Re: last election thoughts
Fresh Air discusses the 2016 election with Atlantic Magazine correspondent James Fallows, who spent three years flying his own plane to small towns across the U.S., reporting on the people he met.
James Fallows is an extraordinary thinker and observer, the main reason I subscribe to The Atlantic Monthly. His analysis goes much deeper than anything else I've see or heard
Glenn Greenwald sums up his thoughts on today's Democracy Now. I'm in agreement. The DNC needs a complete overhaul, or we need a third party. The DNC Establishment is completely out of touch with reality, has abandoned its base. Analysis of voting patterns shows crossover of female Democrats to vote for Trump, not the other way around: it's not just angry white males.
All those people who lost their homes, jobs and businesses in the recession? who saw their hopes and dreams obliterated by the greed of Wall Street, who were denied justice? They are pissed, and who can blame them? no one bailed them out. Anyone except the Establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton. I felt the same way, just went left instead of right. It certainly wasn't about gender, that was irrelevant. One of the things I thought was odd about the media coverage after the conventions, was the emphasis being put on Trump's "mood" - that he was dark, Hillary was light and optimistic. Seemed obvious that Trump was mirroring the mood of his supporters, the people who've been ground up and ground down over the last 30 years, who work two/three jobs and die because they're poor. What's left of the middle class choses not to see those people, or mocks and dehumanizes them.
Ironically, Trump is in no way a working class hero, his agenda is to help the rich get richer. Unlike Bernie Sanders, Trump's age (70) works against him. His thinking is 30 years out of date, nostalgia, not reality. The millenials will be on his case, demanding climate action, social and economic justice; (so proud of the young people!) and older folks should join and support them: they didn't create this mess, we did. People aren't losing jobs because of NAFTA, they're losing jobs because of assorted technologies, including, but not limited to, robots, 3 and 4 D printers, and nanotechnology. There are machines that make machines, and Elon Musk describes his new building as just that: not a building, but a machine that makes machines. (Tesla's gigafacory could change the world.) If you don't know who Elon Musk is, check him out.
It's going to be interesting. Having lost the popular vote, Trump will have to compromise to govern, unless he thinks he can rule by force - which he can't. Not going to happen. All the talk about fascism is hyperbole, more fear mongering. But Trump is an agent of change, no doubt about that. He brought the establishment of both parties to their knees.
Go figure.
James Fallows is an extraordinary thinker and observer, the main reason I subscribe to The Atlantic Monthly. His analysis goes much deeper than anything else I've see or heard
Glenn Greenwald sums up his thoughts on today's Democracy Now. I'm in agreement. The DNC needs a complete overhaul, or we need a third party. The DNC Establishment is completely out of touch with reality, has abandoned its base. Analysis of voting patterns shows crossover of female Democrats to vote for Trump, not the other way around: it's not just angry white males.
All those people who lost their homes, jobs and businesses in the recession? who saw their hopes and dreams obliterated by the greed of Wall Street, who were denied justice? They are pissed, and who can blame them? no one bailed them out. Anyone except the Establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton. I felt the same way, just went left instead of right. It certainly wasn't about gender, that was irrelevant. One of the things I thought was odd about the media coverage after the conventions, was the emphasis being put on Trump's "mood" - that he was dark, Hillary was light and optimistic. Seemed obvious that Trump was mirroring the mood of his supporters, the people who've been ground up and ground down over the last 30 years, who work two/three jobs and die because they're poor. What's left of the middle class choses not to see those people, or mocks and dehumanizes them.
Ironically, Trump is in no way a working class hero, his agenda is to help the rich get richer. Unlike Bernie Sanders, Trump's age (70) works against him. His thinking is 30 years out of date, nostalgia, not reality. The millenials will be on his case, demanding climate action, social and economic justice; (so proud of the young people!) and older folks should join and support them: they didn't create this mess, we did. People aren't losing jobs because of NAFTA, they're losing jobs because of assorted technologies, including, but not limited to, robots, 3 and 4 D printers, and nanotechnology. There are machines that make machines, and Elon Musk describes his new building as just that: not a building, but a machine that makes machines. (Tesla's gigafacory could change the world.) If you don't know who Elon Musk is, check him out.
It's going to be interesting. Having lost the popular vote, Trump will have to compromise to govern, unless he thinks he can rule by force - which he can't. Not going to happen. All the talk about fascism is hyperbole, more fear mongering. But Trump is an agent of change, no doubt about that. He brought the establishment of both parties to their knees.
Go figure.