Donald Trump Archives - Institute of History, Archaeology, and Education

Election Postmortem #1: Where’s the Civil War?

November 8, 2024
by Peter Feinman

America's Third Civil War (The Atlantic)

This post in the first in a series of posts analyzing the results of the 2024 Presidential Election. I am starting with something that as of November 8, 2024, does not appear to have happened. To the best of knowledge there is no civil war at this time. In fact the country seems remarkably peaceful with no carnage in sight.

Let’s start by reviewing what did not happen. I will focus on articles and issues from The Atlantic which I have been patiently saving for this moment. I have lots of articles fully highlighted in yellow that I expected to serve as the basis for many blogs to come. I intended to review those articles and compare them to what was happening in Earth 1. Now it appears as if these well-meaning articles are the ones from Earth 2 and I have to decide whether to save them for posterity or to recycle them.

HOW TO STOP A CIVIL WAR

“How to Stop a Civil War” was the title on the cover of the December 2019 issue, just about five years ago. Editor Jeffrey Goldberg opened the issue with some comments by me from “America’s Third Civil War: An Update” (December 13, 2020)

A NATION COMING APART BY JEFFREY GOLDBERG

Goldberg tactfully opens his “Editor’s Note” with:

The 45^th president of the United States of America is uniquely unfit for the office and poses a multifaceted threat to our country’s democratic institutions.

Truer words were never written, but I suspect they understate the problem. I doubt that Goldberg anticipated a frontal assault on the democratic process including an attempted coup to steal the election with the support of the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives and 125 accomplices. To imagine an attempted coup by this particular President requires no stretch of the imagination. To see how widespread the support was and is would have been unimaginable. These 126 traitors are from the present House of Representatives. It is quite likely that in the new House where the Democrats will have only the slimmest of margins, that the number of representatives who support the President in-exile will be even greater. There is no margin of error.

Goldberg went on to write:

The structural failures in our democratic system that allowed a grifter into the White House in the first place⸺this might be our greatest challenge.

I strongly doubt that Goldberg anticipated that the con artist only needed to ask for money to receive over $200 million from his Trumpican base. That is an astonishing achievement in the history of scam annals. He has perfected the ability to raise enormous sums of money in small amounts without having to fleece few bigtime marks.

Finally, Goldberg announced as the editor, the purpose for the special issue.

Out of our conversations, and others like it, emerged the idea for the special issue you are now reading, what we have called “How to Stop a Civil War.” … (W)e worry that the ties that bind us are fraying at alarming speed ⸺ we are becoming contemptuous of each other in ways that are both dire and possibly irreversible.

If these words reflect Goldberg’s assessment of the situation in December 2019, then one can only imagine what he must think in December 2020. For now the coup to steal the election temporarily has been stopped by the Supreme Court. One should expect the final stand where the last ditch effort to overturn the election will be undertaken will be when the new House convenes to ratify the vote of the Electoral College. He still thinks he can overturn the election and has roughly 126 people who will help him. The fat lady still hasn’t sung yet.

REMAINING ARTICLES

This issue and my comments above were written prior to the peaceful political discourse on January 6 by patriots who deserve to be pardoned because the election was stolen. The articles in order of appearance in the “How to Stop a Civil War” issue consists of a series of dispatches, a nice military term to convey the war atmosphere.

Opening Argument: When Trump Goes – Somehow, sometime, he will leave office. Will our politics get better or worse? By David Frum.

Sketch: The Secessionist – Daniel Miller, the leader of the Texas Nationalist Movement, wants to divorce the state from the union once and for all. By Graeme Wood.

Part 1 On the forces that Pull Us Apart

“How America Ends: A Tectonic Demographic Shift is Under Way. Can the Country Hold Together,” by Yoni Appelbaum

“Left Behind: The Real Roots of the Urban/Rural Divide,” by Tara Westover in conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg.

“Why It Feels Like Everything Is Going Haywire: Social Media Rapidly Changed How We Communicate, in Ways the Destabilize Democracy: What Can We Do about That?” by Jonathan Haidt and Tobias Rose-Stockwell.

Too Much Democracy Is bad for Democracy: The Major Parties Have Ceded Unprecedented Power of Primary Voters. It’s a Radical Experiment – and It’s Failing,” by Jonathan Rauch and Ray La Raja.

Part 2 Appeals to Our Better Nature

“The Things We Can’t Face: What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk about Abortion,” by Caitlin Flanagan.

“What Would Mister Rogers Do?: I First Met Him 21 Years Ago, and Now Our Friendship Is the Subject of a new Movie. He’s never been More Revered — or More Misunderstood” by Tom Junod.

“Can this Marriage Be Saved? Applying the Techniques of Couples Counseling to Bring Reds and Blues Back Together Again,” by Andrew Ferguson.

Part 3 Reconciliation and Its Alternatives

“The Road from Serfdom: How Americans Can Become Citizens Again,” by Danielle Allen.

“The Enemy Within: Have We Taught Our Children the Principles of this Democracy Must Live By? Do We Even Remember those Principles Ourselves? by James Mattis.

“Against Reconciliation: The Gravest Danger to American Democracy Isn’t an Excess of Vitriol — It’s the False Promise of Civility,” by Adam Server.

There is much food for thought in these articles. I used a lot of yellow highlighter when reading them. A glance at these pre-January 6, pre abortion ruling, pre “the enemy within” suggests how easy it would be a write of series of blogs just dedicated to the articles in The Atlantic from nearly five years ago. They would provide an update now that the battle is engaged. However, the battle is not engaged.

GEORGE PACKER

George Packer contributed two articles in The Atlantic relevant to this issue.

“The Four Americas: Competing Visions of the Country’s Purpose and Meaning Are Tearing It Apart. Is Reconciliation Possible? (July/August 2021)

“Imagine the Worst: How to Head off the Next Insurrection,” (January/February 2022) the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.

BARTON GELLMAN

In the same anniversary issue, Barton Gellman wrote a piece which garnered widespread notice among the chattering class:

“January 6 Was Practice: Donald Trump Is Better Position to subvert an Election Now that He Was in 2020.”

MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE

Way back on President’s Day in 2023, acclaimed scholar Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted that we need a divorce. The time had come to separate red states from blue. “From the sick and disgusting woke culture issues shoved down our throats to the Democrat’s traitorous America Last polices, we are done.”

Peter Wehner responded on February 21, 2023, in an on-line piece in The Atlantic.

David French responded “Take Threats of ‘National Divorce’ Seriously,” (NYT March 6, 2023, print).

So now I have this folder of articles clamoring for attention. It should be possible to write more than a dozen blogs on the subjects of the looming Civil War and/or the divorce. Yet what would be the point? One concern, of course, is taking seriously these people as prognosticators. Perhaps authors should have their articles accompanied by a batting average.

But the topic now is a postmortem on the recent presidential election. At this point I don’t have time to be distracted. There are a plethora of blogs to be written about the election. This is only the first one.

New York Times Magazine, November 10, 2019, by Paul Sahre

Why Vote for Donald Trump?

November 4, 2024
by Peter Feinman

“Teaching, Anti-bullying Policies and Trump” was an op-ed piece in the Sunday paper in Westchester by Tony Monchinski, a local high school teacher. He states:

… the biggest issue I have with my fellow Queens native is that he’s a bully.

I have always located him in middle school as a seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb-aleck. Think of the pleasure he receives when he can act out in front of the class and say the words you are not supposed to say. Think of all the crass behaviors he exhibits.

Any of these behaviors exhibited by a student in my school would lead to disciplinary action and possible expulsion; any exhibited by a teacher would lead to an investigation, removal from the classroom, and probable termination of employment. All would violated my district’s anti-bullying policy.

Think about it. On the one had due to his deteriorating mental necessities you would take the car keys from a parent or grandparent who displayed these behaviors. On the other hand, such behaviors would not be tolerated in the classroom.

Trump has always been this way and always will be.

“When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself , I’m basically the same.”

Exactly.

In the book “The Toddler in Chief,” political scientist Daniel Drezner collect the over 1,000 instances in which Trump was described by those around him in terms befitting an impetuous child (Ezra Klein, “What’s Wrong with Trump?” NYT October 27, 2024, print). Klein then cites a few examples:

1. Deputy Chief of Staff Katie Walsh described working with the President as “trying to figure out what a child wants.

2. Steve Bannon, co-conspirator in the January 6 attempt to overthrow the government said, “I’m sick of being a wet nurse for a 71-year old.”

3. James Mattis and John Kelly “often described themselves like babysitters; they made a pact to never be overseas at the same time, lest Trump do something truly deranged.”

Klein observes that under pressure he loses control of the ability to inhibit himself.

That is why he lost the debate with Harris so decisively. When he is pressured, when he is emotional, he cannot stop himself. He cannot stop himself. He can’t inhibit himself.

The man cannot help himself. HE IS MISSING THE PART OF HIS MIND THAT TELLS HIM WHAT NOT TO SAY, WHAT NOT TO DO….. But he cannot control himself.

Exactly. Brain scans would show that the portions of the brain that would do that are missing. That is why a child psychologist should be one interviewed on the talk shows. There is the normal brain in adolescence that reflects the growing maturity of the child so that as an adult, he does know how to behave. Then there is the brain of the arrested development child who never matures into being a responsible adult. Go to a high school reunion and see if you cannot pick out the physical adult who still behaves like an immature child in middle school or high school.

For Klein, Trump’s age only makes things worse. Aging can make disinhibition worse.

The August 2020 edition of the journal Psychology and Aging was entirely devoted to research on how the ability to control our behavior appears, in many studies to decline as we get older.

Trump rambles for even longer on stage today. It is not a sign of his continued vigor.

I think it it’s the opposite. I think his inability to stop rambling on stage is evidence that what little capacity he once had to control himself is weakening.

The Arnold Palmer incident is right out of junior high school.

Donald Trump is not cognitively fit to be president.

Unfortunately the Constitutional requirement to be at least 35 years old only applies to physical years. It never occurred to the Founding Fathers that the president should be tested for mental acuity to demonstrate the mental necessities to function as an adult. All the focus now on the age of the president disqualifying him to act as president, focuses on the wrong age in Trump’s case. He never had the mental necessities in the first place. In his administration, there were guard rails, not always successful, to ensure the immature child did not go off the rails in the first place. But now it is taken for granted there would be no such guardrails in the second administration. The more they are needed as he continues to deteriorate, the less checks and balances on his personal behavior there will be.

THE MAGA BASE

Trump feeds off the energy of the MAGA base. He is even wistful because he knows this is his last hurrah. He will never run for president again. He would be a lame duck president from Day 1. Today, Monday, November 4, 2024, marks the end of the line for his campaign rallies. Yes, he would still make public appearances but he would not be campaigning for himself. Already the more he rambles and weaves right now, the more his audiences dwindle. They have seen the act before. They have heard his act before. They have read his tweets before.

And if he doesn’t win, the degeneration will be even worse. He will no longer be the center of attention except when he is in court and is advised by his lawyers to remain silent. Then at last peace will come to the shire. On the other hand, he could win and then all hell will break loose.

CONCLUSION

Why then should anyone vote for this immature child?

To return to Ezra Klein,

He is saying what many people want somebody to be saying. He’s saying what people are saying in private but often re not saying in public.

Trump is not an inauthentic candidate. He does not use algorithms to calculate what he is going to say. It is unlikely even knows where his mouth will take him during his rambling weave.

But there is something undeniably electric to watch someone unchained from the bundle of inhibitions the rest of us carry around.

He has no use for briefing books and position papers which he can’t read anyway.

“I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”

That same gut enables the con artist to connect with audiences in a way no other politician in the United States can do today. He is unique and it is not a talent that he can pass on to anyone. He knows what his audience wants and he knows how to exploit it. He can reaches audiences that no Republican has before and which Democrats are scrambling to retain with their more conventional candidate. If only Trump wasn’t an immature narcissistic criminal, he could be a powerful force for building a better tomorrow. But then he wouldn’t be Donald Trump.

He Lost By a Whisker So He Ate the Cat: A Second Debate Update

September 30, 2024
by Peter Feinman

The debate line that has been lost in the chaos.

The current presidential election cycle has been and continues to be an unusual one for many reasons. Both debates have been memorable. In the first debate, one candidate lost so badly he ended up withdrawing from the race. In the second debate, one candidate also lost but instead of acknowledging his humiliation, he claimed victory, and has no suffered no consequences for his defeat. If anything, he emerged stronger.

Many words have been spilled in the analysis of the second debate, but there is still much to learn from it.

1. PROJECT 25

Project 25 has received a great deal of attention. People have scoured its pages as a virtual blueprint for what the former President would do if he is restored to power. Many of the planks have become talking points for the Democrats as to why not to return the former President to the White House.

Sure enough, Project 25 became a debate point raised by the Democratic candidate. Sure enough also the Republican candidate was ready with a response. He claims not to have read Project 25 and refuses to be held accountable for its contents even though his own people compiled the blueprint.

However in this instance he is telling the truth, He has not read the 900+ pages of Project 25. What is being ignored is that he is not capable of reading the report. He lacks the mental necessities to read such a report. He could not read it if it were 90 pages. He may or may not be able to read the read the report if it were 9 pages triple-spaced large font but I will hold off judgment on that.

In the NYT book review section (Sunday, September 29, 2024 print) of At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House by H. R. McMaster, the reviewer attributes to McMaster the following insight:

Time and time again, Trump can’t seem to focus on briefings and responds to serious problems with inane suggestions.

McMaster observes how a 13-day trip to Asia tired him and stretched his patience — and that was seven years ago.

His limited attention span has been known for decades. In “He Wasn’t a Billionaire. He Just Played One on TV (NYT September 15, 2024, print), he was limited in his mental necessities two decades ago.

Several producers remember him completely losing focus when a woman he found attractive crossed his field of vision. He would accept only the shortest of briefings. Mr. [Dan] Gill [a senior brand integration producer] said he would often have no more than four minutes to brief Mr. Trump about the sponsor before taping began.

His current handlers undoubtedly performed yeomen work preparing debate binders for the candidate only to have their work undermined by the immature child with the emotional maturity of a child who decides to wing it.

His inability to read at an adult level is no fault of his. His brain simply is not wired that way. There is no surgery, no drugs, no therapy that can compensate for his inability to concentrate and read. If he were in school today, he would be considered “special.”

2. SIMPLE-MINDED

Along with his lack of reading skills is his simple-mindedness what he does hear or read. Something or someone is the greatest or the worst ever. The worst Secretary of State ever. The worst treaty ever. The worst presidential candidate ever. The worst president ever. The greatest president ever (except maybe for Lincoln.) No one has done for Black people than he has. Jews who not vote for him are traitors.

One day a grad student looking for a thesis topic will compile a list of all the greatest and worst ever usages by a person who can’t read and has limited knowledge of American history. It will be astounding to know how frequently the best of times, the worst of times, occurred precisely during this narrow window of time when he was running for president. The odds really are astronomical that so many extremes of the best and the worst could be so concentrated in time.

Now think about his answer to his favorite book in the Bible. He could not identify one. He probably does know the name of some of the books of the Bible. But if he should select one book to the exclusion of the other books, the follow-up question would be “Why?” At that point he would be at a complete and total loss to explain why he preferred one book out of the many he had to choose from. Try giving him a list of treaties, Secretaries of State, Vice Presidents, and Presidents and asking him to rank them. Even assuming he knew who they all were, he lacks mental necessities to differentiate them. The four presidents of Mount Rushmore probably are his limit.

3. SIZE MATTERS

Numerous people have commented on how the Democratic candidate baited the MAGA candidate during the debate. One example hearkened back to the first days of his presidency in 2017. There we learned not to believe our eyes but to believe the spin about the crowd size. How could Obama have had a bigger crowd!

Crowd sizes proved important in the 2020 campaign as well. At that point he cited his crowd sizes as proof of his lager vote totals. Naturally he offered no proof of the connection between crowd size and vote totals. It simple was something his simple-mind took for granted. If his Georgia crowds exceeded Biden’s in size then he must have won the state.

That limited correlation has taken a beating this time around. In this this election, it is the Democratic candidate who has had huge crowds. For the immature child with the emotional maturity of a three year this fact in the real world was more than he could handle. Instead he resorted to temper tantrums of childish nonsense. NOBODY ATTENDS HER RALLIES. SHE HAS TO PAY PEOPLE TO ATTEND. His rallies are the best and biggest rallies of all time. No one leaves early. This is the limit of his analytical skills. He literally cannot cope with reality except through gibberish and nonsensical lies.

4. TAYLOR SWIFT RETRIBUTION

At times the immature child with the emotional maturity of a three-year old must be drooling in anticipation over the divine retribution he will inflict on those who have opposed him. Most of the people are politicians. They know full well that Trump will unleash his Brandons on them just as he did on January 6 against Mike Pence. They know that the full weight of the government including the IRS, Department of Justice, and whatever committees he controls will be marshaled against them. No one has any illusions about the importance or revenge to the thin-skinned wounded child.

5. Haitians Eat Cats

Of all the words spoken during the debate, the ones that will be remembered most not only for this election cycle but for American history, it is the claim that illegal Haitian immigrants are eating the beloved pets of real Americans. Here we see just a glimpse of the chaos which can ensue when the immature child has the bully pulpit. A thoughtless phrase here, another one there, and suddenly towns that are minding their own business are sulked in the Trump maelstrom. One shudders to imagine what disruptions he will cause from out of nowhere if he is returned to power.

We see now that he spiraling out of control. His insults on the mental necessities of his opponent from birth crossed the red line even for the few remaining Republicans. No gag order can be placed on him for his wild accusations. Instead it is business as usual. The more he is forced to live in Earth 1, the more unrestrained he will become until he is constantly babbling nonsense.

Despite all this, the race remains neck and neck. There is no final straw that will break the Brandon back including open fealty to Putin. The best Harris can show for all the enthusiasm, all the volunteers, all the funding and all the joy is maybe at the national level she can eke out a 3% victory in the popular vote as one would expect from a generic Democrat following 2016 and 2020. That still leaves the battleground states with their voter suppression as the sites of World War I trench warfare in the weeks to come where the ground game may make the difference…. and the Trump Court is on standby to help push him over the top. At least this time everyone knows, Election Day is not the end but only the beginning of the next round of warfare.

ZOOM AND PROFESSIONAL POLITICAL WRESTLING ARENAS: A TALE OF TWO CAMPAIGNS

September 9, 2024
by Peter Feinman

Before Zoom there were teenagers on the telephone (Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. "Bye Bye Birdie, original Broadway production" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1960 - 1961)

The two presidential campaigns in 2024 have two different ways of communicating. One has used a heretofore unused form of communication taking advantage of changed technologies since COVID. The other employs the same venue he used in prior presidential elections.

PROFESSIONAL POLITICAL WRESTLING ARENA

For Trump, the standard mode of communication continues to be the professional political wrestling arena, a format that has been the subject of multiple blogs in the past. Here the seventh-grade-smart-aleck-dumb-aleck gets to act out to his heart’s content. For the immature child with the maturity of a three-year old, it is the perfect format.

He can say and do whatever he wants without reproach.
Everyone is two-dimensional or in his childish terms, the greatest ever or the worst ever.
His fights are rigged when they occur.
He gets to insult, defame, and besmirch people in vile, disgusting, racist, and sexist manner.

What’s not to like? His Magadoons and Brandons cheer him on.

And he can always use his own twitter account.

The Wharton school graduate even gets to call tariffs a tax on foreign nations and proudly proclaim that he will be the tariff president.

So what’s the problem?

As every musician knows, tours take a toll. Trump doesn’t have the mojo he once had in 2016. Eight years older is a long time for the aged politician.

He needs fresh material. Some performers can get away with only repeating past hits. It’s hard in the professional political arena. He might think he is running against Barack Obama or Crooked Hillary but the old chestnuts of “Show me your birth certificate” and “lock her up” no longer work. Even the “forever war” is stale.” His audience has heard for years about “carnage.” How many years can he prosper off his eve of destruction mantra?

STRESS

A new element to the mix is stress. Back on December 28, 2023, I wrote Rudy and the Donald: The Downward Spirals

We should not overlook the impact of stress on his life despite his “witch-hunt” bravado. While Biden may stumble now and then, Trump is the one whose mental necessities show signs of deterioration. His repeating of errors are not the signs of a “senior moment” or slip of the tongue. They are the signs of a loss of mental acuity, of a person who keeps thinking a deceased spouse is still alive or he still lives at home and not in a facility. Regardless of any normal deterioration in his mind, the constant stress of the legal cases even before a parade of Republicans start testifying against him will make Giuliani seem normal by comparison.

He is on a one-way track downhill. He can’t admit he was a failure in business. He can’t admit he was a crooked failure in business. He can’t admit he lost the election. He can’t admit he was the one who tried to steal the election. It is easier for some of his codefendants to reach plea deals. They still have a life to lead free of Trump. He has no such luxury. He is in this until the end because the alternative of facing and living the truth is a threat to entire life and self-identity. It’s no wonder the prospect of prison frightens him. One has to wonder then if it will be safe to leave him alone.

For months now, Anthony Scaramucci has predicted that the “stressed” out Trump over the indictments will drop out of race. Lately he has tempered his prediction about a pre-Iowa caucus withdrawal. The change was due to the slow pace of the cases. While it is possible he might go to jail for contempt of court in 2024, there is little likelihood that he will go to prison in 2024. Still one should not discount the impact of the constant stress due to the various cases. Think of how much he has to lose if he loses to Joe Biden again this coming November. Care to take bets on when he will start claiming rigged election this time around too?

The revival of various legal cases will only accelerate the stress. If he starts to believe that his losing the election, meaning “Delay, Delay, Delay,” ends in a little over two months then the stress will only magnify accordingly. Plus, what happens when his followers are forced to face that their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name admits that he lost the 2020 election? Could that admission become the October surprise of this election?

HAPPY WARRIOR ZOOM CALLS

Meanwhile there is a new technology on the campaign trail: the on-line zoom call. Even before the professional campaigning began, there was the amateur hour of the zoom call. Participants are in the comfort of their home and in the comfort of the clothes they wear at home. Prepared remarks are out. Interruptions by children and pets are in. It all seems so real.

The joyful upbeat mood of the post-Biden withdrawal continued in these calls. Thanks to modern technology, the number of participants skyrocketed. “Win with Black Women” went from 150-200 people at a weekly event to 44,000. These numbers pressed Zoom’s capacity the limit. After all, who wanted to anger White Dudes for Harris which eventually exceeded the cap of over 200,000?

These online calls were part of the irrational exuberance which swept through the Democratic Party following the withdrawal of Joe Biden from the Presidential pace. In the matter of mere moments the political dynamic shifted from Magadoons measuring the drapes in the Oval Office to we have ourselves a horse race.

The question then became with all the donations and volunteers, could that happy warrior mentality be sustained through the convention and afterwards when the campaign officially begins. It is too early to tell at this point but it is important to remember that being back in the ballgame is not the same as winning it. Normally Democrats win the popular vote in presidential elections. They did in 2016 by over 3 million and in 2020 by over 7 million. Putting the battleground states aside, a margin of 50-48% or thereabouts means Harris has not yet closed the deal even on the popular vote. With the change in the national demographics since 2020, one would expect a generic Democratic candidate to do better. Running neck and neck means she has not reached the level of a generic Democratic candidate.

And let’s not forget the Tom Bradly effect. It postulates that likely voters lie to pollsters so as not to appear racist. The result is a difference between what the polls show and how people actually vote. To compound that effect, there may be a gender discrepancy as well. We won’t know until after the votes are counted.

Finally, let’s not forget voter suppression. All the effort from the past four years may finally payoff this year with people who think they are eligible to vote finding out they are not. Again we will not know until after the votes are counted and certified.

Traditionally, Americans have been an optimistic people (Happy days are here again) and not a people of carnage. But these are not normal times. We will have a better sense of where things stand after the debate and possibly some looming judicial decisions.

If Biden Makes a Gaffe, How Will Trump Know?

June 26, 2024
by Peter Feinman

The Thrilla in Manila (Neil Leifer for Sports Illustrated)

The thrilla in Manila is upon us. Or the Devil and Daniel Webster. Or Williams Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow. Or Earth 1 versus Earth 2.

We are at point which tonight may determine the outcome of the American Presidential race. For all the talk about it being too early, it really is not since the campaign for the 2020 election never ended. For one contestant, it may be his last chance to show he belongs in the ring. For the other candidate whose home is the professional political wrestling arena, it may be another chance to show that the real world cannot touch him.

Let’s consider some of key points over the debate which may be obscured.

1. Joe Biden is not dead. That is a funny way to begin a description of the confrontation. It attests the success of his opponent and Foxhub in painting Biden as someone still at death’s door after five years. Nothing Biden does seems to shake this image so even if he is still standing after the metaphorical 15 rounds it will be explained away that he was drugged like a Russian athlete to over perform. It also attests the stark reality that Donald Trump controls the narrative and not the President of the United States

2. Donald Trump is an elite stander. I am still not sure what it means to be an elite stander but if Biden is standing too that will be explained away. On the other hand, this absurd comment provides an opening in the match should Biden want to take advantage of it.

Was Franklin Delano Roosevelt an elite stander?
Is Texas Governor Greg Abbott an elite stander?
Are the participants in the Special Olympics all elite standers?
What about the wounded veterans who may not be able to stand? Besides being losers and suckers do they also fail to measure up?
What about for people with disabilities in general?

Here we see the limits of the mental necessities of the seventh-grade smart-aleck-dumb-aleck. It’s a funny line unless you stop to think about it. Then it is simple-minded at best and an example of someone and his staff who lack the mental necessities for the White House due to their inability to think things through.

3. Donald Trump is always the dumbest person in the room except at a MAGA rally. Suppose Biden discusses his foreign policy actions and mentions a slew of countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and the Middle East. Then suppose he commits a gaffe in naming the country or its leader. How would Trump know? The usual way is denied him. Foxhub will have the opportunity to take Biden to task after the debate but will be unable to do so during the debate. This means the people who watch Foxhub will be able to laugh and laugh at the gaffe after it is spun to them. Meanwhile the people who watch CNN or MSNBC or who read the real morning papers will not. By that time, the Biden side will have the opportunity to issue a corrective. It won’t matter to MAGAs but it will to others.

4. Singing in the Shower – As everyone knows, in the shower, you are the world’s greatest singer. It is only when you leave the shower for the real world that the truth catches up with you. So as long as Trump is on Foxhub or in his professional political wrestling arena he is on safe grounds. He can say anything with fear or even awareness if what he is saying is true in the real world. However, he will not have that luxury in the CNN debate. No doubt he will do his best to transform the stage into an arena on Earth 2. But there will be no live audience to provide him the energy he needs to sustain himself. He will be muted if rambles on for too long. In short, the conditions of the debate are configured as best as is possible to keep Trump in the real world, a place where he is not very comfortable.

Think of his recent comments about Milwaukee. First, given his limited mental necessities, he is only capable of judging something in a strictly binary manner. It is either the greatest ever or the worst ever. The worst Secretary of State ever. The worst treaty ever. As if he has studied the history of the United States and can intelligibly make such an argument. He speaks in binary, apocalyptic terms about what would happen if various legal actions were taken. On the one hand the President should have immunity if he sends seal team 6 after his opponents. On the other hand, Biden is condemned for sending armed FBI agents to violate his home with orders to kill him. But there is no contradiction there because Biden is not the real president anyway.

Second, Milwaukee is a city, therefore it is carnage. What else do you need to know?

Facts are meaningless to Donald Trump and to MAGA, so if Biden decides to speak in facts, he should be aiming for the national audience and not waste his time trying to convince Trump to leave his alternate world for Earth 1.

The issue will be not only what happens in the debate but how it is spun afterwards. Think of January 6. People saw the insurrection live on TV as it was happening. People saw elected officials running for their lives. People heard Republicans condemn the actions and inactions of the President of the United States in fomenting the action.

Then what happened?

There were FBI plants?
There were Antifa agitators.
It was peaceful political protest.
They are hostages.
They will be pardoned.

See how the description changes. Have the number of people who think the election was stolen from Trump instead of him trying to steal the election changed in more than two years. Now Trump is a champion of freedom in the United States!

No matter how people have been convicted; no matter how people have lost their license; no matter how people are waiting for their day in court, nothing has had any impact on MAGAs. And nothing ever will.

So even if Biden holds his own and wins in the same way Nixon won the debate on radio while Kennedy won the same debate on television, what will change in the American electorate? We are a storytelling species and the fact is Earth 2 has a superior story told by a persistent and robust storyteller even if he does not have the facts on his side and his mental necessities are deteriorating.

The Lost Cause: A David Blight Perspective

January 28, 2024
by Peter Feinman

Yale historian David Blight has been in the news lately. Even he is surprised about the frequency of his cable news appearances. His increased visibility derives from two related by difference sources: The Lost Cause and Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment. In general terms, his expertise as an historian in the Reconstruction is what draws attention. But he muses at times about the need to be a lawyer, too. Either way, his “15 minutes in the sun” attests various adages about history not being dead and not in the past. There is a battle raging to control the past so those who call for the cutbacks or dissolution of history departments at the college and/graduate school level may wish to reconsider. For that matter the same applies to history in k-12 as well.

EUROPE IN 1989, AMERICA IN 2020, AND THE DEATH OF THE LOST CAUSE

This article from the New Yorker dated July 1, 2020, provides a snap shot into Blight’s thinking a little less than four years ago. The article begins with a vignette about his fallen Berlin Wall souvenir and the watching of Confederate monuments in the United States likewise being reduced to pieces. He calls those monuments “public vestiges of the Lost Cause tradition.” He raises the possibility that the summer of 2020 like autumn of 1989 “could mark the death of a specific vision on history.”

Blight advises caution: don’t celebrate too much. “The Lost Cause is one of the most deeply ingrained mythologies in American history.” He calls it a twisted version of history encouraging the revitalization of a vast system of oppression that can poison a civil society.

Some myths are benign as cultural markers. Others are rooted in lies so beguiling, so powerful as engines of resentment and political mobilization, that they can fill parade grounds in Nuremberg, or streets in Charlottesville, or rallies across the country.

The Lost Cause was bot about the preservation of slavery. The Confederacy was never truly defeated on the battlefields of glory. The Confederacy stood for civilization “in which both races thrived in their best ‘natural’ capacities.” Robert E. Lee was transformed into a godlike Christian leader and genius tactician who could only be defeated by overwhelming odds.

Blight goes to describe the ongoing development of the Lost Cause. There were:

The United Daughters of the Confederacy
The United Confederate Association
Ku Klux Klan
Jim Crow.

Monuments mushroomed across the Confederacy. Every town center and city square had one. The names of Confederate heroes adorned schools, streets, and parks. The Lost Cause had become a victory narrative where the South shall rise again.

Blight cites Jefferson Davis, the “ultimate sick soul.” Drawing on the 1279 memoir of Davis, Blight reports of some of the staples of the Lost Cause. Slavery was not the cause of the war. In fact slavery had been good for Africans where slavery already existed. Now they had been “’trained in the gentle arts of peace and order.’” They had “advanced from ‘unprofitable savages to millions of efficient Christian laborers.’”

Blight chooses to end the article optimistically:

But if this is to be our 1989, we must make the most of it. The whole world may be watching.

One might add, we are a city on a hill and the eyes of the world are upon us as the last best hope of earth.

CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY

Confederate Memorial Day, as the name suggests, is a holiday dedicated Confederates. In an article entitled “Engaging Toxic Nostalgia on Confederate Memorial Day” (History News Network, May 7, 2023), a somewhat shell shocked, Richard Brown PhD, senior executive editor for Religion at Rowman & Littlefield, described his close encounter of the third kind with Confederate Memorial Day.

Up ahead on the steps were clusters of Confederate Army reenactors, some wielding period rifles band nearby was blowing Dixie, and an unfurled battle flag of the Confederate States of America, roughly forty by sixty feet, was draped on the steps of the gold-domed Capitol building. We stopped at the traffic light on Gervais Street, next to a group of Black protesters. When the light changed, I turned to my daughter. She had witnessed Southern iconography during her college years in Richmond, living near Monument Avenue with its oversized statues of Confederate heroes, now vanquished. But even she was shell-shocked.

As Brown reports, Confederate Memorial Day continues to be a legal holiday in the state of South Carolina. Observed on May 10, it marks the anniversary of Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson’s death in 1863. With the passage of Act 80 in 1896, South Carolina recognized two legal holidays: May 10 for Stonewall Jackson, and January 19 for the birthday of Robert E. Lee. Every April, state offices in Mississippi and Alabama also shut down for their Confederate Memorial Days. Legislators and advocates in all three states trumpet “Heritage, Not Hate.”

For those of us who have a visceral objection to Confederate Memorial Day—who are appalled at not only commemorating but celebrating an economic and social system that oppressed a race for over two centuries—how should we engage a worldview that doesn’t see the harm of such celebrations, or that embraces the mythology of the Lost Cause?

“TRUMP’S ‘LOST CAUSE,’ A KIND OF GANGSTER CULT, WON’T GO AWAY” (LA Times, January 14, 2024)

Blight returned to the Lost Cause this year, this time in reference to Trump’s failed attempt to steal the election. In his description of the failed insurrection of January 6, Blight writes about the event:

For the next four to five hours, in the most recorded event in American history, the world watched as a new “lost cause” was born in violence and spectacular lies.

Blight writes that there have been three lost causes in modern history,

1. The Lost Cause of the Confederacy
2. Following their bloody defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, the French exhibited an intergenerational cultural need to avenge the loss. [Blight did not mention the Dreyfus Trial decades later.]
3. “Then, following Germany’s defeat in World War I, the Nazis gained traction by blaming Jews and leftists, who were depicted as ‘poisons’ in the blood of the body politic [a term Trump has now brought back when speaking of vermin immigrants.]

In a letter to The Atlantic (March 2023), Peter V Huisking writes:

Germans didn’t avoid their own “Lost Cause” movement by accident. At the end of World War II, the Allies set policies to ensure that there would be no tolerance for anything memorializing German military traditions or the Nazi Party. …

This established an environment that required the defeated Germany to face responsibility for what happened. The defeated American South never faced such a reckoning, and we still live with consequences.

Neither Confederates nor MAGAs have had to face such a reckoning.

Blight compares our “lost cause” today to a gangster cult. It is still early in the process. For example, eventually a parade of Republican witnesses will testify against him in criminal cases for his actions in instigating this failed insurrection attempt. But will the latest lost cause survive Trump?

Blight writes:

Lost causes can turn lies into common coin and forge deep and lasting myths. We are a long way from knowing how much staying power the Trumpian “lost cause” will have, regardless of whether he survives his criminal charges and the election campaign. What we do know is that we have already witnessed its formative years.

There is a lot riding on the presidential election this year. If Trump loses again despite voter suppression and against someone who was practically at death’s bed last time, the repercussions could be violent. On the other hand, Biden controls the military and police forces in the Capital, he knows Nikki Haley from Nancy Pelosi, the MAGA forces may be willing to talk the talk but not so much to walk the walk this time. They have seen what has happened to the people who participated in the failed attempt last time. They will see the unleashing of civil and criminal cases which have been delayed until after the election. They will have seen that the world has not come to an end in brutal carnage despite Trump’s wishful thinking.

And perhaps, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, they will be ready to get on with their lives especially if MAGA candidates don’t do so well again. Instead of a ongoing lost cause, we should also think about post-trumphatic stress disorder and how to treat scammed people who want to return to Earth 1. On the other hand, Trump could win and the Stolen Election will be enshrined in American history.

Presidents Are Not Above the Law: Our Lord and Savior Is

January 23, 2024
by Peter Feinman

The Greatest American President (LordsArt Trump Rushmore by Jon McNaughton)

Besides slavery, another way the Civil War has become part of the current political discourse is with the figure of Abraham Lincoln. In the Union, he is a revered figure. His Memorial at the nation’s capital has been the site of political gatherings, most famously the “I Have a Dream” march with Martin Luther King. He is renowned throughout the Union with schools, streets, parks, and cities named in his honor.

By contrast, in the Confederacy, Lincoln remains a forbidden person. The statues, parks, streets, named after Civil War figures are not named after him. When it comes to Lincoln we are not a “house divided” but two separate houses barely tied together. The social fabric that binds these two peoples grows weaker every day. One wonders how much longer the mystic chords will join the two parts before they are rendered asunder and the two separate peoples can each go their own way. In the meantime at least until the 2024 presidential election, we trudge on as if we will still be a single country a year from now when the President takes the oath of office in 2025.

TRUMP ON LINCOLN

When describing the Civil War, Trump brings an odd perspective to the discussion. The conflict was “so horrible, but so fascinating… [S]o many mistakes were made….That was a tough one for our country,” Trump said.

But then he reveals what really is important to him. “See, there was something I think could have been negotiated, to be honest with you. I think you could have negotiated that.” He later added, “Abraham Lincoln, of course, if he negotiated it, you probably wouldn’t even know who Abraham Lincoln was.”

In response Liz Cheney wrote on X: “Which part of the Civil War ‘could have been negotiated’? The slavery part? The secession part? Whether Lincoln should have preserved the Union?” She continued: “Question for members of the GOP — the party of Lincoln — who have endorsed Donald Trump: How can you possibly defend this?”

What is being overlooked here is that everything he says always is about him. To understand these comments one must put aside his preference for the Confederate side and racism and instead ask, “What’s in it for him with these derogatory comments about Lincoln? Remember after 9/11 Trump bragged that he now had the tallest building in lower Manhattan. If Lincoln had negotiated the war, we wouldn’t even know who Lincoln was. He would not be considered America’s greatest president. He would not be on Mount Rushmore.

Now we are getting to the heart of the Lincoln disparagement.

TRUMP ON RUSHMORE

According to South Dakota Republican Governor and non-Vice-Presidential candidate in 2020 Kristi Noem, she was told straight-faced in 2018 by the current President that his dream was to become the fifth face (“Mount Trumpmore? It’s the president’s ‘dream,’ Rep. Kristi Noem says,” Sioux Falls Argus Leader, April 24, 2018).

“I shook his hand, and I said, ‘Mr. President, you should come to South Dakota sometime. We have Mount Rushmore.’ And he goes, ‘Do you know it’s my dream to have my face on Mount Rushmore?’ I started laughing. He wasn’t laughing, so he was totally serious.”

Apparently she even gave him a miniature Rushmore with a fifth face on it! There is a certainly irony in this dream or nightmare. He actually had the opportunity to be a Mount Rushmore caliber president (Mount Rushmore Opportunity for a Little Little Boy: Does He Know It? June 5 2020). When one considers the coronavirus, economic collapse, George Floyd, and China, he has had abundant chances to display leadership on a heroic scale. If he had the mental necessities, cognitive skills, courage, and strength of character to rise to the occasion, he would qualify as a Mount Rushmore quality president. But how can a child in the body of an adult with the emotional maturity of a three-year old (per Mary Trump) ever be worthy of a 60 foot carving? (The Five Faces of Mount Rushmore August 10, 2020)

Just two months earlier, I had written the following Mount Rushmore Opportunity for a Little Little Boy: Does He Know It? June 5, 2020.

With America’s Third Civil War, the choice also was simple. The winning candidate (in 2016) made no attempt to be President of We the People. He made no attempt to be an e pluribus unum President. He saw that America was not a house divided but two houses. He did not divide America, he exploited the divisions which existed. The longtime pretend Democrat and Clinton supporter realized he had no future there just as he had none with the New York elitists whose approval he craved and never received. Instead he became a fake Republican, heard the call of Sarah Palin to take back the country from you know….those people, and answered the call. As long as Trumpicans think he is fighting for them against the terrorists, they will continue to accept him as their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name no matter what else happens. He is meeting expectations and still fighting as the battle is not yet over.

Obviously it is only because of Divine Providence, that at this moment of existential crisis, that our Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, is here as President of the United States. He saved the economy once, he will do it again. He saved the country from the coronavirus. He will take back the country for real Americans. Truly we are blessed that at this moment of existential crisis, we have a President equal to if not superior to Washington, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. And if you don’t believe me, just ask him.

For all his talk about having the greatest first year of a President ever,

For all his talk about having the greatest first two years of a President ever,

For all his talk about having done more for black Americans than any President except Lincoln,

He had a legitimate opportunity in the real world to become one of America’s greatest Presidents if only he knew it and was capable of rising to the occasion.

These words from 2020 are still relevant today.

He shares the Confederate disdain for New York elitists who look down on him.

He shares the Confederate disdain for Abraham Lincoln since he is America’s greatest president.

He agrees with the MAGA belief in him as their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name.

Now he stands revealed as the true savior who will reap divine retribution on the vermin and the disloyal RINOs, those who oppose him once he is back in the White House where he belongs. He is America’s greatest President. He belongs on Mount Rushmore.

TRUMP ON JESUS

Mount Rushmore is no longer sufficient of contain the ego of the immature child indicted former president. In his “So God made Trump” video, we now see him revealed in all his divine glory. The more his mental necessities deteriorate, the grander the self-image of who he is becomes. Now he stands revealed as the pretribulationists premillennial Savior (Mike Johnson’s Bible and America: Which Bible?) not that he knows any of those terms. As he vanquishes all within his party who would rise up against him and even his would-be foes jump on his band-wagon, we see the truth of who he is: Donald Trump is the Christ, the Savior of America. The day of retribution is coming.

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Rudy and the Donald: The Downward Spirals

December 28, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Soul mates, cell mates (Rose Hartman/Getty Images)

We have the opportunity to witness live the deterioration of the former America’s Mayor and the former American President. These two senior citizens approaching the ninth decade of their lives are putting on a degeneration display that is astonishing to behold. It also shows no sign of ending either.

RUDY GIULIANI

Many people have already commented on the decline of the former America’s Mayor. There is no point in rehashing what he was as a Federal attorney or as Mayor both before and after 9/11. There also is no point in rehashing his batting average of .000 as he scurried around the country trying one court after another to buy into the wishful thinking of the bogus evidence presented so the loser could steal the election and return to the White House. The images of hair dye dripping down his face or his press conference at the Four Seasons Total Landscaping parking lot will replace the images of him on 9/11 as the defining ones of his career.

What is important to note is that he is not capable of stopping his deterioration. The old adage about when you are in a hole stop digging does not seem to have registered in his brain. His conviction for the defamation Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss was no surprise. The amount of $148 million certainly was a shocker. While there is no chance of him paying that amount, the verdict can be parlayed into the criminal charges against him. His conviction there will mean time in prison. While there probably are 80-year-olds already in prison, there are probably even fewer who were first imprisoned as an 80-year old.

His language and mindset are what are important here. When he described the actions of Freeman and Moss on election night he was back in his glory days as Mayor waging a war against street crime. Only this time the stakes were much higher. Clearly he revels in the language he used to denounce them. He has no intention of apologizing to them or retracting his words. When he had the opportunity in court to present the supposed evidence against them, he chose at the last minute not to appear. That did not stop him outside of court from claiming he spoke the truth against Freeman and Moss and has no reason to apologize. In fact, he went on to malign them even after the case had concluded. That tirade simply means he can be subject to additional penalty.

So why is he acting this way? “Glory Days” by Bruce Springsteen is as good a place as any to start. Back on June 20, 2022, I wrote a blog Giuliani’s Indictment: Previewing the President’s, a sequence that is slowing becoming true. In that blog I cited Elaina Plott Calabro in her article from 2019 in The Atlantic:

Rudy Giuliani: ‘You Should Be Happy for Your Country That I Uncovered This’

President Trump’s personal attorney unleashes in a new phone call with The Atlantic while Trump allies turn on him.

Even among the president’s closest allies, Giuliani is now the subject of scorn. When I reached him by phone this morning, following House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff’s release of the full whistle-blower complaint at the center of the Ukraine scandal, he was, put simply, very angry.

“It is impossible that the whistle-blower is a hero and I’m not. And I will be the hero! These morons—when this is over, I will be the hero,” Giuliani told me.

“I’m not acting as a lawyer. I’m acting as someone who has devoted most of his life to straightening out government,” he continued, sounding out of breath. “Anything I did should be praised.”

Here you see the dilemma Giuliani faces. In his mind, he could still be the hero who is going to save the country just as he had been on 9/11. The stolen election fraud provided him with an opportunity to salvage his life. A court ruling, perhaps the first of many, takes that belief away from him. His stark choices are to admit his life was a lie or to continue wallowing in that lie. So far he has chosen the latter. Hence the continued deterioration by someone who is no longer capable of living in the real world. The ultimate moment of truth would be his imprisonment as a result of his criminal actions on behalf of The Donald. One has to wonder then if it will be safe to leave him alone.

DONALD TRUMP

Never admit defeat or that you lost. Trump is a few years behind Rudy. This is due to his ability to DELAY DELAY DELAY the criminal and civil proceedings against him. His hope, of course, is to run out the clock so he can have the federal charges against him dropped. That will not work in Georgia or Michigan or whichever other state charges him and/or his allies in the fake elector scheme. So the odds are there will at least be state trials where there are a parade of Republican witnesses testify against him. These fake elector schemes were in battleground states. In those much contested states there will be a daily barrage of charges, testimony that he will not have the opportunity to refute if he is not charged at all or charged separately.

At this point, he needs an army of lawyers to put out the fires which seem to be increasing and not snuffed out. Soon we will be hearing about the penalty related to his criminal business operations in New York. As with 9/11 for Giuliani, the image of The Donald as a successful businessman has been integral to his political success and his self-identity. Now he will be exposed as a business failure even when he cheated. That decision will be a blow to him personally.

I confess, I can’t keep track of all the trials both criminal and civil in the works against him. Despite all the attention on March 4 for his Insurrection trial, January looms as a busy month. There will be civil trials on the Insurrection by the Capitol police, 14^th Amendment rulings, and round 2 of the E. Jean Carroll civil case. The point is that there will always be something going on with some trial that demands his attention especially as he appeals every decision. He needs an army of lawyers to keep up.

Pity Poor Richard’s Pennsylvania Gazette

December 13, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Pity the Pennsylvania Gazette. It has been one step forward and two steps back. Normally an alumni publication such as this one serves as a proud showcase for what is going on at the University. There will be an editor’s page pumping up the contents to the publication. The President will have a column about whatever the President wants to write about. There will be news blurbs about what professors and sometimes students have accomplished along with notices of changes due to constructions and comings and goings in the administration and departments. Naturally, there will be sports coverage. Finally the accomplishments of alumns will be recognized in some way along with those who have passed away.

ONE STEP FORWARD

Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize this year for the research they have done that lead to the development of the mRNA Covid-19 vaccines. They have been the subject of previous blogs (If Journals Were Online, There Would be No Vaccine, January 3, 2022). It still strikes me as extraordinary that the collaboration grew out of a chance meeting at a copy machine many years ago. Now with all the advances which have occurred to say nothing of remote work, who is to say how many chance meetings at the office water cooler no longer happen. We are indeed fortunate that it did.

Obviously this development is one that the Pennsylvania Gazette can take pride in. Look at us. Look at what a great university we are. Look at how two of our own saved the lives of millions.

DONALD TRUMP

One would think at first glance that having a graduate become President of the United States also would be something to brag about. However such is not the case. To the best of my knowledge, he has not returned to his old stomping ground. Nor has he been invited to deliver the commencement address. In fact, one would be hard pressed to document his matriculation at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. It is more interesting to know how much did Fred Trump donate to the school if not openly or through one of his companies so his son would be admitted. And who wrote the papers and took the exams for the very stable genius who is the smartest person in the room? We will probably never know the answer to those questions.

So instead of shouting to the rafters about how one of ours became President that connection is scarcely acknowledged. There have been no analytical pieces on his economic or financial actions from the relevant Wharton professors and nothing from political science or the law school about his actions either. It is as if he doesn’t exist. The alumni magazine is supposed to be about the positive achievements of graduates and not about how many times one has been impeached or indicted or otherwise wreaked havoc with social fabric of the country. The history department takes a leadership role in study of early American history but has not taken one in how Trump threatens to destroy what has been achieved.

It is hard to imagine a school not taking pride in one of its own becoming President but that is exactly what has happened.

ANTISEMITISM

When a college president makes the front page of The New York Times either the news is very good or horrendous. On Sunday, December 10, 2023, the college president made the news right next to the article about Shohei Otani signing for $700 million dollars to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Which article would you read first?

The article reports the resignation of the recently arrived college president. It follows four days after an appearance before Congress on the topic of antisemitism on college campuses, specifically, the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Regardless of what you think of the USNWR rankings, these institutions represent the elitist schools.

The performance of the three female presidents new to the job went viral. Especially powerful was the questioning of Republican MAGA Elise Stefanik (NY), a once promising real Republican who went over to the dark side on behalf of Orange Jesus. Even Democrats, even liberal Democrats openly acknowledged the withering question posed by Stefanik about calling genocide of Jews as an example of bullying and harassment. Even she was not prepared for the tightly-wound lawyerly answers of the three once shining lights of their colleges. Those exchanges will take on a life of their own to be repeated and mocked endlessly for the rest of their lives and afterwards.

Since that time there have been behind-the scenes exposes on what was happening at the University of Pennsylvania. Apparently she was on somewhat shaky ground even prior to the showdown at the Capital.

ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT

Unlike The New York Times, The Pennsylvania Gazette has no such obligation to print all the news that’s fit to print about the college. The virtual absence of Donald Trump from its pages evidences that policy. However it is much easier to avoid dealing with the President of the United States then it is with the President of the University. It is difficult to see how the Gazette can ignore this story in its next issue but also hard to see how it will cover it. Investigative reporting is not its strong suit.

My guess is that the Gazette will outsource the reporting to professors. Fortunately by the time of the publication of the next issue, the resignation will already be yesterday’s news. Instead the focus will be on a search for a replacement. One may anticipate that each applicant will get the Stefanik question as a test of their ability to handle a crisis under fire. We will have to wait and see both as to how the next college president is chosen and how the official magazine chooses to report the news.

The State of the Republican Party

August 24, 2023
by Peter Feinman

Defining historical images for our era (NBC News)

One of the critical developments in the Republican debate was the admission by the longtime Democrat, Clinton supporter, and Cuomo bro was that he was not a Republican either … nor does he need to become one to get the nomination of the Republican Party.

One can understand why for tactical reasons, the front-runner chose not to participate in the Republican debate. There he would be simply one of nine. Instead he should be the center of attention. Therefore he chose to record an interview with former Fox opinion host Tucker Carlson and present it simultaneously on another media outlet in direct completion with the Republican debate. It is that extra in-your-face step that signifies that it is all about him and not the Republican Party. He does not need it anymore. He is not really a Republican anyway.

IT’S NOT 2016 ANYMORE

Who can forget way back in 2016, the rhythmic chant of “Lock her up! Lock her up! Lock her up!” about someone who had not even been indicted for anything … despite many, many, many hours of trying to so? Flash forward to 2023. Compare to the response by the candidates and the audience about supporting an indicted and convicted candidate. Now the mantra was hands raised (or almost raised), that of, of course, and impeached, indicted and convicted candidate would have their support.

What does this transformation mean for the Republic Party? Now it has been unleashed to defund the special counsel, remove the Fulton County district attorney, weaponize the Department of Justice to seek retribution after victory in 2024. In the meantime it will use all the power of the legislative bodies in the state and House on behalf of the longtime Democrat, Clinton supporter, and Cuomo bro.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY COMPOSITION

According to The New York Times, the Republican Party can be divided into six groups. One is the Moderate Establishment consisting of 14% of a party (that represents about 25% of the voting population). This group is home to the anti-Trumpers, Republicans who would not vote for Trump.

Think back to Georgia in 2020. Over 30,000 people voted for Republican candidates but left the presidential line blank So if one is looking for 11,780 votes, all one has to do is reach out to Republicans who will never vote for Trump. They would not necessarily vote for Joe Biden either. They are more likely to stay home or not vote for a presidential candidate if the nominee is an impeached, indicted, convicted, criminal dedicated on retribution (shades of Putin!) for 2020 and the subsequent criminal cases. It is unlikely that anything that happened in the debate or the recording is likely to cause them to reverse course and become MAGA.

To some degree, this group also represents the independent voters, especially the famous female suburban voter that the Republican Party has lost in recent elections. Again, what if anything that was said on Wednesday is likely to cause them to vote Republican. The Ohio voters rejected amending the Constitution which would have made it harder to end the abortion restrictions in the upcoming November election. That vote suggests that reddish states may go Democratic on this issue. Here is where abortion bans issue could be pivotal in 2024.

The second group identified in the analysis is traditional conservatives (26%) meaning pre-Trump Republicans. This group got their Supreme Court judges who now are wreaking havoc at the grassroots level over abortion. They got their tax cut to help rich people get richer. They support Ukraine and not Putin, immigration reform and not demonization, and morning in America over carnage. So while they were not MAGAs in the past, they are even less likely to be so in the future.

Again this is a group which might leave the presidential line blank in 2024 or stay at home. Here is where Bidenomics and a positive message about America’s future by the Democrats could produce positive results. After all, these people survived four years with Joe Biden and all the House Republicans have to show for their relentless war is Hunter Biden. Plus Trump could be knee deep in trials and convictions due to the testimony of actual Republicans by then. This group is even less likely to support Trump than in the past.

The third group powers the Party. The rightwing represents 26% of the Republicans. It consists of Fox, Newsmax, rightwing radio, the Freedom Caucus. With winner-take-all primaries, this group guarantees a Trump victory. They are loyal to him. They believe all his lies. They cough up money for all his scams. The election was stolen. The trials are just a witch hunt. They are happy to tithe so the billionaire does not have to spend his own money on elitist lawyers.

But there are limits. There are limits as to how much money they will actually fork over. And as is abundantly clear, there is a limit as to how many will man the barricades on behalf of their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his name. They have seen what happened and is happening to the January 6 insurrectionists. They did not turn out at all at any of the four arrests in response to the calls for them to do exactly that in cataclysmic terms. They will, however, still vote for Trump.

There is no way to get through to this group. They believe in apocalypse now. It is a religious belief. In the Scopes Trial, they prefer William Jennings Bryan. The challenge for the country will be what will these people do if Joe Biden wins again despite being practically dead? Even though they have worked themselves into such a lather, the call for rigged elections in 2024 will ring hollow given all voter suppression laws which have been enacted since 2020.

Still, this group is the base that nominates the candidate and which produces the lone wolfs, mentally ill or not, who make the threatening phone calls and occasionally do act violently.

The fourth group, the Blue Collar Populists (12%) is the one that paid the price for the hollowing out of the American manufacturing base. These were the overlooked flyover people the coastal elites disdained even as their communities disintegrated. On paper, this group could come back from the dark side provided the solid blue collar communities returned. If those industrial jobs with their strong sense of community, of belonging, of benefits, and security could be brought back the votes could follow, but that will take time. Here one would really need to hammer home the message that it is still morning in America and not carnage with our best days behind us. That would probably require a more dynamic and forceful leadership than the Democrats can provide.

The fifth group is the libertarian group (14%). Mainly what they want is to be left alone. They are not prime candidates to enlist in the MAGA insurrectionist army unless they feel threatened. As long as right wing media can cast any action by the Democrats as socialist, they are unreachable. Here is where it is important to provide them a choice instead of making something compulsory like masks. Ask them what compulsory program they would like to see ended, at least for them. Start with social security.

The sixth and final group is the newcomers (8%). One characteristic is their youth. They may have loans and feel overwhelmed by their prospects of living the American Dream. They are anti-woke.

How reflective of the Republican Party was the Fox audience for the debate? Of these six groups, which ones are the most likely to attend such an event? Gone are the days of three national networks dominating the news. Instead we have slice and dice audiences reaching a smaller and smaller percentage of the voting population. But it is one where one segment of the Republican Party makes the choice for the whole party while Team Normal remains trapped in Trumpland unable to return to the real world.

Donald Trump