Reading Mr. Brooks’ call for an uprising

 

We The People

By this time, you will probably have already read, or read about,  David Brooks’ op-ed in the New York Times,  What’s Happening Is Not Normal. America Needs an Uprising That Is Not Normal. It is genuinely an important piece in that it was written by a conservative who was in opposition to us lefty loonies for decades, but who would now stand with us.

Why? It seems he has discovered that Trump and his regime are, indeed, illegitimate and a threat to everything America stands for…at least, everything good that America stands for.

I’m glad to see this. And I’m heartened that the call is coming from the Right. (At last someone over there is hearing something other than Fox News or the Heritage Foundation.) And I hope, very much, that Mr. Brooks is heeded and we do manage to cobble together a united front that will be able to bring down our Trump and his emerging dictatorship..

Yet, I fear this will be hard to do. Mr. Brooks is hardly a MAGA, and the GOP remains beholden to that curious movement. I see very little to indicate that Republicans, in general, and Trumpsters, in particular, will feel any sympathy for his positions. Meanwhile, the Left can’t seem to stay united long enough to support AOC and Bernie, much less coalesce around some future leader or leaders who could provide common direction. 

Still, better small things than nothing. Let us hope that this op-ed piece will resonate with enough people…right, left, and center…that something will come of it. After all, a single drop of rain can presage a mighty storm. 

"Shadow Government"

So I saw a while back that Tim Walz, who would have been a great VP IMHO, has urged Democrats to form a shadow government to “emphasize the Democratic response to President Donald Trump's actions.” (That’s according to a story in Just The News.)

There’s nothing wrong with the proposal, even though the Magrat Government jumped on it as fast as their little hobnailed boots could manage. Unfortunately, there is a conspiracy theory, popular among knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, GOP troglodytes that a (liberal) “shadow government” is doing Torrible Things to ‘Merica and the world.. 

In fact, of course, there is no such sinister Shadow Government. The term simply means the organization of the party out of power as it attempts to oppose the policies and actions of the party which is in power. It’s what happens in democracies. We’ve done it for years, even though we Americans don’t call it a “shadow government.” That's more of a British thing, but there’s no reason why we couldn’t adopt the term here in the Benighted States of (Trump’s) America. 

In fact, the more I think about it, the more important it seems to me that we have such an organization…something beyond a simple opposition group. That’s because Trump and the G☭P are going to screw up the country. They are a disaster waiting to happen. Or, rather, are happening now. 

And I notice that one definition of “Shadow Government” listed on Wikipedia is “a term for plans for an emergency government that takes over in the event of a disaster.” Well, guess what. That’s exactly what we’re going to need.

Someone to pick up the pieces…

And maybe, hopefully, this time…

Put a few bastards in jail.

~mjt

Tim Walz

Once Again, Mitch

So I read in Semafor that Mitch McConnell remains terrified of what Trump is doing to the nation. He is openly saying that if something isn’t done, and soon, to stop Trump…and Musk, and others in their circle…that it is only a matter of time before the United States is overwhelmed. As he puts it, Russia will win. We will lose.

This is probably true. He is probably absolutely right. But, alas, he is…well…late. This is the man who spent his entire professional life as “the Grim Reaper,” killing anything like progressive legislation. This is the man who openly told President Obama that his job, as he saw it, was to make certain that Obama would be a one term president.  This is the man who labored long and hard to turn the GOP into a militant, centralized, disciplined band of right-wing radicals who thought of nothing but victory, regardless of the consequences. 

In other words, McConnell is one of those who most of all got us into this mess. He helped Trump gain the White House, not once but twice.

So what do we say to Mr. McConnell? I’m not certain. But perhaps it begins with “Yes, sir, you are correct. But you should have spoken up long ago, and acted constructively. As it is, you are like an enfeebled Lenin, who at the end of his life railed weakly against Stalin, a monster he’d helped create.”

Vote, damn it, or face the end

Like you, like everyone, I am increasingly concerned about where we are headed as a society and a nation. Let’s consider the situation, shall we? We are in the middle of a pandemic, we are on the verge of a serious recession if not an outright depression, we have a president who is irresponsible and ineffective (except in so far as he can wreck the accomplishments of others), we have millions of deplorables who are heavily armed and eager to use their weapons on someone...and, oh, yes, we have enemies both foreign and domestic who are eager to flood the air waves and internet with rumors, falsehoods, and slanders. 

I fear that unless we are very lucky, it is all too likely that we will have serious civil unrest on our hands in the all too near future.

The Future With Trump

The question is what do we do about it? The only thing I can think of is for us all to vote Trump out of the White House...and then stand ready to defend the results of that election from a GOP which looks increasingly like a criminal or fascistic organization, and from Trump supporters who may go into the streets caressing their beloved automatic weapons.

Which means...

That right now the very worst thing any of us can do...the worst!...is to decide not to vote for Biden. If any of us says we “just can’t support him” because a “lesser evil is still an evil,” or because he isn’t Bernie, or because those sexual harassment claims are almost certainly false but “you just can’t be too sure...” or a hundred other reasons, then we actively support Trump’s return to the White House.

And the results of that...

Are too horrible to consider.

***

About me: I’m a writer and former journalist who has published material on everything from computers to the Jazz Age. (Among my small claims to fame is that I interviewed Steve Jobs just after that talented if complicated man got kicked out of Apple, and just before the company’s Board came begging him to come back.)

Please check out my new book, Padre: To The Island, a meditation on mortality, grief, and joy, based on the lives and deaths of two of the most amazing and unconventional people I ever met, my mother and father.

  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Halloween Politics - A Scary Video

Hey, All,

Yet more flaming liberal politics in this video. Give it a glance, if you're not offended by anti-Trump stuff. (If you are, er, ah, wait until the next posting, which will be much nicer.)

Here it is on liberalresistance.net:

https://www.liberalresistance.net/video-happy-halloween-or-not/

And here it is in person:

Video Note To Conservatives: Dump Trump Now!

Another video I did for LiberalResistance.net. This one ran on Friday.

Actually, I really believe this. Conservatives had made real progress in America, and, at least in places like American Conservative Magazine, had explored some interesting new spaces in the ideology.

But, Trump could take them down...hard.

If the Right wants to weather what's coming, it needs to find a way to disassociate itself from him, and do so gracefully but firmly.

Anyway, take a look and see what you think.

The Monster To Come - A Video

I'm still doing short videos for LiberalResistance.net. They're very political, and (as you would expect) very anti-Trump, so if you're very pro-Trump then probably not a good idea to watch.

But, still, if you're curious, here's what I'm doing with my voice-overs and a little stock footage. This one ran today, and I'll post others once every Friday or so for a while.

cheers
mjt