As the Trump Era presses on, the weeks get longer and more dispiriting. When we get to the end, it’s hard to remember what outrage was central at the beginning. And that’s why we need dark humor:
I hope Trump can get in some golf this weekend, he deserves a break after a busy week insulting war widows and joking about hanging gays
— (((Jeff Tiedrich))) (@jefftiedrich) October 20, 2017
I have been shying away from documenting the atrocities lately, and trying to maintain some focus on the actual grinding of the organs of government, particularly the legislative process. This is at least partially a defense mechanism, because it allows me to focus on areas where the Trump administration is failing.
There are only so many ways that we can write about Trump’s character flaws. Eventually it feels like beating a dead horse. Anyone who doesn’t already get it probably isn’t going to get it until this presidency screws up their life in some fairly direct way. I can’t make that happen, and I wouldn’t want to if I could. So, I go looking for my audience less from people I consider persuadable and more from people who are curious about the kind of damage this administration can do or, perhaps, not do as a result of their cluelessness and incompetence.
I see this is as a better use of my time than writing one more story about how Trump is golfing while issues x,y, and z go unaddressed. At the same time, it’s very important that the atrocities are documented in intricate detail by someone. I respect the people who are willing to do this in real time, all day, every day. I took on that responsibility during the Bush years and I’m still amazed that I could write five to eight stories a day, every day for the last four years of Bush’s presidency that were virtually all about some new outrage.
I can’t do that anymore, so I’ll leave it to others who are perhaps younger, with more stamina and more intact faith in the American electorate.
Once again, I am relieved that it’s Friday. Now I can avert my eyes from this catastrophe, however briefly, and let my frustration level subside a little below the overflow point.
It’s going to be a grind to get our nation out of this mess, if we can get out of it. We’re all going to have to do our little part. And get rest where we can find it.
Thank you for focusing on the Congress and the wheels that are moving while Trump hogs center stage.
Those obscured activities are the most likely places from which real damaging actions can come. Trump, by himself, cannot do anything but yell, swear, and order. It is enablers like Gen. Kelly, his cabinet, his staff, and most importantly the Congress that are where the really bad results will come from.
So far that bunch is behaving as it’s business as usual. And the Congressional Democrats are slowly drifting in that direction (Alexander-Murray).
Meanwhile plans to win in 2018 are going to have to be made at the local and state level. The national committees are still in the midst of a purge that at best will distract them and at worst split the party at the national level.
In Murray’s (and other Dems) defense, the best has to be made of a bad situation. If healthcare can be preserved for segments of our population that would lose it if left to Trump alone, Dems have to work with the devil.
Are they normal? Hell no. But even if the House flips in ’18, I don’t see the Senate having enough votes to convict on an impeachment.
The bed is made for now. Victories in the interim will be small and few but what else can you do until there a elections?
What to do? Prepare to contest and win Republican districts.
Unfortunately in Virginia , IT’S getting to close to home
http://www.nbc12.com/story/36631483/video-shows-middle-school-students-simulating-sex-yelling-racist
-rants
Thank you, thank you, a thousand times, thank you!!! I wish more people would get to the point where they recognize their reporting is beating a dead horse. I know there is some importance to continuing to point out the minute by minute assault on sanity that is this administation and its associates. There is a role in that. But it seems like this has become the default fallback position for almost everyone. And much like I recognized the impact on my mental well being in 2001 of watching video over and over and over of planes flying into buildings, I also recognize that there is a psychological toll being taken by this constant reportage on every jot and tittle of Trump lunacy. I simply have to stop looking at it. And I largely have, as much as everyone around me will allow.
And now, a beautiful weekend is upon us here. And I am preparing to run off and gaze at the beautiful fall colors, and hopefully capture some memorable photos. And maybe tonight the Orionid meteor shower might grace me with bit of cosmic wonder. There are still a lot of good things to feed my soul. I need every bit of it I can find.
I hear you . I just walked past the TV and heard Sanders say it was highly inappropriate to criticize Kelly since he is a four star general. Guess Jake and CNN will have to go to save my sanity.
Said that?
A wild guess here: Bernie (if in fact you meant Bernie) maybe said it was inappropriate to criticize Kelly, not because he is a four-star general, but because he is a “gold star father”?
My wild guess kinda makes sense in light of current/recent events. Not finding much sense (as in believability) in your account.
But who knows?
Wrong Sanders. Sarah Huckabee. Not Bernie.
Bet it makes more sense to you now. 😉
Thanks. Indeed it does. Well, as much as anything these days.
Thank you for the service you provide to your fellow citizens. I’m always grateful for your trenchant analysis, even on the occasions when I may disagree with your conclusions.
I teach “Social Studies,” a bastardized term I dislike, mostly civics and economics, to teenagers. Many of them are recent immigrants. Most are non-white. Over half are on some form of government assistance. Even when they drive me crazy, their honesty and energy makes me feel young.
The outrages of the Era of Trump have largely generated two reactions among my students. A few (usually the good students) are highly motivated by the latest outrage. They want to express themselves, and to be involved in the “resistance.”
The vast majority are completely apathetic. They are enthralled by their electronic devices and their social media. As serious studies can attest, many would rather sit at home on their beds and interact virtually, rather than go out with friends.
The good news is they’re having less sex at a young age. The bad news is – many prefer to stay at home and use porn rather than meet a potential boyfriend or girlfriend. They laugh hysterically at my stories of my own youth – sneaking out of the house, and sneaking into parties, just to meet some girl. They find this to be a terrible waste of time. Real, soulful interactions among friends and romantic partners is rare for these kids.
Trump is just one more player in the virtual world these kids inhabit. In an environment where entertainment is all tied to gaming, or to porn, Trump is just more clickbait. They have no perception of how our institutions are being destroyed. They have neither the attention span, nor the critical thinking skills, to grasp any of it.
Let me be clear: I love my students, and I love my country. But an education system with low standards, coupled with the new virtual landscape, has given us the perfect storm of ignorance and apathy.
I’m glad I lived when we walked on the Moon, and explored the planets, and liberally funded basic science of all kinds. I’m also proud of our fight against fascism in the 40s, and against communism in the second half of the last century.
But “all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.” It’s over for the America I grew up in.
I’m going to keep doing the best I can by my wife, my kids, and my students. Where I think there’s a chance of winning, I’ll make a stand to keep our community a place where learning, culture, and ethics are still respected. But I’m increasingly expecting a new barbarism. In that environment, demagogues will flourish, and we’ll continue our slide towards being considered another failed state.
Now, enjoy your fall weekend! I’m going out to find some fresh apple cider doughnuts and a good cup of coffee!
You just made me realize something I hadn’t really contemplated. While I grew up in the turbulence of the 60’s and 70’s, I had the good fortune to grow up in a time when, in large part, science and intellectual pursuits were respected and looked on as things to which serious minded people on both sides of the political aisle should aspire. Only those on the fringes looked on these things as negatives. We now have nearly half the country, and one of our two political parties, who look on them as just nothing more than a conspiracy among elites to push them into extinction.
Makes me realize how far we have fallen, just in my lifetime.
When I was growing up adults were worried about how much time us kids were spending in front of that new-fangled thing called a television set. “Go out and play” we were told. But really it was just a baby-sitting device. Kept us out of trouble. Screen time is screen time.
I suspect the ratio of students in your class who are engaged and learning about our country and government: to kids who could care less, is equal to the larger population of adults.
Only 30% of registered voters turned in their ballots this past primary in my county. So if you have 3 out of 10 students who are engaged, you’re doing about what I’d expect. Americans are apathetic in general.
Not to mention that it’s the geezers (I’m old enough to say that) who fucked the country over last November, not the kids.
Yet at the nazi rally’s it’s mainly a sea of young males.
.
Amy Siskind has been doing yeoman’s work documenting the atrocities.
https:/medium.com@Amy_Siskind
This will be week 49. I read the fresh list every Sunday. Every now and then go back to an old one just to get more depressed. It is not the good Nazis, NFL knee, Gold Star Family, or whatever major outrage of the day/week. It is the stuff going on behind the scenes with little or no fanfare that scares the shit out of me.
The GOP has pretty much made clear that protecting the nation and the Constitution is not their priority, and there is nothing short of murder, and maybe not even that, that would move them to impeach this president who is obviously unfit and is a danger to the nation and the world. Not to sound defeatist but given that the democrats are not an effective opposition, I’m settling in for the long haul, holding out for 2020 and steeling myself for 2024.
Trump gave his supporters “their country back,” and their idea of making America great again is a resurgence and normalization of violence, racism, bigotry, ignorance and hatred. They embrace and normalize remnants of two of the nations greatest enemies, the confederacy and Nazism, while supported by a President who exhibits behavior that no parent in their right mind would want their child to emulate. Its as if we’ve entered a new Dark Age.
The best thing we can do is overwhelm them at the polls, and not take for granted their ability to use voter suppression schemes to suppress the vote.
We gotta hang in there, be smart and don’t back down. And let each on reach one!
You speak directly for me Martin. I don’t want to bother worrying about Trump’s latest expression of narcissistic personality disorder. I want to see him golfing full time. The more time golfing the better! The US treasury should build him a new golf course, allow him to design it, as long as he promises not to come into work for 1 month.
Mike Pence is horrible too, but he’s not totally insane enough to accidentally start a war with North Korea because he’s just terminally stupid.
I hope you will continue talking about the legislative agenda, and forget about the latest Trump outrage de jour. 37% to 40% of the population of the U.S. is clinically insane and will back this moron right through the gates of Hell.
Apparently this twisted love is mostly due to the fact that he insults and injures black and brown people whenever possible, and especially if they are the victims of some natural disaster and he can look down on them. The Base loves that.
For those of you still hankering for a daily roundup of this administration’s abominations:
https:/whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com
I love coming to this site; it’s one of the most insightful places I visit on a daily basis. But alas, I too am old, and would like to find some additional younger and newer sources with which to soothe my outrage. We’ve all got our favorite sites, but what are the new go-to sites going to be? Who are the new Booman, Atrios, Digby, TPM, LGM? Or is this a medium whose time has come and gone, leaving only excellent analysis by the few remaining stalwarts?
Booman writes:
Exactly, Booman.
But…not even the stupidest person would continue beating a dead gorse for an extended period of time. It’s tiring, it stinks, absolutely nothing changes and there are so many more interesting mistakes to pursue.
Plus, in this case it’s almost like beating ether an immortal horse or perhaps a virtual one.
So…STOP, fer chrissakes!!!
You’re wearing yourself out.
I personally like the 25th Amendment approach.
I mean…it certainly wouldn’t be stretching the truth very far, would it?
I see the Mueller thing dragging on and on and on…for years. (Everybody’s making good money, for one thing. The DC bureaucracy in plain view.) Every day that passes where nothing comes of the investigation is another day that Trump gets closer to his goal of essentially disbanding the government and doing whatever he fucking well pleases. One winnable, hypeable war will be all he needs, and if he misjudges we face possible nuclear annihilation.
Sure, Pence would be a drag, but he lacks the charisma…or the native talent, for that mater…to pull off Trump’s many feats of public legerdemain.
Barring that, we may have to depend on the The Generals (Shudder!!!) to back up their opinion of the military as a superior One Percent and take him down. Or of course wait for the CIA (Shudder even more!!) to pull off another assassination.
You can bet on the following…both groups have people sitting in secure rooms, war-gaming and planning exactly those things.
Watch.
When they get tired of the failing Mueller shenanigans?
Watch.
AG
A solid take. I’m a lil more pessimistic than you. The republicans ain’t dumping him unless they suffer a blowout in 2018 and I’m not entirely convinced the dems want him gone yet. The CIA could fuck up a two car funeral and too many generals are solidly team Trump. Trump and the corresponding shitshow are ours until at least 2020.
You write:
Do you honestly think that this so-called “Republic’ will last that long in its current state?
I do not.
AG