The1938 "first foretaste of a bitter cup" that Churchill talked about was pretty f'ing bitter, and we had to sip from that cup until 1945, with 10's of millions dying. I think we need some pain to readjustment attitudes, I hope it's not that kind of readjustment.
A quibble. Support of the war in Iraq was "wrong", but politically it looked like a reasonable choice for Dems who didn't want to look weak on terrorism. (Sort of like not supporting gay marriage too "early", viewing it as political suicide; or like Lincoln not campaigning as an abolitionist in 1860.) Similarly, the 1994 crime bill was to show Dems were not weak on crime. And was supported by many liberals at the time. You can't complain about Dems losing the votes of blue collar whites, and not recognize that the 1994 bill was a gesture to those blue collar voters. And it worked for a while.
I find it incredible that the country that rebelled against their King 250 years ago and decreed that we will have no king finds itself completely unable to get rid of a crook, a liar, a rapist, a seditionist, most likely a traitor because of some stupid rule that someone decided that we can't do anything about a president. Look at other countries - South Korea right now going after their president for declaring martial law, Britain literally killed their kings (and even queens), France, Germany, the list goes on and on. But the US can't???????? When Ds take over, and they will, there needs to be a constitutional amendment at best that no president is above the law and no president should be treated any better than the worst person in the country. It is insane, and most of the civilized world agrees.
The Felon and Hegseth keep talking about war within. I hate to tell them, but it's a battle they won't ever win. Do they honestly think we will all march happily back to the Dark Ages? Do they really think we will all embrace fascism and bow to the "dear leader?" Have they lost their cotton pickin' minds? Evidently, they have. There are tens of millions of us out here who will resist by choice and can fight when necessary. They might wanna rethink their hubris.
Maybe the Republicans don’t care if Hegseth is an alcoholic sexual predator mismanager because they are too. Or at least “Markwayne” seems to be since he apparently would be in prison if not for his wife. What did she do? Give him an alibi? Destroy the evidence? Inquiring minds want to know.
Prior to that we never really adhered to the letter of the Constitution. High-minded stuff, that: equality before law, rights and freedom for all. In lieu of that, we were guided by norms that allowed various forms of repression from slavery and expropriation of lands to segregation and the violence used to uphold it. It wasn't just Blacks and Hispanics: included in that were waves of immigrants who came over and were exploited for their labor and in many cases beaten and even murdered should they complain of their conditions or even talk of organizing. Elected officials saw no conflict in swearing an oath to uphold the Constitution after having campaigned on "segregation forever" or doing something about whatever minority had it in store for them.
To push us away from those norms into more inclusive society, Civil Rights bills were passed. Supreme Court decisions reversed past injustices. Companies, schools and public places could no longer explicitly discriminate against others. Asking women what they did to make him mad went by the wayside.
On the bright side, we've seemingly socially evolved from the violence prior to our awakening. You want crazy? Witness the Coal Wars in Appalachia. See how the Wobblies blew up a former governor and took on the Pennsylvania State Police. Then you have lynchings, destruction of entire communities in Tulsa and Rosewood.
Hopefully, we won't revisit that violence. But given how our president-elect has made friends with the Proud Boys, 3%ers, and other extremists both in and outside the ranks of law enforcement and the military, don't be surprised.
I invite Bulwarkers, as Mr. Kristol calls subscribers, to join me in listing some of the people (and technologies) who helped end democracy.
0. Richard Nixon: Who pioneered the criminal Presidency and cynically ended the draft so that that people with money wouldn't have skin in the game for later military misadventures.
1. Gerald Ford: Who by pardoning Nixon, crippled accountability for Presidential misconduct.
2. Ronald Reagan -- Yes, I know the many of the Bulwark founders and editors are among those who either worked for the Reagan Administration or advocated for its policies. Many still regard Reagan with high regard. Still, it was my view when he was elected, as it is now, Reagan is a principal architect of our current situation:
a) his reforms of the tax code enabled the formation of great fortunes and concentrations of wealth. Math is pitiless. Once a critical amount of wealth is collected, enabling "barbell" portfolios and family offices, compounding returns guaranteed the formation of black holes oaf wealth. And when wealth is rewarded with power, power is rewarded with wealth. Brandeis long ago observed that concentrated wealth and democracy aren't compatible. So here we are, care of the trickle-down voodoo economics of Ronald Reagan. And don't forget his great efforts to disable unions.
3. Ruppert Murdoch (and Roger Ailes): Murdoch devoted his life to the cynical demolition of democracy. Exposed by the Dominion case (and other legal entanglements), he gave people what they wanted.
4. Newt Gingrich: He showed the Republican Party crystallized the formula of lockstep messaging and language warfare, the gift that keeps on giving.
5. Rush Limbaugh: The radio genius, unleased by the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine under Saint Ronald.
6. Bill Clinton: Unlike any Republican before him, he (and Richard Rubin) ended Glass-Steagall the foundation regulation that hyper-charged the over financialization of the economy. Some of their other innovations helped make the world flat (i.e., allowed capital to flow easily out of the US, in contrast to the illiquid asset of labor)
7. The Spreadsheet (and associated technologies): The spreadsheet and its associated technologies enabled the financial industry to model and unlock value by outsourcing.
8. Antonin Scalia: Who helped install the DEI candidate, George W Bush.
9. Bin Laden: The greatest Jenga player of all time, who understood he could topple liberalism by pulling down some towers.
10. George W. Bush (and Dick Cheney): For getting us into Iraq that was invisible for most of the meritocracy whose children, for the most part, could ignore it. And for their financial policies that led to the Great Recession.
11. Mitch McConnell: Truly the great Hacker of all time. He helped stall recovery from the Great Recession by opposition Obama's recovery spending. And, of course, for his judicial handiwork. McConnell understood the United States Operating System, and used its features to block election finance reform, and to deliver the Supreme Court into its current. corruption. But, perhaps his great legacy, was to help Trump beat his 2nd Impeachment
12. John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, and Sam Alito: Citizens United, Presidential Immunity, Voting Act Rights, and Trump delays, And so much more. 'Nuff said.
13. Obama: By blocking Biden's run
13. Hillary Clinton: Smart, capable, but selfish. We don't need no dynasties. As unfair as it might have been, practical politicians understood that following up Obama with another "first" could end up last.
14. Jeff Zucker: For giving Donald Trump a 10 years of free national advertising
15. Donald Trump, sociopathic branding genius. Like The Mule in Asimov's Foundation a mutant free of nature who could unlock the darkness of the heart and the Paranoid Style of American Politics.
16. Joe Biden: for running again.
There are more, so many more. Bulwarkers are invited to challenge, modify or add to this list.
Oops. Forgot Sarah Palin: Pioneer of the MAGA craziness, unadulterated ignorance, and lying. An unforgiveable gift from our own Bill Kristol and John McCain
Agree that that they didn’t help, but even if they didn’t they had not, the debate would have done him in (though perhaps he not have asked to debate). Still, Biden is fragile, so getting through 4 more years prob wasn’t the best idea. But in the end, given his public statements that had previously committed him to one term, his decision to run again wasn’t smart. Truth is if Obama hadn’t blocked his run in 2016, he’d be finishing his 2nd term now — and would have been remembered with unalloyed respect.
"I want to tip my hat to the era we’re departing. And while I’m at it, to the presidents of that era."
Including "Donald Trump (in his first term)"?? Seriously, Bill. AYFKM!?
I'm sorry, but... Actually, hell no. I'm not sorry.
Following that tip o' the hat up with that bit about Trump being the harbinger of both the end and beginning of an epoch and then "But in his first term he was constrained, he was impeached (twice), and he was defeated. It didn't seem out of the question in 2021 that perhaps the good times... would resume"... that, as part and parcel of evidence that "We could have done a lot worse", is the most lame assed thing I've ever read coming from you.
And I've read plenty. Much of which I could agree with. Some of which I couldn't. But none of which strikes me as more hypocritical and ironic for an OG Never Trumper. Please. This differs from the copious sane washing and normalization of Trump now rampant in the media, the ranks of the American oligarchy and now even spreading on the blue side of the political chasm only by degree and nothing more.
If I'm wrong, have at me. But fair warning: You're going to have to go some, and have at me good and hard, to ever to convince me of the legitimacy of a tip of the hat to Donald Trump for any damned thing relating to this country. Unless of course you figure he deserves the salute for his status of being a GOAT in American history vis a vie successful conman, grifter, liar... and just plain, no good son of a bitch and an example of the worst the country has to offer short of ax murderers and pedophiles.
And honestly, that "short" just ain't all that short in too far too many respects.
It's your hat to tip, Bill. And you may tip it at whom you please for what you please.
But you'll never get the same from me in return about this.
I never thought in my old, ahem, late middle age, I'd be giving a thumbs up to Bill Kristol, but here we are. Well said. I'm gonna go use my old copy of Das Kapital to dry my tears. LOL.
MAGA influencers told us that civilization itself would be finished if Donald Trump was not reelected - after insisting that all the traditional standards of ethics must be waived to accommodate a psychopath, and then that the law itself must yield to raw power.
I surely hope we're not engaged in a wake for democracy yet (I'm joining the Womens March this Saturday). But I have to agree with Bill it's a new era. Unqualified authenticity, Authentically unqualified - let us boast of our transgressions and let none be held to account! No one is harmed.
As a Bulwark contributor has quoted: "Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks—no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.'
James Madison Judicial Powers of the National Government, [20 June] 1788
It's nearly impossible to come up with any "plan" to oppose Trump until he actually does something. Will his deportations be a one-off in Chicago made for television, or will they cut LA's construction workforce in half? Will he grant mass exemptions to tariffs in return for money and pledges? Or will tariffs be more extensive and send the economy into recession? Will the layoffs in government be enough to cripple the US's functioning?
I saw a person's remark on Facebook that the Trump accession reminded him of the oncoming arrival of covid back in 2020. You can see it coming, and know it will wash over us with massive effects, but cannot be sure of what or where or how.
The most dismaying thing is the number of articles I am reading where MAGA interviewees say they know he is lying, they know he won't deliver, and they don't care. That's an awful lot of teflon.
I guess I will review my covid projects I didn't get done the first time around. And pray our Democratic leadership will be flexible and committed.
Quoting The Last Dance - "Every politician believes they’re uniquely suited for power. And virtually every politician rejects the idea that they should give that power up willingly. But no politician has made as consequential a decision to hold on to power against clear signals that he should give it up. Biden has made thousands of critical calls over decades in elected office; many for the good. But that last one, which led to Trump’s second term in office, may be what he’s remembered for the most."
OMG, you people just won't quit. Donald Trump didn't make a consequential decision to hold onto power in 2020? Mitch McConnell didn't make a consequential decision to hold onto power after January 6 2021? The Republican Senators who failed to hold Trump accountable after January 6 2021 in order to hold onto power didn't make a consequential decision to hold onto power?
What led to Donald Trump's second term is the complicity and/or active backing of 90% of elected Republicans along with the active sabotage of the rule of law and the Constitution by the six Republicans on the Supreme Court along with Aileen Cannon.
As for JVL's analysis of Merrick Garland, the same applies.
What's truly breathtaking is how shamelessly, openly cynical Cannon has been -- no doubt assured that she would be rewarded for it by MAGA-world even if her patron did not regain power. It's an in-your-face declaration of contempt for law and ethics.
The SCOTUS "originalists" have been slightly less nakedly shameless, but I don't think there's any chance they would have invented a new doctrine placing the president above the law if they were weighing the actions of a Democrat.
Republican voters chose public corruption--I didn't.
To be honest, Republican voters are really just McGovernites with a taste for criminality and general all-purpose nastiness. As Germans say "You've made your soup...and now you will eat it". As the prices rise and the discrimination increases, I will laugh like Debbie Jelinsky in the Lincoln Town Car because I know all the negative energy they put out will return to them...since that is how life works.
The1938 "first foretaste of a bitter cup" that Churchill talked about was pretty f'ing bitter, and we had to sip from that cup until 1945, with 10's of millions dying. I think we need some pain to readjustment attitudes, I hope it's not that kind of readjustment.
A quibble. Support of the war in Iraq was "wrong", but politically it looked like a reasonable choice for Dems who didn't want to look weak on terrorism. (Sort of like not supporting gay marriage too "early", viewing it as political suicide; or like Lincoln not campaigning as an abolitionist in 1860.) Similarly, the 1994 crime bill was to show Dems were not weak on crime. And was supported by many liberals at the time. You can't complain about Dems losing the votes of blue collar whites, and not recognize that the 1994 bill was a gesture to those blue collar voters. And it worked for a while.
I find it incredible that the country that rebelled against their King 250 years ago and decreed that we will have no king finds itself completely unable to get rid of a crook, a liar, a rapist, a seditionist, most likely a traitor because of some stupid rule that someone decided that we can't do anything about a president. Look at other countries - South Korea right now going after their president for declaring martial law, Britain literally killed their kings (and even queens), France, Germany, the list goes on and on. But the US can't???????? When Ds take over, and they will, there needs to be a constitutional amendment at best that no president is above the law and no president should be treated any better than the worst person in the country. It is insane, and most of the civilized world agrees.
The Felon and Hegseth keep talking about war within. I hate to tell them, but it's a battle they won't ever win. Do they honestly think we will all march happily back to the Dark Ages? Do they really think we will all embrace fascism and bow to the "dear leader?" Have they lost their cotton pickin' minds? Evidently, they have. There are tens of millions of us out here who will resist by choice and can fight when necessary. They might wanna rethink their hubris.
Maybe the Republicans don’t care if Hegseth is an alcoholic sexual predator mismanager because they are too. Or at least “Markwayne” seems to be since he apparently would be in prison if not for his wife. What did she do? Give him an alibi? Destroy the evidence? Inquiring minds want to know.
"A good 50-year run..."
Oh, I'd give it a good 60, maybe 70 year run.
Prior to that we never really adhered to the letter of the Constitution. High-minded stuff, that: equality before law, rights and freedom for all. In lieu of that, we were guided by norms that allowed various forms of repression from slavery and expropriation of lands to segregation and the violence used to uphold it. It wasn't just Blacks and Hispanics: included in that were waves of immigrants who came over and were exploited for their labor and in many cases beaten and even murdered should they complain of their conditions or even talk of organizing. Elected officials saw no conflict in swearing an oath to uphold the Constitution after having campaigned on "segregation forever" or doing something about whatever minority had it in store for them.
To push us away from those norms into more inclusive society, Civil Rights bills were passed. Supreme Court decisions reversed past injustices. Companies, schools and public places could no longer explicitly discriminate against others. Asking women what they did to make him mad went by the wayside.
On the bright side, we've seemingly socially evolved from the violence prior to our awakening. You want crazy? Witness the Coal Wars in Appalachia. See how the Wobblies blew up a former governor and took on the Pennsylvania State Police. Then you have lynchings, destruction of entire communities in Tulsa and Rosewood.
Hopefully, we won't revisit that violence. But given how our president-elect has made friends with the Proud Boys, 3%ers, and other extremists both in and outside the ranks of law enforcement and the military, don't be surprised.
I like the Inflation act. But when Biden decided to re run his stock tanked to zero for me
I invite Bulwarkers, as Mr. Kristol calls subscribers, to join me in listing some of the people (and technologies) who helped end democracy.
0. Richard Nixon: Who pioneered the criminal Presidency and cynically ended the draft so that that people with money wouldn't have skin in the game for later military misadventures.
1. Gerald Ford: Who by pardoning Nixon, crippled accountability for Presidential misconduct.
2. Ronald Reagan -- Yes, I know the many of the Bulwark founders and editors are among those who either worked for the Reagan Administration or advocated for its policies. Many still regard Reagan with high regard. Still, it was my view when he was elected, as it is now, Reagan is a principal architect of our current situation:
a) his reforms of the tax code enabled the formation of great fortunes and concentrations of wealth. Math is pitiless. Once a critical amount of wealth is collected, enabling "barbell" portfolios and family offices, compounding returns guaranteed the formation of black holes oaf wealth. And when wealth is rewarded with power, power is rewarded with wealth. Brandeis long ago observed that concentrated wealth and democracy aren't compatible. So here we are, care of the trickle-down voodoo economics of Ronald Reagan. And don't forget his great efforts to disable unions.
3. Ruppert Murdoch (and Roger Ailes): Murdoch devoted his life to the cynical demolition of democracy. Exposed by the Dominion case (and other legal entanglements), he gave people what they wanted.
4. Newt Gingrich: He showed the Republican Party crystallized the formula of lockstep messaging and language warfare, the gift that keeps on giving.
5. Rush Limbaugh: The radio genius, unleased by the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine under Saint Ronald.
6. Bill Clinton: Unlike any Republican before him, he (and Richard Rubin) ended Glass-Steagall the foundation regulation that hyper-charged the over financialization of the economy. Some of their other innovations helped make the world flat (i.e., allowed capital to flow easily out of the US, in contrast to the illiquid asset of labor)
7. The Spreadsheet (and associated technologies): The spreadsheet and its associated technologies enabled the financial industry to model and unlock value by outsourcing.
8. Antonin Scalia: Who helped install the DEI candidate, George W Bush.
9. Bin Laden: The greatest Jenga player of all time, who understood he could topple liberalism by pulling down some towers.
10. George W. Bush (and Dick Cheney): For getting us into Iraq that was invisible for most of the meritocracy whose children, for the most part, could ignore it. And for their financial policies that led to the Great Recession.
11. Mitch McConnell: Truly the great Hacker of all time. He helped stall recovery from the Great Recession by opposition Obama's recovery spending. And, of course, for his judicial handiwork. McConnell understood the United States Operating System, and used its features to block election finance reform, and to deliver the Supreme Court into its current. corruption. But, perhaps his great legacy, was to help Trump beat his 2nd Impeachment
12. John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, and Sam Alito: Citizens United, Presidential Immunity, Voting Act Rights, and Trump delays, And so much more. 'Nuff said.
13. Obama: By blocking Biden's run
13. Hillary Clinton: Smart, capable, but selfish. We don't need no dynasties. As unfair as it might have been, practical politicians understood that following up Obama with another "first" could end up last.
14. Jeff Zucker: For giving Donald Trump a 10 years of free national advertising
15. Donald Trump, sociopathic branding genius. Like The Mule in Asimov's Foundation a mutant free of nature who could unlock the darkness of the heart and the Paranoid Style of American Politics.
16. Joe Biden: for running again.
There are more, so many more. Bulwarkers are invited to challenge, modify or add to this list.
We are in for it.
Oops. Forgot Sarah Palin: Pioneer of the MAGA craziness, unadulterated ignorance, and lying. An unforgiveable gift from our own Bill Kristol and John McCain
I'll agree with most of the list, but not Biden. I'm sorry, but the party and the media did him in for not being flashy, just like Truman.
Agree that that they didn’t help, but even if they didn’t they had not, the debate would have done him in (though perhaps he not have asked to debate). Still, Biden is fragile, so getting through 4 more years prob wasn’t the best idea. But in the end, given his public statements that had previously committed him to one term, his decision to run again wasn’t smart. Truth is if Obama hadn’t blocked his run in 2016, he’d be finishing his 2nd term now — and would have been remembered with unalloyed respect.
"I want to tip my hat to the era we’re departing. And while I’m at it, to the presidents of that era."
Including "Donald Trump (in his first term)"?? Seriously, Bill. AYFKM!?
I'm sorry, but... Actually, hell no. I'm not sorry.
Following that tip o' the hat up with that bit about Trump being the harbinger of both the end and beginning of an epoch and then "But in his first term he was constrained, he was impeached (twice), and he was defeated. It didn't seem out of the question in 2021 that perhaps the good times... would resume"... that, as part and parcel of evidence that "We could have done a lot worse", is the most lame assed thing I've ever read coming from you.
And I've read plenty. Much of which I could agree with. Some of which I couldn't. But none of which strikes me as more hypocritical and ironic for an OG Never Trumper. Please. This differs from the copious sane washing and normalization of Trump now rampant in the media, the ranks of the American oligarchy and now even spreading on the blue side of the political chasm only by degree and nothing more.
If I'm wrong, have at me. But fair warning: You're going to have to go some, and have at me good and hard, to ever to convince me of the legitimacy of a tip of the hat to Donald Trump for any damned thing relating to this country. Unless of course you figure he deserves the salute for his status of being a GOAT in American history vis a vie successful conman, grifter, liar... and just plain, no good son of a bitch and an example of the worst the country has to offer short of ax murderers and pedophiles.
And honestly, that "short" just ain't all that short in too far too many respects.
It's your hat to tip, Bill. And you may tip it at whom you please for what you please.
But you'll never get the same from me in return about this.
I never thought in my old, ahem, late middle age, I'd be giving a thumbs up to Bill Kristol, but here we are. Well said. I'm gonna go use my old copy of Das Kapital to dry my tears. LOL.
MAGA influencers told us that civilization itself would be finished if Donald Trump was not reelected - after insisting that all the traditional standards of ethics must be waived to accommodate a psychopath, and then that the law itself must yield to raw power.
I surely hope we're not engaged in a wake for democracy yet (I'm joining the Womens March this Saturday). But I have to agree with Bill it's a new era. Unqualified authenticity, Authentically unqualified - let us boast of our transgressions and let none be held to account! No one is harmed.
As a Bulwark contributor has quoted: "Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks—no form of government can render us secure. To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea.'
James Madison Judicial Powers of the National Government, [20 June] 1788
Bill, you literally made this old leftist cry with this one.
It's nearly impossible to come up with any "plan" to oppose Trump until he actually does something. Will his deportations be a one-off in Chicago made for television, or will they cut LA's construction workforce in half? Will he grant mass exemptions to tariffs in return for money and pledges? Or will tariffs be more extensive and send the economy into recession? Will the layoffs in government be enough to cripple the US's functioning?
I saw a person's remark on Facebook that the Trump accession reminded him of the oncoming arrival of covid back in 2020. You can see it coming, and know it will wash over us with massive effects, but cannot be sure of what or where or how.
The most dismaying thing is the number of articles I am reading where MAGA interviewees say they know he is lying, they know he won't deliver, and they don't care. That's an awful lot of teflon.
I guess I will review my covid projects I didn't get done the first time around. And pray our Democratic leadership will be flexible and committed.
The environment, the environment ...
Quoting The Last Dance - "Every politician believes they’re uniquely suited for power. And virtually every politician rejects the idea that they should give that power up willingly. But no politician has made as consequential a decision to hold on to power against clear signals that he should give it up. Biden has made thousands of critical calls over decades in elected office; many for the good. But that last one, which led to Trump’s second term in office, may be what he’s remembered for the most."
OMG, you people just won't quit. Donald Trump didn't make a consequential decision to hold onto power in 2020? Mitch McConnell didn't make a consequential decision to hold onto power after January 6 2021? The Republican Senators who failed to hold Trump accountable after January 6 2021 in order to hold onto power didn't make a consequential decision to hold onto power?
What led to Donald Trump's second term is the complicity and/or active backing of 90% of elected Republicans along with the active sabotage of the rule of law and the Constitution by the six Republicans on the Supreme Court along with Aileen Cannon.
As for JVL's analysis of Merrick Garland, the same applies.
What's truly breathtaking is how shamelessly, openly cynical Cannon has been -- no doubt assured that she would be rewarded for it by MAGA-world even if her patron did not regain power. It's an in-your-face declaration of contempt for law and ethics.
The SCOTUS "originalists" have been slightly less nakedly shameless, but I don't think there's any chance they would have invented a new doctrine placing the president above the law if they were weighing the actions of a Democrat.
Republican voters chose decline--I didn't.
Republican voters chose mediocrity--I didn't.
Republican voters chose public corruption--I didn't.
To be honest, Republican voters are really just McGovernites with a taste for criminality and general all-purpose nastiness. As Germans say "You've made your soup...and now you will eat it". As the prices rise and the discrimination increases, I will laugh like Debbie Jelinsky in the Lincoln Town Car because I know all the negative energy they put out will return to them...since that is how life works.