Prospect of a Biden-Trump rematch shows how far U.S. democracy has fallen –
and we have no one to blame but ourselves.
J. P. Jefferson suggested this opinion piece on December 19, 2023. I just ran across J. P. Jefferson’s recommendation again or for the first time, sigh. I just do not remember. I was able to sign into this WSJ Kevin Williamson piece due to my having a highly discounted paid subscription. Sometimes and when you create a logon, they let you have so many freebies per month. Hoping you will subscribe to their journals, etc.
Only going to post the beginning few paragraphs. Try the create a sign in for the rest of it.
A few more words to be said. Politicians incorrectly using Yellen, Guthrie, Greenwood, or Springstein’s music and words to fan political support or bad times is just wrong headed. It is a misinterpretation.
Most of the politicians do not understand what the words portend. Not sure why Roosevelt felt “Happy Days are Here Again” was the right song for the time during a recession and the hints of a war. Maybe just give hope?
Read Kevin D. Williamson words on the topic. If you can get the rest of the WSJ article, great!
Election 2024: You Asked for It, America, WSJ, Kevin D. Williamson
The problem with campaign rally songs is that nobody ever picks the right one. Franklin Roosevelt chose “Happy Days Are Here Again” in the middle of the Great Depression with Adolf Hitler rising to power in Germany. Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” has charmed Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump, none of whom apparently ever actually listened to the lyrics of that lament for post-Vietnam malaise and economic decline. George H.W. Bush used Woody Guthrie’s pinko anthem
“This Land Is Your Land.”
Lately, Trump has been using Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” a diabetes-inducing hunk of treacle that makes me want to join the Islamic State, while Joe Biden has gone back to the Guthrie well with a version of “Shipping Up to Boston” by the Dropkick Murphys, a band that, like Joe Biden, is still getting by playing hits from the 1990s.
I have my own theme song for the 2024 election, David Bowie’s magnificent 1995 collaboration with Brian Eno:
“I’m Afraid of Americans.”
It is an anthem for our times.
Presidential elections are almost always showy, nationalistic affairs, full of appeals to patriotism and unity, occasions upon which even Ivy League diversity officers wave the flag and festoon the public square in red, white and blue. And that points to the tension at the heart of the dreadful and contemptible 2024 presidential election, which almost certainly will be fought out by Donald Trump, a depraved game-show host who tried to stage a coup d’état when he lost his 2020 re-election bid, and Joe Biden, a plagiarist and fabulist first elected to public office 53 years ago who is going to be spending a lot of time this campaign season thinking about his family’s influence-peddling business and the tricky questions related to it, like whether you can deduct hookers as a business expense.
AB: Not so sure I agree with the author’s thoughts on Biden. Yeah, Biden has his faults and plenty of them. He was the right person in 2020 during the pandemic, and now. His efforts during the pandemic saved many people’s lives with economic aid and healthcare insurance. His pushing back on trump and Repubs are exactly what was needed.
With Time Running Short, Liz Cheney Implores Republicans to Reject Trump
NY Times – Jan 7
@Dobbs,
The problem with Cheney’s pitch is that she’s trying to use reason and logic. The Trump GOP is a cult. Cult members didn’t get there by way of reasoning, so they can’t be reasoned out of it.
Joel:
I agree with your analysis. The only thing trump ill understand is a jail cell. And then his world will fall apart. He beleieve it will never happen to him. One can only hope. A diet would do him some good.
Wow, not many here today. Must be some games going on somewhere.
There was a time that even Mitt Romney’s politics seemed moderate enough to be palatable, otherwise Massachusetts would not have supported him. He got that from his father George, guv’nah of Michigan. Liz Cheney comes from the darker side of GOP politics, if you recall Dick Cheney, architect of the Iraq war and other misadventures.
So, these moderate GOP pols are (just barely) palatable. As noble as they can sometimes seem, they come from a darker place. And they are completely ineffectual inside the modern Trump-brand GOP.
The GOP majority, blue- and white-collar alike, want their Bad Boy President back.
Mitt Romney was totally tuned to the political requirements of office-holding in Massachusetts. He followed the wishes of the liberal majority which remains in place here, because it was necessary to stay in office. Then he left the commonwealth behind.
The GOP majority is not representative of consensus in the US.
It is only a majority within a minority party. One must try to remember that, while recalling that it includes (& has for many years) the worst political tricksters in this country.
In the overall population of the US, GOP voters represent a distinct minority, too low in the popular vote count to matter. Yet they do, by hook or crook. Go figure.
As cults go, it’s a pretty big one. Maybe dominates not only Iowa & NH but also 24 other states.
Joel:
You are correct. Reason and logic is not on this generation’s Republican political menu. It has been abandoned for a chaos and disruption policy. If one were to call it a policy.
(Scary thoughts.)
How College-Educated Republicans Learned to Love Trump Again
NY Times – this morning
Blue-collar white voters make up Donald Trump’s base. But his political resurgence has been fueled largely by Republicans from the other end of the socioeconomic scale.
The GOP dominates politics in 26 states. Not a country-wide popular vote majority, but with gerrymandering & vote/voter suppression, it remains a potent force.
Still hoping liberal democracy will prevail.
Voters Look Past Legal Problems to Give Trump a Big Victory
NY Times – January 16
The possibility of a two-person race remains elusive for Trump foes, who fear a split field will ease his path to the nomination.
The Most Durable Force in American Politics: Trump’s Ties to His Voters
NY Times – about 3 hours ago
If Donald Trump’s rivals want to stop his rise, they’ll need to break his bond with his supporters. They didn’t come close in Iowa.
Trump won Iowa with about 56K votes (51%).
There are 719K GOP voters in Iowa (& 715K ‘unaffiliated’.)
There’s little doubt where Iowa’s electoral votes are headed in November.
Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Ramaswamy pulled out. DeSantos may be next.
After Iowa, Trump Is Back to Command the National Psyche. He Never Actually Left.
NY Times – just in
The former president’s detractors own no earplugs effective enough to block out his steamrolling bid for a third nomination.
The best-case scenarios for Haley and DeSantis don’t end in nomination
Washington Post – just in
The Deification of Donald Trump Poses Some Interesting Questions
NY Tmes – Thomas Edsall – Jan 17