The Conversation -- January 13, 2025
Alana Richer & Eric Tucker of the AP: “The Justice Department can publicly release its investigative report on ... Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference case, [Judge Aileen Cannon] said Monday. But a temporary injunction barring the immediate release of the report remains in effect until Tuesday, and ... defense lawyers may seek to challenge it all the way up to the Supreme Court.... She set a hearing for Friday on whether the department can release to lawmakers the volume on the case that accused Trump of hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left the White House in 2021. The department has said it will not publicly disclose that volume as long as criminal proceedings against two of Trump’s co-defendants remain pending.”
Aamer Madhani & Zeke Miller of the AP: “Incoming senior Trump administration officials have begun questioning career civil servants who work on the White House National Security Council about who they voted for in the 2024 election, their political contributions and whether they have made social media posts that could be considered incriminating by ... Donald Trump’s team, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter. At least some of these nonpolitical employees have begun packing up their belongings since being asked about their loyalty to Trump — after they had earlier been given indications that they would be asked to stay on at the NSC in the new administration, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive personnel matters. Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, in recent days publicly signaled his intention to get rid of all nonpolitical appointees and career intelligence officials serving on the NSC by Inauguration Day to ensure the council is staffed with those who support Trump’s agenda.”
Meredith Hill of Politico: “A group of House Republicans and ... Donald Trump talked about tying wildfire aid to a debt ceiling increase Sunday night, as the fires spreading across huge swaths of Los Angeles are estimated to become one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. Of the nearly two dozen House Republicans who attended the Sunday dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where this option was discussed, several are caucus leaders and appropriators with major influence in upcoming budget reconciliation and government funding negotiations.” MB: This is sort of ironic-laced cruelty -- as Krugman points out in the post linked below, the debt would be a lot higher if not for Californians' contributions to the federal coffers. ~~~
~~~ "Bumbling Callousness." Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice: Donald Trump "and his minions are already using the fires to score cheap political points while Americans suffer. It’s an ominous reminder of, and prelude to, Trump’s mob boss approach to disaster relief in particular and to the presidency in general." Berlatsky reminds us that Trump's reactions to disasters -- as occurred when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and the pandemic hit the whole country -- could not be worse: "a cocktail of incompetence and malice." Definitely worth a read.
Meredith Hill of Politico: “A group of House Republicans and ... Donald Trump talked about tying wildfire aid to a debt ceiling increase Sunday night, as the fires spreading across huge swaths of Los Angeles are estimated to become one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. Of the nearly two dozen House Republicans who attended the Sunday dinner at Mar-a-Lago, where this option was discussed, several are caucus leaders and appropriators with major influence in upcoming budget reconciliation and government funding negotiations.” MB: This is sort of ironic-laced cruelty -- as Krugman points out in the post linked below, the debt would be a lot higher if not for Californians' contributions to the federal coffers. ~~~
~~~ "Bumbling Callousness." Noah Berlatsky of Public Notice: Donald Trump "and his minions are already using the fires to score cheap political points while Americans suffer. It’s an ominous reminder of, and prelude to, Trump’s mob boss approach to disaster relief in particular and to the presidency in general." Berlatsky reminds us that Trump's reactions to disasters -- as occurred when Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico and the pandemic hit the whole country -- could not be worse: "a cocktail of incompetence and malice." Definitely worth a read.
Brian Stelter of CNN: “Veteran opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin is becoming the latest in a long list of Washington Post figures to leave the troubled institution. Rubin is partnering with former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen and launching something new: a startup publication called The Contrarian. The startup’s tagline, 'Not owned by anybody,' is a pointed reference to billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos and other moguls who, in Rubin’s view, have 'bent the knee' to ... Donald Trump.... Rather than anti-Trump, the founders describe their venture as pro-democracy. They said they have already enlisted about two dozen contributors, including people who played prominent roles in debunking 2020 election denialism and investigating the January 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol.” ~~~
~~~ Jennifer Rubin of the Contrarian, a Substack site: “Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission — defending, protecting and advancing democracy. The Washington Post’s billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to The Post’s mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence. I cannot justify remaining at The Post. Jeff Bezos and his fellow billionaires accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy — Donald Trump — at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy’s survival and capacity to thrive. I therefore have resigned from The Post, effective today.” Thanks to RAS for the link.
Dr. Paul Offit in a New York Times op-ed: “The news media labels [label!] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a 'vaccine skeptic.' He’s not. I’m an actual vaccine skeptic. In fact, everyone who serves with me on the Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisory committee is a vaccine skeptic. Pharmaceutical companies must prove to us that a vaccine is safe, that it’s effective.... Mr. Kennedy, on the other hand, is a vaccine cynic, failing to accept studies that refute his beliefs. He claims that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism despite more than a dozen studies performed in seven countries on three continents involving thousands of children showing that it doesn’t. He has claimed that 'there is no vaccine that is safe and effective.' (Childhood vaccines have prevented more than one million deaths and 32 million hospitalizations over the past three decades). He has encouraged people not to vaccinate their babies.... [And more.] Given the lack of appropriate guardrails that would normally prevent an anti-vaccine activist, science denialist and conspiracy theorist from heading the country’s most important public health agency, it’s a dangerous time to be a child in the United States.”
Noah Weiland of the New York Times: “Melania Trump ... said in an interview broadcast on Monday that she planned to live and work full time in the White House during Donald J. Trump’s second term, addressing speculation about whether she would be a regular presence in Washington. Mrs. Trump told 'Fox and Friends' that she would travel as needed to New York, her longtime home where she stayed regularly during Mr. Trump’s first term, and his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, which has become Mr. Trump’s official state of residence. 'When I need to be in New York, I will be in New York,' she said. 'When I need to be in Palm Beach, I will be in Palm Beach. But my first priority is, you know, to be a mom, to be a first lady, to be a wife.'” MB: I dunno. Doesn't sound too definitive to me. At least we know Donald comes after Barron & the blood-red Christmas decor.
Jonathan Chait of the Atlantic considers why Bidenomics or "post-neoliberalism" was not enough to give either Biden or Harris a win over the Bloated Buffoon. Thanks to laura h. for the gift link. MB: I tend to agree with Ken W.'s commentary below on Chait's theory.
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Quack, Quack. Brian Beutler: “After two months of watching American corporate and opposition-party officials 'obey in advance' or, worse, choose to align with Donald Trump for selfish reasons, it’s nice to see leaders in foreign countries recognize something that hasn’t really sunk in among U.S. elites: Donald Trump is a lame duck.... I suspect this is why he and his fellow trolls suggest he may seek an unconstitutional third term — it’s not just to trigger the libs, it’s also to paper over this definitional vulnerability.” Thanks to RAS for the link.
Marie: I didn't bother to read this article yesterday, but fortunately laura h. did: ~~~
~~~ Billionaires v. Us. Theodore Schleifer & Madeleine Ngo of the New York Times: “An unpaid group of billionaires, tech executives and some disciples of Peter Thiel, a powerful Republican donor, are preparing to take up unofficial positions in the U.S. government in the name of cost-cutting.... On the eve of Mr. Trump’s presidency, the structure of DOGE is still amorphous and closely held. People involved in the operation say that secrecy and avoiding leaks is paramount, and much of its communication is conducted on Signal, the encrypted messaging app.... DOGE is also expected to have an office in the Office of Management and Budget, and officials have also considered forming a think tank outside the government in the future.... The DOGE team, including those paid engineers, is largely working out of a glass building in SpaceX’s downtown office located a few blocks from the White House.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: This is not about the proverbial $400 hammer. This is about slashing & eliminating programs & whole departments we all depend upon to assist us in our daily lives -- whether we realize it or not. It isn't about reducing your taxes, either; it's about reducing theirs. Unfortunately, besides their general disdain for all Americans, Musk himself has a specific hatred of certain Americans: ~~~
~~~ Pranshu Verma, et al., of the Washington Post (Jan. 10): Elon “Musk has posted or replied to more than 80 posts about the fire, many of which pinned the devastation on liberal policies, in some cases based on false claims or racist ideas, according to a Washington Post analysis. He downplayed the role of climate change, placing blame on individual female firefighters of color and lesbian firefighters, including posting their names and faces. He boosted an hour-long propaganda video by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that claimed the fires were 'part of a larger globalist plot' to cause the collapse of the United States; Musk replied simply, 'True.' And he repeatedly amplified claims that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s investments in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs cost lives by wasting money that could have been spent on disaster response, suggesting that the destruction could have been mitigated if more White men had been retained.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: It should be abundantly clear by now that in one week, the federal government will be controlled by people who are insane megalomaniacs. “Stable geniuses?” Nowhere to be found. ~~~
~~~ Maegan Vazquez, et al., of the Washington Post: “Instead of offering words of sympathy or pledges of rebuilding [after the devastating Los Angeles fires, Donald] Trump, his billionaire ally Elon Musk and top Republicans have spent much of the past several days blaming Democratic leadership in the state for the crisis, exacerbating the already high tensions between the Republicans set to soon be in charge of the federal response and the mostly Democratic officials on the ground. Many of Trump and Musk’s attacks are rooted in misinformation, but their responses to the ongoing destruction could pose a political risk to incumbent California Democrats, who are already seeking investigations and accountability efforts over the fires.... 'I called for him to come out, take a look for himself. We want to do it in the spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist,' [California Gov. Gavin] Newsom said of his invitation to Trump in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s 'Meet the Press.' When NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff asked Newsom if he had received a response from Trump, he answered, 'No.'”
Immigrants Are Building the United States. León Krauze, in a Washington Post op-ed: “Rebuilding [Los Angeles & surrounding communities] will be a monumental task fraught with uncertainty.... One thing, however, is certain: the rebuilding of Los Angeles will rely heavily on immigrants.... According to a 2020 report by the American Immigration Council, 43 percent of construction workers in California are immigrants. Among these, a majority are of Mexican origin, reflecting a long history of Mexican labor contributing to the city’s development.... According to the National Association of Home Builders, 31 percent of workers in construction trades nationwide are foreign born.... As Trump takes power, vowing to implement punitive immigration policies to vigorously go after the undocumented, it is crucial to acknowledge who truly builds America.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I live in New Hampshire, which is nearly as far away from Mexico as one can get & still be in the U.S. I recently had a house built here. I would say that a third of the people who worked on the house were Hispanic. As Krauze suggests, 100% of the plasterers & roofers were Hispanic. I didn't ask where they came from; I just tried to remember my high-school Spanish.
MAGA Civil War. Now Is the Winter of Their Discontent. Chris Michael of the Guardian: “In an escalation of discontent among the highest-profile far-right followers of Donald Trump, his former adviser Steve Bannon has called Trump’s newest favorite, Elon Musk, 'racist' and a 'truly evil guy', pledging to 'take this guy down' and kick him out of the Maga movement. In an interview with the Corriere della Sera newspaper in Italy, excerpts of which were published this weekend by Breitbart, Bannon criticised Musk’s embrace of some forms of immigration and vowed to ensure that Musk does not have top-level access to the White House.... Bannon further widened his aim to attack Musk’s fellow tech giants Peter Thiel and David Sacks for having South African heritage. 'He [Musk] should go back to South Africa,' Bannon said. 'Why do we have South Africans, the most racist people on earth, white South Africans, we have them making any comments at all on what goes on in the United States?'” A Washington Post story is here.
Cagan Koc of Bloomberg, reprinted by Yahoo!: "Europe’s largest pension fund sold its entire €571 million ($585 million) stake in Tesla Inc. in the third quarter partly due to disagreement with Elon Musk’s remuneration package.... The fund also considered costs, return and responsible investment requirements in its decision to sell its investment. The news was first reported by Dutch newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad, which also cited poor working conditions at the company among ABP’s reasons to ditch Tesla."
Lauren Irwin of the Hill: “Vice President-elect JD Vance said people who 'committed violence' on Jan. 6, 2021, 'obviously' shouldn’t be pardoned.... 'I think it’s very simple, look, if you protested peacefully on Jan. 6, and you had Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice treat you like a gang member, you should be pardoned,' Vance said during an interview on 'Fox News Sunday.... If you committed violence on that day, obviously you shouldn’t be pardoned.... And there’s a little bit of a gray area there.' Vance said he and Trump are 'very much committed' to the equal administration of law. He added that they believe there were people who were 'prosecuted unfairly.... We need to rectify that.'...” ~~~
~~~ Marie: It seems unlikely that JayDee is going rogue here, so I'd guess he's walking back Trump's pardon promises. This is fine because reneging on campaign promises is what Trump does. In that sense, he is consistent. The big back-pedal came when he intimated he could not, after all, reduce the price of g-r-o-c-e-r-i-e-s. Nor will he end the war between Russia & Ukraine on Day One. For the most part, the country's best hope is that Trump does not keep his draconian promises, because the promises are either (a) really bad for ordinary Americans, or (b) the ways he would try to keep them would be really bad for ordinary Americans.
Peter Wade of Rolling Stone, republished by Yahoo!: “Americans who are sick and dying should mostly blame themselves for their health condition. That’s what Sen. Roger Marshall said as Republicans are poised to cut health care access and increase costs for millions of Americans. 'Look, about 70 percent of your health outcomes are determined by you,' Marshall said Sunday on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures. 'It’s determined by what you eat and what you’re surrounded by. By the time you come to my office as a doctor, I can impact maybe 10 or 20 percent of your health outcomes.' Marshall did not cite where he got those percentage figures from. A former OBGYN, he is a leader of the newly-formed Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Caucus. He has said the caucus will work with Dr. Mehmet Oz and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. ... to 'improv[e] health outcomes by prioritizing nutrition, providing access to affordable, nutrient-dense foods, and focusing on primary care availability to tackle the root causes of chronic diseases.'”
Ben Blanchet of the Huffington Post: “Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) on Friday sounded off about his 'problem' with California’s policies as he threatened to withhold disaster relief aid amid the devastating Los Angeles wildfires. 'If they want the money, then there should be consequences where they have to change their policies,' said Davidson in an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.... Davidson [took] issue with the state’s forest management.... Right-wing media figures have recently pushed misleading claims that California’s 'bad forest management' is to blame for the fires while ignoring how climate change impacts measures to prevent the spread of fires.... Davidson’s policy 'problem' adds to a right-wing blame game for the recent Los Angeles fires which includes everything from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to — in Trump’s case — California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wanting to protect an 'essentially worthless fish' species, the delta smelt.” ~~~
~~~ Marie: Yes, if lazy liberal lesbians are not willing to get out & sweep California's forest floors, then they have only themselves to blame when their houses burn down. ~~~
~~~ Paul Krugman on Substack: "One of the unwritten rules of American politics is that it’s OK to sneer at and smear our big cities and the people who live in them, while it’s an outrageous act of disrespect to suggest that there’s anything wrong with the Heartland. And many people believe the smears.... These delusions of dystopia ... can have real consequences. As you read this, much of America’s second-largest city is an actual hellscape. But many politicians, from the president-elect on down, are showing zero sympathy, insisting that California — which in its own way gets trash-talked as much as New York —somehow brought this disaster on itself by being too liberal, too woke, or something. And this lack of sympathy may translate into refusal to provide adequate disaster aid.... This ... seems like a good time to remind people just how much the Golden State contributes to American greatness.... California is ... an economic and technological powerhouse; without it America would be a lot poorer and weaker than it is. Most narrowly, at a time when Donald Trump is making nonsensical claims that America is subsidizing Canada via our bilateral trade deficit, California is literally subsidizing the rest of the United States, red states in particular, through the federal budget.... California, in particular, pays a lot in federal taxes because it’s so much richer and more productive than most of the rest of America." Nice musical coda.
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Israel's Wars. Reuters, republished by Yahoo!: "U.S. President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the White House said, as U.S. officials race to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20. Biden and Netanyahu discussed efforts underway to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining hostages there, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders spoke by telephone.... 'We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done,' [Biden's national security advisor Jake] Sullivan said, 'and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside.'” ~~~
~~~ Marie: I hope I'm wrong, but my guess is that this will be a repeat of January 20, 1981, when Iran waited to release U.S. hostages until a few minutes after Ronald Reagan assumed the presidency, even as it honored an agreement made under Jimmy Carter's presidency. Bibi will not likely give Biden's team any credit for coddling him for more than a year & he'll thank Trump for his support. ~~~
~~~ Here's the White House's readout of the phone call.
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Reader Comments (12)
Jonathan Chait, in The Atlantic, considers reasons for T****'s win.
Maybe It Was Never About the Factory Jobs
"As recently as this past fall, the Biden administration and many of its supporters continued to insist that his post-neoliberal policies constituted a genuine revolution in American politics and economic life—a return to the Democratic Party’s New Deal–era identity as the champion of the working class.
That conviction helps explain why Biden felt entitled to a second term and why, once he finally abandoned his candidacy, he chose to pass the baton to his vice president rather than an outsider who could more credibly distance themselves from his politically toxic record.
....
One of Biden’s final gambits to retain the nomination was a vow, apparently influenced by Sanders, to expand Social Security benefits and eliminate medical debt during the first 100 days of his second term—as if pushing the 'Populist' button even harder would finally cause the public to wake up and realize all the positive change that Biden had wrought."
Thanks, Laura, for the Atlantic link
I think Chait is right, but not as usefully so as I would have wished.
He makes a good case that it is not just the economy that drives voters, but he does not say clearly what does.
He omits the psychological factors of fear, envy and resentment, for instance.
Like others have, I would also note the reaction formations that drive American politics, most often away from something we didn't like, not toward anything in particular. Hence a sense of being adrift.
The Bush II Crash gave us Obama, Covid gave us Biden, and most recently and to our regret, inflation will give us Pretender Redux.
Elon the Muskrat and his cohorts plan to fire 75% of the federal
government workforce and eliminate 300 departments.
I don't know if those newly unemployed government workers will
be getting unemployment checks or not. That alone would
bankrupt any state government, an D.C. isn't even a state.
One would think that banks and loan companies would be up in arms
at the thought of all those people losing their houses. The banks
would be stuck with thousands of houses and no buyers.
But the president*elect will no doubt fix that on day one, if Elon
will allow it.
Jennifer Rubin follows the exodus from corporate media resigning from the Washington Post.
"Corporate and billionaire owners of major media outlets have betrayed their audiences’ loyalty and sabotaged journalism’s sacred mission — defending, protecting and advancing democracy. The Washington Post’s billionaire owner and enlisted management are among the offenders. They have undercut the values central to The Post’s mission and that of all journalism: integrity, courage, and independence. I cannot justify remaining at The Post. Jeff Bezos and his fellow billionaires accommodate and enable the most acute threat to American democracy—Donald Trump—at a time when a vibrant free press is more essential than ever to our democracy’s survival and capacity to thrive."
I suspect DOGE will close or merge a few sub-agencies and fire some of their mid-managers. Enough to make other feds feel grateful if not fired, and compliant. It's a domination move older than Attila. Then they'll take a breath and see what targets present the least resistance.
Squarespace is being a pain in the butt, so don't know if this will get to RC.
On Aileen: I'd think the impending appeal to the circuit court scared her enough that she's trying to forestall the appeal and avoid another embarrassing reversal.
Ken -
i agree.
One of the ideas Chait lists for Biden's unpopularity is
"Biden’s policies would have been popular if only he hadn’t been too old and inarticulate to sell them properly to the public."
but then he tells us " presidential rhetoric has little ability to change public opinion".
i have to believe the messaging, and how its delivered and how often its delivered, is extremely important. There was way too little messaging from Biden on topics noted as voter concerns.
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On vacation in NYC last summer, several acquaintances expressed concern for my safety. None of these friends are magas but they have apparently absorbed the message on what a hellscape the city is. (did they pick that idea up from faux tv while tuned in for sports? What other nutty ideas get absorbed by casual faux viewers? how else did some of the 77 million voters of the group not highly engaged decide t**** was a reasonable choice ?)
@Ken W. Yes, Squarespace is being a pain in the butt. I waste an hour a day -- which really pisses me off because I don't have that many hours left -- because loading anything on Squarespace fails.
In order to put Reality Chex together, I have to sign in, create a new "page," load content into it, save it, close it, maybe load an image, maybe move some stuff around in the right-hand column (which is a multi-step endeavor), maybe do some "Website management" chores, etc. The site can and does fail, generally about three times for every one of these "actions" (or "non-actions" since the site hangs up when I click on an action command). Sometimes it's more than three times, occasionally it works the first time. But this means that for every new story I link, I usually have a minimum of six-to-nine "fails" (open, load content, close). And the actions don't fail immediately; I have to wait for them to fail.
The last time I complained about this, the technicians told me there was nothing they could do because they couldn't prove I owned the site. They are happy to take my money, but somehow they seem to think I've stolen the site from, I don't know, myself? Bea McCrabbie? I'm going to try again, but I don't have much hope.
I am tired of the dumping on Biden now being extended tby Jonathan Chait and others. So we did not know Biden was as frail as he appears to be now...Franklin Roosevelt wouldn't allow a wheelchair appear in photos...I think Biden's staff had no obligation to tell us anything out of school--their jobs were to support him. I regret that he did not see himself in the best light and did not decide sooner to NOT go for a second term, and there were lots of reasons to have Kamala as the candidate, not a Hail Mary as much as a productive use of a resource. She had run before, she's smart and canny. It was a perfect storm...The reasons she lost are myriad, but I agree with whoever said it was because of Fox, lies about the economy and everything else, Fatso, and misogeny. All those young men, either Hispanic or not, are threatened by women in general and would never be voting for a woman president. Especially a woman of color. Period.
Marie's last paragraph is EXACTLY what I thought when I saw the Secretary of State saying what a good time this was for a cease-fire. There will be one, just in time to celebrate the World's Worst Human and President-elect. How eerie is that, given Jimmy Carter's death-- even the worst Democrat is better than the best Repugnican-- but even if there IS a cease-fire, that is not the end of Israel's stint of blowing up the Middle East in revenge for Hamas' treachery. That is still going to be happening. At least until Bibi is put in jail. So, never the end of the war.
The value of challenging bullies
After reading the Beutler piece on Trump's Fat Duck, er, I mean Lame Duck status, I was reminded of the benefit of going right at a bully.
Years and years ago, in the second grade, the nun teaching our class stepped out for a bit. The bit turned into about ten minutes and of course when she returned, a roomful of seven year olds weren't sitting patiently, hands folded, mouths zipped.
It wasn't like we were swinging from the rafters, but we were being unsupervised kids. She was livid that there was so much talking going on. Our school was built around the time of the Civil War. It was OLD. It was built on the floor plan of Boston's old Charles Street Jail, a fact we took no end of pleasure in repeating to each other.
This nun marched us out into an old dark, narrow corridor and had us line up. The building had those old fashioned push button light switches. She then demanded to know who started all the talking. How the hell did we know? Everyone was talking.
She then pointed to the light switch and informed us that she was about to push the button which would cause the walls to come together and crush us all to death if we didn't tell her who started the whole gabfest. Kids were stunned. Some started crying, even the boys.
She kept up her threats until finally one kid in the back (okay, it was me) yelled "Go ahead. Do it! C'mon...do it! Kill us!" Pin drop time. I don't like bullies now, and I didn't way back then. Besides, making kids cry? Hell no. The nun was knocked back for a few moments, then she marched down, slapped me and dragged me off to the office.
They called my mother who came in within minutes (we lived across the street from the school). She said "What's going on?" I said "Mum. She threatened to kill us." My mother was an old fashioned Irish lady. Mum and dad taught us to respect priests and nuns, but also taught us not to take any crap. From anyone. I could see the steam starting to come out of her ears. She marched into the principal's office and slammed the door.
Then the yelling started. Oooh...it was great. My teacher was called into the office and the yelling increased. A few minutes later, that nun ran out of the office, white as a ghost.
Mum came out and said "Go back to your class and don't cause any more trouble." That last was delivered with the tiniest smile.
A year later, that nun was kicked out. This never happened. Nuns weren't booted, they were like the bricks in the wall. I'm guessing at some level, some higher ups decided that a teacher threatening to murder little kids wasn't a good look.
Now I tell you this story to emphasize the value of standing up to bullies. Trump lords it over people with threats and bluster, but he can be backed down pretty easily. Democrats should hammer him at every possible opportunity. You want to grab Greenland? Go ahead! Do it. You want to put people in concentration camps? Go ahead! You want to put reporters who tell the truth about your crimes on trial. Do it, you fat fuck! See what happens.
And I love the idea of shadow ministers, Democrats who would take it as their responsibility to hover over Trump's collection of liars and grifters and call them out. He IS a lame duck (also a fat one). He's old and tired and stupid. Yeah there's the Muskrat and his billionaire gang of quislings, but they should be called out too.
What do we have to lose? What's to be gained by sitting quietly like good little children with our hands folded on our desks.
Fuck it. Let's make some noise.
Maybe we don't get him fired. but we sure can make his fat ass squirm. Nothing he hates worse than being made fun of. Let's have at it. Democrats? Let's go!
@laura hunter & @Ken Winkes: Yes, WHY Trump won remains a mystery, but it must boil down to image, not to policies. If Americans can't have an heroic president, then they want the more hyper-masculine one. Or the coolest one. So Gen. Eisenhower (hero) over Adlai Stevenson (egghead). Kennedy (hero AND cool) over Nixon (creepy). Nixon (hard-nosed) over Humphrey (puffy & loquacious). Carter over Ford (kind of an anomaly, but it's possible Ford suffered more from Chevy Chase's mimicry of his clumsiness than from his debate remark that the Soviet Union had no influence over Poland). Reagan (handsome, personable movie star) over Carter (less handsome, sober, not-a-star). Bush (tall pilot, CIA leader, veep) over Dukakis (short guy looked silly in an Army tank, governor of liberal state). Clinton (good ole boy) over Bush (effete elite). Bush II (good ole boy, baseball team owner) over Gore (stiff). Obama (cool) over McCain (old, stiff [for good reason]). Trump (male bully) over Clinton (female, feminist). Biden (competent friend of Barack) over Trump (incompetent, birther).
I don't think Democrats necessarily need better policies (although their policies are getting as bad as Trump's & could definitely use some improvement); what they need in a presidential candidate is a cool male, youngish movie star, perhaps someone who plays action characters & someone who can speak & make jokes off the cuff. Matt Damon?
Surely there's an AI program out there that can run the "winning" characteristics and come up with the best candidate.
So Biden hands Bibi billions of dollars worth of weaponry to kill way more Palestinians. 64,000? Pshaw. A piddling number. Bibi wants a Carthaginian Peace. Kill 'em all!
But now that he has all those new toys, he's gonna stick it to Biden and the Democrats by giving the Fat Fascist credit for ending the hostage crisis.
Is there no end to the undeserved hosannas delivered to this bulbous Hitler? Bibi, of course, wants to make sure he can go on bombing Palestinian orphanages with repercussions. Shit, there haven't been any so far. But he also wants to cozy back up to another violent dictator who will cheer his every Palestinian scalp.
And as much as I hope it won't happen, you just know the front page to The NY Times will blazon forth with giant fonts screaming "Trump Brings Hostages Home! Three Cheers for Trump!"
Another reason for Democrats to hammer these assholes.