Year: 2018

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Donald Trump Donald Trump Featured

Mika Brzezinski – “Donald Trump is Completely Unhinged” – Video

MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski offered a stunning and blistering piece on Friday’s Morning Joe. In a commentary, she admitted a lot of people – including his close advisors and congressional Republicans – are afraid to say the obvious: that Donald Trump “is completely unhinged and getting worse by the day!”

“He’s not well. That’s the bottom line. There’s no way anyone who knows Donald Trump, but has not bought in some way, could watch him last night and not come away with the feeling that the President of the United States is completely unhinged and getting worse by the day.”

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Democracy Featured

Think the Supreme Court is Non-Political? Think Again.

I just spent a week doing what all teachers should have the option of doing in the summer if they didn’t need a second job to make ends meet. I attended a seminar on a content topic that was both fascinating, useful, and timely. It was sponsored by the Gilder Lehman Institute of American History and took place at Lafayette College, which has a very nice campus and facilities, and included 32 other educators from around the country And the topic? The Bill of Rights. Can’t get more current events than that.

After a one-week immersion, my general conclusion is this: The Supreme Court just makes stuff up.

Honestly.

They come up with a rule about how they’re going to treat cases having to do with privacy or searches or speech or due process or religion and then for the next case, they change the rules, so if you’re looking for consistency, look at a nice thick bowl of pudding instead. For example, in 1977 the court ruled that public union agency fees were perfectly legal and even preferable. This year, the court struck them down as a violation of the free speech rights of people who don’t agree with the union’s political leanings. Never mind that money that unions use for political action are separate from those used for internal contract defense. The result is that starting now, anyone can stop paying union dues, but still be covered by the contract.

Likewise with privacy. With the probable addition of Brett Kavanaugh, the court looks primed to declare that abortion, marriage equality and the rights of LGBTQ Americans are not guaranteed by the constitution and that the states could regulate such behavior. This has been the conservative strategy concerning choice since the Roe decision in 1973, but since that decision was based on other cases that recognized a generalized right to privacy, many other rights would fall if the court decides that the states retain the power to regulate their citizens. It might not mean that abortion would become illegal everywhere, but it would allow states, probably around 20 at this point, to make it a crime. And those states could also likely limit contraceptives and even the morning after pill if they so desired.

And you thought that conservatives wanted the government out of people’s lives. Please rethink this. Conservatives love to tell the federal government to go away, but they have no problems allowing restrictions that their states want, and most of those have to do with what they call moral behavior. As if any Trump supporter has any claim to moral behavior or recognizing just what the heck it is. The court could also expand religious rights and give them precedence over civil rights laws as long as your faith is real, substantial and committed. As for corporations? Not only are they people, they are strong, wealthy, powerful people whose rights will overshadow the average American’s simply because they have the money to get their message into the marketplace more frequently and with more visibility.

In the end, it’s very difficult to predict what might happen once someone gets on the court, but I think we have a pretty good idea of the direction of this court. I can’t say that I’m optimistic.

Need a reason to vote in November? Start here.

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Democracy Featured

You Want Change? Eyes Forward

I’m sure you’ve heard about the latest outrage. Of course you have. It was about foreign affairs or the economy or immigration or something that will make the country weak or less democratic or dirtier or something. You reacted to it on social media. Maybe you organized something or gave money to someone or just shook your head.

Eyes forward lefty. The day-to-day is simply a distraction. The point is to say how you will fix this or make it less important or make it go away. Perhaps, yes perhaps, you might even want to ignore it next time. I know, that’s a tough one, but it might lower your blood pressure or clear your mind so you can think and not just react.

Feel better? OK, this will take time.

Keep your eyes forward. The message has to be that if you want a change from what’s been happening, then you have to register to vote, and then vote. Then you have to make sure that the correct message gets out. Do you want a foreign policy that has a point, that safeguards democratic values, that honors and supports our allies, that makes China think twice before stealing intellectual property and that sends a message to Russia that what they’re doing is completely unacceptable?

Then you have to vote for the people who will send that message.

Do you want an economy where wages actually rise for workers, where workplace safety is a prominent concern, where unionized workers can bring positive change, where products are safe, where pollution is punished, where the gap between the highest earners and the lowest stop widening, and where all people have affordable, meaningful health care?

Then you have to vote for the people who will send that message.

Do you want a society where all people are valued and where all Americans have access to the ideas that will enable them to prosper intellectually? Do you want leaders who will recognize that we are strong because we are diverse, and that we ask questions of each other because that’s what helps us figure out what we need to do to improve?

Never forget that the president was elected with a minority of the popular vote and that he is still not popular with a majority of Americans. We are the majority. Eyes forward.

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Democracy Featured

The Issues That Will Win the Day

Have you noticed that Congress hasn’t passed any laws lately? Yes, I know they’ve probably snuck in some measures having to do with the awfulness of the government being able to help poor people or possibly allowing people to cite religious beliefs as a way to discriminate, but other than that, nothing.

I’ve already written about the lack of an infrastructure bill, despite the desperate need we have for a new electrical grid that utilizes non-fossil fuels, better roads and airports, and safer bridges. I certainly understand that undermining our NATO allies and embracing Vladimir Putin takes precedence in the president’s schedule, but could Congress actually solve some problems?

This needs to be the focus of the Democratic message going into the fall election campaign. Candidates need to stay away from impeachment and even the Russia investigation and remind voters that the swamp has indeed been repopulated with people who want to dismantle the supports that have allowed people social and economic mobility. The party must reach out to moderates who are unhappy or wary of what the Republicans say they’ll do with a larger majority and a Supreme Court that will uphold their program. The surprises we’ve seen in Alabama, Pennsylvania and New York have all come from candidates who knew their constituents and ran campaigns that appealed to those local realities. That will bring more success, but only if more candidates forego the anger that repels moderate voters.

Healthcare, higher wages, a tax bill that supports all middle-class Americans. These are the issues that will bring more votes than anger and blame and talk of removing the president. The biggest mistake the Democrats can make is to move too far to the left. That can, and will, come later. For now, move incrementally and build a larger support base.

Never forget that the president was elected with a minority of the popular vote. More people support the Democratic vision of this country than the conservative’s view. If Democrats stick to the issues, they can win.

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Democracy Featured

Whither Infrastructure?

What a great word. Infrastructure. People of all stripes and models use it earnestly despite its awkwardness. It means so much and is so difficult to romanticize.

I’ll stop.

Remember when infrastructure was going to be first on the new president’s agenda? It was going to be the issue that Democrats and Republicans could rally behind because, really, roads, bridges, the power grid, airports, public transportation systems, etc., in this country are dreck and need a massive infusion of money and attention at every level of government.

So what happened? My sense is that the issue is far too big and unsexy for a president who loves controversy and chaos and attention, but is short on policy knowledge. And it would take a whole bag of dough to get all of these projects going and the tax bill put a major hole in the federal budget. Add in the ideological opposition that Republicans have to spending taxpayer money in urban areas that voted Democratic and you have the kind of political blindness and ignorance that comes around once in a great while. Forget North Korea and dismantling the health care system. Neglecting infrastructure will cost lives if we don’t get going soon.

To be fair, the president did talk about infrastructure early in his administration and said that it would be great and that we would do it, but we haven’t. Meanwhile, the trains get worse, the roads get worse, airports get worse, bridges get worse, power outages get worse, and we don’t seem to be interested in moving forward on securing our economic lifeblood, roads and airports, or repairing and upgrading them anytime soon.

Wouldn’t this create jobs? Ensure safety? Allow us to compete more broadly with countries around the world that have functioning and improved infrastructure? Make us…you know, great? Of course it would, which is why it’s so low on the list of things this administration wants to do. My fear is that it’s going to take a great tragedy to get this administration to commit political capital to rebuilding these facilities. And even then, I can see them blaming everyone before they settle on a plan that will likely be less than what’s absolutely necessary.

They haven’t a plan, and they really haven’t a clue.

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Featured

Don’t Get Mad: Get Going

You knew there was going to be a point at which it gets worse. We might have reached it. The Supreme Court ruled that the president can order the borders closed to certain people because of their religion and that you should be protected by a union contract without having to pay for it. Of course, these were once ideas that were the stuff of bad dreams, mediocre comedy, and cranky uncles. Now rule the day.

And, yes, Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement will almost certainly, no, certainly result in a more conservative court that will likely return more power to the states when it comes to abortion, marriage equality, and civil and religious rights. That is when they’re not outlawing some of those things and other cherished rights that we thought were fundamental, constitutional and just plain good ideas.

But I also think that we’ll be surprised that other events will conspire to frustrate and thwart the conservative minority government. Perhaps the new justice is not as conservative as everybody thinks. Or turns out to be another David Souter. Yes, I know, maybe I’m just being hopeful, but the real mistake most of us make is thinking that things will not change and that once set in motion, the ball will always roll in one direction.

Good things are happening in some states. California remains a hotbed of resistance to the outlandish requests of the federal government. New Jersey will pass a budget that raises revenue from people who can afford to pay more and who should be asked to pay more for the services they receive. But they should also contribute more so that other citizens can reap the benefit of excellent schools, safe neighborhoods, health care and a job that pays them enough on which to live. And in New York, the Democratic machine just received a gut punch in the form of a first-time candidate who had a positive message, a terrific organization, and the energy to carry a progressive message to a majority of the party’s voters.

When the Republicans were rebuked in 1964, they began to build an organization that reflected their message carried by their people. The Democrats have begun to do the same. It will take time. It will take money. It will take patience. It must be done non-violently.

But it will be done.

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Featured

And You Thought Immigration Was Bad

The pictures, dismissive commentary, rationalizations and policy contradictions (if there really is a policy) surrounding immigration have shown that the RepubliTrump party is morally and ethically bankrupt.

But that’s not really the worst of it. In fact, all of this immigration horror might be a sideshow to what the party really wants to do to the country. And it’s all here.

That’s right, my fellow Americans; the conservative firebrands who have hidden behind the president’s coattails are finally in a position to undo the social safety net programs that have cushioned the middle class, protected the elderly, and given those who were neglected, left behind or just poor a fighting chance to be an integral part of American society.

Forget about the president’s dream of returning to 1984. We’re on our way back to 1884.

The tax cut that was passed last year was the first step. It created a huge budget deficit that the Republicans have no intention of addressing in any other way than with massive cutbacks in government spending to social programs. Combine the Labor and Education Departments? Great. Stop federal spending on research and development? All the better. Eviscerate the EPA? Already being done. And quite effectively, I might add.

The goal, of course, is to restore the government back to the role that conservatives view as the intended place of the federal government according to the Constitution and the debates of the 1780s. They also want to give big business free reign to run their affairs with minimal government oversight. Remember the last time that happened? It was called the Gilded Age and it resulted in the most massive redistribution of wealth and resources the country had ever seen until..today. And welfare was something you received at church.

Welcome to the restart. We’ve already seen regulations being rolled back, voting restrictions being implemented, crackdowns on immigration, Supreme Court decisions that treat corporations like people, and a tax cut that is providing a huge windfall to businesses while making many middle-class earners pay more. The president says that he’ll never make cuts to Medicare and Social Security because those elderly voters elected him, but I can’t really trust that the GOP won’t try something to include those programs in their reorganization.

It is true that there are many programs that need to be pared back or cut. The problem is that the present administration has no nuance. All regulations are job-killers, all people on public assistance are lazy scheming trough-suppers, all immigrants are criminals, all Democrats are unpatriotic. All, all, all.

So get ready for the real work of the conservatives. It will be done as quietly as they can. It’s our job to yell it from the rooftops.

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Featured

Rooting for the World

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JUNE 12 A Russian tourism shop selling a 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia football with flags of the competing nations on it in Moscow ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia on June 12, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Matthew Ashton - AMA/Getty Images)

I understand that the reason the United States is not in the World Cup tournament is due to poor play, suspect coaching, and stubborn woodwork, but there is a bit of poetry involved in that the present administration wants to isolate us and have us not play nice with the rest of the world.

So we’re not.

Of course, I would certainly want the United States to be in the World Cup and to represent us on the world stage, but we’ll have to wait until at least 2022 in Qatar. We are of course shoo-ins for 2026 because the Cup will be played here and Canada and Mexico. Call it the NAFTA Cup. If NAFTA is still around.

The international situation is, as always, dire. Right-wing, nationalist, isolationist, anti-immigrant despots are rising the world over, repudiating the post-World War II consensus that the way to avoid another world war is to cooperate, integrate and communicate. That this consensus is breaking down and is indeed being led by the President of the United States, is troubling and potentially dangerous. The Chinese have essentially called President Trump’s tariff bluff and the ensuing escalation could mean higher costs, prices, and tensions. And don’t forget that the only person to have left Shanghai last week with one less international chip was…President Trump. And this was after he excoriated and denigrated our allies while complimenting one of the world’s most savage political beasts.

The antidote for me is the World Cup. It’s greatness lies in its competition and how the players represent it. Many of them play on club teams together, and while they are not always friends, they do have respect for what their opponents can do. Sometimes they hug each other, help each other up, apologize for an inadvertent hit, or, get this one, smile. It’s a joy to watch. The closest thing we have in this country is the NBA, where the players have become noticeably more conversational and cooperative with each other, even while elevating the level of competition.

It’s also fun to watch because many of the country’s teams represent what many of the demagogues in power don’t want to see: integrated teams that include players of different races, religions and immigrant backgrounds proudly representing their nations. It’s the ultimate rebuttal to closing borders, sending desperate refugees back across the sea, separating children from parents, or imprisoning, beating, harassing or killing those who are different. It is the ultimate reminder that every life is precious because you don’t know what talents someone might contribute to their nation if you only see the threat that most of them will not become.

I can also root for another nation’s team and not think twice about it.

For the next month, then, I will be reveling in the beautiful game. Join me.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives or Twitter @rigrundfest

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Donny Dictator Defines Deviancy Down

I’m always amused when there’s a president in the White House with whom you don’t agree, and friends or others ask, “But you want the president to succeed, don’t you?” And I suppose, in the abstract, the answer always has to be yes because the success of the president is tied to the success of the country. If the president fails or does things that are detrimental to the country, then it hurts everyone, right? We all want prosperity for all and justice and equality and excellent education and affordable, comprehensive health care and clean air and water and for people to respect each others’ differences in the name of democracy and decency and humanity.

But now we have a president who does not represent those values or those hopes.  Over the past week he’s supported a lawsuit by 19 states that would allow health insurance companies to charge more for people with pre-existing conditions who want coverage.

He’s called law-abiding citizens who want to send a protest message to the country unpatriotic, and has raised the citizen soldiers who serve and protect the United States above others by giving them near-exclusive possession of the national anthem, as if the only ideas they were fighting for are to obey the president and be quiet in the face of injustice and racism. Last I knew, our military has been fighting to protect the rights we have and the democratic values that are attached to them, which include the right to protest publicly and unashamedly.

And just this weekend, the president has called for his good friends in Russia to be readmitted to the G-7 and has embraced his other good friend, Kim Jong-un, in Tuesday’s summit meeting, while simultaneously slapping tariffs on our allies and engaging in a trade war that will seriously harm American farmers. And he’s doing this under the delusion that the main sin a country can commit is to have a trade surplus with the United States.

Good thing we elected a businessman who has little clue about how international business and trade works.

But the biggest threat the president poses is that he just doesn’t seem to understand that he has a responsibility to the law and that presidents are not above it. Saying that he can end any investigation and that he can pardon himself might, according to some legal experts, be constitutional. The problem is that a responsible president wouldn’t even broach the subjects. They would allow the justice system to do its job without interference or threats. They would not see this as a personal attack, but a system that only survives when it seeks justice for all.

What the president is doing is defining deviancy down, making what should be outlandish, outrageous, immoral and illegal perfectly normal for him.

Our allies are the enemy and the undemocratic dictators of the world are great men.

Treaties are not binding, but can be changed on a whim.

Insults, bragging and lies are the stuff of official policy.

To oppose the man (not the office) is treason.

To reform Washington, appoint selfish, greedy, anti-science, anti-education know-nothings in every corner of government.

So do I want the president to succeed? Not if he is going to pursue an isolationist, obstructionist, reactionary, unjust, petty course while in office. These make him, and the country, seem small. It’s deviance from what we as a country have tried to accomplish up to this point.

That’s what we’ll get with Donny Dictator from now on.

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CNN’s Anthony Bourdain Found Dead in France

The world has lost a very genuine person.

CNN reported today that Anthony Bourdain, a world-renowned chef, and host of CNN’s Parts Unknown, was found dead in his hotel room in France from an apparent suicide. He was 61 years old.

CNN confirmed Bourdain’s death on Friday and said the cause of death was suicide.

“It is with extraordinary sadness we can confirm the death of our friend and colleague, Anthony Bourdain,” the network said in a statement Friday morning. “His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller. His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter and family at this incredibly difficult time.”

Bourdain was in France working on an upcoming episode of his award-winning CNN series “Parts Unknown.” His close friend Eric Ripert, the French chef, found Bourdain unresponsive in his hotel room Friday morning.

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The Absolute Power Grab: Ignorance of the Law Becomes Trendy

There’s nothing like studying the Watergate scandal to remind you of what can happen when one person gets more power than they can handle. President Nixon thought he was above the law, but the Supreme Court said otherwise.

Now we have Nixon redux or more likely, Trump acid reflux, in the form of a president who believes that he too can ignore the law because he has “unfettered authority over all federal investigations.” If you’re not frightened by that statement, then you are either are too young to have lived through Watergate. And I’m sorry, but learning about it in school is not the same. You don’t really get to understand the fragile balance of power between the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches of government.

For the president to indulge in this power grab doesn’t surprise me, but it is disturbing. As Indiana Representative Samuel B. Pettingill said of Franklin D. Roosevelt during the debate on the court packing plan of 1937:

“This is more power than a good man should want and a bad man should have.”

Of course, President Trump came into office and was immediately frustrated by how much he could not do simply because he was president, but now that he has advisers who share his disdain of constitutional limits on the executive, he’s feeling untouchable and more secure. And while it is true that the president can terminate the investigation by firing the Special Prosecutor, that does not mean that Congress can’t step in and prosecute Trump for any crimes or misdemeanors the prosecutor uncovered. Then there’s public opinion, which, in Nixon’s case, was the undoing of his administration after he ordered the firing of Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, precipitating the Saturday Night Massacre.

Yes, President Trump could fire Robert Mueller, but that wouldn’t mean the end of the drama. If nothing else, the American people understand the importance of concluding an investigation and publicizing the results. Firing Mueller would necessitate suppressing the evidence, which would result in more lawsuits. And more suspicion. Because the more the president talks about how unfair the investigation is, the more guilty he looks.

What this all comes down to is the fact that the president believes he is untouchable and that he can control the news cycle with his juvenile tweets, empty threats and folksy phrases, all served up with a 6th grade vocabulary and lots of !!!!. The courts will have the final say and based on past decisions, and the constitution, the president will likely lose.

For the sake of the republic, I certainly hope so.

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Chelsea Clinton – Trump has “Mainstreamed Hate”

The Clintons are fighting back… will, at least Chelsea Clinton is. And she is fighting back hard.

While being interviewed by The Guardian, Chelsea Clinton did not hold her tongue when talking about the racism and hate ushered in and mainstreamed by the Trump administration.

“I think that the way that our president and many people around him have not only mainstreamed hate, but mainlined it, is so deeply dangerous. I think the wreckage that we’re seeing at this moment is one that will, I hope, be repaired on the policy standpoint when we elect Democrats. But I think we will still then have work to do on repairing the tone in our country, the exposure of the real racist and sexist, homophobic, Islamophobic and anti-Semitic feeling which is on the rise in our country ― a rot that has been exposed.”

See the rest of the interview here

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