2025 Off Year US Elections

They can be, sometimes, an indicator of things to come.

June 25, 2025

New York City Mayoral Race

Progressive Zohran Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Primary.  

Mamdani, who immigrated with his parents as a child from Uganda to the US, is a self declared democratic socialist.  He's a Shi'a Muslim. All of these things are setting off the populist far right.

Curtis Sliwa, founder of Guardian Angels, won the Republican primary for New York City mayor, but was unopposed.  He stands no chancing of winning the general election.

September 22, 2025

Texas

Texas has an election this year, and it includes a bunch of ballot propositions, which are:

• Proposition 1 (SJR 59): Texas State Technical College funding
• Proposition 2 (SJR 18): Capital gains tax ban
• Proposition 3 (SJR 5): Bail reform
• Proposition 4 (HJR 7): Water infrastructure funding
• Proposition 5 (HJR 99): Tax exemption on animal feed
• Proposition 6 (HJR 4): Securities tax ban
• Proposition 7 (HJR 133): Tax exemption for veterans’ spouses
• Proposition 8 (HJR 2): Inheritance tax ban
• Proposition 9 (HJR 1): Inventory and equipment tax exemption
• Proposition 10 (SJR 84): Tax exemption for homes destroyed by fire
• Proposition 11 (SJR 85): School tax exemption for the elderly or disabled homeowners
• Proposition 12 (SJR 27): Changing the State Judicial Conduct Commission
• Proposition 13 (SJR 2): Increased school tax exemption for homeowners
• Proposition 14 (SJR 3): Funding for dementia research and prevention
• Proposition 15 (SJR 34): Codifying parental rights
• Proposition 16 (SJR 37): Clarifying citizenship requirement for voters
• Proposition 17 (HJR 34): Property tax exemption for border security infrastructure

November 4, 2025

The kiss of death:

And so the demented New York octogenarian made it clear to thousands that they were going to vote for New York Democratic Socialist Mamdani.

New York has actually had a prior Democratic Socialist Mayor, David Dinkins, who served from 1990 to 1993.  Trump made minor contributions to the Dinkin's election campaign and reelection campaign, the latter of which failed.  The current mayor of Cheektowaga, New York, Brian Nowak, is a Democratic Socialist.

Trump made another post last night:

Early indications are that this election is going to be an utter disaster for the Republican Party, setting up a potential disaster next year, and causing those who wish to evade disaster to potentially start moving away from MAGA now.

Prop 50 will be on California's ballot, which may end up countering the anti Democratic moves of the Texas legislature.

Cont:

New York State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani won the race for Mayor of New York City, becoming the first Muslim to occupy that position, and the first Democratic Socialist since Dinkens to occupy it.

It's a generational change with Mamdani defeating two elderly opponents.

It's an important mayoral seat, but nobody who has occupied it has ever been President, and for the most part, its occupants do not rise further in politics.

Democrat Abigail Spanberger took the Virginia Governor's race, causing it to go from Republican to Democratic control.  She's the first female governor of Virginia.  Democrat Mikie Sherill took the Governor's race in New Jersey.

Democrats are going to take Texas' 18th Congressional District, Houston, but they already held that.

Proposition 50 passed in California.

The Democrats won everywhere they were running.  It's a dope slap in the face for Donald Trump.

November 5, 2025

So Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.

Zohran Mamdani.

Cont:

A race we weren't following was that for Virginian AG. T he race was won by Jay Jones.  Jones made headline news because some absolutely horrible things he said about another member of Virginia's legislature came to light.  They were awful.

Jones beat the Republican incumbent  Miyares, which suggest a pretty significant move away from the GOP in Virginia.  Jones is a practicing African American Catholic, which is interesting in various ways.

Notable in the races last night Hispanics began to pull away from the GOP.  Catholics had been attracted to the Republican Party for various reasons that I've noted here on numerous occasions, the principal one being that they're social conservatives as a rule.  The interesting thing here is that the GOP, which only recently attracted them, has treated them much like the Democratic Party treated ethnic minorities, which is to say to ignore them and more particularly, to offend them.  Merely being Hispanic is putting people in the target zone for ICE and the GOP has broken out into outright open feuds of race recently, with some figures in the pundit class being openly racist.  

This gets back for a moment to noting that Jones is a Catholic.  The populist far right is strongly Evangelical, and Evangelicalism has attracted a lot of American Hispanics.  But the nature of the Evangelicalism and MAGA has not been sorted out and now, in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination, the pot is really boiling.  Quite a few on the populist far right have barely hidden contempt for women working, which most Hispanic women have to do by default.  Some MAGA pundits are openly racist with Nick Fuentes now openly going after J. D. Vance, a Catholic married to an Indian, on the basis that he's a "race mixer".

This doesn't explain last night's results overall, but it fits into it.  The price of things, a major factor in Trump's win, is now starting to be a major factor in a retreat from the GOP.  The brutality and lawlessness of the Trump administration is disgusting many people. The outright stupidity of some the things the Trump Administration says is taking a toll.  The Government shutdown is being blamed, rightfully, on the Republican Party.

The 2026 election is a long ways off but so far the Administration and MAGA's reaction to everything is to double down on it.  That probably won't change, but what might is the extent to which Republicans who don't have to go down with the ship begin to abandon it. Some already have.  Marjorie Taylor Green, who was a MAGA fanatic, now is an opponent, for example. Thune is suddenly, as of yesterday, sounding more moderate.

But you can't moderate a demented narcissist surrounded by sycophants.

Related threads:

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 106th Edition A series of Zeitgeist predictions about New York City.

Labels: 2025 Off Year U.S. Elections, Donald Trump, Mike Johnson, New York, Politics, Predictions, Republican Party, Social Democracy, Socialism, Zeitgeist, Zohran Mamdani

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 106th Edition A series of Zeitgeist predictions about New York City.

Mamdani is obviously going to win.

Republicans will freak out.  

Mike "Smarmy Smile" Johnson will be in full bullshit mode for weeks.  "I'm not keeping the House in perpetual recess because I'm afraid of the Epstein files but because a Communist Marxist Islamist has been elected to Mayor in New York and that means that we can't look at the Epstein files".  

Trump will wax poetic, "My Mommy, that's what I call him, mommy. . . I loved my mommy, she was from Scotland, where they invented golf.  Are we in Mar A Lago, no, well, the Communists, Marxists, Monarchical Islamist don't want me to build a ballroom, that's because they can't dance and their legs are thin. The Wonderful thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are wonderful things tops are made out of rubber their bottoms are made out of springs Their bouncey, trouncey, ouncey, pouncey fun, fun, fun, fun, fun But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one. Tiggers are cuddily fellows Tiggers are awfully sweet everyone el'es is jealous That's why I repeat and repeat The wonderful thing about Tiggers Is Tiggers are marvelous chaps They're loaded with vim and vigor they love to leap in your laps They're jumpy, bumpy, clumpy, thumpy fun fun fun fun fun But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers Is I'm the only one I-I-I'm the only...-oof Ouch.  I've decided to kill the entire population of South America. . . "

John Thune will say something, with an earnest looking John Barrasso behind him, but nobody will remember what it was, as nobody was paying attention to him to start with.

And then a weird thing will happen.

Mamdani will probably govern more or less from the center, as he'll have to, which is likely to make his administration a success.

Which is the biggest Republican nightmare of all.

Last edition:

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 105th Edition. What's up with the rush on the White House?

Labels: 2020s, 2025, 2025 White House Vandalization, Architecture, Catholic, Christianity, Democratic Party, Illiberal Democracy, National Conservatism, The Second Trump Administration, Vandals, Washington DC, Wyoming, Zeitgeist

The Populist Far Right and their goal to touch Social Security.

 

Eh?

I know, you're thinking, I voted for Don Trump and I sure didn't vote to eliminate retirement.

Well, first of all, Donny isn't exactly dialed in most of the time.  He's out golfing.  

That he wouldn't be dialed was obvious to those who had eyes to see.  And likewise was that the Project 2025 cabal would be running the show.

Barely noticed in all of this are the statements by far right punditry that are outright hostile to retirement, but they're there.  Comments about how "nobody should retire".  Not there?  Consider this:

And let's be real about this - it's insane that we haven't raised the retirement age in the United States. It's totally crazy. Joe Biden -- if that were the case, Joe Biden should not be running for president. OK? Joe Biden is 81 years old. The retirement age in the United States, at which you start to receive Social Security and you are eligible for Medicare, is 65. Joe Biden has technically been eligible for Social Security and Medicare for 16 years, and he wants to continue in office until he is 86, which is 19 years past when he would be eligible for retirement. No one in the United States should be retiring at 65 years old. Frankly, I think retirement itself is a stupid idea unless you have some sort of health problem. Everybody that I know who is -- who is elderly, who has retired, is dead within five years. And if you talk to people who are elderly and they lose their purpose in life by losing their job and they stop working, things go to hell in a handbasket real quick.

Ben Shapiro.

Now, Shapiro was largely populist babbling, so there's an extra element of stupidity in what he said.  In the Trump era, saying really stupid stuff as a populist has become almost mandatory for that class.  But is there something to what Shapiro said?

Well yes and no.

On the yes side, a fair number of men in particular become their jobs, their souls basically a burnt out husk with nothing left, and they slip into missing their job or depression  It happens.

But like the polls that deal with lawyers who hate practicing law (a surprisingly high percentage), I suspect the figure are weighted towards confirmation bias.

Lots of people retire and love it.  

And exactly what retirement is, isn't the same for everyone.  By retirement, what quite a few people actually have is time to devote to something else they've always wanted to, but couldn't.

And that gets to this.  The current crop of Cultural Calvinists don't like the concept of retirement, as all they value in the world is work. That's it.  Work makes them part of the Elect and without work, they'd have to be human beings.  They don't want that.

So they're attacking retirement itself.  

It'll be hard to pull that off, so what they'll do is push the retirement age up closer to death.  Project 2025 would like the "full" Social Security age to be 69, up two from 67, which was up two from 65.  At some point they'll start moving the bottom age upwards.  And their argument, which at least makes fiscal sense, is that this is necessary to save the fund.

My guess is that within a decade the full will be 70, and the lower something like 67.

The dirty little secret, however, is that starting in a person's late 50s, an increasingly number simply can't carry on at work.  The average retirement age in the US right now falls between 61 and 64, with layoffs and health playing into that.

And a good argument can be made that for some jobs, those requiring a license, the retirement age really ought to be something like 60.

July 19, 1920. Turgid Times

Soldiers blown up in Cork.

Mistresses shooting lovers who loved their wives more.

Princes killing themselves during end of empire despair.

And in Petrograd, Russia, the Second Communist International declared you were either with their insane blood red program, or against it, no matter what sort of socialist you might otherwise declare yourself to be.  It was at this point that the growing rift between Communist Parties and other Socialist Parties essentially became fixed, with the already growing trend of splitting off and forming new parties becoming a feature of the socialist left very rapidly. While this made for formal radical Communist Parties, it also ironically left the remaining Socialist Parties tilting more in the direction of Social Democracy.

Early Soviet Realism painting of festivals associated with the Second Comintern.

Those principals read:

1. The general propaganda and agitation should bear a really Communist character, and should correspond to the program and decisions of the Third International. The entire party press should be edited by reliable Communists who have proved their loyalty to the cause of the proletarian revolution. The dictatorship of the proletariat should not be spoken of simply as a current hackneyed formula, it should be advocated in such a way that its necessity should be apparent to every rank-and-file workingman and workingwoman, to each soldier and peasant, and should emanate from everyday facts, systematically recorded by our press day by day. 

All periodical and other publications, as well as all party publications and editions, are subject to the control of the presidium of the party, independently of whether the party is legal or illegal. It should in no way be permitted that the publishers abuse their autonomy and carry on a policy not fully corresponding to the policy of the party. 

Wherever the followers of the Third International have access, and whatever means of propaganda are at their disposal, whether the columns of newspapers, popular meetings, labor unions or cooperatives, it is indispensable for them not only to denounce the bourgeoisie, but also its assistants and agents reformists of every color and shade. 

2. Every organization desiring to join the Communist International shall be bound systematically and regularly to remove from all the responsible posts in the labor movement (party organization, editorship, labor unions, parliamentary factions, cooperatives, municipalities, etc.) all reformists and followers of the “center,” and to have them replaced by Communists, even at the cost of replacing at the beginning “experienced” opportunists by rank-and-file workingmen. 

3. The class struggle in almost every country of Europe and America is entering the phase of civil war. Under such conditions the Communists can have no confidence in bourgeois laws. They should create everywhere a parallel illegal apparatus, which at the decisive moment should be of assistance to the party to do its duty toward the revolution. In every country where, in consequence of martial law or of other exceptional laws, the Communists are unable to carry on their work legally, a combination of legal and illegal work is absolutely necessary. 

4. Persistent and systematic propaganda and agitation must be carried on in the army, where Communist groups should be formed in every military organization. Wherever owing to repressive legislation agitation becomes impossible, it is necessary to carry on such agitation illegally. But refusal to carry on or participate in such work should be considered equal to treason to the revolutionary cause, and incompatible with affiliation to the Third International. 

5. A systematic and regular propaganda is necessary in the rural districts. A working class can gain no victory unless it possesses the sympathy and support of at least part of the rural workers and of the poor peasants, and unless other sections of the population are equally utilized. Communist work in the rural districts is acquiring a predominant importance during the present period. It. should be carried on through Communist workmen of both city and country who have connections with the rural districts. To refuse to do this work, or to transfer such work to untrustworthy half reformists, is equal to renouncing the proletarian revolution. 

6. Every party desirous of affiliating to the Third International should renounce not only avowed social patriotism, but also the falsehood and the hypocrisy of social pacifism: It should systematically demonstrate to the workers that without a revolutionary overthrow of capitalism no international arbitration, no talk of disarmament, no democratic reorganization of the League of Nations will be capable of saving mankind from new imperialist wars. 

7. Parties desirous of joining the’ Communist International must recognize the necessity of a complete and absolute rupture with reformism and the policy of the “centrists,” and must advocate this rupture amongst the widest circles of the party membership, without which condition a consistent Communist policy is ‘impossible. The Communist International demands unconditionally and peremptorily that such rupture be brought about with the least possible delay. The Communist International cannot reconcile itself to the fact that such avowed reformists as for instance Turatti, Modigliani, Kautsky, Hilferding, Hillquist, Longuet, Macdonald and others should be entitled to consider themselves members of the Third International. This would make the Third International resemble the Second International. 

8. In the Colonial question and that of the oppressed nationalities, there is necessary an especially distinct and clear line of conduct of the parties of countries where the bourgeoisie possesses such colonies or oppresses other nationalities. Every party desirous of belonging to the Third International should be bound to denounce without any reserve all the methods of “its own” imperialists in the colonies, supporting not in words only but practically a movement of liberation in the colonies. It should demand the expulsion of its own imperialists from such colonies, and cultivate among the workmen of its own country a truly fraternal attitude towards the working population of the colonies and oppressed nationalities and carry on a systematic agitation in its own army against every kind of oppression of the colonial population. 

9. Every party desirous of belonging to the Communist International should be bound to carry on systematic and persistent, Communist work in the labor unions, cooperatives, and other organizations of working masses. It is necessary to form Communist nuclei within these organizations, which by persistent and lasting work should win over labor unions to Communism. These nuclei should constantly denounce the treachery of the social patriots and of the fluctuations of the “center.” These Communist nuclei should be completely subordinated to the party in general. 

10. Any party belonging to the Communist International is bound to carry on a stubborn struggle against the Amsterdam “International” of the yellow labor unions. It should propagate insistently amongst the organized workers the necessity of a rupture with the yellow Amsterdam International. It should support by all means in its power the International Unification of Red Labor Unions joining to the Communist International. 

11. Parties desirous of joining the Third International shall be bound to inspect the personnel of their parliamentary factions, to remove all unreliable elements therefrom, to control such factions, not only verbally but in reality, to subordinate them to the Central Committee of the party, and to demand from each Communist representative in parliament to subject his entire activity to the interests of real revolutionary propaganda and agitation. 

12. All the parties belonging to the Communist International should be formed on the basis of democratic centralization. At the present time of acute civil war the Communist Party will only be able fully to do its duty when it is organized in a sufficiently centralized manner; when it possesses an iron discipline and when its party center enjoys the confidence of the party membership and is endowed with complete power, authority and ample rights. 

13. The Communist Parties of those countries where the Communist activity is legal should clean out their members from time to time, as well as those of the party organizations, in order to systematically free the party from the petty bourgeois elements which penetrate into it. 

14. Each party desirous of affiliating to the Communist International should be obliged to render every possible assistance to the Soviet Republics in their struggle against all counter-revolutionary forces. The Communist Parties should carry on a precise and definite propaganda to induce the workers to refuse to transport any kind of military equipment intended for fighting against the Soviet Republics, and should also by legal or illegal means carry on a propaganda amongst the troops sent against the workers’ republics, etc. 

15. All those parties which up to the present moment have stood upon the old social democratic programs should within the shortest time possible draw up a new Communist program in conformity with the special conditions of their country, and in accordance with the resolutions of the Communist International. As a rule the program of each party belonging to the Communist International should be confirmed by the next congress of the Communist International or its Executive Committee. In the event of the failure of the program of any party being confirmed by the Executive Committee of the Communist International, the said party shall be entitled to appeal to the congress of the Communist International. 

16. All the resolutions of the congresses of the Communist International, as well as the resolutions of the Executive Committee, are binding for all parties joining the Communist International. The Communist International operating under the conditions of most acute civil warfare should be centralized in a better manner than the Second International. At the same time, the Communist International and the Executive Committee are naturally bound in every form of their activity to consider the variety of conditions under which the different parties have to work and struggle, and generally binding resolutions should be passed only on such questions upon which such resolutions are possible. 

17. In connection with the above, all parties desiring to join the Communist International should alter their names, Each party desirous of joining the Communist International should bear the following name: Communist Party of such and such a country, section of the Third International. The question of the party name is not only a formal one, but is a political question of great importance. 

The Communist International has declared a decisive. war against the entire bourgeois world, and all the yellow Social Democratic Parties. It is indispensable that every rank-and-file worker should be able clearly to distinguish between the Communist Parties and the old official “Social-Democrat” or “Socialist” parties, which have betrayed the cause of the working class. 

18. All the leading organs of the press of every party are bound to publish all the most important documents of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. 

19. All parties which have joined the Communist International as well as those which have expressed a desire to do so are obliged in as short a space of time as possible, and in no case later than four months after the Second Congress of the Communist International, to convene an Extraordinary Congress in order to discuss these conditions. In addition to this, the Central Committees of these parties should take care to acquaint all its (sic) local organizations with the regulations of the Second Congress. 

20. All those parties which at the present time are willing to join the Third International, but have so far not changed their tactics in any radical manner, should, prior to their joining the Third International, take care that not less than two-thirds of their committee members and of all their central institutions should be composed of comrades who have made an open and definite declaration prior to the convening of the Second Congress, as to their desire that the party should affiliate to the Third International. Exceptions are permitted only with the consent of the Executive Committee of the Communist International. The Executive Committee of the Communist International has the right to make an exception also for the representatives of the “center,” as mentioned in paragraph 7. 

21. Those members of the party who reject in principle the conditions and the theses of the Third International, are liable to be excluded from the party. 

This applies also to the delegates at the special congresses of the party.

In Japan, the aircraft carrier Kaga, which would be sunk during World War Two at the Battle of Midway, was laid down.

November 22, 1919. Carlisle Missing, Labor having a party, Petroleum and its costs.

Those following the posts here recently (fewer in number now that the Great War and the drama associated with it are over, somewhat), have been reading about the quixotic flight of Wyoming train robber, Bill Carlisle and may be disappointed to not find him here again.  Well, the pursuit having fizzled, he was off the front page.  He was out there, hiding, or something, but posses headed for the Hole in the Wall or expecting another train robbery were disappointed, and therefore the local newspaper's readers were as well.  Instead, they read about the coal strike and increased tension with Mexico.

First national convention of the Labor Party, Chicago Ill.  November 22, 1919

In Chicago a new political party was meeting, the Labor Party of the United States. This back when third parties still had a chance of success.

This party wouldn't have much, as such.  It merged with another party in 1921 to become the Farmer Labor Party.  That party lasted until 1936 when a further merger created the Federated Farmer Labor Party, which became the Minnesota Farmer Labor Party at that time.  It lasted until 1944.

The populist party was a left wing populist social democratic party.  Three of its members occupied the Minnesota state house as governor from 1931 until 1939, showing it to be successful.  It also sent Congressmen to Washington every year from 1918 until 1942, save for one year.  One year it sent five Congressman back east.  Four Minnesota Senators were also members of the party or associated with it.  In 1944 it reorganized and became the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party which is affiliated with the Democratic Party, meaning that its relevance is minimal in real terms.  Democrats in Minnesotal are part of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party whether they know it or not, meaning that current Presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar is a member of it.

"Block 818 from the west".  November 22, 1919.

Down in Texas more panoramic photos of big oil fields were being photographed.  

Elsewhere, the Gasoline Alley bunch was meeting and pondering the costs of transportation.

Thanksgiving Day, then as now, was coming right up.  On this Saturday The Literary Digest anticipated the holiday on its cover with a Rockwell illustration.  Thanksgiving day itself in 1919 was on November 27.

August 31, 1919. The Motor Transport Convoy gets a day of rest, no rest in Kiev, turmoil in Chicago

Railroad station, Carson City, 1940.  It likely didn't look much different in 1919.  The man is waiting for the mail, which was moved by train at the time.

On this day in 1919, the Sunday day of rest returned to the command.

It darned near had to. The command was behind, by several days, in its original anticipated schedule, but it had taken it 20 hours across the dust and muck of the Nevada desert to travel the stretch before Carson City, and this on a road that was theoretically a designated highway, although the designation at that time was just that, a designation.  Very little of the Lincoln Highway, as we've seen, was improved in any fashion whatsoever.  There had been problems with teh road the entire way, but after the column hit Nebraska the road became worse with each mile, with Utah's and Nevada's roads being particularly bad.

Speed, of course, in the era was relative. . . .

The command was provided "Union religious services".  I have no idea what that actually means.  General ecumenical perhaps?  Non protestant soldiers with Sunday obligations, which at this time would have largely been Catholics, but perhaps some Greek Orthodox, would have had to hike into town to see what was available for them.

And there was transportation to Hot Springs for bathing, which was no doubt welcome.

And some worked, including the operator of a tractor.

Emblem of the former Socialist Party of America

Meanwhile, in Chicago, a city the convoy  had passed through some weeks earlier, day two of the Socialist Party of America's Emergency National Convention saw the bolting left wing of the party.  The English speaking bolters, on this day, formed the Communist Labor Party in its own convention.

This was addressed a bit yesterday when it was related that the emergency was the rise of a radical, or rather more radical, left wing of the party that was hearing the siren song of Communism.  In this, the US Socialist Party was going through the same struggle that Socialist parties everywhere were.  Nearly all of them had started out as hardcore radical parties, but over the years as their fortunes had risen, their positions became less radical as they moved towards accepting democratic forms of government.  Ironically, World War One, during which it had been supposed that Socialist would take the position that all worker should be united in opposing the war in favor of the solidarity of labor, in fact saw the opposite development and the movement of mainstream Socialist towards accepting representative democracy.  At the same time, all the same parties saw movements within them that were extremely radical.  As this process occurred, these parties split.  In Russia, the split saw the rise of four different Socialist parties, with the Communist Party being the most radical.  Germany saw a succession of splinter parties that eventually saw two parties, the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party emerge.

In the U.S. the Russian Revolution gave rise to the Communist Party of America in May, 1919.  The Socialist Party continued on but radical elements within it were attracted to Communism. The Emergency National Convention was called to address this, and to put an end to it.  By that point, however, the right wing Socialist were a minority in the party.  While they seized control of the convention, they could not keep the left wing from walking out, which it did and on this day, in their own convention, the English speaking radicals formed the Communist Labor Party.  Ironically, the Emergency Session had come about due to the left wing demanding that it occur in order to move the Socialist Party towards Communism.

The Communist Labor Party was not to be long lived as it merged with the Communist Party of America the following year, which then became the Communist Party of the USA.  The Socialist Party of the USA would continue on, with various swings and splinters, until 1972 when it changed its name to the Social Democrats, USA, reflecting the evolution of the party.  Ironically, the Social Democrats have not seemed to really benefit from the current flirtation in some circles in the US with social democracy.  The Communist Party USA still exists as well, with its high water mark really having come during the 1930s.

Elsewhere, the fights brought by Communism saw dramatic events take place in Ukraine where the Whites entered the city, taking it without a fight from the Reds during the Russian Civil War but ending up fighting, slightly, forces of the Ukrainian People's Republic that entered the town simultaneously.

Russian White victory parade on this date in 1919 in Kiev.

The entire event in some ways is emblematic of the confusing nature of the Russian Civil War.

The Ukrainian People's Republic was an Ukrainian effort to create an independent government for the region following the collapse of the Russian Empire and the withdraw of the Germans from the region.  During that period various forces contested for control of the new country with a directorate emerging that had the most support. At the same time, the country found itself facing a Soviet invasion in January 1919 and it also found itself at war with Poland to its west.  To compound matters, White Russian forces contested with the Red Army for control of the region, and Ukrainian Greens sought to bring anarchy to the country, fielding an army of their own.

Under these conditions the independence of Ukraine was unlikely to occur but the region did manage to survive surprisingly long.  On this day the re emergent Whites took Kiev but the Ukrainian government sought to as well, not appreciating the ability of the Whites to move as quickly as they did.  The Whites retained control of the city.  The Ukrainian People's Republic effectively came to an end in 1921 with its territory divided between the Soviet Union and Poland, although it would amazingly maintain a government in exile up until the country was able to form its own government again following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Greenland?

 The White House Retweeted

Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 15h15 hours ago

Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time....

43,699 replies19,488 retweets94,918 likes

Show this thread

What on earth?

There is a point at which the news becomes so surreal, you just can't quite grasp that something is really in the news.  The bizarre news on the President making sounds on purchasing Greenland is news of that type.  The New York Times, no friend of President Trump's headlined an article on this in this fashion:

Trump, Greenland, Denmark. Is This Real Life?

Or a Peter Sellers movie?

Whatever a person thinks of Trump, or the New York Times, the Times pretty much nailed it.  It feels sort of like something out of The Mouse That Roared, or something like that. It's really hard to grasp what's going on here and a person has to suspect its some sort of odd news cycle diversion.

The story started off with what seemed like a joke and then evolved into something that just seemed like innocent ignorance, combined with a discount of the original suggestion.  But now its escalated to cancelling a state visit with the Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, who made it plain that purchasing the Danish possession was not going to be discussed.  Trump has since referred to Frederiksen as "nasty".

The irony there is that while Frederiksen is a Danish Social Democrat, she's a populist conservative on the European scale.  As Prime Minister she's opposed liberal immigration into Denmark, supported confiscation of items from refugees, and supported banning the burka.  She's critical of globalism and has made open comments about Islam being a barrier to integration in Denmark in a way that no American politician would dare.

In other words, Trump and Frederiksen should get along fine.*

Instead, we now have the American populist President insulting the Danish populist Prime Minister over Greenland.

I'm quite certain that 100% of the leadership in the President's party, as well as probably 98% of the people who work in the Administration, have the same reaction. Greenland?

The United States isn't going to buy Greenland.  Denmark isn't going to "sell" Greenland.  Greenland is self administering and if it has a change of status of any type, and it could, it would become an independent nation, something that it more or less would like to do, and which with its independent status, it more or less nearly is.  In my view, that's what it should be, which is not to say that its really actively asking to be that.

The flag of Greenland

Moreover, there was never an era when the US was going to "buy" Greenland.  If the country ever had any interest in doing that, it would have been about the same time as we fought the War of 1812.

88% of the residents of Greenland are Inuit.  Culturally, that places Greenland a lot closer to northern Canada, which isn't purposing to annex it, than it does to the United States.  If Greenland, however, was to join a North American nation, it'd be Canada. . . not the United States.

Greenland has belonged, in one fashion or another, to Scandinavian countries since 986 when it was first settled by Norwegians and Icelanders.  At that time, all Scandinavians, while not unified in rule, were close in culture and the distinction between a Norwegian, Swede or Dane was more theoretical than real.   Hitting Greenland during the Medieval Climatic Optimum, Scandinavians successfully colonized the coastal areas and a Christian Scandinavian population lived there all the way into the 1400s.  At the same time Greenland was also inhabited by the Dorset Paleo Indian culture, which also disappeared from the region around 1500.

The 15th and 16th Centuries were not kind.

As the Dorsets declined the Thule came in. They're an Inuit people and they make up the vast majority of Greelanders today, as noted.  The Danes came back in as early as 1605 when they started a dedicated effort to relocate the Scandinavian communities of Greenland which they had never forgotten, unaware that those colonies had been abandoned.  Still, a 200 year long recollection that they had been there is impressive.

Denmark and Norway shared a joint monarchy during this period which dissolved in 1814.  Norway went into a sort of unhappy union with Sweden shortly thereafter, but it maintained a fair degree of independence until Norway formally left that union in the early 20th Century.  All the way until 1933 Norway, however claimed unoccupied areas of Greenland until that claim was extinguished in favor of Denmark that year.

The first real substantial contact with the United States came in World War Two, during which the U.S. occupied Greenland as Denmark was occupied by Germany.  Greenland basically became self administering during this period but the experience did open up what had been a highly isolated society due to the American presence.  It pushed for self administration after the war but did not achieve it until 1979, in part, and 2009, in full.

It's pulled out of the European Community, which shows how self governing it is.

After World War Two the United States did maintain a military presence in the form of Thule Air Force Base, which was opened in 1943 and is still in use.  The US actually offered to buy Greenland at that time, offering Denmark $100,000,000 in 1946.  As Greenland was much less independent than it is now, perhaps this is not surprising.  The US had actually pondering buying it once before, in 1867, when Congress put an end to the idea.

In 1867 and 1946, of course, the situation was much different than it is now, in 2019.  Greenland for all practical purposes is independent in everything but name.  Greenland has full internal autonomy but does not administer its own foreign affairs.  With the 2009 arrangement, however, granting fully sovereignty over resources to Greenland, it's assumed that independence is on the horizon.  Greenland still maintains a close association with Denmark, and Danes make up a significant portion of the 12% of the population that's not Thule, but the end of Danish rule is coming.

The beginning of American ownership is not and its a really odd thought that anyone bothered to ask the Danes to sell something that they basically are giving back to the people who live there.  The Danes have never shown any interest in giving up Greenland to another country and remarkably reestablished contact with Greenland after a 200 year absence in the first place.  They contested Norway's claim to an unoccupied portion of it. They've been very clear in their views.

So what brought this about is really a mystery.  To Americans, it's probably just one more distraction, but if you are Greenlandic or Danish, it's no doubt insulting.  And now the insult for the Danes has been compounded.  And for what reason?

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*Which may be trivializing the seriousness of her views.  She's also a strong opponent of legal prostitution in Scandinavia.  Frederiksen is Prime Minister, it should be noted, as head of a minority party in coalition with parties of the left.