ON THE RECORD. . .
“We do not control the tools of government, but make no mistake, we know what we stand for. The sun will keep rising, and we will keep fighting." -- Elizabeth Warren 11/10/16
Trump won the election. But the fact that Hillary is on track to win the popular vote carries much more than just symbolic significance. It is a beacon for those who are outraged that Trump’s transgressions were acceptable to so many fellow citizens. -- Peter Daou 11/10/16
"The election of Donald Trump has emboldened the forces of hate and bigotry in America. White nationalists, Vladimir Putin and ISIS are celebrating Donald Trump’s victory, while innocent, law-abiding Americans are wracked with fear – especially African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Muslim Americans, LGBT Americans and Asian Americans. Watching white nationalists celebrate while innocent Americans cry tears of fear does not feel like America." -- Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) 11/11/16
“He may not spend much time trying to get Mexico to pay for it. But it was a great campaign device.” -- Newt Gingrich, dismissing Trump’s pledge to get Mexico to pay for the wall. 11/11/16
“I was surprised, but only briefly, by Trump’s victory. I studied American history, and anyone who has deep knowledge of it will tell you that racism, sexism, xenophobia and protectionist economic policy are not outliers in American politics but have in fact been a winning formula time and time again. The surprise, for me, was that white voters were again so eager to buy into these cons that they fell for a man who’s been a con in every other realm of life. They were so eager to believe in easy, ugly solutions that they gave the reins of government to a man who even they acknowledge is unfit for the job. But they have, and the consequences will be grim.” -- Caille Millner 11/11/16
“I hate it that people feel this way.” — Speaker Paul Ryan, in an interview on CNN, when told millions of people are terrified of President-elect Donald Trump.
He’s a nightmare and he’s the chief adviser to the president of the United States now. ... He is a terrifying man. A terrifying man.” -- Glenn Beck on Trump’s new chief adviser Steve Bannon.
“I’m a Leninist,Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.” -- Steve Bannon in early 2014 when he was executive chairman of Breitbart News, the far-right news site. http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/steve-bannon-will-lead-trumps-white-house
"I cannot believe anyone in this chamber wants to defend the hateful acts that are being committed in Trump’s name. They lead to one unavoidable conclusion: many of our fellow Americans believe that Trump’s election validates the kind of bullying, aggressive behavior Trump modeled on a daily basis." -- Harry Reid on the wave of hate crimes across America. 11/15/16
Redirect immigration enforcement, alter trade relations with China and other nations, relax restrictions on energy production, impose new rules on lobbyists, halt efforts to combat global warming, lift curbs on guns, push for congressional term limits and demand a new strategy for defeating the Islamic State. -- Things Trump has promised to do on Day 1 11/13/16
“The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant America. Is there precedent for such a disreputable & unstable extremist in [White House] senior ranks before Bannon?” -- William Kristol, the editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, asked on Twitter 11/16/16
IN THIS ISSUE
1. Tax Cuts, Most for the Wealthy
2. Andy Borowitz: Trump to create jobs for unskilled white males
3. The DAILY GRILL
4. From MEDIA MATTERS (They watch Fox News so you don't have to)
5. From the Late Shows
6. How Gary Johnson and Jill Stein helped elect Donald Trump
7. Donald Trump Could Put Climate Change on Course for ‘Danger'
8. KKK announces North Carolina ‘victory’ parade
9. Clinton’s lead in the popular vote passes 1 million
10. If you voted for Trump because he’s ‘anti-establishment,’ guess what: You got conned
11. White supremacists urge trolling Clinton supporters to suicide
12. GOP and Trump put deficit on back burner
13. Late Night Jokes
14. Lindsey Graham Calls For Senate Investigation Into Whether Russia Hacked DNC
15. NASA: ‘Planetary warming does not care about the election’
1. Garrison Keillor: Trump voters will not like what happens next
2. NY TImes Editorial: Being American in the Trump Years
3. Amanda Marcotte: The misogyny apocalypse: Turns out being white and male counts for more than intelligence, grace or decency
4. Paul Krugman: Thoughts for the Horrified
5. NY Times Editorial: Denounce the Hate, Mr. Trump
6. Jessica Bennett: Girls Can Be Anything, Just Not President
7. David Brooks: The View From Trump Tower
8. Paul Krugman: Elections Aren’t Necessarily About the Truth
9. Andrew Marantz: The Alt-Right Hails Its Victorious God-Emperor
10. Dana Milbank: Will Donald Trump be Herbert Hoover all over again?
11. Susan Grigsby: The triumph of ignorance
12. Jonathan Chait: Citizens, United -- What should Democrats in Congress — and Barack Obama, and you — do now?
13. Ryan Lizza: Steve Bannon Will Lead Trump’s White House
14. Jamelle Bouie: There’s No Such Thing as a Good Trump Voter
| FYI |
1. Tax Cuts, Most for the Wealthy
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/opinion/trumps-economic-prescription-first-do-harm.html
2. Andy Borowitz: Trump to create jobs for unskilled white males
Fulfilling a promise that was a hallmark of his campaign, President-elect Donald J. Trump said on Thursday that on Day One of his Administration he would create jobs for two unskilled white males.
Appearing at a press conference flanked by the males, Trump assailed an economy that had left the two men behind.
“These two guys are completely unskilled, unemployable, and angry,” Trump said, as the two males glowered at the press corps. “I, and I alone, can create jobs for people like them.”
Gesturing vehemently at the two men, Trump underlined his last point. “No one—I repeat, no one—but me is willing to give these two jobs,” he said.
The two unskilled men profusely thanked Trump, and said that they had almost given up hope that anyone would ever hire them again.
Appearing on CNN, another unskilled white male, Corey Lewandowski, said that the two jobs Trump had created were “just the beginning.”
“Almost everyone Donald Trump knows is an angry, unskilled white male, and he’s going to give jobs to every last one of them,” he said. Read more at http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/
3. The DAILY GRILL
Wow, the @nytimes is losing thousands of subscribers because of their very poor and highly inaccurate coverage of the "Trump phenomena" -- Donald J. Trump@realDonaldTrump
VERSUS
Factoring in cancellations, the NY Times added four times the normal number of net new digital and print subscriptions since Election Day -- NY Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy
“We are going to send the special interests packing, and we are going to once again have a government of, by, and for the people,” -- Donald Trump to a crowd in Des Moines, Iowa, in August.
VERSUS
“It doesn’t look like they’re draining the swamp, it looks like they’re pouring the swamp into the transition. And if nothing changes, they’ll be pouring the swamp into the Oval Office as well.” -- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)11/15/2016
4. From MEDIA MATTERS (They watch Fox News so you don't have to)
MSNBC's All In Highlights Facebook’s Role In Spreading Misinformation And Fake News Stories. -- Max Read: "If Fox News Is Like A Super Soaker, Facebook Is Like A Fire Hose "http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/11/10/msnbcs-all-highlights-facebook-s-role-spreading-misinformation-and-fake-news-stories/214409
Now That The Election Is Over, Megyn Kelly Reveals The Pro-Trump Conspiracy At Fox -revealing that Donald Trump had inside information from Fox News about the question she would ask him at the first Republican primary debate, and confirming that during the campaign former network chairman Roger Ailes was shilling for more positive coverage of the now president-elect. http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/11/now-election-over-megyn-kelly-reveals-pro-trump-conspiracy-fox/214410
Corey Lewandowski, Trump propagandist for CNN, has resigned from the network amid reports that he is seeking a job in the new administration. His resignation just days after Trump’s win underlines the farcical nature of his employment as a “political commentator” for CNN during the election. http://mediamatters.org/blog/2016/11/12/cnn-s-final-humiliation-corey-lewandowski-quits-work-trump/214411
Mainstream and conservative media figures are echoing House Speaker Paul Ryan’s assertion that President-elect Donald Trump has “earned a mandate” with his electoral victory. But Trump has lost the popular vote, and he is the first presidential candidate to win the office without winning a majority of the votes since 2000. http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/11/10/there-no-trump-mandate/214403
Former Breitbart Employee: “Dangerous And Divisive” Breitbart News Will Be The “Propaganda Arm" Of Trump's White House -- Kurt Bardella: “For The Next Four Years," The Free Press "Is Going To Come Under Assault Every Minute Of Every Day Directly By The President” http://mediamatters.org/video/2016/11/14/former-breitbart-employee-dangerous-and-divisive-breitbart-news-will-be-propaganda-arm-trumps-white/214422
Donald Trump has notably said that climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese. Now, as president, he will turn to advice from Steve Bannon of Breitbart News, a white nationalist website that has smeared climate scientists, the Pope, and others who recognize the need to fight climate change. http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/11/15/joining-trump-white-house-steve-bannon-ran-website-viciously-attacked-climate-scientists/214467
5. From the Late Shows
Full Frontal with Samantha Bee:
New Cabinet Installation: Part 1 https://youtu.be/dbKT22idntg
New Cabinet Installation: Part 2 https://youtu.be/yve_oz-D5nI
SNL Election Week Cold Open
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: President-Elect Trump
6. How Gary Johnson and Jill Stein helped elect Donald Trump
Florida (29 electoral votes), Michigan (16 electoral votes), Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), Wisconsin (10 electoral votes): If half of Johnson's supporters and all of Stein's supporters in each of these states had for voted for Clinton, she would be the president elect. Read more at http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/10/politics/gary-johnson-jill-stein-spoiler/
7. Donald Trump Could Put Climate Change on Course for ‘Danger'
NASA: ‘Planetary warming does not care about the election: Last month was the second-hottest October on record, NASA reportedTuesday. Combined with a record-smashing January through September — and a very warm November — this new data guarantee that 2016 will demolish the previous record for hottest year, set way back in 2015. Of course, 2015 itself crushed the previous record for hottest year that was set in 2014 — a three-year run never seen in the 136 years of temperature records. 11/16/16 Read more at https://thinkprogress.org/october-predicts-hottest-year-ever-2016-7307744601d2#.3v99a4q6h
Trump looking at fast ways to quit global climate deal: Trump, who has called global warming a hoax and has promised to quit the Paris Agreement, was considering ways to bypass a theoretical four-year procedure for leaving the accord, according to the source, who works on Trump's transition team for international energy and climate policy. 11/12/16 Read more at http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-climatechange-accord-idUSKBN1370JX
8. KKK announces North Carolina ‘victory’ parade
Trump, a Republican, was officially endorsed by the KKK during his campaign against Hillary Clinton, a Democrat. Trump won North Carolina on his way to winning the presidency, defeating Clinton here by nearly 5 percentage points. 11/10/16 Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article113915898.html#storylink=cpy
9. Clinton’s lead in the popular vote passes 1 million
Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote over President-elect Donald Trump has surpassed 1 million, according to Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. As the final vote counts continue to trickle in a week after Election Day, Wasserman’s tally found that Clinton had 61,963,234 votes to Trump’s 60,961,185 as of November 15th. Votes are still being tabulated in California, Utah and Washington. The result in Michigan remains too close to call. 11/15/16 Read more at http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/clinton-popular-vote-trump-2016-election-231434
10. For those who voted for Trump because he’s ‘anti-establishment,’ guess what: You got conned
An organizational chart of Trump’s transition team shows it to be crawling with corporate lobbyists, representing such clients as Altria, Visa, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Verizon, HSBC, Pfizer, Dow Chemical, and Duke Energy. And K Street is positively salivating over all the new opportunities they’ll have to deliver goodies to their clients in the Trump era. Who could possibly have predicted such a thing?
The answer is, anyone who was paying attention. Look at the people Trump is considering for his Cabinet, and you won’t find any outside-the-box thinkers burning to work for the little guy. It’s a collection of Republican politicians and corporate plutocrats — not much different from who you’d find in any Republican administration.
The wealthy and powerful will have more wealth and power when he’s done, not less. There’s a lot that Trump will upend, but if you’re a little guy who thinks Trump was going to upend things on your behalf or in order to serve your interests, guess what: you got suckered. Read more at https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/11/11/if-you-voted-for-trump-because-hes-anti-establishment-guess-what-you-got-conned/
11. White supremacists urge trolling Clinton supporters to suicide
The neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer published a list of more than 50 Twitter users who had expressed fear about the outcome of the 2016 election, urging its readers to “punish” them with a barrage of tweets that would drive them to suicide.
“You can troll these people and definitely get some of them to kill themselves,” wrote the Daily Stormer’s publisher, Andrew Anglin. 11/10/16 Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/11/10/white-supremacists-urge-trolling-clinton-supporters-suicide/93617792/
12. GOP and Trump put deficit on back burner
A serious case of fiscal amnesia may soon be sweeping the GOP.
For eight years, Republicans hammered President Barack Obama for exploding the national debt. But now a GOP-led spending spree is coming, with Donald Trump riding to the White House on trillion-dollar promises and a Republican Congress that looks likely to do his bidding. It’s a potential echo of the last time Republicans ran Washington, when then-Vice President Dick Cheney memorably remarked, “Deficits don’t matter.” Read more at http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/deficit-donald-trump-republicans-231372
13. Late Night Jokes
"Donald Trump is gonna be president. Republicans hope he’ll keep his promise to build the wall, and Democrats hope he’ll keep his promise not to accept the election results." –Jimmy Fallon
"After the results came in, Donald Trump gave a big victory speech. He said he couldn’t have done it without the love of his life, his rock, his better half . . . FBI Director James Comey." –Jimmy Fallon
"President Obama called Donald Trump last night to congratulate him, and even invited him to the White House for a meeting tomorrow. Of course, it was hard to understand Obama, ’cuz at the time he was chewing 80 pieces of Nicorette." –Jimmy Fallon
"I read that polls may have been off because the shift to cellphones made it harder to collect data from people. Then Hillary said, 'They seemed to have a pretty easy time collecting data from MY phone!'" –Jimmy Fallon
"Two things happened last night: Donald Trump got elected president, and my job just got easier for the next four years." –Conan O'Brien
"Last night, Donald Trump was elected president. The first thing I did this morning was call my old high school bully and congratulate him." –Conan O'Brien
"When Hillary found out she lost she conceded with grace and dignity. When Gary Johnson found out he lost he was like, 'Wait, the election was yesterday?'" –James Corden
"As the evening went on and the results came in, every anchor looked like a child slowly realizing that no one was showing up to his birthday party." –Jimmy Kimmel
"Hillary underperformed among women, African-Americans, Hispanics, and young voters. Really the only place she did very well was among pollsters." –Jimmy Kimmel
"Donald Trump won the presidential election last night and then, out of habit, Kellyanne Conway said, 'No, he didn’t!'" –Seth Meyers
"President Obama has invited Donald Trump to the White House on Thursday to discuss transition plans. And Trump is pretty nervous, he’s never been to a black man’s house before." –Seth Meyers
"Apple began selling refurbished iPhones in its online store yesterday. Which is good news for the 40 million people who smashed their screens last night." –Seth Meyers
14. Lindsey Graham Calls For Senate Investigation Into Whether Russia Hacked DNC
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Tuesday said he wants Senate hearings to investigate whether Russian President Vladimir Putin interfered in the U.S. election, casting doubts on President-elect Donald Trump’s desire to improve relations with Russia.
Graham, who was defeated by Trump during the primary, urged fellow Republicans to not “let allegations against a foreign government interfering in our election process go unanswered because it may have been beneficial to our cause.” 11/15/16 Read more at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/russia-dnc-hack-lindsey-graham_us_582bb306e4b0e39c1fa703d5
| OPINION |
1. Garrison Keillor: Trump voters will not like what happens next
So he won. The nation takes a deep breath. Raw ego and proud illiteracy have won out, and a severely learning-disabled man with a real character problem will be president. We are so exhausted from thinking about this election, millions of people will take up leaf-raking and garage cleaning with intense pleasure. We liberal elitists are wrecks. The Trumpers had a whale of a good time, waving their signs, jeering at the media, beating up protesters, chanting “Lock her up” — we elitists just stood and clapped. Nobody chanted “Stronger Together.” It just doesn’t chant.
The Trumpers never expected their guy to actually win the thing, and that’s their problem now. They wanted only to whoop and yell, boo at the H-word, wear profane T-shirts, maybe grab a crotch or two, jump in the RV with a couple of six-packs and go out and shoot some spotted owls. It was pleasure enough for them just to know that they were driving us wild with dismay — by “us,” I mean librarians, children’s authors, yoga practitioners, Unitarians, bird-watchers, people who make their own pasta, opera-goers, the grammar police, people who keep books on their shelves, that bunch. The Trumpers exulted in knowing we were tearing our hair out. They had our number, like a bratty kid who knows exactly how to make you grit your teeth and froth at the mouth.
Alas for the Trump voters, the disasters he will bring on this country will fall more heavily on them than anyone else. The uneducated white males who elected him are the vulnerable ones, and they will not like what happens next.
We liberal elitists are now completely in the clear. The government is in Republican hands. Let them deal with him. Democrats can spend four years raising heirloom tomatoes, meditating, reading Jane Austen, traveling around the country, tasting artisan beers, and let the Republicans build the wall and carry on the trade war with China and deport the undocumented and deal with opioids, and we Democrats can go for a long , brisk walk and smell the roses. 11/09/16 Read more at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-voters-will-not-like-what-happens-next/2016/11/09/e346ffc2-a67f-11e6-8fc0-7be8f848c492_story.html
2. NY TImes Editorial: Being American in the Trump Years
It’s a strange, distressing situation for citizens to be in — to acknowledge the danger of having a reckless, unqualified leader, while maintaining respect for the office he holds. But we cannot give in to fear or despondency. There is too much to be done.
There is a planet to save. The earth is in peril from a changing climate no matter how many deniers say otherwise. There may be millions of immigrants to shield from a Trump homeland-enforcement regime. State and local governments may need to step in if the federal government retreats from protecting consumers or helping educate children. And there may be sick people to care for, should Mr. Trump dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
All Americans can help in this work, whether as activists or volunteers, or simply as neighbors who show, through reaching out to someone who looks or worships differently than they do, that they reject bigotry, misogyny and fear. Let’s give Mrs. Clinton the last word, an exhortation to young people who supported her candidacy and the values it embodied. “This loss hurts, but please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it,” she said. “We need you to keep up these fights now and for the rest of your lives.” 11/10/16 Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/opinion/being-american-in-the-trump-years.html?ref=opinion
3. Amanda Marcotte: The misogyny apocalypse: Turns out being white and male counts for more than intelligence, grace or decency
I just keep thinking about that CNN screenshot: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, standing next to his wife Melania while they voted on Tuesday morning, looking over at her with a face that strongly suggested he was making sure she voted in a way that she didn’t have to hear about when they got home. Later in the day when it still seemed impossible that America was racist and sexist enough to vote away its security and its future, I tweeted it, thinking it was funny.
No one should be surprised that it was men, especially white men, who handed Trump this election. It’s been exhaustively established that the majority of white men in this country are consumed with resentment at being expected to treat women and racial minorities as equals, though of course some liberal journalists — usually white men themselves — kept valiantly trying to claim that it was “economic insecurity” that somehow drove the most prosperous group of Americans to kick angrily at those who objectively make less money and have less status than they do.
To be clear, a substantial portion of that vote was sheer racism. Make no mistake, there are women in this country who don’t care if Trump eschews the Bible and instead is sworn in with his hand on the pussy of an unwilling woman, so long as he does so while threatening to screw over Mexicans and Muslims.
The two candidates couldn’t have been more starkly symbolic of the tensions here: One is an accomplished and kindhearted woman who works tirelessly. Another is a lazy blowhard who can barely be bothered to read but has an overblown sense of superiority by dint of being born white and male.
And why shouldn’t he, when the world gives men like him whatever they want, no matter what kind of vile things they do? Read more at http://www.salon.com/2016/11/09/the-misogyny-apocalypse-turns-out-being-white-and-male-counts-for-more-than-intelligence-grace-or-decency/
4. Paul Krugman: Thoughts for the Horrified
So what do we do now? By “we” I mean all those left, center and even right who saw Donald Trump as the worst man ever to run for president and assumed that a strong majority of our fellow citizens would agree.
I’m not talking about rethinking political strategy. There will be a time for that — God knows it’s clear that almost everyone on the center-left, myself included, was clueless about what actually works in persuading voters. For now, however, I’m talking about personal attitude and behavior in the face of this terrible shock.
First of all, remember that elections determine who gets the power, not who offers the truth. The Trump campaign was unprecedented in its dishonesty; the fact that the lies didn’t exact a political price, that they even resonated with a large bloc of voters, doesn’t make them any less false. No, our inner cities aren’t war zones with record crime. No, we aren’t the highest-taxed nation in the world. No, climate change isn’t a hoax promoted by the Chinese.
So if you’re tempted to concede that the alt-right’s vision of the world might have some truth to it, don’t. Lies are lies, no matter how much power backs them up. 11/11/16 Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/opinion/thoughts-for-the-horrified.html
5. NY Times Editorial: Denounce the Hate, Mr. Trump
Explicit expressions of bigotry and hatred by Trump supporters were common throughout the campaign, and they have become even more intense since his election. On a department-store window in Philadelphia, vandals spray-painted “Sieg Heil 2016” and Mr. Trump’s name written with a swastika. In a Minnesota high-school bathroom, vandals scrawled the Trump campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” and next to it, “Go back to Africa.” There are many more reports pouring in of verbal and physical harassment of Muslims, Latinos and other members of minorities. Though not all are verifiable, the atmosphere of intimidation and fear is unquestionably real and will keep growing. Mr. Trump may not be able to stop it by himself, but he must do everything he can.
The problem, of course, is that Mr. Trump’s campaign was based on appeals — some explicit, some coded — to racial and ethnic resentment and division. His followers heard it starting with his speech declaring his candidacy, warning of Mexican immigrant “rapists,” continuing to a rally last weekend where he promised to bar all Syrian refugees because they “will import generations of terrorism, extremism and radicalism into your schools and throughout your communities.” These statements emboldened and even encouraged those who have been looking for a license to lash out against immigrants, refugees, minorities and anyone else they find threatening. They take his victory as vindication of their feelings. 11/11/16 Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/opinion/denounce-the-hate-mr-trump.html
6. Jessica Bennett: Girls Can Be Anything, Just Not President
Mrs. Clinton did what good girls — women — have to: She played by the rules.
She put her head down and worked hard, devoted her life to service, waited her turn, and never got angry (or at least never showed it). She made mistakes along the way, certainly — but she had the résumé, the qualifications, the stamina, and she didn’t lash out when those things were questioned. Mrs. Clinton took the high road, again and again: deflecting interruption after interruption, maintaining her momentum in the face of a man hovering over her, not responding when he called her “nasty” in front of millions of viewers.
And she continued to play by the rules as she took the stage for her concession speech on Wednesday. Calm and composed after a devastating defeat — and one in which she won the popular vote — Mrs. Clinton took the high road yet again, telling her supporters that they owed Mr. Trump “an open mind and the chance to lead,” and offering to help. She reminded her supporters that this wasn’t about her, it was about America. And she apologized — apologized! — for losing. Holding back tears, Mrs. Clinton told young women, “Nothing has made me prouder than to be your champion.”
“To the little girls out there,” she continued, “never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world.”
Every opportunity except becoming president.11/10/16 Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/opinion/girls-can-be-anything-just-not-president.html
7. David Brooks: The View From Trump Tower
Finally, it seems important to be humbled and taught by this horrific election result. Trump’s main problem in governing is not going to be some fascistic ideology; his main problem is going to be his own attention span, ignorance and incompetence. If he’s left to bloviate while others are left to run the country and push through infrastructure plans, maybe things won’t be disastrous.
Finally, it seems important to be humbled and taught by this horrific election result. Trump’s main problem in governing is not going to be some fascistic ideology; his main problem is going to be his own attention span, ignorance and incompetence. If he’s left to bloviate while others are left to run the country and push through infrastructure plans, maybe things won’t be disastrous.
Trump’s bigotry, dishonesty and promise-breaking will have to be denounced. We can’t go morally numb. But he needs to be replaced with a program that addresses the problems that fueled his ascent.
After all, the guy will probably resign or be impeached within a year. The future is closer than you think. 11/11/16 Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/opinion/the-view-from-trump-tower.html
8. Paul Krugman: Elections Aren’t Necessarily About the Truth
First of all, remember that elections determine who gets the power, not who offers the truth. The Trump campaign was unprecedented in its dishonesty; the fact that the lies didn’t exact a political price, that they even resonated with a large bloc of voters, doesn’t make them any less false. No, our inner cities aren’t war zones with record crime. No, we aren’t the highest-taxed nation in the world. No, climate change isn’t a hoax promoted by the Chinese.
So if you’re tempted to concede that the alt-right’s vision of the world might have some truth to it, don’t. Lies are lies, no matter how much power backs them up.
And once we’re talking about intellectual honesty, everyone needs to face up to the unpleasant reality that a Trump administration will do immense damage to America and the world. Of course I could be wrong; maybe the man in office will be completely different from the man we’ve seen so far. But it’s unlikely.
Unfortunately, we’re not just talking about four bad years. Tuesday’s fallout will last for decades, maybe generations.11/11/16 Read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/11/opinion/thoughts-for-the-horrified.html
9. Andrew Marantz: The Alt-Right Hails Its Victorious God-Emperor
Trump connected to the segment of the population that was prepared to believe that racism was realism, misogyny was locker-room talk, inconvenient facts were media myths, and viciousness was the new normal. Just as surely as he has redrawn the electoral map, he has radically altered the Overton window. No Presidential candidate before him had ever mocked a disabled reporter, or bragged about his penis size during a debate. What kept every other candidate before him from stooping to these tactics, presumably, was deference to social norms. But norms can be swept aside.
On Election Day, I stood outside a small Methodist church in Greensboro, North Carolina, that was serving as a polling place. Standing next to me, passing out flyers promoting a candidate for district-court judge, was a man named Larry, an African-American in his sixties. He made amiable small talk with everyone who passed, including people wearing pro-Trump T-shirts. “I know I don’t want that crazy man to be President, but I don’t have hate in my heart for anybody,” he said. Just before nightfall, a white man with a gray beard left the polls. On his way to the parking lot, he stopped in front of Larry and delivered an unsolicited monologue about why he had just cast his vote for Trump. “Bill Clinton has an illegitimate mulatto child—you know that, don’t you?” the man said. “That’s fine; I’m O.K. with mixed people, but I’m just saying—why doesn’t he talk about it?” The man mentioned George Wallace, and segregation, and the myriad pathologies he ascribed to “the inner city.” Larry looked at the pavement and didn’t say much. Eventually, the man got in his car and drove away. When he was gone, Larry said, “I’ve seen a lot in this state. I’ve known people whose kin got lynched. In the last twenty years, or thirty, you didn’t hear people saying the things that man said. These days, suddenly, they feel like they’re allowed to say it.” 11/12/16 Read more at http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-alt-right-hails-its-victorious-god-emperor
10. Dana Milbank: Will Donald Trump be Herbert Hoover all over again?
1928 was the last time a Republican president enjoyed anything like the majority Trump will have, particularly in the House.
And how did that work out for them?
Hoover took over in a time of general prosperity but stagnant wages and vast income inequality. Populists in Congress proposed dramatic increases in tariffs to help the struggling agricultural sector, the equivalent of today’s beleaguered blue-collar workers.
The proposal divided Republicans in Congress and Hoover before they produced the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, setting off retaliation, freezing international trade, contributing to the Great Depression and accelerating a ruinous cycle of nationalism around the world.
Hoover’s ghost should haunt the GOP right now. A populist, protectionist president has come to power at a time of long-depressed wages and vast inequality. He threatens to implement tariffs of 45 percent against China and 35 percent against Mexico, and he’s about to collide with free-traders and pro-business interests in his own party.
If they jettison Trump’s agenda and proceed with business as usual, they risk inflaming Trump’s already-furious followers. If they do what Trump has promised, there will be chaos as they pursue what amounts to a mission impossible: enacting a huge tax cut, making enormous spending increases on infrastructure and the military and cutting the debt in half — all without touching Social Security and Medicare.
He can leave supporters disillusioned, or he can keep his promises — and send us all back to 1928. 11/11/16 Read more at https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/will-donald-trump-be-herbert-hoover-all-over-again/2016/11/11/8e533600-a820-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html
11. Susan Grigsby: The triumph of ignorance
Even after a federal appeals court struck down the North Carolina’s outrageous voter-suppression law in July, saying that it targeted black voters “with almost surgical precision,” officials were scheming to work around it. On Monday, the state’s Republican Party issued a news release boasting that cutbacks in early voting hours reduced black turnout by 8.5 percent below 2012 levels, even as the number of white early voters increased by 22.5 percent.
Those probably all contributed. But the answer is probably simpler than any or all of those reasons. We lost because the American people really don’t give a shit. And half of those that do care don’t have a clue about policy—nor do they want to get one.
Out of 231,556,622 eligible voters
46.9% didn't vote
25.6% voted for Clinton
25.5% voted for Trump
1.7% voted for Johnson
A mere one-quarter of all eligible voters elected Donald Trump, while 75 percent either didn’t bother to vote or voted for someone else. Some comfort must be taken from the fact that of those who did vote, more voted for Hillary Clinton than for Donald Trump.
But what disturbs me more than the percentage of people who did not care enough to vote, since that is pretty normal, sadly, for our electorate, is the triumph of ignorance. 11/13/16 Read more at http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/13/1594658/-The-triumph-of-ignorance
12. Jonathan Chait: Citizens, United -- What should Democrats in Congress — and Barack Obama, and you — do now?
The Trump administration will make the last failed Republican presidency look like an age of reason. The United States has never elected a president so openly contemptuous of democratic norms. There’s no “So You’ve Elected a Bullying, Racist, Authoritarian Swindler As President“ pamphlet within easy reach. The loyal opposition faces an unusual paradox. What will almost certainly be a catastrophe for the Republican Party in the long run will also be a catastrophe for the United States much sooner. The threat posed by Trump requires a massive countermobilization of people and resources with the dual tasks of safeguarding the large-D Democratic Party and small-D democracy.
Notwithstanding his ability to appear reasonable from time to time, Trump has character traits that are consistent and long-standing. The post-election hope that his lifelong childlike attention span, monumental ego, obsession with dominance and vengeance, and greed verging on outright criminality will abate in his eighth decade is fanciful. More so the notion that the experience of enjoying electoral vindication against his critics, then ascending to the most powerful position in the world, will curtail these tendencies.
Trump’s election is one of the greatest disasters in American history. It is worth recalling, however, that history is punctuated with disasters, yet the country is in a better place now than it was a half-century ago, and a better place than a half-century before that, and so on. Despair is a counterproductive response. So is denial — an easy temptation in the wake of the inevitable postelection pleasantries and displays of respect needed to maintain the peaceful transfer of power. The proper response is steely resolve to wage the fight of our lives. 11/13/16 Read more at http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/how-the-loyal-opposition-will-work-in-trumps-america.html
13. Ryan Lizza: Steve Bannon Will Lead Trump’s White House
“I’m a Leninist,” Steve Bannon told a writer for The Daily Beast, in late 2013. “Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that’s my goal, too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today’s establishment.”*
At the time, Bannon was the executive chairman of Breitbart News, the far-right news site. When he became the C.E.O. of Donald Trump’s campaign, in August, he told the writer that he had no recollection of the conversation. On Sunday, Trump, in his first personnel decisions as President-elect, named Bannon as his chief strategist and senior counselor and Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee Chairman, his chief of staff.
Many observers have rightly focussed on Bannon’s interest in smashing the establishment. How will Bannon continue his crusade to defeat Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Priebus when he now needs them to pass Trump’s agenda? Despite Bannon’s hatred for Priebus, they worked closely together to elect Trump. Bannon believed it was an alliance of convenience, similar to Stalin and Churchill working together to defeat Hitler. I doubt Bannon will be as focussed on knocking off Republican leaders as he was when he was throwing rocks from the sidelines. You don’t actually have to destroy the establishment if you can force it to bend to your will. 11/16/16 Read more at http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/steve-bannon-will-lead-trumps-white-house
14. Jamelle Bouie: There’s No Such Thing as a Good Trump Voter
Whether Trump’s election reveals an “inherent malice” in his voters is irrelevant. What is relevant are the practical outcomes of a Trump presidency. Trump campaigned on state repression of disfavored minorities. He gives every sign that he plans to deliver that repression. This will mean disadvantage, immiseration, and violence for real people, people whose “inner pain and fear” were not reckoned worthy of many-thousand-word magazine feature stories. If you voted for Trump, you voted for this, regardless of what you believe about the groups in question. That you have black friends or Latino colleagues, that you think yourself to be tolerant and decent, doesn’t change the fact that you voted for racist policy that may affect, change, or harm their lives. And on that score, your frustration at being labeled a racist doesn’t justify or mitigate the moral weight of your political choice.
To treat Trump voters as presumptively innocent—even as they hand power to a demagogic movement of ignorance and racism—is to clear them of moral responsibility for whatever happens next, even if it’s violence against communities of color. Even if, despite the patina of law, it is essentially criminal. It is to absolve Trump’s supporters of any blame or any fault. Yes, they put a white nationalist in power. But the consequences? Well, it’s not what they wanted.
“One can be, indeed one must strive to become, tough and philosophical concerning destruction and death, for this is what most of mankind has been best at since we have heard of man,” wrote James Baldwin in his seminal work, The Fire Next Time. “But it is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent. It is the innocence which constitutes the crime.” We can hope Trump was bluffing about his promises. If not, then the next four years will be hard for the Americans he plans to target. What we cannot do is pretend this wasn’t a choice, that no one was responsible. 11/16/16 Read more at http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/11/donald_trump_s_pick_of_stephen_bannon
_means_white_nationalism_is_coming.html
