The Conversation -- November 7, 2024

Marie: As a card-carrying member of "The Enemy Within" (or "the enemy from within," as Trump prefers to say), I fully expect Trump to do what he can to ruin my life, both generally with his anti-normal-people preferences, and personally, because of his hatred of those who oppose him. In the meantime, I think we all should figure out ways to minimize his disruption of our lives and well-being. So I'm taking suggestions.

Nicholas Nehemas & Erica Green of the New York Times: “Vice President Kamala Harris formally acknowledged her loss to ... Donald J. Trump on Wednesday in a defiant and emotional speech, defending her campaign as a fight for democracy that she would continue, even if not from the Oval Office. 'While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,' Ms. Harris said. 'Hear me when I say, the light of America’s promise will always burn bright,' she added. 'As long as we never give up. And as long as we keep fighting.'”

~~~ Washington Post Editors: “Vice President Kamala Harris delivered a crisp concession speech on Wednesday afternoon at Howard University. The 60-year-old acknowledged, with grace, dignity and a dash of hope, that she had lost the presidency to ... Donald Trump. She didn’t make excuses. Instead, she set the tone for how Democrats can responsibly approach Mr. Trump in the coming four years — defending their core values while cooperating for the best interests of the country.” MB: In the wake of these editors' refusal to endorse Harris, I see no irony at all in their celebrating a concession speech made necessary, in some small part, by their own cowardice.

Michelle Stoddart of ABC News: “President Joe Biden spoke to ... Donald Trump on the phone Wednesday to congratulate him on winning the presidency, the White House said in a statement.... Biden invited Trump to meet with him at the White House, the statement said.”

This appears to be the final Electoral College tally, based on Associated Press's projections: ~~~

Shane Goldmacher & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: Trump's “win ushers in an era of uncertainty for the nation.... To roughly half the country, Mr. Trump’s rise portends a dark turn for American democracy, whose future will now depend on a man who has openly talked about undermining the rule of law. Mr. Trump helped inspire an assault on the Capitol in 2021, has threatened to imprison political adversaries and was denounced as a fascist by former aides. But for his supporters, Mr. Trump’s provocations became selling points rather than pitfalls.... Republicans also picked up at least three Senate seats, in Ohio, Montana and West Virginia, to give the party a majority in the Senate. Control of the House of Representatives was still too close to call.... His election raises questions about the future of N.A.T.O. and the American backing of Ukraine; Mr. Trump has long spoken glowingly about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This much is true: the POTUS* will no longer be A/K/A "the leader of the free world," because the U.S. will no longer be a part of what most people think of as "the free world"; that is, this country will no longer be a version of a liberal democracy.

Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: “Donald Trump told Americans exactly what he planned to do. He would use military force against his political opponents. He would fire thousands of career public servants. He would deport millions of immigrants in military-style roundups. He would crush the independence of the Department of Justice, use government to push public health conspiracies and abandon America’s allies abroad. He would turn the government into a tool of his own grievances, a way to punish his critics and richly reward his supporters. He would be a 'dictator' — if only on Day 1. And, when asked to give him the power to do all of that, the voters said yes. This was a conquering of the nation not by force but with a permission slip. Now, America stands on the precipice of an authoritarian style of governance never before seen in its 248-year history.” Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

New York Times Editors: “Over the next four years, Americans must be cleareyed about the threat to the nation and its laws that will come from its 47th president and be prepared to exercise their rights in defense of the country and the people, laws, institutions and values that have kept it strong.... Americans should now be wary of an incoming Trump administration that is likely to put a top priority on amassing unchecked power and punishing its perceived enemies, both of which Mr. Trump has repeatedly vowed to do. All Americans, regardless of their party or politics, should insist that the fundamental pillars of the nation’s democracy — including constitutional checks and balances, fair-minded federal prosecutors and judges, an impartial election system and basic civil rights — be preserved against an assault that he has already begun and has said he would continue.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: “Donald Trump’s return to the White House signals a significant breakdown of an already battered democracy, experts say. Almost as dangerous, they contend, much of the electorate sees him as democracy’s savior.... It is not Trump’s individual policy proposals that worry history and democracy scholars as much as his continued denial of reality that he lost the 2020 presidential election and his role in encouraging his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, who violently stormed the U.S. Capitol. The failure of the courts and Congress to hold him accountable for those actions signals an unofficial takeover of the levers of government by a charismatic, strongman figure who has remade the Republican Party in his image, these democracy scholars say. He is poised to start a second term with broad legal immunity, granted by a reshaped Supreme Court upon which he has exerted significant influence.” MB: Ellison cram-packs quite a few sweeping ideas into a short space. A useful read.

This election was a CAT scan on the American people, and ... what it revealed, at least in part, is a frightening affinity for a man of borderless corruption. Donald Trump is no longer an aberration; he is normative. -- Peter H. Wehner, a former strategic adviser to President George W. Bush ~~~

~~~ Peter Baker of the New York Times: “No longer can the political establishment write off Mr. Trump as a temporary break from the long march of progress, a fluke who somehow sneaked into the White House in a quirky, one-off Electoral College win eight years ago. With his comeback victory to reclaim the presidency, Mr. Trump has now established himself as a transformational force reshaping the United States in his own image.... Mr. Trump’s testosterone-driven campaign capitalized on resistance to electing the first woman president.... For the first time in history, Americans have elected a convicted criminal as president. They handed power back to a leader who tried to overturn a previous election, called for the 'termination' of the Constitution to reclaim his office, aspired to be a dictator on Day 1 and vowed to exact 'retribution' against his adversaries.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Baker goes on to complain that Biden & Harris "failed to unite the country." Oh, boo-hoo-hoo. I suppose one could argue that their sales pitch was wanting, but they more-or-less delivered on what they promised, and very few politicians do that. We live in a country full of whiney-babies who not only think they deserve to have riches bestowed upon them but also have no idea what government policies might help them get those riches. For all but those in the top one percent, it sure isn't Donald Trump who will feather their nests. Trump is through with the sheeples.

David Gilmour of Mediaite: “CNN contributor David Axelrod called on analysts to remain 'clear-eyed' about 'racism' and 'sexism' as one reason for Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat to former President Donald Trump in the presidential election.... 'There were appeals to racism in this campaign, and there is racial bias in this country and there is sexism in this country, and anybody who thinks that that did not in any way impact on the outcome of this race is wrong.'” (Also linked yesterday.) 

Marie: Quite a few post mortems in today's newspapers are dedicated to "understanding" Trump's voters. Okay, yeah. Look 'em up yourself. IMO, Trump voters are either stupid, ignorant, hateful, cruel, violent, vengeful, careless, greedy, self-absorbed, disgruntled, xenophobic, racist, misogynistic, fascistic, and celebrity-obsessed or some combination thereof. You can probably think of a number of other appropriate adjective. Perhaps not enough attention has been paid to "celebrity-obsessed." When you think of the voters' choices since televisions came into most homes, they almost always chose the candidate who was the bigger celebrity or the more teevee-ready: Kennedy v. Nixon, Reagan (an actual Hollywood B-movie start & teevee personality) v. Mondale, Clinton v. Bush I, Obama v. McCain, Trump (also a teevee personality) v. Clinton the Female. In fact, the glaring exception has been Trump v. Biden.

David Gilmour of Mediaite: “Steve Bannon warned the federal government that it would 'pay the price for trying to destroy this country' and that as soon as President-elect Donald Trump takes office entire agencies will be 'swept out.'... [Bannon] was himself sent to federal prison over his refusal to cooperate with subpoenas from the congressional subcommittee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.”

Tess Owen of Wired: “... the same far-right extremists emboldened by [Trump's] first administration are celebrating his win with violent memes and threats. Many of the social media posts reviewed by Wired reveled in fantasies of Trump locking up and even executing his political opponents in revenge. 'Build the gallows!!' urged a post on Gab, a social media platform that caters to the far right. 'There has to be as many traitors executed as he has days in office,' urged another Gab post. 'Build the gallows, restore the REPUBLIC.'” MB: I find this rather heartening. Of course Trump may extend his term of office if he isn't dead by 2029, but there are only 1,461 days in a 4-year term. So if the goal is to hang 1,461 “enemies within,” I don't think they'll get to me, as there are surely 1,500 bigger fish to fry. Sure, I could end my days in a dank Trump “detention center” holding tank. But, hey, no noose!

Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times: “... I expect the next few months to be a period of mourning rather than defiance. My own instinct — which conflicts with the demands of my job — is to retreat into my family, to look for solace in time with friends, in theater and in novels, to block out the humiliating truth about what my country has decided to become.... But eventually, mourning either starts to fade or curdles into depression and despair. When and if it does, whatever resistance emerges to the new MAGA will differ from what came before. Gone will be the hope of vindicating the country from Trumpism, of rendering him an aberration. What’s left is the more modest work of trying to ameliorate the suffering his government is going to visit on us.... The work of the next four years [will be] saving what we can and trying to imagine a tolerable future.”

Perry Stein, et al., of the Washington Post: Trump's win “prompted special counsel Jack Smith to start discussing how to wind down the two federal prosecutions of the president-elect.... The possible slowing down of the federal cases — which could in theory barrel forward until Inauguration Day — could give Smith time to deliver a final report detailing the findings of his two probes to Attorney General Merrick Garland before Trump becomes the 47th president.... In New York, meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers were expected to try to delay his upcoming sentencing in state court on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to an adult-film actress.” NPR's story is here. Politico's report is here.

Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: “The Biden administration moved Wednesday to narrow the scope of an oil-and-gas lease sale in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that was mandated under ... Donald Trump. The plan underscores how the Biden administration is racing to cement its environmental legacy mere hours after Trump secured a second term. Trump has vowed to boost oil drilling in the refuge, as part of broader plans to expand fossil fuel production on public lands across the country.”

~~~~~~~~~~

New York Times reporters assess what Trump's 2nd presidency* may mean to some other countries around the world.

Germany. Kate Brady of the Washington Post: “Germany’s governing coalition collapsed Wednesday, as Chancellor Olaf Scholz fired his finance minister and announced a confidence vote that is widely expected to fail and to pave the way to early elections in the spring. The news from Europe’s largest economy added a huge jolt of uncertainty on a day when much of the world’s attention was focused on the outcome of the U.S. election. 'I would have liked to have spared you this difficult decision,' Scholz said at the chancellery Wednesday night. 'Especially in times like these, when uncertainty is growing.'”

Israel, Palestine, et al. Shira Rubin, et al., of the Washington Post: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejoiced over Donald Trump’s election victory, as he banked on resetting relations with Washington and following through on his maximalist aims in the country’s multifront war.... 'It’s time for total victory,' crowed Itamar Ben Gvir, Netanyahu’s far-right national security minister, in an address to the Knesset on Wednesday.... Israel Ganz, head of a council representing Israeli settlers across the occupied West Bank, celebrated the moment as a historic 'opportunity for the settlement movement,' which has already made significant gains since Netanyahu returned to power in 2022.”

Ukraine, et al. David Stern & Serhiy Morgunov of the Washington Post: “Ukrainian troops have clashed with North Korean forces for the first time, according to senior Ukrainian officials — a development that would open a 'new page of instability in the world,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said.... Russian forces had provided the North Korean troops with 'training of a one-month period,' which is now being shortened, sometimes to one week, 'so that they can get engagement on the battlefield,' [Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem] Umerov said.”

Marie: Thank you to everyone who sent birthday greetings. I truly was not fishing for them when I mentioned my birthday in connection with the election.