1. I'll demolish the "Bernie Woulda Won" victory dancers. He would have lost all 50 states.
2. I'm going to look deeply into the possibility -- probability -- that our national vote was hacked. Don't bother offering me any political arguments regarding the advisability of that investigation. Only one thing matters: Is it true? The establishment of fact precedes ideology and tactical considerations.
3. I'm going to do my own sullen victory dance in morose celebration of my newfound status as The Nostradamus of 2016. Nearly alone among progressives, I forecast a Trump triumph, mitigated only by a Hillary victory in the popular vote count. Such was my prediction from the start.
As I wrote to a friend a day or so ago: "I've been a rotten prophet all my life. Why'd I have to be right NOW?"
The friend responded with a quote from Gramsci: "Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will." Gramsci also said: "The challenge of modernity is to live without illusions and without becoming disillusioned." I'm not sure if there's any solace to be found in those words, but they seem to sum up the way many of us are feeling.
From now on, maybe I should write my prophecies in the form of quatrains. Won't that be fun?
El naranja lumbers toward the east
Secret plans, demons do their task
River, bomb, disease: The beast
Soon shall don Egyptian goddess mask
Trochaic pentameter, ABAB rhyme scheme: That's how good old Michel de Nostredame rolled, right? Feel free to chip in with a quatrain of your own -- and I won't insist that you retain Mickey D's approach to meter and rhyme, although I may offer the gentlest of neener neeners if you go too far astray.
Added note: I've always hated the way this site looks. Y'see, every so often I would start in on a major site redesign, only to get bored with the task half-way through. Thus, Cannonfire always looked like a garish visual mish-mash.
But the current "White Rose Resistance" scheme actually kind of works, dunnit? It looks clean and airy, yet retains the three-column approach that I've always found practical.
Added added note: There's talk of a Calexit -- a California Independence Movement -- in the wake of Trump's victory. As a native son of CA, I have a certain fondness for this notion: California always gives more to the federal government than it receives in goods and services, yet in the Senate, California has power equal to the smallest and most backward of the red states -- states which take more from their hated federal Gummint than they give. Worse, the antique institution of the electoral college gives the red states disproportionate power in presidential elections. Hillary won the popular vote, in large part thanks to California.
Year after year, red states like Alabama and Tennessee leech from their more successful blue brethren, even as those quasi-literate, easily-conned red staters blame their problems on us. Theirs is the hatred born of envy.
Let's just say it: Californians are intellectually and culturally superior to the red staters. Why should Californians remain tethered to a horde of inferior rural nitwits perpetually addicted to meth, wrestling, pyramid schemes, pump-and-dump schemes, George Noory, Alex Jones, and the lowest forms of Jesusmania? Red staters are so easily gulled by con artists I'm amazed that they have any money left to buy cigarettes.
But the "Calexit" proposal does not go far enough. In this earlier post (a dialogue with an old friend), I propose a Republic of the West. We can't give up those wonderful New Mexico green chile dishes, can we? Here is how my friend put it:
As to how Spanish we are -- yes we are. I think I first realized that in fancy film school, where most of my fellows were from the East Coast. I think I was the only one from SoCal, and I grew to resent their general disdain for our culture. It was probably when I first began to think of myself as a Westerner in general, and a Californian in particular.
Not to worry; I'm not a states-righter, but if Ron Paul or any other of those wing nuts get their way, I will happily wrap myself in the bear flag. In the entertainment business I am regularly one of the only Californians in the room, even though the people who I'm surrounded by may have been here for a few years. The immigration debate has been interesting for me, since my preference would probably be to have an open border with Mexico, and to require anyone east of New Mexico/Colorado to apply for a visa.
As to food -- tortillas, burritos, tacos, and salsa have always been so much a part of my daily diet that I think of them simply as food, not "Mexican Food," whatever that means. Pot roast seems to me far more exotic.
31 comments:
(part 1/2) Coupla things.
* The response to Trump needs to be international. Within a year there could be large numbers of refugees and exiles from the US. Others will want to travel to the US for the same reason that many good left-wing people went to Spain in the late 1930s. Whether they will be allowed into the country is another matter. Indeed whether they will be allowed to leave the countries they come from is also in question. Fascism reigns in Russia, it will soon reign in the US, and it stalks the major countries in western Europe - Britain, France and Germany - as well as Austria, Sweden, and elsewhere.
* There needs to be cooperation between those who voted for Bernie Sanders in the primaries and those who didn't. Fail to recognise this and we're totally fucked.
* We need to call the Trump regime what it is: fascist. That's F-A-S-C-I-S-T. No half-measures on that. This can also be a point of unity.
I suspect that confusion will be poured down the opinion chain on how to describe the coming US regime. Other characterisations will fight to become widespread: perhaps "strong state", or "Bonapartism", or some neologism or other. In Europe there are dickhead terms such as "national conservative". Don't buy this. I am not recommending "thought" based on buzzphrases (that's the enemy's department), in which "fascist pig" means "my parents won't let me stay up late"; nor getting too detained by the past. But fascist is what the Trump regime will be. There will be ratfuckers and divisions among the opposition to it, but there won't be much middle ground.
* When pursuing the idea that the election was hacked, take a look at Votecastr. The incompetence of this company's public presentation, and its errors such as saying Jill Stein was on the ballot in Nevada, suggest to me not that they are essentially and only bullshitters, but that what they were REALLY doing - both at the polling stations and in cooperation with an unnamed "third-party vendor (of data)" - was different from what they said. Finding out who that vendor was might be a useful string to pull on.
(end of part 1/2)
(part 2/2)
* "The establishment of fact precedes ideology and tactical considerations."
Ideology? Sure, the hell with it. But tactical and strategic considerations, no. Broad brush strokes and the big picture, big unifying themes, yes.
* The green vote tripled. Bastards! Stein was first and foremost anti-Clinton. (The libertarian vote also tripled, mostly probably thanks to right-wingers but also thanks to some defectors from the left.)
* Climate change will be a big issue, folks. Personally, guess what, I think Trump is right. Manmade climate change is bullshit, and so is the drive to stop or slow climate change. The fucking climate has always changed and it always will. However, of course I come at it from a completely different angle from the far right, whose underlying belief is that the rich and powerful should do what they want, grab what they want, smash things up for the weak and disadvantaged and "losers" and who gives a fuck? (Let's stop having intellectual arguments with the enemy. Their motivation is evil.)
Prepare for a massive mindfuck on this topic.
Those who thought the eco stuff spooked the left? Well it did. But that's not the end of it. The mindfuck is going to expand and intensify. Hold onto your seats.
* "Nearly alone among progressives, I forecast a Trump triumph, mitigated only by a Hillary victory in the popular vote count. Such was my prediction from the start."
Is this some kind of US thing premised on the idea that a person's prediction of a candidate's victory either exists or does not exist at any given time, and in that regard (and only in that regard!) it functions comparably to an "endorsement"? But...oh come on - curtains in the Oval Office! :)
Let's be clear. Scott Adams and the great commentator "b" - the latter renowned for his utmost brilliance tempered with his admirable modesty - have for several months displayed the world's hardest of steel balls - no wavering, no mitigation, no curtain-measuring, no saying that following some crappy opinion polls is like taking in the nudity at a strip club, always predicting a Trump victory. (Even Michael Moore wavered a bit.)
:)
Enough.
HRC lost because she was an awful candiadate. No one outside of her core cheerleaders wanted her. Liberals didn't want her. Independents didn't want her. Moderate Republicans didn't want her. Establishment GOP'rs did, but that's not much of a benefit, really.
She lost because people simply didn't come out and vote for her. Period. Not fraud, but simple lack of interest.
Furthermore, when it was the Trump people who were threatening to not accept the results, it was everyone else screaming and dumping ont hem how wrong it was, how that's not how our country works, and suddenly now that it's gone the oppsoite way why are people unable to stand behind their own words?
And now we're trying to float the idea of California and other Pacific states seceding from the Union? Really? This is where you're at? Please. Legal or not, we've seen the precedence established in 1861 when the South did. And again, here we see a shameful amount of hypocrasy on this matter.
"Your side" lost. Deal with it. Start figuring out how you want to work with someone you don't like, figure out when to push back, when to protest and (here's a shocker) work with them to bring about mutual goals. This is a chance for the DNC to reject it's change from workingman's party to elite's party, a chance to eject money and corruption, and a chance to find new banner carriers now that America has finally rejected the Clinton way for the last time.
The GOP fielded how many potential nominees? 16? More? They had a chance to weed out the ones they didn't want, which is why early favorite Jeb was bounced out. The left gave us three. One of whom was a nobody and one of whom had the odds stacked against him (and still did well). Imagine if the left would've given us a field of 16 choices to pick from instead of having HRC foisted upon us because "it's her turn." Her turn? HER TURN?! Sorry, but that's not how I believe my country is run, and I don't believe we get to take turns running it.
She sucked. She sucked hard enough that no one came out to vote. No amount of tears or handwringing is going to change teh fact that American rejected your candiadate. So, step back, lick your wounds, and figure out how to change it for next time.
But, I suppose I'll just be derided as a Russian again, because the truth that the DNC fucked up at every turn hurts, I suppose. Clearly it was Russian hackers. Where'd I'd put my vodka?
Love the site redesign. It was probably best that I missed being online during the National Outpouring of Trumpism.
Election Fraud or not, Trump is who we are as a nation. It's in the tv crap we tolerate on our airwaves, the infotainment we accept as "news" on our airwaves, and in the McMansions we allow to destroy our established neighborhoods.
Fascism is not a useful word these days. People will read it as name-calling. Police State is more accurate, but then again, even true-blue Dems love drunk driving checkpoints, stop and frisk, and accept the insane notion that cops can be judge, jury and executioners on the street if someone did not instantly "obey." So, this is who we are. Celebrity-besotted obedient consumers.
In the past "Question Authority" had some effect. I like "resist." "Disobey" might be effective, too.
What do we expect when we are the arms dealers of the world? Our first task is the open our own eyes.
"HRC lost because she was an awful candiadate. No one outside of her core cheerleaders wanted her."
She was the most popular woman in America just a few years ago -- far more popular than the president. Her negatives were the result of various smear campaigns; SHE had nothing to do with them. If anyone else has gotten the nomination, other smear campaigns would have brought them low. I've already outlined what would have hit Bernie. He would have been tarred and feathered -- and everyone would then be saying: "Why didn't the Dems nominate Hillary? She's the most popular woman in America!"
She got the nomination because people liked her and voted for her. No other reason. And despite all, she won the popular vote in the national election.
I will never call him President Trump. I propose though that rather than calling him Trump, like Reagan or Obama, that we make a point of calling him Mr. Trump.
"Your side lost. Deal with it. Start figuring out how you want to work with someone you don't like, figure out when to push back, when to protest and (here's a shocker) work with them to bring about mutual goals.
No, dear. Your side lost. If you had followed your own advice and had urged the bitter berners to do what you're urging others to do now, we all would have won.
And no dear,it's not true that no one outside of Hillary's core supporters wanted her. I know because this New Yorker spent weekends registering Democrats and canvassing for votes in rural Pennsylvania. What did you do besides pontificate in your echo chamber about the general suckiness of the woman who was running?
Live with the consequences of what cohort failed to do. You wanted to see suffering, and now you're going to suffer.
Thank you, anon.
Despite Bernie's late efforts on behalf of Hillary, I still despise that man. In a way, I hate him more than I hate Trump. Hating Trump is like hating Godzilla: The monster is what he is; you can't expect him to act against his nature. But Bernie began as a man of principle, and by the end of the campaign was talking shit about emails while his campaign spread Breitbart propaganda. Unforgivable.
adm.fookbar
"My" side lost. True.
But did "your" side win?
Because the side that won stands for building a wall with Mexico, torture, tax fraud, unethical business practices, tax breaks for the rich, racial,religions, gender inequality, war mongering, threatening anyone that doesn't tow the line with jail and law suites and general bullying not to mention utter lack of knowledge about anything important.
M
[head shaking, eyes rolling]
I still don't understand what WTF REAL, inside info you had that Bernie was a shill for Breitbart, Trump, or anybody else, knowingly or otherwise. A total mystery. Makes no sense. No comprehendo. But I still suggest you put that question behind you and spend your braincells on something else more useful, like, what do we do now?
Atrios has a good post up about this syndrome.
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2016/11/primary-colors.html
By the way, I'm coming ever closer to the opinion that Hillary's loss / Trump's win might end up being a good thing. The swamp needed to be drained in BOTH parties. The establishment needed to be tossed out on their ears. Trump is beholden to NO ONE (apart from Putin, LOL). He has the opportunity to make decisions and show leadership in ways NO ONE ELSE COULD. It depends of course on who he selects to advise him. If we survive the next 4 years, i.e. he doesn't make a mistake that blows up the planet, who knows?
Take a hypothetical examble: Obamacare. Most of us already know that the best solution to our biggest health care cost problems is single-payer aka Medicare for all. An establishment Republican could NEVER get on board with that. Hillary could NEVER have put that through - she wouldn't even have tried. Obama himself couldn't. Trump CAN. All that needs to happen is for a wonk to sit down with him in a quiet room and EXPLAIN it to him. Trump can use his leadership skills to explain/tweet to the American people, "Yes, I am dumping Obamacare,. just as I promised, and replacing it with something else: TrumpCare. Here's how it will benefit you, yada yada..."
California. In the Fifties and early Sixties, young men joined the Army and young women went to California. The Greatest Generation were their parents who gave us the Military-Industrial Complex and millions of jobs for riveters and welders in California. The transition to aerospace grew central Florida and then Texas: all those Electors!
The U.S. Senate isn't supposed to represent the People, that's what the House of Representatives is for (and where the programs and funding come from), and California fills plenty of seats at the table there.
All politicians everywhere are schmucks because they won't take action to abolish nuclear weapons. It's The Bomb that allows Presidents, Prime Ministers, and Premiers to own disproportionate political power.
It's plainly obvious to reasonable people that our side didn't win, and by "our" side I mean Democrats, Berniecrats, The President and First Lady, and Senator Sanders among millions of others, many of whom are marginalized or will soon be marginalized by a government in the hands of extremists in the Republican party.
I learned in 2008 to get over the disappointment and work to elect the candidate who had won the nomination. We didn't go low. We went high.
You gave the game away when you made the rookie mistake away when you stated,
"She sucked. She sucked hard enough that no one came out to vote. No amount of tears or handwringing is going to change teh fact that American rejected your candiadate."
"Your candidate". You are by your own admission on some different side. And that side helped this to happen because that side wanted it to happen out of spite. It's as much on that side as it is on the Trumpsters. No one except a very limited community thinks that the protest voters and no shows are iconoclastic heroes. The rest of us (especially those who lived through Bush v Gore) think they're idiots.
Joseph,
I like the white rose as a symbol of resistance to trump, in fact i would like to see it catch on. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Rose
I would like to suggest that you come up with a white rose graphic that others could put on their blogs and websites and make it available. Also perhaps an internet store where people could order lapel pins, maybe t-shirts. What do you think? People could use a symbol of hope and light in these dark times we are entering.
In a similar vein to my previous comment:
Will Trump Be Rolled by the Republican Establishment?
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/11/will-trump-be-rolled-by-the-republican-establishment.html
Gary, a long LONG time ago, during the W era, when this blog had many more readers, I once tried to sell merch. There was one (1) sale, and a whole bunch of vitriol: "Oh, you're only in it for the MONEY."
Feel free to give it a try yourself.
Michael, at this point I have little interest in reading anything by Naked Capitalism.
ok how about my first proposal for a free internet graphic for websites?
In response to your 1, 2, 3...
1. Sounds like wasted time on a moot point. If you have nothing else important to do in your life, I guess it makes sense to entertain dwelling on this.
2. Huh? When it came to the Wiki Emails, you were all about how we should ignore them and if they were True or not did not matter to you because they were attained improperly.
3. This one you certainly deserve. I guess the "Twilight Zone" lesson here is to Be careful what you predict to maybe happen.
I'm surprised you are not filling everyone in on the nuances of Rogue "Faithless" Electors.
@adm.fookbar - It could be argued that Hillary Clinton lost because the election system isn't one person one vote. The "losers gonna lose" attitude is truly repulsive. Try applying it to Dachau.
Meanwhile, would it have been justifiable to assassinate Adolf Hitler? In 1932, say, or 1933. Just askin'.
If I were a professor, I'd set my students the following essay title:
"Not all dictators seek war, but they all enjoy killing. Discuss."
You've got Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, Salazar, Antonescu, Stalin. Then you've got Ilyumzhinov, Lee Kwan Yew, Ben Ali. Now factor in the idea of making a country "Great Again".
Michael you are not getting it, are you? Trump is a grifter and a con artist, a genuine narcissist. For these people words are just blunt instruments for garnering the adulation their insecure egos crave. He neither knows nor cares what his words or policies mean. That's why his health care policy is a load of piffle, to be re-branded as soon as his self interest demands it.
Read his understanding of Obamacare. He doesn't even know what it is or how it works. All of his fellow grifters are unapologetic, devil-take-the-hindmost libertarians. They have no intention of cutting into Health Fund profits. Trump may dismantle Obamacare but he nothing to put in its place. With a Republican Congress we are going to see a full-on return to the Ayn Rand jungles.
Vijay Prashad spells it out:
Trump will only be able to deliver the harshest tonic of racism and misogyny as alibis for the failures of his economic policy. He will not turn his gaze on the banks, but he will look hostilely at multicultural policies and at gestures to make the social order more tolerable. This will be attacked directly. It is what his movement has evoked; the ghouls of intolerance will now feel as if they have inherited the earth. Harshness will be the way forward.
Thank you Joseph, Prowlerzee and Anon for standing up to the Hillary blame game. She sucked? Really? People seem to forget (as if it were ancient history) that HRC left the State Department with nearly a 70% approval rating. The GOP couldn't have that and so we had 4 years of smear and faux-scandal to bring her down and ultimately secure the Presidency for the most loathsome candidate of my living memory. The Bernie or Bust crew, the Naked Capitalism devotees,the Far Left Howlers, etc. who excoriated Hillary Clinton for her many perceived sins can rot in hell as far as I'm concerned.
My daughter-in-law called this evening. She's in Philly and will be joining tonight's planned protest at City Hall. If I were still living in the area, I'd be standing with her, shoulder-to-shoulder, sister-to-sister. Instead, I'm trapped in a Red State where celebrations of the Trump debacle are loud and boisterous.
How to resist? Even quietly. I just read that the Brexit opposition has used the simple safety pin, a lapel ornament to signal to others who oppose the naked bigotry and xenophobia. It signals not only to like-minded people but to those most vulnerable--other women, minority groups, the disabled, etc.
A small thing. But it's a start. More to follow (I'm absolutely sure) because hatred and bigotry will not win in the end. It never does.
Peggysue
https://www.etsy.com/listing/457067564/never-trump-white-rose-society-button
"retains the three-column approach that I've always found practical"
Far from practical anymore. Mobile and tablet surfers are in the majority these days, and your site does not play ball. Can't read a damn thing. I'm sure there are responsive templates offered by blogspot. I would highly recommend you make the leap. Google will even reward you for it with a higher rank.
People are already start to notice that Trump has a significant personality disorder and is seriously unfit for the office of US President. See here and here. This is a problem that is not going away any time soon. This guy is dangerous and the political fallout is equally problematic.
Hillary didn't win the popular vote, because the popular vote was never contested. Both candidates campaigned on strategies to win the electoral vote. We don't know what the popular vote would have been if both candidates had campaigned for the popular vote, and never will.
Saying Hillary won the popular vote is like losing a foot race, and then saying you won the race for the longest time to the finish line.
Hillary Clinton because she was an unpopular candidate…end quote…
um, she won the popular vote.
Joseph, time to double down on a do over. I think a do over is possible, or Trump is simply disqualified.
FBI Suppressed Donald Trump's FBI dossier while publicly exposing Hillary Clinton's FBI dossier.
At the very least, lets get the Trump protestors to focus on the IRS and the FBI buildings, since they are the ones that handed Trump the key to the presidency with their discriminatory practices.
Joseph, DailyPUMA was in panic mode leading up to election day, you do recall the link I posted in the comments section for your Curtains article about the one poll that had Trump ahead by 2 points
Folks, this is and was a pro-HRC site. I'll print no more shit from anyone who offers even the slightest HINT of being a Russian troll. You don't like that policy? Go fuck yourself as you stumble out of the door marked "Exit."
Anon 11:30 -- thanks but a few points:
1. I am and always will be a desktop guy. Happily, desktops and laptops are making a comeback -- people are starting to realize how difficult it is to use a tablet to do so simple a task as word processing. The three-column approach (with a flexible-width central column) used to be considered ideal because it works best on desktops, especially for those of us who, due to age, like to increase font size.
2. I really, really, REALLY like having news feeds up toward the top where I can see what's going on without having to do a lot of scrolling or clicking. I also like having links up top so I can easily check out what other sites are up to.
3. The site looks fine on iPhone. It goes directly into a reader's mode with no graphics or columns.
4. The site looks quite acceptable on the iPad and iPad mini. I've tested both.
5. I don't care about Google ranking.
6. Compared to a site like TPM (or any of the sites using a Wordpress magazine-style layout) this one is simple-dimple.
Gary: Wow. Someone got there first?
I love the idea of a new White Rose movement. Such a thing should exist, but I don't want to lead it. My predestined role in this world is "Cranky Outsider," not "Noble Leader." So how can we get such a thing off the ground -- and then hand it over to someone young, intelligent, trustworthy and (preferably) female?
A young female is preferable for historical reasons: St. Sophie Scholl will always be the spiritual head of a White Rose movement.
Anon 3.07pm "Saying Hillary won the popular vote is like losing a foot race, and then saying you won the race for the longest time to the finish line."
It means that more people (hence the word "popular") voted for Clinton than for Trump. You're saying "losers gonna lose". You're with the fascist zeitgeist.
How about bearding the 306 Republican electors? There's a list of all who aspired to be electors here.
All 306 have rock-solid eligibility and are squeaky clean, right?
Sander's kept giving facial cues about how sad it was that he wasn't the nominee during his vote for Hillary speeches.
I am curious how many speeches Sanders gave in Michigan. Sanders lost the primary races to Hillary Clinton 28-12, but his supporters said it wasn't fair that independents could not vote in the democrat primary races. Independents should not vote in the primary races because they can then vote for either party, or not, or the opposite party to roil a solid opposing candidate so a weaker one wins.
Nonetheless, Sanders enflamed his followers by hyping the value of a caucus win in which 85% less voters, vote.
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