Beware a Fanatical Minority

 “Where are we heading? How do we begin to dream ourselves out of this dark place of death and destruction?” Robin D.G. Kelley

Fire, flood, pestilence and Trump, the wrath of a vengeful god aimed at his wayward and unruly children or simply the consequences of human stupidity and fear? 

Footsteps echo in the blue-black night. Friend or foe? Is it a white kid not even old enough to cast a vote, armed with an assault rifle, on the hunt for people of a darker skin tone? Do the footsteps belong to men in blue uniforms, also armed and dangerous? Seven police bullets in the back of another African-American man, Jacob Blake. It’s still open season on black bodies, as if the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd never happened. In some American cities, the police refuse to pause and step back, afraid that giving an inch will be seen as surrender. 

In his excellent book, The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War, historian Andrew Delbanco writes, “But if slavery was really a benign institution furnishing care for a simple people, why were the simpletons running away? It was a maddening question, and to read the attempts of antebellum southerners to answer it is to be reminded of the infinite human capacity for self-deception.”

In our own time a solid minority of Americans engage in self-deception. How else to explain the stubborn support for the Grifter-in-Chief, Donald J. Trump? Forty percent of the American electorate is simply too far gone, too far down the rabbit hole, unreachable by facts, logic, science, or common sense. Trump and his most loyal supporters live in a parallel universe unrecognizable to the rest of us; they see danger around every corner, in the form of marching, chanting black people, immigrants, angry women, liberals, and Democrats who, they believe, garnish their kale salads with the flesh of aborted babies. Trump’s hold on this forty percent is baffling. I can’t understand what they see in Trump after four years of lies, corruption, incoherence, and incompetence. How has Trump improved their lives? Has he delivered jobs, lower taxes, health care? 

But perhaps none of that matters to Trump supporters. Perhaps all they care about is airing their grievances against those they perceive as threats to their place on the social hierarchy. They back Trump because he says out loud what they think. Trump shares their victimhood, that’s the real bond between them. Trump paints himself as the white knight who single-handedly holds a deadly Deep State cabal at bay. Trump’s people lay their bag of woe at the doorstep of immigrants who take and take and take from hard-working real Americans, giving nothing in return; or black people advantaged by Affirmative Action; or gays, lesbians and transgender people; or snooty liberals from Hollywood and New York City, the elite. 

The Republican National Convention, which I refuse to torture my brain by watching, is a celebration of Donald J. Trump’s domination of the GOP. The party is so devoid of ideas that it offers no platform of its aims and objectives -- the platform is whatever Dear Leader says it is, whatever Dear Leader wants in the moment, whatever Dear Leader thinks his base wants to hear, no matter how batshit crazy or divorced from reality. If Dear Leader wins the election he will deem it free and fair; if Dear Leader loses he will declare it rigged, fraudulent, stolen by the radical Democrats. 

 

America gnaws at its own flesh, like a coyote with its leg caught in a steel trap. Look at what has become of the party of Abraham Lincoln. It’s devolving before our eyes, from Eisenhower to Reagan to the Tea Party and the Freedom Caucus to QAnon. Lincoln, who danced on a political tightrope to hold the Union together, compromising when justified in the service of the greater good, wouldn’t recognize Trump’s GOP. Neither would Eisenhower. Even Barry Goldwater would say, “Where the fuck is my party?” 

In four years America has slipped from a nation most of the world admired to an object of derision and pity. The world watches aghast as Donald J. Trump stands before the country and rambles incoherently about light bulbs and dishwashers, while more than 100,000 (according to the Trump Death Clock) Americans have perished due to Trump’s bungling of the Coronavirus pandemic. That fact alone should doom Trump, but I fear we have become numb.

It comes down to the voters, and perhaps critically to eligible voters who have never before bothered to exercise their franchise. Americans who occupy the real world, not Trump’s Fantasy Island, have to turn out with the fervor of a long oppressed people who are about to vote for the very first time. 

I heard the author Mike Lofgren on Background Briefing. He said something that startled me: “A fanatical minority can take over a country.” 

If you’re eligible, you cannot sit this one out. Register, and vote. 

The Cartoon Kingpin

 “The cohort aged between thirty and forty was shocked into a strangely hapless political sentience by the September 11 attacks and the fraudulent war of aggression fought by the Republican administration against Iraq. Even as this cohort recognizes the immense civic and representational value of Barack Obama’s presidency, it has little experience of the Democratic Party implementing a Democratic agenda.” Joseph O’Neill, New York Review of Books

I caught short takes of the Democratic Party’s virtual convention -- clips of Michelle Obama’s speech, Kamala Harris’s acceptance, Barack’s indictment of Trump -- and large parts of Biden’s speech. The bar has fallen so far in the Age of Trump that Biden was given high marks for getting through his speech without committing any major gaffes. When Biden said, at the close of his speech, “May God protect our troops” I was reminded of the role he has played for nearly twenty years at the top echelons of our government, a time when our country has been continuously engaged in armed conflict with someone, somewhere on the planet; a time when our government stalled, deferred and ignored the accelerating climate crisis; a time when our capitalist-centered government legislated massive transfers of wealth from the many to the few.  

Biden closed with that for many reasons -- to reassure people that he won’t become soft on national security or that he has any intention of seriously challenging the military-intelligence-surveillance complex -- but also because ours is a country trapped and stunted by our addiction to war. 

The power brokers in the Democratic Party still refuse to acknowledge that the future lies on the left, not the right. Until Bill and Hillary Clinton are dead and buried, they will be rolled out every four years to dispense wisdom and remind us of the glory years. Barack and Michelle will play similar roles, defending the center-right and assisting in silencing, or dismissing, voices of people who have a different vision for the party, like AOC and Ilhan Omar. The old guard never relinquishes power without a struggle. Not Pelosi. Not McConnell. 

A  few questions rolled around my brain this week, such as, will the GOP go the way of the Whigs? How does the country learn from the colossal failure, ineptitude and corruption of Donald J. Trump and the criminal hordes who surround him? Why did the Democrats feel it necessary to give Michael Bloomberg a place in their virtual convention? 

Will the indictment of Steve Bannon for fraud end with his long overdue comeuppance? Doubtful. But it was somehow reassuring to see Bannon under arrest, and I hope to see similar scenes repeated with William Barr, Jared Kushner, Ivanka, Mike Pompeo, and the cartoon kingpin himself, Donald J. Trump.

Has it ever been more clear that the stock market and the real economy have almost nothing in common? 

Consider this amazing feat: the intellectually and morally bankrupt GOP has succeeded in repudiating both Lincoln and Reagan. 

Last I checked more than 500 wildfires were burning in California, multiple small blazes, and three or four big ones that are burning thousands of acres, destroying homes, and forcing residents to flee. Here in Santa Barbara it has been oppressively hot for the past few days, 90 degrees as I write this, and the sky is hazy from fires burning to the north and southeast. I can’t help but think we’re witnessing a glimpse of our future, an endless series of climate calamities. 

The Champions League final between Bayern Munich and Paris St. Germain should be epic. Bayern is a ruthless and relentless bunch, a steamroller of a side, while PSG relies on the creativity and flamboyance of Mbappe and Neymar. I think PSG can trouble Bayern, but I think the German club will lift the trophy. 

Israel is bombing Gaza again. The world yawns, as usual. How much of the equipment and ordnance landing on Gaza was made in America or funded by American taxpayers in the form of military aid? Israel can only get away with its war against the Palestinians because it enjoys the unequivocal support of the United States. 

 

The Isolation/Rebellion Diaries No. 13

 “Inverting the words and sentiments of Abraham Lincoln, this dark troll of a man celebrates malice for all, and charity for none.” Wade Davis on Donald Trump, Rolling Stone

Biden selects Kamala Harris as his running mate. Old Joe made the safe choice. In this moment Harris casts a longer shadow than the other contenders for the job because of her recent experience and exposure in a national campaign, and the high profile posts she held in California. Harris is smart, quick on her feet, telegenic, the daughter of immigrants, and, of course, a woman of color. That’s a lot of boxes checked. There are things to like about Kamala Harris, but if you’re a Progressive she’s still a disappointment based on her criminal justice record as the District Attorney in San Francisco and Attorney General of California. Idealism and realism, pick your poison. If I thought a headless mannequin could beat Trump, I’d vote for the mannequin in a heartbeat. 

Biden-Harris v. Trump-Pence. In a sane country this is no contest, like Bayern Munich shredding Barcelona 8-2 in the Champions League quarter finals. A hiding, a pasting, an annihilation and humiliation. Barcelona bruised and bloodied and dazed, the great Messi with his head down, not just beaten, defeated. That’s what Donald Trump deserves for the hell he’s inflicted on this country and its imperfect institutions. But not just Trump needs to go down, the GOP needs a hard reckoning for allowing themselves -- and in some cases eagerly volunteering -- to be bullied, humiliated and punked by Donald J. Trump. The moral cowardice in that ideologically stunted party is staggering. 

Biden and Harris make a decent tough on crime duo, but is that old Democratic Party formula what’s needed in this moment? The squishy middle ground when it’s so clear that much bolder initiatives are desperately needed? Slow, incremental change will not meet the climate, economic, and social justice challenges we can no longer afford to kick down the road. We’re like the Barcelona back line -- too exposed and easy to exploit. 

If I thought a headless mannequin could beat Trump, I’d vote for the mannequin in a heartbeat. 

The election should be a cakewalk, but this is America on the downslope of empire, a crazed fool roams around the Oval Office in search of conspiracy theories. America is no stranger to electoral mischief, as many of us witnessed in 2000, when a conservative Supreme Court delivered the country into the hands of George W. Bush. In 2016, perhaps with a boost from Russia, America handed its heart to Donald J. Trump, and some people, myself included, foresaw a shitshow of epic proportions. I saw Trump as a fraud the minute he came down the escalator, and cannot believe any person of sound mind ever expected anything from Trump other than what he has wrought; transgressions stretching far longer than Abraham Lincoln was tall. Honest Abe. Dishonest Don. But that’s my point. Trump has always been a con man, a tax cheat, a draft dodger, a philanderer, a business failure, a liar, a fabulist, and, of course, always, and above all, a showman selling magic beans, all of which seemed obvious to me and why I expected colossal incompetence and corruption. In this regard Trump has delivered. I didn’t predict a pandemic, but every administration is tested in some way, challenged by some crisis. Bush had 9/11, Obama the economic crash, and Donald J. Trump and Co. got the Covid-19 pandemic. The rest will live in infamy. 

Trump is reeling all over the political map now, firing on his remaining cylinders, stoking racial fears in the Leave It to Beaver suburbs, repeating as fact scurrilous lies about Kamala Harris’ birthright citizenship, promising vaccines and cures for the coronavirus, magic money to keep the Social Security System solvent, and peace in the Middle East. The Trump campaign, but more importantly Trump himself, knows he has fried his own goose, and the only path to reelection is through voter suppression, depressing turnout, and seizing control of what in this pandemic year is the backbone of our electoral system: the US Postal Service. For his own political survival, Trump is willing to neuter an institution that has existed since the beginning of our republic. 

Because Trump is a crude and stupid man, he wields power like a sledgehammer, not a scalpel.  Imitating the autocrats he holds in such esteem -- Russia’s Putin and Turkey’s Erdogan --  Trump forces key arms of government to work in the  interests of his political agenda, not that of the people. For proof look no further than the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Now the USPS, in broad daylight, is being corrupted for Trump’s benefit. What American institution will be next? 

After almost four years in office, Trump still has zero understanding of the legislative process, and refuses to learn. He can’t tell the difference between a bill introduced in Congress and one of his empty Executive Orders. Trump wants to rule by decree. When he signed four mostly useless EO’s last week at one of his golf clubs, I think Trump believed he was solving the economic crisis we are in. The man dwells in his own universe.

The hard reality is that even if the Biden-Harris ticket prevails in November, the road ahead will be perilous, especially between November and January 20th. The pandemic will almost certainly still be with us, the economy might be worse, and the white people who cling to dreams of past glory and supremacy will be angrier than ever. Trump and Co. will be busy stuffing suitcases with files and money, issuing pardons, stealing silverware. One last orgy before charges are filed. Our best hope is to stop the bleeding, stabilize the nation, and then get to work on the massive problems we face, including climate change. As Bill McKibben writes in the New York Review of Books, “The upheaval that has been caused by Covid-19 is also very much a harbinger of global warming.” Biden must be pushed to address climate change in a serious, systematic way. Old Joe isn’t the man to take on the entrenched corporate power that owns our country...how can he when he actively helped Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama turn the American economy into a rigged game? 

That’s a downer, but so is thinking about the extent to which unfettered corporate consolidation has perverted our country. This is a subject rarely explored on corporate media, for obvious reasons, but it’s finally getting some attention (thinkers like Noam Chomsky and Chris Hedges have warned of concentrated corporate power for more than a decade) from the mainstream. Thom Hartmann is out with a new book about monopolies, as is David Dayen, author of Monopolized. When every aspect of our lives, from health insurance to air travel to internet service to banking to our food supply, is controlled by a handful of corporations operating a functional monopoly, we cannot begin to address climate change, income inequality, systemic racism, housing or health care. No corporation should ever be allowed to become “too big to fail.” Concentrated economic power doesn’t happen without political power. It’s time to reject Robert Bork’s perverse interpretation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Bork got it all wrong. It’s not about lower consumer prices for laundry detergent, it’s all about power. 

As Bill McKibben writes in the New York Review of Books, “The upheaval that has been caused by Covid-19 is also very much a harbinger of global warming.”

After yesterday’s horrific defeat to Bayern Munich, heads are sure to roll at the Nou Camp. Many people will find themselves out of a job. Top level club football is a hard gig. When giants like Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventas fall short in the Champions League, managers get sacked and players get sold or sent out on loan. Bayern Munich are a relentless team, a high-pressing, quick, physical and technically-gifted group. I lost track of how many times Bayern won the ball in Barcelona’s half, and even with a four goal cushion, Bayern midfielder Thomas Muller was chasing balls down like the match was in the balance. Relentless and ruthless. I don’t feel so bad about my beloved Chelsea’s 7-1 defeat to Bayern on aggregate. 

The Isolation/Rebellion Diaries No. 12

“Of course politicians have been pretty much the same since the beginning of history, and part of the game is creating illusion.” Gore Vidal

Mornings in Santa Barbara are foggy and cool and gray, but the fog gives way to sunshine before noon, and by mid-afternoon it’s warm. On our daily walk down State Street my colleague and I see tourists dining outside, on wooden platforms, surrounded by potted plants, strung with lights, shaded by market umbrellas.  Outside the Palace Grill on Cota Street, a carpenter builds an outdoor dining platform with iron railings. Not only fancy, permanent looking. 

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The November election will be chaotic and contested. As I said months ago, when he loses, Trump will not go quietly. He will scorch the earth in his wake. 

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Jonathan Swan of Axios is being hailed as the second coming of Edward R. Murrow for pressing Donald Trump during a one-on-one interview at the White House. Swan appears intrepid because most reporters from our corporate-backed media giants can’t ask Trump hard questions for fear of being ostracized or losing their access. For nearly four long years, corporate reporters let Trump roll them with BS claims, word salads, nonsense statements and outright falsehoods. Until recently, when the Covid-19 pandemic made Trump’s incompetence glaringly obvious, few reporters pushed back with any gusto. I don’t have an opinion about Jonathan Swan and Axios one way or another; Swan did what any journalist worthy of the name must do, and in doing so, demonstrated to his colleagues how easily Trump can be knocked off balance. Good job, but not worthy of Murrow status. 

The only journalist I’d like to see one-on-one with Trump is Mehdi Hasan of the Intercept. Hasan is as tenacious as he is intelligent, he knows political BS when he hears it, and he doesn’t let nonsensical statements stand unchallenged. Put Mehdi and Trump in a room and in about three minutes Trump would piss his Depends. 

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Trump now claims that voting by mail is wonderful in Florida, but terrible in Nevada. The Trump campaign has sued the state of Nevada to stop voting by mail. 

Quiz question: what’s the difference between an absentee ballot and a mail-in ballot?

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Trump said the November election will be an embarrassment to the United States. How is that possible? Donald Trump is our president, and nothing is more embarrassing than that. 

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Ever the top used car salesman in a one dealership town, Trump insists, at every opportunity, that his administration has done a great job containing the pandemic. World champion in testing. The virus is going away. Hydroxychlroquine works! The very powerful travel ban against China. The economy is roaring back! Like quintessential marks, Trump’s followers wait for the miracle that never arrives while he keeps moving the target.  

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Donald Trump, draft dodger, tax cheat, adulterer, racist, white supremacist, and textbook example of a narcissistic sociopath, snubbed his nose at John Lewis, refusing to view Lewis’s body as it lay in state, skipping the funeral at which three former presidents spoke, then, during the interview with Jonathan Swan, refusing to grant Lewis his due, unable even to guess at Lewis’s place in American history. Trump claimed he couldn’t remember meeting John Lewis. The wounded little boy inside Trump was miffed because Lewis didn’t attend Trump’s inauguration, nor did Lewis attend one of Trump’s magnificent State of the Union addresses. Mr. Lewis used his time on earth wisely; he didn’t waste it on insignificant men. 

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Do black Americans know that Donald Trump has done more for them than any president since Abraham Lincoln? 

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Lebanon, long suffering Lebanon, pawn in the geopolitical game the big powers and Israel play with and against one another. Target of aerial bombardment with American ordnance. Less a country than a place adrift. Government corrupt, dysfunctional, with no capacity to govern, regulate or adjudicate anything. A place dependent on imported food and its main port totally destroyed. How many tons of grain were destroyed in the explosion? The hospitals weren’t great to begin with and are quickly overwhelmed with casualties. The blast was felt for miles. The sky raining shards of glass and debris. Lebanon, landing spot for thousands of Syrian war refugees. Lebanon, casualty of war from without and within. The death toll will no doubt grow as the days pass and the humanitarian crisis intensifies. Think of the human needs and the difficulty in meeting them: food, clean water, working sewage systems to prevent outbreaks of disease, electricity, shelter for thousands of human beings, medical care. How will people cope? Once again, Lebanon is faced with the daunting challenge of rebuilding. 

Robert Fisk, the author and journalist who lives in Beirut, wrote the following for the Independent (UK): “We all know the context, of course, the all-important “background” without which no suffering is complete: a bankrupt country which has been owned for generations by venal old families, crushed by its neighbours, the rich enslaving the poor, its society maintained by the very sectarianism which is destroying it.”