Meanwhile in Washington. pic.twitter.com/d7Pdqc8U7Q
— Nein. (@NeinQuarterly) August 18, 2017
I love this image from Spiegel Online. It’s been one hell of a week since all hell began to break loose in Charlottesville. Another weekend is coming up, and no doubt the neo-Nazis will try to do more damage.
Before even contemplating this weekend, let’s note a few things. The Presidential Committee on the Arts resigned en masse. Their letter is epic (and not just because the first letter of each paragraph forms the word resist). And contra the White House occupant, they broke up with him, not the other way around. Carl Icahn, of all people, has abandoned ship and will no longer advise the White House on regulatory matters. Organizations planning events at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort have abandoned those plans. Salvation Army and Komen are pretty right-wing. And even they are done, apparently. It’s okay, though. He’ll always have his Evangelical Advisory Board. Republican Jesus approves, apparently.
There is speculation that Trump is now a lame duck in office or has effectively abdicated the office. At minimum, he’s not going to get talent in cabinet positions. Poach Democratic Senators from red states? Fat chance. Some speculation early this month in Bloomberg that Sen. Manchin would get the nod for a cabinet post. It would be quite the coup. A GOP governor in WV would get to pick a Republican to take his place, thus reviving zombie Trumpcare, etc. Manchin has very publicly stated, “forget about it!”
Bannon got canned by the White House and landed immediately back at Breitbart. Weird times, folks. Weird times.
Right-wing organized rallies are happening this weekend, in Boston and elsewhere. We’ll want to keep a close eye on that. It’s likely that this time around the neo-Nazis (forget the alt-right label) will get outnumbered significantly by folks representing a variety of ideologies yet holding one very important thing in common: a sense of basic human decency.
Perhaps I’ll update this diary, or more likely will post links in the comments as time permits. Booman should be back soon and as much as he may be disgusted by the US political climate, it will be good to see him back.