Sunday, September 22, 2019


Weekend Roundup

I had an idea for an introduction based on the book I've been reading: Tim Alberta's American Carnage: On the Front Lines of the Republican Civil War and the Rise of President Trump. I never really got the title until it appeared in the text 400+ pages in, and it wasn't anything like what I would have guessed. The line comes from Trump's inaugural address, where it climaxes a series of assertions that have virtually no connection to reality. I'd need to find the quote and unpack it a bit, but it basically confirms my suspicion that the Republican campaign in 2016 was basically an extortion racket. They had remarkable success at spoiling eight years of Obama, and they clearly intended to treat Hillary Clinton even worse should she win. The only way Americans could save themselves from the wrath of the Republicans was to elect one -- in which case, the downside was limited to incompetence and corruption. Of course, a better solution would have been to beat the Republicans so badly they couldn't do any real damage, but that was too much to hope for -- especially with Hillary as your standard bearer.


Some scattered links this week:

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