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PsychoBabble
PsychoBabble's Journal
PsychoBabble's Journal
May 15, 2017
(Interview)
AND:
MORE:
https://www.thenation.com/article/rick-perlstein-trump-has-exposed-the-dark-underbelly-of-american-conservatism/
Trump Has Exposed the Dark Underbelly of American Conservatism
"How historians missed the angry, violent, racist side of the conservative movement."(Interview)
Jon Wiener: There’s been a consensus among historians of American politics about the rise of conservatism in postwar America. You’ve pointed out that it worked pretty well—until Trump won.
Rick Perlstein: What we call the modern conservative movement was seen to have emerged in the mid-1950s, when it was believed that conservatism was dead in American life. Then a group of high-minded intellectuals, largely around the National Review and its editor William F. Buckley, hashed out a fusion of various conservative traditions that had existed only in tatters at that point. They purged the conspiracy theorists, the anti-Semites, and the militia types. Maybe you had run-ins with the Ku Klux Klan, and white supremacists, and crazy conspiracy theorists, but they were seen as marginal to the main story. You emerged with a conservative movement that was safe to take home to mother. That paved the way for Reagan in California, and then his presidency.
Once Trump comes into view, a couple things happen. First of all, he’s a crazy conspiracy theorist. Second, the sort of dog-whistle conservatism that we’ve become so familiar with gets thrown aside for a train-whistle conservatism, in which you are allowed to talk about very racist ideas in quite flagrant ways. Talking about how Mexico is sending us their rapists is not dog-whistle conservatism.
Then you have the very people who saw themselves as the guardians of this polite conservative tradition, even the National Review, reversing course and embracing Donald Trump. I realized that we’d been much too polite to this movement that chose Trump as their apotheosis....
Rick Perlstein: What we call the modern conservative movement was seen to have emerged in the mid-1950s, when it was believed that conservatism was dead in American life. Then a group of high-minded intellectuals, largely around the National Review and its editor William F. Buckley, hashed out a fusion of various conservative traditions that had existed only in tatters at that point. They purged the conspiracy theorists, the anti-Semites, and the militia types. Maybe you had run-ins with the Ku Klux Klan, and white supremacists, and crazy conspiracy theorists, but they were seen as marginal to the main story. You emerged with a conservative movement that was safe to take home to mother. That paved the way for Reagan in California, and then his presidency.
Once Trump comes into view, a couple things happen. First of all, he’s a crazy conspiracy theorist. Second, the sort of dog-whistle conservatism that we’ve become so familiar with gets thrown aside for a train-whistle conservatism, in which you are allowed to talk about very racist ideas in quite flagrant ways. Talking about how Mexico is sending us their rapists is not dog-whistle conservatism.
Then you have the very people who saw themselves as the guardians of this polite conservative tradition, even the National Review, reversing course and embracing Donald Trump. I realized that we’d been much too polite to this movement that chose Trump as their apotheosis....
AND:
JW: Trump grows up in Queens in the ’50s and ’60s, and you have very wisely opened our eyes to the dark side of politics in this era in New York City.
RP: There’s a real line of continuity between the Trump family and Donald Trump himself in this kind of alternate, angry, violent, right-wing genealogy. There’s the fact that his father, Fred Trump, was arrested at a Klan rally in Queens. He was released. We don’t know whether he was an associate of the Klan or not. That’s kind of in dispute. What isn’t in dispute was that he ran a very racist organization. Fred Trump built housing for the lower middle class, but it was “whites only.” They were sued by the Justice Department. Donald Trump was working in the organization at the time. He was named in the suit. That’s how he met Roy Cohn—who of course had been Joe McCarthy’s right-hand man—who came up with the brilliant defense that they weren’t discriminating against black people; they were discriminating against welfare recipients—which was BS.
RP: There’s a real line of continuity between the Trump family and Donald Trump himself in this kind of alternate, angry, violent, right-wing genealogy. There’s the fact that his father, Fred Trump, was arrested at a Klan rally in Queens. He was released. We don’t know whether he was an associate of the Klan or not. That’s kind of in dispute. What isn’t in dispute was that he ran a very racist organization. Fred Trump built housing for the lower middle class, but it was “whites only.” They were sued by the Justice Department. Donald Trump was working in the organization at the time. He was named in the suit. That’s how he met Roy Cohn—who of course had been Joe McCarthy’s right-hand man—who came up with the brilliant defense that they weren’t discriminating against black people; they were discriminating against welfare recipients—which was BS.
MORE:
https://www.thenation.com/article/rick-perlstein-trump-has-exposed-the-dark-underbelly-of-american-conservatism/
May 15, 2017
Anyway, this article shows just how depraved the NC GOP-lead legislature is willing to be. Basically, "You know, and WE know, that we are suppressing the vote. We know you will rightly label us a dicks. We're ok with it as long as 'THEY' DON'T SHOW UP TO VOTE."
The Nation ARTICLE: The Supreme Court Won’t Reinstate the Country’s Worst Voter Suppression Law
But beware:
https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/864145096563990528
Source:
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-supreme-court-wont-reinstate-the-countrys-worst-voter-suppression-law/
NC - Let us suppress vote. SCOTUS - No.
The thing I finally realized about the GOP is that they have made the chilling calculation that they are willing to be viewed as massively dickish humans, and are OK with it, as long as they are in power. Power trumps (sorry) everything else.
To repeat - "I am a truly bad human being -- not just for myself, but impacting MANY people -- and that is OK."
This deal with the devil is why we can expect very little help w 45 unless forced by massive public outrage because of actual criminal indictments ... because the rest is all just uncomfortable optics. DICK = OUTRAGE = JUST FINE WITH IT
Democrats actually CARE what people think about them ... because they CARE ABOUT PEOPLE.
Anyway, this article shows just how depraved the NC GOP-lead legislature is willing to be. Basically, "You know, and WE know, that we are suppressing the vote. We know you will rightly label us a dicks. We're ok with it as long as 'THEY' DON'T SHOW UP TO VOTE."
The Nation ARTICLE: The Supreme Court Won’t Reinstate the Country’s Worst Voter Suppression Law
... Today, in a big and unexpected win for voting rights, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, meaning that the country’s worst voter suppression law will remain blocked indefinitely.
Despite this important legal victory, North Carolina remains a cautionary tale for how low Republicans will stoop to suppress the vote.
Even after the Fourth Circuit called cuts to early voting “as close to a smoking gun as we are likely to see in modern times,” North Carolina Republicans brazenly cut early voting days and hours in local counties. The executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, Dallas Woodhouse, urged Republican-controlled election boards to “make party line changes to early voting” by adopting fewer early voting days, eliminating polling places on college campuses and prohibiting Sunday voting, when black churches hold “Souls to the Polls” mobilization drives.
The cynical strategy worked: black turnout decreased 16 percent during the first week of early voting because of long lines and fewer polling places. The North Carolina GOP bragged before Election Day that “African American Early Voting is down 8.5% from this time in 2012. Caucasian voters early voting is up 22.5% from this time in 2012.”
Despite this important legal victory, North Carolina remains a cautionary tale for how low Republicans will stoop to suppress the vote.
Even after the Fourth Circuit called cuts to early voting “as close to a smoking gun as we are likely to see in modern times,” North Carolina Republicans brazenly cut early voting days and hours in local counties. The executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, Dallas Woodhouse, urged Republican-controlled election boards to “make party line changes to early voting” by adopting fewer early voting days, eliminating polling places on college campuses and prohibiting Sunday voting, when black churches hold “Souls to the Polls” mobilization drives.
The cynical strategy worked: black turnout decreased 16 percent during the first week of early voting because of long lines and fewer polling places. The North Carolina GOP bragged before Election Day that “African American Early Voting is down 8.5% from this time in 2012. Caucasian voters early voting is up 22.5% from this time in 2012.”
OPENLY BRAGGED ABOUT SUPPRESSION = DICKS = DON'T CARE
But beware:
Beyond North Carolina, attacks on voting rights are going to get worse because of the establishment of President Trump’s “election integrity” commission and a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Republicans lost a major battle in North Carolina but they won’t stop fighting a longer war against democracy.
https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/864145096563990528
Source:
https://www.thenation.com/article/the-supreme-court-wont-reinstate-the-countrys-worst-voter-suppression-law/
May 15, 2017
Jeez - When Rand Paul is the voice of reason ...
Every day is another trip through the looking glass ...
https://twitter.com/randpaul/status/863175327027220481
Today I released the following statement in response to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
May 14, 2017
But when we defer to effing SCIENCE ...
FACTS. Who knew?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-thinks-that-exercising-too-much-uses-up-the-bodys-finite-energy/2017/05/12/bb0b9bda-365d-11e7-b4ee-434b6d506b37_story.html
Trump - Precious Bodily Fluids
Dr. Strangelove, Redux - ride 'em, cowboy ...
"Trump thinks that exercising too much uses up the body’s ‘finite’ energy"
So when we follow the TRUMP THEORY ...
President Trump reportedly eschews exercise because he believes it drains the body’s “finite” energy resources, but experts say this argument is flawed because the human body actually becomes stronger with exercise.
Trump’s views on exercise were mentioned in a New Yorker article this month and in “Trump Revealed,” The Washington Post’s 2016 biography of the president, which noted that Trump mostly gave up athletics after college because he “believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted” ...
Trump’s views on exercise were mentioned in a New Yorker article this month and in “Trump Revealed,” The Washington Post’s 2016 biography of the president, which noted that Trump mostly gave up athletics after college because he “believed the human body was like a battery, with a finite amount of energy, which exercise only depleted” ...
But when we defer to effing SCIENCE ...
Rather than thinking of energy stores as a battery, “a better analogy would be like the fire that you continue to fuel with more coal or wood,” Jonesco said. “You need to continue to add fuel, or your flame will die. This is true whether you exercise or not. .?.?. Simply by existing, we are burning energy.”
What’s more, although exercise puts a temporary stress on the body, the body adapts to that stress so that the heart and muscles become stronger and more efficient. “If we can create a battery that, every time it’s used, actually becomes more powerful and efficient, then sure, our body is like that battery,” Jonesco said.
Some studies have even found that exercise makes people feel more energized. In one study, conducted in 2008, researchers tested the effects of exercise on 36 people who reported feeling chronically tired but didn’t have a medical condition to explain their fatigue. They found that the people who engaged in 20 minutes of low-to-moderate-intensity exercise three times a week reported a 20 percent increase in their feelings of energy,compared with a control group of people who didn’t work out at all.
What’s more, although exercise puts a temporary stress on the body, the body adapts to that stress so that the heart and muscles become stronger and more efficient. “If we can create a battery that, every time it’s used, actually becomes more powerful and efficient, then sure, our body is like that battery,” Jonesco said.
Some studies have even found that exercise makes people feel more energized. In one study, conducted in 2008, researchers tested the effects of exercise on 36 people who reported feeling chronically tired but didn’t have a medical condition to explain their fatigue. They found that the people who engaged in 20 minutes of low-to-moderate-intensity exercise three times a week reported a 20 percent increase in their feelings of energy,compared with a control group of people who didn’t work out at all.
FACTS. Who knew?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/trump-thinks-that-exercising-too-much-uses-up-the-bodys-finite-energy/2017/05/12/bb0b9bda-365d-11e7-b4ee-434b6d506b37_story.html
May 14, 2017
Fevered Dream - Liberty U plus Trump equals
Since I am dreaming:
Trump either resigns ... or is impeached.
Liberty U has just given him an Honorary degree.
I want to hear their response about how he represents their values ...
May 14, 2017
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/his-kampf/524505/
Richard Spencer is a troll and icon for white supremacists. He was also my high-school classmate
Just FYI if you like to round out your thinking with diverse material - A long, complex, humanizing, unflinching, and unflattering (but interesting) article about white supremacist Richard Spencer ... by his former classmate:
Final paragraphs:
As one who knew Spencer when we were both hapless, overprivileged adolescents, sharing a desire to transcend our origins, what interests me the most about him is his self-reinvention, the intellectual costume changes (foppish actor, grad-school blowhard, opera-director manqué, and now architect of a white utopian dream of world-historical consequence) spanning three decades. After all, it is said that one of the great advantages of America is that its daughters and sons can escape the strictures of the world in which they were raised, be unlike their forefathers. Spencer has certainly done that.
Much about his most recent and significant transformation reminds me of a 1957 Norman Mailer essay, “The White Negro,” that tried to explain trends in white culture during an age that was, in some ways, as disorienting as our own. Living in the shadow of nuclear annihilation, and having freshly returned from war, whites found their own culture anemic and soporific. They craved danger—and they found it by imitating blacks, who knew danger without craving it, and whose culture, language, and daily life were smelling salts for their own. Mailer described the sensation: “No Negro can saunter down a street with any real certainty that violence will not visit him on his walk … [He knows] in the cells of his existence that life [is] war, nothing but war.” Spencer, too, is a pale imitator. He wanted danger, or thought he did, and now he has it.
Spencer must have known that the life he was choosing would get him hated and taunted. But he seemed at most half-aware that it would get him slugged in the face, and completely unaware that it might get him killed. Fifty years ago, George Lincoln Rockwell, the urbane leader of the American Nazi Party, was shot dead in the parking lot of a laundromat, just seven miles from where Spencer lives now. There must be an intellectual thrill in knowing that people might care enough to want to kill you. Spencer seemed unsure whether the thrill would remain worth the risk.
It is difficult to conceive of a path to repentance for Spencer. There is enough in his philosophy that is challenging to the modern American condition, and enough about the modern American condition that is challenging to itself, that he isn’t likely to be convinced of his error. His revolutionary movement is unlikely to succeed. But it is, I fear, authentic and durable. The shame of its indecency is felt only by those who share the country with Spencer, not by the man himself.
Much about his most recent and significant transformation reminds me of a 1957 Norman Mailer essay, “The White Negro,” that tried to explain trends in white culture during an age that was, in some ways, as disorienting as our own. Living in the shadow of nuclear annihilation, and having freshly returned from war, whites found their own culture anemic and soporific. They craved danger—and they found it by imitating blacks, who knew danger without craving it, and whose culture, language, and daily life were smelling salts for their own. Mailer described the sensation: “No Negro can saunter down a street with any real certainty that violence will not visit him on his walk … [He knows] in the cells of his existence that life [is] war, nothing but war.” Spencer, too, is a pale imitator. He wanted danger, or thought he did, and now he has it.
Spencer must have known that the life he was choosing would get him hated and taunted. But he seemed at most half-aware that it would get him slugged in the face, and completely unaware that it might get him killed. Fifty years ago, George Lincoln Rockwell, the urbane leader of the American Nazi Party, was shot dead in the parking lot of a laundromat, just seven miles from where Spencer lives now. There must be an intellectual thrill in knowing that people might care enough to want to kill you. Spencer seemed unsure whether the thrill would remain worth the risk.
It is difficult to conceive of a path to repentance for Spencer. There is enough in his philosophy that is challenging to the modern American condition, and enough about the modern American condition that is challenging to itself, that he isn’t likely to be convinced of his error. His revolutionary movement is unlikely to succeed. But it is, I fear, authentic and durable. The shame of its indecency is felt only by those who share the country with Spencer, not by the man himself.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/06/his-kampf/524505/
May 14, 2017
Nikki Haley: Prez is CEO, can fire whomever he wants ...
Oh Nikki, Nikki, Nikki ... thank you for the "context-free" assertion:
https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC/status/863748654410088449
New Rule: ACTING is best when preceded by THINKING ... and, if President, by CONSULTING.
Tweet: .@nikkihaley: "The president is the CEO of the country. He can hire and fire whomever he wants."
May 13, 2017
David Frum of The Atlantic posted this revealing tweet thread this week:
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/863386179802103811
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/863385858891821061
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/863385704814051328
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/863381480302661632
Obviously, there ARE Watergate similarities ... but his distinctions are worth noting. I am wondering what weight/action his group of moderate/traditional Republicans are considering. Combined with Dems, their combined heft could be significant in a further crisis of Country vs Party. Also interesting to me that he is already prepared to throw Pence under the bus based on this past week. That is significant, coming from a Republican ...
TWEET SUMMARY:
This isn't REMOTELY like Watergate ...
I like to dabble my toe in the water from all sides, mainstream, far left and right, to know how people think and what is in the wind. Perspective is useful, IMO:David Frum of The Atlantic posted this revealing tweet thread this week:
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/863386179802103811
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/863385858891821061
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/863385704814051328
https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/863381480302661632
Obviously, there ARE Watergate similarities ... but his distinctions are worth noting. I am wondering what weight/action his group of moderate/traditional Republicans are considering. Combined with Dems, their combined heft could be significant in a further crisis of Country vs Party. Also interesting to me that he is already prepared to throw Pence under the bus based on this past week. That is significant, coming from a Republican ...
TWEET SUMMARY:
- This isn’t remotely like Watergate. Watergate arose from domestic espionage.
- This isn’t remotely like Watergate. During Watergate, Congress cared whether laws had been broken.
- This isn’t remotely like Watergate. During Watergate, honorable people in government resigned rather than be associated with improper acts.
- One conclusion from the week’s events: Mike Pence is more orderly and disciplined than Trump, but no more respectful of truth & legality
- This isn’t remotely like Watergate. During Watergate, Congress cared whether laws had been broken.
- This isn’t remotely like Watergate. During Watergate, honorable people in government resigned rather than be associated with improper acts.
- One conclusion from the week’s events: Mike Pence is more orderly and disciplined than Trump, but no more respectful of truth & legality
May 12, 2017
Unravel FASTER, please, Donald ...
MORE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5915d612e4b02d6199b2ee76
(emphases mine)
Donald Trump - UNRAVELING
Driving into work this morning, this is the exact word I decided described how I felt about the Trump presidency ... "unraveling."
So nice to find this article: Donald Trump’s Presidency is Unraveling
Donald Trump’s biography as of November 7th, 2016 would’ve included the following: sued by the U.S. Justice Department for racial discrimination; pretended to be his own PR flaks “John Miller” and “John Barron” during calls to the media; bankrupted multiple business; questioned a sitting U.S president’s citizenship; mocked the disabled; disparaged veterans and war heroes; attacked the Pope; promoted sexism, racism and anti-Semitism; admitted sexual assaults on women; and lied 24/7. The following day, incredibly, “45th U.S President” would be added. But is it a surprise that just three months into his presidency his administration appears to be careening off the proverbial cliff at 180 MPH?
Most Americans understood how unqualified and erratic Trump was, and to the tune of 3-million votes chose Hillary Clinton instead. But that pesky little thing called the Electoral College had a different plan. By a margin of about 80,000 votes (and with some help from ex-FBI Director James Comey and Russian President Vladimir Putin) in the key “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Trump squeaked out a shocking victory. The unfortunate result is that we now have the most emotional, insecure, impulsive, petulant, volatile, mentally-unhinged and dangerous president in the history of Western democracy. It’s a bone-chilling reality ...
... This utterly dizzying vortex of bullshit has been perpetuated by vice-president Mike Pence, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Principle Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Trump himself. CNN’s Dabid Chalian called this latest stunning display of lying a “crisis of credibility.” And it’s only getting worse ...
... A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday provided some disastrous new data for the administration: when asked for a one-word description of Trump, the top three words were “idiot,” “incompetent” and “liar.” And his approval dropped to 36% from 40% in mid-April (He’s only 111 days into his presidency. Historically, a president’s popularity erodes precipitously throughout his term) ...
... Trump is personally spiraling out of control and sabotaging his presidency. Judging from the spate of terminations so far, (including Attorney General Sally Yates and NY federal prosecutor Preet Bharara), reports of staff infighting, frequent and critical leaks and the dark cloud of RussiaGate looming ominously over the White House, it’s hard to fathom how he can or will last four years.
Most Americans understood how unqualified and erratic Trump was, and to the tune of 3-million votes chose Hillary Clinton instead. But that pesky little thing called the Electoral College had a different plan. By a margin of about 80,000 votes (and with some help from ex-FBI Director James Comey and Russian President Vladimir Putin) in the key “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Trump squeaked out a shocking victory. The unfortunate result is that we now have the most emotional, insecure, impulsive, petulant, volatile, mentally-unhinged and dangerous president in the history of Western democracy. It’s a bone-chilling reality ...
... This utterly dizzying vortex of bullshit has been perpetuated by vice-president Mike Pence, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Principle Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Trump himself. CNN’s Dabid Chalian called this latest stunning display of lying a “crisis of credibility.” And it’s only getting worse ...
... A Quinnipiac poll released Thursday provided some disastrous new data for the administration: when asked for a one-word description of Trump, the top three words were “idiot,” “incompetent” and “liar.” And his approval dropped to 36% from 40% in mid-April (He’s only 111 days into his presidency. Historically, a president’s popularity erodes precipitously throughout his term) ...
... Trump is personally spiraling out of control and sabotaging his presidency. Judging from the spate of terminations so far, (including Attorney General Sally Yates and NY federal prosecutor Preet Bharara), reports of staff infighting, frequent and critical leaks and the dark cloud of RussiaGate looming ominously over the White House, it’s hard to fathom how he can or will last four years.
Unravel FASTER, please, Donald ...
MORE:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5915d612e4b02d6199b2ee76
(emphases mine)
May 12, 2017
Trump under pressure (too funny for me not to post)
Evey day I hope I will run across at least ONE thing that will make me laugh in spite of myself, to alleviate the dread from living in an abusive President-Public relationship I can't seem to extricate myself from.
Humor is relative, but this did it for ME today:
https://twitter.com/JayCostTWS/status/863099068926578692
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