To give credit where it might be due?
from article:
Curious how right wing nuts will process that.
I continue to be shocked at how many professional women are involved in this. I know women can be a bat-shit crazy and evil as men, but the particular brand of crazy that is Trumpism seems so intertwined with toxic masculinity and evangelical Christianity–two things I really don’t associate with professional women. I guess I can see how, were I a frustrated dude, Trump might appeal. I can see a woman in a very patriarchal culture accepting the Trump Way simply by default. But I struggle to understand what in it would attract professional women independently. And that generally holds: Biden won college-educated women by like 40%. But there are still ardent true believers, college-educated women who would attack a building for Trump.
“It takes a nation of Karens to hold us back.”
Alas, you’re probably right. How depressing.
Uh-oh, SpaghettiO.
It’s five days later, so I have more information to base this on, but I don’t think this is correct. All the people who have been supporting Trump have an interest in downplaying Trump’s misdeeds and the insurrection. With Fox, Newsmax and various other “conservative” media on the team they will convince the Trumpistas that the attack on the capitol a) wasn’t so bad, b) was actually antifa, c) was a great success in showing how strong the movement is, etc. pick any combination, don’t worry if they are contradictory. And non-Trumpist conservatives will fall into line and support the DJTjr candidacy if the alternative is higher taxes.
FYI: Dozens of corporations who made political contributions to the electoral college objectors in Congress have paused their political contributions, according to this article. Many more who contributed haven’t commented, which, I assume, means they’ll probably continue to donate. I’ve extracted the names of corporations who’ve said they’ll continue donating to these malignant idiots, along with the dollar amount of their 2019-2020 election cycle contributions:
Home Depot $465,000
FedEx $263,000
Delta Airlines $236,000
Lowe’s $176,000
Pacific Life $54,000
Proctor & Gamble $45,000
KeyCorps $25,000
Discover Financial $25,000
Lab Corps of America $17,000
Berkshire Hathaway $16,000
DISH Network $15,000
Air Products & Chem $4,000
I am with JT in that I don’t think Donald Trump has much of a political future left. I mean, the man is approaching 75 years of age and his diet is shit. I also wonder what the 'rona did to his lungs and blood vessels.
But that doesn’t mean he can’t rehabilitate his image and perhaps put out Ivanka or Don Jr as one of his proxies. He could definitely have some influence going forward, and I don’t think white nationalism is going anywhere right now. The neo-confederates are going to be with us for a while.
They’re going to wait it out until the waters get calmer. “Just let the storm pass,” they’re probably telling themselves.
In a moment of profound cynicism and smugness, Steve Scalise even told his fellow House members to not worry about losing donations because they’ll need them again in a few months, and he’s probably right.
It’s capitalism that fuels the racism - because if you look at American history, the two are inextricably tied together. America was founded on race-based capitalism and a race-based capitalistic caste system. The rich want the caste system based on wealth; and every white man needs to be at least one rung above non-whites. That’s what the ethnonationalist white man understands America to be, and what many white mans subconsciously subscribe to as well.
Very useful.
Seconded. I’m surprised FedEx wasn’t on top; still wagering they’d be the very last of the rats to go for a swim.
Kevin McCarthy has gone to Florida to make nice with Trump and beg for his support:
The Republican mainstream doesn’t seem to have given up on Trump, despite his defeat. Just like it didn’t pay any attention to that memo about reaching out more to minorities after Obama took the White House. They’re not going to listen to any (expletive deleted) consultants, they’re going to go with what worked for them in the past, dad-gum-it!
The Republican party and what it represents has arguably fewer adherents now than it did in November, if only slightly fewer. But the ones who populate the Republican party openly are probably the die-hards, and they are probably as defiant as ever. I don’t expect Republicans to budge from Trumpism: they had a chance to pull the party in a different direction years ago, and instead decided that rather than try to compete for the center, they were going back to their base camp and dig in. The only way the Republican pols will come out is through a long, slow siege warfare that essentially starves them out. The party will grow more and more extreme. A senator here and a congressman or governor there will, one by one, over time, decide that the party’s gone too far, and they’ll retire like Sens Flake, Corker, Toomey, and Portman. But that’s what we have to look forward to.
There’s no question that the events from November 3rd on represent a clear and obvious democratic backslide. But I suppose that’s to be expected. Consciously deciding that we can make our democracy more perfect often results in a trade off that involves sacrificing stability, as expanding democracy and power to make our society more inclusive inevitably conflicts with the majoritarian value system that the culturally dominant group favors. And we see that when we watch the videos: listening to their words, they’re speaking rubbish, nonsense. “This is our house.” “Defend your liberty, defend the Constitution.” Whose House? Whose liberty? Whose Constitution? Well, theirs obviously.
A tangential thought or reaction to this is that maybe, just maybe, as ‘great’ as our Founding Fathers were, maybe now would be time for a serious rethink about giving them undue reverence. I’m done with Declaration, Revolution, and Constitution worship – let bygone eras be gone. The Framers were useful, but I don’t want to hear what kind of country the Framers wanted - who gives a shit? They wanted, and in fact had, slaves. We decided that was wrong. They stole land that wasn’t theirs. We know that this is wrong. The Framers wrote and ratified a Constitution with a festering flaw so great that it took 4 years and 600,000 American lives to fix. I don’t care what the Founding Fathers wanted. We should care about what it will take to make this country more stable and productive, and it’s not white supremacy.
No, it didn’t shatter Trumpism or the Right, but Donald himself has no political future. He’s not leaving office like Teddy Roosevelt but as a beleaguered, disgraced, ex-president who led an Insurrection and is facing a score of lawsuits and over $1 billion in debt refinancing. He is also 74 years old and if he ever runs for anything again he will be the most instantly reviled candidate in the history of American politics.
(Shit, I typed this up 2 days ago and forgot to send. My bad!)
Another piece commenting on McCarthy’s trip to see Trump
Has anyone checked under McCarthy’s bed for giant seed pods?
Why, Kevin? What is forcing your hand at this point in history, at this precise time, in the midst of a continuing insurrection and attack on our government from within?
Kompromat.
Could be.
But also his district is about as far right as is Idaho. He fancies himself a possible replacement for Trump once the Godfather dies.
Don’t make me explain the concept of a “joke”…
Besides Cervaise’s point about the racism, I think there’s a certain amount of “Cool Girl” factor at work too. Women who publicly endorse and champion aggressively macho-rebellion-type movements can get a lot of admiration, especially if they’re conventionally attractive. “I’m not like those drippy timid girls or those angry hairy-legged feminist uggos, I’m a real strong independent woman and I can appreciate Real Men!”
Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin are other examples of “Cool Girl” attitude in public personae.