Don’t sit there and take it
He knows what’s what. Save this nation.
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"what digby sez..."
Digby's Hullabaloo Posts
Trump “is somebody who is trying to destroy our country”
Democrats need to look themselves in the mirror when former Republicans from the Lincoln Project are standing behind Joe Biden more steadfastly than they are. We need to look beyond the players to the broader stakes in this election and make clear to voters what they are.
“I will take an old man with a cold over a narcissitic sociopath with a dictator kink any day,” said Ryan Wiggins, the group’s chief of staff. “We have got the Democratic nominee’s back because Trump cannot be president of this country ever again.”
“Our answer is to go out and find the bad guys and punch them in the face,” insists Rick Wilson. “You can never take your foot off the gas in attacking Donald Trump.”
When you’ve cut your opponent over the eye, work the eye!
“Only one of the two main presidential candidates poses an existential threat to democracy,” said MSNBC’s Ali Velshi Saturday. So take a deep breath and hold that thought.
Reports of Joe Biden’s political death may be greatly exaggerated (The Hill):
President Biden, in the wake of a poor debate performance and growing calls for him to step aside, has narrowed Trump’s lead in the key swing states, according to a new survey.
The Bloomberg/Morning Consult poll, published Saturday, showed Biden leading Trump in Michigan and Wisconsin. In Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, the incumbent is now within the margin of error, per the survey.
Overall, the poll found that Trump is leading Biden by only 2 percentage points across the seven states — 47 percent to 45 percent. This is the closest Biden has been to overtaking Trump since Bloomberg started tracking the seven states last October.
The poll also showed Biden narrowed the gap with independent voters, with Trump and Biden being tied at 40 percent. In a previous poll, the former president led the incumbent 44 percent to 36 percent.
The widest gap between the presumptive party nominees came from the battleground state of Pennsylvania, Biden’s home turf. The survey shows Trump received 51 percent of support from Keystone State voters, compared to Biden’s 44 percent.
The poll was of registered voters. Now give me likely voters, please.
Morning Consult reports that a majority of swing state voters believe Biden should end his campaign, yet hold on:
While the first 2024 presidential debate appeared to alarm some Democratic leaders and created an opening for the press to ditch its politeness about discussing Biden’s cognitive abilities, our surveys of swing-state surveys for Bloomberg News — and our national-level data — show the matter has done little to change the underlying dynamics of the contest.
While Biden is still underperforming Trump, the newfound vocal alarm from those in his party has been met by a more modest growth in concern among the electorate, suggesting the age matter was already baked into many voters’ calculus; the main difference now is voters’ renewed emphasis on each candidate’s vice presidential selections as the race moves forward.
All the “he’s too old” surveys cloud what may be a more important factor in this campaign. Biden’s ability to serve in the presidency for another four years is not what’s at stake. Worrying about that is, as Stuart Stevens told MSNBC, like worrying about your cholesterol in the middle of a knife fight.
The only thing that matters going forward to November is Democrats winning and keeping the country and the world out of the hands of Donald Trump and people like those below, whether they march in fascist garb or wear MAGA hats or tailored suits.
Heather Cox Richardson reminds Christiane Amanpour what happened the last time a Democratic president bowed out in the middle of a race. It was 1968. Democrats lost.
Richardson believes as I do that the focus on Biden is misguided. “I don’t care if we elect Biden or Harris, or anybody else. I care that we recognize running currently against that ticket is somebody who is trying to destroy our country.”
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Ah, July 4th weekend. Nothing kicks off Summer like an all-American holiday that encourages mass consumption of animal flesh (charcoal-grilled to carcinogenic perfection), binge drinking, and subsequent drunken handling of explosive materials. Well, for most people. Being the semi-reclusive weirdo that I am (although I prefer the term “gregarious loner”), nothing kicks off summer for me like holing up for the holiday weekend with an armload of my favorite rock ‘n’ roll musicals. For your consideration (or condemnation) here are my Top 15. Per usual, I present them in no ranking order. For those about to rock…I salute you.
Bandwagon – A taciturn musician, still reeling from a recent breakup with his girlfriend, has a sudden creative spurt and forms a garage band. The boys pool resources, buy a beat-up van (the “Band” wagon, get it?) and hit the road as Circus Monkey. The requisite clichés ensue: The hell-gigs, backstage squabbles, record company vultures, and all that “art vs commerce” angst; but John Schultz’s crisp writing and directing and mostly unknown cast carry the day.
Indie film stalwart Kevin Corrigan stands out, as does Chapel Hill music scene fixture Doug McMillan (lead singer of The Connells) as a Zen-like road manager (the director is one of McMillan’s ex-band mates). The original soundtrack is an excellent set of power-pop (you’ll have “It Couldn’t Be Ann” in your head for days). Anyone who has been a “weekend rock star” will recognize many of the scenarios; any others who apply should still be quite entertained.
The Commitments – “Say it leoud. I’m black and I’m prewd!” Casting talented yet unknown actor/musicians to portray a group of talented yet unknown musicians was a stroke of genius by director Alan Parker. This “life imitating art imitating life” trick works wonders. In some respects, The Commitments is an expansion of Parker’s 1980 film Fame; except here the scenario switches from New York to Dublin (there’s a bit of a wink in a scene where one of the band members breaks into a parody of the Fame theme).
However, these working-class Irish kids don’t have the luxury of attending a performing arts academy; there’s an undercurrent referencing the economic downturn in the British Isles. The acting chemistry is superb, but it’s the musical performances that shine, especially from (then) 16-year old Andrew Strong, who has the soulful pipes of someone who has been smoking 2 packs a day for decades. In 2007, cast member/musician Glen Hansard co-starred in John Carney’s surprise low-budget hit, Once, a lovely character study that would make a perfect double bill with The Commitments.
Expresso Bongo– This 1959 British gem from Val Guest undoubtedly inspired Julien Temple’s Absolute Beginners– from the opening tracking shot giddily swooping through London’s Soho district coffee bar/music club milieu, to its narrative about naive show biz beginners with stars in their eyes and exploitative agents’ hands in their wallets. Laurence Harvey plays his success-hungry hustler/manager character with chutzpah. The perennially elfin Cliff Richard plays it straight as Harvey’s “discovery”, Bongo Herbert.
The film includes performances by the original Shadows (Richards’ backup band), featuring guitar whiz Hank Marvin (whom Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page have cited as a seminal influence). The smart, droll screenplay (by Julian More and Wolf Mankowitz) is far more sophisticated than most of the U.S. produced rock’ n ’roll musicals of the era (films like The Girl Can’t Help It and Rock Rock Rock do feature priceless performance footage, but the story lines are dopey).
A Hard Day’s Night– This 1964 masterpiece has been often copied, but never equaled. Shot in a semi-documentary style, the film follows a “day in the life” of John, Paul, George and Ringo at the height of their youthful exuberance and charismatic powers. Thanks to the wonderfully inventive direction of Richard Lester and Alun Owen’s cleverly tailored script, the essence of what made the Beatles “the Beatles” has been captured for posterity.
Although it’s meticulously constructed, Lester’s film has a loose, improvisational feel; and it feels just as fresh and innovative as it was when it first hit theaters all those years ago. To this day I catch subtle gags that surprise me (ever notice John snorting the Coke bottle?). Musical highlights: “I Should Have Known Better”, “All My Loving”, “Don’t Bother Me”, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, and the fab title song.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch – It’s your typical love story. A German teen named Hansel (John Cameron Mitchell) falls for a G.I., undergoes a less than perfect sex change so they can marry, and ends up seduced and abandoned in a trailer park somewhere in Middle America. The desperate Hansel opts for the only logical way out…he creates an alter-ego named Hedwig, puts a glam-rock band together, and sets out to conquer the world. How many times have we heard that tired tale?
But seriously, this is an amazing tour de force by Mitchell, who not only acts and sings his way through this entertaining musical like nobody’s business, but directed and co-wrote (with composer Steven Trask, with whom he also co-created the original stage version).
Jailhouse Rock-The great tragedy of Elvis Presley’s film career is how more exponentially insipid each script was from the previous one. Even the part that mattered the most (which would be the music) progressively devolved into barely listenable schmaltz (although there were flashes of brilliance, like the ’69 Memphis sessions).
Fortunately, however, we can still pop in a DVD of Jailhouse Rock, and experience the King at the peak of his powers before Colonel Parker took his soul. This is one of the few films where Elvis actually gets to breathe a bit as an actor (King Creole is another example).
Although he basically plays himself (an unassuming country boy with a musical gift from the gods who becomes an overnight sensation), he never parlayed the essence of his “Elvis-ness” less self-consciously before the cameras as he does here. In addition to the iconic “Jailhouse Rock” song and dance number itself, Elvis rips it up with “Treat Me Nice” and “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains– A punk version of A Star is Born. This 1981 curio (initially shelved from theatrical distribution) built a cult base, thanks to showings on USA Network’s Night Flight back in the day. As a narrative, this effort from record mogul turned movie director Lou Adler would have benefited from some script doctoring (Slap Shot screenwriter Nancy Dowd is off her game here) but for punk/new wave nostalgia junkies, it’s still a great time capsule.
Diane Lane plays a nihilistic mall rat who breaks out of the ‘burbs by forming an all-female punk trio with her two cousins (played by Marin Kanter and then-15 year-old Laura Dern). They dub themselves The Stains. Armed with a mission statement (“We don’t put out!”) and a stage look possibly co-opted from Divine in Pink Flamingos, this proto-riot grrl outfit sets out to conquer the world (and learn to play their instruments along the way).
Music biz clichés abound, but it’s a guilty pleasure, due to real-life rockers in the cast. Fee Waybill and Vince Welnick of The Tubes are a hoot as washed up glam rockers. The fictional punk band, The Looters (fronted by an angry young Ray Winstone) features Paul Simonon from The Clash and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols.
The Phantom of the Paradise – To describe writer-director Brian DePalma’s 1974 horror schlock-rock musical take-off on The Phantom of the Opera as “over the top” would be understatement.
Paul Williams (who composed the memorable soundtrack) chews all the available scenery as ruthless music mogul “Swan”, a man with a curious predilection for insisting his artists sign their (somewhat long-term) contracts in blood. One who becomes so beholden is Winslow (William Finely) a talented composer hideously disfigured in a freak accident (and that’s only the least of his problems). Jessica Harper plays the object of poor Winslow’s unrequited desire, who is slowly falling under Swan’s evil spell.
Musical highlights include the haunting ballad “Old Souls” (performed by Harper, who has a lovely voice) and “Life at Last”, a glam rock number performed by “The Undead”, led by a scene-stealing Gerrit Graham camping it up as the band’s lead singer “Beef”.
Quadrophenia –The Who’s eponymous 1973 double-LP rock opera, Pete Towshend’s musical love letter to the band’s first g-g-generation of most rabid British fans (aka the “Mods”) inspired this 1979 film from director Franc Roddam. With the 1964 “youth riots” that took place at the seaside resort town of Brighton as catalyst, Roddam fires up a visceral character study in the tradition of the British “kitchen sink” dramas that flourished in the early 1960s.
Phil Daniels gives an explosive, James Dean-worthy performance as teenage “Mod” Jimmy. Bedecked in their trademark designer suits and Parka jackets, Jimmy and his Who (and ska)-loving compatriots cruise around London on their Vespa and Lambretta scooters, looking for pills to pop, parties to crash and “Rockers” to rumble with. The Rockers are identifiable by their greased-back hair, leathers, motorbikes, and their musical preference for likes of Elvis and Gene Vincent.
Look for a very young (and much less beefier) Ray Winstone (as a Rocker) and Sting (as a Mod bell-boy, no less). Wonderfully acted by a spirited cast, it’s a heady mix of youthful angst and raging hormones, supercharged by the power chord-infused grandeur of the Who’s music.
Rock and Roll High School – In this 1979 cult favorite from legendary “B” movie producer Roger Corman, director Alan Arkush evokes the spirit of those late 50s rock’ n’ roll exploitation movies (right down to having 20-something actors portraying “students”), substituting The Ramones for the usual clean-cut teen idols who inevitably pop up at the prom dance.
I’m still helplessly in love with P.J. Soles, who plays Vince Lombardi High School’s most devoted Ramones fan, Riff Randell. The great cast of B-movie troupers includes the late Paul Bartel (who directed several of his own films under Corman’s tutelage) and Mary Waronov (hilarious as the very strict principal.) R.I.P. Joey, Dee Dee, Johnny and Tommy.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show– The decades have not diminished the cult appeal of Jim Sharman’s film adaptation of Richard O’Brien’s original stage musical about a hapless young couple (Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon) who stumble into the lair of one Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) one dark and stormy night.
Much singing, dancing, cross-dressing, axe-murdering, cannibalism and hot sex ensues-with broad theatrical nods to everything from Metropolis, King Kong and Frankenstein to cheesy 1950s sci-fi, Bob Fosse musicals, 70s glam-rock and everything in between. Runs out of steam a bit in the third act, but with such spirited performances (and musical numbers) you won’t notice. O’Brien co-stars as the mad doctor’s hunchbacked assistant, Riff-Raff.
Starstruck-Gillian Armstrong primarily built her rep on female empowerment dramas like My Brilliant Career, Mrs. Soffel, High Tide, The Last Days of Chez Nous and Charlotte Gray; making this colorful, sparkling and energetic 1982 trifle an anomaly in the Australian director’s oeuvre. But it’s a lot of fun-and I’ve watched it more times than I’d care to admit.
It does feature a strong female lead , free-spirited Jackie (Jo Kennedy) who aspires to be Sydney’s next new wave singing sensation, with the help of her kooky, entrepreneurial-minded (and frequently truant) teenage cousin Angus (Ross O’Donovan) who has designated himself as publicist/agent/manager. Goofy, high-spirited and filled to the brim with catchy power pop (with contributions from members of Split Enz and Mental as Anything). Musical highlights include “I Want to Live in a House” and “Monkey in Me”.
Still Crazy– Q: What do you call a musician without a girlfriend? A: Homeless! If that old chestnut still makes you chortle, then you will “get” this movie. Painting a portrait of an “almost great” 70’s British band reforming for a 90’s reunion tour, Brian Gibson’s 1998 dramedy Still Crazy does Spinal Tap one better (you could say this film goes to “eleven”, actually). Unlike similar rock ‘n’ roll satires, it doesn’t mock its characters, rather it treats them with the kind of respect that comes from someone who genuinely loves the music.
Great performances abound. Bill Nighy stands out in a hilarious yet poignant performance as the insecure lead singer of Strange Fruit. Prog-rock devotees will love the inside references, and are sure to recognize that the character of the “lost” leader/guitarist is based on Syd Barrett. Still, you don’t need to be a rabid rock geek to enjoy this film; its core issues, dealing with mid-life crisis and the importance of following your bliss, are universal themes.
Foreigner’s Mick Jones and Squeeze’s Chris Difford are among the contributors to the original soundtrack. I also recommend Gibson’s 1980 debut Breaking Glass (a similar but slightly darker rumination on music stardom). Sadly, the director died at age 59 in 2004.
Tommy –There was a time (a long, long, time ago) when some of my friends insisted that the best way to appreciate The Who’s legendary rock opera was to turn off the lamps, light a candle, drop a tab of acid and listen to all four sides with a good pair of cans. I never got around to making those arrangements, but it’s a pretty good bet that watching director Ken Russell’s insane screen adaptation is a close approximation. If you’re not familiar with his work, hang on to your hat (I’ll put it this way-Russell was not known for being subtle).
Luckily, the Who’s music is powerful enough to cut through the visual clutter, and carries the day. Two band members have roles-Roger Daltrey as the deaf dumb and blind Tommy, and Keith Moon has a cameo as wicked Uncle Ernie (Pete Townshend and John Entwistle only appear briefly).
The cast is an interesting cross of veteran actors (Oliver Reed, Ann-Margret, Jack Nicholson) and well-known musicians (Elton John, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner). Musical highlights include “Pinball Wizard”, “Eyesight to the Blind” “The Acid Queen” and “I’m Free”.
True Stories – Musician/raconteur David Byrne enters the Lone Star state of mind with this subtly satirical Texas travelogue from 1986. It’s not easy to pigeonhole; part road movie, part social satire, part long-form music video, part mockumentary. Episodic; basically a series of quirky vignettes about the generally likable inhabitants of sleepy Virgil, Texas. Among the town’s residents: John Goodman, “Pops” Staples, Swoosie Kurtz and the late Spalding Gray.
Once you acclimate to “tour-guide” Byrne’s bemused anthropological detachment, I think you’ll be hooked. Byrne directed and co-wrote with actor Stephen Tobolowsky and actress/playwright Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart, Miss Firecracker). The outstanding cinematography is by Edward Lachman. Byrne’s fellow Talking Heads have cameos performing “Wild Wild Life”, and several other songs by the band are in the soundtrack.
Previous posts with related themes:
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More reviews at Den of Cinema
— Dennis Hartley
I am glad to see Velshi and a few others in the media looking at the big picture. I wish there was more of it.
This piece in the NY Times by a geriatrician is nicely done. As someone who is older and will be hitting those geriatric years sooner than I might like, the cruel ageist attitudes we’ve seen in recent days is more than a little bit depressing. I realize that Joe Biden is in the most high pressure difficult job in the world and we all have a perfect right to be concerned about his ability to handle it. (I only wish everyone was as concerned about his opponent’s obvious intellectual and character deficiencies.)
I think this is a sensitive analysis of what may be going on with Biden:
I’m a geriatrician, a physician whose specialty is the care of older adults. I watched the debate and saw what other viewers saw: a president valiantly trying to stand up for his record and for his nation but who seemed to have declined precipitously since the State of the Union address he gave only a few months earlier.
As a country, we are not having a complete or accurate discussion of age-related debility. I know no specifics — and won’t speculate here — about Mr. Biden’s clinical circumstances. But in the face of so much confused conjecture, I think it’s important to untangle some of the misunderstanding around what age-related decline may portend. Doing so requires understanding a well-characterized but underrecognized concept: clinical frailty.
As we age, everyone accumulates wear and tear, illness and stress. We can all expect to occasionally lose a night’s sleep, struggle with jet lag, catch a virus, trip and fall or experience side effects from medication. But for young and middle-aged people who are not chronically or seriously ill, these types of insults don’t usually change the way we function in the long term. This is not so for frail elders.
“Frailty” is not just a colloquial term; it’s a measurable clinical syndrome, first characterized by the geriatrician and public health expert Dr. Linda Fried, that describes a generalized decrease in physiological resilience to stress, injury and illness.
The field of geriatrics recognizes a number of conditions that are not diseases, per se, but signify how an aging body might become vulnerable, out of equilibrium and unable to overcome difficulty. These conditions result from the familiar hardships of age — declining vision and hearing, weakening muscles, brittle bones, brains that have suffered silent strokes, hardened arteries and the stress on hardworking organs that even a lifetime of healthy habits cannot entirely prevent.
Frailty is the most important, all-encompassing geriatric syndrome: It’s the framework we use to describe what others sometimes understand as the accumulating burdens of old age. Not everyone who is old is frail, and not everyone who is frail is old, but frailty is exceedingly common as people get older (it affects as many as a quarter of people who are over 85), and it often precedes serious debility and decline.
Much of the confusion surrounding Mr. Biden’s debate performance stems from his being described as having good days and bad days, rather than a more consistent level of functioning. These reports have been met with speculation and skepticism: Is he really ever doing all that well if, as reporting suggests, there have been multiple incidents of cognitive lapses that seem to be growing more frequent? Mustn’t this suggest some sort of cover-up about his condition?
Without knowing the specifics of the president’s health issues, I say: perhaps but not necessarily. A shifting ratio of good days and bad days is often how clinical frailty appears. The pattern of decline in frailty is a gradual dwindling of a person’s health, a line sloping slowly downward.
[…]
For frail elders, a gust of wind may be a cold or the side effects from taking cold medication. Or a bout of depression brought on by the grief and loss that is also an inherent feature of getting older or a stumble leading to a broken hip. Frailty can best be prevented and managed through assiduous self-care — exercise, sleep, a healthy diet to maintain one’s weight, careful management of medical conditions and ongoing, fulfilling relationships to stave off loneliness. But to a large extent, these are all harm-reduction efforts. Time marches forward, bodies decline, and the growing expectation that we might all live in perfect health until our 100th birthdays reflects a culture that overprizes longevity to the point of delusion.
Getting older often means accumulated wisdom, experience and even happiness, but it also means slowing down. Ours is a culture that greatly undervalues the potential contributions of older people who have so much to offer in terms of care, mentorship and experience and instead consistently portrays them as burdensome. To recognize that people are frail is not to think of them as no longer productive, dignified or wholly intact. It does not mean they are necessarily significantly cognitively impaired, nor does it mean they are imminently dying.
This does not answer the question of whether or not he can win the campaign which is the whole ballgame. In this era, most results are determined by party ID now with a few undecided voters who may or may not know or care about any of this so maybe it isn’t as important as we might think. One thing we do know is that every president ages in office due to the immense pressures of the job. Even the young ones look like they’ve been pummeled in a bar fight when it’s over.
As for whether he can be president for 4 years, I am skeptical. But as Stuart Stevens said this morning on MSNBC, worrying about that is like worrying about your cholesterol in the middle of a knife fight. It’s all about who can win and that is not obvious at this point. (Everyone voting for him knows the chances that the VP will end up taking over are high and will factor that into their vote. )
All that aside, I think this does offer a reasonable explanation for what may be happening with him that suggests all the hysteria about a “cover up” and the nasty reporting that cruelly degrades him is off base. These things don’t happen all at once and it’s not clear that people would have been specifically aware that something tangible had changed until recently.
The question he and others have to decide is whether having “good days and bad days” or being frail enough that he gets thrown off balance from stress and minor illness will keep him from being more able than Harris or someone else to beat Donald Trump. That’s all that matters right now and I don’t know the answer.
The one thing I do know is that Biden may have good days and bad days but every day with Donald Trump in the White House will be a nightmare.
They were LIED too!
I vividly recall when the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke, the media and certain self-righteous Democrats all screamed in unison that they were livid that Clinton had lied to them about having extramarital sex. “He lied to ME!,” they cried, as if that was the real crime he had committed. I would have thought that after Trump, who lies more easily than he breathes, they would realize that little conceit is ludicrous.
President Biden has lost more than broad Democratic support since his bad debate. He has bled credibility — with the media, lawmakers, top officials and even his own paid staff.
It’s not clear if — and how — Biden recovers it, top Democrats tell us.
[…]
Axios’ Alex Thompson, the most deeply sourced reporter on the Biden beat, has chronicled, day after day, the number of longtime staff and top Democratic officials who feel deeply angry and misled. These are the president’s fans, many on his payroll.
Lawmakers and top Democrats feel duped by Biden … his press office … his campaign co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg … his top aides. They all promised the president was sharper than ever.
The media might be Biden’s biggest problem of all. It is a fair conservative critique that many reporters ignored obvious signs of cognitive decline. Yes, there are exceptions: Axios, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
I’ll say. In fact, I think it’s his biggest problem.
Alex Thompson is acting like a teenage mean girl on social media and he isn’t the only one. Many otherwise straight reporters have completely lost their minds. The snark, the trolling, the sheer nastiness of their reporting online and on air is overwhelming.
But get a load of this from Axios, patting itself on the back:
But one tell: Rarely did other outlets follow our exclusive reporting on accommodations for Biden’s aging — shorter hours for public appearances, fewer improvisational or late-night moments, and the rise in handlers and devices to help avoid tripping and falling. Some reporters enabled the White House by piling on reporters on social media who questioned Biden’s lucidity.
Do you think they might have a teensy agenda right now? Nah…
Ask yourself: What turn of events would keep Democrats, media and voters from watching every public appearance for hints of decline? How could reporters ever trust Biden aides after they tried to shame reporters who dared point out the obvious changes? How do they reassure lawmakers who now see Biden’s age and White House denialism as their problem?
- A top Democrat and Biden backer, asked how the president gets credibility back, said: “Get out of the race.”
- “No one is going to take anything at face value, that’s for sure,” New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker told us.
It goes on to quote Thompson’s reporting saying that Biden’s staff is second guessing everything that’s ever happened, apparently deciding that the administration’s accomplishments are irrelevant.
And they are teeing up phase two of the freak-put: the so-called “cover up.” They’re not going to let this go. Thompson is the guy who said this:
They actually think that the sitting VP is going to come out and say the president is a doddering old fool? On what planet do they live? And let’s say she did that. They would immediately call her a grasping, ambitious harpy trying to push him out so she can be president. It’s absurd, but expect to hear more of it. They want her out too.
More whining:
Now, Biden supporters are blaming the media for the feeding frenzy. This might be the hardest thing to control. Hell has no fury like a press corps deceived. Reporters feel duped — and some probably embarrassed —and are scrambling to unearth new evidence of decline.
This is not journalism. It’s a vendetta, little better than the horrific rhetoric spewing from the mouth of Donald Trump.
“I Am Your Retribution!” sayeth the media….
We know what they did to Hillary Clinton in 2016. And we know what they did to Al Gore in 2000. Both of them actually won their races if we were a normal democracy but lost because of GOP machinations and the vagaries of the electoral college — all made possible by the vicious media coverage that led up to the election. They were an intrinsic factor in the result and the consequences have been catastrophic.
I wish I could say that it would all go away if Biden drops out. But it won’t. I think the psychology at work is “Lord of the Flies” and when they finally take down their target they will explain it simply as the target being weak and unworthy. They have made several attempts to do it to Trump but he won’t go down. So in our toxic political culture with its twisted media incentives they will content themselves with taking down Biden instead — and very possibly his successor if he drops out. (The “cover-up” dontcha know.)
In so many respects, the media serves Trump’s main argument: “I am a strongman.” They respect that as much as any Trump voter.
They are servants of the cult.
*Just to be clear, I’m not sure if Biden will drop out and I have no idea if that’s the best way to go. I don’t think anyone can know that. I’m willing to let this play out for a bit to see how Biden, the people (through the polls) and Democratic officials assess the damage and decide a way forward. But I deeply resent this media game which has caused massive damage over the past 25 years and helped bring us to this place today. And they have never reckoned with their roles in it.
That’s just for starters.
Trump says that he doesn’t know the people involved or anything about it but he doesn’t agree with it. He’s not bright.
I do believe he doesn’t know — or care — about many of the policies in that document. He has a very narrow focus on trade, immigration and fucking over his enemies and rewarding his friends. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t perfectly find with his henchmen carrying out the rest of it. He only cares about himself and since he won’t be running again (whether because he observes the constitution or repeals it) anything they want to do is fine with him.
By the way:
I don’t even know if that’s real, but I do know that it could be.
2024 is about more than presidential candidates
As David Roberts (Dr. Volts) stated plainly on Friday, “This election is not a choice between two individuals, it’s a choice between worldviews, between futures. Do we want to continue down the path to multiethnic democracy or do we want to impose a white patriarchal Christian autocracy?”
While Democratic Party elites tear their hair out over Joe Biden’s debate performance and pretty uneventful interview with George Stephanopoulos broadcast Friday night, the Biden-Harris comms team is hammering Donald Trump on social media over Project 2025. (See below.)
Why and why now? Because Trump is doing his best Sgt. Schultz and running away from Project 2025. Don’t you let him.
Project 2025, the published 900-page plan for turning America into a fascist theocracy, is drawing more negative attention than, in their hubris, the Heritage Foundation and its Christian nationalist partners may have anticipated.
What is Trump’s internal polling showing him about ublic reaction?
Look, it’s been a tough week. As a famous movie cop once said, right now you’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?”
No? Then here are some articles for you to spread around and some social media posts to re-whatever. It’s a fine Saturday here and your local Democratic candidates would love to have your help stopping fascism.
Project 2025 sounds like the return of McCarthyism
Trump Denies Knowing About Project 2025, His Allies’ Sweeping Plan to Transform the US Government
Donald Trump Allies’ Project 2025 Comments Resurface after He Denies Role
Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025 plan
Project 2025: The Trump presidency wish list, explained
Trump seeks to distance himself from pro-Trump Project 2025
Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution
So here are just a few @BidenHQ tweets from Friday tying Project 2025 around Trump’s neck like an albatross. You’ll also find them at bidenharrishq on Threads. No reason you cannot also repost them to Bluesky, Mastodon and Facebook.
The press is doing to Biden what it did to Hillary Clinton in 2016, as Roberts explained yesterday. Don’t sit around feeling victimized by it. Get busy.
A-a-a-a-nd. If you are still not convinced just where the Trump-Heritage Christian nationalist movement means to take this country — do to you — in 2025, Robert Reich offers a few details, But even those don’t convey just how insane this movement is.
This Republican is running for governor in North Carolina: “Some folks need killing. It’s time for somebody to say it… It’s a matter of necessity”
Update: Yes, Mark Robinson means you! And so does Stephen Miller.
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It’s demotivating
The spectacle of Democrats, hair afire, publicly second-guessing themselves to the nth degree over whether Joe Biden’s candidacy might demotivate voters is demotivating to me. I don’t want to vote for us when we act like this, and I’m a convention delegate. I wrote the other day that I haven’t heard this much magical thinking from the left since the last New Age convention I covered.
This thread by David Roberts, a.k.a. Dr. Volts, expresses a lot of that same frustration:
I haven’t written much about politics since the debate, mainly because I’m so overwhelmed by disgust & contempt toward this country’s media & commentariat that it has rendered me inarticulate with rage. Twitter probably doesn’t need more rage. I do just wanna make one point tho.
To be clear up front: I don’t give one tiny hot fuck who the Dem nominee is. I truly don’t. Biden’s fine. Harris is fine. A warm puddle of vomit is fine. *There is no conceivable resolution to the nomination fight that could change the basic calculus of this race.*
Preventing a fascist takeover of the US is my top priority–as a journalist, as a voter, as a human. If it isn’t yours too, you should feel bad about yourself. If you haven’t made the stakes of this election clear to everyone within the sound of your voice, you should feel bad.
But I’m not gonna rant. [breathes deeply] Just gonna make my one point, which is this: the idea that that the process of jettisoning Biden & choosing someone else will go well — will be *allowed* to go well — is a deeply deranged fantasy.
The idea that Dems will do this & will end up feeling unified, that Harris will come out popular, that “the dynamics of the race will shift,” all of that … fucking deranged. Deranged in such a perfectly characteristic Dem way.
“This person/policy/slogan/approach has been irredeemably slimed by Republicans & a hostile media — let’s throw it overboard!” That’s the Dem way. Always with this starry-eyed hope that they can reset, start over, get it right this time.
Just as one example — other people have aggregated these — there have been “calls” for every Dem nominee of the last 30 years to step aside. Dems practically delight in abandoning their own people, policies, & principles in response to bad-faith pressure. They f’ing love it.
But, as I’ve been saying for, oh, 20 years now, the situation is structural. The current situation is an outcome of a particular incentive structure & that structure will remain exactly the same if Harris takes over the ticket.
For centrists, journalists, pundits, *even Dem electeds*, the way you prove you are a Reasonable, Serious Person in DC is by shitting on Dems. For the left, the way you prove you are a true radical is by shitting on Dems. For the right … well, obviously.
Everyone’s professional incentives are to shit on Dems. Dwelling on Trump & his fascist movement — however justified by the objective facts — just doesn’t bring that juice, doesn’t get the clicks & the high-fives, doesn’t feel brave & iconoclastic. It’s just … no fun.
So, say Biden stepped aside in favor of Harris tomorrow. How long until the vapid gossips we call political reporters find something wrong with her, some alleged flaw they just have to write 192 stories about? How long until the hopped-up mediocrities we call pundits …
…find some “counter-intuitive” reason that the new Dem ticket is flawed after all? How long until the irredentist left gets over the temporary thrill of its new Harris memes & remembers that she’s a cop & turns on her? How long before the ambient racism & misogyny in the US…
I already have a tee shirt design: Cop Or Criminal? | Choose Wisely
… lead center-leftists to conclude that, sure, they’d support a black woman, just not *this* black woman? In other words: how long before everyone reverts to their comfortable, familiar identity & narratives?
(Behind the scenes here at Hullabaloo, we predicted the appearance of “but not this Black woman” a week ago.)
Bolding below mine.
About 30 f’ing seconds, is my guess.
Dems uniting, feeling good, telling a clear story, receiving credit for their accomplishments–all of that is *impossible* in the current environment. It won’t be allowed. Dems can punch themselves in the face all they want, abandon whoever they want, apologize all they want…
… they simply will not be allowed to turn the page & start fresh, because everyone’s incentives remain the same. If they did that, elites, including media elites, would have no choice but to openly & frankly grapple with Trump & what he represents & they *don’t want to*.
Everyone feels comfortable shitting on Dems — it’s just a cozy professional space. You get to feel brave & independent (just like all the replacement-level pundits around you) with zero risk.
Yes, it’s abysmal, contemptible cowardice on a genuinely embarrassing scale …
… but it is what it is & we should have no illusions that it will change with a change in the top of the ticket.
As @whstancil has been trying to tell you people (good god how he tries), the information environment is thoroughly corrupted.
For some reason, left pundits are pathologically averse to acknowledging that fact. And so they grasp at these straws — if we could just get rid of Biden, we could have a reasonable conversation! Yeah, sure. You absurd summer children.
This election is not a choice between two individuals, it’s a choice between worldviews, between futures. Do we want to continue down the path to multiethnic democracy or do we want to impose a white patriarchal Christian autocracy?
At stake is the entire federal civil service. The machinery of state built since WWII. Freedom & dignity for millions. Yes, democracy itself. That’s not an exaggeration. Yet this country’s elites have utterly failed to convey those stakes to the populace. A *grotesque* failure.
You can not look at this extraordinary media freakout this last week and not psychologize, not see all kinds of displacement. They can’t or won’t be serious about Trump & so they are fucking *giddy* at having permission to scold Dems again. Their safe place.
Anyway, my point is just: none of this will change if Harris replaces Biden at the top of the ticket. The idea that the media — with these soulless careerist court gossips in charge — will allow it is just fantasy. They *need* Dems in disarray & so they will engineer it.
The US is right on the precipice of falling into bona fide fascism & *the vast majority of the voting public doesn’t even know it*. That speaks to a deeply diseased information environment. Until Dems do something about that, all their self-flagellation will buy them nothing.
And so:
If you do nothing else today, stop obsessing about Biden losing and start busting your ass to save this your own life. Be the hero of your own story for a change. Tell your neighbors about Project 2025. Warn everyone that the same people who stormed the Capitol on January 6 have drafted plans for a fascist takeover of the United States NEXT YEAR if Trump wins.
Find your local Democratic headquarters and ask how you can help. Knock some doors. Flood social media. If you’re on Twitter, retweet Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ). They’ve got a full-court press going to call out Trump’s involvement with Project 2025. He’s trying to run away from it. They’re doing the same on Threads. Spread the news.
Post by @bidenharrishqView on Threads
Play some offense.
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For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download. Request a copy of my free countywide GOTV planning guide at ForTheWin.us.