So Chris's opening premise seems to be that what we had after FDR worked for several decades. Socialism and quasi-socialism never scales with growth or the growing lack of growth fueled by it. 2016 Part Deux, and 8 years from now more people will gain understanding. 2024 is progress, prepare for techno-socialism
I don't know, Andreas. For me, ignorance is like a vitamin deficiency. It's the absence of accurate information. In many places and times, accurate information is impossible or at least very difficult to obtain, so I try not to judge the ignorant.
Yeah, after I posted the message, that crossed my mind, too. Some (or even a lot) people lack resources to stay informed. I was thinking about somenone having to work two or three lousy jobs in order just to keep up. How is that person to be expected to think hard in evenings? I would have forgotten to correct myself if it wasn't for your reply. Thanks.
Excellent writing Chris, love your use of analogy.
I’ve been thinking often of the monk and the horse story (“we’ll see”) the past few days. Very good things can come out of this apparent disaster. Hopefully this will be the wake-up call that so many of us need: electoral politics is not going to save us. In fact, electoral politics is killing our social movements. Making elections our sole form of activism (if you can even call it activism) is a big mistake if we want to expand our rights and weaken the power of the ruling class. Clearly neither corporate party will help us there.
As you say, people have been asking, pleading, begging, and demanding change. I think if we expect anything to change then masses of people need to mobilize. I think we need to get much more disruptive. Civil disobedience like the sit-ins used during the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s would be a start. How about direct action such as mass striking, boycotting, occupying space, sabotage (any other ideas?). How many of us are willing to risk losing our job, or arrest, or a cop’s boot to the neck? My study of history and social progress tells me some of these will be necessary.
I’m hearing new discussions about building resilient communities; mutual aid networks; organizing to make sure that our basic needs are taken care of. Building life rafts with the people we love. Solidarity and resistance. This keeps me hopeful.
No doubt. Nobody is going to give a shit until the people do some serious disrupting. At this point in my life, I'm more aligned with the ideas in your last paragraph. My days of sabotage are far behind me, but I hope to have some days of solidarity and community still ahead.
Cheney, the greatest war hawk, endorsed Kamala. What clearer signal do you guys need?
Bernie was the greatest thing to happen in politics in my lifetime. It was also the first time I gave money to politics. Something happened, Bernie caved, and the momentum died. When Obama was elected, I knew it was just another distraction. That feeling stayed until RFK jr entered the scene. Once you get over his speech impediment, he is very articulate and willing to stand for what he believes in. He (and Elon) are a threat to narrative that’s been continuously thrown in our face. With RFK jr’s track record as an environmental attorney winning against the biggest beasts in the industry and Elon’s ability to make an efficient running business; populist Trump and his team have huge potential right now.
15 mil votes sat this one out!! Please don’t let racism or patriarchy make the forefront in the discussion, it’s intellectually dishonest at this point.
We can never know exactly how much of a role racism and patriarchy played but I don't think they can be denied as important. There are 65 million Christian evangelicals in the US. In these families the wife is subservient to the husband. Southern Baptists explicitly disallow women leaders. Ever since Jerry Falwell and Ronald Reagan, these people vote in large numbers and there is no way they, as a block, are voting for a woman.
Sure, Hillary won the popular vote vs Trump in 2016 but she was white. Some significant subset of the evangelical population I mentioned above are white Christian Nationalists. They believe this country, and all its "greatness", is due to the fact that it was founded and governed by men of northern Europe descent. To hand it over to people of color would be the end of our greatness, in their minds.
There are other, perhaps more important, factors in why Trump won but it is not intellectually dishonest to state race and gender play major roles.
Elon bought Twitter to "restore free speech". His actions don't reflect that ideal. How many people has he banned because they don't follow his personal narrative?
I think RFK's intentions are purer than Elon's but we'll see if his actions reflect his proclaimed values once he gets into a position of power. I doubt he has as much integrity as you think.
Cheney's endorsement doesn't mean anything other than that he hates Trump and thinks he'll fuck shit up. Guilt by association doesn't work. Andrew Tate and Alex Jones endorse Trump, for fuck's sake. As does Putin. What should we conclude from that? As for RFK and Elon and the rest of them, good luck with that. Believe while you can. I strongly suspect that a few years from now, your assessment of them will be where my Obama shirts are now.
Doesn’t mean anything? That’s unfair, he’s the first to come up when war is mentioned and vice versa. Guilt by association certainly applies. We can get into propaganda behind Tate, jones and Putin but I’m assuming we will disagree on that as well. I’ll just say, America is great because we get to sit and discuss things. It only turns violent/ cruel when someone can no longer mentally debate and lets emotions get the best of them. All three of the above mentioned have hours of public dialogue available online (thanks Elon) where they willingly put themselves out for people to see and judge accordingly. But most people only see snippets from their favorite personalities! Kamala avoided media as much as possible..I wonder why?
I understand the possible gaslight happening once again, but I’m basking in the optimism while I can!
Kamala avoided media? 60 Minutes mean anything to you? The second debate ring any bells? As far as guilt by association, if Charles Manson had said that Nelson Mandela was a great guy, would that make Mandela worse? A lot of horrible people claim to love Jesus. Do we blame Jesus for that? As for Tate, Jones, and Putin, if you think they're unfairly maligned, there's nothing to talk about.
Excellent hot take Chris. I agree as far as it goes but I think there is more. It's no accident that a white man trounced a black woman. Patriarchy and racism are alive and well in the US. Men will not give up power voluntarily and that goes double for white men. It's a soft version of both for most men but it's enough for them to pull the lever for Trump vs. Kamala.
Could be, and yet another reason it was foolish and arrogant for the Dems to present Kamala as the only option. A primary process would have exposed that issue in time to deal with it.
It seems that there has been a cancer in the American government (as you’ve described here) that has been slowly eating away at the health of the nation from both sides. The electing of Donald Trump is Americans choosing aggressive chemo and radiation.
He’s not some genius “for the people” hero. He’s a poisonous, blunt force solution to a problem that had been spreading for decades and to which there seems to be no solution. The first round of “treatment” didn’t do the trick, so they’re going in for round two.
Unfortunately, like chemo and radiation, other systems get caught in the crossfire. Untold damage can be done if not managed correctly and controlled. His impact on institutional trust and public discourse, and the polarization of the country, are a few examples of the fallout.
At this point it feels like America is terminally ill, and they’ve chosen aggressive, indiscriminate treatment with potential long term damage, to root out what will otherwise be a death sentence.
This all sounds cool in the "hot take" style of writing but tell me one policy that tells you he is equivalent to "chemo for cancer", what am i missing?
Agreed. From my perspective, money is the cancer. The country is ruled by corporations who are more motivated by profit than human well-being. So we have a "health care system" that's more oriented toward extracting money than promoting health. We have a war system that's about continual conflict to keep the money flowing to Raytheon, et al. We have a political system where candidates raise a billion dollars and still lose. Media driven by clicks, not truth. On and on. I fear it's terminal, as you say.
So true. The root of all evil indeed. And the system is so thoroughly rigged by and for the oligarchs.
And little do most of his supporters realize, Trump is actually one of THEM, the oligarchs. He is just a good actor who pretends otherwise, while leveraging his overall roguishness as evidence that he is somehow not cut from the very same cloth as them.
This is one of, if not the best take I’ve heard about this election. You couldn’t have summed up the situation more clearly.
As an Australian, it’s painful to look at the state of American politics. Every developed country has universal healthcare, paid maternity leave, and more than 2 weeks vacation. USA has none of this. The federal minimum wage is still $7.25 after 15 years.
Lower and middle class Americans have been getting fucked over the past 40 years. But the Democrats have been fucking them over less. They still take some small strides in the right direction. America needs more radical change, but the solution is not a criminal billionaire shaking things up to benefit him and his friends.
As do men as well: 55% of them voted for Trump this time. They were perfectly fine with throwing women under the bus, something far too many men apparently have been fine with ever since Adam did it to Eve.
Trump’s GOP is not the second coming of the New Deal, quite the opposite. It means tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, maybe a trickle of cuts for the middle class, higher inflation and interest rates, higher health care costs, a dismantling of the already meager US social safety net, zero new solutions to the housing, child care and college cost failed markets, a roll back of infrastructure and clean energy investments, not to mention efforts to muzzle the free press, deport essential workers, roll back environmental protections, prosecute and jail their “enemies”, perhaps institute martial law, cut federal support for education, food assistance, FEMA, pandemic preparedness, climate research, the list goes on and on. No New Deal to right the wrongs of the past 45 years, just a Raw Deal, Stupid Deal, Dangerous Deal, Authoritarian and yes, Fascist Deal. Buckle up, indeed.
So Chris's opening premise seems to be that what we had after FDR worked for several decades. Socialism and quasi-socialism never scales with growth or the growing lack of growth fueled by it. 2016 Part Deux, and 8 years from now more people will gain understanding. 2024 is progress, prepare for techno-socialism
Well-said overall. That pretty much sums it up.
Wow, this is so well put!
Very well said,completely agree.
"The average American may be ignorant, but not stupid."
Staying ignorant is either stupid or irresponsible. That's not limited to U.S. cititzens, of course.
I don't know, Andreas. For me, ignorance is like a vitamin deficiency. It's the absence of accurate information. In many places and times, accurate information is impossible or at least very difficult to obtain, so I try not to judge the ignorant.
Also, who has the time / emotional bandwith to find good, unbiased information when you're trying to house and feed your family?
Yeah, after I posted the message, that crossed my mind, too. Some (or even a lot) people lack resources to stay informed. I was thinking about somenone having to work two or three lousy jobs in order just to keep up. How is that person to be expected to think hard in evenings? I would have forgotten to correct myself if it wasn't for your reply. Thanks.
Write another book already. Well done.
Excellent writing Chris, love your use of analogy.
I’ve been thinking often of the monk and the horse story (“we’ll see”) the past few days. Very good things can come out of this apparent disaster. Hopefully this will be the wake-up call that so many of us need: electoral politics is not going to save us. In fact, electoral politics is killing our social movements. Making elections our sole form of activism (if you can even call it activism) is a big mistake if we want to expand our rights and weaken the power of the ruling class. Clearly neither corporate party will help us there.
As you say, people have been asking, pleading, begging, and demanding change. I think if we expect anything to change then masses of people need to mobilize. I think we need to get much more disruptive. Civil disobedience like the sit-ins used during the civil rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s would be a start. How about direct action such as mass striking, boycotting, occupying space, sabotage (any other ideas?). How many of us are willing to risk losing our job, or arrest, or a cop’s boot to the neck? My study of history and social progress tells me some of these will be necessary.
I’m hearing new discussions about building resilient communities; mutual aid networks; organizing to make sure that our basic needs are taken care of. Building life rafts with the people we love. Solidarity and resistance. This keeps me hopeful.
No doubt. Nobody is going to give a shit until the people do some serious disrupting. At this point in my life, I'm more aligned with the ideas in your last paragraph. My days of sabotage are far behind me, but I hope to have some days of solidarity and community still ahead.
Subscribed to the substack for this article and goddamn, that’s some good writing
Thanks, Jeremy. Welcome.
I want to make sure I read this correctly, Ronald Reagan was gay?
Had a gay kid.
I definitely thought the same thing at first.
Cheney, the greatest war hawk, endorsed Kamala. What clearer signal do you guys need?
Bernie was the greatest thing to happen in politics in my lifetime. It was also the first time I gave money to politics. Something happened, Bernie caved, and the momentum died. When Obama was elected, I knew it was just another distraction. That feeling stayed until RFK jr entered the scene. Once you get over his speech impediment, he is very articulate and willing to stand for what he believes in. He (and Elon) are a threat to narrative that’s been continuously thrown in our face. With RFK jr’s track record as an environmental attorney winning against the biggest beasts in the industry and Elon’s ability to make an efficient running business; populist Trump and his team have huge potential right now.
15 mil votes sat this one out!! Please don’t let racism or patriarchy make the forefront in the discussion, it’s intellectually dishonest at this point.
We can never know exactly how much of a role racism and patriarchy played but I don't think they can be denied as important. There are 65 million Christian evangelicals in the US. In these families the wife is subservient to the husband. Southern Baptists explicitly disallow women leaders. Ever since Jerry Falwell and Ronald Reagan, these people vote in large numbers and there is no way they, as a block, are voting for a woman.
Sure, Hillary won the popular vote vs Trump in 2016 but she was white. Some significant subset of the evangelical population I mentioned above are white Christian Nationalists. They believe this country, and all its "greatness", is due to the fact that it was founded and governed by men of northern Europe descent. To hand it over to people of color would be the end of our greatness, in their minds.
There are other, perhaps more important, factors in why Trump won but it is not intellectually dishonest to state race and gender play major roles.
Elon bought Twitter to "restore free speech". His actions don't reflect that ideal. How many people has he banned because they don't follow his personal narrative?
I think RFK's intentions are purer than Elon's but we'll see if his actions reflect his proclaimed values once he gets into a position of power. I doubt he has as much integrity as you think.
Cheney's endorsement doesn't mean anything other than that he hates Trump and thinks he'll fuck shit up. Guilt by association doesn't work. Andrew Tate and Alex Jones endorse Trump, for fuck's sake. As does Putin. What should we conclude from that? As for RFK and Elon and the rest of them, good luck with that. Believe while you can. I strongly suspect that a few years from now, your assessment of them will be where my Obama shirts are now.
Well-said, Chris. None of this means that Trump is somehow the good guy, and indeed it's a logical fallacy to suggest otherwise.
Doesn’t mean anything? That’s unfair, he’s the first to come up when war is mentioned and vice versa. Guilt by association certainly applies. We can get into propaganda behind Tate, jones and Putin but I’m assuming we will disagree on that as well. I’ll just say, America is great because we get to sit and discuss things. It only turns violent/ cruel when someone can no longer mentally debate and lets emotions get the best of them. All three of the above mentioned have hours of public dialogue available online (thanks Elon) where they willingly put themselves out for people to see and judge accordingly. But most people only see snippets from their favorite personalities! Kamala avoided media as much as possible..I wonder why?
I understand the possible gaslight happening once again, but I’m basking in the optimism while I can!
Kamala avoided media? 60 Minutes mean anything to you? The second debate ring any bells? As far as guilt by association, if Charles Manson had said that Nelson Mandela was a great guy, would that make Mandela worse? A lot of horrible people claim to love Jesus. Do we blame Jesus for that? As for Tate, Jones, and Putin, if you think they're unfairly maligned, there's nothing to talk about.
BINGO
PS, I hope Trump doesnt blow so much money on golf outings this time!!
Excellent hot take Chris. I agree as far as it goes but I think there is more. It's no accident that a white man trounced a black woman. Patriarchy and racism are alive and well in the US. Men will not give up power voluntarily and that goes double for white men. It's a soft version of both for most men but it's enough for them to pull the lever for Trump vs. Kamala.
Could be, and yet another reason it was foolish and arrogant for the Dems to present Kamala as the only option. A primary process would have exposed that issue in time to deal with it.
It seems that there has been a cancer in the American government (as you’ve described here) that has been slowly eating away at the health of the nation from both sides. The electing of Donald Trump is Americans choosing aggressive chemo and radiation.
He’s not some genius “for the people” hero. He’s a poisonous, blunt force solution to a problem that had been spreading for decades and to which there seems to be no solution. The first round of “treatment” didn’t do the trick, so they’re going in for round two.
Unfortunately, like chemo and radiation, other systems get caught in the crossfire. Untold damage can be done if not managed correctly and controlled. His impact on institutional trust and public discourse, and the polarization of the country, are a few examples of the fallout.
At this point it feels like America is terminally ill, and they’ve chosen aggressive, indiscriminate treatment with potential long term damage, to root out what will otherwise be a death sentence.
I hope they make a full recovery.
This all sounds cool in the "hot take" style of writing but tell me one policy that tells you he is equivalent to "chemo for cancer", what am i missing?
Agreed. From my perspective, money is the cancer. The country is ruled by corporations who are more motivated by profit than human well-being. So we have a "health care system" that's more oriented toward extracting money than promoting health. We have a war system that's about continual conflict to keep the money flowing to Raytheon, et al. We have a political system where candidates raise a billion dollars and still lose. Media driven by clicks, not truth. On and on. I fear it's terminal, as you say.
So true. The root of all evil indeed. And the system is so thoroughly rigged by and for the oligarchs.
And little do most of his supporters realize, Trump is actually one of THEM, the oligarchs. He is just a good actor who pretends otherwise, while leveraging his overall roguishness as evidence that he is somehow not cut from the very same cloth as them.
This is one of, if not the best take I’ve heard about this election. You couldn’t have summed up the situation more clearly.
As an Australian, it’s painful to look at the state of American politics. Every developed country has universal healthcare, paid maternity leave, and more than 2 weeks vacation. USA has none of this. The federal minimum wage is still $7.25 after 15 years.
Lower and middle class Americans have been getting fucked over the past 40 years. But the Democrats have been fucking them over less. They still take some small strides in the right direction. America needs more radical change, but the solution is not a criminal billionaire shaking things up to benefit him and his friends.
It seems to me that this is only a vote of the people for their sacred cow called money. Women in America suck big time.
As do men as well: 55% of them voted for Trump this time. They were perfectly fine with throwing women under the bus, something far too many men apparently have been fine with ever since Adam did it to Eve.
Hell Yeah
Trump’s GOP is not the second coming of the New Deal, quite the opposite. It means tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, maybe a trickle of cuts for the middle class, higher inflation and interest rates, higher health care costs, a dismantling of the already meager US social safety net, zero new solutions to the housing, child care and college cost failed markets, a roll back of infrastructure and clean energy investments, not to mention efforts to muzzle the free press, deport essential workers, roll back environmental protections, prosecute and jail their “enemies”, perhaps institute martial law, cut federal support for education, food assistance, FEMA, pandemic preparedness, climate research, the list goes on and on. No New Deal to right the wrongs of the past 45 years, just a Raw Deal, Stupid Deal, Dangerous Deal, Authoritarian and yes, Fascist Deal. Buckle up, indeed.
Indeed, it is literally the antithesis of the New Deal.