newrepublic--2020-07-29--The Emperor’s New Tone

The Emperor’s New Tone

It ’ s weird to think there may be people in the media who haven ’ t figure this out by now : Trump doesn ’ t change .
His shifts in tone never last .
Any “ pivot ” touted by allies or advisers crumbles into dust within 48 hours , typically amid an orgy of tweeting .
And yet five years into the well-defined routines of Trump ’ s political career , journalists are still using the same outdated playbook—obsessing over minute changes in the “ narrative ” to the detriment of everything else—when it clearly no longer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s spent some time tracking the foibles of the American media probably understands why Trump ’ s continual bamboozlements succeed : Political journalists obsess over charting shifts in the political wind as if profound truths were revealed in these minute changes in micro-narratives .
In their hands , a political campaign becomes something like a novel of manners : candidates wind their way to victory or defeat by adhering to ( or casting off ) well-trodden paths and conventions .
Changes in approach—when Dwight Eisenhower decides to unload on Adlai Stevenson or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in debate prep—are seismic .
They tell us everything we need to know about the campaign and the candidates involved .
The narrators who record these events are omniscient .
They famously write from what Jay Rosen has called the “ view from nowhere , ” a place that is , somehow , beyond politics .
Neither left , nor right , this unique vantage instead , as Rosen described in a 2010 piece , “ places the journalist between polarized extremes , and calls that neither-nor position ‘ impartial.
’ ” It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a way of avoiding charges of bias .
And it has the added advantage of granting legitimacy .
Our narrator is also an umpire : Unbeholden to either team , they can call balls and strikes as they see them .
This approach , as Rosen has been noting for nearly two decades , does not serve readers .
And during Trump ’ s tenure , this approach has been a unique debacle .
Rather than providing objectivity or legitimacy , reporters have become reliable rubes .
This week , Trump ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Citing both deeds ( Trump ’ s cancellation of the Republican National Convention ) and words ( a somewhat less embarrassing press conference ) , the emergence of a different sort of Trump was heralded .
And so the new narrative took hold : The president was taking virus seriously .
( All it took was 150,000 dead and a canceled convention . )
Those who covered the president found themselves faced once again , with Lucy Van Pelt holding the football .
The smart choice , in this situation , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But to suggest that the same old fake-out was coming proved to be , for many , beyond what the rules allowed .
ABC ’ s Rick Klein golf clapped that “ the president is displaying a new tone and a new level of engagement.
” The headline of Baker ’ s account in the Times borrowed a quote from former Obama chief-of-staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel , who knows a thing or two about failures of leadership : “ This is a case when you line it all up , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ The Apprentice , ’ we ’ ve got 100 days left and the reality TV star just got mugged by reality.
” Hours later , as Trump went on yet another binge of grievance-mongering and paranoid advice , it was Baker and the Times getting mugged by reality .

It’s weird to think there may be people in the media who haven’t figure this out by now: Trump doesn’t change. His shifts in tone never last. Any “pivot” touted by allies or advisers crumbles into dust within 48 hours, typically amid an orgy of tweeting. And yet five years into the well-defined routines of Trump’s political career, journalists are still using the same outdated playbook—obsessing over minute changes in the “narrative” to the detriment of everything else—when it clearly no longer applies.
And yet, anyone who’s spent some time tracking the foibles of the American media probably understands why Trump’s continual bamboozlements succeed: Political journalists obsess over charting shifts in the political wind as if profound truths were revealed in these minute changes in micronarratives. In their hands, a political campaign becomes something like a novel of manners: Candidates wind their way to victory or defeat by adhering to (or casting off) well-trodden paths and conventions. Changes in approach—when Dwight Eisenhower decides to unload on Adlai Stevenson or when Barack Obama finally starts paying attention in debate prep—are seismic. They tell us everything we need to know about the campaign and the candidates involved.
The narrators who record these events are omniscient. They famously write from what Jay Rosen has called the “view from nowhere,” a place that is, somehow, beyond politics. Neither left, nor right, this unique vantage instead, as Rosen described in a 2010 piece, “places the journalist between polarized extremes, and calls that neither-nor position ‘impartial.’” It is explicitly designed as a defensive position, a way of avoiding charges of bias. And it has the added advantage of granting legitimacy. Our narrator is also an umpire: Unbeholden to either team, they can call balls and strikes as they see them.


newrepublic--2020-07-29--Ivanka Trump’s Empty Spectacle on Violence Against Native Women

The picture tells a nice story : Ivanka Trump—smiling with a big golden key in hand—stands alongside assistant secretary for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney , Lower Sioux Indian Community Vice President Grace Goldtooth , and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt .
They are there to mark the opening of an office in Bloomington , Minnesota , dedicated to cold cases in Indian Country .
Specifically , the office is designed to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls , or MMIWG , crisis , and is one of seven such offices that the Trump administration has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , each the result of an executive order the president signed last November .
On its face , it ’ s an urgent commitment in response to years of federal neglect .
But in typical Trump style , it was little more than a P.R .
stunt , just another branding exercise for Ivanka and a weak attempt by the administration to gin up some short-lived goodwill in Indian Country .
In response to the empty spectacle , people had gathered in front of the office in protest .
Addressing that crowd , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ representative and Standing Rock Sioux descendant whose mother and maternal grandmother were citizens , described the evening ’ s event as a “ political ploy.
” Despite the fanfare around the ceremony and Ivanka ’ s presence , Kunesh-Podein told The New Republic that she and other elected officials in the state who have been actively working on these issues were not consulted .
“ The past four years , there always seemed to be a reluctance or dragging of the feet when it comes to funding or creating programs that are going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ We have no trust for the Trump administration .
So right away , we ’ re on guard .
What is the reason that they ’ re doing this less than 100 days before the election ?
It ’ s one of those : ‘ Here ’ s what we ’ re going to do for you , you ’ ve got to thank us by your votes.
’ And that ’ s really what we feel this was all about.
” Kunesh-Podein knows what an actual community-led response looks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe citizen Savannah Greywind and the 2018 preliminary report from Canada ’ s MMIWG national inquiry , Kunesh-Podein , who was elected in 2016 , crafted and refined a bill to create and fund an MMIWG task force , which would be tasked with presenting the policy program needed for a meaningful response .
To make the proposal as comprehensive as possible , she worked with Native women , tribal communities , nonprofits , state agencies , and families of MMIWG victims who had already been working to bring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ failed to pass the Republican-controlled legislature after she first introduced it in 2018 but passed in 2019 after Democrats flipped the state House .
It was signed into law by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that September .
The Minnesota task force , one of several MMIWG state-led initiatives formed over the past five years , convened its first quarterly meeting last fall .
In less than a year ’ s time , the task force has gone into Minnesota ’ s Native communities to host a series of listening sessions for MMIWG victims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leaders , and organized data from the state ’ s Department of Public Safety and Department of Justice .
Kunesh-Podein told me that it expects to release a report this coming December that will outline its current findings and suggestions for the state .

The picture tells a nice story: Ivanka Trump—smiling with a big golden key in hand—stands alongside assistant secretary for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Tara Sweeney, Lower Sioux Indian Community Vice President Grace Goldtooth, and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. They are there to mark the opening of an office in Bloomington, Minnesota, dedicated to cold cases in Indian Country. Specifically, the office is designed to address the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, or MMIWG, crisis, and is one of seven such offices that the Trump administration has said it will open across the country, each the result of an executive order the president signed last November. On its face, it’s an urgent commitment in response to years of federal neglect.
But in typical Trump style, it was little more than a P.R. stunt, just another branding exercise for Ivanka and a weak attempt by the administration to gin up some short-lived goodwill in Indian Country. In response to the empty spectacle, people had gathered in front of the office in protest. Addressing that crowd, Mary Kunesh-Podein, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party state representative and Standing Rock Sioux descendant whose mother and maternal grandmother were citizens, described the evening’s event as a “political ploy.” Despite the fanfare around the ceremony and Ivanka’s presence, Kunesh-Podein told The New Republic that she and other elected officials in the state who have been actively working on these issues were not consulted.


Monopoly is Tyranny

The economy as we know it is populated by gigantic corporations , behemoths that have bought up not only their @ @ @ @ @ supplying or otherwise supporting them .
Such monopolies act as a “ rival form of @ @ @ @ @ Teachout , the author of Break ’ Em Up : Recovering Our Freedom From Big @ @ @ @ @ and Big Money .
On Episode 12 of The Politics of Everything , hosts Laura @ @ @ @ @ with Teachout about the dangers of allowing these outsize companies to grow unchecked , and @ @ @ @ @ them .
Later in the episode , Osita Nwanevu , a staff writer at The @ @ @ @ @ guest on the podcast , discusses liberals ’ fears of so-called cancel culture .
Will @ @ @ @ @ ?
And if not , why is everyone so worked up ?

The economy as we know it is populated by gigantic corporations, behemoths that have bought up not only their competition but also the businesses supplying or otherwise supporting them. Such monopolies act as a “rival form of government,” explains Zephyr Teachout, the author of Break ’Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom From Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money. On Episode 12 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with Teachout about the dangers of allowing these outsize companies to grow unchecked, and what should be done about them.
Later in the episode, Osita Nwanevu, a staff writer at The New Republic and a regular guest on the podcast, discusses liberals’ fears of so-called cancel culture. Will it really undermine liberalism itself? And if not, why is everyone so worked up?


newrepublic--2020-07-30--Panic in the White House as Staffers Discover There Is Some Sort of Pandemic Happening

There are many people in this country who are trapped in bad jobs , ranging from dangerous to exhausting to simply boring , by their financial realities .
In the United States , being anything less than pretty darn rich is a potentially perilous situation ; if you get into an accident and end up on the wrong end of a huge medical bill , for example , even a decent amount of money saved up for a rainy day can evaporate overnight .
If you lose your job , unemployment insurance might not cover the bills .
If you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ why did you do that ?
And if you make the stupid mistake of growing old , you might end up giving away your savings just to get into a Medicaid-funded nursing home .
All of these facts surely weigh on the minds of the many people in Washington whose jobs are unsavory or actually evil , particularly those who are still hard at work scrambling up the Baddy Ladder .
Young people come to this town thinking they ’ ll make a difference and end up producing powerpoints for the Tuna Council @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they supposed to do—quit ?
Equally , we are led to believe by endless leaks that there are many people within the Trump White House who are ever so worried by the president ’ s behavior , but nevertheless , they persist .
The death this morning of Herman Cain , the Islamophobic former Republican presidential candidate and guy who quoted the Pokémon movie in ending his campaign , may have prompted reconsiderations for these beleaguered White House staff .
Jake Sherman , the author of Politico ’ s premier newsletter for Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ announcement of Cain ’ s death that his team was receiving intel from “ deep inside the Trump administration ” that aides “ feel like they can not work safely during COVID , and are being told not to wear masks.
” Cain had attended Trump ’ s flop of a rally in Tulsa , Oklahoma , where he was captured by photographers maskless and surrounded by others .
As recently as yesterday , posts on his Twitter feed raised skepticism about the coronavirus .
A deleted tweet from Cain ’ s account @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will not be mandatory for the event , which will be attended by President Trump .
PEOPLE ARE FED UP !
” Multiple Trump staff members also tested positive for the coronavirus after the rally .
But it ’ s not just that single potential superspreader event threatening the staff : This week , national security adviser Robert O ’ Brien tested positive for the virus .
It ’ s easy to see how there may be political pressure inside the White House not to wear masks , working for a president who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public .
It ’ s equally easy to think that those psychotic enough to work for the Trump White House might really subscribe to the Louie Gohmert school of thought on the necessity of masks .
Party leaders have spent the last month trying to row back their early skepticism , but local Republicans continue to spoil it all by doing things like comparing mask mandates to North Korean oppression .
The rank and file is coming around to masks , but the party in Washington has long been more extreme than its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to imagine that some twenty-something Benny Johnson clone with a White House badge has called his coworker a “ masks simp ” for putting one on in the office .

There are many people in this country who are trapped in bad jobs, ranging from dangerous to exhausting to simply boring, by their financial realities. In the United States, being anything less than pretty darn rich is a potentially perilous situation; if you get into an accident and end up on the wrong end of a huge medical bill, for example, even a decent amount of money saved up for a rainy day can evaporate overnight. If you lose your job, unemployment insurance might not cover the bills. If you have a baby, oh no, why did you do that? And if you make the stupid mistake of growing old, you might end up giving away your savings just to get into a Medicaid-funded nursing home.
All of these facts surely weigh on the minds of the many people in Washington whose jobs are unsavory or actually evil, particularly those who are still hard at work scrambling up the Baddy Ladder. Young people come to this town thinking they’ll make a difference and end up producing Powerpoints for the Tuna Council of North America, but what are they supposed to do—quit? Equally, we are led to believe by endless leaks that there are many people within the Trump White House who are ever so worried by the president’s behavior, but nevertheless, they persist.


newrepublic--2020-07-30--Donald Trump Is Terrified of Voters

Donald Trump Is Terrified of Voters

Trump ’ s claim that mail-in voting is “ fraudulent ” but absentee voting is “ good ” is also nonsensical .
The distinction only exists because Republican voters , apparently swayed by the president ’ s rhetoric , are turning against absentee voting in general and imperiling the party ’ s voter-turnout operation in November .
These contradictions are inescapable for a party whose electoral fortunes rely on active and passive voter suppression .
Earlier this year , Trump said he opposed a Democratic proposal to expand mail-in voting during the pandemic because it would lead to “ levels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agreed to it , you ’ d never have a Republican elected in this country again.
” Trump ’ s Thursday tweet sparked immediate blowback among those who fear and oppose his illiberal tendencies .
“ This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook , ” the American Civil Liberties Union posted in response .
“ No , Mr. President , ” replied Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders .
“ We ’ re not delaying the election .
The American people are sick and tired of your authoritarianism , your lies , your racism.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ administration official , said the proposal showed that Trump is “ terrified of democracy—terrified of being held accountable by the American people.
” California Representative Adam Schiff offered a more succinct reply : “ Fact check : You can ’ t do that.
” Despite the practical and legal barriers , Trump ’ s statement will likely amplify fears that he will mount an extra-legal bid to hold power if he loses the election .
Those fears are a sadly familiar experience over the last two decades .
As I noted earlier this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ v. Gore came with simmering fears that the incumbent would somehow try to cancel or suspend the upcoming presidential race .
Until now , those fears had less to do with any genuine authoritarian threat to the American democratic process from George W. Bush or Barack Obama than with a crisis of confidence in the process itself , especially after the 2000 electoral crisis .
It ’ s entirely possible that Trump will try to challenge the results of the election if he loses .
But the explanation for Thursday ’ s tweet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 100 days to go before Election Day , former Vice President Joe Biden holds a substantial lead in both national surveys and in battleground-state polls .
Trump ’ s only path to a second term always rested on another split between the Electoral College and the popular vote ; even that may be moving out of reach .
The president also originally pinned his hopes for reelection on a growing economy—or , after the coronavirus pandemic struck the nation , at least a rapid recovery .
But his failed response makes it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans are better off now than they were four years ago .
That ’ s why the timing of Trump ’ s post on Tuesday morning is so revealing .
At 8:30 a.m. Eastern time , the Department of Commerce reported that the nation ’ s GDP had plunged almost 10 percent from April to June , which came out to a whopping 32.9 percent drop on an annualized basis .
Those are eye-opening , record-breaking figures , and news outlets immediately reported them as such .
Along with the unemployment rate and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reflect a devastating reality for tens of millions of Americans—and a dismal sign for Trump ’ s hopes to stay in office .
At 8:46 a.m. Eastern time , Trump issued his Twitter post calling for the election to be delayed for the first time .
You don ’ t have to be Hercule Poirot to connect the dots .
The White House spent the last few months confidently predicting that the economy would experience a sharp , sudden downturn and then bounce back into a V-shaped recovery—just in time to help secure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thinking appears to be no match for economic reality or for the pandemic that continues to kill thousands of Americans each week .
And so Trump , faced this morning with more proof of the recession ’ s unprecedented damage , called for decisive action—to save him from electoral consequences .
The irony is that if he showed as much interest in alleviating Americans ’ hardship as he did in holding power , he would have a much easier time at the latter .

It’s entirely possible that Trump will try to challenge the results of the election if he loses. But the explanation for Thursday’s tweet is likely more mundane. With less than 100 days to go before Election Day, former Vice President Joe Biden holds a substantial lead in both national surveys and in battleground-state polls. Trump’s only path to a second term always rested on another split between the Electoral College and the popular vote; even that may be moving out of reach. The president also originally pinned his hopes for reelection on a growing economy—or, after the coronavirus pandemic struck the nation, at least a rapid recovery. But his failed response makes it impossible for even him to argue that Americans are better off now than they were four years ago.
That’s why the timing of Trump’s post on Tuesday morning is so revealing. At 8:30 a.m. Eastern time, the Department of Commerce reported that the nation’s GDP had plunged almost 10 percent from April to June, which came out to a whopping 32.9 percent drop on an annualized basis. Those are eye-opening, record-breaking figures, and news outlets immediately reported them as such. Along with the unemployment rate and the imminent surge in evictions, they reflect a devastating reality for tens of millions of Americans—and a dismal sign for Trump’s hopes to stay in office. At 8:46 a.m. Eastern time, Trump issued his Twitter post calling for the election to be delayed for the first time.
You don’t have to be Hercule Poirot to connect the dots. The White House spent the last few months confidently predicting that the economy would experience a sharp, sudden downturn and then bounce back into a V-shaped recovery—just in time to help secure Trump’s reelection. This magical thinking appears to be no match for economic reality or for the pandemic that continues to kill thousands of Americans each week. And so Trump, faced this morning with more proof of the recession’s unprecedented damage, called for decisive action—to save him from electoral consequences. The irony is that if he showed as much interest in alleviating Americans’ hardship as he did in holding power, he would have a much easier time at the latter.


newrepublic--2020-07-30--The 2020 Election Doesn’t Really Matter to Republicans

On Tuesday , The New York Times ran a piece summarizing a new paper by the political scientists Christopher Warshaw , Lynn Vavreck , and Ryan Baxter-King on the impact local coronavirus deaths might have on Republican candidates .
Reviewing survey data from the Democracy Fund and the University of California , Los Angeles ’ s “ Nationscape ” project , they concluded that a doubling of local coronavirus deaths over the last 60 days “ makes voters between .22-.45 % less likely to support Republican House candidates and between .3-.9 % less likely to support Republican Senate candidates.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death rate at sixteen times the national average would imply a reduction of only about 3 percentage points in the vote margin for a Republican Senate candidate .
These numbers might concern vulnerable Republicans hoping to come out on the right side of thin margins in November , but they should hardly terrify most who will vote on coronavirus legislation .
One might object that even safe Republicans presumably want the party as a whole to keep the Senate and the White House and prevent Democrats from taking power .
But the notion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s fortunes as much or more than their own careers seems dubious—if this was the case , they probably wouldn ’ t be backing ideas that might cross-pressure and endanger their vulnerable colleagues to begin with .
And the most Republicans can realistically hope for are at least two more years of legislative stalemate anyway—it ’ s extremely unlikely they ’ ll be able to take back the House .
In a Wednesday piece chastising moderate Republicans who plan on voting against the party in November , National Review editor Rich Lowry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single policy item Republicans should look forward to enacting in another Trump term .
It ’ s worth thinking through what purpose Republican power in Congress actually serves .
Most liberal and progressive commentators take it as a given that the Republican Party lacks a constructive legislative agenda—there ’ s no real interest on the right in building new programs and institutions that would productively address America ’ s problems .
But what many still don ’ t realize is that the Republican Party has no real legislative agenda of any kind at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shouldn ’ t be forgotten that Republicans controlled Congress for two years under Trump .
Their record of major legislative accomplishments , even from a clear-eyed conservative perspective , was fairly unimpressive .
Sure , there was a massive tax cut that also eliminated Obamacare ’ s individual mandate and some financial deregulation .
But Republicans also failed to fully repeal Obamacare , the central policy promise they ’ d made for years , and they flubbed the dismantling of SNAP in the 2018 farm bill as well—both thanks partially to Senate moderates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go after Medicare and social security in the last few months before the midterms subsided once it became clear that Republican lawmakers were actually considering nothing more than another round of tax cuts .
Those never passed , and many Republican candidates wound up staking their campaigns on panic over the migrant caravan and other culture war material .
If the conservative policy establishment was deeply disappointed by any of this , they showed few signs of it .
The Heritage Foundation declared in early 2018 that the Trump administration , with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already embraced or accomplished 64 percent of their Mandate for Leadership platform .
For reference , Ronald Reagan had evidently adopted only 49 percent of Heritage ’ s recommendations at the same point in his presidency .
None of this is to say that Republicans in Congress didn ’ t do real damage—they did .
But Democrats and the left had feared the full imposition of Paul Ryan ’ s agenda .
That didn ’ t happen .
Instead , Ryan himself gave up and left Congress .
The Roosevelt Institute ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a March 2018 blog post .
“ At best , the Right ’ s policy voices are all ideas and no consequences , ” he wrote .
“ More likely , they form a kind of entertainment industry that only is consequential to the extent it channels business interests or mass resentment.
” They aren ’ t more consequential because as much as most Republican lawmakers might support broadly unpopular legislation , they can ’ t actually pass anything without the support of moderate Republicans in bluer parts of the country or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who happily and eagerly signed onto welfare reform a generation ago .
As is often said , both are now endangered species—thanks to partisan sorting , most of those figures have either lost elections , retired , or put themselves in step with the rest of their parties .
So , Republicans bent on deconstructing the welfare state have turned from real legislative battles to guerilla attacks—the White House ’ s hit on fair housing regulations , for instance , or the ongoing legal campaign to undermine Obamacare .
These are fights that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is why Senate Republicans , as little as they ’ ve managed to accomplish legislatively , have been so doggedly determined to confirm a constellation of conservative justices to the federal bench , in addition to the two Supreme Court seats they ’ ve filled .
Mitch McConnell has pushed through over 200 judges since 2017 ; not a single circuit court vacancy remains .
That work has alleviated some of the pressure Republicans might have to hold the Senate .
But much of that pressure is also obviated , again , by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It should be well understood by now that even if Republicans lose the White House and the Senate—and of course , neither victory is assured—the Democrats ’ ability to pass Joe Biden ’ s agenda will be limited by the Senate filibuster .
Although Biden has suggested in recent weeks that he ’ s open to ditching it to overcome Republican obstruction , the decision is ultimately up to Democratic senators themselves , and pivotal moderates still oppose the move .
The filibuster aside , the conservative structural advantage in the chamber will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time .
Adding Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia as states would help Democrats somewhat if the party were actually invested in making it happen—another very large “ if ” —but analyst David Shor has estimated that a slight bias toward Republicans would remain in the Senate even if Democrats added six states , including the Virgin Islands , the Northern Mariana Islands , American Samoa , and Guam .
If Biden attempts to circumvent Republicans through executive action as Obama did , Republicans can take solace in the fact that much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undone by another administration or , again , gummed up in court .
All told , if it seems like Republicans are acting as though the election doesn ’ t matter , one should consider the many ways it actually doesn ’ t for them .
Moreover , it ’ s conceivable that many Republicans are quietly hoping for a loss at the top of the ticket .
A Trump defeat might repair the GOP ’ s standing with key constituencies Trump has driven away and will almost certainly encourage the political media @ @ @ @ @ @ @ party .
Pundits and Fox News favorites on the Hill will attract attention and campaign donors drumming up rage at what Biden and Democrats in Congress are up to .
Ambitious post-Trump populists and Trump critics who ’ ve been biding their time are both spoiling for a fight over the future of the party , which is to say a fight over the future of their respective careers .
None of this should console Trump and the most embattled Republican candidates .
But unless Democrats get serious about disempowering it for good @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really lose .

It shouldn’t be forgotten that Republicans controlled Congress for two years under Trump. Their record of major legislative accomplishments, even from a clear-eyed conservative perspective, was fairly unimpressive. Sure, there was a massive tax cut that also eliminated Obamacare’s individual mandate and some financial deregulation. But Republicans also failed to fully repeal Obamacare, the central policy promise they’d made for years, and they flubbed the dismantling of SNAP in the 2018 farm bill as well—both thanks partially to Senate moderates. Speculation that the party might finally go after Medicare and social security in the last few months before the midterms subsided once it became clear that Republican lawmakers were actually considering nothing more than another round of tax cuts. Those never passed, and many Republican candidates wound up staking their campaigns on panic over the migrant caravan and other culture war material.
If the conservative policy establishment was deeply disappointed by any of this, they showed few signs of it.
If the conservative policy establishment was deeply disappointed by any of this, they showed few signs of it. The Heritage Foundation declared in early 2018 that the Trump administration, with the aid of the Republican Congress, had already embraced or accomplished 64 percent of their Mandate for Leadership platform. For reference, Ronald Reagan had evidently adopted only 49 percent of Heritage’s recommendations at the same point in his presidency. None of this is to say that Republicans in Congress didn’t do real damage—they did. But Democrats and the left had feared the full imposition of Paul Ryan’s agenda. That didn’t happen. Instead, Ryan himself gave up and left Congress. The Roosevelt Institute’s Mike Konzcal summed the situation up well in a March 2018 blog post. “At best, the Right’s policy voices are all ideas and no consequences,” he wrote. “More likely, they form a kind of entertainment industry that only is consequential to the extent it channels business interests or mass resentment.”
They aren’t more consequential because as much as most Republican lawmakers might support broadly unpopular legislation, they can’t actually pass anything without the support of moderate Republicans in bluer parts of the country or the kinds of moderate and conservative Democrats who happily and eagerly signed onto welfare reform a generation ago. As is often said, both are now endangered species—thanks to partisan sorting, most of those figures have either lost elections, retired, or put themselves in step with the rest of their parties. So, Republicans bent on deconstructing the welfare state have turned from real legislative battles to guerilla attacks—the White House’s hit on fair housing regulations, for instance, or the ongoing legal campaign to undermine Obamacare. These are fights that often play out in courts, which is why Senate Republicans, as little as they’ve managed to accomplish legislatively, have been so doggedly determined to confirm a constellation of conservative justices to the federal bench, in addition to the two Supreme Court seats they’ve filled. Mitch McConnell has pushed through over 200 judges since 2017; not a single circuit court vacancy remains. That work has alleviated some of the pressure Republicans might have to hold the Senate.


newrepublic--2020-07-30--Bolivia’s Covid-19 Election Nightmare Is a Warning

Asked this past spring whether the November 3 presidential election might need to be rescheduled due to the coronavirus , senior White House adviser Jared Kushner replied , “ I ’ m not sure I can commit one way or the other.
” The response didn ’ t inspire confidence : Given President Donald Trump ’ s rhetoric and attitude , there has already been considerable hand-wringing about whether he would accept the results of the election if he loses and how the pandemic might exacerbate chaos and uncertainty this November .
In fact , Covid-19 election nightmare scenarios are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world .
And perhaps nowhere are the stakes higher than in Bolivia .
Last week , Bolivia ’ s Supreme Electoral Tribunal postponed the country ’ s presidential election—for the third time .
In November 2019 , leftist President Evo Morales was forced out of the country by armed forces after domestic opponents and influential international observers alleged he stole an election for an unprecedented fourth term the month before .
Jeanine Añez , a far-right evangelical who had served as the vice president of the Bolivian Senate , took over .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ harshly on Morales supporters in Movement for Socialism , or MAS , the party he helped build into a national political powerhouse advocating for indigenous rights , the nationalization of key industries , and wealth redistribution .
Even those who celebrated Morales ’ s ouster were dismayed : “ Faced with the genuinely hard challenge of countering Morales ’ s incitement to violence , she has also resorted to brutality , ” Yascha Mounk wrote in The Atlantic of Añez .
“ Since she promised security forces immunity for actions they take to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been killed in clashes between the government and Morales ’ s supporters.
” While Añez ’ s legitimacy is questionable at best—The New York Times refers to her as a “ caretaker leader ” —she will be in power until further notice .
After announcing it would not be right for her to run for president in elections initially scheduled for May 2020 , she reneged in January .
After postponing the May elections due to the rising threat of Covid-19 , she reluctantly signed a bill setting a new date of September @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week announced the rather nonsensical move to October 18—a delay , but probably not enough time to make the election perfectly safe from a public health perspective , if that is the goal—Añez tweeted that “ whatever the date , the government calls for promoting economic revival , the fight against the virus and the consolidation of democracy.
” Añez herself tested positive for Covid-19 in early July but now says she has recovered .
The opposition , led by MAS candidate Luis Arce and Morales from abroad , sees the delay differently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ third behind Arce and conservative Carlos Mesa , who governed Bolivia from 2003 to 2005 and finished second in the 2019 race .
With Arce far ahead of Añez , MAS has suggested the government is waiting for a more propitious moment to hear from voters .
“ The coup was carried out in the name of democracy , ” Arce put it recently , “ but eight months have passed and Bolivia is without democracy.
” There is , of course , actual cause for concern about a September election : As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ confirmed coronavirus infections and 2,218 deaths , with the peak of the virus expected in the last week of August or first week of September .
But this kernel of a legitimate fear has also offered plausible deniability for any underhanded motivation—an excuse for the government to forestall the possibility of handing power back to Morales ’ s party .
Aside from being a potential harbinger of Covid-driven Democratic crises , two other factors make Bolivia ’ s situation particularly concerning from an international perspective .
One is Bolivia ’ s ongoing human @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , with indigenous communities specifically being targeted .
The other is Bolivia ’ s position as a crucial country in the international lithium supply chain , which powers batteries of all kinds , including those needed for renewable energy as the world transitions off fossil fuels .

That nationalism has increasingly been in tension with the fact that Bolivia holds a sizable chunk of the world’s lithium reserves—a natural resource whose importance will only grow as the world seeks to transition to renewable energy. “We know that Bolivia can become the Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a Bolivian farmer and activist told The New York Times over a decade ago. “We are poor, but we are not stupid peasants,” he added. “The lithium may be Bolivia’s, but it is also our property.” Ownership is precisely the issue. There are nagging suspicions in Latin America and elsewhere that Morales’s ouster was engineered in part to meet the demands of powerful international corporations eager to get their hands on precious Bolivian metals. This concern resonates in a continent where such suspicions have borne out time and again in the past. When Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk was needled last week on Twitter about potential United States involvement in Morales’s ouster—Tesla, like all electric vehicle manufacturers, depends upon a steady supply of lithium batteries—his response, “We will coup whoever we want! Deal with it,” was widely covered in Latin American press, again stoking suspicion.
The Harvard report on human rights included six clear demands for the Bolivian government and two for the international community. Among other things, it argued the Añez administration must approve impartial investigations into abuses by state forces, sever ties with para-state groups, and hold free and fair elections. The international community, for its part, must forcefully condemn human rights violations and insist on those free and fair elections. It is unlikely the Añez government will heed these sorts of demands on its own. After all, it sees itself as an indispensable bulwark against the social, political, and economic order that MAS represents. In an ongoing political struggle with far-reaching consequences, ceding ground now would only embolden forces that the government sees as an existential threat. Añez also currently lacks any foreign incentive to modify her government’s behavior. Despite the stakes, Bolivia’s fate is unlikely to figure prominently in this year’s U.S. presidential campaign. The most progressives can hope for is to elect Joe Biden and pressure his foreign policy team to reckon with the Añez administration’s human rights abuses.
The current pandemic undoubtedly complicates the execution of elections. But public officials cannot be allowed to simply throw up their hands and stay in office indefinitely. One solution discussed in Brazil, a Bolivian neighbor that also has elections set for this fall, is to move the election date if necessary but not extend current terms for elected politicians. The machinery of government would continue to operate but those most invested in amassing personal power would not have an excuse to put off a national vote. It’s an option worth exploring if infection rates cannot be contained, since voting by mail risks excluding masses of impoverished voters in places like Bolivia and Brazil. The alternative—politicians with poor track records remaining in power until it is politically convenient for them to face voters—is not something democracies the world over should accept.


newrepublic--2020-07-30--All Police Can Be Secret Police

All Police Can Be Secret Police

The president ’ s move also gave local officials something dramatic to stand up to—and distance themselves from .
Last week , Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was gassed by federal agents at a protest “ as dozens of reporters and photographers—and a sardonic crowd of demonstrators chanting , ‘ Fuck Ted Wheeler !
’ —watched the mayor cough , don clear plastic goggles , and give an interview to The New York Times , ” the Portland alt-weekly Willamette Week reported .
They were mocking him because in the weeks prior , the Portland police unleashed gas—in defiance of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are his police .
Lawmakers who decried federal police in recent weeks have remained passive , if not forgiving , of local police engaged in the same kinds of conduct .
On Wednesday , when New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was asked about the NYPD using an unmarked van to grab a protester , he used the specter of federal police to deflect criticism .
“ This is not Portland , ” said the mayor .
“ What you see on that video is an NYPD officer.
” While defending the officers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the optics may have been unfortunate : “ There has to be sensitivity , where folks are understandably worried about what they see coming out of Washington.
” Despite the recent fervor , local efforts to hold federal police accountable have either failed or been flagrantly ignored .
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security ( along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection , the U.S .
Marshals Service , and the Federal Protective Service , who all have agents in Portland policing protests ) , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constitutional rights .
But a federal judge refused to grant Rosenblum ’ s request to temporarily restrain federal police .
Another legal challenge to federal law enforcement , brought by journalists and legal observers , did win a temporary restraining order , barring them from arresting or using force against journalists and legal observers .
Any federal officer in violation of the order , said the judge , would also be denied “ qualified immunity ” protections , which have shielded law enforcement from lawsuits .
Still , journalists in Portland have documented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ judge ’ s order ; some of their accounts are included in a new court filing , requesting the judge hold DHS in contempt of court .
Oregon Governor Kate Brown has since announced a “ phased removal ” of federal law enforcement from Portland , starting Thursday , though this does not mean such policing will vanish from the city .
Acting DHS Secretary Wolf said the department “ will continue to maintain our current , augmented federal law enforcement personnel in Portland , ” and the president appears to be backing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re not leaving until they secure their city … they either clean out their city and do it right or we ’ ll have to do it for them.
” Just as Wheeler attempted when facing down federal agents ’ teargas , for a moment Brown appeared to have reigned in the policing she deemed excessive—but left unremarked upon those closer to home .
It was a good cop-bad cop dichotomy , with bad cops on both sides .
“ Our local Oregon state police officers will be downtown to protect Oregonians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the peace , ” she posted on Twitter Wednesday .
“ Let ’ s center the Black Lives Matter movement ’ s demands for racial justice and police accountability.
” The kinds of anti-protest policing we ’ re seeing challenged in Portland is , for lawmakers and elected officials , unacceptable when the feds are doing it but ignored or defended when their own police do it .
Is there really a difference , based on which law enforcement agency has kidnapped someone ?
The distinction may matter to mayors and governors but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ especially not when both federal and local police are apparently borrowing from one another .
In these uprisings , law enforcement is using protest policing to test legal limits , with judges either unwilling or unable to hold them to account .
It ’ s a terrifying and dramatic version of a familiar problem , the one that drove protesters into the streets : This system can not police its own abuses .

The president’s move also gave local officials something dramatic to stand up to—and distance themselves from. Last week, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was gassed by federal agents at a protest “as dozens of reporters and photographers—and a sardonic crowd of demonstrators chanting, ‘Fuck Ted Wheeler!’—watched the mayor cough, don clear plastic goggles, and give an interview to The New York Times,” the Portland alt-weekly Willamette Week reported. They were mocking him because in the weeks prior, the Portland police unleashed gas—in defiance of a court order—on the same protests. Those are his police.
Lawmakers who decried federal police in recent weeks have remained passive, if not forgiving, of local police engaged in the same kinds of conduct. On Wednesday, when New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was asked about the NYPD using an unmarked van to grab a protester, he used the specter of federal police to deflect criticism. “This is not Portland,” said the mayor. “What you see on that video is an NYPD officer.” While defending the officers in the video, he conceded that the optics may have been unfortunate: “There has to be sensitivity, where folks are understandably worried about what they see coming out of Washington.”
Despite the recent fervor, local efforts to hold federal police accountable have either failed or been flagrantly ignored. Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has filed suit against the Department of Homeland Security (along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Federal Protective Service, who all have agents in Portland policing protests), charging them with violating Portland residents’ constitutional rights. But a federal judge refused to grant Rosenblum’s request to temporarily restrain federal police. Another legal challenge to federal law enforcement, brought by journalists and legal observers, did win a temporary restraining order, barring them from arresting or using force against journalists and legal observers. Any federal officer in violation of the order, said the judge, would also be denied “qualified immunity” protections, which have shielded law enforcement from lawsuits. Still, journalists in Portland have documented how federal officers have repeatedly violated the judge’s order; some of their accounts are included in a new court filing, requesting the judge hold DHS in contempt of court.


newrepublic--2020-07-30--Covid-19 and the Limits of American Moral Reasoning

Two months later , as school reopenings loom , Donald Trump ’ s all-out “ war ” against Covid-19 has been—like all other American “ wars ” since 1942—an unevenly waged failure .
We lead the world not only in defense spending but also in Covid-19 cases and deaths .
Throughout the United States , people—usually the president ’ s people—continue to reject social distancing and mask wearing , while covering their decisions by spreading scientifically unsound misinformation and conspiracy theories ; in Georgia , Governor Brian Kemp , a white Trump-aligned Republican , has forbidden mask mandates in his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as to sue Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms , a Democratic woman of color , for insisting that city residents mask themselves .
This was a “ war ” we were destined to lose .
That ’ s not because we lack the resources necessary to implement the non-pharmaceutical interventions—distancing , mask use , hand washing—that we know work .
It ’ s because a virus , the supreme agent of mass death in human history , will never be dominated .
Covid-19 can ’ t currently be beaten .
It can only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of care , empathy , and respect for life is needed to face Covid-19 and survive—a rhetoric of care to be encoded in how we speak but also to transform the institutions and cultures that make our nation run , from our health care and educational systems to our economy , our military , and our impulse to over-policing .
Even when we want to help or to survive , it is too easy to let the rhetoric of war occupy our hearts and minds ( see ? )
, to deploy violence-glorifying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and our nation .
War has failed us ; consequently , we have failed the world .
What America needs now is care , not war , spoken in our words and enacted in our policies .
“ Your health ” is what we drink to—and who doesn ’ t want health ?
To eat well , to exercise , to be thin and fit , and to grow old gracefully before dying out of sight .
To feel proud when a nurse calls your blood pressure “ perfect ” or your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smile when they flick the needle and say : “ Such healthy veins !
” This assumption of health as an “ identity ” is one of writer Eula Biss ’ s many reflections in On Immunity , her critically acclaimed 2015 volume about vaccination and togetherness .
“ I am healthy , we tell each other , meaning that we eat certain foods and avoid others , that we exercise and do not smoke , ” she writes .
“ Health , it is implied , is the reward for living the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its own variety of immunity.
” It is virtuous to be healthy in America—just as it ’ s virtuous to be rich .
The healthy and the wealthy , it is understood , have worked hard to get where they are .
And now , in a global pandemic , the bodies of the financially well-off and fittest are among the safest .
Many white-collar workers are able to work from home and have their groceries delivered ; the workers contracted by Whole Foods or Instacart to deliver these groceries obviously do not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s privileged work-from-home class are now venturing out into bars and restaurants , choosing to shed the mask for an hour in a public space in exchange for a meal someone else has cooked .
The workers who wait on them—and who are disproportionately Black and brown—have no other viable options : They can ’ t afford to stay home and safe .
Much of this health risk , and who bears it , is grounded in our society ’ s easy conflation of health and financial privilege .
This kind of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stifling : If I ’ m a good person because I ’ m healthy , you may wonder , what happens when I ’ m not ?
Over these long months , as most of us self-isolate at home or with small groups of friends and family , our typical rhythms of bodily wellness may be entirely disrupted .
We eat only what ’ s available .
If gyms are open , they ’ re still among the riskiest places to go .
Going on walks and runs and bike rides carries an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as getting out of the house is being reported—and often uploaded online—as singly selfish behavior .

In the late 1970s, the writer Audre Lorde was diagnosed with breast cancer, treatable then only with surgery and radiation. In the hospital, she kept a diary, which she published later as The Cancer Journals. “What is there possibly left for us to be afraid of after we have dealt face to face with death and not embraced it?” she wondered:
Once I accept the existence of dying as a life process, who can ever have power over me again?... The only answer to death is the heat and confusion of living; the only dependable warmth is the warmth of the blood. I can feel my own beating even now.
Facing this moment, this global pandemic, this mass death, must give us fortitude, strength, deep appreciation for our bodies and one another. We cannot accept going back to the death-making ways of capitalism but must embrace the messy confusion of living as best we can. Care is how we do that. Care is insisting on the value of human life. Every life, regardless of its position in a social hierarchy or the type of labor that person performs. The metaphors and realities of capitalism—war, imperial expansion, battle, competition, colonialism—are embedded deeply in our society, but they are not incurable, so to speak. In On Immunity, Eula Biss acknowledges how daunting it is to challenge these conventions: “The extent to which it is hard to imagine an ethos powerful enough to compete with capitalism, even if that ethos is based on the inherent value of human lives, is suggestive of how successfully capitalism has limited our imaginations.”
“We are those who are at risk with each other,” as the feminist and scientific theorist Donna Haraway put it. Facing Covid-19 and climate change, we are a global human whole likely to rise or fall together. We can see our connections more clearly now. “We are symbiotic systems; we become-with relentlessly. There is no becoming, there is only becoming-with,” Haraway wrote. As an enmeshed, biopolitical ecosystem, we must become-with Covid-19, not fight against it. This is the only way to minimize harm and save human lives. The virus will not go away. It will not surrender or “be defeated.” We must learn to live with it.


newrepublic--2020-07-30--Charlie Kaufman’s Defense of Film

Charlie Kaufman’s Defense of Film

Charlie Kaufman is best known as the writer of Being John Malkovich , Adaptation , co-author of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ( for which he won an Oscar ) , writer-director of Synecdoche , New York , and co-director of the animated feature film , Anomalisa .
Kaufman ’ s films are not populated by slick , polished people .
He specializes in men like B , a type James Thurber called “ the defeated male.
” Smart , angry , socially inept , semi-talented , they always remain tantalizingly close to success .
Kaufman examines their lives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like John Cusack magically seeing the world through the ubersuccessful John Malkovich ’ s eyes or Nicholas Cage , as the frustrated screenwriter in Adaptation , confronted by his amiable dope of a twin brother , who turns out to be a wildly successful studio screenwriter .
B is utterly obscure , but in Antkind he finally comes upon his chance at reaching the top of the critical world .
On a visit to a Florida Everglades film institution , he discovers that his neighbor , a 120-year-old African American filmmaker named Ingo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ production of a stop-motion puppet movie with a running time of three months—and B is the only person to have ever seen it .
He instantly recognizes Ingo ’ s life ’ s work as an opportunity for himself .
“ This is too good to be true : ancient , reclusive , eccentric , likely psychotic African-American filmmaker .
Outsider art , undoubtedly .
I have stumbled onto something magnificent .
Visions of Darger dance in my head , ” B thinks .
“ I can spin this into anthropological gold .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rest of my life .
Finally I can pry open the prudish legs of Cahiers du Cinema.
” B loves the film , but shortly after he views it , Ingo dies .
B loads the more than 10,000-reel print onto a U-Haul , along with all of Ingo ’ s notebooks and puppets , and heads north , imagining the glory that awaits him in “ New York ’ s famed Film Criticism District ( 7th between 25th and the middle of the block facing uptown , east side of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s only print is on highly flammable nitrate film stock , and B ’ s truck bursts into flames .
Three months later , B wakes from his terrible injuries and medically induced coma but now can ’ t even remember Ingo ’ s film , much less present it to the world .
It ’ s in his trying to reconstruct Ingo ’ s masterpiece , from a single surviving frame , via hypnosis-induced recovered memories and his waking , and dreaming life , and its multiple versions of reality , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Charlie Kaufman did not begin his career as a filmmaker but as a comedy writer for the National Lampoon , then on 1990s sitcoms like Get a Life and Ned & Stacey , until Being John Malkovich launched his movie career .
Comedy—Kaufman ’ s definition of it , Apatow ’ s , its uses , and B ’ s hatred of it—is a large part of the conversation of Antkind .
Kaufman steeps the book with references to obscure comedy like the Three Stooges ’ foil Vernon Dent , a functioning comedy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Arbuckle ’ s The Bell Boy , Olsen and Johnson movies , Walter Mitty , Viola Spolin , Allen Funt , Joe Besser , Floyd Norman , and Ike Barinholtz , and B ’ s landlord is Sid Fields , Abbott and Costello ’ s landlord on their television show .
Lou Costello himself features prominently in B ’ s memory of Ingo ’ s film , which portrays Costello as a ruthless killer who bumps off any and all up-and-coming comedy teams who threaten Abbott and Costello ’ s box office dominance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s ) , which is why Kaufman has damned him to this pratfall Hell .
Of Ingo ’ s masterpiece , B gushes , “ [ I ] t ’ s a comedy about the nightmare that is humor—a critique of comedy , if you will .
It postulates the coming end of comedy , the need for its abolition , the need for us to learn empathy , to never laugh at others.
” B ’ s complaint is not the usual “ comedy has gotten too P.C.
” or punching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It ’ s the thing that infuriates so many , that lights up social media almost daily , the very fact that someone , something , anything , is ridiculed at all : “ The truth I ’ ve come to is that we need to laugh , as long as nothing is the object of that laughter , as long as nobody is hurt.
” “ Comedy is a lie , ” B tells us : Fittingly for a film critic , B is a master of projection , as he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so many of those outraged by jokes do when dragging the joker .
Kaufman isn ’ t dismissing all critics or criticism .
B is a specific arrogant type .
B considers Manohla Dargis ( an avid Kaufman fan ) his enemy and Richard Roeper to be Christopher Nolan ’ s “ pool boy.
” One of the few critics B quotes admiringly is The New Yorker ’ s Richard Brody , specifically from his review of Wes Anderson ’ s Moonrise Kingdom : “ It ’ s not enough to love a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for the right reasons.
” B believes that , too , and that ’ s his great flaw as a critic .
Kaufman is not hiding B ’ s physical and ideological resemblance to Brody .
They share those trademark beards and the same initials .
Each fell in love with cinema as freshman Ivy Leaguers after a seeing a Godard movie ( and then wrote books about Godard ) .
Brody has specifically dismissed Kaufman in the same language that B uses .
He has also written rapturous reviews of Apatow ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( only complaining that it wasn ’ t long enough ) , and Funny People .
Like B , he regularly gives Apatow spots on his “ Best of ” lists .
Brody compares Apatow favorably to Ernst Lubitsch and John Cassavetes , and both he and B shrug Kaufman off as a third-rate Pirandello .
In a review titled “ The Condescending Compassion of Charlie Kaufman ’ s Anomalisa , ” he calls Kaufman ’ s Oscar-winner “ the off-Hollywood equivalent of Entourage.
” Although B himself drips self-satisfied superiority , his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it ’ s too knowing : “ Who I do not honor are the comedians who condescend .
The Charlie Kaufmans , the Pee Wee Hermans , the Robert Downey , Seniors ( Junior is genius ) .
” Certainly , B ’ s life and Brody ’ s differ in significant ways .
Richard Brody is hardly an obscure critic , and he undoubtedly has better luck navigating New York City personholes , but the radically different views Brody and Kaufman have about comedy inform much of B ’ s narration .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ enjoy films , but for the right reasons , fuel his mission to recover Ingo ’ s film from his memory .
For once , only his interpretation of the film will exist , not even the film .
Then Ingo ’ s masterpiece changes B ’ s life .
He has finally met the work of art , the filmmaker , that overwhelms him .
After seeing it he calls his editor to quit film criticism altogether .
“ The days of flag-planting , of claiming ownership are done .
From here @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great art.
” There are more twists for B after that , but in that moment you see the kind of anti-art criticism that has defined B ’ s career , and which ruins him as a critic .

Charlie Kaufman did not begin his career as a filmmaker but as a comedy writer for the National Lampoon, then on 1990s sitcoms like Get a Life and Ned & Stacey, until Being John Malkovich launched his movie career. Comedy—Kaufman’s definition of it, Apatow’s, its uses, and B’s hatred of it—is a large part of the conversation of Antkind. Kaufman steeps the book with references to obscure comedy like the Three Stooges’ foil Vernon Dent, a functioning comedy hotel based on the one in Roscoe Arbuckle’s The Bell Boy, Olsen and Johnson movies, Walter Mitty, Viola Spolin, Allen Funt, Joe Besser, Floyd Norman, and Ike Barinholtz, and B’s landlord is Sid Fields, Abbott and Costello’s landlord on their television show. Lou Costello himself features prominently in B’s memory of Ingo’s film, which portrays Costello as a ruthless killer who bumps off any and all up-and-coming comedy teams who threaten Abbott and Costello’s box office dominance.
B loathes comedy (especially Kaufman’s), which is why Kaufman has damned him to this pratfall Hell. Of Ingo’s masterpiece, B gushes, “[I]t’s a comedy about the nightmare that is humor—a critique of comedy, if you will. It postulates the coming end of comedy, the need for its abolition, the need for us to learn empathy, to never laugh at others.” B’s complaint is not the usual “comedy has gotten too P.C.” or punching up/punching down debates we see so often. It’s the thing that infuriates so many, that lights up social media almost daily, the very fact that someone, something, anything, is ridiculed at all: “The truth I’ve come to is that we need to laugh, as long as nothing is the object of that laughter, as long as nobody is hurt.” “Comedy is a lie,” B tells us:
It sits Godlike in its judgment and by definition is the antithesis of empathy. Comedy sits on its throne and states, “You are ridiculous. You are pathetic. You are stupid. Your pain amuses me. Most important, I am not you.”
Fittingly for a film critic, B is a master of projection, as he’s only describing himself, as so many of those outraged by jokes do when dragging the joker. Kaufman isn’t dismissing all critics or criticism. B is a specific arrogant type. B considers Manohla Dargis (an avid Kaufman fan) his enemy and Richard Roeper to be Christopher Nolan’s “pool boy.” One of the few critics B quotes admiringly is The New Yorker’s Richard Brody, specifically from his review of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom: “It’s not enough to love a movie—it’s important to love it for the right reasons.”


newrepublic--2020-07-31--Can Cities Do Reparations Alone?

Can Cities Do Reparations Alone?

These local efforts raise interesting questions about the long work of restitution .
Are these local efforts reparations or something else ?
Can the scope of any municipal plan really rise to the scale of the debt owed ?
Following Asheville ’ s city council resolution , Dr. William Darity Jr. , coauthor of From Here to Equality : Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century and a professor at Duke University , told The New York Times that the city ’ s plan , which did not include direct payments , was inadequate and that it should not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Piecemeal reparations taken singly or collectively at those levels of government can not meet the debt for American racial injustice , ” he wrote .
A true reparations initiative , Darity and coauthor A. Kristen Mullen argue in their book , requires federal initiative because it was the United States that failed to deliver on its promised payment to enslaved peoples following emancipation and the Civil War .
( Their definition of reparations—the aforementioned steps of acknowledgement , restitution , and closure—was cited at length in the task force ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It should be Black Americans who are descendants of persons who were enslaved in the United States , ” Darity told The New Republic .
“ Those 40-acre land grants were never provided , ” he continued .
“ And for the handful of folks who actually received some of those land grants , they were taken away and restored to the former slaveholders by President Andrew Johnson.
” The Durham proposal , though , may hold more promise .
“ They seem to have touched all of the relevant bases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be taken to try to address racial inequity , ” Darity said .
And unlike the Asheville resolution , the Durham task force did not call the city-level reforms “ reparations ” in and of themselves .
Rather , the task force suggests that Durham partner with its fellow local governments across the country to push for a national response .
“ We would like to see our city leadership take an active role in helping push forward national policies aimed at ending the racial wealth gap , including a national reparations program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the minimum wage , ” the report ’ s authors wrote .
The task force also acknowledged its proposals as one step in a much longer process .
It was a partial picture by its nature , writing that “ dealing with racial inequity is not the mission of one city council or one mayor.
” Donna Carrington , the executive director of the Community Empowerment Fund , a nonprofit that works with Durham residents facing housing insecurity , appreciated the task force being upfront about its limitations .
But she also said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weren ’ t granted more space , adding that she felt the report needed to offer a wider review of evictor landlords outside of the Durham Housing Authority , or DHA .
“ I also dont feel that they really addressed the problems with DHA hard enough , ” Carrington wrote .
“ DHA needs more transparency about what is going on , especially communicating with the homeless system as a source of help to getting people housed.
” Darity ’ s only critique of the plan was that the task force should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the difference between the mean wealth of Black and white residents—as it stands , the report uses the median , which Darity said ignores roughly “ 97 percent of the wealth that is held by white Americans.
” In his testimony for Congress last June on the Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act , Darity said that a reparations program would need to set a goal of “ moving Black wealth , roughly , from less than $ 3 trillion to $ 13 to $ 14 trillion .
@

Scope matters, too. “It should be Black Americans who are descendants of persons who were enslaved in the United States,” Darity told The New Republic. “Those 40-acre land grants were never provided,” he continued. “And for the handful of folks who actually received some of those land grants, they were taken away and restored to the former slaveholders by President Andrew Johnson.”
The Durham proposal, though, may hold more promise. “They seem to have touched all of the relevant bases in terms of local actions that can be taken to try to address racial inequity,” Darity said. And unlike the Asheville resolution, the Durham task force did not call the city-level reforms “reparations” in and of themselves. Rather, the task force suggests that Durham partner with its fellow local governments across the country to push for a national response. “We would like to see our city leadership take an active role in helping push forward national policies aimed at ending the racial wealth gap, including a national reparations program, guaranteed basic income, and raising the minimum wage,” the report’s authors wrote.
The task force also acknowledged its proposals as one step in a much longer process. It was a partial picture by its nature, writing that “dealing with racial inequity is not the mission of one city council or one mayor.” Donna Carrington, the executive director of the Community Empowerment Fund, a nonprofit that works with Durham residents facing housing insecurity, appreciated the task force being upfront about its limitations. But she also said that she was disappointed that housing issues weren’t granted more space, adding that she felt the report needed to offer a wider review of evictor landlords outside of the Durham Housing Authority, or DHA.


newrepublic--2020-07-31--The Future of Trust-Busting Is in Joe Biden’s Hands

Throughout the hearing , the figures who really came off looking inept were the federal antitrust enforcement agencies—the Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) and the Department of Justice ( DOJ ) antitrust division .
These agencies already had most of the evidence Congress had on hand .
Representative Jerrold Nadler presented an email showing Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram out of fear that it could challenge Facebook—which federal investigators likely already had in their possession when the merger received the Obama FTC ’ s blessing in 2012 .
Representative Val Demings pressed Google ’ s Sundar Pichai about the company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its past acquisition DoubleClick—which Bush ’ s FTC could have prevented in 2008 .
One of Google ’ s lobbyists on that deal is now the assistant attorney general for antitrust .
Representative Lucy McBath played heart-wrenching audio of a small textbook seller restricted from competing with Amazon on its own platform .
Folks , this is a practice that agencies and the public have had evidence of for years .
It ’ s important that Congress publicly shamed the tech barons .
That fighting spirit will be welcome whenever they have the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the fire .
Nevertheless , it ’ s ultimately the FTC and the DOJ who will bring the necessary cases to break up Facebook , Google , Amazon , or Apple .
Should Biden win in November , he ’ ll get to appoint the officials who will make these calls .
Biden and his transition team should take the hearing on Wednesday as a clear signal that he needs to get these appointments right .
The easiest way to get them wrong would be to follow the path of least resistance @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama era .
But they own a share in the failures that brought us to this point in the first place .
Moreover , the career choices they ’ ve made since then should also indicate where their loyalties lie and whether it ’ s wise to welcome them back through the regulatory revolving door .
Biden ’ s close adviser Terrell McSweeny was an FTC Commissioner from 2014 to 2018 , which means she was on the watch when mergers like Facebook ’ s acquisition of WhatsApp proceeded without challenge .
She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a fee after it lied about drivers in metro hubs earning as much as $ 90,000 ( less than 10 percent of drivers made that much ) .
These days , she ’ s a partner at Google ’ s preferred law firm , Covington & Burling .
Fiona Scott Morton ran the economics component of the DOJ antitrust division from 2011 to 2012 , which means she was in power during the Facebook/Instagram merger .
These days , she ’ s publicly repented and has asserted that it ’ s time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She ’ s not offered the same remedy for Amazon or Apple , however , perhaps because both of those companies have been paying her undisclosed consulting fees for an unknown period of time .
She also went to bat for Microsoft when it acquired LinkedIn , Tesla in its fights with car dealers , and the travel website industry ( itself consolidated into just two firms , Priceline and Expedia ) , all for lucrative fees .
Three prominent scholars recently left her Yale University program out of moral indignation at her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , McSweeny and Morton proved themselves unwilling to meaningfully enforce antitrust law .
When out of power , they proved themselves unworthy of the public trust .
And they ’ re just the tip of the iceberg : About half of the FTC ’ s antitrust lawyers since 2014 went into Big Law , defending the very corporations they used to investigate .
The burgeoning anti-monopoly movement in this country demonstrates that there ’ s a populist appetite to challenge the power of big corporations .
This week ’ s Big Tech hearing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to make for breaking up Facebook , Google , Amazon , and Apple and legislators with the stomachs to mount them .
Should Biden prevail , he ’ ll enjoy a rare opportunity to take on a group of hated bullies right out of the gate and usher in a new progressive era of trust-busting .
This can only happen if he picks the right teams to lead his antitrust agencies .
Keeping people like McSweeny and Morton on the outside is a bare minimum first step .

Throughout the hearing, the figures who really came off looking inept were the federal antitrust enforcement agencies—the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust division. These agencies already had most of the evidence Congress had on hand. Representative Jerrold Nadler presented an email showing Mark Zuckerberg bought Instagram out of fear that it could challenge Facebook—which federal investigators likely already had in their possession when the merger received the Obama FTC’s blessing in 2012. Representative Val Demings pressed Google’s Sundar Pichai about the company reversing its stance on merging data from its past acquisition DoubleClick—which Bush’s FTC could have prevented in 2008. One of Google’s lobbyists on that deal is now the assistant attorney general for antitrust.
Representative Lucy McBath played heart-wrenching audio of a small textbook seller restricted from competing with Amazon on its own platform. Folks, this is a practice that agencies and the public have had evidence of for years.
It’s important that Congress publicly shamed the tech barons. That fighting spirit will be welcome whenever they have the chance to hold the feet of monopolists to the fire. Nevertheless, it’s ultimately the FTC and the DOJ who will bring the necessary cases to break up Facebook, Google, Amazon, or Apple. Should Biden win in November, he’ll get to appoint the officials who will make these calls. Biden and his transition team should take the hearing on Wednesday as a clear signal that he needs to get these appointments right.


newrepublic--2020-07-31--The Right’s Increasingly Unhinged Fight Against Black Lives Matter

In mid-July , former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani took to his podcast , Common Sense , to warn listeners that Black Lives Matter would abolish “ a government based on free enterprise ” as well as “ really , your right to have a religion.
” If the “ Marxist ” activists took power , he said , they would use reparations to “ get , like , a lifetime salary.
” That same day , Glenn Beck spent an hour laying out BLM ’ s “ Plot to DESTROY the Family.
” Tucker Carlson was even more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he said .
“ You cool with that ?
” As President Trump tries to salvage his flailing reelection campaign , he has latched on to their hysterical characterizations of Black Lives Matter in an apparent attempt to scare moderate suburbanites back into his column .
In early July , he called the movement a “ symbol of hate , ” and in a speech in the Rose Garden , he claimed that Joe Biden , like the protesters , wants “ to defund and abolish your police and law enforcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great suburbs.
” As usual , Trump ’ s claim was not even close to accurate—Biden had recently said , “ I do not support defunding police ” —but the choice to frame protesters as dangerous Marxists , hell-bent on destroying the American way of life , has a certain twisted political logic .
Five years ago , after protests erupted in Ferguson and Baltimore , the conservative media successfully tarred the nascent Black Lives Matter movement with smears that were almost identical to the ones they ’ re using today : After @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kimberly Guilfoyle describing BLM ’ s “ agenda ” as “ it ’ s OK to go ahead and kill cops , ” polls showed that six in 10 white Americans thought Black Lives Matter distracted attention from real issues , and four in 10 thought it advocated violence .
Even New Jersey Governor Chris Christie , a moderate by the standards of the 2016 Republican Party , echoed Guilfoyle almost verbatim when he said that protesters had advocated “ the murder of police officers.
” Today , however , Black Lives Matter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of white Americans support the movement .
Yet Trump , blind as always to any shift in public opinion that might endanger his electoral prospects , has plunged headlong into culture-wars alarmism , framing wealthy suburbanites as the real victims of racial violence .
That strategy might once have won him the White House , but it now smacks of desperation—a haunch of red meat for an aggrieved white nationalist base that grows smaller by the day .

In mid-July, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani took to his podcast, Common Sense, to warn listeners that Black Lives Matter would abolish “a government based on free enterprise” as well as “really, your right to have a religion.” If the “Marxist” activists took power, he said, they would use reparations to “get, like, a lifetime salary.” That same day, Glenn Beck spent an hour laying out BLM’s “Plot to DESTROY the Family.” Tucker Carlson was even more direct: The protesters “want segregation,” he said. “You cool with that?”
As President Trump tries to salvage his flailing reelection campaign, he has latched on to their hysterical characterizations of Black Lives Matter in an apparent attempt to scare moderate suburbanites back into his column. In early July, he called the movement a “symbol of hate,” and in a speech in the Rose Garden, he claimed that Joe Biden, like the protesters, wants “to defund and abolish your police and law enforcement while at the same time destroying our great suburbs.”


newrepublic--2020-07-31--Let’s Cancel the Presidential Debates Forever

No one , except perhaps the swampiest of DC hacks , is likely to mourn the loss of the Republican or Democratic conventions , both of which have been digitized and locked down due to America ’ s abysmal failure at containing the coronavirus pandemic .
The quadrennial political gatherings are a relic of a bygone era .
Today , they ’ re boring and expensive and are good for little more than giving high-flying donors one more avenue for access .
Amid all the hoopla and pageantry , we learn almost nothing new about the candidates or their parties @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are largely formalities .
Technology and changes in party politics have rendered these gatherings anticlimactic , if not useless .
All that ’ s left now for a pair of host cities is a costly , lobbyist-funded media circus .
While they ’ re perhaps not as easily dispensed with , all of this could be said about the presidential debates as well .
Earlier this week , the University of Notre Dame withdrew from hosting the first presidential debate .
In June , the University of Michigan also backed out of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has stepped into the breach , pledging that it will take several “ risk-mitigation procedures , ” including limiting the size of the audience and blasting every available surface with disinfectant .
The locations of the second and third debates , the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville and Miami ’ s Belmont University ( which stepped in after Michigan bailed ) , have made similar pledges : These debates will be safe , socially distanced , and brought to you by Purell .
There are few signs that America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time the debates roll around .
In fact , many have predicted a worsening situation in the fall .
With this in mind , it raises the question : Why should anyone risk their life to attend something as pointless as a presidential debate ?
This moment has forced us to reimagine much of our politics , and it ’ s perhaps the right time to consider whether these annual televised events have the same salience they had in the heyday of Jim Lehrer .
The truth is that the debates have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters and instead only exist to benefit television networks and cable news , in particular .
Perhaps it ’ s time to consign them to the dustbin of history .
Every election cycle brings helpful souls out of the woodwork , pitching a new wave of ways to fix our broken presidential debates .
There is a constant refrain : Dial down the pageantry and ratchet up the sobriety .
It is a truth universally acknowledged that live audiences , more keen on hooting and hollering than listening , distract from the proceedings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ atmosphere of an early-round NBA playoff game , but it also underlines the fact that what is happening is a spectacle , not anything of substance .
In 2016 , Donald Trump ’ s decision to bring three women who had accused former President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment and assault to a debate with Hillary Clinton served to demonstrate that these once stately affairs had , like almost all political pseudo-events , been overtaken by the drive to stage an ever-escalating series of viral stunts .
( Trump ’ s 2016 escapade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a reason to get rid of audiences entirely . )
The presence of an audience does have substantive implications as well .
Research from Williams College psychology professor Steven Fein has found that judgments about the candidates were significantly affected by the reactions of the live audience ; cheers following a one-liner cements that moment in the minds of viewers , Ronald Reagan ’ s famous 1984 “ youth and inexperience ” debate zinger being an early example .
The reaction from the audience , Fein and his coauthors found , “ did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a knockout punch , so much as it made it one.
” The result of these incentives , Fein said in 2016 , “ also makes the clip likely to get highlighted in the post-debate news and spin cycles , ” which then gives it an exponential reach .
The result is a system that favors cable-ready wisecracks and viral badinage over substantive policy discussions .

No one, except perhaps the swampiest of DC hacks, is likely to mourn the loss of the Republican or Democratic conventions, both of which have been digitized and locked down due to America’s abysmal failure at containing the coronavirus pandemic. The quadrennial political gatherings are a relic of a bygone era. Today, they’re boring and expensive and are good for little more than giving high-flying donors one more avenue for access. Amid all the hoopla and pageantry, we learn almost nothing new about the candidates or their parties; the rulemaking sessions and platform decisions are largely formalities. Technology and changes in party politics have rendered these gatherings anticlimactic, if not useless. All that’s left now for a pair of host cities is a costly, lobbyist-funded media circus.
While they’re perhaps not as easily dispensed with, all of this could be said about the presidential debates as well. Earlier this week, the University of Notre Dame withdrew from hosting the first presidential debate. In June, the University of Michigan also backed out of a scheduled debate. Case Western Reserve University has stepped into the breach, pledging that it will take several “risk-mitigation procedures,” including limiting the size of the audience and blasting every available surface with disinfectant. The locations of the second and third debates, the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami and Nashville’s Belmont University (which stepped in after Michigan bailed), have made similar pledges: These debates will be safe, socially distanced, and brought to you by Purell.*


newrepublic--2020-07-31--Conservative Media Is Really Struggling With the Possibility That Trump Killed Herman Cain

How did Herman Cain die ?
Tweets commemorating the former presidential candidate and pizza magnate , including from President Donald Trump , Rudy Giuliani , and Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany , didn ’ t mention a cause of death .
They said he was an “ American success story ” and a “ great friend ” who just happened to die of … something .
As someone who briefly led the Republican presidential primary in 2012 , Cain is arguably the most famous American to die of Covid-19 .
He was also an inveterate culture warrior who opposed mask mandates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus .
Nine days before he tested positive for the virus , he was filmed without a mask in a tight crowd at Donald Trump ’ s Tulsa rally .
( At least eight White House staffers involved in the rally have tested positive for the virus . )
It is entirely reasonable to propose that Trump , as well as the entire Republican industry built around resisting basic anti-virus safety protocols , bear some responsibility for his preventable death .
But that is a bridge that gets a little too close to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in conservative media , which have claimed that liberals have been polluting Cain ’ s memory by politicizing it .
As usual , they got it backwards .
Between hawking brain pills , Ben Shapiro made the case that people who wear masks also die .
“ There are plenty of people dying of this who have been wearing masks and have been being careful , ” he said .
“ So spare me some of the crocodile tears on behalf of people who really are not happy with Herman Cain ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s death , the right-wing website The Blaze had collected a series of tweets from people pointing out a simple fact—that the former presidential candidate had died of coronavirus—titled , “ Liberals waste absolutely zero time politicizing Herman Cain ’ s death and blaming Trump.
” The Washington Examiner ’ s Byron York , meanwhile , told his readers to “ ignore ” the fact that Cain had died from Covid-19 .
“ Like everything else these days , ” he wrote , Cain ’ s death was “ immediately discussed in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and more humane , he insisted , to use Cain ’ s death as “ an occasion to ... remember Herman Cain.
” For York , this included a conversation the two had about pizza crusts during the 2012 campaign .

New: Remembering Herman Cain. Instead of using his death as an occasion to bash Trump, why not just remember Herman Cain? https://t.co/7Nhy2xJvrW pic.twitter.com/GNsWMMyx8y — Byron York (@ByronYork) July 31, 2020
But Cain’s legacy is directly tied to Trump and the anti-science, anti-elitist politics that likely contributed to his death. His own political rise presaged Trump’s. Beyond a core tax policy that would have bankrupted the Treasury (“9-9-9”), he had no real policy portfolio to speak of in 2012. He largely seemed to be making it all up as he went along—his famous quip that he didn’t care who the president of “U-beky-beky-becky-stan-stan” was summed up his ethos, which privileged the authentic over the prepared. He was a businessman who believed that all of America’s problems could be solved by running the country like a mediocre regional pizza chain.
He also made his bones playing to the party’s ravenous base. His campaign promises were downright Trump-y. He was unapologetically Islamophobic, pledging not to appoint a Muslim to his cabinet. He said he would build a 20-foot electrified fence on the southern border that would kill anyone who attempted to cross into the country. Ta-Nehisi Coates at the time observed, “I can’t really recall a candidate—in recent memory—that was as bigoted as Herman Cain.”
Cain’s death was as political as his life was. We don’t know—and may never know—exactly how he contracted the coronavirus. But the idea that his attendance at Trump’s Tulsa rally is purely incidental is absurd. Cain, like Trump, has flouted the recommendations of public health officials. His politics contributed to his death, even if he contracted the virus somewhere other than Tulsa.


newrepublic--2020-07-31--The End of Housing as We Know It

The End of Housing as We Know It

A recent report by Americans for Tax Fairness shows that the wealth of New York ’ s billionaires increased by $ 77 billion from March to June .
Juxtapose that obscene accumulation of wealth to the $ 9 billion deficit New York City is facing for the 2020-2021 fiscal year .
Despite this , Governor Andrew Cuomo balked at calls to tax the wealthy to fill the shortfall that might result in cutbacks to vital services and , after public pressure , offered a mere $ 100 million in relief through the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio approved a budget that cuts investment in affordable housing by 40 percent .
The mayor has lobbied the State legislature and governor to borrow $ 5 billion to close the city ’ s budget gap and , failing to obtain these borrowing powers , has floated the threat of laying off 22,000 municipal workers .
( Disclosure : Luis is employed through the city ’ s Human Resource Administration as communications director for the DemocracyNYC initiative ) .
We have seen this catastrophic austerity regime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through the 1980s , as owners moved manufacturing jobs outside the city and federal policy subsidized white homeownership in the suburbs and investment in highways , the city repudiated its long history of what historian Joshua Freeman called an island of social democracy and became a touchstone for disinvestment and blight .
In response to capital flight and deindustrialization , the city entered into a Faustian pact with bankers , real estate tycoons , developers , and other elite sectors who robbed the city blind at the level of city planning and land @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Robert Moses using capital investments in infrastructure to build highways for cars , which resulted in the state and capital shifting funding from cities to suburbia in the 1950s .
An alliance between big business , state planners , and the real estate industry is at the heart of the highly unequal New York City of today , as the late journalist and organizer Robert Fitch argued in The Assassination of New York , resulting in elite business interests positioning themselves as arbiters of the city ’ s future and claiming a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Fear City : New York ’ s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics : But in other instances , workers fought back as they were blamed for the city ’ s financial woes and wealth was siphoned from their communities by the new robber barons .
In the 1970s , as landlords defaulted or torched whole neighborhoods to collect insurance payments , some working-class tenants saw an opportunity and assumed community control of their buildings , owning them outright through sweat equity .
Taking matters into their own hands , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ putting the rent they had withheld into an escrow account or investing it into fixing their buildings themselves .
In other instances , homesteaders moved into buildings that had been abandoned by landlords and rehabilitated them by making their own repairs .
There were also groups like Los Sures in Williamsburg and Banana Kelly in Longwood that partnered with well-organized tenants to take direct control of abandoned properties and convert them into cooperatives .
By 1979 , the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development was the second-biggest landlord in New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Authority , or NYCHA , owning 40,000 occupied and 60,000 empty apartments .
With New York State projecting a budget shortfall of $ 13.3 billion this fiscal year , we are presented with another such opportunity for creative organizing .
What if today , rather than succumb to austerity—recognizing that rent forgiveness and other short-term measures will not fundamentally challenge the city ’ s housing crisis—we seek similar wealth redistribution through socialized housing ?
This is an undoubtedly ambitious project but an urgent one to begin building toward .
In places like New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these tools at their disposal , and progressive lawmakers have introduced policies to give them more power , according to Stein : Tenants are already trying to use the means available to them to reclaim control of their buildings from negligent landlords .
Edward Garcia , lead community organizer at the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition , told The New Republic that tenants at a rent-stabilized complex where he organizes have been on rent strike since February .
In addition to demands around improving conditions through the appointment of a responsible manager @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has called on the city to transfer ownership of the building to its working-class tenants , shifting its deed from private ownership to a limited-equity cooperative housing arrangement .
Beyond just a revitalized push to take over buildings , tenant organizers have also connected the demand to defund the police to reinvesting in public housing , shifting budget priorities from violent state infrastructures to those that build and sustain communities .
The New York Police Department ’ s budget is dramatically outsized when compared to NYCHA , Michael Velarde , a Chicano labor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republic , and “ decades of investment in the police , as well as neoliberal cuts to social spending more broadly , have resulted in over $ 45 billion in essential repairs owed to NYCHA residents.
” Michael Higgins from the Brooklyn Anti-Gentrification Network noted to us that NYCHA tenants have dealt with an onslaught of challenges , including the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy and now Covid-19 .

A recent report by Americans for Tax Fairness shows that the wealth of New York’s billionaires increased by $77 billion from March to June. Juxtapose that obscene accumulation of wealth to the $9 billion deficit New York City is facing for the 2020-2021 fiscal year. Despite this, Governor Andrew Cuomo balked at calls to tax the wealthy to fill the shortfall that might result in cutbacks to vital services and, after public pressure, offered a mere $100 million in relief through the State Division of Housing and Community Renewal. And instead of providing support for renters, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio approved a budget that cuts investment in affordable housing by 40 percent. The mayor has lobbied the State legislature and governor to borrow $5 billion to close the city’s budget gap and, failing to obtain these borrowing powers, has floated the threat of laying off 22,000 municipal workers. (Disclosure: Luis is employed through the city’s Human Resource Administration as communications director for the DemocracyNYC initiative). We have seen this catastrophic austerity regime play out before.
“They wanted lower taxes for themselves, and to use tax incentives to attract and retain business—not to pay for day care, health care or more spaces in the city university system.”
From the 1950s through the 1980s, as owners moved manufacturing jobs outside the city and federal policy subsidized white homeownership in the suburbs and investment in highways, the city repudiated its long history of what historian Joshua Freeman called an island of social democracy and became a touchstone for disinvestment and blight. In response to capital flight and deindustrialization, the city entered into a Faustian pact with bankers, real estate tycoons, developers, and other elite sectors who robbed the city blind at the level of city planning and land use policy. Take, for example, Robert Moses using capital investments in infrastructure to build highways for cars, which resulted in the state and capital shifting funding from cities to suburbia in the 1950s. An alliance between big business, state planners, and the real estate industry is at the heart of the highly unequal New York City of today, as the late journalist and organizer Robert Fitch argued in The Assassination of New York, resulting in elite business interests positioning themselves as arbiters of the city’s future and claiming a monopoly on its wealth. Phillips-Fein writes in Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics,“These businesspeople disliked the expansive social sector, which seemed to them unnecessary, and they feared that taxes would have to keep being raised to pay for more services for poor people. They wanted lower taxes for themselves, and to use tax incentives to attract and retain business—not to pay for day care, health care or more spaces in the city university system.”
But in other instances, workers fought back as they were blamed for the city’s financial woes and wealth was siphoned from their communities by the new robber barons. In the 1970s, as landlords defaulted or torched whole neighborhoods to collect insurance payments, some working-class tenants saw an opportunity and assumed community control of their buildings, owning them outright through sweat equity. Taking matters into their own hands, tenants went on rent strikes, sometimes putting the rent they had withheld into an escrow account or investing it into fixing their buildings themselves. In other instances, homesteaders moved into buildings that had been abandoned by landlords and rehabilitated them by making their own repairs. There were also groups like Los Sures in Williamsburg and Banana Kelly in Longwood that partnered with well-organized tenants to take direct control of abandoned properties and convert them into cooperatives. By 1979, the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development was the second-biggest landlord in New York after the New York City Housing Authority, or NYCHA, owning 40,000 occupied and 60,000 empty apartments.