Shouldn’t someone note that the role of dark and seemingly limitless money in our politics has brought us to a kind of undemocratic kleptocracy already?
I’ve arrived at that conclusion about him, too. Some still imagine him as someone trying to meditate the more extremist justices, but he’s only trying to obscure his dirty work. Citizens United, partisan gerrymandering, dismantling the VRA, and now presidential immunity.
The dissonance of relying on an anti-democratic system to protect democracy, one that would have the majority stand up against authoritarian rule, yet still succumb if a handful of people in the right geographies tilt the other way is a significant contributor to this dread. That and the shear befuddlement of being told it's a close race when there is such a clear choice between competence, decency, truth and... whatever Trump is. It boggles. Yet I remain hopeful that when the day comes, we will prevail and realize we are a better people than our online lives make us out to be.
Just adding a voice of thanks for your being in the world, and your ability to speak so clearly. Thank you for your work and I am glad we are here together.
Good morning, David...a heartfelt, elegiac discourse on the depressing state of affairs into which we find ourselves immersed...more like quicksand,
where we are sinking but seemingly either unaware or incapable of recognizing the direness of our plight. As one would say, "I feel your pain", as
my family, our friends, and I look on almost in horror at the so obvious choice that's RIGHT THERE, and yet tens of millions of our fellow citizens - I use the term ironically here - prefer the dark side.
Certainly, blame can be cast in many directions for why we are where we are a few short weeks from so momentous an election, and to those who have failed us in arresting the growth of the MAGA cancer, much opprobrium is richly deserved, but we must continue to struggle against succumbing to what simply cannot be the inevitable, and remain committed to turning back this malignant tide of perversion and - yes, fascism - while the power to do still rests with *we, the people".
Your commentary today is both solemn and difficult to take on board, but, for God's sake, how else to describe the state of affairs to which you so eloquently bear witness? All I can say at this point is that it's not over yet, and even a 2-EV win by Harris-Walz would be cause for massive rejoicing, so let us persevere despite the quotidian noise and distraction, and push toward a victory - no matter how slight - given the stakes.
I’m worried you are correct however I also believe that journalism is changing. As HCR pointed out in her newsletter, journalism rapidly changed when the papers of the time tried to suppress abolition stories when human enslavement was expanding westward. I think this was also pointed out in the Atlantic. It’s demonstrated by the fact that the media is so pissed off that Kamala has spoken to podcasters and invited influencers to the dnc. We are at inflection point and I believe we are heading towards a more progressive time. One can only hope.
When mourning all we have lost in ceding mindspace to the MAGA population and Trump loyalists, we should not forget the hard truth of hundreds of thousands of deaths and all that warm blood on all their hands from covid mismanagement, school massacres, and police defending us on July6. All those deaths rest on the petty, hateful would-be orange-fluffed dictator (minus the tator).
Once again, I find your opening essay thoughtful, heartbreaking, insightful, comforting, on point, and smart. I just want to tell you how appreciative I am of your writing. It is an utterly disturbing moment where we just don’t know what will happen, and are baffled and frightened by the number of people who have lost any moral compass and sense of patriotism (the old kind). We are seeing the worst of human kind trying to rule over us and throw away everything we have built. Thank you for community and hope.
Okay. I agree with most of the points in this newsletter about the media and how they have utterly failed at their job of educating the public and treating this as a normal election. But enough with the depressing view of what comes next. Yes trump is a vile POS and the Republican Party is in lockstep but we know that. He’s a con artist and grifter appealing to people who want to be conned and rich people who want power and low taxes.
But this take from the media that the joy is gone and it’s a slog to the end and the endless polling with all these crappy republican trash polls figured in to depress turnout. Get over it. There is genuine enthusiasm for Kamala. One billion in donations! People getting out and phoning, writing letters. This is the movement on the ground. And if we want to find our way out of this morass we don’t give up in despair we work for the change we want.
In addition to the problem with political journalism treating Trump as a normal candidate, there are large portions of the electorate, both on the right and the left, who are refusing to support Harris because they have policy disagreements with her and the Biden administration. They don't seem to understand that if Trump gets reelected, they risk being no longer being able to voice those disagreements at all in any normal fashion. The political process they were used to will have ceased to exist.
Shouldn’t someone note that the role of dark and seemingly limitless money in our politics has brought us to a kind of undemocratic kleptocracy already?
John Roberts worked for years to make it that way.
I’ve arrived at that conclusion about him, too. Some still imagine him as someone trying to meditate the more extremist justices, but he’s only trying to obscure his dirty work. Citizens United, partisan gerrymandering, dismantling the VRA, and now presidential immunity.
All confirmed in David Daley's new book, ANTIDEMOCRATIC, Inside the Far Right's 50-Year Plot to Control American Elections. Recommended reading.
He's as big an assclown as tangeranus.
The dissonance of relying on an anti-democratic system to protect democracy, one that would have the majority stand up against authoritarian rule, yet still succumb if a handful of people in the right geographies tilt the other way is a significant contributor to this dread. That and the shear befuddlement of being told it's a close race when there is such a clear choice between competence, decency, truth and... whatever Trump is. It boggles. Yet I remain hopeful that when the day comes, we will prevail and realize we are a better people than our online lives make us out to be.
Thanks, David for expressing the extreme disquiet I feel at how “normal” this weird fall into fascism is becoming
Just adding a voice of thanks for your being in the world, and your ability to speak so clearly. Thank you for your work and I am glad we are here together.
Good work, David!
Good morning, David...a heartfelt, elegiac discourse on the depressing state of affairs into which we find ourselves immersed...more like quicksand,
where we are sinking but seemingly either unaware or incapable of recognizing the direness of our plight. As one would say, "I feel your pain", as
my family, our friends, and I look on almost in horror at the so obvious choice that's RIGHT THERE, and yet tens of millions of our fellow citizens - I use the term ironically here - prefer the dark side.
Certainly, blame can be cast in many directions for why we are where we are a few short weeks from so momentous an election, and to those who have failed us in arresting the growth of the MAGA cancer, much opprobrium is richly deserved, but we must continue to struggle against succumbing to what simply cannot be the inevitable, and remain committed to turning back this malignant tide of perversion and - yes, fascism - while the power to do still rests with *we, the people".
Your commentary today is both solemn and difficult to take on board, but, for God's sake, how else to describe the state of affairs to which you so eloquently bear witness? All I can say at this point is that it's not over yet, and even a 2-EV win by Harris-Walz would be cause for massive rejoicing, so let us persevere despite the quotidian noise and distraction, and push toward a victory - no matter how slight - given the stakes.
I’m worried you are correct however I also believe that journalism is changing. As HCR pointed out in her newsletter, journalism rapidly changed when the papers of the time tried to suppress abolition stories when human enslavement was expanding westward. I think this was also pointed out in the Atlantic. It’s demonstrated by the fact that the media is so pissed off that Kamala has spoken to podcasters and invited influencers to the dnc. We are at inflection point and I believe we are heading towards a more progressive time. One can only hope.
Bravo.
When mourning all we have lost in ceding mindspace to the MAGA population and Trump loyalists, we should not forget the hard truth of hundreds of thousands of deaths and all that warm blood on all their hands from covid mismanagement, school massacres, and police defending us on July6. All those deaths rest on the petty, hateful would-be orange-fluffed dictator (minus the tator).
Once again, I find your opening essay thoughtful, heartbreaking, insightful, comforting, on point, and smart. I just want to tell you how appreciative I am of your writing. It is an utterly disturbing moment where we just don’t know what will happen, and are baffled and frightened by the number of people who have lost any moral compass and sense of patriotism (the old kind). We are seeing the worst of human kind trying to rule over us and throw away everything we have built. Thank you for community and hope.
Thanks for today’s post and all the thought that went into it.
I like it so much, I’m going to take pass on noting any quibbles. (Of course, anyone following me can guess what those are.)
As Robert Hubbell says, we have every reason to be hopeful, but no reason to be complacent. Keep bringing your message, David, and keep the faith.
Well....Damn, David. 😳💔😫
Okay. I agree with most of the points in this newsletter about the media and how they have utterly failed at their job of educating the public and treating this as a normal election. But enough with the depressing view of what comes next. Yes trump is a vile POS and the Republican Party is in lockstep but we know that. He’s a con artist and grifter appealing to people who want to be conned and rich people who want power and low taxes.
But this take from the media that the joy is gone and it’s a slog to the end and the endless polling with all these crappy republican trash polls figured in to depress turnout. Get over it. There is genuine enthusiasm for Kamala. One billion in donations! People getting out and phoning, writing letters. This is the movement on the ground. And if we want to find our way out of this morass we don’t give up in despair we work for the change we want.
Fucking A. That is exactly how I feel right now. Despair and hopelessness that the grand American experiment has ended. We couldn't keep it.
In addition to the problem with political journalism treating Trump as a normal candidate, there are large portions of the electorate, both on the right and the left, who are refusing to support Harris because they have policy disagreements with her and the Biden administration. They don't seem to understand that if Trump gets reelected, they risk being no longer being able to voice those disagreements at all in any normal fashion. The political process they were used to will have ceased to exist.