A reader of this blog wrote this after reading yesterday’s list of real issues and problems to face in the next few months: Yale Professor Timothy Snyder offers insight about despair. He says: “shock is pre-helpless.” First we’re shocked. Then paralyzed with helplessness. This generally happens when people think: “This is entirely new! Nothing like …
. . . and WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT Preliminary matter: Yes, Trump can win if he persuades a majority of voters to vote for him (or comes within 3 points of the winner and secures an electoral college victory.) Here are some scenarios that we know are going to happen, or very well …
I finished Heather Cox Richardson’s book, How the South Won the Civil War and I’m ready with a Book Report. Her main point is that our current struggle between democracy (equality) and oligarchy (MAGA) reaches all the way back to the founding of the nation. This book is for anyone who says, “OMG what’s happening …
The Plantation System, Cowboys, and Making America Great Again Read More »
And here’s the reactionary view of American history I expected to see on display at the RNC: It all looks absurd to us because the convention isn’t aimed at us. It’s aimed squarely at Trump’s “base.” Here’s why playing entirely to Trump’s base isn’t as stupid as it seems. Normally an incumbent running for reelection …
I don’t intend to summarize the main speeches. I won’t give you the details of Kamala and Joe’s biographies, so skillfully and touchingly presented. I’ll skip the humor and the shade thrown on Trump. Instead, I’ll talk about how the convention showcased the progressive view of history, and how I expect the Republican Convention to …
Democratic Convention Recap and Republican Convention Preview Read More »
The Democratic convention just ended. Without a doubt, it was the best convention of my lifetime. The Democrats rocked it. Tomorrow, I’ll write more about the convention. First, the news from this morning. Another member of Trump’s 2016 campaign was indicted and arrested. The indictment is here. Steve Bannon (former Trump advisor), Brian Kolfage, and …
In Ruth ben-Ghiat’s excellent New York Review of Books article, “Co-opt and Corrupt: How Trump Bent and Broke the GOP, she addresses (among other things) how people like Lindsay Graham’s abruptly converted from fervent Trump critic to staunch Trump defender. She explains that Lindsay Graham—who fam ously did an abrupt about-face from fervent Trump critic …
Trump knows he probably won’t get enough votes to win, so his plan is evidently to create chaos with the postal service so that the election will be a disaster, and then use the excuse of the chaos to try to delegitimize the election. We know this because (1) Neither Trump nor his team are …
It was just a matter of time before someone questioned whether Kamala Harris is eligible for the vice presidency because her parents are immigrants. On Wednesday, John Eastman published a piece in Newsweek making just such an argument. This morning, the Trump campaign got into the act when Trump campaign advisor Jenna Ellis told ABC …
First, I just have to say: Kamala Harris: 🎉🥳🍾 Schooley asked this very reasonable question: Seems so simple, right? Trump could just do the right thing, become a hero, and improve his election chances. But he can’t. It isn’t as simple as calling for a shutdown: people without resources would need support, we’d need testing …
