, first functioning to moderate conflict between Court (royal) and Country (parliamentary) aristocratic factions. Gradually it extended to party rivalries and ultimately all kinds of representative government.
Loyal opposition may be codified as in the UK and other Commonwealth countries, or have more the status of tradition as in the US. It can serve as a needed check on government authority, but also to prevent government from exercising any authority. That latter weakness, as exploited by the GOP, is now destabilizing the country in dangerous and unpredictable ways. When the opposition won't accept election results, allow peaceful power transfer, or renounce violence as an instrument of policy, its disloyalty threatens the entire foundation of the nation's political system. In 1861 Lincoln expressed its essence: "We must settle this question now -- whether in a free government the minority have the right to break it up whenever they choose. If we fail, it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves." It is essential to know what's at risk before it is gone forever.
(Written mostly from memory, so pardon any errors)
S Pincus, 1688: The First Modern Revolution
J Plumb, The Growth of Political Stability in England
Hmm. I would rephrase the context. It’s true that the Republican party has turned to extremism. In doing so, it has alienated your Loyal Opposition. The Lincoln Project. 43 for Biden. The other anti-Trump groups like those two. Joe Scarborough, Jennifer Rubin, Nicole Wallace, George Will, et al. The thousands or maybe tens of thousands of Republicans who have left the party since January 6. Larry Hogan. Mitt Romney. Liz Cheney. Evan McMullin’s group of Zoom conferencers. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty of loyal oppositionists left, it’s just that they’ve been disenfranchised. Now they’re without a party, they’re on their own for the time being.
I don’t think your loyal opposition has disappeared, I think it has been left homeless.
“That latter weakness, as exploited by the GOP, is now destabilizing the country in dangerous and unpredictable ways.”
True. However, notice the backlash. The extremists were being ignored, pretty much, probably dismissed as inconsequential. Now, since Jan. 6, they are being criminalized.
The funding sources for the GOP are turning against the sedition caucus. That put Moscow Mitch in a bind, and he had to come down with the business community and against Trump. The fracture has already happened. Now the question is how is it going to play out. Let’s watch the show together 🍿🍿
While we’re watching the show together, I will mention another possibility: criminalization of the Republican Party itself. Notice that the Proud Boys are now a designated terrorist organization in Canada. That’s not really a good sign for them, or for the other participants in the January 6 Riot. If QAnon and Proud Boys et al as organizations begin to get viewed that way here, it could stain the party irrevocably. If their reputation becomes too badly smeared, alternatively it could allow the loyal opposition to reclaim what was once theirs. The R Party was all my life a haven for racists like Reagan, but not for anarchists. It’s the anarchists, like the sedition senators and House members, that are ruining this Party.
Should we be distressed about that? You may be. I’m not. The loyal oppositionists will find a way to regroup.
I’m not worried. It’ll sort itself out. I think your loyal opposition is alive and well, I just think they are like an army and retreat. Disorganized, demoralized. But they will rally eventually.
TPJ and Roland--you're both right, in my opinion (although full disclosure: I am totally not a fan of Pinker, who is not an historian but plays one on TV, which is the problem; see the issue of Historical Reflections I saw through publication as my last job as senior editor for the historians' view--The Pinker Thesis). The concept of the Loyal Opposition in British parliamentary politics is one that developed gradually, as did the concept of political parties; it certainly was not part of the system when "parliament" was invented in the 13th century, when it was used as both a rubber stamp for raising money by the Crown and as a brake on royal overreach. By the late 18th century, the calcification of the parliamentary system into one that was managed by political parties (which happened more during the reigns of Anne and George I than as a result of the "Whigs" in 1688--they were not the organized party they became 50 years later) had embedded in it a notion of loyal opposition because the people running the show might differ on the methods used, but they were a homogeneous bunch of elite white men who agreed that the maintenance of power among the white (non-Irish) elite was the most important thing, especially in response to the French Revolution.
The Republicans have served as the maintainer of the notion of elite whiteness being the most important criterion for political power for a very long time (and yes: I find that ironic). As long as the Dems when in power present a similar front and don't rock the boat re: whiteness, maleness, and elite status, they have operated more or less as a "loyal" opposition. But when the Dems actually embrace the "big tent" ideology of the party and start to push against the lack of inclusion and try to be more equitable in its distribution of power and authority, the Republicans turn into reactionaries and autocrats (which I think is more accurate than anarchists): people who want to blow up the system in order to prevent anyone else from gaining power. That really isn't anarchy: anarchy is about radical liberation. What the despicables in the GOP want is the opposite of that.
And the American Revolution was at least in part perhaps an attempt by off-shoots of that same English Aristocracy to remove parliamentary controls on their practically absolute power leading directly to the plantation philosophy usurping the Union and driving cesession.
Washington was dead set against political parties but he did embrace the idea of loyal opposition (unlike John Adams, who was a little more insecure, I think). The plantation system was an invention of the Jacobean period: the Ulster Plantation was established officially in 1609 and it served as the model for all the others in the colonialist and settler colonialist program of the Stuart kings, including the forced labor of people designated as "other"--in the case of Ulster, Irish Catholics. I always am frustrated by the adulation given to people like Jefferson and Madison because they absolutely embraced the plantation idea, but they also embraced the power-brokering system of the English parliamentary parties. So they backslid a lot, in my opinion.
It's fascinating to trace historical changes in the usage of words like "plantation" and "factory." Their original meanings differ from current usage. When I take students on Boston's Black Heritage Trail, they learn that "avenue" and "tunnel" aren't always what we think.
And many of the imported and then exported Ulster Irishmen came from the English/Scots borderland; a rough and ready population much used to taking the law into their own hands...with 25% coming from Northumberland wence came I!
Thanks for elaborating on the earlier sketch, Prof M. I'm not very familiar with the standing of Pincus's work. I quarried from his book, but disagree that the GR was the first modern revolution. That distinction came only with the 18-19C Atlantic Revolutions (Amer, France, Haiti, Span Amer).
To fully understand American history, it's necessary to look beyond America. Along with transnational concepts like the Atl Revs, English history is highly instructive, especially the periods (11, 12, 17, 19Cs) when major progressive and modernizing reforms occurred.
Nice reading list! :-) I would add another one, Ted McCormick, who wrote a brilliant book on William Petty (the 17th-c inventor of "political arithmetic" which some consider the earliest form of modern economics) about how Petty shaped the social discourse on Otherness and navigated the political waters of the Civil War and after very cleverly. Book title is William Petty and the Ambitions of Political Arithmetic. A recent biography of Queen Anne, by Anne Somerset, spends most of the book on Anne's life before she became queen and how the political machinations of the Whigs and Tories really shaped the ways in which the Stuarts were manipulated between the Restoration and her reign. It's a very interesting perspective, as both women as historical figures and women as historians are not that well represented in historical works of this period.
Thanks for the ref, Linda. My revised view of Queen Anne started with the 2018 film "The Favourite." Her Majesty is now being freed from Whig orthodoxy, first from the Marlborough/Godolphin Whig faction that influenced her in the 1700s, then from like-minded historians (looking at you, Winston Churchill) who downgraded her significance. Her decision to seek an end to the War of the Spanish Succession was a major service to the UK.
Linda, we may have talked about different authors earlier. I cited Steve Pincus, 17C historian at U Chicago. You mentioned Steven Pinker, Harvard social psychologist? Remarkably similar names.
Whoops! You are correct. It's because Pinker recently wrote a book with the stunning claim that he (and of course only he!) was saving the "Enlightenment" from its neglect by historians (give me strength!). And I know exactly the book of which you speak (also, yesterday was one of those hair on fire days): I have read it (I chaired a book prize committee for several years and it was one of the entries, as was the McCormick book, and some 35 others every year: that was a tough gig to squeeze into my life!). All 800+ pages (urf). It's quite the tour de force but I also agree with you that he oversells his premise a bit.
Thanks for the reminder! It's one of the books that I decided to donate to my uni library because they could never afford to purchase it. And I promptly forgot about it!
In complete agreement with your 2nd paragraph. Your description of Republicans turning into reactionaries and autocrats (in reaction to the democratic egalitarian society) is excellent. Linda we are having a small quibble about terms but certainly agree completely in principle. I used the word "anarchy" but you are correct, they are turning into autocrats. Autocrats ignore the structure in place, they just do as they please, that's my use of the word "anarchy" just as Putin is an autocrat who cares not at all about the "hierarchy" underneath him (if you ignore or roll over or throw a grenade into the "-archy" I am using the word "anarchy" for that behavior), he just abuses it.
Roland I totally understand that use of the word "anarchy;" it's just that I really like a lot of the early anarchist theory (from the late 18th and early 19th c) so I tend to think of them more fondly, since they could safely be called anti-fascist (at least until Robespierre and his crew appropriated anarchist ideas). :-)
Yes, Linda, I figured that out, that you have a favorable association with the word. I generated a use of the word "anarchy" devoid of historical context, with the meaning of "institutional destruction." I think we understand each other.
The first step is to keep the disloyals in opposition, i.e. out of power in Congress and the WH.
I haven't kept close watch on the corporations that recoiled in horror from the insurrection. After Jan 6 there were multiple lists of which corps had changed policy about donor practices. No doubt many are laying low to see which way things go. The loyal/business GOP won't have much clout if companies quietly resume funding the Sedition Caucus a few weeks or months from now.
There was an article in the WaPo regarding a contingent of shareholders of JP Morgan Chase wanting more transpareny in its political/charitable giving. James Dimon, CEO, is fighting that. So it feels like they're not really holding back with donations.
And with what I'm reading in Dark Money, the way the billionaires set up foundations to hide their contributions to politicians and talking heads, I'm sceptical that it's really happening.
I am finally watching, Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale". The takeover by a group of organized men with a police force and religious zealotry behind them was able to shatter life. It's "just" a movie, but the similarities are profound and the dangers more real every day. It forces me to reconsider the Margaret Mead quote in a different light. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has."
I love the MM quote. But is it out of context in this argument? The entire world is becoming more diverse and less racist-sexist-homophobic all the time. The Trump Republic throwback racist society is declining, not growing. They keep coming back, it is true, to try to return us to the society of the past, but now they are becoming desperate as the world approaches the point-of-no-return. We may already have passed that point.
Roland, in my perusal of the news I would say you are wrong-ish. The right is becoming the prime mover in world politics ( https://qz.com/1774201/the-global-state-of-right-wing-populism-in-2019/ ) and the US Republican state governments are seriously legislating away voter rights. The GOP controls 27 state governorships, 30 state legislatures, and 23 state government trifectas (governorship and both legislative chambers). Most of the world denies, or at best, is unable to confront rapid climate change. And the US is unable to even address healthcare reform or serious campaign finance reform. I could go on, like the infrastructure and under-funding of schools, but I think we may just agree to disagree. Clearly, you are more optimistic than I.
Glad you read it! I also read it many years ago and found it so disturbing that it has stayed with me since. I meant no disrespect, it’s just that many who have seen the show have not read the book and I think the book is very important for a fuller understanding of the story.
The book was so disturbing, I decided not to watch the series. I use my viewing time to laugh as much as possible. I can't even watch animal rescue videos on YouTube because the before parts make me too despairing. Sticking to only reading about horrible things rather than watching them gives my sanity a longer lease.
I totally understand! Images stay with me too. I call sitcoms, game shows, and happy movies my palatte cleansers. The Great British Baking Show is a good one for that purpose.
I'm sorry, perhaps I missed something. How can a party already a "haven for racists" be ruined by anarchists? How do you define "ruin"? Should we even care if a GOP dominated by racists since since 1981 (arguably since the mid sixties) is ruined? A GOP unable to repudiate both its racists and its anarchists is a party I will never vote for, nor should anyone who is not a racist or potential anarchist. IMHO...
I could care less what happens to the GOP. I think that might be TPJ's concern, but it certainly isn't mine. By "anarchy" I mean grenade throwers, people who want to destroy the system because the system, the current society, is not allowing them to retain the racist hegemony of old. The old racist society is dying, so now they want to attack democracy itself in order to retain that old white male system of power. They are desperate. They are dying out. They are disintegrating. Should we be concerned? HELL no. I'm with you there.
The GOP's woes mean little to me apart from preventing its worst elements from destroying America. The more disorganized the GOP is, the better. But there must be room for different institutions to present a range of responsible policy ideas and options. That includes a true labor party that represents workers more than business. The Dems at their best perform that role rather imperfectly.
I disapprove of calling the GOP insurgency "anarchist." That reflects poor comprehension of anarchism, a discrete, coherent political philosophy, not "merely" social and political chaos. They are more properly nihilists, though nihilism itself is a political philosophy, though less coherent. (That's out of my depth, sorry.)
Agree we could use a true Labor Party. Agree the more disorganized the GOP, the better. Agree with the entire 1st paragraph.
Ok, forget anarchists. Forget nihilists. Those terms carry all that historical baggage and meaning. Too many scholars on this forum for me to just reuse an old word in a new way. Institutional destruction. Autocracy. Plutocracy, if you will, although the Jan. 6 Rioters were basically working class racists: nevertheless, the American plutocracy is working hard to keep the old (racist, sexist) social order intact. But the common thread is the old order society deciding to attack the institutions of U.S. society which are preventing them from keeping their old order going. They are relentless. They are dogged. They are completely devoted to their cause. They will stop at nothing, even if it means attacking the Capitol and Congress. I don't think anarchist is a terrible word to describe racists like Trump who place racist society ahead of our democratic institutions, and who are willing to damage and destroy any institution in their way. But if Linda and you have positive associations with "anarchist," or pre-existing historical associations with that word, then of course there needs to be a better word. What do you call it when a group of people (our racist society adherents, Republicans) decide to attack, and if needs be destroy, any social institution in the way of getting what they want, which in this case is the everlasting racist society of their dreams, the perpetual Trump presidency?
"I don’t think your loyal opposition has disappeared, I think it has been left homeless." I agree. Sure hope they find a home in time for 2022 elections, to diliute the trumpist vote.
For decades my mother was dedicated to the LWV ( also NAACP), first in CT then in WA. Gawd, she was a thorn in the side of benighted opponents. Good trouble!
I enjoy reading Tom Nichols and following him on Twitter. Former Republican. One of his articles above. He writes for many periodicals and has a new book out now. His Twitter discussions and arguments are educational. He is similar to HCR in educating his followers in a historical way and she often retweets him.
His bio:
Tom Nichols is a U.S. Naval War College University Professor, and an adjunct at the U.S. Air Force School of Strategic Force Studies and the Harvard Extension School. He is a specialist on Russian affairs, nuclear strategy, NATO issues, and a nationally-known commentator on U.S. politics and national security. He was a staff member in the United States Senate, a fellow at CSIS and the Harvard Kennedy School, and previously taught at Dartmouth, La Salle, and Georgetown. He is also a five-time undefeated 'Jeopardy!' champion, and was noted in the 'Jeopardy!' Hall of Fame after his 1994 appearances as one of the all-time best players of the game.
Maybe the best of the loyal opposition leave the opposing side and cross over. Which creates more room for disloyals—hence the necessity for guardrails and measures of insurrection prevention.
Without that agreement there is nolonger an assured process of peaceful transition of power and garranttee tof the primacy of election results: democracy ceases to exist and power is attained, maintained or destroyed by violence. Sooner or later the people leading this insurrection have to be put out of harm's way before they take out the "unwanted majority" and do away with the democratic system.
That’s why I’m still pretty optimistic that the educated citizens of our country and the less deluded followers of DDT’s circus will have four years of thoughtful Bidenesque measures maybe including the $15 minimum wage to settle things down. So much of the insurrection has been fueled too by the unregulated social media Titans and now that is also going to change. We’re still a very great and strong country.
The Republican Party has consistently provided "DISLOYAL OPPOSITION" to lawful American Democracy since 1964. Since that date, the word "loyal" applied to the GOP has been as patently ridiculous as applying the word to describe the CSA. The terrible irony is that what we have today is a Democratic Party with its main "root" in the party of Abraham Lincoln and a Republican Party with its main "root" in the party of Andrew Johnson and Robert E. Lee. Unfortunately, it is becoming clearer every day that the Republican "roots" are winning the evolutionary war for survival ... a political Kudzu, spread to all 50 states and growing like, well, ah, let me think of the perfect word .... oh, yeah, Kudzu.
Both sides in the Civil War deployed much the same language and political traditions, from the Amer Rev and early republic, to advance their respective causes. The same is true now. Like the Jan 6 insurgents, I want to take back our country. But it must be taken back from them and their ilk, and reconstructed in "a more perfect Union" to ensure that all, created equal, enjoy the blessings of liberty equally.
I began and continue as an Africanist, also studying global environmental and disease history. Then in the 21C I transitioned to world history, globalization, antislavery, and more recently the US Civil War. Teaching and writing world history requires reducing my ignorance in numerous areas. It is an endless task, and that's a good thing.
Reducing your ignorance? Who do you think you are?!! What an absurd.... Oh, wait, sorry, Trump's not president anymore. One doesn't have to hide their pursuit of knowledge. Jeez, for a moment there my mind was boggled!!
Have you read "Battle Cry of Freedom" by Dr James McPherson? It gives one a much clearer understanding of the situation during the Civil War by discussing the political, social, and economics prior to the CW time frame.
Excellent rec, Barbara. It's still the best 1-vol CW history, though I wish JM would revise and update it. Tons of new studies have come out since it first appeared in 1988.
How is the Conservative Party and the Labour Party codified in the UK? And how is that 2 party system different from Republican and Democratic Parties in the US? What would a codified loyal opposition look like in the US?
Codifying loyal opposition in the US would, at the least, have to prevent conspiring and attempting a coup to overthrow the government. Both Charles I (1629) and Oliver Cromwell (1653) mounted successful coups against their Parliaments. A large chunk of British politics since then has sought successfully to guard against such unrestrained executive power. Jan 6 exposed a major flaw in America's political system, and summoned the awesome ghosts of tyrants past.
I believe that the law in the UK is more explicit in detailing the privileges and duties of parties in and out of office, and not just the big 2. For instance, the main UK opposition party always has a "shadow cabinet," but is not guilty of seditious conspiracy. Sorry, can't be more certain than that on contemporary practice. But the Glorious Revolution established the primacy of Parliament (legislature) over the monarchy (executive), and also produced the world's first Bill of Rights. I've always thought that was rather glorious.
TPJ, elsewhere here you wrote, “The first step is to keep the disloyals in opposition, i.e. out of power in Congress and the WH.”
From all the cracks that Trump and his advisors exploited in the executive branch, and the trajectory from Gingrich’s brainwashing lessons in Republican rhetoric and propaganda to McConnell’s stranglehold in Congress, we see the cracks that need to be filled in those domains.
Codify as by having laws that require things such as:
1. Full disclosure of a candidate’s financial records?
2. Passing a test on basic civics and the Constitution?
3. Basic critical thinking skills?
4. Keeping dark money out of politics?
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” So also implement such requirements to hold an office at the state and local levels?
Prevention lies in the vote, which has been manipulated by voter suppression tactics and laws in addition to disinformation campaigns. (Support HR1 For the People Act!). The ultimate prevention lies in education—growing critical thinking skills and civic knowledge in our young people.
What specific guardrails do we need in place to identify and screen out disloyals and insurrectionists?
“For the People Act is a bill first introduced and passed in the United States House of Representatives in 2019 to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, limit partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.”
An excellent list and good starting point, Ellie. Additionally, the excremental Trumpsky admin convinced me that either holding public office, or military service, should be a legal requirement before serving as president.
And a Civics exam, a geography exam, taxes for the past ten years, diplomatic skills, literate, and doesn't lie or grab women by their private parts would be a better beginning. Can we put that in their job description? Oh, since we are close to having women as presidents, we can include no grabbing men or thems by their private parts!
The situation between the parties after elections is not necessarily codified by specific texts of law but by the concept of "Common Law" which is effectively mostly historic precedent and tradition....which the courts will interpret and enforce.
If it came down to it the Queen constitutionally has the power to dissolve parliament and name who she likes as Prime Minister.....but she doesn't and no monarch has done it since the 18th C. As the English would say "It is just not done, my good chap!"
Named spokespersons in the main opposition party who "shadow" their opposite number in the real cabinet. Their role is essentially to track the opposite number and criticize what he says and does.....and thereafter help the opposition to develop policy in the area when the wheel turns and it is their turn.
"The Shadow Cabinet is the team of senior spokespeople chosen by the Leader of the Opposition to mirror the Cabinet in Government. Each member of the shadow cabinet is appointed to lead on a specific policy area for their party and to question and challenge their counterpart in the Cabinet. In this way the Official Opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting."
So the shadow cabinet is engaging in critical thinking and debate, examining the alternate hypothesis, and elevating the discourse on policy issues. In all the covert schemes and wheeling-dealing for power that operate universally, how is that shadow cabinet tradition in the UK not eroded to subsume policy to obstruction? The way Republicans have since Gingrich.
The US is not alone in nolonger having a "codified loyal opposition" as in Germany the 2 main parties are in coalition government leaving the AfD, the ultra-far right as the opposition....not perhaps so loyal!
In the UK there is not just Two parties as although not hugely significant there is the Liberal Party too.....the 1çthC party of Gladstone and the turn of the century party of Lloyd George. You also have a large Scottish National Part contingent who, while voting with the opposition are independistas...not so loyal at that! I think also that thre is a Welsh Party member and half a dozen IRA members (who do not come to London) who are most certainly not loyal to other than a united Ireland. Over and above that the Labour Party and the Conservatives so dominate and accept election results that the transfer of power is well codified by tradition and the neutrality of the the Queen and the civil service
I am sure all members of Congress think of themselves as loyal to the constitution because they tried to work within its rules and those rules do not prohibit lying to the public. It was Trump who tried to get Pence to break the rules. What disturbs me is the ease in which a disloyal mob was created. This could happen again and under the leadership of someone more competent than Trump. Our system of public discourse could use improvement. Looking for answers I am currently reading "Empowering Public Wisdom" by Tom Atlee. Perhaps I'll write about it when I'm done. In the meantime my current thinking is at
Intentional lying should be grounds for removal from office due to violating one's oath to the office. We are the employers and should demand admirable behavior from our elected officials.
A laudable rule but to enforce we'd probably need to bring the courts into congressional debates? I am finding it comforting that there are starting to be civil lawsuits with the potential for real punitive damages for lies told in the last election. That will make would-be liars more cautious in the future without messing with separation of powers.
Good comparison, Lynn; that's what it feels like now. After Jan 6 I finally felt that I could grasp the mentality of the North when it rose up to defend the Union, democracy, and ultimately to expand American freedom.
My heart is breaking and the tears are flowing down my face as I watched that video of those nurses. And now I'm waiting for the heartache to turn to anger as I know it will.
And the fact that I will get angry makes my anger turn into hate, something I don't want to feel but it will come and then my husband will get upset (he's already upset because of my crying and has left the room).
My husband has Lewy Body Dementia. He is 59 years old and has had it for at least ten years. And while he has beaten the odds of averages we know his life will be shortened by this terrible disease.
And that is why my anger comes forth so much. Instead of being able to just enjoy our last days together we have had to immerse ourselves with the news and be aware of all the BS that was happening during the former guys tenure and waste precious time talking about it.
My husband has only left the house once since last March and that was to get an MRI that the doctor insisted on to be able to keep getting his pain meds. His world was already very small, but now it is smaller. He has even stopped going to the dispensary, a place he loved to go to. To talk to them about what he needs and to share pictures of his latest crop and what new thing he has done to make the process easier and more efficient.
And that angers me when I see people without masks.
I try to explain that we aren't worried about him getting covid and dying, he is pretty healty other than the LBD. Its the fact that mentally he wouldn't be able to deal with it.
He got sick a couple years ago. He couldn't function and spent three days sitting on the edge of the bed, rocking back back and forth, while staring at the floor an moaning because he couldn't get the words out to say anything. It was heartbreaking and I swore that my only goal in life is to give him the best life he can have, to play his video games and grow his pot and not worry about anything.
So my anger is starting to rise and I am glad that I don't have to go anywhere today, because I think I would lose it if I saw anyone without a mask.
I think everyone who refuses to wear a mask should 1) use their right to be treated for anything covid related and 2) have to spend a day watching videos like the one I just watched and 3) have to talk to the nurses who are dealing with covid.
But like a lot of things in this country, it seems that we are all to willing to let people off the hook for their bad actions and instead use the words freedom to justify it.
Well you know what, your freedom to be an ahole shouldn't weigh more than my husband's right to be free from the fear of your aholeness causing him to suffer from something that would likely push him deeper into the darkness of LBD
As for the former guy, it scares me that he will run again and might win. As long as we have the anti-abortion people he will get votes. That's the main reason the people I know voted for him. Most of them are well educated, aren't racist and would seem like good people if you met them. But again, it's the fact that they were all raised to believe that abortion is the greatest sin ever.
My heart is breaking right now and so many times during the last fours years, I wondered how many tears I would shed before I drowned. But I can't let it over power me because my husband needs me.
So I will cry in the dark and when the sun comes out be thankful I have another day with my husband.
Be safe. Be caring. And tell the people you care about that you love them. You never know when it might be the last time you can.
Thanks. To be honest, I don't see it as a burden. It's what you do for people you love and who love you.
Besides, he is showing me a whole different way to look at dementia. I am learning to listen to him and remember what he has told me when he can no longer tell me. And I hope I live up to what he wants and needs.
You are both so lucky to have each other. I'm sure he so appreciates everything you are doing. You do what is needed for those you love and I know you wouldn't think of not doing everything possible. Care giving is very difficult, I hope you have other family and friends who can give you a break at times. Thinking of you and your husband.
For the last three years, up until he died in late October, 2020, I was caring for my husband who had ALS and Fronto-temporal degenerative disorder, a form of dementia with similar symptoms and affects to ALS. He was a lifelong Democrat who abhored for the former guy's politics. I understand much of what you are going through and the perspective of how incredibly difficult your life is because of the need to be a good care provider while also attending to your own needs. You have all my love and support; I hope you can find some peace in this madness. Please know you are not alone and there are good people working hard to combat the former guy.
I am so sorry. I can't begin to imagine what you went through and still going through.
I know it hurts and the hurt will never go totally away. I lost my dad when I was four, but I don't remember him. It was losing my mom when I was 15 that hurt. And it still hurts. Not as much as back then. Been over 45 years, so the pain is not nearly as intense.
What keeps me hopeful and actually looking forward to the future, is my four year old grandson. And I know I will be hurting when I finally get to see him again, I know his laugh and smile will help ease that pain. So I hope you have someone or something to help you with what your going through.
And thank you. For all you did. I know it had to be difficult.
I've been in your shoes, although it was several years ago. My husband had Alzheimers and on 911, when I was completely terrified and horrified, he was unable to process anything happening. He spent the entire day walking around outside while I remained glued to the TV. At that point, I realized that our days of sharing news, events, thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, etc. were over and the days of ensuring his comfort and peace of mind were all that lay ahead. That was when I "officially" became his caregiver. It's a sad and lonely place to be, but having made that adjustment to the new status quo, it became easier for me to understand what my role as "wife" had become. I am so very sorry for your situation. I hope you continue venting your feelings because that will keep you sane. If you have a trusted friend who will lend you a strong shoulder, that will also help. Beth, you are not alone, my friend.
I am so sorry, I can only imagine the pain and fear you are feeling. My situation is different but I share some similar fears. My son who is 23 years old has a developmental disability and a history of heart problems. I'm terrified for him to get this virus, as I have been told, his risk would be 10 times greater than the average person to die if he got Covid. What keeps me up at night is that he would not understand what was happening and would be terrified if he had to go to the hospital by himself, he would not be able to understand about pushing a button if he needed help. It keeps me in a state of fear every minute. I live in GA and Kemp is not helpful to people with disabilities. He has so far refused to put this group on a higher prioriety for the vaccine and tried to suspend all medicaid wavers for the disabled. These are necessary for people with a disability to get a job, transportation and independent living. With protest, he finally oked 100 waivers to go through. However my son is on the list along with 7000 and counting people who want to become contributing members of society but are stuck without this waiver. With Georgia going full force into making sure Republicans win all future elections, it is very frightening. GA. is somehow in short supply of the vaccine or so Kemp reminds us all the time, this also seems strange to me.
Thanks. Actually, the pain doesn't come very often. My husband is still pretty self efficient and still makes dinner most days, so we actually are in a good place where we are in our journey.
Funny thing Im finding is that we actually had an idea what was wrong. My husband did medical research as a software engineer. He did a lot of research before the diagnosis.
So we have been ahead of the game and have made as many plans as we can. He's made videos, written his life story and he runs a blog about LBD and growing pot easily and as cheaply as possible.
I am part of a group of LBD caregivers, I bead and I have two very good friends.
Thank you enough for caring to reach out. I appreciate it.
So cruel. So Anti-American. So anti-ADA. So -- I just want to throw things and scream, after how far we had come in this country for the disabled. My heart goes out to you and your son. I pray that your own Georgia's FairFight will save you, and the rest of us, too.
Thank you - Amazingly last night got an email that Kemp has agreed to put adults with disabilities eligible for the vaccine on March 8th. I cannot begin to express how grateful I am. I do understand it still may take months because people in the 1A- category still have not gotten their first vaccine and they will continue to go first, as they should. Teachers were also added so it is quite a lot of people. I just still do not understand why Kemp keeps saying GA is in such short supply of the vaccine where national reports say vaccine distrubution is equally distributed according to population. Wondering if other states have this issue. Thank you.
So glad your son will be eligible soon! Check out how to sign up (if you haven't already) because could be 1st called, 1st served within that category. The vaccine is in short supply in Michigan, too, and I suspect it just is everywhere yet. But supplies could increase exponentially in next couple weeks with Biden's efforts and approval of Johnson & Johnson's. All the BEST!
Oh, Beth. I know this pain. My husband died in the middle of the t**p regime and he thought I was so obsessed with the rising fascism. I tried not to show it while he was dying, and I did take huge breaks. I was so lucky that the month we spent in hospitals was two years prior to COVID. Three hospitals allowed me to sleep in his room and cuddle with him. Eventually, he knew he could not do the therapies and asked to go home and have hospice care. I loved that extra month in the hospitals and the pure time I had with him despite the ridiculous vitals they had to do all through the night and wake us up. Right after his first stroke, I asked him who the president was. He thought long and hard and then said, "Obamama." Oh, tears flowed down my cheeks. How I wished that were true!! I was so happy that he did not remember our national trauma. I envied him for that entire month that he had no recollection of the king of the "aholes" and his minions.
And your anger that turns into hate is justified with anti-maskers. It is warped and selfish. Back in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the Anti-Mask League was present and caused the same political division, but was not as large as our problem. They also did not have the internet and idiots spreading lies at rallies. Find outlets, like here to release and received support. We are all in this together. We need to hold hands against bullies and ignoramuses
Know that we have your back and use us as needed. As sbmn says below, you are not alone and there is a huge wave of good people rising to replace the racist/supremacists who have infiltrated our country and government. We have the most exciting time to right the wrongs of the foundation of our country built on Native American genocide and slavery of our African Americans and their ancestors. On good days, I think we are the generations that are really going to take our country gigantic leaps forward. Women, and particularly, Black women are rising and showing us their incredible strength, tenacity, power and intelligence. We white women have the shields of our color to protect us somewhat. A wo, Bethman of color has to rise above it all on pure courage and strength. We are watching and supporting the most amazing transformation of power right now. The patriarchy is desperate and wobbly. We can do this if we all stick together. And like geese, take a break and float a little behind and let the next ones take a turn to lead and catch their updrafts for your energy efficiency.
Releasing our tears during those energy efficiency breaks is good self-care. The sharing of your story has made many of our hearts bigger. Thank you, Beth. ❤️
Dear Beth, bless you for what you are going through for your husband's sake, and for the love you are giving him. Your strength is amazing. Long may it last.
MTG is a cancer upon the congress, as are the rest of them. Apparently, there is no recourse but elections. Given the gerrymandered districts, they may be re-elected. Perhaps not Moscow Mitch, the base seems to have turned upon him. He and Elaine have probably grifted enough from the country, yes?
I feel delight in the progress of Biden/Harris and despair at the charade of the Congress.
And, as an over-educated RN of 40 years, I'm thinking the virus is with us in altered form for many years to come. "Back to normal" is kind of like back to the future: a fantasy. 'Normal' was not working anyway. If you recall, the plague was with humans for 400 years. Perhaps less than that with mRNA vaccines, but not a quick fix.
I wish it were a rosier picture. I wish it were a rosier future. I fear it is not. Clone Stacey Abrams for every state!
Gratitude to this community for the conversation, sanity, and courage to keep on going!
I do not understand how there is nothing to be done with those elected who are negligent in their job, refuse to uphold their sworn oath, some have serious backgroud issues and many have questionable conflict of interest. There are no checks before they are allowed to run or be nominated and as we have seen, we cannot necessarily trust the voting public (MTG). It just seems to me that once in Congress, their actions, backgrounds, and conflicts affect every person in the country, not just their constituents. We The People pay their saleries and pensions, healthcare, why can't we ask for consequences against some of the members who are not in power to serve the country or the people?
I don't think McConnell is running again, which is why he feels free to part from DT. He is angling to be the de facto head of the Republican party when DT declines. It's a calculation on McConnell's part (everything is, with him). There is no honor in him, so we can't think he is speaking against Trump out of sense of loyalty to country or party. Mitch is loyal to Mitch and nothing else.
With redistricting, I suspect the Rs are actually set to GAIN seats in the House. They are quite likely to win back the Senate, too. We have an uphill fight coming: voter suppression, redistricting, and backlash are going to take a toll. We should never forget that the Rs gained seats in the House in 2020, while the Ds specifically targeted nine house seats they were convinced they could flip and succeeded in NONE of them.
"We should never forget that the Rs gained seats in the House in 2020, while the Ds specifically targeted nine house seats they were convinced they could flip and succeeded in NONE of them."
Impossible to forget. Racism is like the Hydra. Keeps coming back.
Well said, kimceann! Agreed that this thing is with us in some incarnation or another for the long haul and that there is no ‘return to normal’. I’m glad I’m not the only one that sees it like this.
kimceann I also am a RN (of 49 years' standing-retired fully May 2018 and surrendered my license 10/2020 when renewal was due.) and agree pretty much with your assessment re duration of COVID and possibility re the Republican re-election. I REALLY hope McConnell goes down in flames in 2024!
As a medical writer I think you're wrong that we're not going to get back to normal some time this year. Even if covid doesn't disappear, the vaccines are going to render it no worse than the flu. I hope and expect to be able to visit my siblings and my best friend (all in different cities from me) this spring.
Members of this forum have tried to warn me that I might be wearing rose-colored glasses (my paraphrasing!) when I express belief that Trump’s influence will diminish. I do know I’ve been doing that. I’ve been sleeping better, listening and reading the news less, and feel more hopeful and positive since January 20, so perhaps cling to the possibility that more Republican office holders will care about their legacies, about posterity, if not for truth and honor.
I know the hard work has just begun, and that hope won’t change CPAC. It won’t change the fact that all the Republicans in the House voted with Marjorie Greene to adjourn today in order to avoid a vote that would make it illegal to discriminate against transgender people. (Twitter users were calling House Republicans “Ganggreene.”). But studies show that positive thinking CAN change or influence outcomes! I know ignoring history and precedent is folly, but I also believe that if all of us imagine—really picture in your mind’s eye—the tide turning against Trump somehow, and against all the election result deniers, that it will be closer to happening.
Maybe someone in Russia will wikileak the dossier with damaging video of Trump.
Maybe he will be caught on tape calling his whole base derogatory names and laughing about the way he manipulates them all.
Maybe Biden’s plans and actions will make lives easier, safer, less stressful, more hope-filled, and the populous will continue to turn away from the Trumpublicans and RepubiQans and power-grubbing, life-sucking, voter-suppressing election result deniers.
Heather’s last story helps me keep hoping that our future has a rosy tint to it. 😊
Curiously, I lean both ways. I see where TC is coming from, of course he’s talking about the reality of the cult of maybe 100 million people or more, but I actually feel optimistic. The Republican party is disintegrating, in my view. Liz Cheney versus McCarthy. McConnell versus Trump. They might be able to keep it under one roof, that’s their only hope at this point. But if they splinter, they are doomed as a national political force. I watched the California Republican party become nearly extinct when gerrymandering was eliminated after the 2010 census. It could happen nationally as well, if the forces of good make the other states start to fall like dominoes.
Yes, yes, yes! I ridiculously want everyone to close their eyes and picture the former guy either fading from the scene, really becoming discraceful in the eyes of his followers (though what would precipitate that is hard to imagine —maybe an undoctored video of him in drag? A scene like the one at the end of The Dead Zone? (A politician in the center of a shooter’s sights grabs a nearby baby and holds the infant in front of his own head. The shooter won’t shoot and the politician is ruined.)), or perhaps having a stroke that impairs his speech. (I’m sorry for this idea. A little bit.)
Really imagine a world without him. Let’s see if our group imagining has an influence. TCinLA, how would you like to see the Donald go down?
I won’t comment on your imagery, even though if we were having a private conversation face-to-face I would be happy to state my opinion. There is no way he falls out of favor with his racist constituency. None. If you have spoken with the many rabidly adoring Trumpsters I’ve spoken with, you would understand my position. And TC will likely agree with me when I say his medical condition will change nothing. Those people are not going away. They are going to be forced into submission somehow. Perhaps they are changing slowly, after all the racist and sexist values are changing. The writing is on the wall. Kamala Harris is not an anomaly, she is a preview of coming attractions. They know that. That’s why they’re freaking out. That’s why they’re attacking Congress. It’s a cornered animal fighting for survival, but the animal knows it is destined to be captured Trump, the Republican senators, they are fighting, going down kicking and screaming, but they are going down. TC might not agree with this point but he should: The entirety of US society and eventually world society is moving towards diversity and equality for all. If you don’t see that, you’re certainly missing the big picture. The old racist sexist anti-gay anti-human diversity society is disintegrating, and right now it’s concentrating its resources for one last stand in the body of the Republican Party. It’s like a terrible science-fiction novel where an evil living parasite enters a host. The eventual outcome cannot be in dispute. Just compare the world now to the world 50 or 100 years ago. Gay pride marches in an African country? Yeah right.
Yes the racist, patriarchal GOP may be in its death throes, but, it’s influence and power is deeply embedded in every sector of industry and finance. Business leaders tried to distance themselves from the insurrection, while hanging on to the status quo. It’s going to be a painful transition where the most vulnerable will be in the greatest danger. Protecting them is paramount.
Forgive me for this story, but it seems very relevant to this thread. Years ago, I lived in the middle of a southwestern USA desert alive with rattlesnakes. I had two small children and farm animals. Also had no rifle or pistol. What I DID have was diamond-backs.
They usually have an individual “territory” of about one circular mile around their den. Problem was, that when you came up on one, it might be anywhere within that circular mile. When I found one close to my “home territory”, I felt the need to eliminate it for my own protection. Only ammunition available to me were large boulders. So, I would grab one (from a safe distance) as the snake slowly coiled up to strike. Then, like an old-time Scotsman, I lobbed that stone from a distance — aiming for the coil rather than the head. The snake would be distracted in his strike, and the boulder would land in the coil, limiting his further strike range. Then, I could take my time and aim for the skull, and did hit it. But it took repeated strikes to end its life.
This sounds horrendous, and I would have preferred another solution, but I had to use the tools at hand. I’m proposing that stopping a poisonous party must be handled the same way. What I learned from my extreme circumstances was that when faced with boulders, that snake lost interest in me and wanted only to escape — the same thing that any living creature (whether either benevolent or toxic) would want to do.
Yes, it is possible to sympathize with a rattlesnake, but not a very smart thing to let it move in under your house. The End.
Thank you so much for this story Patricia. I am not judging you critically, on the contrary. I'm not a pampered suburbanite. You do what you have to do.
I am a complete wus when it comes to killing, however. I take spiders and insects outside.
I doubt anyone would argue against a story about rattlesnakes being a perfectly good metaphor for our current predicament.
This story is the kind of thing that gives a person pause for reflection. Are R's dangerous? Absolutely. Should Repub Senators and Congressmembers be treated like rattlesnakes? I think so.
This story is the kind of thing for which I don't have an immediate response, but which then percolates in the back of your mind . . . . . . .
I hope that it is not just a fairy tale... a case of "and we'll all live happily ever after". Your positive vision is somewhat in contradiction, unfortunately, with many mega political trends in many other parts of the world....where democracy is inexorably slipping despite many "minorities-based" protests and theories of "intersectionnality"! Your text makes me think a basic tenet of Newtonian physics..."Ever force engenders and equal and opposite reaction".
Yes. Barack and Michelle produced the backlash to Trump. The forces of change towards diversity leads to the old society kicking and screaming even more loudly.
I stopped by on Jeanne's thread for a reason. Optimism under attack is what caught my attention. It's easy for Jeanne to dismiss herself even for seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. I spent my teens in Germany in the 1970s, where the cynicism and stoicism and pragmatism were really entrenched and hard-bitten.
My "positive vision" is optimistic, yes, but it is also realistic. The long view. Society is changing. U.S. society, and world society. The long-term trend is towards diversity and away from the pre-Civil War society. You can argue that suppression of gay and transgender rights overseas, just as an example, is in decline whenever a gay pride event is attacked. However, you need to remember the big picture: 50 years ago, gay pride events did not even exist. Anywhere.
It would be easy to categorize the events of January as horrific signs of the coming apocalypse in American society, and I was as deeply disturbed as anyone. But even putting aside the developments in the Biden Administration, when a little of the horrible smoke had cleared from the Jan. 6 event and from my mind, I knew that those events were signs of desperation. Trump and the Jan. 6 Riot reeks of desperation.
There is a damn good reason the lovers of the old racist society are getting desperate. They are being left behind. They are being shown the door.
A wishful-thinking pipe dream idealist would not say that we are still in a civil war, arguably the same civil war as from the 1870s. But it would be unrealistic to take the cynical view that American society is not improving, not becoming more egalitarian and more diverse and equality based, because of course it has improved.
Europe may still be more cynical and hard-bitten than the U.S., I don't know. Certainly California is known for providing idealistic and optimistic visions, as well as dystopian ones of course. But world society, nasty and autocratic and racist as much of it is, is improving.
Remember, too, Stuart, if you are a news junkie, that the news is filtered. It leans heavily toward the sensationalist, and the alarming. Autocracy gets a lot of coverage, loving healthy democracy gets none. When's the last time you came across a news article about Costa Rica? Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful democracies in the world. We become so fixated on solving the "problems," we forget the solutions that already exist. California has annual gay pride events that are not attacked. Costa Rica doesn't even have an army. Costa Rica has clean water, loving people, the most national parks per capita of any country in the world, etc.
When you get lost in the nastiness, remember Costa Rica. And California, Kevin McCarthy notwithstanding. Goodness is out there. Improvement, as a society, as a global whole, is happening, even if the pace is inexorable-seeming.
I agree. The good part about Drumpf staying active for now is that it will continue to splinter the party. They may remain weaker for a few election cycles so that we can put some kinder stronger policies in place and then reform into a Drumpf party and whatever the new Republicans want to call themselves. We need an opposition party. No one party should have total domination, but we need the opposition party to be sane.
I agree-NH switched majority party to red in Nov. They've already put forth a multitude of atrocious anti-reproduction rights and anti-democracy bills since then.
All the lawsuits against him are going to sap his energy. And if somehow they don't, he's losing brain power. I recently saw a Larry King interview of him from '99. He was a different man--lucid, thoughtful, with liberal views on things like healthcare reform, and a good vocabulary. He was somewhat demented when he became president. He's gone downhill since. And that video of him shuffling (at West Point, I think) was almost certainly a ministroke in progress. See ~minute 13 for views on healthcare
Agreed. His losses of verbal fluency, cognitive acuity, and executive functioning were obvious even during the 2015-16 campaign [as you say, relative to earlier recorded appearances].
Indeed. When it was announced during Reagan's post-presidency that he had signs of early dementia my take was "what's new?" But, you're right; he was an actor and could follow a script however trashy the screenplay was.
45 will never be irrelevant. He is a god. They’ll still be talking about him for the next 50 years. I hope you’re talking about Trump, I don’t know who TFG is.
And for those who wish him to perish, right now would be horrific because he would become a martyr figure. We need more like Gerry Connelly to keep pointing out the lie and naming those who voted against certifiying the election.
As I reread this question, it sounds like I’m asking you to defend yourself when you never said he would become irrelevant. I am imagining how it might happen. I actually wanted to know if you have any ideas of what could bring him down in the eyes of his followers?
I do think he might fall from his pedestal if he used someone as a human shield, someone other than secret service. Or if his speech became garbled by a stroke and he started drooling. But is there any scenario more realistic? Just thinking.
Your observations are spot on, Jeanne. I, too predicted that *rump would simply fade away and Republicans would finally admit that they are sick and tired of his carnival. But *rump (I learned to write his name like this today--it's so perfect) still holds right wing voters in his pockets. Until this changes Republicans up for re-election will continue to perpetuate The Big Lie. This would not happen if term limits were in place.
It seems likely that Putin has plenty on *rump, whether it's a video or shady business dealings. But remember that the Access Hollywood tape in which the former president bragged about grabbing female genitals with impunity did him zero harm. The only person who can destroy him is *rump himself. And this might actually happen as the result of his actions that spurred investigations against him in New York (financial fraud, tax evasion) and Georgia (trying to influence the election). As a convicted felon, he would not be able to run for president again.
I'm worried, too, Kimberley. Trump 2.0 could be someone who actually has his act together and isn't just bombast. It's hard to oppose a leader whose followers are hypnotized and commit acts of lawlessness in his name. Hopefully this new right wing leader will be stopped before he can get his finger on the button.
I don't think just anyone can have that kind of sway. Hitler had it. Jim Jones. and good people have commanded followings, too. Jesus, Gandhi, MLK, Jr., Mandela, I am sure there are countless others I am not naming here. But Hawley? No way. Cruz? even less likely. And *rumps children? Nyet.
You're living in fantasy land if you can read what she posted tonight and think there's a rosy future. Say hello to the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, and be sure to get up for sunrise tomorrow and look to the west. All those things are as real as your rosy future. (And yes, I wish I was wrong and you were right, but I'm not)
I appreciate the reality checks. But TC, I read an article that compared the mobs in Shakespeare’s plays to the followers of Trump and QAnon, the author of which suggested that crowd-think can turn on a whim.
“ More interesting are the Roman mobs that love Caesar, then approve his murder, then, after some masterful manipulation by Mark Antony, turn on Brutus and the conspirators. They are not particularly picky. They kill Cinna the poet rather than Cinna the senator, declaring that it’s all the same—kill him for bad verse. The mob cheers Coriolanus and then expels him from Rome, only to tremble in terror when he comes back with the enemies of Rome in orderly ranks at his back.”
We saw a little of this in the crowd wanting to hang Mike Pence!
When some members of the crowd who need jobs find them, who need help get stimulus checks, who want vaccines (do any tRumpers want them?) get their shots, they could start to wriggle out from trump’s Hitler-hold on their conscience. Some are turning on him in statements to the FBI as they try to escape 20-year prison sentences for insurrection.
Some might get excited about watching Donald’s criminal trials on tv!
Remember this: Trump really did LOSE the election by millions of votes. He lost. He is a loser. Loser Donald. Soon to be forgotten Donald!
The mob doesn't go away now that it has formed. It has emerged for real reasons totally independent of Trump. It is open to the next demagogue to come along to fire it up. Woe betide us if he has more and better organized grey cells than Trump!
I like Jeanne's reality, clear-eyed, not rose-colored. More dangerous than any one person are the larger forces that threaten American democracy. It won't be easy, not at all, but there are grounds for (cautious) optimism.
As for Trumpsky, our joyous release is always just one Big Mac away. Which one will it be? Not that I wish harm on anyone, honestly.
And remember that that "Hitler-hold on their conscience" is a result of social media, tr**p/cruz rallies and the great propaganda alternative "news" machines that run deeply and are much more pervasive than any of us critical thinkers could ever have imagined. Surely magnified immensely by so many staying at home due to pandemic life.
It wouldn't have mattered or really "hooked" them if there was not and already a massive rising groundswell of anxiety and anger generated by the way they feel society and history is treating them.
I am also waiting for the day when he's irrelevant and the media stops reporting on him. But his supporters can't be ignored. Im not sure how we get to your fantasy but I sure hope we get there soon.
"You're living in fantasy land if you can read what she posted tonight and think there's a rosy future."
Why tie the future (and its rosiness) to the sickness we all are observing. Personnally, I am more optomistic about the future than I have ever been. At the same time I am more pessimistic about the recent past as I have ever been.
Who cares if there are giant swaths of sickos? What's that got to do with my future?
It's the Youngers. They will save the world from the folly of elders. One day they will look back and echo the words of a prominent Civil War veteran.
"Through our great good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing. …"
Tis better to hope than to despair. He is a loser and, little by little, his followers will abandon him. Meanwhile we hope our Senators can coax Manchin and Sinema into understanding our extraordinarily important need to end the filibuster.
I'm not so sure about that, Bruce. His followers NEED someone like themselves. They NEED the lies he tells them. They have been fearful and angry for quite some time now, and 45 stokes that fear with lies, exaggerations, and vitriol. Then says a border wall and mega funding the military will solve their problems. But, first he needs for his supporters to HATE Democrats especially ones of color, a different religion, women, anyone other than heterosexual, and such. And, most importantly to 45 is his needs for their praise at rallies and their monetary donations. 40% of our nation in this loser category isn't something that fades away.
While you are certainly right that hate is, sadly, the tie that binds his worshippers together, Many things should change with the Biden administration in place.
Here in Vermont we had a large swing to the right when we passed civil unions in the legislature. The shift weakened in 2 years and was gone in 4. Of course there was no trump and no Twitter. But age and indictments will wear him down. Without him, his base will evaporate.
In the long term, American Democracy will fail. But I no longer have any feel for what "long term" means. Two years? Two decades? Two centuries? Two millennia? ::shrug::
Two years or two decades is definitely short term.
Imperial China, the longest-lasting system of government ever, no longer exists. Unless the Yellow Emperor has been replaced by the Red Emperor. That's most definitely the long term.
I, too, and hoping with more time and success of the Biden administration that the general Q public will realize their lives are better, calmer and healthier and ease into a peaceful lull.
He might, but my deeper concern is that the movement he began will not fade at all, but will grow in power. The White Male Grievance coalition is extremely powerful and going nowhere. I do hold out hope that younger people will come along and reject this ideology as these morons die off, but that will take far too long for us to truly benefit, especially with the existential threat of climate change looming.
I hear you and there was an article yesterday about a huge piece of land in Vermont that has been taken over by a man who loudly uses it as a training site for one or more of these fringe groups terrorizing the community. I contribute to the Southern Poverty Law Center because the actually keep track of these loonies and categorize them.
But I think many of these characters are mentally ill, gun crazy losers.
And, contrary to their fears, there is clear evidence that immigrants are actually keeping many rural communities alive. "Immigrants and refugees also are breathing new life into rural communities around the country that have been experiencing population decline for more than two decades. Late last year, CAP found that immigrants helped to ameliorate population decline in nearly 4 out of 5 rural places in the country that experienced such losses." https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2019/06/26/471497/building-dynamic-economy-benefits-immigration/
Trumplicans. I cannot and will never understand how anyone with even minimal critical thinking skills can continue to support 45, and I don't mean the politicians. I mean the public in general, and sadly certain family members and acquaintances. It is a cult. And until it is "cured," this country cannot heal completely. Just so sad and frustrating. We must continue to work together to stay healthy, and support those politicians who are here to serve the common good.
It’s racism and sexism, Just Janice O. They are on the side of returning to a racist and sexist society. The reason the worst attacks are directed against AOC and Barack and Kamala Harris et al is because they are POC, and especially if they are women as well. They are the most powerful women and POC in America, that’s what makes them targets. They support Trump45 Malt Liquor precisely because they are dummies. Society’s dummies want a return to the Confederacy, the racist society, and that’s what the Trump Republican Party has turned into.
It’s not ideology. It’s not policy differences, unless we are talking racist and sexist policy differences. It’s not legislation. It’s not even people’s jobs anymore. People are no longer voting their job, like losing their job in the pandemic. James Carville once famously said, “it’s the economy stupid.“ What he meant was, people’s jobs and incomes is how they vote, because if they don’t have a good paying job, they can’t survive. That should be the number one most important priority for any voter in American society. But it’s not anymore. Can you believe it? The vote between Republican and Democrat has turned into a vote over racism/sexism/gay rights. The dummies choose the old slave society (minus the slaves), the more enlightened choose diversity and equal rights. It is precisely because they have minimal critical thinking skills that they lean the way they lean.
Just look at the disparity in critical thinking as you compare the difficulty that Haden and Tanden are having with their confirmation hearings as women of color (mean tweets from people who supported Grenell, whose ugly tweets were legion?
At one point, I was trying to pick between racism and sexism as the cornerstone of support for tRump. It is both, with a healthy fear of "other" thrown in. Factor in the lack of critical thinking skills, and you've got today's Republican party.
Sadly, I don't think such progress is inevitable in any way. White supremacist patriarchy is so thoroughly entrenched in this country that only a wholesale revolution will dislodge it. When 77 million people vote for a misogynistic, racist, unhinged, ignorant, crude presidential candidate, it's clear that there is a substantial portion of the populace who want things to stay just as they are. If the Rs field a slightly less repugnant candidate who hasn't just killed hundreds of thousands of Americans with his indifference and egoism, the people have made clear they would likely vote for him.
"When 77 million people vote for a misogynistic, racist, unhinged, ignorant, crude presidential candidate, it's clear that there is a substantial portion of the populace who want things to stay just as they are."
A larger portion of the U.S. has always been this way. Now we got to see it up close.
I don't expect to change 77 million people, just to keep them out of power.
A disturbing report: We're quickly seeing that Trump's true power source is in the states, powered by 2020 success, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes:
--Republicans picked up 14 House seats, including a dozen they lost two years earlier. They need +6 in 2022.
--In 2021, Republicans will have full control of the legislative and executive branches in 24 states. --Democrats will have full control of the legislative and executive branch in 15 states.
--"Republicans hold total control of redistricting in 18 states, including Florida, North Carolina and Texas, which are growing in population and expected to gain seats after the 2020 census is tabulated," the N.Y. Times reports (subscription).
--"Some election experts believe the G.O.P. could retake the House in 2022 based solely on gains from newly drawn districts."
--Democrats targeted nine states to flip control and failed in all.
What is the opposition's strategy to overcome this? Surely success of Biden's forward progress, but will that be enough? Honestly, the Republicans are maniacal.
Good point. Local & state government are the incubator for national politics. Republicans knew this and started with filling school boards decades ago, then city councils, state legislators, etc. It’s a long slog, but, the sooner we start the better.
Thank you, HCR, for the reminder of where we were a year ago and wear we are now. A slight silver lining; where would we be if the former president was still in office, by fair means or foul.
Below is a link from today's NY Times OpEd page of a video of ICU nurses in Arizona.
Please, everybody, watch this video. It will not be easy, watch it anyway.
Oh, this video is so powerful, Ralph. Tears are streaming. Every anti-masker should have to watch it. And we need support systems for our frontline workers. I agree with that one nurse-- I question humanity right now. I question all the propagandists who have brainwashed so many people into irrationality while we deal with their inhumane, self-righteousness and acts of sedition and facts. The documentary, The Social Dilema, on Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/watch/81254224?trackId=14277281&tctx=-97%2C-97%2C%2C%2C%2C. This documentary should be mandatory in our educational systems. People have a right to understand how they are being programmed by social media and the tech world to seriously program, addict and make money off them.No better than cigarette companies. It is the Matrix come alive around our world. We cannot deal with our social problems until we deal with the core of who is creating them. Look to the oligarchs and media moguls. This is all about money and power and capitalism that has swung completely off the pendulum.
Thank you. Yes, everyone should have to watch this. I am a nurse, now an NP. The future ramifications for PTSD sequelae in these, and all other, nurses in this position are horrific. This is a heartbreaking video but, unlike others, the emotion that is overwhelming for me after watching it is anger - it didn’t have to be like this. Blame djt- he is the one that made this happen the way that it did here. It didn’t have to be like this.
No, it didn't, but blaming the former president is too simple. He was supported in office by many millions of Americans, many of whom still believe in him, and, as the video illustrated, still don't take the Covid 19 threat seriously.
Thank you for responding to my post, and thank you for being a nurse.
Thanks for your considered reply to my comment, Ralph. I agree that it is simplistic to blame just one person and I apologize for being lazy and just referring to him as a symbol of the other issues you mention, which are all valid. The problem is much bigger than just him.
But he was at the helm. He okayed axing the pandemic prevention department. He mismanaged the U.S. response. He was head cheerleader for the deadly no-mask, no-distancing lie. As a nurse I
I do see him that way. And include a misogynist, racist, xenophobe, narcissist, liar, philanderer, wannabe Hitler/King, tax evader, seditionist, traitor, cult figure, fake tanner, fake hair, fake university. A perfect violator of all human decency so his shift to becoming the leader of the former republican party is spot on and cemented their demise.
It’s not too simple. The blame lies 100% on Trump. He’s the one who tossed the Obama/Bush pandemic playbook. If he had followed it, US deaths would have been under 50,000, so Trump is personally responsible for over 450,000 deaths. His maskless minions would have worn maskes if he had told them to. It’s Trump, all Trump, and nothing but Trump.
Point taken, however the former president did not elect himself, and he did not acquit himself twice of impeachment. The former president is a symptom, not the problem.
The care nurses provide for us goes beyond any expectation or our understanding. All over the world, nurses and caregivers withstand more than anyone in this crisis. The burden of trauma is almost unbearable.
Probably the most difficult video I’ve ever watched but realizing how important it is to have watched it to understand what the ICU Covid nurses are having to endure each day , the anger they must feel, the pain they experience with each death. Thank you.
A story today on the front page of The New York Times is headlined 'A new coronavirus variant is spreading in New York, researchers report, and may weaken the effectiveness of vaccines.' The link for this story follows:
Yesterday morning, I had my second vaccine inoculation in Washington Heights, one of the two neighborhoods where variant of Covid-19 (reported in the article) is particularly active.
I have lived with the agony visited upon my hometown, and it continues: 'Risk in your area › New York City, N.Y., is at an extremely high risk level.'
More than 29,000 have died in NYC due to Covid and to Trump. I've lived in four of the five boroughs of the city. Imagine how it feels when neighborhoods you know are losing many people. I will not go on to detail this devouring reality. Our mourning, our sorrow, our fear, our changed lives have deepened our sense of what Trump is.
I cannot as usual launch into a political comment today. I am Jewish, so the BIG LIES, which persist, bring images together from the past, along with the words and deeds of today's monsters in the House, the Senate, state governments and around the corner
In the Letter, Heather noted the attacks on voting access by state governments. You are aware to some degree of how white supremacy has been woven into the fabric of this country. The Civil War is not over. We must all be as active as we can to stem this evil tide. Some moves within our families, schools, houses of worship, communicating with friends and neighbors... Big moves may work for some folks, however, I believe that if we determine to be conscious and engaged citizens in our daily lives, it will make a difference.
“Although Republican lawmakers might not admit publicly that Biden is president, they met with him today in the Oval Office“ - so they publicly deny that he is the legitimate president but meet with him in private?? Then praise the meeting as “very substantive” in the press? Bloody hypocrites!!! You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. Marie Antoinette (anecdotally) discovered that.
YES. Ignore what Republicans say. Watch what they do. They suppress Democratic votes, the mail-in and absentee and early voting variety. They target non-white districts for voter suppression as well, a racist tactic.
I wonder if President Biden is subtly undermining the GOP's Big Lie by inviting them to these White House meetings... "What? You meet regularly with the supposedly unelected President of the United States. Very interesting...." In reality, Biden just likes bipartisanship and using government for good purposes, which is so weird!
The Trump Republic is a return to Reagan’s and Nixon’s and Jefferson Davis’s racist society. If you’re twisting your mind into knots trying to figure out what they’re saying, that is an error. Ignore what they say, it doesn’t make sense anyway. Pay attention to what they do. And that includes Joe Manchin, who seems to have a problem with women and POC. Like the Republicans he is now emulating, he will latch on to any convenient excuse.
In keeping with the Trump Republic philosophy, attack women in political positions. Attack POC in political positions. Oppose women and POC nominees for political positions.
Forget the big lie. Forget voter fraud.
PAY ATTENTION TO ACTIONS. Mitch for example used a convenient excuse to justify voting to acquit. Don’t try to explain it to yourself. It’s an EXCUSE. It’s a COVER STORY. It’s BS. He doesn’t even believe in that technicality, so why should you, an intelligent and informed observer?
Whatever crap excuse they come up with to oppose Tanden and or Haaland, it’s garbage. Don’t believe it. Instead, compare to how they are treating the white male nominees. Compare to the Trump Republic’s platform of going backward to a society where white straight men run the show.
If you’re not viewing the Republicans actions and strategies in the light of keeping a racist and sexist and anti-gay society intact, you’re paying attention to the misdirection and propaganda instead of seeing the main event.
I have read the letter, again a nice historical perspective without rancor or direction, and as of 7 am I read all the comments. Lots of talk about voter suppression and manipulations by Trumps republicans, speculation about the depth of depravity, fears about where we are going BUT not one mention of the For The People Act. I consider myself a political neophyte am I missing something? I read this Act from page one to the end. IT IS the solution to all that rant. Why is it not prominent in the news or in our discussion?
Good point Patrick, I suggest we all show interest in FOR THE PEOPLE ACT by each of us writing to our representatives (the bill was introduced in 2019.)
It needs to be revived and I for one plan to ask Katherine Clark, my representative, at what point in the legislative process is the bill, has it died, is it on life support, let’s talk about it again?
Thank you for this link to the League of Women Voters of the US. The League welcomed me back, and I took the action it facilitates for restoring The Voting Act, modernizing voter registration, updating public financing for elections and addresses other issues, which have made our elections inequitable. Known as FOR THE PEOPLE ACT, it is now called: HR1, as Jeff points out.
Here is what I mean. This is the agenda publicized as the Democratic agenda after the Covid bill to be addressed at the upcoming Virtual Retreat.
Politico "In an interview, Jeffries said the retreat would be focused on the “multitude of crises” facing the American people, including the pandemic, the economic collapse, systemic racism, a broken immigration system and climate change."
All of these topics exist for one reason. REPUBlICAN STASIS. Now, after the Georgia result, this stasis can exist in the short term for only one reason Filibuster. Republican stasis can exist long term for only one reason, Voter suppression in its many forms.
All of the topics are long term problems that need sustained action. Sustaining action requires an end to republican stasis and the mechanisms that support it.
I just don't get what is complicated about this or why Biden and Harris would not have this prominently on their agenda. Without White House leadership on this calling my NC representatives is useless.
Frankly, I would love to be corrected on this but waiting to see if they have a plan that we/I don' t know about lets the moment pass. ... which is just tragic. Like forgetting to hang the transfusion on the way to the operating room. The time is gone and you are left with the consequences.
Depression has gotten the better of us for the past few days — and my husband and I are usually upbeat, positive people. Today's Letter offers more great examples of why we should still feel very unsafe in our own country. For us, the stress is higher now than it's ever been. Despite the comforting presence and actions of President Biden, all the squirrelly, manipulative, dishonest, misguided actions taking place throughout our media and system of government make us look at each other and say, "Where is it going to be safe for us to live? Will it ever be again?"
Oh, and we continue to mourn close relationships lost both to the pandemic and to Trumpism. It still feels very much like an ongoing assault (to us), and every single day is like walking through a minefield.
"... continue to mourn close relationships lost to the pandemic and to Trumpism." One of the most salient descriptors of the daily stress in my life that I have seen. Between the cavalier response of my more "conservative" friends to the pandemic and their absolute devotion to TFG, I have lost the ability to trust most of my coworkers.
I hear you and I understand. I try to find the fighters and helpers and focus on the good people who are getting things done in keeping our democracy. Stacey Abrams, Marc E. Elias, Claire McCaskill, Nichole Wallace, Jake Tapper, Tish James, Heather Cox Richardson, Tom Nichols, Rex Chapman, BrooklynDad_Defiant!, John Heileman, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Chris Hayes, and Tim Miller to name a few.
Scott, you and John cannot miss many of the obstacles we face. They don't represent the whole picture. The times require even more of us, even while we feel overwhelmed by real problems. I am not made to give pep talks, but know there are various ways to respond personal, local and national issues. We need one another.
We can at least be glad that tRump no longer has the Twitter bullhorn, and that has been a relief. tRump will be 75 in June, meaning he'll be almost 80 in 2024. I'm certain, given the family history, he will be well into dementia by then. This is the hope I cling to rather than believing we might have to live thru tRump hell a second time.
I’m curious about what platforms Trump now uses to speak to his base. Cut off from Twitter and Facebook, all the energy and time he spent ginning up distress and adulation on those platforms has to go somewhere, and support for him in the conspiracy-believers hasn’t waned — so what’s he saying, and where is he saying it?
That guy has no social media “platform “on which to spew his hate and ignorance. Seems appropriate because his party has no “platform” by which to govern.
He calls into Fox and OAN. His offspring often tweet just like him. Those who visit him in his swamp resort come back and report how he thinks and feels i.e. Graham. It's all a grift to bleed his followers of money and feed his ego. He wants the power to primary any Rs who voted against him. It's all revenge narcissism.
Thanks. Just because he’s not on the usual social media platforms doesn’t mean he’s not grabbing attention elsewhere, and your answer explains some of what his mouthpieces are. I wonder if he also pipes up on QAnon sites or other corners of the right-wing web territory; I haven’t seen or heard anything about it in the news outlets I follow, and I don’t follow places where his fans are, either.
Looks like this T-Party will go on a little longer than I reckoned. But the walls will close in sooner or later. He's no longer immune and no longer has DOJ on "his" payroll.
Actually, Guamanians are pretty much like everyone everywhere, except they are much more hospitable, and have been here for a few thousand years longer than the USA. I think the majority, or at least a plurality, would like to be a state, but there are steep mountains to climb to get there. Nevertheless it is an interesting place with a uniquely intriguing perspective, being as it is both, and simultaneously, in the middle of nowhere and the middle of everything.
I truly don't understand what has happened to the Republican Party. I don't agree with its policies but do believe that it's important that we have different viewpoints and positions in government. However, today's Republican Party stands for nothing other than maintaining or trying to regain power. That's it. It didn't even have a platform for the 2020 election. And, given that over 74 million voters in the Presidential election apparently agreed with this, along with those who gave the party a big bump in seats in the House, that apparently is just fine with its supporters. That does not speak well for the future of democracy in this country.
In 1922 Mussolini, in 1932 Hitler - were elected. As I recall. 1914-1918, WWI. 1918 to 1919, Spanish Flu, a plague that killed 50 million. 1920s a rising market with 90% margins; October 1929, The Crash. 1932 markets bottomed, rise. Elected FDR, the in 1938, the bottom fell out. Demand collapsed. Then Pearl Harbor, war demand returned, controlled rates, borrowing freeze, rationing. Think! Instead of 90% margins, we have trillion dollar deficit bills back to back. Soaring equity markets, negative rates in short term debt... We are repeating! Biden and the Fed feel that they have no choice. Well, with COVID-19, we have no choice. Mask up! Distance! Wash hands! Pray.
What happened to the Republican Party happened in 1968 when they figured out that white Americans whose top priority is preserving the advantages they have always held over those with non-European ancestors comprise their most reliable constituency. Since then, it’s been a steady slide into more and more explicit pandering to that constituency, who by now understand that the only way to stay in charge is to disenfranchise the rest of us. The have succeeded in most states and have lots of systemic advantages that will help them extend and solidify that success.
Anthony Aguero is the type of "conservative" "Republican" that drove my 97-almost-98 year old father from the Republican Party. He voted Democratic for the first time in his life this time around, and was proud when Biden won the election. In his words, "I did not fight in two wars to defend a country that produces this type of politicians and idiocy. I cannot vote for a party that allows this to happen." Rock on, Dad!!!
Please offer your dad my deepest gratitude and respect. That cannot have been easy for him to do. And thank him for his incredible service to our country.
Semper Fi, Dad.
Thanks, I will tell him!
Proud of your Dad! ❤️
Kudos to your dad, both then and now.
Way to go Dad!
America is in danger of losing something very important in politics: the concept of a Loyal Opposition. It ensures continuity from one administration to another, particularly through the peaceful transfer of power. Also central is the notion that minority parties can legitimately criticize, even oppose, the government without automatically committing treason or a crime. The origins lie in late 17C England after the "Glorious" Revolution of 1688, as the country moved from the turmoil of the Stuart era into the more stable and prosperous 18C. It actually predates democracy, first functioning to moderate conflict between Court (royal) and Country (parliamentary) aristocratic factions. Gradually it extended to party rivalries and ultimately all kinds of representative government.
Loyal opposition may be codified as in the UK and other Commonwealth countries, or have more the status of tradition as in the US. It can serve as a needed check on government authority, but also to prevent government from exercising any authority. That latter weakness, as exploited by the GOP, is now destabilizing the country in dangerous and unpredictable ways. When the opposition won't accept election results, allow peaceful power transfer, or renounce violence as an instrument of policy, its disloyalty threatens the entire foundation of the nation's political system. In 1861 Lincoln expressed its essence: "We must settle this question now -- whether in a free government the minority have the right to break it up whenever they choose. If we fail, it will go far to prove the incapability of the people to govern themselves." It is essential to know what's at risk before it is gone forever.
(Written mostly from memory, so pardon any errors)
S Pincus, 1688: The First Modern Revolution
J Plumb, The Growth of Political Stability in England
https://www.yalelawjournal.org/essay/the-loyal-opposition
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyal_opposition
Hmm. I would rephrase the context. It’s true that the Republican party has turned to extremism. In doing so, it has alienated your Loyal Opposition. The Lincoln Project. 43 for Biden. The other anti-Trump groups like those two. Joe Scarborough, Jennifer Rubin, Nicole Wallace, George Will, et al. The thousands or maybe tens of thousands of Republicans who have left the party since January 6. Larry Hogan. Mitt Romney. Liz Cheney. Evan McMullin’s group of Zoom conferencers. These examples are just the tip of the iceberg. There are plenty of loyal oppositionists left, it’s just that they’ve been disenfranchised. Now they’re without a party, they’re on their own for the time being.
I don’t think your loyal opposition has disappeared, I think it has been left homeless.
“That latter weakness, as exploited by the GOP, is now destabilizing the country in dangerous and unpredictable ways.”
True. However, notice the backlash. The extremists were being ignored, pretty much, probably dismissed as inconsequential. Now, since Jan. 6, they are being criminalized.
The funding sources for the GOP are turning against the sedition caucus. That put Moscow Mitch in a bind, and he had to come down with the business community and against Trump. The fracture has already happened. Now the question is how is it going to play out. Let’s watch the show together 🍿🍿
While we’re watching the show together, I will mention another possibility: criminalization of the Republican Party itself. Notice that the Proud Boys are now a designated terrorist organization in Canada. That’s not really a good sign for them, or for the other participants in the January 6 Riot. If QAnon and Proud Boys et al as organizations begin to get viewed that way here, it could stain the party irrevocably. If their reputation becomes too badly smeared, alternatively it could allow the loyal opposition to reclaim what was once theirs. The R Party was all my life a haven for racists like Reagan, but not for anarchists. It’s the anarchists, like the sedition senators and House members, that are ruining this Party.
Should we be distressed about that? You may be. I’m not. The loyal oppositionists will find a way to regroup.
I’m not worried. It’ll sort itself out. I think your loyal opposition is alive and well, I just think they are like an army and retreat. Disorganized, demoralized. But they will rally eventually.
TPJ and Roland--you're both right, in my opinion (although full disclosure: I am totally not a fan of Pinker, who is not an historian but plays one on TV, which is the problem; see the issue of Historical Reflections I saw through publication as my last job as senior editor for the historians' view--The Pinker Thesis). The concept of the Loyal Opposition in British parliamentary politics is one that developed gradually, as did the concept of political parties; it certainly was not part of the system when "parliament" was invented in the 13th century, when it was used as both a rubber stamp for raising money by the Crown and as a brake on royal overreach. By the late 18th century, the calcification of the parliamentary system into one that was managed by political parties (which happened more during the reigns of Anne and George I than as a result of the "Whigs" in 1688--they were not the organized party they became 50 years later) had embedded in it a notion of loyal opposition because the people running the show might differ on the methods used, but they were a homogeneous bunch of elite white men who agreed that the maintenance of power among the white (non-Irish) elite was the most important thing, especially in response to the French Revolution.
The Republicans have served as the maintainer of the notion of elite whiteness being the most important criterion for political power for a very long time (and yes: I find that ironic). As long as the Dems when in power present a similar front and don't rock the boat re: whiteness, maleness, and elite status, they have operated more or less as a "loyal" opposition. But when the Dems actually embrace the "big tent" ideology of the party and start to push against the lack of inclusion and try to be more equitable in its distribution of power and authority, the Republicans turn into reactionaries and autocrats (which I think is more accurate than anarchists): people who want to blow up the system in order to prevent anyone else from gaining power. That really isn't anarchy: anarchy is about radical liberation. What the despicables in the GOP want is the opposite of that.
And the American Revolution was at least in part perhaps an attempt by off-shoots of that same English Aristocracy to remove parliamentary controls on their practically absolute power leading directly to the plantation philosophy usurping the Union and driving cesession.
Washington was dead set against political parties but he did embrace the idea of loyal opposition (unlike John Adams, who was a little more insecure, I think). The plantation system was an invention of the Jacobean period: the Ulster Plantation was established officially in 1609 and it served as the model for all the others in the colonialist and settler colonialist program of the Stuart kings, including the forced labor of people designated as "other"--in the case of Ulster, Irish Catholics. I always am frustrated by the adulation given to people like Jefferson and Madison because they absolutely embraced the plantation idea, but they also embraced the power-brokering system of the English parliamentary parties. So they backslid a lot, in my opinion.
It's fascinating to trace historical changes in the usage of words like "plantation" and "factory." Their original meanings differ from current usage. When I take students on Boston's Black Heritage Trail, they learn that "avenue" and "tunnel" aren't always what we think.
If I ever get to travel again, I am coming to Boston for that tour!!
And many of the imported and then exported Ulster Irishmen came from the English/Scots borderland; a rough and ready population much used to taking the law into their own hands...with 25% coming from Northumberland wence came I!
Oh Stuart, I always suspected you were a Geordie . . .
Thanks for the study, TPJ and Linda and Stuart, y'all are much more knowledgeable about the history than I am.
Thanks for elaborating on the earlier sketch, Prof M. I'm not very familiar with the standing of Pincus's work. I quarried from his book, but disagree that the GR was the first modern revolution. That distinction came only with the 18-19C Atlantic Revolutions (Amer, France, Haiti, Span Amer).
To fully understand American history, it's necessary to look beyond America. Along with transnational concepts like the Atl Revs, English history is highly instructive, especially the periods (11, 12, 17, 19Cs) when major progressive and modernizing reforms occurred.
C Bayly, The Birth of the Modern World
L Langley, The Americas in the Age of Revolution
R Strayer, Ways of the World, vol 2
Nice reading list! :-) I would add another one, Ted McCormick, who wrote a brilliant book on William Petty (the 17th-c inventor of "political arithmetic" which some consider the earliest form of modern economics) about how Petty shaped the social discourse on Otherness and navigated the political waters of the Civil War and after very cleverly. Book title is William Petty and the Ambitions of Political Arithmetic. A recent biography of Queen Anne, by Anne Somerset, spends most of the book on Anne's life before she became queen and how the political machinations of the Whigs and Tories really shaped the ways in which the Stuarts were manipulated between the Restoration and her reign. It's a very interesting perspective, as both women as historical figures and women as historians are not that well represented in historical works of this period.
Thanks for the ref, Linda. My revised view of Queen Anne started with the 2018 film "The Favourite." Her Majesty is now being freed from Whig orthodoxy, first from the Marlborough/Godolphin Whig faction that influenced her in the 1700s, then from like-minded historians (looking at you, Winston Churchill) who downgraded her significance. Her decision to seek an end to the War of the Spanish Succession was a major service to the UK.
Linda, we may have talked about different authors earlier. I cited Steve Pincus, 17C historian at U Chicago. You mentioned Steven Pinker, Harvard social psychologist? Remarkably similar names.
Whoops! You are correct. It's because Pinker recently wrote a book with the stunning claim that he (and of course only he!) was saving the "Enlightenment" from its neglect by historians (give me strength!). And I know exactly the book of which you speak (also, yesterday was one of those hair on fire days): I have read it (I chaired a book prize committee for several years and it was one of the entries, as was the McCormick book, and some 35 others every year: that was a tough gig to squeeze into my life!). All 800+ pages (urf). It's quite the tour de force but I also agree with you that he oversells his premise a bit.
Thanks for the reminder! It's one of the books that I decided to donate to my uni library because they could never afford to purchase it. And I promptly forgot about it!
In complete agreement with your 2nd paragraph. Your description of Republicans turning into reactionaries and autocrats (in reaction to the democratic egalitarian society) is excellent. Linda we are having a small quibble about terms but certainly agree completely in principle. I used the word "anarchy" but you are correct, they are turning into autocrats. Autocrats ignore the structure in place, they just do as they please, that's my use of the word "anarchy" just as Putin is an autocrat who cares not at all about the "hierarchy" underneath him (if you ignore or roll over or throw a grenade into the "-archy" I am using the word "anarchy" for that behavior), he just abuses it.
Roland I totally understand that use of the word "anarchy;" it's just that I really like a lot of the early anarchist theory (from the late 18th and early 19th c) so I tend to think of them more fondly, since they could safely be called anti-fascist (at least until Robespierre and his crew appropriated anarchist ideas). :-)
Yes, Linda, I figured that out, that you have a favorable association with the word. I generated a use of the word "anarchy" devoid of historical context, with the meaning of "institutional destruction." I think we understand each other.
Brilliant!
The first step is to keep the disloyals in opposition, i.e. out of power in Congress and the WH.
I haven't kept close watch on the corporations that recoiled in horror from the insurrection. After Jan 6 there were multiple lists of which corps had changed policy about donor practices. No doubt many are laying low to see which way things go. The loyal/business GOP won't have much clout if companies quietly resume funding the Sedition Caucus a few weeks or months from now.
You have to stop them running the states too so that you can amend the constitution if necessary.
There was an article in the WaPo regarding a contingent of shareholders of JP Morgan Chase wanting more transpareny in its political/charitable giving. James Dimon, CEO, is fighting that. So it feels like they're not really holding back with donations.
And with what I'm reading in Dark Money, the way the billionaires set up foundations to hide their contributions to politicians and talking heads, I'm sceptical that it's really happening.
I am finally watching, Hulu's "The Handmaid's Tale". The takeover by a group of organized men with a police force and religious zealotry behind them was able to shatter life. It's "just" a movie, but the similarities are profound and the dangers more real every day. It forces me to reconsider the Margaret Mead quote in a different light. "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals can change the world. In fact, it's the only thing that ever has."
I love the MM quote. But is it out of context in this argument? The entire world is becoming more diverse and less racist-sexist-homophobic all the time. The Trump Republic throwback racist society is declining, not growing. They keep coming back, it is true, to try to return us to the society of the past, but now they are becoming desperate as the world approaches the point-of-no-return. We may already have passed that point.
Roland, in my perusal of the news I would say you are wrong-ish. The right is becoming the prime mover in world politics ( https://qz.com/1774201/the-global-state-of-right-wing-populism-in-2019/ ) and the US Republican state governments are seriously legislating away voter rights. The GOP controls 27 state governorships, 30 state legislatures, and 23 state government trifectas (governorship and both legislative chambers). Most of the world denies, or at best, is unable to confront rapid climate change. And the US is unable to even address healthcare reform or serious campaign finance reform. I could go on, like the infrastructure and under-funding of schools, but I think we may just agree to disagree. Clearly, you are more optimistic than I.
Read the book by Margaret Atwood on which it is based.
I have. Twice.
I read the book and watched the TV show and both frighteneed me. It was around 2015 when I read the book and it was too prophetic for my comfort.
Glad you read it! I also read it many years ago and found it so disturbing that it has stayed with me since. I meant no disrespect, it’s just that many who have seen the show have not read the book and I think the book is very important for a fuller understanding of the story.
The book was so disturbing, I decided not to watch the series. I use my viewing time to laugh as much as possible. I can't even watch animal rescue videos on YouTube because the before parts make me too despairing. Sticking to only reading about horrible things rather than watching them gives my sanity a longer lease.
I totally understand! Images stay with me too. I call sitcoms, game shows, and happy movies my palatte cleansers. The Great British Baking Show is a good one for that purpose.
I agree. Have you read her follow up book? I bought it but haven't had the heart to start it yet.
The sequel should be very interesting, "The Testaments". I just ordered it. Be brave!
I'm sorry, perhaps I missed something. How can a party already a "haven for racists" be ruined by anarchists? How do you define "ruin"? Should we even care if a GOP dominated by racists since since 1981 (arguably since the mid sixties) is ruined? A GOP unable to repudiate both its racists and its anarchists is a party I will never vote for, nor should anyone who is not a racist or potential anarchist. IMHO...
I could care less what happens to the GOP. I think that might be TPJ's concern, but it certainly isn't mine. By "anarchy" I mean grenade throwers, people who want to destroy the system because the system, the current society, is not allowing them to retain the racist hegemony of old. The old racist society is dying, so now they want to attack democracy itself in order to retain that old white male system of power. They are desperate. They are dying out. They are disintegrating. Should we be concerned? HELL no. I'm with you there.
The GOP's woes mean little to me apart from preventing its worst elements from destroying America. The more disorganized the GOP is, the better. But there must be room for different institutions to present a range of responsible policy ideas and options. That includes a true labor party that represents workers more than business. The Dems at their best perform that role rather imperfectly.
I disapprove of calling the GOP insurgency "anarchist." That reflects poor comprehension of anarchism, a discrete, coherent political philosophy, not "merely" social and political chaos. They are more properly nihilists, though nihilism itself is a political philosophy, though less coherent. (That's out of my depth, sorry.)
Agree we could use a true Labor Party. Agree the more disorganized the GOP, the better. Agree with the entire 1st paragraph.
Ok, forget anarchists. Forget nihilists. Those terms carry all that historical baggage and meaning. Too many scholars on this forum for me to just reuse an old word in a new way. Institutional destruction. Autocracy. Plutocracy, if you will, although the Jan. 6 Rioters were basically working class racists: nevertheless, the American plutocracy is working hard to keep the old (racist, sexist) social order intact. But the common thread is the old order society deciding to attack the institutions of U.S. society which are preventing them from keeping their old order going. They are relentless. They are dogged. They are completely devoted to their cause. They will stop at nothing, even if it means attacking the Capitol and Congress. I don't think anarchist is a terrible word to describe racists like Trump who place racist society ahead of our democratic institutions, and who are willing to damage and destroy any institution in their way. But if Linda and you have positive associations with "anarchist," or pre-existing historical associations with that word, then of course there needs to be a better word. What do you call it when a group of people (our racist society adherents, Republicans) decide to attack, and if needs be destroy, any social institution in the way of getting what they want, which in this case is the everlasting racist society of their dreams, the perpetual Trump presidency?
Maybe a new word like "assinism:" the philosophy and practice of being an [expletive deleted] in politics.
"I don’t think your loyal opposition has disappeared, I think it has been left homeless." I agree. Sure hope they find a home in time for 2022 elections, to diliute the trumpist vote.
MaryPat, In case you are interested in supporting HR1, here's a link to the League of Women Voters for the US:
https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/lwvus-supports-return-hr-1-117th-congress
Used to be hooked up with local LWV. The Best.
For decades my mother was dedicated to the LWV ( also NAACP), first in CT then in WA. Gawd, she was a thorn in the side of benighted opponents. Good trouble!
THANK YOU!
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/01/trump-destroyed-most-important-virtue-america/617727/
I enjoy reading Tom Nichols and following him on Twitter. Former Republican. One of his articles above. He writes for many periodicals and has a new book out now. His Twitter discussions and arguments are educational. He is similar to HCR in educating his followers in a historical way and she often retweets him.
His bio:
Tom Nichols is a U.S. Naval War College University Professor, and an adjunct at the U.S. Air Force School of Strategic Force Studies and the Harvard Extension School. He is a specialist on Russian affairs, nuclear strategy, NATO issues, and a nationally-known commentator on U.S. politics and national security. He was a staff member in the United States Senate, a fellow at CSIS and the Harvard Kennedy School, and previously taught at Dartmouth, La Salle, and Georgetown. He is also a five-time undefeated 'Jeopardy!' champion, and was noted in the 'Jeopardy!' Hall of Fame after his 1994 appearances as one of the all-time best players of the game.
His Twitter account is pretty great, too.
yes it is!
Yes I follow him on Twitter also.
Maybe the best of the loyal opposition leave the opposing side and cross over. Which creates more room for disloyals—hence the necessity for guardrails and measures of insurrection prevention.
Thank you for this Kimberley. So right on.
You are welcome, Mary Pat! Have a lovely everning!
Oh roland. You're telling us to enjoy the ride, not the destination? OK, yes.
Precisely.
I want to believe that you are right, so I am going to!
Me too.
Works for me!
Without that agreement there is nolonger an assured process of peaceful transition of power and garranttee tof the primacy of election results: democracy ceases to exist and power is attained, maintained or destroyed by violence. Sooner or later the people leading this insurrection have to be put out of harm's way before they take out the "unwanted majority" and do away with the democratic system.
That’s why I’m still pretty optimistic that the educated citizens of our country and the less deluded followers of DDT’s circus will have four years of thoughtful Bidenesque measures maybe including the $15 minimum wage to settle things down. So much of the insurrection has been fueled too by the unregulated social media Titans and now that is also going to change. We’re still a very great and strong country.
Hi Stuart! Now it’s my turn to go to sleep. I’m not working tonight it’s my weekend. I should already be in bed. A demain. 🥂
Sleep well Roland. Manchin just okayed Haaland's nomination.
🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎉🎉
I hope you’re right, because I’m going to bed happy based on your report.
On Politico!
Whew.
Ms Haaland may be THE most significant Biden nomination. She literally embodies both the new America and the Oldest Americans.
I'm not yet tired of this kind of winning.
Really!?! Best news of the day! Sweet dreams Roland!
Manchin can do better.
“Should” do better!
How about MUST do better or off with his head
He can and maybe he will.
I have a link that I hope I can post... very interesting ... https://www.facebook.com/1256768517/posts/10220079378235525/?d=n
It must be set as friends only rather than a public post, as not available.
I hope you folks read this...?
Great news.
The Republican Party has consistently provided "DISLOYAL OPPOSITION" to lawful American Democracy since 1964. Since that date, the word "loyal" applied to the GOP has been as patently ridiculous as applying the word to describe the CSA. The terrible irony is that what we have today is a Democratic Party with its main "root" in the party of Abraham Lincoln and a Republican Party with its main "root" in the party of Andrew Johnson and Robert E. Lee. Unfortunately, it is becoming clearer every day that the Republican "roots" are winning the evolutionary war for survival ... a political Kudzu, spread to all 50 states and growing like, well, ah, let me think of the perfect word .... oh, yeah, Kudzu.
Both sides in the Civil War deployed much the same language and political traditions, from the Amer Rev and early republic, to advance their respective causes. The same is true now. Like the Jan 6 insurgents, I want to take back our country. But it must be taken back from them and their ilk, and reconstructed in "a more perfect Union" to ensure that all, created equal, enjoy the blessings of liberty equally.
Damn good memory.
Thanks Scott. My memory's good when I remember, not when I forget.
It's just sometimes that the whole memory takes a short break!
Hey I’m looking into prevalent when I can remember to think about it.
You are all corr .... Wait, what were we discussing??
Just joking around about memory.
There you go again! Razor sharp.
PS - what area of history do you teach/study?
I began and continue as an Africanist, also studying global environmental and disease history. Then in the 21C I transitioned to world history, globalization, antislavery, and more recently the US Civil War. Teaching and writing world history requires reducing my ignorance in numerous areas. It is an endless task, and that's a good thing.
Reducing your ignorance? Who do you think you are?!! What an absurd.... Oh, wait, sorry, Trump's not president anymore. One doesn't have to hide their pursuit of knowledge. Jeez, for a moment there my mind was boggled!!
Have you read "Battle Cry of Freedom" by Dr James McPherson? It gives one a much clearer understanding of the situation during the Civil War by discussing the political, social, and economics prior to the CW time frame.
Excellent rec, Barbara. It's still the best 1-vol CW history, though I wish JM would revise and update it. Tons of new studies have come out since it first appeared in 1988.
How is the Conservative Party and the Labour Party codified in the UK? And how is that 2 party system different from Republican and Democratic Parties in the US? What would a codified loyal opposition look like in the US?
Codifying loyal opposition in the US would, at the least, have to prevent conspiring and attempting a coup to overthrow the government. Both Charles I (1629) and Oliver Cromwell (1653) mounted successful coups against their Parliaments. A large chunk of British politics since then has sought successfully to guard against such unrestrained executive power. Jan 6 exposed a major flaw in America's political system, and summoned the awesome ghosts of tyrants past.
I believe that the law in the UK is more explicit in detailing the privileges and duties of parties in and out of office, and not just the big 2. For instance, the main UK opposition party always has a "shadow cabinet," but is not guilty of seditious conspiracy. Sorry, can't be more certain than that on contemporary practice. But the Glorious Revolution established the primacy of Parliament (legislature) over the monarchy (executive), and also produced the world's first Bill of Rights. I've always thought that was rather glorious.
TPJ, elsewhere here you wrote, “The first step is to keep the disloyals in opposition, i.e. out of power in Congress and the WH.”
From all the cracks that Trump and his advisors exploited in the executive branch, and the trajectory from Gingrich’s brainwashing lessons in Republican rhetoric and propaganda to McConnell’s stranglehold in Congress, we see the cracks that need to be filled in those domains.
Codify as by having laws that require things such as:
1. Full disclosure of a candidate’s financial records?
2. Passing a test on basic civics and the Constitution?
3. Basic critical thinking skills?
4. Keeping dark money out of politics?
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” So also implement such requirements to hold an office at the state and local levels?
Prevention lies in the vote, which has been manipulated by voter suppression tactics and laws in addition to disinformation campaigns. (Support HR1 For the People Act!). The ultimate prevention lies in education—growing critical thinking skills and civic knowledge in our young people.
What specific guardrails do we need in place to identify and screen out disloyals and insurrectionists?
“For the People Act is a bill first introduced and passed in the United States House of Representatives in 2019 to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, limit partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act
An excellent list and good starting point, Ellie. Additionally, the excremental Trumpsky admin convinced me that either holding public office, or military service, should be a legal requirement before serving as president.
I also think a psychiatric exam would be useful.
And a Civics exam, a geography exam, taxes for the past ten years, diplomatic skills, literate, and doesn't lie or grab women by their private parts would be a better beginning. Can we put that in their job description? Oh, since we are close to having women as presidents, we can include no grabbing men or thems by their private parts!
Yes to psych exams, with a high pass required.
Wow!! I LOVE these History Lessons!!🤔😊
The situation between the parties after elections is not necessarily codified by specific texts of law but by the concept of "Common Law" which is effectively mostly historic precedent and tradition....which the courts will interpret and enforce.
If it came down to it the Queen constitutionally has the power to dissolve parliament and name who she likes as Prime Minister.....but she doesn't and no monarch has done it since the 18th C. As the English would say "It is just not done, my good chap!"
Yes. Their ‘Constitution’ is not a written document to which they must adhere; lots of wiggle room.
What’s a “shadow cabinet”?
Named spokespersons in the main opposition party who "shadow" their opposite number in the real cabinet. Their role is essentially to track the opposite number and criticize what he says and does.....and thereafter help the opposition to develop policy in the area when the wheel turns and it is their turn.
"The Shadow Cabinet is the team of senior spokespeople chosen by the Leader of the Opposition to mirror the Cabinet in Government. Each member of the shadow cabinet is appointed to lead on a specific policy area for their party and to question and challenge their counterpart in the Cabinet. In this way the Official Opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting."
https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/library/pubs/monographs/bateman/chapter_one.pdf
So the shadow cabinet is engaging in critical thinking and debate, examining the alternate hypothesis, and elevating the discourse on policy issues. In all the covert schemes and wheeling-dealing for power that operate universally, how is that shadow cabinet tradition in the UK not eroded to subsume policy to obstruction? The way Republicans have since Gingrich.
The US is not alone in nolonger having a "codified loyal opposition" as in Germany the 2 main parties are in coalition government leaving the AfD, the ultra-far right as the opposition....not perhaps so loyal!
In the UK there is not just Two parties as although not hugely significant there is the Liberal Party too.....the 1çthC party of Gladstone and the turn of the century party of Lloyd George. You also have a large Scottish National Part contingent who, while voting with the opposition are independistas...not so loyal at that! I think also that thre is a Welsh Party member and half a dozen IRA members (who do not come to London) who are most certainly not loyal to other than a united Ireland. Over and above that the Labour Party and the Conservatives so dominate and accept election results that the transfer of power is well codified by tradition and the neutrality of the the Queen and the civil service
It’s that “codified by tradition” part that was our Achilles heel during the Trump reign of terror.
Yes but this one dates back to Magna Carta and the Barons facing down King John!
100%
I am sure all members of Congress think of themselves as loyal to the constitution because they tried to work within its rules and those rules do not prohibit lying to the public. It was Trump who tried to get Pence to break the rules. What disturbs me is the ease in which a disloyal mob was created. This could happen again and under the leadership of someone more competent than Trump. Our system of public discourse could use improvement. Looking for answers I am currently reading "Empowering Public Wisdom" by Tom Atlee. Perhaps I'll write about it when I'm done. In the meantime my current thinking is at
https://cogitamus.substack.com/p/coup-detat-atmosphere
Those rules do not prohibit lying to the public. I propose a rule that DOES prohibit lying when in the "sacred" senate and house chambers.
Intentional lying should be grounds for removal from office due to violating one's oath to the office. We are the employers and should demand admirable behavior from our elected officials.
A laudable rule but to enforce we'd probably need to bring the courts into congressional debates? I am finding it comforting that there are starting to be civil lawsuits with the potential for real punitive damages for lies told in the last election. That will make would-be liars more cautious in the future without messing with separation of powers.
Please do write about empowering public wisdom. We all could use some.
Sure sounds like where we are. This is what it felt like to citizens paying attention pre-civil war?
Good comparison, Lynn; that's what it feels like now. After Jan 6 I finally felt that I could grasp the mentality of the North when it rose up to defend the Union, democracy, and ultimately to expand American freedom.
In danger of? I’d say it’s done and done!!
My heart is breaking and the tears are flowing down my face as I watched that video of those nurses. And now I'm waiting for the heartache to turn to anger as I know it will.
And the fact that I will get angry makes my anger turn into hate, something I don't want to feel but it will come and then my husband will get upset (he's already upset because of my crying and has left the room).
My husband has Lewy Body Dementia. He is 59 years old and has had it for at least ten years. And while he has beaten the odds of averages we know his life will be shortened by this terrible disease.
And that is why my anger comes forth so much. Instead of being able to just enjoy our last days together we have had to immerse ourselves with the news and be aware of all the BS that was happening during the former guys tenure and waste precious time talking about it.
My husband has only left the house once since last March and that was to get an MRI that the doctor insisted on to be able to keep getting his pain meds. His world was already very small, but now it is smaller. He has even stopped going to the dispensary, a place he loved to go to. To talk to them about what he needs and to share pictures of his latest crop and what new thing he has done to make the process easier and more efficient.
And that angers me when I see people without masks.
I try to explain that we aren't worried about him getting covid and dying, he is pretty healty other than the LBD. Its the fact that mentally he wouldn't be able to deal with it.
He got sick a couple years ago. He couldn't function and spent three days sitting on the edge of the bed, rocking back back and forth, while staring at the floor an moaning because he couldn't get the words out to say anything. It was heartbreaking and I swore that my only goal in life is to give him the best life he can have, to play his video games and grow his pot and not worry about anything.
So my anger is starting to rise and I am glad that I don't have to go anywhere today, because I think I would lose it if I saw anyone without a mask.
I think everyone who refuses to wear a mask should 1) use their right to be treated for anything covid related and 2) have to spend a day watching videos like the one I just watched and 3) have to talk to the nurses who are dealing with covid.
But like a lot of things in this country, it seems that we are all to willing to let people off the hook for their bad actions and instead use the words freedom to justify it.
Well you know what, your freedom to be an ahole shouldn't weigh more than my husband's right to be free from the fear of your aholeness causing him to suffer from something that would likely push him deeper into the darkness of LBD
As for the former guy, it scares me that he will run again and might win. As long as we have the anti-abortion people he will get votes. That's the main reason the people I know voted for him. Most of them are well educated, aren't racist and would seem like good people if you met them. But again, it's the fact that they were all raised to believe that abortion is the greatest sin ever.
My heart is breaking right now and so many times during the last fours years, I wondered how many tears I would shed before I drowned. But I can't let it over power me because my husband needs me.
So I will cry in the dark and when the sun comes out be thankful I have another day with my husband.
Be safe. Be caring. And tell the people you care about that you love them. You never know when it might be the last time you can.
My heart goes out to you, Beth. You’re carrying a bigger burden than many of us. I hope you’re finding ways to do soul-nourishing things for yourself.
Thanks. To be honest, I don't see it as a burden. It's what you do for people you love and who love you.
Besides, he is showing me a whole different way to look at dementia. I am learning to listen to him and remember what he has told me when he can no longer tell me. And I hope I live up to what he wants and needs.
You are both so lucky to have each other. I'm sure he so appreciates everything you are doing. You do what is needed for those you love and I know you wouldn't think of not doing everything possible. Care giving is very difficult, I hope you have other family and friends who can give you a break at times. Thinking of you and your husband.
For the last three years, up until he died in late October, 2020, I was caring for my husband who had ALS and Fronto-temporal degenerative disorder, a form of dementia with similar symptoms and affects to ALS. He was a lifelong Democrat who abhored for the former guy's politics. I understand much of what you are going through and the perspective of how incredibly difficult your life is because of the need to be a good care provider while also attending to your own needs. You have all my love and support; I hope you can find some peace in this madness. Please know you are not alone and there are good people working hard to combat the former guy.
I am so sorry. I can't begin to imagine what you went through and still going through.
I know it hurts and the hurt will never go totally away. I lost my dad when I was four, but I don't remember him. It was losing my mom when I was 15 that hurt. And it still hurts. Not as much as back then. Been over 45 years, so the pain is not nearly as intense.
What keeps me hopeful and actually looking forward to the future, is my four year old grandson. And I know I will be hurting when I finally get to see him again, I know his laugh and smile will help ease that pain. So I hope you have someone or something to help you with what your going through.
And thank you. For all you did. I know it had to be difficult.
I've been in your shoes, although it was several years ago. My husband had Alzheimers and on 911, when I was completely terrified and horrified, he was unable to process anything happening. He spent the entire day walking around outside while I remained glued to the TV. At that point, I realized that our days of sharing news, events, thoughts, feelings, hopes, dreams, etc. were over and the days of ensuring his comfort and peace of mind were all that lay ahead. That was when I "officially" became his caregiver. It's a sad and lonely place to be, but having made that adjustment to the new status quo, it became easier for me to understand what my role as "wife" had become. I am so very sorry for your situation. I hope you continue venting your feelings because that will keep you sane. If you have a trusted friend who will lend you a strong shoulder, that will also help. Beth, you are not alone, my friend.
I understand. I think that's one of the hardest things to deal with and understand. And if you are the only caregiver you feel more alone.
I started a couple of text groups with a couple close friends and a group of local beaders. So between them, my son and foster family I am pretty set.
And I hope you have the same support. And thank you for responding.
Hugs, Beth. I am so sorry to hear about your husband. May all the blessings of peace and comfort be with your both.
Thank you. Gotta be honest, smoking pot helps a hell of a lot. And I'm glad we are in a legal state.
And what we both are certain of is that if he didn't have the RSO that he uses, he would be farther along in his journey.
And thanks for the hug, I'm a hugger myself. {{Hug}}
Elbow bump to Beth from MA, another legal state.
I am so sorry, I can only imagine the pain and fear you are feeling. My situation is different but I share some similar fears. My son who is 23 years old has a developmental disability and a history of heart problems. I'm terrified for him to get this virus, as I have been told, his risk would be 10 times greater than the average person to die if he got Covid. What keeps me up at night is that he would not understand what was happening and would be terrified if he had to go to the hospital by himself, he would not be able to understand about pushing a button if he needed help. It keeps me in a state of fear every minute. I live in GA and Kemp is not helpful to people with disabilities. He has so far refused to put this group on a higher prioriety for the vaccine and tried to suspend all medicaid wavers for the disabled. These are necessary for people with a disability to get a job, transportation and independent living. With protest, he finally oked 100 waivers to go through. However my son is on the list along with 7000 and counting people who want to become contributing members of society but are stuck without this waiver. With Georgia going full force into making sure Republicans win all future elections, it is very frightening. GA. is somehow in short supply of the vaccine or so Kemp reminds us all the time, this also seems strange to me.
Thanks. Actually, the pain doesn't come very often. My husband is still pretty self efficient and still makes dinner most days, so we actually are in a good place where we are in our journey.
Funny thing Im finding is that we actually had an idea what was wrong. My husband did medical research as a software engineer. He did a lot of research before the diagnosis.
So we have been ahead of the game and have made as many plans as we can. He's made videos, written his life story and he runs a blog about LBD and growing pot easily and as cheaply as possible.
I am part of a group of LBD caregivers, I bead and I have two very good friends.
Thank you enough for caring to reach out. I appreciate it.
So cruel. So Anti-American. So anti-ADA. So -- I just want to throw things and scream, after how far we had come in this country for the disabled. My heart goes out to you and your son. I pray that your own Georgia's FairFight will save you, and the rest of us, too.
Thank you - Amazingly last night got an email that Kemp has agreed to put adults with disabilities eligible for the vaccine on March 8th. I cannot begin to express how grateful I am. I do understand it still may take months because people in the 1A- category still have not gotten their first vaccine and they will continue to go first, as they should. Teachers were also added so it is quite a lot of people. I just still do not understand why Kemp keeps saying GA is in such short supply of the vaccine where national reports say vaccine distrubution is equally distributed according to population. Wondering if other states have this issue. Thank you.
So glad your son will be eligible soon! Check out how to sign up (if you haven't already) because could be 1st called, 1st served within that category. The vaccine is in short supply in Michigan, too, and I suspect it just is everywhere yet. But supplies could increase exponentially in next couple weeks with Biden's efforts and approval of Johnson & Johnson's. All the BEST!
Oh, Beth. I know this pain. My husband died in the middle of the t**p regime and he thought I was so obsessed with the rising fascism. I tried not to show it while he was dying, and I did take huge breaks. I was so lucky that the month we spent in hospitals was two years prior to COVID. Three hospitals allowed me to sleep in his room and cuddle with him. Eventually, he knew he could not do the therapies and asked to go home and have hospice care. I loved that extra month in the hospitals and the pure time I had with him despite the ridiculous vitals they had to do all through the night and wake us up. Right after his first stroke, I asked him who the president was. He thought long and hard and then said, "Obamama." Oh, tears flowed down my cheeks. How I wished that were true!! I was so happy that he did not remember our national trauma. I envied him for that entire month that he had no recollection of the king of the "aholes" and his minions.
And your anger that turns into hate is justified with anti-maskers. It is warped and selfish. Back in the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, the Anti-Mask League was present and caused the same political division, but was not as large as our problem. They also did not have the internet and idiots spreading lies at rallies. Find outlets, like here to release and received support. We are all in this together. We need to hold hands against bullies and ignoramuses
Know that we have your back and use us as needed. As sbmn says below, you are not alone and there is a huge wave of good people rising to replace the racist/supremacists who have infiltrated our country and government. We have the most exciting time to right the wrongs of the foundation of our country built on Native American genocide and slavery of our African Americans and their ancestors. On good days, I think we are the generations that are really going to take our country gigantic leaps forward. Women, and particularly, Black women are rising and showing us their incredible strength, tenacity, power and intelligence. We white women have the shields of our color to protect us somewhat. A wo, Bethman of color has to rise above it all on pure courage and strength. We are watching and supporting the most amazing transformation of power right now. The patriarchy is desperate and wobbly. We can do this if we all stick together. And like geese, take a break and float a little behind and let the next ones take a turn to lead and catch their updrafts for your energy efficiency.
Releasing our tears during those energy efficiency breaks is good self-care. The sharing of your story has made many of our hearts bigger. Thank you, Beth. ❤️
Crying for/with you. Then will go tell my husband that I love him.
Thank you for sharing🤗🥲☮️
Dear Beth, bless you for what you are going through for your husband's sake, and for the love you are giving him. Your strength is amazing. Long may it last.
Your words have moved me deeply. I hope that you will continue to find the strength you need.
MTG is a cancer upon the congress, as are the rest of them. Apparently, there is no recourse but elections. Given the gerrymandered districts, they may be re-elected. Perhaps not Moscow Mitch, the base seems to have turned upon him. He and Elaine have probably grifted enough from the country, yes?
I feel delight in the progress of Biden/Harris and despair at the charade of the Congress.
And, as an over-educated RN of 40 years, I'm thinking the virus is with us in altered form for many years to come. "Back to normal" is kind of like back to the future: a fantasy. 'Normal' was not working anyway. If you recall, the plague was with humans for 400 years. Perhaps less than that with mRNA vaccines, but not a quick fix.
I wish it were a rosier picture. I wish it were a rosier future. I fear it is not. Clone Stacey Abrams for every state!
Gratitude to this community for the conversation, sanity, and courage to keep on going!
“Clone Stacey Abrams for every state!” YES. And Voto Latino and all the rest of those voter turnout groups.
She’s cloning herself 😉 give to “Fair Fight”.
I do not understand how there is nothing to be done with those elected who are negligent in their job, refuse to uphold their sworn oath, some have serious backgroud issues and many have questionable conflict of interest. There are no checks before they are allowed to run or be nominated and as we have seen, we cannot necessarily trust the voting public (MTG). It just seems to me that once in Congress, their actions, backgrounds, and conflicts affect every person in the country, not just their constituents. We The People pay their saleries and pensions, healthcare, why can't we ask for consequences against some of the members who are not in power to serve the country or the people?
I don't think McConnell is running again, which is why he feels free to part from DT. He is angling to be the de facto head of the Republican party when DT declines. It's a calculation on McConnell's part (everything is, with him). There is no honor in him, so we can't think he is speaking against Trump out of sense of loyalty to country or party. Mitch is loyal to Mitch and nothing else.
With redistricting, I suspect the Rs are actually set to GAIN seats in the House. They are quite likely to win back the Senate, too. We have an uphill fight coming: voter suppression, redistricting, and backlash are going to take a toll. We should never forget that the Rs gained seats in the House in 2020, while the Ds specifically targeted nine house seats they were convinced they could flip and succeeded in NONE of them.
a cautionary tale, to be sure.
"We should never forget that the Rs gained seats in the House in 2020, while the Ds specifically targeted nine house seats they were convinced they could flip and succeeded in NONE of them."
Impossible to forget. Racism is like the Hydra. Keeps coming back.
Yes and obviously, we weren’t paying enough attention to those seats we lost.
Well said, kimceann! Agreed that this thing is with us in some incarnation or another for the long haul and that there is no ‘return to normal’. I’m glad I’m not the only one that sees it like this.
It’s my understanding that “back to normal” doesn’t even exist. It should be “on to a new normal” after a major change.
kimceann I also am a RN (of 49 years' standing-retired fully May 2018 and surrendered my license 10/2020 when renewal was due.) and agree pretty much with your assessment re duration of COVID and possibility re the Republican re-election. I REALLY hope McConnell goes down in flames in 2024!
I'm so with you! Thank you for all those years of caring. Happy retirement!
As a medical writer I think you're wrong that we're not going to get back to normal some time this year. Even if covid doesn't disappear, the vaccines are going to render it no worse than the flu. I hope and expect to be able to visit my siblings and my best friend (all in different cities from me) this spring.
good luck to you!
Thank you!
Members of this forum have tried to warn me that I might be wearing rose-colored glasses (my paraphrasing!) when I express belief that Trump’s influence will diminish. I do know I’ve been doing that. I’ve been sleeping better, listening and reading the news less, and feel more hopeful and positive since January 20, so perhaps cling to the possibility that more Republican office holders will care about their legacies, about posterity, if not for truth and honor.
I know the hard work has just begun, and that hope won’t change CPAC. It won’t change the fact that all the Republicans in the House voted with Marjorie Greene to adjourn today in order to avoid a vote that would make it illegal to discriminate against transgender people. (Twitter users were calling House Republicans “Ganggreene.”). But studies show that positive thinking CAN change or influence outcomes! I know ignoring history and precedent is folly, but I also believe that if all of us imagine—really picture in your mind’s eye—the tide turning against Trump somehow, and against all the election result deniers, that it will be closer to happening.
Maybe someone in Russia will wikileak the dossier with damaging video of Trump.
Maybe he will be caught on tape calling his whole base derogatory names and laughing about the way he manipulates them all.
Maybe Biden’s plans and actions will make lives easier, safer, less stressful, more hope-filled, and the populous will continue to turn away from the Trumpublicans and RepubiQans and power-grubbing, life-sucking, voter-suppressing election result deniers.
Heather’s last story helps me keep hoping that our future has a rosy tint to it. 😊
Curiously, I lean both ways. I see where TC is coming from, of course he’s talking about the reality of the cult of maybe 100 million people or more, but I actually feel optimistic. The Republican party is disintegrating, in my view. Liz Cheney versus McCarthy. McConnell versus Trump. They might be able to keep it under one roof, that’s their only hope at this point. But if they splinter, they are doomed as a national political force. I watched the California Republican party become nearly extinct when gerrymandering was eliminated after the 2010 census. It could happen nationally as well, if the forces of good make the other states start to fall like dominoes.
Yes, yes, yes! I ridiculously want everyone to close their eyes and picture the former guy either fading from the scene, really becoming discraceful in the eyes of his followers (though what would precipitate that is hard to imagine —maybe an undoctored video of him in drag? A scene like the one at the end of The Dead Zone? (A politician in the center of a shooter’s sights grabs a nearby baby and holds the infant in front of his own head. The shooter won’t shoot and the politician is ruined.)), or perhaps having a stroke that impairs his speech. (I’m sorry for this idea. A little bit.)
Really imagine a world without him. Let’s see if our group imagining has an influence. TCinLA, how would you like to see the Donald go down?
I won’t comment on your imagery, even though if we were having a private conversation face-to-face I would be happy to state my opinion. There is no way he falls out of favor with his racist constituency. None. If you have spoken with the many rabidly adoring Trumpsters I’ve spoken with, you would understand my position. And TC will likely agree with me when I say his medical condition will change nothing. Those people are not going away. They are going to be forced into submission somehow. Perhaps they are changing slowly, after all the racist and sexist values are changing. The writing is on the wall. Kamala Harris is not an anomaly, she is a preview of coming attractions. They know that. That’s why they’re freaking out. That’s why they’re attacking Congress. It’s a cornered animal fighting for survival, but the animal knows it is destined to be captured Trump, the Republican senators, they are fighting, going down kicking and screaming, but they are going down. TC might not agree with this point but he should: The entirety of US society and eventually world society is moving towards diversity and equality for all. If you don’t see that, you’re certainly missing the big picture. The old racist sexist anti-gay anti-human diversity society is disintegrating, and right now it’s concentrating its resources for one last stand in the body of the Republican Party. It’s like a terrible science-fiction novel where an evil living parasite enters a host. The eventual outcome cannot be in dispute. Just compare the world now to the world 50 or 100 years ago. Gay pride marches in an African country? Yeah right.
Yes the racist, patriarchal GOP may be in its death throes, but, it’s influence and power is deeply embedded in every sector of industry and finance. Business leaders tried to distance themselves from the insurrection, while hanging on to the status quo. It’s going to be a painful transition where the most vulnerable will be in the greatest danger. Protecting them is paramount.
Yes, I agree with you, Roland. And, we have to remain alert and active whilst the racist patriarchy screams its last dying breaths.
Absolutely. Definitely.
I agree wholeheartedly! It is a last panicked gasp of a dying animal. We just need to stay strong and not fight within the left and middle
Forgive me for this story, but it seems very relevant to this thread. Years ago, I lived in the middle of a southwestern USA desert alive with rattlesnakes. I had two small children and farm animals. Also had no rifle or pistol. What I DID have was diamond-backs.
They usually have an individual “territory” of about one circular mile around their den. Problem was, that when you came up on one, it might be anywhere within that circular mile. When I found one close to my “home territory”, I felt the need to eliminate it for my own protection. Only ammunition available to me were large boulders. So, I would grab one (from a safe distance) as the snake slowly coiled up to strike. Then, like an old-time Scotsman, I lobbed that stone from a distance — aiming for the coil rather than the head. The snake would be distracted in his strike, and the boulder would land in the coil, limiting his further strike range. Then, I could take my time and aim for the skull, and did hit it. But it took repeated strikes to end its life.
This sounds horrendous, and I would have preferred another solution, but I had to use the tools at hand. I’m proposing that stopping a poisonous party must be handled the same way. What I learned from my extreme circumstances was that when faced with boulders, that snake lost interest in me and wanted only to escape — the same thing that any living creature (whether either benevolent or toxic) would want to do.
Yes, it is possible to sympathize with a rattlesnake, but not a very smart thing to let it move in under your house. The End.
Thank you so much for this story Patricia. I am not judging you critically, on the contrary. I'm not a pampered suburbanite. You do what you have to do.
I am a complete wus when it comes to killing, however. I take spiders and insects outside.
I doubt anyone would argue against a story about rattlesnakes being a perfectly good metaphor for our current predicament.
This story is the kind of thing that gives a person pause for reflection. Are R's dangerous? Absolutely. Should Repub Senators and Congressmembers be treated like rattlesnakes? I think so.
This story is the kind of thing for which I don't have an immediate response, but which then percolates in the back of your mind . . . . . . .
Let the hero born of woman
Crush the serpent with his heel
-- Julia Ward Howe, "Battle Hymn of the Republic," 1861
That parasite almost never leaves the poor host in it's previous state either.
Missing a period: “be captured. Trump . . .”
We figured that out, or I bet most of us did. The slight pause needed gave me more time to ponder your words. Hope you’re right.
I hope that it is not just a fairy tale... a case of "and we'll all live happily ever after". Your positive vision is somewhat in contradiction, unfortunately, with many mega political trends in many other parts of the world....where democracy is inexorably slipping despite many "minorities-based" protests and theories of "intersectionnality"! Your text makes me think a basic tenet of Newtonian physics..."Ever force engenders and equal and opposite reaction".
Yes. Barack and Michelle produced the backlash to Trump. The forces of change towards diversity leads to the old society kicking and screaming even more loudly.
I stopped by on Jeanne's thread for a reason. Optimism under attack is what caught my attention. It's easy for Jeanne to dismiss herself even for seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. I spent my teens in Germany in the 1970s, where the cynicism and stoicism and pragmatism were really entrenched and hard-bitten.
My "positive vision" is optimistic, yes, but it is also realistic. The long view. Society is changing. U.S. society, and world society. The long-term trend is towards diversity and away from the pre-Civil War society. You can argue that suppression of gay and transgender rights overseas, just as an example, is in decline whenever a gay pride event is attacked. However, you need to remember the big picture: 50 years ago, gay pride events did not even exist. Anywhere.
It would be easy to categorize the events of January as horrific signs of the coming apocalypse in American society, and I was as deeply disturbed as anyone. But even putting aside the developments in the Biden Administration, when a little of the horrible smoke had cleared from the Jan. 6 event and from my mind, I knew that those events were signs of desperation. Trump and the Jan. 6 Riot reeks of desperation.
There is a damn good reason the lovers of the old racist society are getting desperate. They are being left behind. They are being shown the door.
A wishful-thinking pipe dream idealist would not say that we are still in a civil war, arguably the same civil war as from the 1870s. But it would be unrealistic to take the cynical view that American society is not improving, not becoming more egalitarian and more diverse and equality based, because of course it has improved.
Europe may still be more cynical and hard-bitten than the U.S., I don't know. Certainly California is known for providing idealistic and optimistic visions, as well as dystopian ones of course. But world society, nasty and autocratic and racist as much of it is, is improving.
Remember, too, Stuart, if you are a news junkie, that the news is filtered. It leans heavily toward the sensationalist, and the alarming. Autocracy gets a lot of coverage, loving healthy democracy gets none. When's the last time you came across a news article about Costa Rica? Costa Rica is one of the most beautiful democracies in the world. We become so fixated on solving the "problems," we forget the solutions that already exist. California has annual gay pride events that are not attacked. Costa Rica doesn't even have an army. Costa Rica has clean water, loving people, the most national parks per capita of any country in the world, etc.
When you get lost in the nastiness, remember Costa Rica. And California, Kevin McCarthy notwithstanding. Goodness is out there. Improvement, as a society, as a global whole, is happening, even if the pace is inexorable-seeming.
I agree. The good part about Drumpf staying active for now is that it will continue to splinter the party. They may remain weaker for a few election cycles so that we can put some kinder stronger policies in place and then reform into a Drumpf party and whatever the new Republicans want to call themselves. We need an opposition party. No one party should have total domination, but we need the opposition party to be sane.
I think we face grave danger from the state-controlled republicans.
I agree-NH switched majority party to red in Nov. They've already put forth a multitude of atrocious anti-reproduction rights and anti-democracy bills since then.
There are still Nazis in Germany. They just aren't a major political power at the moment.
Just the official opposition in the Bundestag!
How do you see TFG (the former guy—I guess Biden called him that) becoming irrelevant, Roland?
All the lawsuits against him are going to sap his energy. And if somehow they don't, he's losing brain power. I recently saw a Larry King interview of him from '99. He was a different man--lucid, thoughtful, with liberal views on things like healthcare reform, and a good vocabulary. He was somewhat demented when he became president. He's gone downhill since. And that video of him shuffling (at West Point, I think) was almost certainly a ministroke in progress. See ~minute 13 for views on healthcare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEVzCtcT-Mo
Agreed. His losses of verbal fluency, cognitive acuity, and executive functioning were obvious even during the 2015-16 campaign [as you say, relative to earlier recorded appearances].
Reagan's Alzheimer was fairly well advance during his second mandate....that didn't stop his controllers.
That didn't stop the racist society. Yes, like Stephen Miller.
Indeed. When it was announced during Reagan's post-presidency that he had signs of early dementia my take was "what's new?" But, you're right; he was an actor and could follow a script however trashy the screenplay was.
Even when he was smarter, he was a dum-bass.
Hahahaha! Thank you, TPJ, I needed that.
45 will never be irrelevant. He is a god. They’ll still be talking about him for the next 50 years. I hope you’re talking about Trump, I don’t know who TFG is.
And for those who wish him to perish, right now would be horrific because he would become a martyr figure. We need more like Gerry Connelly to keep pointing out the lie and naming those who voted against certifiying the election.
Oh, The Former Guy.
Yes, Biden found a way to not name He Who Must Not Be Named. And to think that once he was considered inarticulate!
"He Who Must Not Be Named"...that's how I refer to him when talking to my RINO husband.
He also uses the Other Guy
As I reread this question, it sounds like I’m asking you to defend yourself when you never said he would become irrelevant. I am imagining how it might happen. I actually wanted to know if you have any ideas of what could bring him down in the eyes of his followers?
I do think he might fall from his pedestal if he used someone as a human shield, someone other than secret service. Or if his speech became garbled by a stroke and he started drooling. But is there any scenario more realistic? Just thinking.
Your observations are spot on, Jeanne. I, too predicted that *rump would simply fade away and Republicans would finally admit that they are sick and tired of his carnival. But *rump (I learned to write his name like this today--it's so perfect) still holds right wing voters in his pockets. Until this changes Republicans up for re-election will continue to perpetuate The Big Lie. This would not happen if term limits were in place.
It seems likely that Putin has plenty on *rump, whether it's a video or shady business dealings. But remember that the Access Hollywood tape in which the former president bragged about grabbing female genitals with impunity did him zero harm. The only person who can destroy him is *rump himself. And this might actually happen as the result of his actions that spurred investigations against him in New York (financial fraud, tax evasion) and Georgia (trying to influence the election). As a convicted felon, he would not be able to run for president again.
One can only hope...I am more worried about who he annoints to take his place. Who will inherit this angry mob? Hawley? Cruz? worse?
It will have to be one of his children. He thinks he's a king and this is his dynasty.
I'm worried, too, Kimberley. Trump 2.0 could be someone who actually has his act together and isn't just bombast. It's hard to oppose a leader whose followers are hypnotized and commit acts of lawlessness in his name. Hopefully this new right wing leader will be stopped before he can get his finger on the button.
Yes, it may be my biggest concern at this time after COVID
I don't think just anyone can have that kind of sway. Hitler had it. Jim Jones. and good people have commanded followings, too. Jesus, Gandhi, MLK, Jr., Mandela, I am sure there are countless others I am not naming here. But Hawley? No way. Cruz? even less likely. And *rumps children? Nyet.
Nyet!!
You're living in fantasy land if you can read what she posted tonight and think there's a rosy future. Say hello to the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, and be sure to get up for sunrise tomorrow and look to the west. All those things are as real as your rosy future. (And yes, I wish I was wrong and you were right, but I'm not)
I appreciate the reality checks. But TC, I read an article that compared the mobs in Shakespeare’s plays to the followers of Trump and QAnon, the author of which suggested that crowd-think can turn on a whim.
“ More interesting are the Roman mobs that love Caesar, then approve his murder, then, after some masterful manipulation by Mark Antony, turn on Brutus and the conspirators. They are not particularly picky. They kill Cinna the poet rather than Cinna the senator, declaring that it’s all the same—kill him for bad verse. The mob cheers Coriolanus and then expels him from Rome, only to tremble in terror when he comes back with the enemies of Rome in orderly ranks at his back.”
(Eliot A. Cohen in The Atlantic: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theatlantic.com/amp/article/617451/)
We saw a little of this in the crowd wanting to hang Mike Pence!
When some members of the crowd who need jobs find them, who need help get stimulus checks, who want vaccines (do any tRumpers want them?) get their shots, they could start to wriggle out from trump’s Hitler-hold on their conscience. Some are turning on him in statements to the FBI as they try to escape 20-year prison sentences for insurrection.
Some might get excited about watching Donald’s criminal trials on tv!
Remember this: Trump really did LOSE the election by millions of votes. He lost. He is a loser. Loser Donald. Soon to be forgotten Donald!
Imagine it!
The mob doesn't go away now that it has formed. It has emerged for real reasons totally independent of Trump. It is open to the next demagogue to come along to fire it up. Woe betide us if he has more and better organized grey cells than Trump!
I’m with you!
I like Jeanne's reality, clear-eyed, not rose-colored. More dangerous than any one person are the larger forces that threaten American democracy. It won't be easy, not at all, but there are grounds for (cautious) optimism.
As for Trumpsky, our joyous release is always just one Big Mac away. Which one will it be? Not that I wish harm on anyone, honestly.
And remember that that "Hitler-hold on their conscience" is a result of social media, tr**p/cruz rallies and the great propaganda alternative "news" machines that run deeply and are much more pervasive than any of us critical thinkers could ever have imagined. Surely magnified immensely by so many staying at home due to pandemic life.
It wouldn't have mattered or really "hooked" them if there was not and already a massive rising groundswell of anxiety and anger generated by the way they feel society and history is treating them.
I am also waiting for the day when he's irrelevant and the media stops reporting on him. But his supporters can't be ignored. Im not sure how we get to your fantasy but I sure hope we get there soon.
"You're living in fantasy land if you can read what she posted tonight and think there's a rosy future."
Why tie the future (and its rosiness) to the sickness we all are observing. Personnally, I am more optomistic about the future than I have ever been. At the same time I am more pessimistic about the recent past as I have ever been.
Who cares if there are giant swaths of sickos? What's that got to do with my future?
It's the Youngers. They will save the world from the folly of elders. One day they will look back and echo the words of a prominent Civil War veteran.
"Through our great good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing. …"
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, Memorial Day 1884
Tis better to hope than to despair. He is a loser and, little by little, his followers will abandon him. Meanwhile we hope our Senators can coax Manchin and Sinema into understanding our extraordinarily important need to end the filibuster.
I'm not so sure about that, Bruce. His followers NEED someone like themselves. They NEED the lies he tells them. They have been fearful and angry for quite some time now, and 45 stokes that fear with lies, exaggerations, and vitriol. Then says a border wall and mega funding the military will solve their problems. But, first he needs for his supporters to HATE Democrats especially ones of color, a different religion, women, anyone other than heterosexual, and such. And, most importantly to 45 is his needs for their praise at rallies and their monetary donations. 40% of our nation in this loser category isn't something that fades away.
While you are certainly right that hate is, sadly, the tie that binds his worshippers together, Many things should change with the Biden administration in place.
Here in Vermont we had a large swing to the right when we passed civil unions in the legislature. The shift weakened in 2 years and was gone in 4. Of course there was no trump and no Twitter. But age and indictments will wear him down. Without him, his base will evaporate.
Your word in God's ear, Bruce.
My prognosticator is burned out.
In the long term, American Democracy will fail. But I no longer have any feel for what "long term" means. Two years? Two decades? Two centuries? Two millennia? ::shrug::
I think our grand experiment will continue to struggle and continue to succeed. Really picture in your mind a Utopian future. What does it look like?
100%
Two years or two decades is definitely short term.
Imperial China, the longest-lasting system of government ever, no longer exists. Unless the Yellow Emperor has been replaced by the Red Emperor. That's most definitely the long term.
Just as the Blue Tsar was replaced by the red Tsar who was replaced by the Tsar Putin...a chain that started with the first Tsar Ivan 1000 years ago!
Sure Democracy may be dying. Just to be replaced with something new.
It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Song by Bob Dylan
"Proves to warn that he not busy being born
Is busy dying"
I, too, and hoping with more time and success of the Biden administration that the general Q public will realize their lives are better, calmer and healthier and ease into a peaceful lull.
He might, but my deeper concern is that the movement he began will not fade at all, but will grow in power. The White Male Grievance coalition is extremely powerful and going nowhere. I do hold out hope that younger people will come along and reject this ideology as these morons die off, but that will take far too long for us to truly benefit, especially with the existential threat of climate change looming.
Reid,
I hear you and there was an article yesterday about a huge piece of land in Vermont that has been taken over by a man who loudly uses it as a training site for one or more of these fringe groups terrorizing the community. I contribute to the Southern Poverty Law Center because the actually keep track of these loonies and categorize them.
But I think many of these characters are mentally ill, gun crazy losers.
And, contrary to their fears, there is clear evidence that immigrants are actually keeping many rural communities alive. "Immigrants and refugees also are breathing new life into rural communities around the country that have been experiencing population decline for more than two decades. Late last year, CAP found that immigrants helped to ameliorate population decline in nearly 4 out of 5 rural places in the country that experienced such losses." https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/immigration/reports/2019/06/26/471497/building-dynamic-economy-benefits-immigration/
Spooky I have the same rose colored glasses.
Trumplicans. I cannot and will never understand how anyone with even minimal critical thinking skills can continue to support 45, and I don't mean the politicians. I mean the public in general, and sadly certain family members and acquaintances. It is a cult. And until it is "cured," this country cannot heal completely. Just so sad and frustrating. We must continue to work together to stay healthy, and support those politicians who are here to serve the common good.
Thank you, Dr Heather. Rest well. 💜
It’s racism and sexism, Just Janice O. They are on the side of returning to a racist and sexist society. The reason the worst attacks are directed against AOC and Barack and Kamala Harris et al is because they are POC, and especially if they are women as well. They are the most powerful women and POC in America, that’s what makes them targets. They support Trump45 Malt Liquor precisely because they are dummies. Society’s dummies want a return to the Confederacy, the racist society, and that’s what the Trump Republican Party has turned into.
It’s not ideology. It’s not policy differences, unless we are talking racist and sexist policy differences. It’s not legislation. It’s not even people’s jobs anymore. People are no longer voting their job, like losing their job in the pandemic. James Carville once famously said, “it’s the economy stupid.“ What he meant was, people’s jobs and incomes is how they vote, because if they don’t have a good paying job, they can’t survive. That should be the number one most important priority for any voter in American society. But it’s not anymore. Can you believe it? The vote between Republican and Democrat has turned into a vote over racism/sexism/gay rights. The dummies choose the old slave society (minus the slaves), the more enlightened choose diversity and equal rights. It is precisely because they have minimal critical thinking skills that they lean the way they lean.
Just look at the disparity in critical thinking as you compare the difficulty that Haden and Tanden are having with their confirmation hearings as women of color (mean tweets from people who supported Grenell, whose ugly tweets were legion?
At one point, I was trying to pick between racism and sexism as the cornerstone of support for tRump. It is both, with a healthy fear of "other" thrown in. Factor in the lack of critical thinking skills, and you've got today's Republican party.
I laugh every time I hear about “mean tweets” from folks who like to call liberals “snowflakes”. It confirms we may be living in an insane “asylum”.
Absolutely!
So true, Roland. Look at the cabinet hearings. All the women and POC have been challenged by the rethuglicans. Such a sick group of white men!
Sadly, I don't think such progress is inevitable in any way. White supremacist patriarchy is so thoroughly entrenched in this country that only a wholesale revolution will dislodge it. When 77 million people vote for a misogynistic, racist, unhinged, ignorant, crude presidential candidate, it's clear that there is a substantial portion of the populace who want things to stay just as they are. If the Rs field a slightly less repugnant candidate who hasn't just killed hundreds of thousands of Americans with his indifference and egoism, the people have made clear they would likely vote for him.
"When 77 million people vote for a misogynistic, racist, unhinged, ignorant, crude presidential candidate, it's clear that there is a substantial portion of the populace who want things to stay just as they are."
A larger portion of the U.S. has always been this way. Now we got to see it up close.
I don't expect to change 77 million people, just to keep them out of power.
Hope So!!!🤔😊
Love everything you’ve written. Everything.
A disturbing report: We're quickly seeing that Trump's true power source is in the states, powered by 2020 success, Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes:
--Republicans picked up 14 House seats, including a dozen they lost two years earlier. They need +6 in 2022.
--In 2021, Republicans will have full control of the legislative and executive branches in 24 states. --Democrats will have full control of the legislative and executive branch in 15 states.
--"Republicans hold total control of redistricting in 18 states, including Florida, North Carolina and Texas, which are growing in population and expected to gain seats after the 2020 census is tabulated," the N.Y. Times reports (subscription).
--"Some election experts believe the G.O.P. could retake the House in 2022 based solely on gains from newly drawn districts."
--Democrats targeted nine states to flip control and failed in all.
What is the opposition's strategy to overcome this? Surely success of Biden's forward progress, but will that be enough? Honestly, the Republicans are maniacal.
Good point. Local & state government are the incubator for national politics. Republicans knew this and started with filling school boards decades ago, then city councils, state legislators, etc. It’s a long slog, but, the sooner we start the better.
I feel defeated before we start... or should have started.
Can you relocate? You deserve better.
This information is sickening.
Right you are!
Ha! Found you, Sandy! Great chat this morning!
Well, maybe I'm wrong to feel optimism. Maybe the Trump Republic comes right back in 2022.
Thank you, HCR, for the reminder of where we were a year ago and wear we are now. A slight silver lining; where would we be if the former president was still in office, by fair means or foul.
Below is a link from today's NY Times OpEd page of a video of ICU nurses in Arizona.
Please, everybody, watch this video. It will not be easy, watch it anyway.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/opinion/covid-icu-nurses-arizona.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Oh, this video is so powerful, Ralph. Tears are streaming. Every anti-masker should have to watch it. And we need support systems for our frontline workers. I agree with that one nurse-- I question humanity right now. I question all the propagandists who have brainwashed so many people into irrationality while we deal with their inhumane, self-righteousness and acts of sedition and facts. The documentary, The Social Dilema, on Netflix, https://www.netflix.com/watch/81254224?trackId=14277281&tctx=-97%2C-97%2C%2C%2C%2C. This documentary should be mandatory in our educational systems. People have a right to understand how they are being programmed by social media and the tech world to seriously program, addict and make money off them.No better than cigarette companies. It is the Matrix come alive around our world. We cannot deal with our social problems until we deal with the core of who is creating them. Look to the oligarchs and media moguls. This is all about money and power and capitalism that has swung completely off the pendulum.
powerful, hard to watch important
Oh my! Everyone should watch this video. Thank you for sharing it with us. Nurses are always the caregivers. We must take care of them.
Thank you. I am a nurse. No longer in the ICU for years now, but I smelled, felt, heard it all. Wonderfully awful piece. God bless all of them.
Thanks for sharing Ralph. This piece needs to be shown on all primetime news outlets. Twice on sunday, twice on fox..
I agree Lynn, this definitely needs to be shown. It was so sad to watch.
I have often wondered if such a video would ever be made, as it definitely should have been. Thanks for posting, Ralph.
Thank you. Yes, everyone should have to watch this. I am a nurse, now an NP. The future ramifications for PTSD sequelae in these, and all other, nurses in this position are horrific. This is a heartbreaking video but, unlike others, the emotion that is overwhelming for me after watching it is anger - it didn’t have to be like this. Blame djt- he is the one that made this happen the way that it did here. It didn’t have to be like this.
"It didn’t have to be like this."
No, it didn't, but blaming the former president is too simple. He was supported in office by many millions of Americans, many of whom still believe in him, and, as the video illustrated, still don't take the Covid 19 threat seriously.
Thank you for responding to my post, and thank you for being a nurse.
Thanks for your considered reply to my comment, Ralph. I agree that it is simplistic to blame just one person and I apologize for being lazy and just referring to him as a symbol of the other issues you mention, which are all valid. The problem is much bigger than just him.
But he was at the helm. He okayed axing the pandemic prevention department. He mismanaged the U.S. response. He was head cheerleader for the deadly no-mask, no-distancing lie. As a nurse I
see him as a murderer.
I do see him that way. And include a misogynist, racist, xenophobe, narcissist, liar, philanderer, wannabe Hitler/King, tax evader, seditionist, traitor, cult figure, fake tanner, fake hair, fake university. A perfect violator of all human decency so his shift to becoming the leader of the former republican party is spot on and cemented their demise.
Non-reader
It’s not too simple. The blame lies 100% on Trump. He’s the one who tossed the Obama/Bush pandemic playbook. If he had followed it, US deaths would have been under 50,000, so Trump is personally responsible for over 450,000 deaths. His maskless minions would have worn maskes if he had told them to. It’s Trump, all Trump, and nothing but Trump.
Point taken, however the former president did not elect himself, and he did not acquit himself twice of impeachment. The former president is a symptom, not the problem.
The care nurses provide for us goes beyond any expectation or our understanding. All over the world, nurses and caregivers withstand more than anyone in this crisis. The burden of trauma is almost unbearable.
Probably the most difficult video I’ve ever watched but realizing how important it is to have watched it to understand what the ICU Covid nurses are having to endure each day , the anger they must feel, the pain they experience with each death. Thank you.
Thank you, Ralph. It is indeed difficult to watch, and heartbreaking.
Thank you. I call them blessed.
😥 So hard. Gives new respect for our nurses.
Thank you Ralph.
And also read this.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/opinion/nursing-crisis-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
A story today on the front page of The New York Times is headlined 'A new coronavirus variant is spreading in New York, researchers report, and may weaken the effectiveness of vaccines.' The link for this story follows:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/health/coronavirus-variant-nyc.html
Yesterday morning, I had my second vaccine inoculation in Washington Heights, one of the two neighborhoods where variant of Covid-19 (reported in the article) is particularly active.
I have lived with the agony visited upon my hometown, and it continues: 'Risk in your area › New York City, N.Y., is at an extremely high risk level.'
More than 29,000 have died in NYC due to Covid and to Trump. I've lived in four of the five boroughs of the city. Imagine how it feels when neighborhoods you know are losing many people. I will not go on to detail this devouring reality. Our mourning, our sorrow, our fear, our changed lives have deepened our sense of what Trump is.
I cannot as usual launch into a political comment today. I am Jewish, so the BIG LIES, which persist, bring images together from the past, along with the words and deeds of today's monsters in the House, the Senate, state governments and around the corner
In the Letter, Heather noted the attacks on voting access by state governments. You are aware to some degree of how white supremacy has been woven into the fabric of this country. The Civil War is not over. We must all be as active as we can to stem this evil tide. Some moves within our families, schools, houses of worship, communicating with friends and neighbors... Big moves may work for some folks, however, I believe that if we determine to be conscious and engaged citizens in our daily lives, it will make a difference.
“Although Republican lawmakers might not admit publicly that Biden is president, they met with him today in the Oval Office“ - so they publicly deny that he is the legitimate president but meet with him in private?? Then praise the meeting as “very substantive” in the press? Bloody hypocrites!!! You cannot have your cake and eat it, too. Marie Antoinette (anecdotally) discovered that.
No different from their belief he won from fraud and their elections were perfectly legitimate.
True. Equally maddening.
I was just going to say almost the same thing. Also, the cult should watch what they DO and not listen to what they say.
YES. Ignore what Republicans say. Watch what they do. They suppress Democratic votes, the mail-in and absentee and early voting variety. They target non-white districts for voter suppression as well, a racist tactic.
This cult is so short sighted and frankly very good at being their own worst enemy.
I wonder if President Biden is subtly undermining the GOP's Big Lie by inviting them to these White House meetings... "What? You meet regularly with the supposedly unelected President of the United States. Very interesting...." In reality, Biden just likes bipartisanship and using government for good purposes, which is so weird!
The Trump Republic is a return to Reagan’s and Nixon’s and Jefferson Davis’s racist society. If you’re twisting your mind into knots trying to figure out what they’re saying, that is an error. Ignore what they say, it doesn’t make sense anyway. Pay attention to what they do. And that includes Joe Manchin, who seems to have a problem with women and POC. Like the Republicans he is now emulating, he will latch on to any convenient excuse.
In keeping with the Trump Republic philosophy, attack women in political positions. Attack POC in political positions. Oppose women and POC nominees for political positions.
Forget the big lie. Forget voter fraud.
PAY ATTENTION TO ACTIONS. Mitch for example used a convenient excuse to justify voting to acquit. Don’t try to explain it to yourself. It’s an EXCUSE. It’s a COVER STORY. It’s BS. He doesn’t even believe in that technicality, so why should you, an intelligent and informed observer?
Whatever crap excuse they come up with to oppose Tanden and or Haaland, it’s garbage. Don’t believe it. Instead, compare to how they are treating the white male nominees. Compare to the Trump Republic’s platform of going backward to a society where white straight men run the show.
If you’re not viewing the Republicans actions and strategies in the light of keeping a racist and sexist and anti-gay society intact, you’re paying attention to the misdirection and propaganda instead of seeing the main event.
You said it better than I did. Spot on.
I have read the letter, again a nice historical perspective without rancor or direction, and as of 7 am I read all the comments. Lots of talk about voter suppression and manipulations by Trumps republicans, speculation about the depth of depravity, fears about where we are going BUT not one mention of the For The People Act. I consider myself a political neophyte am I missing something? I read this Act from page one to the end. IT IS the solution to all that rant. Why is it not prominent in the news or in our discussion?
Good point Patrick, I suggest we all show interest in FOR THE PEOPLE ACT by each of us writing to our representatives (the bill was introduced in 2019.)
It needs to be revived and I for one plan to ask Katherine Clark, my representative, at what point in the legislative process is the bill, has it died, is it on life support, let’s talk about it again?
It is now called HR1, introduced Jan.4, 2021, and here's an easy way to take action:
https://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5950/c/10065/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=14034&_gl=1*1bde3sy*_ga*MTk1MzQwMjYwNS4xNjEzODQ3NTUx*_ga_DDCEP0D6KM*MTYxNDI1ODY3NC4zLjEuMTYxNDI1ODY5Mi4w&_ga=2.250288197.297919626.1614258675-1953402605.1613847551
Thank you for this link to the League of Women Voters of the US. The League welcomed me back, and I took the action it facilitates for restoring The Voting Act, modernizing voter registration, updating public financing for elections and addresses other issues, which have made our elections inequitable. Known as FOR THE PEOPLE ACT, it is now called: HR1, as Jeff points out.
Me too!
D Munson and Patrick Munson are you related? If so, nice set-up!
Thurman Munson?
It hasn't passed yet. If it does, it will forestall some of the GOP schemes.
Here is what I mean. This is the agenda publicized as the Democratic agenda after the Covid bill to be addressed at the upcoming Virtual Retreat.
Politico "In an interview, Jeffries said the retreat would be focused on the “multitude of crises” facing the American people, including the pandemic, the economic collapse, systemic racism, a broken immigration system and climate change."
All of these topics exist for one reason. REPUBlICAN STASIS. Now, after the Georgia result, this stasis can exist in the short term for only one reason Filibuster. Republican stasis can exist long term for only one reason, Voter suppression in its many forms.
All of the topics are long term problems that need sustained action. Sustaining action requires an end to republican stasis and the mechanisms that support it.
I just don't get what is complicated about this or why Biden and Harris would not have this prominently on their agenda. Without White House leadership on this calling my NC representatives is useless.
Frankly, I would love to be corrected on this but waiting to see if they have a plan that we/I don' t know about lets the moment pass. ... which is just tragic. Like forgetting to hang the transfusion on the way to the operating room. The time is gone and you are left with the consequences.
They are “sneaking up on it” in order to add a little “sugar to the “medicine” go down. Nothing like a tortuous analogy to “clarify” things — right?
I hope you are correct. Seems impossible that they are just missing it. I know these are very smart people
Depression has gotten the better of us for the past few days — and my husband and I are usually upbeat, positive people. Today's Letter offers more great examples of why we should still feel very unsafe in our own country. For us, the stress is higher now than it's ever been. Despite the comforting presence and actions of President Biden, all the squirrelly, manipulative, dishonest, misguided actions taking place throughout our media and system of government make us look at each other and say, "Where is it going to be safe for us to live? Will it ever be again?"
Oh, and we continue to mourn close relationships lost both to the pandemic and to Trumpism. It still feels very much like an ongoing assault (to us), and every single day is like walking through a minefield.
"... continue to mourn close relationships lost to the pandemic and to Trumpism." One of the most salient descriptors of the daily stress in my life that I have seen. Between the cavalier response of my more "conservative" friends to the pandemic and their absolute devotion to TFG, I have lost the ability to trust most of my coworkers.
TFG: The Former Guy.
Ally - thats a better way if he MUST be mentioned & keep it to the abbreviation!
I hear you and I understand. I try to find the fighters and helpers and focus on the good people who are getting things done in keeping our democracy. Stacey Abrams, Marc E. Elias, Claire McCaskill, Nichole Wallace, Jake Tapper, Tish James, Heather Cox Richardson, Tom Nichols, Rex Chapman, BrooklynDad_Defiant!, John Heileman, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Chris Hayes, and Tim Miller to name a few.
Scott, you and John cannot miss many of the obstacles we face. They don't represent the whole picture. The times require even more of us, even while we feel overwhelmed by real problems. I am not made to give pep talks, but know there are various ways to respond personal, local and national issues. We need one another.
We can at least be glad that tRump no longer has the Twitter bullhorn, and that has been a relief. tRump will be 75 in June, meaning he'll be almost 80 in 2024. I'm certain, given the family history, he will be well into dementia by then. This is the hope I cling to rather than believing we might have to live thru tRump hell a second time.
I’m curious about what platforms Trump now uses to speak to his base. Cut off from Twitter and Facebook, all the energy and time he spent ginning up distress and adulation on those platforms has to go somewhere, and support for him in the conspiracy-believers hasn’t waned — so what’s he saying, and where is he saying it?
That guy has no social media “platform “on which to spew his hate and ignorance. Seems appropriate because his party has no “platform” by which to govern.
Ha, ha. Love this.
He calls into Fox and OAN. His offspring often tweet just like him. Those who visit him in his swamp resort come back and report how he thinks and feels i.e. Graham. It's all a grift to bleed his followers of money and feed his ego. He wants the power to primary any Rs who voted against him. It's all revenge narcissism.
Thanks. Just because he’s not on the usual social media platforms doesn’t mean he’s not grabbing attention elsewhere, and your answer explains some of what his mouthpieces are. I wonder if he also pipes up on QAnon sites or other corners of the right-wing web territory; I haven’t seen or heard anything about it in the news outlets I follow, and I don’t follow places where his fans are, either.
I don't follow those places either, but I do follow some journalists and sleuths who do and post the latest. I'm sure he has found a way.
I think Parler is making a comeback, and I'm sure there are some places on the "dark web" that he uses.
Looks like this T-Party will go on a little longer than I reckoned. But the walls will close in sooner or later. He's no longer immune and no longer has DOJ on "his" payroll.
I like the way Guamanians think. Guam should be admitted as a US state.
Thank you.
Actually, Guamanians are pretty much like everyone everywhere, except they are much more hospitable, and have been here for a few thousand years longer than the USA. I think the majority, or at least a plurality, would like to be a state, but there are steep mountains to climb to get there. Nevertheless it is an interesting place with a uniquely intriguing perspective, being as it is both, and simultaneously, in the middle of nowhere and the middle of everything.
Look at http://guasalliance.blogspot.com/ for the kinds of things we can get up to.
I truly don't understand what has happened to the Republican Party. I don't agree with its policies but do believe that it's important that we have different viewpoints and positions in government. However, today's Republican Party stands for nothing other than maintaining or trying to regain power. That's it. It didn't even have a platform for the 2020 election. And, given that over 74 million voters in the Presidential election apparently agreed with this, along with those who gave the party a big bump in seats in the House, that apparently is just fine with its supporters. That does not speak well for the future of democracy in this country.
In 1922 Mussolini, in 1932 Hitler - were elected. As I recall. 1914-1918, WWI. 1918 to 1919, Spanish Flu, a plague that killed 50 million. 1920s a rising market with 90% margins; October 1929, The Crash. 1932 markets bottomed, rise. Elected FDR, the in 1938, the bottom fell out. Demand collapsed. Then Pearl Harbor, war demand returned, controlled rates, borrowing freeze, rationing. Think! Instead of 90% margins, we have trillion dollar deficit bills back to back. Soaring equity markets, negative rates in short term debt... We are repeating! Biden and the Fed feel that they have no choice. Well, with COVID-19, we have no choice. Mask up! Distance! Wash hands! Pray.
What happened to the Republican Party happened in 1968 when they figured out that white Americans whose top priority is preserving the advantages they have always held over those with non-European ancestors comprise their most reliable constituency. Since then, it’s been a steady slide into more and more explicit pandering to that constituency, who by now understand that the only way to stay in charge is to disenfranchise the rest of us. The have succeeded in most states and have lots of systemic advantages that will help them extend and solidify that success.