Wednesday
Nov092016
The Commentariat -- November 9, 2016
"An American Tragedy." David Remnick of the New Yorker speaks for me.
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I went to bed before any results were in last night. When I came downstairs this morning I found my wife crying. Words cannot express how badly I feel and fear for our country. W.T.F?
...and the world!
It appears that a Carthaginian Peace will instead be visited upon good, decent, rational Americans by the mob and its buffoonish leader.
Misery is nearly absolute.
The FBI did its work, as did Wikileaks, Russia, and most egregiously, the media. I cannot begin to express my disappointment in the electorate.
Four years of a grinning, preening, bigoted ape will be excruciating. But the worst will be the turning of the Supreme Court (which has its own blame in this catastrophe) into a rubber stamp for vulgarity and outright evil.
Can't say we weren't warned:
https://polimasaren.wordpress.com/2014/09/22/12-warning-signs-of-fascism/
"fascism" was the most searched word last night (Merriam-Webster)
My summery:
Wall- never
Deportation-never
Terrorism-up
Economy- way down
Most common word- embarrassed
International relations- no longer exist
Most terrified - Ryan and McConnell
Most surprised - Trump - you mean Congress has to pass laws?
Most damaged- Trump supporters
Racism- what? no money in that!
Bankruptcy- Trump and America
If Franklin D Roosevelt were still alive, he would have another "day
of infamy" to add to his list. November 8, 2016 will be the beginning
of the end for a lot of us minorities, and I'm sure for some of those
trumpbots who know not what they have done to this country and
probably the world.
The Vularians have breached the gate.
He said, "...I love the poorly educated." And, low and behold, they loved him back.
NYTimes: Trump overwhelmingly won votes
of whites without college degrees. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/08/us/elections/exit-poll-analysis.html
My 11 yr. old granddaughter is so upset she cannot attend school today. She is terrified that Trump will make her gay Uncle and his husband leave the country and she cannot stop crying.
"A crushing blow to the spirit" says Remnick. Last night I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning and when Trump took Pennsylvania I knew he had it. I'm still crying . I want to tell my granddaughter not to let this election prevent her from even one day at school, that part of the reason Trump won is because we apparently have large numbers of Americans who are not well educated or don't give a fuck that they just elected a dangerous demagogue. I keep seeing that map where most of our states are red–––that large swath of red whose color is loud and hurts the eyes.
My empathy for Hillary hurts –––her second try–- and she tried so hard and so well–– has come to naught once again. Women, "they" said would come out full force and support her––"I'm with her"––but the women for Trump along with all the white guys made it impossible.
And yes, it is truly an American tragedy; our national nightmare has just begun.
P.S. Last night Chris Mathews was criticizing Hillary for not having a clear and concise proposal for immigration. Rachel corrected him by pointing out that yes, she indeed had concise plans. Chris then came back with (he doesn't take well to someone disagreeing with him because he's always right) with "but she didn't stress those programs in her speeches" to which Rachel said, yes, she did, many times.
And we wonder how the media helped all this along. Makes me sick!!!
The Supreme Court vacancy is bad enough, but across all U.S. Courts there are 103 vacancies currently..
Doom is nigh.
We now live in a top to bottom Republican country, at both the Federal and (mostly) State level.
Democrats got destroyed across the board, at all levels of government. Astonishing.
Pundits and political commentators can't or won't wrap their head around one extremely important evolution that has taken ahold of our politics. American politics have undergone a paradigm shift into a world where Facts.Don't.Matter anymore in elections. Facts don't win votes. They don't. Full stop.
I came of "political age" during the Dubya administration. Since then, we've had surging tsunamis of blatant falsehoods and outright lies gaining momentum until the ultimate conclusion: truth becomes a dispensable, convenient-if-it-fits entity. I found it incredibly distressing that Dubya's administration blatantly lied, or conveniently "forgot" whenever necessary, about a host of issues. Then came McCain/Palin where speech lost its structure and words lost their meanings (or new words were "invented"). Then came Romney/Ryan where tracking lies, misrepresentation and untruth became a full-time job. They would throw favorable, fake ideas into the news cycle and then officially "walk them back" to obscure newspaper editors who couldn't possibly correct the narrative. Then Trump. The pathological liar, who has zero honesty, even talking about himself I sincerely believe.
Once you're prepared to dispense with truth for raw power grabs, the opposition can hardly fight back on an equal footing. The Trumpbots, the millions and millions of Trumpbots, all entrusting the well-being of their friends and family, have a basic understanding of the con job. He won't build the wall, and they won't care. He won't deport EVERY illegal AND their family, and they'll say 'meh.' He won't renegotiate with China, they know that.
And then two years will roll around, and another election (lord help us) will put the misinformation industry back into full speed, blaming Democrats for shit they could hardly affect, and the tribes will emerge again and vote for their team. Dubya's complete meltdown gave the Democrats a 2 year window on power until the wave of Repugs clawed their way back. Why expect anything more if/when Trump's administration flies off the wheels? Two measly years to effect change, and then status quo gridlock and political extortion.
I feel nauseous thinking about Trump as President, but equally so seeing how our political system has devolved into its current form. The Republicans have perfected their political strategy of gridlock and have only improved their positions throughout the country at every level. Why would they change? This is it. This is how it is. This is how it's going to be. I'm disgusted.
The Canadian government website on immigration crashed due to overuse.
So it is official. We have two worlds as I have said before. The one with an IQ above 100 and the other below 100. I am looking forward to the first group refusing to use or buy anything that has the word Trump attached. I also expect to see some serious aggressive public displays against the new POTUS. (yes, the Hillary deal in reverse).
Thanks for the New Yorker piece. I guess we educated people, elites all, have been handed walking papers by a gross crowd of less-than-people who are WORSE than Dubya. Can hardly think today, much less work. Hate and fear and incredible lies have won out. James Comey: may he burn in hell, if there is one... I do not blame Hillary. I feel terrible for her and for us. And yes, the teevee pundits/owners bear a lot of blame. I am trying to decide how to move forward, and the only clear way is to eat breakfast and sit here dressed in black.
@Marie. Agree. Remnick captured my agony.
@PD Pepe. Everything you said including the crying. When Mathews started in about Hilary, he became a Trump voter and foreshadowed how the pundits will spin their culpability. Ms Casey whatever and her smugness, in her back and forth with Rachel over wikileaks, was more of the same. That's the meme - it was Hilary's fault. Fits with the thinking of the country.
What can one say?
Many things, though I know that in the face of this morning's one brutal headlined fact, none of them matter. A little self indulgent self-expression nonetheless:
Looks like we turned the clock back twice this week.
Have been joking for years we ought to let those red states secede. Now, looking at the electoral map those of us on the Left Coast might want to consider it....
During all my years of teaching and principaling in public schools, I had occasional doubts about the intelligence and character of our people. Mostly, though, I was optimistic about the future because I saw far more good than bad. This morning I'm not so sure. Hope is dimmed, close to blotted out entirely. The future may still be bright, our nation may yet prove itself worthy of its promise, but I'm not thinking I'll live to see it. The Bush years were the precursor. Now we have truly entered a Dark Age and I'm wondering how long it will last.
Don't know if my state of mind is such that I should be reading more Mencken or avoiding him altogether for the next four years. Mencken had a lot of fun with "Boobus Americanus," but I'm not sure the joke works so well when Boobus is elected President.
There's a vast difference between meanings of "common." In some cases I'm all for it. What we hold in common, like those self-evident truths....the commons...common decency....or just plain common, as in very ordinary or the lowest common denominator. I think we just got the latter, and this sniffing snob don't like it.
Maybe among the many polls that were wrong, there were a few that were right. Bernie might have been the better choice.
When my daughter-in-law asked me what she should tell her children, I had no good answer last night. I'm still working on one.
Enough for now.
And, oh yeah, as I suspected from the beginning, all those smart phones didn't make us one whit smarter...
A win for hatred, bigotry, fear, and loathing.
It seems to me the height of iniquity that the party that sowed the seeds of the Trump elevation, that has tirelessly promoted policies designed to advance racism, belief in conspiracies, economic inequality, inefficient--to the point of moribund--government, unresponsive elites, protection for the wealthy, misogyny, distrust of scientific findings, education, equality under the law, and inciting a general malaise has benefited the most from the apotheosis of these very qualities. Typically in horror movies, the creator of the monster is devoured, and often in appropriately grisly fashion. But this ain't a movie, is it?
They run the show now. Confederate "leaders" are far too craven and cowardly to stand up to the Bully Trump so they will happily rubber stamp whatever he desires, and even though he lost the popular vote, like The Decider, he will pretend his was an overwhelming landslide offering him a stunning mandate.
Other Confederates, plenty of others, are already gleefully practicing their goosestepping and will be lining up for the goodies. The rich will get richer, the poor poorer. The religious bigots will get everything they want from the new Trump Court. If there are one or two more openings over the next four years we can say goodbye to Roe v Wade, consumer rights, and Constitutional protections for voting rights will be completely dissolved.
But the dictators around the world are thrilled that one of their own now owns the United States of America. Al Qaeda and ISIS have been trying for years to undermine the stability of the US and its faith in its own system of government. They can rest easy now. It's being done for them by an someone who is even more anti-American than they are.
Good job, voters!
And what happened to all that blather and rabble rousing about stolen and rigged elections? I guess it doesn't matter if the election has been rigged for Trump. And it was.
This Thomas Frank piece in the Guardian is pertinent:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/donald-trump-white-house-hillary-clinton-liberals
Best,
Keith Howard
And lets not forget that we now have a President elect who never released his tax returns, never submitted a complete medical history, and this month will be involved in the U. of Trump scam. The list is endless as we know, but another crucial element here is his denial of Global Warming––what is going to happen to the Paris agreement that THIS administration has worked so diligently to implement?
And Ak: good point––a rigged system for thee but not for me kind of thing. The deck is stacked, he says, as he slyly slips the ace of diamonds up his sleeve.
Thanks everyone here. It makes me feel better knowing that there are functioning people like you all who didn't vote a reality tv show rude-boy guy as president. Now, I want to put a bumper sticker on my car that says "Does Trump grab his own daughter by the pussy or just other people's daughter?" Disappointment doesn't capture it in the slightest. I'm glad I have my studies to put my nose into. Wow! I thought Reagan was a buffoon....Apparently there are a lot of folks in buffoon-land.
Question to the RC thinkerati regarding PD's note about pending litigation against Trump: my understanding is that there are 75 pending lawsuits against him, and an ongoing audit of his federal income tax returns; if he is found guilty of criminal activity before the inauguration, is there any legal action that would disqualify him from taking office, or historical precedent to guide such a possibility?
Thanks
I've not been tested, but I may be in one of Marvin's less desirable categories.
Regarding the upcoming Trump University fraud trial, look for Confederates to insist that no such thing take place because it would be bad for the country to put a president-to-be on trial. Never mind that they had no problem allowing it in the case of a sitting Democratic president.
I have no doubt that one of two things will occur:
A. No trial at all
or
B. Some low level flunky will be found guilty and fined $1.25 and half an hour of community service.
Remember, this guy is a vengeful prick. He'll be sitting up nights rubbing those tiny hands together thinking of the payback he's going to inflict for every imagined slight. Anyone involved with pushing him into a courtroom will suffer.
But the Confederates are in charge now. Let's see what they do. A year or so ago, when people were saying "Hell, just elect Trump and let the country go to shit. That'll show 'em" I thought, are you nuts? But now that we're at that point and the Confederates have no one else to blame everything on, I say I hope the place goes straight to hell as quickly as possible. Within six months, the Trump White House command center will look like this (Trump in Charge part starts at 3:40).
If KKK Steve is his primary consultant in hiring the help, it could be even sooner. In fact, if that's the case, here's something we can expect to see within a couple of weeks. You can tell the crowd is full of Trump supporters because of all the guns.
@AK:
A: He's not president until the inauguration
B: from Wikipedia: Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned ...
Cynicism is not productive.
This is a time now for the Democratic Party to figure out what it stands for and where it wants to go. We have to come up with a more compelling message (or more convincing way to communicate it). It can't just be vote for me because I'm not the other guy. Too many Democrats come of as Republican Lite, or ascribe to or go along with too many winger policies. We hoped that the country would be able to put aside the fact that we had black president. They couldn't and Trump used that latent and overt racism to shove his way to the front of the line and all the way into the White House. I don't know what we do about that, but we have to figure it out soon.
I don't believe for a second that Confederates will do anything good with all the power they now have and that should provide an opening for the next election. Perhaps Elizabeth Warren will end up being the first woman elected to the presidency after all.
Clinton gave a concession speech that at once gave full throat support of the democratic process of a peaceful transition, while reminding us of the job of reinforcing the real vision of America (respecting the Constitution, rule of law, inclusion of all groups which she named and equality.) remains job #1.
President Obama likewise without the soaring rhetoric that is his trademark. It was quite a stretch when he suggested a comparison of the differences between him and Bush to those between him and Trump.
Only heard clips of Ryan, couldn't bring myself to listen. Short version, "Oh goody, now that we have gotten rid of all those pesky blocks on our power, we can do whatever we want to the country ala Ayn Rand. P.S. I love Trump and he loves me."
The one thing I don't get is how does Obama have such high approval ratings in the face of all this angry desire for change?
My House guy, whose campaign I worked on, retained his seat and won by his largest margin yet against the county Sheriff.
I scared my dog when I was boohooing like a banshee as Clinton was speaking. Poor thing, she felt my pain.
Periscope,
I'm not being cynical. There is the law and there is justice. They are two different things. And then there is realpolitik and a realization that things happen that should not, even though there are laws against them, such as the sort of voter repression in North Carolina and elsewhere.
Also, I didn't say he was president. I said "president-to-be".
Cynical would have been saying, a few weeks ago, in spite of the poll numbers, and faith in the system that there is no way Hillary Clinton will ever be elected. The American electorate is just too stupid and pissed off enough to reject her and go for the racist demagogue.
If Trump is found in some way culpable, I don't know of any law that will prevent him from taking office. It might depend on the level of culpability. But at that point, realpolitik takes over. And if there is, I'm sure some smart-ass Confederate lawyers will come up with a plan to prevent such an outcome. Then the media will jump on the bandwagon and outlets like Breitbart and Fox will start screaming about defying the will of the voters and prosecutors may just decide it's not just not worth it. I wish it were different. I truly do. I wish that this cheat might be punished appropriately and to the full extent of the law but I don't believe it will happen.
It's not cynicism. We've seen things that no sane or rational person could have expected would ever come to pass. But it has. We're in uncharted waters. The old rules don't always apply. For people like Donald Trump, they never have. If recognizing that hard reality is cynicism, then so be it.
I for one want Bernie to weigh in on this fiasco and I don't think it will be "I told you so" as much as "we need to keep moving forward". It's the right thing to do.
@Periscope, I don't have a 'less desirable' category. The simple facts of reality have no sense of good vs. bad per se. Our problem is that we do not adjust our world to reality. 200 years ago any farmer could have an IQ of 150 or 90 and be successful. The 12 year old in Indonesia who today made the women's coats my father once made could have an IQ of 200. The company my father worked for is gone. Reality is the 21st century and has created an environment that segregates the world not just on race. And we need to create a new environment where we adapt the human race to the new world. Education based on reality. Education for all people. Opportunity based on reality. Jobs for all IQ's. In other words serious planning and development. It will never happen in the next 4 years. Notice that for, I think the first time, we evaluated voting pattern on college education.
And BTW, I think you passed the test.
@ Periscope: re "any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax....." Sounds righteous but there is an entire industry whose raison d'etre is exactly that. GE spends tens of millions of dollars on lawyers to do exactly that. Save $10,000,000 on taxes this year and pay a $500,000 in penalties 5 years from now is just good business.
@Periscope: Everything I know I learned on WikiPedia: "Clinton v. Jones, 520 U.S. 681 (1997), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case establishing that a sitting President of the United States has no immunity from civil law litigation against him or her, for acts done before taking office and unrelated to the office."
The cases von Clownstick faces, as far as I know, are all civil, not criminal. It is unlikely, it seems to me, that vC would be charged with & tried for a crime for tax evasion, no matter who won the election yesterday. Fines, yes. Federal judges have been removed for tax evasion, but they probably didn't have their accountants to blame, as vC does.
If vC is ever impeached, it seems most likely it would be for abuse of power that occurs after he takes office.
As others have written here, there's nothing in the Constitution that prevents a person from taking federal elected office if s/he's been charged with a crime. If it's a "high crime or misdemeanor," which is not specifically defined in the Constitution, s/he can be impeached & tried even if not previously convicted of the crime. That's not likely to happen in vC's case, tho there's no doubt many Congressional Republicans would rather have mike pence as the president.
Marie
I wonder how many resumes for dog walker Kellyanne received this morning? By which I mean the person tasked with following Donald around telling him he's a "good boy," rubbing his belly, picking up after he shits on the lawn and making sure that he doesn't hump the legs of any dignitaries in public.
Do you thing Hilary has her non extradiction country picked out already? One last Christmas with the grandkid before the confederates come for her with the pitch forks.
@ RAS: My thoughts exactly.
Speaking of pitchforks...
Rumor has it that the pitchforks Milwaukee sheriff is up for DHS. My apologies if this makes sleeping difficult tonight.