TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2024
We Blues can be clueless too: If only apocryphally, the emperor Caligula made his favorite horse a Roman consul—possibly, even a priest.
On the rare occasion, we moderns tend to be wacky too. In what some see as a modern equivalent, Donald J. Trump has nominated Matt Gaetz to come out of retirement and serve as attorney general.
Gaetz retired at age 42—did so just last week! Some have said Gaetz is a crazy choice. In fairness to Trump, let's be fair:
In a point of departure from Caligula's horse, it isn't like Gaetz is unqualified for the high office in question. Starting at the age of 24, he enjoyed a two-year legal career—and before that, he attended law school!
Also, he has said he'd be willing to come out of retirement to serve as attorney general.
In our view, Gaetz doesn't quite qualify as the equal of Caligula's horse. Also, Donald Trump isn't Caligula yet—but there's no way to know where his current path is going to take the country and the world
In our view, Trump is a vastly disordered person. In our view, he has nominated a playroom full of broken toys to serve him during his new term. We've long recommended pity for the child, but we've also recommended stripping power from the disordered man.
That said, this:
Many other people disagree with our overall view. The votes are still being counted, but at least 76 million of our fellow citizens voted for Trump this year!
In our view, the incoming president has assembled a playroom full of broken toys to serve him during his tenure. Gaetz has been joined by such improbable figures as Kennedy, Gabbard and Hegseth, with Musk, Vance and Carlson also part of the mix.
These are highly unusual figures—but then, those of us in Blue America can be less than fully insightful on the rare occasion too. Consider the attempt at discussion which broke out yesterday on the ABC program, The View.
As a framework, we return to the ancient parable about the blind men and the elephant. As we noted last week, the parable teaches us this:
Blind men and an elephant
The parable of the blind men and an elephant is a story of a group of blind men who have never come across an elephant before and who learn and imagine what the elephant is like by touching it. Each blind man feels a different part of the animal's body, but only one part, such as the side or the tusk. They then describe the animal based on their limited experience and their descriptions of the elephant are different from each other. In some versions, they come to suspect that the other person is dishonest and they come to blows.
The moral of the parable is that humans have a tendency to claim absolute truth based on their limited, subjective experience as they ignore other people's limited, subjective experiences which may be equally true.
Do we humans have a tendency to reason that way? It seems to us that we actually do—and that even seems to be true over here, in Blue America, where the adults are all above average!
Yesterday, it broke that way among the (anti-Trump) panelists on The View. Thanks to Mediaite, you can watch the videotape of their attempt at discussion simply by clicking this.
It started with (the anti-Trump) Whoopi Goldberg citing (the anti-Trump) Bill Maher. This was the start of an exchange in which a set of anti-Trumpers groped different parts of the 76 million people (or more) who voted for Candidate Trump.
At the start of the attempt at discussion, Goldberg played a heavily edited tape of something Maher had said on last Friday's Real Time. For better or worse, this is the way we the anti-Trumpers of The View kicked off their attempt at discussion:
GOLDBERG (11/18/24): Welcome back. The Wall Street Journal claims that the shift to the right in this election reveals that Americans view themselves as belonging to a particular economic class more than their race and gender. And Bill Maher said it's not the only thing Democrats got wrong. Take a look:
MAHER (videotape): Someone must tell the usual suspects on the far left that the saying is, "When you’re in a hole, stop digging." ... You just lost a crazy contest to an actual crazy person. ... What a shocker that the people who see everything through the lens of race and sex see their election loss as the result of racism and sexism. Yes, if only we weren't so irredeemably unenlightened, we would have elected a black president by now. Oh what—we [already] did? ... Asked if racism is built into our society, white progressives agreed with that—at higher levels than black and Hispanic people! ... They don't want your pity. And black people can't afford to indulger rich white peoples' need to endlessly flagellate themselves. They just want prices to go down and good jobs and the police when you call them.
GOLDBERG: If he's right, then why didn't people vote for the former prosecutor who actually had policy plans to help the working class? I mean—
[APPLAUSE]
Sad! But that's the way the attempt at discussion began, with the audience applauding an insinuation which didn't make any obvious sense.
As you can see if you watch the videotape, the attempt at discussion went downhill from there. In the course of the attempt at discission, two (anti-Trump) panelists, Sunny Hostin and Alyssah Farah Griffin, took turns feeling different parts of the contemporary elephant known as "the Trump voters."
Alas! As the attempt at discussion unfolded, Hostin seemed to be saying that the elephant in question was racist and sexist, full stop. In turn, Griffin seemed to be saying that the elephant in question only wanted "a good life and ability to pay for their family.”
That seemed to be what Maher had said about the elephant in question, or at least about the part of the elephant known as "black people." In fairness, Maher's lengthy monologue had been so heavily edited that we won't attempt to characterize it here.
Regarding the attempt at discussion which occurred on The View, we'll start by answering Goldberg's question. Our answer would start like this:
QUESTION: Why didn't people vote for the former prosecutor who actually had policy plans to help the working class?
INITIAL ANSWER: At least 74 million people did!
Moving on to Hostin and Griffin, we'd sadly offer this:
The elephant in question here—the elephant known as "Trump voters"—is actually more than 76 million different people.
Those people aren't all the same person. If you asked them why they voted for Trump, they wouldn't all say the same thing.
Almost surely, those people voted for Trump for an array of different reasons. Almost surely, their understandings, attitudes, frameworks and outlooks simply aren't all the same.
Trump voters aren't all just the same person! On its face, it's the simplest, most obvious point in the world:
Candidate Trump's 76 million voters aren't all exactly alike!
But this blindingly obvious fact is strongly inclined to disappear when we, the admittedly brilliant denizens of Blue America, start attempting to discuss this very basic question. All in all, we humans just aren't "the rational animal," not even over here.
With that, we return to Goldberg's question. Stripped down in the following way, it's a very important question:
Why didn't (more) people vote for Candidate Harris?
Why didn't (more) people vote for Harris? Last week, we started making a list of possible reasons.
Given decades of conduct here within our own Blue America, the list of such possible reasons goes on and on and on. But sad:
Given the way our brains are wired, we Blues are often completely unable to comprehend that fact. The woods are lovely, dark and deep—but we Blues simply aren't the kinds of creatures we keep insisting we are.
Why didn't more people vote for Harris? Why did so many people vote for Candidate Trump?
The list of possible reasons goes on and on. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we'll start to add to last week's list.
In our view, Donald J. Trump has come remarkably close to nominating Caligula's horse! That said:
We denizens of Blue America aren't always amazingly sharp ourselves!
Tomorrow: Why did people vote for Trump? Unfortunately, the list of possible reasons goes on and on and on.
No one claimed they were all the same person. They all had no qualms about voting for a grifter that incited a riot and watched as over 140 police were brutalized by his followers, and who logged in over 30,000 lies during his presidency. They had that in common. But there are many varieties of them, no doubt.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, you have to take the actions and words of Trump voters, and their response to the actions of Republican politicians into account.
ReplyDeleteSaying they are motivated by factors other than bigotry, will need to be backed-up by something other than "obviously".
We are indeed motivated by bigotry. Yours.
DeleteCecelia forgot to use her nym again.
Delete1:21,
DeleteWhy is it you tried to overthrow the U.S. Capitol, again?
Trump's huge tax break for the elites?
LOL.
Because of your bigotry against whites, males, straights, Christians, and the mentally sound.
DeleteNo, you just voted for an imbecile to own the libs, no policy mattered to you. We will all now suffer for your selfishness. Congratulations.
DeleteAnonymouse 1:48pm, I don’t “forget” to use my nym. I fumblefinger the pull-down bar when typing. I always let you know when I’ve done it too. You’re welcome.
DeleteSounds like a non-denial denial to me.
DeleteAnonymouse 2:30pm, thats because you’re an anonymouse.
DeleteSomerby seems to have a poor understanding of the way humans behave and reason, a condition likely rising from Somerby preferring to glean his insights about humans from storytelling instead of science.
ReplyDeleteSomerby also seems unaware that turnout was low this election, particularly for Dems.
Indeed, we have a decent case study, where we can control for certain variables; the same candidate ran against three centrist/establishment Dems that are, self admittedly even, barely distinguishable, yet there are three notable differences: Biden won with universal mail in ballots (something Trump says will guarantee a Republican never winning again), Harris and Clinton identify as women - Harris as a woman of color, and Republican dirty tricks are getting more sophisticated and effective.
Yes, Somerby does grope around in the dark, then does seem to want to externalize his shortcomings onto everyone else; so surely we can pity Somerby, that poor lost soul.
Observe how the Washington Post applies the Vaseline so carefully.
ReplyDeleteAlthough changes to government spending typically require an act of Congress,
Translation: The Constitution fucking spells out in black and white that the Congress has the power of the purse.
Trump aides are exploring plans to challenge a 1974 budget law in a way that would give the White House the power to unilaterally adopt the Musk commission’s proposals, one of the people said.
Translation: Trump is a fucking fascist and is deleting the Constiution.
It is unclear if Trump will ask Congress to approve changes to the budget law or first appeal to the courts to do so, though aides have previously endorsed either approach. Ramaswamy, a former pharmaceutical executive who has said he would “stop funding agencies that waste money” and don’t operate on meritocratic principles, has publicly called on Congress to repeal the law and has suggested workarounds if it is not repealed.
Aint that some shit.
Yes, that is some shit ... according to two people with knowledge of the matter. ;)
Delete12:05,
DeleteSeriously. Unless Republicans are getting rid of the 2nd Amendment, we already have a solution to this "problem".
It'll never get done. Americans will line-up Trump and his Cabinet against a wall across from a firing squad, long before they allow a rapist to overthrow the Constitution.
DeleteI don't understand what you are afraid of.
DeleteThen you’re part of the problem, 12:48.
DeleteWhat exactly are you afraid of?
DeleteLet me guess: you can't give a straight answer to that question.
DeleteA President ruling without congressional checks and balances, discarding the constitution to force his will. That alone should be cause for concern for anyone who believes in the separation of powers and the rule of law. The fact that I needed to spell this out for you is a problem …. for you, 1:01.
DeleteThere are several reasons the Post article doesn't justify a fear that Trump will rule without congressional checks and balances or discard the Constitution to force his will.
DeleteYour fears are kind of cute in a way, but totally unwarranted.
1:20: Trump has already demanded that congress go into recess when he takes office so that he can bypass confirmation hearings for his nominees, and Republicans have signaled a willingness to do this, particularly the feckless Johnson. It isn’t idle fears, 1:20. It’s something Trump is already demanding, and it warrants concern and pushback, not your blithe mocking lack of concern.
DeleteIt makes sense you would want to spend time being scared about it and defend spending time being scared about it. Two weeks ago you were scared Trump was Hitler and was going to send your favorite journos into camps. Trump may make some recess appointments but that is normal.
DeleteRecess appointments are absolutely not normal, unless an emergency arises. Trump simply wants his whole cabinet to take office without congressional approval. He doesn’t want the people to have any say. Congress should not agree to this, but the GOP are leaning that way.
DeleteNever said Trump was Hitler, that was his VP, JD Vance - a Peter Thiel Production.
DeleteThis is what worries me, Trump's adoring cult will defend anything he does, including wiping his ass with our Constitution. The same fucking maggots who are so quick to yell at us that the country is a "republic", are now going to go all in on turning Article 1 of the Constitution into a quaint memory, as they raise a toast to King Orange Bastard. Advise and Consent, hahahaha, who needs it, right.
By the way, Hitler didn't start his "final solution" the first day he took control.
I understand stock prices for private prison companies are going thru the roof.
Trump may make some recess appointments but that is normal.
DeleteHorseshit. Not for a new incoming party and administration.
No one listens to a word Trump says.
DeleteHe's lying, because his fan-boys are simpletons.
The good people of the United States aren't going to let some failed real estate developer from Queens, who stole money from children's cancer charity, and commits rape, like the rest of us breathe, fuck with the Constitution. They'll shoot the clown if he even tries.
Oh, and by the way, recess appointments are by law only temporary.
DeleteRecess are not meant or implied by the Constitution to be used before the first day of the administration. This is horseshit and there is no way you are going to normalize this bullshit.
DeleteYour fear is cute. I admit it. But the boy has cried wolf on Trump. If you can't scare people with Hitler accusations, you shouldn't expect to scare them with recess appointments.
DeleteNo one listens to a word Trump says.
DeleteWho the fuck do you think you're kidding?
It isn’t about scaring anyone, 2:10. It’s about pointing out the clear direction that Trump and the GOP are signaling they want to go. It should concern anyone who cares about the constitution. It’s worth fighting for, in my view. Perhaps not in yours.
DeleteIt's cute how propagandists keep you gassed up and you don't even realize it! It's fun to watch.
DeleteIt's clear Trump is signaling he wants to rule without congressional checks and balances, discarding the constitution to force his will in a different way from other presidents based on an anonymous leak in the Washington Post that aides are considering implementing recommendations from a new government spending commission without congressional approval?
DeleteFor real looks like roundups, concentration camps, deployment of military on US citizens, & mass deportations. I don't see any way to explain this as propaganda. And maybe you are all in on this horror being good for America. In my job I spent a great deal of time consulting at egg & meat packing plants. Not too many citizens working on the floor, so good luck with that. Also price of eggs, one place I went to had to landfill 8 million chickens from the flu. And it's coming for us. But never fear, a vaxx idiot will be in charge. Wheeee!!!
DeleteI will say that 'I'm scared Trump wants to rule without congressional checks and balances and discard the constitution to force his will based on something an anonymous source said to the Washington Post' is a step up from 'I'm scared Trump wants to rule without congressional checks and balances and discard the constitution to force his will, in collusion with Russia, based on something an anonymous source said to the Washington Post'.
DeleteBut thanks for the warning about the dire consequences and societal breakdown our current descent into authoritarianism will bring. 😱
It is unclear if Trump will ask Congress to approve changes to the budget law or first appeal to the courts to do so,
DeleteThe answer is: neither, Trump will plow ahead assuming he has the authority and will challenge anyone and everyone who tries to stop him.
4:42, I am glad you're so smug about the reporting. I mean why should I care about this coming from the same wannabe dictator who has been demanding very publicly that the Senate adjoin so he can set his cabinet without any of the messy Advice and Consent business? The same megalomaniac who ran to DEI hires Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett begging them to grant him complete and total immunity from his non-stop criming? And get this, they fucking gave it to him. But I am glad you're so fucking smug and cavalier about it. I am a little too old to go marching in the streets again. I already helped take down one republican crook. Now it's your turn.
DeleteBTW 4:42, I forgot to add that King Orange has already simply declared that he will waive FBI background checks for his appointees by snapping his fingers and saying "make it so". But I am relieved to hear you're so smug about it all.
DeleteSince your old maybe it would be good advice to stay inside and eat overpriced eggs processed by resentful legal American citizens while the rest of the country is ravaged to death by bird flu. 😱
DeleteReally though, besides being kind of cute to see old white guys respond to propaganda like cats do to a ball yarn, it is a yuge step up from 'Because of Russia, the Orange Rapist-in-Chief is going increase the price of eggs and initiate mass bird flu related death.'
DeleteA yuge step up. So thanks for that
5:09, suppose I told you that... that everything you mention there... the demands, the begging for immunity, the giving of complete and total immunity, suppose I said that all of that... was staged. That it was a kind of charade. That it was fake.
DeleteThat you’re full of shit.
Delete2:12,
DeleteDo you personally know someone who listens to a word Trump says? If so, can you provide any information about this fascinating/ moronic individual?
Wood Jablome.
DeleteThere were millions of fascinating/moronic individuals who thought Trump was actually communicating instructions to Russian hackers through his rallies when he said "Russia, if you're listening ...". Isn't that unbelievable? These fascinating/moronic people listened to what Trump said and took it literally. And they actually believed, like cult victims do, an utter absurdity - that Russian hackers were sitting around awaiting instructions from Trump on what to do by watching his televised rallies.
DeleteTrump drove millions mad in 2016. I didn't know many that were that far gone though but there was a ton of them. You're probably one of them. You are probably a fascinating/ moronic individual who listens to a word Trump says. So - may I present to you ... you!
"In our view, the incoming president has assembled a playroom full of broken toys to serve him during his tenure."
ReplyDeleteThis is not how a person talks about human beings. People are not toys, broken or otherwise. Our government is not a game, to Trump or to anyone else. It is not "playing" when Trump reduced Medicaid or deports an immigrant or shuts down the Dept of Education (which is the source of special ed funding for example and enforces Title IX and civil rights entitlements).
Somerby's language reveals his attitude.
Also, all of the funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act flows through the department of education.
DeleteAlso, the naep test is administered through the department of education.
DeleteWhy does Somerby call Blue voters "creatures"?
ReplyDeleteCreature definition: "an animal, as distinct from a human being"
If i was ever hired to be TDH's editor, I'd edit out all references to the "woods [being dark] and deep; the Iliad; Eyes wide shut and Wittgenstein, among other references. Trump appointing Gaetz being compared to Caligula appointing his horse is kind of clever though (IMO).
ReplyDeleteSomerby didn’t originate the comparison to Caligula’s horse.
DeleteOthers have been talking about these unqualified appointees as a distraction while Trump's billionaire friends make plans to loot our country. A more appropriate analogy might be to compare them to the circuses held in Rome to pacify the people while the emperor indulged in atrocities.
DeleteIt’s going to be bread and circuses, but without the bread.
DeleteViolence against scapegoats is going to be used to pacify the people, until they feel it in the wallets, but by then, the wealthy will have gotten what they wanted from Trump and Putin will own more of Ukraine.
DeleteMen in particular seem to enjoy violent movies, video games, sports, because it makes them feel powerful. It is too bad we couldn't figure out how to empower men to use their votes in support of real benefits to themselves instead of as an identification with the power moves of a bully like Trump. Power needs to be used for some purpose besides self-aggrandizement. It could have been used to do good, but men could not identify with Harris (or Biden apparently, because of his age) and so they chose someone more brutal as their avatar. Too bad.
Somerby could have pointed out the waste of power embodied by Caligula's threat to appoint his horse to the Roman senate. I suppose having the power to waste is a display of excess power, but it is not strength to misuse one's power, when Trump does it or some insane Roman does it. Being too stupid to figure out what to do with power is a weakness, not strength.
DeleteA lot of Dems suggested that mocking Trump was a way to defeat him. It looks like that strategy didn't work, especially not if the men identifying with Trump took the mockery personally. It boils down to men being unable to identify with a powerful woman, and that reflects sexism and misogyny, bigotry, which is why Dems are calling Trump voters bigots. Because they are, including AC/MA who calls Harris mediocre because he doesn't respect her. It isn't about qualifications. It is about cheering for the macho team, in the black uniforms that make men's testosterone levels shoot upward.
That's what happens when politics become a spectator sport.
DeleteI voted for Harris, though not with great enthusiasm. She seemed uninspiring, somewhat of a mediocrity. On the other hand the choice was her or someone who Jacob Sullum in Reason aptly described as a "preening, petty, thin-skinned, whiny, vacuous, vindictive, boorish bully."
ReplyDeleteMight it have helped Harris get elected if you had some of these things BEFORE the election? Not the part about her being mediocre (which is ridiculous given her previous accomplishments, especially compared to other Dem possibilities), but the part about Trump being a whiny bully. If you cannot admire Harris, there is something wrong with you.
Deletehad said (typo correction)
DeleteBut do you pity Trump, AC, the way Bob recommends?
DeleteNotice the way Somerby is once again repeating the Republican line, their talking points:
ReplyDelete[GOP strategist Erin Perrine said:] ""We've gotta stop speaking in totalities in generalities about the Republican Party and about Donald Trump," she said. As Ettiene tried to interject, she continued: "If you guys want to ever win an election again, stop talking like this to the American people!"
"I want to have an election with a Republican who has a moral compass!" retorted Navarro.
Somerby today is complaining about exactly the same criticisms of right-wing voters as the various GOP partisans appearing on various talk shows. He is not, and never does, repeat Democratic talking points.
That suggests that Somerby learned nothing from this election and is unprepared, unwilling, to defend democratic institutions, existing accomplishments of the Biden administration, and longstanding programs that benefit the American people from the predatory actions being promised by Trump and his cabinet appointees.
Somerby is as bankrupt as any MAGA, as he writes silly remarks about a universally reviled Roman emperor who insulted Roman leaders by threatening to appoint a horse as a consul. The analogy doesn't even work, since the GOP controls the incoming Senate and House and doesn't need to insult the legislature to accomplish any goal. If Somerby thinks Trump's appointees are intended as a distraction, he should say so, not pretend that anything done in ancient Rome has relevance to today or to our current values and form of government.
Caligula was assassinated because he was cruel, insane, and a threat to powerful leaders who he was abusing. We do not assassinate our leaders. But Somerby appears to be fascinated by this worst among Rome's emperors and can't seem to stop talking about him, or find a more appropriate historical analogy.
No one here admires Eyes Wide Shut, nor do any of us admire Caligula or his horse.
Anonymouse 1:38am, “you lost, folks” That is the gist of what Erin said. Orange Man Bad didn’t work this time and neither did calling Republicans trash. You may refer to that sort of “discourse” as getting down to brass tacks/truth, but the public automatically tuned it out as being partisan. They’ve had over eight years of your drama over Trump. You’ve been accusing Somerby of undermining you, well, your way lost. Quit rending your garments snd pointing fingers and start talking in a way that doesn’t insult regular people who you are trying to win to your side.
DeleteHere’s the discussion Anonymouse 1:38pm has referenced.
Deletehttps://www.mediaite.com/tv/gop-strategist-demands-democrats-stop-saying-the-republican-partys-morally-bankrupt-when-opposing-gaetz-nomination/
I mean, some drama over Trump was warranted, don’t you think, Cecelia? Even Somerby kept pleading with the media to discuss his (so called) mental illness. That was Somerby playing his part in “orange man bad”. Or did you forget all those posts?
DeleteCecelia, @1:38 is pointing out that Somerby is repeating the Republican party line today, which he is definitely doing. He does this all the time while pretending to be a lefty.
DeleteConventional wisdom, there’s been more than “some” drama. You can do that when talking about Trump. When you’re attempting to get a nominee torpedoed you need to make a case that doesn’t sound like you’re an anonymouse on a blog board screaming Orange Man bad. Otherwise, that’s going to be all the public hears and they’ll tune out all of it.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteAnonymoise 2:29pm, your problem is that you don’t understand the difference between going after Trump from going after Gaetz. That’s too subtle a distinction for anonymices. Other liberals may well get it.
DeleteBitter old man who only recently identified as orange is bad. Is that better?
DeleteWhat's not to like about Trump & Gaetz, they both like underage girls.
DeleteTrump doesn’t ID as orange. He IS orange.
DeleteMermao, this is neither here nor there as to Gaetz, but she wouldn’t have been underage in 31 states.
DeleteShe was where Gaetz had sex with her, and sex trafficking does not depend on age.
DeleteI stated it was irrelevant as to Gaetz.
DeleteAnd yet it’s not.
DeleteCecilia - Middle age men paying for sex with minors is good. Trans is bad. Got it.
DeleteAnonymouse 1:12pm, having a slow day, huh?
ReplyDeleteCan’t be any slower than yours, Cecelia, since you seem to have nothing better to do than respond over and over to all of the anonymous commenters here, including one purportedly having a slow day.
ReplyDeleteWTFU! Trump is part of a world wide military alliance that is taking down the deep state and those who want most of the earth's population dead. They are taking down the world wide child sex trafficking rings and adrenechrome production. Do some research! He constantly sends out military comms. Very shortly, you will be told the truth and will come to loath those who you have admired and love those who you have hated.
ReplyDelete