The Ugliness of Contemporary Politics
A friend just sent me this from the University of Alabama student newspaper, the Crimson White: Black students receive racist text messages after Trump’s win, part of apparent nationwide trend. He reports that his daughter’s friend who is still in high school also got this message.
A quick Google search shows it is national.
The best-case scenario is that this is a foreign actor trying to help create an atmosphere of fear and hatred within the US. The worst case is that this is a domestic actor doing the same.
This is all indicative of the era of Trump, which looks far too much like Putin’s Russia for my comfort.
And regardless of the source, it all sounds way too much like the MSG “jokes” to not give credit to Trump for this kind of ugliness growing.
“This is all indicative of the era of Trump,….”
No its not. That’s idiotic. There are the crude and whackjobs of all stripes and have been forever. The only thing relatively new are the foreign actors. Have you already forgotten the antisemitic, largely left, pro Hamas, agitators? Have you forgotten the 50’s and 60’s? Is Trump responsible for HRC or JB or Maxine Waters calling Trump supporters deplorables or garbage or Nazis? Do you remember Joe McCarthy? Do you remember Reagan or Bush being called fascists? Do you remember Arkancide? Do you remember Ted Kennedy accusing Republicans of eliminating SS, or throwing grandma in a wheelchair over the cliff? This crap has been going on forever.
For you to selectively cite these instances and attribute it to Trump shows you are just a rank partisan not to be taken seriously.
I am pleased to see that his supporters are committed to facilitating this sentiment so quickly.
Jumping in to kick off the race wars. Hoping to enrage enough to go punch a maga and then the regime declares martial law.
So it begins.
This is the type of stunt Lee Atwater would have pulled (albeit on steroids). The difference is he went to his death bed repenting his foul work. The folks doing this kind of stuff are looking to send “the others” to their deathbeds or subject them to a lifetime of misery. God save the United States of America.
@Jack: I’m curious about something. Have you ever got a text message to your phone of that nature? I haven’t. I’ve had public figures smear me in the abstract, but it has never targeted me. It has never been people in my vicinity who don’t know me yelling offensive things at me. Can you imagine how that might be different?
Do you want less of this? I do.
Here’s a question for you to ponder. If we want less of this, how do we get that?
Ironic to include this, with all of the threats Trump has made to go after his rivals, his vows for revenge, etc.
@Jack: You are either not paying attention or are in denial.
I recall much the same happened in 2016 and 2017, including random attacks on people of color in public transportation and other places. The violent bigots feel empowered and with official sanction.
@Jack:
First, if you actually read things I write, clearly I do not.
Second, Trump’s whole theory of MAGA is going back to the 1950s.
You mean the Joe McCarthy who employed Roy Cohn who was later a mentor to Trump?
Do you even hear yourself?
And yet, you clearly crave my attention.
@Jay L Gischer:
I guess you hire people like Tony Hinchcliffe for your events and talk about “the enemy from within” and “blood poisoning” and things like that?
/s
I’m pretty sure that Democrats will provide Trump with the same level of support that Mitch McConnell did for Democrats during the Obama and Biden presidencies.
Kumbaya.
What’s most emblematic to me of the ugliness is all those women who showed up at Trump rallies wearing t-shirts with “Trump can grab my pussy any time,” or “Trump boner garage” with an arrow pointing down to the crotch, or the elderly woman who yanked off her Trump t-shirt to vote who yelled, “Suck my cunt.”
I mean, WTF? This is political discourse?????
Isn’t it great that comedy is legal again?
And by comedy, I mean open racism. And by legal, I mean encouraged by the President-Elect.
@Jack: “For you to selectively cite these instances and attribute it to Trump shows you are just a rank partisan not to be taken seriously.”
This is something like the 19th time you’ve called the hosts here unworthy of being taken seriously. So why the hell are you still hanging around? Is your time so completely without value that you can throw it away on people you can’t take seriously?
Or are you just desperate for attention because your life is completely empty?
@wr: I take some solace in knowing that the MAGAts aren’t enjoying their victory.
I’m not-enjoying it more than they’re not-enjoying it, mind you, and I’m positive there are people not-enjoying it way more than me, but I’m basically a glass-half-full kind of guy so I focus on them not-enjoying their victory.
Warms my heart to see how angry and miserable they are.
@Jack:
Thank you for reminding me about that decision I made to choose my skin color. I had forgotten.
There is a huge difference between choosing a worldview and the happenstance of heritage. No equivalence on that.
Well, you call Taylor of all people, “a rank partisan”. How you approach arguments with such glaring holes determines whether his assessment is on point.