Category: Trump effect

February 18, 2018

“Joy and pain, are like sunshine and rain,” Frankie Beverly and Maze

This weekend, social media has been awash in images of joyous, Afrocentric garb sporting Black people across the Diaspora, celebrating the opening weekend of the Marvel film, “Black Panther.” There were joyous drummers in a cinema in Ghana and the brothers who showed up in full Prince Akeem regalia, complete with a lion’s head, at the local Cineplex (Source: #BlackPanthersolit and #Wakandacametoslay on Twitter). Naturally, wherever there is unfettered Black joy, there are racist trolls trying to steal it. Buzzfeed detailed the easily debunked stories of alleged assault of white patrons at screenings of “Black Panther.” (Source: “Beware of False Claims of Assaults at Black Panther Screenings,” by Craig Silverman, Buzzfeed.com 2/16/18). When will these racist dolts get it through their thick skulls that we can love ourselves without hating you? It is a bonus that director Ryan Coogler uses this blockbuster Marvel movie to engage with the weighty themes of what people of African descent across the Diaspora owe to one another, while simultaneously envisioning an alternate reality where an African nation remained untouched by colonialism. Jamil Smith, Vann Newkirk, and Jelani Cobb have expounded eloquently on the film’s deeper meaning, here, here, and here. Kayla Reed, Jessica Byrd and Rukia Lumumba of the Electoral Justice Project are harnessing this Black joy by launching, #WakandatheVote to register Black people at movie theaters around the country (Source: “These Black Women Launched #WakandatheVote to Register Voters at Black Panther Screenings Everywhere,” by Tonya Renee Stidhum, Blavity.com, 2/17/18). Continue reading “Joy and Pain”

February 15, 2018

On a day dedicated to love, we were once again left shaking in impotent rage, witnessing the entirely preventable slaughter of innocent children.  There is no escaping the conclusion that we are a nation of immoral savages, unable or unwilling to take the simplest actions to prevent carnage on a mass scale.

In an affluent Florida suburb yesterday, a 19 year old former student burst into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, armed with an AR 15 and countless magazines of ammunition.  By the time he was finally apprehended, 17 people had been killed and 14 more had been injured.  Hundreds more teenagers who should not face a crisis more consequential than picking a prom date will be battling PTSD like veterans of Fallujah. Continue reading “Not a moment’s peace”

February 13, 2018

Watching the Trump administration on a daily basis is as if Hieronymus Bosch’s “Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things,” had come to life and taken up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Pride is on display in Trump’s irrational boasts that he is a very “stable genius,” with the “best words.”  Greed is apparent in his refusal to divest his from his companies and to exploit the presidency for its brand value.  Lust is evident in the comment that fame allows him to “grab [women] by the p–sy” and gluttony and sloth conjured up by the image of Trump in his bed scarfing down McDonald’s cheeseburgers while watching Fox.

This administration is truly a collection of the worst human beings imaginable.  From profligate spendthrifts like EPA head Scott Pruitt, who bilk the public treasury for luxury flights while dismantling environmental protections to Staff Secretary Rob Porter, unable to obtain security clearance for a job that required one, because of his habit of violently abusing his wives, Trump staffers embody all of the most detestable human traits. Continue reading “All things bright and beautiful”

February 10, 2018

The predilection of this administration to promote and protect truly evil men never ceases to amaze. In the last week, two senior administration officials were forced to resign when evidence of their history of spousal abuse came to light. First, The Daily Mail revealed that White House Staff Secretary, Rob Porter, had been accused of battering each of his two ex-wives. This information, uncovered by the FBI a year ago, is the reason Porter did not have a security clearance, despite holding a position that required the highest one.

The cascade of credentials trotted out to cover Porter in a cloak of invisibility that hid his violent abuse of women was truly disgusting. Harvard Law School graduate, Rhodes Scholar, Mormon— these aspects of Porter’s identity were reverently recited as proof that he couldn’t possibly be a serial batterer. If anything, the incantation of these indicia of respectability explain how so many men get away with it. Continue reading “They Were Expendable”

February 7, 2018

It is easy to become inured to Trump’s unceasing barrage of inflammatory rhetoric such that we don’t react.  We know that he consistently rails against anyone who fails to display the appropriate amount of fawning obsequiousness, but we still should be shocked by his declaration yesterday that the Democrats who sat in stony silence during his State of the Union address were guilty of “treason.”  In the same unmoored speech in Cincinnati yesterday, Trump stated that he would welcome a government shutdown if Congress doesn’t enact his hardline immigration restrictions (Source:  “Trump’s Latest Surprise:  Shutdown Might be a Good Idea,” by Mark Landler, The New York Times, 2/6/18). Continue reading “Boycott!”

February 3, 2018

With the release of the Nunes memo, it is clear that we are in the midst of a slow motion coup. Nunes‘ four page, sloppily drafted hatchet job contains misstatements of fact and material omissions that were quickly debunked (Source: “Justice Department told court of source’s political influence, officials say,” by Ellen Nakashima, The Washington Post, 2/2/18).

For Trump’s purposes, of course, none of that matters. The memo succeeded in kicking up dust around Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation, as evidenced by the breathless stories that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should fear for his job because he signed the authorization to renew surveillance on Carter Page (Source: “Under Pressure, Justice Dep’t. official faces criticism for handling of Russia probe,” by Sari Horwitz, The Washington Post, 2/2/18). Most people will simply scan the headlines while buying their Buffalo wings and beer and accept the Republicans’ fabulist tale of FBI partisanship. Continue reading “How to survive a coup”

February 1, 2018

 

We are through the looking glass.  Those of us in the reality based community watch aghast as attacks on the independence of the FBI metastasize from infecting a handful of Trump toadies to The Speaker of the House.  Earlier this week, Paul Ryan openly called for a need to “cleanse” the FBI (Source:  “Paul Ryan calls for a ‘cleanse’ of the FBI and wants Trump to release the secret GOP memo,” by Brennan Weiss, Businessinsider.com 1/30/18).  These are the actions of autocracies that bury the truth to protect the rulers at all costs, heedless of the impact of their actions on the Rule of Law, the integrity of the government or the will of the people. Continue reading “Those who are ignorant of history…”

January 30, 2018

 

Consider the FBI.  Founded by Attorney General Charles Bonaparte in 1908 to provide a newly industrialized and expansive United States with a cadre of coordinated federal law enforcement officers, throughout its history, the FBI has been a conservative institution with a view of national security that privileged our country’s hierarchical status quo and perceived threats in any organized voices that challenged that status quo.

Thus, early in its history, in addition to pursuing gangsters and bootleggers like Al Capone and “Babyface” Nelson, the FBI pursued anarchists, communists and labor unions like the International Workers of the World (Source:  “A Brief History.  The Nation Calls 1908-1923,” www.FBI.gov).  The FBI was notorious for its surveillance of Civil Rights and Black Power organizations, infamously sending Martin Luther King a letter in 1964 urging him to commit suicide (Source:  Taylor Branch, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years, 1963-65).  It launched COINTELPRO, which infiltrated everything from Black student organizations to the Black Panther Party with a goal to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize,” the movements and their leaders (Source:  “Cointelpro Revisited- Spying & Disruption,” citing FBI internal memo from J. Edgar Hoover dated 8/25/67). Continue reading “Enemy of the State?”

January 28, 2018

 

All week, the news has been filled with stories of Trump’s reception at the World Economic Forum in Davos. While he was booed by foreign journalists who recognize the palpable threat embodied in Trump’s constant attacks on the press, world leaders were more tempered in their response. The New York Times reported that Trump was well received by the global economic elite, some of whom, confoundingly, thought that his bellicose rhetoric on trade might be a useful bargaining tool (Source: “Trump Arrived in Davos as a Party Wrecker. He Leaves Praised as a Pragmatist,” by Peter S. Goodman and Keith Bradsher, The New York Times, 1/26/18). Continue reading “What is your price?”

January 26, 2018

In the last 24 hours, we have been mesmerized by the bombshell revelation that Trump tried to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller in June 2017, a mere month into his tenure. According to The New York Times, who broke the story, Trump only relented because White House Counsel, Don McGahn threatened to resign. While this story clearly provides more concrete evidence of Trump’s ongoing effort to thwart investigations into his complicity with Russian election meddling, it is not as consequential as the breathless coverage it has received would indicate.

The sad reality is that although evidence that Trump obstructed justice is piling up, it is abundantly clear that the Republican led Congress has progressed from passive enablers to active participants in the feverish campaign to undermine not only Robert Mueller, but the entire historically conservative federal law enforcement establishment.

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin went on national television and alleged that there was a “secret society” within the FBI seeking to overthrow Trump. Johnson extrapolated this fabulist tale from a sarcastic text exchange between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, (Source : “A Wild Conspiracy Theory about an FBI ‘secret society’ has been swirling around the right-wing universe,” by Alan Smith, Businessinsider.com, 1/25/18).

Although the trumped up rage of the Fox News blowhards at the so-called “deep state“ seems patently ridiculous to those of us who rely on fact based journalism, we forget at our peril the fact that Fox News is the only news source that millions of Americans trust.

We need to bear that in mind as we engage in the coming policy fight over immigration. Yesterday, Trump released the “four pillars” of his proposed immigration policy. In exchange for a twelve year path to citizenship for the Dreamers, Trump wants to build a wall, end family reunification immigration for parents and siblings and end the diversity lottery, which is responsible for immigration from many African countries that Trump recently derided.

Let’s be crystal clear. This proposal represents a return to the immigration policy of the 1920’s which viewed all non white immigrants as undesirable. It is the panicked response of fear stricken racists to the perceived threat of our country’s demographic change. Notably absent from Trump’s proposal is any mention of the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living, working and paying taxes in this country. It is obvious that the administration position is that those people are fair game for deportation. In the words of acting ICE Director, Thomas Homan, “there’s no population off the table….If you’re in this country illegally, we’re looking for you and we’re going to look to apprehend you.” (Source: “Have deportations increased under Donald Trump? Here’s what the data shows,” by Miriam Valverde, Politifact.com, 12/19/17).

Once arrested, the undocumented are added to the pool of coerced prison labor, where they can be thrown into solitary confinement for refusing to work (Source: “Private U.S. Detention Center Punishes Immigrants for Refusing to Work,” by Donald Kaufman, Truthdig.com, 1/15/18). This white supremacy as policy is a harbinger of things to come and none of us should be sanguine because of our citizenship status. The scapegoating, terrorizing and rounding up of a target population has a well known antecedent. We would do well to remember the words of Martin Niemöller, “First they came for the Socialists and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist.” We all know how that ends.