Sunday, October 23, 2016

Sunday Reading - Giving Trump And Republicans A Proper Electoral Burial


Lots of good reads out there this morning.  As always, we hope you read the entire pieces.

Let's start with Leonard Pitts who connects neo- fascist narcissist Donald "Rump" Trump and his "rigged election" whining with a long tradition in Republican politics:
It is important to note that Trump did not spring from nowhere. Rather, he is the logical byproduct of a GOP that has spent the last quarter century telling its acolytes they were victims: of “media elites,” Hollywood values and science, to name just a few. And if you’re looking for election rigging, look no further than the party that has thrown up arbitrary legal barriers designed to make voting harder for African-Americans and other non-Republican constituencies. 
Donald Trump, in all his preening infamy, is the end result of the GOP’s years of hypocrisy and reality avoidance. Shame on anyone who takes seriously his piteous moaning about the vast forces conspiring against him. 
American democracy is the only victim here.  (our emphasis)
Speaking of voter intimidation (as we have), Colbert King wants us to know Democrats aren't going to be passive defending voting rights on Election Day:
In June, I wrote that with this election, nothing — not rallies, conventions, debates — mattered more than “getting out the vote.” 
Trump and his posse make GOTV all the more urgent. 
National civil rights groups, led by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, intend to come out in force nationwide with volunteers trained to serve as a first line of defense against the intimidators. 
Others need to swing into action.  (our emphasis)
Frequent blind squirrel Dana Milbank tells us why it's important to American democracy that Rump be dealt a "humiliating defeat":
The need to deal Trump a humiliating defeat has a sociological basis in the “degradation ceremony,” in which the perpetrator (Trump) is held by denouncers (officeholders and others in positions of influence) to be morally unacceptable, and witnesses (the public) agree that the perpetrator is no longer held in good standing. 
Psychologist Wynn Schwartz, who teaches at Harvard Medical School, explained to me that what’s needed to have a successful degradation of Trump is an epic defeat. “If it is lopsided enough,” he said, “you don’t have critical masses of people who feel disenfranchised” or “who feel justified in saying that it was stolen.” 
But if Clinton’s victory is narrow, the degradation ceremony fails, because a large chunk of the population feels swindled and remains loyal to Trump. “The margin matters a lot,” Schwartz said.  (our emphasis)
 Let the New York Daily News express itself, too:



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