thenation--2020-08-28--The ‘Abomination’ of a Convention Makes Clear the GOP Threat

Eight years ago , at the Republican National Convention in Tampa , Fla. , vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan gave a dishonest speech in which he blamed President Barack Obama for the closure of a Wisconsin General Motors factory that began shutting down during the George W. Bush presidency .
Even so , Washington Post lead fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave Ryan a pass .
What ’ s more , he objected to the fact that anyone else thought it significant .
The headline above Kessler ’ s column read : “ The truth ?
C ’ mon , this is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kessler wrote that “ the whole point is for the party to put its best foot forward to the American people .
By its very nature , that means downplaying unpleasant facts , highlighting the positive and knocking down the opposing team.
” He did not explain why a vice presidential candidate lacked the option of doing so without lying .
But he did have an idea as to why “ Ryan was so quickly labeled a fibber by the Obama campaign.
” One suspects , he mused , that “ it was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reputation as a policy expert.
” As it happens , Ryan ’ s reputation as a “ policy expert ” was invented by a conservative-leaning punditocracy that was desperate to find a Republican , any Republican , they could admire in those days .
But what is rather incredible about this episode was that it apparently did not occur to the Washington Post fact-checker that Ryan was “ so quickly labeled a fibber ” because he was fibbing .
In what deserves to be one of the founding documents of the history of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Kessler then went on to complain that during Obama ’ s entirely accurate convention speech four years earlier he had “ knocked McCain for voting 90 percent of the time with his own party , ” but failed to mention that during his own brief Senate career , Obama had “ voted 97 percent of the time with Democrats.
” Got that ?
The Democratic nominee for president , according to Kessler , was guilty of not attacking himself at a Democratic convention for being a loyal Democrat .
This was the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the 2012 GOP convention “ was strictly in the mainstream for such party celebrations.
” Now scroll forward eight years to Thursday and check out a report appearing in the same newspaper about this year ’ s Republican convention .
Beneath a headline reading , “ GOP convention spins alternate reality with torrent of falsehoods aimed at rebooting Trump ’ s flagging campaign , ” the Post ’ s Toluse Olorunnipa explained that “ the Republican National Convention this year has stood out for its brazen defiance of facts , ethical guidelines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ propaganda and misinformation .
While Trump , a former reality television star , has long trafficked in mistruths and innuendo , the broad cast of characters who took up his tactics during prime-time speeches underscores how his brand of politicking has taken root in the GOP.
” There is a direct connection between so many supposedly savvy pundits ’ equating four decades of brazen Republican lying with Democrats ’ normal political desire to put their best foot forward and the current threats to the Republic .
( I happen to have just published @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) Not All Presidential Liars Are Created Equal It ’ s not just Trump ’ s lying , of course .
In fact , as the Post story above indicates , the mainstream media is finally on to the lies as a feature—rather than a bug—of Trump ’ s campaigning and governance .
( It only took more than 20,000 of them . )
There ’ s also the racism , the comical level of hypocrisy , the naked nepotism , the cultishness , and , perhaps most importantly , the lawlessness .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ entire four-day fiesta that did not involve a violation of both the Hatch Act , a law barring federal employees and property from being used for political purposes , and common decency .
Incredibly , former right-wing Republican foot soldier William Kristol compared Thursday night ’ s festivities to one of Hitler ’ s Nuremburg rallies .
Walter Shaub , the former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics , called this “ abomination ” of a convention “ the most visible misuse of official position for private gain in America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ abuse of the power entrusted to this man , the breach of a sacred trust .
It is the civic equivalent of a mortal sin—maybe a religious one too .
And it is a harbinger.
” It ’ s the “ harbinger ” part that worries me .
When the convention was only two days old , Politico ’ s smartypants “ Playbook ” described all the obvious violations of law in place in Trump ’ s plans and then proceeded to dismiss them—just as Kessler had done with Ryan ’ s lying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ single person outside the Beltway gives a hoot about the president politicking from the White House or using the federal government to his political advantage ?
” its writers asked .
“ Do you think any persuadable voter even notices ?
” In addition to the contempt it demonstrates for the rule of law , it also makes clear that this kind of faux-sophistication—while endemic among insiders—is purposefully stupid .
They have zero evidence for their “ single person ” thesis .
But even leaving aside the obvious hyperbole , if it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the press to treat it as such ?
Does anyone think voters would have cared about whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton read her e-mails on an iPad or a secure phone without being beaten over the head about it more than all other “ issues ” combined in 2016 ?
Did voters decide on their own to focus relentlessly on the security arrangement of the US Embassy in Benghazi , Libya , before being instructed to do so by a similarly obsessed media ?
Campaign “ issues ” do not arise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushed by one side and adjudicated within the media .
We already know that Fox News , Breitbart , The Daily Caller , and their boosters on Facebook are fine with Trump and the Republicans ’ consistent disdain for the rule of law .
Does that mean that it is by definition unimportant ?
And what other laws do the smart folks at Politico and elsewhere consider to be unimportant ?
Do they agree , for instance , that it ’ s OK to encourage white militia men to murder peaceful protesters ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ shoot unarmed Black men in the back seven times in front of their families ( and then handcuff them to their hospital beds ) ?
Where does savviness end and an invitation to fascism begin ?
Finally , while the coverage of the dishonesty of the convention has been heartening—making a hero , finally , of CNN ’ s incredible lie tracker , Daniel Dale—I want to call attention to one aspect of the show that has gone under the radar : the dog-whistle anti-Semitism .
Pompeo ’ s illegal speech from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whose cost , by the way , Trump lied by a factor of 40 , according to Dale—was clearly aimed not at Jews but at the Republicans ’ evangelical base .
Sorry to say it , but a lot of these folks love Israel but hate and fear Jews .
Yes , the Republicans managed to put the kibosh on their Protocols of the Elders of Zion–spouting speaker at the last minute , but we were still treated to a crazed Kimberly Guilfoyle complaining of “ cosmopolitan elites , ” together with Senator @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to take more money from your pocket and give it to Manhattan elites , and Hollywood moguls.
” Just who do you think they have in mind ?
Oh , and one more thing : Literally no one , during the entire convention , made reference to how many Americans have died from the coronavirus .
Not one .

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Eight years ago, at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan gave a dishonest speech in which he blamed President Barack Obama for the closure of a Wisconsin General Motors factory that began shutting down during the George W. Bush presidency. Even so, Washington Post lead fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave Ryan a pass. What’s more, he objected to the fact that anyone else thought it significant. The headline above Kessler’s column read: “The truth? C’mon, this is a political convention.” In it, Kessler wrote that “the whole point is for the party to put its best foot forward to the American people. By its very nature, that means downplaying unpleasant facts, highlighting the positive and knocking down the opposing team.”
He did not explain why a vice presidential candidate lacked the option of doing so without lying. But he did have an idea as to why “Ryan was so quickly labeled a fibber by the Obama campaign.” One suspects, he mused, that “it was a deliberate effort to tear down his reputation as a policy expert.” As it happens, Ryan’s reputation as a “policy expert” was invented by a conservative-leaning punditocracy that was desperate to find a Republican, any Republican, they could admire in those days. But what is rather incredible about this episode was that it apparently did not occur to the Washington Post fact-checker that Ryan was “so quickly labeled a fibber” because he was fibbing.
In what deserves to be one of the founding documents of the history of journalistic false equivalence or “Bothsidesism,” Kessler then went on to complain that during Obama’s entirely accurate convention speech four years earlier he had “knocked McCain for voting 90 percent of the time with his own party,” but failed to mention that during his own brief Senate career, Obama had “voted 97 percent of the time with Democrats.” Got that? The Democratic nominee for president, according to Kessler, was guilty of not attacking himself at a Democratic convention for being a loyal Democrat. This was the edifice upon which he rested his judgment that the 2012 GOP convention “was strictly in the mainstream for such party celebrations.”
Now scroll forward eight years to Thursday and check out a report appearing in the same newspaper about this year’s Republican convention. Beneath a headline reading, “GOP convention spins alternate reality with torrent of falsehoods aimed at rebooting Trump’s flagging campaign,” the Post’s Toluse Olorunnipa explained that “the Republican National Convention this year has stood out for its brazen defiance of facts, ethical guidelines and tradition, according to experts on propaganda and misinformation. While Trump, a former reality television star, has long trafficked in mistruths and innuendo, the broad cast of characters who took up his tactics during prime-time speeches underscores how his brand of politicking has taken root in the GOP.”
There is a direct connection between so many supposedly savvy pundits’ equating four decades of brazen Republican lying with Democrats’ normal political desire to put their best foot forward and the current threats to the Republic. (I happen to have just published a new book on this topic.) Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann More From Eric Alterman Conservative Jews Made a Terrible Bargain With Trump and the Right Over Israel December 21, 2022 Todd Gitlin Told His Truth Everywhere He Went February 8, 2022 Why the Media No Longer Cares About Nicaragua September 28, 2021
It’s not just Trump’s lying, of course. In fact, as the Post story above indicates, the mainstream media is finally on to the lies as a feature—rather than a bug—of Trump’s campaigning and governance. (It only took more than 20,000 of them.) There’s also the racism, the comical level of hypocrisy, the naked nepotism, the cultishness, and, perhaps most importantly, the lawlessness. There was barely a moment during the entire four-day fiesta that did not involve a violation of both the Hatch Act, a law barring federal employees and property from being used for political purposes, and common decency. Incredibly, former right-wing Republican foot soldier William Kristol compared Thursday night’s festivities to one of Hitler’s Nuremburg rallies. Walter Shaub, the former director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, called this “abomination” of a convention “the most visible misuse of official position for private gain in America’s history. It is an abuse of the power entrusted to this man, the breach of a sacred trust. It is the civic equivalent of a mortal sin—maybe a religious one too. And it is a harbinger.”
It’s the “harbinger” part that worries me. When the convention was only two days old, Politico’s smartypants “Playbook” described all the obvious violations of law in place in Trump’s plans and then proceeded to dismiss them—just as Kessler had done with Ryan’s lying. “But do you think a single person outside the Beltway gives a hoot about the president politicking from the White House or using the federal government to his political advantage?” its writers asked. “Do you think any persuadable voter even notices?” Current Issue View our current issue
In addition to the contempt it demonstrates for the rule of law, it also makes clear that this kind of faux-sophistication—while endemic among insiders—is purposefully stupid. They have zero evidence for their “single person” thesis. But even leaving aside the obvious hyperbole, if it is accurate, is this not a choice of the press to treat it as such? Does anyone think voters would have cared about whether Secretary of State Hillary Clinton read her e-mails on an iPad or a secure phone without being beaten over the head about it more than all other “issues” combined in 2016? Did voters decide on their own to focus relentlessly on the security arrangement of the US Embassy in Benghazi, Libya, before being instructed to do so by a similarly obsessed media? Campaign “issues” do not arise out of thin air. They are pushed by one side and adjudicated within the media. We already know that Fox News, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, and their boosters on Facebook are fine with Trump and the Republicans’ consistent disdain for the rule of law. Does that mean that it is by definition unimportant? And what other laws do the smart folks at Politico and elsewhere consider to be unimportant? Do they agree, for instance, that it’s OK to encourage white militia men to murder peaceful protesters? Is it also cool for cops to shoot unarmed Black men in the back seven times in front of their families (and then handcuff them to their hospital beds)? Where does savviness end and an invitation to fascism begin?
Finally, while the coverage of the dishonesty of the convention has been heartening—making a hero, finally, of CNN’s incredible lie tracker, Daniel Dale—I want to call attention to one aspect of the show that has gone under the radar: the dog-whistle anti-Semitism. Pompeo’s illegal speech from the roof of the US Embassy in Jerusalem—about whose cost, by the way, Trump lied by a factor of 40, according to Dale—was clearly aimed not at Jews but at the Republicans’ evangelical base. Sorry to say it, but a lot of these folks love Israel but hate and fear Jews. Yes, the Republicans managed to put the kibosh on their Protocols of the Elders of Zion–spouting speaker at the last minute, but we were still treated to a crazed Kimberly Guilfoyle complaining of “cosmopolitan elites,” together with Senator Tim Scott promising that Democrats “want to take more money from your pocket and give it to Manhattan elites, and Hollywood moguls.”
Just who do you think they have in mind?
Oh, and one more thing: Literally no one, during the entire convention, made reference to how many Americans have died from the coronavirus. Not one.


thenation--2020-08-28--Donald Trump Has Declared Himself Impotent

So that was terrifying .
With the Covid-19 death toll at 180,000 and counting , California ravaged by wildfires , Texas and Louisiana besieged by Hurricane Laura , and Kenosha , Wis. , reeling after a teenage pro-police vigilante apparently murdered two of the many people protesting police violence there Tuesday night , Donald Trump took to the South Lawn of the White House—illegally , since sitting presidents aren ’ t supposed to stage political events there—to blame it all on Joe Biden and the Democrats .
How does that work , exactly ?
The man who promised us at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can fix it ” —though there wasn ’ t much to fix , but a lot to break—stood before us as a pitiful , hapless tyrant .
Trump takes no “ responsibility at all ” for Covid-19 , or for any of the country ’ s many crises—meaning he ’ s confessing he lacks any power to fix them .
The most powerful man in the world , in other words , has declared himself essentially impotent .
He has not fixed anything .
But he has broken so much .
Trump is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at his poorly attended inauguration in 2017 , that he would end “ American carnage.
” Instead , he has presided over four years of it .
But he and his party spent four nights trying to pin the blame on Democrats , even though the GOP controls the White House , the Senate , the courts , and most state legislatures .
I realize I ’ ve gotten this far without quoting any of Trump ’ s speech .
That ’ s because it was really hard to watch—though I promise I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ excerpt meaningful quotes .
The most meaning came from watching him deliver it ( and listening to his odd sing-song delivery ) : his head on a weird swivel , flipping back and forth between teleprompters , showing us the borders of his self-tanning and also , I thought , a new set of jowls .
I don ’ t believe in mocking people ’ s looks , or weight ; I really don ’ t .
I was raised with Jesus ’ s admonition ( and my parents ’ ) : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” But I have come to believe Trump ’ s looks are fair game .
Not only because he ’ s mocked women for their looks his whole life .
But also because when someone who leads us looks increasingly unhealthy , we should worry about them—and wonder what ’ s going on .
And then worry about us .
OK , about the speech : It was horrific .
Trump almost made history Thursday night , with the second-longest presidential nomination acceptance speech ever—second only to his own speech in 2016 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stories that ran just five minutes longer .
In this speech , obviously , Trump was the incumbent seeking a second term .
You wouldn ’ t necessarily know that from his grievance-filled oratory , except for his triumphal line about Democrats , a distillation of his lifetime of bullying : “ The fact is , we ’ re here and they ’ re not.
” Or in other words : “ Nanny nanny boo boo.
” And , I guess , this admonition : “ Always remember , they are coming after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” ( Spoiler alert : They are , but he ’ s not . )
Where Democrats honored the victims of Covid and police violence last week , Trump elevated folks who were victims of various forms of urban violence .
Believe me , when I read about retired African American police officer David Dorn , killed by looters during a protest of George Floyd ’ s murder in St. Louis , my heart broke .
And I felt awful for his wife , who spoke at the convention Thursday night .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself would say , if he could speak for himself in this rattling , shattering time , as his wife used his murder to endorse Trump .
But it was basically vintage Trump , only a little bit worse because he really seems to have lost a step .
Or two .
I scoured the Web this morning to see if someone found a meaningful theme—I would quote , and link , gladly .
But I did not .
Like me , people are bringing you the shards that seem to offer meaning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can .
To me , this is the best distillation : Oh yes , Joe Biden , that radical waiting in the wings to dismantle and destroy American normalcy .
There were other speakers , but I can barely remember them this morning ; that ’ s how good a job they did .
Ivanka created a picture of the fictional father—heroic , empathic , funny—she wishes she had .
God bless her .
Invertebrate Mitch McConnell , the Senate majority leader , shared this important point about Democrats : “ They want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you can drive .
What sources of information are credible .
And even how many hamburgers you can eat.
” Apparently—who knew ?
—there ’ s a big , anxious hamburger-eating constituency in Kentucky , and now they ’ re reassured that McConnell will protect their rights .
That ’ s what we ’ ve fought multiple wars about , obviously .
( Please , Amy McGrath , do better . )
Here ’ s the thing , though : I ’ m old enough to remember when the Republican Party canceled the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2008 , when Hurricane Gustav loomed—obviously , it was trying to apply the lessons learned from botching Katrina in 2005 .
There was no thought , apparently , of pausing for Hurricane Laura , though it did much more damage .
There was no thought of pausing after 17-year-old cop-wannabe Kyle Rittenhouse , who can be spotted in the first row of a Trump rally in Des Moines on January 30 , murdered two people in Kenosha .
Which leads to the conclusion : There is no thought there , period .
I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one that was a few minutes longer .
It was scarier , because I was in Cleveland with his acolytes—an open-carry state where people with long guns came up behind me and MSNBC ’ s Joy Reid before the network had sent any security .
It was scary as hell .
I also ran into Roger Stone , peddling the notion that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton ’ s husband was a rapist , and spreading other scurrilous nonsense about Clinton herself .
It was a cavalcade of fascism , though I wouldn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time .
I only felt slightly safe because I “ knew ” Trump would lose .
Here ’ s what I wrote : Yeah .
That last line .
I will never , ever again predict that he can ’ t win .
You shouldn ’ t either .
That just makes the last four surreal nights more terrifying .

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So that was terrifying.
With the Covid-19 death toll at 180,000 and counting, California ravaged by wildfires, Texas and Louisiana besieged by Hurricane Laura, and Kenosha, Wis., reeling after a teenage pro-police vigilante apparently murdered two of the many people protesting police violence there Tuesday night, Donald Trump took to the South Lawn of the White House—illegally, since sitting presidents aren’t supposed to stage political events there—to blame it all on Joe Biden and the Democrats.
How does that work, exactly?
The man who promised us at the 2016 convention that “I alone can fix it”—though there wasn’t much to fix, but a lot to break—stood before us as a pitiful, hapless tyrant. Trump takes no “responsibility at all” for Covid-19, or for any of the country’s many crises—meaning he’s confessing he lacks any power to fix them. The most powerful man in the world, in other words, has declared himself essentially impotent. He has not fixed anything. But he has broken so much.
Trump is also the man who promised us, at his poorly attended inauguration in 2017, that he would end “American carnage.” Instead, he has presided over four years of it. But he and his party spent four nights trying to pin the blame on Democrats, even though the GOP controls the White House, the Senate, the courts, and most state legislatures.
I realize I’ve gotten this far without quoting any of Trump’s speech. That’s because it was really hard to watch—though I promise I watched all of it—and even harder to excerpt meaningful quotes. The most meaning came from watching him deliver it (and listening to his odd sing-song delivery): his head on a weird swivel, flipping back and forth between teleprompters, showing us the borders of his self-tanning and also, I thought, a new set of jowls.
I don’t believe in mocking people’s looks, or weight; I really don’t. I was raised with Jesus’s admonition (and my parents’): “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” But I have come to believe Trump’s looks are fair game. Not only because he’s mocked women for their looks his whole life. But also because when someone who leads us looks increasingly unhealthy, we should worry about them—and wonder what’s going on. And then worry about us. Current Issue View our current issue
OK, about the speech: It was horrific. Trump almost made history Thursday night, with the second-longest presidential nomination acceptance speech ever—second only to his own speech in 2016, which was also a kaleidoscope of horror stories that ran just five minutes longer. In this speech, obviously, Trump was the incumbent seeking a second term. You wouldn’t necessarily know that from his grievance-filled oratory, except for his triumphal line about Democrats, a distillation of his lifetime of bullying: “The fact is, we’re here and they’re not.” Or in other words: “Nanny nanny boo boo.” Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
And, I guess, this admonition: “Always remember, they are coming after me because I am fighting for you.” (Spoiler alert: They are, but he’s not.)
Where Democrats honored the victims of Covid and police violence last week, Trump elevated folks who were victims of various forms of urban violence. Believe me, when I read about retired African American police officer David Dorn, killed by looters during a protest of George Floyd’s murder in St. Louis, my heart broke. And I felt awful for his wife, who spoke at the convention Thursday night. But I did find myself wondering what Dorn himself would say, if he could speak for himself in this rattling, shattering time, as his wife used his murder to endorse Trump.
But it was basically vintage Trump, only a little bit worse because he really seems to have lost a step. Or two. I scoured the Web this morning to see if someone found a meaningful theme—I would quote, and link, gladly. But I did not. Like me, people are bringing you the shards that seem to offer meaning. We are doing the best we can. To me, this is the best distillation:
Your vote will decide whether we protect law-abiding Americans, or whether we give free rein to violent anarchists, agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens. And this election will decide whether we will defend the American way of life, or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it. That won’t happen.
Oh yes, Joe Biden, that radical waiting in the wings to dismantle and destroy American normalcy.
There were other speakers, but I can barely remember them this morning; that’s how good a job they did. Ivanka created a picture of the fictional father—heroic, empathic, funny—she wishes she had. God bless her. Invertebrate Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, shared this important point about Democrats: “They want to tell you what kind of car you can drive. What sources of information are credible. And even how many hamburgers you can eat.” Apparently—who knew?—there’s a big, anxious hamburger-eating constituency in Kentucky, and now they’re reassured that McConnell will protect their rights. That’s what we’ve fought multiple wars about, obviously. (Please, Amy McGrath, do better.)
Here’s the thing, though: I’m old enough to remember when the Republican Party canceled the first night of its convention, in 2008, when Hurricane Gustav loomed—obviously, it was trying to apply the lessons learned from botching Katrina in 2005. There was no thought, apparently, of pausing for Hurricane Laura, though it did much more damage. There was no thought of pausing after 17-year-old cop-wannabe Kyle Rittenhouse, who can be spotted in the first row of a Trump rally in Des Moines on January 30, murdered two people in Kenosha. Which leads to the conclusion: There is no thought there, period.
I covered that 2016 Trump speech, the one that was a few minutes longer. It was scarier, because I was in Cleveland with his acolytes—an open-carry state where people with long guns came up behind me and MSNBC’s Joy Reid before the network had sent any security. It was scary as hell. I also ran into Roger Stone, peddling the notion that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s husband was a rapist, and spreading other scurrilous nonsense about Clinton herself. It was a cavalcade of fascism, though I wouldn’t have called it that at the time. I only felt slightly safe because I “knew” Trump would lose. Here’s what I wrote:
In the America depicted by Donald Trump’s dystopian acceptance speech Thursday night, it is blackest midnight in the land of the once-free, unimaginably far from morning. The unlikely GOP presidential nominee rejected suggestions that he give a unifying speech that reached for the center. Instead, he described a country rocked by crime, riven by race, menaced by terrorists, and overrun by illegal immigrants. Trump out-Nixoned Richard Nixon, promising to be a “law and order” president just like our 37th. He defined Hillary Clinton as just another criminal who will coddle the many other criminals who “threaten our very way of life.” Trump-neutered New Jersey Governor Chris Christie reached to get his manhood back by presiding over a mock trial of Clinton, where he presented her alleged misdeeds and let the audience chant, “Guilty!” I think if Clinton had been in the arena personally, the crowd would have set her on fire—Secret Service be damned. He shouted at the country, red-faced, for an endless 76 minutes…. Will it work to beat Clinton? I don’t think so. This convention spent amazingly little time trying to reach out to skeptics or the undecided, and Trump didn’t try to reach them either.
Yeah. That last line. I will never, ever again predict that he can’t win. You shouldn’t either. That just makes the last four surreal nights more terrifying.


thenation--2020-08-28--Republicans Won’t Stop Screaming ‘Socialism’ Until Democrats Stop Cowering

The Republican National Convention finished as it began , spewing lies , loathing , and fear itself as part of a determined strategy to jump-start Donald Trump ’ s fall campaign .
Convention planners failed on many fronts , but they succeeded in keeping dozens of Trump children and in-laws , retainers and employees , congressional co-conspirators and prospective 2024 presidential candidates on message .
Trump returned to that changeless message at the opening of his Thursday night acceptance speech in which he imagined Democrat Joe Biden as a socialist “ Trojan horse ” rolling toward the White House .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a nation , everything we have achieved is now endangered .
This is the most important election in the history of our country .
At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties , two visions , two philosophies , or two agendas , ” Trump declared .
“ This election will decide whether we save the American Dream , or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.
” That ’ s an absurd calculation .
But no more absurd than Vice President Mike Pence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would set America on a path of socialism and decline.
” Or RNC chair Ronna McDaniel ’ s announcement that “ Democrats have chosen to go down the road to socialism.
” Or Lara Trump ’ s claim that “ this is not just a choice between Republican and Democrat or left and right—this is an election that will decide if we keep America America , or if we head down an uncharted , frightening path towards socialism.
” Or Kimberly Guilfoyle ’ s confident assertion that “ Biden , Harris and their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Republicans Have Organized a Backlash Convention , and It ’ s Tearing This Country Apart The Party of Whatever the Hell Trump Says Trump ’ s Republican Party has broken with its own traditions and violated most of the norms of American politics .
But when it comes to conventions , Trump ’ s a traditionalist .
Historically , conventions have framed fall campaigns , and this year ’ s Republican convention has done just that .
It has amplified big lies about the “ historic ” Trump economy and managing Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ law-and-order ” rhetoric with all the “ we can never allow mob rule ” subtlety of Spiro Agnew , while denying the reality of systemic racism .
And it has talked about a presumed socialist “ threat ” with such certainty that you would think it was 1945 in the United Kingdom when Prime Minister Winston Churchill ’ s Conservative Party was about to be bumped out of office by the “ Red Flag ” –singing comrades of the old British Labour Party .
But this isn ’ t 1945 in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a socialist campaign .
Far from it .
Joe Biden is a dyed-in-the-wool centrist with deep corporate ties .
He will not govern as did Clement Attlee—the British socialist prime minister whose record of post–World War II accomplishments belies the Republican convention claim of former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that “ we know that socialism has failed everywhere.
” Variations of the socialist theme—democratic socialism , social democracy , the “ cooperative commonwealth ” socialism of the Canadian prairie provinces , the “ sewer socialism ” of American cities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was the point made by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders , who campaigned in 2020 as a democratic socialist .
Sanders was beaten by an unapologetic centrist , and the Democratic Party will campaign this fall on a platform that eschews Sanders staples such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal .
During the 2020 primary campaign , it was frequently suggested that nominating Sanders would force Democrats to spend the fall countering Republican charges that socialism would ruin America .
But those claims presumed that Republicans would run a reality-based campaign @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Biden is a Trojan horse for socialism , ” Trump announced on the last night of the 2020 convention .
“ If Joe Biden doesn ’ t have the strength to stand up to wild-eyed Marxists like Bernie Sanders and his fellow radicals , then how is he ever going to stand up for you ?
” That ’ s a fantasy that Trump and the Republicans will maintain through the fall .
Which brings us to the question of how Democrats should respond .
Had the party nominated Sanders , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Denmark and FDR ’ s Economic Bill of Rights— “ you are entitled , as an American , to decent housing , to decent health care , to a decent job , to a decent retirement ” —and the confidence of someone who has been talking about democratic socialism for 60 years .
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , who was elected in 2018 as a democratic socialist , is equally at ease with the term .
“ So when millennials talk about concepts like democratic socialism , we ’ re not talking about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ boogeyman .
We ’ re talking about countries and systems that already exist that have already been proven to be successful in the modern world , ” the New York Democrat says .
“ We ’ re talking about single-payer health care that has already been successful in many different models , from Finland to Canada to the UK.
” The ‘ Abomination ’ of a Convention Makes Clear the GOP Threat More in this series But Sanders and AOC are not leading the party , so what of Democrats like Biden and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ socialists ?
If they want to win , they can ’ t get defensive when confronted with the “ S ” word .
If Democrats seem embarrassed or furtive , the Republicans will double down .
That ’ s what happened in 1988 when Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis struggled with the word “ liberal.
” Better to recognize that socialism is not the political “ turnoff ” that pundits imagine .
When Gallup polled voters about it earlier this year , 76 percent of Democrats said they would back a socialist candidate , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 17 percent of Republicans .
Biden has options if wants to push back against the GOP ’ s socialist fearmongering .
He could borrow a page from President Harry Truman , who during Joe McCarthy ’ s Red Scare disarmed critics with a history lesson .
“ Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years , ” said Truman .
“ Socialism is what they called public power .
Socialism is what they called social security .
Socialism is what they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what they called bank deposit insurance .
Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations .
Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
” But the most compelling approach I ’ ve seen of late is that of Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey , who faces a primary challenge next week from Massachusetts Representative Joe Kennedy III .
Markey has been in politics for the better part of 50 years , and he ’ s never identified as a socialist .
But—and here ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ learn—he ’ s not afraid of the word .
Recalling when he and Ocasio-Cortez introduced their Green New Deal resolution in 2019 , Markey says : If Democrats start talking like Ed Markey , Donald Trump and Mike Pence won ’ t know what hit them .

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The Republican National Convention finished as it began, spewing lies, loathing, and fear itself as part of a determined strategy to jump-start Donald Trump’s fall campaign. Convention planners failed on many fronts, but they succeeded in keeping dozens of Trump children and in-laws, retainers and employees, congressional co-conspirators and prospective 2024 presidential candidates on message.
Trump returned to that changeless message at the opening of his Thursday night acceptance speech in which he imagined Democrat Joe Biden as a socialist “Trojan horse” rolling toward the White House.
“Despite all of our greatness as a nation, everything we have achieved is now endangered. This is the most important election in the history of our country. At no time before have voters faced a clearer choice between two parties, two visions, two philosophies, or two agendas,” Trump declared. “This election will decide whether we save the American Dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to demolish our cherished destiny.”
That’s an absurd calculation. But no more absurd than Vice President Mike Pence’s conclusion that “Joe Biden would set America on a path of socialism and decline.” Or RNC chair Ronna McDaniel’s announcement that “Democrats have chosen to go down the road to socialism.” Or Lara Trump’s claim that “this is not just a choice between Republican and Democrat or left and right—this is an election that will decide if we keep America America, or if we head down an uncharted, frightening path towards socialism.” Or Kimberly Guilfoyle’s confident assertion that “Biden, Harris and their socialist comrades will fundamentally change this nation.” More From John Nichols A GOP Debate Without Trump Is the Definition of Pointlessness August 11, 2023 A Win for Abortion Rights, a Win for Democracy: Ohio Voters Reject Issue 1 August 9, 2023 The Biggest Threat to Donald Trump Could Be the Constitution Itself August 4, 2023
Trump’s Republican Party has broken with its own traditions and violated most of the norms of American politics. But when it comes to conventions, Trump’s a traditionalist. Historically, conventions have framed fall campaigns, and this year’s Republican convention has done just that. It has amplified big lies about the “historic” Trump economy and managing Covid-19 and mass unemployment. It has employed “law-and-order” rhetoric with all the “we can never allow mob rule” subtlety of Spiro Agnew, while denying the reality of systemic racism. And it has talked about a presumed socialist “threat” with such certainty that you would think it was 1945 in the United Kingdom when Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s Conservative Party was about to be bumped out of office by the “Red Flag”–singing comrades of the old British Labour Party. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
But this isn’t 1945 in the UK. The Democrats are not mounting a socialist campaign. Far from it. Joe Biden is a dyed-in-the-wool centrist with deep corporate ties. He will not govern as did Clement Attlee—the British socialist prime minister whose record of post–World War II accomplishments belies the Republican convention claim of former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley that “we know that socialism has failed everywhere.” Variations of the socialist theme—democratic socialism, social democracy, the “cooperative commonwealth” socialism of the Canadian prairie provinces, the “sewer socialism” of American cities such as Milwaukee—have often succeeded.
That was the point made by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who campaigned in 2020 as a democratic socialist. Sanders was beaten by an unapologetic centrist, and the Democratic Party will campaign this fall on a platform that eschews Sanders staples such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Current Issue View our current issue
During the 2020 primary campaign, it was frequently suggested that nominating Sanders would force Democrats to spend the fall countering Republican charges that socialism would ruin America. But those claims presumed that Republicans would run a reality-based campaign, which was of course naïve. “Biden is a Trojan horse for socialism,” Trump announced on the last night of the 2020 convention. “If Joe Biden doesn’t have the strength to stand up to wild-eyed Marxists like Bernie Sanders and his fellow radicals, then how is he ever going to stand up for you?”
That’s a fantasy that Trump and the Republicans will maintain through the fall.
Which brings us to the question of how Democrats should respond.
Had the party nominated Sanders, he would have been prepared, with tutorials on Denmark and FDR’s Economic Bill of Rights—“you are entitled, as an American, to decent housing, to decent health care, to a decent job, to a decent retirement”—and the confidence of someone who has been talking about democratic socialism for 60 years.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected in 2018 as a democratic socialist, is equally at ease with the term. “So when millennials talk about concepts like democratic socialism, we’re not talking about these kinds of ‘Red Scare’ boogeyman. We’re talking about countries and systems that already exist that have already been proven to be successful in the modern world,” the New York Democrat says. “We’re talking about single-payer health care that has already been successful in many different models, from Finland to Canada to the UK.” 2020 RNC Biden Republicans Are a Political Illusion Jeet Heer GOP Convention: George Wallace Meets ‘Duck Dynasty’ Sasha Abramsky The ‘Abomination’ of a Convention Makes Clear the GOP Threat Eric Alterman
But Sanders and AOC are not leading the party, so what of Democrats like Biden and Harris, who have never campaigned as socialists?
If they want to win, they can’t get defensive when confronted with the “S” word. If Democrats seem embarrassed or furtive, the Republicans will double down. That’s what happened in 1988 when Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis struggled with the word “liberal.”
Better to recognize that socialism is not the political “turnoff” that pundits imagine. When Gallup polled voters about it earlier this year, 76 percent of Democrats said they would back a socialist candidate, as did 45 percent of independents and 17 percent of Republicans.
Biden has options if wants to push back against the GOP’s socialist fearmongering. He could borrow a page from President Harry Truman, who during Joe McCarthy’s Red Scare disarmed critics with a history lesson. “Socialism is a scare word they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years,” said Truman. “Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called social security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organizations. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.”
Former US labor secretary Robert Reich proposes a commonsense argument:
If we don’t want to live in a survival-of-the-fittest society in which only the richest and most powerful can endure, government has to do three basic things: regulate corporations, provide social insurance against unforeseen hardships, and support public investments such as schools and public transportation. All of these require that we pool our resources for the common good. Regardless of whether this is called democratic socialism or enlightened capitalism, all are necessary for a decent society.
But the most compelling approach I’ve seen of late is that of Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, who faces a primary challenge next week from Massachusetts Representative Joe Kennedy III.
Markey has been in politics for the better part of 50 years, and he’s never identified as a socialist. But—and here’s where Biden and his crew can learn—he’s not afraid of the word. Recalling when he and Ocasio-Cortez introduced their Green New Deal resolution in 2019, Markey says:
The Republicans, Fox News, they called the Green New Deal when Alexandria and I introduced it “socialism.” Well, what do you call tax breaks for 100 years for the oil, for the gas, for the coal industries—the wealthiest industries in America shaking our money out of our pockets for tax breaks for them? What I say is: Give us some of that socialism for wind, and solar, and all-electric vehicles, and plug-in hybrids and storage battery technology. And we will be looking at the fossil-fuel industry in the rear-view mirror of history.
No apologies. No defensiveness.
If Democrats start talking like Ed Markey, Donald Trump and Mike Pence won’t know what hit them.


thenation--2020-08-25--At the RNC, Republicans Go All In on Police Impunity

On Sunday night , video was released showing the attempted murder of Jacob Blake on a street in Kenosha , Wis .
The video shows Blake , a Black man , walking towards his parked vehicle followed by two police officers who have their guns drawn on him .
As Blake reaches his car door , one of the officers grabs Blake ’ s tank top and holds him in place as he , or the other officer , fires multiple shots into Blake at point-blank range .
In the video , seven shots can be heard .
Witnesses say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ before to break up a fight between two women .
Cops , who were apparently called to the scene , claim that Blake was noncompliant with their instructions when they arrived .
Blake ’ s three young children were in the car when the police shot him .
Blake was taken to a hospital , where he remains in the intensive care unit .
Less than 24 hours later , on Monday , Republicans started their national nominating convention in a crowded , mask-optional room in Charlotte , N.C. Vice President Mike Pence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , declared , “ We ’ re gon na back the Blue.
” Pence , apparently , couldn ’ t say “ Black lives matter.
” Not only that , he insisted on elevating the police , which is a profession , to the level of an immutable ( if , yes , constructed ) characteristic like race , color , or ethnicity .
There ’ s no such thing as a “ blue ” life .
There are just people armed at the behest of the state who are supposed to follow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unarmed citizens .
Such was the first installment of the Republicans ’ days-long convention-as-culture war , which will cast cops , like the ones who shot Blake , as victims in need of “ protection ” from an unarmed citizenry .
If Blake ’ s story comes up at all , it will arrive in the form of red-faced denunciations of the protesters decrying Blake ’ s attempted murder , rather than outrage over the attempted murder of another unarmed Black man .
Pence didn ’ t even bother to offer “ thoughts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ children or family .
When it comes to Black men gunned down by the cops , even the usual useless platitudes get caught in Republican throats .
Pence , presumably , isn ’ t at all sorry that a Black man was shot several times in the back as his children cried out in horror .
I imagine he , and most Republicans , think the murder was justified .
I can tell you exactly what the cops will say : They ’ ll say that they thought Blake was “ reaching for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( even though there was no gun ) .
The cops will say , with a straight face , that they shot a man in the back in “ self-defense.
” And that defense might work .
Betty Shelby , the cop who shot Terrence Crutcher in the middle of a Tulsa street when she was surrounded by fellow officers and a police helicopter , was acquitted .
Many Republicans just don ’ t think gunning down unarmed Black men is illegal .
Many of them probably think the Black guy had it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The Republican Party has fully aligned itself with the most violent and racist elements in our society .
Everybody from the white supremacists who showed up in Charlottesville to QAnon conspiracy theorists to unashamed bigots like Laura Loomer—anybody , quite simply , who has violent impulses toward people of color—has a home in the modern Republican Party .
There ’ s a reason the New York Police Union openly endorsed Donald Trump for president .
It ’ s because cops know that Trump and the Republicans will take their side against any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not want to protect Black people from the police .
Democrats haven ’ t always been champions of Black lives either .
But Republicans have stood , and continue to stand , against every suggested measure to address police brutality .
I ’ m not just talking about the big , structural changes that progressives have been pushing in recent years ; Republicans oppose even the small changes that would simply make it harder for cops to gun down Black people with impunity .
Republicans oppose measures that would bring more transparency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their disciplinary records .
Republicans oppose a national registry of “ bad apples ” so that they can ’ t be shuffled from one department to another .
Republicans oppose independent commissions set up to prosecute police .
Republicans oppose federal oversight and consent decrees entered into with the Department of Justice , oppose federal use-of-force regulations , and oppose strengthening Fourth Amendment protections to prevent cops from racial profiling or executing no-knock warrants .
It would be possible to support any or all of these positions and still be a “ law @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accountability , and oversight over policing are ideas everybody should agree to , whether they believe that systemic racism infects law enforcement or not .
But you won ’ t find those kinds of Republicans , or plans , at the convention .
Instead of an anti-police-brutality agenda , Republicans have Tim Scott , the Senator from South Carolina who happens to be Black .
Scott spoke last night at the convention .
Scott ’ s proposals to address police brutality are underwhelming , but if Scott represented the actual Republican agenda on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be a starting point .
But Scott ’ s ideas were not adopted as part of the Republican Party platform .
In fact , the Republican Party in 2020 adopted no platform at all .
The GOP blamed ( wait for it ) coronavirus social-distancing rules for preventing it from gathering and agreeing on a 2020 agenda .
Instead of adopting actual policies , the Republicans just put out a blanket resolution “ enthusiastically ” supporting Donald Trump .
I ’ m not making that up .
The 2020 GOP is not a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , a cult of personality set up to support Trump .
If there is one thing we know about Trump and the party that is now forever tied to his existence , it ’ s that they do not care if people die .
Black and brown people are , and have long been , at the top of that list of not caring , but the thing about death cults is that they tend to expand .
Today ’ s Republicans don ’ t care if people are killed by law enforcement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people die in floods , hurricanes , or fires brought on by climate change .
They figuratively shrug their shoulders as our children are gunned down at school .
And just a few weeks back , we saw President Trump literally shrug his shoulders and say “ It is what it is ” when confronted with the reality of the Americans felled by Covid-19 on his watch .
The callousness of Trump and the Republicans is matched only by the nihilism of their supporters .
A recent poll found that 57 percent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) American deaths from Covid-19 as “ acceptable.
” How Yale Became the Latest Target in the Plot to Kill Affirmative Action The DNC Refuses to Address the Elephant in the Room America ’ s Racist Police Won ’ t Be Dismantled by 2 Weeks of Protests This willful indifference in the face of systemic suffering is the defining feature of the modern Republican Party .
By championing a kind of latter-day social Darwinism , Republicans try to absolve themselves of responsibility .
They don ’ t have to come up with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there was nothing that could be done anyway .
Grandma had to die of something , I guess .
They don ’ t have to respond to mass shootings if they act like school shooters are unpredictable lightning bolts from an angry God .
They don ’ t have to address police brutality if Black lives do not matter .
An unarmed Black man was shot seven times in the back in broad daylight on camera on the eve of the Republican National Convention , and the vice president of the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ points to suggest that cops are anything other than the victims of the protests against that kind of violence .
Two tropical storms will slam into the Gulf Coast , at nearly the same time , during the convention , and the Republicans will not adjust their speeches that portray climate change as a liberal hoax perpetrated by people who want to raise the cost of doing business .
And the entire convention will be held in an alternate reality where the coronavirus either doesn ’ t exist , or has already been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a miracle cure Trump will present to the nation “ very soon.
” The only response Republicans have to the human suffering they ’ ve caused is to spend a week pretending that the humans who died on their watch never existed in the first place .

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On Sunday night, video was released showing the attempted murder of Jacob Blake on a street in Kenosha, Wis. The video shows Blake, a Black man, walking towards his parked vehicle followed by two police officers who have their guns drawn on him. As Blake reaches his car door, one of the officers grabs Blake’s tank top and holds him in place as he, or the other officer, fires multiple shots into Blake at point-blank range. In the video, seven shots can be heard.
Witnesses say Blake had exited his car not long before to break up a fight between two women. Cops, who were apparently called to the scene, claim that Blake was noncompliant with their instructions when they arrived.
Blake’s three young children were in the car when the police shot him. Blake was taken to a hospital, where he remains in the intensive care unit.
Less than 24 hours later, on Monday, Republicans started their national nominating convention in a crowded, mask-optional room in Charlotte, N.C. Vice President Mike Pence, accepting his renomination to his office, declared, “We’re gonna back the Blue.” Pence, apparently, couldn’t say “Black lives matter.” Not only that, he insisted on elevating the police, which is a profession, to the level of an immutable (if, yes, constructed) characteristic like race, color, or ethnicity. There’s no such thing as a “blue” life. There are just people armed at the behest of the state who are supposed to follow constitutional guidelines while they protect and serve unarmed citizens.
Such was the first installment of the Republicans’ days-long convention-as-culture war, which will cast cops, like the ones who shot Blake, as victims in need of “protection” from an unarmed citizenry. If Blake’s story comes up at all, it will arrive in the form of red-faced denunciations of the protesters decrying Blake’s attempted murder, rather than outrage over the attempted murder of another unarmed Black man.
Pence didn’t even bother to offer “thoughts and prayers” to Blake or his children or family. When it comes to Black men gunned down by the cops, even the usual useless platitudes get caught in Republican throats. Current Issue View our current issue
Pence, presumably, isn’t at all sorry that a Black man was shot several times in the back as his children cried out in horror. I imagine he, and most Republicans, think the murder was justified. I can tell you exactly what the cops will say: They’ll say that they thought Blake was “reaching for a gun” somewhere in his vehicle (even though there was no gun). The cops will say, with a straight face, that they shot a man in the back in “self-defense.” And that defense might work. Betty Shelby, the cop who shot Terrence Crutcher in the middle of a Tulsa street when she was surrounded by fellow officers and a police helicopter, was acquitted.
Many Republicans just don’t think gunning down unarmed Black men is illegal. Many of them probably think the Black guy had it coming, for one reason or another. The Republican Party has fully aligned itself with the most violent and racist elements in our society. Everybody from the white supremacists who showed up in Charlottesville to QAnon conspiracy theorists to unashamed bigots like Laura Loomer—anybody, quite simply, who has violent impulses toward people of color—has a home in the modern Republican Party. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
There’s a reason the New York Police Union openly endorsed Donald Trump for president. It’s because cops know that Trump and the Republicans will take their side against any Black person they murder. Republicans simply do not want to protect Black people from the police.
Democrats haven’t always been champions of Black lives either. But Republicans have stood, and continue to stand, against every suggested measure to address police brutality. I’m not just talking about the big, structural changes that progressives have been pushing in recent years; Republicans oppose even the small changes that would simply make it harder for cops to gun down Black people with impunity. Republicans oppose measures that would bring more transparency to police forces through the disclosure of their disciplinary records. Republicans oppose a national registry of “bad apples” so that they can’t be shuffled from one department to another. Republicans oppose independent commissions set up to prosecute police. Republicans oppose federal oversight and consent decrees entered into with the Department of Justice, oppose federal use-of-force regulations, and oppose strengthening Fourth Amendment protections to prevent cops from racial profiling or executing no-knock warrants.
It would be possible to support any or all of these positions and still be a “law and order” Republican. Transparency, accountability, and oversight over policing are ideas everybody should agree to, whether they believe that systemic racism infects law enforcement or not.
But you won’t find those kinds of Republicans, or plans, at the convention. Instead of an anti-police-brutality agenda, Republicans have Tim Scott, the Senator from South Carolina who happens to be Black. Scott spoke last night at the convention. Scott’s proposals to address police brutality are underwhelming, but if Scott represented the actual Republican agenda on police violence, it would at least be a starting point.
But Scott’s ideas were not adopted as part of the Republican Party platform. In fact, the Republican Party in 2020 adopted no platform at all. The GOP blamed (wait for it) coronavirus social-distancing rules for preventing it from gathering and agreeing on a 2020 agenda. Instead of adopting actual policies, the Republicans just put out a blanket resolution “enthusiastically” supporting Donald Trump. I’m not making that up. The 2020 GOP is not a political party; it is, officially, a cult of personality set up to support Trump.
If there is one thing we know about Trump and the party that is now forever tied to his existence, it’s that they do not care if people die. Black and brown people are, and have long been, at the top of that list of not caring, but the thing about death cults is that they tend to expand. Today’s Republicans don’t care if people are killed by law enforcement. They don’t care if people die in floods, hurricanes, or fires brought on by climate change. They figuratively shrug their shoulders as our children are gunned down at school. And just a few weeks back, we saw President Trump literally shrug his shoulders and say “It is what it is” when confronted with the reality of the Americans felled by Covid-19 on his watch.
The callousness of Trump and the Republicans is matched only by the nihilism of their supporters. A recent poll found that 57 percent of Republicans viewed the 170,000 (and counting) American deaths from Covid-19 as “acceptable.” More from Mystal How Yale Became the Latest Target in the Plot to Kill Affirmative Action Elie Mystal The DNC Refuses to Address the Elephant in the Room Elie Mystal America’s Racist Police Won’t Be Dismantled by 2 Weeks of Protests Elie Mystal
This willful indifference in the face of systemic suffering is the defining feature of the modern Republican Party. By championing a kind of latter-day social Darwinism, Republicans try to absolve themselves of responsibility. They don’t have to come up with a national plan to combat the virus if there was nothing that could be done anyway. Grandma had to die of something, I guess. They don’t have to respond to mass shootings if they act like school shooters are unpredictable lightning bolts from an angry God. They don’t have to address police brutality if Black lives do not matter.
An unarmed Black man was shot seven times in the back in broad daylight on camera on the eve of the Republican National Convention, and the vice president of the United States didn’t even adjust his talking points to suggest that cops are anything other than the victims of the protests against that kind of violence. Two tropical storms will slam into the Gulf Coast, at nearly the same time, during the convention, and the Republicans will not adjust their speeches that portray climate change as a liberal hoax perpetrated by people who want to raise the cost of doing business. And the entire convention will be held in an alternate reality where the coronavirus either doesn’t exist, or has already been defeated, or will be defeated by a miracle cure Trump will present to the nation “very soon.”
The only response Republicans have to the human suffering they’ve caused is to spend a week pretending that the humans who died on their watch never existed in the first place.


thenation--2020-08-31--The Culture Is Still Catching Up With Georgia Anne Muldrow

In mid-July , during a 48-minute Instagram Live interview with the Black culture and art website Afropunk , Georgia Anne Muldrow explained the meaning behind Mama , You Can Bet !
, her third album under the pseudonym Jyoti .
As she put it , single mothers forgo their own desires for the betterment of their children ; the album was written to celebrate them .
“ I wanted to make a song for when a daughter sees their mother as a woman , for when the child respects a mother ’ s right to have passionate love in her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ They say after a certain age , you ’ re not beautiful .
They say that this woman , who ’ s given her whole body [ and ] done the holiest thing known to man , has now depreciated in value.
” On the title track , which also opens the album , Muldrow speaks specifically to Black mothers .
And with its distinctly West African sound—a woozy mix of goblet drums , upright bass , and quiet piano chords , produced by Muldrow in her home studio—it ’ s meant to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ve been historically mistreated and disconnected from their ancestry .
“ There ’ s many a man who ’ d love your hand , ” she sings .
“ Love is waiting for you.
” Muldrow has made a career of such empowerment .
Long before being “ woke ” was trendy , she and Erykah Badu coined the term in the song “ Master Teacher , ” from Badu ’ s 2008 album New Amerykah Part One ( 4th World War ) , where they sang about finding utopia and themselves in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2000s , as a student at the New School in Manhattan , Muldrow and her friend and saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin talked about wokeness as a way to understand how they could contextualize their music within the political battles of their everyday lives .
“ Most of the conversation in our friendship was about putting our struggles in our music because that was all we could do , ” Muldrow told Pitchfork in 2018 .
“ [ We spoke about ] trying to find points of power : in your soloing , in your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about things situated around African liberation all over the world.
” To that end , Muldrow , who had been releasing rap and soul music under her own name , has long encouraged Black people to fully embrace their heritage and fight systemic oppression .
“ We play nice while they stackin ’ up kills , ” she proclaimed on “ Blam , ” from her Grammy-nominated 2018 album , Overload .
“ How much we got ta grow , before we can learn to defend ourselves ?
” On “ 187 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ War , with the rapper Dudley Perkins , she declared , “ Death to all oppressors.
” As Jyoti—a name given to her by family friend Alice Coltrane , which means “ light ” in Sanskrit—Muldrow creates a wistful blend of spiritual jazz indebted to the work of jazz greats .
Through contemplative piano and organ solos , thick bass lines and electronic drums , she crafts a sound equally informed by the past and present , as if she ’ s trying to imagine how legends like the aforementioned Coltrane and Nina @ @ @ @ @ @ @ modern-day jazz .
It ’ s also decidedly West Coast ; listening to it , one hears the lush Afrocentric influences of Los Angeles stalwarts Horace Tapscott and Charles Mingus .
There ’ s a certain ease to Muldrow ’ s Jyoti work ; she borrows and riffs on the textures of Coltrane , Tapscott , and Mingus in her jazz-centered arrangements with panache .
Yet , while she pays homage to her influences , she doesn ’ t center them to the point of diminishing her own sound .
Muldrow remixes two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bet !
For “ Bemoanable Lady Geemix , ” she brightens his moody arrangement with big electronic drums and darting synths , turning the down tempo original into a glossy hypnotic thump .
On “ Fabus Foo Geemix , ” she quickens the original with an upbeat drum loop and electric bass , turning an old Mingus cut into a funk-infused breakbeat .
Equally spacious , scenic , and forward-looking , they both use traditional jazz as the basis for something remarkably new and vibrant .
Born in Los Angeles to a musical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ direction is rooted in her biography .
Her father , Ronald , was an acclaimed funk and jazz guitarist known for his work alongside the saxophonist Eddie Harris .
Her mother , Rickie Byars-Beckwith , is an experimental vocalist who specializes in New Thought music and used to sing with the jazz musicians Pharoah Sanders and Roland Hanna .
Muldrow started composing her own music at the age of 10 .
In 2006 , the LA-based Stones Throw Records released her first full-length album , Olesi : Fragments of an Earth , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soul , and free jazz that foreshadowed Muldrow ’ s work as Jyoti .
Muldrow ’ s first two Jyoti albums , the free-jazz-focused Ocotea and the more straight-ahead Denderah , were released in 2010 and 2013 , respectively , before the resurgence of interest in jazz that ’ s occurred in recent years .
In 2015 , amid a nationwide reckoning over police killings of Black people , the music of certain artists took on a darker , more political tone : Rappers like Kendrick Lamar and musical collaborators like the saxophonist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jazz-centered protest music that thrust the genre back into vogue .
Muldrow predates Lamar and Washington , even though her Jyoti work was never appreciated to the same extent .
“ I don ’ t care how that shit happens , we need breakthroughs , ” she once told me .
“ I ’ m very thankful that people are making jazz their own , and making it live in a unique way for them.
” Still , she should be applauded for releasing such resonant jazz at a time when few were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the term “ woke ” to public view or helping shape the current state of jazz , Muldrow ’ s work represents thinking ahead , waiting for people to catch up with her .
Mama , You Can Bet !
is livelier than the previous Jyoti records , leapfrogging swing , ambient , and hip-hop through shorter instrumentals that don ’ t linger too long .
Across the 15-song album , Muldrow doesn ’ t just nod to the past .
On “ Ancestral Duckets , ” she summons her ancestors through meditative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” in particular , she sounds weary yet resolute , lamenting state violence and how it takes a toll on mental health .
Overall , Mama feels more like a beat tape resembling the instrumental projects she ’ s released under her own name .
Where those albums display Muldrow ’ s love of electronic funk and West Coast hip-hop , the Jyoti work reaches back even further—to the late 1960s and early ’ 70s , when jazz musicians such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock broadened their sounds to include traces of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ music of her youth while honoring the relatives and artists who ’ ve passed away .
“ Black improvised music is my foundation for life , ” Muldrow told Afropunk ’ s Timmhotep Aku .
“ The Jyoti stuff is the root .
It ’ s the square root of my sound.
” That explains “ Ra ’ s Noise ( Thukumbado ) , ” a brassy cut featuring Benjamin , with its rhythmic scatting dedicated to the cosmic jazz pioneer Sun Ra .
Its sauntering pace and vast arrangement is more restrained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but I can still hear parts of him in the track , from Benjamin ’ s shrill saxophone wails to Muldrow ’ s shouts of “ interplanetary !
” in the background .
Sun Ra believed that Black people would never find peace on Earth and should live on other planets .
“ Ra ’ s Noise , ” in turn , seems to score a voyage to deep space .
“ Orgone ” similarly finds Muldrow longing for another place far from America ’ s systemic racism .
“ How I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she sings over sparse piano chords .
“ I wan na go back , way back to the time when I was free.
” Of course , a declaration like this isn ’ t surprising for her .
She ’ s long sought this sort of liberation for herself and her people .
Now that social unrest and police brutality have reached a feverish clip , Muldrow ’ s calls for Black freedom ring louder than ever .

This article appears in the November 16/23, 2020 issue.
In mid-July, during a 48-minute Instagram Live interview with the Black culture and art website Afropunk, Georgia Anne Muldrow explained the meaning behind Mama, You Can Bet!, her third album under the pseudonym Jyoti. As she put it, single mothers forgo their own desires for the betterment of their children; the album was written to celebrate them. “I wanted to make a song for when a daughter sees their mother as a woman, for when the child respects a mother’s right to have passionate love in her life,” Muldrow said. “They say after a certain age, you’re not beautiful. They say that this woman, who’s given her whole body [and] done the holiest thing known to man, has now depreciated in value.” On the title track, which also opens the album, Muldrow speaks specifically to Black mothers. And with its distinctly West African sound—a woozy mix of goblet drums, upright bass, and quiet piano chords, produced by Muldrow in her home studio—it’s meant to empower a group of women who’ve been historically mistreated and disconnected from their ancestry. “There’s many a man who’d love your hand,” she sings. “Love is waiting for you.”
Muldrow has made a career of such empowerment. Long before being “woke” was trendy, she and Erykah Badu coined the term in the song “Master Teacher,” from Badu’s 2008 album New Amerykah Part One (4th World War), where they sang about finding utopia and themselves in times of madness. In the early 2000s, as a student at the New School in Manhattan, Muldrow and her friend and saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin talked about wokeness as a way to understand how they could contextualize their music within the political battles of their everyday lives. “Most of the conversation in our friendship was about putting our struggles in our music because that was all we could do,” Muldrow told Pitchfork in 2018. “[We spoke about] trying to find points of power: in your soloing, in your composing. Most of our conversations were about things situated around African liberation all over the world.” To that end, Muldrow, who had been releasing rap and soul music under her own name, has long encouraged Black people to fully embrace their heritage and fight systemic oppression. “We play nice while they stackin’ up kills,” she proclaimed on “Blam,” from her Grammy-nominated 2018 album, Overload. “How much we gotta grow, before we can learn to defend ourselves?” On “187,” from the collaborative Black Love & War, with the rapper Dudley Perkins, she declared, “Death to all oppressors.”
As Jyoti—a name given to her by family friend Alice Coltrane, which means “light” in Sanskrit—Muldrow creates a wistful blend of spiritual jazz indebted to the work of jazz greats. Through contemplative piano and organ solos, thick bass lines and electronic drums, she crafts a sound equally informed by the past and present, as if she’s trying to imagine how legends like the aforementioned Coltrane and Nina Simone would fit within the scope of modern-day jazz. It’s also decidedly West Coast; listening to it, one hears the lush Afrocentric influences of Los Angeles stalwarts Horace Tapscott and Charles Mingus.
There’s a certain ease to Muldrow’s Jyoti work; she borrows and riffs on the textures of Coltrane, Tapscott, and Mingus in her jazz-centered arrangements with panache. Yet, while she pays homage to her influences, she doesn’t center them to the point of diminishing her own sound. Muldrow remixes two Mingus songs on Mama, You Can Bet! For “Bemoanable Lady Geemix,” she brightens his moody arrangement with big electronic drums and darting synths, turning the down tempo original into a glossy hypnotic thump. On “Fabus Foo Geemix,” she quickens the original with an upbeat drum loop and electric bass, turning an old Mingus cut into a funk-infused breakbeat. Equally spacious, scenic, and forward-looking, they both use traditional jazz as the basis for something remarkably new and vibrant. Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann Popular "swipe left below to view more authors"Swipe → The Evisceration of a Public University The Evisceration of a Public University Lisa M. Corrigan The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks The Patronizing Moralism of David Brooks Chris Lehmann “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash Dave Zirin A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life A Grim Chronicle of Trump’s Corrupt Public Life Chris Lehmann
Born in Los Angeles to a musical family, Muldrow’s current creative direction is rooted in her biography. Her father, Ronald, was an acclaimed funk and jazz guitarist known for his work alongside the saxophonist Eddie Harris. Her mother, Rickie Byars-Beckwith, is an experimental vocalist who specializes in New Thought music and used to sing with the jazz musicians Pharoah Sanders and Roland Hanna. Muldrow started composing her own music at the age of 10. In 2006, the LA-based Stones Throw Records released her first full-length album, Olesi: Fragments of an Earth, a dense collage of hip-hop, Black Liberation soul, and free jazz that foreshadowed Muldrow’s work as Jyoti.
Muldrow’s first two Jyoti albums, the free-jazz-focused Ocotea and the more straight-ahead Denderah, were released in 2010 and 2013, respectively, before the resurgence of interest in jazz that’s occurred in recent years. In 2015, amid a nationwide reckoning over police killings of Black people, the music of certain artists took on a darker, more political tone: Rappers like Kendrick Lamar and musical collaborators like the saxophonist Kamasi Washington responded to the moment with jazz-centered protest music that thrust the genre back into vogue. Muldrow predates Lamar and Washington, even though her Jyoti work was never appreciated to the same extent. “I don’t care how that shit happens, we need breakthroughs,” she once told me. “I’m very thankful that people are making jazz their own, and making it live in a unique way for them.” Still, she should be applauded for releasing such resonant jazz at a time when few were looking. Whether it’s bringing the term “woke” to public view or helping shape the current state of jazz, Muldrow’s work represents thinking ahead, waiting for people to catch up with her.
Mama, You Can Bet! is livelier than the previous Jyoti records, leapfrogging swing, ambient, and hip-hop through shorter instrumentals that don’t linger too long. Across the 15-song album, Muldrow doesn’t just nod to the past. On “Ancestral Duckets,” she summons her ancestors through meditative chants. On “This Walk,” in particular, she sounds weary yet resolute, lamenting state violence and how it takes a toll on mental health. Overall, Mama feels more like a beat tape resembling the instrumental projects she’s released under her own name. Where those albums display Muldrow’s love of electronic funk and West Coast hip-hop, the Jyoti work reaches back even further—to the late 1960s and early ’70s, when jazz musicians such as Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock broadened their sounds to include traces of funk and psych-rock. Jyoti celebrates the music of her youth while honoring the relatives and artists who’ve passed away. “Black improvised music is my foundation for life,” Muldrow told Afropunk’s Timmhotep Aku. “The Jyoti stuff is the root. It’s the square root of my sound.”
That explains “Ra’s Noise (Thukumbado),” a brassy cut featuring Benjamin, with its rhythmic scatting dedicated to the cosmic jazz pioneer Sun Ra. Its sauntering pace and vast arrangement is more restrained than Sun Ra’s sprawling compositions, but I can still hear parts of him in the track, from Benjamin’s shrill saxophone wails to Muldrow’s shouts of “interplanetary!” in the background. Sun Ra believed that Black people would never find peace on Earth and should live on other planets. “Ra’s Noise,” in turn, seems to score a voyage to deep space. “Orgone” similarly finds Muldrow longing for another place far from America’s systemic racism. “How I dream of living in Africa,” she sings over sparse piano chords. “I wanna go back, way back to the time when I was free.” Of course, a declaration like this isn’t surprising for her. She’s long sought this sort of liberation for herself and her people. Now that social unrest and police brutality have reached a feverish clip, Muldrow’s calls for Black freedom ring louder than ever.