Before the elections of 2016 we were informed at every step of the way that Donald Trump was a fascist, one to be stopped by any means necessary; we were urged to stop this greatest danger to the American republic ever by throwing our bodies into the breach, by manning the barricades, by storming them.Continue reading “The Normalization Of Donald Trump”
Tag Archives: Hillary Clinton
Robert Caruso, Clinton Campaign Fellow, Advocates War Crimes (Before Denying He Did So)
Hillary Clinton’s reputation as a warmongering hawk is a well-established one. As the New York Times reported back in April in an essay titled “How Hillary Clinton Became a Hawk,” she could talk the hawk talk, and walk the hawk talk too: Bruce Riedel, a former intelligence analyst who conducted Obama’s initial review on theContinue reading “Robert Caruso, Clinton Campaign Fellow, Advocates War Crimes (Before Denying He Did So)”
The 2016 Elections, The ‘Bernie Revolution,’ And A Familiar Pattern
In The Age of Revolution: Europe 1789-1848 Eric Hobsbawm writes: In brief, the main shape of…all subsequent bourgeois revolutionary politics were by now clearly visible. This dramatic dialectical dance was to dominate the future generations. Time and again we shall see moderate middle class reformers mobilizing the masses against die-hard resistance or counter-revolution. We shall see the masses pushingContinue reading “The 2016 Elections, The ‘Bernie Revolution,’ And A Familiar Pattern”
Politics As Spectator Sport In A Nation That Would Call Its Dictator ‘Coach’
It had to come to this: a ‘presidential debate’ would become as television-friendly as sports, that shadow-boxing encounters replete with campaign trail inanities and evasions would be reckoned the political-show equivalent of a honest-to-goodness fifteen-round heavyweight championship bout (with figurative seconds and blood buckets close at hand.) These allusions and analogies which have retained theirContinue reading “Politics As Spectator Sport In A Nation That Would Call Its Dictator ‘Coach’”
Presidential Elections, Marks, And Con Men
On the night of 15 October 1992, I watched a live telecast of the second presidential debate between George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot. As I watched three men in business suits–walking back and forth on a ‘town-hall’ stage–explain how they would run the nation, manage its economy, and conduct its international affairs,Continue reading “Presidential Elections, Marks, And Con Men”
Hillary Clinton Prepares The Inaugural Ball’s Invitee List
This is an election season about the rich, the richer, and the richest. As it should be, since multimillionaires are running for election, and on their way to the presidency, hanging out with the folks who will have the most access to them after the coronation. In this regard, just like in the election polls,Continue reading “Hillary Clinton Prepares The Inaugural Ball’s Invitee List”
Donald Trump Looks A Gift Horse In The Mouth
A smarter politician than Donald Trump would have realized the windfall Khizr Khan had granted him, one with which he could have pulled off a miraculous triangulation of his own. To do this Trump could have done the following: Welcomed Khizr Khan’s remarks, acknowledged his family’s sacrifice, and then said, “This is the kind ofContinue reading “Donald Trump Looks A Gift Horse In The Mouth”
Dan Savage Should Run For Dogcatcher
Dan Savage thinks the Greens should walk before they try to run: I have a problem with the Greens…. I have a problem with these fake, attention seeking, grandstanding Green…party candidates who pop up every four years, like mushrooms in shit, saying that they’re building a third party. And those of us who don’t haveContinue reading “Dan Savage Should Run For Dogcatcher”
A Trump Win And The First-Past-The-Post System
Every election cycle, we learn all over again, the bad news about ‘swing states’ and ‘undecided voters’ and ‘independents.’ There are ‘red states’ and ‘blue states’ and then there are ‘states in play’: those electoral precincts in the nation whose demographics make their electoral outcomes uncertain. Every election cycle, the political candidates of the twoContinue reading “A Trump Win And The First-Past-The-Post System”
Veterans And The Dallas And Baton Rouge Shootings: Wars Return Home
Today, on Facebook, Chad Kautzer offered some brief reflections–“not interested in condemning or justifying”–on the shootings in Baton Rouge. They begin as follows: First, the police have to stop killing black and brown people. I say that up front, because it’s the social relation and institutional practice that frames everything. Period. Second, although it’s tooContinue reading “Veterans And The Dallas And Baton Rouge Shootings: Wars Return Home”
Samir Chopra 