Following the flood of analysis following the recent election of Donald Trump I stopped doing my after action reports. There's just too much writing on the topic and I'm sure everyone is sick of it. Still, some things do and will call out for commentary and I can't help myself. So, a collection of things will be posted here.
The Delusional Whining. Not a day goes by, it seems, where one of the large newspaper organizations doesn't seemingly confirm what Republicans claimed about them, they're relationship to the Democratic Party equates with Pravda's relationship with the Communist Party. It's absurd.
The New York Times and similar organs are just screaming with "Trump Not A Democrat? Will he appoint the ghost of William Jennings Bryan to the Supreme Court?" Get real.
The absolutely babyish reaction to a President who isn't a Democrat and who isn't an establishment Republican has just been fantastically juvenile. And it probably is serving to cement the views of somebody who seemed to relish taking them on.
The irony, I suppose, is that the NYT and print media has been in a decline of disastrous proportions for a long time, so for the most part, its message is not only not getting through, it's symptomatic of a big city Democratic Party that things everyone in the world lives in a big city and is a Democrat.
Nope, nothing wrong here. The item in the last paragraph is very nicely demonstrated by the Democratic reaction to the election, now that it has time to absorb it.
It isn't absorbing it.
The Democrats failed to gain either house in Congress.
They lost the Presidency.
They now control only 18, yes that's right, 18, of the State Legislatures.
18.
And they now hold 17 of the 50 Governorships.
Yes, 17.
The Democrats have been sort of smugly sitting back for years thinking "demographics is history", which assumes a linear demographic trend (very much in doubt) while the actual trend was a decline into extinction.
A party normally experiencing this would really clean house. The Democrats are doing the polar opposite.
And in the Senate, they're going with Chuck Schumer as a spokesman constantly. You know, the New York Democrat who sounds just as abrasive to people who don't live in New York as all the other New York politicians (yes, including Trump). Good idea that. After running one ersatz New Yorker, Clinton, against an expat New Yorker, Sanders, and getting beat by a Manhattanite, sticking with annoying Schumer is the obvious choice.
Couldn't they even perhaps have considered Amy Schumer? She's at least as left wing and isn't annoying.
Nancy Pelosi is actually retaining her position in the House. Schumer hasn't been sent packing. Amazing. By comparison the GOP cycled over last year in the House. . . and its in control. Problem with losing the House and Senate again? Apparently not. "We'll just keep on keeping on with the leader whose been so freaking successful so far. Go Team!"
This has caused one on line journal to state:
What does a professional sports team do after 6 straight losing seasons? Among other things, it usually fires the coach and looks for new blood, new leadership, and new strategies.But not if you’re the minority House and Senate democratic leadership... Or the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party shortly before the collapse of communism.Instead, the failed, and increasingly geriatric leadership holds onto its fading power with increasing tenacity.The highest ranking elected Democrats are now... drum roll... Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (who has served in Congress for 35 years since 1981) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (who has served in Congress for 30 years since 1986.
Some conservative cyber screed? No, that was the very liberal Huffington Post.
The Washington Post recently ran a headline that stated:
The next generation of Democratic leaders is, um, nonexistent
Well, as they say, you don't want to abandon a gasping drowning horse as it sinks under the waives in the middle of a stream. . . oh wait, it's a river. . .
Well there's more hope at the Democratic National Committee, right?
Actually there is. And if they were smart about this one, they'd choose the guy who made sort of a pitch sub silentio for it the other day . . .Barack Obama.
President Obama didn't come out swinging for the fences for it, but he did sort of express some interest, for those paying attention, and he'd be a really good choice. A widely liked politician (he'd have beat Trump if he could have run for a third term), who isn't 150 years old. But he won't get it
There are some other good choices however.
One of them isn't Keith Ellison, however.
I know very little about Ellison personally but he's the wrong choice. In interviews he sounds like he's straight out of the party circa 1973. Another one of those guys.
He is younger, young even in Democratic political terms, as he's only 53 (hey! now suddenly I'm young too, go Keith!). But he's the wrong choice.
Why? Well his 1973 rhetoric for one thing, and the principal thing. It's not 1973 anymore.
And then there's the fact that he's drawing flak for having represented the Nation of Islam as a lawyer years ago. Ellison is a convert to Islam from Catholicism, which is quite rare and a bit odd, but he's never been a member of the Nation of Islam which isn't conventionally Islamic. Nonetheless he's drawing some flak from some Jewish groups. And oddly, he's now getting flak from Louis Farrakhan, head of the Nation of Islam, whom he's denounced for years, who is calling him a coward. This is the sort of stuff the DNC doesn't need. Close attention to religious affiliation hasn't been a factor, supposedly, since 1963 but I'd question if that's fully true now (I doubt it) and picking somebody whose drawing these odd problems so early on may not be a really good idea. Chances are some Democrats will feel that it has a "look. . .see how diverse we are" feel to it but it isn't likely to come across the way that they think, particularly when the GOP looks at least as diverse anymore. The Democrats look 1973 diverse. . the GOP looks 2016 diverse. Diversity isn't necessarily liberal.
Speaking of 1963, I see where television is going to run something on Jackie Kennedy, with Jackie played by Natalie Portman. I'll not watch it, but apparently it touches on Jack's personal behavior only barely, or so I read. When we're talking about guys with unsuitable behavior for the Presidency, how come JFK keeps getting a pass? Seriously.
Anyway, if you want to send a message that the election meant nothing, picking the same old crew in Congress and a guy who sounds like he's from 1973 as the DNC chairman would be a really good approach to that. "Let's run the same winning team with the same winning message we have since 1973, team, because demographics his history. . . hey. . . why isn't there anyone in the stands?"
The Post Clue Era. Amongst those on the liberal left who are recreating, Weimar Republic style ("we didn't loose the war with the Allies, we were stabbed in the back. . . let's try it again") the recent election is the press itself about the press.
Recently, for anyone paying attention, there's been a news story about there being fake news on Facebook.
Gee, really. What a shock.
This isn't news.
Everyone with a critical eye knows this. This as been known from approximately 30 seconds after Facebook came into being.
This does allow, however, comfort to the liberal downtrodden, as in "Oh, they don't disagree with me, they were befuddled by fake news. . . I need not change".
No doubt some votes were changed by fake news, but I'll bet not much. Most of the fake news I saw, and it was from the left and the right, was obviously pitched to the already committed. And its still going on. News like that just goes to those whose minds are made up already.
And speaking of made up minds. . .
The Post Clue Era. Amongst those on the liberal left who are recreating, Weimar Republic style ("we didn't loose the war with the Allies, we were stabbed in the back. . . let's try it again") the recent election is the press itself about the press.
Recently, for anyone paying attention, there's been a news story about there being fake news on Facebook.
Gee, really. What a shock.
This isn't news.
Everyone with a critical eye knows this. This as been known from approximately 30 seconds after Facebook came into being.
This does allow, however, comfort to the liberal downtrodden, as in "Oh, they don't disagree with me, they were befuddled by fake news. . . I need not change".
No doubt some votes were changed by fake news, but I'll bet not much. Most of the fake news I saw, and it was from the left and the right, was obviously pitched to the already committed. And its still going on. News like that just goes to those whose minds are made up already.
And speaking of made up minds. . .
Picking up the loaded gun. Speaking of not getting the point, one lesson the Democrats really should have taken from this election was to knock off the talk about gun control.
President Obama wisely basically didn't talk about gun control.
That's because he is smart.
This didn't keep the NRA from picking on him anyhow, which I was convinced was a poor strategy. Perhaps Clinton did as well, as she went gun control in the primaries and stuck with it, in an oatmeal fashion, in the general election. Well, the NRA put in an all out effort and it can take big time credit for the results, whether you like them or not, this past season.
Which is likely to mean a big roll back on what gun control there is.
Indeed, the NRA must push on this. It would have anyhow, but as a practical matter, it must. The NRA was consistent on Obama being the worst thing ever, second only to Hillary Clinton, for years. Having assisted in getting in a Republican President when many, including me, thought that was a mistake, and there being a GOP House and Senate, it it rest on its laurels its doomed. In truth, Obama did nothing much on gun control until the very end of his presidency, at which time there was no point in him not trying to do something, as he was never going to get any NRA love anyway. But, for the NRA, you cannot decry a person for eight years as hideously awful and then allow his successor to pretty much do nothing, which is pretty much what Obama was doing. So the NRA has to argue for roll back on gun control and national right to carry. It has to.
One of the reasons that the Democrats should stay away from this entire topic as they don't know what they are talking about. Voters who vote on gun issues do know what they are talking about. Democrats, when they speak about gun control, come across as ignorant or liars.
They probably don't know that. But when they speak about guns, if they do at all, as opposed to gun control, they generally demonstrate a profound ignorance on the topic. And when they speak of gun control they tend to speak about stuff like "common sense gun safety" which means, to anyone listening, "I don't know anything about guns, but I'm going to assume that you will agree to me that we can make all guns Nerf Guns and that this makes sense". When they do that, they come across like somebody who is trying to lie.
Most of this is, again, because the Democratic Party is heavily urban and it thinks of all guns being snubnosed revolvers from the movie Shaft, that early 70s things again, or it thinks of every gun being a true, selective fire, assault rifle (which are exceedingly rare and heavily regulated in civilian hands). Most firearms users, and the numbers are growing, don't see firearm that way at all.
Indeed, the NRA must push on this. It would have anyhow, but as a practical matter, it must. The NRA was consistent on Obama being the worst thing ever, second only to Hillary Clinton, for years. Having assisted in getting in a Republican President when many, including me, thought that was a mistake, and there being a GOP House and Senate, it it rest on its laurels its doomed. In truth, Obama did nothing much on gun control until the very end of his presidency, at which time there was no point in him not trying to do something, as he was never going to get any NRA love anyway. But, for the NRA, you cannot decry a person for eight years as hideously awful and then allow his successor to pretty much do nothing, which is pretty much what Obama was doing. So the NRA has to argue for roll back on gun control and national right to carry. It has to.
One of the reasons that the Democrats should stay away from this entire topic as they don't know what they are talking about. Voters who vote on gun issues do know what they are talking about. Democrats, when they speak about gun control, come across as ignorant or liars.
They probably don't know that. But when they speak about guns, if they do at all, as opposed to gun control, they generally demonstrate a profound ignorance on the topic. And when they speak of gun control they tend to speak about stuff like "common sense gun safety" which means, to anyone listening, "I don't know anything about guns, but I'm going to assume that you will agree to me that we can make all guns Nerf Guns and that this makes sense". When they do that, they come across like somebody who is trying to lie.
Most of this is, again, because the Democratic Party is heavily urban and it thinks of all guns being snubnosed revolvers from the movie Shaft, that early 70s things again, or it thinks of every gun being a true, selective fire, assault rifle (which are exceedingly rare and heavily regulated in civilian hands). Most firearms users, and the numbers are growing, don't see firearm that way at all.
Anyhow, if the Democrats had brains, they'd not try to talk about "common sense" gun control or "gun safety" or any of that baloney. They'd be a lot better off taking some other approach, if they really want to discuss this at all. If they must discuss it, frankly, they'd be a lot better off just stating the truth, which his "I don't ever get outside of Greenwich Village and I think the only legitimate activity of a decent person is reading Vanity Fair".
No matter, I'm sure they won't listen. Indeed the NYT (remember that journal, its noted above?) just published an article about lawyers and law firms volunteering their time on gun control.
Yawn.
That's not going to do diddly except make lawyers look even more like left wing weenies than they already do. Indeed, just recently I heard a young person disparage the entire profession of the law in a way that was graphic, but suggested that all lawyers were a bunch of wimps in the most dramatic fashion. Some people don't credit the opinions of the young, but I do. People's opinions on professions and activities change over time. A lot of older lawyers even now imagine that they're Al Pacino in With Justice For All, just as an older generation yet thought all lawyers were Atticus Finch. Apparently we're now looking more like Zippy the Pinhead however and the smiling firm portraits in the article do sort of come across like "look at us. . . we're afraid to go outdoors!"
Gritting my teeth and waiting for the shoe to drop. All this might lead some to think I'm a Trump supporter. For regular Democrats, they probably have concluded I am, and for the Greewhich village crowd that seemingly runs the party they're probably hiding under their cafe tables with their tofu sandwiches and free trade coffee by now, crying. But actually, I'm not. As noted way back during the election, I voted for a third party candidate, and an obscure one at that.
Which means even though, unlike the NYT I accept the election, and unlike the Democratic Party, I actually know it occurred, I'm not a Trumpite now or before. And I'm gritting my teeth on the upcoming Secretary of the Interior nomination.
So far, I've seen Trump's picks for various posts as mixed. People crying in their free range, free trade, buttermilk about picking various generals about things haven't impressed me. I haven't thought those picks bad. I'm okay with his pick for Secretary of Defense. That position used to be called the Secretary of War, and a former Marine Corps general who probably isn't impressed by the attempt to ignore physics and nature in the military is plenty okay by me. Likewise I'm okay with Kelly for Homeland Security, although I wonder why we need a Department of Defense and a Department of Homeland Security (I know, let's have a. . .um. . War Department!)
And I'm not going to freak out, or even get particularly excited, or even interested, with Nikki Haley at the UN.
I'm also okay with Jeff Sessions for Attorney General. I know he's taken flak, but Trump would have had to pick the Barrista at the 9th and Centre Metro Station in Greenwich Village to please his opponents on this one, so why bother?
Betsy DeVos at the Department of Education bothers me a bit, but I'll wait to see how that plays out. It wouldn't surprise me if some corrective actions are needed there, but that isn't a department I pay much attention to.
And picking Ben Carson to anything strikes me as a really poor idea. I guess we'll see.
Scott Puritt at the EPA, strikes me as a poor choice. No surprise, but a poor choice. I'm worried about what that will mean.
And I'm really worried about the Interior.
So far, for potential Interior picks, the only one I liked was Matt Mead and he's taken his name out. And yes that does mean I don't want Cynthia Loomis, who is another Wyoming politician who turned her backs on the views of her constituents on public lands. Boo.
Frankly, the pick I may be most comfortable with is Donald Trump, Jr. I know that wold be a shocker, but he actually is the most measured of the potential candidates. And he might be campaigning for it.
Now, I'm sure that people will say Trump can't pick his son, but why not? That great American skirt chaser, um President, John F. Kennedy, made Bobby Kennedy the Attorney General and hardly anyone things that was improper. Appointing Bobby that is, not the skirt chasing.
Well, apparently the skirt chasing was okay as well. The copy of People magazine wondered in here in the wife's grocery bag with an article on what Jackie "knew" reports that she grew up in a family where her father did that, and Jack's father did that, and '"that's what men did.'
Yes, that's bulls**t. But even now?
Anyhow, we're staying tuned.
