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 ...
MS says:
Trump appoints economic right-wing, social right-wing judges.
Democrats appoint economic right-wing, social mushy-middle judges.
The entire spectrum of economic middle-to-left, and social left is unrepresented. Every single judge anywhere knows that doing anything in that spectrum is a way to never get promoted. It's disqualifying for Democratic administrations as well as Republican ones.
Cumulative result is visible and ugly. (Shoot a black man? You're innocent! Steal gum from Walmart? Five years in jail!) But blaming all of it on Trump is not correct.
jcdenton says:
@MS
Yeah, it's not like Merrick Garland was some kind of progressive superstar. He would have been the Doug Jones or Ralph Northam of the SCOTUS, voting in favor of more Citizens United shit.
Corporate Dems love Kamala Harris, whose big claim to fame has been putting away a lot of PoCs in CA. Obama's COS was Rahm Emmanuel, current mayor of a city that has it's own goddamn secret prison (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site).
One of the most laudable things about Erica Garner was how much she appreciated that corporate Dems were utterly worthless when it came to social and economic justice (https://bennorton.com/erica-garner-revolutionary-neoliberal-democrats-whitewash/).
@democommie (to pre-empt your response about "alternatives")
There are tons of decent, progressive social-reform candidates. However, they don't get cash or support from the DNC, DCCC, etc. Also, Erica Garner organized an entire movement (BLM) to fight for social justice.
democommie says:
@jcdenton:
Which is exactly what I've been saying for a while now. And they WON'T be getting cash from people who they call scum. Sorry, it may not be right, but it is the way things are. How people who did not even vote in the last dozen or more years or get involved in politics beyond the hand wringing level expect to defeat the DNC AND the GOP is not something I can begin to understand.