thenation--2020-12-07--Trump Is Hijacking the Georgia Senate Race

It was supposed to turn out so differently for Georgia Republicans .
On Saturday , after spending weeks railing against Georgia ’ s Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffesnperger—both Republicans—for refusing to embrace his lies about the Georgia election , Donald Trump grudgingly came to Valdosta , Ga. , ostensibly to support embattled senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue .
But he still insisted the November election had been rigged against him , and that the runoff probably will be rigged against Republicans too .
When Trump finally invited Loeffler and Perdue to speak to his crowd—and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crowd—his acolytes brayed , “ Stop the steal !
” The two Republicans did not seem super-comfortable .
Trump reran his complaints about Kemp and Raffensperger and other GOP election officials first .
“ You know we won Georgia , just so you understand , ” he ranted , falsely claiming that illegal votes in the state were “ coming out of ceilings and coming out of leather bags.
” He went on : “ This election was rigged , and we can ’ t let it happen to two of the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
He urged the crowd to vote in the runoff , even though he implied that the runoff will be rigged , too , and warned that Kemp “ needs to be a lot tougher… .
Your governor could stop it easily if he knew what the hell he was doing.
” Later , he claimed Kemp was “ afraid of Stacey Abrams ” and urged loyalist Representative Doug Collins to primary Kemp .
The following day , Loeffler delivered a robotic , unconvincing performance in her debate , aired on CNN @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rev .
Raphael Warnock .
Loeffler sounded like one of the creepy characters in The Manchurian Candidate , robotically referring to Warnock only as the “ radical liberal Raphael Warnock ” every single time she mentioned him , which was more than a dozen times .
Given her politics , it would have to be translated differently from the famous movie , more like “ Radical liberal Raphael Warnock is the meanest , sickest , worstest human being I ’ ve known in my life.
” Trump Is Blowing Up the Georgia GOP—and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Better Time How to Help the Democrats Win Georgia Also , Loeffler ’ s eyes looked dead .
And she never acknowledged Trump lost .
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the whole thing a “ nightmare scenario ” for Georgia Republicans .
How did this happen ?
Having paid close attention to the weekend ’ s craziness , it ’ s clear to me that the Georgia nightmare is a microcosm of the rudderless , racism-dependent GOP .
When Kemp defied Trump last year by appointing the businesswoman Loeffler ( who immediately became the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than Trump loyalist Doug Collins to the Senate seat vacated by the ailing Johnny Isakson , he did it , ostensibly , to help Republicans build back strength in the white Atlanta suburbs where voters , especially women , were being chased into the Democratic Party by the odious Trump .
Loeffler lives in the wealthy Atlanta Buckhead district , where Republicans used to have and now need much more support .
She was supposed to be a semi-moderate savior .
It was no accident that one of her first public stops as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was Ebenezer Baptist Church , the legendary base of the Rev .
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. , which is currently helmed by the Rev .
Warnock—even though it was already rumored that Warnock planned to challenge Loeffler this past November .
But Ebenezer is hallowed ground to Atlantans of every race , and largely bipartisan ground , welcoming politicians and candidates of both parties , especially to its annual King holiday services .
It was unremarkable that Loeffler would attend , Warnock would welcome her , and she would use its pulpit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I am so humbled to be here with you today in this sacred place , surrounded by men and women who advanced the cause of freedom , ” Loeffler told the throng .
Not quite a year later , Loeffler is running a scorched-earth , race-baiting Trumpian campaign , smearing Warnock with lies and half-truths to make him seem the bastard child of the Rev .
Jeremiah Wright and Karl Marx .
Her ads have darkened the black leader ’ s image , placed it against a backdrop of urban rioting , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about saving America… from that.
” On Saturday night , in ruby-red Valdosta , far south of her home base in liberal metro Atlanta , Loeffler continued to debase herself by embracing Trump , as he came to the state , supposedly to campaign for her and Senator David Perdue but mostly to air his claims that he won Georgia , along with his lunatic grievances against state GOP officials—all of whom supported him , but who have nonetheless certified Joe Biden ’ s obvious win .
The problem with Kemp ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was that Collins , predictably , ran against her , making the state ’ s nonpartisan primary a referendum on who could hug Trump more closely .
The plan had been to let Loeffler frame herself as a relative moderate , while a bunch of Democrats , including former senator Joe Lieberman ’ s sad-sack son Matt , tried to take down Warnock .
In the end , thanks partly to the vicious primary between Collins and Loeffler , but also to the state ’ s burgeoning black vote , Warnock came out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed to win 50 percent to avoid a runoff , and nobody did ( Warnock beat Loeffler 33-26 percent , with Collins at 20 percent , and a bunch of Democrats coming up way behind ) , here we are .
Collins went on to be a cheerleader for Trump ’ s crazy campaign against Georgia Republican leaders who he claimed screwed him , and he appeared with Loeffler publicly only in late November , more than three weeks after his defeat .
Loeffler ’ s Sunday debate performance was another nightmare scenario @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican insisted she doesn ’ t “ have a racist bone in my body , ” which we all know now is code for you don ’ t know what racism means , and you ’ re actually racist .
She spewed racist attacks at Warnock , insisting that he wanted to “ defund the police , ” while he said , calmly , no , he did not support that particular policy .
Warnock hit her on solid ground : her dubious stock trades that seemed to rely on Senate briefings ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He was very calm .
Sometimes , to be honest , I wanted him to be feistier , and then I had an epiphany that rocked me back in my chair , and in my whiteness .
He could not be any of that .
Warnock can not be feisty , contentious , cantankerous , even comedic , except slyly , as a black man in the South debating a slender , yellow-haired Southern lady ( she ’ s originally from Illinois ) .
The visual on some voters ’ TV sets was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ debate .
So I don ’ t entirely know how to score this one .
But Fox mocked Loeffler .
And so did many others .
She really was a hot mess .
I believe Warnock won it .
Yet , despite Biden ’ s win there last month , Georgia remains a Republican state in my book , until Democrats take at least one Senate seat and/or Abrams defeats Kemp in 2022 .
It is a microcosm of the United States—urban and suburban areas trending medium to dark blue , rural areas @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where it is , purplish .
I want to believe these two Senate seats are winnable for Democrats .
They may be .
But it ’ s also possible they ’ re even more losable for Republicans trapped in this Trumpian dog pile .
And that ’ s just fine with me .

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It was supposed to turn out so differently for Georgia Republicans.
On Saturday, after spending weeks railing against Georgia’s Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffesnperger—both Republicans—for refusing to embrace his lies about the Georgia election, Donald Trump grudgingly came to Valdosta, Ga., ostensibly to support embattled senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. But he still insisted the November election had been rigged against him, and that the runoff probably will be rigged against Republicans too. When Trump finally invited Loeffler and Perdue to speak to his crowd—and make no mistake, it was his crowd—his acolytes brayed, “Stop the steal!” The two Republicans did not seem super-comfortable. Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience? Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation’s journalism while you complete your gift list.
Trump reran his complaints about Kemp and Raffensperger and other GOP election officials first. “You know we won Georgia, just so you understand,” he ranted, falsely claiming that illegal votes in the state were “coming out of ceilings and coming out of leather bags.” He went on: “This election was rigged, and we can’t let it happen to two of the most respected people in Washington,” Trump said. He urged the crowd to vote in the runoff, even though he implied that the runoff will be rigged, too, and warned that Kemp “needs to be a lot tougher…. Your governor could stop it easily if he knew what the hell he was doing.” Later, he claimed Kemp was “afraid of Stacey Abrams” and urged loyalist Representative Doug Collins to primary Kemp.
The following day, Loeffler delivered a robotic, unconvincing performance in her debate, aired on CNN, with the Democratic challenger, the Rev. Raphael Warnock. Loeffler sounded like one of the creepy characters in The Manchurian Candidate, robotically referring to Warnock only as the “radical liberal Raphael Warnock” every single time she mentioned him, which was more than a dozen times. Given her politics, it would have to be translated differently from the famous movie, more like “Radical liberal Raphael Warnock is the meanest, sickest, worstest human being I’ve known in my life.” More From Joan Walsh The Promise of Justice in Fani Willis’s Indictment August 15, 2023 Please, Please Stop Blaming “Progressives” for Donald Trump’s Fascism August 11, 2023 The Ron-mentum Continues… Circling the Drain August 9, 2023
Also, Loeffler’s eyes looked dead. And she never acknowledged Trump lost.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the whole thing a “nightmare scenario” for Georgia Republicans. How did this happen?
Having paid close attention to the weekend’s craziness, it’s clear to me that the Georgia nightmare is a microcosm of the rudderless, racism-dependent GOP. When Kemp defied Trump last year by appointing the businesswoman Loeffler (who immediately became the country’s wealthiest senator) rather than Trump loyalist Doug Collins to the Senate seat vacated by the ailing Johnny Isakson, he did it, ostensibly, to help Republicans build back strength in the white Atlanta suburbs where voters, especially women, were being chased into the Democratic Party by the odious Trump. Loeffler lives in the wealthy Atlanta Buckhead district, where Republicans used to have and now need much more support. She was supposed to be a semi-moderate savior. 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 My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung 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 My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung Current Issue View our current issue
It was no accident that one of her first public stops as Georgia’s newest senator last January was Ebenezer Baptist Church, the legendary base of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which is currently helmed by the Rev. Warnock—even though it was already rumored that Warnock planned to challenge Loeffler this past November.
But Ebenezer is hallowed ground to Atlantans of every race, and largely bipartisan ground, welcoming politicians and candidates of both parties, especially to its annual King holiday services. It was unremarkable that Loeffler would attend, Warnock would welcome her, and she would use its pulpit to showcase her less-than-Trumpian-racist campaign.
“I am so humbled to be here with you today in this sacred place, surrounded by men and women who advanced the cause of freedom,” Loeffler told the throng.
Not quite a year later, Loeffler is running a scorched-earth, race-baiting Trumpian campaign, smearing Warnock with lies and half-truths to make him seem the bastard child of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Karl Marx. Her ads have darkened the black leader’s image, placed it against a backdrop of urban rioting, and shrieked, “Saving the Senate is about saving America… from that.” On Saturday night, in ruby-red Valdosta, far south of her home base in liberal metro Atlanta, Loeffler continued to debase herself by embracing Trump, as he came to the state, supposedly to campaign for her and Senator David Perdue but mostly to air his claims that he won Georgia, along with his lunatic grievances against state GOP officials—all of whom supported him, but who have nonetheless certified Joe Biden’s obvious win.
The problem with Kemp’s plan to appoint “moderate” Loeffler was that Collins, predictably, ran against her, making the state’s nonpartisan primary a referendum on who could hug Trump more closely. The plan had been to let Loeffler frame herself as a relative moderate, while a bunch of Democrats, including former senator Joe Lieberman’s sad-sack son Matt, tried to take down Warnock. In the end, thanks partly to the vicious primary between Collins and Loeffler, but also to the state’s burgeoning black vote, Warnock came out first and Loeffler second.
Since somebody needed to win 50 percent to avoid a runoff, and nobody did (Warnock beat Loeffler 33-26 percent, with Collins at 20 percent, and a bunch of Democrats coming up way behind), here we are. Collins went on to be a cheerleader for Trump’s crazy campaign against Georgia Republican leaders who he claimed screwed him, and he appeared with Loeffler publicly only in late November, more than three weeks after his defeat.
Loeffler’s Sunday debate performance was another nightmare scenario for the state GOP. The wealthy Republican insisted she doesn’t “have a racist bone in my body,” which we all know now is code for you don’t know what racism means, and you’re actually racist. She spewed racist attacks at Warnock, insisting that he wanted to “defund the police,” while he said, calmly, no, he did not support that particular policy. Warnock hit her on solid ground: her dubious stock trades that seemed to rely on Senate briefings (but investigators brought no charges). He was very calm. Sometimes, to be honest, I wanted him to be feistier, and then I had an epiphany that rocked me back in my chair, and in my whiteness.
He could not be any of that.
Warnock cannot be feisty, contentious, cantankerous, even comedic, except slyly, as a black man in the South debating a slender, yellow-haired Southern lady (she’s originally from Illinois). The visual on some voters’ TV sets was a Rorschach test, not a political debate. So I don’t entirely know how to score this one. But Fox mocked Loeffler. And so did many others. She really was a hot mess. I believe Warnock won it.
Yet, despite Biden’s win there last month, Georgia remains a Republican state in my book, until Democrats take at least one Senate seat and/or Abrams defeats Kemp in 2022. It is a microcosm of the United States—urban and suburban areas trending medium to dark blue, rural areas still red, and exurbia, depending where it is, purplish. I want to believe these two Senate seats are winnable for Democrats. They may be. But it’s also possible they’re even more losable for Republicans trapped in this Trumpian dog pile. And that’s just fine with me.


thenation--2020-12-07--‘Sports Illustrated’ Chose the Wrong Activist Athletes

Sports Illustrated certainly got the headline right .
This year the magazine gave its much celebrated Sportsperson of the Year award to “ The Activist Athlete.
” During a year where the wall between politics and sports was not only breeched but obliterated , it was really the only choice .
After the police murder of George Floyd and the massive demonstrations that followed , athletes stepped up .
They took to the streets .
They pushed for people to vote .
And they defended their right to speak out .
The athletes that Sports Illustrated chose , however , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sports are attempting to set the parameters—and the historical memory—of what proper athletic activism looked like in 2020 .
The SI editors wrote , “ Our Sportsperson of the Year award goes to five men and women who in 2020 were champions in every sense of the word : champions on the field , champions for others off it.
” They included Kansas City star quarterback Patrick Mahomes , who pressured the NFL to recognize the right of players to protest for Black lives ; Breanna Stewart of the WNBA , who spoke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Storm team to a title ; LeBron James for leading voter registration drives ; Naomi Osaka , the tennis star who elevated her game while elevating the names of people killed by police ; and Chiefs lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif , who won a Super Bowl and then “ left the NFL to join the front lines of the battle against Covid-19.
” These are all worthy people .
But as @ saqno1 reminded me on Twitter , Noam Chomsky put it perfectly when he said , “ The smart way to keep people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spectrum of acceptable opinion , but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.
” I ’ d rather celebrate those who operated outside of this spectrum , the athletes who did not accept the parameters of approved activism .
We should start with those who helped us collectively expand our minds beyond the “ acceptable opinion ” imposed upon us about what protest should look like .
I would start , in fact , with the player strikes in August after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha , Wis .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ power of labor into the movement for Black lives .
The strikes came at a moment when the labor movement was largely absent from the summer ’ s historic demonstrations .
To represent that struggle , I ’ d go with George Hill of the Milwaukee Bucks , the first team to strike , setting off a chain reaction through just about every sports league .
As Hill said , Hill was brave enough to be critical of even being in the Bubble playing games while Black people were being shot in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have came to this damn place.… Coming here just took all the focal points off what the issues are .
But we ’ re here .
It is what it is .
We can ’ t do anything from right here .
But definitely when it ’ s all settled , some things need to be done.
” These strikes helped refocus the world ’ s attention on Blake .
They were called off too soon , as players were pressured by former president Obama and franchise owners to channel their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ justice committees .
The Politics of Maradona ’ s Iconic ‘ Hand of God ’ Goal The groundwork for the politics of resistance that emerged from the Bubble were laid by the NBA ’ s Bubble-mates in the WNBA .
There are many WNBA players one could laud .
They were front and center every step of the way on the issues that animated 2020 .
The players forged a different path of struggle when they directly challenged an WNBA franchise boss , the Atlanta Dream ’ s Kelly Loeffler , and called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Loeffler—in the middle of a pandemic and massive multiracial demonstrations—openly ran for the Senate on a cynical and deeply racist platform of demonizing not only the Black Lives Matter movement but also her own players for supporting the struggle .
In response , her players turned the tables and called not only for the people of Georgia to vote for her opponent , Ebenezer Baptist Reverend Raphael Warnock , but also for her to be catapulted from the league , in effect fired .
As their union tweeted , “ E-N-O-U-G-H !
O-U-T. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ taking the year off to focus on social justice initiatives—asked for a meeting with Loeffler to discuss , a meeting that Loeffler rebuffed .
There were also players in the WNBA like Layshia Clarendon who were not only calling for Loeffler ’ s removal and defeat but pushed for even newer parameters , saying , “ Being Black and Non-Binary Is My Superpower.
” Having not only a nonbinary player being open about their identity but also announcers respecting their pronouns felt like new ground was being broken beyond all previously known boundaries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be fired and being a league that shows it can celebrate Black LGBT , nonbinary people , the WNBA perhaps deserves its own category for making its mark on 2020 .
Connected to the WNBA ecosystem but also utterly singular and distinct in her journey was the great Maya Moore .
I don ’ t see how any celebration of the 2020 activist athlete could be complete without lauding Moore .
Perhaps the greatest player in her sport .
Moore left it in her prime two years ago to challenge the racism of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the freedom of a wrongly convicted man named Jonathan Irons .
Irons finally won his freedom in 2020 , calling Moore his ” guardian angel.
” That Irons and Moore were also married this year is a beautiful coda to the story .
It is also , frankly , incidental .
Moore brought the love of a life-affirming struggle to 2020 , all while putting the games we play in stark perspective .
Professional Athletes Are Showing America Just How Powerful Labor Really Is While Hill pushed for the Bucks to strike—for radical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forward Jaylen Brown pushed for a radical politics .
Brown , like many athletes this year , took a knee during the anthem .
When asked to explain why , he quoted someone outside the world of sports , saying , “ Angela Davis once said that racism is so dangerous not because of individual actors but because it ’ s deeply embedded in the apparatus .
I think about that quote a lot when I think about the national anthem.
” Brown also took part in marches following the killing of George @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Instagram .
Just 24 years old , Jaylen Brown represents a wing of the struggle beyond LeBron : someone more than a decade younger who sees struggle beyond the voting booth as a path to liberation .
That leaves Colin Kaepernick .
I think 2020 was the most important year for Kaepernick ’ s voice since his exile from the National Football League for speaking out against police violence .
Kaepernick is an unapologetic radical in the best sense of the word , in that he is pushing his audience to see brighter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our lives .
Kaepernick made this known after Floyd was killed and people protested in historic numbers when he said , “ When civility leads to death , revolting is the only logical reaction .
The cries for peace will rain down , and when they do , they will land on deaf ears , because your violence has brought this resistance .
We have the right to fight back !
” Then , as the call to defund the police rose from the streets , Kaepernick curated on the Medium publication Level @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the People where leading scholars argued for full abolition of the police and the dismantling of our racist system of criminal justice .
Writing one of the pieces himself in a series titled “ The Demand for Abolition , ” Kaepernick wrote , As pressure was placed on the sports world from Barack Obama to the sports owners to the media for athletes to channel their anger at police violence into voter registration , Kaepernick stood against the flow of rocky waters and walked against the political rapids .
These people , Hill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Kaepernick , represent a different manifestation of this year of the activist athlete , something less safely consumable than the choices by Sports Illustrated but perhaps far more important : the desire for the people to enforce their will on a society that is fundamentally broken , not merely with laments but solutions .
Striking , protesting , holding up radical theorists , and articulating solutions : Those are my Activist Athletes of 2020 .
Efforts to throw them down the memory hole , to in effect erase them from the history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ferocity .
Their ideas will be needed in the years to come .

Sports Illustrated certainly got the headline right. This year the magazine gave its much celebrated Sportsperson of the Year award to “The Activist Athlete.” During a year where the wall between politics and sports was not only breeched but obliterated, it was really the only choice. After the police murder of George Floyd and the massive demonstrations that followed, athletes stepped up. They took to the streets. They pushed for people to vote. And they defended their right to speak out.
The athletes that Sports Illustrated chose, however, say more about how the minders of sports are attempting to set the parameters—and the historical memory—of what proper athletic activism looked like in 2020. The SI editors wrote, “Our Sportsperson of the Year award goes to five men and women who in 2020 were champions in every sense of the word: champions on the field, champions for others off it.”
They included Kansas City star quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who pressured the NFL to recognize the right of players to protest for Black lives; Breanna Stewart of the WNBA, who spoke out against bigotry while leading her Seattle Storm team to a title; LeBron James for leading voter registration drives; Naomi Osaka, the tennis star who elevated her game while elevating the names of people killed by police; and Chiefs lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who won a Super Bowl and then “left the NFL to join the front lines of the battle against Covid-19.”
These are all worthy people. But as @saqno1 reminded me on Twitter, Noam Chomsky put it perfectly when he said, “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.”
I’d rather celebrate those who operated outside of this spectrum, the athletes who did not accept the parameters of approved activism. We should start with those who helped us collectively expand our minds beyond the “acceptable opinion” imposed upon us about what protest should look like.
I would start, in fact, with the player strikes in August after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. These were critical because they introduced the power of labor into the movement for Black lives. The strikes came at a moment when the labor movement was largely absent from the summer’s historic demonstrations. To represent that struggle, I’d go with George Hill of the Milwaukee Bucks, the first team to strike, setting off a chain reaction through just about every sports league. As Hill said,
Hill was brave enough to be critical of even being in the Bubble playing games while Black people were being shot in the back, saying, “We shouldn’t have came to this damn place.… Coming here just took all the focal points off what the issues are. But we’re here. It is what it is. We can’t do anything from right here. But definitely when it’s all settled, some things need to be done.” These strikes helped refocus the world’s attention on Blake. They were called off too soon, as players were pressured by former president Obama and franchise owners to channel their anger into electoral activity and team social justice committees. More From Dave Zirin “The Blind Side” Was Always Trash August 15, 2023 Why the Right Wanted the USWNT to Lose August 10, 2023 Carli Lloyd’s Attacks on the USWNT Are Personal—and Political August 1, 2023
The groundwork for the politics of resistance that emerged from the Bubble were laid by the NBA’s Bubble-mates in the WNBA. There are many WNBA players one could laud. They were front and center every step of the way on the issues that animated 2020. The players forged a different path of struggle when they directly challenged an WNBA franchise boss, the Atlanta Dream’s Kelly Loeffler, and called for her removal from the league.
Loeffler—in the middle of a pandemic and massive multiracial demonstrations—openly ran for the Senate on a cynical and deeply racist platform of demonizing not only the Black Lives Matter movement but also her own players for supporting the struggle. In response, her players turned the tables and called not only for the people of Georgia to vote for her opponent, Ebenezer Baptist Reverend Raphael Warnock, but also for her to be catapulted from the league, in effect fired. As their union tweeted, “E-N-O-U-G-H! O-U-T.” Atlanta Dream player Renee Montgomery—who was taking the year off to focus on social justice initiatives—asked for a meeting with Loeffler to discuss, a meeting that Loeffler rebuffed.
There were also players in the WNBA like Layshia Clarendon who were not only calling for Loeffler’s removal and defeat but pushed for even newer parameters, saying, “Being Black and Non-Binary Is My Superpower.” Having not only a nonbinary player being open about their identity but also announcers respecting their pronouns felt like new ground was being broken beyond all previously known boundaries. From calling for a boss to be fired and being a league that shows it can celebrate Black LGBT, nonbinary people, the WNBA perhaps deserves its own category for making its mark on 2020.
Connected to the WNBA ecosystem but also utterly singular and distinct in her journey was the great Maya Moore. I don’t see how any celebration of the 2020 activist athlete could be complete without lauding Moore. Perhaps the greatest player in her sport. Moore left it in her prime two years ago to challenge the racism of the criminal justice system and fight for the freedom of a wrongly convicted man named Jonathan Irons. Irons finally won his freedom in 2020, calling Moore his ”guardian angel.” That Irons and Moore were also married this year is a beautiful coda to the story. It is also, frankly, incidental. Moore brought the love of a life-affirming struggle to 2020, all while putting the games we play in stark perspective. Related Article Professional Athletes Are Showing America Just How Powerful Labor Really Is Dave Zirin
While Hill pushed for the Bucks to strike—for radical action in the face of racism—Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown pushed for a radical politics. Brown, like many athletes this year, took a knee during the anthem. When asked to explain why, he quoted someone outside the world of sports, saying, “Angela Davis once said that racism is so dangerous not because of individual actors but because it’s deeply embedded in the apparatus. I think about that quote a lot when I think about the national anthem.”
Brown also took part in marches following the killing of George Floyd, posting his street actions to Instagram. Just 24 years old, Jaylen Brown represents a wing of the struggle beyond LeBron: someone more than a decade younger who sees struggle beyond the voting booth as a path to liberation.
That leaves Colin Kaepernick. I think 2020 was the most important year for Kaepernick’s voice since his exile from the National Football League for speaking out against police violence. Kaepernick is an unapologetic radical in the best sense of the word, in that he is pushing his audience to see brighter vistas beyond the immediate blight that engulfs our lives. Kaepernick made this known after Floyd was killed and people protested in historic numbers when he said, “When civility leads to death, revolting is the only logical reaction. The cries for peace will rain down, and when they do, they will land on deaf ears, because your violence has brought this resistance. We have the right to fight back!”
Then, as the call to defund the police rose from the streets, Kaepernick curated on the Medium publication Level a series of articles called Abolition for the People where leading scholars argued for full abolition of the police and the dismantling of our racist system of criminal justice. Writing one of the pieces himself in a series titled “The Demand for Abolition,” Kaepernick wrote,
It’s been four years since I first protested during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” At the time, my protest was tethered to my understanding that something was not right. I saw the bodies of Black people left dead in the streets…. I saw little to no accountability for police officers who had murdered them. It is not a matter of bad apples spoiling the bunch but interlocking systems that are rotten to their core. And systemic problems demand systemic solutions.
As pressure was placed on the sports world from Barack Obama to the sports owners to the media for athletes to channel their anger at police violence into voter registration, Kaepernick stood against the flow of rocky waters and walked against the political rapids.
These people, Hill, Clarendon, Moore, Brown, and Kaepernick, represent a different manifestation of this year of the activist athlete, something less safely consumable than the choices by Sports Illustrated but perhaps far more important: the desire for the people to enforce their will on a society that is fundamentally broken, not merely with laments but solutions. Striking, protesting, holding up radical theorists, and articulating solutions: Those are my Activist Athletes of 2020. Efforts to throw them down the memory hole, to in effect erase them from the history of 2020, must be fought with ferocity. Their ideas will be needed in the years to come.


thenation--2020-12-07--Covid-19 Is Feeding the GOP Addiction to Conspiracy Theories

The Washington Post has surveyed the 249 Republicans serving in the House of Representatives and the Senate to get them to answer a simple question : Did Joe Biden win the presidential election ?
The newspaper was able to find only 27 congressional Republicans who were willing to affirm this simple truth .
Of the remaining 222 congressional Republicans , two declared Trump had won , and 220 ( approximately 88 percent of all congressional Republicans ) refused to say who won .
Learning exactly who is willing to acknowledge reality is even more dismaying .
As the newspaper details @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who recognize the true winner , six are retiring from politics at the end of this month and two more represent districts that Biden won convincingly.
” Many Republican voters share this unwillingness to accept Biden ’ s victory .
On Friday , a Washington Post article reported that “ A Nov. 13-17 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 68 percent of Republicans ( +/-5 ) say that the 2020 presidential election was rigged .
A Monmouth poll carried out between Nov. 12 and Nov. 16 finds that 61 percent of Republicans ( +/-3.5 ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the election was fair and accurate.
” The article went on to argue that this sort of partisan reluctance to accept defeat was normal in modern American democracy : “ Thirty-seven percent of Democrats said that Bush stole Ohio in 2004 , and 36 percent of Republicans said the same about the 2012 election.
” But even if we accept the comparison , these early numbers are nearly half that of the current polls .
There ’ s a vast difference between only seven in 20 people believing a theory as against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Will Biden Condemn the Assassination of an Iranian Scientist ?
The rise of mass conspiracy theories about the election goes far beyond previous elections .
Writing in The New York Times , conservative columnist Ross Douthat admits to being surprised by “ the sheer scale of the belief among conservatives that the election was really stolen , measured not just in polling data but in conversations and arguments , online and in person , with people I would not have expected to embrace it.
” Relying not just on polls but also his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ethnography of the new breed of conspiracy theorists .
One particularly important group is the “ open-minded normie.
” These are people who are willing to entertain conspiratorial thoughts but are otherwise not intensely political .
As Douthat notes , this group is particularly open to persuasion from trusted sources .
What is new in the current situation is that Douthat ’ s analysis is fair enough , although it is worth noting that Russiagate , while vastly over-hyped by “ resistance ” liberals , at least had a smidgen of a basis @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makes clear , Trump and his family really were pursuing business deals with dubious Russian businesspeople even as he ran for president in 2016 .
The problem with Russiagate was that liberals bought into the national security state ’ s framing that there was a sinister plot afoot , with Trump being under the sway of Russia .
This narrative of Trump as “ Putin ’ s puppet ” helped block out the genuine evidence of Trump ’ s corrupt business practices all over the world .
The very fact of a businessman @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while in office raised all sorts of conflict-of-interest problems that few in American politics were willing to confront .
Russiagate conspiracy-mongering was a minor problem compared with the larger failure to hold Trump accountable .
Douthat also blames the new conspiracy theories on “ outsider-intellectuals.
” This is the familiar species of knee-jerk contrarians who spring up on every issue offering homemade charts and graphs disputing the mainstream consensus .
These amateur sleuths are usually annoying but they are hardly novel .
More interesting is Douthat ’ s final category : “ the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as many liberals feared Trump was creating a fascist state , “ a lot of conservatives experienced May and June of the Covid era as a mirror image of those anti-Trump fears—as a crisis that seemed to be deliberately exploited for revolutionary purposes by politicians and activists of the left.
” By this account , ordinary conservatives were radicalized by a combination of contradictory and changing messages from health authorities ( don ’ t wear masks , wear masks ) , the eruption of the Black Lives Matter protests , and the disparate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ suffered more than large corporations and , Douthat argues , anti-racist protesters seemed to get a special dispensation denied to the rest of society ) .
Douthat ’ s account of conservative radicalization has some plausibility , although he ’ s far too indulgent of the lore that the newly radicalized tell themselves .
He also ignores the fact that Covid hit the poor and people of color harder .
Moreover , this radicalization shouldn ’ t be seen as a natural response to the Covid crisis but as a continuation of earlier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that elite liberal figures like George Soros are using Covid to remake society didn ’ t come out of nowhere .
It ’ s a product of long-standing right-wing conspiracy culture .
If this myth started to flourish in 2020 , just as the overlapping QAnon myth did at the same time , it is because of the failed political response to Covid .
The pandemic left tens of millions of Americans dislocated socially and temporally .
The very partial stimulus that was handed out favored big business and wasn ’ t sustained @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Many of the messaging failures came from the fact that Covid-19 was a new disease and information about it was developing over time , as were the resources that could fight it .
If America had a competent president , these shifts in messaging could have been explained clearly .
But with Trump as president , countless Americans went through the crisis with only a partial understanding of what was going on and a suspicion of government messaging that was encouraged by Trump himself , since the president sometimes insulted his own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mishandling of the pandemic created the perfect environment for the rise of conspiracy theories , especially among his supporters who didn ’ t want to admit he had failed .
The upshot is that Biden will be inaugurated as president of a country where a substantial chunk of the population doesn ’ t accept his legitimacy .
There ’ s no clear path for convincing the radicalized minority to acknowledge not just Biden ’ s legitimacy but also the need for dealing with Covid .
Biden ’ s best plan would be to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the pandemic .
If Covid is quickly tamed as vaccination becomes available , there is a chance of a return to some semblance of economic normality , especially if Biden can strong-arm the Federal Reserve to stick to a full-employment policy .
The biggest stumbling block will be Trump and the Republican Party .
Trump has every incentive to keep fanning conspiracy theories , in order to keep the loyalty of his followers .
And the Republican Party has every reason to remain loyal to Trump , since it can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ question is whether , even given the best possible handling of the pandemic , the newly radicalized will ever be willing to make peace with a Democratic president .

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The Washington Post has surveyed the 249 Republicans serving in the House of Representatives and the Senate to get them to answer a simple question: Did Joe Biden win the presidential election? The newspaper was able to find only 27 congressional Republicans who were willing to affirm this simple truth. Of the remaining 222 congressional Republicans, two declared Trump had won, and 220 (approximately 88 percent of all congressional Republicans) refused to say who won. Learning exactly who is willing to acknowledge reality is even more dismaying. As the newspaper details, “Of the 15 House Republicans who recognize the true winner, six are retiring from politics at the end of this month and two more represent districts that Biden won convincingly.”
Many Republican voters share this unwillingness to accept Biden’s victory. On Friday, a Washington Post article reported that “A Nov. 13-17 Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 68 percent of Republicans (+/-5) say that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. A Monmouth poll carried out between Nov. 12 and Nov. 16 finds that 61 percent of Republicans (+/-3.5) are ‘not at all confident’ that the election was fair and accurate.” Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience? Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation’s journalism while you complete your gift list.
The article went on to argue that this sort of partisan reluctance to accept defeat was normal in modern American democracy: “Thirty-seven percent of Democrats said that Bush stole Ohio in 2004, and 36 percent of Republicans said the same about the 2012 election.” But even if we accept the comparison, these early numbers are nearly half that of the current polls. There’s a vast difference between only seven in 20 people believing a theory as against between six and seven in 10. More From Jeet Heer The Indigenous Roots of Robbie Robertson’s Rock and Roll Revolution August 14, 2023 Why Does This Racist Keep Getting Silicon Valley Money? August 11, 2023 When Phallocrats Go Limp August 4, 2023
The rise of mass conspiracy theories about the election goes far beyond previous elections. Writing in The New York Times, conservative columnist Ross Douthat admits to being surprised by “the sheer scale of the belief among conservatives that the election was really stolen, measured not just in polling data but in conversations and arguments, online and in person, with people I would not have expected to embrace it.”
Relying not just on polls but also his own experience, Douthat provides a useful ethnography of the new breed of conspiracy theorists. One particularly important group is the “open-minded normie.” These are people who are willing to entertain conspiratorial thoughts but are otherwise not intensely political. As Douthat notes, this group is particularly open to persuasion from trusted sources. What is new in the current situation is that
Douthat’s analysis is fair enough, although it is worth noting that Russiagate, while vastly over-hyped by “resistance” liberals, at least had a smidgen of a basis in reality. As the Mueller report makes clear, Trump and his family really were pursuing business deals with dubious Russian businesspeople even as he ran for president in 2016. The problem with Russiagate was that liberals bought into the national security state’s framing that there was a sinister plot afoot, with Trump being under the sway of Russia. This narrative of Trump as “Putin’s puppet” helped block out the genuine evidence of Trump’s corrupt business practices all over the world. The very fact of a businessman president who kept his globe-spanning organization going while in office raised all sorts of conflict-of-interest problems that few in American politics were willing to confront. Russiagate conspiracy-mongering was a minor problem compared with the larger failure to hold Trump accountable.
Douthat also blames the new conspiracy theories on “outsider-intellectuals.” This is the familiar species of knee-jerk contrarians who spring up on every issue offering homemade charts and graphs disputing the mainstream consensus. These amateur sleuths are usually annoying but they are hardly novel. Current Issue View our current issue
More interesting is Douthat’s final category: “the recently radicalized.” Douthat argues that just as many liberals feared Trump was creating a fascist state, “a lot of conservatives experienced May and June of the Covid era as a mirror image of those anti-Trump fears—as a crisis that seemed to be deliberately exploited for revolutionary purposes by politicians and activists of the left.” By this account, ordinary conservatives were radicalized by a combination of contradictory and changing messages from health authorities (don’t wear masks, wear masks), the eruption of the Black Lives Matter protests, and the disparate impact of Covid (where small businesses suffered more than large corporations and, Douthat argues, anti-racist protesters seemed to get a special dispensation denied to the rest of society).
Douthat’s account of conservative radicalization has some plausibility, although he’s far too indulgent of the lore that the newly radicalized tell themselves. He also ignores the fact that Covid hit the poor and people of color harder. Moreover, this radicalization shouldn’t be seen as a natural response to the Covid crisis but as a continuation of earlier trends in right-wing politics. The myth that elite liberal figures like George Soros are using Covid to remake society didn’t come out of nowhere. It’s a product of long-standing right-wing conspiracy culture.
If this myth started to flourish in 2020, just as the overlapping QAnon myth did at the same time, it is because of the failed political response to Covid. The pandemic left tens of millions of Americans dislocated socially and temporally. The very partial stimulus that was handed out favored big business and wasn’t sustained enough to make a long-term lockdown possible. Many of the messaging failures came from the fact that Covid-19 was a new disease and information about it was developing over time, as were the resources that could fight it.
If America had a competent president, these shifts in messaging could have been explained clearly. But with Trump as president, countless Americans went through the crisis with only a partial understanding of what was going on and a suspicion of government messaging that was encouraged by Trump himself, since the president sometimes insulted his own scientific advisers.
Trump’s catastrophic mishandling of the pandemic created the perfect environment for the rise of conspiracy theories, especially among his supporters who didn’t want to admit he had failed.
The upshot is that Biden will be inaugurated as president of a country where a substantial chunk of the population doesn’t accept his legitimacy. There’s no clear path for convincing the radicalized minority to acknowledge not just Biden’s legitimacy but also the need for dealing with Covid. Biden’s best plan would be to focus intensively on delivering a competent response to the pandemic. If Covid is quickly tamed as vaccination becomes available, there is a chance of a return to some semblance of economic normality, especially if Biden can strong-arm the Federal Reserve to stick to a full-employment policy.
The biggest stumbling block will be Trump and the Republican Party. Trump has every incentive to keep fanning conspiracy theories, in order to keep the loyalty of his followers. And the Republican Party has every reason to remain loyal to Trump, since it can’t risk alienating his followers. The open question is whether, even given the best possible handling of the pandemic, the newly radicalized will ever be willing to make peace with a Democratic president.


thenation--2020-12-07--Create a Coronavirus Commission With Sharp Teeth

The Democrats are the most forgiving of political parties , always ready to turn the other cheek to the sins of their opponents—or , for that matter , their own leaders .
When Obama was inaugurated in 2009 , he inherited an apocalypse in the Middle East that had been created by the frauds , deceptions , and war crimes of the Bush administration .
He chose to give the torturers in the White House a pass in order to win support for his own program of troop “ surges ” and assassinations by drone .
Likewise , after a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their homes and destroyed most of the housing wealth of Black and Latino families , his Justice Department spared the heads of the megabankers—arguably the greatest group of white-collar criminals in US history—and restored their power and annual zillion-dollar bonuses .
It looks like history will repeat itself after January 20 .
Two weeks ago , NBC News was told by several of Biden ’ s closest advisers that he “ just wants to move on , ” avoiding investigations of the Trump regime that might “ further divide the country ” and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advocates .
He ’ s apparently terrified—with good reason—that if he begins dragging bodies out of the Trumpian swamp , his legislative agenda will be sabotaged by right-wing rage and his administration defined by his predecessor ’ s daily rants .
A blanket informal amnesty , like the one Obama extended to Bush , Cheney , and Rumsfeld , would be a pragmatic adaptation to the ugly reality of political gridlock .
Or would it ?
The CDC now warns that upwards of 450,000 deaths are likely by the time Chief Justice Roberts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Lincoln Bible .
That ’ s considerably more than the 405,000 armed forces members who died of all causes during the Second World War .
The current death toll has multiple unnatural causes : the unprecedented devolution of primary responsibility for fighting the pandemic to states and local governments , the testing fiasco in February , the failure to aggressively use the Defense Production Act to provide PPE to health care workers , the unceasing flood of misinformation from the White House , the attacks on the country ’ s leading public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all , Trump ’ s quasi-homicidal campaign to undermine public health measures , including the commonsense use of masks and social distancing .
By the end of the summer , the White House had become the principal vector spreading Covid-19 .
Extending informal clemency to the architects of this catastrophe—and to those who profiteered from it—would be a moral betrayal comparable to Andrew Johnson ’ s veto of the 14th Amendment and his appeasement of the former leaders of the Confederacy .
Progressives need to act like the Radical Republicans of 1866 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Commission with full subpoena powers reporting to both Congress and the Department of Justice .
Last April , Adam Schiff authored a House bill to establish just such a body based on the model of the 9/11 Commission , emphasizing that “ this is not an exercise in score-settling or finger-pointing.
” Nonetheless , Schiff insisted that “ only an objective , bipartisan examination of this pandemic will prepare us for the next.
” As he told Mother Jones , “ The American people really have a right to know and a need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flat-footed by this virus.
” A parallel bill in the Senate was pushed forward by Bob Casey , Amy Klobuchar , and Diane Feinstein .
But Republicans refused to come to the dance—and some Democrats worried that the proposal was premature and would be construed by the public as a witch hunt .
It was put on the back burner , where it remains today .
Last week ( December 1 ) , the Brookings Institution refloated the commission idea as a priority for the new administration , emphasizing that it should stick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vilify Trump .
There is , of course , an urgent need for a comprehensive investigation into every aspect of the multiple state failures implicated in such carnage , and the new White House is likely , sooner or later , to commission a comprehensive post-mortem of some kind .
As Brookings points out , this is not necessary only to lead the continuing fight against Covid-19 and other inevitable emergent viruses , but equally to enable the government to “ confront the ‘ black swan ’ events [ like climate change ] @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 21st century.
” But all such talk just circles around the crime scene .
When Schiff and others crafted their bill last spring , it was still possible to explain the failure to contain the coronavirus as the result of colossal ineptitude and bureaucratic negligence .
But what happened afterward , when Trump launched the alt-right against state governments and told his millions of followers to throw away their masks , was akin to the captain of a passenger ship deliberately running his ship into the rocks .
If progressives in Congress @ @ @ @ @ @ @ establish a commission that points fingers and proposes indictments , then they need to hold hearings in the communities that have been shattered by pandemic and economic collapse .
It was , after all , the dogged persistence of the families of 9/11 victims that forced Congress to create the politically inconvenient 9/11 Commission .

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The Democrats are the most forgiving of political parties, always ready to turn the other cheek to the sins of their opponents—or, for that matter, their own leaders. When Obama was inaugurated in 2009, he inherited an apocalypse in the Middle East that had been created by the frauds, deceptions, and war crimes of the Bush administration. He chose to give the torturers in the White House a pass in order to win support for his own program of troop “surges” and assassinations by drone. Likewise, after a financial meltdown that cost 10 million Americans their homes and destroyed most of the housing wealth of Black and Latino families, his Justice Department spared the heads of the megabankers—arguably the greatest group of white-collar criminals in US history—and restored their power and annual zillion-dollar bonuses.
It looks like history will repeat itself after January 20. Two weeks ago, NBC News was told by several of Biden’s closest advisers that he “just wants to move on,” avoiding investigations of the Trump regime that might “further divide the country” and preclude the healing bipartisanship that the president-elect advocates. He’s apparently terrified—with good reason—that if he begins dragging bodies out of the Trumpian swamp, his legislative agenda will be sabotaged by right-wing rage and his administration defined by his predecessor’s daily rants. A blanket informal amnesty, like the one Obama extended to Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, would be a pragmatic adaptation to the ugly reality of political gridlock. Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience? Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation’s journalism while you complete your gift list.
Or would it? The CDC now warns that upwards of 450,000 deaths are likely by the time Chief Justice Roberts asks Biden to put his hand on the Lincoln Bible. That’s considerably more than the 405,000 armed forces members who died of all causes during the Second World War. The current death toll has multiple unnatural causes: the unprecedented devolution of primary responsibility for fighting the pandemic to states and local governments, the testing fiasco in February, the failure to aggressively use the Defense Production Act to provide PPE to health care workers, the unceasing flood of misinformation from the White House, the attacks on the country’s leading public health experts, and, most of all, Trump’s quasi-homicidal campaign to undermine public health measures, including the commonsense use of masks and social distancing. By the end of the summer, the White House had become the principal vector spreading Covid-19. More From Mike Davis California’s Desert Ecosystems Will Never Recover September 16, 2020 Anthony Fauci: The Last American Hero? July 7, 2020 A Call to Revolt June 1, 2020
Extending informal clemency to the architects of this catastrophe—and to those who profiteered from it—would be a moral betrayal comparable to Andrew Johnson’s veto of the 14th Amendment and his appeasement of the former leaders of the Confederacy. Progressives need to act like the Radical Republicans of 1866 and lead the fight for a National Coronavirus Commission with full subpoena powers reporting to both Congress and the Department of Justice.
Last April, Adam Schiff authored a House bill to establish just such a body based on the model of the 9/11 Commission, emphasizing that “this is not an exercise in score-settling or finger-pointing.” Nonetheless, Schiff insisted that “only an objective, bipartisan examination of this pandemic will prepare us for the next.” As he told Mother Jones, “The American people really have a right to know and a need to know why we were caught so flat-footed by this virus.” A parallel bill in the Senate was pushed forward by Bob Casey, Amy Klobuchar, and Dianne Feinstein. But Republicans refused to come to the dance—and some Democrats worried that the proposal was premature and would be construed by the public as a witch hunt. It was put on the back burner, where it remains today.
Last week (December 1), the Brookings Institution refloated the commission idea as a priority for the new administration, emphasizing that it should stick to fact-finding and resist the temptation to vilify Trump. There is, of course, an urgent need for a comprehensive investigation into every aspect of the multiple state failures implicated in such carnage, and the new White House is likely, sooner or later, to commission a comprehensive post-mortem of some kind. As Brookings points out, this is not necessary only to lead the continuing fight against Covid-19 and other inevitable emergent viruses, but equally to enable the government to “confront the ‘black swan’ events [like climate change] that seem to be increasingly prevalent in the 21st century.”
But all such talk just circles around the crime scene. When Schiff and others crafted their bill last spring, it was still possible to explain the failure to contain the coronavirus as the result of colossal ineptitude and bureaucratic negligence. But what happened afterward, when Trump launched the alt-right against state governments and told his millions of followers to throw away their masks, was akin to the captain of a passenger ship deliberately running his ship into the rocks.
If progressives in Congress can’t convince their colleagues to establish a commission that points fingers and proposes indictments, then they need to hold hearings in the communities that have been shattered by pandemic and economic collapse. It was, after all, the dogged persistence of the families of 9/11 victims that forced Congress to create the politically inconvenient 9/11 Commission.


thenation--2020-12-08--We’re Now Facing Both a Public Health and a Poverty Catastrophe

The past few weeks , it ’ s become a commonplace to refer to the “ dark winter ” that this Covid-bedeviled country is about to experience .
That is , if anything , an understatement .
First , there ’ s the catastrophic public health situation , presided over by a zombie Trump administration—its leader concerned only with trying to undermine the results of an election that he resoundingly lost—that can ’ t even make the pretense of caring about the alarming daily death toll .
The country is now suffering roughly the same number of deaths as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those numbers could soon rise far beyond even that horrible level .
Daily , hospitalization rates are increasing ; more than 100,000 Covid-suffering Americans are currently in hospitals .
And daily , in consequence , more and more hospital systems are reaching the breaking point .
By the beginning of April , according to CDC estimates , 539,000 Americans will likely have died of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic .
Even that number might end up being too low , given current infection trajectories , and given the fact that Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wreak as much havoc as possible .
The public health catastrophe that this cruel and inept administration has inflicted on the country is , however , not the only unfolding disaster .
For it is now being magnified by a cascading poverty crisis as well .
This isn ’ t a crisis of the markets—in fact , the stock market , buoyed by the prospect of widespread vaccine distribution over the coming months , is in record territory .
Instead , it is a crisis disproportionately borne by lower-income Americans who live paycheck @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months between now and the vaccine ’ s mass distribution represent an eternity .
In particular , in a state such as California , with its high percentage of noncitizen residents , it is borne by noncitizen immigrants , who have been excluded from Covid-related congressional relief packages and who have run through the temporary state packages aimed at plugging this gap .
And even more so , it is carried by the undocumented , who have never qualified for welfare , food stamps , Medicaid , or other government benefits , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they work for , such as restaurants , are forced to shut down .
Absent federal action , these groups within the broader population are facing a catastrophe that could well prove even longer-lasting than the immediate medical crisis .
Already , after nine months of Covid-related economic restrictions and job market contractions , those at the bottom of America ’ s economic pyramid are suffering increased hunger , diminished job prospects , less reliable access to health care—accelerating a trend that has been gathering pace throughout the Trump presidency—and a growing vulnerability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Calls for Dictatorship Should Worry Us Removing Trump Is Not Enough .
He Must Be Prosecuted .
Meanwhile , as has been pointed out many times in recent months , Jeff Bezos has added $ 74 billion in wealth to his portfolio this year—enough to rescue every troubled public transport system in the country , while leaving over tens of billions of dollars that could be distributed to those beggared by the public health calamity .
Without a credible federal strategy to mitigate the spread of the disease—and absent congressional action to fund @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wealthy to provide economic relief—states are having to improvise as the fall surge picks up steam .
And they are doing so in ways that risk destroying the already precarious livelihoods of poor residents .
That economic tsunami is this week ’ s Signal .
In California , Governor Gavin Newsom—who sacrificed much of his credibility on pandemic response last month by going to a lobbyist ’ s soiree at the fancy and expensive French Laundry restaurant even as he urged Californians not to go out to eat—suddenly announced last week that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regions .
If the spare ICU-bed capacity in a region falls below 15 percent , according to this new plan , then within two days the entire region will have to go into lockdown , a sort of shelter-in-place-lite , for a minimum of three weeks .
As a result , most of California is already in lockdown .
Some of the measures , such as the shuttering of bars , are unpleasant but hard to argue against from a public health perspective .
But others seem arbitrary , to say the least @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thought-through public policy .
Why , for example , should a restaurateur who has spent tens of thousands of dollars retrofitting his or her establishment to meet previous safety mandates for outdoor dining suddenly have to shut down because hundreds of miles away , but within the same large region , Covid rates are spiking ?
Why should a person who is masked and keeping to social-distancing protocols not even be allowed to sit outside , ten feet apart from a friend who doesn ’ t live in her household ?
California ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ image of an in-charge governor—but in reality they are unlikely to significantly lower transmission rates , while being very likely to inflict irreparable economic and mental health damage the longer they continue .
Christmas is barely two weeks away .
With the president AWOL and his coronavirus task force dysfunctional , with Congress bickering over whether to pass another relief package ( and with congressional Republicans wedded to preserving tax cuts for the wealthy while bemoaning the deficit spending needed to sustain relief for the poor ) , many states are doing what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : shutting down again .
But this time around , they are asking their low-income residents , their immigrant populations , and their small-business owners to take a massive economic hit , with precious little prospect of adequate federal relief to mitigate the hurt .
Governor Newsom is almost certainly gambling that Congress , and the fabled moderate middle in the Senate , will blink in the coming days and quickly pass enough of a comprehensive relief package to rescue the employees and small-business owners who will otherwise soon be rendered bankrupt .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it ’ s a hell of a gamble .
After all , there ’ s nothing in this Congress ’ s recent track record—or more specifically , in Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell ’ s track record—to suggest even a modicum of concern for those most in need .
There ’ s nothing to suggest the urgency that would get relief checks out immediately to the many millions of Americans who stand to lose their paychecks during this second wave of state lockdowns .
There ’ s nothing to suggest anything but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California and elsewhere who stand to lose their jobs .
This dark winter is off to a brutally early start .
The feds are asleep at the wheel , and the states are desperately crafting ad hoc public health responses that can not help but push more people into poverty and destitution .
It ’ s got all the makings of a political and social disaster .

The past few weeks, it’s become a commonplace to refer to the “dark winter” that this Covid-bedeviled country is about to experience. That is, if anything, an understatement.
First, there’s the catastrophic public health situation, presided over by a zombie Trump administration—its leader concerned only with trying to undermine the results of an election that he resoundingly lost—that can’t even make the pretense of caring about the alarming daily death toll. The country is now suffering roughly the same number of deaths as a 9/11 attack every single day, and those numbers could soon rise far beyond even that horrible level. Daily, hospitalization rates are increasing; more than 100,000 Covid-suffering Americans are currently in hospitals. And daily, in consequence, more and more hospital systems are reaching the breaking point. By the beginning of April, according to CDC estimates, 539,000 Americans will likely have died of Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic. Even that number might end up being too low, given current infection trajectories, and given the fact that Trump still has six weeks in office to wreak as much havoc as possible. Looking for holiday gifts with a conscience? Check out The Nation Shop and help support The Nation’s journalism while you complete your gift list.
The public health catastrophe that this cruel and inept administration has inflicted on the country is, however, not the only unfolding disaster. For it is now being magnified by a cascading poverty crisis as well. This isn’t a crisis of the markets—in fact, the stock market, buoyed by the prospect of widespread vaccine distribution over the coming months, is in record territory. Instead, it is a crisis disproportionately borne by lower-income Americans who live paycheck to paycheck, and for whom the months between now and the vaccine’s mass distribution represent an eternity. In particular, in a state such as California, with its high percentage of noncitizen residents, it is borne by noncitizen immigrants, who have been excluded from Covid-related congressional relief packages and who have run through the temporary state packages aimed at plugging this gap. And even more so, it is carried by the undocumented, who have never qualified for welfare, food stamps, Medicaid, or other government benefits, and who have no protections when the businesses they work for, such as restaurants, are forced to shut down. Absent federal action, these groups within the broader population are facing a catastrophe that could well prove even longer-lasting than the immediate medical crisis. 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 My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung 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 My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. My Homeland Is Being Ruled by Terror. The World Must Pay Attention. Manny Maung
Already, after nine months of Covid-related economic restrictions and job market contractions, those at the bottom of America’s economic pyramid are suffering increased hunger, diminished job prospects, less reliable access to health care—accelerating a trend that has been gathering pace throughout the Trump presidency—and a growing vulnerability to homelessness. More Signal:Noise Why the Trumpists’ Calls for Dictatorship Should Worry Us Sasha Abramsky Removing Trump Is Not Enough. He Must Be Prosecuted. Sasha Abramsky
Meanwhile, as has been pointed out many times in recent months, Jeff Bezos has added $74 billion in wealth to his portfolio this year—enough to rescue every troubled public transport system in the country, while leaving over tens of billions of dollars that could be distributed to those beggared by the public health calamity.
Without a credible federal strategy to mitigate the spread of the disease—and absent congressional action to fund social programs or raise taxes on the wealthy to provide economic relief—states are having to improvise as the fall surge picks up steam. And they are doing so in ways that risk destroying the already precarious livelihoods of poor residents. That economic tsunami is this week’s Signal.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom—who sacrificed much of his credibility on pandemic response last month by going to a lobbyist’s soiree at the fancy and expensive French Laundry restaurant even as he urged Californians not to go out to eat—suddenly announced last week that the state would be divided into five large regions. If the spare ICU-bed capacity in a region falls below 15 percent, according to this new plan, then within two days the entire region will have to go into lockdown, a sort of shelter-in-place-lite, for a minimum of three weeks. As a result, most of California is already in lockdown. Current Issue View our current issue
Some of the measures, such as the shuttering of bars, are unpleasant but hard to argue against from a public health perspective. But others seem arbitrary, to say the least, smacking more of panic than carefully thought-through public policy. Why, for example, should a restaurateur who has spent tens of thousands of dollars retrofitting his or her establishment to meet previous safety mandates for outdoor dining suddenly have to shut down because hundreds of miles away, but within the same large region, Covid rates are spiking? Why should a person who is masked and keeping to social-distancing protocols not even be allowed to sit outside, ten feet apart from a friend who doesn’t live in her household? California’s new diktats sound tough—they present an image of an in-charge governor—but in reality they are unlikely to significantly lower transmission rates, while being very likely to inflict irreparable economic and mental health damage the longer they continue.
Christmas is barely two weeks away. With the president AWOL and his coronavirus task force dysfunctional, with Congress bickering over whether to pass another relief package (and with congressional Republicans wedded to preserving tax cuts for the wealthy while bemoaning the deficit spending needed to sustain relief for the poor), many states are doing what they had to do back in March: shutting down again. But this time around, they are asking their low-income residents, their immigrant populations, and their small-business owners to take a massive economic hit, with precious little prospect of adequate federal relief to mitigate the hurt.
Governor Newsom is almost certainly gambling that Congress, and the fabled moderate middle in the Senate, will blink in the coming days and quickly pass enough of a comprehensive relief package to rescue the employees and small-business owners who will otherwise soon be rendered bankrupt. But if that’s the strategy, it’s a hell of a gamble. After all, there’s nothing in this Congress’s recent track record—or more specifically, in Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell’s track record—to suggest even a modicum of concern for those most in need. There’s nothing to suggest the urgency that would get relief checks out immediately to the many millions of Americans who stand to lose their paychecks during this second wave of state lockdowns. There’s nothing to suggest anything but the bleakest of Christmases for those in California and elsewhere who stand to lose their jobs.
This dark winter is off to a brutally early start. The feds are asleep at the wheel, and the states are desperately crafting ad hoc public health responses that cannot help but push more people into poverty and destitution. It’s got all the makings of a political and social disaster.