Who's delusional now: In our view, Margaret Sullivan's column in this morning's Washington Post is little short of remarkable.
That said, it's so remarkable that it's depressing to contemplate. Let's leave it for tomorrow, even as we lump it in with this remarkable column at the new and improved Salon.
We'd have to say that Sullivan's piece is tragically, cataclysmically tribal. We had a somewhat similar reaction to this new post by Josh Marshall.
Marshall discusses the latest attack/claims by Donald J. Trump. He then quotes someone explaining, in a fully plausible way, why Trump behaves as he does.
Why does Trump behave as he does? Marshall's explanation makes perfect sense. But then, he ends his piece this way. Who's semi-delusional now?
MARSHALL (6/26/17): The only real addition to the story is that this [kind of aggressive behavior] is a lot easier to pull off with other real estate developers than it is to powerful players in Washington, especially after they’ve seen the swindle a few times. Trump’s inability to get the same results as he’s used to with this approach is basically the story of his presidency so far."Trump’s inability to get [good results] with this approach is basically the story of his presidency so far?"
Consider:
On the day that assessment appears, Trump is amazingly close to getting Obamacare disabled. He has also largely been affirmed by the Supreme Court, which is acting in the face of the tribal insistences we have uniformly pushed concerning the matter at hand.
(The only complaints came from three conservative Justices, who think the Court's lenient action today was too hard on Trump.)
What Marshall says makes perfect sense, except to the extent that it doesn't. We may be days from a truly horrific defeat (or not) but, if we might borrow from Dylan, we still think we're on the side which is hugely winning!
Tribal certainty can conquer all! Who seems to be possibly ever-so-slightly out of touch with reality now?
People, we're just saying: This TPM headline sits mere inches from Marshall's report:
"The vote could come down to just a handful of lawmakers"
To us, that says we could be close to an era-defining, ginormous defeat. Or not! But when does this perilous state of affairs harsh our delusional mellow?
Who is "delusionally mellow?" Not anyone I know. Where do you get that idea, Bob? I detect anguish, fear, maybe anger.
ReplyDeleteAre "we" on the verge of a ginormous defeat in healthcare? Yes, possibly. I honestly don't know how Mr.Somerby's constant hammering of this
notion (that liberals are ridiculous and delusional) adds any insight into the current state of affairs, though.
Chris Matthews and his ilk did do horrible work,especially during Clinton/Gore, and maybe Maddow does bad work now.
They don't represent the totality of liberal or Democratic party views, though. Just as Mr.Somerby rightly decries Hillary for her
"deplorable" comment, or criticizes a "liberal" (or so-called "liberal") pundit for judging racism as the principal motivation for
voting for Trump, he is just as guilty of the same fallacy when he notes Maddows's (supposedly) horrible work, and then in the same
blog post, says "Aren't we (liberals) all terrible, horrible, ridiculous, etc?" as if she stands for all liberals everywhere.
5:12. I'll beat your ass. You're stupid.
DeleteIf I knew your identity, I would call the police on you for terroristic threathening. As it is, thanks so much for your intelligent, thoughtful comment.
DeleteReport him to blogspot. They will block him again.
Delete6:06
DeleteI'll put my boot in your seat. I'm through messin around.
"Just as Mr.Somerby rightly decries Hillary for her
Delete"deplorable" comment, or criticizes a "liberal" (or so-called "liberal") pundit for judging racism as the principal motivation for voting for Trump,"
Somerby doth protest too much.
Those who claim "you can't call Trump voters bigots", have been working feverishly since last November to come up with some other real reason Trump voters chose Trump. Don't blame me that their other excuses keep being exposed as nothing more than wishful thinking.
I got a real reason for ya: They voted for him because they feel powerless.
DeleteCertainly you don't think they's ALL bigots?!?!
Why would someone care about being oppressed when they already feel powerless?
DeletePlus a bit of it is payback. They're certainly not going to vote for anyone who thinks they are mostly bigoted idiots.
It's not like they're going to do that much worse under Trump then they did under Obama anyway.
thank you for explaining your position.
"They're certainly not going to vote for anyone who thinks they are mostly bigoted idiots."
DeleteChicken or egg?
"It's not like they're going to do that much worse under Trump then they did under Obama anyway."
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
True that they may do marginally worse under Trump. Probably it will be like George W Bush's aministration and Obama's administration. It's not like there was a huge gap between those two administrations in terms of how the government And economy affected those peoples lives. So you're right it could be marginally worse. It could be much worse. But it's not like Clinton was a big advocate for these people. There's simple not a huge difference between the two. No one cares about those people. You don't. I don't. Clinton doesn't. Trump doesn't. Trump just told him that he did and that's all it took. Words, Democrats had to pay a price for not caring about those people. For looking down on them and calling them (mostly) bigoted idiots. It left an opening for a demagogue to come in. Actually , it's probably just the beginning. Especially if we consider them to be mostly bigoted idiots.
Delete"But it's not like Clinton was a big advocate for these people."
DeleteYou are repeating right-wing memes. Go back and look at all the programs Clinton spoke about on the campaign trail. She offered way more in care to rural-white voters than all Republican candidates combined.
What she didn't offer them was bigotry. and it cost her the election.
I don't know what Bob's complaints will be about Sullivan's column. I'm struck by the triviality of the incidents supposedly leading toward an authoritarian government. E.g.,
ReplyDelete-- Pence hired a lawyer, so fascism is just around the corner.
-- Trump's cabinet members said nice things about him, so fascism is just around the corner.
I'm struck by the few peoiple who comment compared to two years ago. Somerby has lost his audience. But he experienced that in the classroom and on the comedy circuit.
DeleteJust because Mike Pence lied about his connections to a foreign power, which is accused of hacking the election of the most powerful political figure on Earth, does NOT mean facism is just around the corner for the United States.
DeleteIt just means those who accused liberals of "hating America", are exposed as projectionists who put IMAX to shame.
Let me ask you a very important question:
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2. Deny your involvement
3. Blame it on the person to your left
4. Claim complete responsibility
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