Donald Trump, the Republican Party and their Russian allies ambushed American democracy during the 2016 presidential election.
When caught in an ambush there are three viable options.
Hunker down and do nothing. This is a losing tactic. The ambushers still win.
Retreat and run away. This too is a losing tactic. The ambushers still win.
Attack. This is the only way to defeat the ambushers.
It would seem that the Democratic Party's leaders have not learned these very important rules. They will continue to do the first two things and are terrified of the last.
In their attack on American democracy, Donald Trump, his Republican Party and their allies have demonstrated a continual disrespect for the rule of the law, the Constitution and the country's democratic norms and rules.
As revealed by Robert Mueller's report, Trump has actually attempted to have Hillary Clinton put in prison.
Trump colluded with Russia, a hostile foreign power, to steal the 2016 presidential election from the American people. (Whether this was a criminal conspiracy or not, as defined by law, is missing the point.)
The Trump regime has put thousands of children and their families in concentration camps. Trump also has plans to unleash America's military on the country's cities with orders to arrest "illegal aliens." Like other authoritarians, Trump has no respect for human rights and international law. In the most recent example, he apparently plans to pardon American war criminals for Memorial Day.
Trump has obstructed justice, both publicly and in private. He continues to ignore the emoluments clause of the Constitution, using the office of the president as a way to personally enrich himself, his family and other members of his inner circle through apparent bribery, kickbacks, direct payments and other schemes.
Trump encourages violence against those Americans he and his supporters view as the "enemy." He publicly admires and supports authoritarian rulers and other dictators.
Trump declared a national state of emergency, ostensibly to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, but more likely in order to expand his power by weakening the Constitution's checks and balances on his power.
Trump has installed an attorney general and other officials who view him as a monarch who is above the law. To that end, Trump has ordered his administration not to cooperate with Congress regarding subpoenas, appearing at hearing, or surrendering documents and other information as mandated by the law and precedent.
Democracy is their enemy: Donald Trump and the Republican Party continue to enact laws that will keep nonwhites and other Democratic Party supporters from voting.
How have the Democratic Party's leaders responded to Donald Trump and his out of control authoritarian regime?
Tuesday, May 21, 2019
Friday, May 17, 2019
Donald Trump is America's White Welfare King
Donald Trump is America's White Welfare King.
He fulfills this role in several ways.
Trump threatens the sense of safety and security — the general welfare — of White America by making constant, ominous threats about the murderous, rapist and otherwise dangerous nonwhite immigrants who are invading our sacred nation. Trump then promises to "keep America safe" from these "invaders" by building a "fabulous wall" along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump stokes the egos and collective narcissism of his resentful and bigoted supporters. He satisfies their short-term emotional welfare by fueling and arousing the psychological wages of whiteness.
Trump makes great promises about restoring, securing and protecting the economic welfare of those "forgotten" Americans in Rust Belt and red state America by forcing the coal industry and manufacturers to remain in those areas. Trump also makes promises about health care, the environment, education and other public policies. His promises, are of course, lies.
It is a rare thing when Donald Trump the White Welfare King actually provides anything of material benefit or substance for his supporters.
As always, King Trump is a political sadist who injures and damages his supporters — especially those of the fabled "white working class" — but then promises to provide a salve for the very pain that he and his Republican Party caused. His trade war with China and the economic hardship it has caused America's farmers and other groups is one such example.
As reported by the New York Times on Tuesday, last week Trump raised tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent (from 10 percent) and threatened to impose still more and higher tariffs. To no one's surprise, China responded with similar tariff increases. Despite Trump's comments to the contrary, these costs are borne directly by consumers in both countries.
Mr. Trump, cognizant of China’s penchant for hitting where it hurts, said he expected Beijing to once again retaliate against America’s farmers by slowing or stopping purchases of agricultural products, like soybeans and farm equipment.
Trump's administration provided $12 billion in aid to farmers last year to partly make up for sales lost to the trade war, and will likely provide a similar bailout this year as well, quite likely larger. The Times report continues:
Trump's taxpayer bailouts for America's farmers is an old story, a fixture in the country's past and present which is often taken for granted.
Whiteness is a form of property that pays economic and other dividends to white people. Although all white people do not benefit in the same way from this fact, it is nonetheless one of the universal benefits that derives from being deemed "white" in America and other parts of the world.
There are many examples of this bounty. As a group white Americans (and European immigrants) were given free land — most of it stolen from indigenous people by the Homestead Acts passed during and after the Civil War. Historians and economists estimate that this land would be worth trillions of dollars today. This inequality was one of the foundations (along with white-on-black chattel slavery) of the race and wealth gap that still exists, 150 years later.
Writing at Aeon, Historian Keri Leigh Merritt explains:
Collectively these programs helped to create the American middle class, which at its inception was almost entirely white. They did so by unequally and unfairly transferring income and wealth away from nonwhites.
In total, the VA and FHA home loan programs and the G.I. Bill were the largest wealth and income-creating, as well as wealth transfer programs in the 20th century and perhaps all of American history — if one "neatly" and incorrectly excludes slavery and land theft From Native Americans.
What social scientists have described as the "submerged state" — tax credits, tax breaks and other government incentives that many Americans receive but do not generally acknowledge —disproportionately transfers wealth and income to white people in America as compared to other groups. Opportunity hoarding by the top 20 percent of Americans, a group that is disproportionately white, also contributes to extreme social inequality.
Here's another factor that ought not to be overlooked: The Republicans' recent "tax reforms" were a gift of at least $1.5 trillion from the American people to the very rich, a group that is disproportionately white and male, and significantly older than the general public.
Even Trump's payouts to farmers will disproportionately benefit white people. Why? African-American, Hispanic and other nonwhite farmers have been systematic targets of racial discrimination, by the U.S. government as well as many white communities across the country.
Who is excluded from the largess of King Trump's White Welfare money machine?
The people of Puerto Rico. Trump believes they do not need any additional disaster assistance because they are, in his eyes, lazy and need to help themselves.
The people of California. They are somehow responsible for the infernos that caused at least $9 billion in damage and killed 85 people.
Nonwhite people in America's inner cities and other parts of the country. Conservatives — and too many others, including some Democrats — believe they have "bad culture" and need to learn "personal responsibility." Federal money for improved schools, housing, and other needs would, in Trump and the right-wing movement's deranged view of "the inner city" (aka black people), be wasted.
Children, the elderly, the sick and infirm, the homeless, the disabled and other groups who, in the right-wing movement's neoliberal, Malthusian and social Darwinist worldview are "surplus people." Ayn Rand's and Milton Friedman's and the Koch brothers' dreams have become the American people's nightmares.
Who is included in King Trump's White Welfare gift-giving?
Big business and the already rich, of course. The Pentagon is never to be denied. But most important, "Trump's people" — those whom his advisers and supporters deem to be the "real Americans." They are white, right-wing conservatives. Many are also Christian nationalists, Dominionists, and right-wing fundamentalists of other varieties.
In American politics the following truisms still apply: "All politics is local"; "A chicken in every pot"; "What have you done for me lately?"; and "Bring home the bacon."
Historian Ibram X. Kendi recently described Trump's farm policies in a Twitter post this way: "Welfare for conservatives against welfare. But even more insidiously, this is buying votes. The Trump administration buys White conservative votes and suppresses the votes of his enemies — and neither is an international corruption scandal. What a time to be alive."
This is King Trump's great "innovation": He has melded his unapologetic white identity politics with authoritarianism, naked corruption and poorly designed welfare policies for white people.
He fulfills this role in several ways.
Trump threatens the sense of safety and security — the general welfare — of White America by making constant, ominous threats about the murderous, rapist and otherwise dangerous nonwhite immigrants who are invading our sacred nation. Trump then promises to "keep America safe" from these "invaders" by building a "fabulous wall" along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Trump stokes the egos and collective narcissism of his resentful and bigoted supporters. He satisfies their short-term emotional welfare by fueling and arousing the psychological wages of whiteness.
Trump makes great promises about restoring, securing and protecting the economic welfare of those "forgotten" Americans in Rust Belt and red state America by forcing the coal industry and manufacturers to remain in those areas. Trump also makes promises about health care, the environment, education and other public policies. His promises, are of course, lies.
It is a rare thing when Donald Trump the White Welfare King actually provides anything of material benefit or substance for his supporters.
As always, King Trump is a political sadist who injures and damages his supporters — especially those of the fabled "white working class" — but then promises to provide a salve for the very pain that he and his Republican Party caused. His trade war with China and the economic hardship it has caused America's farmers and other groups is one such example.
As reported by the New York Times on Tuesday, last week Trump raised tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25 percent (from 10 percent) and threatened to impose still more and higher tariffs. To no one's surprise, China responded with similar tariff increases. Despite Trump's comments to the contrary, these costs are borne directly by consumers in both countries.
Mr. Trump, cognizant of China’s penchant for hitting where it hurts, said he expected Beijing to once again retaliate against America’s farmers by slowing or stopping purchases of agricultural products, like soybeans and farm equipment.
Trump's administration provided $12 billion in aid to farmers last year to partly make up for sales lost to the trade war, and will likely provide a similar bailout this year as well, quite likely larger. The Times report continues:
Farmers say that they would prefer free trade over government subsidies. But with exports of products such as wheat and soybeans to China drying up, they are willing to take whatever help they can get.
“It’s going to be needed,” said John Heisdorffer, a soybean producer from Keota, Iowa, and chairman of the American Soybean Association. “I hear from so many farmers now, how they’re struggling.”
Mr. Heisdorffer said that many farmers are feeling emotionally drained by the ups and downs of the trade negotiations with China and that he hopes Mr. Trump can find a way to roll back all the tariffs.
“At this point, I still hear a lot of support for the president,” he said. “We support what he’s doing, but we felt all the time that there was a different way than tariffs to have done it.”As if emulating Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un and the other authoritarians and dictators he so publicly admires and swoons over, Trump proclaimed on Twitter on Tuesday that "Our great Patriot Farmers" will somehow be the ultimate beneficiaries of his trade war with China.
Trump's taxpayer bailouts for America's farmers is an old story, a fixture in the country's past and present which is often taken for granted.
Whiteness is a form of property that pays economic and other dividends to white people. Although all white people do not benefit in the same way from this fact, it is nonetheless one of the universal benefits that derives from being deemed "white" in America and other parts of the world.
There are many examples of this bounty. As a group white Americans (and European immigrants) were given free land — most of it stolen from indigenous people by the Homestead Acts passed during and after the Civil War. Historians and economists estimate that this land would be worth trillions of dollars today. This inequality was one of the foundations (along with white-on-black chattel slavery) of the race and wealth gap that still exists, 150 years later.
Writing at Aeon, Historian Keri Leigh Merritt explains:
The Homestead Acts were unquestionably the most extensive, radical, redistributive governmental policy in US history. The number of adult descendants of the original Homestead Act recipients living in the year 2000 was estimated to be around 46 million people, about a quarter of the US adult population. If that many white Americans can trace their legacy of wealth and property ownership to a single entitlement programme, then the perpetuation of black poverty must also be linked to national policy. Indeed, the Homestead Acts excluded African Americans not in letter, but in practice — a template that the government would propagate for the next century and a half.
With the advent of emancipation, therefore, blacks became the only race in the US ever to start out, as an entire people, with close to zero capital. Having nothing else upon which to build or generate wealth, the majority of freedmen had little real chance of breaking the cycles of poverty created by slavery, and perpetuated by federal policy. The stain of slavery, it seems, is much more widespread and lasting than many Americans have admitted. Yet it is the legacy of the Reconstruction — particularly the failure of land redistribution — that so closely coupled poverty and race in the US.Beginning in the 1930s and the 1940s, the New Deal era's VA and FHA loan programs provided money and other economic supports for white Americans. Nonwhites were largely excluded from these opportunities.
Collectively these programs helped to create the American middle class, which at its inception was almost entirely white. They did so by unequally and unfairly transferring income and wealth away from nonwhites.
In total, the VA and FHA home loan programs and the G.I. Bill were the largest wealth and income-creating, as well as wealth transfer programs in the 20th century and perhaps all of American history — if one "neatly" and incorrectly excludes slavery and land theft From Native Americans.
What social scientists have described as the "submerged state" — tax credits, tax breaks and other government incentives that many Americans receive but do not generally acknowledge —disproportionately transfers wealth and income to white people in America as compared to other groups. Opportunity hoarding by the top 20 percent of Americans, a group that is disproportionately white, also contributes to extreme social inequality.
Here's another factor that ought not to be overlooked: The Republicans' recent "tax reforms" were a gift of at least $1.5 trillion from the American people to the very rich, a group that is disproportionately white and male, and significantly older than the general public.
Even Trump's payouts to farmers will disproportionately benefit white people. Why? African-American, Hispanic and other nonwhite farmers have been systematic targets of racial discrimination, by the U.S. government as well as many white communities across the country.
Who is excluded from the largess of King Trump's White Welfare money machine?
The people of Puerto Rico. Trump believes they do not need any additional disaster assistance because they are, in his eyes, lazy and need to help themselves.
The people of California. They are somehow responsible for the infernos that caused at least $9 billion in damage and killed 85 people.
Nonwhite people in America's inner cities and other parts of the country. Conservatives — and too many others, including some Democrats — believe they have "bad culture" and need to learn "personal responsibility." Federal money for improved schools, housing, and other needs would, in Trump and the right-wing movement's deranged view of "the inner city" (aka black people), be wasted.
Children, the elderly, the sick and infirm, the homeless, the disabled and other groups who, in the right-wing movement's neoliberal, Malthusian and social Darwinist worldview are "surplus people." Ayn Rand's and Milton Friedman's and the Koch brothers' dreams have become the American people's nightmares.
Who is included in King Trump's White Welfare gift-giving?
Big business and the already rich, of course. The Pentagon is never to be denied. But most important, "Trump's people" — those whom his advisers and supporters deem to be the "real Americans." They are white, right-wing conservatives. Many are also Christian nationalists, Dominionists, and right-wing fundamentalists of other varieties.
In American politics the following truisms still apply: "All politics is local"; "A chicken in every pot"; "What have you done for me lately?"; and "Bring home the bacon."
Historian Ibram X. Kendi recently described Trump's farm policies in a Twitter post this way: "Welfare for conservatives against welfare. But even more insidiously, this is buying votes. The Trump administration buys White conservative votes and suppresses the votes of his enemies — and neither is an international corruption scandal. What a time to be alive."
This is King Trump's great "innovation": He has melded his unapologetic white identity politics with authoritarianism, naked corruption and poorly designed welfare policies for white people.
Monday, May 13, 2019
When Prophecy Fails: Donald Trump is the "Sunk Cost" President and the "Billion-Dollar Loser"
Donald Trump does not exist. He is a character who plays many roles simultaneously. Trump is a vigilante, professional wrestling villain, a TV pitchman and a reality TV star. He's also a cad, a bully and a wannabe dictator. And yes, he is a billionaire. (Or rather, he plays one on TV.) Because of his guile, boldness, help from foreign sponsors and — yes, let's admit it — his charisma, in 2016 Donald Trump won the greatest role on the world stage: President of the United States of America.
Last Tuesday, the New York Times revealed more about the man behind the character: Donald Trump is also a "billion-dollar loser."
This is not much of a revelation. It only confirms what has long been suspected and (increasingly) known by the public.
In 2018, the New York Times revealed that Trump received at least $400 million from his father, mostly through elaborate schemes to avoid paying taxes and other untoward if not illegal means.
Investigative reporter Craig Unger told Salon last October that he believes Trump has laundered money for foreign oligarchs and criminals:
In a post this week for the DCReport (his own site), Johnston connects the dots:
Democrats, never-Trumpers and members of the so-called Resistance are desperate to believe that it will. They cling to the enduring hope that Trump, the tin-man dictator, has a hidden off-switch that will deactivate him. In this narrative exposing Trump as a fraud will somehow force his supporters into a moment of realization that they made a horrible mistake in electing such a person and continuing to support him in overwhelming numbers. Alas, no such button exists.
Donald Trump's popularity will endure. This is a function of many things. Trumpism is a cultural movement, not merely a set of political policies or goals. Trump and his followers are knotted together in a political cult. His appeal has always been about much more than celebrity politics; he is a symbol of racial grievances and white rage, a widespread rejection of America's multiracial democracy. Democrats and others who oppose Trump and his authoritarian movement still fail to understand that symbols such as these cannot be defeated by appeals to reason or the deployment of facts.
There are (at least) two other reasons why Trump's exposure as a billion-dollar fraud will in all likelihood do nothing to affect the likelihood that he wins re-election in 2020.
Last Tuesday, the New York Times revealed more about the man behind the character: Donald Trump is also a "billion-dollar loser."
The numbers show that in 1985, Mr. Trump reported losses of $46.1 million from his core businesses — largely casinos, hotels and retail space in apartment buildings. They continued to lose money every year, totaling $1.17 billion in losses for the decade.The Times reported that Trump "appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer" during the years in question. In 1990 and 1991 alone, Trump's "core business losses" of roughly $250 million a year "were more than double those of the nearest taxpayers," according to IRS information. Trump did not pay any income taxes in eight of the 10 years for which the Times obtained his returns.
This is not much of a revelation. It only confirms what has long been suspected and (increasingly) known by the public.
In 2018, the New York Times revealed that Trump received at least $400 million from his father, mostly through elaborate schemes to avoid paying taxes and other untoward if not illegal means.
Investigative reporter Craig Unger told Salon last October that he believes Trump has laundered money for foreign oligarchs and criminals:
By 2002, a company called Bayrock Group LLC had moved into the 24th floor of Trump Tower. They began partnering with him. They made Trump an offer that he could not refuse. It was a completely different paradigm from his old business relationships. Suddenly Trump started dealing with cash and he couldn’t get bank loans except some from Deutsche Bank. He was so bankrupt that almost no Western bank could loan him a dime.
These were ways of laundering money that Trump had. The financing of building projects that involved $400 million or $500 million to build a skyscraper. Once the building was built, they could sell the condos through the shell companies, limited liability corporations and so forth. This was done anonymously in all cash transactions with the Russian oligarchs and other people affiliated with the Russian mafia.In a conversation with Salon in April of 2018, Pulitzer-winning journalist David Cay Johnston, who has followed Trump's career for decades, discussed the president's apparent criminal connections:
Here are the key things people should know about Donald Trump. He comes from a family of criminals: His grandfather made his fortune running whorehouses in Seattle and in the Yukon Territory. His father, Fred, had a business partner named Willie Tomasello, who was an associate of the Gambino crime family. Trump's father was also investigated by the U.S. Senate for ripping off the government for what would be the equivalent of $36 million in today's money. Donald got his showmanship from his dad, as well as his comfort with organized criminals.This new information about Trump's finances also connects directly with Robert Mueller's findings about the president's collusion with Russian cutouts and other representatives, and the dark cloud of other highly suspect behavior which still hangs over Trump's regime.
In a post this week for the DCReport (his own site), Johnston connects the dots:
In the Oval Office Trump disclosed sources and methods, the most sensitive intelligence information, to the Russian foreign minister and its ambassador to America. We know this only because the Russians announced it, by the way.
Imagine for a moment what would have happened if Barack Obama had behaved that way.
What is the complete financial history between the oligarchs, as Putin’s gang of thieves is known, and Trump?
It may be that Trump is just a fool, not Putin’s tool. But we don’t know because Trump is stonewalling on the Mueller Report, which he tried to block by firing Mueller (his aides would not carry out the order) and holding back testimony and the redacted portions of the report. Since Trump has said Mueller vindicated him, why would Trump do this? The answer is obvious.
The story of Trump’s taxes is the story of a man whose lying, cheating, stealing and continual need for cash to sustain the image of a multi-billionaire has made him vulnerable to kompromat. It is the story of a known tax cheat who has taken an oath to uphold and defend our Constitution but ignores that oath, violate that oath.
It is a story whose most salient financial circumstances and connections remain hidden. And they will remain hidden unless we demand transparency not from Trump, who will never be open, but from our Congress.Will all these "revelations" actually damage Trump's popularity and his likelihood of winning re-election in 2020?
Democrats, never-Trumpers and members of the so-called Resistance are desperate to believe that it will. They cling to the enduring hope that Trump, the tin-man dictator, has a hidden off-switch that will deactivate him. In this narrative exposing Trump as a fraud will somehow force his supporters into a moment of realization that they made a horrible mistake in electing such a person and continuing to support him in overwhelming numbers. Alas, no such button exists.
Donald Trump's popularity will endure. This is a function of many things. Trumpism is a cultural movement, not merely a set of political policies or goals. Trump and his followers are knotted together in a political cult. His appeal has always been about much more than celebrity politics; he is a symbol of racial grievances and white rage, a widespread rejection of America's multiracial democracy. Democrats and others who oppose Trump and his authoritarian movement still fail to understand that symbols such as these cannot be defeated by appeals to reason or the deployment of facts.
There are (at least) two other reasons why Trump's exposure as a billion-dollar fraud will in all likelihood do nothing to affect the likelihood that he wins re-election in 2020.
A Conversation with Ira Steven Behr About the Legacy, Meaning and Politics of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the New Documentary What We Left Behind
There are two guests on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.
Ira Steven Behr was the showrunner and executive producer of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is also the co-director and executive producer of the new documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Behr has also been a writer and executive producer on the HBO series Outlander.
He reflects on the origins of Deep Space Nine, what he learned from the new documentary What We Left Behind, the challenges and triumphs of creating what would be such a highly influential non-episodic TV series, escaping the shadow of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the choices that were made regarding Avery Brooks' character Captain Benjamin Sisko (the first black starring character in Star Trek history), how the show dealt with topical issues such as religion, ethnic conflict, poverty, sexism, as well as gay and lesbian relationships.
Behr also shares the storyline of what a hypothetical eighth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would have looked like.
Hugo-award nominated podcaster and writer Alasdair Stuart is the second guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.
He shares his thoughts on the new movie Avengers: Endgame and its problematic treatment of female characters such as Nebula and Black Widow, how the film is a well-deserved love letter to Robert Downey Jr.'s depiction of Iron Man, and where the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes with and after the new Spiderman movie.
Chauncey and Alasdair also share some hopes and worries about J.J. Abrams and his new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and ponder why this generation of fans seem so invested in how much money a movie makes as some type of (sad and pathetic) validation of their own self-esteem and identity.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega laughs at those members of the so-called "Resistance" who think that this newest "revelation" about Donald Trump losing a billion dollars and likely committing tax fraud will actually hurt his popularity among the Trump CHUD cultists and Republicans as a whole. Why won't this newest "scandal" matter? This is all explained by the sunk cost fallacy and the classic social psychology research study When Prophecy Fails.
Chauncey also reflects on Gene Roddenberry's hopeful vision of the future as seen in Star Trek and how far America and humankind have to go to achieve such a goal.
Ira Steven Behr was the showrunner and executive producer of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He is also the co-director and executive producer of the new documentary What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Behr has also been a writer and executive producer on the HBO series Outlander.
He reflects on the origins of Deep Space Nine, what he learned from the new documentary What We Left Behind, the challenges and triumphs of creating what would be such a highly influential non-episodic TV series, escaping the shadow of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the choices that were made regarding Avery Brooks' character Captain Benjamin Sisko (the first black starring character in Star Trek history), how the show dealt with topical issues such as religion, ethnic conflict, poverty, sexism, as well as gay and lesbian relationships.
Behr also shares the storyline of what a hypothetical eighth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine would have looked like.
Hugo-award nominated podcaster and writer Alasdair Stuart is the second guest on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.
He shares his thoughts on the new movie Avengers: Endgame and its problematic treatment of female characters such as Nebula and Black Widow, how the film is a well-deserved love letter to Robert Downey Jr.'s depiction of Iron Man, and where the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes with and after the new Spiderman movie.
Chauncey and Alasdair also share some hopes and worries about J.J. Abrams and his new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and ponder why this generation of fans seem so invested in how much money a movie makes as some type of (sad and pathetic) validation of their own self-esteem and identity.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega laughs at those members of the so-called "Resistance" who think that this newest "revelation" about Donald Trump losing a billion dollars and likely committing tax fraud will actually hurt his popularity among the Trump CHUD cultists and Republicans as a whole. Why won't this newest "scandal" matter? This is all explained by the sunk cost fallacy and the classic social psychology research study When Prophecy Fails.
Chauncey also reflects on Gene Roddenberry's hopeful vision of the future as seen in Star Trek and how far America and humankind have to go to achieve such a goal.
Monday, May 6, 2019
Jonathan Metzl on Being Targeted by Nazis Because of His Book "Dying of Whiteness" and Tim Wise Reflects on What It Means to be Jewish in the Age of Trump
There are two guests on this week's episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show.
Jonathan Metzl is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, and the director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
He is the author of several books, including Prozac on the Couch and The Protest Psychosis. His new book is Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland.
Dr. Metzl shares what it was like when Nazis descended upon his talk about Dying of Whiteness last Saturday at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington D.C.. Dr. Metzl locates this latest example of Trump-inspired right-wing hooligan behavior within a broader context of anti-Semitism and racism in America.
Metzl also reflects on the moral crisis inflicting Republicans and other conservatives who continue to support Donald Trump and his regime.
Tim Wise is the author of numerous books including his most recent Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America.
Wise connects the harassment of Dr. Metzl to a series of events last week which saw a lethal Nazi attack on a Jewish synagogue in California as well as Donald Trump continuing to lie about and literally whitewash his comments about the Nazi and other white supremacist lethal mob action in Charlottesville in 2017.
Wise explains how whiteness, privilege and Jewish identity are connected to one another in a complicated and complex way--this is especially true in a moment of resurgent hatred against Jewish folks. Wise also highlights why white right-wing Christian terrorists are not considered a real threat by Trump's regime and many other (white) Americans.
Tim Wise makes it clear: this is a moment of existential crisis in America and there is no room for sitting on the sidelines and not fighting back against right-wing thugs who want to overturn America's multiracial democracy.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega calls out, again, why William Barr and the Trump regime must be stopped as together they are working to destroy the rule of law and to make Trump into a king or emperor for life. Chauncey also honors Riley Howell, the UNC Charlotte college student who gave his life in the heroic defense of others.
Jonathan Metzl is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, and the director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
He is the author of several books, including Prozac on the Couch and The Protest Psychosis. His new book is Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland.
Dr. Metzl shares what it was like when Nazis descended upon his talk about Dying of Whiteness last Saturday at the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington D.C.. Dr. Metzl locates this latest example of Trump-inspired right-wing hooligan behavior within a broader context of anti-Semitism and racism in America.
Metzl also reflects on the moral crisis inflicting Republicans and other conservatives who continue to support Donald Trump and his regime.
Tim Wise is the author of numerous books including his most recent Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America.
Wise connects the harassment of Dr. Metzl to a series of events last week which saw a lethal Nazi attack on a Jewish synagogue in California as well as Donald Trump continuing to lie about and literally whitewash his comments about the Nazi and other white supremacist lethal mob action in Charlottesville in 2017.
Wise explains how whiteness, privilege and Jewish identity are connected to one another in a complicated and complex way--this is especially true in a moment of resurgent hatred against Jewish folks. Wise also highlights why white right-wing Christian terrorists are not considered a real threat by Trump's regime and many other (white) Americans.
Tim Wise makes it clear: this is a moment of existential crisis in America and there is no room for sitting on the sidelines and not fighting back against right-wing thugs who want to overturn America's multiracial democracy.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega calls out, again, why William Barr and the Trump regime must be stopped as together they are working to destroy the rule of law and to make Trump into a king or emperor for life. Chauncey also honors Riley Howell, the UNC Charlotte college student who gave his life in the heroic defense of others.
Monday, April 22, 2019
A Conversation with Dr. Jonathan Metzl About How Donald Trump's Supporters are Dying of Whiteness
Jonathan Metzl is the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, and the director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society, at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Metzl is the author of several books, including Prozac on the Couch and The Protest Psychosis. His new book is Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland.
Metzl explains how Trump's voters in Red State America are literally dying of whiteness and their devotion to the Republican Party and its harmful policies, why guns and god are such an important part of personal identity and meaning for white "working class" Trump voters, and how racism and a need to punish nonwhites and other "outsiders" motivates "working class" white conservatives in their political decision-making.
Dr. Metzl also shares stories about white Trump voters who are on their death beds but are proud that they never took "Obamacare" because they wanted to make sure that "welfare queens" and "Mexicans" did not have access to "their" health care. Dr. Metzl also recounts tragic stories about white Trump and Republican "ammosexuals" who love their guns more than their children, relatives, and friends.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega offers some extended thoughts about the Mueller Russia report and how, even in its redacted form, the 450 page document paints a damning portrait of a traitorous president and his cabal who colluded with Russia to seal an election and then obstructed justice to cover it up. Chauncey also shares an important concept which explains how Trump, Barr and their right-wing media were able to control the public discourse surrounding the Mueller report by introducing the concept of "criminal conspiracy" being the same thing as "collusion".
And Chauncey warns, again, that Donald Trump's fascist regime is out of control, the rule of law is imperiled and now there are de facto right-wing militias and death squads in waiting on patrol along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Metzl is the author of several books, including Prozac on the Couch and The Protest Psychosis. His new book is Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland.
Metzl explains how Trump's voters in Red State America are literally dying of whiteness and their devotion to the Republican Party and its harmful policies, why guns and god are such an important part of personal identity and meaning for white "working class" Trump voters, and how racism and a need to punish nonwhites and other "outsiders" motivates "working class" white conservatives in their political decision-making.
Dr. Metzl also shares stories about white Trump voters who are on their death beds but are proud that they never took "Obamacare" because they wanted to make sure that "welfare queens" and "Mexicans" did not have access to "their" health care. Dr. Metzl also recounts tragic stories about white Trump and Republican "ammosexuals" who love their guns more than their children, relatives, and friends.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega offers some extended thoughts about the Mueller Russia report and how, even in its redacted form, the 450 page document paints a damning portrait of a traitorous president and his cabal who colluded with Russia to seal an election and then obstructed justice to cover it up. Chauncey also shares an important concept which explains how Trump, Barr and their right-wing media were able to control the public discourse surrounding the Mueller report by introducing the concept of "criminal conspiracy" being the same thing as "collusion".
And Chauncey warns, again, that Donald Trump's fascist regime is out of control, the rule of law is imperiled and now there are de facto right-wing militias and death squads in waiting on patrol along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Monday, April 15, 2019
My Conversation With Robert B. Reich on How Donald Trump is a Gangster Capitalist Tyrant, the Wisdom of Bernie Sanders, and Why Young People Like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Will Save America
Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration and was also an economic adviser to Barack Obama. Dr. Reich has written fifteen books, including the best sellers Aftershock, The Work of Nations, and Beyond Outrage, and, his most recent, The Common Good. He is also the co-creator of the award-winning documentary, Inequality For All as well as the Netflix original documentary Saving Capitalism.
Dr. Reich explains how extreme social inequality helped to create Donald Trump's presidency and if those fundamental problems are not addressed then Trump is but the first of many American gangster capitalist tyrants. Reich also reflects on the America that could have been if President Roosevelt's Economic Bill of Rights had been implemented, why the right-wing hates Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and how America's young people are going to save the country from the evils of the new Gilded Age.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega shares his thoughts on the new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer, the very problematic politics of the new hit movie Best of Enemies, and why Kofi Kingston and Wrestlemania 35 made him happy. Chauncey also puts a human face on America's neoliberal Donald Trumpian gangster capitalist Social Darwinism nightmare by sharing a story about how poor rural white folks go off into the mountains to scavenge for roots when their disability checks run out each month.
And Chauncey warns, again, that Donald Trump's fascist regime is out of control and the assault on the rule of law is reaching what appears to be a never-ending crescendo.
Dr. Reich explains how extreme social inequality helped to create Donald Trump's presidency and if those fundamental problems are not addressed then Trump is but the first of many American gangster capitalist tyrants. Reich also reflects on the America that could have been if President Roosevelt's Economic Bill of Rights had been implemented, why the right-wing hates Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and how America's young people are going to save the country from the evils of the new Gilded Age.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega shares his thoughts on the new Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer, the very problematic politics of the new hit movie Best of Enemies, and why Kofi Kingston and Wrestlemania 35 made him happy. Chauncey also puts a human face on America's neoliberal Donald Trumpian gangster capitalist Social Darwinism nightmare by sharing a story about how poor rural white folks go off into the mountains to scavenge for roots when their disability checks run out each month.
And Chauncey warns, again, that Donald Trump's fascist regime is out of control and the assault on the rule of law is reaching what appears to be a never-ending crescendo.
Saturday, April 6, 2019
Is Jordan Peele's New Film "Us" a Triumph? Or is it a Missed Opportunity and a Failure?
This week's very special episode of The Chauncey DeVega Show explores the politics and meaning of Jordan Peele's new film "Us".
Kendall Phillips is a professor at Communication and Rhetorical Studies at Syracuse University. He is the author of Projected Fears: Horror Films and American Culture as well as Dark Directions: Romero, Craven, Carpenter, and the Modern Horror Film.
Kendall explains how "Us" is part of a new golden age of American horror movies, the ways that horror movies reflect the social anxieties and fears of a given moment in time, the sophistication of Jordan Peele's understanding of the horror genre and its narrative conventions and aesthetic, and how "Us" is a deep critique of class, racial, and other types of privilege.
Dr. Adilifu Nama is an Associate Professor of African American Studies at Loyola Marymount University. He is the author of several books including Race on the QT: Blackness and the Films of Quentin Tarantino as well as Super Black: American Pop Culture and Black Superheroes.
Adilifu is much more critical of Jordan Peele's "Us". To that end, he suggests that "Us" fails to live up to Peele's previous film "Get Out" and does not tell the truth about race and class in America.
Adilifu is also concerned about how "Us" is, in his opinion, narratively incoherent.
Chauncey and Adilifu also try to make sense of the racial semiotics of "Us" and what Peele suggests about "grotesque blackness", violence and race--but ultimately fails to fully develop in the film.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega ponders the following question: what is the role of horror movies in a horrible and cruel world where Trump and his evil regime are abusing the vulnerable by doing such things as putting non-white immigrants and refugees in concentration camps, allowing children like Jakelin Caal Maquin to die because of a lack of proper medical care, and the Supreme Court approves inmates being executed by especially cruel and unusual means.
Friday, March 22, 2019
A Conversation with Tim Wise About White Privilege, Corrupt White Elites and the "Varsity Blues" College Admissions Scandal
Tim Wise is the author of numerous books including his most recent Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America.
Time Wise explains how the "Varsity Blues" college and university admissions cheating and bribery scandal reflects a pathological culture among America's white elites, the many ways that unearned white advantages and white privilege along lines of race and class operate across all levels of America's educational system, and how "affirmative action" for white folks--especially the rich and upper classes--is the norm in American society.
Tim Wise also explains why the beneficiaries of the "Varsity Blues" criminal conspiracy should be expelled from their colleges and universities.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega ponders more examples of this broken malignant reality that is TrumpWorld. First, Donald Trump insults the deceased Senator John McCain and demands that the corpse-ghost thank him for providing a proper funeral. Second, Trump embraces and endorses the vile hateful violent views of his fellow authoritarian, President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, during their recent meeting at the White House.
And there is a fun "Easter egg" for ghetto nerd boys and girls on this week's podcast if they listen through to the very end of the show.
Time Wise explains how the "Varsity Blues" college and university admissions cheating and bribery scandal reflects a pathological culture among America's white elites, the many ways that unearned white advantages and white privilege along lines of race and class operate across all levels of America's educational system, and how "affirmative action" for white folks--especially the rich and upper classes--is the norm in American society.
Tim Wise also explains why the beneficiaries of the "Varsity Blues" criminal conspiracy should be expelled from their colleges and universities.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega ponders more examples of this broken malignant reality that is TrumpWorld. First, Donald Trump insults the deceased Senator John McCain and demands that the corpse-ghost thank him for providing a proper funeral. Second, Trump embraces and endorses the vile hateful violent views of his fellow authoritarian, President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, during their recent meeting at the White House.
And there is a fun "Easter egg" for ghetto nerd boys and girls on this week's podcast if they listen through to the very end of the show.
Saturday, February 16, 2019
A Conversation with Historian Louis Hyman About How Black Americans Used the Sears Catalog to Fight Back Against Jim and Jane Crow Racism
Professor Louis Hyman is a historian of work and business at
the ILR School of Cornell University, where he also directs
the Institute for Workplace Studies in New York City
Several months ago Louis wrote a series of Twitter posts
which were read by millions of people about the "hidden
history" of how African-Americans used the Sears catalog as a way of
fighting back against Jim and Jane Crow white racism and white supremacy.
Professor Hyman explains how the consumer's republic was and
remains a key battleground for civil rights and the color line, the many ways
that black Americans used the Sears catalog as a way of participating in
day-to-day resistance against segregation and other types of discrimination
across the United States, and how Sears and America's suburban mall culture
were sites where whiteness was both reproduced and defended. Louis also debunks
the very popular (and empowering) myth that Sears was co-founded by a black
man.
On this week's show, Chauncey DeVega reflects on Ralph
Ellison's "Invisible Man" and a
recent experience with everyday racism. And in keeping with the theme of this
week's show Chauncey also shares a wonderful story about the nationwide network
of Sears retirees who gather on a regular basis to socialize, reconnect, and
who are keeping the wonderful legacy of that American cultural and retail
institution alive.
This week's podcast with Louis Hyman can be listened to or downloaded here.
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