Tuesday, April 07, 2020

Trump Has Failed America-- Badly-- So It Would Be Nice If The Democratic Party Stepped Up To The Plate For The Country

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Die For Him Granpa by Nancy Ohanian

Frank Bruni's question-- Has Anyone Found Trump’s Soul? Anyone? in his Monday column seemed cheeky-- until you read it. He started by reminding his readers of how George W. Bush and Barack Obama demonstrated leadership in pulling the country together, the former after 9/11 and the latter after the Newtown murder of 28 children and teachers. Then he asked "Do you remember the moment when President Trump’s bearing and words made clear that he grasped not only the magnitude of this rapidly metastasizing pandemic but also our terror in the face of it? It passed me by, maybe because it never happened. In Trump’s predecessors, for all their imperfections, I could sense the beat of a heart and see the glimmer of a soul. In him I can’t, and that fills me with a sorrow and a rage that I quite frankly don’t know what to do with."
Americans are dying by the thousands, and he gloats about what a huge, rapt television audience he has. They’re confronting financial ruin and not sure how they’ll continue to pay for food and shelter, and he reprimands governors for not treating him with adequate adulation.

He’s not rising to the challenge before him, not even a millimeter. He’s shriveling into nothingness.

...In the Washington Post a few days ago, Michael Gerson, a conservative who worked in Bush’s White House, wrote that Trump’s spirit is “a vast, trackless wasteland.” Not exactly trackless. There are gaudy outposts of ego all along the horizon.

When the direness of this global health crisis began to be apparent, I was braced for the falsehoods and misinformation that are Trump’s trademarks. I was girded for the incompetence that defines an administration with such contempt for proper procedure and for true expertise.

But what has taken me by surprise and torn me up inside are the aloofness, arrogance, pettiness, meanness, narcissism and solipsism that persist in Trump-- that flourish in him-- even during a once-in-a-lifetime emergency that demands something nobler. Under normal circumstances, these traits are galling. Under the current ones, they’re gutting.

“I don’t take responsibility at all.” “Did you know I was number one on Facebook?” To bother with just one of those sentences while a nation trembles is disgusting. To bother with both, as Trump did, is perverse.

...And while I’m not looking to Trump for any panacea, is it too much to ask for some sign that the dying has made an impression on him, that the crying has penetrated his carapace and that he’s thinking about something other than his ratings? I watch. I wait. I suspect I’ll be doing that forever.
Different people are looking for different things from Trump. Surely, though, the Democratic Party is looking for ways to kick the shit out of him with his own actions and words and inactions. Yesterday, Politico's David Siders and Elana Schneider wrote that the party seems to have found a rallying cry: Trump tanked the economy... even if "framing a coherent economic argument that all the party’s factions can rally around is proving thorny." Yep... the ole problem of a tent too big coming to mean nothing at all. They wrote that "It’s already become a source of friction within the Democratic Party, even as some major Democratic outside groups begin pummeling Trump for the economic fallout of the pandemic. It‘s a message Democrats plan to amplify in coming months, long after the immediate health effects of the crisis subside."
The left flank is increasing pressure on Joe Biden, the party’s likely nominee, to adopt more progressive economic policies. Activists accuse Trump of prioritizing corporate America over low-wage workers, while many moderate Democrats are leery of drawing such distinctions, training their criticism of Trump solely on his initial mishandling of the pandemic.

“This is not just about saying, ‘Trump is not doing a good job,’” said Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a prominent supporter of Bernie Sanders, who remains in the presidential race. “That is absolutely a piece of it, but it's also about, what are you going to do? What is your vision? … We should be talking about a payroll guarantee, like a bold pay payroll guarantee program, we should be talking about canceling student debt. I mean, these are the things that, they're not just progressive priorities anymore, they are going to be desperate needs for the survival and the recovery of our people in our economy.”

Jayapal added that Biden, should he become the nominee, will “absolutely” come under pressure from progressives to reconsider those policies ideas in light of the crisis.
Democratic establishment SuperPACs, stinking of corruption and conservatism-- Priorities USA, American Bridge, PACRONYM and Biden's Win the West-- are highlighting unemployment statistics alongside coronavirus deaths, and Trump's inadequate response to the pandemic.
“Democrats, ever since before 2016, haven’t really had an economic profile. People couldn’t name what the Democratic economics was, and it was a major reason why Trump won in 2016,” said Celinda Lake, a leading Democratic strategist and pollster who works with Biden’s presidential campaign but was not speaking for Biden or his advisers.

In the coronavirus response, she said, “there’s a real opportunity to define … what is a people-centered economy, what is an economy that works for everyone, and we should be leaning into this.”

Robert Reich, the Clinton-era Labor secretary, said the crisis presents Biden with a unique opportunity to make policy changes that he might otherwise have difficulty explaining.

“Even if he wants to be perceived as cautious and prudent on issues like income support and health care, the pandemic gives him more room for being bold than he had before the pandemic,” Reich said. “A national trauma such as we are experiencing and definitely will experience over the next month or two enables a politician … to say, in effect, ‘I’ve now seen what the country needs in a way that the country has also experienced, and therefore I’m modifying the position.’”

While the general election is still seven months away, the effect on the electorate is likely to endure after weeks of deaths, stay-at-home orders, job losses and business closures.

“When we come out of this, millions of Americans will have a very different experience of what happened than they had at any time in their lifetimes before,” Reich said. “It’s almost like going through the Great Depression or World War II in the sense that the direct experience of a traumatic event changes attitudes towards government and public policy, sometimes in profound ways.”

In response to criticism from Democrats, Trump’s campaign has highlighted the relief measures he has signed into law, while accusing Biden of “sniping from the sidelines.” The president has suggested the economy will be moving again before the general election, and direct payments to millions of Americans-- even if late arriving-- could benefit him in November.

But the economic damage from the pandemic has already proved severe, and it is widely expected to worsen this month. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Friday for an expansion of the $2 trillion relief package Trump signed, including more money for small businesses and more direct payments to Americans.

Barry Goodman, a Democratic National Committee member and bundler for Biden, said Democrats should clobber Trump for his hesitance to embrace public health measures detrimental to the stock market, saying that “his infatuation with the stock market and keeping the economy running and humming … he believed that over the science.”

“He ended up tanking the economy worse than it ever could have been tanked,” Goodman said.
Goal ThermometerThis is a brilliant video presentation. I really want you watch it so you can imagine someone playing it at the virtual Democratic Convention this year. Nevermind about that; it's as likely to be played by the Democratic Party as it is likely to be played by the Republican Party-- and that's a travesty. "Unite in solidarity with your fellow workers and press your demands" is something you could have heard at a Democratic Convention a few decades ago. "Capitalism is the root of all of today's evils and cannot solve the problems it creates." Ypu've have to go back a little further to have heard that at a Democratic Convention. "Those in power will listen to the rest of us if we can organize and really pressure them to enact our demands. Whether you make $15,000 a year of $150,000, if you sell your labor and hours of your life for a wage, you are working class. That should be a mark of pride because it's the working class that keeps this country running. The parasites at the very top don't care if you die. They would rather kill millions of Americans than lose a single percent of their wealth. It's time to remember the language of class struggle and fight for dignity and a livable future." You think you can get your garden variety Democratic Congress Member behind those sentiments? Like I've said before... the tent's too damn big. And the thermometer above? If you listen to the video, you'll know why I put that there; I guarantee it.




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11 Comments:

At 6:19 AM, Blogger TrumanTown said...

Democratic Party Can't Step Up To This Calamity Because They Are So Rotten To The Core! Pelosi Is So Anti Working Class While Schumer Is The Bagman For Wall Street!

 
At 6:26 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_xTjrF7Q3w

 
At 6:58 AM, Blogger Notorious P.A.T. said...

"how George W. Bush demonstrated leadership in pulling the country together"

Give me the biggest fucking break!

 
At 7:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"It Would Be Nice If The Democratic Party Stepped Up To The Plate For The Country"

The next time Elvis, Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy stop by for a visit, I'll see if they would be willing to help make that happen. I doubt Sasquatch would care to assist.

/s

 
At 8:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

why, steve, you sound like... well, me. careful... you'll be imploring yourself to self-immolate on the steps of the capitol... on a sunny day.

I would add that the democrap party hasn't stepped up for anyone except billionaires and corporations since about 1981. So... you're wasting your hope.

"Those in power will listen to the rest of us if we can organize and really pressure them to enact our demands."

Actually, no they won't. In order to get YOUR demands enacted, it will take a different party in power. It's a trivial diagnosis but a very difficult thing to affect.

And you repudiate that very sentence in your following text. If you want progressive change, donating to the "blue" and voting for MOS via democraps will never 'git-r-dun'. Whether sheepdogging or you truly believe... it once again proves my thesis about democrap voters. sorry. it just does.

biden!?!? fer fucksakes!

 
At 10:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't see Greta references, and Steve doesn't show up unless he can hide behind her.

What a man!

/s

 
At 12:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

A quick recap of who/what has failed America and humankind:

Nazis
democraps
capitalism
neoliberalism
religions
the rich
corporations

A quick recap of who/what are considered viable in all elections in this shithole:

Nazis
democraps
capitalism
neoliberalism
religion (Christianity)
wealth
corporations

A quick recap of everyone and everything that won't ever make the shithole better:

Nazis
democraps
capitalism
neoliberalism
religions
the rich
corporations

A quick recap of all who DWT supports (hold your nose and vote blue?):

democraps
capitalism
neoliberalism
the rich
corporations

seems to be a pattern here...

 
At 5:41 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's MISTER Bozo, Chief Ten Bears. Show Respect!

 
At 10:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@Ten Bears

I don't take this guy seriously, but thanks.

@Douchenozzle, 10:02

I don't hide behind ANYTHING. Mr. Democraps even knows my real name now, since I occasionally tell him to go fuck himself over at Smirking Chimp using my actual FaceBook account.

Also worth noting: Regardless my usual imploring for you to set yourself on fire in an act of protest, no one is stopping you from doing a little more than this repetitive, tedious bitching that I suspect consumes the better part of your daily life. It should be obvious after 10 years that no one at DwT! has the least interest in your point of view. You're obviously welcome to keep posting, but it's clear your "mission" here (and at Smirking Chimp) has about as much chance of success as their mission to reform the Democratic Party. It's kinda sad you're too demented/stupid/delusional to catch on. I only came back to start insulting you again because I'm on furlough from work. On the outside chance things return to normal by next year, I'll pretty much go on about my business and leave you to, well, whatever the fuck it is you think you're doing here.

"Blah blah blah - you're an idiot. How dare you! - Greta Royale with Cheeseburger"

 
At 10:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

you're on furlough... meaning you could jump in and "do" something to fix it all too. If you're not busy fixing the world, you have no right to bitch at me for not fixing the world.

It would appear that more responders on this one at least DO agree with me than with you. So your bitch about "no one at DWT..." is a lie, at least sometimes.

And if you agree that the democrap party cannot be reformed... what are you arguing about? you agree with me on substance but not on form? who has a purity problem?

Sorry about your furlough, truly. My only working sibling is laid off. One of my kids also. And about half of the rest of the people I know. In 3 months there will be 10 million bankruptcies. On the other side of this, there will be 30 million people who won't have jobs to return to because small businesses will be extinct.

 
At 1:11 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Isn't it a basic tenet of the self-righteous that they can look down their snouts at the rest of us for not doing what they won't do themselves?

Greta is more of a man than you are, Steve. You couldn't withstand a hundredth of the abuse she's taken from people far better at it than you will ever be.

 

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