Sick burn from Obama to the Republican establishment today:
“They stood by while this happened,” he said. “And Donald Trump, as he’s prone to do, he didn’t build the building himself, but he just slapped his name on it and took credit for it.”
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I’ve thought about this a few times, too. There is no way we’ll get a Trump concession speech. That would be the mature thing to do.
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Depressingly I can find a strong thread linking the least civil political discourse in the US: Race.
Before the Civil war, the strongest, most persistent argument by far was about Slavery. And it was the root cause of the Civil war, which like any war, was hardly civil. Arguably, part of the reason for the relatively civil political discourse in the 1945-65 period is that racial politics, which were as nasty and nearly as violent as ever, were not the fault line between the major political parties, so that they were not generally emphasized. It took LBJs signing of the civil rights act to bring that to a head in a way that divided the Democratic party at first, and then put the two parties on different sides of a racial divide. So of course with the election of Obama, the bigots became apoplectic, and pandering to them in an attempt to encourage them to vote them became an unadmitted plank of the Republican party.
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We had a break from truly nasty, 19th-century style Presidential campaigns from approx. 1942-2000 thanks to WWII and the post-war prosperity. Fighting an existential war together and then winning and being the world’s predominant economic power allowed American politicians and their supporters the breathing room to conduct themselves with a (relatively) greater degree of public civility. The trend toward the current coarseness began during the Clinton administration, was supercharged by Rove during the events leading to the Cheney Regency, and was set on an irreversible course when an African-American dared to run for President.
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Here’s the full speech. Worth a read, and very funny.
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McCain was somebody that I respected, even when I disagreed with him. Trump is somebody who I have NO respect for, even when I find that I happen to agree with some of the random cr@p that comes out of his mouth.
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–I’ll have to remember that one.
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When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
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We could try, but I don’t think Ratzinger and his cronies (who still exert influence despite the presence of the “cool Pope”) would agree with the sentiment.
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I hadn’t thought about it till now but what will Trump’s concession speech be like? Will he even be able to force himself to deliver one? I think there is at least a 50/50 chance that it will be along the lines of “All of you mofo’s can kiss my rich, white ass.”
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Somehow, I’m thinking something “Downfall-esque”
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My guess is “angry incoherent rant mixing misogyny, racism, xenophobia, accusations of voter fraud and claims of betrayal from his own party.”
If he concedes anything it will be in the same way he “conceded” that Obama was born in the US after the long-form birth certificate was released in 2011. (“Look how great I am for making the President do this thing! And also this doesn’t prove anything anyway!”)
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It could sadly still happen. I know everyone is calling victory for Hillary at this point, but this election is so fucked up in so many ways - widespread voter disenfranchisement, probable voter intimidation, Russian hacking, complacency, I wouldn’t count on a Trump loss until the votes actually come in. I don’t think I’m being paranoid here. Or at least, not as paranoid as events warrant.
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Sinclair Lewis, from Elmer Gantry. That, along with his It Can’t Happen Here, are too books that seem especially relevant for the time
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The narrative is all rugged individualist, the execution is certainly supportive of authoritarians, just not to the left of Bircher.
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God, if only more evangelicals could parse Gantry.
I didn’t know it was originally a novel, though! I’ll have to check it out.
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I’m picturing Cotton Mather cross with Andrew Jackson, with nukes.
I don’t like it.
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