by William Skink
As Democrats try feebly to rally their dejected rank and file into action (and donating dontchyaknow) a recent post at Moogirl caught my attention. The post itself–a snark-fest of predictable derision targeting Trump–suggests adopting the enemy’s tactics is mission critical in this dire fight for core liberal principals. Here is how Justin Robbins ends his “defense of the unconventional“:
Grounded in the same liberal principles which underlie the original American experiment, I will plant myself firmly in the face of any who would use this clown’s election as carte blanche to lash out at minorities, assault women, foment racism, or otherwise advance ignorance. It is not a time for good people to do nothing and if this pig’s chosen arena is the mud, I don’t mind getting dirty.
One comment on this post stood out, and it comes from Mark Anderlik, president of the Missoula Area Central Labor Council:
I asked myself “what is missing?” in this rather snarky piece. And it came to me that the author seems to believe everything was okay before the election of Trump. Neoliberal elites have failed the American people, as the Trump fascists will also inevitably do. Rejecting both political ideologies and replacing them with some kind of democratic socialism is what remains. And it begins with understanding what the 99% need.
We could also begin with what we don’t need: more obscene wealth pooling into fewer and fewer hands, like the 8 wealthiest men owning the same chunk of change as the poorest half of the global population, or 3.6 billion people.
But that’s not where we are. Nope, instead we have half the electorate thinking the wealthiest cabinet in history is going to be responsive to their needs while the other half is quadrupling down on Putin did it.
Yesterday–Martin Luther King day–the political outrage burned over one of Trump’s most audaciously bullshit tweets claiming Rep. John Lewis is all talk and no action. While that political firestorm erupted, it wasn’t until today that I heard what John Lewis actually said, which is this:
“I don’t see this President-elect as a legitimate president,” Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, told NBC News’ Chuck Todd in a clip released Friday. “I think the Russians participated in helping this man get elected. And they helped destroy the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.”
This comment is getting virtually no scrutiny, but it deserves some attention because it sparked this latest micro-drama in the kabuki theater our political stage has become.
First, an elected representative contesting the legitimacy of an incoming president is a big deal. If I was an elected representative preparing to publicly denounce an incoming president, I would be sure to use the best argument available to back it up. The impending Trump presidency offers a plethora of angles one could use to claim illegitimacy, like financial entanglements and a recent legal settlement for 25 million dollars awarded to the victims of the Trump University scam.
But those weren’t the arguments Rep. Lewis used. Instead it was “…the Russians participated in helping this man get elected.”
And why did Lewis use this angle to attack Trump? Because the Putin angle is a multi-functional attack that smears Trump while simultaneously providing cover for Hillary Clinton’s monumental failure to win the election.
The saddest part of this latest incremental step toward enacting a soft coup against Trump is the fact John Lewis offered up the credibility he bled for during the 60’s in order to provide cover for a soulless political machine built by the Clintons–a machine that steamrolled African American communities during the 90’s with tough-on-crime mandatory minimums, a racist drug war, free trade agreements and new holes in the social safety net with welfare reform.
John Lewis–and every desperate Democrat clinging to the false narrative that Putin cost Hillary Clinton the election–need a better strategy for deposing Trump from the White House. Resurrecting the Cold War to delegitimize Trump is not just idiotically short-sighted, it’s insanely dangerous.
To emphasize that point, imagine if this article was about Russia building up troops in Mexico:
About 1,000 of a promised 4,000 troops arrived in Poland at the start of the week, and a formal ceremony to welcome them is to be held on Saturday. Some people waved and held up American flags as the troops, tanks and heavy armoured vehicles crossed into south-western Poland from Germany, according to Associated Press.
But their arrival was not universally applauded. In Moscow, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We perceive it as a threat. These actions threaten our interests, our security. Especially as it concerns a third party building up its military presence near our borders. It’s [the US], not even a European state.”
How far is this going to go? And what are Democrats willing to risk to destroy Trump?
JC
Glad I’m not the only one to notice that about John Lewis.
I’m sure they’ll feel much better after Trump’s fake assassination. It’s like watching a “spaghetti western” cattle drive — but with zombies. The show must go on.
The French Revolution comes to mind.
http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=9391
Geez, there is so much wrong with this, including the conflation of identity politics with anti-christianity.
Basically, there are radical lunatics all across the spectrum, not just isolated to the left. Next, treating christianity as the ultimate moral authority neglects to mention the place of christianity in the vast history of oppression, war, rape and pillage. But hidden among all of this is the same old black/white duality meant to conflate moderation with radicalism.
And this is just a way to justify one’s position, whatever it may be — like that it is ok to be a rich white racist, because one’s christianity provides the cover to oppress those who are not rich white racists.
Still pissed over the Crusades JC?
Some people never let go of a grudge.
Con on Ingy Jo, you know damn well that JC swings the sword of truth like a scimitar in the public square of Riyadh on execution day. ;?) Grudges are good when they decrease the surplus population. “Cut” him some slack. (snark, cough, snort….)
Glad to see you re-entered the fray Craig.
Ingy Jo, take care. We need everybody. Even the wisdom of troglodytes like you and me. I have never had a more refreshing or stimulating épée d’escrime than tilting rhetorical sabers with JC and Lizard. You, JC, and I are somewhat senior citizens. Words are all we have left until the Reaper swings his scythe and ends the fun.
It’s not just the Crusades, religion has been used as a cudgel all through history. I am irreligious, so I calls ’em as I see ’em. And it’s not a grudge, I lived through my “Jesus loves the little children” indoctrination moments as a little kid when my parents felt obligated to leave me in the church basement while they put on airs upstairs. But I know how to put on a suit and sit in the pews when I need to play the game.
And Craig, it isn’t easy trying to speak truth to power. As you may know about me, being persecuted in the public eye for being outspoken for one’s views isn’t easy. But it is preferable to being sedated by a constant barrage of tv and corporate media.
As to only having words left, I still spend much time in my community working on matters I find important, so I hope that my actions speak louder than my words. I know that the blogs are all about words and visuals, but for many of us, it is just the tip of the iceberg of the activities in our lives. And it helps keep the brain sharp…
John Lewis is a committed leftist first, Democrat second, and concerned politician somewhere under those first two things.
He didn’t have any credibility to begin with at this time – if you recall it was back when the Obama Regime was passing Obamacare that he claimed he walked out of the Capitol and was shouted at by tea-baggers, calling him a nigger and everything else, and it was a big deal. Unfortunately for him, a lot of cameras were rolling, and proved him to be a liar, Breitbart offered $100,000 cash for any sound bites or footage of the verbal assault, there was none, and sometime later he decided he was mistaken.
And he got a pass for it.
That’s why Barack Obama sounds delusional when he’s talking about how much he improved race-relations in this country – they haven’t been this bad since segregation in the South.
Read Salon about the state of race relations. http://www.salon.com/2017/01/18/obamas-troubled-legacy-on-race-leaves-room-for-black-conservatives-to-rise-under-donald-trump/
JC, nicely stated. LIzard will you be attending the J20 festival? http://www.disruptj20.org/event/festival-of-resistance-march-against-trump/
no, I will be too busy trying to improve the lives of marginalized people in Missoula who didn’t recover from the economic crisis like Wall Street did.
Here’s a nice statement from Micah WHite, one of the originators of Occupy Wall Street. I think his thinking accurately reflects a different way of looking at the traditional sign, protest and march movement. In other words, folks may take all the various marches as signs of solidarity etc., but the revolution will only begin when radical opposition rises out of the ashes of the democrat party, and takes political action.