Why a Massive Turnout Is Needed
Then the work begins
There is a ubiquitous wave of trepidation in progress for non-MAGA believers, one that we’re seen in every election since 2016, when Donald Trump shocked much of the nation by winning the presidency.
Call it paranoia if you must, but it’s real on a visceral level for millions of Americans. It’s a sinking feeling about the worst in us triumphantly setting about to undo a century’s worth of social and political changes.
So today, I’m going to face that fear, at least in the larger sense. Having faced that fear I hope to be more determined than ever to save our democratic republic. (I say those words instead of “democracy” because it drives MAGAts crazy.)
At its root, MAGA is about a class of Americans resentful of what they see as infringements on their way of life. It’s the greediest among us exploiting fiscal uncertainty, racial and gender-based resentment, and fears of an unknown future. Empathy is considered a sign of weakness; self-centeredness is considered devine. Truth is a relative commodity in a universe of commodification.
This sense of being infringed upon and angry about it has existed for more than a century and a half. It stems from resentment left over from our great Civil War and the class divisions arising in a non-agrarian society, unlike anything our founders could have imagined.
You can blame Donald Trump on our national need for diversion/entertainment. The original producer of The Apprentice was right –albeit late– to have apologized for molding public perceptions of a snake oil salesman into a symbol of success.
In 2016, the nation was lucky. The MAGA President didn’t anticipate winning in the sense that preparations for governance were made; thinking beyond the aims of self-enrichments and gratification hadn’t occurred. A government of seemingly ideologically aligned people wasn’t capable of functioning (mostly) in an environment where the ego of its executive was the guiding light.
At elections since Trump’s ascension into the White House, voters have rejected creating the critical mass of legislative loyalists needed for unfettered power. Over the past six years some once-upon-a-time establishmentarians have come to believe that fealty to the man is a path for personal advancement. Thus we have the likes of the Jewish Space Lasers lady and the old nag from Kentucky working hard to prove the premise that representative governance is a burden and not capable of fulfilling its roles outlined in the constitution.
The election of President Joe Biden meant that the core elements of governance centered on a liberal interpretation of the desires of the population at large began to blossom. Guardrails damaged and destroyed were semi-repaired (food safety responsibilities excepted).
In 2024, we are at a crossroads, and the ambitions of the “me-first” class are desperately seeking a do-over from their last attempt at ruling the nation.
Democrats' dreams of political and legislative accomplishments, should they triumph at the ballot box, may have to be put on hold in the face of various acts of nihilist sabotage staged around the country. Standing up for democracy may be just as important after the election as before.
For those of you who guffaw at the negativity of my analysis, I say look at how much of the mainstream and digital media has acquiesced to normalizing the abnormal. A candidate for the top job in our government thinks it’s ok to joke about an athlete’s genitalia and threaten to jail his opponents, and most of the population is unaware.
Beyond the destruction of representative rule along with economic and political guardrails comes the nitty gritty of governance. Donald Trump promised to do right by a room full of dirty energy oligarchs in return for campaign contributions, and God only knows what promises he’s made to the billionaires providing 70% of his funding.
The gameplan (Project 2025) created by the Heritage Foundation and other apologists for a theocratic oligarchy will be followed when it’s convenient, keeping its intentions intact as the whims of our dear leader will allow.
The people who say Trump’s dementia really means we’re voting on VP candidate JD Vance are right in the larger sense that the path followed would remain largely the same. An autocracy needs a figurehead, so we might get to see A Weekend at Bernies-type staging in the oval office.
Here’s legal commentator Dean Obeidallah:
Invoking the 25th Amendment would of course trigger a massive spectacle and constitutional crisis. Imagine if this all played out on the national stage with members of Congress being lobbied by pro-Trump forces while others lobby to remove him?! If Trump truly didn’t want to let go of power, he would make it ugly from slamming Republicans trying to remove him as “traitors” to calling on his supporters to engage in another Jan 6 attack upon Congress. And it would cause the MAGA base to likely despise JD Vance and other Republicans who supported what will be seen as a coup.
That is why this is not how the GOP bosses and oligarchs will proceed. If Trump does increasingly become incompetent, they will simply manipulate him behind the scenes to fulfill their right-wing dreams such as turning Project 2025 into law. They will limit his public appearances as much as possible while getting him to sign executive orders, laws, etc. that implement their pro-wealthy and pro-religious fundamentalist aspirations.
This very scenario appears to have already occurred during Ronald Reagan’s final years in office. While it was never confirmed by doctors at the time, some have revealed that Reagan was suffering from Alzheimer’s in his final years of office in 1986-1989.
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Finally, there’s the economic package being bandied about by the Trump campaign. Suffice it to say it’s a mess. This week we learned that the no-tax-on-tips and mass deportations would essentially bankrupt Social Security in six years.
Lest you think that such maneuvers aren’t possible, I refer you to establishmentarian Adam S. Posen, writing at Foreign Affairs.
The first Trump administration did, in fact, carry out most of its promised trade, fiscal, and labor policies—and maintained them even as the policies delivered poor results. As with the madman approach to foreign policy, threats must be credible to have their desired effect. If enough pundits and investors bet that Trump won’t do the things he says he will, or that he would withdraw them should their costs rise, then he would need to make good on them to demonstrate his toughness. Otherwise, he would be ignored by foreign governments and businesses, which is certainly not his desired outcome.
But the problem with Trump’s agenda is more profound than the fact that his policies would damage the U.S. economy. Unlike in foreign policy, where creating insecurity abroad through unpredictable policy might in certain circumstances yield beneficial results, in the macroeconomic realm, creating insecurity would harm the United States’ productive capacity. In global markets, Washington can try to bargain with governments. But individual businesses, investors, and hundreds of millions of ordinary people, both at home and abroad, will react by trying to reduce their vulnerability to the Trump administration, and the United States cannot control or deter such reactions.
As a result, any short-term benefits gained by driving a hard bargain in bilateral negotiations or in a given industry would be vastly outweighed by the macroeconomic costs of generating uncertainty. This is the fundamental flaw that shapes Trump’s agenda, which is radically different from any economic program pursued by either major U.S. political party during the past half century. If Trump wins, he will at least try to weaponize uncertainty through threats, and the damage to the United States will be difficult to reverse.
You see, what Trump, and by extension MAGA-types envision is the destruction of the economic and political power of the U.S. In this “me-first” rule, the economic, political, and societal model for the future will be similar to that in Hungary, the most-favored-nation of reactionaries.
There is unrest in Hungary, which is bottled up and diminished. Its inevitable outcome will be more repression as a nation whose life blood now comes largely from Russia will dictate.
Finally, Heather Cox Richardson recounted the story of American journalist Dorothy Thompson, who saw first hand the rise of Hitler and went on to crusade against the rise of fascism in the U.S.
When 22,000 American Nazis held a rally at New York City’s Madison Square Garden in honor of President George Washington’s birthday on February 20, 1939, Thompson sat in the front row of the press box, where she laughed loudly during the speeches and yelled “Bunk!” at the stage, illustrating that she would not be muzzled by Nazis. After being escorted out, she returned to her seat, where stormtroopers surrounded her. She later told a reporter: “I was amazed to see a duplicate of what I saw seven years ago in Germany. Tonight I listened to words taken out of the mouth of Adolf Hitler.”...
…In Paris following her expulsion from Berlin, Thompson told a reporter for the Associated Press that the reason she had been attacked was the same reason that Hitler’s power was growing. “Chancellor Hitler is no longer a man, he is a religion,” she said.
Think about this when you hear or see accounts of the MAGA rally in Madison Square Garden this weekend. And make sure you and everybody in your network votes with these stakes in mind.
Here are the links for my 2024 Voting Guides
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Tuesday’s Other News to Think About
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Coronado Council Race Turns Bitter as City Politics Shift Left by Jim Hinch at Voice of San Diego
Republicans in the race pointed to recent Democratic attempts to tie them to a controversial San Diego megachurch that drew protesters when it started a satellite congregation in Coronado earlier this year.
A political organization affiliated with the church recently issued a guide to voters that includes endorsements of several Republican candidates in Coronado races. Left-leaning contributors to local social media groups were quick to trumpet the guide as evidence of right-wing extremism in local Republican politics. “The administrators on those Facebook sites jumped right on that,” Fleming said.
All four endorsed candidates told local news organizations they never sought the church’s endorsement and weren’t contacted by its representatives. Several condemned the church’s message and asked it to withdraw its support.
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Retiring the US debt would retire the US dollar by Cory Doctorow at Pluralistic.net:
The net of dollars the government spends in a given year minus the dollars the government taxes out of existence that year is called "the national deficit." The total of all those national deficits is called "the national debt." All the dollars in circulation today are the result of this national debt. If the US government didn't have a debt, there would be no dollars in circulation.
The only way to eliminate the national debt is to tax every dollar in circulation out of existence. Because the national debt is "all the dollars the government has ever spent," minus "all the dollars the government has ever taxed." In accounting terms, "The US deficit is the public's credit."
When billionaires like Warren Buffet tell Jesse Eisinger that he doesn't pay tax because "he thinks his money is better spent on charitable works rather than contributing to an insignificant reduction of the deficit," he is, at best, technically wrong about why we tax, and at worst, he's telling a self-serving lie. The US government doesn't need to eliminate its debt. Doing so would be catastrophic. "Retiring the US debt" is the same thing as "retiring the US dollar."
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FTC’s rule banning fake online reviews goes into effect via The Associated Press
The Federal Trade Commission issued the rule in August banning the sale or purchase of online reviews. The rule, which went into effect Monday, allows the agency to seek civil penalties against those who knowingly violate it.
“Fake reviews not only waste people’s time and money, but also pollute the marketplace and divert business away from honest competitors,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said about the rule in August. She added that the rule will “protect Americans from getting cheated, put businesses that unlawfully game the system on notice, and promote markets that are fair, honest, and competitive.”
Specifically, the rule bans reviews and testimonials attributed to people who don’t exist or are generated by artificial intelligence, people who don’t have experience with the business or product/services, or misrepresent their experience.
Thank you, Doug!