Dying Days of the Deplorables

The insurrectionist mob that forced its way into the Capitol on January 6 was markedly white and, for the most part, male. It was also thoroughly unpatriotic. Beyond that, who were these vandals?

You may recall a 2016 campaign speech in which Hillary Clinton used the phrase “basket of deplorables”:

You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic—you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And [Trump] has lifted them up.

Republicans pounced on her words and tried to present Clinton as contemptuous toward all Trump supporters. But the Republicans were lying (yet again) when they did this. By “deplorables” she clearly meant bigots. About other Trump supporters Clinton said this:

“[They] feel that the government has let them down”…they’re…“desperate for change.”  “[W]e have to understand and empathize with…” these non-bigoted Trump supporters.

I recall this voice from the past not only to express for the hundredth time my disgust for the Republicans’ dishonest caricature of Hillary Clinton, but also to connect the desecration of American democracy on January 6 with Trump’s deplorables. The people who trashed the Capitol building, broke windows, stole whatever they could haul away, and smeared feces on the inside walls were mainly male and overwhelmingly white. Their Confederate flag and brazenly antisemitic slogans tell us they were also overwhelmingly bigoted. These were the deplorables at their seething, snarling worst.

Their hatred for what America has become was evident both in their assault on the electoral process and in their brainless chant of

U S A!

U S A!

U S A!

They seem to think this chant makes them patriotic, but it does not. It amounts to nothing more than a tribalistic invocation that says “Us against you! Us against you!” Whenever I hear this chant I can’t help but recall the similarly tribal German chant of the 1930s “Seig Heil! Sieg Heil!”

I would consider it a great blessing to never again hear a mob shout “U S A!”

 

Meanwhile, about 500 miles to the south democracy roared forward driven by the force of genuine patriots. With the amazing Stacey Abrams taking the lead, voters in Georgia lifted an African-American pastor and a Jewish journalist into the Senate, putting an end to Mitch McConnell’s stranglehold there. The deplorables are truly on the run while American democracy surges. 

 

In a way the victories of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, along with Georgia’s Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, represent crucial victories in America’s ongoing Civil War. It’s not a coincidence that five of the six senators who objected to Biden’s Electoral College victory were from former slave states as were about two thirds of the objecting House members. The foul odor of the former slave-based southern patriarchy remains pungent in its old haunts.

America’s struggle to realize its ideals has been long and hard and certainly it’s not over yet. But the tide is with the real patriots and, despite the nastiness that Trump’s deplorables promise to stir up in the near future, their glory days are unequivocally behind them.

 

Things I Thought I'd Never See

 Is this the year when everything finally comes into focus? Is that why 2020 seems so unusual? I say this because of the god-awful load of caca that has gone down this year and which I thought I’d never have to experience.

Just for the record, here are a few things I thought I’d never see in my lifetime:

       Wildfires burning up 4% of California’s land 

       area, killing 31 people.

 

       Two hurricanes at once in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

The heart-breaking and untimely death of  a judicial icon whose courage and brilliance could have done us a world of good in the coming months. May flights of angels sing you to your rest, Justice Ginsburg.

 

A viral pandemic killing far more people within a year than were killed in the first year of any war in our nation’s history.

 

A president who admits out loud that he downplayed the danger of this virus while hundreds of people were dying from it every day.

 

And, worst of all, a hefty chunk of my fellow citizens continuing to support this president despite his criminal mishandling of the pandemic…

 

…and his failure to pay his fair share of taxes

 

…and his expressions of contempt for John McCain and other fallen veterans

 

…and his boasting about sexual assaults on women

 

…and his bigoted support of white supremacists

 

…and his idiotic dismissing of climate change as a “Chinese hoax”

 

…and his blatant contempt for American institutions of democracy including the free press, an independent judiciary, and constitutional provisions for impeachment

 

…and his illegal use of Congressionally mandated funds to extort an ally into spreading baseless smears against a political rival

 

…and his admiration for tyrannical thugs like Putin, Kim Jong-un, and Recep Erdogan

 

…and his long history of crooked business schemes including a fraudulent “university” and a “charity” that he used illegally for his own benefit

 

...and his mysterious indebtedness of 421 million dollars to...well, to whom? Is it to Putin or Erdogan or one of the other thuggish types that Trump likes to do favors for?

 

And…well, I won’t go on (though I could). You get what I’m saying. Five years ago I would have said, “No public figure as crooked, dishonest, and utterly self-serving as Trump could get even 20 percent of the voters to support him.” Yes, I thought I knew my fellow Americans, but I was deceived and deluded. Now I see that his cult-like following still comes to about 40 percent of the voting public. 

 

Really, my fellow Americans? Really?

 

Trump caught many of us by surprise, but it isn’t entirely our fault. Most of us never imagined that a well-funded news organization would partner up with him to promote his insidious cons just to boost their own revenue. I never really admired Fox, but I didn’t think they would debase themselves by turning into Trump’s own personal “Pravda.”

 

And we could hardly have been expected to foresee hard-core Republican cold warriors like Marco Rubio and Lindsey Graham simply falling into line with Trump when he cozied up to Putin and dismissed his own CIA’s warnings about Russian malevolence. Trump is a crook who seeks long-term benefit from his partnership with Putin – that’s one thing. But most of us certainly didn’t expect the entire GOP leadership to say, “Do what you like with America’s sworn enemy, Donald, just don’t hurt our re-election chances.” Lindsey? Marco? Do you guys need some help finding your missing backbones? Or do you plan to stay with the Putin-Trump team indefinitely?

 

Where are the Republicans of character, the ones like Elliot Richardson and Howard Baker who told Richard Nixon he had crossed the uncrossable line? Sadly, they are few, far between, and not in office.

 

So – 2020, the year of things that just won’t stop sucking.

 

But I believe we’re going to get out of this year with bright prospects in the months to come.

 

It was a promising sign last spring when a kinky Korean comedy won the Oscar. And now an African-Indian-American woman of obvious talent and strong character stands ready to be our next vice president. Finally, there’s Joe, who is outperforming most of our expectations, certainly mine.

 

These seemingly unrelated developments speak to a fundamental recognition that we are, after all, part of One World. I know there are truckloads of Americans who bristle at the idea of One World, but those folks seem to be pretty bad at counting. We’ve only got one world by my count, and the sooner we make it as seamless as is feasible, the better off we’ll be.

 

So even in the face of the endless horrors of this year, it looks like the arc of justice is beginning to bend our way. And that’s good news for those of us who want things to start making sense. All we need to do now is vote next month, and next year get to work repairing the damage of 2020. 

 

 

 

And, from the New Yorker, a fitting lagniappe:

 

 

 

The Joy of Counting Unhatched Chickens

 My heart soared with happiness last Tuesday when Joe Biden asked Kamala Harris to join him on the Democratic ticket. As if that weren’t bliss begetting enough, Joe’s very sensible statement about facing down the coronavirus was like a freshly whispered dream of sweet serenity. 

Masks please, everyone!

 

I not only appreciated the solid advice he was giving the country, but I kind of felt as though he were already president just by virtue of the leadership he embodied. I’m guessing many others, at least briefly, had the same feeling I had - that the country was finally benefiting from the reassuring presence of a sensible, decent, and empathetic leader.

 

The news has been so ghastly lately – Trump trying to kneecap the Post Office in order to snuff out voters’ rights, Trump cranking up a new racist birther conspiracy against Kamala, the pandemic spreading unabated, millions facing financial stress even to the point of eviction, and so on. In the face of all the enraging and disgusting effects of Trump’s policies, I decided today that, as a counterweight, I would imagine what life will be like if, as is currently expected, Joe and Kamala take over in January.

 

I realize talking as though the good guys are going to win may give some people the uncomfortable feeling that I’m jinxing their prospects. But I need this moment of reverie right now. Some say you should never count your chickens before they hatch, but to them I say, “Screw it - count on!”

 

Think of all the wondrous effects a Biden-Harris leadership team can bring. First of all, consider the many crooks and thugs who will be sacked and bundled off to oblivion if not to Sing Sing next year. Think, for instance, of these shoddy-souled losers:

 

Vice President Mike Pence – “If you’re gay, ask me about a cure!”

 

Attorney General William Barr – “My slow, soft-spoken voice should convince you I’m not as crooked as I seem.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – “I’m very loyal. Unlike my predecessor, I refuse to call Trump a ‘fucking moron’ out loud.”

 

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos – “No questions, please.”

 

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy – “Yes, we have your ballots. It would be a shame if anything happened to them.”

 

And so on.

 

Can you imagine the lifting of American spirits that will (may) be brought about by a cabinet that included Attorney General Stacey Abrams, Secretary of State Julian Castro, Secretary of Defense Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Labor Andrew Yang, UN Ambassador Mitch Landrieu, and so on? My heart leaps up at the very thought.

 

Also, there is the amazing Susan Rice who has long been determined to see her native Washington DC become a state. So have at it, Ms. Rice. Your dream could very well become a reality with Joe and Kamala in charge. But we couldn’t call the new state Washington, so what would it be? Maybe it could be the Great State of Martin, after the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

 

And of course the Supreme Court. With a rejuvenated court we could keep defending women’s right to choose and, just as important, we would be able to overturn the godawful Citizens United decision. That decision was nothing more than an invitation to crooks and sleazeballs to push their selfish agendas under cover of darkness. How a seemingly decent guy like Chief Justice John Roberts could have supported that decision, I’ll never know, but with new and improved, Biden-appointed justices, that blunder will be corrected.

 

I feel better just thinking about this prospect. Of course, I have to acknowledge those who will say I’ve jinxed our prospects just by speculating about a Biden-Harris victory, but, if you could see me now, you would notice that I am countering the jinx by knocking on wood! Tap tap.

 

And if that isn’t safeguard enough, there’s always, “Buttercup!

 

Donald Trump, Meet President Harris

Two big stories dominate the news today. One is Donald Trump hanging out with his “Thug of the Month Club” pal, Vladimir Putin. When asked if he would tell Putin not to meddle in our elections, Trump turned to his thug-buddy and jokingly said, “Don’t meddle in our election.” Putin smiled.

And now, let us wait with bated breath for Mitch McConnell and all those other honorable Republicans to denounce Trump for his treason…

Okay, never mind.

The other big story is the Democratic debates and the rise of Kamala Harris. It’s pronounced  KAH-muh-luh. 

The good news is it’s not as hard to say as Buttigieg! I suggest we start practicing now, cuz we don’t want to mispronounce our next president’s name and Kamala might well be it.

There has been a lot of talk about Joe Biden’s lead in the polls and, like most everyone else, I like Joe. But he would not be my first choice to be president from among the 24 Democrats now vying for the post. Nor would he be my second choice, nor…okay, you know what I mean. He’s a good guy, but, in last night’s debate he said at one point, “My time is up,” and I think that may be the case. But, truth to tell, any of the Democratic candidates would make a far better president than the lying liar we have now, even Marianne California-Dreamin’ Williamson.

But Kamala Harris has been my favorite for a while now, and last night she really showed everyone how it’s done. Strong, smart, and smoldering with the killer instinct. Who wouldn’t love to see her up against that mendacious blowhard that the GOP has made its centerpiece?

I realize that the election is about 16 months away and a lot can happen between now and then. But nevertheless, I am going to put forward, with reckless disregard for the capriciousness of the fates, my suggested personnel for a President Harris administration.

Vice President: Mitch Landrieu – because he’s great - not because his New Orleans accent makes me homesick for the Crescent City, but that’s also a positive

Secretary of State: Julián Castro – his Marshall Plan for Central America – yes!

Secretary of Defense: James Stavridis – a veteran of the best kind

Attorney General – Stacey Abrams – to go after the voting irregularities that now plague us

Treasury Secretary - Amy Klobuchar - I trust her

Labor Secretary – Andrew Yang -  he is so right about the automation threat

HUD Secretary – Cory Booker – his world and he knows it well

Ambassador to the UN – Pete Buttigieg – Yes, Putin, cool gay couples are here to stay

EPA Director Philip Levine - he defended Miami Beach from the rising seas brought on by the climate crisis

Anyway, go for it, Democrats. You are reminding us all what debates in a genuinely democratic society should be like - intelligent, respectful, and issues-focused.