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| Avalanche Peak, Yellowstone National Park, 2009 |
So ... almost two weeks since the presidential election, and I still haven't assembled my reasons for Kamala Harris's defeat. It seems every pundit has done that long ago. Lack of focus on the economy? Her laugh? Too much support for trans folks? Too little outreach to pugnacious young men?
I suppose my short answer is: it doesn't matter. Every disaster is a confluence of circumstances. The example I always use is a plane flying into a mountain. How does that happen? Well, first, you need a mountain. Shrouded in fog. The pilot, distracted by a balky warning light. The radar on the fritz. The co-pilot in the bathroom with stomach flu.
You can debate all those factors. "First you need a mountain"?! There are mountains everywhere. Planes don't typically fly into them ... it's the pilot's responsibility to see to that. Though the co-pilot should. As for the fog...
It becomes kinda pointless, by the time you're using tweezers to pick passengers off the slope of some alp. However it happened, it happened. Learning lessons is a self-soothing fraud — ponder enough and it won't happen next time. Sure, sure, but right now we have to deal with it.
Or not. As the truly shocking appointment of yes-men and toadies to cabinet posts explodes in the press, a daily dowsing bucket of cold reality, I just can't dive too deeply into why Matt Gaetz shouldn't be the attorney general. I keep circling back to the quip which, alas, Louis Armstrong did not actually say when asked to explain jazz: "If you have to ask, you'll never know." A New York Times pundit already compared Trump nominating Gaetz to Caligula trying to appoint his horse as a consul. Not much rhetorical room beyond that.
You can debate all those factors. "First you need a mountain"?! There are mountains everywhere. Planes don't typically fly into them ... it's the pilot's responsibility to see to that. Though the co-pilot should. As for the fog...
It becomes kinda pointless, by the time you're using tweezers to pick passengers off the slope of some alp. However it happened, it happened. Learning lessons is a self-soothing fraud — ponder enough and it won't happen next time. Sure, sure, but right now we have to deal with it.
Or not. As the truly shocking appointment of yes-men and toadies to cabinet posts explodes in the press, a daily dowsing bucket of cold reality, I just can't dive too deeply into why Matt Gaetz shouldn't be the attorney general. I keep circling back to the quip which, alas, Louis Armstrong did not actually say when asked to explain jazz: "If you have to ask, you'll never know." A New York Times pundit already compared Trump nominating Gaetz to Caligula trying to appoint his horse as a consul. Not much rhetorical room beyond that.
And if we I recall, we weighed and evaluated, thought and pondered aplenty before the most recent disaster. Maybe pondering is the problem — the other side seems to do just fine with hardly any thought at all.
Honestly, I take a certain comfort in just how wrong these appointments are. I mean, appointing a Russian asset to head our intelligence services? That's World Class Fuckery. The thing about Trump is, there was nothing subtle about him. I almost said "nothing hidden," though I assume there are subcellers below the apparent, as hideous as that is to think about. The country bought the ticket; now they get to take the ride, dragging the rest of us along.
But it isn't as if the full disaster wasn't there in 3-D living color for all to see. Or not see. Turns out, half the country just didn't give a damn. Well, if that worked for them before the election, maybe it'll work for us after. A guy can try, can't he?
Honestly, I take a certain comfort in just how wrong these appointments are. I mean, appointing a Russian asset to head our intelligence services? That's World Class Fuckery. The thing about Trump is, there was nothing subtle about him. I almost said "nothing hidden," though I assume there are subcellers below the apparent, as hideous as that is to think about. The country bought the ticket; now they get to take the ride, dragging the rest of us along.
But it isn't as if the full disaster wasn't there in 3-D living color for all to see. Or not see. Turns out, half the country just didn't give a damn. Well, if that worked for them before the election, maybe it'll work for us after. A guy can try, can't he?
A perfect wrapup to this disgusting fortnight of finger-pointing, culminating this morning in some idiotic progressive young black woman opinion writer in the NYT claiming that the problem was that Harris didn't campaign enough as a woman or a black. AARGH! SHUT UP!
ReplyDeleteAs for what we should do next, I suspect a lot of us agree with Neil's conclusion: don't give a damn. Watch a streaming series. Read a nineteenth century British novel.
Until some sort of mass protest is organized to respond to the most egregious of the volley of upcoming outrages. Then we should show up by the millions. Maybe we'll bump into some of the neo-Nazis who marched in Columbus yesterday. After all we've been though, I don't predict the ugly result will finally wake up the millions of morons who voted for the Manchurian Cantaloupe, but we might as well try before they lock us up.
mr. troy, with all due respect when the last election was protested at the capitol were outraged. I dont think a mass protest is the solution to the current election.
Deletemr. trumps return to office proves nothing if not that our cherished democracy can rear up and bite us right on the arse. this is what free and fair elections produce. sometimes you get an Obama sometimes you get a trump.
when I was a kid protesting the Viet nam war. many of us wanted to destroy the establishment. looks like thats finally happening . just not in the idealist way I had hoped.
this is a hell of a way to have to spend the next four of what do I have left 6-8 maybe 10 years?
old, white, christian, heterosexual, male. their not coming for me
In the same boat. Pushing eighty, and the sand is running out of the hourglass, like Dorothy in the Witch's castle. Golden years, my ass...they're gonna be tin.
DeleteOld, white, straight, married, lifelong leftist and pinko. Was questioned by FBI agents after Chicago '68. I'm on a list somewhere, I'm sure...their roll of honor...so they'll be looking for me. But I've been on the same corner for 32 years, so they'll know where to find me.
The plane hit the mountain because the kindly old pilot had a meltdown, and the co-pilot didn't get back from taking a Trump in time to look at the radar screen, bank to the right (get it? ) and avoid disaster. And nobody else was qualified to fly the plane. She was our only hope, It wasn't soon enough
Instead, we're sing the tweezers again, and picking up the pieces, uh-huh. Picking up the pieces...oh, yeah. Actually, a commercial plane almost hit a mountain in Hawaii the other day, because they didn't turn quickly enough. Why? Nobody's talking yet.
And now the circular firing squad has begun...Democrats are tearing each other apart and playing the blame game, after yet another defeat. We're so goddamn good at that. Some California wacko even told me to stop kvetching on Facebook and go to the nearest town meeting. Yeah, right...and then maybe we can MARCH (what...again?) or even PICKET. She doesn't seem to realize that the meeting hall, and the rest of the town, is gone. Washed away by the Red Tsunami. Gimme a break.
Time once again to face the music of the marching band (or is that the Bund?) To cocoon, to enjoy life's small pleasures, in the comfort of one's own domicile. Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, the company of old friends, food, wine, music, animal companions, reading, sleeping. Lots of sleeping. And less TV and social media. Maybe a few summer festivals. Some travel, if we're lucky, and healthy, and don't need a domestic passport in a year or two.
Is all of the above a quiet way of surrendering? No...it's merely survival, adapting to the darkness. Jewish folks have always been pretty good at that. Now a lot of the goyim (non-Jews) will have to learn how to do the same.
Nice, Grizz. Almost my position and thoughts. Also within a year of 80...
DeleteWell said as usual, Grizz.
DeleteFirst, thanks to Trump, I lost my husband to Trump. Now I feel as if I have lost my country. I am 81. I really don’t know how to cope.
ReplyDeleteWe're in shock and we're grieving. The signs were there and we should have been more prepared emotionally, but we were hopeful. It's like coming home to see your roommate burning down the building. We knew he was unwell and he threatened it before, but we still hoped he wouldn't do it. Now we're in disbelief at what we're seeing and don't know how to go forward.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don’t know what to do when the person our country elected to the presidency has been clear he wants to destroy our system of government, and is supported by the richest man in the world and Steve Bannon, who unlike Trump, actually is smart, well read, and strategic. . . and has said publicly he wants to burn certain institutions of our government to the ground! This idea of checks and balances among three separate branches of government has been totally obliterated with the makeup of the legislative and judicial systems today. Where do we go from here when the current selections for AG, Defense, and Education are such obvious “FU” to a viable democracy?????
ReplyDeleteYes, I’m saddened. But, I’ve learned never to give in or give up. I love my country and wish for all to have the same opportunities to succeed as I’ve had. Thus, we must pay attention to what’s ahead and quietly, together in our own way, fight on.
ReplyDeleteDr Mkh
Slogans for the foreseeable future:
ReplyDeleteKeep calm and carry on.
Never obey in advance.
Resistance is never futile.
Keep saying the Serenity Prayer.
Putin’s puppet promised no more elections. He is now beginning to dismantle the government. His love for the uneducated paid off. Unfortunately, we’re all on the slippery slope with them.
ReplyDeleteTurns out the movie "Idiocracy" was a documentary, not science fiction. The people who voted for the face-eating leopard party are shocked that leopards are now eating their faces. Or, as the NY Times or WAPO might put it, "leopards are now seeking to broaden their dietary options."
ReplyDeleteAs is The Handmaid's Tale.....
DeleteThe one thing that has made it possible for me to continue to be kind to my Trump-voting acquaintances is the memory that I voted for Rod Blagojevich the second time, even after we knew what a slimeball he was and even though his opponent, Judy Barr Topinka, was by far the better human being.
ReplyDeleteI carry guilt over the 2nd Blago election, too. I had 1st hand experience re: Blago's slime, so knew I would never vote for him a 2nd time. But in the primary, I pulled a Dem ballot rather than a Republican ballot. I really really wanted to vote for a GOP Gov candidate other than Barr Topinka, because I hated the sneaky way Jim Edgar orchestrated her candidacy. I felt that was slimy, too. But I didnt make my choice known in the primary, because I was MORE concerned about Cook Co politics and wanted to vote for Forrest Claypool over John Stroger for Cook Co Prez.. In IL, you are not allowed to be an Independent and you are not allowed to cross over in different races in Primary elections . That must change! In any case, Claypool lost to a man who, at the time of the election, was in a vegetative state in the ICU at Rush. The Stroger family kept him alive so they could annoint the Toddler after the election.
DeleteI deeply regret voting for the Green Party candidate for Gov in the General election. I learned my lesson about protest votes in that election cycle and ended up with a 2nd term of scumbag Blago, AND Todd Stroger! It was infuriating and i knew I contributed.
I hope they get what they voted for. All of it, and hard.
ReplyDeleteI blame it all on Reagan
ReplyDeleteNewt Gingrich. Karl Rove. Grover Norquist. Leonard Leo. Robert Bork.
DeleteNixon. Roger Stone is the through-line.
DeleteI'm 74 and I always thought that somehow, the government and society would improve and I'm so filled with dismay to see that NOT happening. I don't know how many years I have left but I know that so much damage will be done that I doubt to live long enough to witness good things. I struggle with believing that people actually think he's good for the country and the future. In short, I DON'T GET IT.
ReplyDeleteHow do you think I feel at 92? If I live to the next term there will be so much long term damage done that my grand children be lucky to see it all corrected in their lifetimes. All I can do is support any pushback and try to think positively. I lived through the depression and several wars and now I have to experience THIS. It is nuts.
ReplyDeleteBMP
The thing about campaigns -- and a good lesson for many other things in life as well -- is that just because you win, doesn't mean you did everything right. And just because you lose, doesn't mean you did everything (could even change that to "anything") wrong. The impossible thing is - you don't know what was right and what was wrong. Ask a million voters and you'll get a million different answers.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I've save a lot of time recently by ignoring all the pundits flailing away claiming they know the answer.
Ive been taking comfort in knowing that Trump has fallen below 50% of the popular vote, now. I need to believe that more Americans think this way than otherwise. This election will end up being the closest race in 136 yrs. Not a mandate.
ReplyDeleteI agree that blaming people or groups is not productive. That being said, I have sadly come to the realization that (Can this be said?) we live in a country where a majority of people in our country voted for Qaligula and all his faults and against their own self interest because he was not a black woman, no matter how qualified she was.
ReplyDelete