Sunday, November 22, 2020

My Corona Diary (Take XXIII): For Those Who Want To Stop Trump's Coup (Michigan Salutes You): UPDATED


<Self-Portrait In Mirror
W/Mask: 3:00 AM/
The Reckoner>

<i.>
A message from Voters Not Politicians, for those who care about democracy, and want to stop Trump's latest coup attempt, coming Monday afternoon, to Michigan:

Last week, we witnessed what happens when citizens speak out and stand up for democracy. 

During the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting, hours of passionate public comment by activists, elected officials, and clerks ensured that voters’ voices were heard and that the city of Detroit’s votes were counted. 

Now, it’s time for all of us to stand up together and speak out again to ensure that Michigan’s votes are counted and that no voter is silenced. 

Tomorrow (11/23), the Board of State Canvassers will meet to certify the state’s election results. 

All 83 Michigan counties have certified their results. The duty of the State Board of Canvassers is simply to affirm their work and certify the results for the state. Any attempts to delay the process are a subversion of standard election procedures and represent a bald-faced attempt to delay election results. The Board of State Canvassers needs to do their job on Monday, full stop.

There will be a period of public comment during the meeting on Monday. It is critical that we take this opportunity to make our voices heard and to demand that the four-member Board of State Canvassers protect our democracy and uphold the will of the people.

Today at 1 PM EST, a form will open to sign up to speak live during the meeting. The order will be first come, first serve. I urge you to be prepared to sign up immediately at 1 PM today. 

You can find the form here at 1 PM today: https://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_41221---,00.html 

This is one of the most critical moments in our state’s history. The future of our democracy hinges on decisions that will be made tomorrow, and we have the power to protect our democracy. 

We each have a voice and we must make sure our voices are heard. 

Thank you for standing with democracy,

Nancy Wang
Executive Director
Voters Not Politicians



Featuring MI House Speaker Lee Chatfield, 
and State Rep. Jim Lilly (among others).
What are they cooking up, we wonder?

<ii.>
Here we go again. Or maybe we should say, "There you go again," Gipper-style, to the Michigan state lawmakers who apparently couldn't resist the lure of an invite to the White House, because, well, The Orange Murder Hornet, Donald Trump, wanted to discuss something-or-other with them. 

Cookie recipes from Slovakia, as only Melania can make them? Not likely. He needed a partner or two for a euchre game? Don't think so. Maybe he wanted to share a business tip or two, since they did stay at the Trump International Hotel, in Washington, DC? Hardly, unless he wants to teach them the fine art of shafting others, as only he knows how.

Well, the dust has settled, and the deans of Michigan's state Republican delegation, House Speaker Lee Chatfield and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, are claiming that Trump didn't invite them this weekend to discuss his latest coup tactic -- cook up some type of electoral crisis, then crowbar election officials into going along, by canceling out enough votes to throw the state to him. If they don't buckle? Then try to drag out the certification process, so GOP-dominated legislatures, like Michigan, appoint pro-Trump presidential electors.

No, Chatfield and company claim, none of those things were on the agenda. They simply went for a chat, and lobby Trump to get more COVID-19 relief for Michigan. That doesn't square with Donald Trump's reputation as a notoriously transactional guy, one who's never shy about voicing his demands, Janet Jackson-style: "What have you done for me lately?" 

But even without Trump's latest threat against democracy hanging over our heads, the Michigan GOP group's cover story makes little sense, because it's not like they're doing anything lately to help their battered and beleaguered constituents. The above photo is one of several already making the media rounds, as Chatfield and company sip champagne at $495 a pop. 

It's a remarkable image, one reminiscent of some Cosa Nostra sitdown, minus the FBI telephoto graininess to spoil the effect. They're not making any effort to hide themselves, nor their pricey drinks, with nary a mask in sight, nor any sign of social distancing, as critics have already noted. 

Meanwhile, 30 to 40 million Americans face eviction, and millions more risk losing basic power and water, once those unpaid utility bills come flying across the dinner table. Food insecurity has never been deeper, nor wider, and nearly 100,000 businesses have already closed their doors for good. Two in three hotels may not last another six months, while 40 percent of all US restaurant owners expect to go belly up by March, unless the federal government kicks in more support. 

With so much widespread suffering, amid all the grim facts I've just rattled off, you really have to wonder what's going on in people's minds. The whole vibe of the photo makes me think this bunch has really taken the chorus of "The Fame" (Oasis) waaayyy too close for comfort: "I'm a man of choice in my old Rolls Royce, and I'm howling at the moon/Is my happening too deafening for you?" 

Even so, the photo fits the GOP's long-standing malignant consistency. I've seen this attitude creeping into countless letters to the editor, as in: They may be turds, but they're our turds. Or something along these lines: They may be turds, but they're consistent turds. That's why I voted for them. To keep the libs in check. End of argument.


Shades Of What Might Have Been (Sigh)...*

<iii.>

Meanwhile, the Skulduggery Express and its unhinged driver, Trump, continues to barrel ahead, scratching for some miracle that will allow him an equally disastrous second term, one that requires subverting and overturning an election that his opponent won by some six million notes. The scary thing is that he nearly succeeded, when the Wayne County Board of Canvassers initially deadlocked, 2-2, on certifying its votes, a move that might have kick-started the additional chaos that Trump seeks to generate with his relentless, last-minute flurry of Hail Mary maneuvers.

The certification only went ahead after the two Republicans reversed themselves (only to try and walk back their reversal, a luxury that Michigan law doesn't allow, thankfully). Today, the action heats up at the State Board of Canvassers' meeting, where -- once again -- we'll have to sweat what should be a routine procedure, since the Canvassers aren't supposed to play detective. That work, in theory, has already been done by the local election officials on the ground, many of whom have decades of experience in dealing with them.

Once more, we'll have to see if the two Republicans join their two Democratic colleagues in certifying the results. (Honestly, does anybody out there still think an even-numbered body still sounds like a good idea, especially for these situations?) And once more, we'll function as Trump's favorite pinatas or stress monkeys, depending on his mood, because that's how he does business. Remember, we're still stuck with him for eight more weeks.

Looking back on the Trump era's turbulence, I've concluded that his real achievement, other than relentless self-promotion, is his ability to freeze the future. We watched it happen in 2016, as Trump threw enough shade at his rival, Hillary Clinton, to convince voters that a deeply flawed non-politician's time had finally arrived; experience be damned. 

We saw it again this year, as Bernie Sanders's second presidential campaign ran aground on the rocks of fear and loathing from voters simply too terrified of a potential second Trump term, to envision a better future, let alone a tomorrow that might pass the smell test (as in, "only mildly awful," or even, "somewhat tolerable").

We're seeing that futuristic deep freeze playing out anew, on both sides. Trump's public mulling of a 2024 comeback, as many pundits have noted, will set the Republican field in cement till then. The net result will either be a party that struggles to turn the page, or one that's ready to follows him down whatever crackpot paths he cares to dragoon them. (Time will tell, but for now, I'm betting on the latter outcome.) 

By refusing to concede the election to Biden, and rolling out blizzards of lawsuits, amid his electoral coup attempts, Trump also binds the nation ever more closely to him as a fellow political codependent, even though it's a largely unwilling one. (Remember, as any counselor will tell you, the greatest danger for anyone trying to end an abusive relationship is when the victim finally feels ready  to leave it.)

The Democratic side remains equally frozen, at least for now, as Biden and his team figure the lay of the land. Prospects for many progressive priorities, like the Green New Deal, or Medicare For All, seem terribly dim, since the Democrats couldn't root out many of Trump's chief enablers in the Senate, while their U.S. House of Representatives majority shrank from, "safely outside the margin of error," to, "little room for error."

Not surprisingly, the neoliberal gargoyles of administrations past -- like former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who served under Clinton (1999-01), and led the National Economic Council, under Obama (2009-10) -- are already working and wooing Team Biden to focus mainly on triage, and let the bigger goals go. However, while there's no escaping the need for national triage, in light of COVID-19 and the economic crater it created, we're not obligated to wait for permission to keeping raising our issues, no matter how inconvenient they seem.

That goes doubly so for retreads like Summers, who popped up this past week to roll out the same tired arguments against canceling student debt, as progressives like Elizabeth Warren have proposed (yes, the rich hold more debt; no, they're in a better position than the urban poor and middle classes, who take much longer to repay it). Such spectacles only make the loss of a Bernie Sanders presidency cut all the more deeply, to those of us who dared to imagine such a thing.

As The Intercept notes below, the long-standing Democratic reluctance to "go big" effectively created the openings for Trump's emergence, and allowed him the luxury to keep chipping away at the very system that he so effectively gamed in the first place. 

While we can't undo all the damage that's effectively kept Democrats stuck in the penalty box for much of the last decade, we can resolve to strike a different path -- "a government that can give people that kind of soaring common purpose, one that is expansive enough to have a meaningful role for everyone who wants it," as the Intercept's piece asserts, in part. That type of leadership "is also best positioned to begin to heal the political ruptures that are ripping apart this country."

In many ways, the biggest battles still lie ahead of us. But for now, however, defending democracy must take center stage today, as the above letter notes. You have the link, and you have the opportunity. Otherwise, we'll continue hearing those timeworn phrases ringing in our ears, like the oft-mangled quote from writer-philosopher George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Or, as the Intercept's article states:

"The truth, as usual, is we have to do it all: Stop the Republicans from stealing an election they lost and stop the Democrats from blowing a mandate they won."

Let the people take it from there. --The Reckoner


<Coda>
UPDATE (5:35 p.m., 11/23/20): The Board of Canvassers has just upheld Michigan's election results, 3-0, with one abstention, appearing to put  stake in the heart of Trump's Weimar-era-esque dreams of following in his idols' goosesteps. But the long term work continues, and the challenge remains, as the following statement from Voters Not Politicians makes amply clear:

"Our democracy was put to the test this year and Michigan voters rose to the challenge. 

"Just moments ago, the majority of the Board of State Canvassers ultimately followed the law, upheld the will of the people, and voted to certify the results of the election.

"The national spotlight was strongly focused on Michigan and the will of the people has – and will continue to – prevail.

"Voters Not Politicians volunteers played a pivotal role in this election, working with local clerks for over a year to expand voting access, which became imperative amid the global pandemic. 

"We worked day in and day out to educate voters on the safe, secure, and convenient options available to them to cast their ballots, and the historic turnout definitively showed that when our democracy is more accessible, our elections more accurately reflect the will of the people.

"However, this process — which was meant to be a ministerial role — proved that we must continue to stand up and defend our democratic institutions and to ensure that the will of the people is upheld. 

"We look forward to continuing to improve our democracy through direct civic engagement.

"Thank you for standing strong to protect democracy today,

Nancy Wang
Executive Director
Voters Not Politicians."


Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,
Before Our Democracy Gets Tossed Under The Bus):

The Intercept
Now We Have To Fight Trump's Tinpot Coup --
Yahoo News
Michigan GOP Officials Were Pictured Drinking Champagne...

(*Sorry, I don't have the source for this image, or I can't find it: I will give credit or take down entirely, depending on preference. Thanks.)

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Punk Art Photos: "Still Life: 3:00 AM (W/Abandoned Mask & Leaves In Lobby)"

<Take I:
The Reckoner>

<i.>
It's amazing what you find, late at night, when you're doing laundry at 3:00 a.m. Hence, this series of photos that I snapped about a week ago, in our front lobby, while heading back and forth upstairs to the second floor, where our dryers and washing machines are situated. Note the troublesome detail in front of the table, though. 

Look familiar? It should, though I haven't seen people discarding their precious N95s since the summer. Well, wait. I take that back. Throughout June, July and August, I saw the odd mask scattered here or there across the ground, but nothing like spring, when I might spot three to four, or up to half a dozen, strewn across the parking lots of our two main grocery stores. What gives, people? I can't think of a better way to spread Coronavirus, or put others at risk.


<Take II>

<ii.>
Whatever their reasons, the guilty parties who are discarding their PPE (Protective Personal Equipment) this way are lifting laziness and selfish pique to a whole new level. Take our building. OK, so management removed the trash can, when COVID hit. That's no reason to just toss your mask on the ground, and leave the maintenance men to scoop it up, is it? You're leaving a potential infection point, and it's also f#cking disgusting. 

Still, we can thank ourselves for one small favor: I didn't see a pair of rubber gloves tossed aside, too. Actually, I haven't seen anybody ditching them since the summer. Even then, you just saw a pair of them, here or there. I mean, it's obvious why people are wearing rubber gloves right now, so maybe dumping them is a more visible act. Then again, I'm not seeing as many people wearing since COVID struck, so that's probably another reason. Anyway, read the links below to get the feeling out there.


<Take III>

<iii.>
I'd just come back from a run to Walgreens, because we'd run out of a lot of food, and hell, I was starving. So I grabbed an off-brand thin crust pizza for four bucks. All the ingredients you need are right there, no muss, no fuss, no nonsense, which sold me. It wasn't Home Run, my go-to brand, but it filled me up. It did the job, and for Sunday night, that was enough.

Judging by what I saw during my Walgreens run, panic buying seems to have slowly ramped up again. I noticed a particularly conspicuous gap in the bath tissue section (for paper towels and toilet paper). Once again, management had posted signs stipulating a two-package limit on those items. if that what's we're seeing before Thanksgiving, we're definitely in for a long, cold winter.

<Take IV>

<iv.>
Once more, here's a closeup of the offending mask. Judging by the facial indentations, this particular mask had already gone through a few go-rounds of wear and tear, leaving the owner apparently feeling confident enough to ditch it so conspicuously, without a care in the world. This is how people operate nowadays. They can't be bothered to, and they pass the stresses onto everyone else.

Lately, the Squawker and I have also noticed people getting lax with how they're wearing their masks. The most common variation I see is the mask pulled below the nose bit, followed by a few who lodge it under their chin, and the odd freak or two who lets it hang off their earlobe, even as they enter the same store that you do, without a care in the world, apparently.

People are burned out, exhausted, feeling straight up isolated and socially stunted, from spending so many months indoors. I get it, all of it. But even with the promise of two vaccines, we can't drop our guard. We don't have them yet. And until we do, I'm not bonding with any of those halfhearted mask wearers I've just described, in living color.

<Take V>

<v.>
Here we go, with my last photo. This is the long view, as you head past the table (out of shot, right), and prepare to open the main entrance door, with your key. 

Come Monday, none of this will look like it does here. The maintenance men will sweep the stray leaves that have blown in, with each visitor's comings and goings. They'll slip on their own gloves to dispose of the mask, and the mound of weekly shoppers scattered across the table will vanish with it.

However, while it's never hard to stumble across an unsettling reminder of our never-ending crisis, signs of the "new normal" -- whatever that means -- seem more distant than ever. Happy Thanksgiving, such as it is. We'll see what winter brings, I guess. --The Reckoner


Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,
Before That N95 Kisses The Concrete):

The Huffington Post:
Please Stop Throwing
Your Used Gloves And Masks On The Ground:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stop-throwing-gloves-masks-on-the-ground_l_5e8e08fac5b670b4330a7b93

WPDE
Some Are Throwing Their 
Used Masks, Gloves Right On The Ground:
https://wpde.com/news/local/some-are-throwing-their-used-masks-gloves-right-on-the-ground
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Monday, November 16, 2020

Punk Art Photos: "Still Life, Bank Of America" (x 2) (The Squawker)

 

<Take One: The Squawker>

<i.> 
It's a weird thing, isn't it, when a piece of your life suddenly disappears? One minute, you're in and out of this building, or that one; you regularly talk with So-and-So, or Such-and-Such; Monday through Friday, you go to Job XYZ, like clockwork. The next....suddenly, you're no longer doing any of these things. Depending on your circumstances, you may give these things a second thought, or maybe not. Like they say...it's a free country.

Such was is the case with these photos here. You're looking at two views of our local Bank of America (BofA) branch, which suddenly, unceremoniously, shut down a couple years ago, without warning. The move didn't affect the Squawker and I, because we'd switched to a different bank, after reading various media reports about BOfA seizing accounts. 

That didn't sit well with us, having experienced run-ins over the years with zombie collectors trying to make good on (presumably) long-dead, long-forgotten debts. But dealing with a private debt collector is different from your local bank, which has the power to hit right where you live -- your account. It doesn't get anymore basic than that.

So we switched, and didn't look back, as the cliche goes. We're happy with our current bank, aside from the odd issue here or there (see: "Life's Little Injustices (Take II): I Feel An Overdraft" for further reference). The BofA building itself has languished unbought and unused since the closure, though it didn't get boarded up until this summer, when Squawker shot these photos.

<Take Two: The Squawker>

<ii.>
All things considered, seeing a place that marked one of your daily or weekly routines feels weird.  What's happening with the building, I don't know yet, though workmen have been out in force the last few weeks, dutifully doing whatever retrofitting that a new owner might require -- assuming that one is actually on the horizon.

The same abrupt axe fell this summer on our local insurance office, when the owner retired suddenly, after 30- or 35-odd years. Just like that, another reference point disappeared overnight, along the staff we'd dealt with for the decade or so. One employee found the same job with a different agent out of town, a dozen or so miles away. I ran into her at the store, where she briefed me on the relevant details. 

She the owner always planned on retiring, but suddenly brought up the date by a couple years -- illness, reversal of fortune, or strong desire to ride into the sunset, who knows? -- which caught everyone off guard. In any case, one other coworker chose to become an independent agent, and his dad -- who'd come out of retirement to help -- retired again. We were assigned to a different agent, whom I haven't met yet. Due to Corona's incinerator, I'm mainly doing business with him online. We have spoken once or twice, but I don't think we've met.

COVID-19 has shone an interesting light on how banks really operate, including how many consumers are shut out of the system, as The American Prospect reported this spring (see below). An estimated 24.2 million Americans are "underbanked," or operating outside traditional financial networks, while an additional 8.4 million have no bank account. That's an awful lot of people without access to an awful lot of things.

However, while Congress exempted stimulus checks from federal or state debt collection (except for child support), it didn't carve out a similar freedom from private debt collection, leaving recipients at risk from anyone trying to shake them upside down, whether it's a zombie collector, or your friendly neighborhood local bank.

We've seen many variations on this problem in the past, notably 2018, when Bank of America faced a major backlash for freezing customers' accounts over citizenship questions. Whether it reflected general Trump administration xenophobia, at the federal macro level, trickling down to some overzealous local executive looking to move the minute hand, and justify their existence, is hard to say.

Time will tell what happens to our old bank, as the workmen continue doing what they're doing, surrounded by the tools of their trade, and a variety of scaffolding, though I think the ATM machines are finally gone now. I wonder how the former employees we used to see are doing, and whether they've joined the millions struggling for their health, their sanity, and indeed, their basic survival. As for the rest of it, well...what else can I say? Old habits die hard. --The Reckoner


Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,
The Garnishment Cometh):

The American Prospect:
Your Coronavirus Check Is Coming.
Your Bank Can Grab It:
https://prospect.org/coronavirus/banks-can-grab-stimulus-check-pay-debts/

The Huffington Post:
Bank of America Faces Backlash
After Freezing Accounts Over Citizenship Questions:
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bank-of-america-citizenship-question_n_5b88470ae4b0cf7b00339747
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Sunday, November 8, 2020

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps (Take II): Election Day 2020 Slides Sideways


<"Fade To Black...And Then Gray":
The Reckoner>

<i.>
And so, it ends. Election Day 2020 has come, and gone. America's slide into fascism, greased along the skids of remorseless minority rule, will wait another four years, if you're an optimist. The "free fall to hell," as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times this weekend, is off the table, at least for now. "We paused this precipitous descent. And the question is if and how we will build ourselves back up."

Judging by the latest results, there's plenty of rebuilding ahead. Democratic nominee and President-elect Joe Biden shattered all records, in garnering 75.4 million votes (50.7%) -- the highest popular vote total for any candidate -- while Vice President Kamala Harris made history as the first female and woman of color to occupy the second slot. Yet Donald Trump continued his penchant for defying political gravity, by earning 70.9 million votes (47.7%), even as he refuses to add "ex-President" to his job description.

What's more, 26% of Trump's overall vote came from nonwhites, the best such showing by any Republican nominee since 1960. Trump further defied gravity with strong turnouts among Latinos, as the punditocracy has endlessly noted, and notably improved his share among African-American women (from four to eight percent), African-American men (13 to 18%), and gays and lesbians (14 to 28%).

I can attest to the last statistic, at least anecdotally. There's a guy in my building whom I've seen wearing a T-shirt that reads, "Gays For Trump." This, despite a newly hardened conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court, that seems poised to snatch away the right to marry granted in its 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. What can I say? Disconnect is one mighty, mean motherfucker, apparently.

Most disturbing of all is seeing Trump racking up some of his biggest percentages in states hardest hit by the COVID-19 wrecking, ranging from lows 48.8% (Wisconsin), to highs of 62.7% (Arkansas), 63.7% (Idaho), and 65% (North Dakota). Either people's affinity for misery is wider than anyone cares to admit, or the mental gravitational pull of Trump's alternate universe -- one that requires no masks, no social distancing, no tough decision-making -- is too strong to resist. I'm plumping for the latter.

None of these results feel good to anyone who really cares about democracy. My feeling is that Biden won because of his promise to better handle the pandemic that Trump and his cronies have botched so grievously, and so catastrophically. Yet, despite the pandemic, and the predictable social unrest it unleashed -- the cratering economy, protests of police brutality, and skyrocketing COVID-19 death toll -- "Almost half of the country looked at the way Donald Trump has functioned as president since 2017 and said, definitively, that they wanted four more years of it," as Klein notes.

How else to explain an outcome that ground on, grimly and tortuously, right into the weekend? Yes, the Democrats finally speared their white whale, but it took an enormous, concerted effort to make sure the harpoon finally hit its mark. Even then, it might not have landed, without the final four states that pushed Biden over the top (Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and of course, Pennsylvania).

In the final analysis, an authoritarian wannabe almost returned to power once more, bolstered by his capture of the Republican Party machinery, and its cultish following. As Ian Bassin, co-founder of the nonpartisan legal group Protect Democracy notes: "If that doesn't tell you that something is completely rotten in the foundations of our democracy, I don't know what would."

Honestly, I don't want to hear that cliche, "This is not who we are." The cold, hard fact is, this is who a whole hell lot of us are, at least for the immediate future. 


<"Going..."
The Reckoner>

<ii.>
Democracy shouldn't be synonymous with sclerosis, yet it's equally clear that 240-some years on, the American experiment is suffering some serious hardening of its arteries. Start with the notorious Electoral College, and all the insufferable ambiguities that go with it. As many Election Night commentators noted, if the popular vote determined the outcome, Biden could have gone home to Delaware, and started working up his transition plan, right then.

Instead, the nation hung on tenterhooks, as vote counts slowly ticked in, first from Wisconsin...now from Michigan...and finally, from Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Once again, as it did in 2000, and 2016, a handful of states determined an outcome that hinged on voters' preferences in those some handful of states. "That's the system," we hear its defenders say. "That's the problem," respond the critics, who then struggle to gain any traction to change it.

The nearest success came in 1969, when U.S. Senator Birch Bayh co-sponsored an amendment to replace the Electoral College with a French-style, two-round system that would require the winner to earn at least 40% of the popular vote. If that didn't happen in round one, the nation's top jobs would go to the presidential and vice presidential candidates receiving the largest number of votes.

The House of Representatives passed the Bayh-Celler amendment, as it was known, by a 339-70 vote in September 1969. Even President Richard Nixon got behind it, having barely warded off a strong challenge from Democrat Hubert Humphrey, and George Wallace's insurgent third party campaign. (Presumably, Tricky Dick whipped out his slid rule and figured he'd have fared better under Bayh-Celler in the 1968 race, the closest and mostly hotly contested, up to that time. Otherwise, I doubt that he would have endorsed it.)

All systems seemed go until Bayh's fellow Senators soon schooled him in how things really work around here, as the tired old phrase goes. The Bayh-Celler amendment advanced 11-6 out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, only to die after a handful of Southern "boll weevil" and small state Senators filibustered it to death. Two attempts at breaking the stalemate failed, prompting Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield to abandon Bayh-Celler for good.

Bayh tried once more, in 1977, but his second attempt met the same fate as its predecessor. There's something poetic and ironic about a small in-group using an obscure legislative tactic to ensure the survival of an institution that increasingly favors minority rule. In that respect, Bayh's comments from Every Vote Equal (2013) seem especially prescient:

"Today more than ever, the Electoral College system is a disservice to the voters. With the number of battleground states steadily shrinking, we see candidates and their campaigns focused on fewer and fewer states. While running for the nation’s highest office, candidates in 2004 completely ignored three-quarters of the states, including California, Texas, and New York, our three most populous states. Why should our national leaders be elected by only reaching out to 1/4 of our states? It seems inherently illogical, and it is."

I wonder how Bayh, who only died just last year, might feel about the spectacle of Trump, the Orange Menace, preparing to blitz the nation with more of his signature Nuremberg-style rallies, even as he refuses to concede, and gropes for straws to overturn a narrow result that hurt his party this time. In that respect, these additional comments from Bayh feel right on point:

"The election of President of the United States should not be a contest between red states and blue states. The President should be chosen by a majority of our citizens, wherever they may live. Direct popular election would substitute clarity for confusion, decisiveness for danger, and popular choice for political chance."


<"Still Going..."
The Reckoner>

<iii.>
Of course, the current artificial political game of Cowboys and Indians seems fated to continue, too, because the oft-ballyhooed "blue wave" ended up as a blue ripple. Nowhere did this seem clearer than the U.S. Senate, where Democrats only picked up two seats (Arizona, Colorado) -- and those against two  incumbents (Martha McSally, Cory Gardner, respectively) who'd never led a poll, and had been essentially written off by the fall.

Otherwise, voters allowed some of Trump's biggest enablers (Susan Collins, Joni Ernst, Lindsay Graham, Thom Tillis) to escape unscathed. It's a particularly depressing outcome when you ponder the darkness of a shape shifter like Ernst, who rode to fame among the GOP Class of 2014 with a TV ad boasting of how she'd make Washington's pork barrel merchants "squeal," like the hogs she couldn't wait to castrate on her farm.

A bit rich, isn't it, coming from someone who fumbled a debate question about the cost of soybeans. Yet there Phony Joni sits, basking in the last laugh, for six more years, at least. In a truly just world, she'd find herself chained to a chair, with every British anarcho-punk animal rights broadside blasting into her tone deaf ears: "Just think how the animals feel! Just think how the animals feel!" 

The long arc bends toward justice...my ass. 

Outcomes in the House of Representatives proved equally dim, with Democrats bracing for a net loss of seven to 11 seats. They'll still hold a majority, though one leaving far less room for error. Nevertheless, the withered mummies and zombies who pass for senior Democratic leadership these days are already out in force, as they moan and maunder, peep and mutter: "Bad progressives...You cost us our seats...Bad lefties...you cost us our seats...Democratic socialists, darken this crypt no longer....you cost us our seats..." 

However, a quick check of the old box score shows, without exception, all the losers fell into the so-called "Blue Dog" category of Democrats -- you know, the kinder, gentler Republicans who pride themselves on smoking the occasional joint, even as they wink at the exploitation of the poorer classes they hope to con into voting for them, so they can forget their inconvenient excuse for another two years. 

In contrast, the progressive class -- led by its marquee attraction, Ocasio-Cortez, along with her familiar Squadmates, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley, and newer faces, like Jamaal Bowman -- all cruised to re-election. Any of the mummies care to explain that? 

I'm not expecting it, simply because the neoliberal crowd and its cronies never cop to their mistakes. It's easier to "shuck and duck," as I call it, and pass the buck somewhere else. I think Ocasio-Cortez has the most relevant answer, as her New York Times interview suggests:

"We need to do a lot of anti-racist, deep canvassing in this country. Because if we keep losing white shares and just allowing Facebook to radicalize more and more elements of white voters and the white electorate, there’s no amount of people of color and young people that you can turn out to offset that.

"But the problem is that right now, I think a lot of Dem strategy is to avoid actually working through this. Just trying to avoid poking the bear. That’s their argument with defunding police, right? To not agitate racial resentment. I don’t think that is sustainable."

Not to worry, though. Illinois Congressman Cheri Bustos, the architect of the failed House strategy -- or, roughly translated, "Vote for us, because we're not Trump, but forget about anything meaningful happening to improve your life" -- barely hung on against a Republican who received no major financial help. 

Yet Bustos is reportedly under consideration for a Cabinet post! What's that saying? Failure falls upwards. If you've got a better example, I'd love to hear it.



<"...Gone!"
The Reckoner>

<iv.>
Amid the gray puffs of gloom, some bright spots made themselves felt, which the mainstream media missed in its haste to bury the Democratic progressives. As Bernie Sanders noted in his weekly email, progressive ballot measures passed in several states, including proposals to increase taxes on those making $250,000 or more to fund public schools (Arizona), provide 12 weeks of paid family leave (Colorado), and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026 (Florida). 

None are California-style liberal havens, by any stretch of the imagination, yet the success of these campaigns belies the Blue Dog narrative that throwing genuinely different ideas into the mix is an automatic deal breaker. People on the ground know better what's working for them, and what's not, than the donor classes and the talking heads who loudly declaim otherwise. How else did emerge Trump in the first place? Work it out, folks. It's not complicated.

Other bright spots included Adrian Tam, who beat an established incumbent, and a leader of the Proud Boys far right hate group, to become Hawaii's only openly gay state lawmaker. I'd also nominate Cori Bush, a single mother and ordained minister who became an organizer after the 2014 unrest of Ferguson, Missouri, and also raised two children as a homeless single mother. If that's not the definition of a hero, what is? 

What's more, Bush's victory ended the Clay family's 52-year dominance of her St. Louis area district. She did so, while supporting all the key Democratic progressive positions, including the $15 an hour minimum wage, Medicare for all, free college, and cancellation of student debt. Again, Missouri is hardly a liberal place, even if Bush will represent a district that Democrats have dominated since 1909, except for 17 months. She knocked off longtime incumbent Lacy Clay on her second try -- no small feat, since rematches typically favor the officeholder. If that's not a giant killer, what is?

The problem, though, is that Cori Bush isn't the type of candidate that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Senate counterpart, Chuck Schumer, seem to want. We covered this in our October 2019 post, "The Windowless Basement Hustle," referring to Schumer's brusque dismissal of a would-be Senate candidate, who proposed holding "100 town halls in 100 days," and go from there. "Wrong answer. We want you to spend the next 16 months in a windowless basement raising money," Schumer allegedly responded, in part. 

As we saw last week, that "windowless basement" strategy led to a lot of money getting flushed down the drain, or $626 million in 14 races, including $90 million alone for Amy McGrath's vanity campaign against the GOP Senate Majority Leader, Mitch The Mummy (McConnell, that is). 

This, despite McGrath barely surviving a primary against her progressive rival, Charles Booker; this, despite her burning up $8 million in a previously unsuccessful Congressional race; this, despite fumbling basic questions, like whether she'd have confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh (first she said no, then "probably," then no yet again). It's not surprising that McConnell rarely leaves the Senate floor these days without a crooked Joker-style grin. Why shouldn't he, with opponents so lacking in street smarts?

I'd also question why Democrats went all in with $70 million for Sarah Gideon in Maine, and $90 million for Jamie Harrison in South Carolina, who wound up losing to incumbents Susan Collins and Lindsay Graham by nine and 10 points, respectively. Both ran reasonably adept campaigns, particularly Harrison, yet in the grand scheme of things, a loss is still a loss, no matter how inspired you allegedly made people feel.

The runaway spending spree also backfired spectacularly in one other way: it allowed Republican reptiles like Graham and McConnell to shroud themselves in the mantle of democracy, even though it's hard to imagine two people who have done more to undermine it. 

Seeing gushers of money flowing from shadowy donors fighting over territory like a Louis Vuitton handbag isn't energizing; to many people, it's a numbing and depressing reminder of everything they detest about the system in the first place. Note to Chuck and Nancy: the Constitution starts with, "We the people." Not, "We, the people, in a windowless basement." There's a slight difference that you're not appreciating. 

With so much money flowing here, there and everywhere, you'd think the challengers and their campaigns would also have spread it further down the ballot, where it might have actually done more good. Amid all the national hoopla, it's easy to forget that tons of local and state candidates run with a fraction of the attention, money and organization that flows to a Gideon, or a Harrison. That's where tomorrow's national political stars typically start, yet nobody thinks that far ahead. 

As long as the Democratic leadership remains wedded to this peculiar model of cyber-corporate campaigning, with its cookie cutter messaging and tepid armada of hand-picked candidates, it can hardly expect stellar results. In contrast, the Republicans responded more nimbly to events, and made better overall strategic decisions, such as where to host Trump's rallies, or send his surrogates to attack rivals. Having less cash forces you to think more creatively. It feels downright weird to view the Republicans as the party of punk rock improvisation, but that's what last week seems to bear out.

Most relevantly of all, Democratic candidates need to up their game dramatically in the 2022 midterms, and 2024 Presidential race, if they ever hope to get out of the penalty box, and get a shot at finally passing some of those cherished priorities, like the Green New Deal, for instance, or Medicare For All. 

As we saw last week, merely telling voters, "We're not Trump," wasn't enough. What will the Blue Dogs and the donor classes who so eagerly subsidize them do when Trump inevitably departs from the scene, without the accompanying fear of his shadow, and the license to print money that it offers? It's a question well worth considering, before the failure to provide a decent answer dogs us forever.

Honestly, we can, and must, do better than trotting out the standard bromides and platitudes that the donor class feeds its hand-picked heroes ("We feel your pain, we have a plan, we'll get it right next time"), as Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times: "This isn't even just about winning an argument. It's that if they keep going after the wrong thing, I mean, they're just setting up their own obsolescence."

I couldn't have said it better myself. Or, as Jimi Hendrix told his questioners, when they asked why he chose to play "The Star-Spangled Banner" as he did, with an array of feedback, and high decibel string bending: "We play it the way the air is in America today. The air is slightly static, see?" 

And therein lies the problem. See, I just can't shake the buzzing of all that static out of my eardrums, and neither should anyone else who cares about what's happening to our nation. Because the biggest fights lie ahead of us. -- The Reckoner


<Coming Soon...
To A Superspreader Rally Near You!:
The Squawker>


Links To Go (Hurry, Hurry,
Before The MAGA Convoy Honks In Your Ear Again...)

Down With Tyranny
Folie a Millions: Nearly Half The Voters

Down With Tyranny
In The States With The Worst COVID Situations

Huffington Post
Joe Biden Ran On Character:

Ramen Noodle Nation
Guest Cartoon: "The Windowless Basement Hustle":

Matt Taibbi
Which Is The Real  "Working Class" Party Now?:
https://taibbi.substack.com/p/which-is-the-real-working-class-party-cc3

Yahoo News
Meet Adrian Tam, The Gay Man
Who Beat A 'Proud Boys' Leader In Hawaii's Election:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/meet-adrian-tam-gay-man-093451604.html
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Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Tomorrow And Tomorrow And Tomorrow Creeps: Election Day 2020 Arrives

 

<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.>
And so, it begins. Four years ago today, Donald J. Trump crossed the line from businessman, promoter and reality TV star to the White House, by scoring one of the unlikeliest wins in American Presidential history. When the dust settled, Trump received 62,984,828 (46.09%), or 2.9 million less than his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, who garnered 65,853,514 votes (48.18%). However, Trump -- and the Republican Party he took over, fully and absolutely -- came out ahead, thanks to that peculiar American institution, the Electoral College, which gave him 306 pledged electoral votes, to 232 for Clinton. (The official tally later shook out to a 304-227 victory for Trump, after a couple defections on both sides.)

There's something garishly appropriate about that tally, when you consider that the Founding Fathers -- or, those Guys In Stockings And Wigs, as I satirically refer to them -- created the Electoral College to keep the slaveholding states on board with the newborn United States of America, earning them an outsized influence that would explode, less than a century later, into the Civil War. I doubt those Guys In Stockings And Wigs would have imagined an unapologetically divisive white supremacist like Trump reaping the benefits of an institution designed to filter out popular sentiment.

Yet filter, it did, allowing Trump to become only the fifth US President to enter the White House, even after losing a majority of the popular vote, thus setting the template for what we've all endured under his watch. Trump's Presidency was never going to be a picnic, based on the tendencies that he vented during his march to the nomination. Even so, Americans shrugged it all off - the constant craving for attention, the full-on xenophobia and bigotry, the preening narcissism, the relentless self-aggrandizement, and unrelenting vindictive streak -- as the products of an immature, yet brilliantly unconventional non-politician.

Critics among the mainstream media and Republican ranks comforted themselves, for a time, by clutching two reeds of hope. It's all just an act, one school of thought held. He'll ditch it the minute he enters the Oval Office. He'll grow into the job, because he wants to succeed. He knows he'll have to learn on the job, just like in his real estate days. (The promoters of this notion never explained how it squared with Trump's trail of six bankruptcies. But I digress.)

The more reserved thinkers clung to a different reed: He is what he is, and he probably won't change, because his base loves it. but he'll at least surround himself with competent people who know what they're doing. The adults in the room will keep him from straying too far off the reservation.

Four years on, it's easy to laugh at both schools, and ask, "What the f#ck were you guys thinking, and what kind of paint fumes hit, when you made those statements?" Four years on, it's the adults -- such as they are, particularly in the Cabinet -- who've either gotten run off the reservation, or ground down to the point of quitting in despair, or risk losing what integrity they somehow managed to preserve.

I find myself wondering, "What did you expect?" Like all those with deep-seated insecurities, Trump always laughs at others, but never at himself. To him, the joke is funniest when it's at someone else's expense. Like all armchair critics, Trump floats through life as a critic without criteria, let alone a suitable game plan. After all, such things are for plebes.

Like all wouldbe autocrats, Trump rages at those who dare to question him, even as he routinely assigns blame to others for whatever he doesn't achieve personally, and conjures up terrible awaits for those who ask, "Isn't this madness getting a bit out of hand?" Like all ham-fisted authoritarians, Trump demands unblinking obedience and loyalty, a favor that he doesn't typically return to those who actually do his bidding.

Finally, like all schemers and connivers, Trump has never met a truth he couldn't embroider, a rule of law he couldn't bend, and a system that he couldn't game, one way or another. When in doubt, he doubles down on all his worst tendencies, now that few competent "adults" -- in any capacity -- remain to restrain, sidestep or sabotage them.

The moral of the story? Pay attention to how people present themselves. What you see is often what you get. There's a reason why people get nervous when Trump says "the quiet part out loud" on whatever obsession crosses his mind.




And after the show that night, 
The clowns had the makeup wiped from their faces
When somebody pulled a knife
And cut off Coco's bright red braces

They murdered the clown
They wiped that grin right off his face
They murdered the clown
Still the world's not a funnier place...

>"They Murdered The Clown,"
Graham Parker<

<ii.>

By any measure, the sheer scale of the social and economic misery that the Trump era has unleashed on its citizens is a staggering one. It's a situation that will prompt historians to endlessly ask themselves, "What The F#ck Happened To America?", as the Washington Post's star reporter, Bob Woodward already suggested earlier this fall.

As I write today, the toll of COVID-19 has now reached 231,000 deaths, and 9.38 million cases. The dreary roll call of new cases and skyrocketing case rates rages on, with no end and no vaccine in sight, even as the self-styled Dear Leader races from rally to rally, claiming, "We've turned the corner." If he means the corner of the nearest funeral home, or local cemetery, he's right, but I don't think so.

The same story holds true for what's left of the nation's safety net, one that now hangs battered and tattered, after the latest stimulus talks collapsed without resolution a couple weeks ago. As of August, 18 million Americans found themselves without work, who have now joined the 30 million already claiming unemployment benefits.  But even those who hold jobs may soon have other worries, like the 30 to 40 million at risk of eviction or foreclosure over the next several months, as the various protective measures created under the stimulus package that passed this spring begin to expire (see the link below).

As we now know, of course, Trump and his enablers, led by Mitch The Mummy -- also known as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell -- had other priorities, such as jamming Amy Coney Barrett down the national gullet onto the Supreme Court. Ironically, the story wound up largely lost amid the usual ongoing Trumpian chaos, despite Barrett racking up two dubious historical milestones of her own -- notably, the closest confirmation margin for a Justice (51-48), and the first without a single vote from the opposing party (Democrat).

The contrast between this activity, and the desperation that is now every day reality for so many millions, could not be more striking -- and this, already, on top of a summer marked by widespread clashes between police and protesters, following George Floyd's slow, agonizing suffocation at the hands of Minneapolis police. By any measure, this year is an especially brutal and tragic one, whose calendar days grind out wearily and tortuously, stuck forever in a Groundhog Day-styled loop of weary despair -- only this time, with the cynical TV weatherman overtaken, Friday The Thirteenth-style, by the machete-wielding Jason Voorhees.

The truly nightmarish part, however, is that there's no such thing as "bottom" with Trump, especially if he somehow wriggles his way, unhinged and unscathed, across the finish line once more, to a second term. Once more, those who voted against him will find themselves fending off the inevitable "WTF, America?" questions, as the Muttley-styled snickering grows ever so louder, and all the more insistent.

Sending Trump back to his Mar-A-Lego estate for good will reassure the less savvy among us that he was just some Frankenstein-type aberration, never to be repeated. Ah! There! Now we can rest easy, and forget... At least until someone like Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton -- who drew fire this summer, for claiming that slavery was a "necessary evil" to build the nation -- comes out running in 2024. I hope that's not the case, but complacency is a powerful narcotic, more so than cocaine, or heroin, or morphine.

Keeping Trump on the national payroll, however, will only confirm to friends and enemies around the world that we're gluttons for punishment -- or, deep down, more admiring of this heartless orange spray tanned darkling than we care to admit. How can he be an aberration, as mainstream commentators hold, when almost half the country still buys into the weird mixture of '50s and '80s nostalgia that he peddles so shamelessly and relentless?

That's before we get to what awaits at the executive level, as the Atlantic Monthly notes (see below). If re-elected, Trump has decided to fire Defense Secretary Mark Esper, CIA Director Gina Haspel, and FBI Director Christopher Wray, all of whom he finds too independent for his liking. As we've seen with other Cabinet and government positions, Trump will either replace them with outright loyalists, or acting heads, who presumably have one foot out the door already. (Lest we forget, "former Trump administration official" probably reads as appealing as Pete Best's resume might have, after his ouster: "Drummed for the Beatles (Liverpool-based pop band), 1960-62. You might have heard of them.")

How much difference a newly-minted Democratic House and Senate majority might make in this scenario remains to be seen, at least until it comes to pass. Trump would likely crank up his ongoing blizzard of executive orders to do whatever terrible thing crosses his mind lately, such as those allegedly being prepared by his resident white supremacist aide, Stephen Miller -- including proposals to cut off any refugee admissions, and ending birthright citizenship (which the 14th Amendment established -- though Trump's never one to let such details stop him from trying).

"The result of such a change could radically reorient the federal government and the United States writ large," Atlantic Monthly notes. "If the first Trump term was recognizable as an American government, albeit a conspicuously bad one, the second might barely be recognizable at all."

The moral of the story? Don't ever underestimate the damage that one person can do. Or the havoc they can wreak, when they're really determined to do it.


<"I'm H.P. Lovecraft, 
And I Approved This Message..."
The Reckoner>

Well I hope you live long now,
I pray the lord your soul to keep
I think I'll be going 
before we fold our arms and start to weep

I never thought for a moment
that human life could be so cheap
'Cos when they finally put you in the ground
They'll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down
I never thought for a moment that human life could be so cheap
'Cos when they finally put you in the ground
They'll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down

I never thought for a moment 
that human life could be so cheap
'Cos when they finally put you in the ground
They'll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down...

<Elvis Costello,
"Tramp The Dirt Down">


<iii.>
Like so many other countless millions, the Squawker and myself never imagined finding ourselves in the position that we find ourselves staring down today. When 2020 started, we supported Bernie Sanders, just as we'd done so enthusiastically before -- only to find our hopes dashed, just as we'd seen, so drearily and monotonously before. And predictably, too, perhaps, with the emergence of the eventual Democratic nominee, Joe Biden -- whom we initially rejected as yesterday's man, among other factors. (For deeper info on the whole business, see the "Who Decides, Who Decides?" series of posts on this site.)

But that was then, and this is now. A couple of weeks ago, we took advantage of Michigan's opportunity for early voting, and cast our ballots for Biden. The reason is simple and straightforward enough: to ensure that we live to fight another day, along with our democracy, such as it's defined in this age of rampant gerrymandering, and voter suppression. The image of Trump taking a meat cleaver to the programs that we rely on to make our existence livable, like Medicare and Medicaid, is not one that either of us relish, full stop. The chopping block is not the type of neighborhood that we care to frequent.

My sister, who works in state government, has a terrific expression that she's coined, whenever politicians finally break down, and back off from an unpopular policy, or core position, that's aggravated the public: "He understands money." So do we, and that's how Squawker and I voted. There is no shame in that particular game, especially when you've struggled at the box office, as both of us have done.

Did we do a jig when we cast our votes? Not necessarily. Do we expect a Biden administration, should America choose it this evening, to solve all of our problems? Not in the least, especially since he'll initially find himself preoccupied with the drudgery of doing triage, and putting out whatever dumpster fires still burn brightly from the remnants of Trump's presidency. If nothing else, the crumbling embers of Trump's governing style should demonstrate that no one person alone can fix "it," however loosely or freely the officeholder defines it.

Are we thinking that prosperity, or a new progressive era, is right around the corner? Perhaps. We'll have to see, because it depends on whether Biden can bring a new majority along with him. If some of Trump's Senate enablers still escape punishment, then the remorseless grind of the great muddle that we've experienced since 2016 will drag on for at least a couple more years. 

Like a lot of progressives, I suspect we'd all like nothing better than for a blue tsunami to wash the Republicans completely out to sea, in such seemingly unlikely places as Alaska and Kansas, or Georgia and Texas, or North Carolina and South Carolina. It's the only thing that will ever break the Republican fog of denial, and it's the outcome that they so richly deserve, for the middle finger that they have given those who dared to disagree with them.

But two other things are clear to me, as we hold our collective breaths and wait for the popular will, and the verdict of history. First, although dismissing Trump may win some measure of long-overdue breathing room, and a welcome relief from the never-ending psychodrama of the circus that he represents, his ghostly combover will haunt the American sphere for years to come -- not only among the Tom Cottons and Tom Cruzes, as they try to carry his banner, but also, in the wreckage of personal relationships that have crumbled under the division that he has so freely and so gleefully stoked for far too long. 

Look no further than the article below, "You're No Longer My Mother," which leads with a son who's no longer speaking to his mother, because she's voting for Trump. They're not sure if they'll reconcile, even if Trump loses. How sad is that? Like so many things associated with the man -- whether it's COVID-19, the resurgence of white supremacist hate groups, or the fury ignited by the GOP's court-packing tactics -- the breakup of countless relationships carries a grimy aura of inevitability, even as the participants concede: "It didn't have to be this way."

Yet I also understand the perspective voiced by the Pennsylvania woman, who apparently happens to be the lone Biden supporter in a Trump-dominated family: "I look at them differently. It's because they have willingly embraced someone who is so heartless and just shows no empathy to anyone in any circumstances." 

That brings us back where we started in 2016, when the Squawker and I found ourselves asking the same question. How could so many people embrace someone lacking in so many basic human qualities? It's a discussion that we urgently need to have, if only to stop ourselves from falling down the "Don't ask, don't tell" rabbit hole that brought us to this place.

The moral of the story? We'll know a little better after tonight. But suffice to say, there's plenty of unfinished business sitting on the table. And there is much work to be done. --The Reckoner

Links To Go
The Aspen Institute
The COVID-19 Eviction Crisis:
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19-eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-people-in-america-are-at-risk/

The Atlantic Monthly
Trump Aide Stephen Miller 
Preparing Second-Term Immigration Blitz:

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