A battle has been lost in a great cause that has broken many hearts, deeply disillusioned others, and shattered the perception of America all over the world.
Honestly, Steve, I'm so deflated right now. I don't know if I care. America is not a good and great nation. America is a nation filled with willfully, ignorant racists misogynists, and fascists. I know you can look at what Germany and Japan became after World War II, but they were wholey and completely Militarily defeated. I fear the sickness that has taken hold of the United States has always been with us. It's the Confederacy 2.0, that we fought and bled to fefeat in the Civil War that we never fully destroyed. People voted for Tammy Baldwin, and Rubin Gallegos and Trump and that tells me Americans do not pay attention and do not have the critical thinking skills to make rational choices. Perhaps it's always been this way and the only reason Obama waselected and reelected is because of his charisma.
I guess I see all of this as the logical evolution of Reaganomics. We destroyed the unions, we started unraveling public education, and we enabled a new class of elite MBAs to take over American business and yielded our economy to mergers acquisitions. It was the beginning of a massive shift of wealth from the middle class to the top 10% and it seems to have destroyed the foundation of America that was built on the New Deal - ehich the conservatives in this country have been trying to kill ever since it was enacted, and now seemed to have succeeded.
I was born in 1961 at the end of the baby boom. I'm now 63 and I've approached every single major turning point in my life seeing expectations of what would be available to me drop off a cliff. It's like I followed an infestation of locusts that have consumed everything in their path. And now that will be the Social Security and Medicare I've paid into for 50 years.
I also have a 19-year-old daughter who Is the joy of my life and I literally thought to myself when it was clear Trump would win, if I'd made a mistake bringing her into this world. I raised her to be decent and empathetic, to value truth and integrity, and be the best that she can be believing this would set her on a path for a happy, successful and fulfilling life. She is devastated and I don't know what to tell her.
Thank you, Maxine. I agree with you. I see many tragedies ahead that will not be “fixable” later. I see these criminals making our public lands a “fire sale” for the wealthy. I heard JD Vance just 2 days before the election say that they would sell off “hundreds of acres of public lands”. They will create the same type of “divestment”of a majority of our publicly-owned services, educational institutions, assets and lands - supported by American tax dollars for over a century - as happened in Russia. It won’t take long. It won’t be reversible. They will drill all over Alaska. Nature, wildlife and our fragile environment will be further decimated within the next 4 years. We will need to do all we can to stop it, at least to slow it, but they will wreak havoc. Steve Bannon has been declaring for years that he wants chaos, and here it comes.
America does not yet grasp what they have unleashed - but they will, too late.
Kamala Harris's heartfelt messaging focused on people who feel left behind and want to get ahead, and her attention to bettering the circumstances of ordinary Americans, was perhaps always overshadowed by an entrenched cynicism that took on new life during the Biden administration, no matter how many important public policies Biden furthered to better the country as a whole. People who didn't believe any of Biden's accomplishments had anything to do with them came to see a "burn it all down" approach as wildly appealing. They may have recognized that the messenger was a mentally ill miscreant, but it didn't matter. The message of hate of "the other" and a desire for retribution lifted them collectively out of disappointment into a false sense of being understood.
To address, in part, what Steve sees as a massive shift away from the Democratic Party, I'd like to offer a bit of personal history. My parents and their adult friends were one generation removed from the subsistence-level family farms where their own parents grew up. My grandparents found their way to California from western Pennsylvania and western Kentucky and the southwestern tip of Missouri as young adults, and they became manual laborers in the California oilfields in the early 20th century. All of them had quit school at sixth grade.
My high-school educated parents, living in a small town in the San Joaquin Valley, were young adults during the Great Depression. They called themselves "Roosevelt Democrats." There was work to be had so they were not impoverished, but still they fully believed that the country survived the Depression because FDR created myriad programs to support people's lives, and they held fast to a patriotism that fueled my father's decision to enlist in the Navy right after Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Ambition for my parents in post-war America was owning their own small town business in Northern California, buying a new GM car every three years, living in a new house in the best part of town, and sending me to a new campus of the University of California because I was a smart kid and I wanted to go. I sometimes tell people that Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Donald Trump and I were all born in 1946. Let that sink in for a minute -- the sense that in post-War America many kids grew up believing in their own possibilities, even if their parents' backgrounds were very different.
Despite my parents' roots in New Deal America, I also knew, from the time I was drawn to JFK and his vision for America in 1960, that something had changed for my parents as they began to see themselves as prosperous. They wanted to identify with Republicans because they saw the Republican Party as the choice of people with money. It had also become, in their eyes, the party of "real" Americans, while the Democratic Party had been "taken over" by Irish and Italian and Eastern European Catholics -- later arrivals whose lives had been ruined by upheavals in foreign places. Despite their humble beginnings, my parents had always seen their "birthright" as being "real" Americans, and I was brought up to see myself the same way. My entire lineage is traceable back to colonial America. They were all Scots-Irish, mostly Presbyterian and all Protestant. In the 1950s I knew I was a "WASP" among a more motley assortment of friends. Our WASP identity sometimes translated into a snobbishness in my parents that I recognized even as a child. We had no reason to resent newcomers when we knew who we were in America. With a kind of "noblesse oblige" attitude, my parents bragged that they had one or two Italian or Jewish couple friends. (But Blacks were always in an entirely separate social world as far as my parents were concerned, as were California's Mexican field workers.) For the "real Americans," different generally was "lesser," but they recognized and even admired any people who were working hard, as they had, and trying to get ahead.
When my parents realized that "people like them" in their more prosperous self-definition were mostly Republicans, they wanted to be accepted in those circles and be perceived as among the "haves" who had made their own success while the "have nots" would always gravitate to the Democratic Party, which was redefined forever by the lasting effects of the New Deal as the party for people who couldn't make it on their own. I would suggest that my parents' socio-economic class emerging in post-war America was effectively the precursor to the Reagan era, where a huge part of the population was still living the same blue collar lives their parents had lived, but those who had made it in their own eyes could embrace a concept like "trickle-down economics" with straight faces.
By the time "Reaganomics" became the mantra of those who had achieved measurable wealth, the country was already a country of "have nots," even though many political people had not yet acknowledged that opportunities to "get ahead" through hard work were mostly gone. Eventually the "underclass" became real in the eyes of people like me who lived comfortably but worried about what would become of a country where more and more people felt left behind because, in fact, they were.
Fast forward 40 years, and the "underclass" of people living at a subsistence level, for whom no governmental program has ever been enough to do more than give them a short-term handout, for whom "civil rights" and "voting rights" and other programs that make America a more democratic country may be valued in principle but don't create opportunities to get ahead in a world where the rich and famous are now obscenely super-wealthy and a class unto themselves, and where just "making a good living" is a joke because it means forever being stuck in the world of "have nots," has grown exponentially. For people who have lived for several generations as a poorly-educated underclass in a world of "haves" educated to outsmart them every time, where no governmental program aimed at big-scale problems like "climate change" or various forms of democratic rights and freedoms ever touches the core of their despondency and hopelessness, a "burn it all down" approach has caught fire in the collective imagination, and they really don't care what might get lost or who might be hurt in the process.
I would suggest that what we're seeing now, in Americans born in recent generations, is less a rejection of Joe Biden's policies or of Biden himself than of the Democratic Party because it has become far less relevant than it thinks it is -- a party that still defines itself in the shadow of the New Deal and the big public policy accomplishments of the 1960s. There is a calcified resentment toward traditional democratic governmental answers to complex problems that are way over many Americans' heads -- a resentment born of the conclusion that nothing a democratic form of government produces or accomplishes is going to benefit them personally in any long-term way, so why give any credence to any of it?
So I agree with your thesis that roots of today's alarming realization about what Americans have rejected at the voting booth can be found in the era of trickle-down Reaganomics, which includes the dismantling of public education and the decimation of unions among other losses, but the seeds were planted as far back as the New Deal. My Roosevelt Democrat parents became Nixon Republicans, rejecting JFK's uplifting vision for the country in 1960, just as I was becoming politically aware. I didn't understand then that they were revealing what was true in the America they saw -- even modest wealth and success could open a door to entry into a world populated by people with ambition or education or capability or wherewithal to become successful in their own right. That was a fact of "lived life" more than 60 years ago. It's just that the door my parents walked through was accessible to a great many Americans who set their sights on walking through it, while now, for what seems to be a majority of Americans, the door seems permanently shut no matter what kind of ambition or good fortune a young person might have.
The vote on November 5 may have put the lie to the notion that democracy is the greatest idea humanity has ever conceived of (apologies for paraphrasing) as Kamala Harris idealized it, but I would not sell short those of us, including Steve, who can see that there is work to be done between now and the next midterm, because if we recognize the problem, then we are in a better place to conceive of solutions, even if they would not have seemed viable a week ago. We have to take the world as we now find it and do our creative best to move toward a vision of democracy that yet has the power to prevail.
Thank you for this. I don't think the Democrats were ever straight on the fact that the US, being the only industrialized country not ravaged by war in 1946, then became the most powerful economic force in the history of the world, from 1946 until maybe exposed in the oil crisis of the 1970's. And those times will not return. And so it's about forward, and Kamala's message of "we're not going back" is close but not exactly on the head. It's more like "there is no back;" i.e., there is no 1956, which, BTW, was not as great for non-WhiteMale folk. So not only does she miss on the word "not" as if it's a threat, but she misses on defining "back" so people understand it. She misses hitting that on the head, barely, apparently 1-2% off the mark based on the vote.
In addition to everything you have said, I have noticed that people in articles and comments have been referring almost exclusively to the middle class, but not very much to the working class, which were far more prevalent during Roosevelt's time - and may still be.
I would imagine the latter are feeling the economic and health squeezes even more? I wonder how many of each voted red? (And does that matter/help to understand and strategise?)
OMG! I agree, I am 68 and fear for my daughter and her baby. Very thoughtful, intelligent writing that probably says what, those of us that think outside of the self, were thinking. However, I agree with Steve that it is not the end, yet, unless we do something about it. I believe what he says about the Trump wheels starting to spin eventually.
I am just a couple years older than you and experienced the same thing. I too am feeling utterly devastated. Further, all that you said in in paragraph 2 is pretty accurate and historically significant. Your insight is valuable. I expect I will be alive for at least the next 15-20 years so that is too long for me to go complacent. You must focus on healing and then regroup. For the sake of all of us, do not throw in the towel. There are far too many of us that are feeling just like you do. Time to correct and get back to work on all the damage control that needs to be done.
Why is Joe Biden so unpopular?? I agree on Gaza and high prices but what else besides an hostile press has he done?
Americans are much better off than 4 or 8 years ago, the economy is doing better than ever, wages are up, oil prices are down. 92% have healthcare, the infrastructure bill/Chip and science act/16 million new jobs created/restored the EPA cleaned up our rivers and streams /restored OSHA/student loan relieve. High prices come from Trump's billionaire friends by way of price gouging who will get another 2 trillion dollar tax cut from Trump while the middle class gets nothing.
What I don’t get is the stupidity of people who blame Joe Biden for the rise in gas and food prices after Covid. Biden had d’ick all to do with the rise in prices as they occurred throughout the western world. Trump blew his horn about the US economy and a big slice of America that doesn’t read newspapers, and lacks interest in American politics gave way to his resounding success. It’s hard to believe, but when you hear Dems say they voted for the orange menace instead of the Harris Team, because they viewed Biden’s economic policies as having inflicted financial pain at the gas pumps and at the kitchen table. Factor in the misogyny and racism still rampant and look in the rear view mirror and you find that the Harris team became a bridge too far. If they’re fed up with Biden/Harris just wait until trump unleashes his hatred and lack of any solid public policies to deal with his electors’ grievances.
Peter-- let's really make a big stink about the higher prices when Trump is in. And remember, it's not just tariffs. With no immigrants to work in the fields, hen houses, and construction, food and housing will go way up.
Sounds like a plan! You are 100% correct! The MAGAts have no appreciation for the backbreaking work that goes into food production. They wouldn't last five minutes bent over in a field picking berries or washing the blood off slaughterhouse walls.
The complaints about high prices, the border, etc. are smokescreens. Trump voters’ actual complaints are about the advancement of women, minorities, LGBTQ+ people, secularism, etc. They just won’t admit it.
The mistake Biden made is to let Trump and the media define his presidency. He never spoke directly to the American people from the Oval Office to set the record straight. By the way on immigration, border crossing is down 40%, something else the press is hiding.
Trump is only chosen because of he scared the hell out of people about migrant workers (all lies), his militia's are the real danger to society.
The secret sauce to Trump's victory is that "he alone" will solve all your problems. Many are single-issue voters--they have essentially a pet peeve (cost of milk, a neighbor who they thinks might be better off, etc.). Who better to lay the blame on than Biden? Trump will solve "your" problem, right? And the last time he made that promise, he lost in the midterms, and lost re-election. Voter's memories are short. They will remember quickly.
I agree Joe Biden is considered one of the most successful Presidents. The failure to understand that the masses of voters didn’t realize the extent the pandemic had on the economy and that the infrastructure would take years to recover. We lost 1.2 million citizens just reflect on what that means at all levels, family, supply, business and more.
Haven't you heard? They just didn't FEEL it! This is why I reject the "economic pain" argument. I do recognize the obscene wealth disparity in this country, but that has been on an upswing for decades, has nothing to do with Biden. He was not effective at selling his significant accomplishments to a largely apathetic populace and should have kept his vow to be a "transitional" figure instead of clinging on well beyond his "best by" date, but people have stewed in their ill-defined dissatisfaction for years, and the party in power bears the brunt of the blame, not matter how unjust, or how unfit the opposition. Biden's favorability dropped in his first year and never came back. Perhaps if he had stepped down and allowed a more normal, democratic process of determining a successor - without all the tension and bad press of getting him out - there might have been an opportunity to separate from him and be competitive. As it happens, Harris did an amazing job of closing the anti-incumbent gap. Add In the non-stop lies, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, disinformation to our willfully inattentive electorate, and you get the ingredients for destruction by popular choice.
My wife heard someone in a grocery store checkout line today complain about the price of something and in the next breath say that it will be fixed soon since Trump was elected. This is a real time illustration of the foggy reality too many Americans live in. It's an example of the failure of the mainstream media fulfilling its Constitutional mandate by not informing the citizens.
Ugh! And when it doesn't happen, Trump and his cronies will blame the Democrats again, or illegal immigrants or women or whoever their scapegoat of the day is, and the cult followers will believe him. It will always be someone else's fault, and the solution will always be sometime in the future.
I agree, Jim. The normalizing of Trump, the extraction of meaning from his meaningless words, the inattention to his fracturing mental state...these media outlets have much to answer for.
But I sometimes wonder if we go too far in blaming mainstream media, because the explanation of food prices (as one example) was repeated frequently, yet that info never punched a hole into Maga's collective brain. It was a bizarre phenomenon, to see these people interviewed at rallies who when asked about the cause of high food prices, the answer was always "Joe Biden." Whatever your gripe or peeve or fear...Joe Biden.
Some of it was due to willful ignorance, but they also were never exposed to the full picture of an issue on right wing media.
I believe one solution might be in the reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine, where both sides of an issue must always be presented in a news setting.
When I've brought this up with people before, the response has always been, "Yeah, but the Fairness Doctrine only applied to broadcast channels." Fair enough, but too often that reply invariably meant "end of discussion" as if the doctrine's initial incarnation was cast in stone, never to be updated or amended.
The Fairness Doctrine at one time ensured that any broadcast station, TV or radio, would provide "both sides" of the news as a service to the American people, because the airwaves BELONGED to the American people.
Those against bringing back the FD now say it couldn't be done because cable lines are private, owned by the cable companies, and we can't dictate their programming.
Really? Why not? When I last looked up the figure, American taxpayers have shelled out over $200 BILLION to lay cable lines in the areas where the cable companies don't want to go, or where it's not as profitable to go.
Certainly if we do things like eminent domain to serve the greater good of a community, we can certainly create a new Fairness Doctrine that would factor in the modern world and the complexities of how people now digest their news.
This is all predicated, of course, on the assumption that in four years, our government won't be in shreds. But if we're still standing, perhaps this idea would be worth a shot.
(Congrats to anyone who got to the end of this long-ass comment. 😜)
Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine would be a good start but it’s not going to happen with the Washington criminals who are now in power. But, would America listen? There are so many things about MAGA that disgusts me but at the top of the list is his followers who laugh and encourage CFDT when he calls people names. I just wasn’t brought up to be so disrespectful but the more he does it, the more they love it. They are disgusting people and if prices rise or anything negative happens, they will blame Joe Biden. We’re in for a nasty ride but I will find a way to call them out whenever I can. Not feeling too positive about America right now.
What idiots. As we here all know, prices never come down across-the-board unless there’s a serious recession or depression. The other thing they won’t acknowledge is that prices have come DOWN on some items.
Unfortunately when problems are cultivated in the minds of the gullible, those same people are easily convinced the problem has magically disappeared as soon as the Liar in Chief assumes the throne.
You can’t lead or manufacture public opinion on this. We have to be willing to let Trump be Trump unfettered until the midterms. If the results are as horrible as we fear then you won’t have to go around shaking Americans by the collar yelling at them to wake up. But if the results are good or equivocal, well this MAGA thing just might be here to stay. And don’t blame Biden. How the hell could anyone predict a roaring economy job and stock market didn’t justify a re election campaign against an insurrectionist and felon. It makes no sense
The thing is that “roaring job economy and stock market” were delivered courtesy of the Biden Administration and all of his efforts to uncripple Trump’s covid economy. And we’re gonna let them take credit for that. WTF?
I am horrified and heartbroken because I must acknowledge that my country has become the United States of Nastiness. I do not blame Biden or the Democrats. It's our fellow Americans and they will regret this choice and feel the horror and heartbreak too.
The 'elephant' in the room of my mind is that Musk coordinated with Djt and Putin to do some very hi-tech, deeply covert interference with the election and campaign processes, including influencing the sane-washing and diminishing of the negative media coverage of Djt.
Yes, and I keep wondering what Trump was referring to when he said weeks ago at a rally (in Vegas?) that he didn't need their votes, he already had enough? Sounds fishy to me, coming from a known conman, grifter and traitor like him, don't you think?
Yes, that's very fishy … and Djt also said at a rally that he’s sure to win and that he and Johnson have a ‘secret plan’ but wouldn't say what that was!
I respect you too much Steve to not be brutally honest in my assessment of your comments here.
Nifty little chart you provided us with. Not sure the "shift" indications are more than just that for a bizarre election due to (a) Trump being a singularly unique historical Presidential candidate whack-a-doo who inspires the loonies, (b) our economy is still reeling from a worldwide pandemic that struck hard everywhere and folks continue to feel the affects and (c) Harris was a hard sell from the start (as would any other candidate who was a woman of diversity - you simply cannot leave this variable out of the equation, which I believe has the most to do with her inability to reach the blue-wall state male voters, which would have given Harris the election). Biden won in 2020 against an unpopular incumbent under very bad social and economic circumstances. Trump was weak and Biden looked safer. Biden had unexpected success for the first two years of his Presidency and gave a powerful 2024 State of the Union Speech that impressed all, and was then followed up by a successful European Summit in the Spring. He gave a terrible, horrible performance (in June - Trump's wasn't much better), and Biden was immediately placed on the ropes by the MSM and political pols (that includes you). Now, you want us to grill him on "what". Why did Joe not leave sooner, as you had suggested? Seriously, will that make everyone feel better about our loss on Tuesday? Not me. Clinton lost in 2016, and it was her fault, her campaign and Trump's brilliance as a candidate - not the jerks who wouldn't accept a woman President. Now, we don't want to say it was Harris, because she ran a capital campaign. Yes, she did indeed. Thus, it must be Joe Biden's fault.
Oh no you don't. If you want to argue "get rid of all the geriatrics" now hanging on to Congressional seats, I am with you 100%. And I have a few ideas on how best to go about that effort. However, if the idea is to use Joe Biden as the causal factor to make your point on Presidential age - I am out. Our voters, whom you suggest were repelled on Tuesday, just elected the "oldest Presidential candidate" in American history who still has a negative approval rating as a human being. What does that say about voter judgment.
Yes, Trump voters need to evolve out of the cult. Steve is correct when he suggests that we need to stop electing folks to Congress who have been "too long at the fair". It is killing us with young voters across the ethnic and ideological spectrum.
Kamala's gender probably didn't help, since this country has shown a distinct lack of modern thinking with regard to a woman's ability to handle executive jobs, nor did her skin color. The deliberate and effective demonization of immigrants played a role as well. But let's not whitewash the Biden age impact. His decline - physical and mental - was visible, rapid, and dramatic. His inner circle carefully managed his public exposure from early in his term, abetted by his wife. He was in no condition to execute a campaign, much less serve another 4 years, and they all knew it. It was a serious disservice to the country -and to him - to encourage him to proceed as a candidate.
While I recognize the unfair double standard regarding Trump's age, he simply doesn't present as physically feeble as Biden does. There is the impression of energy in his hatefulness, fueled by drugs. Also, his incessant firehose of crazy incoherence has inured us to the point of giving him a pass, in spite of its acceleration.
That said, we tend to overlook the reality that most Americans are low information, not just a small segment, and their selected information sources can distort reality, to say the least. It's Occam's Razor simplicity: General dissatisfaction is high and the incumbent party is penalized.
We need your wisdom and perspective, Steve. That's why I became a Founding Member. I've spent the last day being depressed, but that will not serve me or anyone around me. So I'm back on the horse, ready to re-engage.
I'll get back on but right now I'm just too, too gutted. I really believed Americans were better than this, and the hardest fact to swallow is that they just....aren't.
I really don't want to read essays blaming Biden, or the Democratic Party. Being such a critic is easy because you weren't a decision maker at the table, and after-the-fact you can rationale everything that you didn't like as the thing to blame. Blame is easy and also nonproductive, but we do need to look at the fact that the majority of voters whole heartedly want what Trump pedals. They're fine with all the hatred, they want cruelty, they want the destruction of our institutions, they want the chaos, cheating, stealing and lying are okay with them. Or, they simply checked-out and don't care and assume that they'll be fine. I don't want to read about the "lost young men" in the US, or the Archie Bunkers who can't handle change, or the voters who won't vote even though they have no excuse, the voters who can't be bothered to be truly informed, who live in a "bubble". These may be explanations but they aren't excuses. Anyone who voted for Trump is personally responsible for what follows. Having lived 72 years under the rules of patriarchy and misogyny I know how to take a deep breath and then forge ahead. I also know that the deep rooted and systemic misogyny, racism and hatred of the "other" will take time to overcome. It'll never be defeated but it can be marginalized and all of us are responsible to make this happen every day, in any way possible. Check your own words and actions and see where you can change the conversation. It's hard and it's an uphill battle, but it's the right thing to do every day, not once every four years.
I feel like I have been battling racism and misogyny since I was 17 and left my evangelical church. 61 years later, it is still with us, but not as bad. When I see TV and see all those fabulous brown faces, I smile. When I see interracial couples, I smile. When I see two men holding hands, I smile. When I see a woman win in court against her rapist, I smile. When I see a man get custody of his children over a drug addict mom, I smile. It takes SO long for it to happen and ONLY happens when WE stand up. Be the one to stand up and others will follow you.
This is utterly nonsense. You can't make someone drink what they don't want. The truth is simple: we live in a country that's comfortable with hate. Period. Always has been and it continued. Based upon the groups that pulled the lever for Trump: white women, Latinos and Latina voters. In Michigan, Trump received an endorsement from an Arab American mayor, even though Trump attempted a Muslim ban. This mayor blamed VP Harris for the war in Gaza. Trump had stated his support for Netanyahu.
Trump won the popular vote, first time in decades. If the democratic party had nominated a white man, perhaps it might have been a close election. VP Harris was better qualified but it didn't matter.
He says what Americans overall support. This IS who we are, whether you like it or not. Tim Wise has some interesting views on race within the USA. As long as we ignore our truths, nothing will change.
Are the Dems investigating cheating AT ALL? In light of all the claims from MAGA that Dems would be cheating (reverse that claim), I do hope there is at least some digging behind the scenes to make sure. Also, apart from blaming network media, why isn't social media propaganda from Russia, China, Iran, and our very own Heritage Foundation being added to the blame of why half our population would repudiate liberal democratic values and believe a set of lies about our country? Our populace is brainwashed by it 24/7/365. That sh*t works. And why isn't there an equivalent social media machine that continually espouses truth and democratic values. That floods the airwaves with THAT? It seems we are outweighed in reaching the public. Humans are puppets to whatever we hear over and over and over again.
Yes. The Dems need to ensure that this election wasn't rigged. This is only a gut feeling, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, by any means, but the popular vote numbers just seem off to me. I have never seen Dems mobilize like they did for this election, but their official turnout number seems so scanty.
The Democrats have already waved the white flag as K graciously conceded & Biden has invited D to the White House. This is why Dems lost people....2 sides of same coin as they say? Give me Bernie & no prisoners.....
Which sounds like a Dem response exactly as MAGA's playbook predicted. I'm hoping Kamala being a prosecutor, is putting a face on for the public and behind the scenes is investigating. I mean, WHO WOULDN'T BE??! Trump does not care about laws.
Trump's plan was to disenfranchise, disrupt, cry foul in advance, then contest the loss and try to get a political "win." Please, let's not drink their kool-aid. Stay sane. Trump doesn't care about laws, but we have to continue to. Was there disinformation? Undoubtedly, massive. It surely affected some voters' choices, but it didn't rig the election process.
Steve, while I’d like to share your optimism for the future; I don’t! Trump was welcomed with open arms, with the understanding of who Trump is, and what he intends to do: dictator on day one, and Project 2025). So America knew exact what it got when they went for Trump. And the MSM has been an unwitting enabler, or happy participant in Trump’s rise from the ashes.
Additionally, Trump now has a mandate, and majority of the American support; as well as the support of most of the major corporations, billionaires, and most of the states. And those that opposed him will surely bend a knee, or be stuck on Trump’s menu when he unleashes his tariffs and has carve outs for all those who bend a knee and promise unconditional fealty to the man; while punishing everyone else; especially the ignorant American electorate. Make no mistake, the IRS and DOJ will be busier than ever before. Trump may even have to increase their budgets so they can deal with all the audits and investigations they’ll need to oversee.
Below is a comment I left in the Bulwark, and I will reshare, since it expresses my thoughts on the matter!
“Time to regroup now, not after the inauguration!”
Really? Please stop with your nonsense. Biden’s policies were the best of any president in this century. There is one main cause for Trump’s rise from the ashes: Social engineering! And the fix was in before Biden was even inaugurated. And frankly, most of the MSM were unwitting accomplices, or happy participants.
Last election, social media had checks and balances. Misinformation and disinformation campaigns were blocked. This time they were not. Last time, socially responsible people ran Twitter, this time, misinformation and disinformation campaigns were a feature, not a bug. I read an article by Mathew Crawford today in Substack. His post on “social engineering” of this election was blocked because it didn’t meet the social media conduct policy of Facebook. The censoring, suppression and silencing has already started; you won’t be hearing anything consequential anymore. Just more division to keep people distracted from the truth; which will be whatever Trump and the new oligarchs say it is!
Furthermore, if you think the Wappo’s decision to not endorse Harris was a last minute decision, think again. Bezos hired two Murdock protégés a year before the non-endorsement, one who resigned before even working there, due to his part in a UK illegal wiretapping scandal; no red flags there (sarcasm), but it proves their was pressure on the MSM during the Biden administration by conservatives, and organizations who support Trump’s fascist plans for America.
Furthermore, The NYT’s biggest investors after the Sulzberger family are Black Rock and Vanguard: two of Trump’s biggest supporters, who also happy to be Truth Social’s biggest investors. These to companies alone account for 6% of the worlds entire wealth ($24 trillion), and they bought their stock in the fourth quarter of 2023. And if you recall, all the misleading headlines and cognitive decline of Biden, started soon thereafter. Let that sink in!
The bottom line: this election was never going to end well for democrats. If blaming Biden for the Trans kids, and prison trans issues is what keeps Americans up at night, then these people don’t deserve democracy, because they have no idea what it means.
More women have died due to the new anti-abortion laws, than and trans surgeries for kids (who don’t get them before being around 18, BTW), and in prison. Yet, you’d never know it by the way Trans people became the zeitgeist of the election, and women’s reproductive rights didn’t seem to matter as much than having to live in a world with trans people. Additionally. I heard so many stories of people with distorted versions on every policy that exists.
Moreover, we even had Russians influencing influencers on social media, which went unchecked! The FBI uncovered some of the Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns, but do you really think they got them all? Or even the most nefarious ones of the lot?
This Trump campaign began before Biden even took office. And the corporate and media elites were part of the plan. Some willingly, others saw the writing on the wall. And ironically, Trump and his influential backer’s have been consolidating power and able to extort corporations and billionaires even though he was out of power! Now that’s real power, and not possible by Trump alone. He has had powerful backers, including SCOTUS. I have no doubt that after the SCOTUS immunity ruling, it scared the bejesus out of every major CEO in this country who wasn’t a Trump supporter. And it should have scared the American public as well. Trump now has UNCHECKED power! He will pardon the J6th insurrectionists, and then he can unleash violence on a whim; pardoning the criminals after the fact. Let that sink in!
So now that America has chosen, it will pay a price; authoritarianism will be embedded in our society; and even if Democrats ever take the Whitehouse again, they will have little to no power. The Judicial system will be stacked with Trump judges, and SCOTUS will have gone full fascist. Any future democratic administration will be doomed to failure before it even begins. And any policies enacted, blocked by the courts, which will take years to work through the new and much improved Judiciary.
When you already have two judges that side with the insurrectionists on J6th, and a president even more corrupt than the courts, with essentially a license to kill; there is no turning back. They will now solidify their power for the next several decades, while the powers that be, keep this country divided; playing the blame game, instead of dealing with the root causes.
I’m already watching ad nauseam, as the TV pundits fight over who caused Harris to fail.
Furthermore, at first, Americans will be happy. The day Trump takes power, miraculously, price gouging will end. Trump will take credit, and America will rejoice.
Additionally, Netanyahu will agree to a cease fire, and Trump will be a miracle worker in the eyes of all his adoring fans, and those who were skeptical. That is until Trump unleashes Netanyahu’s reign of terror: his plan to deport over a million Palestinians in each of the occupied territories. And the media will not even bother to mention it, except in an afterthought, as Trump’s own deportation plans wreak havoc on our population.
Ukraine will be forced to relinquish all the territory Russia has gained; including Crimea and the Donbas region, which will be the beginning of the end of Ukraine sovereignty and democracy. The Baltics will be soon to follow as most of Eastern Europe will fall to authoritarian regimes aligned with Russia. China will take Taiwan, and control the South China Sea, and all the sea routes we need for our Asian trade markets. All of this will reduce our influence over Asia and Europe within the next five years.
Lastly, when Trump’s new budget for 2025 is passed into law, besides his massive tax cuts, there will be austerity measures that destroy the lives of so many. A shock Doctrine will be implemented to ensure compliancy of the people, and because of all the misinformation and lies, no one will be able to make sense of it. Should protests break out, we all know how that will end: military and national guard!
Not to mention, the MSM will be distracting us with all the deportation madness, which Trump and his minions will love, since they’ll be taking a sledgehammer to the constitution, firing and remaking the federal government into their twisted version of America, all while the American public is directed towards the bright shiny object.
So congratulations America, you just signed your own death certificate and wrote your own obituary! There is no coming back from this. So you will get the government you wanted: good and hard!
As usual, Robert, you are on point. Thank you for your input into this important dialogue about the future of America and by extension to the democracies of the western world.
I agree with every point except one. Americans should have known what they voted for and have no excuse for their ignorance, but ignorant they are. We're all going to pay the price for that ignorance, as you have laid out well, but most people have no clue about the horror they've signed us all up for. Given the state of our profound lack of awareness, people may be easily convinced that he has fixed everything - presto! - overnight.
I just got off the phone with my terrified 33 year old daughter. She saw some Twitter thing that said, 'your body, my choice' from some sick dude. She suddenly realized that she now has fewer rights than I did (though she lives in MA and I live in VT). She's so upset that she can't focus on work. The women who did not vote for Trump are traumatized, and the ones who did should be ashamed. BTW the Atlantic right now is full of reflection, like this one from George Conway: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-election-presidential-term/680562/
There are a lot of sicko men out there who take glee in this cruelty. Damn them. And I don't blame your daughter - or any woman, or man who cares about women - for being afraid.
My 26-year-old daughter also. She lives in Florida, where the abortion amendment was defeated, and she wants to move across the country to California. I live on the East Coast, so the trump election has traumatic personal consequences for me as well.
Honestly, Steve, I'm so deflated right now. I don't know if I care. America is not a good and great nation. America is a nation filled with willfully, ignorant racists misogynists, and fascists. I know you can look at what Germany and Japan became after World War II, but they were wholey and completely Militarily defeated. I fear the sickness that has taken hold of the United States has always been with us. It's the Confederacy 2.0, that we fought and bled to fefeat in the Civil War that we never fully destroyed. People voted for Tammy Baldwin, and Rubin Gallegos and Trump and that tells me Americans do not pay attention and do not have the critical thinking skills to make rational choices. Perhaps it's always been this way and the only reason Obama waselected and reelected is because of his charisma.
I guess I see all of this as the logical evolution of Reaganomics. We destroyed the unions, we started unraveling public education, and we enabled a new class of elite MBAs to take over American business and yielded our economy to mergers acquisitions. It was the beginning of a massive shift of wealth from the middle class to the top 10% and it seems to have destroyed the foundation of America that was built on the New Deal - ehich the conservatives in this country have been trying to kill ever since it was enacted, and now seemed to have succeeded.
I was born in 1961 at the end of the baby boom. I'm now 63 and I've approached every single major turning point in my life seeing expectations of what would be available to me drop off a cliff. It's like I followed an infestation of locusts that have consumed everything in their path. And now that will be the Social Security and Medicare I've paid into for 50 years.
I also have a 19-year-old daughter who Is the joy of my life and I literally thought to myself when it was clear Trump would win, if I'd made a mistake bringing her into this world. I raised her to be decent and empathetic, to value truth and integrity, and be the best that she can be believing this would set her on a path for a happy, successful and fulfilling life. She is devastated and I don't know what to tell her.
Thank you, Maxine. I agree with you. I see many tragedies ahead that will not be “fixable” later. I see these criminals making our public lands a “fire sale” for the wealthy. I heard JD Vance just 2 days before the election say that they would sell off “hundreds of acres of public lands”. They will create the same type of “divestment”of a majority of our publicly-owned services, educational institutions, assets and lands - supported by American tax dollars for over a century - as happened in Russia. It won’t take long. It won’t be reversible. They will drill all over Alaska. Nature, wildlife and our fragile environment will be further decimated within the next 4 years. We will need to do all we can to stop it, at least to slow it, but they will wreak havoc. Steve Bannon has been declaring for years that he wants chaos, and here it comes.
America does not yet grasp what they have unleashed - but they will, too late.
Maxine, I feel much as you do. I think Lawrence Ferlinghetti must have seen into the future when he wrote this poem in 2007:
Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airways
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
Who allow their rights to erode
And their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!
Thank you for sharing that, Anthony. It is a scathing anthem for these times.
Well said, thanks Anthony..:)
It caused my tears to begin again. And it’s exquisite. Thank you, Anthony.
It’s never a mistake to have children.
Kamala Harris's heartfelt messaging focused on people who feel left behind and want to get ahead, and her attention to bettering the circumstances of ordinary Americans, was perhaps always overshadowed by an entrenched cynicism that took on new life during the Biden administration, no matter how many important public policies Biden furthered to better the country as a whole. People who didn't believe any of Biden's accomplishments had anything to do with them came to see a "burn it all down" approach as wildly appealing. They may have recognized that the messenger was a mentally ill miscreant, but it didn't matter. The message of hate of "the other" and a desire for retribution lifted them collectively out of disappointment into a false sense of being understood.
To address, in part, what Steve sees as a massive shift away from the Democratic Party, I'd like to offer a bit of personal history. My parents and their adult friends were one generation removed from the subsistence-level family farms where their own parents grew up. My grandparents found their way to California from western Pennsylvania and western Kentucky and the southwestern tip of Missouri as young adults, and they became manual laborers in the California oilfields in the early 20th century. All of them had quit school at sixth grade.
My high-school educated parents, living in a small town in the San Joaquin Valley, were young adults during the Great Depression. They called themselves "Roosevelt Democrats." There was work to be had so they were not impoverished, but still they fully believed that the country survived the Depression because FDR created myriad programs to support people's lives, and they held fast to a patriotism that fueled my father's decision to enlist in the Navy right after Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Ambition for my parents in post-war America was owning their own small town business in Northern California, buying a new GM car every three years, living in a new house in the best part of town, and sending me to a new campus of the University of California because I was a smart kid and I wanted to go. I sometimes tell people that Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Donald Trump and I were all born in 1946. Let that sink in for a minute -- the sense that in post-War America many kids grew up believing in their own possibilities, even if their parents' backgrounds were very different.
Despite my parents' roots in New Deal America, I also knew, from the time I was drawn to JFK and his vision for America in 1960, that something had changed for my parents as they began to see themselves as prosperous. They wanted to identify with Republicans because they saw the Republican Party as the choice of people with money. It had also become, in their eyes, the party of "real" Americans, while the Democratic Party had been "taken over" by Irish and Italian and Eastern European Catholics -- later arrivals whose lives had been ruined by upheavals in foreign places. Despite their humble beginnings, my parents had always seen their "birthright" as being "real" Americans, and I was brought up to see myself the same way. My entire lineage is traceable back to colonial America. They were all Scots-Irish, mostly Presbyterian and all Protestant. In the 1950s I knew I was a "WASP" among a more motley assortment of friends. Our WASP identity sometimes translated into a snobbishness in my parents that I recognized even as a child. We had no reason to resent newcomers when we knew who we were in America. With a kind of "noblesse oblige" attitude, my parents bragged that they had one or two Italian or Jewish couple friends. (But Blacks were always in an entirely separate social world as far as my parents were concerned, as were California's Mexican field workers.) For the "real Americans," different generally was "lesser," but they recognized and even admired any people who were working hard, as they had, and trying to get ahead.
When my parents realized that "people like them" in their more prosperous self-definition were mostly Republicans, they wanted to be accepted in those circles and be perceived as among the "haves" who had made their own success while the "have nots" would always gravitate to the Democratic Party, which was redefined forever by the lasting effects of the New Deal as the party for people who couldn't make it on their own. I would suggest that my parents' socio-economic class emerging in post-war America was effectively the precursor to the Reagan era, where a huge part of the population was still living the same blue collar lives their parents had lived, but those who had made it in their own eyes could embrace a concept like "trickle-down economics" with straight faces.
By the time "Reaganomics" became the mantra of those who had achieved measurable wealth, the country was already a country of "have nots," even though many political people had not yet acknowledged that opportunities to "get ahead" through hard work were mostly gone. Eventually the "underclass" became real in the eyes of people like me who lived comfortably but worried about what would become of a country where more and more people felt left behind because, in fact, they were.
Fast forward 40 years, and the "underclass" of people living at a subsistence level, for whom no governmental program has ever been enough to do more than give them a short-term handout, for whom "civil rights" and "voting rights" and other programs that make America a more democratic country may be valued in principle but don't create opportunities to get ahead in a world where the rich and famous are now obscenely super-wealthy and a class unto themselves, and where just "making a good living" is a joke because it means forever being stuck in the world of "have nots," has grown exponentially. For people who have lived for several generations as a poorly-educated underclass in a world of "haves" educated to outsmart them every time, where no governmental program aimed at big-scale problems like "climate change" or various forms of democratic rights and freedoms ever touches the core of their despondency and hopelessness, a "burn it all down" approach has caught fire in the collective imagination, and they really don't care what might get lost or who might be hurt in the process.
I would suggest that what we're seeing now, in Americans born in recent generations, is less a rejection of Joe Biden's policies or of Biden himself than of the Democratic Party because it has become far less relevant than it thinks it is -- a party that still defines itself in the shadow of the New Deal and the big public policy accomplishments of the 1960s. There is a calcified resentment toward traditional democratic governmental answers to complex problems that are way over many Americans' heads -- a resentment born of the conclusion that nothing a democratic form of government produces or accomplishes is going to benefit them personally in any long-term way, so why give any credence to any of it?
So I agree with your thesis that roots of today's alarming realization about what Americans have rejected at the voting booth can be found in the era of trickle-down Reaganomics, which includes the dismantling of public education and the decimation of unions among other losses, but the seeds were planted as far back as the New Deal. My Roosevelt Democrat parents became Nixon Republicans, rejecting JFK's uplifting vision for the country in 1960, just as I was becoming politically aware. I didn't understand then that they were revealing what was true in the America they saw -- even modest wealth and success could open a door to entry into a world populated by people with ambition or education or capability or wherewithal to become successful in their own right. That was a fact of "lived life" more than 60 years ago. It's just that the door my parents walked through was accessible to a great many Americans who set their sights on walking through it, while now, for what seems to be a majority of Americans, the door seems permanently shut no matter what kind of ambition or good fortune a young person might have.
The vote on November 5 may have put the lie to the notion that democracy is the greatest idea humanity has ever conceived of (apologies for paraphrasing) as Kamala Harris idealized it, but I would not sell short those of us, including Steve, who can see that there is work to be done between now and the next midterm, because if we recognize the problem, then we are in a better place to conceive of solutions, even if they would not have seemed viable a week ago. We have to take the world as we now find it and do our creative best to move toward a vision of democracy that yet has the power to prevail.
Thank you for this. I don't think the Democrats were ever straight on the fact that the US, being the only industrialized country not ravaged by war in 1946, then became the most powerful economic force in the history of the world, from 1946 until maybe exposed in the oil crisis of the 1970's. And those times will not return. And so it's about forward, and Kamala's message of "we're not going back" is close but not exactly on the head. It's more like "there is no back;" i.e., there is no 1956, which, BTW, was not as great for non-WhiteMale folk. So not only does she miss on the word "not" as if it's a threat, but she misses on defining "back" so people understand it. She misses hitting that on the head, barely, apparently 1-2% off the mark based on the vote.
This is the only America we have. We have no choice but to fight on.
I feel exactly what you are feeling.
So well said, Maxine - and I feel your pain.
In addition to everything you have said, I have noticed that people in articles and comments have been referring almost exclusively to the middle class, but not very much to the working class, which were far more prevalent during Roosevelt's time - and may still be.
I would imagine the latter are feeling the economic and health squeezes even more? I wonder how many of each voted red? (And does that matter/help to understand and strategise?)
OMG! I agree, I am 68 and fear for my daughter and her baby. Very thoughtful, intelligent writing that probably says what, those of us that think outside of the self, were thinking. However, I agree with Steve that it is not the end, yet, unless we do something about it. I believe what he says about the Trump wheels starting to spin eventually.
I am just a couple years older than you and experienced the same thing. I too am feeling utterly devastated. Further, all that you said in in paragraph 2 is pretty accurate and historically significant. Your insight is valuable. I expect I will be alive for at least the next 15-20 years so that is too long for me to go complacent. You must focus on healing and then regroup. For the sake of all of us, do not throw in the towel. There are far too many of us that are feeling just like you do. Time to correct and get back to work on all the damage control that needs to be done.
Why is Joe Biden so unpopular?? I agree on Gaza and high prices but what else besides an hostile press has he done?
Americans are much better off than 4 or 8 years ago, the economy is doing better than ever, wages are up, oil prices are down. 92% have healthcare, the infrastructure bill/Chip and science act/16 million new jobs created/restored the EPA cleaned up our rivers and streams /restored OSHA/student loan relieve. High prices come from Trump's billionaire friends by way of price gouging who will get another 2 trillion dollar tax cut from Trump while the middle class gets nothing.
What I don’t get is the stupidity of people who blame Joe Biden for the rise in gas and food prices after Covid. Biden had d’ick all to do with the rise in prices as they occurred throughout the western world. Trump blew his horn about the US economy and a big slice of America that doesn’t read newspapers, and lacks interest in American politics gave way to his resounding success. It’s hard to believe, but when you hear Dems say they voted for the orange menace instead of the Harris Team, because they viewed Biden’s economic policies as having inflicted financial pain at the gas pumps and at the kitchen table. Factor in the misogyny and racism still rampant and look in the rear view mirror and you find that the Harris team became a bridge too far. If they’re fed up with Biden/Harris just wait until trump unleashes his hatred and lack of any solid public policies to deal with his electors’ grievances.
The MAGAts don't realize how good they have it. Let's see how they feel when Drumpfs tariffs kick in.
Peter-- let's really make a big stink about the higher prices when Trump is in. And remember, it's not just tariffs. With no immigrants to work in the fields, hen houses, and construction, food and housing will go way up.
Sounds like a plan! You are 100% correct! The MAGAts have no appreciation for the backbreaking work that goes into food production. They wouldn't last five minutes bent over in a field picking berries or washing the blood off slaughterhouse walls.
The complaints about high prices, the border, etc. are smokescreens. Trump voters’ actual complaints are about the advancement of women, minorities, LGBTQ+ people, secularism, etc. They just won’t admit it.
Well they did, Ron, with their votes admit it. Shouted it.
The mistake Biden made is to let Trump and the media define his presidency. He never spoke directly to the American people from the Oval Office to set the record straight. By the way on immigration, border crossing is down 40%, something else the press is hiding.
Trump is only chosen because of he scared the hell out of people about migrant workers (all lies), his militia's are the real danger to society.
The secret sauce to Trump's victory is that "he alone" will solve all your problems. Many are single-issue voters--they have essentially a pet peeve (cost of milk, a neighbor who they thinks might be better off, etc.). Who better to lay the blame on than Biden? Trump will solve "your" problem, right? And the last time he made that promise, he lost in the midterms, and lost re-election. Voter's memories are short. They will remember quickly.
I agree Joe Biden is considered one of the most successful Presidents. The failure to understand that the masses of voters didn’t realize the extent the pandemic had on the economy and that the infrastructure would take years to recover. We lost 1.2 million citizens just reflect on what that means at all levels, family, supply, business and more.
Haven't you heard? They just didn't FEEL it! This is why I reject the "economic pain" argument. I do recognize the obscene wealth disparity in this country, but that has been on an upswing for decades, has nothing to do with Biden. He was not effective at selling his significant accomplishments to a largely apathetic populace and should have kept his vow to be a "transitional" figure instead of clinging on well beyond his "best by" date, but people have stewed in their ill-defined dissatisfaction for years, and the party in power bears the brunt of the blame, not matter how unjust, or how unfit the opposition. Biden's favorability dropped in his first year and never came back. Perhaps if he had stepped down and allowed a more normal, democratic process of determining a successor - without all the tension and bad press of getting him out - there might have been an opportunity to separate from him and be competitive. As it happens, Harris did an amazing job of closing the anti-incumbent gap. Add In the non-stop lies, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, disinformation to our willfully inattentive electorate, and you get the ingredients for destruction by popular choice.
My wife heard someone in a grocery store checkout line today complain about the price of something and in the next breath say that it will be fixed soon since Trump was elected. This is a real time illustration of the foggy reality too many Americans live in. It's an example of the failure of the mainstream media fulfilling its Constitutional mandate by not informing the citizens.
Ugh! And when it doesn't happen, Trump and his cronies will blame the Democrats again, or illegal immigrants or women or whoever their scapegoat of the day is, and the cult followers will believe him. It will always be someone else's fault, and the solution will always be sometime in the future.
It's up to us to stop being wimps and make a big huge stink about the higher prices.
Correct Maxine. Always blame others. That’s how MAGA rolls.
I agree, Jim. The normalizing of Trump, the extraction of meaning from his meaningless words, the inattention to his fracturing mental state...these media outlets have much to answer for.
But I sometimes wonder if we go too far in blaming mainstream media, because the explanation of food prices (as one example) was repeated frequently, yet that info never punched a hole into Maga's collective brain. It was a bizarre phenomenon, to see these people interviewed at rallies who when asked about the cause of high food prices, the answer was always "Joe Biden." Whatever your gripe or peeve or fear...Joe Biden.
Some of it was due to willful ignorance, but they also were never exposed to the full picture of an issue on right wing media.
I believe one solution might be in the reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine, where both sides of an issue must always be presented in a news setting.
When I've brought this up with people before, the response has always been, "Yeah, but the Fairness Doctrine only applied to broadcast channels." Fair enough, but too often that reply invariably meant "end of discussion" as if the doctrine's initial incarnation was cast in stone, never to be updated or amended.
The Fairness Doctrine at one time ensured that any broadcast station, TV or radio, would provide "both sides" of the news as a service to the American people, because the airwaves BELONGED to the American people.
Those against bringing back the FD now say it couldn't be done because cable lines are private, owned by the cable companies, and we can't dictate their programming.
Really? Why not? When I last looked up the figure, American taxpayers have shelled out over $200 BILLION to lay cable lines in the areas where the cable companies don't want to go, or where it's not as profitable to go.
Certainly if we do things like eminent domain to serve the greater good of a community, we can certainly create a new Fairness Doctrine that would factor in the modern world and the complexities of how people now digest their news.
This is all predicated, of course, on the assumption that in four years, our government won't be in shreds. But if we're still standing, perhaps this idea would be worth a shot.
(Congrats to anyone who got to the end of this long-ass comment. 😜)
Bringing back the Fairness Doctrine would be a good start but it’s not going to happen with the Washington criminals who are now in power. But, would America listen? There are so many things about MAGA that disgusts me but at the top of the list is his followers who laugh and encourage CFDT when he calls people names. I just wasn’t brought up to be so disrespectful but the more he does it, the more they love it. They are disgusting people and if prices rise or anything negative happens, they will blame Joe Biden. We’re in for a nasty ride but I will find a way to call them out whenever I can. Not feeling too positive about America right now.
What idiots. As we here all know, prices never come down across-the-board unless there’s a serious recession or depression. The other thing they won’t acknowledge is that prices have come DOWN on some items.
Unfortunately when problems are cultivated in the minds of the gullible, those same people are easily convinced the problem has magically disappeared as soon as the Liar in Chief assumes the throne.
You can’t lead or manufacture public opinion on this. We have to be willing to let Trump be Trump unfettered until the midterms. If the results are as horrible as we fear then you won’t have to go around shaking Americans by the collar yelling at them to wake up. But if the results are good or equivocal, well this MAGA thing just might be here to stay. And don’t blame Biden. How the hell could anyone predict a roaring economy job and stock market didn’t justify a re election campaign against an insurrectionist and felon. It makes no sense
The thing is that “roaring job economy and stock market” were delivered courtesy of the Biden Administration and all of his efforts to uncripple Trump’s covid economy. And we’re gonna let them take credit for that. WTF?
Steve made it make sense. We are had by the oligarchy, and we have to equalize the world if we are to have a world.
I am horrified and heartbroken because I must acknowledge that my country has become the United States of Nastiness. I do not blame Biden or the Democrats. It's our fellow Americans and they will regret this choice and feel the horror and heartbreak too.
Yes, "We The People....", are the ones that chose Trump!
IMO, "we" is not "I"
The 'elephant' in the room of my mind is that Musk coordinated with Djt and Putin to do some very hi-tech, deeply covert interference with the election and campaign processes, including influencing the sane-washing and diminishing of the negative media coverage of Djt.
Yes, and I keep wondering what Trump was referring to when he said weeks ago at a rally (in Vegas?) that he didn't need their votes, he already had enough? Sounds fishy to me, coming from a known conman, grifter and traitor like him, don't you think?
Yes, that's very fishy … and Djt also said at a rally that he’s sure to win and that he and Johnson have a ‘secret plan’ but wouldn't say what that was!
I thought it was me, Matthew, & I’d become a conspiracy nut.
Musk is an evil POS sociopath: https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-pcrm-neuralink-monkey-deaths/
I respect you too much Steve to not be brutally honest in my assessment of your comments here.
Nifty little chart you provided us with. Not sure the "shift" indications are more than just that for a bizarre election due to (a) Trump being a singularly unique historical Presidential candidate whack-a-doo who inspires the loonies, (b) our economy is still reeling from a worldwide pandemic that struck hard everywhere and folks continue to feel the affects and (c) Harris was a hard sell from the start (as would any other candidate who was a woman of diversity - you simply cannot leave this variable out of the equation, which I believe has the most to do with her inability to reach the blue-wall state male voters, which would have given Harris the election). Biden won in 2020 against an unpopular incumbent under very bad social and economic circumstances. Trump was weak and Biden looked safer. Biden had unexpected success for the first two years of his Presidency and gave a powerful 2024 State of the Union Speech that impressed all, and was then followed up by a successful European Summit in the Spring. He gave a terrible, horrible performance (in June - Trump's wasn't much better), and Biden was immediately placed on the ropes by the MSM and political pols (that includes you). Now, you want us to grill him on "what". Why did Joe not leave sooner, as you had suggested? Seriously, will that make everyone feel better about our loss on Tuesday? Not me. Clinton lost in 2016, and it was her fault, her campaign and Trump's brilliance as a candidate - not the jerks who wouldn't accept a woman President. Now, we don't want to say it was Harris, because she ran a capital campaign. Yes, she did indeed. Thus, it must be Joe Biden's fault.
Oh no you don't. If you want to argue "get rid of all the geriatrics" now hanging on to Congressional seats, I am with you 100%. And I have a few ideas on how best to go about that effort. However, if the idea is to use Joe Biden as the causal factor to make your point on Presidential age - I am out. Our voters, whom you suggest were repelled on Tuesday, just elected the "oldest Presidential candidate" in American history who still has a negative approval rating as a human being. What does that say about voter judgment.
Well said, Barb - Thanks.
Thanks much. We do not need to go down another rabbit hole, when the obvious is before us.
Amen. Joe is NOT at fault here. That lies with half our population.
Yes, Trump voters need to evolve out of the cult. Steve is correct when he suggests that we need to stop electing folks to Congress who have been "too long at the fair". It is killing us with young voters across the ethnic and ideological spectrum.
Kamala's gender probably didn't help, since this country has shown a distinct lack of modern thinking with regard to a woman's ability to handle executive jobs, nor did her skin color. The deliberate and effective demonization of immigrants played a role as well. But let's not whitewash the Biden age impact. His decline - physical and mental - was visible, rapid, and dramatic. His inner circle carefully managed his public exposure from early in his term, abetted by his wife. He was in no condition to execute a campaign, much less serve another 4 years, and they all knew it. It was a serious disservice to the country -and to him - to encourage him to proceed as a candidate.
While I recognize the unfair double standard regarding Trump's age, he simply doesn't present as physically feeble as Biden does. There is the impression of energy in his hatefulness, fueled by drugs. Also, his incessant firehose of crazy incoherence has inured us to the point of giving him a pass, in spite of its acceleration.
That said, we tend to overlook the reality that most Americans are low information, not just a small segment, and their selected information sources can distort reality, to say the least. It's Occam's Razor simplicity: General dissatisfaction is high and the incumbent party is penalized.
We need your wisdom and perspective, Steve. That's why I became a Founding Member. I've spent the last day being depressed, but that will not serve me or anyone around me. So I'm back on the horse, ready to re-engage.
Audree,
Glad you’re back on the horse, as am I. Thanks for your support, and hope to see you tonight at the AMA.
Steve
I'll get back on but right now I'm just too, too gutted. I really believed Americans were better than this, and the hardest fact to swallow is that they just....aren't.
I actually thought that Harris would win like Trump did. Because why would we chose a crazy person?
And not just crazy. Also incompetent (at governing), incoherent and immoral.
I really don't want to read essays blaming Biden, or the Democratic Party. Being such a critic is easy because you weren't a decision maker at the table, and after-the-fact you can rationale everything that you didn't like as the thing to blame. Blame is easy and also nonproductive, but we do need to look at the fact that the majority of voters whole heartedly want what Trump pedals. They're fine with all the hatred, they want cruelty, they want the destruction of our institutions, they want the chaos, cheating, stealing and lying are okay with them. Or, they simply checked-out and don't care and assume that they'll be fine. I don't want to read about the "lost young men" in the US, or the Archie Bunkers who can't handle change, or the voters who won't vote even though they have no excuse, the voters who can't be bothered to be truly informed, who live in a "bubble". These may be explanations but they aren't excuses. Anyone who voted for Trump is personally responsible for what follows. Having lived 72 years under the rules of patriarchy and misogyny I know how to take a deep breath and then forge ahead. I also know that the deep rooted and systemic misogyny, racism and hatred of the "other" will take time to overcome. It'll never be defeated but it can be marginalized and all of us are responsible to make this happen every day, in any way possible. Check your own words and actions and see where you can change the conversation. It's hard and it's an uphill battle, but it's the right thing to do every day, not once every four years.
I feel like I have been battling racism and misogyny since I was 17 and left my evangelical church. 61 years later, it is still with us, but not as bad. When I see TV and see all those fabulous brown faces, I smile. When I see interracial couples, I smile. When I see two men holding hands, I smile. When I see a woman win in court against her rapist, I smile. When I see a man get custody of his children over a drug addict mom, I smile. It takes SO long for it to happen and ONLY happens when WE stand up. Be the one to stand up and others will follow you.
I agree with you wholeheartedly! But many Americans do not. Get ready for all of these signs of progress to disappear.
Right On, Patricia. Thanks.
Some really good commentary. Very well said.
This is utterly nonsense. You can't make someone drink what they don't want. The truth is simple: we live in a country that's comfortable with hate. Period. Always has been and it continued. Based upon the groups that pulled the lever for Trump: white women, Latinos and Latina voters. In Michigan, Trump received an endorsement from an Arab American mayor, even though Trump attempted a Muslim ban. This mayor blamed VP Harris for the war in Gaza. Trump had stated his support for Netanyahu.
Trump won the popular vote, first time in decades. If the democratic party had nominated a white man, perhaps it might have been a close election. VP Harris was better qualified but it didn't matter.
He says what Americans overall support. This IS who we are, whether you like it or not. Tim Wise has some interesting views on race within the USA. As long as we ignore our truths, nothing will change.
Are the Dems investigating cheating AT ALL? In light of all the claims from MAGA that Dems would be cheating (reverse that claim), I do hope there is at least some digging behind the scenes to make sure. Also, apart from blaming network media, why isn't social media propaganda from Russia, China, Iran, and our very own Heritage Foundation being added to the blame of why half our population would repudiate liberal democratic values and believe a set of lies about our country? Our populace is brainwashed by it 24/7/365. That sh*t works. And why isn't there an equivalent social media machine that continually espouses truth and democratic values. That floods the airwaves with THAT? It seems we are outweighed in reaching the public. Humans are puppets to whatever we hear over and over and over again.
Yes. The Dems need to ensure that this election wasn't rigged. This is only a gut feeling, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, by any means, but the popular vote numbers just seem off to me. I have never seen Dems mobilize like they did for this election, but their official turnout number seems so scanty.
Well said.
It was not rigged. It was fair and Trump won it.
Right On, Lauren -Thanks.
The Democrats have already waved the white flag as K graciously conceded & Biden has invited D to the White House. This is why Dems lost people....2 sides of same coin as they say? Give me Bernie & no prisoners.....
Which sounds like a Dem response exactly as MAGA's playbook predicted. I'm hoping Kamala being a prosecutor, is putting a face on for the public and behind the scenes is investigating. I mean, WHO WOULDN'T BE??! Trump does not care about laws.
Trump's plan was to disenfranchise, disrupt, cry foul in advance, then contest the loss and try to get a political "win." Please, let's not drink their kool-aid. Stay sane. Trump doesn't care about laws, but we have to continue to. Was there disinformation? Undoubtedly, massive. It surely affected some voters' choices, but it didn't rig the election process.
Steve, while I’d like to share your optimism for the future; I don’t! Trump was welcomed with open arms, with the understanding of who Trump is, and what he intends to do: dictator on day one, and Project 2025). So America knew exact what it got when they went for Trump. And the MSM has been an unwitting enabler, or happy participant in Trump’s rise from the ashes.
Additionally, Trump now has a mandate, and majority of the American support; as well as the support of most of the major corporations, billionaires, and most of the states. And those that opposed him will surely bend a knee, or be stuck on Trump’s menu when he unleashes his tariffs and has carve outs for all those who bend a knee and promise unconditional fealty to the man; while punishing everyone else; especially the ignorant American electorate. Make no mistake, the IRS and DOJ will be busier than ever before. Trump may even have to increase their budgets so they can deal with all the audits and investigations they’ll need to oversee.
Below is a comment I left in the Bulwark, and I will reshare, since it expresses my thoughts on the matter!
“Time to regroup now, not after the inauguration!”
Really? Please stop with your nonsense. Biden’s policies were the best of any president in this century. There is one main cause for Trump’s rise from the ashes: Social engineering! And the fix was in before Biden was even inaugurated. And frankly, most of the MSM were unwitting accomplices, or happy participants.
Last election, social media had checks and balances. Misinformation and disinformation campaigns were blocked. This time they were not. Last time, socially responsible people ran Twitter, this time, misinformation and disinformation campaigns were a feature, not a bug. I read an article by Mathew Crawford today in Substack. His post on “social engineering” of this election was blocked because it didn’t meet the social media conduct policy of Facebook. The censoring, suppression and silencing has already started; you won’t be hearing anything consequential anymore. Just more division to keep people distracted from the truth; which will be whatever Trump and the new oligarchs say it is!
Furthermore, if you think the Wappo’s decision to not endorse Harris was a last minute decision, think again. Bezos hired two Murdock protégés a year before the non-endorsement, one who resigned before even working there, due to his part in a UK illegal wiretapping scandal; no red flags there (sarcasm), but it proves their was pressure on the MSM during the Biden administration by conservatives, and organizations who support Trump’s fascist plans for America.
Furthermore, The NYT’s biggest investors after the Sulzberger family are Black Rock and Vanguard: two of Trump’s biggest supporters, who also happy to be Truth Social’s biggest investors. These to companies alone account for 6% of the worlds entire wealth ($24 trillion), and they bought their stock in the fourth quarter of 2023. And if you recall, all the misleading headlines and cognitive decline of Biden, started soon thereafter. Let that sink in!
The bottom line: this election was never going to end well for democrats. If blaming Biden for the Trans kids, and prison trans issues is what keeps Americans up at night, then these people don’t deserve democracy, because they have no idea what it means.
More women have died due to the new anti-abortion laws, than and trans surgeries for kids (who don’t get them before being around 18, BTW), and in prison. Yet, you’d never know it by the way Trans people became the zeitgeist of the election, and women’s reproductive rights didn’t seem to matter as much than having to live in a world with trans people. Additionally. I heard so many stories of people with distorted versions on every policy that exists.
Moreover, we even had Russians influencing influencers on social media, which went unchecked! The FBI uncovered some of the Russian and Chinese disinformation campaigns, but do you really think they got them all? Or even the most nefarious ones of the lot?
This Trump campaign began before Biden even took office. And the corporate and media elites were part of the plan. Some willingly, others saw the writing on the wall. And ironically, Trump and his influential backer’s have been consolidating power and able to extort corporations and billionaires even though he was out of power! Now that’s real power, and not possible by Trump alone. He has had powerful backers, including SCOTUS. I have no doubt that after the SCOTUS immunity ruling, it scared the bejesus out of every major CEO in this country who wasn’t a Trump supporter. And it should have scared the American public as well. Trump now has UNCHECKED power! He will pardon the J6th insurrectionists, and then he can unleash violence on a whim; pardoning the criminals after the fact. Let that sink in!
So now that America has chosen, it will pay a price; authoritarianism will be embedded in our society; and even if Democrats ever take the Whitehouse again, they will have little to no power. The Judicial system will be stacked with Trump judges, and SCOTUS will have gone full fascist. Any future democratic administration will be doomed to failure before it even begins. And any policies enacted, blocked by the courts, which will take years to work through the new and much improved Judiciary.
When you already have two judges that side with the insurrectionists on J6th, and a president even more corrupt than the courts, with essentially a license to kill; there is no turning back. They will now solidify their power for the next several decades, while the powers that be, keep this country divided; playing the blame game, instead of dealing with the root causes.
I’m already watching ad nauseam, as the TV pundits fight over who caused Harris to fail.
Furthermore, at first, Americans will be happy. The day Trump takes power, miraculously, price gouging will end. Trump will take credit, and America will rejoice.
Additionally, Netanyahu will agree to a cease fire, and Trump will be a miracle worker in the eyes of all his adoring fans, and those who were skeptical. That is until Trump unleashes Netanyahu’s reign of terror: his plan to deport over a million Palestinians in each of the occupied territories. And the media will not even bother to mention it, except in an afterthought, as Trump’s own deportation plans wreak havoc on our population.
Ukraine will be forced to relinquish all the territory Russia has gained; including Crimea and the Donbas region, which will be the beginning of the end of Ukraine sovereignty and democracy. The Baltics will be soon to follow as most of Eastern Europe will fall to authoritarian regimes aligned with Russia. China will take Taiwan, and control the South China Sea, and all the sea routes we need for our Asian trade markets. All of this will reduce our influence over Asia and Europe within the next five years.
Lastly, when Trump’s new budget for 2025 is passed into law, besides his massive tax cuts, there will be austerity measures that destroy the lives of so many. A shock Doctrine will be implemented to ensure compliancy of the people, and because of all the misinformation and lies, no one will be able to make sense of it. Should protests break out, we all know how that will end: military and national guard!
Not to mention, the MSM will be distracting us with all the deportation madness, which Trump and his minions will love, since they’ll be taking a sledgehammer to the constitution, firing and remaking the federal government into their twisted version of America, all while the American public is directed towards the bright shiny object.
So congratulations America, you just signed your own death certificate and wrote your own obituary! There is no coming back from this. So you will get the government you wanted: good and hard!
As usual, Robert, you are on point. Thank you for your input into this important dialogue about the future of America and by extension to the democracies of the western world.
Thank for explaining this, Robert.
I agree with every point except one. Americans should have known what they voted for and have no excuse for their ignorance, but ignorant they are. We're all going to pay the price for that ignorance, as you have laid out well, but most people have no clue about the horror they've signed us all up for. Given the state of our profound lack of awareness, people may be easily convinced that he has fixed everything - presto! - overnight.
True enough, and well articulated….:)
Hey, Steve, why don’t you get that there will not be a midterm election? There will be no other election at all!
Democracy is a corpse murdered by the ignorance and venom of the American people who don’t understand civics or consequences.
I fear you may be correct, and if so, hang on to your hat for a long and bumpy road ahead for many, many, many years.
There will be a midterm election. That is not rational
…and we now live in rational times???
I just got off the phone with my terrified 33 year old daughter. She saw some Twitter thing that said, 'your body, my choice' from some sick dude. She suddenly realized that she now has fewer rights than I did (though she lives in MA and I live in VT). She's so upset that she can't focus on work. The women who did not vote for Trump are traumatized, and the ones who did should be ashamed. BTW the Atlantic right now is full of reflection, like this one from George Conway: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/11/trump-election-presidential-term/680562/
There are a lot of sicko men out there who take glee in this cruelty. Damn them. And I don't blame your daughter - or any woman, or man who cares about women - for being afraid.
I have a 19-year-old daughter at college in Massachusetts and she is also terrified and distraught
My 26-year-old daughter also. She lives in Florida, where the abortion amendment was defeated, and she wants to move across the country to California. I live on the East Coast, so the trump election has traumatic personal consequences for me as well.
The grief is getting to me. I will never get to the acceptance stage of this.
Yes, yes, yes. Thanks Steve. Trump will not lead me into hate and criminality. I'm building a community around myself of honesty, work, and trust.