Potemkin Progressivism

It often has been observed that philosophy really got going when people started thinking seriously about the distinction between appearance, on the one hand, and reality, on the other. Plato is full of meditations on this theme, from the stick that appears bent when half submerged in a bowl of water to the texture and real significance of our experience of the everyday world.

The moral is: things are not always as they seem.

Alas, it is one thing to enunciate that moral in the abstract, quite another to take account of its operation on the ground.

Grigory Potemkin famously exploited our habit of innocence about appearances when he deployed a series of fake villages along the banks of the Dnieper River. His aim was to soothe his erstwhile lover Catherine the Great with the illusion of general prosperity as she floated past the smart-looking façades. After she passed, the ensemble would be hastily disassembled, moved down river, and reassembled to greet the Empress anew.

There is a lot of Potemkin in the current ululations of the Left. Thousands upon thousands of unhappy females congregate on the Washington Mall to prance around in their vagina costumes and pussy hats while whining about Donald Trump.

Is the behavior of today’s Left just a façade, or is could it be indicative of something more substantive and troubling behind the door?

U.S. Rep.  Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) jumps up and down on the floor of the House warning about Trump’s possible “collusion” with the Russians. The siege machines of the mainstream media  wheel themselves into place to repeat, elaborate, fantasize about what Schiff and his anti-Trump colleagues dream about, hurling little spit balls of accusation and innuendo over the walls of the public’s incredulity.

Hollywood, the academy, the “arts community” join hands to chant their anti-Trump mantras, hoping for deliverance from the awful truth of the election of 2016. Their aim? A sartori, a nirvana in which no one had ever heard of Donald Trump but only the pants-suited deliverer of their dreams.

Everywhere there is talk of “resistance,” disruption, unrest, even impeachment. This, even though the thing being resisted is the result of a free, open democratic election and the call for impeachment is not in response to any evidence of a crime, much less a “high crime or misdemeanor” to propel such a proceeding.

And now we have Robert Mueller, bosom buddy of James Comey, as special counsel. Like Santa Claus, he is making his list and checking it twice, filling his sleigh with Obama and Clinton attack dogs, and preparing to make his round-the-town journey to distribute presents to every deserving boy and girl Democrat. He has his verdict. All he needs now is a tort, and that’s what those salivating Obama-and-Clinton terriers are for: digging, digging, digging. There has to be something, somewhere that they can pin on Trump!

Looked from the outside, you might think that the “progressive” Left were on the march, that they were a rising force, voice of the people, popular-sentiment-against-entrench-interests,” etc., etc.

That may be the appearance. The reality is that Republicans control the Presidency, the House, the Senate, 67 of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers in the nation, and 33 Governorships, their largest number since 1922.

Just the other day, we were treated to the most expensive House race in the nation’s history as money from Hollywood, Manhattan, and Martha’s Vineyard poured in to back Jon Ossoff, the great white hope to shatter the juggernaut of Republican victories. The Dems picked the one really soft-spot in Georgia (Trump had taken it by only 1 percent in 2016) and spent at least $23.6 million to defeat Karen Handel, a weakish candidate but a Republican and therefore a possible scalp. It was supposed to be a “referendum on Trump.” And maybe it was. But the referendum did not go the way the Democrats hoped it would and Handel offed Ossoff 52 percent to 48 percent. By my count, that makes the special election score since November 9: Republicans 5, Democrats 0.

So there are grounds for thinking that the hysteria on the Left is just so much infantile caterwauling: they did not get the all-day sucker they were promised so they are going to sit down in the middle of the floor and wail and wail and wail. Litigate, too, no doubt, but even that will be conducted in tantrum tones.

I think that conclusion is mostly right. And I believe that Trump would be well advised to leave the Democrats in their bawl room, their boudoir (French for “room for pouting in”) while he gets on with the business of running, and improving, the country, which, by the way, he is doing very well.

align=”right” [T]he chief task for those interested in preserving a system in which the results of open, democratic elections are respected will be in effectively discriminating between the harmless, though pathetic, hysteria of the anti-Trump babies and the more toxic exfoliations of their menacing brothers and sisters.

Still, it is worth noting that the deceiving nature of appearances cuts many ways and is often difficult to parse accurately. For the most part, the actions of the Potemkin progressives are just exhibitions of temperament, whining, childish static that cannot be reasoned with, only pampered and put to bed for a nice long nap.

The tantrum-like behavior is not quite irrational, however. The Democrats really are on an historic losing streak. In 2008, they came to town on a tsunami of hope-’n-change euphoria. But the wrecking ball that was Barack Obama soon brought that illusion crashing down. Now they are like some threatened animal that, largely defenseless, has developed the ability to appear threatening by puffing itself up, changing color, emitting startling sounds, bristling quills, and the like. Zoologists call this activity “deimatic behavior,” after a Greek verb meaning “to frighten.”

Deimatic behavior is all show and no spear: that is, the animal might look or sound or smell threatening, but it is all bluff. Really, it is just a tasty moth, frog, California Democrat, or whatever.

But sometimes the appearance is not deceiving. The animal really does taste bad, is poisonous, or can fight back effectively. Those cases zoologists call aposematic behavior: a warning signal accompanied by retaliatory potential. As one article on the subject explains, “Non-bluffing (aposematic) displays occur in mammals which possess powerful defences such as spines or stink glands, and which habitually warn off potential predators rather than attempting escape by running.”

This describes some meaningful proportion of the anti-Trump menagerie. And this means that the chief task for those interested in preserving a system in which the results of open, democratic elections are respected will be in effectively discriminating between the harmless, though pathetic, hysteria of the anti-Trump babies and the more toxic exfoliations of their menacing brothers and sisters. The latter will often dress and act the same as the former, but one group is content to shout and cry and whine while the other side is out there bashing people over the head with bicycle locks, smashing up property, abusing the legal system to destroy its political enemies, or gunning down Republican Congressmen while they practice baseball. Distinguishing between the two groups is an element of connoisseurship that it behooves those of us who care for the future of the republic to master.

element_content=””]

Content created by The Center for American Greatness, Inc is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a significant audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@centerforamericangreatness.com

Support Free & Independent Journalism Your support helps protect our independence so that American Greatness can keep delivering top-quality, independent journalism that's free to everyone. Every contribution, however big or small, helps secure our future. If you can, please consider a recurring monthly donation.

Want news updates?

Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.

150 responses to “Potemkin Progressivism”

  1. Explain why democrats receive more votes in total? The republican efforts to continue to be a governing minority, at some point will turn against them. Gerrymandered districts are being overturned in the courts. Voter suppression can only restrict voters for a limited time. Aside from those blind to those observations, we are well aware of the impact.

    • You’re talking the national total? It’s meaningless. Don’t even bother bringing it up. It has absolutely no value whatsoever. The president is chosen based on the results of fifty separate elections.

    • Explain to yourself. You seem to know everything.

    • Don’t understand how this constitutional republic works?

    • It’s called CHEATING, it’s also the only way that the minority Democrats can get anything done…

  2. “That may be the appearance. The reality is that Republicans control the Presidency, the House, the Senate, 67 of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers in the nation, and 33 Governorships, their largest number since 1922.”

    TRUE; but meaningless, in fact devastatingly destructive, because so far – seven and a half months in from the General Election result – the Republicans in Congress have gone out of their way to do as little as possible, in fact effectually nothing, to support the President, let alone advance the agenda on which he was elected.

    They could have instituted impeachment proceedings against the judges who unconstitutionally and unlawfully revoked his executive orders on unvetted immigrants from lawless countries. They could call for an end to the Russian Nothing-Burger hysteria. They could themselves have written into the budget provisions for the Wall, &c &c &c.

    Obama claimed ‘Elections have consequences’. The lesson the GOP is reading to the public is ‘No, they don’t. Voting Republican means Nothing Happens.’

    • Why so afraid of the inquiry to protect the validly of our elections. If traitors are caught up in the investigation so be it. We should all want the Truth.

      • You’d think that would be reasonable, but in this case, it’s absurd. Consider:

        Until the election, Hillary was supposed to have won and thus all talk of Russian influence was quashed, including by the president. Suddenly, there needed to be some explanation other than the voting populace rejecting Her Royal Thighness.
        The entire idea sprang from an offhand comment Trump made during the debate, by which time it was well established that Hillary was maintaining an illegal server so as to skirt FOIA action, and which was certainly compromised by foreign powers of all types. Apart from this, there is no basis in fact.
        The entire idea that the Russians would prefer Trump is absurd. The Democrat party has a long history for apologizing for the Soviets all the way back to Duranty in the 1920s, who knew of atrocities committed by the Soviets against Russians, Ukranians, and all manner of others, but said nothing in the West and claimed a Pulitzer for it. Moreover, in foreign policy Democrats of late have been adrift at best and craven cowards at best. Putin would be so lucky as to have the pant-suited clown to contend with.
        If you want evidence of Russia attempting to interfere in American elections, look no further than Ted Kennedy offering to help them in 1984 in order to defeat Reagan, a man of whom the Russians were genuinely afraid.
        Finally, there’s just no evidence of anything other than incessant caterwauling by the press, entertainment figures, and Democrat whiners. None whatsoever. It’s an expensive distraction, an embarrassment, bordering on treachery, and amounts to nothing more than a desperate attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election — unless you count those pesky dead or illegal aliens, of course, who naturally tend Democrat.

      • “Putin would be so lucky as to have the pant-suited clown to contend with.”

        Yes. She gave him the Reset Button, and 20% of American uranium. He must have thought ‘what a pushover! Hope she wins.’

      • The red army will come and did it up? You wouldn’t know yellow cake if you saw it.

      • She gave him a button which read “overcharged” in Russian (old hag can’t get anything right)

      • She didn’t give 20% of the American Uranium reserves to Russia….they had to PAY the Clinton foundation almost $200 million to get that deal through…..she’s no fool.

      • Yep your correct again, Fill up a 1/2 page with BS and Ted Kennedy. The Plump lady will sing sing for you. King Con is caught in the wheels of Justice, let see what she says, Comrade Boris.

      • Look, if you got nothin’ — sort of like this entire Russia story — better to just stay quiet and be thought a troll or a fool than open your mouth and confirm it.

      • You are on the wrong side of history dooshbag. But let’s be clear about one thing; it’s your side that wants the big red ring to control us all.

      • The democrats soul their soul long ago …. the Russians know they can buy Hillary off ….. they have only Trump to fear …. a strong leader can make peace easier than a weak stand-in!

      • Of course the Russians would have MUCH preffered HiLIARy…..they have an oil dependent economy, and the price of oil has been smashed down, entirely due to the American revolutionary fracking technology, which HiLIARy vowed to place huge restrictions upon, and the LEFT HATES fracking and wants to shut it down entirely……

        Boris and Natasha Explain it ALL….

        One Picture Equals 1000 Words……

        https://www.flickr.com/photos/141620822@N02/32137353446/

        Share this Meme ……go VIRAL !

        Click the….. Curved Arrow ~> ……in the lower right hand corner
        to share on Facebook, Twitter, or just email this link to this Meme to a friend.

      • Nearly the whole of the Mainstream Media, all the Deep State (Intel etc.), the Dems and others have crawled over this allegation (of Russian involvement with the Trump campaign) for eight months now – and come up with nothing. Compare how six months in to the Watergate scandal, half a dozen men had already been arrested, tried and convicted for various offences including conspiracy, burglary, perjury.

        So the reality is that this is a stunt designed to paralyse the present administration and stop it from having any time or energy or focus to do anything till the 2020 General Election comes round.

        That Mueller is a Comey buddy, a Clintonite, and appoints no-one except people of that ilk to his already ridiculously swollen and ever-expanding legal team makes this yet clearer.

        One very bad thing could happen in consequence of this, which is the real, conspiracy. All Americans who supported Trump may decide that the elites in the USA no longer care (in the least) for change by democratic means; and they, the Trump voters, may as well get tooled up and start a civil war. After all, if however you vote can never make ANY DIFFERENCE whatsoever to what happens in Washington D.C., what sort of stake have you got in the political process? In 2008 and 2012 a leftwing ‘progressive’ president was elected lawfully. In 2016 people wanted a change and Donald Trump won the General Election fairly and squarely. Yet thanks to the Media/Big Money/Political Class/Bureaucracy all-in hysterical onslaught non-stop since November 18 last (they gave the new President-elect 10 days grace only while they sat back and gasped with disbelief), the nation is set fair for continuation of the same regime – by default and in effect – that a majority of states voted against.

        Are you content with this prospect? Are you indeed one of those on the Left who long for as much violence as possible in place of peaceful debate and peaceful change?

      • Why does everyone over here bring up violence? D or R can disagree on issues, I could be someone you know, or do business, does that mean anything more. You seem to be labeling groups of people as violent because they didn’t vote R? Please, did your parents raise you to be filled with such animus? I am not a bot or Boris, Comrade.

      • Progressive ideology is economically and socially authoritarian. As such it is extremely antithetical to my best interests, which lie in economic and social freedom. Equality is not necessarily a concern.

      • We’re tired of all the lefties intimidating violence, lying, cheating, money stealing, America hating, open border loving, hypocritical, pieces of crap that think they know better than us how to run our lives. There’s more but hopefully you get the idea…

      • I don’t know what you are reading or seeing, but the plain fact is that the left is the cause of most of the violence. Ever hear of a deranged leftist named Hodgkinson? Did you even read the article?

      • Geez, you again? OK, the Obama administration paid mentally unbalanced people to start fights at Trump rallies. You guys have lost your minds and are in great need of medical help.

      • You must have receipts? Paid interrupters that are crazy, unbalanced is what you’re saying? How could you make sure the loonies didn’t leave and take the money for more wine, or drugs. The FoxGOPutin feeds you BS that you never question, before parroting the party lie?

      • My son lives in San Francisco, did not vote for Trump, but was afraid to go onto the street day after the eletion because of the violence of the foolish Hillary supporters who were distroying property of other Hillary supporters. If you were rational how had better not be seen. The D are violence, and they to not want to talk about issues or facts….

      • You’re full of it. I was in SF during that time period, nothing on local news, papers or anything. You label group of people like they are from some other planet. Do you ever fact check Hannidy and friends?

      • UR do you read the newspapers? Where were you at the time? Perhaps you were a part of the MOB? And did not notice their unwellcoming approach to those who were not a part of them. …. I did not read the SF papers and I did not listen to Hannidy, but I did speak with my son …. who was too smart to vote for Hillary, but not willing to vote for Trump …. he voted for a third party canadate …. He went out and returned realizing that it was unsafe to be in the area of the mob ….. http://48hills.org/2016/11/09/anti-trump-rally-san-francisco/

      • So you agree its time to take a close look at voter rolls, and to audit polling stations to ensure that only living citizens of the United States are casting ballots.

      • No illegal zombie voters, First they check you name on the voter rolls, in this country. Where I’ve voted they check you signature also, when swearing under the treat of perjury you are yourself. Second Illegal Zombies will not wait in lines to cast a vote and risk being apprehended and reburied. And third Hair Twitler lost by 3 million actual votes.
        Got any more BS?

      • I laugh at the claims of one, two, four million illegal aliens voting. They’re absurd. (One buffaloed fool even shouted into an Internet echo chamber that four million illegals had voted in California alone, that doesn’t pass any sanity check–that’s more than 10% of the entire population of California, I’m sure I would have noticed all the crowding at the polls on Nov. 8!)

        Still, even a few thousand nationwide (a plausible figure) is too many and the somewhat larger number of fraudulent votes cast by citizens (voting under assumed names, voting in more than one precinct or state) is also too many. So only an mindless partisan (do you fit this profile, URstandingwhere?) would pooh-pooh “tak(ing) a close look at voter rolls, and to audit polling stations”.

        It’s time to True the Vote.

      • How many people have they caught voting in two jurisdictions? You would think of all this illegal voting they would have caught a couple. All the calls for true the vote are propaganda, from those who rule as the minority. Please find an example of a dozen cases? Or stay under the thumb of the FoxGOPutin cult.

      • In St. Louis one district had 101% of the people voting …. the big issue is why does the Democrats not want voting ID cards? …. The Blacks I know get offended when the Progressive say the Black would not be able to get a ID card …. Progressive Racism at it’s worst.

      • A study was done, and in CA all you need to do is not check the box that says you are not a citizen, then with the driver license you can vote … it was estimated that there were as many as five million illegals voting. A number of years ago the Social Security Administration offer to send a list of those who “Died and their estate received death benefits, but the Democrats did not want those names removed from the voter rolls? …. in 2000, in Jersey City when the polls were closed and withing 15 min a report had to be phoned in …. there were 30,000 less votes than in years before when the votes did not have to be sent in until the next day. Cheating …. yes, it does happen.

      • “five million illegals voting” No studies, how many of these 5 million were caught. BS over here are all floaters. A why would an illegal stand in line to chance getting caught?

      • It’s not hard to see this phony collusion investigation has no validity. It’s all about bringing down President Trump. It was last summer when Obozo was made aware of Russian meddling. Here’s a news flash. They meddle in lots of elections. But the purpose of their meddling is to cause chaos and division not matter who wins.

    • Trump needs to primary as many of the Never Trump congressweasels as possible in the states where he has leverage.

    • Agreed. The Republican congress never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity. Nov 2018 is not that far away……they better get the stuff we elected them to do done before the midterms.

      • They will not. The turtle and the Ryan will do what ever is necessary to return the House to the Democrat party in 2019. Remember where you heard it first.

      • Me too. I usually get the small stuff wrong, and am pleasantly surprised. I usually get the larger, more global things spot on. It plays out over years, but… I am depressingly correct when it comes to higher level power plays.

        I don’t even bother reading my old stuff anymore.

      • Relax, she’s wrong.

        Ask her how many precincts she walked door-to-door for her candidates in 2016.

        Talk is cheap and belly-achers like mmercier0921 are full of it.

      • “The turtle and the Ryan will do what ever is necessary to return the House to the Democrat party in 2019.”

        That is their intention, I agree. The no.1 priority of their Owners (the Donors) is to stop Trump derailing Globalisation and Crony Corporatism.

      • I guess you don’t know that Hillary’s Democratic fund raisers are now working for Trump and the GOP.

        https://theintercept.com/2017/06/23/democratic-lobbyists-donald-trump-mottur-podesta-comcast-prudential/

        That’s the thing about globalists. They always win.

        Crony capitalism is what makes the Trump family wealthy. It’s like asking electing a cat to help fight the scourge of catnip. That you think he wasn’t scamming you by saying whatever he thought you wanted to hear so that he could be elected is sweet.

      • You did read the article, right? The fund raisers are working for Comcast et. al. re net neutrality – LOBBYING Trump and the GOP not working for Trump and the GOP.

      • Reading 101

        “Lobbying records show that some Democratic fundraisers, who raised record amounts of campaign cash for Clinton, are now retained by top telecom interests to help repeal the strong net neutrality protections established during the Obama administration.

        Others are working on behalf of for-profit prisons on detention issues, while others still are paid to help corporate interests pushing alongside Trump to weaken financial regulations. At least one prominent Clinton backer is working for a health insurance company on a provision that was included in the House Republican bill to gut the Affordable Care Act.”

        No. They are working on behalf of Trump’s goal of repealing the affordable care act in favor of Trump’s Unaffordable Health Care Act.

        Did you deliberately misread that because you want Trump to be the opposite of Hillary…when the biggest criticism of Hillary was that she worked too hard on behalf of people like Trump.

        What in Trump’s history of a human being on this planet made you think he would work for you rather than his own financial interests? Ever?

        His words?

        I guess that guy is a good salesman after all.

        A good salesman of shoddy products. The shoddiest product is the Trump name. But people want to believe in something.

        Cut out the middle man. Let America’s greediest rich person rob you directly.

        Hope you don’t have any family members in nursing home because Trump care applies lifetime caps while lowering taxes on couples making more than 250,000..their investment income.

      • Personally, I oppose net neutrality as it was presented in the Obama administration, for reasons to complicated to get in on this blog. To the extent that the Trump administration proposes to ditch NN, I support him, but with reservations. Because: I agree with you that the lobbyists are sleaze – they are retained to push the issue to the benefit of the telecoms. But they are not working for Trump’s goals. I can’t say the same about the GOP weazels.

      • Your Trump’s main goal in office is to destroy obama’s legacy. He rarely reads the fine detail. He’s a wrecking ball, remember? He doesn’t care about Americans. Just his personal goal of defeating obama as if they are in some sort of personal competition.

        These lobbyists are helping him. Helping Trump in his primary goal of destroying Obama’s legacy.

        It’s quaint that you don’t want Trump to be blamed though. Only the GOP. Will you kindly tell me how does Trump differ from the GOP when it comes to, say, Trumpcare?

        I’m listening.

      • “Wrecking ball”, “personal goal of defeating obama” – these are not arguments about policy. They are ad hominem attacks; I prefer to argue facts. And last I looked, Trump wasn’t “mine”. Cheers!

      • “Wrecking ball” is not my expression.

        It’s a fact that that expression came from his supporters prior to the election. They wanted him to wreck the Washington establishment.

        I’m glad to hear that Trump isn’t yours.

        But the facts of the article I gave you was that the high money lobbyists who once supported Hillary appear to be working to further the agenda of Trump and the GOP. What is this agenda? Weakening financial regulations put into place after the financial crash of 2007. And helping to repeal Obamacare etc.

        Whether or not you support these agenda items, Trump and the GOP do. AND insider establishment lobbyists now do.

    • Something needs to be done about those judges, and something needs to be done about the IRS and Lois Lerner.

      • That is so spot on. Of the many scandals of the Obama era, the use of the IRS as the iron fist of government to harass and intimidate law abiding citizens was the height of fascist behavior. And I think Obama was neck deep in the scandal. Lots of people need to serve time over that one.

    • I think you are rushing ahead of what the facts on the ground will allow. The counter-offensive cannot begin until the non-malignants in the House and Senate are reasonably sure that our coalition will hold. Our coalition is holding and we must be careful about getting ahead of ourselves.

      As Fredrick Douglass said of Lincoln: He never went as far or as fast as I had hoped but he never failed to go as far or as fast as the country would allow at the time.

      All that you suggest will not be ripe for action for a few months yet.

      • I’m disgusted by all the Trumpotatoes firmly fixed to their couches in front of their TVs who complain about do-nothing pols. Let’s see a million Trump fans do something themselves such as take to the streets and then they’ll have standing to complain. But not beforehand.

      • Our preferred method is to take to the polls rather than the streets.

        We recently took to the polls and won.

        As Obama said, elections have consequences.

      • This is an impressive point and I (really do) take it.
        Yet the nagging doubt remains. – How many years have the Republicans got in hand, in which to be sure that the coalition is holding, before Congressional elections arrive in which they can lose their majorities in the House and the Senate (i.e. voters in despair, especially their own base, giving up on them)?

    • Maybe we’ve had enough “change” over the last 8 years, and we didn’t like it. Maybe that’s why the lady with the pants suit and the enormous Thatchers didn’t win. Maybe we need to move back away from “European Democracy” that made Mr. “I hope they like my changes” so “comfortable” and let the economy rip. Maybe the Democrats need to get a real job and stop hoping that the Government will do the hard work of living for them.

      Maybe the job of the Government is NOT to change everything just to see it change, but rather to conserve what the Founding Fathers gifted us — and thus they are doing just fine.

      Isn’t that why they are called “Conservatives?”

    • So sadly, the RINOs are still the same at being totally worthless .

  3. So you distinguish between the two? What do you do then? If the latter group is violent, it is a job for the police. Will the police act if they work for Blue state politicians?

  4. Two notes on the GA-6 Election:

    1) John Ossoff & crew spent $23.6 million yet received 30 fewer votes than the Dem candidate received in November… Spending no money.

    2) Michael Walsh on Twitter: “This may be the first #Resistance movement in political history that specializes in resistance to winning elections. #GA06”

    • GA-6 is the 1st time the voters listened to Hillary & said “I’m with her”. HA! (I appropriated this line from another poster)

  5. The senate is still under the control of a bunch of republican RINOs who are afraid to be held responsible for any action. The main objective of the senate RINOs is to “kick the can down the road” so they can hang onto their power and big money supporters.

  6. I am heartened a little by the calls for Lynch to appear before the Senate and explain her conduct in the “Hillary matter”.
    If the Turtle and RINO Ryan had a pair they would haul all of Obomas’ sycophants before Congress and do some serious fishing of their own. Fight fire with fire, put them under oath and let them 5th out and show what kind of corrupt crooks they are.

  7. Mueller is Comey’s “bosom buddy”? Haha! Good one. Guess you’re part of the ongoing attempt to discredit him in case things heat up in his investigation.

  8. In reading a piece by Roger Cohen in the very fake NY Times I was struck by how he (and all of the commenters) cries about Trump’s lies. It’s as if Obumbler never said such things as “if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.” The cognitive dissonance is startling to say the least. It’s why the completely untrue meme about Trump himself colluding and conspiring with the Russians has legs.

    • Regressive thrive on cognitive dissonance; it’s probably what makes them so angry and violent.

      • When did the left get so angry? Was it when Sore/Loserman (aka Gore/Lieberman) lost the election at the SC?

      • I suspect anger and violence was always beneath a thin veneer of civility in leftist progressive Democrats. The anger emerged during Gore v Bush and the anger was weaponized to continually deamonize G. W. Bush during his Presidency. The violence was added to the anger during Obama’s Presidency to harass his political opponents.

  9. Trump needs to just step back and go back to the promises that got him elected. Jobs, taxes, regulations, the wall, immigration, law & order, and filling the federal courts with conservative judges. Let the left’s spin doctors do their thing, because he can’t win over the MSM & the progressives. But he & the R’s CAN lose the independents—–it’s time to move the agenda forward & stop feeding the nonsense that does not alter the lives of everyday Americans.

    • I do not see Trump stepping away from anything important. He is accomplishing quite a bit with his right hand, while his left hand is keeping the MSM & the progressives spinning in circles and obsessing about inanities.

      As for losing the independents, I have not seen or heard of anyone who wishes they would have voted for Clinton instead of Trump. He is losing no one. OTOH, I have seen many who didn’t vote for him be pleasantly surprised and glad he won.

      What he is doing is working. Don’t try to fix it.

  10. Republicans better remember that there are no permanent majorities in US politics and thus they had better get things done toute suite. It might be a long, long time before both houses and the Oval Office are in conservative hands at the same time once the first electoral losses begin to occur. Democrats still have demography on their side.

    • I disagree, the R’s will have power for a long time—-I believe the dems may win the poplular vote, but they can’t win the electoral college with their social justice platform. Secondly, unless they do a sharp 90 degree turn, they will continue to lose state legislatures.

      • Hope you are right. But if healthcare reform and job growth don’t happen by Nov 2018, I think voters in PA, Wisconsin, and Michigan will revert to form and vote Democrat. We are beginning to lose the demographic sweepstakes in Arizona and Georgia……Virginia is already lost. Our Electoral college path is too narrow for my liking.

    • When you learn about the electoral college, get back to us.

      • I know the electoral college backwards and forwards. Apparently you don’t. Start with math. 538/2 plus 1. Do you get it now?

  11. Putin is the leader of the Republican Party. Ryan and McConnell will go down in history as treasonous a holes. Putting Party before country and going on Pravda(Fox) to whine about Democrats.

    • If Fox is Pravda, what does that make MSNBC/NBC that just hired a bunch of ex-Fox’ers.??

      • Nice try. McConnel put his party before our country and sold out to get Putin’s cuck elected.

      • Don’t be so cranky, you have 7 years to go with President Trump. Pace your self as we mock you in the back of the bus.

      • The New England Patriots? Because you can be speaking about the 5th columnists that left wing Democrats are, as being patriots, now are you?

      • How is Chechnya this summer Comrade? Keep up the Kompromat so the Cuck Trump will stop sanctions against us! Good work!

        Vlad

  12. Some people hate Trump, more people hate the Democrats

  13. The public elected president Trump precisely because he was not a politician.
    If it takes him a little time to work around the entrenched mob in Washington so be it. It took years for them to build their little pillow forts of unions, bureaus and committees.

  14. Roger Kimball is typical patriotard “muh Reagan” conservacuck.

  15. So says the slavering sycophant, with “all the best words” that neither his demented orange idol nor his dimwitted devotees could understand. Appearance vs. Reality? What appears to be a pretentious puff piece of propaganda for his dear leader is in reality the pathetic and groveling fellation of a mentally ill wannabe autocrat by someone who once knew better, rejecting Trump. Kimball is a desperate toady scurrying like the insect he is to appease his master, an obsequious flatterer who’s earning his well deserved place in Dante’s 8th circle of the Inferno. Disgusting shill: a tiny small man chanting hollow hosannas for an aspirant tyrant with tiny small hands. And yes Roger, you did and do know better, which makes what you do all the more repulsive.

    • Your words are the toxic exfoliations he writes about. You are a menace.

    • Quite a word salad you have there, Jethro. it’s understandable why you are in the back of the bus, and have no prospects for any future change in seating. The Rs will win more seats in the 2018 Senate, and Trump will make the Supreme Court so conservative it will be so 25 years from now.

    • The problem we have here is that even if it’s true that Trump is a totally worthless person he’s still infinitely better than anything on the hate whitey left. I do not have the slightest particle of trust for the left.

  16. Trumps tweets are the equivalent of catapulting the dead bodies of plauge carriers over the castle walls, into the controlled media peopes areas control. They really have no viable mechanism to handle the mess without being contaminated in process. They inadvertently vaccinated him, and infected themselves. He can get away with anything now, no one trusts these media people who literally threw away their credibility for an stalinist methodology.

    Twitter is a crude but effective method of reaching the individual within, especially the not so interested.. This Trump man is vastly more clever than we hoped. I hope he destroys many, within this apparatus.

    This man is only the beginning. The next man, or woman, will use other methods, and be vastly less… benign

  17. Oh,I dunno…I sort of liked it when they were all wearing those “stinky pu$$y hats”….they reminded me so much of Rodham….the Dems ought to make that hat the “Official Headgear of the DNC”….yea,that’s the ticket

  18. Very good article. Trump needs to play more offense. Let’s get a special investigation going of Obama’s illegal acts (surveillance of political competition, ordinary Americans, illegal unmaskings) and another for the Clintons’ crimes (pay-for-play, illegal e-mail servers, and a whole host of other wrongs like Russian plutonium deals). Obama successfully changed the subject because he knows he and Hillary are guilty and deserve adjacent jail cells. And the Repubs in Congress better get their act together and pass desperately needed relief on healthcare and tax simplifications, or the Dems will get resurrected and start damaging the country again with their awful ideas.

    • You really have to read “Rules for Radicals” to understand the current siege by the left.

  19. ” … the actions of the Potemkin progressives are just exhibitions of temperament, whining, childish static that cannot be reasoned with, … ”

    Couldn’t have said it better myself.

  20. This related posts widget makes reading comments really difficult by changing the height..

  21. ” it is all bluff. Really, it is just a tasty moth, frog, California Democrat, or whatever.”
    LOL, how true !!!!!!!!!!

  22. The Republicans have gained a lot of ground due to the smoldering frustration of the public.

    If they don’t do something to relieve that frustration, it will find an outlet somewhere, and it won’t be pretty.

    Their best bet would be to live up to at least a few of their campaign promises.

    Arguing about whether the Ship of State should be moving at 15 or 25 knots when it hits the iceberg is not exactly what people had in mind. I know I didn’t.

  23. Catherine the Great was a shrewd ruler and I doubt that she was fooled by Potemkin. She may have simply pretended to be impressed by fake facades like so many democrats today who probably know better. If they are, indeed, fooled by Fake News, repeated lies from the left will eventually be exposed and even die hard believers will discover the truth. That is my optimistic view of human nature. I pray that it is correct.

    • You are correct – she wasn’t fooled. The reality of the story is that Potemkin had recently conquered that area for the Russian Empire, and Catherine was in need of loans to fund its exploitation. So she invited French and German bankers (she herself was German) for a little tour down the river to show them just how prosperous the area was, and what good collateral they would have for their loans. Catherine was in on the charade from the beginning. And it was successful, as she got her loans.

      • Gotta ask what other pop history Roger Kimball knows that just ain’t so?

      • Many thanks for the facts. History has a way of trivializing events.

  24. The Democrat assault was repulsed in Georgia…..
    ==========
    RESIST ! …….the LEFTIST Democrat party and LEFTIST Media DEMANDED that Georgians send another Leftist to Congress……..

    One Picture Equals 1000 Words…..

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/141620822@N02/34942279000/in/dateposted-public/

    The People of Georgia had a BETTER IDEA…….

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/141620822@N02/34617138784/in/dateposted-public/

    Share this Meme ……go VIRAL !

    Click the….. Curved Arrow ~> ……in the lower right hand corner
    to share on Facebook, Twitter, or just email this link to this Meme to a friend.

  25. It’s incredible how inept the GOP congress has been in following up their advantage. They must be held accountable and Trump should name names.

  26. The moral of the Russian election interference is that several of our voting district authorities were phished and hacked, but they are just another party trying to exploit the vulnerabilities of our voting system. Democrats and their allies, who have used these vulnerabilities to object to the Trump election victory, have held themselves and the Clinton campaign harmless in the investigation, yet they have consistently opposed voter verification, did not allow the Homeland Security Administration to examine the DNC databases to verify whether their was a hack or insider leaking of emails, and revealed intelligence sources & methods to our foes in their zeal to undermine the Trump administration.
    Democrats see the ACA collapsing and states like Illinois about to default which will endanger the health care coverage for Medicaid recipients, state employees, and state pensioners, yet they have no desire to replace Obamacare. California realized that a statewide single payer health care system is not affordable and face the same fate as Illinois as their pension costs overwhelm their budget.
    Bad Democrats, bad Democrats, whatcha gonna do? Your failures and innuendos aren’t doing the country good!

  27. Illinois Comptroller: “The State Can No Longer Function”

    Who ruined states like Illinois and cities like Chicago? The Democrats did. And what do leftists say about the ever worsening disasters they’ve created? They say it’s just simply terrible that the white trash votes against their own economic interests. But how about the damage they’ve done to this city and state? They have no answer to such questions yet they’re baffled by the fact that they’re increasingly losing elections. The left is insane.

    • Dems demand the opportunity to Detroit the entire USA.
      No thanks!

  28. This is very good.

    The Trump coalition is holding and is likely to strengthen.

  29. Excerpt from the article “Machines Won’t Push Humans Out of Finance, Billionaire Gundlach Says”

    Bloomberg Finance. June 22, 2017

    Gundlach is also known for his record of bold predictions — such as his comments, long before the election, that Donald Trump would become president.

    “Peak anti-Trump has passed,” Gundlach said Thursday. “He’s doing fine. I think the grieving process for the Hillary people is finally starting to progress.”

    Gundlach, 57, is a top-ranked money manager whose $54 billion DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund has outperformed 90 percent of its Bloomberg peers over the past five years. He co-founded the Los Angeles-based firm, which managed more than $100 billion as of March 31, after being ousted by TCW Group in 2009.

  30. “Republicans control the Presidency, the House, the Senate, 67 of the 98 partisan state legislative chambers in the nation, and 33 Governorships, their largest number since 1922.” So why the heck can’t thy get done the things they want??????? Why do they bow to the superior arrogance of the Democrats??? I’m beginning to wonder if there really is a difference between GOP and Democrat.
    Paraphrasing an earlier comment: We’ve snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

    • You wonder what the difference is? GOP is for democracy, Democrats are for Communism.

      • I thought that was they way it was supposed to work. But the GOP has steadfastly refused to take the ball: “We can’t do that until we control the House”, “We can’t do that until we control the Senate”, “We can’t do that until we have the White House”…… Now we’ve got all that, and a lot of state governors, too. And we still can’t get Obamacare repealed or replaced. At least, we got a Supreme Court nominee approved.

  31. Good article. Well written; well reasoned; well researched.

    The problems we have as a nation today are not due to Trump. Given the size and plurality of our nation, correcting our course cannot be accomplished in an afternoon. It will take twenty years to repair all the damage done by unbridaled progressivism. Just as unbridled capitalism produces undesired results, so does unbridled progressivism. Yet, in this regard, we crossed the Rubicon years ago.

  32. Your political points are right on the money. Your essay is a GREAT read. Thanks.

  33. Awesome article. Point re the demise of the Dems needs to be repeated over and over.

    Trump fundamentally changed the Republican Party into the party of working men and women. By listening to working men and women. Years from now, commentators will figure it out. The Dems plan has been to import low wage, low information mostly Mexicans to Californiacate America.

    The Dems see their base in the Universities and ghettos. Trump has stopped them every where else. There will be no more cheap labor Bushes and Romneys. Only Trumplike Republicans will win Presidential and down ticket races. We only lost the Country Club elite. Good.

    The progressives have all the noise and not nearly enough soldiers.Hard to win with only takers.We got Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Pennsylvania. Those are game changers.

  34. Excerpt below is from a Chicago Sun Times editorial about a play reviewed by a Chicago film critic and the leftist reaction to it. Their reaction to this review is why I consider white leftists insane and why no one should ever vote for their hate whitey Democratic Party. Does America even still exist as a country?

    Editorial

    Chicago Sun Times

    June 23, 2017

    We understand that you might be perplexed if you have not read the Chicago Tribune lately, which has been all over this story, or kept up with the controversy on social media.

    To catch you up, Hedy wrote a review on June 13 of a new Steppenwolf Theatre play, “Pass Over,’’ that has caused quite a stir in Chicago’s theater community. She described the play, a provocative reworking of “Waiting for Godot’’ by Antoinette Nwandu, as “brilliantly acted’’ and “unquestionably inspired.”

    But she also wrote this, offending more than a few members of Chicago’s theater community:

    “To be sure, no one can argue with the fact that this city (and many others throughout the country) has a problem with the use of deadly police force against African-Americans. But, for all the many and varied causes we know so well, much of the lion’s share of the violence is perpetrated within the community itself. Nwandu’s simplistic, wholly generic characterization of a racist white cop (clearly meant to indict all white cops) is wrong-headed and self-defeating. Just look at news reports about recent shootings (on the lakefront, on the new River Walk, in Woodlawn) and you will see the look of relief when the police arrive on the scene. And the playwright’s final scenes — including a speech by the clueless white aristocrat who appears earlier in the story — and who could not be more condescending to Steppenwolf’s largely white ‘liberal’ audience — further rob the play of its potential impact.’’

    That paragraph outraged many local theater people. They read it not as a well-intended critic’s failure to understand the facts of life about crime and policing in minority communities, which might allow room for honest debate, but as a particular white critic’s descent into bigotry. This was not the first time, they also complained, Hedy had made such objectionable comments.

    The outcry led to a petition urging theaters in Chicago to stop inviting Hedy to review their shows, or to end the practice of providing a ticket to Hedy to review a show.

    Steppenwolf, among the most influential theater groups in town, quickly joined in and denounced Hedy in a sharply worded statement to the Tribune: “We denounce the viewpoints expressed in some of these reviews as they fail to acknowledge the very systemic racism that ‘Pass Over’ addresses directly. Particularly egregious are the comments from Sun-Times critic Hedy Weiss, whose critical contribution has, once again, revealed a deep-seated bigotry and a painful lack of understanding of this country’s historic racism. Her contribution is actively working against the kind of theater we are striving to be.”

    It was this surprising statement that prompted the Sun-Times to invite Steppenwolf Artistic Director Anna Shapiro and Executive Director David Schmitz to a meeting a few days ago to discuss their views on this matter and the larger issue of arts coverage in Chicago. It was a productive meeting with lots of good ideas thrown on the table.

    What’s clear is that more and more terrific work by young playwrights of color is being showcased in Chicago theaters. This is an excellent development for a vibrant industry that seeks to remain relevant with new and more diverse audiences. Equally clear is that news organizations, including the Sun-Times, must do a better job of finding journalists of color to cover this work and all the arts. We are working to do so. We applaud theaters that are giving a new generation of artists their voice.

    To dismiss Hedy Weiss as a critic who “doesn’t get it,’’ however, is to fail to be aware of or appreciate her full body of work as a Sun-Times critic for more than 30 years. Throughout her career, Hedy has been a champion of shows that deal with thorny issues of race, and she has made a point of calling the theater-going public’s attention to emerging artists of color.

    This does not mean Hedy has withheld her criticism. She plays no favorites when reviewing a play, as is right. As for the play in question, “Pass Over” was intended to be provocative. Hedy wasn’t the only reviewer to address the racially sensitive issues the play explored.

    This controversy has sparked many conversations. We have heard from upset people who defend Hedy and upset people who don’t. And we have heard from many Chicagoans, including many members of the theater community, who are appalled by what they see as a mob-like effort to silence a critic.

    Could Hedy have been more nuanced in her comments? Should her review of “Pass Over” been edited better? Was it tone-deaf? We are all free to complain, defend and debate. But Hedy Weiss is a theater critic of integrity who writes from a place of honest good faith. Nothing she wrote comes close to what Steppenwolf assessed as “deep-seated bigotry.”

    • Thanks for this, to me, heartening instance of integrity in journalism. The theater was poisoned by identity politics decades ago and anyone who dared criticize the results from an aesthetic or common sense point of view was labeled a bigot, so this doesn’t surprise me. What is surprising is that an influential big city newspaper would employ a critic who’s willing to speak her own truth, knowing it will make her a target of the fundamentalists of the Left, and that the Sun-Times would go to such lengths to defend her principles. This news gives me hope that maybe things aren’t as bad as they appear.

      • It is good that the Sun-Times is defending Hedy Weiss. It’s pretty horrifying though that they have to do so. She’s an old style liberal. The fact that she could be so viciously attacked and condemned as a racist is a good example of how fanatically deranged the left has become.

        I’ve always liked reading history. Something that’s always bothered me about reading history though is that you realize how distressingly common it is for societies to become insane and self destruct. Why does this happen? I suppose it’s just a flaw in human nature.

        When I’d read of major nations like Germany, Japan, Russia and China which became quite insane during the dreadful twentieth century I’d wonder what it would feel like to live in a society that had become insane. Now I know what it feels like.

        I think I’ve gotten used to it though because I now often find myself wondering what it would be like to live in a sane society where most democrats were like Hedy Weiss instead of like the Maoist fanatics who want to destroy her. Certainly a very strange situation. Time will tell what fate has in store for us.

      • This sort of rigid enforcement invaded the arts long ago and is just now, since Trump’s election, becoming commonplace in areas that managed to conceal how bad it was for a long time. Perhaps more public exposure of the insanity and deep unfairness will act as a clarion call and things will begin to change. I hope so, anyway.

      • Here’s something I recommend reading which is quite interesting although also, unfortunately, quite terrifying. It’s an article from just a couple of days ago called “The Everything Bubble” by Jared Dillian. I’m not familiar with him but he seems to know what he’s talking about.

        I think it’d be wise to do what you can to protect yourself financially. I’m still working so I still have a company 401K but I also have a lot outside in Vanguard. I plan to divide it up 3 ways. The Health Care Fund ( my favorite ), Wellesley and the GNMA Fund. All these funds have a Gold Star from Morningstar. We just have to do our best to survive. That’s all we can do. Here’s an excerpt from the last part of the article where he’s talking about the coming financial melt down:

        “Also, nowadays, we have no idea what kind of malignant political forces will be unleashed if we have a real, hard-landing recession…

        Does it all get pinned on Trump? Probably.

        Does it push the left further left? Probably.

        Does it increase the chance of real instability in 2020? Yup.

        And people underestimate the ferocity of bear markets, because they can’t see second and third-order effects. The stock market doesn’t go down 20% in a vacuum. We have no idea what is going to happen when stocks go down 20%. Nothing good, I imagine.

        So you should not be wishing for a bear market. You should be wishing that this goes on forever.

        I have been making bearish noises for a while, but I haven’t been willing to stake my reputation on it.

        I am now willing to stake my reputation on it.

        I think we’re very close to a downturn. I will be surprised if this doesn’t come to pass within 6-12 months. If it doesn’t, I suppose you can call me out, if you like doing that sort of thing.

        One more comment: it will probably be the fastest downturn in history, owing to the degree of leverage and speculation. Proper preparation prevents poor performance.”

  35. The problem is that the liberals/progressives are simply wrong about everything they believe:

    1. All cultures are not equal
    2. Global warming does not justify eliminating carbon based energy
    3. America is not a racist/sexist/homophobic/hating society
    4. The government is not the solution to all of our problems
    5. Income inequality is not a problem
    6. Wealth inequality is not a problem
    7. Government employees should not be allowed to unionize
    8. Heath care is not a right (except for the needy)
    9. Government borrowing and spending does not help the economy grow
    10. Islamic extremism is a real problem

  36. Masterful piece..two comments though.
    1/ it’s well past time to start naming Republican names. Whose fighting trump? They don’t need to be primaried. They do need to be outed and removed from leadership roles in Congress.
    2/ Trump should remove Mueller and dare the republicans to impeach him. He wins with any result. We’ve all had enough of this Russia nonsense and it’s time to kill it once and for all.

  37. Mine eyes have seen the glory
    Of the Democrats defeat
    They are crying in their lattes
    Throwing tantrums in the streets
    They haven’t been this angry
    Since they all were wearing sheets
    Trump’s train keeps rolling on!

    We all heard whiny Comey
    Really hoping there were tapes
    He should have hidden mics
    Behind those oval office drapes
    Now Trump has turned the tables
    And he’s punked the 4th estate
    His train keeps rolling on

    Glory Glory Hallelujiah
    Your soft coup isn’t working for ya
    You keep on screaming about ‘Muh Russia’
    But his train keeps rolling on

    Pelosi clings to power
    By an ever dwindling thread
    She rakes in Hollywood millions
    But the map keeps turning red
    They thought they’d kick our Ossof
    But they got Handeled instead
    Trump’s train keeps rolling on

    He’s routing out the pundits
    And the disdainful elites
    He punches through their rhetoric
    with each early morning tweet
    What does ‘Covefefe’ mean?
    It means liberal retreat-
    His train keeps rolling on!

  38. What a stupid article. Its surprising that so many stupid people take it seriously, or not. Stupid is as stupid does…

  39. Trump is doing okay running the country, contrary to the media, but the Republicans in Congress are still not behaving like a governing party willing to carry out the things they have been talking about for the last 30 years. What’s wrong with them?

  40. your confusing the left with the Neoliberals in the dnc and rnc establishment.

    It’s time for the true left and right to come together and kick out all the corrupt lobbyists and congress people out on their ass.

    Bring back the manufacturing jobs to the US!
    Stop disastrous trade deals!

    Jail Hillary Clinton!

  41. A friend who has survived cancer told me under the Republican health care plan, with lifetime caps, no more health care for her.

    That republicans are ok with this tells me that there’s no humanity left in the anerican right. It’s there to call liberals childish and whine about p*ssy hats. They’ve never cared what happens to the sick, the weak, the poor, or the elderly.

      • May your family enjoy the lifetime caps rule.

        It’s funny because you elected a Hollywood celebrity as president.

        And you’re slamming me by suggesting that I would vote for (or I am?) a Hollywood celebrity.

        I wouldn’t. I didn’t. And I’m not.

        But you did.

    • The problem we have here is that even if it’s true that Trump is a totally worthless person he’s still infinitely better than anything on the hate whitey left. I do not have the slightest particle of trust for the left. The constant anti-white hate mongering by the hate whitey left has ruined this country. I don’t believe America even still exists as a country. I consider you insane. You say I’m racist/fascist. We lack a common reality and without something as basic as that we obviously have no country.

      • The difference between me and you is that I haven’t been trained to hate you like a dog with rabies because you’re conservative. Is that what you are?

        My parents are Republicans. My brother is. Do you know liberals? Do you find yourself wanting to say in person to them the same things you say about “the left” on the internet?

        Until the right stops its thoughtless hatreds you will be stuck with worthless trump or Cruz candidates for all eternity. Liberals are half the country. We’re often your teachers, your mothers, the people who care for you in nursing homes when you’re ill.

        You can never make America great “again” or “ever” based on hate.

  42. I’m not sure there are two separate groups. It’s more of a continuum spreading along Com-Soc-Left-Green-Fem-Prog-Lib-Dem. All seem to have accepted violence in concept, as a necessary tactic in their politics. The ones who have acted on it were no more or less likely to have done so as anyone else on that spectrum. Hodgekinson (or whatever the he\ his name is) is not deranged. He is an evil man, captured by evil ideas that justify his fear, rage, hatred and violence. I’m not saying it’s likely that Alyson Camerota is going to punch Kellyanne Conway live on camera. But it’s heading in that direction.

  43. I really enjoyed reading that. You certainly put them center scope.
    I am deeply troubled by the pseudomedia. They have been able to distort facts and lie and radicalize people who might otherwise never have been duped in this way. Intelligent people with a lifetime of openness to debate and entertaining other perspectives became almost instantaneously 12 years old. It’s brainwashing – I see that – but how ? Is this a special program that’s been running a long time or just some visceral reaction to the word no? I had the first conversation ever with my brother – a staunch progressive – who last week said the only thing upsetting about the baseball field shooting was that the man didn’t kill every last person on the field. He forbid me to discuss politics with him declined to even after chain any alternate view.
    Any messages that I sent him that even hinted at a potentially issue we differ on were slammed to the ground with “don’t ever send me this shit again.”
    We had our first conversation after I put my foot down I refused to censor my everyday conversations to fit his sensitivities. The entire thing, I said, was manic hysteria.
    We talked all though he did so under great tension though clenched teeth. I didn’t know who I was talking to him for a while but I’ll tell you what, I will never again wonder how Hitler mobilized the masses he did. The ranks of the SS were filled with people just like my brother.

    • When I watched the film the pianist years ago there was a scene where a man in a wheel chair was dumped off of a balcony by SS guards and I could barely watch this without flinching.

      That’s exactly what I thought of when Trump mocked someone with disabilities and then won the presidency. I spent ten years of my life working with adults born with disabilities who have been able to live simple yet meaningful lives with the American social safety net.

      I don’t know how to explain to you how devastating Mitch McConnell and Trump’s plan to dump so many people from Medicaid will be for adults like the ones I worked with. Without adequate health care or the funding for adequate caregivers, they may be forced into homelessness.

      How do republicans live so far away from other people in our society that you don’t see the impact of policies like that in people’s lives? Nursing home care givers will lose their jobs.

      Maybe your brother was trying to explain some of this to you but you’re the victim of alt-right propaganda that removes you from the consequences of the policies you seem to seek.