A lot of angry people in America right now, on both sides of the partition. Many of my liberal cohorts, who never dreamed that a Donald Trump could win a presidency, are despondent and soul searching, many hoping for a localized plague or well timed lightning strike in Washington that could perhaps make the bad dream go away. Or a terminal cancer patient willing to take one for the team.
Many conservatives are also piqued at being lumped in with some of the deplorable racists that have been invigorated by their candidate's election. They don't think things are going to be nearly as bad as the exaggerated fears of the left and the partisan "mainstream" media.
I saw my friend and Trump supporter Gary at Del Mar this weekend. We both regurgitated several freshly gleaned factoids that reflected on the worst of each other's positions. And then laughed. Because it is so easy to be stuck in a reactive, angered state right now. The media is expert at keeping everyone constantly enraged, makes no difference if the house organ is the Huffington Post or Fox News.
That is one reason I hate media so today, there is no semblance of objectivity on either side and people can be quite comfortable wrapped in a news cocoon that merely reinforces our preconceptions. We have to make sure that we aren't being played and manipulated.
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Having said that, I am truly frightened by the prospect of a Trump presidency. Obama and several others, myself included, have postulated in the past that he is more of a pragmatist that an ideologue. Yet his potential appointees embrace the worst ideology imaginable, on every front. An admitted racist for AG, a climate change denier for EPA, a hate stoker like Bannon as an ersatz Chief of Staff. Palin, Kobach, Bachmann, Fallin, with the crazy names he is throwing out he is tacking so hard towards the right that any thought of moderation seems to be vaporizing in the wind. Perhaps people without an apparent ideology are even more dangerous than those that harbor one.
I guess Trump is signaling some willingness to change, he quickly forgot his campaign promise and is now on board with the Ryan plan to dismember Medicare. Told you.
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Get ready for the first Presidential Reality Television show, brought to you by Twitter.
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It is of course, not only Trump but the Republican congress in general who have forgotten what they supposedly stand for. Obama pushed for infrastructure improvements for eight years and was fought at every turn by the fiscal conservatives who didn't want to increase spending without a commensurate reduction elsewhere in the budget. What happened to those folks? The generally pro trade Republicans are now scurrying back to their warrens to retool their new anti global protectionist message.
McCain had the balls to stand up to Trump regarding the new Russian reset and our obligations to NATO, watch how quickly he is put out to pasture. The strongmen like Duterte and Putin really love their new bro.
The hypocrisy is staggering. And the worst has got to be Mitch McConnell. Shortly after the election he put out the usual blathering call to work with democrats to enact Trump agenda. McConnell. The one man who refused to applaud at Obama's inauguration and did everything he could to thwart him at every turn now wants to work with liberals, talks about pulling the country together. Shameless and cynical.
We put Obamacare repeal on the President’s desk. He vetoed it. Donald Trump would sign it.We passed a bill to finally build the Keystone pipeline. Obama vetoed it. Donald Trump would sign it.
We passed a bill to defund Planned Parenthood. Obama vetoed it. Donald Trump would sign it.
And on that sad day when we lost Justice Scalia, I made another pledge that Obama would not fill his seat.
That honor will go to Donald Trump next year. Mitch McConnell
McConnell: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.
He sure wasn't going to move towards Obama, the black man would have to come to him. That's the way things work in the south. Ask Jeff Sessions.NJ: Does that mean endless, or at least frequent, confrontation with the president?McConnell: If President Obama does a Clintonian backflip, if he’s willing to meet us halfway on some of the biggest issues, it’s not inappropriate for us to do business with him.
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Some say that this election was about reinstating the right of white privilege. Could have been.
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| from Stormfront site |
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People ask me what they should do, how to handle this? I don't know. I hate his policies from top to bottom. Wouldn't be surprised to see Attorney General Sessions move quickly to reassert the DEA and go after all the States that granted marijuana prohibition repeal. Watch as he tries to enact a Pence style social agenda.I think if you want to protest, protest. I don't agree with Little Steven Van Sandt complaining about their bad manners, I am glad that the Hamilton cast booed Pence, the author of the most anti gay laws in the country. Like Hitler walking into a Hadassah meeting. Do whatever you have to do to maintain your sanity and self respect.
Tried to talk rationally to a gay man who voted for Trump this weekend. Got nowhere, he wanted to someone to "shake things up." He failed to see a problem in supporting a party whose purpose is inimical to his own freedom, civil rights and orientation.
I personally think that although the President Elect can and will cause an enormous amount of damage, to the environment, to comity between races, religions and americans in general, we will be able to reset things in four years, unless of course he appoints himself President for Life and we are embroiled at that point in a big shooting war with Mexico.
I think that we look to Sun Tzu, we encourage his arrogance. Hang up a noose and he will eventually put it over his own neck. His kind always do. Shouldn't have too long to wait.
But work with him? Hardly. Treat him the way the Republicans treated Obama the last eight years. No better, no worse. See how they like the shoe being on the other foot. Payback, as they say, is a bitch. We may not survive but we will feel better if we go down fighting.
Hate his awful policies with every atom of your body and soul.
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My least favorite article of the last few days was over at the Federalist, David Harsanyi's Don’t Listen To The Mob. Long Live The Electoral College!
Federalists hate the idea of democracy, they instead champion the rights of the patrician class to rule over the other less fortunate people.
... the Electoral College, and other mechanisms that balance democracy, create moderation and compromise—or, stop one party from accumulating too much power. It is certainly possible that Obama’s unilateral governance over the past eight years had a lot to do with the pushback of three consecutive losses in the Senate and Congress and the election of Donald Trump.We protect the rural areas from being bullied but turn a blind eye to the bullying that they themselves promulgate on the majority with their grossly inflated power. Doesn't seem fair. What would Jefferson think?
To some extent, the Electoral College impels presidents and their political parties to consider all Americans in rhetoric and action. By allowing Wyoming, with a population of less than 600,000, and California, with a population of more than 38 million people, both have two senators, we create more national cohesion. We protect large swaths of the nation from being bullied. We incentivize Washington—both the president and the Senate—to craft policy that meets the needs of Colorado as well as New York.
