potatoradio

Go New York! I will say straight up that I didn't fully comprehend the BLM strategy at first. I thought, 'geez, what's the point of attending a marathon or blocking the state fair?' You know what it did that I didn't want to admit? It punctured my everyday white privilege bubble. It made the officials react and meet with the protesters because people were so upset (on both sides) and wanted to see something being done. I get it now. The same sorts of comments directed at BLM protesters here are the exact same comments levied at Trump protesters, so I know the protests have an effect. I'm hoping these protesters mean what they say and DO protest every weekend. Piss people off. Force Trump's hand. Make the administration DO something. Those Trump supporters who aren't actively fascists - the ones who "simply voted for change" want to go back to their normal lives now. I say let's not let them do that. I'm not saying get into a fight with every Trump supporter you know, but if you know anyone, keep poking at their bubble. I only know of one Trump supporter I interact with on a daily basis, and I'm not going to call her names or argue with her when I see her, but I sure as shit am not going to be silent about how my life has changed as a result of this election. When the "they" becomes personal, it's much harder to ignore. When "change" becomes, "here are the civil rights I'm afraid of losing under the fascists," it becomes very difficult to reconcile. But today, honestly, all it took was glancing at the NYT headlines in a coffee shop and seeing the hard right, nazi appointees to make me think that civil or a world war may be the only inevitable outcome. I felt completely depressed buying Christmas presents today because it feels like biding my time until our country breaks apart for real. I'm not surprised at all that DT is throwing out fascist appointments while "meeting with" Romney and supposedly Haley for "consulting." What I am going to be watching is the Congressional review of these appointments. This is a chance for Congress to draw the line against fascism or excuse it. For the traditional Republicans, this is the biggest test of all. If they roll over and excuse these appointments and say, "no, the sky is green,", they're not going to stop the destruction of the country. Sky ain't green. And if it takes a civil war to establish this fact again, I can at least know I went down fighting for truth and freedom. My hope that maybe I'm being dramatic gets chopped down every day.

Really good points. Thank you. I met my first Trump supporter in my life. She's a white woman, older, lives on a hobby farm and volunteers with me at a wildlife center. She's been a volunteer for thirty years. She's our shift lead. She teaches special ed part-time. She supports NPR. She came to my wedding. We were talking about the election today and she said, "well, I wanted change in Washington." And she said it defensively and nervously, knowing the rest of us were devastated at the results. Someone pointed out the latest names for his appointments and she said, "oh, he won't do that. He's not that extreme." And you know, you're right - pity is what I felt. Because she honestly thought she would feel safer and see the country improve. She was vulnerable to a con and she may or may not ever see that. And that makes me very sad for her as a person. Because if she was truly happy with her decision, she wouldn't have been so uncomfortable with the rest of us or defensive. We didn't attack her at all. We didn't say a word. She knew, somehow, that this election wasn't normal. If it were a matter of "change," she wouldn't be acting so differently. She doesn't seem happy - she seems defensive. We'll be in the fight against fascism together soon enough. I hope.

And we don't like fascism. Nuff said.

I agree. I mean, don't "they" ultimately want someone to have enough respect for them to tell them the truth? It's what I want from my politicians and I'm a liberal elitist. I don't think pandering is the way to go. Honest, thoughtful dialog is. Key thing is for the Dems in those areas to go level with these people and treat them like any other citizen - I don't expect politicians to be Santa Claus and I always want to know what I can do to address my problem instead of having someone solve it for me. Why not talk to these people about how what you're doing to help them rebuild their economy and ensure their freedom? Help them understand what we have in common - that we all want our lives pretty much left the fuck alone and not be at the mercy of one party gaining power?

Yep - what you described is exactly how we lose our First Amendment without it ever going through formal repeal and how citizens are kept in the dark. If they had ANY civic responsibility or decency, they'd be presenting those losses as real possibilities. As in, the NYT and other mainstream outlets would present articles such as "Here's how the Trump administration could cause you to lose your favorite celebrity writers, television shows, and essentially make it impossible for you to read or learn anything except their propaganda. It can happen. It might very well happen if there aren't checks and balances established right now." But, second rule of survival in an autocratic regime: your institutions will not save you

Because why in the world should an NYT reporter take Trump seriously? Why on earth would it jibe with anyone's reporting that he wants to dismantle our government and shove in a fascist regime? Why would we want that kind of reporting when it's all just such fun and entertaining? This isn't a fucking joke anymore, MSM. The call is coming from inside the house, k?

Had no doubts. Just did my heart good to confirm the actual statement. Agree 100% with the bold. I'm watching. I'm not hopeful, but I'm watching.

They can receive stipends and buttons to wear as professional rally props, of course. They can build rafts to float on their sinkholes or spread blankets on the fracked to shit land and soak in the toxic rays as they chant "build the wall, build the wall" and drink the Trump Kool Aid they received from an airdrop.

Do we have a list of who these Republicans are? I'd like to see their statements and get their contact info. Thank god one of our MN senators (Franken) has issued a firm "fuck no" statement on Bannon. Klobuchar, I think, is speaking on specific issues like banks gaining more power, etc. I took a morning off work to go talk to the local office of my congresswoman, where her staff will be there to help me get ideas about how to work with her or what I can do. I'm thinking I'd love for her to have a meeting with those of us in her district to have a discussion about the situation as she sees it and how we see it.

Thanks for that article, @stillshimpy. It helps, in some ways, to know that even had Clinton won, the most she might have been able to do is hold us together for four years. This has been brewing for much longer than this election cycle and now our eyes must be open. As for understanding and empathy? I'll reserve those for anyone who joins in when the civil war starts and they want to fight for our country. I mean, what kind of normal is it when I talk to my wife about DT declaring us a military state and she says, "the military wouldn't do that. They don't have to do anything that's illegal." I mean...the hell? I'm reassured that, thank goodness, the military might actually save us from ourselves? It is not normal for otherwise rational friends to spend an entire week crying. It is not normal for my sibling, who is as diplomatic and classy as they come (far more than I am) to say he's all in with civil disobedience if the fascist regime implements the most devastating parts of its promises. Well, the vm is done full up, so I can't tally my call right now, but I'll keep trying! I'm going to contact my state congresspeople today and let them know that I want them to stand up and call this shit for what it is and explain to us what they're doing to protect our democracy from unravelling.

I would totally read it if you posted it here. Trial balloon, if you will. Thank you! And I'm normally not this close to tin-foil hats myself, but I agree with you - it seems far from off the table. I'm not in a position to quit my day job or change my career to "professional protester," but damn if I'm not going to incorporate every bit of resistance and education and awareness into my life now. Can't afford "business as usual", either. I'm not going to be soothed by people who tell me that, "no, no....he couldn't possibly do that." Are they fucking kidding me? I'm sick and tired of watching that line get drawn again and again. He will do it. We have to try to survive at least until we have a chance in 2018 to try to fight the majority in Congress. One more article I read that confirms the world is upside down. I agree with Orrin Hatch and Lindsey Graham. They actually say we won't vote to end the filibuster - it's too important for minority protection. The Repubs used the filibuster ad nauseum to protect themselves from evil old Obama. If the Dems and true blue never Trumpers can keep the filibuster, it keeps one more obstacle in place against a coup of Orange Thing. My head. It spins. It spits green pea soup. It dreams of alien abduction, which sounds far more pleasant these days. Again, dang, I am so glad you guys are here. Thank you, thank you, mods for keeping this forum open!

I read somewhere that a big Trump weakness (I mean, aside from everything about him) is his dislike of being unpopular. He can't stand it and he can't let go of it. The more he knows just how unpopular he is with a majority of Americans, the more GOP Congress will pull away from him, just like in the primaries. They have elections in 2018 to think about (some of them). They'll keep the obedient Trump ignoramus voters no matter what - they won't necessarily keep the ones who voted for "change" if the change is unpopular or associated with a giant mess in Washington. So, no letting up on how the majority of this country reviles this menace and how unpopular he already is. I've read that Facebook and Google are trying to tamp down on the fake news that gets blasted all over social media and becomes fact instead of fiction. And, a list of corporations (including Nike and Starbucks) that is petitioning DT to not pull out of the Paris Climate Treaty is in the works. How's he going to like being unpopular with those corporations?

Gotta second the idea of calling representatives or Senators who are calling the Orange Menace out on his shit and refusing to call it normal. I called the office of Ruben Gallego (from Arizona) because the house thugs tried to keep him from saying what we all know is the truth Two minutes to tell the person on the other end of the line, "hi, I'm a voter from Minnesota, and I just wanted to thank the Congressman for his words." And the man on the other end said, "Thank you. You can look forward to more of it." Rays of hope, folks. The sky ain't fucking green.

I think the fact that so many of us (at least, it seems so) woke up with "not a normal" sense of loss after the election speaks to how abnormal this is. And how many people have said that if Rubio or Bush or Kasich had been elected, they would have been concerned, but not terrified. It's knowing that the Orange Menace is nothing but an empty psychopathic attention whore shitstain and now everyone hangs on his whims (that have revealed themselves to be, time and again, horrible for our country's values) that means shit ain't going to go on as usual. In fact, had Cruz or Rubio won, in some ways, it would be harder to resist a hard core move to a right wing theocracy because they are "normal." Had they won, the resistance would be much more muted. But we have a psychopath primed to step in and it's going to take all of us to keep remembering that this is not normal and not acceptable.

Never normal. Never. I don't buy the argument I read somewhere that says, "Well, he got elected, so he's already normalized." The ever-loving fuck?? This shit needs to stop. It is not normal. We have a radical regime ready and willing to take down the country and declare open season on a lot of Americans. Enough of this gambling on "Oh, it'll all go back to business as usual once everything simmers down." Yo, America? This is NOT a winning hand we have, OK? My coworker told me that her nephews and nieces are being bullied in school - apparently, surrounding Latino kids and chanting "build the wall" is a fantastic new playground game. Now that's Minnesota Nice. You cannot ignore this shit and tell us to shut up about it and just get back to normal. Today's activity for one woman's resistance: I went to the GIve to the Max site today and funded about ten different causes - Planned Parenthood, environmental agencies, LGBTQ advocacies. I clicked submit and got an error and so I resubmitted and, oops, got charged twice and donated twice. I have never been so happy about a computer glitch in my life. In fact, I went back and donated to one additional group. That felt amazing.

If I thought the Orange Menace and his sinkhole of ghouls were able to comprehend "thinking ahead," I wonder if maybe they're encouraging all the chaos and confusion to provoke protests and unrest and...hey, Donnie just called for the military to step in! His feefees got hurt by too many protests and Cryptkeeper Conway SAID she tried to tell people to calm down, but....oh well! Military State! All the Obama's fault! Trials for treason now showing on the required Brietbart public television station. Live firing squads! Public humiliation! Melania to reveal a new dress!

Promised to sign this: Anti women and LGBTQ law that destroys the Marriage Equality ruling without any justices appointed Thanks for your bigly protection, Donald. You do know a majority of Americans support access to birth control and marriage equality, right?

Any writer can write whatever she wants, for whomever she wants, and our current democracy allows for even the most vile hate speech. That there are gay, Jewish, female, POC writers that write pieces with the intent to shock or skew an argument to the fringes of rationality is not a reason to accept that rationality or deny accountability for it, especially if it's being considered as a "strategy" for governing.

I'm sorry, I don't have all the context for this (it's a response from a New Yorker editor who was a panelist on a CNN discussion of the election and was responding to some right-wing extremist whose name I wasn't familiar with), but THIS is how main stream media AND online media should be reacting, IMNSHO: When I listen to Conrad Black describe Donald Trump, I think I'm hallucinating. When I hear him described as not a sexist, not a racist, not playing on white fears, not arousing hate, when he's described in a kind of normalized way as someone in absolute possession of policy knowledge, as someone who somehow is in the acceptable range of rhetoric, I think I'm hallucinating. And I fear for our country and I don't think it's unreasonable to to do so. And of course I accept the results of the election. Of course I do. At the same time, I also know that Vladimir Putin played a distinct role in this election, and that's outrageous. And we've normalized it already. Less than a week after the election is over, suddenly Washington is going about its business talking about who's going to get what jobs. You would think that Mitt Romney had won. It’s a hallucination, but I don’t think we can indulge that. And I think that if you are serious about serious opposition in this country, or serious journalism, or whatever your role is to play, the time is now. You want credibility and ratings, MSM? Stop having so many g-damed panels on "is Trump racist?" or "Does Trump really mean what he says?" And put this question to the American people: What we need to know, right now, is whether our country is in danger of becoming a white supremacist regime. That's the only question you need to be asking, MSM. Ask it everywhere - social media, cable, paper, whatever means you have. Enough with this farting around about getting back to normal. Grow a pair. Have some guts. Be accountable. You really don't want the liberal elites to not trust you, either.

In complete agreement with everything you said, @HumblePi The war between the elites and the rurals was something the Tea Party and the new wave of "Republicans" knew how to exploit as well. People like Scott Walker turned dismantling unions into a "win" for the people. They portrayed the EPA and "Tree hugging" liberals as impediments to fantasized, short-term, instant riches for the rural communities. They said, don't worry about anything - don't peek behind the curtain - we're just nice white men from the heartland who want to do right. And they took advantage of the resentment many people felt at being called "racist." Your distinction is very eloquent and truthful; unfortunately, the white supremacists mocked that sort of thing and insisted it was "dumb librull PC" and used it as a divisive tactic. In my own little dreamland, we could actually meet and talk with one another in nuances. We could talk openly about economic pain and stereotyping and realize that, really, white supremacy is such a hateful and divisive and flat out dangerous position that we should never look the other way if it gains power - no matter what it promises. It will not provide jobs and a good living for anyone and it will flat out make it OK to murder people. But those conversations should have been happening long ago, and they didn't happen. It's very sad that I would rather go to civil war, move to a state that secedes, or move to Canada if resistance to this regime doesn't come through. But considering that half the country doesn't vote and apparently doesn't give a fuck (are there any stats on that?) and the GOP lost its moderates a long time ago... My one thought is that DT keeps his focus on DT and keeps the infighting going long enough to stall any quick, drastic change. His one weakness (weakness in terms of being able to defeat him) is his ego. It really kills him when people dare to promote that he's done something unpopular. He wants to be liked and admired. He walks back extreme statements as soon as he gets wind that they're not popular so he can keep his popularity. I mean, it's disgusting that "oh, yeah, I guess hangings aren't cool" is still probably correct for a lot of people and most people fall somewhere more on the center of what you described. So, the more people speak against white supremacy, the more poor confused Donald wants to know why he isn't popular, and he runs into opposition with the Banons of the world. Ice water in the face is right. I'm chilled as hell right now. Thanks for your reply - great read.

And we need to keep that up by any means necessary. This is not normal. This is not a "gamble for change" for a push on conservative issues. This is, I think, plenty of people beyond the base who thought they could look the other way on his behavior and "promises" and chalk those up to campaign bluster or assume he'd mellow out or be constrained once in office by the "real" GOPs or elite. I don't know how they'll justify or explain away the loss of more jobs, more war, and loss of civil liberties as well as the the government not being shaken up but completely dismantled. Oops, I guess some bets you just kinda lose, right? There are more cards, right? Another chance, right?

I, personally, don't feel that wallowing in hate is a good thing, and I don't think that's what anyone here is advocating. I am far more virulent and angry sounding on here than I am in real life (except for occasional bad hair days). Expressing my most pressing fears and panic and anger here has helped me clarify how this election has affected me and changed my perspective on a country I had been brought up to believe was unshakable in its democratic roots and freedoms. Trump will never win me over to his "side," because from what I've seen and read, he's primed to push through a radical, right wing agenda that is against everything I hold dear about my country, with no brakes, no compromise, no thought, nothing except a new "win" to Tweet. And I have (or soon will have) zero ability as a citizen of this country to do anything about that. That's the worst case scenario I'm trying to grapple with, so it's more complicated than simply getting back to my life and going along to get along. I've always said that if I'm wrong, and there is some moderation in the actual governing, and we move past this "transition" phase where everyone is pissing on the walls and taking dumps on each other's chairs and throwing out their worst - I'll gladly hope for the best. Meanwhile, I'm trying to educate myself and figure out how to move forward. I would like politics to get beyond "winning" and the divisive duality of "Repub vs. Dem" or "progressive vs. conservative" and winning memes and slogans and celebrity and ramming an ideology down the "loser's" throat so that there is zero chance of ever uniting to address problems that are far more complex than any average citizen wants to try to grapple with. And I'm as guilty as anyone for not being more educated about the privilege of my own party's candidates and their corporate ties and not digging into the nuances of the huge issues. That's what's going to change. That's how I'm going to get through this and not flee to Canada. I have to fight for my country through educating myself and continuing to develop integrity and the ability to listen to people in my every day life so that maybe we can start bridging the divides in this country. I'll say this - I think the right wing extremists are putting on an extreme fireworks show because they have to. They are the last hope for a dying working class and they have to promise nothing short than extremism. The first step in addressing any problem, I'm told, is to get all the ugliness out in the open. WEll, it's out. I need to figure out how I can help be sure our country survives.

A cartoon I have pinned to my wall.

I was just thinking about how Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, etc. could do something huge - they have the money and the nation's eyeballs. They could totally, if so inclined, do a self-imposed black out for an undisclosed period of time and simply say, "you can't use our company to spread hate and destroy the democracy that we're a part of. Stop the flame wars. Stop the incessant need for attention. Go listen and talk to someone in person. Today." I know, dreaming. So, it's a weird place to be in again, not trusting the MSM at all. I can watch my local news, because they don't devote much time to national issues and do a reasonable job reporting it somewhat objectively. But establishment media like the NYT, WaPo, and all the major network news and cable pundit shows on MSNBC (Maddow and Joy Reid excluded), CNN, etc.? I just don't know how strong their ethics really are. Do they care about news as a source of information to a public that needs it? Or is it all just a ratings and fun show for their bottom line? I read an article on Bannon by NYT's Jeremy Peters, because I used to enjoy having a stupid crush on the guy (Peters, NOT Bannon) and thought he was a smart, slightly left-centrist reporter. And I felt sick reading his article completely blowing over Bannon's racist ties. And now, all I can see are two people playing some kind of game to maintain their own comfort and privilege. But one of them is supposed to report the news. (Let's not say anything about what the other is "supposed" to be doing in the future...shudder). I heard Peters on an interview once (with some right-wing loon woman) say, "I don't have a horse in this race - I'm not a Republican. I'm not a Democrat, either." You don't have a fucking stake? You're a goddamned journalist. I can see now that progressives will become the extreme that the MSM dismisses as quacks and out of touch and completely insane as they normalize white surpremacy. I can see MSM becoming nothing more than a propaganda machine if they're so willing to normalize what's happening in order to cover their butts and keep their riches. I mean, I don't want to end up as a tin-foil hat wearing paranoid, but I can totally see how it happens now. I think my new normal reading will be very different. I knew that crush was unhealthy...

I love this one - thanks for the laugh!