Reminds me of Napster. The more the labels sued, the more popular it got. Then one day, they woke up and Shawn Fanning was on the cover of Newsweek. The labels put him there. :)
John Hummer
P.S. Can you believe the way the media "takes the bait" EVERYTIME that Trump sets it. He owns them. He sets the bait on flag burning, they bite. He sets the bait on Taiwan, they bite. It's just hysterical to watch. Just how stupid are these people. Can't you imagine Trump in a room saying, "ok, let me tweet this bait out..... they will never be this dumb to take it, but let's give it a try..........." And they do. It is just hysterical to watch.
______________________________________
Great points Bob. I'm independent and voted Democrat and Republican in the past. I'm a 40 something white male living in the center of the country where the elite don't have to land for fuel anymore when flying from coast to coast. I voted for Trump because... (you called it)... MONEY! I don't have any and those fat cats who Obama, Hillary, Bernie & Warren strike fear into for not paying their fair share are not letting any of their money go. It means nothing to OHB&W since they have enough money, but those fat cats create jobs for people like me and if the government takes their money, they have nothing to pay me with and the government has no clue what to do with the money.
Unfortunately after all the corruption exposed about the Democrat party this year, I might not vote Democrat again, but would consider it later since politics are corrupt anyhow... However, my foot is down to never vote Democrat again because I'm a deplorable racist. Yes, I have to admit it because politicians, pundits and once respected journalists keep drilling into my head that I'm a racist that I can no longer avoid not being a racist. It pains me to become a racist in middle age because I never was before, but since the Democrat machine has converted me I can no longer vote Democrat because I despise what the Democrats have turned me into.
Do you have a reference for the best Democrat Racist Guide Book available? Is there a Racism for Dummies book? Since I'm taking on this new identity, I need any help I can get in this role.
Oh, and the Democrats need to continue their pursuit of abolishing the Electoral College. That will really excite middle America knowing that the majority of votes for the next president will come from 3 zip codes. The 2 Senators from each state have to go too as we are doing away with representation from all 50 states elected by majority vote in each state. There will now be 20 Senators from California, 20 Senators from New York and 12 Senators for the rest of the country to divy up by lottery.
Kenny B.
______________________________________
When I was in divorce court, I realized my attorney and her’s were great friends outside, and neither would go for the other’s jugular, even if it meant saving mine. Same for the press, who is going to call BS when the pols and the press all share laughs at the same restaurants and the WH Correspondent’s Dinner? They’re two sides of the same alumni club and therefore were equaly def to the vox populi.
richard eichen
______________________________________
Bob, you're so close, oh so close. Closer than nearly everybody on how the Left has their heads screwed on wrong.
Except your wrong on 'Enough with the feelings, IT'S MONEY THAT PEOPLE WANT!' Of course people want money, but what they see in Trump isn't that he'll actually get them money, its that he RESPECTS them.
The left has RESPECTED every whine from every advocacy group, thinking they were their base. They ignored the FEELINGS of the common person.
Bob, its not about money, nor jobs, nor wages. Not at all. Its about RESPECT.
--Greg Bellamy (expat) in Sechelt, British Columbia
______________________________________
Here is my only issues with your verbal diarrhea!! They voted AGAINST their own economic self interests & voted for their BIGOTRY!!!
Carin Eling
______________________________________
crazy! I wasn’t Pro-Trump so much as… about a year ago, at the first debate, when I started hearing Rubio and Walker and Bush all start their opening statements
with extremely rehearsed catch phrases…i knew something was up… I started calling this the “SEX PISTOLS ELECTION” last year… I figured whether its from the right (TRUMP) or
from the Left (BERNIE)… The Grenade was going to be thrown in the center (the R/D Uniparty)…and blow it up…
great analysis sir! we are all the sum total of our contradictions, both political and personal. and most of us are tired of being broad-brushed with folks who don’t agree with SOME of our opinions…
Greg Leslie
______________________________________
Bob. Spot on! Last SNL had ZERO laughs. It was joke without any. SNL! Get over it !!
Bobby Tarantino
______________________________________
One mistake you keep making, Bob. Most of the left is neither rich, nor elitist.
Ria Curley
______________________________________
Bob we're in the early stages of a Intellectual Civil War Two different strains of how people think we should live The two don't even come close Wait till Jeff Sessions leads a war on Marijuana Think about it half of the population has legal access and the other half wants that to end I think we're in for a long hot Summer on so many levels And the worst thing is Trump doesn't have the capacity to know how to deal with people who don't agree with or the temperament to deal with criticism
Kevin F. Sutter
______________________________________
I think you lost a subscriber on this post. Are kidding me ? The rights of African Americans is a feeling ? Lmao, nothing says White Privellage more than a negative and insensitive comment like that. Smh
Adrian Swish
______________________________________
Bravo !
Cheers,
Thom Wolke
______________________________________
Oh so true (and sad!):"And the perception is the Democrats are so worried about offending anybody that they end up standing for nothing"
Young Hutchinson
______________________________________
Did you read Nick Confessore's piece?
www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/magazine/how-to-hide-400-million.html?_r=0 This story is about a divorce, but it's really a portrait of our complete demise as a just society.
No amount of left wing bloviating about taxes, up to an including winning all three branches of government, will ever make a difference. The superrich have their own economy, it's like an episode of Black Mirror.
I'm moving to Cook Islands.
Cheers,
Michael Witthaus
______________________________________
......good one, Robert!!!!
Tommy Allen
______________________________________
I was going to start this with 'I'm sorry but I disagree with you' but no, I'm not sorry and I do disagree with you.
1. Anyone who ever says issues of racism and bigotry can wait, should tell that to the millions of Jews who died waiting for Nazi Germany to fix the economic issues first. And then tell that to all of the other millions who've died at the had of racism, bigotry, sectarianism, religious zealots and xenophobes.
2. How about drafting solutions, the problems are glaring!
3. What have you actually done to be part of the solution? Did you go to Standing Rock to report first hand on the Dakota Pipeline? Did you contribute any funds, $1, $5, $10? Have you joined a local political or otherwise organization to be of serve to your community or country on either side of the political line? Are you serving food at a shelter, walking, running skiing for a cause?
Have been active since the Civil Rights movement, Vietnam War through HIV/AIDS to working with education organizations and founding an organization with a group of women this year to prepare young women of color for a future in science and technology. Just a short list.
What and when was the last time you actually got up, got dressed, drove/travelled to some place to be of service to the less fortunate? I know you drive to lunches and dinners with the well heeled.
Please inform us, I'd like to stand corrected,
Nona Hendryx
______________________________________
To think I've dredged through your arrogance for years, to hear you call the left the elite, and Donald a truth teller in the same rant, well, I'm done.
Bad writing, ill informed and pompous.
You lost one, semi-occasional, reader.
B
Vokab Kompany
______________________________________
Yep
Joshua Osswald
______________________________________
So well put. Did you see this statement by Mark Wahlberg?
www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/mark-wahlberg-celebrities-shouldnt-talk-politics-w453566?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=120216_17 Jennifer Granozio
______________________________________
I always feel compelled to state I didn’t vote for Mr. Trump.
So without bias I totally agree - the SNLsters marginalize themselves more each week.
R. Joseph
______________________________________
Amen
John M. Foley
______________________________________
The proverbial "hitting the nail on the head"......."When is the left wing gonna speak to the Trump voters instead of deriding them. Try criticizing your spouse, telling him or her they're clueless, let me know how that works out, when he or she comes around to your way of thinking."
Gormley
______________________________________
Thanks, very well put,
Steve Durr
______________________________________
Go Bob Go !!!!
Mowgli Music
______________________________________
You know this post reminds me of just how many people are unaware of their own character traits and god forbid those character traits of others. What I mean is if we as a society were taught at an early age how to look inwardly at what character strengths we are strong in, be able to define them and then also be able to see this in others, I do believe the current generation could be very different about change. I had a life changing moment the other month when I witnessed kindergarteners being able to define generosity, curiosity, perseverance and then share examples at a school in Grand Blanc Michigan. This all came about through The Positivity Project (
www.posproject.org) a free resource for schools. What changed me was I realized math, science or the arts are taught in schools and while that is just tradition, what have we done to teach character? At the ripe age of 43 I was taught by a 5 year old about my own character strengths. My mind was blown, now I realize why so many are angry about this election, they were never educated in how to see positive character traits, cultivate them and see that in others.
Sorry, but just needed to share. Thank you for all your insights through the years.
Sincerely,
Thaddeus Setla
______________________________________
I would say I agree with about 50% of what you write and a large portion of the remaining 50% I find at least interesting. Rarely do you say something so provocative that forced me to stop what I'm doing and reply. Your repeated insistence that the liberals focus on being PC and that minority issues are about feelings is so condescending and just plain wrong. But I'm imagining you to be a straight, fairly wealthy WASP without any reference of what it means to be an outsider in this great country. That or you're just self-loathing. We, the minorities, hear the things Trump/Pence say and do, and yes we do have strong "feelings"......feelings of fear. Not a fear for being disliked, but a fear of being deported and losing our families, fear of losing our health care, fear of being attacked, fear of losing our health choices, fear of our marriages being criminalized, fear of our families being unable to visit because they're from a certain country. So many of these issues that you characterize as emotional also have huge financial implications as well. Just not for white, straight, middle America. I agree with you that Trump's victory has a lot to do with jobs and money for the working class. But I think you're naive to dismiss the fear and frustration that these same people have for the rise of minorities in the last 10 years.
Jeremy Asbury
______________________________________
Amen, Bob. Keep up the brilliant work, we need it out here....
Gary Nieslawski
______________________________________
Enough with the Republicans who wouldn't work with Obama. Who controlled Congress during his first two years?
Obama then proceeded to gift the country with the Stimulus and Obamacare which blew money and nothing else. Remember him laughing about shovel ready jobs? Voters remembered. And rather than work with Republicans when they were in the minority, he gave the finger to Eric Cantor in Jan 2009. Hence 2010 and 2014.
Voters figured out Obama early on, and unlike Bill Clinton in 1994, he doubled down, and for that history will not be kind.
Am pretty offended by Trump, but Obama should've listened at least a bit.
As with any criticism of Obama, I can't risk the racist tag, so pls no name, email, etc.
Always love your notes...
______________________________________
Time for you to switch teams, Bob. The progressive movement has failed, liberalism and its utopian dream of world domination through globalism and the hoax of climate change has been rejected. Oh, the libs in California, Illinois, New York, and Massachusetts represent some big numbers of voters, but just take a look at the post election map of how people voted... IT'S ALL RED!
Quit whining and join the winners. If not now, it's just a matter of time before you cave. America and americans first is nothing to be ashamed of.
Frank A. Gagliano
______________________________________
Bob, some of what you say is true. The left, though, is not the Democratic party. The left is more Bernie and my friends. We live and work with the "deplorables" The Democratic Party has become the party of the establishment and not the party of ideas. It is more the "policy party".
I do deplore many of Trump's appointments because they are all creatures of the swamp and establishment and some of them are fascists, misogynists, nationalists and racists. I will fight them.
You have fallen into the media trap that anyone left of what we used to call "moderate republicans" are lefties. Not true in the slightest.
Yes, they want money, but so did people in Germany in the 1930s.
Jim Bowers
______________________________________
Obama had his first two years all to himself and everyone near him told him to concentrate on the economy instead he focused on healthcare and the Democrats and the country have been paying the price for it ever since.
One reason HRC is not in the White House and never will be.
Jeffrey Farrell
______________________________________
When it comes to Trump, what else is there to focus on? He's inadequate.
I'm sick of the "media" (and you) acting like Trump won in a landslide. It could've very easily went the other way. Yes Bernie should've been the candidate. Hillary still "won", yeah only the popular vote and it doesn't matter in terms of who gets to be President but it still matters in relation to all you are saying.
Ryan M
______________________________________
99% agree
not all dems but THESE dems think middle America are a bunch of dumbasses and treat them as such. Just came back to bite them. Obama won because of charisma and bad republican candidates..
only 1 thing I disagree...obama had house and senate for 2 years...could have done anything he wanted.
gk
______________________________________
You’re missing a big part of the puzzle Bob. The power of lies and misinformation. The proliferation of fake news sites and shitposting of outright lies that people bought hook line and sinker in this election and went viral via social media.
Are you familiar with Pizzagate? A man with a semi-automatic rifle walked into a pizza shop with parents and their kids inside and fired shots because he believed the fake news story that it was a front for a Hillary Clinton child sex ring. And Trump’s NSA pick Mike Flynn retweeted the original fake news story.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/05/gunman-detained-at-comet-pizza-restaurant-was-self-investigating-fake-news-reports Then there’s this guy who was one of the creators of several fake news sites whose stories went viral and were automatically believed by those who reposted and disseminated them (and who was raking in $10-30k a month in ad revenue):
www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/11/23/503146770/npr-finds-the-head-of-a-covert-fake-news-operation-in-the-suburbs You say Democrats need to have a plan. What good is a plan when we now live in an era where people no longer feel entitled just to their own opinions, but their own facts, and no one seems to care? How do we survive as a functional society?
Facts and plans are useless in the face of this. Mark Twain said “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting its shoes on.” We now live in a fact-free society where up is down, down is purple, and purple is eleventy five.
Zach Ziskin
______________________________________
hand claps
Joel David Lauver
______________________________________
Bob, you're acting like no party ever lost an election because it was perceived to be out of touch with voter's economic needs, and that a candidate like Trump is just what happens when the other side fills the void. You know that's not true. You're normalizing Trump the candidate and Trump the president elect by putting this more on the failures of the democrats than on the appeal of Trump.
And what was that unique appeal? That he resonated with the working class and promised them jobs? Bullshit. That's nothing special. Certainly not special enough to overcome his obvious deficits as a candidate, the sort of things that previously sunk every candidate in elections regardless of the "economic anxiety" their side may have been feeling at the time. This wasn't about some canny economic pitch.
This was about seeing what he could get away with, and by extension, what his supporters felt like they could then and now get away with.
Same thing as gamergate. This was about normalizing anti-social narcissism and it's various attendant pleasures.
Have you been to reddit.com/r/the_donald? Do you see a lot of earnest pining over our economic situation there? Don't dismiss it as an insignificant forum for trolling teens - this is the closest thing to the ID of Trump supporters you are going to get. Now they've got gunmen shooting in pizza parlors because of insane conspiracy theories they peddle. Take a hard look and see if you think they are going to feel ashamed about that, or emboldened. After all, they got away with it.
And they will support and enable Trump at every turn, with every story that comes out showing him to be deeply more corrupt and indulging in conflicts of interest greater than anything he ever claimed about Hillary. He isn't even trying to hide the fact that he doesn't care about these things that supposedly were core to his supporters. And his supporters will LOVE him for it. Because they want him to get away with it.
But I'm not supposed to say that right? That's too mean! Too "deriding" of them! We should all just keep our mouths shut as this grows and grows, telling ourselves it's just a phase they're going through because they're worried about their paychecks?
If you don't already have strong inklings that none of that is true, you're going to soon.
Justin Schmidt
______________________________________
He won 2mln votes fewer than Hillary.
That's not democracy. That's a system, a system that doesn't work.
David Towers
______________________________________
RIGHT ON BOB!!!! YOU HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD!!!
Barry Burmaster
______________________________________
Okay, but if everyone (including you) continues to sneer at and dismiss "mainstream media", exactly how does one disseminate that message? And are the news journalists (yes, the NY Times and the Washington Post) supposed to not bother reporting the many many times our president breaks laws, goes back on his word, flat out makes shit up, because that would be "gotcha"?
He will get no pushback from the GOP, who are only too happy to stack the Supreme Court with right wingers. He'll get no pushback from the Democrats, because they're the minority party (think Rove White House). If Trump (and the alt right) are successful in marginalizing the only people in this country who actually practice investigative journalism, there are (I'm going to put this in italics) no checks and balances on a Trump White House. Does that sound like a rosy scenario with a demagogue taking power? As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that will bring him down, keep him from destroying this country, is a scandal big enough that even HE can't brush it aside. One that his most ardent supporters have to admit "Yeah, that's pretty bad."
I am so fucking sick of hearing about how he spoke to those poor white folks who felt left behind. A.) A lot of them, like it or not, feel left behind because they hate and fear dark people, so fuck empathy, okay? Have you seen the ugly shit that's come out of the woodwork with their victory? Jesus. B.) He has no plans whatsoever to help the fabled old, uneducated, white men, because, sad to say, there really isn't much you can do for a 50 something guy in the heartland who doesn't have a decent job. And forgive me, but trickle-down economics (lowering rich guys' taxes will help YOU) is so provably bullshit it makes me puke every time it's trotted out.
If you're saying that the Democrats have to start acting like the GOP, well you've created a pretty huge paradox. Because the GOP is the official party of the "gotcha", or perhaps you've been living in a different country than I for the past, oh I don't know, 25 years? Was there a day in the Obama Presidency where there wasn't some contrived cause to feel outraged about? Did McConnell and Fox eschew "gotcha", like, ever? Repeating the Big Lie is how they won this last election, because they had a liar big enough to pull it off with some panache.
Breitbart more accurately read the mindset of the disaffected right because they systematically created it. They stoked it with every possible iteration of racebaiting, fearmongering fake news. Gen. Flynn, a week before the election, was tweeting a litany of Hillary sins that included "underage sex parties". As in, Cabinet Appointee Gen. Flynn. Are you fucking kidding me? And you're going to cut the Press' balls off because they didn't see THAT coming?
Enough with the elite bashing. I prefer people who think to people who don't. People who buy the insulting fiction of racism deserve no consideration. People who swallow the propaganda coming out of the Alt Right deserve no empathy. I prefer people who think with their minds and not with their dicks and pocketbooks. Sue me.
Berton Averre
______________________________________
Thank you for writing this. I am a moderate who tends to lean a little conservative (voted against Trump), but it has blown my mind watching people (on both sides) trying to persuade those who don't agree with them by making fun of or yelling at them.
The inability for each side to communicate with each other is the biggest problem facing our country right now. Memes and punchlines are not the way to bring people together. Why does the internet turn people back into middle schoolers?
Elitism must make people feel like they're in the cool kids club, but it does not solve problems. It exacerbates them, and makes those people being talked down to less likely to listen and more likely to rebel.
I don't agree with everything you write, but I appreciate that you work hard to keep the focus on what is really going on.
Harrison Tucker
______________________________________
Your analysis is spot on about what the progressive movement in this country needs to do. I hope we can do it.
I'm so sick of hearing about transgender bathrooms and microagressions that I have unregistered myself from the Democratic party. I'm now an Independent who supports progressive causes that benefit everyone, forget the identity politics. And I'm looking for leaders willing to speak truth to power.
At a fundraising event for a Democratic politician here in Chicago I told him and the audience that I support progressive causes that help everyone, and said Democrats need to come up with five (not 100) clear and important things that the whole country can get behind. And when we define those five things, the sign of our support is to hold up our hand with our five fingers spread apart... like when we used to signal our support for peace and love in the 60s by holding up our hand with two fingers spread apart for a peace sign.
For what it's worth, here's my five clear and important things we can all get behind:
1) Make minimum wage a livable wage - $15/hr is a start
2) Decent, affordable health care for every citizen of this great nation
3) Relevant and affordable education for every citizen - we're doomed without educated citizens
4) Find solutions to the challenges of global warming: Renewable energy, conservation of natural resources, low carbon lifestyles, etc.
5) Defend and reaffirm the right of every citizen to vote in free and fair elections
Yours truly,
Michael Hugos
______________________________________
SHHHHHHHH!!! Please, don’t tell the Democrats that calling everyone ugly names isn’t working. They might wake up and find out that they lost credibility long ago.
Bob, you and I are almost 180 degrees opposite in our worldview, and I rarely agree with your political analysis, but you really hit nail on this one, so thank you for having the journalistic integrity of your convictions, at a time when seemingly no one else on the Left does (save one editor at NY Times)
I am on record for hating all politicians but one mention of Hillary’s flaws would get me labeled a racist bigoted homo-xenophobe with people who do not want a fair exchange of ideas. They want a dirty dictator and presumed anyone who didn’t was their mortal enemy. I’m still afraid to talk to Wendy Waldman. Though I hope she will cool off eventually, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of accepting reality. Was planning to stay home this election, but the blatant advocacy of lies from CNN the Dept of Propoganda changed my mind. I rolled the dice on Trump and "I am become death”.
Ted William Pearce
______________________________________
Bob, This is pretty stunning! - I have never seen you cut through the horse hocky of the left & right county club politicians and get to the meat like this. I love this line:
"When is the left wing gonna speak to the Trump voters instead of deriding them. Try criticizing your spouse, telling him or her they're clueless, let me know how that works out, when he or she comes around to your way of thinking.”
As for the Carrier job’s, it costs about $785.00 per year, per job for ten years in subsidies. I think the promises of lower taxes and reduced regulations played a huge part. They also sat down with a dude that has cut a MILLION deals in the private industry. Successful businessmen get the deal DONE!
What this holds for the USA is anybody’s guess… But a 1%-3% GDP and ten more trillion in debt for the last eight year hasn’t helped anybody on the fiscal side.
Happy Holidays,
LAVON PAGAN
______________________________________
Bob, you are a smart man (not my cup of tea politically) but, a smart man
Cheers,
Magic Matt Alan
______________________________________
On how to win going forward, I am with you. And yes the media failed and yes they will continue to do so. Smart people are not running the media - cash whores are.
But the facts are this: people are getting jobs and in democrat-led districts, min wage is going up.
And all of with Obama being blocked at every turn. He actually gives a shit about poor/working people and his policies reflect that. Too bad he got no help.
Trump convinced a lot of people to vote against their interests. And a guy who hates unions bragging about saving union jobs? Bet that turns south quick for those 800 folks. Right to work, here we come. Real question is how do you get people to see that. Not sure we ever will.
Matt Roberson
______________________________________
Great piece Bob. We Canadians are guilty of the same left thinking. As well, your piece is very similar to an article in the New Yorker a few weeks ago about the history of voters commitment to each party and how that has changed over time. Clearly, the left has lost the folks they historically said they represented. Hmmm
Thanks again for a good read!
Doug Edmond
______________________________________
Actually -We HAVE to keep up resistance. To merely accept this and 'move on' should not be part of the equation. This is getting worse and worse... He was elected in much the same way and for many of the same reason Hitler was... and his 'fringe support' seems to not be quite as much 'fringe' as I once thought...The bigotry and racism that he has allowed to rise to the surface is not okay at all... and YES HE DID IT - (simply watch his rallies).
Obama: always decorum, no scandals, always trying to unify a country and both sides of the aisle when they clearly would never be any part of it from day one.
...So they went from who I consider the greatest president of my lifetime to this - Absolutely the scariest election I have ever seen in my lifetime...
The people that allowed this to happen are a sorry lot. People say they voted Trump in for his policies... but I have to interject that when it was quite evident in the primaries that this guy was a racist, misogynist pig with lack of morals, my question is why was he allowed to continue? I hold all of those people accountable for this... and the whole world will pay heavily on this 'appointment'...
Good luck everyone...
Millennia Sound Design
______________________________________
Which "left" are you talking about? The fake left of Hillary and Debbie, of Hubert and Lyndon and Bill, of John Lewis, the DNC and the rest of those lifestyle crusaders on MSNBC or the real left, those hard core proles who live and breathe with working people, not embedded in their ranks, but actually out of their ranks, you know, the ones you never see on TV?
Bernie is about as far right as I go and he's barely left in my book. Maybe the problem is not who we're calling out but how and why. You are calling out garden variety liberals and we've always known of their spinelessness.
Used to be there was nothing more powerful than a cold war liberal. Without a cold war, they are useless and yet the media has prevented the real left from displacing them. So we're now stuck with liberals being described as left.
No wonder Trump got elected.
Just my thoughts,
Ken Shain
______________________________________
Sometimes you hit home runs and sometimes you don't.This piece is a double play out.
I am a millionaire.Low class millionaire,but still a millionaire.Like having $50,000 in 1960!
Most of my friends are millionaires,they hated Obama and hated Hillary equally.
Either they are retired,own businesses,have great jobs and/or have plenty of money.They DON'T want or need jobs!
They voted for Trump for one of three reasons:
1. Tradition."My daddy was a Republican and I always vote Republican." Even if the candidate is despicable.....
2.Anti Intellectualism.Most of these guys and their ladies inherited their money or built businesses that made them wealthy.They didn't go to college or if they did,they were not sitting around in the campus lawn with long hair and smoking dope.They remember the protests and riots emanating from college campuses in the 1960 and have hated "left wing intellectuals" ever since.
3.Racism.
Most of my friends and neighbors in the South and Fly Over states do not know a person of color or an immigrant.But they have seen them in the White House and they have had enough! Blacks,Muslims,Yankees,hippies,dreds,pantsaround your ass.We're rich,we're angry and we're not going to take it any more.
The good news for Democrats is that in 4 or 8 years,many of them will be gone!
Clark Luster
______________________________________
Amen. The left might just be waking up.
Kevin Hamilton
______________________________________
Just a brief comment on your first paragraph: The ones "I" resent and rail against do not make the wad off the back of the working people, they make their money by leveraging ptofit out of speculation, like the stock market, rather than creating what Bucky Fuller called "livingry" (as opposed to weaponry).
And, you have a low opinion of elite, if all it takes is a couple of random thoughts! :-)
Otherwise your commentary/rant/screed is pretty good.
Lou Judson
______________________________________
You nailed that one.
Your final line “And I'm stuck in the middle with you wondering what happened to this country.”. I think that’s what most of us Trump voters were thinking when we pulled the lever for him.
Tom Hoffman
______________________________________
Knowing how you think about politics, this couldn't have been easy for you to write. You get most of it right, with a few glaring exceptions. The one thing no one seems to focus on is this: with all the talk of the 1%, the real wealth is actually concentrated in the 0.1% - and those folks mostly supported Hillary. They are the vested interests in the status quo and they lean left because left is the order of things and that's what made them wealthy. You seem to understand this which makes you far more insightful then most of your fellow liberals.
All the best,
David Murphy
______________________________________
Bob Bob Bob - your perspective is on point and scary as shit!
Sandra Vaughan
______________________________________
Long time reader here, first time responder.
There's one important nuance missing from your analysis. Conflating issues of race with issues of class is tantamount to denying that systemic racism exists and affects the lives of millions of Americans on a daily basis. It is an implicit demonstration of white privilege.
Not saying you didn't have some valid points, but your argument would be strengthened if you were not attempting to deny the post-colonial experiences of minorities in America by reducing them to issues of class.
Eric Washburn
The most important article you've ever written!
Steve Haymes
______________________________________
Thank u. Thank u. Thank u.
Your last line about being stuck in the "middle with you" is spot on too. When a person or a party goes too far left or too far right they actually complete a circle. They become one in the same.
And that my friend is the Washington elite establishment. Democrat/Republican doesn't matter. They only care about taking care of each other.
That's what this election was all about. Whether u supported Bernie or Trump didn't matter. It wasn't about them.
It was about throwing a wrench in the machine. That's why I voted for Trump against all the lame ass Republicans in the primaries and it's why I voted for him in the election.
Clinton? The name alone oozes establishment.
And stop attacking Trump voters. Stop saying we are just a bunch of racist, uneducated, Xenophobes.
YOU ARE ONLY LYING TO YOURSELF!
P.S. Love your work Bob. Thanks for all u offer.
Jack Lynady
______________________________________
a) missing piece to your piece: who in the legacy of rock and roll does Trump represent?
you hint at/ evoke punk, other eras - leaving me to wonder which artist/ act/ sector of Rock is Trump reminiscent of ?
I mean, there's the hair, the attitude, the cheese, the out of touchness, the in touchness...., the hate aggression ignorance ugliness brutality inanity fuckedupness upyoursness virtuosity lightning quickness satanism etc
b) maybe I missed but did you previously address voter suppression and gerrymandering ?
yea he 'won' but how (many ways) did they rig it. fair and square?
c) but yeah
Charles Blass
______________________________________
So wise, Bob.
These "left wingers" who read books, try to educate themselves, accept science re climate change, own passports, recognize the reality of globalization, care about treating people equally, try to understand and keep up with technology, and seek to avoid violence and conflict in life....are pathetic idiots.
What we need is to embrace ignorance, fear, and all its manifestations, and be ruled by a narcissistic, pathological liar...that will
work out well for everyone and for this country.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom...I feel much better.
Bob Vogt
______________________________________
Read Scott Adams' blog predicting a Trump win a year ago...His thoughts align well with yours regarding how you characterize the music business. Getting play is all that matters, truth is subjective and certainly not relevant to the immediate sale. bb
Brad L. Beago, CFA
______________________________________
It seems like you are finally starting to get it, but you need to get it out of your head that all Trump supporters are uneducated. I know a lot of smart people with university degrees who supported him from the start. I know a lot of dumb people (university graduates included) who loved Hillary. Us Trump supporters are smart enough to know how crazy the left/social justice warriors can be and know there's no point in having a conversation with those people. Also, Clinton's corruption has been public knowledge for decades. How anyone would have wanted that family back in the Oval Office is beyond me! Bernie could have beaten Trump, but thank God Hillary stole the nomination from him. Then again, it looks like ol Bern was in on the deal. Without the disenchanted left, however, Trump could not have won. Obama was supposed to be some great negotiator who knew how to bring people together, yet he proved to be so divisive. And don't get me started on that idiot Jill Stein and the people who donated money to her!
You have to ask yourself: how many billionaires give up their passion/business and spend millions of their own money, risking their safety and family reputation (Trump was never accused of being a bigot/racist/sexist before the race), to run for public office?
I'm Canadian and totally jealous though. We're stuck with a commie Castro-loving Prime Minister who cares more about refugees than families, veterans and workers. And people think Trump wasn't qualified! Ha! We elected a drama teacher/camp counsellor!
Cristina Bishop
______________________________________
Another gem.
I read your stuff everyday.
Keep on keepin on. Just wanna say thanks.
GS
______________________________________
bob, who knew Stealers Wheel to be visionaries...soothsayers...harbingers....!
- gary mendel
______________________________________
If you use the horrific cliche "stuck in the middle with you" one more time, you risk never being taken seriously ever again except by other old white men who remember the 8 months in the 70's when that was a radio staple.
John Cunningham
______________________________________
You know Trump can't give those people their factory jobs back unless he institutes a massive FDR style public works program, which the Republican congress will never go for. So what happens when those unemployed workers realize that they've been conned?
Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,
Bruce Gordon
______________________________________
...Yep! No one trusts the DNC after what they did to Sanders in the
primaries. I'm starting to think that played heavier in the minds of a lot
of voters than Trump?s outrageous behavior. My son thought Sanders should
have gone rogue instead of falling into line with the same shady DNC that
screwed him. I told my son he was crazy for thinking that because the
thought of a Trump presidency was so freighting but in hindsight he may
have been right. I have friends that believe in LGBT rights, a woman's
right to choose and the importance of dealing with climate change that
also live in CA and still voted for Trump. I couldn't believe that they'd
aligned themselves with the deplorables... the KKK, the Alt Right, The
Anti Semites, The white supremacists, the Ultra Right Wing Christian
Groups and Climate Change Deniers! I thought they had lost their minds, I
was so angry about it that I stopped speaking to them. I couldn't believe
that they'd vote for a candidate that was pandering in not so veiled terms
to the lowest common denominators amongst his followers. However the truth
is they're so angry with the establishment that they flat out didn't
care. I think they just wanted to blow up the system by any means
necessary and as reprehensible as Trump is he was the vehicle to do that.
I imagine that a lot of trump voters might of even thought that this could
be their once in a lifetime shot to stick it to the establishment
political and media institutions. Now that I've had time to analyze what
happened and think about it more in terms of how you laid it out I still
don't agree with my friends that voted for orange hitler but I do get it!
The liberal elites (many of whom are my friends) have to take some major
responsibility, they are a big part of what created the vacuum that
allowed Trump to get elected. The problem is this is exactly how tyrants
got into power, including Napoleon, Hitler and Mussolini to name a few. Do
we have one of these types of leaders on our hands? I have young kids so
the thought scares the hell out of me! I hope it won't get that bad but
after this election cycle we've learned that anything can happen.
Thanks for your insight Bob!
Mikael Johnston
______________________________________
arghh Bob. you're just part of the problem by saying since Trump won the election we should give him a pass. Trump is a proven pathological liar and you're response is oh well, people don't care about facts anymore. moral relativism is bullshit! He will end up disappointing all those poor fools that voted for him. The very few people to benefit from a Trump presidency will be the Trump family and investors. bank on it.
your fan,
Jon Brooks
______________________________________
I like a lot of your stuff. It usually makes sense, but I feel like you need to read some history. Turn off the netflicks, maybe give the fiction a break and read about what happened from 1890 - 1960. Read about the market crash, about reconstruction. Check out the Dulles', read about hitler, learn about the Bolshevik Revolution and why it occured and why somewhat coincidentally (?) hitler rose after it. Drumpf is a pawn, he is and will be a farce. He's fooled most people, but we are destroying ourselves. The same people that wrote HRC checks are the same ones that put him into place, most people don't see it yet. He's met with Kissinger; he's met with Gore; wait to see who's next. We as a people needed an enemy, so we can be steered. The Islamic state isn't cutting it, so now we have a pawn who yells about all the unfair things in life to stimulate to mob. Education does matter, the world is changing. You can either help make it the change you want to be, or chant with the rest of the mob. But they'll always be controlled.
R,
-S. Smith
______________________________________
Bob, Hillary Clinton at no time ignored economic travails of the "white working class". I suggest you read this:
www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/12/hillary-clinton-working-class/509477/ Regards,
Michael Fisher
______________________________________
Well I guess you missed the elephant in the room it was and is about white folks bugging out and come hell or high water no women will tell me what to do and definately good riddance of the black muslim president. As a puertorican who is still told to speak american (whatever the fuck that is) racsim is alive and well. The economy its still trying to get out of the hole the republicans left it in with a house of reps and senate who's primary goal was to make the black man look bad. Bravo you got it. They say nations get the rulers they deserve well here is your wish. The sad part is you won't choke on it alone all the rest of us will be the ones picking up the pieces
So what now who knows Italy elected Berlusconi what twice and he got a get out of jail card, so now we are just another fucked up nation. No different from Cuba, Venezuela under Chavez or Argentina.
Lady liberty hasn't stopped crying.
Me still trying to figure it out.
Emilio J Torres
Puerto Rican
______________________________________
"You don't have to be old to be wise." Judas Priest. Hell Bent for Leather. Rock on Bob.
Kurt Lambeth
______________________________________
Obama lost
Jeffrey Farrell
______________________________________
Spot on Bob. You nailed it with this one.
I'm a Brit, and you know what, had I not moved to the USA 18 yrs ago I too would have voted to leave the EU, because I was sick of the rules being imposed on us by Strasburg. I was sick of the burden being placed on our NHS because members of the EU could freely travel to the UK and get their babies delivered for free, and their chronic illness treated by a cheaper health system than they had back home!
It is so true that this election was won by democrats ignoring working people's real, and sometimes imagined, concerns.
Now we have Mr trump and Republicans in full control. They can either work to improve conditions for the working and middle classes, or they can decimate social security, health care and all the other safety nets. But while they do their thing the Democratic Party has to get a leadership that works for the people and policies that will be achievable, benefit the overall majority and ensure that tax loopholes are filled so that the we get back to the principal that the wealthy pay their share in taxes for the benefits they reap. unless that happens, even if the GOP skewers benefits, they will still keep control at subsequent elections. And we'll all be screwed.
Perhaps it is time for a 3rd party that can do the job! But who????
Peter Brentnall
______________________________________
America is dead. This election killed our nation.
But no, the people who will first and foremost feel the effects of this are women, POC, LGBGT, immigrants, Muslims. They are also the people, pretty much the only people, suffering now.
As an Angry White Male Coastal Elite with strong roots in the midwest, I know my privilege. The Angry White Male Deplorables (not fair to call them rural, few are) think, mistakenly, that they are the downtrodden, which couldn't be further from the truth.
We are irreparably broken. It only gets worse from here.
Doug Osborne
______________________________________
Good stuff Bob
Ray Dariano
______________________________________
Bob- you should know the answer to the riddle: the spin merchants couldn't control the fed- up silent majority.
You can placate your 60s 'fight the power' angst w/ conspiracy - you can insult me by saying I'm an uninformed racist boob- but
some of us are informed- non-bigots and accepted Trump foibles over Hillarys.
I sucked it up in 2008 ( and supported our president ) and accepted again in 2012 ( even when I couldn't understand those that exempted his ineptitude and voted for him again ... )
Arrogance came back and bit the self appointed intelligentsia in the ass.
Give the guy a chance- we gave your guy a chance.
Dale Flanigan
ps. always enjoy your music input- just don't know why you- like actors etc cant stop yourself from intoning political .... dreck.
Guess its that B- brain- self appointed artist thing....
______________________________________
he did it by speaking to RACISTS plain and simply!
end of conversation... and with Putin and the FBI invited
to the party without any penalty!
fablalumia
______________________________________
So much of all of this turns on what you think the role of government should be. Before any of us argue about policy we should establish the basics of what we think about government and not just ours. Without that clearly laid out, it is way too easy to be divided over the implementation. Is it the job of government to provide citizens jobs? If so, we should be moving toward a guaranteed living wage. These are the broad types of questions that need to be settled. I think government mostly exists to create a framework of ideals ie Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, equal protection under the law etc. The framework for our great experiment was born out of the enlightenment and as such installed progressive ideas into the constitution, not labor opportunities. The truth is, that if you give a wide swath of Trump supporters employment, they will simply be racist, xenophobic, backwards people with a job. The battle ground is the field of ideas, not manufacturing gigs. The Trump voters may be plenty smart but that does not make them wise. Wise people do not fear people unlike them, they do not resist the forward motion of progress in giving equality in areas like same sex marriage and wise people know that simple, populist solutions like "Drain the Swamp" or adages like "All politicians are crooks" are just noise in the wind in the 21st century. All the while, bright and very wise people have been maintaining and steering the most complex often counter intuitive thing the world has ever seen, the US government. Just because less than half the voters made it be about certain issues doesn’t mean, even in a democracy, that it is in fact about those issues. The light has always progressed from the top down, from the forward thinkers, from the elite, regardless of what you think about the connotations of that handle. It is a list of things that we know by by heart, Slavery, child labor, environmental protections, sufferage, civil rights, choice…..to make the American Dream be about jobs or being materially better off than the generation before you is to dim one of the brightest lights to ever shine on behalf of humanity
Monty Powell
P.S. I am a songwriter, my professional peer group has been diminished by over 80% during the digital revolution. Shit happensEndFragment
______________________________________
Attacking trump got trump elected. It was part of the plan to elect hilzebub. Didn't work.
TPP is NOT a trade agreement it is an investors rights agreement by which the signing nations completely lose what national sovereignty they might still have.
David Reilly
______________________________________
This is one of those times I don't agree with you.
The left is the party of ideas - we have failed to communicate their value against the noise created by those who oppose them.
Unless you tell me that working class people don't care about access to affordable health care.
Unless you tell me that working class people don't want to be murdered for no reason other than their skin color by the police.
Unless you tell me that working class people (those who pick our produce in the fields, wash our dishes in restaurants, clean our homes and offices, work in our yards) should be maligned for their ethnicity and deported for trying to make a living.
Unless you tell me that low-moderate income black and brown people aren't working class people.
Unless you tell me that seniors don't believe in the value and purpose of Medicaid and Medicare.
Unless you tell me that there is no value in our country working to help make sure working class students can afford higher education without signing away their life through crushing loads of debt.
Unless you tell me that the R party has a real idea about what to replace Obamacare with - maybe I missed it during these last 6 years when they passed a million votes to repeal.
Many of your points have some validity but don't hand me that bs critique of people on the left that we are all limousine liberals. There was a lot wrong with the Clinton campaign but there was a lot right to it as well.
The greatest popular vote gap in the history of our country to lead to the election of the person with the least votes is shocking and frightening. If you live in Wyoming or Montana or Idaho then your vote (on a per capita basis) means more than your vote in New York or LA or DC? Is that fair? Not everybody who lives in a big city is an elitist but somehow the urban working class mean less than the rural? So now the majority is being governed by a minority? I won't spend much time on this because the constitutional machinations required to change our system make it almost impossible - but there's real reason for the protests and marches and the outrage and to treat it like it's just a bunch of spoiled rich kids whining about his language is just as disrespectful as ignoring the job loss concerns of rural America (although it seems wrong that rural concerns should matter more than urban - they should both be respected and solutions presented to help in solving both).
Everybody knows Trump played identity politics - he just played a different kind to a different audience. Hillary & Co. might very well have been the wrong messenger at this time given the opponent but I still think the Democratic Party had a better message. I suspect Joe Biden might have won in a walk with the same platform but a different campaign operation.
Damon Munchus
______________________________________
like the Salem witch hunt, they took Hillary down
fear and ignorance were their weapons of mass distruction
and thanks to folks like Gen. Michael T. Flynn, now Trump's pick for national security adviser, the BS machine of conspiracy will keep lulling the Americans
www.nytimes.com/2016/12/05/us/politics/-michael-flynn-trump-fake-news-clinton.html?_r=0 where's Comey now?
where are Hillary's emails now?
does anyone care that there's a petition signed by 5million on Change.org to reverse Electoral College?
www.change.org/p/electoral-college-make-hillary-clinton-president-on-december-19-4a78160a-023c-4ff0-9069-53cee2a095a8 very few care enough to get up their asses and stand up for sanity
wake me up in 4 years!
claris
______________________________________
Having grown up in a very red part of Pennsylvania, I understand the mentality of the Trump voters. Most of my relatives voted for him as did most of my parents' friends and many people I knew in high school - even some from college.
You can say all they want is good jobs, but that is not the truth. Yes, the economy is a factor for many. But restoring the social order is just as big of a factor. Empirically and anecdotally, that cannot be denied.
Many people voted for Trump because of what he said, but just as many voted for him because of who he was. The message was almost irrelevant because most don’t really care if he does much of what he promised - most expect him to do very little of it.
But he looked and sounded like a man who was like them, their neighbors, their dads, and their bosses. That was important. He was also trusted because he was on TV. That cannot be discounted.
The Democrats don’t have to do much differently the next time around. They just need to nominate a better messenger.
Seth Keller
______________________________________
Well.
I like most of your columns.
But this one was particularly....excellent. Nice job.
The fact that I agree with you may have something to do with that opinion. If the Democrats can be pushed to the wall far enough to actually make some changes, maybe they have a chance in the next 30 years. If not, our republic is parboiled, cooked, and done.
Rik Shafer
______________________________________
Damn well articulated, Bob!
Mike Pappas
______________________________________
Totally agree with you. Michael Moore predicted Trump's victory 5 months ago. We need a third party. Triangulation is always the strongest geometrical attribute. GOP is lost in the past and the DNC can't seem to find their future. Progressive Democratic Party! Sign me up!
Kenny Lee Lewis
______________________________________
Hey Bob, you are so wrong on this! Three states Mich. Wis. and PA Trump won by approximately 108 thousand combined votes, which gave him the White House. One person one vote is the real definition of majority rule, not an outdated electoral college: Trump was rejected by 54% of the eligible votes counted so far. We are the only country in the world that calls it self a Democracy where the candidate getting the fewest overall votes can win a Presidential election.
You are also not accounting for:
James Comey's unprecedented sneak attack on Hillary and emails which he rescinded on Friday before the election.
The Russian endorsed hacking by WikiLeaks of Dems emails and their attempts to interfere in our elections in favor of Trump.
The Bernie or bust self serving groupies and the Bernie new voters who were swayed by his demonizing of Hillary and the DNC, who either didn't vote for Hillary or just didn't turn out to vote, despite Bernie and HRC policy agreements on all major left issues. There is much evidence in the 3 blue wall states that Bernie supporters had they voted for Hillary would have easily put her in the White House. Bernie divided the huge majority of liberal/progressive voters during the primaries and this division carried over to the general election. Obama got over 70 million votes both elections. So far Hillary has gotten 64.5 million votes.
The Dems don't have to appeal to a shrinking minority of white working class voters, many racists and alt right. The Dems have a huge majority of voters in the young, women, and minorities. They just need to get Bernie and his fantasy of political revolution out of the picture with a candidate that can combine their large majority instead of dividing it. And a candidate that can sell their policies.( which are better even for the white working class). I look for Gavin Newsom to be that candidate in 2020.
"Turns out some right wing agitators at Breitbart were more in touch with the pulse of America than all the Northwestern and Columbia journalists with their notepads and laptops."
This is not a very informed comment. You are smarter than this. best, alan segal san diego.
______________________________________
I couldn't agree with you less on this. Sure it's about jobs, but there were a lot of jobs in solar and other areas that the Repubs blocked. I don't think the left is out of touch with the working men and women. The right just went and got into local politics and went and worked their way into every area of our politics, and they gutted the voting rights act and redrew districts lines that benefited them. There is a lot of crap that has gone on, and there may be blame from the left, but I see it the way I hear it. People didn't like any of the candidates, and I've heard some really crazy crap from why people voted for Trump. One woman said, because he's a man. Another woman said, because if I did what she did over emails. I would be fired. Never mind he had to settle a lawsuit for 25 Mil over defrauding Trump U. Also, Comey and Guilliani came in with bombshells right before the election and shrunk her lead. There is a lot more to it than what you say here. Sure, this is part of it, but a small part of a bunch of small parts that came together to make one big part. Republicans up to dirty tricks as usual. I'm not trying to put you down, but I think your arguments are too simplistic
Scott Finnell
______________________________________
Good one, Bob! The left wing needs to grow a pair if it's going to be relevant by 2020, and the ivory tower intelligentsia need to spend some time on the street, maybe even on public transit!
Introspection is great! We all have knowledge in our navels, if we look long enough.
--Tyco Tom
______________________________________
Thanks, Bob.
Ricardo Eddy Martinez
______________________________________
Your argument lacks intellectual rigor and logical consistency. It dors not withstand close scrutiny.
There are many points of factual contradistinction to your various assertions.
What is the quinesstential gist of your POV in this piece?
It's all over the map---like Trump's dautribes in a way.
Don Mizell
--
Visit the archive:
lefsetz.com/wordpress/ --
www.twitter.com/lefsetz --
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters,
Unsubscribe To change your email address
this link
