US Politics, April 2024: "Are You Better Off Today Than You Were <Checks Notes> Four Years Ago?"

Dipshit Secrets of our Rotten World for May thread title

i always feel bad for these secret conspiracy people. but they also bug the hell out of me. the united states military goes into the middle east FOR NO REASON OTHER THAN REVENGE and commits wholesale slaughter for 20 years killing....who knows how many people? a million? more? nobody will ever know. destroys entire regions with bombs, missiles, seriously toxic shit. but people are always looking for a *secret* plan to destroy the world!
its a little maddening.

or, you know, pick your own example of extremely shady and hateful shit that big governments do right out in public. i've been reading about what china is doing in africa and there is a whole world of hurt there.

this is the latest horror show that i have read about. china needs millions of donkey hides every year for their donkey gelatin trade. it is causing problems around the world. who needs peter theil and lisa simpson?

https://www.reuters.com/graphics/AFRICA-CHINA/DONKEYS/xmpjrdgbxpr/

Did not expect “Bill Clinton blackmailed Rob Lowe”….

The Mena connection!

A VW plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee just voted 73-27 to join the UAW. A Mercedes plant in Alabama is up next.

a big fuckin' deal

Good Bouie column on it today!

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/19/opinion/uaw-southern-republicans-unions.html?unlocked_article_code=1.l00.Nc0I.JQkL5T4PD8uw&smid=url-share

Tennessee Republicans have been terrified of that plant organizing ever since VW opened it. It’s a huge win for the UAW and for labor more broadly here.

And yeah that Bouie column is great, connects lots of dots. It’s so important to understand slavery and segregation in the context of labor rights, people tend so much to see them in terms of just racism — but the racism was all about economics obv.

Here's where I recommend a Katznelson's Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time, a fantastic analysis of the compromises FDR had to cut with the Solid Racist South to keep the New Deal.

*Ira

It’s so important to understand slavery and segregation in the context of labor rights, people tend so much to see them in terms of just racism — but the racism was all about economics obv.

I would replace that “all” with “also”

i been meaning to read that katznelson book forever- thx for reminder. i almost feel like i’ve read it i’ve been so exposed to extracts or cites

yeah it's become the touchstone for this area of research even though it's only 11 years old

Thanks for that book recommendation

An excerpt.

Meantime in House roffles today per WaPo:

If you’ve been watching the debate on the House floor today, you probably haven’t seen any far-right members present their perspective against the plan presented by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). That’s by design.

According to several Republicans, those members have been prevented from receiving “floor time” to speak because of overwhelming opposition from the conference.

These members have been consistent in their opposition, and it has irritated many Republicans who, while they respect their opinions, are upset they blocked debate and prevent regular order. Others are mad that these members are on the wrong side of history and don’t want them to dominate the debate on serious matters.

A lovely piece on the late Bob Graham:

Lots of politicians talk about “the dignity of work.” Not so many back it up by picking tomatoes and shoveling manure.

Graham always put in a full day on whatever job he was doing, and his genuine respect for his co-workers and their craft comes across on every page. He spent his day at the nursing home feeding and bathing patients and changing their soiled bedsheets with Johnny Denton, “a 33-year-old Black man of Santa Claus shape and ebullience” who earned $2.45 an hour. He was clearly moved by Denton’s dedication to his patients, by his belief that “these old folks must be good, because God let them live so long,” by the care he took to fold the seams in the sheets under the bed so nobody would get sores.

The first part of this excerpt has become political boilerplate; the second part widened my eyes:

You don’t have to be fascinated by people to be effective in the political arena, but it helps. I happen to believe, and I’m not alone, that Al Gore could have won Florida and changed history in 2000 if he had chosen Graham as his running mate. I also believe, and on this I may be alone, that if Graham hadn’t suffered some heart issues in 2003, he might have beaten John Kerry for the Democratic nomination and ousted George W. Bush. He was a centrist swing-state Intelligence Committee chair who opposed the war in Iraq on the grounds that it was crippling the war on terror.

I would replace that “all” with “also”

Sure, it’s impossible to disentangle racism from economics, but I think most historians of slavery agree that the South’s complex racial order was devised to serve its economic interests rather than the other way around. Slavery was primarily an economic model — and when it was abolished, the white supremacist economic order was maintained through continued disenfranchisement that preserved an economic hierarchy with a built-in class of cheap labor.

I just think that emphasis is really important as part of pushing back on the conservative narrative that, to whatever degree racism ever existed in America, it was primarily a matter of individual prejudice rather than a calculated system for economic exploitation.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/20/trump-trial-presidential-campaign-costs-00153446

“To his supporters, part of Trump’s appeal as a politician has always been the show he puts on. And in that respect, the court spectacle was not a total loser for him. He drew nearly nonstop press, as cameras and reporters chronicled his every step to and from the courthouse. News coverage of Trump and his trial easily surpassed that of Biden and his campaign stops this week.

But another part of Trump’s strength has traditionally been the impression that he was in command, performing on his own terms. What became obvious in New York this week was that is no longer the case, with Trump confined to the courtroom and, on trial days, campaign events restricted to New York and its environs. At a minimum, that is limiting Trump’s ability to respond to the unfolding presidential campaign.”

🔥 @RepTonyGonzales on CNN SOTU: “It's my absolute honor to be in Congress but I serve with some real scumbags. Look, Matt Gaetz — he paid minors to have sex with him at drug parties. Bob Good endorsed my opponent, a known neo-Nazi. These people used to walk around with white…

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) April 21, 2024

rep gonzales is a republican from san antonio and used to have a dogfight toss-up district before the 2021 redistricting that turned it into a p safe gop seat

It’s all breaking open, isn’t it?

Can anyone explain why the MTG Johnson stuff in a way that makes sense? Whats different about the Ukraine funding from 2 months ago that prompted Johnson to change his mind.

I think he realized he doesn't want to be the person who causes Ukraine to lose the war. Also, they had been insisting that Ukraine aid had to go hand-in-hand with a border bill, but then they tanked the border bill, now they can't make that same play again.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/21/politics/ukraine-aid-mike-johnson-house-speaker-israel-taiwan/index.html

fwiw:

And more recently, Johnson received a key intelligence briefing from CIA Director Bill Burns, who painted a picture of the dire situation on the battlefield in Ukraine and the global consequences of inaction, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. The briefing left a lasting impression, and Johnson became increasingly convinced the fate of Western democracy was on his shoulders, sources close to him said.

Another factor that sources say weighed heavily on his decision-making: Johnson’s oldest son was recently accepted into the Naval Academy.

“To put it bluntly, I would rather send bullets to Ukraine than American boys. My son is going to begin in the Naval Academy this fall. This is a live-fire exercise for me as it is so many American families,” Johnson told reporters. “This is not a game, this is not a joke.”

It feels like that sort of makes sense but not quite enough, presumably he also knew two months ago about his son applying to the naval academy, and it feels weird that he didn't get a briefing from Burns earlier too. I can't tell what it is that is true today but not true two months ago (also is Trump kind of going easy on Johnson or is that a misreading?)

Will Massey/Greene go after him now as threatened, seems like maybe not after all?

must be tough to live in a world where nothing ever makes sense to you

He may also be getting reassurances that the Dems will save him if his speakership is in danger.

That makes sense but wouldn't they have also given those reassurances two months ago too? (if he agreed to greenlight Ukraine)

greene will still go after him but I think Johnson believes dems will help save his position and/or he doesn't care at this point and he made what he believes to be a principled stand

wouldn't they have also given those reassurances two months ago too

i admit to not following Ukraine very closely anymore but I think things have gotten worse there in the past two months.

They've been very bad. This will absolutely help.

Things have certainly deteriorated in the last two months, and a relatively significant factor in that has been the holdup in funding. I feel like the Democrats were cogniscent of this at the time, and certainly Burns would have been, and would have given Johnson assurances early doors and not waited this long

Whatever the other reasons/excuses/details Johnson's been giving about finally acting -- he's at least said the equivalent of "I didn't know anywhere near as much then as I do now" a few times -- it's worth noting that an effective backchannel has apparently been a number of his general evangelical cohort, both American and Ukrainian, telling him directly "Yeah the Russians have been fucking us up over there BIG time." (Which they have been.)

Basically, become third in line to the presidency, learn a lot more about what's happening at the top of government then you knew being some backseat rando, who could have guessed!

He's been using Mitch McConnell's "axis of evil" rhetoric for months about Russia-Iran-China being an existential threat, he's got some neocon in him (with bonus evangelical apocalyptic flavoring). So, the Ukraine funding seems like a good step but it's still part of a terrible worldview.

Oh I'm not thrilled about him at all, but any port in a storm here.

I have to say that the fashies have one thing right and that is that funding the war in Ukraine is fucking bogus, the left just has different reasons for not wanting to fund it

you'd rather NATO war?

I am thoroughly unconvinced that a war that needs to be won for the cause of Western Ukrainian ultranationalist fascists is one that is worth fighting, and no amount of western handwringing about Russia will change my mind about that.

huh.

OK then.

yeah, the neo-Nazi problem in Ukraine is real, and the Iraq War was the last and most devastating blow to my sense that the United States needs extracurricular adventures; but it's generally, I think, not a good idea to allow the even worse Putin regime a foothold in Eastern Europe. I mildly support the funding because as yet we've committed no U.S. armed forces, but I'm willing to have my minds changed.

Also, generally speaking, fashes aligning with international fashes doesn't sit right with me.

also: any kind of Orbán-Putin alliance would have severe repercussions on our domestic policy, no question.

otm

yah as a pragmatic anarchist I'm with Alfred here, reluctantly, and ftr I opposed the Kosovo intervention in the late 90s.

a war that needs to be won for the cause of Western Ukrainian ultranationalist fascists

weird how so many fashies are on the other side