Mary Sisney's Blog - Posts Tagged "2016-election"
Hate Trumped Love: How the Winners Lost and the Losers Won
In my last post, I said I would not be euphoric when the results of the 2016 election were announced. Well, that was the understatement of the century! I was shocked, horrified, briefly depressed (those of us who start with three or four strikes against us and manage to succeed don't usually spend much time being depressed), then disgusted, outraged, furious, fierce, fired up, and ready to fight. I had planned to write today about why I love being a liberal Democrat. I was going to say that we are always on the right side of history and always for progress, moving forward instead of going back (still true). I was going to point out that we are in the majority (still true, since we've won the popular vote--the only vote that should count--in four of the last five elections), and our majority consists of a beautiful, futuristic rainbow coalition of nonwhites, women, youth, and educated whites (still true, although we black women need to have a little talk with our white sisters, maybe snatch some weaves, flip a few tables). I was even going to celebrate the fact that we have all of the cool celebrities on our side (still true, thank you cast of "Hamilton"). Now I'm going to write about what caused this disaster, the worst in America since 9/11/2001, the worst in November since 1963.
The 11/9 (Hillary conceded Wednesday morning) disaster was not caused by the elites having too much control of our government. If the elites had controlled the election, Hillary would have won. It was not caused by too much money in politics. If money ruled this election, Jeb Bush would have been the Republican nominee, and Hillary would have won the general election (as she should have) in a landslide. In fact, most of the reasons for the election of an insane bigot who lost the popular vote by more than a million and counting have not been discussed or discussed enough in the post-election analyses that I've read and watched. Here they are:
1) Americans lack critical thinking skills. I've commented on this problem frequently in my blog posts. Most recently (8/28/16), I discussed the problem of seniors being conned because they are suffering from dementia and can't think clearly. Dementia was one of the problems during this election. I've discussed racism as a vile form of dementia and will cover that issue in the next paragraph. But I think this election created another kind of dementia--dynasty dementia. The thought of having another Clinton-Bush contest drove some voters so crazy that they lost the ability to think clearly, which explains why two seventy-something white men, one, a Jewish socialist who has been ranting about class and income inequality for years without anyone noticing him, and the other, an egomaniacal businessman/reality television star who has been treated as an entertaining but harmless clown for decades, became so popular. But even Americans who don't suffer from dementia have trouble thinking critically. Too many of us believe what retired tennis player Andre Agassi once said in a camera commercial: "Image is everything." If we see a big white man talking tough, we think he's strong instead of recognizing that he's a whiny bitch. We don't realize that bullies are weak. And this thoughtlessness is not just characteristic of the not well educated whom con men like Trump love. Educated people can be fooled (and foolish) as well. I was watching one of the many talking heads who should follow the advice I tweeted to Rachel Maddow (rewriting a line from "Hamilton"), "talk less, think more," when he told a Democrat that the electoral college was rigged in favor of the Democrats. Fortunately, the Democrat was thinking clearly and pointed out that no, it was rigged against the Democrats since both times that a candidate won the popular vote and lost the electoral college (2000, 2016) the Democrat was the loser. The MSNBC talking head just looked blank and went on to his next inane, thoughtless point. I'm not sure that he or his viewers understood that very significant message--the system is rigged against the Democrats, which is the only reason Republicans win.
2) Hillary Clinton discussed the next main problem in her campaign--implicit bias. Trump won the electoral college because of both overt and covert racism and sexism. As damaging as these two societal evils are, the denial of them is more destructive. Even I, who knew that there were still many racists in America before Obama's election and saw how many of them came out of the closet after his election, was shocked that there were enough bigots or people who didn't mind bigots to hand Trump more states than Hillary won. Over sixty million Americans voted for this insane bigot. I had said before the election that I would be disappointed if he won more than a couple of states--maybe we could let him have Alaska and Montana or Wyoming because there are not that many people in those states. This racist, sexist mad man won more states than either McCain or Romney. It's also annoying to see the talking heads, who clearly have no shame or humility since they're still talking after being so wrong about this election, working overtime to deny that racism and sexism were among the primary reasons Hillary lost. There was some talk of secret Trump and secret Hillary voters before the election. But I haven't heard anyone discuss the (Tom) Bradley effect since we discovered that the polls were so wrong. Those suburban whites lied about their votes. And how do these empty-headed blabbers know that many of the people who voted for Obama twice voted for Trump? Did they see those people's 2008, 2012, and 2016 ballots? Clearly, we cannot believe what the voters say. It's possible that some 2008/12 Obama voters were sexist but not racist, and some may have been suffering from dynasty dementia or Clinton fatigue (way below my other emotions I felt a bit of relief that we won't have the Clintons to kick around anymore) during this election. But I suspect many of the Obama voters stayed home because they couldn't stand Clinton or Trump while the white people who voted for Trump stayed home in 2008 because they didn't want to vote for a black man or a woman Vice President or maybe a man who had a seemingly black adopted daughter. They may have stayed home in 2012 because they didn't want to vote for a black man or a Mormon. Most of those white, small-town or rural bigots who voted for Trump in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida probably skipped the last two elections. Some of them probably came out on Tuesday because they saw reports of Latinos voting in record numbers in Nevada and Florida, and they saw Hillary hanging with Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and the Obamas in her final pre-election, premature celebration. She probably should have just stuck with Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi for that Monday night celebration. Even Lady Gaga might have been too much for those small-town, culturally deprived jerks. Where was Taylor Swift? It's also disgusting to hear progressives like Bill Maher, Michael Moore, and egomaniac Bernie Sanders blame their loss in the electoral college on Hillary's not being able to talk to these bigoted, small-town white losers. These people handed our democracy to an insane bigot so that he could give it to two Hitlers (Bannon and Putin), and it's Hillary and the Democrats' fault for not paying enough attention to them? I almost lost my mind when I saw Chuck Todd and some other blabbers on "Meet the Press" looking chastened because they may have hurt these small-town, ignorant losers' little feelings by pointing out the fact that they voted differently from the well-educated whites. Compare how the BlackLivesMatter Movement organizers have been treated to the sympathetic way everyone is responding to these small-town bigots. That's racism in America, folks!
3) Our two-party system is broken, not because the parties are so much alike but because they are so different. The Republicans are corrupt assholes who believe in winning by any means necessary. They responded to the election of a black man by a majority of Americans by obstructing his legislative agenda to prevent him from accomplishing anything so that they could blame him for failing to deliver on his promises, they demonized the healthcare bill, which was more Republican than Democrat (it was RomneyCare before it was ObamaCare) and ran against it for three election cycles, they didn't condemn the birther nonsense, they gerrymandered, and passed voter suppression laws. They were upset with Trump, not because he was an insane, incompetent bigot but because they thought he was going to cost them the White House and the Senate. When he won, most of them (including Romney) came aboard immediately. Nothing says these jerks don't care about our country like the way Paul Ryan was grinning and the way they were passing out Trump's "Make America Great Again" hats after his undemocratic victory. The Democrats are the exact opposite. They are weak pussies who like to go high and lose while the Republicans are going low and winning. If a Republican had lost the electoral college but won the popular vote by more than a million votes, if some foreign nation like Iran had hacked into his campaign manager's e-mails and selectively leaked damaging information, and if a federal agency (the FBI in this case) had sent out a letter that helped the other side, the Republican would not concede. And no Republican would refer to that Democrat elected under those circumstances as the President-elect. No Republican would claim that if that Democrat succeeded we would all succeed even if the Democrat was sane and not a bigot or a con man. We are in a political system where the winners (the Democrats who win the popular vote and the more educated, progressive coalition that elects them) lose and the losers (the Republicans who lose the popular vote and the ignorant, culturally deprived bigots who vote for them) win.
4) The media is not biased toward the left or the right; it's biased toward corporate profits, personal relationships, access, and ratings. The media created the monster that became our President-elect or as I call him Loser of the Popular Vote. They gave him so much free publicity that he didn't need to pay for commercials. They also failed to demonize him off television when he promoted the racist birther lie (media folks are people too, so they suffer from implicit bias and poor critical thinking skills like other Americans). They loved Trump because he gave them access and good sound bites. Of course, Trump is a narcissist who wants to be on television all of the time, which is why he did more interviews and rallies than any other candidate. Because Hillary is not a narcissist and prefers the service to the public part of public service, she did not give the media much access and paid the price. They demonized her while giving Trump as well as Sanders mostly positive attention until it was too late to stop Trump.
5) Partly because of the flawed media, we are living in a Post-truth, Fact-free world. It now doesn't matter what the truth is; what matters is what we can persuade people to believe. One early indicator that Hillary wouldn't win in the landslide that any sane, competent politician should have experienced against an insane bigot was that she always lost to Trump on the poll question "Which candidate is more honest and trustworthy?" Trump is a pathological liar; he tells crazy, easy-to-debunk lies. Hillary lies like any other politician; she tells strategic lies, like about those damn e-mails. But Hillary has been portrayed in the media as not transparent (even though she's released years of tax forms, and he's released none), and she doesn't talk as much or as wildly as Trump, so she's seen as the dishonest, untrustworthy one. I've heard some talking heads say that it doesn't matter what the facts are about the economy or about Trump's real agenda. If people believe that the economy is not growing and if they believe Trump will build a wall, that's all that matters. And we wonder why a mad man is about to move into the White House?
One of the most moving moments of this generally too prosaic, too lowdown campaign happened after the third debate when Republican strategist Steve Schmidt choked up on MSNBC, saying, "Hitler rose not because he was strong, but because democracy was weak." We have to know what broke our democracy before we can fix it. My list offers one answer to that question, and I'm suggesting solutions to any Democrat or progressive group that e-mails me for money: Fight back! Get rid of the electoral college. Demand that our Supreme Court justice be appointed since we won the election that counted--the popular vote. Change the primary/caucus process (California should go first) so that nonwhite people are more involved in the screening process, etc. I've also started a movement, FREECOSBY/LOCKTRUMPUP. Americans can understand a movement focused on sex and television stars better than they can a discussion of the electoral college or the way we allocate Senators or hold our primaries/caucuses. The different ways these famous sexual predators are being treated illustrate the racist double standard just as well (and more compellingly for the less educated) as the different treatments of the small-town losers who elected an insane bigot and the black urban protesters who are trying to save young black males' lives. Occasionally, after a passionate but civil debate, I end my comments with "Peace." Now I'm saying, "No Peace." We must not rest until we have saved this country from an insane bigot, a puppet of Putin and Bannon. The media didn't stop him, his Republican opponents and the Never Trump Republicans didn't stop him, and clearly the Democrats aren't planning to stop him. We must do it. No Peace!
The 11/9 (Hillary conceded Wednesday morning) disaster was not caused by the elites having too much control of our government. If the elites had controlled the election, Hillary would have won. It was not caused by too much money in politics. If money ruled this election, Jeb Bush would have been the Republican nominee, and Hillary would have won the general election (as she should have) in a landslide. In fact, most of the reasons for the election of an insane bigot who lost the popular vote by more than a million and counting have not been discussed or discussed enough in the post-election analyses that I've read and watched. Here they are:
1) Americans lack critical thinking skills. I've commented on this problem frequently in my blog posts. Most recently (8/28/16), I discussed the problem of seniors being conned because they are suffering from dementia and can't think clearly. Dementia was one of the problems during this election. I've discussed racism as a vile form of dementia and will cover that issue in the next paragraph. But I think this election created another kind of dementia--dynasty dementia. The thought of having another Clinton-Bush contest drove some voters so crazy that they lost the ability to think clearly, which explains why two seventy-something white men, one, a Jewish socialist who has been ranting about class and income inequality for years without anyone noticing him, and the other, an egomaniacal businessman/reality television star who has been treated as an entertaining but harmless clown for decades, became so popular. But even Americans who don't suffer from dementia have trouble thinking critically. Too many of us believe what retired tennis player Andre Agassi once said in a camera commercial: "Image is everything." If we see a big white man talking tough, we think he's strong instead of recognizing that he's a whiny bitch. We don't realize that bullies are weak. And this thoughtlessness is not just characteristic of the not well educated whom con men like Trump love. Educated people can be fooled (and foolish) as well. I was watching one of the many talking heads who should follow the advice I tweeted to Rachel Maddow (rewriting a line from "Hamilton"), "talk less, think more," when he told a Democrat that the electoral college was rigged in favor of the Democrats. Fortunately, the Democrat was thinking clearly and pointed out that no, it was rigged against the Democrats since both times that a candidate won the popular vote and lost the electoral college (2000, 2016) the Democrat was the loser. The MSNBC talking head just looked blank and went on to his next inane, thoughtless point. I'm not sure that he or his viewers understood that very significant message--the system is rigged against the Democrats, which is the only reason Republicans win.
2) Hillary Clinton discussed the next main problem in her campaign--implicit bias. Trump won the electoral college because of both overt and covert racism and sexism. As damaging as these two societal evils are, the denial of them is more destructive. Even I, who knew that there were still many racists in America before Obama's election and saw how many of them came out of the closet after his election, was shocked that there were enough bigots or people who didn't mind bigots to hand Trump more states than Hillary won. Over sixty million Americans voted for this insane bigot. I had said before the election that I would be disappointed if he won more than a couple of states--maybe we could let him have Alaska and Montana or Wyoming because there are not that many people in those states. This racist, sexist mad man won more states than either McCain or Romney. It's also annoying to see the talking heads, who clearly have no shame or humility since they're still talking after being so wrong about this election, working overtime to deny that racism and sexism were among the primary reasons Hillary lost. There was some talk of secret Trump and secret Hillary voters before the election. But I haven't heard anyone discuss the (Tom) Bradley effect since we discovered that the polls were so wrong. Those suburban whites lied about their votes. And how do these empty-headed blabbers know that many of the people who voted for Obama twice voted for Trump? Did they see those people's 2008, 2012, and 2016 ballots? Clearly, we cannot believe what the voters say. It's possible that some 2008/12 Obama voters were sexist but not racist, and some may have been suffering from dynasty dementia or Clinton fatigue (way below my other emotions I felt a bit of relief that we won't have the Clintons to kick around anymore) during this election. But I suspect many of the Obama voters stayed home because they couldn't stand Clinton or Trump while the white people who voted for Trump stayed home in 2008 because they didn't want to vote for a black man or a woman Vice President or maybe a man who had a seemingly black adopted daughter. They may have stayed home in 2012 because they didn't want to vote for a black man or a Mormon. Most of those white, small-town or rural bigots who voted for Trump in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida probably skipped the last two elections. Some of them probably came out on Tuesday because they saw reports of Latinos voting in record numbers in Nevada and Florida, and they saw Hillary hanging with Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and the Obamas in her final pre-election, premature celebration. She probably should have just stuck with Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi for that Monday night celebration. Even Lady Gaga might have been too much for those small-town, culturally deprived jerks. Where was Taylor Swift? It's also disgusting to hear progressives like Bill Maher, Michael Moore, and egomaniac Bernie Sanders blame their loss in the electoral college on Hillary's not being able to talk to these bigoted, small-town white losers. These people handed our democracy to an insane bigot so that he could give it to two Hitlers (Bannon and Putin), and it's Hillary and the Democrats' fault for not paying enough attention to them? I almost lost my mind when I saw Chuck Todd and some other blabbers on "Meet the Press" looking chastened because they may have hurt these small-town, ignorant losers' little feelings by pointing out the fact that they voted differently from the well-educated whites. Compare how the BlackLivesMatter Movement organizers have been treated to the sympathetic way everyone is responding to these small-town bigots. That's racism in America, folks!
3) Our two-party system is broken, not because the parties are so much alike but because they are so different. The Republicans are corrupt assholes who believe in winning by any means necessary. They responded to the election of a black man by a majority of Americans by obstructing his legislative agenda to prevent him from accomplishing anything so that they could blame him for failing to deliver on his promises, they demonized the healthcare bill, which was more Republican than Democrat (it was RomneyCare before it was ObamaCare) and ran against it for three election cycles, they didn't condemn the birther nonsense, they gerrymandered, and passed voter suppression laws. They were upset with Trump, not because he was an insane, incompetent bigot but because they thought he was going to cost them the White House and the Senate. When he won, most of them (including Romney) came aboard immediately. Nothing says these jerks don't care about our country like the way Paul Ryan was grinning and the way they were passing out Trump's "Make America Great Again" hats after his undemocratic victory. The Democrats are the exact opposite. They are weak pussies who like to go high and lose while the Republicans are going low and winning. If a Republican had lost the electoral college but won the popular vote by more than a million votes, if some foreign nation like Iran had hacked into his campaign manager's e-mails and selectively leaked damaging information, and if a federal agency (the FBI in this case) had sent out a letter that helped the other side, the Republican would not concede. And no Republican would refer to that Democrat elected under those circumstances as the President-elect. No Republican would claim that if that Democrat succeeded we would all succeed even if the Democrat was sane and not a bigot or a con man. We are in a political system where the winners (the Democrats who win the popular vote and the more educated, progressive coalition that elects them) lose and the losers (the Republicans who lose the popular vote and the ignorant, culturally deprived bigots who vote for them) win.
4) The media is not biased toward the left or the right; it's biased toward corporate profits, personal relationships, access, and ratings. The media created the monster that became our President-elect or as I call him Loser of the Popular Vote. They gave him so much free publicity that he didn't need to pay for commercials. They also failed to demonize him off television when he promoted the racist birther lie (media folks are people too, so they suffer from implicit bias and poor critical thinking skills like other Americans). They loved Trump because he gave them access and good sound bites. Of course, Trump is a narcissist who wants to be on television all of the time, which is why he did more interviews and rallies than any other candidate. Because Hillary is not a narcissist and prefers the service to the public part of public service, she did not give the media much access and paid the price. They demonized her while giving Trump as well as Sanders mostly positive attention until it was too late to stop Trump.
5) Partly because of the flawed media, we are living in a Post-truth, Fact-free world. It now doesn't matter what the truth is; what matters is what we can persuade people to believe. One early indicator that Hillary wouldn't win in the landslide that any sane, competent politician should have experienced against an insane bigot was that she always lost to Trump on the poll question "Which candidate is more honest and trustworthy?" Trump is a pathological liar; he tells crazy, easy-to-debunk lies. Hillary lies like any other politician; she tells strategic lies, like about those damn e-mails. But Hillary has been portrayed in the media as not transparent (even though she's released years of tax forms, and he's released none), and she doesn't talk as much or as wildly as Trump, so she's seen as the dishonest, untrustworthy one. I've heard some talking heads say that it doesn't matter what the facts are about the economy or about Trump's real agenda. If people believe that the economy is not growing and if they believe Trump will build a wall, that's all that matters. And we wonder why a mad man is about to move into the White House?
One of the most moving moments of this generally too prosaic, too lowdown campaign happened after the third debate when Republican strategist Steve Schmidt choked up on MSNBC, saying, "Hitler rose not because he was strong, but because democracy was weak." We have to know what broke our democracy before we can fix it. My list offers one answer to that question, and I'm suggesting solutions to any Democrat or progressive group that e-mails me for money: Fight back! Get rid of the electoral college. Demand that our Supreme Court justice be appointed since we won the election that counted--the popular vote. Change the primary/caucus process (California should go first) so that nonwhite people are more involved in the screening process, etc. I've also started a movement, FREECOSBY/LOCKTRUMPUP. Americans can understand a movement focused on sex and television stars better than they can a discussion of the electoral college or the way we allocate Senators or hold our primaries/caucuses. The different ways these famous sexual predators are being treated illustrate the racist double standard just as well (and more compellingly for the less educated) as the different treatments of the small-town losers who elected an insane bigot and the black urban protesters who are trying to save young black males' lives. Occasionally, after a passionate but civil debate, I end my comments with "Peace." Now I'm saying, "No Peace." We must not rest until we have saved this country from an insane bigot, a puppet of Putin and Bannon. The media didn't stop him, his Republican opponents and the Never Trump Republicans didn't stop him, and clearly the Democrats aren't planning to stop him. We must do it. No Peace!
LOCK THEM UP: Putin's Useful Idiots
One commentator on the already seemingly interminable (Am I the only one who wants to take a three-year nap and wake up just in time to read the book?) Russian interference mess used the amusing phrase "useful idiot." He was suggesting that some of the people in Trump's circle, including the often clueless electoral college President himself, may have inadvertently colluded with Putin. They may be more ignorant than ignominious, more tricked than traitor. I don't think the commentator was suggesting that these foolish people are innocent; he was just suggesting that there might be extenuating circumstances that could shorten their prison sentences. I think that term "useful idiots" can be applied to many Americans outside Trumpland. Putin had almost too much help in his interference with the 2016 election to undermine our democracy. Among Putin's useful idiots, most of whom unfortunately cannot be locked up, are the following:
1) Jill Stein - The Green Party candidate is the only one of my candidates for the Putin's Most Useful Idiot(s) Award who might be locked up. She might be found guilty of colluding with Putin. After all, she was at that RT dinner with Putin and Flynn. And unlike them, she actually took enough votes from Hillary to cost her several key states and possibly the election. Also, why did she ask to recount several of those states after the election? What was her agenda? I initially assumed she felt guilty (as she should) for what she did to the country and was trying to help Hillary. But maybe she was trying to help Putin make us distrust our elections. Trump was certainly planning to claim the election was rigged if he lost. Maybe Stein was going to ask for a recount even if Hillary won. I assume the special prosecutor and Congress will be interviewing Dr. Stein. They need to find out who financed the recount and her campaign. They should follow the green--not the party, but the money.
2) Bernie Sanders - I've told several members of Bernie's cult that he will be viewed as a villain when the history of this period is written. He used a party to which he did not belong to advance his agenda and then attacked that party when he lost the primaries. He also used the leaked-by-Russia- through-WikiLeaks e-mail material to attack the DNC chair, forcing her out at a crucial time during the election. Of course, the party supported the Democrat Hillary over the Independent Bernie, who was not helping them fundraise the way she was. Why shouldn't they? And what would we have learned if the Russians had leaked his campaign's e-mails? Bernie's failure to behave the way Hillary did in 2008 made his followers bitter and angry toward her, thus helping Trump and Putin win. Then he behaved like too many old white men I've encountered in my life and in the media; he blamed Hillary and the Democrats instead of himself and his followers.
3) The media - I've discussed in detail what the media did (make Trump famous, promote his candidacy free for many months, demonize Hillary) and didn't do (demonize Trump for the birther nonsense, take him seriously and vet him the way they did Hillary, Jeb, etc.) in other blog posts.
4) The Republican Leaders - The Republicans who placed power, politics, and party over people and patriotism should be locked up for not protecting the country from a maniac by refusing to nominate him or at the very least refusing to support him as their party's candidate.
5) The Democratic Leaders - The Democrats deserve to have lost power since they allowed an opportunistic socialist Independent to hijack their party and weaken it by attacking its leader and did not make enough noise about the Russians meddling. They should have followed Barney Frank's lead and demonized Bernie as a straight white man who fled diverse New York for lily white Vermont and who was now trying to tell a party led by women, nonwhites, and gays that they were not liberal enough. They should have called him out as the ungrateful, privileged old white man that he is, not content to gain the attention that he wouldn't have gotten if he had run as an Independent but actually wanting to be nominated by a party to which he did not really belong and to which he was not loyal. Did these fools learn nothing from the Joe Lieberman (witchlike, I've resurrected Old Joe by mentioning him too many times lately) mess? And why didn't every Democratic leader who knew about the Russian interference (including Obama and Clinton) talk about it as much as Republicans talked about Benghazi and private e-mail servers? Why do the Democrats worry so much about their image? They need to go low like the Republicans, win by any means necessary.
6) Former FBI Director James Comey - Speaking of people worrying about their image and reputation, Comey should have worried less about what people would think if he made the wrong choice and more about following the rules. He should be happy that the only consequences of his terrible decision to discuss one less important possible criminal investigation while not discussing possible treason are "mild nausea" and unemployment.
7) The so-called reliable pollsters - If Nate Silver and all of the other pollsters had been as accurate in their predictions as Michael Moore and Bill Maher were, Comey would have kept his mouth shut, Americans might have voted more wisely, and the Democrats might have made more noise about the Russian interference. Everyone except Bill, Michael, and Trump's crazy followers assumed that Hillary was going to win. Even the boastful Trump was shocked to find himself President; he still is.
8) The electoral college - The electors who refused to vote for the winner of the popular vote when the loser was insane proved that the only reason to keep the electoral college is so that it can discriminate against urban nonwhites and in favor of small-town whites.
9) The Clinton campaign - Hillary's campaign was much better organized than Trump's and than hers was in 2008. But they made one careless mistake, probably because they foolishly failed to recognize how much Trump's campaign was based on racism. They should not have been hanging with Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and the Obamas the day before the election. They should have just brought out Bruce Springsteen.
10) The voters - Every American citizen who was eligible to vote and either didn't vote, voted for Trump, or voted for someone other than the one sane candidate who could beat Trump was one of Putin's useful idiots.
If we locked up everyone who aided and abetted Putin during the 2016 election, there wouldn't be enough of us left to run the prisons and the country. Let's hope enough of these "useful idiots" have become smart enough, enlightened enough to help the rest of us save the country and improve our so-called democracy. Then they truly will be useful.
1) Jill Stein - The Green Party candidate is the only one of my candidates for the Putin's Most Useful Idiot(s) Award who might be locked up. She might be found guilty of colluding with Putin. After all, she was at that RT dinner with Putin and Flynn. And unlike them, she actually took enough votes from Hillary to cost her several key states and possibly the election. Also, why did she ask to recount several of those states after the election? What was her agenda? I initially assumed she felt guilty (as she should) for what she did to the country and was trying to help Hillary. But maybe she was trying to help Putin make us distrust our elections. Trump was certainly planning to claim the election was rigged if he lost. Maybe Stein was going to ask for a recount even if Hillary won. I assume the special prosecutor and Congress will be interviewing Dr. Stein. They need to find out who financed the recount and her campaign. They should follow the green--not the party, but the money.
2) Bernie Sanders - I've told several members of Bernie's cult that he will be viewed as a villain when the history of this period is written. He used a party to which he did not belong to advance his agenda and then attacked that party when he lost the primaries. He also used the leaked-by-Russia- through-WikiLeaks e-mail material to attack the DNC chair, forcing her out at a crucial time during the election. Of course, the party supported the Democrat Hillary over the Independent Bernie, who was not helping them fundraise the way she was. Why shouldn't they? And what would we have learned if the Russians had leaked his campaign's e-mails? Bernie's failure to behave the way Hillary did in 2008 made his followers bitter and angry toward her, thus helping Trump and Putin win. Then he behaved like too many old white men I've encountered in my life and in the media; he blamed Hillary and the Democrats instead of himself and his followers.
3) The media - I've discussed in detail what the media did (make Trump famous, promote his candidacy free for many months, demonize Hillary) and didn't do (demonize Trump for the birther nonsense, take him seriously and vet him the way they did Hillary, Jeb, etc.) in other blog posts.
4) The Republican Leaders - The Republicans who placed power, politics, and party over people and patriotism should be locked up for not protecting the country from a maniac by refusing to nominate him or at the very least refusing to support him as their party's candidate.
5) The Democratic Leaders - The Democrats deserve to have lost power since they allowed an opportunistic socialist Independent to hijack their party and weaken it by attacking its leader and did not make enough noise about the Russians meddling. They should have followed Barney Frank's lead and demonized Bernie as a straight white man who fled diverse New York for lily white Vermont and who was now trying to tell a party led by women, nonwhites, and gays that they were not liberal enough. They should have called him out as the ungrateful, privileged old white man that he is, not content to gain the attention that he wouldn't have gotten if he had run as an Independent but actually wanting to be nominated by a party to which he did not really belong and to which he was not loyal. Did these fools learn nothing from the Joe Lieberman (witchlike, I've resurrected Old Joe by mentioning him too many times lately) mess? And why didn't every Democratic leader who knew about the Russian interference (including Obama and Clinton) talk about it as much as Republicans talked about Benghazi and private e-mail servers? Why do the Democrats worry so much about their image? They need to go low like the Republicans, win by any means necessary.
6) Former FBI Director James Comey - Speaking of people worrying about their image and reputation, Comey should have worried less about what people would think if he made the wrong choice and more about following the rules. He should be happy that the only consequences of his terrible decision to discuss one less important possible criminal investigation while not discussing possible treason are "mild nausea" and unemployment.
7) The so-called reliable pollsters - If Nate Silver and all of the other pollsters had been as accurate in their predictions as Michael Moore and Bill Maher were, Comey would have kept his mouth shut, Americans might have voted more wisely, and the Democrats might have made more noise about the Russian interference. Everyone except Bill, Michael, and Trump's crazy followers assumed that Hillary was going to win. Even the boastful Trump was shocked to find himself President; he still is.
8) The electoral college - The electors who refused to vote for the winner of the popular vote when the loser was insane proved that the only reason to keep the electoral college is so that it can discriminate against urban nonwhites and in favor of small-town whites.
9) The Clinton campaign - Hillary's campaign was much better organized than Trump's and than hers was in 2008. But they made one careless mistake, probably because they foolishly failed to recognize how much Trump's campaign was based on racism. They should not have been hanging with Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and the Obamas the day before the election. They should have just brought out Bruce Springsteen.
10) The voters - Every American citizen who was eligible to vote and either didn't vote, voted for Trump, or voted for someone other than the one sane candidate who could beat Trump was one of Putin's useful idiots.
If we locked up everyone who aided and abetted Putin during the 2016 election, there wouldn't be enough of us left to run the prisons and the country. Let's hope enough of these "useful idiots" have become smart enough, enlightened enough to help the rest of us save the country and improve our so-called democracy. Then they truly will be useful.
Think, Think, Rethink: How To Save Yourself And The World
In Chapter Eight ("You'd Better Think, Think, Think") of my memoir, I say: "Our failure to move, to engage in physical activity, can cause health problems and cost the country money in expensive healthcare, but think of the cost of mental inactivity. What has been the cost, for instance, of our inability to think clearly while voting? Two wars, one recession, millions unemployed, and the loss of the middle class." That passage was written more than five years before enough "real Americans" voted for a stupid, insane, racist white man to allow him to win the electoral college and start helping Putin to destroy our democracy. When I wrote that passage, a sane, intelligent, half-black man was trying to clean up the mess made by the stupid white man who occupied the White House at the beginning of this century. Two years after I wrote that passage, I started teaching on social media, trying to help everyone to learn how to think more clearly. But my efforts seem to be in vain. When I interact with people on Facebook and Twitter (I gave up on Google+ after the conservatives either blocked or ignored me) or watch news anchors, so-called experts, and commentators sound off on television, I'm often horrified by how little we've learned from what happened in 2000 and 2016. But as former Second Lady (possibly future First Lady) Jill Biden pointed out in her recent memoir, we teachers are hopeful, so I'm going to keep trying. Today I will list ten not so easy steps to clearer thinking and a better life for all of us.
1) Calm down. We not only need time and quiet to think, we also need calm. Some people are good in emergencies; they can think clearly during hurricanes or tornadoes, but most of us freak out and don't think as clearly. It's also hard to think during emotional storms. I've learned to stop talking if my emotions are triggered because I'm more likely to say something stupid and/or irrational. Demagogues like Trump appeal to our emotions, especially fear and anger, because they don't want us to think clearly.
2) Check your biases at the door before you start thinking. In two earlier posts (10/11/15, 3/26/17), I discussed why we believe what we believe and explained how our biases make it easier for us to believe false narratives and alternative facts. If we believe that big men are stronger than little women, we will believe that the weakest President ever is stronger than Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi. If we believe only white people are real Americans, we will believe that Obama was born in Kenya and that the four women of color who have become Trump's latest rally and Twitter targets are foreigners who hate America and should go back to their "shithole" countries.
3) Look for the sense behind the sound of words. In earlier posts (see 10/6/13 and 9/14/14), I discuss how we can be manipulated by language if we don't pay attention to the meaning of words. One effective assignment that I used, mostly in my basic writing classes, was to have students choose a well-known saying (often clichés) to explain and then either support or attack. They would discuss such popular sayings as "the early bird gets the worm" and "the best things in life are free." In my post-teaching life, I have often challenged people who claim to treat everybody the same, pointing out that they don't nor should they. If we don't treat old people the way we treat teenagers, geniuses the way we treat people with learning disabilities, or athletes the way we treat the physically disabled, why should we treat blacks the way we treat whites? We don't nor should we. Even if Trump has told his amusing critic Jim Carrey to go back to Canada (and he hasn't), he still shouldn't tell Representative Omar to go back to Somali because telling black, brown, or yellow people to go back to their homelands or the countries where their ancestors were born is racist.
4) To paraphrase a Ralph Ellison passage, look beneath the surface, not only of words, but also of actions. Do not be fooled by distractions or shiny objects. If something (like a free phone) sounds too good to be true, ask the question I asked in Radio Shack years ago, "What's the catch?" There is no free ride, so when politicians say, as Trump did and still does, "I can fix it. It's easy." don't vote for them. 2020 candidate Yang's $1000 for everyone sounds good, but what's the cost? What do we lose when we gain that guaranteed income, and why should Trump or Bloomberg get $1000 a month?
5) Be a contrarian. One false dichotomy that's created by sloppy users of language is the leader versus the follower choice. Most of us are somewhere in between. We sometimes lead and sometimes follow. We might join a group and then bring others in with us. However, we need to beware of being seduced or bullied by the crowd. Just because most people believe that racism is not American doesn't mean we have to believe that. Of course, it's a lie. America was built on racism. When Trump says, "everyone believes (or knows) that" or when he brags (i.e. lies) about the size of his crowds, he's appealing to our need to be like everyone else, to be part of the crowd. That need leads to lynch mobs, cults, and even mass suicides like the one in Jonestown.
6) Don't willingly suspend disbelief. Question everyone and everything. Be especially suspicious of the people who look or think like you. I'm more likely to be punked by a commentator on MSNBC than one on Fox (especially since I don't even watch Fox) or by a dark-skinned, elderly black woman than by a young, blue-eyed, blond white man.
7) Ask the right questions (see 7/27/14 post). Anyone who watches "Dateline," "48 Hours," or any of the other crime shows knows how important asking the right questions can be. In the current political situation, if we don't ask why white women and white evangelicals voted for Trump after they heard the pussy-grabbing tape, we might not understand why those brown children are still in cages and why masterful con artist Trump is attacking four attractive young women of color instead of Chuck Schumer or Adam Schiff.
8) Use whatever reliable tools you have available. When composition students were writing argumentative papers, including the ones in response to the popular sayings, I would tell them to draw on experience, observation, and (reliable) printed or other sources. One new saying that I've created is "Wisdom comes to those who wait." Older people who can learn from experience (some, like two of our recent Presidents, can't) tend to be wiser because they've had more experiences than their younger friends and family members. But we also might be clueless about newer technology and pop culture trends and personalities. That's when we need to observe and read. I'm less informed about technology than probably even the average senior, but I'm more informed about pop culture because I read PEOPLE and US every week.
9) Think defensively. Just as we need to drive defensively, watching for careless drivers who might switch suddenly into our lanes or speed through a red light, we need to beware of careless thinkers. There are the name-calling bullies--"idiot," "snowflake," "Nazi," "socialist"--, attacking the person instead of the argument. There are the straw man builders, who will revise our argument, making it weaker, sometimes even ridiculous, so that they can attack it more easily. And there are the definers who think they are the only ones who can determine what is patriotic, moral, racist, or American. Because I taught critical thinking for a living, I'm especially effective at pointing out logical fallacies. I just had to learn not to use technical terms like "ad hominem" (I now say "attack the person") when I moved from the English classroom to social media.
10 Rethink. Just as rewriting is as important (if not more) as writing, rethinking is as important as thinking. As anyone who watches crime shows or reads mystery novels knows, sometimes even the best detectives arrest the wrong suspect and miss the real killer who might be right in front of their eyes. We all make mistakes, and when we do, we must rethink. In 2016, most of us made the huge mistake of underestimating how much racism there is in this country. Even I, who was constantly pointing out racism and calling out fake colorblind white folks, didn't believe that Trump could win states like Florida and Ohio, which McCain and Romney lost, but Bush won, much less Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. But I immediately started rethinking after the unimaginable happened. What I say now is, "We don't know what Americans will do, how they will vote." We didn't think they would vote for Obama, but they did. And most of us thought Trump was a sideshow, a clown. Even when I realized he was dangerous (see 6/21/15 post), it wasn't because I thought he could convince millions of Americans to vote for him.
Clear thinking is not easy. Just like weight lifting and long distance running, it requires effort. But, unlike those optional physical activities, we have to think. If we are conscious, we are thinking. Unfortunately, too often we're not thinking clearly. To save ourselves and the world, let's start thinking calmly, objectively, independently, defensively, and clearly. And when we finish thinking, let's rethink.
1) Calm down. We not only need time and quiet to think, we also need calm. Some people are good in emergencies; they can think clearly during hurricanes or tornadoes, but most of us freak out and don't think as clearly. It's also hard to think during emotional storms. I've learned to stop talking if my emotions are triggered because I'm more likely to say something stupid and/or irrational. Demagogues like Trump appeal to our emotions, especially fear and anger, because they don't want us to think clearly.
2) Check your biases at the door before you start thinking. In two earlier posts (10/11/15, 3/26/17), I discussed why we believe what we believe and explained how our biases make it easier for us to believe false narratives and alternative facts. If we believe that big men are stronger than little women, we will believe that the weakest President ever is stronger than Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi. If we believe only white people are real Americans, we will believe that Obama was born in Kenya and that the four women of color who have become Trump's latest rally and Twitter targets are foreigners who hate America and should go back to their "shithole" countries.
3) Look for the sense behind the sound of words. In earlier posts (see 10/6/13 and 9/14/14), I discuss how we can be manipulated by language if we don't pay attention to the meaning of words. One effective assignment that I used, mostly in my basic writing classes, was to have students choose a well-known saying (often clichés) to explain and then either support or attack. They would discuss such popular sayings as "the early bird gets the worm" and "the best things in life are free." In my post-teaching life, I have often challenged people who claim to treat everybody the same, pointing out that they don't nor should they. If we don't treat old people the way we treat teenagers, geniuses the way we treat people with learning disabilities, or athletes the way we treat the physically disabled, why should we treat blacks the way we treat whites? We don't nor should we. Even if Trump has told his amusing critic Jim Carrey to go back to Canada (and he hasn't), he still shouldn't tell Representative Omar to go back to Somali because telling black, brown, or yellow people to go back to their homelands or the countries where their ancestors were born is racist.
4) To paraphrase a Ralph Ellison passage, look beneath the surface, not only of words, but also of actions. Do not be fooled by distractions or shiny objects. If something (like a free phone) sounds too good to be true, ask the question I asked in Radio Shack years ago, "What's the catch?" There is no free ride, so when politicians say, as Trump did and still does, "I can fix it. It's easy." don't vote for them. 2020 candidate Yang's $1000 for everyone sounds good, but what's the cost? What do we lose when we gain that guaranteed income, and why should Trump or Bloomberg get $1000 a month?
5) Be a contrarian. One false dichotomy that's created by sloppy users of language is the leader versus the follower choice. Most of us are somewhere in between. We sometimes lead and sometimes follow. We might join a group and then bring others in with us. However, we need to beware of being seduced or bullied by the crowd. Just because most people believe that racism is not American doesn't mean we have to believe that. Of course, it's a lie. America was built on racism. When Trump says, "everyone believes (or knows) that" or when he brags (i.e. lies) about the size of his crowds, he's appealing to our need to be like everyone else, to be part of the crowd. That need leads to lynch mobs, cults, and even mass suicides like the one in Jonestown.
6) Don't willingly suspend disbelief. Question everyone and everything. Be especially suspicious of the people who look or think like you. I'm more likely to be punked by a commentator on MSNBC than one on Fox (especially since I don't even watch Fox) or by a dark-skinned, elderly black woman than by a young, blue-eyed, blond white man.
7) Ask the right questions (see 7/27/14 post). Anyone who watches "Dateline," "48 Hours," or any of the other crime shows knows how important asking the right questions can be. In the current political situation, if we don't ask why white women and white evangelicals voted for Trump after they heard the pussy-grabbing tape, we might not understand why those brown children are still in cages and why masterful con artist Trump is attacking four attractive young women of color instead of Chuck Schumer or Adam Schiff.
8) Use whatever reliable tools you have available. When composition students were writing argumentative papers, including the ones in response to the popular sayings, I would tell them to draw on experience, observation, and (reliable) printed or other sources. One new saying that I've created is "Wisdom comes to those who wait." Older people who can learn from experience (some, like two of our recent Presidents, can't) tend to be wiser because they've had more experiences than their younger friends and family members. But we also might be clueless about newer technology and pop culture trends and personalities. That's when we need to observe and read. I'm less informed about technology than probably even the average senior, but I'm more informed about pop culture because I read PEOPLE and US every week.
9) Think defensively. Just as we need to drive defensively, watching for careless drivers who might switch suddenly into our lanes or speed through a red light, we need to beware of careless thinkers. There are the name-calling bullies--"idiot," "snowflake," "Nazi," "socialist"--, attacking the person instead of the argument. There are the straw man builders, who will revise our argument, making it weaker, sometimes even ridiculous, so that they can attack it more easily. And there are the definers who think they are the only ones who can determine what is patriotic, moral, racist, or American. Because I taught critical thinking for a living, I'm especially effective at pointing out logical fallacies. I just had to learn not to use technical terms like "ad hominem" (I now say "attack the person") when I moved from the English classroom to social media.
10 Rethink. Just as rewriting is as important (if not more) as writing, rethinking is as important as thinking. As anyone who watches crime shows or reads mystery novels knows, sometimes even the best detectives arrest the wrong suspect and miss the real killer who might be right in front of their eyes. We all make mistakes, and when we do, we must rethink. In 2016, most of us made the huge mistake of underestimating how much racism there is in this country. Even I, who was constantly pointing out racism and calling out fake colorblind white folks, didn't believe that Trump could win states like Florida and Ohio, which McCain and Romney lost, but Bush won, much less Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. But I immediately started rethinking after the unimaginable happened. What I say now is, "We don't know what Americans will do, how they will vote." We didn't think they would vote for Obama, but they did. And most of us thought Trump was a sideshow, a clown. Even when I realized he was dangerous (see 6/21/15 post), it wasn't because I thought he could convince millions of Americans to vote for him.
Clear thinking is not easy. Just like weight lifting and long distance running, it requires effort. But, unlike those optional physical activities, we have to think. If we are conscious, we are thinking. Unfortunately, too often we're not thinking clearly. To save ourselves and the world, let's start thinking calmly, objectively, independently, defensively, and clearly. And when we finish thinking, let's rethink.
