Randall Kennedy has some.
I actually think -- and I'm probably naive -- that many of the squishes, including even some Republican politicians, who initially decided to go with the flow and pretend everything was normal and they would try to figure out ways to use the famously unfocused and flighty orange orangutan for their own purposes are now starting to realize that he is even crazier than he seemed and touching him in any way is extremely dangerous.
In other words, it's possible that the Senate won't go along with handing the country over to Vladimir Putin, and once the Republicans contemplate the likely political cost of doing all the stuff they have been promising to do for the past 8 years they may go a bit soft. Where we are definitely screwed is on the environment including the fate of you know, the planet, but we'll still be around after 4 years to change that around. Voter suppression is definitely resistible, as is intimidation of dissent and of the press. Our political culture has a much stronger reserve of democratic norms than Germany or Italy did in 1939. Robert Kuttner checks off the parallels to fascism (see section 2 of this long essay) but noting how Trumpism is like fascism leaves out how the historical time and place is different. He concludes with more or less what I am saying:
An astute observation is ascribed to Mark Twain: It is easier to fool people than to convince them they’ve been fooled. True enough, but the contradictions are piling up. Even hardcore Trump voters are starting to experience buyer’s remorse.We can place our hope in his incompetence. As long as we can avoid a ruinous war.
15 comments:
Your posts are always entertaining.
However, it's misguided to believe that half of your countrymen are horrible people. And that's who voted for President-Elect Trump.
How can you demand respect for President Obama if you won't respect Trump?
By your standards I, too, could call Obama an orangutan.
President black orangutan.
Does that play well with you?
A reply to the ugly, small little shriveled spirit that writes as JenBob:
1) Cervantes's posts may be "entertaining" to you--the way the disabled person famously was to your man, Trump--but only because you seem incapable of laughter, joy, or actually feeling your feelings. Cervantes's posts are informed, scholarly, and written in plain English. Why does an apparent misanthrope like yourself waste time on this site? You can never hope to comprehend, much less understand, the words of a human infinitely more enlightened than yourself.
2) Cervantes never wrote anything about half of his countrymen--much less their being "horrible people." That is all your paranoia and hatred. Grow up.
3) You don't know who voted for Trump. You are not acquainted with them.
4) You are obviously a racist and have found a childish way to express your hatred--which is like a mental illness, the way you project your self-hatred onto an entire ethnic group--when Cervantes was obviously referring to the Trumpster's hair, and not labeling all caucasians. I consider racism a form of mental illness, so you are probably--like Trump--mentally ill, and you are to be forgiven, but not excused.
5) Although I do not consider your comment worth replying to, other people read this site and I felt compelled to write. You are obviously incapable of truly caring about--or perceiving--anyone else's point of view. You share this malady with Trump. You are an incomplete human, like Trump: incapable of laughter, joy, love, and true emotion. I pity you. If you'd like to respond to me, you're wasting your time. I have nothing else to say to you, now or ever.
PS, to JenBob:
You also pulled out of your ass the part about Cervantes "demanding respect for Obama." He did not do that anywhere in his column, and that comment is another invention of your decrepit mind. True respect is not demanded; it is simply given to those who have earned it. You are not among that number.
Obviously it is possible to respect some people and not others. Our visitor proves once again what we all know -- a major source of Trump's appeal is racism, and his most enthusiastic supporters are racists. I don't respect racism, and I know that Donald Trump is horrid, vile, repulsive person,and an ignorant idiot. Barack Obama is smart, dignified, and devoted to his country. So yes, I differ in my respect for them.
Mr. Cervantes,
I would never call either President Obama or President-Elect Donald Trump an orangutan. My post was to point out the obvious double standard that I believe you, and other liberals, promote.
And if I don't agree with the double standard...well..I'm just a 'racist'.
This kind of rhetoric allows you to dismiss anyone who disagrees with you and prevents you from understanding why Secretary Hillary Clinton lost the election.
Your friend,
JenBob
Orangutans are, in fact, orange. Just so we are clear about that. And I have absolutely no respect for Donald J. Trump, who is a malignant narcissist, and ignorant fool, a racist, a misogynist, a bully, and a profound danger to humanity.
Sen. Clinton did not lose the election, she won it by almost 3 million votes. Trump becomes president because of the anachronism of the electoral college. And if you voted for him, you are at least tolerant of racism.
It appears that you're more interested in shutting down conversation by name-calling than actually discussing issues.
I have asked many liberals to define 'racism'. None seem to be able to do so. I don't expect you are able either. To do so would limit the utility of the pejorative.
So, I'll just believe that you are not a terrible person, but simply angry and misguided. And I will continue to enjoy your writings.
"Anybody not willing to accept the results of an election is a danger to democracy." ---Hillary Clinton
Definition of racism (from Merriam Webster dictionary)--we all know how to use dictionaries, correct?
1
: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2
a : a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles
b : a political or social system founded on racism
3
: racial prejudice or discrimination
Amazing...someone who starts a conversation by calling a sitting president a name with a racial slur accuses the host of a blog of "shutting down conversation by name-calling than actually discussing issues"!
The hypocrisy and complete lack of self-awareness on the part of Republicans is beyond breathtaking. "There are none so blind as they who will not see."
Look in the mirror! Not outward...INWARD. That is the only way you can hope to awake...you are not worthy of carrying on a conversation that is devoid of spirituality.
PS That is to say, you cannot carry on a conversation till you are willing to shine the harshly critical eye you shine on others...on YOURSELF.
OK, thanks for that definition. Here's the problem you may have.
NAACP is a race-based organization promoting once race over others. (2b)
"Affirmative Action" is political and also promotes one race over another. (2a)
Federal and local statutes embracing race-based hiring practices. (2a)
Congressional Black Caucus, LaRaza....the list is endless.
If you want to pull back the curtain a little and see if something is racist or not, just switch races and see how it sounds to you.
Congressional White Caucus, White Lives Matter, NAAWP...all that sound OK to you? If not, then you see the double standard and the crock argument made by the left in the name of "equality".
I don't mind if you think certain racial groups need a leg up. That's a legitimate argument. Just don't pee on my leg and then tell me it's raining when you talk about racism.
I'd also like to add that a whole lot of people see this the way that I do and went to the polls on Nov 8 thinking they've pretty much had enough of the BS.
Okay,so you're a white supremacist. No problem. The problem is no one's been discriminating against white people. You must be blind.
Have a nice life.
One final note to "JenBob." I don't have time to get into a jousting match with you. I can't help you. And you do need help. You obviously have a victim mentality and are living in a world of your own construction (like Donald Trump--global warming doesn't exist, etc. Well, Donald, the conclusions about global warming are based on the same scientific inquiry that brought us things like computers and telephones and penicillin. So I don't think you, Donald, should have access to antibiotics the next time you contract VD).
I would suggest, JenBob, that you watch some Richard Pryor videos. And if there is still a Jen in JenBob, make love to your wife, if she's still around. Get out into the world. You're living in a fantasy--a world where "racism" doesn't exist--as if the slave trade never happened, as if black people can walk into stores and not be treated with suspicion just for being there, as if Tamir Rice was justifiably killed--because no white twelve-year-old playing with a gun would have been shot.
You need love. Get a therapist. Get some black friends and hang out with them and discover the world that exists that you know nothing about. I can see that you are, deep down, a caring person, but one who just can't help acting like an asshole.
I wish you luck. I really do. Donald Trump is beyond redemption but you are not :-)
Goodbye.
"Okay,so you're a white supremacist."
Thank you for your response. It's about what I expected.
Anyone that disagrees with you is a horrible person and although you say you don't have the time to address the issues, you seem to have plenty of time to rail personally on people who simply politically disagree with you.
You will be a busy, busy person.
Here's Harvard discriminating against yellow people just because of the color of their skin.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/03/elite
You down with this, too?
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