Let’s say Donny actually leaves the White House and at his age there maybe another such tool lurking but will the Dems, the status quo Dems, help create the next horrific Donny?
Now there is a good question….and it needs asking and more important it needs an answer.
This is an interesting look by David Sirota….
When I look back on all of my work over the last 30 years, one of the projects I’m most proud of is Meltdown, an audio series I did in 2021 with acclaimed director Alex Gibney that reveals the untold story of how Obama-era Democrats turning promises of economic hope and change into more of the same created the backlash conditions for the rise of Donald Trump.
It is a miracle Meltdown ever got made, because calling its tale “untold” is an understatement. The story of Obama’s 2008 victory concluding with Trump’s 2016 win involves a sequence of economic facts and events that have been suppressed, shadowbanned, memory-holed, and censored from America’s political conversation. This is particularly true in media outlets that serve liberals, who seek comfort in the idea that Trump is an anomaly rather than a symptom of something their own political party participated in creating.
Every now and again, there are attempts to warn about this perpetual doom loop. Gibney and I did so ourselves after Meltdown debuted in the pages of Rolling Stone, where we cautioned against Democrats coming into office promising big New Deal-style economic changes, then mostly delivering only for their big donors. We warned that such a bait-and-switch would result in the inevitable backlash from disillusioned voters who would ignore syrupy odes to restoring democratic “norms” and decide once again to vote for a Joker-style candidate like Trump promising to blow up the entire system.
The piece went viral, but the message went largely unheard amid Democratic politicians and pundits insinuating that voters were insufficiently grateful for Joe Biden’s allegedly wonderful economy.
Fast forward five years and we are on the verge of the 2028 Democratic presidential primaries. For the most part, Democrats and their media outlets are still soothing themselves with the fraudulent story of Trump as an anomaly rather than a symptom and still promoting the politics of restoration rather than transformation. Indeed, the over-the-top celebration of Barack Obama’s new $800 million monument to himself was an example of this desperate pining for a return to a pre-Trump normal — even though that “normal” was what created Trump in the first place, and even though restoring such a “normal” could create the conditions for an even worse Trump in the future.
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-status-quo-democrats-could-create-another-trump/
Interesting if not a bit terrifying….but do you think Sirota is on to something?
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
IMO, Sirota is spot-on. The Obama presidency was indeed a betrayal of its own “Hope and Change” campaign rhetoric. Democratic politicians who deceive their voters like that will be remembered. It’s happening to turncoat Fetterman in Pennsylvania right now. During Obama’s second term, he put one of my state’s U.S. Senators – Patty Murray – to lead his sickening Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal which would’ve subordinated U.S. law under corporate rule. Murray received such a hostile backlash from her voters (including myself) that she begged Obama to lift that responsibility from her shoulders (which he did). Fortunately, that trade bill was defeated.
The only caveat to Sirota’s editorial is something you chuq have pointed out many times- i.e. that the betrayal by the Democratic Party began long before Obama.
Robert I agree I was never a fan of Obama….he as well as all Dems allowed the corporate thugs to decide our fate. chuq
I think the US Dems are in danger of creating a ‘Trump-Lite’ opposition candidate, in the hope of attracting some of the MAGA voters and Trump loyalists come next election. Someone who will appeal to the masses, and is unlikely to be anything resembling a socialist.
Best wishes, Pete.
Pete this whole scenario is scary….I will be watching the midterms this could give me a little insight. chuq
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Democratic party as a whole over the last few years and it has been utterly ineffectual at accomplishing anything meaningful for decades now. Clinton was an absolute fiasco. We might as well have elected one of the Bushes again. Obama… Everyone was so amazed at a Black man winning the presidency that they seem to ignore the fact that he accomplished absolutely nothing of any real importance during his administration. Yes, he got the ACA passed but that is, frankly, little more than a joke that has done little or nothing to fix the problem of a lack of health care for a huge number of people in this country. One could even argue that the ACA is at least partly responsible for the rapid and extreme rise in health care costs for those of us who don’t have access to the ACA market places. In every other case, Obama accomplished absolutely nothing. He did nothing to fix the problems with Social Security. he did nothing to fix the problems of homelessness. He did nothing to fix the problem of the proliferation of military style weapons in private hands. He did othing to fix the problem of the insane amount of money being pumped into the black hole that is the US military industrial complex. He did nothing to attempt to fix the poverty issues we have. His administration actually deported more immigrants than Trump’s first administration did. He got us more deeply and catastrophically involved in Afghanistan. He got 1,752 US soldiers killed in that fiasco during his administration and ultimately for no good reason.
The Dems have totally lost touch with the real world almost as badly as the GOP has. Over at the DNC every single person in the organization, from Martin on down, should be fired
I am pleased to find so many readers that I agree with on Obama….when I point out why I feel this way my daughter gets pissed at me she was a staunch supporter….
There was a little ray of hope when Hogg was on the DNC but the old boys made sure to rid themselves of anyone that had the best interest of the country at heart. chuq
Well I guess, for one reason or another, we could crucify every president who has ever held he office– but I am more interested in making it from day to day in an ever more complex social order in turbulent times such as we have now.
If not checked it will get worse….and it will be us that gets crucified. chuq
You’re right, of course, John. It’s easier to find a scapegoat to blame and complain about than it is to try to actually fix the real problem. And to be completely fair, the real problem here isn’t the president, any president. Under the constitution the office of the president actually has very little real power. It is the Congress that defines what powers the president has outside of the constitution, and for decades now the Congress has been delegating what should be its sole authority to the office of the president in order to avoid having to make difficult decisions. And in the case of Trump, allowing him to usurp the authority that should be Congress’s alone because they’re afraid of the political repurcussions of defying him.
All true..almost like opposite sides of the same coin. Big money is really the ruling class with all the power. Always have been and I can’t imagine how that will ever change.
Yep whenever I debate people I point out that the two parties are conservative and ultra-conservative and that is why nothing gets done. chuq