;)
The Commentariat -- August 18, 2017
Afternoon Update:
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "President Trump has told senior aides that he has decided to remove Stephen K. Bannon, the embattled White House chief strategist who helped Mr. Trump win the 2016 election, according to two administration officials briefed on the discussion. The president and senior White House officials were debating when and how to dismiss Mr. Bannon." ...
... New Lede: "Stephen K. Bannon ... is leaving his post, a White House spokeswoman announced Friday. 'White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve's last day,' the White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said in a statement. 'We are grateful for his service and wish him the best.'" ...
... Ashley Parker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump has decided to dismiss his embattled chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, an architect of his 2016 general election victory, in a major White House shake-up that follows a week of racial unrest, according to two people familiar with the move. Trump had been under mounting pressure to dispatch with Bannon...." ...
... New Lede: "President Trump on Friday dismissed his embattled chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon, an architect of his 2016 general election victory, in a major White House shake-up that follows a week of racial unrest, according to multiple administration officials." ...
... Jeremy Diamond, et al., of CNN: "Bannon was supposed to be fired two weeks ago, a White House official told CNN's Jeff Zeleny, but it was put off. CNN reports the President equivocated after an initial plan was to fire Bannon and then-Chief of Staff Reince Priebus at same time, the official says, because Rep. Mark Meadows, the influential chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, and others urged Trump to keep him on board. The interview [with Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect] this week was enough for Meadows to change his view, a person close to him says." ...
... Paul Waldman. It doesn't matter whether or not Donald Trump is a racist. He "is the most racially divisive president in our lifetimes -- and it's not even close. From literally the moment he began his presidential campaign in 2015, he has spread racist ideas, made racist arguments, appealed to racist sentiments, enacted racist policies, and encouraged the most repugnant racists in American society to become more vocal and visible.... So Steve Bannon may be gone, but we shouldn't let that fool us into thinking that the Trump administration has undergone some kind of transformation. We'll know that something has truly changed if the Justice Department displays a genuine commitment to upholding civil rights, or if the administration dials back on its vote suppression efforts, or if the president himself stops making statements that bring so much joy to the most detestable hatemongers in American society.... I don't know about you, but I'm not expecting much." ...
... Drew Harwell & David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post: "The Salvation Army, the American Red Cross and Susan G. Komen on Friday joined a growing exodus of organizations canceling plans to hold fundraising events at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, deepening the financial impact to President Trump's private business amid furor over his comments on Charlottesville. The major exits now mean seven of the club's biggest event customers have abandoned it in a matter of hours, likely costing the Trump business hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue or more" ...
... Maggie Haberman: "James Murdoch, the chief executive of 21st Century Fox and the son of a frequent ally of President Trump's, condemned the president's performance after the violence in Charlottesville, Va., and pledged to donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League. In an email on Thursday, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times and confirmed as authentic by a spokesman for Mr. Murdoch's company, the Fox scion gave an extraordinarily candid statement against the white supremacist sentiment that swept through Virginia last weekend. It was also the most outspoken that a member of the Murdoch family has been in response to the week's events.... '... I can't even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists....'" ...
... Edward-Isaac Dovere of Politico: "Another advisory group is walking away from ... Donald Trump after his equivocation on neo-Nazis and white supremacists, with the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities resigning en masse Friday morning. 'We cannot sit idly by, the way that your West Wing advisors have, without speaking out against your words and actions,' members write in a joint letter to Trump obtained by Politico, which ends by calling on the president to resign if he does not see a problem with what’s happened this week. The first letter of each paragraph of the letter spells out 'Resist.'... The 17-member committee was appointed by President Barack Obama and hasn't met under Trump, but it has continued work on some of its programs." ...
... Via P. D. Pepe.
*****
Giles Tremlett, et al., of the Guardian: "Spanish policeman shot dead five suspected terrorists in the coastal town of Cambrils, southwest of Barcelona, after they drove over pedestrians as part of what appeared to be a second terror attack. Some of the suspects, who were travelling in an Audi A3, were wearing what appeared to be explosive belts in a rampage that took place hours after a van had mowed down shoppers and tourists in Barcelona's famous Las Ramblas district, killing 13 and wounding about 100. Friday's attack in Cambrils, in which six bystanders and a policeman were also wounded, came at the end of 24 hours of shocking violence along the Catalan coast, which the police said was the work of a terrorist cell determined to 'kill as many people as possible'.... The police ... later carried out controlled blasts on suspected explosive devices, amid reports the suspects had been wearing suicide vests." ...
... Anne-Sophie Bolon, et al., of the New York Times: "A van driver deliberately zigzagged into a crowd enjoying a sunny afternoon on Barcelona’s main pedestrian mall Thursday, killing at least 13 people and leaving 80 lying bloodied on the pavement. It was the worst terrorist attack in Spain since 2004, and was at least the sixth time in the past few years that assailants using vehicles as deadly weapons have struck a European city.... Two people were later arrested, including a Moroccan man whose identification documents had been used to rent the van. But the Barcelona police said neither was believed to be the driver, who remained at large. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the assault...." ...
... The Guardian's live updates of the attacks in Catalonia are here.
... Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Despite ongoing rebukes over his defense of white supremacists, President Trump defiantly returned to his campaign's nativist themes on Thursday. He lamented an assault on American 'culture,' revived a bogus, century-old story about killing Muslim extremists and attacked Republicans with a renewed vigor." ...
... Economist: "Mr Trump's inept politics stem from a moral failure.... Mr Trump's seemingly heartfelt defence of those marching to defend Confederate statues spoke to the degree to which white grievance and angry, sour nostalgia is part of his world view.... Instead of grasping that his job is to honour the office he inherited, Mr Trump is bothered only about honouring himself and taking credit for his supposed achievements.... Mr Trump is not a Republican, but the solo star of his own drama. By tying their fate to his, [Republican officials] are harming their country and their party. His boorish attempts at plain speaking serve only to poison national life." ...
... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "... even assuming that Trump will survive this latest horror show, as he has survived many previous ones, his Presidency will be further diminished and tarnished.... By dint of his pigheadedness, or prejudice, or both, he has moved onto political ground that makes it virtually impossible for other people in influential positions, such as C.E.O.s, or the heads of other organizations, or senior government officials, or celebrities, or even his own Cabinet members, to stand with him, or even to be seen to coöperate with him. That is what happens when a President throws away his own legitimacy.... The fate of the Confederacy was settled more than a hundred and fifty years ago, and right now, Trump's Presidency seems headed to a similarly ignominious ending." ...
... Frank Rich: "Yes, the confirmation that an American president is a racist bully whose empathy is mainly reserved for either neo-Nazis or neo-Stalinists has prompted an uptick in public expressions of outrage by some GOP politicians, but words are toothless. These few rhetorical defections are not enough of a revolt to get us to the endgame -- the endgame not being impeachment (never going to happen) but Trump's implosion.... With few exceptions, so-called GOP leaders are the same Vichy collaborators they've been since Trump seized the party's presidential nomination. Notably pathetic, as always, is Paul Ryan.... What we're seeing now is the stain spreading to administration personnel who were supposed to be better than this.... Keep in mind that [Trump] managed to both threaten nuclear war and embrace neo-Nazis while on vacation. Wait until he gets 'back to work.'" ...
... Brian Beutler: "It would be a stretch to say that Paul Ryan was a beacon of moral clarity during the presidential campaign, but the Republican House speaker's standards have actually regressed considerably since then.... Ryan and other Republicans distancing themselves from Trump are objecting to Trump's conduct more weakly now than they have in the past, and barely trying to conceal their true motives.... There are no moral exemplars with power over Trump, and most have subverted national interests by appeasing Trump in pursuit of their own narrow ones." ...
... Via Marvin S. ...
... Paul Krugman: Comparing Trump to Caligula is unfair .. to Caligula.
Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet, Thursday ...
... David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "Hours after an apparent terrorist attack in Barcelona, President Trump on Thursday recycled a largely discredited Internet tale that he promoted on the campaign trail as a way to call attention to what he has called 'radical Islamic terrorism.' In a Twitter message, Trump instructed his 36 million followers to look to the example of Gen. John J. Pershing, who is said, in stories circulating online, to have dipped bullets in pigs' blood to execute Islamic terrorists in the Philippines whose religion forbid contact with the animals. The story has been found to be unsubstantiated by numerous fact-checkers in the media. But Trump first told the story during a campaign rally in February 2016, as he defended his position of supporting methods of torture, such as waterboarding, on terrorist suspects." ...
Even if we put aside Trump's strained relationship with reality, let's not lose sight of the underlying point the president is eager to emphasize: in his mind, war crimes and mass executions are effective and worthwhile elements of an effective national security strategy. -- Steve Benen ...
... Louis Jacobson & Aaron Sharockman of Politifact: "This story is a fabrication and has long been discredited,' said Brian McAllister Linn, a Texas A&M University historian.... 'I am amazed it is still making the rounds.'... 'Even if the tale is true, the pacifying effect that Trump claims is nonsense,' said Michael H. Hunt, an emeritus historian at the University of North Carolina.... The region 'remained in constant unrest during the period of American rule and into the period of independence, right down to the present.'... Trump said that Pershing stopped "radical Islamic terror" for 35 years. Of the eight historians we checked with the first time we heard Trump speak about Pershing, all were at least skeptical that the specific tales of Pershing actually took place, and some expressed disbelief even more forcefully than that. But more critically, the historians took issue with Trump's suggestion that the tactic -- if it was even used at all -- actually worked to end tensions, noting that unrest persisted for years."
Jane Perlez & Choe Sang-Hun of the New York Times: "The Trump administration plunged America's Asian alliances into new confusion Thursday with conflicting signals over how to counter North Korea's nuclear threat, as the chief White House strategist [Steve Bannon] said a military solution was impossible. Three other leading officials of the administration -- its top military general [Gen. Joseph Dunford] on a visit to China, and its defense secretary [Jim Mattis] and secretary of state [Rex Tillerson] in Washington -- effectively contradicted him, emphasizing that Mr. Trump was prepared to take military action if necessary. The mixed messages about North Korea policy added to the sense of disarray coming from the White House, where Mr. Trump appeared to have all but forgotten the crisis a week after he threatened an ad hoc 'fire and fury' response to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, if he menaced the United States."
Fred Imbert of CNBC: "U.S. equities fell on Thursday on concerns President Trump's recent controversies will make it less likely for Congress to work with him to pass business-friendly legislation. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 274.14 points, or 1.2 percent, for its biggest drop since May 17, to close at 21,750.73. The index also snapped a four-day winning streak.... The index started falling earlier on fears that Gary Cohn, a business friendly advisor to the president, could resign his role as director of National Economic Council because of Trump's remarks following the violent protests in Charlottesville, VA." ...
Wasn't this supposed to be Infrastructure Week at the White House? Somehow it turned into Confederate Appreciation Week. -- Paul Waldman ...
... John Wagner of the Washington Post: "A White House advisory council on infrastructure on Thursday became the latest casualty of the pique of business leaders over President Trump's response to the hate-fueled violence in Charlottesville.... On Thursday, the White House announced that the Presidential Advisory Council on Infrastructure, which it said 'was still being formed,' would not move forward, meeting the same fate as the the manufacturing council and the Strategy and Policy Forum." ...
... Drew Harwell of the Washington Post: "Three fundraising giants decided to pull events from President Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach on Thursday, signaling a direct blowback to his business empire from his comments on Charlottesville's racial unrest. The American Cancer Society, a high-dollar client at the club since at least 2009, cited its 'values and commitment to diversity' in a statement on its decision to move an upcoming fundraising gala. Another longtime Mar-a-Lago customer, the Cleveland Clinic, abruptly changed course on its winter event only days after saying it planned to continue doing business at Mar-a-Lago.... The American Friends of Magen David Adom, which raises money for Israel's equivalent of the Red Cross, also said it would not hold its 2018 gala at the club 'after considerable deliberation,' though it did not give a reason. The charity had one of Mar-a-Lago's biggest events last season...." ...
Sean Sullivan of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has been one of the most outspoken GOP Trump critics in Congress, expressed displeasure with Trump's response to the deadly weekend violence in Charlottesville and warned that if the president does not change his behavior, 'our nation is going to go through great peril.' 'The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful,' the senator told reporters in Tennessee. 'And we need for him to be successful.'" ...
Shawna Thomas of Vice News: "In an interview with Vice News on Thursday, [Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.)] condemned the neo-Nazis and white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville and questioned the president's moral authority following the tragedy. 'I'm not going to defend the indefensible ... [Trump's] comments on Monday were strong. His comments on Tuesday started erasing the comments that were strong. What we want to see from our president is clarity and moral authority. And that moral authority is compromised when Tuesday happened. There's no question about that.' Scott added that the president hasn't reached out to him to discuss Charlottesville." Scott is "the only black Republican in the Senate...." ...
... Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "... conservative hosts who have been generally supportive of Trump have spent the week endorsing his evolving message.... On Wednesday's episode of 'Tucker Carlson Tonight,' there was a second consecutive night of questions about why Trump, not left-wing protesters, was the focus of criticism.... Much of [the criticism of Trump], Sean Hannity said, was a distraction from the racist past of the Democratic Party, a well-known bit of history which in conservative media is frequently claimed to be obscure.... And on his radio show, Rush Limbaugh argued that criticism was being lobbed at Trump to 'nullify the election.'..." ...
... Eric Levitz: "Trump’s personal hypocrisy on [commemorative monuments] is expansive. Beyond his own attempts to change Civil War history for fun and profit [by erecting a plaque on one of his golf courses to "commemorate" a Civil War battle that never happened], the president has also ordered the Department of the Interior to consider the removal or resizing of 30 national monuments -- so as to make room for fossil-fuel extraction, among other things.... Like Trump's plaque, Confederate monuments were born of a desire to rewrite the past for present convenience. This point should be obvious.... The South may have lost the Civil War, but it won the battle over how it would be remembered.... The statue of [Robert E.] Lee that brought white supremacists to Charlottesville last weekend wasn't built to commemorate the Confederacy's loss, but Jim Crow's triumph.... Lee is not so widely memorialized because he was a uniquely racially progressive Confederate general, but because he was not.... We can either accept that monuments to Robert E. Lee are an affront to our nation's highest values or that those neo-Nazis in Charlottesville were right about what those values truly are. Or else we can keep changing our history to suit the needs of reactionary, rich white fools...." ...
... Matt Yglesias of Vox on the "huge problem" of likening Robert E. Lee to George Washington: "In fresh tweets Thursday morning, Donald Trump, a life-long New Yorker with no personal or familial connection whatsoever to the Confederate States of America, once again stood up for the principle that honoring the leaders of a 19th century rebellion whose goal was to entrench the institution of chattel slavery is similar to honoring the founders of the United States of America.... The big-picture point of the pantheon of American founders is to celebrate the good things about them.... [Thomas] Jefferson is in the pantheon because he wrote the Declaration of Independence and because of his wartime diplomatic service. Alexander Hamilton is in the pantheon because he wrote the Federalist Papers and laid the foundations of the American political economy. Washington is in the pantheon because he was the military leader of the successful war of independence and because he established the peaceful transfer of power from president to president.... Confederate leaders, by contrast, are being celebrated purely for doing something bad." ...
Ed Kilgore: "... there’s one prominent display of Confederate statuary that to an even greater extent represents unsuppressed rebel yells in the very heart of the Republic the Confederacy sought to destroy: the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. Via a law passed, ironically, during the Civil War itself, states are allowed to place two statues of their choice in the collection. There are at least ten ex-Confederates currently so honored, and Senator Cory Booker has announced he will introduce legislation to have them removed.... As time went by and Jim Crow became a hardened part of the national landscape, southern states roused themselves to exercise their 'right' to put the images of former traitors ... in the national statuary collection."
David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Felix Sater, one of Donald Trump's shadiest former business partners, is reportedly preparing for prison time -- and he says the president will be joining him behind bars. Sources told The Spectator's Paul Wood that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's deep dive into Trump's business practices may be yielding results. Trump recently made remarks that could point to a money laundering scheme, Wood reported. 'I mean, it's possible there's a condo or something, so, you know, I sell a lot of condo units, and somebody from Russia buys a condo, who knows?' the president said. Sater, who has a long history of legal troubles and is cooperating with law enforcement, was one of the major players responsible for selling Trump's condos to the Russians."
Eric Schmitt of the New York Times: "The Navy plans to relieve the two top officers and the senior enlisted sailor of a destroyer that collided with a freighter off the coast of Japan in June, killing seven sailors in one of the sea service's deadliest accidents in years.... About a dozen sailors over all face career-killing administrative actions as a result of the accident, Admiral [Bill] Moran said at a briefing at the Pentagon."
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Justice Neil M. Gorsuch ... is scheduled to address a conservative group at the Trump International Hotel in Washington next month, less than two weeks before the court is set to hear arguments on Mr. Trump's travel ban. Stephen Gillers, an expert on legal ethics at New York University, questioned the justice's decision to speak at the hotel, which is at issue in lower-court cases challenging the constitutionality of payments to Mr. Trump's companies."
Sheri Fink of the New York Times: "A settlement in the lawsuit against two psychologists who helped devise the
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Reader Comments (24)
The best thing for Herr Drumpf right about now would be a war or a terrorist attack. He can pull a Bush, wrap himself in the flag and declare himself a war time president, immune to criticism (you may recall Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer warning people to watch what they say). His little lizard brain must be working overtime to come up with a scheme in which he emerges victorious, the Great Leader once more, and crushes his enemies (Americans).
Meanwhile Paul Ryan hides in his office talking about moral ambiguity while offering a text book example of same, and the Turtle pulls into his shell and waddles down the road trying to avoid being crushed by vehicles with Trump logos on the side.
Maybe there'll be statues raised to new Confederate hee-roes in the future.
Every "Week" has been an exercise in opposites. Anybody would think fat don was being ironic, instead of moronic. Infrastructure Week sees the collapse of the Infrastructure Advisory Council, and an apt metaphor for infrastructure.
A message for Trump from Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Republican immigrant.
https://www.facebook.com/attn/videos/vb.160389977329803/1475398805828907/?type=2&theater
I'm playing this scenario in my head: Trump resigns––says, to save face–-"the country is not ready for someone like me– believe me–-I am too far-sighted for most of you to deal with me––you people were lied to over and over by the Fake News––I am, believe me, ahead of my time..yada yada yada...and once again tells the story of Pershing and the pig bloodied bullets just to make a point that nobody understands.
So––if that happens, Pence takes the reins, and since he's a good Republican soldier who will fulfill the Republican mandates why wouldn't the Republicans jump at the chance to make this happen? Wouldn't this be superior to what they now have to grapple with? Ryan and McConnell's reluctance to connect the shame with HIS name baffles me. This is their opportunity to oust the guy.
Someone tell me I'm barking up the wrong tree here.
We need a laugh: Jimmy Fallon as Washington & Seth Myers as Jefferson trash talk Robert E. Lee:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jimmy-fallon-seth-meyers-robert-e-lee_us_59966e84e4b0a2608a6b6eaa?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009
@Marvin: Yowza! Who woulda thunk it–-the Terminator giving sensible, cogent, uplifting advice to a fellow Terminator. Is this a great country or what!
PD,
While it might seem the judicious, and unusually smart, move on the part of congressional Confederates, a couple of things stand in the way.
According to a Monmouth poll from a few days ago, 60% of Trump supporters say there is nothing--literally NOTHING--he could do that would make them change their minds about him. So when he bragged about being able to murder someone in broad daylight, in Times Square, and get away with it, he was telling the truth, for once.
That 60% translates to about a quarter of all Americans. Just think of how scary THAT is. Twenty five percent of Americans are cool with a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, lying, cheating, stealing douchebag as their president. Whoa. That's tribalism on an epic scale.
And President* Brownshirt still has the support of his core voters, the same ones that Lyin' Ryan and the Turtle need to retain their grandiose, well paid sinecures (with the gold plan healthcare, courtesy of you and me, natch).
If they piss off the knuckledraggers by trying to impeach der Führer, they might be cutting their own throats.
Plus, impeachment is no easy road. According to the Constitution,
Article 4, "The President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other High Crimes and Misdemeanors." While it's very likely that all of those criteria could obtain, given a decent investigation (lookin' at you Bob Mueller), there is no way the Confederate controlled congress will take on that task. They are far too cowardly and amoral. And it's likely that nothing will come of actual, provable collusion with the Russians. There's probably more gold in the hills of Trumpian business shenanigans and money laundering.
But that being the case, I think I'd prefer to opt for three and half more years of chaos and ineptness than three and half years with a little prick like pence rubber stamping every Christian jihadist, homophobic, misogynistic, pro-one percenter piece of shit legislation that crosses his desk. Everyone will give a big sigh of relief, "our long national nightmare" will have concluded, and business as usual with a snaky little Bible beater will resume, with everyone saying, "Oh, give little mikey a chance! He's a good guy!" You know, all the stuff they said about Trump six months ago.
There is the possibility that King Doofus will resign, as you suggest, before having to undergo the humiliation of a public dressing down by Mueller and his crew of bloodhounds. It may well come to that. He only got into this thing for the glory, the praise, and the money. The first is long gone and never comin' back, the second comes only from one tiny corner of thuggish Kool-Aid guzzlers, and the third? Well, if he wants to keep what's left his brand's vitality, he's better off gettin' out while the gettin's good.
We shall see what we shall see.
From "Politifact" above:
"This story (of Pershing's bullets dipped in pigs' blood) is a fabrication and has long been discredited,' said Brian McAllister Linn, a Texas A&M University historian.... 'I am amazed it is still making the rounds.'.
Can't help but wonder if any of the army of professional debunkers the Right and their liar in chief have called into existence still go to church.
Circle of Evil
As President Brownshirt continues his very public kissyfacing with Nazis, and more white supremacy marches of hate and violence are planned across the country, it might be instructive to see where the Nazis got some of their most heinous ideas about race in the first place.
Surprise! They got them from America. I guess this is another example of American Exceptionalism. Nazis thought we were exceptionally good at fucking over non-Aryan races. After all, we had our own ethnic cleansing period (Indian Wars) that lasted over 200 years, and had enslaved a completely different race, all at the same time. Whew. That is some serious white supremacy going on there. Where else on earth were there better examples of how to use laws and public policy to screw other human beings of different races?
According to history.com, "'America in the early 20th century was the leading racist jurisdiction in the world,' says [James Q.]Whitman, who is a professor at Yale Law School. 'Nazi lawyers, as a result, were interested in, looked very closely at, [and] were ultimately influenced by American race law.'
In particular, Nazis admired the Jim Crow-era laws that discriminated against black Americans and segregated them from white Americans, and they debated whether to introduce similar segregation in Germany."
The Jim Crow era, you may recall, was a time when most of the now revered monuments to white people stepping black people were erected. Those monuments for which Trump demonstrates such sentiment.
But there was a problem. American laws didn't go far enough. Here's why. Blacks were already poor and oppressed. Jews in Weimar Germany were in much better shape, socially and economically. So, what to do? Who had the answer to this thorny problem?
Again...We did.
"Nazis were more interested in how the U.S. had designated Native Americans, Filipinos and other groups as non-citizens even though they lived in the U.S. or its territories. These models influenced the citizenship portion of the Nuremberg Laws, which stripped Jewish Germans of their citizenship and classified them as 'nationals.'"
And another big plus for Hitler were American miscegenation laws.
"'America had, by a wide margin, the harshest law of this kind,' Whitman says. 'In particular, some of the state laws threatened severe criminal punishment for interracial marriage. That was something radical Nazis were very eager to do in Germany as well.'"
This was that state's rights thing that Confederates are still up in arms about. The right to screw others (and to put the kibosh on other kinds of screwing). And we're still seeing it in the way wingers have set about destroying voting rights for Americans who might not vote for their approved candidates.
Ohhhh....Nazis loved them some American ideas about race. And we have returned the favor by loving the updating of those ideas as they've been filtered back to the US and which now find approval from the American President.
Everything old (and evil) is new again. And the ideas and concepts about racism that influenced one of the most deadly regimes in world history are being revived and held up the president as models of social engagement.
That's how we roll in Trump's Amerika.
Cool stuff on RC
Let it never be said that you don't learn cool stuff out here.
We were all, no doubt, relieved to read that Kim Jong Un decided that someone had to be the adult in the room while he and that other crazed toddler, Donnie something, were going at it with threats of nuclear destruction. But this is the Age of Trump and anything is possible. Sooooo.....given that there is still the possibility that you could, say, take a trip to Guam to visit Ypao Beach Park, the Pacific War Museum, Tumon Beach, or the Micronesian Mall, and while there, a teensy nuclear missile, courtesy of a big FU from Kim to that Donnie person, exploded off the island. First (right after duck and cover), don't put CONDITIONER IN YOUR HAIR!
No joke, kids.
Livescience.com offers some serious reasons for this (spoiler: certain substances in hair conditioners will bind radioactive particles to your hair strands and accelerate the usual bad shit radiation does to living things).
And while you're there, check out the "Psychology of Hate" and learn about what goes on inside the brain of the Aryan Nation types, you know, like the president*.
Someone out here (sorry, I can't remember who) had the very good idea of having white supremacists take a DNA test to see exactly how "pure" their bloodlines are. They would, of course, be in for a very rude awakening. But, as this article suggests, "... white supremacists aren't ignorant or dumb; they're capable of grasping quite complex arguments in order to support their pre-existing worldview. They're also capable of putting the community and closeness of Stormfront ahead of genetic information they'd rather ignore..."
So. No hair conditioner right after a nuclear bomb goes off, and forget about the DNA argument with racists. A better idea is to get THEM to use hair conditioner right after a nuclear bomb goes off.
Feel smarter now?
The rotten egghead is cracking. Trump is increasingly isolated. The collapse of the almost advisory councils as well as the actual advisory councils, the continuing pressure from Mueller, the statements from GOP Senators put enormous pressure on Trump to be able to maintain his narcissistic vision of himself. In people with his character disorder, especially with his level of paranoia, the rage will take over, his statements will become increasingly outlandish and he won't be able to stop himself from viciously lashing out for every tiny perceived slight. In combination with the domestic rejections, allied leaders are denouncing his actions, China is assuming more power in the wake of his incompetence, and he looks like a ridiculous fool on the world stage. The core of his personality will eventually collapse under this pressure.
I have to agree with Tony Schwartz and others that he'll be forced to resign to maintain any semblance of sanity. The RepubIican party is incapable of the moral courage required for impeachment. Ryan is completely consumed by his Ayn Rand fever dreams. A pathetic sophomoric wanker. After the GOP's shameful actions in support of Trump, the stink of an impeachment would be too damaging. I think we still have a wait for the resignation. In the meantime, I will remain anxious about what methods Trump chooses for retaliation on personal and foreign opposition.
@AK: First–-thanks for taking up my query re: getting rid of the shame that has a name. You make some good arguments––Pence makes my skin crawl, too––however the fact that Trump has that cookie in his pocket keeps me up at night and I would think it might well keep those fellow Republicans somewhat sleepless in that foggy bottom.
Really good history lesson here. I recall reading that one of the justifications for the early boycott of Jewish concerns was that the Jews were supposedly causing unrest in the U.S. I still cringe when I think of our Ambassador in Germany, William Dodd , who gave a speech to top German officials that spoke to the growing tensions in the country. This speech was hailed by many in Germany, but not by the American State Dept. who felt Dodd over-stepped –-do not criticize your host country, they told Dodd.
Lessons learned––except when they aren't.
PD,
Ain't it da truth.
Don't overlook Stephen Crowley's photo illustrating Krugman's "Caligula" piece. It is surely the definitive portrait of the current occupant of the Oval Office.
It seemed like such a good idea, and now everyone is doing it! Copycats.
Since using moving vehicles to run people down seems to be the au courant method of murder by terrorists at home and abroad, it's worth noting that this is the exact method of dealing with those you don't like or whose opinions you need to silence, promoted by both Fox and the Daily Caller.
On Fox, a video showing protesters being plowed into by thugs driving cars was promoted as "...a compilation of liberal protesters getting pushed out of the way by cars and trucks. Study the technique; it may prove useful in the next four years."
In fact, it's such a good idea that a bunch of Confederate controlled states are making it legal to run down protesters with your car. (Oh...I'm sure they didn't mean right-wing protesters...only liberals...)
The Daily Caller also promoted the "Run Down the Liberals" video. In fact, one of its editors mused "I wonder how many...protesters I could run over before I got arrested." Even better, a writer for the Daily Caller, Jason Kessler, was one of the organizers of the Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. He used the Daily Caller to promote the event! Kessler, who was supposed to speak after the murder of Heather Heyer by one of his WS attendees, ran away when it was clear that an angry crowd demanded he acknowledge his role in organizing the violent event that cost a counter protester her life. Police stepped in to protect him, but he skeedaddled anyway. After, he blamed the police for all the violence. Brave boy, that Kessler, a paragon of truth and responsibility.
On the way out, he screamed that his First Amendment rights had been violated and later tweeted that "the First Amendment is finished". They murder an innocent woman and seriously injure others but they're the victims. It's always the same. And that other profile in courage, the Daily Caller, which always whines about liberals, poor people, and minorities, taking responsibility, doesn't feel it has to abide by it's own demands. After removing all traces of the "Run Down the Liberals" video, it refused to return any calls asking for comment.
Don't ask them. It's not their fault.
More bravery from the right.
They still don't get it. The NYT:
"Trump Must Apologize for Causing 'Racists to Rejoice,' Romney Says".
How does the planets only perfect person apologize for anything.
The Arnold video is something else.
He comes at the topic with something most Americans don't have, having grown up in Austria in the aftermath of WWII, seeing the "broken men" who were led by a hateful ideology and who are now "in hell". That might sound "cool" to the white supremacists though.
Something tells me we'll hear Drumpf yowl about this video on Twitter. He won't like that little Trump bobblehead doll Arnold holds. He'll be unhappy, I'm sure, because the doll looks smarter than he does.
BREAK OUT THE BUBBLY–-BANNON IS BYE,BYE.
Yeah, but Miller is still there.
Also....Trump.
Yeah! Bannon is gone! Makes room for an advisor who is really clued into the vital 25%, David Duke anyone?
Appears that the Obama economy has ended. Market down two weeks in a row. The Trump stands alone.
Leadership' competence, organization. World record!!
Eight people fired from major WH positions in 7 months.
And BTW, the 'W' in WH no longer refers to the color of the paint.
So what's next for the Bannonless WH?
Will COS Kelly now find it easier to make the Pretender sound a little more sane? (I'm not taking bets.)
Will Breitbart and the alt-right media barrage the Pretender, who has once again proved his loyalty is limited only to himself and (so far) his immediate family, with a succession of vicious verbal assaults?
Will the Congresscritters who share the Bannon deep state delusions push back?
Will the Putin-Pretender bromance cool?
Will the new WH motto bow to the inevitable, and coin a new motto, something like "Make America Second...or somewhere in the Top Ten?
Stay tuned.
And BTW, while I remain immensely grateful for the CW, I miss the CC (Constant Commenter) bigly.
This piece from The Atlantic reminds us how whitewashed our history lessons were, and are. John Sayles "Amigo" is a good, if too forgiving, dramatization.