The Politics Thread

[Roman]

they may very well be setting him up. Pence is the guy they want...hell I think Pence and his staff are the main leakers in the admin. they knew day one they were dealing with a child. but what will they do about it now? they enabled this child. now what? 

[cassadine1991]

Why did CNN bring on Jan Brewer to speak out?

[Vee]

I'm not a big AC fan but this is pretty good.

 

 

Edited August 16, 2017 by Vee
Longer version

[Khan]

 

Yes, it was obvious, but they (meaning, of course, the majority of those who voted for him) chose not to believe or accept it.  They chose not to believe it, because they were just so desperate to reclaim something they thought they had lost; something that, if we're being truthful here, they never really had; or, if they had had it at one time, they were never going to have again.

 

What it really comes down to, I think, is people's steadfast refusal to adapt to the changing of the world mixed with one man's ability to appeal to their basest instincts and convince them that whatever was wrong with their lives was somebody else's fault.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, that IS a white supremacist.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Khan

[Vee]

There are a lot of clueless white people out there - Vox interviewed yet more of them the other day in one more "heartland" piece we're all tired of - who surprisingly express a lot of sympathy for black folks and Jews, etc. and hatred for the Nazi marchers. Yet they still have their go-to: Blame the far left antifa types, say Trump is trying, and that it's "both sides" and the "extremes" on both sides need to be stopped. That is their cognitive dissonance that masks their unconscious, passive racism and gnawing racial fear of a changing America - that allows their psyche a measure of dignity and shelter from their subconscious shame for voting for Trump out of fear of a changing world. Sure, they don't mind the blacks or Jews (or gays or whoever) they know (or say they don't, anyway) but being displaced by them is another story - hence why Trump got elected.  And so the mental defense tactic, however unconscious, is this: Separate themselves from the white supremacists and try to assign an equal share of blame to the political left. "We're not like Those People." They're just a little afraid of how eight years of Obama made them feel about the future they see in the mirror.

 

What Charlottesville - and now today's disaster - did was rip the last fig leaf away from their ambivalent denial. That's why this reaction is so intense and getting bigger. Every moment Trump crumbles, he implicitly indicts more of his shrinking base, who cannot tolerate what they see in themselves through him - and turn away, or finally, at last, disavow him. Which is why he is now at 34% and falling.

 

This is not the beginning of white America finally facing its own shadow self, but it may be the beginning of the beginning.

 

Ana Navarro back at it:

 

 

 

No - those talking points were thrown together afterwards. What Trump had in his jacket were other pre-scripted remarks he did not use.

Edited August 16, 2017 by Vee

[DramatistDreamer]

Trump has been vehemently racist for decades. His voting base were fine with this as long as it inflicted damage on others. They didn't count on the damage being widespread and reaching them.

 

 

Speaking of people who were fine with the suffering of others, this article about the tale of two boroughs is equal parts vexing and sad.

 

Grenfell Tower Fire Shows Double Standard at Work in One London District

Edited August 16, 2017 by DramatistDreamer

[DRW50]

Jan Brewer is pretty horrible (I could say a few more nasty things but will keep it kind), but at least she let Ana Navarro speak...

 

I think everyone knows Trump is a racist or panders heavily to racists. What they didn't expect was that he wouldn't try to hide it. He just puts it all out there. That's very dangerous to America, but it's also telling a truth that America needs to hear about itself and about the party they have put in control of the government. I just wish people realized that the Republicans who are better at speeches and looking concerned are just as racist as he is.

[Khan]

 

 

Exactly.

 

You know, I'm not a fan of Ana's.  However, she makes some salient points, especially in regards to the Republicans who are expressing outrage and dismay over Trump's remarks.  As Ana says in the clip, "WHAT THE HELL TOOK YOU SO LONG??".

 

I almost feel like the GOP is not entitled to be outraged by Trump.  I feel like they're not entitled to go on social media and on TV and denounce him as several have.  As I keep saying, they knew he was a snake when they brought him in.  So now, they're hoping to do what's necessary in order to salvage their own careers and their party.  Well, I'm sorry, but I don't think so.  If Trump goes down for this, so, too, should they.

 

And now, they must live with the fact that, in the eyes of the REST of this nation, and possibly even the rest of the world, they are no different from the David Dukeses, and the Richard Spencers, and the James Alan Fields Jr's.

 

Sleep well, WWC.

 

Really?  Jesus.  I'd hate to guess what he DIDN'T say.

 

In other news: Texas 'bathroom bill' dies in special legislative session

Edited August 16, 2017 by Khan

[Vee]

[Vee]

Charles Blow breaks it down:

 

 

[Khan]

 

Right now, a White woman cutting off a non-White woman on television might look, well, not smart?  Maybe that's why she let her speak.

 

 

He's 1000% right.  White supremacy isn't just thugs in uniforms, going around town, chanting disgusting things and beating down anyone who isn't "like them" with clubs and chains.  There are other, far more insidious forms of racism happening everyday in this country; and it's past time for Americans to get their collective heads out of the sand (or somewhere else) and start asking themselves the tough questions that need to be asked.

 

Frankly, it isn't enough to say you voted for Trump because "he wasn't Hillary."  (Just as it isn't enough -- again, if I could be perfectly frank -- for people like me to say they didn't vote at all because they couldn't trust either him OR her.  IMO, those who stayed home on Election Day, including yours truly, are as much to blame for the nightmare as the ones who DID vote for Trump.)  Even if we all agreed that voting third-party would be like throwing your vote away, nevertheless, you and I still had the option to do so.  And yet, a frightening lot of you still voted for a man who never concealed the fact that he was, at best, someone willing to pander to the most despicable people in this country to garner votes; and at worst, someone whose line of thinking was not dissimilar from theirs.  Why?

Edited August 16, 2017 by Khan

[Vee]

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[Roman]

the people they have brought on to defend this facist bigot have sickening. 

He did, and the black woman sitting next to him who went back to 1929......he spoke with fire and passion. very proud of him. 

[DramatistDreamer]

Strong words from the rabbi.

 

[JaneAusten]

'This is as relevant today maybe even more so as many believe because of President Obama this country has moved past this. I know people like this, some in my own family.

 

 http://crookedtimber.org/2013/01/21/the-white-moderate-the-greatest-threat-to-freedom/