I spent the last few hours on my tractor moving the snow out of our big horseshoe driveway, built back when I still needed to get big trucks in and out. Now, It's like plowing a parking lot with a dinky toy.
As I went back and forth I considered my reading of the Trump pardon ploy and wondered whether this was a good or a bad move on his …
I spent the last few hours on my tractor moving the snow out of our big horseshoe driveway, built back when I still needed to get big trucks in and out. Now, It's like plowing a parking lot with a dinky toy.
As I went back and forth I considered my reading of the Trump pardon ploy and wondered whether this was a good or a bad move on his part. I gave a lot of thought to his supporters who, in my mind are largely blue collar, high school educated people who already had the feeling that they had gotten a rotten deal out of life. You could pile up the reasons, they all have variations, but they are for the most part things that wound up separating them into classes that met in bars to have four or five beers. The other aspect of the MAGA crown is the politicians who feed off of discontent or the wealthy who see opportunity to become wealthier.
The wealthy used to be the backbone of the party. The blue-collar bunch, perhaps what were called Reagan Democrats were lulled into the culture wars and those wars have been expanded in the public eye and now say the quiet part said out loud. Those MAGA guys really do feel that their lack of status is because of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. If those guys weren't around, things would be really great!. Then the income disparities would disappear, and they could feel at home with the wealthy republicans. 1932-38 Germany really said the same thing to a disaffected populace that had been experiencing the great depression. They needed a scapegoat and those Damn Jews had snuck up and stolen the show. The populace looked the other way, -kind of ,as Hitler exterminated them.
I don't think I need to go further in the comparison really. What is discouraging for me is watching the Jeff Flakes, the Bob Corkers, the Jeb Bushes see that the fascist tide was high and they put out to sea. The resistance in the GOP is hard to find. Bulwark, the Lincoln project and a few others have waved objections but no where near enough to change much.
The ones who have to change are before us. Not the MAGA hat crowd, you'll never change them. It's the independents- the ones with a conscience who have to turn their backs on the planned move into authoritarianism. I really don't know if they will at this point. What Trump does is to pre-poison the well letting the red hats run wild. I do hope that the Jan 6th committee and the DOJ can act quickly enough to secure prosecution for Trump. No one else can do quite what he does, really a perfect grifter mafia figure who is pretty sure he has figured out how to game the system. Hopefully, like Eugene McCarthy, he will be ultimately puked out of the public view. I don't think amateurs like DeSantis will ever replace him. Weak Tea. These people want blood.
My thinking regarding independents is that Trump did himself no favors with this rally. And that he is truly frightened by NY AG and GA’s special grand jury.
Interesting you should make a connection between J. McCarthy and Trump. There is after all only one degree of separation between the two, namely, Roy Cohn, regarded by many as the preeminent dirtbag lawyer of the 20th century. During McCarthy's heyday, Cohn was his hatchet man as Counsel to the Senate Government Operations Committee. After McCarthy's death from alcoholism, Cohn eventually became Trump's lawyer and fixer and served as such until his death due to AIDS. Cohn always insisted he was not gay; he just preferred sex with men. The two were often seen together at Studio 54, the notorious gay disco and venue for use and sale of cocaine and other drugs.
Well, Eugene McCarthy disappeared rather quickly from view - wish Sanders would! He's just a grifter of a different stripe. Or is he more like a Bannon of a different stripe?
We should at least give credit to Bernie for consistency. He's been a left wing political activist his entire life. He came the House of Representatives 30 years ago and no doubt passed up many opportunities to make himself richer. Unlike AOC, when Bernie came to the House he was only noticed as an odd duck who made idealistic speeches that were considered irrelevant to the political sausage-making. Bernie only became a celebrity late in life when he moved to the Senate, issues of inequality really came to the fore, and when he ran for President. In contrast, Trump, Ron Johnson, and Eugene McCarthy changed with what seemed popular with their base.
I spent the last few hours on my tractor moving the snow out of our big horseshoe driveway, built back when I still needed to get big trucks in and out. Now, It's like plowing a parking lot with a dinky toy.
As I went back and forth I considered my reading of the Trump pardon ploy and wondered whether this was a good or a bad move on his part. I gave a lot of thought to his supporters who, in my mind are largely blue collar, high school educated people who already had the feeling that they had gotten a rotten deal out of life. You could pile up the reasons, they all have variations, but they are for the most part things that wound up separating them into classes that met in bars to have four or five beers. The other aspect of the MAGA crown is the politicians who feed off of discontent or the wealthy who see opportunity to become wealthier.
The wealthy used to be the backbone of the party. The blue-collar bunch, perhaps what were called Reagan Democrats were lulled into the culture wars and those wars have been expanded in the public eye and now say the quiet part said out loud. Those MAGA guys really do feel that their lack of status is because of Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. If those guys weren't around, things would be really great!. Then the income disparities would disappear, and they could feel at home with the wealthy republicans. 1932-38 Germany really said the same thing to a disaffected populace that had been experiencing the great depression. They needed a scapegoat and those Damn Jews had snuck up and stolen the show. The populace looked the other way, -kind of ,as Hitler exterminated them.
I don't think I need to go further in the comparison really. What is discouraging for me is watching the Jeff Flakes, the Bob Corkers, the Jeb Bushes see that the fascist tide was high and they put out to sea. The resistance in the GOP is hard to find. Bulwark, the Lincoln project and a few others have waved objections but no where near enough to change much.
The ones who have to change are before us. Not the MAGA hat crowd, you'll never change them. It's the independents- the ones with a conscience who have to turn their backs on the planned move into authoritarianism. I really don't know if they will at this point. What Trump does is to pre-poison the well letting the red hats run wild. I do hope that the Jan 6th committee and the DOJ can act quickly enough to secure prosecution for Trump. No one else can do quite what he does, really a perfect grifter mafia figure who is pretty sure he has figured out how to game the system. Hopefully, like Eugene McCarthy, he will be ultimately puked out of the public view. I don't think amateurs like DeSantis will ever replace him. Weak Tea. These people want blood.
Pete VanderLaan
My thinking regarding independents is that Trump did himself no favors with this rally. And that he is truly frightened by NY AG and GA’s special grand jury.
I agree. We'll see . His job right now is to alienate as many believers in the constitution as possible.
I meant Joe McCarthy. my sincere apologies.
Interesting you should make a connection between J. McCarthy and Trump. There is after all only one degree of separation between the two, namely, Roy Cohn, regarded by many as the preeminent dirtbag lawyer of the 20th century. During McCarthy's heyday, Cohn was his hatchet man as Counsel to the Senate Government Operations Committee. After McCarthy's death from alcoholism, Cohn eventually became Trump's lawyer and fixer and served as such until his death due to AIDS. Cohn always insisted he was not gay; he just preferred sex with men. The two were often seen together at Studio 54, the notorious gay disco and venue for use and sale of cocaine and other drugs.
Well, Eugene McCarthy disappeared rather quickly from view - wish Sanders would! He's just a grifter of a different stripe. Or is he more like a Bannon of a different stripe?
We should at least give credit to Bernie for consistency. He's been a left wing political activist his entire life. He came the House of Representatives 30 years ago and no doubt passed up many opportunities to make himself richer. Unlike AOC, when Bernie came to the House he was only noticed as an odd duck who made idealistic speeches that were considered irrelevant to the political sausage-making. Bernie only became a celebrity late in life when he moved to the Senate, issues of inequality really came to the fore, and when he ran for President. In contrast, Trump, Ron Johnson, and Eugene McCarthy changed with what seemed popular with their base.