Watching a powerful speech of former President Obama speaking to college students in Urbana, IL. It is the best speech challenging Trump and Trumpism that I have heard since Trump became president. Obama’s decision to play a larger public role at this moment, I would say, is extraordinarily important. No one speaks more persuasively and compellingly to such a big and diverse audience as he does.
Is the late John McCain the last Republican who will break with Trump and the GOP agenda? With some crucial votes coming up in Senate, none more important than the nomination of Bret Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, is it wishful thinking to entertain the hope that one or two Republicans might refuse to follow script? Very unlikely, I know.
And yet I continue to hope that somehow a sense of higher duty to country and democracy might shake their narrow political logic and dissolve their bonds to party.
It wouldn’t be the first time that a senator turned their back on their party leaders. Others have done out of a sense of duty to a higher wisdom and morality that superseded party loyalty and interest. Obviously, it wasn’t an easy decision then. And it wouldn’t be easy in today’s circumstances. Any Republican senator who broke ranks would surely be considered a rogue, even a traitor by Trump and the right wing attack machine. They would immediately lose friends, alienate close colleagues, and become a persona non grata in Republican ranks.
But, on the other hand, the majority of Americans and, at least, a sliver of Republicans would support them. Also, in less than two months, the election results could well vindicate, if not earn them a ticket back into the good graces of their party, when a majority of Americans, worried about an unstable, unfit president and the country’s future, cast their votes and take control of the Congress out of Republican hands.
Finally, history, assuming its arc bends toward justice, would remember them well — as someone who took a stand when it wasn’t an easy, who demonstrated courage at a moment when decency, humaneness, fairness, equality, and democracy were imperiled, who defended the country at a time when tyranny was knocking on the door.
As I said, it’s a hope. But in the meantime, tomorrow I will be doing what gives our country the best chance of escaping a present fraught with danger and creating a pathway to a better future: canvassing for the local congressional Democratic candidate who is running against an incumbent Republican. Hope you’re doing the same.
1. I find much of the negative criticism from our side of the political divide of the unsigned oped letter in the NYT blasting Trump to be gratuitous, self serving, and in many cases wrongheaded.
The letter isn’t a game changer and it would have been probably better if the author identified himself. But to write it took a lot of guts. And while it won’t bring the House of Trump down, it is nonetheless another exposure — in this instance an unvarnished critique of Trump from an insider no less — in a series of exposures of Trump over the past month or two that have cumulatively and increasingly weakened Trump and the Republican Party in the eyes of a growing majority of voters.
2. The election of Ayanna Pressley is historic and surely exciting. And that it happened in Boston where the Democratic Party keepers of the gate have considerable clout and where racism has been such a negative and persistent force makes it all the more so.
But, at the same time, Pressley’s election wasn’t something out of the blue; something that no one saw coming. In fact, my guess is that a lot of people in Boston saw it coming and continues, moreover, a trend of electing candidates in primaries across the country who are far more socially diverse, representative, and progressive, if not left in their politics.
And while this trend probably causes some strains and tensions in the Democratic Party, it hasn’t triggered a “Civil War” within it, as some in the media have suggested. Indeed, it strikes me that the Democratic Party is heading into the final months of this election year united by and large.
Of course, the words and actions of Trump and his Republican co-conspirators have had a big hand in creating this broad and unified opposition, not to mention political shift. But, as important as Trump and Trumpism is in any explanation for the rise of this trend, it doesn’t account for it entirely. Other factors have to be considered as well, some near term, others of longer standing.
A few thoughts about that later, but right now Yogi is insisting that we go walking.
3. The new book by Bob Woodward is generating lots of commentary. Some people like it; others not so much. Still others question Woodward’s motives. All this is interesting, but what matters most is how it resonates with millions who will probably neither read the book nor the commentary. But they will come across its juiciest excerpts in the next week, while watching tv or listening to the radio or skimming a newspaper or doing facebook. To the degree that happens, my guess is that the book will become one more strike against Trump among the anti-Trump majority.
4. An unfit Republican Party will never be a check on a very unfit president. Vote and get others to vote this fall. It’s not the only issue in the elections, but it should figure prominently.
5. The notion that all the political and social ugliness that we see here and across Europe is simply belched up and explained by the contradictions of the capitalist economy is one sided at best and misleading at worst.
6. In thinking further about the criticism of the anonymous letter in the NYT, I’m reminded that we shouldn’t insist that everyone dance to the same beat. Indeed, anyone who wants to dance should be given space to do so, even if they are a bit out of tune and step, provided they are ready to pay the admission fee — opposition to Trump in some form or manner. Wasn’t it Sly Stone who sang, “Different strokes for different folks?”
1. Yesterday’s funeral for John McCain was, no matter how you cut it, a powerful expression of opposition to the authoritarian personality and policies of Trump. That the president was uninvited to this carefully choreographed political event that included anybody who’s anybody in Washington, had to be noted by the tens of millions who watched in real time or later. It was a visual that spoke more than a thousand words about a president that doesn’t fit on what is considered the traditional spectrum and within the normal boundaries of U.S. politics.
But no less powerful than the visuals of an absent, uninvited president was the equally powerful message, delivered by former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and Meghan McCain. Each, and especially Obama and McCain, robustly defended democratic values and institutions, constitutional norms and boundaries, the rule of law, inclusion, an independent press, and human decency.
It is easy to get jaded by the obligatory rhetoric of speeches of this kind that extols the singular virtues and indispensability of “America,” not to mention grouse about the mistaken policies of the Bush and Obama administrations. But, in doing so, we run the danger, if taken too far, of losing sight of the main substance of each of these orations, that is, they forthrightly contested the present authoritarian, anti-democratic direction of the Trump administration and were delivered by individuals who enjoy, each in their own way, a broad following across the country. While Trump’s name went unmentioned in the speakers’ tributes to McCain, no one there or in the viewing audience had any doubt that he and his dictatorial methods of governance were in the bullseye of the speakers’ remarks.
I’m not in a position to say what the exact impact of McCain’s funeral will be on the November elections or over the the longer haul. but what I can say is that the funeral for John McCain was a singular event in many ways that surely touched millions in a way that can only help our existential struggle against Trump and Trumpism.
I would guess that few, if any, Republicans in the audience yesterday or around the county felt that the politics on display there gave them a leg up as they attempt to rally support for their candidacies.
Whether they created any fissures between the GOP and Trump only time will tell. In the meantime, the rest of us have to do whatever we can to elect a Democratic majority to the House and Senate in two months.
2. Watched Andrew Gillum on Morning Joe this morning. Very impressive. And his focus was on the day to day needs of Florida’s people. Wouldn’t allow the election to be put into a left versus right or pro Trump, anti-Trump framing.
That makes good sense as a candidate appealing to a broad cross section of Floridians, but it is hard not to think that such a framing won’t come to dominate the airwaves.
By the way, Gillum’s victory didn’t come out of the blue nor is he Bernie’s candidate.
There is also no way to “splain away “monkey this up.” Anybody who does is an apologist for racism. It was neither an inadvertent slip of the tongue nor a dog whistle. It was a racist appeal, pure, simple, undisguised. And surely the first of what will be many from the candidate and campaidn. Does anybody really believe that Trump’s supporters heard it as nothing more than a slip of the tongue by their Trump supported candidate?
3. One more thing on John McCain: more than one person has said I gloss over McCain’s voting record in the Senate over the past two years. To that charge I plead guilty. But I would add that, while my critics read the score card right, what they miss is the main action happening on the field. Millions of people, however, don’t.
What they see and hear was someone steadfastly opposing a loud mouthed and crude bully who, if allowed, would impose authoritarian rule on the country. So much so that the bully goes out of his way to defame his critic in the most mean spirited manner, even on his death bed and in death itself. This battle royale between these two bitterly opposed protagonists may seem insignificant for many on the left, but for many other people who don’t live and breathe politics every moment the words and actions of Trump’s critic give them courage and hope that we can prevail against tyranny.
4. Fascism isn’t imminent, but let’s not make the mistake of the left in Germany that failed to understand the impending danger the country faced as it was developing, not to mention when it was staring them in the face. And thus didn’t unite against it. And we know the rest of that awful story.
By contrast, it seems like the progressive and left community here is avoiding that sinkhole. Indeed, lots of energy is being expended on the election of a Democratic Congressional majority this fall. It helps that Democratic candidates are tacking in a progressive direction, which, in turn, activates the not so old Obama coalition.
5. When I was the National Chair of the Communist Party I tried to keep in mind Lenin’s admonition a century ago to his coworkers to avoid what he called a “small circle mentality.” Still seems like good advice.
6. As you may know, I come out of the communist movement where democratic and moral values were considered subordinate to working class and socialist imperatives. That doesn’t mean that communists didn’t fight for democracy in its many manifestations; they did (and still do), consistently and at times bravely.
Nor am I suggesting that communists didn’t have strong moral convictions; they did and do. But still the advancement of class interests was considered primary in the framing of their thinking and actions. And in most instances, this presented no problem, as class interests converged with moral values and democratic struggles. But there were instances where that wasn’t the case, especially when class interests were narrowly constructed. The most egregious was the uncritical attitude of most of the communist movement toward Stalin and the Soviet Union. As the first country of socialism, the official interpreter of Marx and Lenin, and the primary opponent of imperialism, it was considered above any serious reproach in the eyes of most parties and communists, myself included.
It wasn’t until the 1990s and then later as national chair of the party that I began to seriously examine this way of thinking and found it wanting.
7. The most uplifting event this week was without a question the funeral and celebration of Aretha Franklin. In song, story, and prayer, this extraordinary woman, daughter of Detroit and the African American people and church, and incomparable artist and musical genius was celebrated by family, friends, and millions of admirers.
1. In thinking about John McCain at this particular moment in our country’s history, the point isn’t to strike some sort of balance between his good deeds and his many misdeeds over the course of his long life. That’s easy enough to do, but I’m not sure what purpose it serves other than demonstrate our “radical” credentials. Of far more importance at this moment when democratic institutions, values, governance, and traditions are under siege is to highlight Senator McCain’s stubborn resistance to authoritarian rule.
In doing so, we can hope that our voice, albeit with its limited volume and reach, will help further solidify the anti-Trump majority as well as cause a little fissure in the pro Trump minority as millions head to the voting booth in November in what is surely one of the most important elections in our country’s history.
2. While Trump stubbornly resisted John McCain’s death, some on the left, while mentioning his passing, refused to favorably acknowledge his role in the resistance against Trump and Trumpism. One reason for their silence is explained by the fact that are too busy reminding us, in case we’ve forgotten, that McCain was a war monger and worse.
But another reason, I would guess, is that in their world you’re either on the bus or off it. You’re either a righteous fighter or a vacillating liberal or a not to be trusted centrist or an irredeemable right winger like McCain. There is no space for contradictory thinking, or inconsistent allies, or expansive coalitions and heterogeneous politics, even in dire moments when the future of democratic institutions, governance, and values hangs in balance.
Luckily, this isn’t the main trend on the left. Most of us are engaged with diverse people and organizations — some of whom hold John McCain in high regard — in a common effort to take the Congress out of Republican hands.
3. If we win in November, one person that we will have to thank is John McCain. McCain, unlike most of us, speaks to and influences an audience of millions. And over the past two years, if he has conveyed anything to that audience, it’s his steadfast opposition to an authoritarian president and his acolytes. Trump is well aware of this, as evidenced by his stubborn refusal to acknowledge McCain’s death until public pressure from many directions forced him to briefly tip his hat to McCain last night.
4. The current controversy around John McCain reminds me that it is easy, but counterproductive to throw people of other political persuasions in rigid categories that allow for no complexity, no contradictions, no humanity, no space to play a constructive role, even if momentary, in the process of social change. I’m not a professional historian, but from what I have read there is little evidence for this position in history in general or moments of historical change in particular.
5. At moments like the present one when challenges are existential and old moorings aren’t necessarily reliable guides of analysis or action, I am reminded that Lenin, who is too often unfairly reduced to a dogmatic firebrand, vigorously argued that pure, unsullied, unchanging, and singularly dimensional classes, social movements, and individuals are seldom, if ever, found in real life.
