As usual, anxious liberals and American citizens all over the nation are waiting, with bated breath and a dollop of some old-fashioned American optimism, for the Great Abandonment: that crystalline moment when the Republican Party will decide that enough is enough, issue a condemnation–with teeth–of Donald Trump, begin scurrying away from his sinking ship, andContinue reading “The Republicans Will Ride Out This Latest ‘He Can’t Survive This’ Moment”
Tag Archives: Mitt Romney
Trump Campaign Rallies And Presidential Imagery
Donald Trump kicked off the 2020 election season with a campaign rally in Florida last night. These campaign rallies enable Trump to keep lines of communication–besides his Twitter account–open to his faithful; they rejuvenate his ego, one presumably battered by the endless ridicule heaped on him by his political opponents; they enable him to switch fromContinue reading “Trump Campaign Rallies And Presidential Imagery”
Tales of Three Morning Afters
The 2004 Presidential election was my first. I had not voted in the 2000 election because my naturalization came a few weeks too late for me to participate; I had observed the election itself from afar, in Brazil, and watched, amazed by the Supreme Court’s intervention, as the final, lame denouement came about. In 2004,Continue reading “Tales of Three Morning Afters”
Election Fiascos: Unlikely, and Unlikely to Provoke Serious Protest
John Heilemann at New York Magazine suggests four ways in which the election on Tuesday, November 6, could be headed for a nightmare of narrow ‘illegitimate’ wins or deadlocks. I don’t think any of these apocalypses are likely. They are based on the assumption that the election outcomes talked about will result in widespread protests. InContinue reading “Election Fiascos: Unlikely, and Unlikely to Provoke Serious Protest”
Respecting the President and ‘The Ideology of Kingship’
In reporting on the second presidential debate, Charles Blow writes: There is a fine line between feistiness and testiness. Romney has never negotiated that line well in debates and last night he fell over it again. At one point he scolded the president — the president of the United States! — “you’ll get your chance in aContinue reading “Respecting the President and ‘The Ideology of Kingship’”
Flippin’ Channels to the Debate and Stayin’ Right There
A few days ago, I posted a note here saying I would not deign to pay attention to the debates. Last night, after a dinner date with my Brooklyn College colleague, Corey Robin, during the course of which I remarked, ‘Debates are to you what sports are to me’, I returned home, intending to watchContinue reading “Flippin’ Channels to the Debate and Stayin’ Right There”
‘But Already It Was Impossible To Say Which Was Which’
It is almost accepted wisdom among political punditry that in recent times, American political and cultural life is characterized by two revolutions: the Fiscal Rectitude one and the Cultural License one. The former was won by the Republican party: it is committed to austere deficit reduction and budget balancing by attenuating social programs and tax cutsContinue reading “‘But Already It Was Impossible To Say Which Was Which’”
Debates: Good for Drinking Games
In 2008, during that year’s interminable election season, bars in my neighborhood posted signs they were showing the Democratic primary debates, the presidential debates, the vice-presidential debates; we all seemed to be comfortable and enthusiastic about the notion of election debates as spectator sport. I made plans to watch the vice-presidential debate between Sarah PalinContinue reading “Debates: Good for Drinking Games”
Mitt Romney, Tired Old Tropes and the Myth of Self-Reliance
Mitt Romney‘s comments at a May fundraiser describing 47% of the American population as, roughly, a bunch of no-goodnik moochers are merely the latest expression of one aspect of a peculiar view that many reasonably intelligent folks are fond of espousing. It is a view that insists on imposing a facile dichotomy on this worldContinue reading “Mitt Romney, Tired Old Tropes and the Myth of Self-Reliance”
United Against Teachers on Teacher’s Day
The Facebook statuses of some friends of mine who live in India acknowledge September 5 as the date for the observance of an Indian holiday, not, I think, ‘observed’ with any particular enthusiasm in the United States: Teacher’s Day. (A confession: I did not realize there was a Teacher Day in the US till IContinue reading “United Against Teachers on Teacher’s Day”
Samir Chopra 