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 ...
Leon says:
Come for the pithy shit, stay for the trivia questions.
c u n d gulag says:
Are you planning on a NPF tomorrow, after whatever the ACA decision today?
I love NPF – but, whatever the decision, I think we commenters here at G&T's will want to leave our all-important word-turds on the subject – either in joy, grief, or confusion.
But, Hell, it is YOUR blog!
Number Three says:
@Gulag–There's always the threadjack!
anotherbozo says:
I'd love to hear reactions to Elizabeth Kolbert's article (book review, really) in this week's New Yorker re: the way American children are being raised vs. other kids, to wit, French children and those in the Peruvian Amazon. Fascinating article in its implicit condemnation of American parenting. (I don't feel entitled to speak to it because I'm not, have never been, a parent) Ed quoted the part about coddling re: university preparation, but that's only part of the picture.
In reponse to that post there was a lot of venting about the hard row the current crop of graduates have inherited, a subject that Ed lamented missed the point.
tybee says:
i read Kolbert's review and saw a lot of myself in that, particularly the parts about "i don't have time to let my children do tasks around the house" as she picked up the garbage strewn all over the yard (although i probably would have had the offending child out there doing that unless leaving for school was imminent) and the "it takes longer to threaten them into doing something than the task would take".
when the first child was about 12 and had finally mastered the art of throwing a casts net on the beach, i said to the spouse, only half jokingly, "well, he can read so he can educate himself, he can throw a cast net so he won't starve, our job here is now done. let's leave him here on the beach."
that one moved out at 18 to go to college but after the first year, spent the tuition money on parties so we put the kibosh on the financial assist. now he works nights and pays for college himself so i guess we're letting the savanna return to forest for that one.
i've discoverd a couple of keys (literally in one case) for getting the youngest to motivate: car keys and internet access.
even parental units are capable of learning a bit here there and yon.
reading Kolbert's article may aid in that process as well…
Paul says:
If you have all this time, how about an update on the U Virginia fiasco? I'd love to hear your thoughts.