Back in October or whenever it was, Barton Gellman wrote that long piece in The Atlantic that was widely read and discussed, about what would likely happen after the election. (Prof. Wolff read and posted about it, as I recall, and Gellman was widely interviewed about it at the time.) Among other things Gellman said unequivocally that Trump would never concede if he lost, reminding readers that even in 2016 when asked whether he wd accept the results of the election, T. said something like "Yes -- if I win."
Gellman has been proved entirely right on this point -- not that he was only person saying it, but he was a respected mainstream journalist saying it at a time when some other pundits were hedging their bets. And the chance that T. will concede now, after what happened today and despite some growing Repub calls for him to do so, is slim to zero.
As a commenter on NewsHr mentioned, you can't tell people on the one hand that the election was stolen and you wuz robbed etc etc, and on the other hand, tell people to be peaceful and protest lawfully and sedately. Well you can say that, but the messages are on some level inconsistent and will be taken as such.
I think that the violence today may some shock some Repubs into finally realizing that T. is divorced from reality and that he can't exit the White House too soon. And Cruz and Hawley in their entirely cynical ways are going to reap what they've sown, since the Trump wing of the party may finally face an internal revolt from the somewhat more sane faction, and the fight within the Repub party now is likely going to be one of historic proportions. It may well make the 1950s Taft-Eisenhower fight, or even the early 1960s Goldwaterite-N. Rockefeller etc. fight, look like chicken feed.
The McConnell R.s are today's von Schleicher / von Papen schemers who thought they could take advantage of the demagogue and ignore the mob. One ended up with a bullet in the head. That other useful idiot lived out his life into delicate old age; never failing to defend his role in bringing the catastrophe upon his poor, stupid, misguided fellow citizens.
As I said at a bit more length in the preceding thread, I find the analogy betw contemp U.S. and Germany in the '30s to be, on the whole, unhelpful. The references to von Schleicher, von Papen, Hindenburg, Victor Klemperer etc. etc. do not throw all that much light on the current situation, imho.
I think there are certain elements in the fall of the Weimar Republic that are instructive. One is the danger of not prosecuting, not surpressing right wing violence.
Of course the comparisons are "a-historical". But what is the proper exemplum? The purpose of the exemplum is to remind the reader of those who went the wrong way so that they might avoid doing so; and of those who went the right way so that they might be inspired -- especially in times when so many go the wrong way. Is the American scene today so sui-generis that no one dares to dredge up useful exampla at all?
Jefferson if he were writing to-day would remind us of his fears that the original slavery poison would rack the republic through its days.
If Romney had been elected in 2012, the health-insurance pool would never have been made the excuse it was to subsequently elect a demagogue. But because the insurance-pool had been encouraged upon all by an intelligent black man -- who'd spoken like a well-meaning high-school principal that we'd all do better by consensus on such-and-such and issue -- because of that, because of the poison Jefferson knew well, because of that the matter was made the nidus, the locus-situs for the dissolution of whatever consensus the southern poison had not yet spoilt. But the decent black man, speaking to them as though they were equals .... vile insubordination. Consequence: "Tea Party" 2010. And the shit-faced demagogue and his mob are a direct inheritance of that; of "Jefferson's Problem".
There: that's an historical examplum more fitting to the American scene; along with the cute counter-factual-conditional (on Romney's insurance plan) which can neither be refuted nor can be confirmed.
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I don't want to be too much of a pessimist, but so far only one race has been called. It's finger crossing time.
ReplyDeleteSen. McConnell, finally, at long last, has found his spine.
ReplyDeleteThe only spine McConnell has found is the binding to his memoirs.
ReplyDeleteAssuming the government survives. One wants to believe that it will, but then, who thought that the congress would be fleeing for their lives today?
ReplyDeleteA few rambling thoughts.
ReplyDeleteBack in October or whenever it was, Barton Gellman wrote that long piece in The Atlantic that was widely read and discussed, about what would likely happen after the election. (Prof. Wolff read and posted about it, as I recall, and Gellman was widely interviewed about it at the time.) Among other things Gellman said unequivocally that Trump would never concede if he lost, reminding readers that even in 2016 when asked whether he wd accept the results of the election, T. said something like "Yes -- if I win."
Gellman has been proved entirely right on this point -- not that he was only person saying it, but he was a respected mainstream journalist saying it at a time when some other pundits were hedging their bets. And the chance that T. will concede now, after what happened today and despite some growing Repub calls for him to do so, is slim to zero.
As a commenter on NewsHr mentioned, you can't tell people on the one hand that the election was stolen and you wuz robbed etc etc, and on the other hand, tell people to be peaceful and protest lawfully and sedately. Well you can say that, but the messages are on some level inconsistent and will be taken as such.
I think that the violence today may some shock some Repubs into finally realizing that T. is divorced from reality and that he can't exit the White House too soon. And Cruz and Hawley in their entirely cynical ways are going to reap what they've sown, since the Trump wing of the party may finally face an internal revolt from the somewhat more sane faction, and the fight within the Repub party now is likely going to be one of historic proportions. It may well make the 1950s Taft-Eisenhower fight, or even the early 1960s Goldwaterite-N. Rockefeller etc. fight, look like chicken feed.
ReplyDeleteThe McConnell R.s are today's von Schleicher / von Papen schemers who thought they could take advantage of the demagogue and ignore the mob. One ended up with a bullet in the head. That other useful idiot lived out his life into delicate old age; never failing to defend his role in bringing the catastrophe upon his poor, stupid, misguided fellow citizens.
Anonymous @8:48
ReplyDeleteAs I said at a bit more length in the preceding thread, I find the analogy betw contemp U.S. and Germany in the '30s to be, on the whole, unhelpful. The references to von Schleicher, von Papen, Hindenburg, Victor Klemperer etc. etc. do not throw all that much light on the current situation, imho.
I think there are certain elements in the fall of the Weimar Republic that are instructive. One is the danger of not prosecuting, not surpressing right wing violence.
ReplyDeleteTim Badonsky AKA Philosophical Waiter
ReplyDeleteOf course the comparisons are "a-historical".
But what is the proper exemplum?
The purpose of the exemplum is to remind the reader of those who went the wrong way so that they might avoid doing so; and of those who went the right way so that they might be inspired -- especially in times when so many go the wrong way.
Is the American scene today so sui-generis that no one dares to dredge up useful exampla at all?
Jefferson if he were writing to-day would remind us of his fears that the original slavery poison would rack the republic through its days.
If Romney had been elected in 2012, the health-insurance pool would never have been made the excuse it was to subsequently elect a demagogue. But because the insurance-pool had been encouraged upon all by an intelligent black man -- who'd spoken like a well-meaning high-school principal that we'd all do better by consensus on such-and-such and issue -- because of that, because of the poison Jefferson knew well, because of that the matter was made the nidus, the locus-situs for the dissolution of whatever consensus the southern poison had not yet spoilt. But the decent black man, speaking to them as though they were equals .... vile insubordination. Consequence: "Tea Party" 2010. And the shit-faced demagogue and his mob are a direct inheritance of that; of "Jefferson's Problem".
There: that's an historical examplum more fitting to the American scene; along with the cute counter-factual-conditional (on Romney's insurance plan) which can neither be refuted nor can be confirmed.
Satisfied?
But what about Warren, who was your preferred candidate in the primaries?
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ReplyDelete