The long con

       I watched "The Big Short" last night as part of an assignment in a class on finance I am taking along with 15 other "senior scholars" and I was transfixed by the movie version of the book by Michael Lewis.  you can laugh at the Wolf of Wall Street and other movies dealing with finance, but The Big Short exposes the greed and stupidity of the entire system and the belief of these masters of the universe that any mistakes or crimes they commit will be forgiven and the government will ultimately bail out the financial system because it is too big to fail.  i urge anyone reading this to watch The Big Short.  it makes the phenomenon of tRump all too easy to understand.

Rage and hate

       I'm beginning to think the default emotional setting for many, white, rural Americans is rage against the system, aka, the government and hate for brown or black skinned people who they perceive as inferior.   This hatred comes in more and less virulent strains.  I live in a semi rural area which overwhelmingly supports Cheeto Jesus and his anti immigrant policies.  Many realize tRump has no policy which will alleviate the economic distress they feel, but his rhetoric gives them the permission to substitute hate for any perceived grievance, so here we are.

     In his column in today's NYT, Paul Krugman tries to diagnose the problem, but comes up with no solutions.  For many rural whites, the solution is a strong, white Daddy who will deport millions of immigrants and make sure blacks know their place in society.  To them, as with millions of whites in the south during the Jim Crow era, poverty is bearable as long as someone is beneath you.   There is no way to reason with theses people.   Only by beating them repeatedly at the ballot box and rebuilding the rural American economy in a more inclusive way will we overcome the rage and hate.

Civics 101

       I don't expect every American to spend as much time as i do obsessing about politics.  Like many Boomer retirees, time is one thing i have in abundance.   I read several newspapers during the day as well as blogs I agree and disagree with.  I think i have a pretty good bullshit detector.  But, according to a recent poll only 39% of voters believed Joe Biden will be the Democratic candidate for the presidency in 2024.  Come on people!!

Say it ain't so, Joe

       The "Joe Biden is too old to be President" campaign reached a fever pitch among political junkies the other day.  Ezra Klein published an audio essay advocating Joe Biden should step aside and allow an open convention to choose his successor as the Democratic nominee for 2024. 

    I am of two minds on this topic.  As a septuagenarian myself, I am mystified why anyone over 70 would want to be president, unless to avoid prison, like the Republican frontrunner.  In Biden's case, I would hazard a guess he is running because he can and because a second term would firmly cement his legacy in the pantheon of presidents.

     Unfortunately for those who feel like Klein does, I can pretty much guarantee that barring some sort of serious injury, Biden will be the nominee.  Deal with it.  In the face of a death to democracy second tRump term, Democrats need to unite around Biden for the good of the country.

      

Media fellow travelers

       The news that Hunter Biden's main accuser and the source of breathless media coverage about the possibility of the House impeaching Joe Biden based on this source's tale of a $5 million bribe funneled to the then VP  was arrested and charged with lying to the FBI should have been front page news.   Instead, the NYT put the story on page 16.

       The right has written off the mainstream media, especially newspapers, since that requires their cult members to actually read.  The Times' readership therefore expects a truthful, factual account of the story it is covering.  In an effort to keep the horserace narrative alive,  this requires legacy media outlets like the Times to minimize the news that favors Biden and maximize that  favorable to the Orange Voldemort.  I guess the prospect of covering 4 more years of tRump chaos rather than 4 more years of good governance is enticing to their bottom line.   But you would think the imminent death of democracy in the wake of a tRump victory might curb their enthusiasm for Cheeto Jesus.

The GOP agenda

      It's hard to keep in mind how on the one hand, Republican candidates seem to be running on a policy free agenda.  Mostly, they are telling us not to worry our little heads about what they will do once installed in office.  Lately, they have been right.  Governing is not their strong suit.   Even if they controlled both houses of Congress it is unlikely they could do much to damage the country.  However, there is a heavy industry of Republican think tanks waiting in the wings to reshape and constrain democracy should tRump win the presidency in November.

     Doing away with free and fair elections will be first on the agenda.  Subjugation of women via abortion bans and even banning birth control is also an aspiration.  The list goes on.  Imagine every right you have taken for granted during your life is under attack.  It is that bad and could conceivably get worse should Cheeto Jesus somehow win.  Dog help us all.

Getting Worser all the time

      It breaks my brain to imagine the spectacle of a disgraced, twice impeached, multiply indicted former president on stage at a sneaker convention, hawking gold colored kicks emblazoned with the American flag and the tRump logo for $399 a pair.

     Of course, this is the same guy who at least attempted to sell tRump vodka and tRump steaks, not to mention tRump University.   All of these grifts ultimately failed as I have no doubt so will the latest example.   But, as one commentator put it I'll let PT Barnum and H.L. Mencken have the last words.

What's old is new

      The GOP clown car continues to roll.  Impeaching a cabinet secretary for the crime of disagreeing with the Republican mantra there is a crisis at the southern border.  Losing George Santos' seat to the Democrats in a preview off the 2024 election in swing states.  Finally, the MAGA wing of the party threatening to withhold aid from Ukraine to satisfy tRump and Putin.  A prodigious body of stupidity accomplished in 24 hours.

Be afraid, be very afraid

      The mainstream press and media talk about Donald tRump as if they are of two minds.  On the one hand many pundits maintain Cheeto Jesus is an existential threat to democracy.  On the other, he is irresistible click bait for both his fans and his detractors.   Add to this his ongoing legal saga and he continues to command 24/7 coverage and enough neutral to friendly reporting to convince a lot of people he is merely a blowhard who need not be feared.   Some people are sounding the alarm, but too many in the media seem to prefer the spectacle of a mentally impaired tRump to a quietly competent Biden.  

Dark Brandon strikes again

      With flames shooting out of his eyes, Dark Brandon once again confounded the MAGATS watching the Super Bowl in hopes of seeing Taylor Swift's favorite team and player humiliated.  Underneath the picture of Joe Biden''s alter ego was the phrase '' Just like we planned it".   About the only thing missing was Swift and Travis Kelce standing on the 50 yard line and endorsing the president's reelection bid.  Don't worry, it's coming..

Have they no decency

      The gratuitous verbal slander in special prosecutor Robert Hur's report on Joe Biden's handling of classified documents was calculated as it was over the top.  As one commentator put it, adjectives and adverbs have no place in a prosecutorial summary, especially when explaining a decision not to prosecute.  Much as in James Comey's infamous press conference on Hilary's e-mail management, Hur used his office in a glaringly partisan way, putting his thumb on the scale to slur the president.

      Of course, Democrats, and especially Merrick Garland, bear a share of the blame also.   In the tradition perpetrated by Republicans, only GOP prosecutors are allowed to investigate presidents of either party.  Going all the way back to Watergate there is an unbroken line of Republicans scrutinizing presidents with nary a democrat in the mix.

     Hur knew his comments would provoke another round of "Biden is senile and incompetent " stories.   A craven media ecosystem is likely to let him get away with it.

Supreme Kabuki

        The Supreme court will hear oral arguments today on the question of whether or not Donald tRump can appear on the ballot in Colorado or indeed in any state.   Millions of pro and anti tRump partisans will listen to the arguments.   Meanwhile, the issue has already been decided by the so called  "originalists'' on the court.  They just have to choose which rationalization to use to make the decision plausible.

      

Dropping shoes and crashing clown cars

       If you read newspapers and follow cable news, it seems virtually impossible that tRump and his legal troubles and the chaos surrounding the MAGA party are not top of mind of any thinking citizen.   Alas, that doesn't seem to be the case.   A majority of the electorate is still tuned out and thinking more about what's for dinner tonight than the fate of American democracy.

       Meanwhile, those of us who would rather read Heather Cox Richardson than a  take out menu were gratified an appeals court rejected tRump's claim of presidential immunity.   Add the spectacle of house Speaker Mike Johnson's failure to count votes for the impeachment of the Homeland Secretary and you have a hilarious round of schadenfreude served up in time for dinner.  Next up, the death sentence for the tRump organization.  Bring on the popcorn.

Immigrants and the American Id

       In another round of performance cruelty, Republicans shot down another attempt at border reform originating in the Senate with input from the administration.  It would have been a less humane package and would surely have pissed off liberals who favor orderly immigration, especially from countries which have been screwed over by American policies.  

      Meanwhile, America's birthrate is falling and immigration is a key to maintaining a vigorous country as the native population ages.   The GOP elite gets this as does their billionaire sponsors.  However, chaos at the border energizes the MAGA base and despite the evidence these troglodytes are no longer the key to winning elections, I guess it is easier to keep throwing the red meat to the base than appealing to a larger electorate.

     Despite the mythology of the ''nation of immigrants" we teach in schools, a pretty fair percentage of the population is xenophobic.  It is hardwired in many peoples' brains and is likely not  something we can educate them out of.

bread and circuses

       One of the pillars of the American system since the middle of the 20th century is cheap food for the masses.   Ever since the days of parity in the late 1940s,  American farmers have been crushed by government regulations designed to keep food cheap.  The industrialization of agriculture drove many small family farmers out of business.  My own father was one of these victims.  He owned a small egg producing farm on eastern Long Island and wound up losing it as egg production shifted to factory farms with hundreds of thousands of birds in cages rather than the free range operations with a few thousand layers.

     Thousands of other small egg producers were also driven off the land in the 50s as well as small meat and vegetable growers.   The same happened to many small supermarkets run as mom and pop operations.  By consolidating all these farms and stores food prices have remained lower here than in most countries.   

     Now people are complaining about grocery prices as mega farms, processors and retailers seek to increase their margins.  More and more people are relying on cheaper highly processed foodlike substances which are causing widespread obesity problems.  All because the government actively and passively encouraged the consolidation which politicians now rail against.

Up is down, etc.

      I have probably written about the MAGA world's casual connection with reality before, but it seems to be getting more tenuous by the day, so here we are again.

     In the old Superman comics,   Bizzaro world or Htrae is the inversion of everything on earth one.  The more stupid you are, the more you are admired.  Ditto for lying your ass off.   You can see where I am going with this.  tRump is the Bizzaro superman whose sole power is the ability to lie to his cult followers.  It is enough.