Epilogue—The enemy will be Us: Today, we complete our second week of award-winning election post-mortem reports.
We've added a week of "Losers" reports to our earlier "Teabagged" series. Next week, we'll offer a series which bears this working title:
"Comeyed (again)."
We're inclined to agree with Kevin Drum. We think James B. Comey's intrusion on the White House campaign may well have swung its outcome. For that reason, it's important to see how we fiery liberals dealt with the actions of this powerful insider god.
More specifically, it's important to see how our corporate liberal "journalists" dealt with the god's behavior. We'll pursue such questions as these:
How did they respond to Comey's original actions in early July? How did they respond to Fred Kaplan's instant challenge to Comey's potent claims?
What did they do when Candidate Clinton told Matt Lauer that she behaved exactly as she should have with respect to her emails? Also this:
To what extent did they tie Comey's remarkable conduct, which they surely must have challenged, to the Comeys who came before him?
Duh! James B. Comey was hardly the first high-ranking Republican to intrude on a modern White House campaign. Before Comey, we had Louis Freeh and Robert Conrad, conducting their high-minded probe of Candidate Gore back in Campaign 2000.
Before Freeh and Conrad, we had the move from Robert Fiske to the high-minded Judge Starr of the Baylor football program. This led to all those high-minded probes of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
When we got Comeyed this summer and fall, we utterly brilliant, super-smart liberals were in fact getting Comeyed again! How dogged were our multimillionaire corporate stars at handling this decades-old theme?
We'll focus on "our own Cantinflas" as we review this topic. How did we get to be teabagged losers? In part, by tolerating Hannityesque, orange-shoed TV star gong-shows like hers!
(We were "fastened to a dying animal," exactly as Yeats said!)
These new reports will begin on Monday. For today, let's finish our current series, skillfully adding an epilogue to Paul Krugman's new column.
In his new column, Krugman predicts the future. Quite reasonably, he predicts that roughly five million white working-class Trump supporters will lose their Obamacare-based health insurance under President Trump.
He further predicts that Trump won't be able to "bring back the manufacturing jobs that have been lost over the past few decades. Those jobs were lost mainly to technological change, not imports, and they aren’t coming back."
Beyond that, "there will be nothing to offset the harm workers suffer when Republicans rip up the safety net," Krugman sensibly says.
As journalists proved all year, predicting the future is hard. That said, Krugman's predictions are perfectly reasonable.
So is the further prediction shown below. In this passage, Krugman predicts what will happen when Trump's various campaign promises start to collapse:
KRUGMAN (12/2/16): Will there be a political backlash, a surge of buyer’s remorse? Maybe. Certainly Democrats will be well advised to hammer Mr. Trump’s betrayal of the working class nonstop. But we do need to consider the tactics that he will use to obscure the scope of his betrayal [of the white working class].This was not a coincidence? We don't know how Krugman knows that.
[...]
[I]f and when the reality that workers are losing ground starts to sink in, I worry that the Trumpists will do what authoritarian governments often do to change the subject away from poor performance: go find an enemy.
Remember what I said about Trump Twitter. Even as he took a big step toward taking health insurance away from millions, Mr. Trump started ranting about taking citizenship away from flag-burners. This was not a coincidence.
That said, will Trump "go find an enemy" if his promises start to collapse? It's entirely possible, but his designated enemy won't have to be flag-burners.
The enemy could simply be Us. Here's what will maybe happen:
Trump will say that Obamacare had to be repealed because it was imploding. In response to that, we'll say two things:
We'll say his claims about health care are wrong. We'll also say that his supporters only believe his claims because they're such racists and bigots.
We simply love that second play. Increasingly, it seems to be the only play we know; we rarely leave home without it. But because we'll make that second statement, his supporters won't even consider listening to us when we make the first.
We've been losing this way for a very long time. This pattern is deeply engrained in our broken political culture.
We "liberals" seem to love losing this way. We seem to love our sweeping claims more than any possible wins, more than life itself.
We can't seem to see this about ourselves. But until we decide to improve our game, it will remain who We are.
New York Daily News on our own Cantinflas: A self-described fan salutes a major star.
Repeating what I wrote before the election: The worst thing Comey did to the Democrats was to NOT prosecute Hillary. Had he charged her, she would have been replaced by a more electible candidate, and the Democrats would have won the Presidential election. E.g., Biden-Warren would have crushed Trump.
ReplyDeleteAre you sad that you don't live in Indiana, where you could have once again chanted "Lock her up" with the adoring volk, Heil Trump?
DeleteWe don't trump up charges to prosecute our political opponents in this country. Maybe after Trump's been in office that will change.
David, Comey doesn't have the authority to prosecute. That's up to the DOJ.
Delete11:54 -- I'm afraid we've now established the principle that high-ranking pols are treated better than the rest of us. Ford pardoned Nixon for the good of the country. Maybe it was good to put the impeachment behind us, but it set a bad precedent. Bill Clinton admitted perjury, but received virtually no punishment for it. (He agreed to temporary suspension of his law license, which he wasn't going to use.
Deletei think a lower level person who did what Hillary did would have been prosecuted. The many laws regarding sensitive material can make any type of mishandling a crime. But, I never expected her to be charged. The precedent unfortunately now protects Trump. He can violate criminal laws, secure in the knowledge that he'll escape punishment.
12:10 you are right. I wonder what would have happened if Comey had recommended prosecution. What would the Justice Dept. have done?
Plenty of lower level people did what Hillary did and were not prosecuted for it.
DeleteTrump is not protected by Hillary's situation. Unfortunately, he has already committed several crimes for which he was never charged, including sexual assault. He is dealing with over 1000 FEC violations and 75 lawsuits against him. He has probably committed violations of tax law through his foundation and perhaps in terms of tax reporting as well. None of this has resulted in punishment beyond fines. He is protected by his billionaire status and his attorneys.
It isn't right that the little guy must suffer more than someone like Trump but it isn't Hillary's fault that this situation exists.
The head of the Justice Dept clearly stated that she would follow Comey's recommendation. Why do you doubt her word? Maybe because Trump lies all the time, so you expect everyone else to?
Hello, I am Theresa Williams After being in relationship with Anderson for years, he broke up with me, I did everything possible to bring him back but all was in vain, I wanted him back so much because of the love I have for him, I begged him with everything, I made promises but he refused. I explained my problem to my friend and she suggested that I should rather contact a spell caster that could help me cast a spell to bring him back but I am the type that never believed in spell, I had no choice than to try it, I mailed the spell caster, and he told me there was no problem that everything will be okay before three days, that my ex will return to me before three days, he cast the spell and surprisingly in the second day, it was around 4pm. My ex called me, I was so surprised, I answered the call and all he said was that he was so sorry for everything that happened that he wanted me to return to him, that he loves me so much. I was so happy and went to him that was how we started living together happily again. Since then, I have made promise that anybody I know that have a relationship problem, I would be of help to such person by referring him or her to the only real and powerful spell caster who helped me with my own problem. email: drogunduspellcaster@gmail.com you can email him if you need his assistance in your relationship or any other Case.
Delete1) Love Spells
2) Lost Love Spells
3) Divorce Spells
4) Marriage Spells
5) Binding Spell.
6) Breakup Spells
7) Banish a past Lover
8.) You want to be promoted in your office/ Lottery spell
9) want to satisfy your lover
Contact this great man if you are having any problem for a lasting solution
through drogunduspellcaster@gmail.com
There was a time when neither liberals nor conservatives paid much attention to the needs or complaints of those bearing the brunt of racism and bigotry. Did conservatives listen to liberals during that Golden Age before name-calling? I was alive then and do not recall that they did.
ReplyDeleteIn order for something to be causal, as Somerby claims name-calling has caused conservative deafness, it must precede in time that which it is supposed to have caused. But the name-calling is more recent than the deafness. That suggests it cannot have caused it.
What they has caused conservative deafness, their obliviousness to facts and realities observed by liberals, their disregard for facts and truth? I believe conservatives have discovered that they won't make progress toward their political goals by agreeing with liberals, about anything. I doubt they care whether there is bipartisan progress on important issues, because they are no longer concerned about any issues, only about winning. Reality gets the last laugh because it never changes to accommodate warped thinking.
If Somerby's hypothesis were correct, and people did stop listening after being repeatedly insulted, he would have lost all readers at this blog. That may be his goal.
We are losers because The Others cheat and we don't play as dirty as they do. We still care about something besides winning -- we care about being right. Now Somerby wants to blame us for that, and the moral virtue that goes with it. I think he is taking a path that leads to moral nihilism on both sides. Woe to us all if we follow it.
Not insulting the Other is simply a tactic. You can be absolutely correct on all the issues, but you don't need to insult everyone around you that has not yet come to the same conclusion as you. Trump has demonstrated that he can get enough votes to win. We might have been able to convince a few of the racists who voted for Trump to vote for Hillary by pointing out the mess Trump was going to make of the economy. Instead, our strategy was to call a racist a racist, and we lost. There are certainly many (many) factors that came into play in the election, but our name-calling strategy certainly did not help. What did it gain?
Delete“We are losers because The Others cheat and we don't play as dirty as they do. We still care about something besides winning -- we care about being right. Now Somerby wants to blame us for that, and the moral virtue that goes with it.”
DeleteNah. Surely you understand by now that the “us” Bob refers to is the MSM liberal media (such as it exists), and that what he means is that “they” have failed us. There are many ways in which “we” could have responded to the various lies told by “the other side," but "we" chose not to.
And look – even Hillary Clinton used the term “deplorables” to describe Trump voters. Whether or not some of them are is completely beside the point: You don’t win minds by insulting people. Somehow, “we” haven’t figured that out.
To be fair to Hillary, she didn't mean for the public to learn that she despises people who don't agree with her politics.
DeleteTrump voters view your perspective as immoral, stupid, and bigoted. Also dangerous because of your ignorance. We think you play dirtier, and our arguments are stronger than yours.
DeleteHillary spent far more time talking about policies and programs than she did name-calling. The same is not true of Trump. She resorted to more name-calling after Comey's 2nd announcement because she was sinking in the polls and her numbers went up when she did the name-calling. It is hard to argue that the name-calling hurt her when the polls showed otherwise.
DeleteYou can argue that the polls weren't correct but they did predict the popular vote accurately. They didn't predict the electoral college result, largely because people who said they supported her didn't actually go vote.
"Hillary spent far more time talking about policies and programs than she did name-calling."
DeleteThe endless stream of TV ads don't bear this out. Quite the contrary.
"You can argue that the polls weren't correct but they did predict the popular vote accurately."
Not by state they didn't.
To me Somerby is saying we need to learn how to talk to those people so we do not end up in a shouting match. I for one have not figured this out.
ReplyDeleteAs far as a diversion for the dear leader to consolidate support... I have nightmares of 10 or 20 Trump properties being attacked by ISIS or whoever, and we are off to the races a la Bush. He and Mad Dog will bomb the shit out of them. Bigly. And the people will love it.
Those who study conflict resolution differentiate between situations involving misunderstandings that can be improved by better communication and those involving irreconcilable differences, in which the issues are being accurately perceived but a real and intransigent difference of opinion or values exists.
DeleteI think we will never resolve the differences between conservatives and liberals by talking about them. The differences are real, value-based and not likely to change with more or better talking. We do not have the same interests as conservatives.
Conservatives are cheating because they correctly perceive that they are losing because they have fewer supporters, fewer people who share their interests. They cannot win on the numbers so they put up candidates that lie to voters, that suppress the vote and try to rig it, and that appeal to emotion instead of issues. They can only win by being corrupt, so that's what they do. It doesn't matter whether we call them names or not, but it does matter whether we fight these tactics. That is why we lost -- we were blindsided by their lack of restraint.
Mart. Trump will wait until there is a groundswell against him, then he will do his Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Remember what Herman Goering said from his jail cell in Nuremberg?
Delete“I think we will never resolve the differences between conservatives and liberals by talking about them. The differences are real, value-based and not likely to change with more or better talking.”
DeleteFor some reason, the ball keeps bouncing into different courts.
Bob’s mission is to call out main-stream media malfeasance. He does it all the time, and he does it well. Amongst other things, he points out the fact that common understanding is shaped by that media.
Because the “news” media held out for mass consumption is dumbed-down, and compromised in so many ways, the consumers of that product are likely to be dumbed-down as well. And they are. TV seems to be the main source of mainstream political thinking for the proletariat, but even long-established printed media are holding out pabulum in many cases – the list is endless in fact, as Bob has shown.
How do you think we got Trump?
Differences can only be resolved if conversation is engaged by an engaged citizenry. There are many reasons people aren’t politically engaged, but a large onus falls on our those who, journalistically, should be helping to inform us on important issues.
You can find alternatives if you have a computer and a fast modem, but most people content themselves with the crap Bob excoriates all the time.
Keep your eye on the ball, and stop whining about how it’s impossible to talk to conservatives. That’s not what this conversation is about.
If news that more emails were being examined, a fact, swung the election the blame still lies with Hillary Clinton. Blaming a loss on the release of FACTS is the worst excuse any loser can offer.
ReplyDeleteHillary is responsible for WikiLeaks, for Huma Abedin's husband and marriage, for Comey's disregard for ethics? I disagree.
DeleteIf you think she was responsible for emailing people, please explain how she could have done her job without email. Note also THE FACT that these additional emails were sent to her, not by her, and were duplicates of previously examined emails. How was that Hillary's fault?
It was Hillary's fault for deleting 30,000 emails, placing her under scrutiny.
DeleteAnon 113,
DeleteYeah, it's so sad about Wikileaks and Comey and Huma. And after Hillary fought so hard against mass surveillance and stood up for Snowden. Reminds me of how Nancy Reagan helped all those people with AIDS.
"Duh! James B. Comey was hardly the first high-ranking Republican to intrude on a modern White House campaign."
ReplyDeleteSurely, TDH should be describing Comey as a Democratic Party appointee. Did Obama not hand-pick Comey from his hedge fund perch? (At a hedge fund renowned for crazy levels of spying on its own employees.) Did Clinton protest this hire?
How does Clinton feel about other people's emails being scrutinized? I think she's ok with it. I don't recall HRC having a problem with FBI tactics in other cases--is this really the only time she thinks the FBI may have acted inappropriately?
In case any forgot why Krugman lost votes for Clinton every time he wrote, there's this:
ReplyDelete"And just in case you’re wondering, no, Mr. Trump can’t bring back the manufacturing jobs that have been lost over the past few decades. Those jobs were lost mainly to technological change, not imports, and they aren’t coming back."
In short, here's the Clinton plan for you losers: Your job is gone, deal with it. The trade deficit, for reasons I won't bother to say, just isn't a big deal. Get over it.
Shockingly, this failed to be as super-popular in Wisconsin as it is in Krugman's den. Krugman has been one of the best economists to read for a long time, but he has never come up with anything that makes HRC appeal to voters.
My husband is inlove with another woman and he nolonger cares for me the way he used to. I am deeply inlove but the person is not Interested in me. My boyfriend is cheating on me and he wants to break up with me. All these are love problems… do you need help to solve your love problems?? Have you been looking for the fruit of the womb?? That your child brain that is empty do you need a charm that will make the child become excellent in education? Are you sick? Or maybe you are broke. Jai mata sunlight is the key to your closed door. She is the answer to your problems contact sunlightmata@gmail.com and get healings, blessings and be fruitful. I you have been looking for a child, she can solve and it and you will give birth. Goddess of jai mata durgarani. Queen mother of the hindus. The greatest problem is you by not knowing what to do at the right time... the solution to your problems is right here in front of your door. Stop the tears and accept it you shall be free.
ReplyDeleteHello, I am Theresa Williams After being in relationship with Anderson for years, he broke up with me, I did everything possible to bring him back but all was in vain, I wanted him back so much because of the love I have for him, I begged him with everything, I made promises but he refused. I explained my problem to my friend and she suggested that I should rather contact a spell caster that could help me cast a spell to bring him back but I am the type that never believed in spell, I had no choice than to try it, I mailed the spell caster, and he told me there was no problem that everything will be okay before three days, that my ex will return to me before three days, he cast the spell and surprisingly in the second day, it was around 4pm. My ex called me, I was so surprised, I answered the call and all he said was that he was so sorry for everything that happened that he wanted me to return to him, that he loves me so much. I was so happy and went to him that was how we started living together happily again. Since then, I have made promise that anybody I know that have a relationship problem, I would be of help to such person by referring him or her to the only real and powerful spell caster who helped me with my own problem. email: drogunduspellcaster@gmail.com you can email him if you need his assistance in your relationship or any other Case.
ReplyDelete1) Love Spells
2) Lost Love Spells
3) Divorce Spells
4) Marriage Spells
5) Binding Spell.
6) Breakup Spells
7) Banish a past Lover
8.) You want to be promoted in your office/ Lottery spell
9) want to satisfy your lover
Contact this great man if you are having any problem for a lasting solution
through drogunduspellcaster@gmail.com
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteReal & Powerful Love spell caster to get your Ex lover back fast online.
I'm so excited.
My ex-boyfriend is back after a breakup,I’m extremely happy that will are living together again.
My name is Mary Wilkie from England.
My boyfriend of a 4yr just broke up with me and am 30 weeks pregnant.I have cried my self to sleep most of the nights and don’t seem to concentrate during lectures sometimes I stay awake almost all night thinking about him and start to cry all over again.Because of this I end up not having energy for my next day’s classes ,my attendance has dropped and am always in uni and on time.Generally he is a very nice guy ,he ended it because he said we were arguing a lot and not getting along.He is right we’ve been arguing during the pregnancy a lot .After the break up I kept ringing him and telling him I will change.I am in love with this guy and he is the best guy I have ever been with.I’m still hurt and in disbelief when he said he didn’t have any romantic feelings towards me anymore that hurt me faster than a lethal syringe.He texts me now and then mainly to check up on how am doing with the pregnancy,he is supportive with it but it’s not fair on me, him texting me as I just want to grieve the pain and not have any stress due to the pregnancy.i was really upset and i needed help, so i searched for help online and I came across a website that suggested that Dr Unity can help solve marital problems, restore broken relationships and so on. So, I felt I should give him a try. I contacted him and he told me what to do and i did it then he did a spell for me. 28 hours later, my bf came to me and apologized for the wrongs he did and promise never to do it again. Ever since then, everything has returned back to normal. I and my bf are living together happily again.. All thanks to Dr Unity. If you have any problem contact Dr.Unity now and i guarantee you that he will help you.Email him at: Unityspelltemple@gmail.com ,you can also call him or add him on Whats-app: +2348071622464 ,His website: http://unityspelltemple.yolasite.com .
GET YOUR EX LOVER BACK. My name is Andrew and i live in UK. My wife and I have been married for 4 years almost 5 on November 11th. She recently told me she wasn't in love with me that she loved me more like a friend. She said she wants a divorce that she has been unhappy fora year now. I've been not so good as far as making promises and not keeping them but I have been trying to change and it doesn't seem to work. I love my wife to death and I took my vowels very seriously. I asked her to go to marriage counciling and she said no.we have 3 kids. We agreed to a 2 month break and try to work things out after that. Some of the problems we face are not having or own place to live and may be debt pile up. I really want things to work. The hurt that I feel is killing me and I’m to the point where I don’t eat and rarely drink anything.one day i was online and there was one particular testimony I saw, it was about a woman called Sonia ,she testified about how Dr.Unity brought back her Ex lover in less than 28 hours and at the end of her testimony she drop Dr.Unity e-mail address. After reading all these,I decided to give Dr.Unity a try. I contacted him via email and explained my problems to him. In just 23 hours, my wife came back to me. We solved our issues, and we are even happier than before. Dr.Unity is really a talented and gifted man and i will not stop publishing him because he is a wonderful man…If you have a problem and you are looking for a real and genuine spell caster to solve that problem for you. Try the great Dr.Unity today, he will be the answer to your problems. Here’s his contact: Email him at: Unityspelltemple@gmail.com ,or call him or add him on whats-app: +2348071622464. His website: http://unityspelltemple.yolasite.com .
ReplyDeleteHi everyone!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited share this testimony here about how i got my ex husband back after a break up. I'm Clara 28 yr old from USA, Am a woman who love and cherish my husband more than any other thing you can imagine on earth continent. My husband was so lovely and caring after 3 years of marriage he was seriously ill and the doctor confirm and said he has a kidney infection that he needed a kidney donor, that was how I start searching for who can help, doctor has given me a periodic hour that he will live just 24 hours left, that was how I ask the doctor if I can be of help to my husband that was how he carried out the text, the confirming was successful, I was now having this taught that since 3 years now we got married I have not be able to get pregnant can I be able to get bring again? That was the question I ask the doctor, he never answer his response was did you want to lost your husband? I immediately reply no I can't afford to lose him. After the operation my husband came back to live and was healthy I was also OK with the instruction given to me by the doctor, after 3 months my husband came home with another lady telling me, that is our new wife that will give us kids and take care of us, that was how I was confused and started crying all day, that was how my husband ran away with his new wife cleanable. Since then I was confuse don't know what to do that was how I went back to the doctor and tell him everything, he told me that, this is not just an ordinary it must be a spiritual problem that was how he gave me this Email: Ahmedutimate@gmail.com that I should tell he all my problem that he can help that was how i contacted he and I do as instructed. After 28 hours and I have done what he ask me to do, my husband start searching for me and went back to the doctor, that was how we well settle he also told me not to worry that I will get pregnant, this month making it the fifth Month I contacted he am now 3 months pregnant. These great spell cater is a great man,
if you have any kind of problem you can contact him here on his
Email: Ahmedutimate@gmail.com or call him +2348160153829
Save Your Crumbling Relationship
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/130/104/350/