I’m not really in the mood to write about Trump at the moment. If the Republicans cannot, we will rise up and crush his movement in November. I hope it isn’t necessary, because everyday this man maintains his popularity, he hardens people’s hearts and makes us all worse individuals.
We will crush him, but the damage he’s doing is going to be lasting.
If the Republicans cannot, we will rise up and crush his movement in November. I hope it isn’t necessary, because everyday this man maintains his popularity, he hardens people’s hearts and makes us all worse individuals.
It can’t wait that long. I do wonder if he’ll bring his “I’m Jealous of Mussolini” tour to PA next month. If so, we gotta be ready to protest like Chicago did tonight. Also, apparently a fair amount of those that shut shit down tonight were Sanders supporters. They broke out into chants of “Bernie!” once it was announced the event was cancelled.
Centrist: “Something needs to be done about Trump! He’s radicalizing America pushing us towards fascism and that’s bad!”
Moderate: “Yeah! Enough of this pussyfooting around; the way you deal with a bully is by punching them in the mouth!”
Chicago protesters nonviolently make Trump run off with his tail between his legs.
Centrist: “Why do the Berniebros hate free speech?”
You do realize the danger of having Bernie supporters who shut down Trump rallies being morphed by the media into the villains, right? Portrayed as wild-eyed radical socialists trampling on Real Americans’ right to free speech and assembly? While the AA protesters get Black Panthered?
Ludicrous? To us, of course. But I remember this: four kids got gunned down at Kent State and a sizable segment of the American citizenry thought they got exactly what they deserved.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-kornbluth/may-4-1970-national-guard_b_1476017.html
I remember that. I was part of the strike at my own college, out demonstrating, stunned that this could happen, even more stunned at the pro-killing backlash.
We are on a very dark and dangerous path blazed by Trump. We don’t need our side helping to widen the way. Most especially when it’s the left that’s most readily demonized as troublemakers while the right claims the mantle of guardians of law and order.
I watched a documentary a while back about Kent State. And they played a bunch of clips of man-on-the-street interviews at the time, and a significant percentage of those interviewed thought the killing of the students was exactly the proper measure that should have been taken. It was really stunning the complete lack of humanity that was on display with these people.
The scariest part of it is that I don’t think we have really changed all that much. And this same inhumanity still runs through a large percentage of the country. They are just waiting for the shoe to fall, and they will all be out there, once again, nodding in approval at the blood in the streets.
Rick Perlstein has written about this at length (in Nixonland and elsewhere). About how Walter Cronkite and everyone else assumed that the public was not on the cops’ side after Chicago ’68, when in reality they totally were.
It’s a common mistake of the Left — and, of the establishment — to think of certain standards of decency or reason as being common, acceptable norms in this country. We’re (obviously) seeing it right now.
One lady in particular in the Kent State documentary sticks in my mind. She very matter of factly says, “They were warned. I’m only sorry that they didn’t kill more of them”.
My wife and I watched the whole documentary in complete silence. There were just no words.
Yes. I was teaching HS in southwestern Ohio when Kent State went down, and the other teachers expressed the same sentiments, i.e. “they deserved it” and “it’s about time somebody did something”. I kept my mouth shut (it was a small rural school in a conservative county, and I was in enough trouble over teaching evolution in my Bio class), but it shocked me at the time, since I was about two years out of college myself, and they were demonstrating right then at my alma mater. Liberals have no clue.
adds this helpful reminder from Drumpf’s ‘formative years’.
Right. Instead, this is what we need to do:
Look: the Very Serious People had their chance to stop Trump with HUGZ and KISSEZ and sternly worded letters. Have they made any progress whatsoever? Do they anticipate making any progress whatsoever?
This reminds me of that wonderful exchange in Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979). At a black-tie party at the Museum of Modern Art (in other words, the epitome of Manhattan class and culture).
WOODY ALLEN: “Hey, did anyone else see that story about Nazis marching in New Jersey? I was thinking that a bunch of us should get some bricks and baseball bats and, you know, go explain things to them…”
OTHER GUEST: “There was a devastating satirical piece about that in the Sunday Times. Just devastating.”
WOODY ALLEN: “Well, a satirical piece in the Times is one thing, but I really think that, with Nazis, bricks and baseball bats are the way to go.”
I think that you are arguing that the protesters need a strategy – dress code, messaging, stated principles. Maybe link hands and sing? I’m semi-serious.
I’m no expert on organizing effective protests. I just know that our side has to be careful of the optics because we’re not going to get any breaks from the mainstream media. I do think, from what I saw of coverage on CNN and NECN this evening, that there is some growing willingness to lay the blame for the violence primarily upon Trump, but DFH vs. Real Americans is still alive and well as a powerful undercurrent in American thought, and the BothSidesDoIt brigade will be desperate for any hook upon which to hang their hat.
I think a look back at the tactics employed by Martin Luther King would be, not dispositive, but helpful.
Trump is already blaming protesters for the violence against them. The media will treat it as a genuine controversy. I don’t know what’s effective, either, I just hope these guys are careful so no one gets really hurt.
But of course he is! That’s the very essence of the modern upholders of personal responsibility: Blame everyone but yourself for the consequences of what you do. Brag of how great and powerful you are while simultaneously whining about how oppressed and downtrodden you are. It’s truly mindboggling, isn’t it?
We lived in the are at the time. Never forgotten it.
My question for the people wringing their hands over this: are you not aware that the outcome you fear of moderates turning against liberals and painting the fascists as the victims is inevitable even if leftists completely surrender and run into their homes? The process you’re sweating over is already happening. We tried several months of avoiding direct action and not giving the hippie punchers something to swing at, and the reward for our misguided civility is that not only is Trump not going away — but that the Very Serious People are preparing to reconcile with Trump. Yeah, we totally don’t want to make the centrists and moderates upset or anything!
I want you to understand something here: there is no way forward that does not lead to a lot of hippies being punched. Your only choices is how much of the punching is merely metaphorical and how many hippies get punched.
People like BooMan console themselves with fantasies that this will all go away at the ballot box and there’s no need for confrontation more confrontational than strongly worded letters in New York Times. These are the people who swore up and down that Trump would only be a summer fling and that the GOP voters would nominate Rubio or at least. Why should you believe their ‘don’t do anything rash, Trump will go away once HRC spanks him at the polls’ bullshit now?
You’ve got the right idea.
I don’t think the Republican establishment is ready to go all-in Brown Shirt, yet… Their media control would probably be necessary to manage to make the hate speech heroic. The object is to “manage” the devolution, not break the china. They are soooo close.
I think that the Republican Establishment is living in LaLa Land. They are not going to be able to “manage’ what is going to happen in and around the convention if the two surviving candidates are Trump and Cruz. Bet on it.
Cleveland.
A mini-1968 Chicago, but minus the ironclad Daley police establishment and plus a rustbelt America city’s mainstream dissatisfactions among all subdivisions of the working (and non-working) classes.
It’s gonna get nasty.
These anti-Trump demonstrations…they worked. He blinked. Not because of “cowardice,” exactly; more because of the practicalities of trying to win the nomination. There will be more demonstrations and he will have to stop blinking eventually. Then it’s going to get really nasty.
Watch.
AG
Frum thinks it will realign the party to be Trumpian. I tend to agree with that more than some ballot box victory. How many times did some one proclaim the fever broken?
You do realize the danger of having Bernie supporters who shut down Trump rallies being morphed by the media into the villains, right? Portrayed as wild-eyed radical socialists trampling on Real Americans’ right to free speech and assembly? While the AA protesters get Black Panthered?
Do you think that matters? You remember what happened last time, right? Why are liberals always in a defensive crouch? If you’re worried about Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump calling you a radical socialist, all hope is lost. Hell, those bastards have spent 7 years calling Obama the next Fidel Castro. Look what that has gotten us. Bullies only respond to one thing. Getting kicked in the nuts. Half measures and wishing it would go away aren’t going to defeat fascist assholes like Trump and his goon squad. The least you should be worried about is the anti-fascist/racist protestors chanting Bernie’s name.
Terrible. Like 68 again but for the repubs this time. The sooner Trump goes back to TV the better.
Do you remember who won in ’68?
The “peaceful” convention. You know…the carpet bomber Richard Nixon and the carpet bagger/carpet bag man Spiro Agnew.
The sooner Trump gets back to TV???!!!
That’s where he wins!!!
Time to run up the black flag and let the undecided public…and there still is one, the portion of the electorate that will make the difference…see what will happen if Trump is elected. Counter that with the usual “kinder, gentler” DemRat routine (especially if promoted by a female) and it’s HRC by a landslide.
The American public should be frightened by what Trump really stands for. All the prevarication in the world won’t hide it once the iron fists start killing people. Better now than after he’s elected. Much better.
AG
I’m not sure I get you point about trump winning if he goes back to TV. As long as he gets out of politics, and goes back to his old day job, we are better off as a country.
You don’t get my point!!!???
Think on it.
Where has he been winning? And you’d better believe it…he has been winning big time since midsummer.
Where has he been winning?
He’s been winning on TV. Exclusively.
And why?
Duh.
Because that’s what he does best. He takes over the screen. Coloring, size, dress, mannerisms, hand gesture…the works. You cannot take your eyes off of him. He’s a TV pro!!! That’s how he makes his living!!!
What does take your eyes off of him?
People daring to get their mortal asses kicked…or worse…because of the depth of their opposition to his policies.
That’s what.
Suddenly the cameras are off him and his techno-trancing act and back on the blood, sweat and tears of real, scuffling life.
He is thus diminished.
Make him small and you win.
Let him continue to be big unopposed and he wins.
Like dat.
That’s my point.
AG
OK I think I get your point now. Yes, trump is good on TV, and its a good idea to try to confront him (peacefuly, a la MLK. Let his brownshirts make the first moves). I guess I wasn’t clear. I want him to get out of politics, the sooner the better, and go back to wherever he came from (TV? Real Estate? Under a rock? I don’t care, just away from Washington.)
Unfortunately running for cover seems a fading option as the chance of hiding or finding protection from Trump grows smaller by the day. He’s looking more and more like the real, nasty deal for which no one can find the right words. References to Weimar seem not so far fetched as Trump pushes through. May he go into meltdown…have you heard that wish before?
If I was an evangelical Christian I’b be thinking Antichrist and Apocalypse about now.
AG
Hitler w/nukes and the ability to deliver them?
Frightening!!!
AG
I’m long brown shirts.
Concise and to the point. Nothing more need be said.
Sobering commentary by Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog:
http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2016/03/to-trump-voters-protesters-lives-dont.html
Salon (of all places) has a pretty good synopsis of how Fascism developed:
http://www.salon.com/2016/03/11/trumps_not_hitler_hes_mussolini_how_gop_anti_intellectualism_created
_a_modern_fascist_movement_in_america/
Please consider how bad the only viable GOP alternate is:
http://eastorlandopost.com/ted-cruz-closet-pentecostal
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/if-i-were-jewish-ted-cruz/
I am going to repeat one of my links with an excerpt:
http://eastorlandopost.com/ted-cruz-closet-pentecostal
” … “During a 2012 sermon at the New Beginnings Church in Bedford, Texas, Rafael Cruz described his son’s political campaign as a direct fulfillment of biblical prophecy,” Fea wrote. “The elder Cruz told the congregation God would anoint Christian `kings’ to preside over an `end-time transfer of wealth’ from the wicked to the righteous. After this sermon, Larry Huch, the pastor of New Beginnings, claimed Cruz’s recent election to the U.S. Senate was a sign he was one of these kings.”
Fea noted that Rafael Cruz and Larry Huch preach a brand of evangelical theology known as Seven Mountains Dominionism. The name comes from Isaiah 2:2, “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the Lord’s house shall be established on top of the mountains.”
Fea commented that Rafael Cruz believes Christians must take dominion over seven aspects of culture: family, religion, education, media, entertainment, business, and government.
By identifying Ted Cruz as the “anointed one,” Rafael Cruz has designated his son as what he believes is God’s choice to lead an evangelical coup d’etat, such that, as Fea notes, “Cruz’s campaign may be less about the White House and more about the white horses that will usher in the God’s Kingdom in the New Testament book of Revelation, Chapter 19.” …
Trump had a rally scheduled on Sunday in Cincinnati. It has now been postponed due to “security concerns”.
We are spared from his hatefest, at least for the moment.
you guys are powerful scary.
Yeah. Maybe that’s it. Or not.
…the campaign is looking for additional sites to possibly confirm for another event before Tuesday
They would probably rather do it out in the suburbs. Maybe somewhere in Butler County, home of Sheriff Richard Jones, the disciple of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. If they are looking for a good place to hold a memorable Trump metaphorical lynching of “The Other”, replete with all the requisite hatred, Butler County is the place to go.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Big Butter Jesus got melted by God’s wrath (right around the time I was getting the f out of Cincinnati), a Trump Rally there would be almost perfect.
Did they ever rebuild that thing?
Haha! Touchdown Jesus, struck by lightning and burned to bits. I laughed for a week.
They did replace it with a full-torso Jesus who appears to be ready to step out and walk across the pond in front of him.
Also, Trump people terrify me. We went out to a restaurant for a birthday celebration and my sister-in-laws family members were all talking about Trump and going to his next rally. It’s bizarre how the tone of their voices changes when they start talking about him. They get agitated and loud. Just like their fearless leader!
Yes, they did rebuild it. And Jesus either needs a hug or he’s telling you, “You probably ain’t gonna believe this shit, but I caught a fish THIS BIG”.
entering town from the west features a depiction of Jesus in the same posture. Local lore has it that somebody once, er, ‘edited’ the caption identically (i.e., to read “I caught a fish THIS big!”).
Well, it looks like I had this one pegged. Rally moved to Sunday and it is now in Butler County.
I am sure a good time will be had by all.
OMG she even has a mullet. Trump hair for women?
“Just win, baby.”
Even though I get the joke, I have to say that it’s extraordinarily unfair to Al Davis to link him with a racist like Trump. Davis was the most racially progressive owner the NFL has ever had.
This is only the beginning!!
Booman, I agree with you much of the time, but I couldn’t agree with you more than with your simple statement above. Ugly and ominous are two words that come to mind to summarize my reaction to Donny’s campaign to date.I sincerely hope that even he became a bit afraid in Chicago yesterday, and that he tones down the rabble rousing. Thank you for all that you do here at the pond and at Washington Monthly, and take good care.
I see that nobody (and of course the media) is noticing that Trump tucked tail and ran, leaving his supporters stranded. Of course, the CPD were Trump’s security force but given the number of protesters even they were restrained.
And few notice that the protesters combined UIC students offended at the school’s allowing the venue to Trump, a variety of unions who have been in the streets protesting the Emanuel administration’s cutting of public services, Fight for 15, the political campaign Bye Anita that seeks the defeat of corrupt States Attorney Anita Alvarez, and #blacklivesmatter.
And no one notices that the “violence” that the Trump folks are complaing of is sitting in in the parking garages and blocking the streets (and briefly the Eisenhower expressway) so that the Trumpistas were inconvenienced going home from the West Side of Chicago. Detained longer than they wanted to be in what they perceive as “hostile” territory.
It is time for the liberals to stop policing the left and start policing the right. Otherwise the Overton window will continue moving rightward. And power will continue to move upward to the oligarchs.
The message from this is that Trump is fundamentally a coward who uses his money and chutzpah to convince people he is a big shot.
He is as much a coward on war as Dick Cheney, but loves to be a spectator and cheerleader of war.
He runs casinos. That is as close to getting free money as one can get outside of banking and insurance.
Exposure of his cowardice will take time to sink in, but cutting and running in Chicago is a first step.
About Kent State, at some point on his death bed one of the national guard will tell that they fired on direct order of the Ohio Adjutant General, who was pictured in Life in a business suit, helmet, and holding a pistol upright as if to shoot in the air.
Letting history like this pass because “it is normal” is exactly how we lose what human rights we have.
The same for allowing a political candidate to the violence of his supporters to silence those who would protest at his rallies. Or a political candidate who states that it is open season on minorities and contrary opinions in a culture that has become violence and gun crazy.
Good points. I don’t think anyone (certainly not me) is saying don’t protest. I am suggesting we be smart about how we do it, that’s all; we’re fighting a fierce headwind of MSM propaganda as it is. Let the hollow bully be exposed for what he is without allowing him and his enablers to continue spinning his horror show as a crusade against destroyers of Real America. MLK overcame without meeting violence with violence, at a time when the forces Trump incites were even more powerful, even more out, and even more in power.
Shutting Trump’s rally down was brilliant and effective, and from the clips I saw most of the protesters did a great job of passionately defying the haters without being sucked into reciprocal violence. But of course what’s bound to lead the news is clips of the fights where protesters did engage with Trumpistas.
Also this: We’ve seen the clip of the St. Louis protester, face bloodied, being led away, and been rightfully outraged. But what unawakened America sees is a black man bloody from a fight being hauled off by police in handcuffs. How do we get the unawakened to see that as we see it? That is a question that to me anyway needs to be kept in mind as the struggle goes on.
. . . without meeting violence with violence . . . “
Current events strongly suggest that overcoming is, at best, a(n agonizingly slow) work in progress.
The curious thing about the present moment is that the MSM, and curiouser still, including Fox, is totally delegitimized by Trump voters. The more they pump Trump, the more Trump’s own fans hate them. It is weird.
ChaunceyD went to the Trump non-Rally yesterday:
SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 2016
Trumpmania Doesn’t Make a Stop in Chicago: An Initial Report (With Video) About My Experience at Donald Trump’s Canceled Rally Earlier Today
I made it back from the Donald Trump Chicago no-show rally. I have attached a video of the moment after it was announced that Il Duce Trump would not be making an appearance.
I have a longer piece that I just finished. These are some quick and initial thoughts.
By focusing exclusively on the racism/bigotry of the Trumpalooza we’re missing half or more of the story. The same half that DEMs/liberals have long been sweeping under the rug and for the past seven years haven’t been able to hear as they charge that all ostensibly conservative voters are ignorant bigots that have been driven mad by the black POTUS.
Thomas Frank: Millions of ordinary Americans support Donald Trump. Here’s why
Agreed. Both establishments are on the same page.
Corey Robin says when Clinton tells the truth, believe her:
“Amid all the accusations that Hillary Clinton is not an honest or authentic politician, that she’s an endless shape-shifter who says whatever works to get her to the next primary, it’s important not to lose sight of the one truth she’s been telling, and will continue to tell, the voters: things will not get better. Ever. At first, I thought this was just an electoral ploy against Sanders: don’t listen to the guy promising the moon. No such thing as a free lunch and all that. But it goes deeper. The American ruling class has been trying to figure out for years, if not decades, how to manage decline, how to get Americans to get used to diminished expectations, how to adapt to the notion that life for the next generation will be worse than for the previous generation, and now, how to accept (as Alex Gourevitch reminded me tonight) low to zero growth rates as the new economic normal. Clinton’s campaign message isn’t just for Bernie voters; it’s for everyone. Expect little, deserve less, ask for nothing. When the leading candidate of the more left of the two parties is saying that – and getting the majority of its voters to embrace that message – the work of the American ruling class is done.”
Check this out
Neglected to mention in my comment that the left has substituted all the gross symbols of Nazism for the full story. When people are hurting they’ve grab onto anything that looks like a life preserver. (Not that Trumpsters are physically hurting anything like what Germans in that period were experiencing, but psychic wound (generally imagined) are also powerful.)
Oops. lol
A variation on Rangel and Clyburn — We don’t know no Bernie Sanders. They got away with that; so, HRC should manage this one just fine and will prove that her supporters aren’t just deaf but blind as well.
Oops There’s more, but should be fun to watch her fans spin both a picture and thank you card.
C-Span clips for those that dispute the authenticity of the photo.
Your link made me chuckle.
Very important observation:
We really need to comprehend this; it speaks to our ethos as progressives. Thanks for the link.
MSM is NOT going to broadcast the complexity of economic pain when they can fill in the blanks with the sexy cliches of Godwin. It must not be seen to validate criticism of social devolution.
Thomas Frank has been sounding the alarm for over a decade. Molly Ivins and Jim Hightower observed it much earlier. In all fairness to Frank, they were born 3 decades before him. Sure miss Molly Ivins.
I meant to say 2 decades earlier.
over the purported ‘Nazi salute’ that Drumpf purportedly demanded of his supporters to indicate their ‘pledge’ to vote for him quite ridiculous.
Not the criticism of him demanding the pledge itself — that was imminently worthy of criticism.
But from kindergarten (at least!) we raise our hand to non-verbally indicate a vast array of things in our culture (from permission to be excused to go to the bathroom to “yes, Mr. Evangelist, I’m accepting Jesus into my heart as my personal savior right now” to “yes, I pledge to vote for you, Mr. Drumpf”).
And the initial photos I saw accompanying those ‘pledge’ stories showed many people doing just that, with no visible indication anywhere of anyone performing anything that could non-laughably be characterized as the ‘Nazi’ (or ‘Heil Hitler’) salute — nor any indication Drumpf had asked for such.
But this ‘lady’ . . . wow!
To the extent you can interpret what you see in a snapshot with any confidence, she’s ‘saying’ — angrily, with utter defiance — “whatever you criticize my Drumpf over, I’m going to do right in your face!”
That it’s reprehensible apparently never even crossed her mind as anything to give her pause. She certainly looks to be totally in reflexively defiant knee-jerk reaction mode.
This seems pretty analogous to the response of Drumpf’s thugs to criticism of his non-condemnation (except with a wink and a nod) of their violence against peaceful protestors: double down on the violence!
I had a similar initial response when the initial criticism of the pledges came out. I find the Pledge of Allegiance stupid and creepy and I am personally reflexively repulsed by situations where the group pressures everyone to make public , but it is something all people who went to public school here experienced. But upon reflection, I concluded that it’s not the similarity to a certain gesture (which this sick woman is demonstrating) which is disturbing, it’s the pledging of people to an individual. “Heil Hitler” was about having people personally pledge themselves to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. That this type of gesture is part of the American experience is what gives it its power – these people have “sworn an oath” to back Donald Trump; they can’t just change their minds now (although they CAN) because it’s a matter of honor as well. They have joined the Trump cult and now any criticism of it is an attack on them as well. That’s a very dangerous state of affairs.
Group pledges are militant, authoritarian actions, and Trump using them is not an accident and is completely worthy of criticism. As this despicable lady shows, Trump’s supporters are completely down with violent fascism. They can’t be allowed to claim otherwise and they must be stopped.
“Not the criticism of him demanding the pledge itself — that was imminently worthy of criticism.”
I didn’t try to sketch in that worthy criticism.
You did so, and very ably. I agree with all that, for all the reasons you give.
You are correct, in 1934 a new law was passed in Germany:
The impact on the future behaviour of the Army leadership was profound. It was unsuccessfully cited at Nuremburg as mitigation by the defence.
knows no limits