Discarding democracy

Little things that have accumulated in my browser tabs…

Hunter of Daily Kos discusses an article from the New York Times which noted that the nasty guy said a great deal about the caravan of refugees crossing Mexico and how they were a threat to American national security – but he stopped mentioning the subject as soon as the polls closed. News sources appeared to lose interest at the same time. Gosh, could the nasty guy have been using the caravan as a political ploy? Hunter notes that this is another instance of the press merely repeating the propaganda of the nasty guy without investigation or context. This propagandist knows how to manipulate the press against the American public. And they’re way too willing to be manipulated.



Now that the election is over there is lots of people saying, well, if you don’t like the result, you should just move. In a Twitter thread Robin Marty takes on such foolish ideas.

Does no one realize how hard moving is? Leaving families? Uprooting kids from schools? Looking for new jobs? Finding housing? Don’t they think about how much money and privilege all of that takes? What if you are in college? You should just switch schools? What if you work for the state? No big, just leave? What if you have family in care centers or assisted living? Ditch them?
...
People don’t need to move if they want a different government. They need to actually be allowed to vote for the government they really want - and for their votes to count. And to have as many representatives as they should. And that comes from staying and fighting, not leaving.

Yeah, the recounts in Florida are proceeding. The hassles include overheating counting machines. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos looks at what might happen when the counting is over, at least for the Senate race between Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Rick Scott. Quoting a bit of the New York Times Sumner wrote:

The decision to seat a senator is ultimately decided in the Senate. With Trump and Scott and other Republican officials daily hurling around the words “stolen” and “fraud” even though there’s no evidence of either, it sits the Senate up to make its own decision should the recount tip the outcome in Nelson’s favor.

If that were to happen, though, it is not unthinkable that Republicans would consider using their majority power in the Senate to refuse to seat Mr. Nelson and to give the seat to Mr. Scott instead — especially considering how he and his party have repeatedly insisted, without offering evidence, that the ballot review process has been riddled with fraud and misconduct.

The nasty guy has been tweeting about the election results in Florida and Georgia where counting is still going on. The prompted Leah McElrath to explain in a Twitter thread what he’s doing. He says things to inflame the base (never mind they are lies or are even contradictory). He’s creating confusion. He notes which parts of his story draw the greatest reaction from his audience and refines his story. When presented with evidence his base will believe what their own minds are telling them. His target is discredited.

IMPORTANT: In this case, however, the subject of Trump’s defamatory campaign is not an individual or even a group. It is the normal process of democratic elections. He feels rejected by democracy, so he is *discarding* it. Literally.

And he is also telling his base to mistrust and discard democracy as well.



According to data from Daily Kos and Washington Post and my own use of a spreadsheet we can see the makeup of the new House. The GOP is to hold 204 seats, of which 89% are white men. The Democrats are to hold 231 seats and their delegation is much more diverse: 38% are white men, 20% are white women, 23% are men of color, and 18% are women of color.



Attorney General Jeff Sessions is out the door. Chief of Staff John Kelly might soon follow. That prompted Sarah Kendzior to tweet:

Typical in autocratic governments. They fire frequently to create chaos and leave a void, weakening external checks. The void is then filled by an increasingly narrow circle of loyalists. The longer in power, the more paranoid the ruler gets, and the narrower the circle becomes.

We see an example of those weakened external checks in the appointment of a “temporary” Attorney General who can do a great deal of damage before the Senate confirms a replacement (some time after the nasty guy actually nominates a replacement).



Watching the nasty guy skip a Veterans Day commemoration in France last weekend Twitter user Jason noted:

Thinking about trump dodging the WW1 cemetery due to rain I was reminded of something that @sarahkendzior wrote: "Serving one’s country is a sacrifice, and sacrifice terrifies Trump. The idea that one would risk oneself–out of love, loyalty, or duty–is alien to him.”

Below Jason’s tweet is a reply with a rewrite of a famous WWI poem.

Jason quoted Sara Kendzior. Here’s Kendzior explaining it a bit more.