Archive for January 2017

Resist and Remove

January 30, 2017 Politics, Republicans No comments

Here’s the message and the plan for resisting and removing Trump.

Trump is a proven liar. Nothing he or anyone in his administration says can be believed. It is safer to assume that what they say is a lie, a misinterpretation, delusional or slanted. The Trump Administration has zero credibility. Any media attempt to say that Trump is “normal” must be called out and resisted. Every single person in the media who interviews a Trump spokesperson or apologist should be required to ask at some point during the exchange, “Why should I believe you?”

Anyone who justifies his policies is supporting a liar and should be discounted as someone who supports lies.

Trump has promised to help the poor, white working class. He was lying. He is a corrupt conman whose policies especially hurt those who supported him (whether they realize it or not).

The fact that Democrats are losing to Republicans shows the degree to which people are scared and afraid and being manipulated by those fears.

The core Democratic/progressive message (to Trump voters) must be:

  1. Trump is a proven liar who doesn’t care about the poor or middle class.
  2. Democrats and progressives made a mistake by not acknowledging your fears and offering solutions—namely jobs.
  3. Our jobs solution is real and based on high technology, green technology, infrastructure refurbishment, a living wage and free college.
  4. Trump is destroying America. He and the Republicans are going to take healthcare coverage away, reduce social security, reduce Medicare, reduce Medicaid, put our troops in danger, and discriminate against people of color and Latinos. And Trump and his family will make a personal fortune as they destroy America.
  5. The theme of the 2018 elections is: Elect Democrats, Impeach Trump, Save Our Country

Trump must go. We must mobilize to make this happen. We should not be afraid to leverage the legitimate fear that Trump is a dangerous, corrupt, delusional fascist, whose governance is driven by personal insecurities and narcissism.

Strategically, that means that every Republican who does not disown Trump by pledging to impeach him must be targeted for defeat.

We must repeat over and over: Trump is a liar. Trump is a crook. Trump is taking advantage of his base. Elect Democrats. Impeach Trump.

To campaign for the defeat of all Republican officeholders, progressives must hold large peaceful rallies all through the Red States. The theme of these rallies is “We love you.” We must kill red state voters with kindness, attention and respect. We must explain why they will be much better off rising up with love than being dragged down by hate.

These rallies will feature not only progressive political personalities, but also artists of all stripes and standings. The rallies will be progressive tent revival shows. The messages will be delivered through music, comedy and the careful pulling of universal human heartstrings.

They will be designed to evoke a red state version of “peace, love, and understanding” (and music). This will not be a redo of the 60’s counter-culture. Rather than openly supporting urban, sophisticated cultural tastes, the appeal must be to validate the red state cultural milieu, including evangelical religiosity, with an extra helping of respect and understanding. It’s about starting a dialog and reaching out, not about hitting them over the head. Condescension will not work.

This is difficult, as it is hard not to notice that much of what Trump supporters espouse is based on sometimes willful racism and ignorance. But just as we accept that the self-destructive behavior of many black urban youth is caused by the lack of resources, opportunity and lingering prejudice, we must accept that much of the ignorance of the Trump supporters is also caused by their historical circumstance.

Human to human contact is the goal of the rallies. Whether minds are changed or not, the rallies will make it clear that progressives are no longer talking only about “minorities,” and their concerns are being given due respect.

TRUMP. WTF

January 22, 2017 Media, Politics, Republicans No comments

President Trump. WTF. This flamboyant, amoral, narcissistic, ethically-challenged real estate developer came to national political prominence by promoting an obvious lie about Obama’s birth certificate. This cynical, strategic lie was done to get support from people who are uncomfortable with all of the recent demographic shifts toward diversity. (These people are commonly characterized as racists. But it’s more complicated.)

Somehow, Trump positioned himself as a man of the people who was going to fix all the inequities affecting a broad swatch of blue-collar voters. He blamed Muslims, Mexicans and other immigrants. He promised impossible things.

It worked. His voters saw him as a man who had achieved the American dream and whose success and celebrity meant that he knew how to bring their jobs back. So desperate to change the direction of their fortunes, they voted for a self-announced womanizer who didn’t always honor his business agreements.

During his inauguration, and in the two days since, he and his team have shown that they will do battle with the press to establish a “biased press” narrative to provide cover for their lies. (On today’s Meet the Press Kellyanne Conway called Press Secretary Spicer’s lies about the size of the inaugural crowd “alternative facts.”) The way the Trump Administration speaks reminds me of the description of the authoritarian leaders in the books I was assigned in high school: George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Aldous Huxley’s 1994.

But most glaringly, Trump’s rhetoric about helping the people hurt most by current economic trends doesn’t match the policy prescriptions of his newly appointed cabinet or the Republican Congress. Does no one realize that what Trump voters want, except for the crack down on immigrants, is the opposite of what the Trump Administration and the Republican Congress plan to deliver? Cuts to their health insurance, Social Security and Medicare are not what his supporters voted for.

As a progressive, I believe the way forward is to communicate why our values are better for Trump voters (minus the racists). We need to make sure that we don’t demonize Trump voters, but rather find ways to reach them with better ideas. One of the reasons they voted for Trump is that he addressed them directly and gave them respect. Yes, he spoke to their fears and anger, but he paid attention to them. Hillary did not successfully communicate that she cared about them.

Trump and the Republicans will do most of the work for us in causing Trump voters to pay attention to our message. It will become clear very early on that the White House and Congress are both incompetent and incapable of producing the promised results. So let’s keep pointing out Trump’s lies, even though they will be pretty obvious. But more importantly, let’s reach out with respect to Trump voters and help them recognize the value to their lives of what we propose for the future.