Juliajms

A NY Jew who was clearly ok with Trump using anti Semitic symbolism to wink and nod to the white supremacist because he knew his family would be safe. F*ck everyone else who attends synagogue or the JCC without the secret service and body guards. I have no doubt he's behind this idea of moving the US embassy to Jerusalem too. Sure, that seems pro Israel, but it's not going to be doing anyone any favors if it sets off another Middle East war. Still if it were just Kushner I wouldn't really object, but Trump's whole cabinet is filled with awful people. He's got a labor secretary who doesn't even think there should be a minimum wage! An attorney general who hates gays, and made a point of blocking black judges in Alabama. It's ludicrous. Anyway, good to see you around Q.

I think we are seeing people focus on that demo because the Clinton campaign made the conscious decision not to go after them, which was clearly a mistake in retrospective. There's no reason it has to be either or. The key is to try to convince this block of people that they have more in common with poor and middle class non whites than they do with millionaires and billionaires. Shouldn't be that hard because it's clearly true. I have a feeling four years of Trump might make it a lot easier, but who ever is in charge is going to have to actually try.

Yes! For a while I was thinking of new terrible things every day. Either terrible things that will happen or all the good things that won't. I think 10 years ago I would have thought "we just have to get through this hard time", but now I'm 42 and I feel like I don't have endless time to see the good things I hope for society happen.

I'm still completely disgusted. I have to find a way to let go of the anger I feel about what's happening.

Pretty sure there isn't a laugh track. I follow Mike Royce on twitter and he made a comment that made it sound like there wasn't one. Found it: Mike Royce ‏@MikeRoyce Jan 5 "It's not a laugh track!" - The Multi-Cammer's Lament

I love the theme song. Also, agree that they are touching on important topics in a thoughtful way. The pay gap, the VA, immigration. All well done, with more than one perspective shown.

I've always hoped that China's potential would be tapped. It could really be good for the entire world. They have the potential to make great strides in areas like healthcare and technology. But yeah, I'm not too worried they are going to usurp the US, even though I'm not sure that would be the worst thing ever. Not only has their economy stagnated recently, but investors are hesitant to trust the numbers their government gives out in the first place. Add to that a repressive government that is a human rights disaster. It's really a shame because China could truly be great.

I've watched the first couple of episodes and I really like it. The theme song is well done and I've always loved Rita Moreno.

He is just the worst.

This is what it's like to have an unstable leader. It's terrifying. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that this is happening in the U.S. I honestly don't think the Russians have anything on him. In fact if we are at war or on the brink of war with Russia in a year or two, I won't be surprised. Trump likes people until he doesn't. Right now he admires Putin because he's a "strong leader". Soon enough Putin will do something Trump doesn't like.

I honestly feel like some Republicans enjoy punishing poor people, even poor children. It looks like it's going to come to that.

Ugh. I'm sure in a few years the only place a person will be able to get an abortion is on the coasts. Once Trump gets a couple of justices nominated this bill will look downright generous.

@Khan I'm not sure anyone is pro abortion except Lena Dunham. I'm actually right of the Democratic plank on abortion, which is needlessly provocative, imo. There is so much we could do to prevent abortion (access to birth control, access to childcare, more financial support to single parents), but it seems to me Republicans are basically against all of them.

I don't think anyone is really acting like they are the only ones who count. One of the main reasons they are getting attention is that they are the ones who switched parties. Their loss led to Hillary's loss. I don't think there's really any getting around that. Now Democrats have to figure out what the coalition looks like without them. And yes, I know she one the popular vote, but so what? That doesn't change the situation at hand. And when it comes to manufacturing in general the loss of those well paying jobs are a hit to the middle class in general. When you lose millions of well paying jobs the ramifications to the economy at large are pretty big. This has been a problem for decades and it's just adding to the income gap at large.

The sheer amount of anti choice legislation coming up in Missouri is really disheartening. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/01/new-gop-control-missouri-primed-anti-abortion-blitz-2017 Before my genetic tests came back for my son (all was well), I asked the doctor if I would have options if something were seriously wrong. She basically said that by the time there was a definitive diagnosis (15 weeks) I would have to go to Kansas City. At the time I was sad for all the young girls and poor women who would have to make that 8 hour round trip to get what should be basic care. Looks like now they might have to take a 20 hour round trip to Denver. It's downright shameful. Like I told one of my husband's aggressive a-hole friends, you can never stop middle class or rich women from getting abortions. We'll just fly to California, Canada or Europe to get the care we need. The only people you are stopping are the poor. The same people you denigrate for needing welfare. Ugh, these people piss me off so much. The sheer stupidity is unbelievable.

Honestly @Khan I think your scenario is more likely than mine. I just felt like my post was coming off bitchy so I needed to come up with something positive. The fact is I think we are the highway to hell and I'm feeling kind of matter of fact about it at the moment. I'm only wondering which horrific thing Trump will do first. @JaneAusten I'm glad you are feeling optimistic and obviously I hope you're right.

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 4m4 minutes ago Happy New Year to all, including to my many enemies and those who have fought me and lost so badly they just don't know what to do. Love! Tell me this guy isn't a complete nut job. Heaven help us all.

Yes. I have to give Paul Ryan credit for playing people so well. Old people vote and the AARP has clout, so he just grandfathers them in. He knows younger people aren't good at realize old age will happen to them soon enough. I'm sure the AARP will try to fight it, but I won't be surprised if Ryan gets his way. I wasn't trying to make anyone feel better. I think authoritarianism is very dangerous and I'm worried that the media is losing sight of the role it's played in this election and is about to play in this administration. To make people feel better I have to dig pretty deep. I suppose 4 years ago we were getting ready for a second Obama term and we never could have seen Trump coming. Perhaps in four more years things will change again in ways we can't imagine and a decent, stable person will be taking office. That's really all I've got in terms of optimism.

One thing about the coverage and professional analysis of the election is that a lot of the talking heads have stopped talking about authoritarianism, but I'd say that's still at the heart of the election of this particular man. If it were just about people taking back "their" America or punishing "the other" nearly any of the (relatively) normal Republican candidates would have won. Most of them are every bit as racist as Trump and they don't really hide it in terms of policy. Obviously, Trump certainly would have won if not for racism (and sexism), but I think in many cases it was a more passive kind of racism. To be more specific, I think a lot of white people voted from a place of privilege. They may not have liked or even agreed with some of the things Trump was saying, but racism wasn't a deal breaker for them because it wasn't going to affect them directly. Otherwise we have to believe that there are 60 million rabid racists (and sexists) in this country and I doubt that for a lot of reasons. It would also explain why some of the people who voted for Obama twice turned to Trump. Kellyanne Conway alluded to this idea when she said that her polling showed that there was a difference between what offended people and what affected them. I also heartily agree that it's a huge mistake to believe that demographics will just naturally turn this country towards democrats. I fell for that this last election, but I never will again. It's actually sort of arrogant for Democrats to just think non whites will turn to us by default without candidates having to earn their votes. A lot can change in the next few years and I think it would be a big mistake to just assume the numbers will turn in our favor because people have no where else to go.

I know. Same with all the white women that voted for him as far as I'm concerned. Whenever I think of women voting for that man, I just feel hopeless.

How about the argument that over 25% of Latino males showed up for Trump and 13% of black males? Given that black women paid that man in the dust he deserved that's quite a high number.

Let's hope that's true. I think Trump won because of a perfect storm of reasons, I won't even pretend to understand them all. Sure, racism and sexism were a big part of it. Still, Trump blew by a lot of conservative white men in the primary, so that makes me suspect there was more to it. I do think a lot of people just wanted "change" and as Marceline has said, they didn't really care or think through what that meant. And yes, I do think HRC was a flawed candidate. She won the popular vote, but it seems very likely someone else would have won the electoral college without her issues. I'm not saying that's fair, she was highly qualified, but there were a lot of people out there who simply do not like her and too many of them were democrats or at least swing voters. At one point I knew that and then as the election cycle went on I started to deny it to myself and cast all of the people around me saying they don't like or trust her as outliers. I was definitely living in a bubble for awhile there. I remember Ana Narvarro and others saying that Trump and Clinton were both running against the only people they could beat in the general and I think that's probably true.

That's the one bright spot. He probably won't annihilate the human race with nukes. He'll just use carbon and at least many of us alive now will get to live out our days.

Like Khan usually points out, even if Trump is impeached it won't help that much. We'll just have Pence in his place. Maybe Pence isn't quite as dangerous, but he's even more focused.

It seems clear to me that he used anti Semitic tropes to fool the rubes into voting for him. If Trump loves anyone on this planet it's Ivanka, so she and her husband were probably on board. Meanwhile, we'll see what Jared Kushner has up his sleeve when it comes to Israel. I absolutely believe he's pulling the strings and I find it worrying. The status quo is ugly, but if Trump upsets it we could very well have a full on war in the middle east. I'm pro Palestinian (and plain old pro human) enough not to want to see anything like that happen.