Janet Mills Quits (Finally): Voters Sigh In Relief (And Tell Chuck To Butt Out): UPDATED (7/6/26)

<This image says it all...
Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images)>

Suggested Soundtracks:
"Nowhere Man" (The Beatles); "Don't Dictate" (Pentration)

<i.>

Last month, Maine's Democratic Governor Janet Mills finally bowed to the inevitable, and ended her sputtering vanity campaign for the seat held by her Republican counterpart, Susan Collins. Sticking to the script that politicos have been crafting since the 2000s, Mills announced she was "suspending" her campaign -- rather than quitting -- a distinction that won't impress 

The only noteworthy aspect is why Mills -- who blamed lack of financial resources -- stuck it out as long as she did, amid polls giving insurgent oyster farmer Graham Platner opening a 33-point lead in their forthcoming Democratic primary. Perhaps, like most of her fellow Boomer-era voters, Mills was praying for the Beatles to return -- with their dead counterparts, in Ed Sullivan-era black and white -- with a sprightly ode to slay the demons of rap, metal, or any new song recorded after 1980. 

I can almost hear the campaign theme ringing in my head, powered by those bouncy, yet raw, untrained, Please Please Me-era guitars: "Ooh, ooh, Janet, baby, you're the one for me/Vote for Janet, 'cause she always aims to please/Janet's my top choice, she always knows best/She stands heads and shoulders above all of the rest!"

Instead, Governor Mills will have settle for exiting on her shield to the strains of "Nowhere Man," the one who's always "making all his nowhere plans, for nobody," although she chalked up her decision to lack of resources. Even there, she lagged far behind, with a modest $2.6 million, versus the $4.0, 4.1, $4.6 or 4.8 million reported for Platner, depending on which source you believe (WBUR/Boston, Open Secrets, The New Republic, or Ken Klippenstein, respectively).

The news leaves Platner on a glide path towards nomination, though he obviously has much work to do between now and November. However, he seems up for the challenge, in contrast to Democratic party elders -- who remain stuck in a different era, and often give the appearance of being readier to die, than change. But we'll get to that point momentarily.

<A tad premature, as results bore out...

Janet Mills For Maine/YouTube capture>

<ii.>

So what qualified Janet Mills's campaign as a vanity effort? Simply put, the vanity of the man who recruited her (Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer), in defiance of common sense realities, starting with her age (78). While Ms. Mills showed noteworthy spine in standing up to Trump -- and, by most accounts, proved herself an effective and popular governor -- it's hard to reach any other conclusion.

After all, had Mills somehow gotten past Platner, and Collins, she would have become the oldest freshman Senator in our history. Is that the sort of history the Democratic Party should make? It would have cast her as yet another member of an entrenched American gerontocracy whose 79-year-old President, Donald Trump, is practically a spring chicken alongside Senators Charles Grassley (92), or Kentucky's dark gremlin, Mitch McConnell (84), who stepped down as Republican majority leader, but doggedly clings to his office, regardless. 

Actually, let's take that back. At 75, Schumer is probably the spring chicken of this particular story, but the basic point still stands. In any event, the only problem for Schumer -- and the donor class that he actually represents -- was Platner's ability to whip up a significant cyclone of energy around his candidacy, as Ken Klippenstein's brutal takedown of Mills's withdrawal announcement (see below) suggests.

If Platner amassed a 4-1 financial edge over Mills, it's because "people wanted him," Klippenstein asserts. End of story. Buying into Mills's "lack of funds" alibi amounts to "a verbal sleight of hand that makes it sound like a budgeting problem, like her campaign manager overdrew her checking account," he adds.

Not that Mills didn't try to find a workaround for her problems, though. When her initial attempts to take down Platner didn't work -- he's inexperienced, he's unelectable, he's weird, and so on -- Mills hit on a novel idea. If elected, she promised to serve only one term, hopefully easing concerns about sending yet another septuagenarian to a Congress that's bursting at the seams with them.

Which begs the question of why she was running at all, considering how long it will take America to recover from two Trump eras -- as even voters who expressed admiration for Mills, like baker Bev Chapman, told the New York Times (see link below): "'She’s been a great governor for Maine,' Ms. Chapman said, 'but new blood is needed and we need more progressives running who are not afraid to stand up to the current administration.'"

Of course, another (unspoken) reason for Mills's workaround not working any miracles is that it sounded just like the sort of pandering from veteran politicos, once they're cornered -- and don't see an obvious way out of the box canyon. But all the workarounds in the world can't save a candidacy that voters won't support, as Klippenstein notes:

"She would have been 86 at the end of her first term. Think about that. At a moment when even mainstream Democrats are beginning for generational change, the party's solution to flipping a must-win seat was a 78-year-old whose pitch was essentially 'I have been around a long time.'"

<"Oh, it's your treat this time?
Fine, I'll take you up on it. 

Just don't order me any oysters, thanks!"
(YouTube capture)>

<iii.>

In fairness to Schumer, not all of his Senate seat picks seem like total busts, as the Politico story (see link below) points out. Democrats seem reasonably happy so far with how Sherrod Brown, Roy Cooper and Mary Peltola are running in Ohio, North Carolina, and Alaska, respectively -- red states that must flip for the Democrats to retake the Senate this fall. Brown, in particular, is a marquee progressive -- something that Schumer's defenders cite as proof that he cares less about ideology than winning.

Michigan voters see something else afoot, however, in the Democratic establishment throwing its weight behind Haley Stevens -- a perennially chirpy, pantsuit-clad, ardent AIPAC disciple -- over progressives Abdul El-Sayed and Mallory McMorrow, in the Wolverine State's Senate primary (August 4). The situation has strong echoes of the Mills debacle, to the point of McMorrow warning that she won't support Schumer keeping his job if the Democrats retake the Senate:

“Let it play out,” McMorrow told POLITICO on Thursday evening. “This is a moment for Democrats, and I mean Democratic voters on the ground, to decide what party we want next. It is our turn. It is not the party’s turn anymore."

Other Democratic newcomers, like Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton -- the presumptive successor for its retiring incumbent Senator, Dick Durbin -- have voiced similar feelings; so did Platner, when he launched his upstart campaign to unseat Collins last summer. As Robert Reich notes on his Facebook page, voters remain angry and unforgiving with a system that's left so many so much worse off than ever: 

"That rebellion continues to this day. Yet much of Washington’s Democratic elite is still in denial. They prefer to attribute the rise of Trump and, more broadly, Trumpism — its political paranoia, xenophobia, white Christian nationalism, misogyny, homophobia, and cultural populism — solely to racism. Well, racism is certainly a part of it. But hardly all.

"In 2024, Democrats didn’t even get to choose their nominee from the primary process, since Biden dropped out after a dreadful debate performance and was replaced by Kamala Harris — leaving some Democrats feeling like higher powers were picking their nominee.

"The anti-establishment groundswell has by now spread to independent voters — who are now a whopping 45 percent of the electorate and have moved sharply against Trump. It’s one of the most dramatic shifts in recent political history."

To put it another way, whoever reads the room -- starting with those angry, disaffected independent voters -- will walk away with the keys to the kingdom, as Trump did, when he first got elected, in 2016. Bernie Sanders might have walked away with them, too, had the establishment not wrenched the nomination away from him -- a steal fueled by the mistaken impression of being able to coexist with wolves in sheep's clothing. Rest assured, it's not a mistake that progressives will -- nor should -- make in 2028.

<The attack ad that never ran: 
A preview of what awaits Platner this fall? 
Time will tell...
(National Senate Republican Committee,
YouTube capture>

<iv.>

The efforts to sink Platner share parallels with the campaign to take down Zohrani Mamdani, who became mayor of New York. Both races featured recycled faces (Andrew Cuomo, Janet Mills) caught flatfooted by insurgents who outworked and outhustled them. Both challengers attracted an avalanche of attack ads and negative press coverage, much of it generated by pundits who ignored or simply misread what was happening on the ground.

Much of that negative messaging focused on making Mamdani -- and now, Platner, or any progressive daring to follow in their footsteps -- seem like the offspring of Hitler, Manson, and Satan. The attack ad prepared for Mills (above) is a small sampling of just how far Republicans will go, since it's impossible to imagine such a mild-mannered figure as Mills causing nightmares for anyone (other than the donors who wrote her checks, and now experiencing a major case of buyer's remorse).

The whiff of Mills's desperation seemed obvious from the beginning, when her campaign unearthed ancient online posts as grist for attack ads against Platner -- specifically, "regarding his use of a slur for people with disabilities, and his comments on Reddit from more than a decade ago about Black people not tipping at restaurants and about sexual assault," as The Independent reports (see link below).

Yet Platner has weathered those storms, perhaps because people are weary of giving incumbents a free pass -- while their challengers must come across as lifetime Boy Scouts who only hang out with the likes of Donny Osmond, as they while away their days drinking milk, and listening to the Jungle Book soundtrack. 

The upstart generation has its flaws, "but I think there's an expectation by voters today that if you seem perfect, you're probably hiding something," as an anonymously quoted Democratic consultant mused to Politico. All that pearl clutching over a decade-old post seems downright absurd, when we look at the tramping of democracy, nonstop grifting, and maximalist power abuses that characterize the Trump regime.

Obviously, Platner won't enjoy the same commanding financial advantage against the overstuffed Collins, who -- unlike Mills -- can count on an avalanche of dark money to bail her out of a jam. All the same, she offers a perfectly doable pickoff -- if Platner does his job correctly, by demolishing her artfully woven facade of "concerned" moderation.

It's an act that Status Quo Susan, as we'll call her, has honed to perfection over her five-term Senate career. We know the routine well, which typically kick-starts with some tricky issue or other. Status Quo Susan will furrow her brow, purse her lips, hemming and hawing through her latest non-answer -- amid noises of however "alarmed," "concerned," "disturbed," or "troubled" she claims to feel about it -- before she finally votes as her tribe expects, and demands.

It's a routine that sometimes stretches to Hamlet-style proportions, as Collins demonstrated during the Brett Kavanaugh debacle -- where commentators made much of her studious note-taking during the explosive confirmation hearings, amid allegations of serious sexual predation against him. In the end, Status Quo Susan joined Vichy Democrat Joe Manchin to ease Kavanaugh over the finish line, 50-48 -- a spectacle that caused some wags to question the scrupulousness of her note-taking.

Again, which of these capsule summaries feels more worrying? A decade-old Reddit post that may or may not reflect its author's current mindset, or the latest chameleonic shift of a career politician who hasn't held a traditional town hall meeting with her constituents since the Clinton era -- over 25 years ago? (Platner, in contrast, has already 61 town halls.) If that isn't entrenched arrogance, what is?

It's the reason, presumably, why Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run For Something, tells the Independent: “People are hungry for change — the institutions that got us to this point cannot be the ones to get us out of it.” Indeed, and so noted.

This, more than anything, is the type of circle that voters -- particularly Democratic ones -- are beyond tired of squaring, as Klippenstein asserts: "People are fed up with an establishment that doesn't listen, that tells them everything is under control, even as it drives the country into a ditch. So they're taking the keys away."

Democrats would do well to consider taking those same keys away from Schumer -- and his equally tepid passive-aggressive counterpart, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries -- if they retake one or both houses of Congress this fall. It may not the outcome that either of them prefers, but it's what their base demands, and their party deserves -- to say nothing of a country that's crying out, loudly and clearly, for something else. --The Reckoner 

Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry, Herd
Those Gerontocrats Right To The Exits):
Ken Klippenstein:
Voters Take Keys Away From Elderly Politician:

https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/voters-take-keys-away-from-elder

New York Times:
For Many In Maine, No Tears Over Mills's Exit...:
https://archive.ph/r1MfD

Politico:
Schumer Faces Renewed Scrutiny After Mills Meltdown:
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/30/chuck-schumer-janet-mills-meltdown-2026-00902217

The Independent: Step Off, Chuck!:
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/schumer-senate-democratic-primaries-mills-b2969045.html

UPDATE (7/5/26): This race has turned upside down yet again, in light of shocking rape allegations against Platner by Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Mainer who dated him five years ago. She accuses him of sexual assault, a charge that the Democratic vehemently denies, of course.

The resulting fallout has led to a freefall in Platner's poll numbers (see link below), and prompted him to "pause" his campaign, so he can "reflect on the best way forward," he said.

Right now, that seems hard to imagine, as prominent backers like Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and California Congressman Ro Khanna have yanked their endorsements, along one of Platner's major progressive backers, Elizabeth Warren. 

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the face of Presidential progressivism in 2016 and 2024 -- whose words may prove decisive, if he joins them -- has yet to weigh in.

All our sympathies go out to Ms. Racicot, whose allegations stand in a league of their own, from other accusations of unsavory behavior made against Platner. (Still, all our sympathies to them, too.)

Time will how these developments play out, though it's difficult to imagine how a replacement candidate can regain the ground of unseating one of the Senate's most notorious shape-shifters -- and that point still stands, along with our concerns that we've raised about the Democratic establishment's selection process.

We believe that Democratic gubernatorial nominee Hannah Pingree -- who's also called for Platner to quit the race, in a statement cited by the New York Times, has it just about right: "Platner tapped into something real — voters hungry for change showed up with real passion and energy. That energy doesn’t have to go away. It needs a new candidate to carry it forward.”

We'll just have to see who gets another bite at that particular apple:

Axios: Schumer Joins Calls For Platner's Withdrawal:
https://www.axios.com/2026/07/06/graham-platner-maine-senate-democrats

MSN: Whopping Majority Of Maine Voters
Said They'd Ditch Graham Platner Over Another Scandal...:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/whopping-majority-of-maine-voters-said-they-d-ditch-graham-platner-over-another-scandal-right-before-another-scandal-broke/ar-AA27lsnv?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=6a4c3561a1124924b69d16ce50748ca6&ei=93

An Alternative Inaugural Wish For 2025

<"Buyer's  Remorse Sunk In Yet?"/The Reckoner>

The less said about the Devil's Festival, AKA Donald Trump's Inauguration, the better. The less said about those obeying him in advance -- Jeff Bezos, John Fetterman, Carrie Underwood, Mark Zuckerberg, and too many others to name -- the better. The less said about those tithing themselves to the Dear Leader, the better (see US News & World Report link below).

The less said about Trump's junk drawer Cabinet picks, the better. For all the ink lavished on the freakish likes of Pete Hegseth -- whose tattoo-plastered upper body suggests some unholy collision of a Sharpie, and a bottle of Scotch, force-fed via some nickel and dime Henry Rollins-style angst -- it's easy to forget that he'll join 13 billionaires in the most plutocratic Cabinet seen since the Roaring '20s.

The less said about those sticking their heads in the sand -- imagine Husker Du retitling Zen Arcade's side four curtain raiser, "Turn Off The News" -- the better. The less said about those who didn't vote -- apparently, for lack of an ultra-ideal alternative, like someone who drinks milk all day, and hangs out with Donny Osmond, for instance -- the better. 

The less said about those who voted against their own interests -- from the suburban women who shrugged off the post-Dobbs world of abortion restrictions, to the Blacks and Latinos who rationalized Trump's bigoted outbursts ("He doesn't mean us"), and Arab Americans who cashed in their righteous moral anger over the slaughter in Gaza, with Israel's fullest-throated supporter -- the better.

The less said about those milking their ride on the Trump Train, the better. That includes the likes of Nick Johnson, one of countless YouTubers churning out pro-Trump content at an industrial place (full attention spans have no relevance in dopamine-driven culture, after all). 

The less said about Trump's loyal subjects -- such as the Black female proprietor of a pro-Trump merchandise store, proudly displaying her latest offering, a Confederate-styled flag bathing suit -- the better. If you can find a better snapshot of the contradictory doublethink that underpins the Trump movement, we'd like to see. (Hey, it's heritage, not hate, right? Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.)

The less said about the political deathbed conversions of our outgoing President -- who warned us, in his farewell address, “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead' -- the better. Like his Democratic predecessors, Joe Biden left a fair imprint on the nation; yet, like Clinton and Obama before him, he also departs, having failed to fully appreciate, let alone master, the far right's continuing assault against our democratic system. If America sleepwalks into autocracy, that failure will cast the longest of shadows.

The less said about any, or all of these things, the better. Seeing Biden finally, belatedly, embracing some of the reforms that might have earned him another term -- notably, reforming the character and transparency of the Supreme Court, one dominated by Republican appointees, who seemed hellbent on kneecapping his presidency -- marks one of our most painful milestones, coming as it did, on the eve of his enforced departure from the race, and the end of his 50-year political career. 

We can only imagine how Biden might have fared, had he launched his 2024 Presidential campaign, with the above-mentioned words of warning, or these, perhaps: "And in a democracy, there's another danger to the concentration of power and wealth. It erodes a sense of unity and common purpose. It causes distrust and division. Participating in our democracy becomes exhausting and even disillusioning, and people don't feel like they have a fair shot." 

How much farther Biden (or Harris) would have gotten, and how much better would their party would have fared, if only they'd rallied around these forceful words? We'll never know, of course. It's the sort of cognitive dissonance that has driven progressives crazy, over the long run, and one that will surely haunt them, in the short one.

Our hope is that progressives do not linger over such parlor games for long. In many ways, they offer an energy-draining dance of diversion, and distraction, one that is temporarily useful, in venting frustration, yet no substitute for a long-term strategy. There is a great deal of truth in Martin Luther King Jr.'s suggestion that "right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant," and his oft-quoted aphorism: "If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

We have already outlined some potential responses in our previous message ("The Real Project 2025"), which we need not rehash here. For now, it's sufficient to state our biggest wish, as we begin the likes of 2025 -- a year that seems destined to rival George Orwell's year (1984) in the pop culture infamy sweepstakes. That wish, simply stated, is to get up, and get moving.

Already, various counterintuitive narratives -- some promoted by the far right and its enablers, some not -- are beginning to take shape. Trump won a decisive mandate to remake America in his image. The various prosecutions against him represented partisan "lawfare" that cemented his re-election. Perhaps we can find ways of working with Trump, whatever we think of his worst tendencies, or his ghoulish cheering section.

Pushing back against these narratives is certainly an important step, in changing it for the better; it's the reason that the Clash placed a graphic on their breakthrough album, Combat Rock (1982), which reads, "Know your rights. The future is unwritten." In the spirit of self-defense, we offer a guide to finding a demonstration near you (see link below), for today.

And if you do, let these words from The New Republic ring in your ears: "In his second term, it should be the task of liberals to force Trump to swallow a daily spoonful of the very real job stress that Obama struggled so mightily to endure." That seems like a good start, especially as Trump and his allies gear up, and prepare us for four years of plutocratic minority rule. 

Let them plot, let them plan; let them laugh, and let them lick their chops; let them stand up and shout, let them stomp and scream and celebrate. Let them do any or all of these things, for today. What matters is tomorrow, one that will arrive sooner, rather than later -- one that we can take back, if we only put our minds to it -- and when that moment comes, we're ready to meet it. --The Reckoner

Associated Press: Progressives Are Frustrated
By Biden's Final-Days Warning Of Billionaire Influence:
https://apnews.com/article/biden-oligarchy-democrats-progressives-criticism-420ad7e81a692f0444f84d41654faae1

Paste Magazine: The Fake News Pipeline:
How A Small-Time Clickbait Farmer Is Spreading the Gospel of Big Oil:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/politics/bayou-bridge-pipeline/the-fake-news-pipeline-how-two-small-time-clickbait

People's March: Find A Demonstration Near You:
https://map.peoplesmarch.com/local?link_id=2&can_id=4e6c8046819e1ba183f676fa03eddc7a&source=email-take-a-stand-at-the-peoples-march-this-inauguration-weekend&email_referrer=email_2587221&email_subject=take-a-stand-at-the-peoples-march-this-inauguration-weekend

The New Republic: Shove The Presidency Down Trump's Throat:
https://newrepublic.com/post/190337/trump-second-term-democrats-respond

US News & World Report:
Trump Ushers In The Oligarchy Biden Is Warning Us About:

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2025-01-16/trump-biden-oligarchs-billionaires-treasury-secretary

White House: President Biden's Farewell Address (Text):

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2025/01/15/remarks-by-president-biden-in-a-farewell-address-to-the-nation/

Same As It Ever Was: Trump's Incredible Shrinking Mandate

 

<"Mandate, My Ass!"/The Reckoner>

Of all the words so carelessly bandied about on Election Night 2024, the M-word -- as in, Mandate -- topped the list. Breathless as always, the talking heads rushed to skip ahead of their skis, and give one Donald J. Trump his coveted Golden Mandate Trophy, crown him Emperor, and essentially bend their knee to the poor man's king (as they see him). Or, as a near-hysterical Van Jones howled, in a widely-quoted headline on CNN: "We Were The Idiots."

I agree, though not for the reasons that he surmises, as we'll elaborate on, momentarily. But for a fair hint, you can take the nostalgia tour of what we said in 2016:

https://ramennoodlenation.blogspot.com/2016/11/mandate-shmandate-president-shmesident.html

"Saturday Night Live," now well and truly ossified as it knocks on Season 50, pretended to mock Trump, even as its corporate masters secretly hoped they'll get the "heullva tax cat" that he so brazenly promised them on the campaign trail. In short, business as usual, leaving that classic Talking Heads refrain from "Once In A Lifetime" to mock us:

"Same as it ever was, 

Same as it was ever was...

Same...as it...

e-e-e-e-v-v-errr was!" 

Hang on a minute, though. Reality always serves up a more complex picture, and this election cycle is no exception. Because, guess what? Trump, in a repeat of his 2016 electoral performance, has slowly fallen back to Earth.

And, while it means that Harris remains the bridesmaid, not the bride, these incoming figures should give pause to those who celebrate a Trump restoration as some kind of widely-desired event:

With 152.7 million votes now counted, Trump's overall share of the popular vote has fallen below 50%, according to the Cook Political Report. He now leads Harris by a far smaller margin, with 76,371,044 million votes (49.99%), versus 73,667,048 million for Harris (48.22%). A decisive margin, yes, but hardly the epic wipeout it seemed last week. Or, for that matter, in 2016. (Reckoner's Note. 12/9/24: Harris finished with 74.9 million votes, or 48.4%, to 77.2 million votes for Trump, or 49.9%. A clear enough margin, for sure, but far short of an epic face plant.)

What's more, Trump's overall victory margin (popular vote and Electoral College) is the third smallest, since 1888, as Richard Stengel, former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs noted in his Twitter feed. (Sorry, Herr Musk, as far as I'm concerned, the letter X belongs to the classic LA punk band. Not you!)

"(Only JFK in '60 and Nixon in '68 were smaller). If 238K votes in the blue wall states had been different, he would have lost," Stengel pointed out. "Not a mandate."

Trump will become the second Republican Presidential candidate since George W. Bush in 2004 to win the popular vote, though his margin will only rank among the 44th best, out of 51 elections, since 1824. However, Trump will re-enter the White House with a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, 221-214, which leaves him little margin for error.

Republicans hold a stronger hand in the U.S. Senate (53-47), but it's mainly due to an electoral map that forced Democrats to defend so many more seats during this election cycle (19, versus 11 for Republicans, and four independents). Embattled Democrats won four battleground states (AZ, MI, NV, WI) that Trump carried this time around, leaving his cheerleaders with "some 'splainin' to do," as Ricky used to tell Lucy. Not that they will try, mind you, but the thought is nice.

In fact, the Republicans' path to undoing the Democrats' 51-49 paper majority largely came through two solidly red states (OH, WV), whereas Kari Lake's second straight faceplant in Arizona typifies their recent Senate track record. It's even less impressive, when we consider Pennsylvania, where 65,000 voters lit their ballots on fire for the Green Party candidate.

That's almost twice the margin separating Bob Casey from the likely winner, David McCormick, but no matter. Democrats will have to stop being so gentle to their spoilers. Still, the result underscores another trend that characterized this election cycle -- self-sabotage.

What do we mean, exactly? Well, this has definitely been a remarkable election, but not in the most positive, best elevated sense of the word.

We have seen Arab Americans in Dearborn restore the very man whom they view as unsympathetic to their cause -- 42,000 dead in Gaza, and counting. Unfortunately, while they succeeded in punishing the Democrats, elevating Netanyahu's fan bro buddy takes their cause off the table till 2028. The moral of the story? Voting backward doesn't move you forward.

We have seen Latinos break big time for the very man obsessed with rooting them willy nilly out of the country, who pledges the largest mass deportation in our history. The moral of the story? If you're not at the table, you're on the menu, so why put yourself there willingly?

And, despite the Democratic nominee's singular emphasis of reproductive rights, in general -- and abortion rights, in particular -- we have seen suburban women also break, generally speaking, for the very man who brags about taking them away. The moral of the story? All the vague reassurances from a self-styled authoritarian father figure won't save you from his unhinged whims.

I honestly don't blame people for feeling discouraged right now. Or, as my sister -- who spent every moment of her spare time canvassing for Kamala Harris, and others like her -- put it, "Every time we take two steps forward, we seem to take one step back."

But we also agree, there's no sense in dwelling on those sentiments. All we can do is learn whatever lessons present themselves, and try to forge ahead. Pick a period in our history, any period, and what follows the latest advancement? A furious backlash, driven by those who don't accept it, and resent the notion of coming to terms with it.

Like it or not, the forces behind this pugilistic state of permanent aggrievement aren't going away, and aren't willingly going to hand back whatever power they grub away for themselves. All we can do is hope that we're strong enough to seize the moment, whenever or however it presents itself, and above all else, equal to the task. We expect no more, and we demand no less. --The Reckoner


Links To Go:
The David M. Katz Poetry Blog: "Mandate, My Ass":
https://davidmkatzpoet.com/blog/mandate-my-ass

WhoSampled: 
https://www.whosampled.com/sample/178978/Le-Dust-Sucker-Mandate-My-Ass-Gil-Scott-Heron-B-Movie/

[Where to find Gil Scott-Heron's brilliant takedown of Reagan's electoral win, that wound up being sampled in Le Dust Sucker's 2004 sendup of George W. Bush's victory -- what's the saying here? "Everything is old, is new again?" Or, "The more things change..."? Or, "History doesn't repeat, it rhymes?" Take your pick.]

Yahoo News: Popular Vote Totals
Make Trump's Mandate Looks Like  A Mirage:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/maddow-blog-popular-vote-totals-130359790.html

(Reckoner's Note: Included, for the record. I stopped watching MSNBC in 2024, after seeing their complicity in the shanking of the Bernie movement, an impression not helped by Mira and Joe's sickening display of "obedience in advance," along with their pilgrimage, on bent knee, to Mar-A-Lago. I don't think Musk should be allowed to buy it, so however progressives can block it is fine with us. However, it's another reminder, as if we needed it, of the need to wrest control from a legacy media largely owned and co-opted by monied interests.]

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps (Part VI): Staring Down The Trump Restoration (UPDATED: 11/12/24)

<That ship has sailed...so much for that idea, eh?:

Campaign mailer that arrived late in our mailbox>

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: “It might have been!”
<John Greenleaf Whittier>

<i.>

In the end, all our best intentions, dearest dreams, and highest hopes were not nearly enough. The coming of Kamala Harris, and the various hopeful milestones that it represented -- first Black, first female, first South Asian President -- crashed and burned against the rocks of the same rancorous misogyny that swallowed up Hillary Clinton's hopes in 2016. White woman, or Black, millions of Americans are simply unwilling to envision such a person leading them.

Eight years on, the glass ceiling that broke millions of women's hearts remains, as immovable and unbreakable as ever. Only this time around, top advisor Cedric Richmond found himself pressed into the role that John Podesta occupied in 2016, as the bearer of bad tidings, roughly along these lines:

Candidate Harris will not address you tonight. Whatever happens, we left it all on the field. We will fight to ensure that every vote is counted, and we'll see you tomorrow morning. And so on, and so forth. It's a ritual that Democrats have come to know well -- the grizzled sage, left to preside over the Viking funeral. 

For those who hoped against hope, there's no sugarcoating the results, as the various rationales behind them rapidly evaporated. First-time voters? Late deciders? They broke mostly for Trump. That eleventh hour poll, the one showing Harris with a three-point lead in Iowa, a state she didn't even bother to visit? Trump won it overwhelmingly, for the third time, by 13 points.

The high decibel apocalyptic aura of Harris's last couple weeks of campaigning, anchored around the nightmares of further abortion restrictions, and the hollowing out of democracy? Voters mostly shrugged it off, apparently satisfied with Trump's promise not to pursue either of them -- at least, not right away, it seems.

Cruelty won, as did all the "isms," ageism, racism, and sexism. So did sedition, since-the various legal cases involving Donald Trump are melting away as we speak. So will those of his wildest-eyed disciples who smeared feces on walls, crushed police officers in doors, and bayed for the blood of all who opposed their fight to undo Joe Biden's electoral victory on January 6th, 2021. Thanks to Trump's black-robed enablers, and the foot dragging of Attorney General Merrick Garland, The Great Ditherer, the drive to hold conspirators large and small accountable will dry up and blow away, as if the attempted coup had never happened.

The bully boys have wasted no time asserting themselves. The morning after the election, on November 6th, Black folk in some 21 states -- including local political leaders in my area -- got blasted with racist texts cheering on their second enslavement. Moments like these serve as a rejoinder, for those who still cling to the idea, "This isn't who we are" -- Alas, no. On this evidence, this is very much who we are, and always have been.

<Snapshot of what might have been: 

Late campaign mailer, Harris-Walz, Take II>

<ii>

So what went wrong, exactly? By all rights, it shouldn't have even been close. In Trump, the Republicans were again banking on a nominee so endlessly aggrieved, so obviously unhinged, and so obviously consumed by the endless need for attention and wealth -- with immediate retaliation prescribed for those who would deny either of those things. Still, unlike in 2020, Trump actually won the popular vote this time, which is a notable achievement, at least on paper.

Harris's candidacy boasted some major positives, starting with the lack of baggage that dogged Clinton's 2016 run. You also had a Democratic nominee 18 years younger than her rival, brimming with superior energy, and smarts -- as her only debate with Trump showed -- and better positioned than her boss to argue for core issues like abortion rights. How could she miss?

Well, as the wags joke, "The biggest party is the Stay-At-Home Party, or, the Couch Party." It's easy to see why, when we compare Harris's totals, as they stand now (70.4 million votes) with Biden's 2020 victory (81.3 million), which means that she garnered 10.9 million fewer than her predecessor. It's hard to imagine anyone succeeding, with such anemic numbers. In contrast, Trump's current estimated total of 74.3 million represents a modest improvement over his 2020 showing (72.4 million).

Put another way, "Trump didn't win a popular vote majority this time because 1-1.5 million Biden voters flipped to him. He won it because over 7 million Biden voters stayed home this time" (Down With Tyranny). So why did they? As we all know by now, exit polls showed the economy as the top issue. Although Harris threw out various ideas for taming runaway food and housing costs -- notably, cracking down on the rampant price gouging that's driving so much  current misery -- she offered precious few details for how she'd go about it.

Although it's natural for politicos to indulge in some rhetorical foggery -- to allow sufficient maneuvering room, if they do get elected -- Harris's tightly-scripted presentation left voters largely unmoved, it seems. Like Hillary Clinton had done before her, Harris kept the relevant cards close to her chest. Stick with me, she suggested, and the ride will be great. You'll just have to see how I manage it.

All of which might have passed muster in a different era, except for one fatal flaw -- a refusal to acknowledge how voters felt. On that score, Team Harris's assertions barely differed from those of Team Biden (2024), or Team Clinton (2016): C'mon, folks, what are you moaning about? The stock market's never been higher! Unemployment's never been lower! Wages have never risen higher! 

For all of Harris's promises about creating an "opportunity economy," what's striking about America today is how uphill that idea feels. With inequality at rampant levels, how far can anybody move up the ladder, let alone keep heads above water? Any number of statistics will drive home the point, as you can see from Bernie Sanders's blistering statement (see below): "While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry, and want change. And they're right. Today, while the very rich are doing phenomenally well, 60% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, and we have more income and wealth inequality than ever before."

Indeed, pressed by "The View" as to what she might have done differently over the last four years, Harris responded, "There's not a thing that comes to mind." Not surprisingly, Trump seized on that line for his final attack ads, a rhetorical grenade that hit its mark, more than not. The tepidness in some of her proposals -- such as returning corporate taxes to pre-Trump levels of 28 percent, before his signature bill cut them to 21 percent -- undermined Harris's posture as the candidate of change.

Some commentators attribute Harris's skittishness to the influence of her well-connected brother-in-law, Uber's vice president and chief legal officer, Tony West, who apparently urged her to go easy on Big Business (see below). Ugly as it is, and sounds, the story crystallizes the Democratic Party's biggest problem. For the Boomer normies who run the party, flipping the script on most major issues -- whether it's the cost of living, or the slaughter in Gaza -- is simply a bridge too far.

But you can only keep saying, "Eat your spinach, we'll let you know when you can finally have bacon," for so long. And, unless Democrats can offer a more compelling answer -- or, at least, push out the normies who gifted us with this debacle -- their slog back from the wilderness will be lengthy, painful, and complicated.

<"Bjelke Blues": Front cover art>

<iii.>

On to our next question. As Trump and his minions retake center stage, what might they actually do, and how will it affect us? Though comparisons with Weimar-era Germany seem obvious, which we've explored here, the repressive model of Johannes "Joh" Bjelke-Petersen, the notoriously iron-fisted Premier of Queensland, Australia, offers a closer template for how an illiberal America under Trump might actually look.

For those who don't know his story, Bjelke-Petersen ruled Queensland from 1968 to 1987, largely by creative gerrymandering, and total control of the institutions that mattered, including the police, and the bureaucracy -- to impose his blunt force style of governance over every aspect of life. In that regard, this blog post by Edwina Shaw, author/compiler of Bjelke Blues -- a retrospective essay collection -- is illustrative:

"For almost 20 years he stayed in power, despite receiving only 20% or so of the vote through a notorious gerrymander. He drew electoral boundaries around left-leaning areas in wiggly jigsaw-patterns around the state. Funding went first to areas that voted for his party, then to the other members of his right-wing coalition, leaving next to nothing for Left wing Labor electorates. He used the police force as his own personal army giving them unprecedented powers to enter properties under the infamous Health Act. Bjelke used taxpayers’ money to fund his personal vendettas through the law courts. He once sued every member of the opposition party for defamation. Heard enough yet?

"And through all of this obvious corruption – I won’t go into the rape of the environment, jobs for mates, and the police and government corruption that eventually brought about his downfall – through all of this, he appeared on television every night with his peanut-shaped head and blotchy skin, smiling crookedly, bewildering and amusing journalists with his own special brand of obfuscating banter. Remind you of anyone in power now? ‘Don’t you worry about that!’"

As you might imagine, Bjelke-Petersen's brutal, hard-charging leadership took a considerable toll, starting with the exodus of a good chunk of Queensland's best and brightest, who didn't see themselves faring well in a climate where any public gatherings of three or more people were automatically illegal, The Stranglers' experience of this atmosphere when they toured Australia inspired one of their best-known songs, "Nuclear Device (The Wizard Of Aus)," which reached #36 UK as a single, in October 1979  (for the video, see the link below).

Outside of his Queensland fiefdom, "The HIllbilly Dictator" -- as Bjelke-Petersen's detractors dubbed him -- was viewed largely as an unflattering hangover from a different era, Shaw observes: "In Australia’s other states and in other countries too, Joh was seen as a laughable buffoon, a joke. But life under Joh was no laughing matter." Eventually, December 1987, Bjelke-Petersen abruptly quit his post, amid accusations of police corruption and cronyism that made it politically unviable for him to continue.

The fallout dashed Bjelke-Petersen's plans for stepping down in 1988, to mark the twentieth anniversary of his ascent to power. But further efforts to hold him accountable foundered, amid the usual technicalities (see the Wikipedia entry below), allowing Bjelke-Petersen to live out a low-key retirement. One of the last times that Joh made headlines came in 2003, when he unsuccessfully sued the Queensland government for $338 million, alleging loss of income, due to government persecution. Sound familiar? It should.

Like all bad actors, Bjelke-Petersen lived and breathed for an ungodly stretch of time, dying at age 94, in 2005 -- earning a full state funeral, despite his notoriety, although 2,000 demonstrators turned up in Queensland's capital (Brisbane) to provide an appropriate counter-perspective. As our whistle stop tour here suggests, not all autocracies emerge through violent military coups, or counterrevolutions. Sometimes, the co-opting of major institutions, coupled with creative abuses of power, produces the same effect.

<Like January 6th never happened 

(...Once the pardons kick in):

Late campaign mailer, Harris-Walz, Take III>

<iv.>

Getting his trifecta of complete governmental control, as he did in 2016, will give Trump all the relevant tools he needs to push America down a Bjelke-style path, starting with the proverbial "phone and pen." We can count on Trump to fire off a blizzard of executive orders that further his various obsessions, like his hatred of electric cars, for example. 

And that's before we contemplate the specter of a Trump-dominated Congress, enabled by the Extreme (Supreme) Court -- the same one, let's not forget, that crafted a sweeping immunity right for him, out of thin air -- poised to make the far right's wish list come true. Reports suggest that the first priority is permanently locking down those 2017 tax cuts, with corporate taxes falling to 15 percent.

As critics note, this orgy of tax slashing could add $8 trillion to the national debt, and accelerate Social Security's insolvency by three years -- since Trump wants to exempt it from the taxes that fund it. How his party addresses such inconvenient facts, we haven't heard, but their carefree approach certainly puts social programs at risk. After all, you have to make up those windfalls for billionaires somewhere, and who wants them camping out in the cold and snow?

Or maybe Trump and his allies will take the more straightforward route, such as converting Medicare and Medicaid into block grants -- another long-standing far right priority -- or try to hollow out the Affordable Care Act, by stripping away its more popular elements, such as protections for pre-existing conditions.

Other reports suggest that resuming the GOP's court capture project will take priority in the new year. This makes sense, since the longest-serving Extreme Supremes -- Sam Alito, and Clarence Thomas, at 74 and 76, respectively, will face pressure to retire, and make room for younger, more toxic versions of themselves, who can wreak havoc with a gavel for decades. Someone like Aileen Cannon, perhaps, whose sinking of Trump's classified documents case has put her on the fast track for the promotion.

This, despite the passage of abortion rights measures in seven out of 10 states, including two (AZ, MO) that overturned existing restrictions, and one (FL) that failed, because it fell short of a Republican-imposed 60% threshold. No matter: as Joh himself said, when pressed about the subject of human rights, he responded, "What's the ordinary man on the street got to do with it?" It's a quote that would likely have earned Trump's full-throated approval, had he been made aware of it.

<"And Now (A Word From Our Sponsor): Thanks, Woody..."

Take I/The Reckoner>

<v.>

We turn to the last, most pressing question, what do we do now, and how should we respond? First and foremost: before we plan the relevant marches, and roll out the pink pussy hats once more, we need new leadership, and should not rest, until we finally get it. The aging affluent overclass that runs the Democratic Party needs to step down, because their credibility is now in tatters.

Yes, Biden should likely have exited the stage earlier -- preferably, at the start of 202. But honestly, it's high time for the next generation -- the Ro Khannas, Pramila Jayapals, Jamie Raskins, and the Adam Schiffs, and so on -- to take the reins, and inject some fresh ideas into the conversation. The sooner, the better.

Second: For all the chatter about the Democratic "ground game," what's striking -- and disturbing -- is how short it fell of its promised results. Someone needs to see why so many core voters stayed home, considering how much emphasis Team Harris placed on the stakes of this election. Most likely, they're only hearing from the door knockers at election time, but it's harder to win people over, if you don't show more skin in the game.

Third: Overtones matter in messaging, and the wrong ones will trigger a rush to the exits. I cringed when former President Obama scolded young Black men for their reluctance to embrace Harris's candidacy; winced, when Biden blasted Trump voters as "garbage"; and groaned at the usual barrage of celebrity endorsements - from Lady Gaga to Oprah, Taylor Swift, and beyond -- all of which singularly failed to connect. Word to the Whoopis of the world: next time, just cut the check, and leave the spotlight shining where it belongs, on the nominee.

Fourth: The wrong priorities can be fatal. It's hard to overstate the oddity of Harris campaigning with the likes of Liz Cheney, whose notorious father played wingman in handing his boss, George, the disputed 2000 presidential election. Progressives recoiled, and for good reason. If saving democracy is such a major part of the message, why share a podium with the Cheneys? What's more, it's perilous to start depending on allies whose interests barely align with yours. It's a dangerous strategy, and certainly not a guarantee of political longevity. Or relevance.

Last, and most important: As tough as the results feels, there's nowhere to go, but up. For Democrats, it should mean going back to basics, starting with the sweeping economic reform message that worked n the 1930s. The plain fact is, without weeping reforms, all this blather about creating an "opportunity economy" will amount to just so much empty hot air, as guest poster Patrick Toomey notes on Down With Tyranny: 

"I was hoping that a Trump defeat would lead to GOP rounds of recrimination. Instead, we’re now seeing that with the Dems, including the tired tripe that the party is 'too liberal' and must move to a mythical 'center.' Few seem to be addressing economic class issues— the elephant in the room that the party mandarins and their on-air and on-line enablers invariably ignore." And, from the same post, I'll leave the last word to author/commentator Tom Frank, former editor of The Baffler, who sums it up better than I ever could:

"I have been writing about these things for 20 years, and I have begun to doubt that any combination of financial disaster or electoral chastisement will ever turn on the lightbulb for the liberals. I fear that ’90s-style centrism will march on, by a sociological force of its own, until the parties have entirely switched their social positions and the world is given over to Trumpism.

"Can anything reverse it? Only a resolute determination by the Democratic Party to rededicate itself to the majoritarian vision of old: a Great Society of broad, inclusive prosperity. This means universal health care and a higher minimum wage. It means robust financial regulation and antitrust enforcement. It means unions and a welfare state and higher taxes on billionaires, even the cool ones. It means, above all, liberalism as a social movement, as a coming-together of ordinary people — not a series of top-down reforms by well-meaning professionals.

"That seems a long way away today. But the alternative is — what? To blame the voters? To scold the world for failing to see how noble we are? No. It will take the opposite sentiment — solidarity — to turn the world right-side up again."

Now, that's a sentiment we can all get behind. Onward and upward, for there is much work to be done. --The Reckoner

PS Incidentally, I'm still getting fundraising emails from the Harris campaign, these ones tied to the handful of national races that have yet to be called: "We must stay engaged for the sake of freedom, justice, and the future that we all know we can build together. The outcomes of these elections may well have an impact on our ability to hold the incoming administration accountable -- so let’s give this everything we’ve got."

True enough. But something tells me that someone else will have to be the face of whatever resistance emerges. Simply because, based on this evidence, the current political class is well past its sell-by date.

Oh, and as for the Inaugural? Maybe they should run a laugh track behind it, particularly when they get to the "protect against enemies, foreign and domestic" part. It will make a fitting soundtrack for our return to the dark side.

Links To Go: Hurry, Hurry (Joh's Ghost
Is Bellying Up To The Bar):

AOL: What Trump's Second Term

Could Mean For Abortion Rights:
https://www.aol.com/trumps-victory-could-mean-future-100000040.html

Bernie Sanders's 2024 Statement:
https://static.poder360.com.br/2024/11/bernie-sanders-eua-comunicado-6nov2024.pdf

Bjelke Blues: Edwina Shaw:
https://edwinashaw.com/2019/08/16/bjelke-blues-2/#comments

Deccan Herald: International New York Times:
Harris Had A Wall Street-Approved Economic Pitch: It Fell Flat:
https://www.deccanherald.com/world/harris-had-a-wall-street-approved-economic-pitch-it-fell-flat-3269832

Down With Tyranny: Election Reflections:
https://www.downwithtyranny.com/post/election-reflections-sorting-through-the-wreckage

Joh Bjelke-Petersen: Wikipedia.com Entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joh_Bjelke-Petersen

[Well worth the read, packed with plenty of fascinating detail]

The New York Times: The Elites Had It Coming:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/09/opinion/democrats-trump-elites-centrism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Yk4.67Ui.gbUiEnXsFGky&smid=url-share

The Stranglers; Nuclear Device:
https://taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/polar-opposite-tax-policies-harris-and-trump

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps (Take V): Plotting Democracy's Demise, Through Project 2025

 

<David Horsey, LA Times:

http://www.ih8trump.org/trump-triumphant/>

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

<From Macbeth, spoken by Macbeth:
William Shakespeare>

<i.>

When I finished this series in January 2022, I assumed that I wouldn't need to revisit it. Surely, I told myself, at some point, the image of Donald Trump, his authoritarian leanings, and his violent cult followers, determined to impose them on the nation, would finally recede in the rearview mirror, especially as the so-called Republican Party's electoral losses continued to mount up, and their donors would yearn to move on. 

The losses continue to pile up, as the handful of midterm off-year results demonstrated,  a mere three weeks ago. In Kentucky, Democratic Governor Andy Bashear cruised to re-election by a solid five-point margin over Mitch McConnell's protege, Daniel Cameron. Ohioans approved Issue 1, a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights, by a 13.2% margin.

In Virginia, Democrats held the State Senate, and reclaimed the House of Delegates, snuffing out Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin's hopes of passing a 15-week abortion ban for at least another two years. The results presumably also spiked chatter among the donor classes of Youngkin's viability as a "white knight," one capable of saving his party from the demon called Trump.

The sole bright spot for Republicans came in Mississippi, where voters gave Governor Tate Reeves a second term over Elvis's cousin, Democrat Brandon Presley. But even there, Reeves eked out a 3.2% margin, or 26,619 votes, in the closest gubernatorial race seen there since 1999.

Analysts suggested that Presley's willingness to run on a pro-life platform, as the Governor did, potentially cost him a rare shot at an upset in a ruby red state. We'll never know for sure, of course, but there is one upside -- that is, he probably won't get to make albums.

<ii.>

Add these results onto the damp squib of the 2022 midterms, where fears of a Red Wave turned into a Red Mirage -- and the 2018 midterms, where Democrats retook the U.S. House of Representatives, ending Republicans' two-year run of unified government -- and a reasonable observer might conclude that Trumpism, whatever shapes it takes, is a toxic brew that nobody with an IQ above room temperature wants to drink.

Surely, they'd have had enough of losing by now, right? No such luck, since we're talking about the party of the "Dear Leader," who came perilously close to realizing his President For Life ambitions on January 6, 2021, when his followers stormed our nation's Capitol. Far from being tempered, the enemies of democracy only seem ever more emboldened, and ever more determined, to bring it down, "by any means necessary," to coin a phrase.

Examples abound, such as Ohio, where Republicans are talking about ignoring the voters' will, and stripping its courts of jurisdiction over abortion. Or in Wisconsin, where Janet Protasiewicz's game-changing election to its Supreme Court has stirred Republicans -- unwilling to part with the ill-gotten advantages they've gained, through years of gerrymandered minority rule -- to talk of impeaching her. 

Or in Arizona and Arkansas, which have opted for the old school voter suppression option, by floating constitutional amendments that would make it harder to pass any kind of ballot measure. As the standing joke goes, Republicans are all in for states' rights -- until their citizens actually vote.

But as oppressive, and noxious and malicious, as these practices seem -- and, as anti-democratic, and manipulative, and vindictive, as they surely are -- all of them pale against Project 2025, the engine by which Team Trump and its allies hope to bring about what they've craved for so long, an American Fourth Reich.

In simple terms, it amounts to a Handmaids Tale-style future on steroids, an unvarnished police state, plain and simple, driven by the twin engines of aggrieved white nationalism, and the unchecked impulses of dominion theology, in the unholiest, ghastliest sense of the term.

For Trump and his minions, it will amount to a lifelong dream come true, with the world's richest nation forever yoked to the ever-changing moods and excesses of its unhinged ruler, and his equally power mad, kleptocratic inner circle. For the great majority, it will unleash a nightmarish spiral of repression, one that has seemed unimaginable and unfathomable -- that is, until now.

<iii.>

On the surface, at least, a look at the Heritage Foundation's website for Project 2025 suggests nothing so dystopian. The centerpiece is an aggressive federal recruiting effort, targeting some 4,000 appointed positions that fall under the Presidential Personnel Office. Trump's former PPO director, John McEntee, is overseeing the effort, which Project 2025 Director Dan Evans describes thusly, in the accompanying press release:

"Our coalition will then review applicants and match them to agencies and offer such suggestions to an eventual transition team. Our goal is to bring conservative warriors from across the entire United States to Washington to ensure that the next administration serves the interests of the American people.”

Hence, Project 2025's website includes a portal for right-wing culture warriors to upload resumes for consideration in a future Trump administration, should that eventuality arise. But it's impossible to square such benign rhetoric with the more troubling picture that's leaked out, particularly of internal discussions that focus on sweeping expansions of administrative power not seen, even during Trump's first term.

They start with the uncorking of Trump's favored hobby horse, the Insurrection Act, to crush the wave of demonstrations, presumably, that would greet his unwanted return. Trump would also invoke the law to arrest migrants right at the border, as Trump's senior henchman, Stephen Miller, has confirmed (see New York Times link below).

Trump also plans to target the two agencies he sees making his life especially miserable -- the FBI, and the U.S. Justice Department -- by stocking them with zealots ready to do his bidding. Just as in Nazi Germany, career employees who didn't toe the line would come under fierce pressure to retire -- if they wanted to stay healthy -- replaced when their time is up, or pushed up, under some pretext or other (see link below: "Gleichshaltung, GOP-Style").

The list goes on and on, amplified by Trump's social media posts and speeches -- reviving attempts to revoke birthright citizenship; invoking the Alien and Sedition Act as pretexts for further clampdowns, and deportations; herding his enemies, real or imagined, into mental institutions, prisons, or giant holding pens, apparently inspired by the mass deportations of 1953-54 (the largest such endeavors in American history, so far).

Name the abuse of power, and he plans to unleash it. It does not take a math whiz, nor a nuclear physicist, to imagine the lasting damage that such a full throttle assault on human rights will mean, in the world's largest and longest-running democracy, one that may take decades to undo -- that is, if the voters allow it. 

<Separated at birth? Josef Goebbels (left),
Nazi Propaganda Minister;
Trump aide, Stephen Miller (right)>
<Daily Kos>

<iv.>

For those willing to shrug off such dispiriting exercises as case of "Trump being Trump," they  better think again. Trump's latest Nuremberg-style rallies have taken on a darker, and more apocalyptic cast, littered with phrases that sound straight out of Adolf Hitler's playbook, such as this outburst delivered to an audience in New Hampshire, and his Truth Social website:

"In honor of our great Veterans on Veteran's Day, we pledge to you will that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our Country, lie, steal and cheat on Elections, and will do anything possible, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America, and the American Dream. The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave, than the threat from within."

Add increasingly frequent references to the poisoning of America by deviant and criminalized migrants; the conspiratorial aspirations of nameless enemies out to undermine his ill-disguised ambitions; and vows to punish "bad Jews" and other opponents for their betrayals, and you end up with a lot of uncomfortable parallels with the collapse of Germany's Weimar Republic, after a mere 14 years.

Without the entry of American manpower and material to bolster British and Russian allies, the so-called Third Reich may well have lasted longer than the dozen years it occupied the world stage, from 1933 to 1945. Yet we should not mistake the positive results of our past as a permanent shield against the autocrats of tomorrow, as Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on strongmen past and present, warns us:

"Some have wondered why the Trump campaign is being so open about the repressive policies they intend to implement. This 'transparency' is line with authoritarian history: Autocrats often tell you who they are and what they intend to do to you before they take office. They do this as a challenge to norms, and they do this as a threat."

To paraphrase our earlier joke, Republicans are unblinking enemies of the "Deep State" -- that is, unless they can seize the opportunity to impose one more to their liking. 

<v.>

So where, exactly, do these latest events leave us, considering the existential threat that Project 2025 and Team Trump represent? Are those who cast themselves as the defenders of democracy honestly up to the awesome task of safeguarding it? 

At first glance, that savior seems to be the legal system, but frankly, the results have been mixed. Most January 6 rioters served a median sentence of 60 days, with varying combinations of community service, fines, home detention, and probation being imposed, depending on the offense. A handful who committed violent acts received longer sentences, of up to 20 years.

But even those sentences are not as stiff as they sound, as we see from the case of the so-called "QAnon Shaman," Jacob Chansley. He served a mere 27 months of a 41-month federal term, a period marked by procedural sparring over whether he deserved the organic vegetarian fare that he demanded. (and got, of course, under a religious liberty argument.) 

Chansley just made headlines again, by filing paperwork to run as a Libertarian in Arizona's Eighth Congressional District. Apparently, he's figured out that it's better to get your hands on the levers of power, since it saves the trouble of smearing feces on the walls. If he wins, I suspect that he'll feel comfortable in an environment headed by House Speaker Mike Johnson, another active player who worked to keep Trump in power after his 2020 election loss.

Although Trump and a handful of his cohorts have been charged, the vast majority -- the 147 House Republicans who refused to certify Biden's election, their Senate enablers, Ted Cruz, and Josh Hawley, and right-wing stalwarts, like "Supreme Court Justice" Clarence Thomas's wife, Ginni -- have not been, and may never be. They walk among us, unscathed and untouched, as if the nightmarish events of January 6 had never unfolded.

The failure to hold any of them legally accountable is beyond comprehension, and an insult to anyone who has ever taken the federal oath to "support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic." Without such an accounting, it is difficult to imagine how a democracy can thrive, as the Democrats continue to uphold the democratic norms that their Republican rivals so increasingly disdain.

The sluggish pace of the various legal cases involving Trump also suggests that the long-desired magic bullet, of which so many liberals and legal scholars dream -- the smoking gun, the Atticus Finch-style closing argument that seals a conviction -- may not arrive in time to take Trump off the game board, before the 2024 campaign unfolds in earnest.

<Celebrating Phil Ochs Blog:
https://celebratingphilochs.com/>

Yet our land is still troubled by men who have to hateThey twist away our freedom and they twist away our fate

Fear is their weapon and treason is their cry.We can stop them if we try.

<Phil Ochs, "Power And Glory,"
Missing verse (not used on original recorded version)>

<Coda>

In the end, it will probably fall to those of us who oppose the self-aggrandized destruction of democracy that Project 2025 represents, and continue to remind our coworkers, friends, and neighbors of the dangers that it poses. For this is the joke that all autocrats play on those foolish enough to enable them -- that only some sort of omnipotent authoritarian father figure can cure their ills.

In a different era, that dubious accolade may well have gone to Trump's chief rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. However, DeSantis -- like the mainstream media who relentlessly promoted him -- failed to read the room.

As events have shown, there is no market for a "Diet Trump" brand. Trump's fanbase doesn't want a kinder, gentler version of their aspiring Fuehrer. They embrace him because he is the blunt instrument they've always wanted, not in spite of it, which a critical aspect of the Trump phenomenon that continues to elude his rivals and critics.

Before long, however, the initial promise invariably dries up, as the newly-coined autocratic regime devours more and more resources to sustain its all-powerful leader and his clique, or diverts them to fund its pet projects -- typically, unwinnable wars, or unsustainable economic models, as China is discovering under its blustering neo-Maoist dictator, Xi Jinping.

Yet simply calling out Trump and his cohorts, while it's important, will not be enough in itself. We must also push back against those who continue to normalize his behavior, such as the mainstream media who continues to treat him like another candidate, who happens to have a few rough edges, as Salon notes:

"But the mainstream media is bored with Trump's rhetoric and has now largely moved on. That irresponsible choice further normalizes Trump's evil and the larger neofascist assault on the country's democracy and civil society.

"It is nearly incredible that the presumed nominee of one of the country's two institutional political parties is explicitly channeling Hitler and the Nazis. That should be dominating the news. Trump's Fourth Reich aspirations constitute a national emergency. But America is an unhealthy society where all this will likely be normalizes as just 'culture war tactics' or political 'polarization.'"

Stephen Miller certainly holds no such doubts, as we see from his closing words to the New York Times: "Bottom line, President Trump will do whatever it takes."

Indeed, he can, as he promises, and threatens, and will -- that is, if we, the people, give him the chance. For the sake of our democracy, and our nation, it is a glittering prize that must remain, always and forever, eternally out of his reach. --The Reckoner

Links To Go (Wake Up,

See What They're Planning For Us):

Daily Kos: Hitler's Josef Goebbels
And Trump's Stephen Miller Are Chillingly Similar:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/11/5/1687333/-Trump-s-Stephen-Miller-and-Hitler-s-Joseph-Goebbels-are-chillingly-similar

Global Project Against Hate And Extremism:
Project 2025: The Far-Right Authoritarian Playbook:

https://globalextremism.org/project-2025-the-far-right-playbook-for-american-authoritarianism/?gclid=CjwKCAiAjfyqBhAsEiwA-UdzJCRTA0zsuqjfVtweiPCCPgHMqEikqbVkzJEW-Pu2T4k41igZN7r-FhoCUSoQAvD_BwE

Heritage Foundation:

Former PPO DIrector John McEntee Joins Project 2025:

https://www.heritage.org/press/former-ppo-director-john-mcentee-joins-project-2025-personnel-database-launches

Ramen Noodle Nation: Gleichshaltung, GOP-Style:

The Death Of Democracy Starts Here:
https://ramennoodlenation.blogspot.com/2021/05/gleichschaltung-gop-style-death-of.html

Ramen Noodle Nation:

"Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps" (Parts I-IV):

https://ramennoodlenation.blogspot.com/search/label/Tomorrow%20and%20Tomorrow%20and%20Tomorrow%20Creeps

Salon: Donald Trump Dreams
Of An American Fourth Reich -- And He's Not Kidding:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-dreams-american-fourth-104502547.html

The New York Times: Sweeping Raids,

Giant Camps, And Mass Deportations:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sweeping-raids-giant-camps-mass-164740438.html