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WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME
NONE OF THE ABOVE?
The dynamic of this election reflects a unique crisis of legitimacy of our entire political system. The presidential choice seems to be coming down to which candidate the voters despise more. If “None of the Above” were on the ballot it might be a serious contender – except for the fact that in our binary “winner-take-all” electoral system the result could be the election of the more detested or more dangerous candidate. So most Democrats and Progressives will hold their nose and vote for Clinton.
Ironically, much of Trump’s appeal is his perceived anti-establishment posture. Fake, but highly motivating for millions of people essentially (and rightly) alienated by our elite politics as usual and anxious to display a middle finger to the powers-that-be. Much of the financial, military and Neocon establishment is supporting Clinton.
Unfortunately, given the checkered social history of our country, the success of Trump’s appeal to white male voters also depends on a toxic blend of racism, misogyny – and guns. Worry!
Voters Express Disgust Over U.S. Politics in New Times/CBS Poll
An overwhelming majority of voters are disgusted by the state of American politics, and many harbor doubts that either major-party nominee can unite the country after a historically ugly presidential campaign, according to the final pre-election New York Times/CBS News Poll.
In a grim preview of the discontent that may cloud at least the outset of the next president’s term, Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump are seen by a majority of voters as unlikely to bring the country back together after this bitter election season. With more than eight in 10 voters saying the campaign has left them repulsed rather than excited, the rising toxicity threatens the ultimate victor. Mrs. Clinton, the Democratic candidate, and Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, are seen as dishonest and viewed unfavorably by a majority of voters. More
WAKING UP IN HILLARY CLINTON'S AMERICA
At the heart of American political consciousness right now lies a soul-crushing reality for millions of distraught Americans: the choices for president couldn’t be feebler or more disappointing. On the one hand, we have a petulant, vocabulary-challenged man-boar of a billionaire, who hasn’t paid his taxes, has regularly left those supporting him holding the bag, and seems like a ludicrous composite of every bad trait in every bad date any woman has ever had. On the other hand, we’re offered a walking photo-op for and well-paid speechmaker to Wall-Street CEOs, a one-woman money-raising machine from the 1% of the 1%, who, despite a folksiness that couldn’t look more rehearsed, has methodically outplayed her opponent… The banks have voted with their dollars on all of this in multiple ways. Hillary won’t do anything to upset that applecart. We should have no illusions about what her presidency would mean from a Wall Street vs. Main Street perspective. Certainly, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon doesn't. He effectively endorsed Hillary before a crowd of financial industry players, saying, "I hope the next president, she reaches across the aisle." For Wall Street, of course, that aisle is essentially illusory, since its players operate so easily and effectively on both sides of it. In Hillary’s America, Wall Street will still own Main Street. More
TWO AMERICAS: Why Donald Trump Still Has a Lot of Support
The polls say that just less than forty per cent of voters in America have a favorable opinion of Trump. Whatever their views of him as an individual, they like what he stands for: nationalism, nativism, and hostility toward what they consider a self-serving élite that looks down on them. In addition to these confirmed Trump supporters, there are a number of other folks—moderate Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, mainly—who may harbor serious reservations about Trump personally, but who may also be willing to vote for him to keep Clinton out of the White House… On the Democratic side, the liberal mentality comes out in suggestions that Trump’s supporters, almost by definition, are uncouth, ill-educated bigots. If you adopt this attitude, vigorously opposing Trump isn’t just a political decision; it is a moral duty and a social necessity. To assert your identity as part of the enlightened America, you need to disassociate yourself from the racist hillbillies, rednecks, and suburban dolts supporting Trump… But even if Trump loses next week, the great divide his campaign has brought to the fore won’t go away. More
TRICK OR TREAT?
Virginia school principal dressed as Trump, secretary as prison Hillary --course it's Robert E. Lee High
Partisan tensions are running high in the battleground state of Virginia, and two high school administrators from Staunton struck a political chord on Monday by masquerading as the presidential nominees from the two major parties. Robert E. Lee High School Principal Mark Rowicki dressed up as Republican nominee Donald Trump for Halloween. His secretary, Stephanie Corbett, dressed as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in an orange prison jumpsuit. While the costumes were intended to be funny, parents of the high school students weren’t laughing. More
Hillary Clinton’s Juggling Act
Hillary Clinton must juggle three competing interest groups: her party’s upscale pro-trade, globalist wing; its underdog minority wing; and organized labor. She is paying a price for her triple allegiance. Clinton’s outspoken support for African-American, Hispanic and immigrant rights has contributed to new levels of Republican loyalty among white working class voters. The Oct. 30 A.B.C. tracking poll found Trump ahead of Clinton by 38 points among white men without college degrees and by 27 points among white women without college degrees.
Clinton also has deep roots among relatively affluent, professional Democratic voters, who tend to support the trans-Pacific Partnership and are largely tolerant of the business sector. This fits well with her ties to investment banking, but has cost her with segments of organized labor and with the idealistic, anti-business millennial voters who turned out in strength for Senator Bernie Sanders during the primaries. Clinton’s association with Wall Street — illustrated in transcripts of her Q. and A. sessions with top officials at Goldman Sachs — has added to the erosion of backing from 18 to 29 year olds. More
THOMAS FRANK: The Podesta emails show how America is run
The emails currently roiling the US presidential campaign are part of some unknown digital collection amassed by the troublesome Anthony Weiner, but if your purpose is to understand the clique of people who dominate Washington today, the emails that really matter are the ones being slowly released by WikiLeaks from the hacked account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta. They are last week’s scandal in a year running over with scandals, but in truth their significance goes far beyond mere scandal: they are a window into the soul of the Democratic party and into the dreams and thoughts of the class to whom the party answers… They are the comfortable and well-educated mainstay of our modern Democratic party. They are also the grandees of our national media; the architects of our software; the designers of our streets; the high officials of our banking system; the authors of just about every plan to fix social security or fine-tune the Middle East with precision droning. They are, they think, not a class at all but rather the enlightened ones, the people who must be answered to but who need never explain themselves. More
Creating a National Security State "Democracy"
Whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is elected president, one thing is obvious: the vast edifice that is the national security state, with its 17 intelligence agencies and enormous imperial military, will continue to elaborate itself and expand its power in our American world. Both candidates have sworn to pour yet more money into that military and the intelligence and Homeland Security apparatus that goes with it. None of this, of course, has much of anything to do with American democracy as it was once imagined. More
HILLARY CLINTON AND THE NEOCONS
As a group, Washington’s neocons are generally terrified of Trump’s unpredictability and his flirtation with the alt-right. They also support Clinton’s more assertive foreign policy (not to mention her closer relationship to Israel). Perhaps, too, after eight long years in the wilderness, they’re daydreaming of an appointment or two in a Clinton administration… A not particularly large or well-defined group, neoconservatives have attracted a disproportionate amount of attention in this election. For the Trump camp, these Republican defectors merely prove that the elite is out to get their candidate, thus reinforcing his outsider credentials (never mind that Trump initially wooed neocons like Kristol). For the left, the neocons are flocking to support a bird of their feather, at least when it comes to foreign policy, which reflects badly on Clinton. The mainstream media, meanwhile, are attracted to the man-bites-dog aspect of the story (news flash: members of the vast right-wing conspiracy support Clinton!)… The trick of it for progressives is to somehow steal back the Democratic Party from the aggressive globalists and recapture those Trump voters who are tired of supporting war and wealthy transnational corporations. Or, perhaps in the wake of the Republican Party’s collapse, progressives could create a new party that challenges Clinton and the neocons. More
BATTLE OVER DAKOTA ACCESS PIPELINE
The DAPL conflict is symbolic of so many wrongs and is at the intersection of so many issues that it is no wonder it is shaping up to be the most important contemporary struggle in the U.S. It embodies, in particular, the historic mistreatment of Native Americans, as well as their ongoing efforts to preserve their sovereignty. It is also a matter of environmental racism, given that the pipeline is routed under the water source of a vulnerable minority. Short-term pollution from pipelines and other oil infrastructure, as well as the longer-term pollution of greenhouse gases that affect the climate, are also part of the DAPL story. In the massive police response against protesters, we are seeing horrifying examples of police brutality and witnessing how state power protects private commercial interest and preserves corporate domination over people. This has engendered domestic solidarity from the Black Lives Matter movement, labor groups and others who consider it a common struggle, as well as international solidarity offered by oppressed communities, such as Palestinians. Many threads are coming together to weave a tapestry of struggle. More
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