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

I mean I just got an "Emergency Call" from my school district reassuring me that all immigrants are welcome at the District and they will not cooperate with deportation efforts etc

xp

Pragmatic resistance is the conscious choice for moving forward, and I'm trying to keep things on the positive and constructive tip, but a day hasn't passed where I don't feel like we've been shunted into the most sinister timeline imaginable. I've been having stress nightmares like you wouldn't believe.

I was 12 and living under 2 miles from the Pentagon on 9/11 and I trained myself then to wall myself off emotionally from major world events, I've been basically fine since the 10th. Don't know if that's healthy exactly.

My first thoughts in the days after the election were about finishing my history degree and becoming a teacher, maybe have some tiny impact on the world... but that looks increasingly futile.

Any billionaires want to sponsor a secular humanist private school?

I don't think it's futile at all, man. I've been thinking similar thoughts. If small, positive changes are all that any one of us is capable of, it's enough. And doing something has to be better than doing nothing.

i think back to the weekend after the grab em by the pussy tape when his campaign was in free fall and i cannot believe we are here now

yeah I remember getting a call the day after from the Dem office here asking if I wanted to canvass - already had plans so I couldn't but I told the guy, "I'm not really all that worried anymore, but I'll help Feingold out if I can"

I mean, even before that, the week after the DNC where he was just going nuts in general, backstabbing his own campaign people and attacking the Khans, I thought "surely this is over"

fast forward to now and I still hear people all the time saying "it's just unfortunate it came down to...these...two" and I guess I kind of understand

I think it's wise to limit the amount of psychic space you give Trump as much as you can -- stay aware, focus on where you can have an impact, and live your life.

if everybody goes out and kills one Trump voter each i'm sure it'll add up to something positive

yeah in general I am limiting my news consumption tbh, it just isn't productive for me to fixate on, I'm trying to stay focused on the small pleasures and just generally being willing to contribute to/participate in whatever actions are open to me (donating money, volunteering, showing up at meetings + protests, signing petitions etc.)

I don't think it's futile at all, man. I've been thinking similar thoughts. If small, positive changes are all that any one of us is capable of, it's enough. And doing something has to be better than doing nothing.

The thing that opened my eyes was when I found out that the dude who was the rising star of St*rmfr*t had his worldview challenged not only by his college social circle but by his medieval history classes, one of which was taught by a friend from college that I sang with. You really never know who you're going to impact, or how.

regarding news, subscribing to news, and avoiding news: I paid for TPM Prime so I don't have to read it, is basically what happened

I think it's wise to limit the amount of psychic space you give Trump as much as you can -- stay aware, focus on where you can have an impact, and live your life.
― the last famous person you were surprised to discover was actually (man alive), Wednesday, November 30, 2016 3:24 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is fantastic advice and something i've been ignoring a little. thank you.

The thing that opened my eyes was when I found out that the dude who was the rising star of St*rmfr*t had his worldview challenged not only by his college social circle but by his medieval history classes, one of which was taught by a friend from college that I sang with. You really never know who you're going to impact, or how.

― ¶ (DJP), Wednesday, November 30, 2016 3:45 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That WaPo article was a fantastic read-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-white-flight-of-derek-black/2016/10/15/ed5f906a-8f3b-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html

my wife watches CNN in the morning before work so when I turn on the TV after work it's on. usually Anderson Cooper. but I can't physically stomach it anymore - that one loudmouth blonde Trump surrogate (not Kellyanne, the other one) is always on and yesterday they were all fellating Trump over "saving 1000 American jobs"...like, wow, he's doing it already!! were we WRONG about Donald Trump????

clinton+email site:nytimes.com
About 6,700,000 results (0.85 seconds)

― and this section is called boner (Phil D.), Wednesday, November 30, 2016 2:57 PM (twenty-seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

clinton+iraq war site:nytimes.com
About 31,200 results (0.43 seconds)

clinton+bailout site:nytimes.com
About 12,000 results (0.33 seconds)

NYT focused so much on emails bc its a huge pressing issue requiring 200 times the attention compared to the 21st century's defining international conflict and 500 times the attention given to the US financial industry recklessly ODing on our retirement money then given another crack rock wrapped in a Get Out of Jail Free Card.

the emails were the useful scandal - already old news, needlessly complicated, confusing, unsexy, and seemed like looking for a needle in a haystack. the emails are a great way to silence leftist dissent ("What do you mean they weren't critical, they talked about emails!").

Or, you know, perhaps Clinton wasn't actually at fault for the Iraq war and the bailout?

Does the person who released the access hollywood tape in October blame themselves for all of this, given what may have happened if it were released the week before the election instead?

it would be fun to mail that post back to a person living in 1993, in a "hey this is what 2016 is like, pretty fucked up, right" way

much more egregious was the three weeks of nonstop reporting on the Clinton Foundation, "asking questions" but never finding any real evidence of wrongdoing or corruption, while AT THE SAME TIME a single reporter from the Post was uncovering unethical and blatantly illegal shit from the Trump Foundation on a daily basis, and yet total silence from the media

I said it at the time- secret corruption is exciting, blatant corruption is boring.

Does the person who released the access hollywood tape in October blame themselves for all of this, given what may have happened if it were released the week before the election instead?

or the '95 tax returns? god who knows. I truly feel awful for Huma's role in all this, I can't imagine how she feels right now

Looking for clues and reading between the lines and putting puzzle pieces together is fun. That shit goes viral and gets upvotes and generates conversations and sharing. It resembles the kind of fun one has with characters in movies or HBO shows.

xpost to self

Trump's dirt isn't very exciting in that regard. It's all just there. So much so that it's exhausting to sift through and the impact of any particular scandal is dulled in context.

Blatant corruption makes you feel hopeless--like it's already RIGHT THERE and nothing happened to it, fighting it now is probably a losing battle. Whereas SECRETS make you feel like you can be powerful just by TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING that *someone* doesn't want talked about. Way easier lift.

And with secret corruption, who knows how big it could be?!

yeah good point. the email "scandal" was fascinating in that everyone could look into it and find their own opinions of Hillary reflected right back at them. those 33,000 deleted emails could be ANYTHING! plans to sell off gov't secrets, MURDER PLOTS PERHAPS??

but I disagree with Evan on one thing, Trump's dirt almost certainly isn't all "out there"...yes, there's a lot out there, but given how basically everyone who ever worked for him or was married to him had to sign a massive NDA, who knows?

clinton deserved the criticism she got for her iraq vote but seems odd that joe biden basically never got any for his

biden wasn't running, and it became clear that in the obama WH clinton pushed for more hawkish policy while biden was more of a dove. showing that you've learned from your mistakes is a nice quality

And you would have to pin a bunch of pictures up on a board with lines drawn between them in order to visualize the web of deception/lies/corruption with Hillary's face right in the middle. And if you found something revealing you could write a post on reddit with the title "Guys, I think I just found something big. This goes higher than you think." So much fun!

xposts

Also: it was widely reported he held rosary beads during Bin Laden raid

biden wasn't running, and it became clear that in the obama WH clinton pushed for more hawkish policy while biden was more of a dove. showing that you've learned from your mistakes is a nice quality

― k3vin k., Wednesday, November 30, 2016 10:21 PM (one minute ago)

yeah no argument here

but I disagree with Evan on one thing, Trump's dirt almost certainly isn't all "out there"...yes, there's a lot out there, but given how basically everyone who ever worked for him or was married to him had to sign a massive NDA, who knows?

― frogbs, Wednesday, November 30, 2016 5:19 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well, to varying degrees. I mean, there's a lot of it.

I was speaking relatively.

Trump's big advantage was that his corruption didn't matter as much, if you're in a crap situation in life you don't blame Donald Trump (unless you're one of the thousands of contractors or investors that he dicked over), you blame politicians like Hillary Clinton.

and yeah - there certainly is a ton out there and by all rational measures it should have shot him down ten times over. even the argument that Hillary's scandals were more "mysterious" and/or "secret" doesn't feel right - Trump turned over basically nothing about himself, we know nothing about his business interests, who he owes money to, or what's in his tax returns, while Hillary volunteered basically everything.

I would feel better if we stopped it with the post-mortems tbh. The only real lesson from the election is one that's been in place since idk at least Reagan - the only thing that matters to the voters that decide elections is a believable illusion of authenticity. Everything else is secondary.

Yeah. If I take any comfort from the election, it's that it was no presidential election was no “referendum” on liberalism; forty-five percent of voters said in exit polls that they wanted the next president to be as or more liberal than Barack Obama.

Basically the voter that swings elections literally is that guy who's thought processes re: politics go no farther than "does that guy seem believable to me? does he seem like an actual person/does he fit a recognizable archetype I find appealing?" That's it. There is nothing else involved. No principles, no policies, no positions, no facts, nothing.

Whereas 55% ...

were not distributed in the necessary proportions

"does that guy seem believable to me? does he seem like an actual person/does he fit a recognizable archetype I find appealing?"

yeah this is a big part of it and IMO why I still feel Bernie would've had a shot, a lotta people turned away from Clinton because she felt so robotic and focus-grouped.

they turned away from her because she was Hillary Rodham Clinton, the band they've known all these years.

And still 'they' preferred her by the millions. Except where it mattered most. (And where Sanders would probably have done better. anyway)

Welcome to ILX's favorite bullshit authenticity argument, late 2016 flavor.

many xps but Derek Black's op-ed in the Times this weekend was pretty heartening i thought
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/opinion/sunday/why-i-left-white-nationalism.html?_r=0

And you would have to pin a bunch of pictures up on a board with lines drawn between them in order to visualize the web of deception/lies/corruption with Hillary's face right in the middle. And if you found something revealing you could write a post on reddit with the title "Guys, I think I just found something big. This goes higher than you think." So much fun!

xposts

― Evan, Wednesday, 30 November 2016 22:21 (one hour ago) Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buzzXclC5vA

remember oppo dump? I just remembered it. now I think there is no oppo dump in the world that would matter

oppo dump is basically Santa Claus

Yeah, I realize now that Trump's behavior needs to have a direct impact on some people in order for it to matter. You can be sure those former contractors and ex-wives and assault victims didn't vote for him. He'll need to engage in some highly-visible shady shit that has a negative material impact on some people before they'll turn on him.

I wonder when he's planning to have us sign our NDAs.

Vicious cycle: Trump elected, doesn't fix anything in 4 years, re-elect to give his shit time to work (plus he's a guy I'd get a beer with, you know?), doesn't work, either another GOP or Dem gets elected, spends all their time (a la Obama) fixing previous mistakes. Repeat. See also: obstructionist congress claims gov not working, president uses executive action for results, new president elected, reverses executive actions, repeat forever.

Oh, and the Supreme Court implodes.

Our country is fucked. There is no more hope in the next decade than there is in blinding chucking a basketball from half-court in hopes of getting a basket.

I wonder, what would happen if things got really bad, in terms of corruption and crime, and nothing was done about it? What recourse is there? What if the Dems just ... walked off the job?