Tag Archives: US Politics

This DACA showdown, which one has the feeling will not end well, has in it all the big questions which bedevil old fashioned, tired conservatism. Namely, we have to ask ourselves if “illegal immigration” is a question of legality or a question of culture. Are we annoyed at people not having their papers in order, or are we trying to preserve the European character of the country? If the issue is one of mere paperwork, why Paul Ryan has a fix for that.… Republicans don’t seem to...

Weekend reading. Mat Taibbi sees the media as the sole factor, or major factor at least, in the rise of Trump. In my view, there are many factors involved, not the least of which is the state of the American character. This would not be happening if there were not appetite for it.Rolling StoneThe Media Is the Villain – for Creating a World Dumb Enough for Trump Matt Taibbi

After Trump announced the existence of the alt-left on live TV, media outlets scurried to tell the world exactly where the term emerged from. CBS explains that it “came out of the conservative media.” CNN, quoting a director at the Anti-Defamation League, describes it as a “made-up term used by people on the right.” Heavy.com writes that “the term ‘alt-left’ began being used by the online conservative media in 2016 before it slowly migrated to more mainstream conservative voices, like Fox...

Donald Trump’s rhetoric, promises and even at times his policies (when they see the light of day) are as far from the neo-con/neo-liberal status quo of contemporary American policies as one could have deemed imaginable for a US President, not long ago. When one analyses his policy rhetoric, Donald Trump remains something of a Robert Taft style conservative. The defining characteristics of such an ethos is an opposition to foreign interventions and the bloated ‘moral’ (aka immoral)...

Considering all this information, it seems unlikely that the United States can remain a liberal country much longer. The paradoxes of liberalism are coming to a head. Asia TimesCould the road from Charlottesville lead America toward civil war?Sabena Siddiqui

The Democratic Party establishment apparently hasn't gotten the word yet. The HillRNC raises millions more than DNC in JulyBen Kamisar

If the genuine left is smart, it will take a step back and see this for the gigantic opening it is. Lots of Trump voters are now up for grabs, and if they can come up with a genuine message of economic populism that avoids the typical leftist pitfalls — such as supporting misguided young people dressing up like ninjas, carrying flags and hurling rocks at people trying to give a talk — the opportunity to create a populist movement of immense national significance is there. People across the...

The Alt Right is not going to be happy with Steve Bannon calling the white nationalist protesters clowns and losers. He is correct that Democrats have a tendency to overplay their hand in using identity politics, but they smell blood here. The good thing is that America is finally having to deal with its demons.The HillBannon: I want Democrats to talk about racism every day John Bowden Meanwhile, Barack Obama hit a homer with this tweet. The GuardianObama's anti-racism tweet...

Now that the US Civil War 2.0 has broken out in violence, it is good to be aware of this. The background is given in the links Sandwichman provides at the beginning of the first post. The AltRight is livid that Gen. McMaster is cleaning house, and it seems that Gen. Kelley is too, having sidelined Steve Bannon.EconospeakThe Higgins Memo, Anders Breivik and the Lyndon LaRouche Cult The “Narratives” of Higgins’s “Warfare” SandwichmanThe full text of the memo that Sandwichman links to at FP...

Backgrounder on the Democratic Party abandoning of the New Deal and trying to capture the center by moving right. The post doesn't mention it but this began under Jimmy Carter. The Bonddad Blog"The Changing of the Guard:" the prescient 1980 book that foretold neoliberalismNew Deal democrat