;)
The Commentariat -- Nov. 10, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Julie Davis of the New York Times: "President Obama and Donald J. Trump made a public show on Thursday of putting their bitter differences aside after a stunning election upset, during a once-unimaginable Oval Office meeting. It brought together a president who has darkly warned that Mr. Trump could not be trusted with the nuclear codes and a successor who rose to political prominence questioning Mr. Obama's birthplace and legitimacy.... It was an extraordinary show of cordiality and respect between two men who have been political enemies and are stylistic opposites...." -- CW
Comrade President Trumpskyev, Moscow on Line for You! Ivan Nechepurenko of the New York Times: "The Russian government maintained contacts with advisers to Donald J. Trump during the American presidential campaign, one of Russia's top diplomats said Thursday -- an assertion a Trump spokeswoman flatly denied. 'There were contacts,' Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. 'We continue to do this and have been doing this work during the election campaign,' he said." ...
... Akhilleus: No wonder Putin was so happy Comrade Donaldavich won. Wonder how long after Trump gets his security briefing he gives BFF Vlad the inside dope on US national security secrets. And it's also no wonder Wikileaks never released anything hacked from the Trump campaign. Although I doubt a revelation like this would have done him any harm. The American right has quite a crush on the ex-KGB strongman.
ISIS and Al Qaeada Thrilled About Trump. Laura Bult of the New York Daily News. "Islamic extremists are celebrating Donald Trump's shocking victory this week, claiming the election outcome proves half of Americans' anti-Muslim sentiment, according to a group monitoring jihadism. Islamic terrorist organizations including Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Taliban are touting Trump's stunning win as a signal of the country's downfall, according to reports in SITE Intelligence Group cited by USA Today. 'Pro #AQ (Al Qaeda) accounts: "On 9-11 US struck w disaster at the hands of AQ. On 11-9, US struck with disaster at the hands of their own voters,"' wrote SITE founder Rita Katz on Twitter." Akhilleus
Giuliani Interviews On-Air for AG Spot. Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "... Rudy Giuliani ... used a CNN interview Thursday morning to tout his qualification to be attorney general. Giuliani initially indicated he would take the job if he couldn't point to three other lawyers who would be just as good." Luckily for Rudy, Trump watches a lot of TV. Maybe he caught the interview. -- CW
*****
CW: I don't know what Reality Chex will look like going forward -- it's something we'll all have to figure out as we evolve -- but I know you will seldom turn to this page and find speeches by President-Elect or President von Clownstick.
Christopher Mele & Anne Correal of the New York Times: "Thousands of people across the country marched, shut down highways, burned effigies and shouted angry slogans on Wednesday night to protest the election of Donald J. Trump as president. The demonstrations, fueled by social media, continued into the early hours of Thursday. The crowds swelled as the night went on but remained mostly peaceful. Protests were reported in cities as diverse as Dallas and Oakland and included marches in Boston; Chicago; Portland, Ore.; Seattle and Washington and at college campuses in California, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania." -- CW ...
... Emma Whitford of Gothamist: "The NYPD is helping the Secret Service ramp up security outside Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue this afternoon to levels befitting the president-elect, according to an NYPD spokesman. In addition to the row of Sanitation Department trucks parked end to end outside the tower since Tuesday, police have placed white concrete barriers emblazoned with the NYPD logo across 56th Street at the eastern intersection of Fifth Avenue." CW: Garbage trucks protecting the gilded Trump Tower. That's fitting.
Sylvan Lane of the Hill: "The Dow Jones industrial index hit an an all-time high Wednesday, reversing a massive drop triggered by President-elect Donald Trump's improbable win. The Dow surged more than 300 points briefly Wednesday afternoon, finishing with a 250-point rise. The Nasdaq and Standards and Poor's 500 industrial index rose roughly 1 percent each. Wednesday's surge reflects a promise of business-friendly, growth-focused policies from Republicans, who gained control of the White House while maintaining control of Congress.... Stocks for private prisons and coal companies boomed, while gun and marijuana company shares fell."...
... CW: Which just goes to show you that "Wall Street" investors are ignorant. Our economy has done better under Democratic presidents that Republican presidents for more than half a century. That's because the more people who participate in the economy, the more the economy grows, something that should be obvious. Republicans' "business-friendly, growth-focused policies" actually hurt the economy. There is at least some satisfaction in the irony of the gun lobby's "success" -- President von Clownstick will depress gun sales, and gun sales are the ultimate goal of Trump's biggest backer -- the NRA.
Sara Wire of the Los Angeles Times: "Votes are still being counted across the country, but it appears Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton could win the popular vote, while President-elect Trump wins the electoral college and thus the White House. At 5 a.m. on the West Coast, the Associated Press showed Clinton with 59.16 million votes nationally, compared to Trump's 59 million votes."
Hillary Clinton's concession speech, with a lovely introduction by Tim Kaine:
President Obama speaks about the transition:
Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post: "The frightening thing about Trump is that he has a penchant for retribution. One campaign aide, Omarosa Manigault, told the Independent Journal Review, 'It's so great our enemies are making themselves clear so that when we get into the White House, we know where we stand.' And she added this: 'Mr. Trump has a long memory and we're keeping a list.' Yes, revenge is a dish best served cold. And when you're president of the United States, it could come under the color of law." -- CW
Kumbaya? No Thank You. Peter Beinart of the Atlantic: "The blunt truth is that most Trump supporters hold bigoted views. It's what most clearly distinguishes them from other Americans.... Downplaying the racist views of Trump supporters is an evasion of the facts." -- CW ...
... Jenée Desmond-Harris of Vox: "Donald Trump has won the presidency..., not despite but because he expressed unfiltered disdain toward racial and religious minorities in the country. The message his victory sent to nonwhites, Muslim Americans, immigrants, and their families is clear: Never underestimate the power of racism and bigotry. In his victory speech early Wednesday morning, Trump promised to serve all Americans. But he&'d already made clear what that meant to him: using his power to create a 'great again' version of America where white Christian citizens would have the dominance to which they felt entitled, despite changing demographics. And if that meant insulting and snatching back the rights of everyone else, with women caught in the crossfire, so be it. This is an unambiguous message." Thanks to Diane for the link. -- CW ...
... Jamelle Bouie: "Pundits and observers will attribute Trump's win to 'populism' or his 'anti-elite' message. This is nonsense. Trump ran for president as a nationalist fighter for white America.... More than anything, Trump promises a restoration of white authority. After eight years of a black president after eight years in which cosmopolitan America asserted its power and its influence, eight years in which women leaned in and blacks declared that their lives mattered millions of white Americans said enough.... Trump forged a politics of white tribalism, and white people embraced it.... We are still the country that produced George Wallace. We are still the country that killed Emmett Till." -- CW ...
... CW: As Bouie points out, there's a substantive difference between surreptitiously catering to white racists, as Republicans do, & embracing the white supramacists' "cause," as Trump does. ...
... ExPat Girl in Daily Kos (Nov. 9: 1:40 am): "As I watch Republican incumbent after incumbent win hold of their seat, the idea that this election was about 'change' is garbage. This was about hate. Nothing more and nothing less. There is NO WAY you get this result because something is about 'change'. The only reason 'white' America stands so squarely against every other group is to retain supremacy." -- CW
Gail Collins offers ways to accept a president-elect who is the "dimwitted, meanspirited spawn embodying the nation's worst flaws, failings and nightmares." ...
... CW: None of her ideas is convincing, particularly this one: "Don't let people tell you that the vote proves half the American population is racist." Yes, they are. Anyone who voted for Trump is a racist, an anti-Semite & all-purpose xenophobe, a misogynist & a proto-Nazi. Under normal circumstances, you can vote for a candidate you don't like much & not share his bad traits if you think he represents the lesser of two evils. But you cannot vote for somebody like Trump & get off without revealing your slimy true self. The one upside for me of the results of this election (and it would have been so if Clinton had won by a slim margin) is that I get to walk in the shoes of the black man, the Mexican, the Jew, the Muslim: I suspect every Anglo I pass on the street. ...
... The New York Times Editors disagree with me: "We Americans can be heartened by Mrs. Clinton's and Mr. Obama's decency. They were right to be gracious." CW: It's fine to be gracious to George Bush or Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan. It's an abrogation of a responsibility to democratic-republican ideals to be gracious to Donald Trump. Our Democratic leaders failed us again, as Gloria & others point out in today's commentary.
Dylan Matthews of Vox: "... Donald Trump's presidency is going to be an absolute disaster for the white working class, the white poor, and every other economically struggling person in America. The people the media is crediting with Trump's win have a tremendous amount to lose.... Trump has promised an economic agenda that will increase the ranks of the uninsured by tens of millions, that will eliminate crucial safety net programs for low- and moderate-income Americans, that could start a trade war that drives up prices and devastates the economy, and that will put in place a tax code that exacerbates inequality and leaves many families with children worse off." Read on for an excellent rundown of what Trump & his new Congressional BFFs have proposed -- and now will pass into law. -- CW ...
... Trump University, on a Grand Scale. Paul Waldman: "In modern history we've never seen a president who was less a creature of his party, and for many of Trump's supporters that was a big part of the attraction. But what they may not have realized is that when they bought Trump, they'll be getting the GOP and its agenda as part of the deal. How many of those working-class whites are on Medicaid, or use subsidies to get health coverage from the Affordable Care Act? They can kiss that goodbye. Were they hoping for a big tax cut? Sorry, when congressional Republicans write their tax-cutting bill it'll be the wealthy who reap the benefits. Hope they're ready for some new restrictions on abortion, and more pollution in their communities, and fewer rights on the job, because all that's coming too.... Eventually they'll wind up like the marks he took in with Trump University -- taken in by the flash of golden cufflinks and the power of his celebrity, they'll eventually figure out that it was all a scam. But by the time they do, the damage will be done." See also safari's comment below. -- CW ...
... CW: Yes, but as it ever has been, for these people, white supremacy and misogyny trump their own personal well-being. To that extent, they are selfless. ...
... BTW, in case you think Waldman is wrong ...
... Burgess Everett of Politico: "Majority Leader Mitch McConnell signaled the Senate would move swiftly to repeal Obamacare now that the GOP Congress will have a Republican president next year." -- CW
Rick Noack of the Washington Post: "Americans opposed to Donald Trump have frequently joked about moving to the United States' northern neighbor, Canada, should Trump really become president. As that scenario started to become increasingly likely Tuesday evening, Canada's immigration website suddenly went down.... "In the hours just after Trump's victory was called, Americans were searching for jobs in Canada at ten times the rate of previous nights," Jed Kolko, an economist..., was quoted as saying in a news release." -- CW ...
... Anna Fifield of the Washington Post: "Web traffic from the United States to the New Zealand government websites that deal with immigration has skyrocketed. The Immigration New Zealand website, the government's immigration department site, usually gets about 2,300 visits from United States Internet addresses each day. In the 24 hours until 9 a.m. New Zealand time on Thursday, it had received 56,300 visits from the United States -- a 25-fold increase in traffic." -- CW
Elliot Hannon of Slate: "Donald Trump's victory has sent America's allies and adversaries scrambling.... One early indicator of the anxiety and anticipation that the U.S.'s interaction with its regional and global partners is set to change is Cuba's almost immediate decision to hold five days of military exercises to 'maintain the country's defense preparedness.' The Cuban government did not explicitly link the nationwide 'Bastion Strategic Exercise' to Trump's election, but the military drills in the past have been ordered during contentious periods with the U.S." -- CW
Senate Election
Adam Sexton of WMUR: "Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan is declaring victory in her U.S. Senate race against Republican incumbent Kelly Ayotte. 'As we've gotten more results overnight and this morning, it's clear that we have maintained the lead and have won this race,' Hassan said Wednesday morning at a press conference. Ayotte's campaign responded, making it clear that she has no plans to concede the race to Hassan.... With 99 percent of precincts reporting as of 11 a.m., Hassan leads Ayotte by less than 1,000 votes." -- CW ...
... Update: Per this NYT graphic, it appears the AP has now projected Hassan as the winner. So. if the vote holds, that's a total of 48 Democratic Senators, or a pick-up of two. (Louisiana is to be decided in a run-off Dec. 10, but it's unlikely the Democrat will win.)
... BTW, Clinton, too, is now leading in New Hampshire, tho the race has not been called. Arizona & Michigan, the other two states not yet called, are "leaning Trump."
Share Article 
