The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
jon says:
I work in a prison and heard this heartwarming tale from an inmate:
During a volleyball game on the rec field, a group of white inmates were playing against some Mexican inmates (the divides in prison are usually like this.) Anyway, the ball was called out. How far out was it? The paisano held his hands a bit apart and said, "Five dollar."
ben says:
isn't this a perfect example of that most republican of all ideas: the free market?
J. Dryden says:
In my more cynical/realistic moments, I've argued to my gay friends that they will be truly accepted not when they're allowed marriage, but when two guys kiss on a nationally televised ad for Coke. Because once corporate America–which controls *way* more of our cultural values than we care to admit–collectively decides "you're in," *that's* the point at which you've passed your hazing and are part of the gang.
MarilynJean says:
J. Dryden is so right. Since the Obama family entered the White House, the amount of advertising featuring non-white people of various brown shades has skyrocketed. I get my lady-centric commericals AND my "urban" themed commericals!
jazzbumpa says:
Ben –
Free market is a Libertarian idea.
Republicans just want to kill people.