192
   

monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

 
 
blatham
 
  2  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 05:33 am
@glitterbag,
John Dean's "Conservatives Without Conscience" relies heavily on the work of Bob Altemeyer and his research on authoritarianism. Dean isn't a great writer but the information is really valuable (and you can probably find a copy for a dollar and shipping). For a quick look at this, see Wikipedia on right wing authoritarianism A particularly valuable notion I got from the book was this:
Quote:
Researchers have traditionally assumed that there was just one kind of authoritarian personality, who could be either a follower or a leader. The discovery that followers and leaders are usually different types of authoritarians is based on research done by Sam McFarland.[4]


This is a rather big conversation and obviously our right wing folks will not be likely to find such notions compelling but there are two broad phenomena which validate the thesis for me.

First, the nature and operations of the right wing media universe are, as David Frum has put it, to isolate some significant portion of the citizenry in an "information" bubble which axiomatically rejects information coming from outside that bubble. That is a key authoritarian control mechanism and it clearly appeals to an audience more comfortable with uniformity and simplicity (usually with punitive tones).

The second is (stay with me here) humor. As I've pointed out elsewhere, our cherished humorists are almost all liberal of mind. Exceptions are extremely difficult to find and this severe imbalance tells us something profound (how could it not?) and needs explaining.

Humor does a lot of work. It makes us feel better. It dissipates anxiety. It allows us to see things in new and less serious ways. It pushes the boundaries of what's deemed acceptable. It nimbly questions notions of sacred and profane. It presents life dilemmas as something we all share and in that, it promotes notions/recognitions of inclusion and shared humanity. I could go on but I'll stop there. Twain, Groucho, Woody, Keillor, Will Rogers, Seinfeld, Dave Barry, Matt Groening, etc etc. It is no coincidence at all that authoritarian leaders resent humor and satire where they are the target perhaps as much as any other sort of commentary about them. And that is because it diminishes their desire to have others see them as uncriticizable, as unique, as semi-sacred, as above the level of others.

And for the follower types who find comfort in authoritarian systems, the devices and goals of the humorist threaten rigidly held notions of how members of the community ought to think and behave.

Obviously what I'm talking about here doesn't have a 1 to 1 correspondence regarding who votes one way or another, or who labels themselves as liberal or conservative. But the broad outlines of what I'm pointing to are very easy to identify and verify.



0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  2  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 05:54 am
"Elites" as scare word
Quote:
Our new president is a private-jet-setting billionaire Ivy League graduate, a real estate tycoon, a TV star and a son of inherited wealth. But he is no longer, by his own calculations, a member of the “elite.” Nor are the men (and the few women) now joining his inner circle — 1-percenters and corporate executives, Harvard and Yale alumni, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and Goldman Sachs bankers. The true elite apparently sits elsewhere, among those who, in Sarah Palin’s notable 2008 formulation, think “that they’re — I guess — better than anyone else.”

As an adjective, the word “elite” still conveys something positive, even aspirational: elite athlete, elite model, elite travel services. But as a noun, embodied by actual living people, it has become one of the nastiest epithets in American politics. “Elites have taken all the upside for themselves and pushed the downside to the working- and middle-class Americans,” complains Trump’s adviser Steve Bannon (of Harvard, Goldman Sachs and Hollywood). In this formulation, elites are a destructive, condescending collective, plotting against the beleaguered masses outside their ranks.

And in these attacks, the president-elect and his team are deploying one of the most effective partisan political stereotypes of the modern age. For most of American history, anti-elite sentiment was a matter of up versus down, not left versus right. But about half a century ago, the conservative movement set out to claim anti-elite politics as its own. That meant redefining the term away from class and toward culture, where the “elite” could be identified by its liberal ideas, coastal real estate and highbrow consumer preferences....
MORE
blatham
 
  2  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 06:37 am
Quote:
Trump’s agenda would boost his bottom line
Republicans are promising moves that would be a boon to Trump’s finances, including one tax change that could save his family $4 billion or more.
LINK

But I'm not concerned about this. It's not as if Trump has a history of wealth-seeking or of finding work-arounds of laws and codes to make money.
revelette1
 
  5  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 07:08 am

Quote:
Trump suggested that intelligence officials postponed an " 'intelligence' briefing on so-called 'Russian hacking' " that they were set to deliver to him this week because they might need more time "to build a case." He called the alleged delay "very strange."

Trump said last week that he would receive an intelligence briefing on the Russian breaches this week and suggested it would come early on, telling reporters on New Year's Eve that they would know more about the subject "Tuesday or Wednesday."

But US intelligence officials disputed Trump's tweet alleging a delay.

Top US intelligence officials have been scheduled to brief Trump on the full report on Russian hacking President Barack Obama ordered once it was completed, but the meeting was not set to take place until later in the week, according to US officials.

The meeting was never scheduled for Tuesday, as even Obama has yet to receive the full-fledged briefing on the Russian hacking, one US official said.


source
Blickers
 
  2  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 10:09 am
@revelette1,
Judging by that report, it appears that a full fledged cover up is underway by Trump. It almost seems like what can be uncovered is so explosive, Trump fears he might not get inaugurated if it ever comes out.
giujohn
 
  0  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 10:15 am
@Blickers,
You're simply delusional.
0 Replies
 
giujohn
 
  0  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 10:19 am
@blatham,
I don't give a rat's ass if he makes 8 billion as long as it puts more money in my pocket and everyone else's... And if you don't want the extra money that you find in your pocket I can tell you where to send it.
0 Replies
 
Frugal1
 
  0  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 10:32 am
Having to look at Nancy Pelosi's face is making America sick again.
0 Replies
 
glitterbag
 
  2  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 10:48 am
@blatham,
I actually have that book as well as 'Worse than Watergate'. I'll have to pull them off the shelf and dust them off. I like Dean's books, always well thought out.
Frugal1
 
  -1  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 10:51 am
Trump's slogan is MAGA... the new liberal progressive democrat slogan is MASA.
0 Replies
 
Baldimo
 
  -1  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 11:15 am
@Debra Law,
You mean the same guy who took fake documents and ran a story to discredit Bush weeks before the election? That Dan Rather?
0 Replies
 
Baldimo
 
  0  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 11:19 am
@Blickers,
Did you see Jill Stein had another "rally" to get more recounts? I think there were maybe 20 people at the event. Any more word on the Russians hacking voting machines?
0 Replies
 
Frugal1
 
  -1  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 11:19 am
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 11:44 am
@glitterbag,
When I read the book, I made a mental note to follow up and read more Altemeyer but never got around to it.

Authoritarianism is a very interesting phenomenon and one we'd better get our heads around given the turn in America and in a number of nations across the Atlantic.

Obviously there is an authoritarian personality type of the alpha male sort - domination of others through bullying, punishment, rejection of dissent, high reliance on personal loyalty, controlling information, etc. We all know the historical examples. And we understand, at least most of us do, that leadership doesn't have to feature such tendencies (we know the historical and contemporary examples there too).

And equally obviously, it seems to me, is the tendency of humans in community to manifest something like a bell curve in comfort/discomfort with an authoritarian "leader". It comes as no surprise to me that a large percentage of evangelical christians in America approve of torture or three-strikes legislation or burning books/records or jail sentences for marijuana, or excluding/punishing gays or members of other faiths, etc.
cicerone imposter
 
  2  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 11:47 am
@blatham,
When Trump admires Putin over our elected officials, we know Trump is pretty ignorant about how the government in Russia works.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/1810807/how-vladimir-putin-became-the-tyranical-leader-politicians-around-the-world-are-tripping-over-themselves-to-praise/amp/?client=safari
Frugal1
 
  -1  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 11:51 am
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C1V5vLRXAAAxdOB.jpg:large
0 Replies
 
Baldimo
 
  0  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 12:02 pm
@cicerone imposter,
Go figure when the President has nicer words to say about an enemy than they do about their own fellow politicians. Obama spent 8 years berating his opponents but bent over backwards for Iran. Look how Iran has treated the US since the deal went down. You wonder where it started, it started with Obama.
Frugal1
 
  -1  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 12:04 pm
@Baldimo,
Precisely!
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 12:14 pm
@cicerone imposter,
Quote:
When Trump admires Putin over our elected officials, we know Trump is pretty ignorant about how the government in Russia works.

Yes.
blatham
 
  1  
Wed 4 Jan, 2017 12:20 pm
Quote:
In a Tuesday letter to congressional leaders, the American Medical Association (AMA) came out against plans floated by Republicans to quickly repeal Obamacare but delay fully replacing the law.

The AMA told congressional leaders that they must reveal their plans to replace the Affordable Care Act before repealing the legislation.

"[W]e believe that before any action is taken through reconciliation or other means that would potentially alter coverage, policymakers should lay out for the American people, in reasonable detail, what will replace current policies. Patients and other stakeholders should be able to clearly compare current policy to new proposals so they can make informed decisions about whether it represents a step forward in the ongoing process of health reform," James L. Madara, the CEO of the AMA wrote in the letter.
LINK

We don't know how Ryan et al are going to go about this. We do know what the Freedom Caucus types want (immediate repeal). Ryan probably wants this too but he's more cagey about PR and the consequences for elections up the road, particularly if the left gets itself together and takes to the streets, townhalls, and chambers of government, screaming bloody murder (which it would arguably be because many will die). They've got a very big problem that arises not just from ideological fixed-ideas but also from the rhetoric they wielded against the ACA for political gain.

Edit: Let me add one thing we know for absolute certain:

This entire operation from the GOP will be marked most primarily by a continuation and expansion of the propaganda efforts to paint the ACA as a Democratic party policy failure that hurts more people than it helps and which is economically unsound. This will be trumpeted every day from most every right wing media operation and from GOP politicos and from their allies appearing on or in mainstream news operations.
 

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