REAGAN COULD BE PROUD

One friend replied thus to this blog: “And I’m sure we’re all putting together litanies of all that Trump
hath wrought. Here’s my update from FDR’s famous list from the 1940s.
The Four Freedoms–Trump Edition:
1. Freedom from Facts
2. Freedom from Accountability
3. Freedom from Shame
4. Freedom from Empathy”

We are reaping the rewards of the Reagan Revolution.  There were precursors to Reagan.  Goldwater tried to popularize mistrust of the federal government in favor of states’ rights because in his day the Supreme Court was liberal.  Nixon widened that circle to include racist voters in the Old Confederacy and a War on Drugs to help imprison more black men.  He pretended to be echoing the War on Poverty from earlier times.  Violence as solution to social problems.

The Reagan Revolution had many ingredients.  Here are a few that haunt us in 2021:

1. Hate the government
2. Close the mental hospitals.  That was allegedly going to lead to more humane community treatment centers, but somehow there was never enough money so it means more shouters on the street corner in poor neighborhoods, more families beset by an ill member of their household. Forget treatment of the mentally ill, give ’em guns. Let him shoot Congresswoman Giffords if he feels so moved. Or bomb AT&T in Nashville. Or attack a synagogue in Pittsburgh. What treatment?
3. Racism central to Republicanism.  I will not repeat any of The Donald’s words here.  But they are easy to find online.  Click here for one brief compilation, if you must.
4. Profit only media—ending the Fairness Doctrine and allowing greater ownership concentration which then enabled the Murdoch/Fox News/Wall Street Journal empire.

Not many Republicans or their rich donors really expected these four pillars of Reaganism to come to dominate.  After all, what the corporations back then and their hired pols really wanted back then was less regulation, lower taxes and global markets. It was really econimic conservtism–let the big money make bigger money and keep government out of it,  That was attainable with enough power.  To keep the mass of voters needed to win in rural areas, however, the party had to play up the above four threads and use slanted media to foster the anger and prejudice at the heart of their party at the grassroots.  Voters in Boondock, Oklahoma, didn’t care much about corporations and global markets.  But you could get them riled about fetus murder or government seizure of your guns or welfare (black) moms driving Cadillacs on tax giveaways.  At the same time bigger and richer plutocrats controlled more and more of American business and more blue-collar work was sent outside the country to save labor costs, and raise profits and at the sasme time, make the angry voters angrier. In the late 90s began the whole social media. That didn’t begin political paranoia, social media just magnified the power of misinformation, conspiracy theories (remember two Red Scares last century, Trilateral Commission and fake walk on the moon?) and organizing public unrest (see Arab Spring).  

An ambitious Republican now who wants attention and money needs to make ever more outrageous claims to get frequent re-runs of video online and on TV.  See Mo Brooks who has said he blames left-wing radicals for the Capitol assault—facts de damned! The best lie is one that arouses and gets repeated. The outrageous can outrage—it’s all good.  Can you imagine every network deciding not to run some outrageous sound bites just to serve the welfare of this nation?  Ratings uber alles.

And even in small, local venues, screaming gets you attention–like in rural Wisconsin. Is this supposed to be some kind of non-violent war?

NOW

We now have aroused domestic terrorism in this nation that is as pernicious as the widespread activities of the KKK before World War II, when lynchings were an expected outcome of white, populist violence across the land.  The Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 was our warning and most of the nation and the political world refused to think about it. Many of the mass shootings in the US since then have had a particular political slant.  North Korea or Iraq or Bin Laden or illegal drugs were much more exciting and made better bumper stickers. Just Say No. Axis of Evil.

It is worth nothing how suddenly big corporations are backing away from insurrectionist Republican radicals in Congress—you can’t have a profitable business if there is violence in the streets—see Yemen, Somalia. Turns out a peaceful society is good for business, but it isn’t so good for radical right-wing pols who want the attention and the votes it brings in predominate red states and districts. And that Republicans would decide to praise the economy over public health safety is typical of how far that party has gone. I can’t believe they still allow speed limits in Oklahoma–government meddling with driver freedom! It isn’t hard to see how bonkers the radical right excuse-making can get. Now we hare anti-mask GOPers may have infected fellow Congress members during the riot lockdown.

A popular opinion stance now is write an article drawing parallels between US 2021 and Nazi Germany. I think one major difference between here and now, and pre-Nazi Germany: most of our businesses are not tied to making war but having people able to shop, and thus Wall Street and most billionaires do not favor a civil war nor an authoritarian state (see Twitter’s slow but real response).  We are not economically destroyed by a Depression like Hitler’s Germany. We do not have a big revolutionary communist party–we Yanks can’t even do universal healthcare because somebody might shout “socialist” at a town hall. We do have an ill-paid underclass without little or no health care and little dependable social welfare. They are pissed and scared. Then there is the volatility of the white-supremacy ethos as we struggle mightily to remain the world’s first multi-ethnic republic for a long span of time. In the past it took brutal authoritarianism to maintain multi-ethnic peace: Roman and Persian and Moghul and Austro-Hungarian Empires for example. We can do it, if we have the common will and stop the propaganda pushing for domestic terrorism and actually care for our citizens. Community and commonwealth needs to trump competition and corporations–big order in 2021.
So far the only real war the US has lost is the trade and cheap labor war–game over, China rules.
I fear the danger will get greater as climate changes, and China becomes the world’s largest economy this decade. That will begin to make even educated people here angry and depressed (see Brexit, rise of right-wing in France, Poland, Hungary–countries in inexorable decline). I had writtne abut how the American brand is severely damaged. I got this email from an American colleague who has spent decades consulting with overseas media networks, many of whom thought they could copy US methods and manner:
“I thought you might find interesting part of an email sent by an old friend who worked in TV News for many years in Hong Kong and is now living in the Phillippines: ‘Our enemies know we’re vulnerable. A shocking sign of that occurred yesterday. I’m watching NFL highlights on Youtube and the paid advertising is a 2-minute News Commentary from the Xinhua News Agency featuring video of the attack on the Capitol. I’ve never before seen advertising before on Youtube here except for Filipino coffee and headache and cold medicine. China is targeting the Philippines demonstrating the failure of democracy and the US as being ‘not the country of democracy, but hypocrisy.’  It’s the images that will remain with the Filipinos. China also accuses the US of duplicity in its criticizing of China’s handling of the Hong Kong protests…anyway, China didn’t hesitate to immediately use this to do further damage to the American reputation worldwide and they’re really angry over what Trump just did with Taiwan…and, of course, why did he and that idiot Pompeo just do it last week?…making Biden’s job even more difficult I imagine…When I worked for TVB in Hong Kong, just saying the word ‘Taiwan’ on the air would’ve led to my immediate termination’.”

I see the biggest threat right now to be the many cynical Republican office-holders who will support almost anything that keeps them in money and power, though I must admit amazement when McConnell failed to totally kow-tow to Trump. What’s in it for Mitch? you may ask. There were ten Republican House votes for impeachment #2, a tantalizing tid-bit of more concern from Constitution than conspiracy. Now there are reports that three GOP congressmen may have help organize and power the riot planning.

I fear Biden will want that mythical unity and niceness, and not punishment for the rabid and dangerous Trumpians, so once again deadly white-wing nuts will skate free (see Malheur Occupation, Nashville bomber, most cops who shoot black people in US).  I just hope Biden doesn’t interfere with Impeachment #2 in the interest of phantom unity. And that he doesn’t shut down prosecution of the hundreds of rioters in the Capitol, esp. those from militsary or police departments.  I have written before about the long history of hatred and prejudice and violence in this country from genocide of Native Americans to Civil War to KKK and lynchings (up into the 1960s!) to imprisonment of Japanese Americans.  Unity is a myth and right-wing radicals must be met head-on.  Also, we clearly need a robust mental health system, not to punish the loonies but the treat them, and protect civil society.  Why should I be forced to carry a loaded gun because of whackos driving pick-up trucks full of assault weapons and 100-bullet magazines?  Talk about shit-hole country, thanks Donald.  I haven’t even crossed the line into our covidiocy.

THE AMERICAN BRAND NOW

HERE ARE FIVE SHARP RESPONSES TO MY LATEST BLOGS, EACH FROM A SMART OBSERVER I RESPECT:

Fun to read (on a different stream with many of the same people)  H. L. Mencken making Xi’s, the Ayatollah’s and Putin’s argument that democracy does not serve the people  (See BBC reporting on glee in the Gulag, Hong Kong and Tehran).  Apparently still an open question unresolved by Lincoln at  Gettysburg….  The Klan in the Capitol makes for dramatic political theater but is not a surprise.

Here is a facile comparison of  the American experience with coronavirus with that of  the EU+UK. (Internet statistics- my math.  Assumptions are mine and those of analyses I’ve read)

	Number of Covid deaths up to Dec 31 2020	Number of inhabitants	Covid deaths per capita
US	346,755	331 Million	0.00104
EU+UK	427,798	515 Million	0.00083 (smaller than the number on the US line)

So if an average American suffered the death rates of  the average European, his/her chance of dying of Covid would appear to be  ~26% less than it is in America.  So much is left out here –  What have I missed that  invalidates the conclusion that in the US of A many Covid deaths would have been avoided by mere bureaucratic competence administering well-intentioned policies ?  What could have been possible with innovative, science-based policy?  Could we have aspired to Canadian or Korean performance (or any other rhyming country).   

So some 90 thousand  deaths seem to have been avoidable.  Some 30% of deaths occurred in long term care facilities. They have front doors and back doors.  In the US, minimum wage workers went in the front door to work and then went out the back door to another job in another facility because they need multiple jobs to support their families  This was apparently  less the case in the EU+UK.  Real sick leave and a living wage seem to be more the case in the EU+UK.  (I have seen similar words but can’t remember where.)   Taxes would be higher if we did this here and reduced deaths would have resulted from one job per heath care worker who has real sick leave and real PPE  How important are 90,000 deaths?.  Does it rise to notice in  the Twitterverse?

I am an aerosol scientist.  I shaved my beard for a better mask fit and wear KN-95  masks when indoors away from my house.  I recommend it..  That N-95 masks are not available to every resident is an additional poor outcome resulting from wrong-headed policy choices.

Another number that resonates with me:  ~350,000 opioid overdose deaths.  I know something of how this looks.  My son is a drug counselor.  If you have been down this road, you know how it goes.  I have seen the kids – been to the memorial service.  Pain meds were over produced, over prescribed, and over dispensed.  My kid’s first OD occurred with prescription pills available in his middle school in the hall from other kids.  I’m think it was fortunate it was not opioids.   Purdue Pharma and Walmart (told pharmacists not to highlight the strong Oxicontin sales to  local authorities) knew exactly what they were doing.   Increased profits at every level in the supply chain.

Our abject failure in these matters is not improved much by pooping in Pelosi’s chair.
—————
It is BEYOND a national disgrace.

But, despite suggestions that the 25th Amendment might somehow be invoked, there are still far too many Republicans who will refuse to hop over the fence to decency, and will remain silent to hold onto their political careers and power (though now a bit more limited, but far from erased). And there are enough Democrats who will just do ‘enough’ to support such a move without putting their careers on the line.

For the first time ever, I had to ‘unfriend’ members of my own close family after I said the invasion was a criminal act, and they replied that they knew it was “Antifa” because they just saw that on Newsmax and Fox.

That is the next big problem our country faces — just how to bring nearly half our family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow citizens back to a regular life of REALity and TRUTH!

 As I said, beyond disgrace. Beyond sad. Beyond anger.

It IS criminal. It IS sedition. That is REALity. That is TRUTH.
________________

This is not incompetence…Trump has worked towards this moment for 5 years (or more). No matter what his title was last week, he is now a traitor. He should be arrested, isolated, all communications equipment should be removed from his access. We will sort out the legality tomorrow, but first, stop this, his ultimate reality show. It is clear that the Constitution needs a convention to fix the gaps. The Founders never lived through the Nazi era, but that was driven into Trump’s head by his Fascist father. He is enjoying the attention. His speech, just delivered, We, the people, are getting sick and tired of Trump never being held accountable for his illegal activities. [This echoes my opinion that one of Trump’s worst pathologies is his self-destructive nihilsim. And he has followers to match and copy. Have some Kool-Aid…]
_______

Trump Supporter – from Lester Holt news show last night.

———————-
Few of the terrorists were wearing masks, and most were smiling. Just wondering if any of these charges will be brought:

• 18 U.S.C. § 2385. Seditious Conspiracy. If “two or more people… conspire… by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof,” penalties are fines and twenty years imprisonment.
• 18 U.S.C. § 1361. Destruction of Government Property. If the damage exceeds $100, penalties are fines up to $250,000 and ten years imprisonment.
• 18 U.S.C. § 111. Assaulting Federal Officers. Fines vary, 20 years imprisonment.
• 18 U.S.C. § 351. Assault on Members of Congress. One year imprisonment.
• 41 CFR 102-74.380. Creating a Hazard on Federal Property. Penalties vary.
• 36 CFR 2.34 (and elsewhere). Disorderly Conduct. 90 days imprisonment, $300 fine.
• ————–

Then I replied to my correspondents thus:

As a journalist retired I have made my career around the First Amendment but social media and unbridled lying now makes it seem that our species innate violence and cruelty and tribalism cannot be left to run amuck if our kind is to survive…as log as the Alex Joneses and Putins have as much access to people’s minds as legitimate reporters and commentators, the right-wing authoritarian personalities will find what they crave–a violent bully–to lead them from what they  fear, mostly anything they don’t understand (gays, other cultures, nature, New York and San Francisco and Paris, collectivism of all kinds, aetheism, humanism, liberality, tolerance, science, complexity)…give ’em a good violent bumper-sticker and a flag to wave and they will follow you to the Kool-aid tent.  We need global attempts to stop propaganda and lies that call for violence, ban all subversives from the Internet…we don’t have to kill Alex Jones, Murdoch, or even Putin or Ayatollah, just take away their Internet keys and media bullhorns. Block all their propaganda channels.  Nearly all right-wing authoritarian personalities are too scared to do anything on their own, they need the assurance of the mob (see Capitol, this week). This is not simple nor easy…but like the Second Amendment in the US, the First has become a self-propelling curse upon society and it will kill thousands who are going to refuse the covid vaccine.  Absolutes are easy…and deadly…absolute Freedom of Speech gives us Hannity and Trump, and anti-science and “global warming is a hoax,” etc. etc. etc. I long for the days of Flat Earth and “Moon Landing is a hoax,” and those imminent Black Helicopters from the Tri-lateral, the communist domino theory in southeast Asia, the good old days.

---

[Then this direct response from a fellow journalist, a man I have know and trusted from almost fifty years! And his repsonse is right on…Reagan began this descent by doing away with nearly all limits on broadcast content…a nd then that was quickly adopted for the Internet now propagandists’ and crooks’ #1 tool. I say that as somebody who quickly adopted and adapted to the World Wide Web and did my bit to help it succeed.]
Having spent my adult life as a journalist, I have argued for free speech and against prior censorship. Recent events notwithstanding, my faith in a democracy and the free exchange of ideas is unchanged.  We should not employ the tactics used by bullies and dictators to stifle free speech. That is not to say that those who use hate speech and incite violence should not be held accountable for their words — something we do not do effectively at the moment.  Let us use this time productively to consider proposals to restore the fairness doctrine to broadcasting, hold internet sites accountable for postings on their platforms and adequately fund public broadcasting. Ultimately, truth will prevail.
[Yes, the sea will cover Houston and Candlestick Point. The unvaccinated will be more likely to sicken and infect their close companions or family.]

——————————–

“We of the South will not, cannot surrender our institutions. To maintain the existing relations between the two races inhabiting that section of the Union is indispensable to the peace and happiness of both.”                    –Sen, John Calhoun, defending slavery, 1837

Now January 6 is one of the few days like December 7^th.  Capitol Riot takes its place alongside Pearl Harbor and 9-11, another day of infamy for our troubled nation. 

There were at least two tragic deaths during yesterday’s riot.  A woman was shot and killed.  The myth of America’s exceptional democracy was assassinated on live TV.  “Made in USA” is no longer a brand of value or reliability. Deeply concerned with his own name brand, in four years President Trump has greatly devalued the USA brand. Yesterday we saw his behavior at its most nihilistic…so far. The rest of the world witnessed America’s elected government stalled by conspiracy-fueled fanatics, MAGA websites and right-wing media that fuel fear and anger.  Within a few hours Tucker Carlson was warning his Fox News followers that the powerful would use the Capitol incident as excuse to take away their liberty.  Be afraid, right wing media blares, be very afraid.  “They are coming to take your guns” is typical of radical right propaganda in a nation that can’t even agree that 100-clip bullet magazines are a bad idea in a culture prone to mass shootings.

Of course, the star of the Jan. 6^th reality TV show was The President. His life is always a reality show with his own words as the only script the audience should believe.  He urged his loyalists to the Capitol, lying that he would march with them. They were to stop the election theft he decries constantly.  It didn’t matter that he ducked back into the White House to tweet and watch TV.  The rioters were bent on saving the nation from disloyal actions by Congress, Constitution be damned.  This President had promised a “wild” protest, had long claimed the election was stolen from him, and had openly urged his Dept. of Justice, his Vice President and various state officials to give the election to him.  Unable to envision consequences, it is possible that this President somehow thought his followers could bully the Congress?

Yesterday was unimaginable, inevitable.

How Trump incited violence.  

Leon Panetta’s comments were typical of appalled officials, current and former.  For the US “another sign of weakness,” now a nation “very vulnerable.” Some big name capitalists and their lobby groups are angry.  A cabinet secretary (McConnell’s wife) is quitting. President-elect Biden is drawing clear, sharp differences with the dying regime–“rule of law” he says. Then Biden appoints an Attorney General candidate with direct orders to work for the law, for justice, for the American people. The Donald has viewed the AG’s office as his own, free legal service. Sen. Schumer will soon be Senate Majority leader and has promised to fire the Senate Sgt-at-Arms who was part of the small group who so badly bungled yesterday riot prevention at the Capitol. Not least, Speaker Pelosi and Schumer have called on VP Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from office–now. And she made it clear that Trump has done great damage to the American nation and democracy, acting, she asserts, as an agent of Russia’s dictator, Vlad Putin.

Damage to the US brand can only ever be partially repaired. Nothing in our culture or Constitution could prevent another Trumpian demagogue, one less self-destructive and better at conniving. Any leader or political group in a developing nation can now look at two very different forms of capitalism and weigh their success.  In the Anglo-American orbit are what George Monbiot calls “warlord capitalists:.  They hate all government interference with their god-given right to exploit for profit.  In China you have nationally-owned corporations tightly bound to the state.  Based on the covid data and current economic conditions it is clear that China is far more effective in managing its economy and the pandemic than the English and Yanks.  What nation would now deliberately pattern itself after one run by Boris Johnson or Donald Trump? The US has wanted to be everybody’s envied example.  How about a pathetic failure that can’t even keep its own citizens safe from disease?   Or its Capitol from angry rioters?  That’s the message seen on TV from India to Indonesia to Argentina.  Later this decade China is on track to be the world’s #1 economy. 

Had it not been for the riot the lead story yesterday should have been US’s covidisaster: nearly 3900 dead in one day, a record. Over 130,000 covid cases in our hospitals, another record. Covid update here. Trump leaves office with two outstanding accomplishments–nearly a full year of mishandling and worsening a deadly pandemic…and the first violent invasion of the Capitol since 1814 when the Brits did it. Uniquely this time it was our own domestic terrorists urged on by our terrorizing President.

Trump has delivered on one campaign promise, he’s made America uninviting to immigrants—they are heading home to safer, better lives.

As one commentator reflected, we have become just another shit-hole country.

THE CAPITOL

There are likely several reasons the Capitol Police did not stop the invasion.  One is that these protestors were mostly white. A policing expert interviewed on NPR stated there was no way the rioters got into the Capitol without complicity from the Capitol Police. That police agency is controlled by an independent board but all their officers are trained by federal programs run for four years by the Trump Justice Department.  The four members of the Police Board in charge of the police are four white males (see update below).

The clear racist approach to  law-and-order in this nation was on full display again.  It may turn out that some white officials did nothing to prepare of the long-advertised gathering of angry Trump followers.  They certainly used no tear gas as cops did on Black Lives Matter protestors. Late Thursday the Pentagon said the Capitol cops refused National Guard help. One excuse–they didn’t want to look too militant.

The cap cops were not ready. 

The DOJ was supposed to be co-ordinating plans to deal with Trump’s call to protest in DC,..so just more of the incompetence we have see in pandemic response from another section of Trumptopia,
Who are the riotors?

The Nashville bomber is another disturbing example of how American policing is done.  Even though his girlfriend told cops in Nashville the white guy was building a bomb in his RV there was one house call and then nothing,  If he had been black or Muslim, do we doubt that a posse armed and in kevlar would have showed up, broken down the door with guns drawn? 

The investigations of this policing debacle will reveal numerous fallacies in American police training—terrorists are always dark skinned  for example,.

LATE UPDATE: House Sergeant-at-Arms has resigned., Pelosi us asking for the Capitol Police Chief to resign as well. There are reports the President was “mentally unreachable” during Capitol occupation. What was that Amendment number again? 25? Let me look that up… This on Thursday afternoon.