Suggested by Shaker Socchan: "What is a recurring theme in your life?"
Writing about terrible Republican presidents. Apparently.
Question of the Day
Throwback Thursday
MODERATOR LESTER HOLT: My reference was to what you had said in 2002, and my question was—Sometimes I just need to look at this to believe it actually happened. And that people then voted for him anyway. And that he's the president.
DONALD TRUMP: No, no. You didn't hear what I said.
HOLT: Why is your judgment— Why is your judgment any different than Mrs. Clinton's judgment?
TRUMP: Well, I have much better judgment than she does. There's no question about that. I also have a much better temperament than she has, you know? [laughter] I have a much better— She spent—let me tell you—she spent hundreds of millions of dollars on an advertising— You know, they get Madison Avenue into a room, they put names— Oh, temperament, let's go after— I think my strongest asset, maybe by far, is my temperament. I have a winning temperament. I know how to win. She does not have a—
HOLT: Secretary Clinton?
TRUMP: Wait! The AFL-CIO the other day, behind the blue screen—I don't know who you were talking to, Secretary Clinton, but you were totally out of control. I said: There's a person with a temperament that's got a problem.
HOLT: Secretary Clinton?
HILLARY CLINTON: Whew! Okay. [shimmies]
RIGHT ON
Via Tommy Christopher, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called Steve Bannon a white supremacist twice during a statement earlier today. Correct! And much appreciated! More of this, please!
Oh shit, @NancyPelosi called Bannon a White Supremacist TWICE pic.twitter.com/a53ANqRaOo
— Tommy Christopher (@tommyxtopher) February 2, 2017
What's making America less safe is to have a white supremacist named to the National Security Council as a permanent member, while the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of National Intelligence are told, "Don't call us; we'll call you. You're no longer permanent members; we'll call you when we need..." whatever judgment they make about when they want them to come back.
This is—it's a stunning thing, that a white supremacist, Bannon, would be a permanent member of the National Security Council, and dismissing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the Director of National Security, excuse me, National Intelligence as permanent members.
It's Delightful, It's Delicious, It's De-Lovely...
...it's De-lurk Day! We haven't had one of these in almost a year, so all you Shaker lurkers who rarely or never pipe up, don't be shy; say hi!
Cheeky devils!
And, as always, no one should feel obliged to stop lurking. These threads are a meant as a safe and easy space for people who do lurk to pop in if they want to, and some people have used them as a springboard to regular commenting, but that doesn't have to be the case at all.
Lurking is one of many ways to be part of this community, and if lurking feels best to you—lurk away! lurk away! :)
An Observation
Hey, remember when Hillary Clinton said half of Donald Trump's supporters were deplorable, and everyone was like youuuuuuuuu monsterrrrrrrrrrrr!
In retrospect, she was being pretty generous.
Daily Dose of Cute
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 14
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Here are some things I've read today:
Donald Trump is, truly, the worst and most dangerous United States President there has ever been:
It should have been one of the most congenial calls for the new commander in chief—a conversation with the leader of Australia, one of America's staunchest allies, at the end of a triumphant week.I highlighted a similar passage yesterday on Twitter about Trump's call with Peña Nieto from a different article, in which Trump's threat was explicitly connected to drug trafficking, noting: Asides like this telegraph what's coming. In other words: Trump will use drugs as excuse to militarize the border.
Instead, President Trump blasted Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull over a refugee agreement and boasted about the magnitude of his electoral college win, according to senior U.S. officials briefed on the Saturday exchange. Then, 25 minutes into what was expected to be an hour-long call, Trump abruptly ended it.
At one point Trump informed Turnbull that he had spoken with four other world leaders that day—including Russian President Vladimir Putin—and that "This was the worst call by far."
...U.S. officials said that Trump has behaved similarly in conversations with leaders of other countries, including Mexico. But his treatment of Turnbull was particularly striking because of the tight bond between the United States and Australia—countries that share intelligence, support one another diplomatically and have fought together in wars including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
...Trump told [Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto] in last Friday's call, according to the Associated Press, which said it reviewed a transcript of part of the conversation, "You have a bunch of bad hombres down there. You aren't doing enough to stop them. I think your military is scared. Our military isn't, so I just might send them down to take care of it."
It is deeply troubling that Trump is behaving so belligerently to our allies. And it is crucial to note the passing observation that the U.S. and Australia "share intelligence." As I have said numerous times now, alienating our allies means we won't get good intel from them, which will meaningfully make the U.S. less safe.
Trump, with his terrible temperament, is an imminent threat to us all. And no one in power seems to care.
BREAKING: US official: Trump remark about having military deal with `hombres' in Mexico was `lighthearted,' part of security talks.
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 2, 2017
You know what bullies say when they get called out on their abusive shit? "I was only kidding. Can't you take a joke?" https://t.co/HunjO8GDgQ
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 2, 2017
And remember how Republicans spent 8 years accusing President Obama of diminishing respect for the U.S. around the world. Yeah, about that...
In other news:
CNN's Dan Merica reporting from the National Prayer Breakfast: "Trump pledges to end the Johnson Amendment, which allows the IRS to revoke a church's tax exempt status for endorsing political candidates."
Business Insider's Natasha Bertrand reports: "In other news: US Treasury just amended Obama's sanctions order to 'authorize certain transactions' with Russian FSB." Goodbye Russian sanctions. [pdf of order]
Donald Trump tweeted about the protest at Berkeley: "If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?" Of course. Free speech for that POS Milo, but no one else (including the press). And, naturally, that "violence" is being exaggerated, as we see over and over in a bid to quell dissent.
Paul McLeary and Adam Rawnsley at Foreign Policy: SitRep: Trump Advisor Bannon Predicts Wars With China, Middle East; Pentagon Officials Say Gloves Off in Yemen. The headline pretty much sums it up. And, meanwhile (see above), Trump is provoking Mexico and Australia.
Julian Borger, David Smith, and Spencer Ackerman at the Guardian: Trump administration 'officially putting Iran on notice', says Michael Flynn. "The Trump administration has said it was 'officially putting Iran on notice' in reaction to an Iranian missile test and an attack on a Saudi warship by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen but gave no details about how Washington intended to respond. The threat was made on Wednesday by the national security adviser, Michael Flynn, in his first public statement since taking office."
Not incidentally: Reuters has committed, essentially, to covering the Trump administration like the rising authoritarian regime that it is.
Rebecca Savransky at The Hill: Trump aide: Bannon's experience crushing 'left-wing rivals' an asset on NSC. "An aide to President Trump says Stephen Bannon's experiences at Breitbart News will be an asset for the president's chief strategist in his new role on the National Security Council (NSC). ...[Sebastian Gorka] said Bannon, who previously served as the chairman of Breitbart News, has a 'truly strategic mind.' Trump signed an executive action last month that gives Bannon a seat on the NSC, which traditionally has been composed solely of top administration officials specializing in foreign affairs and security."
And how is that decision going so far? Well: "The U.S. military said on Wednesday it was looking into whether more civilians were killed in a raid on al Qaeda in Yemen on the weekend, in the first operation authorized by President Donald Trump as commander in chief." And how did that raid get planned? "With two of his closest advisers, Jared Kushner and Stephen K. Bannon, joining the dinner at the White House along with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., Mr. Trump approved sending in the Navy's SEAL Team 6... Vice President Mike Pence and Michael T. Flynn, the national security adviser, also attended the dinner. As it turned out, almost everything that could go wrong did."
Before that news was reported, I said to the other contributors yesterday: "We know that Obama's people said we just don't have enough info. And Trump, who thinks the intelligence community is garbage and the military generals are pussies and only trusts 'his generals,' turned to Michael Flynn and Steve Bannon and said, 'What do you think?' And they were like, 'Do it.' And here we are." This administration is totally predictable, despite being completely erratic.
Steven Mufson at the Washington Post: Trump Transition Email Shows Initial Effort to Oust All Inspectors General. "An email from the Trump transition team on the evening of Jan. 13 instructed all transition team leaders to 'reach out tonight and inform' the inspectors general in their agencies 'that they are being held over on a temporary basis.' The email from Katie Giblin, a member of the presidential transition team, confirms a story The Post reported last week that inspectors general, who by bipartisan tradition have open-ended appointments regardless of party, had been told that they would be held over only on a temporary basis and that they should seek other employment. The email shows that the effort to replace the inspectors was not limited to a handful of agencies, but that it was intended to take aim at inspectors general across government departments."
[Content Note: Anti-semitism] Esme Cribb at TPM: White Nationalist Leader Praises Trump for 'De-Judification' of the Holocaust. "Prominent white nationalist Richard Spencer lauded President Donald Trump's statement commemorating International Holocaust Memorial Day that failed to mention Jews as a 'de-Judification' of the Holocaust. ...Spencer called the White House statement 'especially Trumpian' for its" failure to mention Jews. Meanwhile: Jewish Community Centers Face Third Wave of Bomb Threats Nationwide.
Here's some cool news about what a cool guy Trump's cool nominee to the Supreme Court is: "Known to be fiercely conservative at Georgetown Prep School, #Gorsuch joked in yearbook he founded and led 'Fascism Forever Club'."
Reuters: "House approves resolution killing SEC requirement for oil, gas, mining companies to disclose payments to foreign governments." As my pal Jamison observed: "Sounds like good news for Trump's favorite people: Putin & Oil CEOs."
And in other Congressional news: House Republicans Vote to End Rule Stopping Coal Mining Debris From Being Dumped in Streams. "Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, senior Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said repealing the stream protection rule would 'sicken and kill the very people Donald Trump falsely promised to help,' coal miners in West Virginia and other states. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., displayed a bottle of brownish water he said came from a constituent's well near a surface coal mine. He challenged lawmakers to drink from it and said the stream rule was one of the only safety measures protecting people in coal country."
Phil Galewitz at NPR: Indiana Looks to Extend Medicaid Experiment Started Under Obamacare. "As Congress weighs repeal of the Affordable Care Act, the home state of Vice President Mike Pence Tuesday sought to keep its conservative-style Medicaid expansion under the federal health the health law." I'm so shocked that Indiana is the laboratory for this move, which is, I fear, testing the waters for what will end up being a very subpar ACA replacement.
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
I Write Letters
Dear Democrats Who Are Voting for Any or All of Trump's Nominees:
If you're voting for Trump's nominees in a bid to get reelected, what would we be reelecting you to do exactly?
Because the Number One thing we need Democrats to do right now is resist Trump. And if you can't do that in order to save your seat, then why should we want to reelect you? So a Republican can't get elected? The thing is, if you're appeasing fascism, well, it doesn't make a whole lof of difference whether it's you or a Republican in that seat.
I mean, this isn't "I have to compromise on a protected lands bill to oblige my conservative hunting constituents." This is about fascism or not fascism.
Everyone is watching Trump Co. tear through democratic norms like a bear eating a salmon, but is sure we're gonna have elections in 2 years.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 1, 2017
The point is: We have to fight like hell to make sure we keep our democracy. Abetting w/ eye toward reelection will only hasten erosion.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 1, 2017
If you don't resist like hell now, I believe there's very little chance of anything even resembling free and fair elections in two years, at the rate Trump Co. is relentlessly dismantling our systems, norms, and rights.
He's already invoked the specter of martial law in Chicago, and it's extremely rare that suspended elections do not attend the institution of martial law in authoritarian regimes.
In the best case scenario, he's building a Cabinet and judiciary profoundly hostile to voting rights.
We can't be looking to elections as a guaranteed curative, for a whole lot of reasons. (Not least of which is the fact that Democrats can win 3 million more votes in a presidential election and still lose.)
Reelection should be the last thing in your heads right now—except insofar as you should be calculating that, two years from now, Trump will look even worse, and any Democrat who supported him along that contemptible path will be voted out on their asses. If we still have the option.
So, please, I beg you: Resist. With everything you've got.
Sincerely,
Liss
This, Too, Is Very, Very Alarming
[Content Note: Christian supremacy; homophobia; transphobia; misogyny.]
Sarah Posner at The Nation: "Leaked Draft of Trump's Religious Freedom Order Reveals Sweeping Plans to Legalize Discrimination."
A leaked copy of a draft executive order titled "Establishing a Government-Wide Initiative to Respect Religious Freedom," obtained by The Investigative Fund and The Nation, reveals sweeping plans by the Trump administration to legalize discrimination.There is much, much more at the link, and I strongly encourage you to head over to read the whole thing.
The four-page draft order, a copy of which is currently circulating among federal staff and advocacy organizations, construes religious organizations so broadly that it covers "any organization, including closely held for-profit corporations," and protects "religious freedom" in every walk of life: "when providing social services, education, or healthcare; earning a living, seeking a job, or employing others; receiving government grants or contracts; or otherwise participating in the marketplace, the public square, or interfacing with Federal, State or local governments."
Every single thing about this is terrible and profoundly troubling, but I am particularly gobsmacked that it goes so far as to stipulate participation in "the public square." It's just literally the suggestion to legalize discrimination in a way that prevents people from participating in public life. Fucking hell.
Not that everyone in this dumpster fire of an administration isn't fully behind this trash, but Mike Pence's filthy fingerprints in particular are all over it.
It reads like Pence's Greatest Hits of Hatred: "The draft order seeks to create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious or moral objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity, and it seeks to curtail women's access to contraception and abortion through the Affordable Care Act."
Even the cursory details of this proposal suggest that it is unconstitutional. And it is almost unfathomably indecent.
Tellingly: "The White House did not respond to requests for comment." That they did not reflexively and vociferously disavow it speaks volumes.
One might reasonably wonder why the White House would even contemplate an order that so blatantly violates the rule of law. Well, apart from a pending Supreme Court nominee who seems to hate marginalized people as much as the man who nominated him, there's also this little issue, which has not gotten nearly the attention it deserves: Trump has inherited more than 100 federal court vacancies, giving him "a monumental opportunity to reshape the judiciary after taking office."
Confirmation of Obama's judicial nominees slowed to a crawl after Republicans took control of the Senate in 2015. Obama White House officials blame Senate Republicans for what they characterize as an unprecedented level of obstruction in blocking the Democratic president's court picks.So here we are. A vile order looms, and a Republican Senate stands ready to help a despot reshape the courts to make them more disposed toward upholding it. If not now, someday.
The result is a multitude of openings throughout the federal circuit and district courts that will allow the new Republican president to quickly make a wide array of lifetime appointments.
This Is Very, Very Alarming
[Content Note: White supremacy; misogyny; terrorism.]
Julia Edwards Ainsley, Dustin Volz, and Kristina Cooke at Reuters: "Exclusive: Trump to focus counter-extremism program solely on Islam—sources."
The Trump administration wants to revamp and rename a U.S. government program designed to counter all violent ideologies so that it focuses solely on Islamist extremism, five people briefed on the matter told Reuters.Now, this proposal is still under review. There is a chance it may not happen. But that five sources told Reuters it was being considered at all is deeply troubling.
The program, "Countering Violent Extremism," or CVE, would be changed to "Countering Islamic Extremism" or "Countering Radical Islamic Extremism," the sources said, and would no longer target groups such as white supremacists who have also carried out bombings and shootings in the United States.
White supremacists and affiliated violent ideologies—including MRAs and anti-choice terrorists—have, over the course of this nation's history, been a much graver danger than jihadists.
Just across the border in Québec this week, six Muslims were killed at their mosque by Alexandre Bissonnette, a white man who was "someone who made frequent extreme comments in social media denigrating refugees and feminism."
So, a white supremacist and misogynist attacked Muslims, but Trump wants to focus on jihadists.
The thing is, even when Muslim men have committed public acts of violence, the thing they all share in common, along with Bissonnette, is a hatred of women.
I have been writing in this space for years about expressed misogyny and domestic violence as a precursor to mass violence, public shootings, and acts of terror.
Elliot Rodger. Ben Moynihan. Marc Lépine. Seung-Hui Cho. George Sodini. Anders Behring Breivik. Jaylen Fryburg. Mark Dorch. Christopher Harper-Mercer. All of these men had expressed a resentment of and hatred for women.
December 2012: Adam Lanza goes on a killing spree at an elementary school. He started his rampage by killing his mother.
April 2013: Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of the brothers who bombed the Boston Marathon, is reported to have been arrested for domestic violence against his girlfriend several years before the bombing.
February 2015: Cedric Ford goes on a shooting spree, wounding 14 people and killing three others across multiple sites after being "served a protection from abuse order just hours before the first shooting."
June 2015: Dylann Roof justifies his mass murder of parishioners at the AME church in Charleston by asserting his ownership of white women.
November 2015: Robert Dear shoots at a Planned Parenthood facility, killing three people. He has a history of anti-choice vandalism, stalking, peeping, and domestic violence.
June 2016: Omar Mateen goes on a deadly shooting spree at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. He has a history of domestic violence, including against an ex-wife whose parents had to physically extricate her from the marriage.
July 2016: Micah Xavier Johnson ambushes police and kills five officers. He was discharged from military service for sexual harassment.
July 2016: Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel goes on a violent rampage in Nice on Bastille Day, after his wife threw him out of the house and filed for divorce. A neighbor said: "He kept to himself but would always rant about his wife. He had marital problems and would tell people in the local cafe."
Which is not even the complete list of misogynist mass killers, nor a comprehensive accounting of the incidents of mass violence committed by people with a history of domestic violence.
When the Huffington Post analyzed five years of data on mass shootings, they found "that a majority of these mass shootings were related to domestic violence. In 57 percent of the incidents, a family member or an intimate partner was among the victims."
And that is just mass shootings directly related to domestic violence. If any incident in which the perpetrator had any history of domestic violence were included, the number would shoot up exponentially.
"The pattern," wrote Pamela Shifman and Salamishah Tillet in the New York Times last year, "is striking. Men who are eventually arrested for violent acts often began with attacks against their girlfriends and wives. In many cases, the charges of domestic violence were not taken seriously or were dismissed."
This is the reality of mass violence:
Christian men. Muslim men. White men. Men of color. Men who kill civilians. Men who kill cops. White supremacist men. Anti-choice men.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 17, 2016
They slap various ideologies over their acts of heinous violence. But there's virtually always a history of hatred and harm of women.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 17, 2016
We wring our hands and wonder how we can stop this violence, as if there's not an OBVIOUS COMMON THREAD we diligently endeavor to ignore.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 17, 2016
If Trump has any real interest in addressing violence committed against the citizens of this country, then he would not diminish focus on white supremacy and he would further increase focus on domestic violence as a precursor to mass violence.
But of course he doesn't. He just wants to do harm to Muslim people, and demonizes them in order to do it.
Question of the Day
Suggested by Shaker Wonder: "Whom do you love 'the most'? (Your favorite person [other than yourself], however you define that.) What are some things about them that you really like and appreciate?"
My favorite person is Iain, and probably the thing I most like and appreciate about him is that he cares hard about other people.
The Wednesday Blogaround
This blogaround brought to you by flowers.
Recommended Reading:
Chauncey: [Content Note: White supremacy] The Muslim Ban Should Not Be a Surprise: Donald Trump Is the White Nationalist in Chief of the United States of America
Elizabeth: [CN: White supremacy; disablism] What We Get Wrong When We Talk About the Value of Immigrants and Refugees
Charlotte: [CN: Bigotry; rape culture] Holy Moses, I Have Been Removed
Sameer: [CN: Racist violence] Trayvon Martin's Parents Consider Run for Political Office
Keith: Harvard Law Review Elects First Black Woman President: Imelme Umana
Charline: Google Doodle Starts Black History Month by Paying Tribute to Iconic Sculptor Edmonia Lewis
Rae: Gorgeous Kitty Paw Nebula Image Proves Cats Really Do Belong in Space
Leave your links and recommendations in comments. Self-promotion welcome and encouraged!
This Is Real
[Content Note: White Supremacy.]
Earlier today, I published Donald Trump's absurd, disrespectful address on Black History Month, during which he said, in part: "I am very proud now that we have a museum on the National Mall where people can learn about Reverend King, so many other things. Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I noticed."
Many people observed it does not seem as though Trump knows who Frederick Douglass is, nor that he died in 1895.
During the White House press briefing today, Chief Propagandist Sean Spicer was asked what the fuck Trump meant when he said Douglass is "being recognized more and more." And Spicer's response suggests he doesn't have any better idea who Douglass is than his boss.
REPORTER: —about Frederick Douglass "being recognized more and more." Um, do you have any idea what specifically he was referring to?Whut.
SPICER: Well, I think there's contributions— I think he wants to highlight the contributions that he has made, and I think through a lot of the actions and, and, and statements that he's gonna make— I think the contributions of Frederick Douglass will become more and more.
This is, quite deservedly, being derisively mocked, but let's be clear: There's nothing amusing about this. There's nothing funny about a U.S. president and his press secretary, both white men, clearly having no fucking idea who Frederick Douglass is or what he did.
And it's especially not funny given that both of these men are part of an administration that is elevating and empowering white supremacy.
See, Here's the Thing About Giving Trump an Inch
[Content Note: Bigotry.]
Last night, I did the unthinkable and involved myself in a Facebook conversation about Donald Trump.
I barely participate on Facebook enough to justify having a Facebook page, and, when I do, I tend to stay away from politics, since it consumes my life everywhere else already.
But I was coming to the aid of a friend, whom I've known so long that we're family, a gay man who was pushing back against the idea that Donald Trump should be lauded as a "pro-LGBTQ" president for his decision to not strip the LGBTQ community of their rights.
I wrote:
I mean, a not-insignificant number of refugees from Muslim countries (and people seeking asylum at the southern border) are refugees because they're LGBTQ. So the argument that he's a 'pro-LGBTQ' president while he's turning away refugees is reflective of a decidedly uninformed (and non-intersectional) view of LGBTQ rights. And refugees.This, naturally, was greeted with crickets (aside from a positive response from my friend). But I hope, perhaps foolishly, that it gave some folks pause; a space in which they could reconsider their position.
The overarching objective of his agenda is authoritarian white supremacy. Anyone who thinks that LGBTQ folks—or any marginalized people—are safe under authoritarian white supremacist regimes needs to pick up a history book. STAT.
This is something we all must center in our thinking, as we greet every fresh horror from the Trump administration—the interconnectedness of each of his horrendous policies, nominees, and erosions of norms. They all act in service to the same agenda.
And they all affect people who cannot wrench their identities into pieces.
We are, I will observe once more, Stronger Together. But we cannot form meaningful solidarity if we don't recognize that a policy that harms some of us harms us all, because complex identities mean that every community overlaps.
The U.S. is not a nation of polka dots, but a nation of Venn diagrams.
And then there is this, succinctly put as ever by the brilliant Sarah Kendzior:
Don't assume everything's a "distraction"
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) January 29, 2017
1) Muslim ban is a threat
2) Bannon is a threat
3) Russia is a threat
Shitshow is interconnected
Trump's shitshow is interconnected. And so are we.
Daily Dose of Cute
By the way, this picture is even funnier rotated 90 degrees clockwise.
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
We Resist: Day 13
One of the difficulties in resisting the Trump administration, the Republican Congressional majority, and Republican state legislatures is keeping on top of the sheer number of horrors, indignities, and normalization of the aggressively abnormal that they unleash every single day.
So here is a daily thread for all of us to share all the things that are going on, thus crowdsourcing a daily compendium of the onslaught of conservative erosion of our rights and our very democracy.
Stay engaged. Stay vigilant. Resist.
* * *
Here are some things I've read today:
Donald Trump has encouraged Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to "go nuclear" if the Democrats try (AS THEY SHOULD) to block the nomination of Judge Neil Gorsuch.
Trump to GOP: "Go nuclear" if SCOTUS nom is deadlocked https://t.co/YDTkxq0HJf
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 1, 2017
TRUMP (in response to a reporter's question asking if he would encourage McConnell to use "the nuclear option" if Democrats filibuster): Well, I think there's a certain dishonesty if they go against their vote from not very long ago, and he did get a unanimous endorsement, and he's somebody that should get it. I mean, you can't do better, from an educational, from an experience, from any standpoint. A great judge; he'll be a great justice. So, no, I feel that it's very dishonest if they go about doing that. And, yes, if we end up with the same gridlock they've had in Washington for the last—longer than eight years, in all fairness to President Obama, a lot longer than eight years—but if we end up with that gridlock, I would say, 'If you can, Mitch, go nuclear.' Because that would be a [sic] absolute shame if a man of this quality was caught up in the web. So I would say it's up to Mitch, but I would say go for it, okay?Of course he would. I mean, why have the nuclear option if you can't use it, right?
[Content Note: Video may autoplay] Peter Schroeder at The Hill: GOP Changes Rules to Push Through Nominees After Dem Boycott. "Senate Republicans pushed through a pair of President Trump's Cabinet nominees Wednesday, upending standard committee rules to circumvent a Democratic boycott. The Senate Finance Committee advanced a pair of Trump's nominees with only Republican members present—Steven Mnuchin to head the Treasury Department, and Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) as secretary of Health and Human Services. By unanimous consent, the Republicans gathered in the hearing room agreed to change the committee's standing rules, which normally require at least one member of each party to be in attendance for committee work to proceed."
Russia continues its offensive in Ukraine, which as Michael Crowley notes, "could be extremely revealing of Trump intentions." (There's no "if" about the offensive, though, Crowley.)
[CN: Bigotry] Ashe McGovern at Rewire: Trump Attempts to Pit LGBTQ Communities, People of Color, and Women Against Muslim Refugees and Immigrants. "On the whole, the order is dangerous, misguided, and deeply rooted in this administration's commitment to a xenophobic, racist, and Islamophobic agenda. However, two sections in particular highlight a manipulative tactic that is becoming standard practice within the Trump administration: obscuring the destructive impact of an action on some marginalized communities by couching it in a feigned concern for 'protecting' others."
[CN: Islamophobia] Julian Borger at the Guardian: UN Chief Decries Discriminatory Border Bans in Rebuke to Trump Travel Decree. "António Guterres, the new UN secretary general said on Wednesday, in a clear response to the Trump administration's refugee ban, that border policies based on religion, ethnicity or race were 'against the fundamental principles and values on which our societies are based'." Trump wanted to pick a fight with the UN, and now he's got one.
Paul Waldman at the Washington Post: Steve Bannon is the most powerful person in the Trump White House. That should terrify us. "Steve Bannon, President Trump's senior strategist, is emerging as the most powerful person in the White House. That's not the problem; somebody has to occupy that perch. The problem is what Bannon wants to do with it. He has spectacularly grand ambitions, to transform our country and its place in the world. His is an ethno-nationalist vision in which America leads a clash of civilizations, and there's little reason to think he'd be at all displeased if that clash engulfed the entire globe. There's also little reason to think that Donald Trump would mind."
[CN: Violence] Kenneth P. Vogel at Politico: Trump Security's Use of Force Questioned. "Donald Trump's private security lacked basic procedures and policies—including for the use of force—giving guards free rein during the campaign and transition to physically confront protesters and journalists they found objectionable, according to hours of deposition transcripts in a civil lawsuit." I previously wrote about Trump's insistence on retaining his private security team, a security structure that a former Secret Service agent described as "playing with fire."
[CN: Violence; death] Spencer Ackerman, Jason Burke, and Julian Borger at the Guardian: Eight-Year-Old American Girl 'Killed in Yemen Raid Approved by Trump'. "President Donald Trump personally approved a US commando raid in Yemen that left one elite serviceman dead and may have killed an eight-year-old American girl, the US military has told the Guardian. At least 14 people died in Sunday's raid by the elite Joint Special Operations Command, which is now the subject of a preliminary inquiry to determine if allegations of civilian deaths are sufficiently credible to merit a full investigation." By way of reminder, Trump said during the campaign: "With the terrorists, you have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families." Which is a war crime.
Matt Shuham at TPM: Harley-Davidson Reportedly Cancels Trump's Visit Over Planned Protests. "A Harley-Davidson factory in Milwaukee backed out of hosting President Donald Trump later this week due to plans for large protests, an anonymous administration official told CNN. ...The official told CNN that while Harley-Davidson was fine with having Trump sign executive orders at its factory, the company was hesitant to host the President amid protests." As my pal T.R. notes: "This is VERY important. Trump is basically a media company. If his PR is disrupted like this for 4 years, it will damage his propaganda."
[CN: Video may autoplay] Phil Mattingly at CNN: Treasury Secretary Nominee's Foreign Money Links Bring New Scrutiny. That's a remarkably benign headline for a story that includes this passage: "In a private interview with committee staff, aides said, Mnuchin acknowledged that his responses to the committee had not, as he had stated, been 'true, accurate, and complete.' He twice was forced to revise his initial disclosure questionnaire. He stated his role in the entities was 'inadvertently missed' during the disclosure process." In other words, he lied and got busted.
Goldie Blumenstyk at the Chronicle of Higher Ed: Jerry Falwell Jr. Says He Will Lead Federal Task Force on Higher-Ed Policy. "Jerry L. Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, has been asked by President Trump to head up a new task force that will identify changes that should be made to the U.S. Department of Education's policies and procedures, Mr. Falwell told The Chronicle on Tuesday." OH HELL NO.
[CN: Video may autoplay] US Weekly: First Lady Melania Trump May Stay in NYC Permanently and Never Move Into the White House. Melania Trump is reportedly staying in NY to provide consistency for their young son Barron, which is good enough reason, but many people have speculated that it's also because she wants distance from her husband, who, as we all know, is an abuser of women. I respect her right to live her own life however she sees fit no matter the reason (even as I acknowledge a Democratic First Lady would never get away with this without much more significant criticism).
What have you been reading that we need to resist today?
This Is Reprehensible
[Content Note: White supremacy.]
Donald Trump just delivered a Black History Month address, sitting at a table, the content of which was unfathomably disrespectful.
This is a full transcript of President Trump's speech to his Black History Month event. pic.twitter.com/uJ9iXvUOGr
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 1, 2017
My apologies for not having a text transcript yet. I will update the post as soon as I've got one.
This man is an utter disgrace.
UPDATE: Hamilton Nolan has a full text transcript.
Whatever Trump Wants, the Answer Is No. The Answer Should Always Be No.
The Democrats still haven't figured out what they, and all decent people, are supposed to be doing in this moment. Exhibits A-D:
A. Senator Tim Kaine, whose name might be familiar as he was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice-president, will be giving Gorsuch a chance. Nope.
B. Rep. Adam Schiff, who has been leading the call for investigations into Russian interference in the election, worries: "The radical nature of this government is radicalizing Democrats, and that's going to pose a real challenge to the Democratic Party, which is to draw on the energy and the activism and the passion that is out there, but not let it turn us into what we despised about the tea party." I don't know about y'all, but the thing I despised about the Tea Party was their ideology, not their involvement in politics. And a big thumbs-down for Schiff ignoring that the Tea Party was a corporate-funded movement masquerading as a grassroots movement, which is not what is happening now.
C. Neal K. Katyal, who served as an acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, pens an op-ed for the New York Times headlined: "Why Liberals Should Back Neil Gorsuch." Which, at its essence, is an argument for why he will stop the most egregious excesses of the Trump administration, i.e. the things that are most likely to affect the most privileged among us. Too bad for all the marginalized people whose lives will get fucked either way.
D. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi actually said these words: "Where we can engage [with Donald Trump], we certainly will. We have that responsibility to the American people, to find our common ground." No! You! Don't!
Democrats, you have one job: To say no to every single thing that Donald Trump wants.
I realize that the Democrats are getting hammered for "hypocrisy" by some of the more despicable members of the press who have no evident sense of self-preservation and disgorge false equivalencies like a dog doing tricks for biscuits, but it should not be at all difficult to articulate that Republican obstructionism was straight-up partisan garbage and resisting Trump is a moral imperative in defense of the democratic institutions of this nation, not to mention basic decency.
Trump's overarching agenda is authoritarian white supremacy. It is not possible to parse which of his initiatives, policies, or nominees "are problematic" and which "deserve serious consideration," because they all act in service to the same hideous end.
"This isn't fascism." Sure. I guess. In the same way a single cobblestone isn't the entire street.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 31, 2017
This is why Dems can't pick and choose what to obstruct. None of this exists in a vacuum. It's all in service to the same radical agenda. https://t.co/NodPpGqtY6
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 1, 2017
Pretending that this or that aspect of Trump's agenda is "business as usual" is the very definition of normalization. To accept any of it is to provide a stamp of credibility on all of it.
I don't want to be admonished to be tolerant of a single piece of Trump's agenda. I don't want to be lectured about civility. I want unyielding resistance.
I'm all about going high when they go low, but I'm also about when they go fascist, we go ham.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) February 1, 2017
The fact is: There are no points for politeness in the face of emergent fascism. And, more importantly, there are no wins with politeness in the face of emergent fascism.
Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Steve Bannon, and Jared Kushner are not politics as usual. And they are counting on the fact that they'll be treated as though they are. Any offer to work with them on anything will be exploited. They will take even more. Offering common ground to a despot is capitulation.
And the people who gave it to them will be rightfully regarded by historians as appeasers.
This is Steve Bannon talking about his political philosophy: "I'm a Leninist. Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that's my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today's establishment."
That is what we're up against. That is someone who will turn common ground into scorched earth.
The answer must be no, on everything. Or all will be lost.
So Trump Announced His SCOTUS Nominee
[Content Note: Bigotry.]
And it's Neil Gorsuch. He is aggressively anti-choice, hostile to voting rights and LGBTQ rights, sympathetic to police who use deadly violence, pro-business, a "strict constructionist" (literal interpreter of the Constitution), and your all-around basic nightmare.
Here are some of the organizations who are fighting on our behalf:
National Partnership for Women & Families (NPWF) President Debra L. Ness in a statement:
At this pivotal moment, the country needs a Supreme Court justice with a deep commitment to equal justice for all, privacy and fairness for women, people of color, workers, religious and ethnic minorities, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities, seniors, and every person who may face discrimination.NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue in a statement: "With Judge Neil Gorsuch, the stakes couldn't be higher when it comes to women and our lives. Gorsuch represents an existential threat to legal abortion in the United States and must never wear the robes of a Supreme Court justice. ...NARAL and our 1.2 million member-activists call on the Senate to reject Trump's nominee using any and all available means, including the filibuster."
Judge Gorsuch is not that nominee. His record indicates that he is far outside the mainstream of legal thinking in this country. In two separate cases, he supported restricting women's coverage for birth control. He would have allowed Planned Parenthood to be defunded, and he has ruled repeatedly against employees who alleged discrimination or unfair treatment—deciding in favor of big business and against workers.
In the months and years ahead, the Supreme Court will issue rulings that shape our laws and our lives with regard to our right to choose abortion, our right to privacy, women's rights, workers' rights, civil rights, immigrants' rights, voting rights, and other essential laws. The next justice will be positioned to either protect or undermine the rights and liberties our country holds dear—and we may never have needed a Supreme Court that respects the separation of powers more than we do today.
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards in a letter to Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer: "Based on the events of the last week coupled with the historic import of the Supreme Court in our society, it is clear the courts are going to be the last—and sometimes only—line of defense against dangerous and unconstitutional attacks on our basic rights—not only protecting women's basic right to control their own bodies and access health care, but protecting all people in this country from discrimination based on who they love, where they come from, their race, their religious beliefs, or their right to vote. Any nominee to the Supreme Court must at minimum be independent, have a demonstrated record of mainstream jurisprudence, and be prepared to defend the Constitution against actions that show little regard for the rule of law or our shared American values."
Human Rights Commission President Chad Griffin in a statement: "The Supreme Court has played a central role in advancing the promise of equality for LGBTQ Americans, and Judge Gorsuch's anti-equality record—from opposing crucial medical treatment for a transgender person to supporting a license to discriminate for private corporations—make him unfit to sit on the nation's highest court. We cannot afford a justice who will roll back our rights, or who will be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump's unconstitutional actions. And America cannot afford to have Judge Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. We oppose this nomination."
EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock in a statement: "Make no mistake—President Donald Trump's pick of Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court is another move by this new administration that completely disregards women and families across this country. This choice comes as little surprise, given that President Trump, his administration, and an all-too-eager Republican Party have already prioritized rolling the clock back decades on human rights, civil rights, and equal rights—as well as endangering the progress we've made expanding access to health care, protecting our environment, and expanding opportunities for immigrants through programs like DACA. ...Let me also be clear—this was President Obama's seat to fill, and the Republican Party stole it."
People For the American Way (PFAW) President Michael Keegan in a statement: "Judge Neil Gorsuch is an ideological warrior who puts his own right-wing politics above the Constitution, the law and the rights of everyday people. ...Judge Gorsuch has spent his entire career pushing an extreme agenda that hurts ordinary Americans. He has made clear that he's a patently unacceptable choice who'd push his own dangerous agenda from the bench. Over the course of his career, he's turned his back on fundamental American rights, from shutting down claims of gender discrimination in the workplace, to trying to limit Americans' ability to join class-action lawsuits to challenge corporate wrong-doing, to ruling in the original Hobby Lobby decision that corporations are people and can refuse to offer their employees birth control, to claiming that a police officer could not be sued for using excessive force when his stun gun killed a young man running from police simply because he was growing marijuana plants. That's appalling."
All* Above All Co-Director Destiny Lopez in a statement: "Trump has no mandate to stack the court with ideologues who want to take away women's basic rights, and we implore Senators who would defend women's health to ask the tough questions and, if necessary, fight this pick every step of the way."
That is, of course, not a complete list, especially since many organizations have not yet distributed press releases on the pick yet.
But it's time to fight, and I think it's important to know who's going to be fighting for and with us.
