Mourning in America - Trump Year One: November '16 to

Frederik, the election is over, you can cut the crap now. She did not get "bombarded with death threats." A couple of losers left angry messages.
― the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), 10. november 2016 16:54 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This was from the old thread, but I'm done with this sort of bullshit. We've just seen white supremacy and sexism have it's biggest triumph yet, I'm not gonna let misogynistic harassment and death threats be explained away as 'angry messages' anymore.

Massive TRIGGER WARNING!!! Scroll past this if you don't want to read misogynynistic words and threats of violence. But I need to post a sampling of the hundreds or thousands of messages that Roberta Lange received in the days after Nevada. Each new line is a new voicemail or text message.

Hi Roberta Lange. This is a citizen of the United States of America and I just wanted to let you know that I think people like you should be hung in a public execution to show this world that we won’t stand for this sort of corruption. I don’t know what kind of money they are paying to you, but I don’t know how you sleep at night. You are a sick, twisted piece of shit and I hope you burn for this! You can return my call at xxx-xxx-xxxx. I’d love to go into further detail with you about this, though I am sure you don’t have courage to do so. You cowardless bitch, running off the stage! I hope people find you.
 
You fucking stupid bitch! What the hell are you doing? You’re a fucking corrupt bitch! That is so fucking wrong. You should be ashamed and disgraced. You need to step down from that position because you are bad for America and bad for the Democratic Party. That was fucking bullshit today. You need to step down. You’re a disgrace.
 
Oh Roberta, Roberta, Roberta, you old, old hag. Oh, we watched the whole thing in Nevada. You’re really kinda screwed, lady. Um, yeah. Really stupid. Fuck you.
 
Fuck you, bitch!
 
Roberta, you know thousands of people watched what you did tonight at the convention – if you don’t think that that’s coming back to bite you in the ass, you have got another thing coming.

Hi Roberta, I am pretty sure you’re probably not going to get back to me because you don’t care about the American people, but what you did today, it was corrupt, it was wrong, and the founding fathers of our country would be ashamed of you. You deserve to be in prison, not the chairman for the Democratic Party. Rot in Hell.
 
You’re a cunt. Fuck you!
 
We are having a massive public opposition to your illegal activities. You have demonstrated to be fraudulent and I would pack your bags right now because the shit storm you’ve ensued is coming.

You stupid ass bitch. We’re coming for your ass.

Bitch answer me! How much did the Hilary campaign pay you for that shit? You weren’t a coward yesterday, don’t be one now! Biggest cunt in politics next to Clinton. You’ve just ruined your life!

SHAME ON YOU Roberta Gustave Lange. You are an abomination to the humans race to supress the HUMAN RIGHT to VOTE. May retribution come fully and harshly upon you. I CURSE YOU

Praying to god someone shoots you in the FACE, and blows your democracy-stealing head off!

That's not just a 'couple of losers'. That's horrifying. And that's just a fraction of what she received. And I'm horrified that you're trying to minimize it, man alive. And when I can, I won't let you or anyone minimize this kind of abuse and chicanery.

https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/796859453157031936

a little honesty is refreshing

from the NYRB link upthread - but everyone should go read the whole thing

Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a rationalization. ...

Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality. Consider the financial markets this week, which, having tanked overnight, rebounded following the Clinton and Obama speeches.

Rule #3: Institutions will not save you. It took Putin a year to take over the Russian media and four years to dismantle its electoral system; the judiciary collapsed unnoticed.

Rule #4: Be outraged. If you follow Rule #1 and believe what the autocrat-elect is saying, you will not be surprised. But in the face of the impulse to normalize, it is essential to maintain one’s capacity for shock.

Rule #5: Don’t make compromises. Like Ted Cruz, who made the journey from calling Trump “utterly amoral” and a “pathological liar” to endorsing him in late September to praising his win as an “amazing victory for the American worker,” Republican politicians have fallen into line.

Rule #6: Remember the future. Nothing lasts forever. Donald Trump certainly will not, and Trumpism, to the extent that it is centered on Trump’s persona, will not either.

Oh also can we abandon Twitter and Reddit completely and just let the alt-right have them? They'll go out of business and get bought by Russians, and nobody will care.

Kendzior is a conspiracy theorist and is not to be taken seriously fyi

Yeah? Do you have sources for that? Not doubting you, I don't know one way or the other.

everybody thinks he doesn't really mean the things he says

Then one thing we maybe need to start doing is remind them that he does, he always has, and it is going to be very bad for them, too, not just city slickers and the blacks.

well, literally none of the people i personally interact with (including what friends i've kept from my conservative hometown) voted for him and they're all varying degrees of horrified now.. only person i know who's happy is one facebook 'friend' who is really a distant acquaintance & is in the military. i spent quite a few weekends in pennsylvania trying to get democrats to turn out and vote against him..

right now i see some "wait and see, the sky isn't falling, we will get through this" lack of urgency plus those who want to organize and take action but lack direction and leadership...

I can't decide what's more ridiculous, that I'm considering signing a change.org petition in the hopes that it helps overturn the electoral college or that the only reason I haven't yet is because I'm afraid that putting my name and address on it will get me put on Trump's enemies list.

i feel like this all happened because from day #1 of obama's first term the GOP leadership decided to obstruct him and stop the government from functioning no matter what. i can see how it resonates in middle america to look at the struggling economy there and poor infrastructure and wages being flat & saying we need change. if only obama had been able to get a big infrastructure and jobs bill done

"If you succeed, we succeed." HELLLL NO

Re: the Oval Office picture of Trump-Obama, it's not so much that he looks terrified (although there's a little of that) but that he looks, for the first time, actually ashamed to be sitting there with Obama. It's a mixture of shame and fear. He looks like a 70 year old boy who's done a bad thing and who's embarrassed that the adult in the room is still being civil towards him.

Of course the shame will only have been temporary as I'm sure he switched as soon as he left the building.

I feel like the greatest immediate mitigating factor is that he and his "people" seem to be very lazy and don't know how to do anything. If leading Dems and career officials remember Rule #5, never forget Rule #5, always stick to Rule #5, then we might live through this.

History implies America will not fall prey to fascism, at least as it has traditionally manifested itself. But if the country was indeed going down the darkest path, what are the first warning signs to look for (other than electing a fascist)? The weakening of the press? Punishing enemies?

given the general consensus that Trump has little interest in policy or the day to day donkey work of being President, and will delegate most of that side of things to subordinates - do we have an idea of who these people are likely to be, of who is going to be actually making the big decisions? Who does Trump listen to? Is the administration likely to be chaotic as different subordinates fight for dominance in the absence of a strong/engaged president?

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/796900183955095552

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!

9:19pm · 10 Nov 2016 · Twitter for Android

okay yeah so he's going to have people massacred at his inauguration

this is gonna be the longest 4 years

Give him a chance!

LOL

there are brief moments when I can cheer up but I'm so depressed, so scared, so sad. my heart goes out to all of you. I love you all. I see no cause for hope anywhere, this is something we can only defend ourselves from, not actively fight for good, just less bad. it's going to be so bad. worse than Reagan 80s.

― flopson, Thursday, November 10, 2016 8:09 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think I am going crazy, like literally as in suffering mental illness. I hope not. but I'm really, deeply terrified

― flopson, Thursday, November 10, 2016 8:30 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i feel this way too flopson. im not doing well

"Professional protesters." Welcome to Russia.

I think the Cabinet is going to be completely off the rails and they're going to ask for crazy things but mostly just not do their actual jobs. They will likely treat all the career civil servants beneath them like shit. It's probably going to be supremely annoying for the SES corps, since those folks can actually be fired - but only if you work at it, and they won't.

even if you cant make it all the way to Stalin, the mind reels at plausible damage Trump can do domestically with Republican House and Senate, and in foreign policy. it feels like the end of something, to me. not sure what, but were clearly not just going to resume our previous path before this. and it just feels so unnecessary

I agree with this 100%. I'm scared and frightened and I feel an immense sense of loss and for nothing. Just emptiness. But I don't want to go crazy - even a somber conservative analysis is bad enough.

― Mordy, Thursday, November 10, 2016 8:27 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea the "best case scenario" i come up with is an awful but typical republican presidency. reagan & gwb eras. that's pretty bad and depressing enough, honestly right now i feel like we'd be lucky to have that instead of trump. we'll see

seriously spooked by that DJT tweet :(

Imagine if Michael "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job" Brown held every cabinet position.

I was at the protest last night, where's my money?

OK, so even as president elect he is tweeting umbrage? The fuck does he care, he won. Man, four years, two years, one year, two months ... who knew Trump would destroy time, too.

i feel like this all happened because from day #1 of obama's first term the GOP leadership decided to obstruct him and stop the government from functioning no matter what. i can see how it resonates in middle america to look at the struggling economy there and poor infrastructure and wages being flat & saying we need change. if only obama had been able to get a big infrastructure and jobs bill done

― FREE BRADY (daria-g), Thursday, November 10, 2016 9:16 PM (twenty-eight minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea this feels right to me

instinctive "oh for fuck's sake" when I read that tweet

Wouldn't professional protesters be hired rather than incited?

that tweet, jesus

So the tax plan is going to slash revenues by epic numbers - will he follow along with the GOP austerity standards which means zero job growth and no infrastructure projects or does he buck them and push for Huey Long-populism where we just run enormous deficits to fund projects for the Rust Belt he needed?

this is going to be very bad

@tripgabriel
Interviewing Trump voters in Erie, Pa., many don't much like him, voted reluctantly, suggesting he won't get much slack if he can't deliver

It's weird because there was lots of stuff written about how voters found Hillary was "unlikeable", similar to all the articles in 2000 and 2004 about how ppl found Gore and Kerry cold and disatant, and they would "rather share a beer" or whatever with Bush, and I can see that Bush had this laid back frat-boy charm that would appeal to some people. But with Trump, I kind of get impression that *most* of his voters don't "like" him, he's more like an avatar of their ugliest, most shameful feelings. I can't imagine that even his most enthusiastic supporters think that hanging out with Trump would be anything other than unbearable, but I don't think it's necessarily the case that Trump voters may stop supporting him because they don't "like" him as Gabriel suggests, that's not the level he appeals to ppl on.

So the tax plan is going to slash revenues by epic numbers - will he follow along with the GOP austerity standards which means zero job growth and no infrastructure projects or does he buck them and push for Huey Long-populism where we just run enormous deficits to fund projects for the Rust Belt he needed?

― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, November 10, 2016 9:53 PM (seven seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

he won't do shit, GOP is just going to run with this, they have the strucutral advantages to keep congress for a long time

god i am so depressed right now you guys

this morning i woke up from a better sleep and the sun was out today (yesterday it was dark and gloomy as fuck in cleveland) and i had some better moments but ultimately i am just so scared and depressed and angry about this

His margin was too thin to not offer anything to the [racist/economically anxious/other as you prefer] white working class that turned out for him, if it's a standard GOP budget they won't come out again.

gop doesn't give a fuck about vote margins or approval ratings though. you see the glee in paul ryan right now? these guys just view this as their ticket, they weren't expecting it but here it is and they know it

ahhh idk i just so little faith right now

That's how they feel but Trump is desperate for approval and will be second for another term - he might just want to be a figurehead but if that starts to hurt his numbers or threaten his next time around he's still the damn President.

between this and a couple things in my life this is by far the worst week i've had in about 8 years

@tripgabriel
Interviewing Trump voters in Erie, Pa., many don't much like him, voted reluctantly, suggesting he won't get much slack if he can't deliver

a trump voter who saw me & canvassing partner out knocking on doors for hillary in a small pennsylvania city literally yelled at us (in a friendly way!), "good luck with that, it's too bad i have to vote for the guy who's mentally retarded"

i am not even joking. we had to take a moment to unpack because 1) why do you *have* to vote for him?! 2) casual slur against the disabled (i suppose this means he's not 'politically correct') 3) the guy was trying to be nice!

wow, that is something

Sad!

this is sickening

Not really tbh. He lived a full live and left it with highs most artist would be envious of.

between this and a couple things in my life this is by far the worst week i've had in about 8 years

― call all destroyer

:-(

one upshot of all this is that even though his cabinet is going to be filled with people who suck like Newt Gingrich, he's going to be constantly firing and replacing them

reflecting on it more it also makes me wonder how the campaign team could have done better to realize what was happening in the field.. i'm really new at this so i don't know how the whole operation works other years, but in early fall at least when you're still trying to gauge where the voters are at & ask them to commit to vote..

the list of doors to knock should be all democrats but anyplace besides philadelphia it was always coming up with a not insignificant number of "we won't say" (which probably means trump?) or straight up "we're for trump"

i assumed this was normal but i didn't have other years to measure response against. i wonder how many of us sounded alarms about this kind of thing on tally sheets because it really wasn't emphasized to note it down in training

Government Apprentice, coming to CSPAN

xp daria I found this interesting and possibly related to yr door-to-door experience, have not seen it yet - the Clinton campaign's reliance on a data simulator named ADA:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/11/09/clintons-data-driven-campaign-relied-heavily-on-an-algorithm-named-ada-what-didnt-she-see/

(I mean, have not seen this mentioned in the election threads so far on ILX)