Trump and the Press

The "mainstream media" failed us in regards to Trump. His face has been on cable news programming most of the 24-hours-a-day time since Obama's second term. During the Republican primaries he was given free publicity, so much that he drowned out the other candidates. Jeb Bush could barely get a word in. How were they supposed to know he would win? you could ask. You couldn't. But you could also think that if the "mainstream media" continues to make strictly financially/ratings-based political coverage decisions we'll continue to get elected officials who do things like attack the freedom of the press.

On NATO

The President has been known as "The Leader of the Free World." NATO is a mutual defense pact between free Europe and America, and yes it is largely a pact against Russia, which is not free. If you criticize the government there you are likely to get killed or jailed. If we allow the Russian regime greater influence abroad the world will be less free. If we allow it to influence our government and the GOP stands by while the President does its bidding we will become less free. The GOP likes to talk about celebrating freedom but I don't know what kind of freedom they plan on celebrating if this goes on. Yes they've won their culture war victory and everything that will come with a Supreme Court majority. But I never expected them to be so cavalier about the costs. If the Soviet Union were officially christian instead of atheist would the right have even cared about the Cold War?

I don't expect that I'm changing anyone's mind. Or really changing anything. I'm using this soapbox to say my piece and get on with my day. To feel like I've done just a bit more than accept what appears to be happening in the at-least-somewhat-free-in-parts-world that I've known.

Learned Hand on the State of the Union

To me, much of the left and right are interested in abolishing heresy. This portion of the left has just enough power to make the Democrats lose a Presidential election despite popular vote totals every few cycles. They don't have much Congressional representation. This portion of the right has total power over their party now and they have strong Congressional representation. "In the end it is worse to suppress dissent than to run the risk of heresy," said Learned Hand. He also said “Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it."

I stand by everything I've said on here in the past and I don't have much to add. If people want to get behind a fundamental cause they should support abolition of the electoral college. And they should be ready to raise hell if Mueller gets fired. (If you couldn't surmise that Trump was coordinating with Russia over the course of his campaign, when he was bending over backwards to disavow U.S. Foreign policy orthodoxies on Russia and just generally kiss Putin's ass, then I'll never convince you. What the hell else would a "domestic enemy" look like? The justice process should play out.) But all I can really hope is that *classic* liberal values somehow reappear as a foundation for principled political action. "The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right" said the Learned Hand.

A year or so later

2016: Trump brags about the size of his hands.

2018: Trump brags about the size and function of his nuclear button.

I stand by what I had to say about Trump and today's GOP before and after he took office. He has since delivered for Putin and trashed the American anti-authoritarian experiment.

If we make it through 2018 without the world blowing up (I can't imagine the most GOP members wouldn't prefer Mike Pence) then maybe he will be regarded as McCarthy like pariah whose example is to be avoided. The U.S.'s position in the world will be weakened. Much can be undone domestically, but his appointments to the federal judiciary cannot be. These appointments weaken the last line of defense of the American experiment, an independent judiciary. Judges have political preferences but they also have professional values. As the professional worth of nominated GOP judges declines and their loyalty to party increases, we can expect an increasingly politicized judiciary and an America that becomes less and less its true and best self.