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 ...
Doctor Couth says:
The speed with which numerous state legislatures introduced Voter ID laws, limited early voting, or otherwise screwed with the franchise as soon as the ink was dry on Shelby County suggests that John Roberts was acting with malice instead of misguided optimism.
geoff says:
@DC (the other one!), yup. Charlie Pierce refers (sarcastically, natch) to the Court's decision as "The Day Of Jubilee".
It's kind of telling that the first post-Shelby presidential election (and only the second post-Citizens United) produced the Giant Evil Baby.
Nice article Ed. I kinda miss the swearing though ; )
Lit3Bolt says:
Thankfully neoliberal Goldman Sachs puppet-Queen and ruler of the 667th Layer of the Infinite Abyss (called the Clinton Foundation), Demon-Goddess Hillary Clinton, cannot put any of her warmongering, Imperialist judges in place in the Supreme Court.
Instead we will have the reign of blessed Gorsuch and his ilk, because while Republicans are Obviously Evil ™, at least they're honest about it.
This message brought to you by the Self-Neutering Leftist-Socialist Alliance of America.
Major Kong says:
@Lit3Bolt
Well played sir. Well played.
c u n d gulag says:
SCOTUS CJ John Roberts is the secret love-child of former SCOTUS CJ William Rehnquist.
(For you young snappers of whips, if you don't know what I'm talking about, GOOGLE him and read about his record before, during, and even after, the Civil and Voting Rights battles in the early-mid 60's).
Noskilz says:
Nice article.
democommie says:
Ed:
I'm not sure how to say this, but…
The majority opinion of the SCotUS gang of reactionaries, well, they were LYING. It's what they do best. Sad.
democommie says:
"SCOTUS CJ John Roberts is the secret love-child of former SCOTUS CJ William Rehnquist."
I didn't know that Billy Reh was into anal.
Tim H. says:
Before I read the essay, I'll say that the civil rights movement did not fix things, just removed some of the more grotesque abuses, a good thing, but insufficient to render racism a historical curiosity.
Tim H. says:
Great essay, I would add that prosperity makes it easier to paper over unpleasant things, generations of low economic stress might see a reduction of passing on hatred to young people. I'd say there's an argument to be made that the economic policies of the .001% are an important part of the current unpleasantness.