The political complexion today seems pretty fixed. We pray that the dominant political party can show wisdom. When you hear Donald Trump speaking at one of his rallies, "wisdom" does not come readily to mind. It's a circus atmosphere. Many people react with outrage and it doesn't matter. The Republicans totally have the wind in their sails today.
I remember when the Democrats had that kind of momentum in the 1970s. It got to where I welcomed Ronald Reagan being elected president in 1980. Democrats can fumble their power just like Republicans can.
The Republican Party of 2018 scares me more than the Democratic Party ever did. Our president had no meaningful background in politics prior to getting elected. He was a calculating showman. Daily we can tune in to the "Morning Joe" TV program and be updated on the abominations of Trumps's behavior and comments. I am concerned that it is a waste of time to even consume this coverage. The Trump train rolls onward.
The peculiar Sean Hannity keeps on with his Fox News program which operates on the assumption that anyone who calls himself a Democrat is stupid or a coward.
And yesterday (Tuesday) the stock market rocketed upward again. Even the sharpest minds in the media can't seem to explain the market's drastic movements. It swings back positive within a couple days after every apparent downward dip. Closed-door meetings among media people re. the market must be interesting. Is it even "news" when we get a dip of 500 to 1000 points in the Dow? Should we treat it like it's significant news? Is a stock market dip getting to be like the boy who cried wolf? So we end up looking stupid by suggesting a stock market dip is cause for concern?
I keep wondering: what if the market dips a thousand points and then does not rebound? What if it goes down several thousand more points? My point is that the media are in a hair-pulling mode over this. What to make of it? And, here's a secondary point - perhaps the primary point to be made about this: a consistent market upturn between now and election day will help seal the Republicans' position in government. So you'd better buckle up and hope the Republicans can in fact take care of us decently with their embarrassing leader in the White House.
Democrats at present are on the defensive. Any misstep by a Democratic candidate can be a death knell for that campaign. Look at what happened with Heidi Heitkamp Tuesday, the revelation of her mistake about disclosing certain names. She had to formally apologize for that. Her campaign is now toast. I fail to see how her policy positions are not in the best interests of North Dakotans. But North Dakotans now have that "itch" of wanting to be reactionary, to reflect the tea party rhetoric of a few years ago, and to talk about Democrats like they carry some sort of disease.
How did we get here? In the '70s, pre-digital times, our economy worked differently. Eventually the forces of globalization and automation moved in, causing a sea change. It left many people of the old cherished middle class of America flummoxed. They now buy what the Republicans are selling. Republicans say outrageous things like how "climate change is a hoax," a stance that could affect us all on an existential basis. A Republican will say "I am not a scientist." But Republicans aren't professional economists either but they say in self-assured fashion, at all times, that cutting taxes and slashing regulations are always a good thing, always.
Americans need help with health care. Democrats hear this concern and took steps with Obamacare, what is actually a mainstream type of approach, not out of the left wing "loony bin" as Republicans would describe it. John Boehner admitted that "Obamacare is now the law of the land." Quaint times: Boehner speaking for the Republican Party. He is an outlier now as the crazies have taken over.
John Cornyn was asked a couple years ago, by a Fox News host no less, if the Republican Party was ready to shelve Obamacare and replace it with something "better and cheaper for all Americans." Isn't that what we want? Seriously, isn't that what we want? And if we cannot get it, isn't Obamacare better than nothing? Cornyn answered the question "yes." So, this GOP leader said Republicans were ready to enact something better than what we had. Why are his feet not now held to the fire on this?
When Democrats make statements that turn out to be disingenuous, they are excoriated by the political right, and the media must acknowledge the misstep. Democrats are hung out to dry. Anything embarrassing about Democrats as with Heitkamp's blunder is amplified. Any restraint by the media brings shrieks of "bias" and "fake news" from the predictable crowd. And the media, knowing its own business interests, can be intimidated. I am trying to get out of the habit of watching "Morning Joe" in the morning. It seems to be accomplishing nothing. Revelations come out every day of the sheer assault on decorum by Trump and his acolytes.
The Republican power structure with Trump on top seems if anything to be picking up momentum. So I ought to just shrug and hope that our civilization continues OK. Just take care of myself.
Hillary Clinton's van crashes into a pole at a Bob Menendez fundraiser. We're supposed to laugh at that, while a similar type of incident on the Republican side would be shrugged off. We shrug off Trump's abominations every day. We live in an age where a president of the U.S. can publicly call a woman "Horseface." But there was a time when Stormy Daniels was surely able to induce an erection from Trump, right? Do you challenge me on that? This is the level of our discourse now.
With the stock market back on its standard upward track, look for the Republicans to come out of the mid-terms in good shape. Hang on because the roller coaster ride could get more bumpy for us all. One-party government is risky, despite what North Dakotans appear to think.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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