Floating Down A River of Sh*t

America is one week into the reign of Trump and his band of corporate hacks, thieves and miscreants. Citizens have already been treated to several Trumpian temper tantrums -- over the paltry turnout for his inauguration, his relations with the corporate media (who adored Trump-the-Candidate and bent over backwards to give Trump free air time), and his address at the CIA, which was either one of the greatest speeches ever made (Trump), or an unhinged, childish rant (according to Anderson Cooper, among others).

And of course Trump has used his presidential pen to sign a flurry of executive orders -- to resurrect the Keystone XL and Dakota Access oil pipelines, to block or slow immigration from predominantly Muslim nations (even those the US has bombed or destabilized, creating a refugee crisis), and to erect the Great Trump Wall along the US-Mexico border.

We have also been subjected to a  blitzkrieg by Trump and Co. of alternate facts, misinformation, false statements, and gag orders  to prevent some federal agencies from sharing information with Congress or the media. This is not a fun time to be working as a scientist for the EPA or the Department of Energy. Facts and reason are about as welcome in Trump-Land as fire ants are at a Sunday picnic.

I feel like I’m floating down a river of shit. I can’t bear to look at or listen to Trump or any of the sycophants that surround him. In my lifetime I have on occasion felt embarrassed to be an American: during Nixon’s fall from grace, through eight years of the bumbling fool George W. Bush, but nothing comes close to the embarrassment I feel today. I understand that Trump is only a symptom of a capitalist system that years ago ceased to work for the mass of people; a system maintained by legal bribery, gerrymandering and elections of dubious validity, a weak judiciary, and a military-surveillance-security complex that devours more than half the nation’s annual budget. Four decades of poorly regulated, predatory and cannibalistic capitalism murdered America’s soul, dulled America’s mind, and now imperils America’s heart.  

I know we have to pay some attention to Trump, but it’s far more important to keep a steady eye on the brigands who whisper in Donald’s ear.

I imagine one of the talking noggins from the corporate media asking Trump about his first week in office. “It was tremendous,” says Trump. “Very, very bigly unprecedented. No president has ever done more in their first week in office than me. Not Washington. Not Lincoln. Not FDR. Certainly not Obama, that loser. People are saying I have transformed the country. Fox News thinks my face will be on Mount Rushmore even before my first term is over. Great week, fantastic week for America, very terrible week for Mexico.”

I am thinking of nicknames for Trump. Here are a few contenders: King Donald I; President Comb-Over; Groper-in-Chief; Supreme (Illegitimate) Leader; The Orange One.

Can you imagine America without Mexican immigrants? Are we to believe Trump’s fantasy that keeping Mexicans out  will in the near future mean that Anglos will be washing our cars at the carwash, picking our fruits and vegetables, cooking our meals in restaurants, and scrubbing our floors and toilets? I’m sure there are many overpaid corporate CEO’s worried about losing pliable, frightened and compliant immigrant labor; Anglos will be harder to exploit and are far more likely to be armed, loaded on opioids, and full of grievance.

Now What?

“The aims of a demonstration, however, are symbolic: it demonstrates a force that is scarcely used.” John Berger

After the massive women’s marches that took place all over the world, it’s reasonable to ask, now what? How can the spirit and energy of the women’s marches be channeled into a political movement that has as its goal supporting candidates who can win elections -- at all levels of government -- and claim power? Because power is what it’s all about. The Democrats never seem to grasp this fact while the Republicans live it and breathe it. If you don’t believe it, look at photographs of Paul Ryan in Trump’s company, look at Ryan’s smug smile; it’s the smile of a man who knows he has power to wield.

The Democrats are as tone deaf today as they were on November 9. The likes of Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi still believe in the Clinton/Obama neoliberal, corporate-friendly playbook. They will never get it, and as long as they and other Democrats believe that the way to win is to behave like Republicans, the party will continue to flounder on the margins.

The Democratic Party needs an enema.

Make no mistake: Democrats will attempt to co-opt the spirit and energy of the women’s marches for their own ends. We can’t allow this to happen. We can’t allow public demonstrations to be solely focused as anti-Trump exercises: demonstrations need to express the desire for specific policy positions like single-payer healthcare, a reduction in defense spending, free public universities, reform of the criminal justice system, civil and reproductive rights, immigration, regulation to smooth the jagged edges of capitalism, and, perhaps most critical, action to combat climate change.

It’s folly to believe the Democrats will take up such causes in any meaningful way as long as collaborators like Schumer, Feinstein and Pelosi are in the mix. Corporate America and the wealthy have two political parties to do their bidding. Who do working people, women, minorities, immigrants, and other marginalized folks have in their corner? OK, sure, there are a few Democrats who still act like Democrats: Sherrod Brown comes to mind, and Elizabeth Warren (most of the time) but one or two or three champions are not enough to move past the inertia of the Democratic party. Just ask Bernie Sanders.

The first days of the Trump regime are living up to the nightmare and travesty many of us anticipated. Trump acts like a monarch, spews lies, disputes indisputable facts, attacks his detractors, and pushes a radical agenda. His inaugural speech was chilling, with echoes of other authoritarian regimes that placed loyalty and patriotism and allegiance above all. Whenever I think of fascism in America I think about Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, which envisioned what might have happened if Charles Lindbergh had defeated FDR in 1940. Here’s what Roth had to say about Trump in the context of The Plot Against America:

“...neither was anything like as humanly impoverished as Trump is: ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognizing subtlety or nuance, destitute of all decency, and wielding a vocabulary of seventy-seven words that is better called Jerkish than English.”

Well said, Mr. Roth. Every day with Trump will showcase another outrage, another assault, another middle finger to our country.  

Women's March Los Angeles: The Gaze of History

We didn’t march in Los Angeles on January 21, 2017, we shuffled a foot or two at a time because the crowd was so massive. Along the entire march route, which was less than 10 blocks, it was wall-to-wall people -- young, middle-aged, gay and straight, black, white, Asian, Latino, Muslim -- holding signs aloft, chanting, and talking. From Pershing Square to City Hall I saw very few police and not one act of violence or destruction. This was a march of solidarity and controlled outrage at the strange turn America has taken with the election of Donald Trump.

During the shuffle we heard estimates of the turnout. First it was 250,000, then 500,000 and then 750,000. From within the throng there was no way to guess because no perspective is available. Only the people in the helicopters hovering in the sky above the march route could make a guess. All I know is that it took nearly three hours to cover 10 blocks. All I know is that the lines for the porta-potties were 30, 40, 50 people deep. All I know is that my legs ached.

And all I know is that I had to be there, with my wife and her female colleagues from the Santa Barbara Independent, because I believe in social justice, human rights, reproductive rights and immigrant rights. Trump’s twisted vision of white privilege and supremacy isn’t mine -- the orange man is on the wrong side of history. Trump and his stooges, including the detestable Paul Ryan, will do everything possible to wind the clock of history backwards, and the people that I marched with in Los Angeles, and millions more in other American cities, will resist, of this I have no doubt. The spirit I saw yesterday, the diversity, reminded me that people are better than their government.

Trump assumed office with a dismal approval rating of less than 40 percent; it’s likely that this figure will be his apex, and that from here out Trump will become more despised. A narcissist like Trump wants to be loved, adored, and obeyed, and I imagine he has no clue the extent to which he is already hated -- and how that hatred will increase when some of his cruel policies kick in.

Trump is under the misimpression that dissent is unpatriotic. While it won’t happen easily, quickly or without pain, I think we will teach him otherwise. In a real democracy, dissent is essential.

Hope, Change, and Other Myths of the Obama Years

“War makes money for the politically connected. While the flag-waving population remains proud of the service of their sons, brothers, husbands, fathers, cousins, wives, mothers and daughters, the smart boys who got the fireworks started are rolling in the mega-millions.” Paul Craig Roberts

My 15-year-old daughter asked me if I will miss President Obama. Before I could answer she said, “I am, he’s cool, and I like Michelle.”

I understand this sentiment, in the same way I understand the dewey-eyed coverage of the last days of the Obama Administration by the corporate media. Look, Obama is a cool head, eloquent as the day is long, smart, educated, and cautious, and Michelle is no lightweight. Without doubt the Obama’s are good, decent people, well-intentioned, thoughtful, and probably fun to hang out with. Unlike the Clinton run in the White House, the Obama Administration has been scandal free -- no questionable real estate deals, no weird family members to make excuses for, no bimbos or interns slipping out the service entrance at 3:00 a.m.

But how to explain to my daughter that Barack Obama was a tool of the oligarchs who own and run America, how to make her see that he was a staunch defender of free market ideology and American exceptionalism? How to explain that cool-head-Obama was a proponent of the cruel capitalism that breaks people and destroys towns? How to explain Obama’s role in expanding the failed War on Terror, the Tuesday get-togethers where Obama selected targets for deadly drone strikes in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen? Like many people her age, my daughter isn’t even aware that America has been at war continuously for her entire lifetime. There are no images of dead Americans in body bags on the nightly news, no young people in the streets protesting America’s imperial wars. This isn’t 1968; young men are not being drafted and sent to fight in distant lands. This is the age of a professional, all-volunteer, standing military, much of it run by private corporations for profit and with an incentive to keep the wars going as long as possible. This is the age of off-the-books-war, where the enormous costs are hidden from public scrutiny.

How do I explain to my daughter that for most of the past eight years, Barack Obama has been the world’s preeminent arms dealer? Yes, the Nobel Peace prize winner has sought to secure peace by helping other nations prepare for war.

And then there’s the economy, Wall Street, and Obama’s dubious record of service and fealty to the bankers and hedge fund managers who played fast and loose and lost their asses and then turned to the government with their hands out. Obama and the Wall Street alumni he brought into his administration bailed out the bankers and let millions of American homeowners go under, most never to recover. So much for the justice of the “free” market. Obama nurtured and coddled and helped predatory capitalism flourish.

In the same way that Bill Clinton’s slavish devotion to financial system deregulation led to the collapse of 2008, Obama’s servitude to the oligarchs led to the ascendancy of Donald Trump, a faux-populist. Like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama did next to nothing to help American workers.

How do I explain to my daughter that the United States, home of the free, runs an offshore penitentiary on the island of Cuba, where suspected terrorists are held for years, decades even, without being formally charged or allowed to defend themselves? How do I tell her that the nation that prides itself on being a nation of laws routinely flouts international law? Obama, purveyor of saccharine hope and change (and yes, my girl, I bought the line in 2008 and cast my vote for the man), couldn’t make good on his campaign promise to shut Guantanamo down.

How do I explain that Obama squandered his opportunity to be an exceptional president in less than two years in office? The man had loads of popular support, his party controlled both houses of Congress, but instead of breaking with the Bush Junta that preceded him, Obama proceeded to dither and sound retreat at the first sign of Republican resistance. Obama’s caution and cowardice in the early years was manifest, and once the GOP realized they could stifle him with a cross look, the era of hope and change was done.

I don’t mean to be a downer, but I want my daughter to understand how this country actually works, and for whom, and why, rather than believe in the myths and magical thinking served up by the corporate media and its pundits and cheerleaders. To be a citizen in a real democracy means to question the powerful, question the status quo, question the conventional wisdom; it means understanding that the powerful are always trying to manipulate us, divide us, pit us against each other.  

So, the answer, my daughter, is no, I won’t miss Barack Obama.

Searching for a Counterweight

“The hour is late; the clock of destiny is ticking out.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I will not watch the Trump inauguration later this week, not even out of morbid curiosity, but I do wonder how many times during his address Trump will refer to himself, his greatness, his intelligence, his manliness, etc. How many times will Trump bring up his ridiculous promise to make America great again? Will he talk about his Wall along our southern border? Will he threaten China? Who knows? As Chris Hedges said in a recent interview, Trump is protean, malleable, lacking in core convictions; all Trump understands is the power that money confers.

Every year on this day I think about Martin Luther King’s short life and the treasure trove of writings and speeches he left us; the words are as relevant today as they ever were. The arguments King made against militarism, racism and poverty still resonate, because America abounds in all those evils. The progress earned in the 1950’s and 1960’s with sweat and blood and broken bones has been systematically eroded by the owners of the corporate state and their political enablers. Income inequality is off the charts, civil liberties dangle by a slim thread, and for almost two decades this misguided nation has been engaged in continuous warfare. We’ve made the abnormal, normal.

King recognized class warfare when he saw it. Americans are conditioned by propaganda to deny the existence of class, but there’s no denying that the last 40 years have been a full on assault by the wealthy and well-to-do against the poor and working class; as a result, a staggering amount of wealth has flowed from the bottom and middle to the top. Ordinary Americans, most invisible and ignored and without voice in the halls of power, are understandably angry at the decline in their prospects. Donald Trump rode that anger, used it to manipulate voters into thinking he was their savior.  

Yes, Dr. King, the hour is late and the clock is winding down. In less than a week a fatally flawed man will become president and usher in a frightening era of kleptocracy. Trump will start his reign of terror with a dismal approval rating. Not that this matters because Trump simply ignores truths he doesn’t like. He’ll claim, “No president has ever been as popular as me. People are saying I’m very, very popular,” and the corporate media will report it without challenge. There is no counterweight to balance Trump’s madness or that of the stooges he is bringing with him.

I’m going to read some of Dr. King’s words today, find solace in the thoughts of a man who was taken from his country way before his time.

Parliament of Thieves

“Unlimited power in the hands of limited people always leads to cruelty.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

We can see the outline of how the next four years are going to play. Someone will criticize Trump and thin-skinned, small-hands Donald will take to Twitter to attack them, and in doing so he will either distort the truth, ignore the truth or tell an outright lie. Trump’s tweet will drive coverage by the lapdog corporate media.

Actors and artists are also citizens, and some actors and artists are well informed, engaged, and eloquent: George Clooney, Mark Ruffalo, Rosario Dawson, Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep come to mind. Trump took aim at Streep over remarks she made at the Golden Globe awards about Trump’s mocking of a reporter who suffers from a physical disability. Naturally, Trump denied that he ever mocked the reporter, even though video tape evidence of him doing just that exists. Here we step into Trump’s Orwellian world, where up is down, black is white, war is peace, ignorance is knowledge, and The Donald is infallible.

Trump called Streep “overrated.” Let’s correct the record. Streep has been nominated for Academy Awards nineteen times, with fifteen of those nominations for Best Actress, an unparalleled feat. Streep has won three Oscars and eight Golden Globe awards. Streep is the Michael Jordan of Hollywood. Donald Trump is an idiot.

January 20 is the day America plunges into the abyss. Yeah, when Trump raises his tiny hand and swears to uphold the Constitution, a document he’s hardly familiar with and has little respect for, it’s over the edge and into the black. And I’m only going to say this once: if Big Bad Vladimir Putin somehow -- and I think this is a shibboleth concocted by the CIA or the NSA -- tipped the election to Trump, then it’s just payback for the many elections the United States has disrupted in countries from Chile to Iran. The US dollar is still the world’s reserve currency, and the US has the largest, most sophisticated military ever assembled, but we also lead the world -- by a wide margin -- in pure hypocrisy. We subvert democratic outcomes in sovereign nations all the time; we spy on allies and enemies alike; we prop up dictators and murderers when it suits our purpose; we ignore national borders; we kidnap and torture; and we lie, distort, and dissemble.  

But how we hate it when the Lazy Susan spins and we are on the receiving end of dirty political tricks! The outrage that surges through our body politic! We forget our own crimes, the misery we have caused, the hordes of people we have killed; our self-righteousness and indignation caroms off the charts.

The American republic is still an experiment that can fail; progress is never guaranteed, a concept we will learn over the next four terrible years, as Trump and his band of thieves dismantle and dismember what remains of the New Deal and Great Society. Forget ethics, forget the rule of law, forget moderation, forget compassion, forget justice.

Welcome to the Parliament of Thieves.

Coping Strategies

-I imagine Paul Ryan sitting in his study in his underwear late at night, furiously jerking himself off while reading The Fountainhead.

-How often does it come to pass that those who never served in the military are quick to send others to fight our corporate wars in far flung corners of the empire? The same people are usually among the loudest and most energetic cheerleaders for the military.

-Truth will be a first casualty of the incoming Trump regime. Lie big, lie often, will be the mantra -- in fact, it already is -- as Trump and his vice president claim a mandate to unleash the wolves on the American commons. It’s important that we remember that Trump and Pence lost the popular vote by a solid margin, and their “victory” in the un-democratic Electoral College was modest by historical measures.

-Repeat 5X every day: Trump has no mandate.

-That he can’t recruit any A-list entertainers to perform at his inauguration party must be killing Trump. Maybe he can order the Marine Corps band to play a medley of patriotic tunes, some background music appropriate for a wannabe dictator, or he might enlist Ted Nugent to wail Cat Scratch Fever over and over.

-I know this for sure: Barack Obama failed and fucked us. Don’t be fooled by the encomiums to how wonderful the Obama years have been.

-Why are Republicans so hellbent and crazed about repealing the Affordable Care Act? The entire scheme was hatched in one of their conservative think tanks, and gives the private insurance industry guaranteed customers and profits. The title of the act itself is something of a joke because health care in America is hardly affordable, even when one is insured.

-The poor will always be made to pay for the errors of the rich.

-Paul Ryan finishes jerking off, lays The Fountainhead down, thinks about privatizing Social Security and Medicare, and immediately becomes erect again.

-Trump will govern by Tweet. Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln -- literate men who revered language -- will convulse in their graves.

-Neoliberalism retarded America’s soul. We are a crass, callous, and cruel nation now.  

-The corporate media will continue to regale viewers with stories of amazing rescues, cute pets, the latest celebrity divorce, a 60 car pile-up on a frozen stretch of Interstate 95, or freak weather “events,” (none of them the result of climate change).

-America, we are truly screwed, unless we take a page from the French and flood the streets, until we learn to put the fear of the mob in the oligarchs. Turn the computer and the TV off, set your phone down, take the earphones from your ears, get mad, become outraged at the greedy bastards who stole your future, shackled your kids with debt, bankrupted your parents, poisoned the water in your city or town, or sent your son or daughter to die in Afghanistan or Iraq.

-We are better than our diseased political system, better than our corrupt political leaders, better than avaricious CEO’s and hedge fund bosses, better than the talking heads who try to make us afraid.

-Time to stand up, time to be counted, time to say, No More.