THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2026
...to the walls of The Whathisname Center: Kurt Andersen's essay appears today in print editions of the New York Times.
As we've noted, it starts with an ominous-sounding, fairly recent observation from the late Rush Limbaugh:
Has America Already Undergone a Soft Breakup?
“I actually think,” Rush Limbaugh told his many millions of listeners during the weeks between Donald Trump losing the 2020 election and his supporters’ assault on the Capitol, “that we’re trending toward secession. It can’t go on this way. There cannot be a peaceful coexistence of two completely different theories of life, theories of government, theories of how we manage our affairs.”
It can't go on this way? Given this struggling nation's "two different theories of [everything]," we're trending toward secession?
We can't say that Limbaugh's basic perception was wrong.
In the past, we ourselves have spoken of a "silent secession" by elements within the Red States. As Andersen's essay continues, he talks about a "soft secession" being practiced by attorney generals of the Blue States—and that phrase is being employed by those Blue State officials themselves, to describe their own activities!
As he continues, Andersen comes up with some somewhat silly-sounding ways to deal with the fact that we've become two different epistemic entities. Here's one example:
We can’t keep going this way. Escaping federal dysfunction and avoiding real hostilities over the long term will require some kind of radical shift. Perhaps states and regions could become much more independent. Like the regional autonomous communities in Spain, some of which collect nearly all the taxes their inhabitants pay and then forward a negotiated share to the national government. Or the cantons of Switzerland, which can divide or reconfigure, and each one decides whether newcomers become Swiss citizens.
As Andersen starts, he's agreeing with Limbaugh there:
We can’t keep going this way, he says. We need to come together long enough to agree to be more like Spain, or perhaps to let ourselves function more like the shapeshifting cantons of Switzerland.
Could some such radical shift occur? It seems a bit hard to believe, but in theory, everything's possible.
("Isn't it pretty to think so?" That's what Hemingway famously wrote, concerning something completely different, at the end of The Sun Also Rises. Recalling President Obama's claim that we're really just the United States, Andersen has borrowed the famous line just one paragraph earlier!)
Can the United States be more like Spain? It's hard to answer that question, but we thought of Limbaugh's "two different theories of [everything]" when we perused this bit of breaking warfare online at the New York Times:
Kennedy Center Board Decides to Inscribe Trump’s Name on Building
The board of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts voted on Thursday to inscribe President Trump’s name on the building beneath the main signage, aggressively testing a federal judge’s order to remove it, according to two people with direct knowledge of the proceedings.
According to the resolution approved by the Trump-allied board, the inscription underneath the institution’s name would read: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” The board’s decision came shortly after it voted to move forward with Mr. Trump’s plan to shutter the building for renovations.
The president’s name was added to the building last year, but the judge ordered the letters taken down, finding that only Congress had the authority to change the institution’s name. The center removed Mr. Trump’s name in June but is appealing the ruling.
In Thursday’s resolution, the board directed officials to undertake “all legal means” to honor Mr. Trump for bringing the center back “from the brink of disaster.”
Are the AGs of Blue America engaged in some sort of "soft secession?" We aren't sure, but potent elements of Red America are looking for ways to pick fights about attributions and intimations of greatness in every conceivable sphere.
Andersen's soft headline notwithstanding, this never-ending attack on the priors—this ongoing attempted "reinvention [of everything]"—is well underway at this time.
Potent chunks of Red America are trying to make their pharaoh live forever. Warning:
Over here, in Blue America, we may have our foibles too.
ReplyDelete"Potent chunks of Red America are trying to make their pharaoh live forever"
Huh. This actually sounds more like the BlueAnons trying to make their pharaoh, John F Kennedy, live forever. Why so much indignation against renaming some stupid building?
they aint "renaming" jack shit, maggot breath
DeleteIt isn't the renaming of the building but the laws Trump broke to do it. Would you be happy if Trump came to your home and slapped his name on the front of your house?
DeleteThe guy wants to put his own ugly face on Mt. Rushmore. Would you want to wake up some morning and find it there, looking down on you and grinning? For a man who owns a bunch of property, Trump doesn't seem to understand that different buildings belong to different people. In his mind, it is all HIS.
The stuff Trump has been defacing is not his. It belongs to the American People (all of us) and there are laws governing who can do what with it.
Trump's own brand of communism is that (1) what's his is his to use as he pleases, (2) what's yours is his, (3) what's mine is his too, (4) everything is his, (5) if you disagree, fuck you, what are you going to do about it?
So, why do you Dumbocrats are triggered by renaming of a stupid concert hall in stupid DC?
DeleteBecause we're not stupid, for starters.
Deletethe idiot fucking judge gave them till next week to fucking explain why they have erected a permanent scaffolding with tarp covering the name after they supposedly removing his fucking obscene name from Memorial Center. Good job, judge. They just gave you the middle finger. While we all stand aghast at what has happened to the rule of law in this country. Not only are theyh going to add his fucking name, they also voted to close the Kennedy Center for two fucking years. Denying all of us members of the cultural center in the center.
DeleteWHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS DEMENTED ABOMINATION.
And Somerby thinks this is all funny.
DeleteBy his tone and use of language that minimizes and downplays right wing wrongs. Pharoah, for example, instead of wannabe dictator slowly dying while the right rapes and pillages our national resources, enslaves immigrants and makes us the laughing stock of the world.
DeleteFor fucks sake 3:42, most everyone doesn't know there is a no B in a dummy. Get with the pragram..
DeleteOver here, in Blue America, we may have our foibles too.
ReplyDeletefucking TDH has to fucking both sides this bullshit, eh.
fuck you, Bob.
Thank God our foibles aren't the same as their foibles! I might have to secede if that were true.
Delete"It can't go on this way? Given this struggling nation's "two different theories of [everything]," we're trending toward secession?
ReplyDeleteWe can't say that Limbaugh's basic perception was wrong. "
Limbaugh himself seceded in Feb, 2021, right after Biden's inauguration. Was that prophetic, or what!
Is there a possibility that Limbaugh's approaching death might have affected his gloomy worldview? Certainly, and that may be true for Somerby too.
There are no more hints of secession this summer than there have been on many other occasions. Somerby just loves to play Eeyore, especially when the Democrats are finally showing signs of life. Peter Thiel moved to Argentina to escape the coming apocalypse. Maybe we can get Musk to secede too.
If all Republican assholes were to self-deport, this might be a pretty nice place to live. But I assume Somerby is not talking about Republican going anywhere. He wants blue America to give up and go away.
"Potent chunks of Red America are trying to make their pharaoh live forever."
Earth-to-Somerby. Limbaugh died. Trump is going to die soon too. When he is gone (from office), we Democrats are going to tear down every abomination with his name on it. That is the only campaign promise gaining traction among all Democrats during these primaries.
"...to honor Mr. Trump for bringing the center back “from the brink of disaster."
ReplyDeleteThe John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as it is colloquially known, is arguably much worse off than it was before Trump interfered with it.
With all this talk about secession, Somerby seems unaware that Trump has built detention centers all over the country, acquired a fleet of jets, to transport deportees to other countries. Who is going to be put in those centers? People designated as dissidents. Trump is planning to revoke the citizenship and deport people for thought crimes, peaceful protests, failure to kowtow and grovel, and bad attitudes. Political dissent will not be tolerated. That will be his legacy to the rest of us citizens. Somerby refers to this stuff as "foibles" but I call it treason, high crimes and misdemeanors, impeachable offenses.
ReplyDeleteThe changes to buildings and creation of half-built shoddy monuments are Trump's gloating. He is reminding all of us that HE is the only one who matters in this nation of 342.6 million people.
"Potent chunks of Red America are trying to make their pharaoh live forever. Warning:
ReplyDeleteOver here, in Blue America, we may have our foibles too."
Does Somerby think it is cute to refer to Trump as a pharoah (note spelling)? We in America (not red or blue but all of the USA) do not have kings. Red America does not have the power to appoint Trump as king (or queen, to be fair).
Would it be a foible to annoint Trump as king? No, it would be illegal. It would be a crime. Would it be a foible to secede? No, it would be illegal too -- we fought a war to decide that. Secession would lead to another war, that the red states would once again lose.
Red America could throw a hissy fit. That is what they generally do when the reasonable people in the country do something good for the people. That is probably what McConnell is doing, and definitely what Kean did. Red politicians just stay home when they are upset and don't feel like working in Congress. They can do more of it if they want and no one will miss them.
It is apparently a blue foible to want to govern the country, take votes in congress, follow the Constitution, build the economy, teach the children well, avoid foreign wars, and address climate change (which is revealing itself to be a bitch).
It would be interesting to take Somerby's daily essay, change all the red references to blue and vice versa, then repost it on a right wing website. Then copy the comments here so we can see how they all react. I'll bet that accusing them of having foibles will be fighting words that will bring out the shotguns -- at first because they don't know what foible means, but they know it is something bad, then because a foible is a slight flaw, misdemeanor or eccentricity and they only have big manly flaws over there. None of those pinky-lifting flaws for them!
Somerby can't have this both ways. Andersen says: "Escaping federal dysfunction and avoiding real hostilities over the long term will require some kind of radical shift." Yet when the DSA faction of the Democratic Party proposes such a radical shift, Somerby is all "oh, noes, they're too radical for us, too extreme, too scary, with too many foibles" to help put this country back on track.
ReplyDeleteSo, which is it? Is Andersen right or is Somerby not willing to consider the kind of radical shift needed to restore our former prosperity and stature in the world? You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet. Maybe that means the Democrats need to man-up (in a good way) and face the challenge of undoing what those red American assholes did to our country.
Maybe Somerby is pretending to be a red shill in order to motivate us blues to take control back and restore our country to its former glory. Or maybe Somerby is having a good time taunting the left, because red America is temporarily in control until after the midterms, when the impeachments can go forward? Only Somerby knows for sure.
"Are the AGs of Blue America engaged in some sort of "soft secession?"
ReplyDeleteWho knows what Somerby means by this, but John Oliver examined the functioning of the DOJ on his show this week. He pointed out that competent attorneys were fired en masse and no one with actual legal experience is working for the DOJ under Trump. Some of the AGs quit when they were asked to do corrupt things, such as politically motivated prosecutions. They cannot hire anyone qualified for jobs that used to have high prestige within the legal field. So they are fuck ups who cannot win their cases, which largely have no merit. Only Trump's bought-and-paid-for judges are returning verdicts helpful to Trump's agenda. Unfortunately, that includes a few Supreme Court justices.
So, what is Somerby's point? A rational person would point out how much money is being wasted by all of these useless and illegal acts committed by Trump and the DOJ on his behalf. Prosecuting a guy on multiple felonies for throwing a subway sandwich at an ICE agent? Oliver points out that the juries are not going along with such prosecutions, so the system is still working. I am not as sanguine about the system continuing to function, but this judgment about removing Trump's name is the right decision, even if Trump is resisting its enforcement.
Trump's DOJ hired people who participated in 1/6 (by breaking the law) as attorneys to work for the DOJ.
DeleteIt sounds like Somerby has never read 1984, when he says:
Delete"this never-ending attack on the priors—this ongoing attempted "reinvention [of everything]"—is well underway at this time. "
What does Somerby think happens in an authoritarian state? I agree that things are bad, but when does Somerby ever urge action against this reinvention (as he calls it)? Instead, he goes on and says that we blues have foibles too. Foibles. The reinvention of everything is not a foible. It is at best unlawful and at worst, the disastrous takeover of our democratic nation by a determined billionaire fascist uprising. Maybe the problem is that Somerby doesn't really understand the nature of the problems facing us?