Category Archives: Random Blogging

When Ignorance Meets Arrogance

In Federalist No. 1, Alexander Hamilton wrote

It has been frequently remarked that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend for their political constitutions on accident and force.

Reflection and choice require something entirely absent from Trump, Musk and their respective clown shows: knowledge and understanding.

MAGA’s ferocious assault on knowledge, expertise, and factual communication has given us today’s constitutional crisis–a crisis that reflects not just the massive civic ignorance of the general population, but the arrogance of the White Christian Nationalists who can–thanks to the Internet–choose such “facts” as they want to believe. Of course, as Hamilton would tell us, choosing false facts is not “reflection,” and ignoring both inconvenient facts and laws does not facilitate rational choice.

There is a chasm between the world inhabited by people who are capable of recognizing the current coup and the credulous souls and MAGA cultists who combine profound and visible ignorance with a wholly unearned arrogance–who take the laughable pronouncements from Trump and Musk at face value.

In a recent Substack letter, Paul Krugman described that chasm. 

Here’s where we are as a nation right now:

1. We may be in the middle of a trade war. Or maybe not

2. We’re in the middle of a constitutional crisis. No maybe.

3. We may be in the midst of a sort of digital coup, which might as a side consequence cause large parts of the federal government to cease functioning at all.

The unifying theme here, I guess, is that the federal government has been taken over by bad people who also are stunningly ignorant.

Krugman referenced the “concessions” made by Mexico and Canada, in return for Trump backing off his ridiculous tariffs.  Neither country agreed to do anything it wasn’t already doing--indeed, as Heather Cox Richardson has noted–these “concessions” confirmed agreements previously reached with the Biden administration.

As Krugman wrote,

The U.S., on the other hand, agreed to crack down on weapons shipments to Mexico. Trump will spin this as a victory; low-information voters and some intimidated media outlets may go along with the lie. But basically America backed down.

So is Trump the classic bully who runs away when someone stands up to him? It definitely looks that way.

Let’s be clear, however: this isn’t a case of no harm, no foul. By making the tariff threat in the first place, Trump made it clear that America is no longer a nation that honors its agreements. By caving at the first sign of opposition, he also made himself look weak. China must be very pleased at how all this has played out.

And as I argued the other day, the now ever-present threat of tariffs will have a chilling effect on business planning, inhibiting economic integration and damaging manufacturing.

Krugman described Musk’s effort to abolish USAID (which the man-child called a “viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America,”) pointing out that Musk not only isn’t president — he isn’t even a government official. Trump’s approval is irrelevant: shutting down an agency established by Congress is both illegal and unconstitutional.  Only Congress can legally abolish it.

This isn’t about saving money–USAID is responsible for a tiny fraction of the federal budget, although few voters understand enough about the federal budget to recognize how small a portion it is. Krugman observes that “in Musk’s worldview the mere fact of trying to help people in need makes you a radical-left Marxist who hates America.” And helping people is what USAID does; it funds humanitarian programs around the world. It feeds, medicates and vaccinates people. It saves lives.

Its termination–or even a pause–will cause many deaths.

And how many voters understand the enormity of the threat posed by the takeover of the Treasury’s computers by Musk’s interns?

Those systems control all federal payments, from grants to nonprofits to Social Security checks to salaries of federal workers. The potential for mischief is immense. 

Imagine that you’re a federal contractor who has made campaign donations to Democrats; suddenly the government stops paying what it owes you and brushes off inquiries by saying that they’re working on the problem. Or you’re a federal employee who, according to somebody in your office who has a personal grievance, has expressed sympathy for DEI; somehow your regularly scheduled salary payments stop being deposited into your bank account. Or even imagine that you’re a retiree who canvassed for Kamala Harris, and for some reason your checks from Social Security stop coming.

Don’t say they wouldn’t do such things. We’ve seen these people in action, and of course they would if they could.

As I type these words, America is in thrall to people who disregard the law, disregard court orders to stop, and whose arrogance deprives them of any understanding of the immense and long-lasting harm they are doing, as they play to the cheers of an equally ignorant cult.

Instead of “reflection and choice,” America is submitting to “accident and force.” And the rest of the world is watching.

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Bigotry Unbounded

There is no longer any way to mask what MAGA is all about: Christian Nationalism, White Supremacy and the “othering” of anyone who isn’t a White “Christian” male. The persistent attacks on the Constitution are efforts to overcome legal impediments to the goal of returning White “Christian” men to social dominance. 

The evidence is everywhere.

The new Secretary of Defense, the unreconstructed (and thoroughly unqualified) Pete Hegseth, has ordered the military  to suspend all observances and/or recognition of the following holidays: Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday, Holocaust Remembrance Day, Black History Month, Juneteenth, Women’s Equality Day, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Pride Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Asian American Pacific Islander Awareness Month, and American Indian Heritage Month.

He has also indicated his desire to revert military installations to their former Confederate names.

Incoming MAGA officials have wasted no time before eliminating all DEI–diversity, equity and inclusion–programs. Trump’s fire hose of Executive Orders has been matched in red states like Indiana, where incoming Governor Braun undoubtedly delighted his Christian Nationalist running mate Micah Beckwith by ridding Indiana government of any DEI efforts to combat years of discriminatory practices.

Some DEI efforts have arguably gone too far toward what we used to call “political correctness,” and research has suggested that they have been relatively unsuccessful in erasing bias. But it is impossible to ignore the message intentionally sent by their wholesale erasure.

My Christian friends (including several in the clergy) tell me that “Christian Nationalism” is many things, but Christian isn’t one of them. Wikipedia agrees.

Christian nationalism has been linked to prejudice towards minority groups. Christian nationalism has been loosely defined as a belief that “celebrate[s] and privilege[s] the sacred history, liberty, and rightful rule of white conservatives”.  Christian nationalism prioritizes an ethno-cultural, ethno-religious, and ethno-nationalist framing around fear of “the other”, those being immigrants, racial, and sexual minorities. Studies have associated Christian nationalism with xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, political tolerance of racists, opposition to interracial unions, support for gun rights, pronatalism, and restricting the civil rights of those who fail to conform to traditional ideals of whiteness, citizenship, and Protestantism. The Christian nationalist belief system includes elements of patriarchy, white supremacy, nativism, and heteronormativity.  It has been associated with a “conquest narrative”, premillennial apocalypticism, and of frequent “rhetoric of blood, specifically, of blood sacrifice to an angry God”. 

MAGA evidences all of those elements.

Trump’s intemperate rage against immigration has always been directed against Black and Brown immigrants–those from “shithole” countries. Despite his rhetoric about expelling “criminal” immigrants, the recent ICE raids have swept up  undocumented people who had never committed any crime and people who are U.S. citizens.

MAGA’s war on women is in high gear. Christian Nationalists are determined to strip us of autonomy over our own bodies, and return us to a status subservient to–and ultimately dependent upon– males Having achieved their goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, they are now coming for birth control. In several states, Republican lawmakers are pushing to restrict access to birth control methods they claim are “really” abortifacients.

The escalating attacks on trans youth are part and parcel of MAGA homophobia. Given the broader culture’s about-face on LGBTQ rights generally, MAGA bigots have thus far focused on the tiny group of trans individuals who are less well understood.

And who can forget the rioters in Charlottesville– described as “fine people” by Donald Trump–who chanted “Jews will not replace us”? Or efforts to keep all Muslims out of the country?

Any and all efforts to move the American public beyond bigotry are met with claims that efforts to eradicate discrimination against any minority group really amounts to discrimination against White Christian men, and a retreat from “meritocracy.” Trump even blamed “DEI hires” for the recent plane crash–presumably, because “DEI hires” would be less competent than the pathetic assortment of unqualified clowns he has nominated.

Hegseth is an excellent example.

Lloyd Austin, Biden’s Secretary of Defense– a Black man– had a distinguished 41-year career in the U.S. Army, retiring as a four-star general. He held key positions, including Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, Commander of United States Forces – Iraq, and Commander of United States Central Command (CENTCOM). He was awarded the Silver Star for valor. Following his retirement from the military in 2016, he served on the boards of several companies, including Raytheon Technologies, Nucor, and Tenet Healthcare. 

Hegseth did serve briefly in the Army. He subsequently was fired from two nonprofit organizations for mismanagement, and became a Fox News host. Aside from those “accomplishments,” he faced credible accusations about extreme drunkenness and wife-beating. He also reportedly sports White Supremacist tattoos.

But hey! He’s a White “Christian” male, so obviously superior to the Black guy.

Welcome to MAGA world.

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White Sheets And Red Hats

There is no longer any way to pretend that the MAGA movement is not all about racism. The only difference between Trump and a Grand Dragon is that the white sheet has been exchanged for a red hat. (KKK members at least understood that they should hide their faces; MAGA’s racists are “out and proud.”)

Spineless fellow-travelers in the GOP can no longer pretend that clear signs of bigotry are being “misinterpreted”– that Nazi salutes are just signs of exuberance. Trump has removed any ambiguity those quislings might hide behind.

Trump’s Executive orders attacked diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, ordered the Justice Department to stop civil rights prosecutions already in progress and to cease any investigations of racist discrimination currently underway. As part of that purge of diversity programs, he ordered federal workers to report colleagues who keep such programs alive and  threatened those who don’t comply. In a related order, Trump revoked a 60-year-old rule banning discrimination at federal contractors.

Even his assault on the Department of Education is motivated by the fact that it investigates civil rights complaints at K-12 schools and higher education institutions.

Robert Hubbell has noted a particularly heartless coda to Trump’s effort to make bigotry great again:

Trump expanded “DEI” to include an “A” (for “accessibility”)—apparently indicating an attempt to root out efforts to expand the representation of disabled individuals protected by the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). See Mother Jones, Trump Shuts Down Diversity Programs Across Government.

The New York Times has reported that Trump’s Justice Department has not only halted new civil rights investigations, but has also signaled that it might back out of agreements with local police departments to address misconduct–sending a clear message that police officers accused of unnecessary violence against minority citizens are unlikely to face any penalties.

Hubbell also reported the contents of chilling internal memos:

Internal memos at federal agencies announced the immediate abolition of “DEIA” in ominous language that suggested a police state. The memos said,

The Department [AGENCY” NAME] is taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.

These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.

We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language. If you are aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024, to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies, please report all facts and circumstances to [omitted email address] within 10 days.

There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information. However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences.

Worse, the email threatens federal employees with punishment if they fail to “snitch” on other federal workers who fail to comply with vague, retrospective regulations designed to sniff out alleged “underground efforts” to promote diversity. The analog to Nazi Germany is direct. No similes or metaphors are needed. The memo is a complete one-to-one mapping onto the tactics of Hitler’s SS.

Republican assaults on the very concept of fairness and non-discrimination aren’t limited to the federal government. Here in deep-Red Indiana (former headquarters of the KKK), a bill working its way through the General Assembly would ban diversity, equity and inclusion in state agencies, educational institutions and any organization that receives money from the state.

Under SB 235, DEI’s definition includes social justice, systemic oppression and antiracism. And it bans taking positions on those issues. It also limits training related to race, sex, color, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation. And it bans “influencing the composition” of employees related to race, sex, color or ethnicity.

Give the GOP credit for “coming out.” MAGA has always been racist and White Christian Nationalist to the core– an effort to reclaim social and legal dominance for straight White Christian males. Pundits who attribute Trump’s (slim) electoral victory to Democratic messaging or Biden policies simply refuse to see the GOP elephant in the room: Kamala Harris was defeated by the deeply-rooted racism and misogyny of far too many American voters.

There is no longer any intellectually honest way to avoid recognizing and naming what really motivates these people. And no way for those of us who don’t share those hatreds to escape the clear moral imperative to resist, speak truth to power, and call MAGA what it so obviously is. 

We are either on the side of Episcopal Bishop Budde or the Red Hats. There is no middle ground.

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Loud And Clear

There was no missing the chilling messages delivered by Trump and his supporters at his Inauguration and immediately after, through his Executive Orders.

There’s obviously a great deal that could be said about most of those vindictive and mean-spirited Executive Orders, several of which were of dubious legality. (Overturning Biden’s order reducing the cost of insulin for those on Medicare or Medicaid seemed particularly egregious–surely many of the beneficiaries of that measure are among his voters. But making Big Pharma happy evidently took precedence over Trump’s non-existent concern for the “little people.”)

I will leave discussion of most of these acts of petulance for others to discuss, because most of them were unrelated to the major message conveyed by Elon Musk’s “heil Hitler” salute and Trump’s pardon of the January 6th insurrectionists. The incoming administration is no longer bothering to hide what most of us already knew was the motivating force behind MAGA–racism and general hatred of the Other. After all, the movement has no policy agenda, no coherent ideology–it’s all racism and White Christian nationalism.

The pathetic efforts to excuse Musk’s Nazi salutes (note the “s”–he gave it not once but twice) brought to mind Timothy Snyder’s warning in his book On Tyranny about people who acquiesce to tyrants in advance. I’ve never considered the Anti-Defamation League a particularly effective organization, but the feeble attempt by its spokespersons to suggest that the gesture was somehow an excess of “enthusiasm” should tell us just how feckless it really is. That pathetic effort to ingratiate the organization with the coming administration rang hollow to anyone who saw the videos of Musk rendering that salute (not to mention anyone who has watched him turn Twitter into a Nazi-apologetic site, or noted his recent endorsement of the German far-right.)

Of course, the salute itself pales before the message sent by Trump’s pardons and commutations of the criminals who participated in the January 6th insurrection. As my youngest son said, it was a loud and clear call to Trump’s Brownshirts, a promise that–no matter what they do on his behalf, no matter what heads they crack, what laws they break, what American principles they deficate on–he’ll have their back. Like Trump himself, they will evade any real accountability.

These “patriots” destroyed government property. They assaulted–and killed–law enforcement officers. Those in prison had been found guilty of sedition by judges and by juries of their peers. A significant number had pled guilty, admitting to the charges of serious lawbreaking.

Pardoning people who were willing to jettison their country’s principles and the rule of law for their “dear leader” gives the whole game away.

There were plenty of related messages sent via those Executive Orders. The assault on the Department of Justice, for example, was notable. But none of those other moves was as obvious and horrifying as the explicit approval of violence if it was committed on Trump’s behalf.

Anyone who actually listened to what Trump was preaching to the MAGA mobs already understood that the movement was all–and only–about “recapturing” America for straight White “Christian” men. It was–and is–about fear and hatred of the Other: brown and Black people, Jews, Muslims, Asians, Gays…the vicious anti-immigrant sentiment that Trump rode to the White House has always focused solely on dark-skinned immigrants. Efforts to paint Trump supporters as folks angry about inflation or the economy deliberately ignore the hysteria over “woke-ism” and DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion). It isn’t just coincidental that another of those Executive Orders erased diversity training and all governmental DEI programs.

There is no way to put lipstick on this particular pig. There’s also nothing to be gained by “playing nice” with the people who are just fine–indeed, ecstatic– with all of this. The rest of us need to face up to the fact that America has just installed an “out and proud” fascist government, filled with people who no longer find it necessary to pretend otherwise.

It not only can happen here…it is happening. And the worst thing we can do is emulate the “good Germans” who turned their heads and pretended not to see.

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And So It Begins…

During Inauguration events, Elon Musk gave Trump the Nazi salute. There’s no evading the reality of what we face.

Yesterday, I participated in a rally to kick off local resistance to an administration I would once have considered unthinkable. The rally was organized by Hoosiers4Democracy, and cosponsored by ACLU Indiana, ReCenter Indiana, Common Cause Indiana, Women4Change Indiana, AAUW Indiana, and the League of Women Voters Indiana. It was enthusiastically supported by several local media organizations, including the Indiana Citizen.

The purpose of the event was to offer people an alternative to television coverage of the Inauguration, and to allow dispirited citizens an opportunity to interact with other Hoosiers who share their determination to protect the America we love and support from the coming fascist onslaughts, both state and national.

I had hoped that a hundred or so determined souls would turn out, but approximately 500 people filled the sanctuary at Indianapolis’ Broadway United Methodist Church (even the Mayor attended). There was wonderful, uplifting music. There were inspiring speeches. There was a feeling of community and resolve. It was great.

I was honored to deliver a few preliminary remarks. I’m sharing them below. (And speaking of sharing, if anyone reading this was in attendance, I’d welcome your reactions.)

_____________

America’s original motto was e pluribus unum: out of the many, one. It’s a motto many of us embrace, but it also raises a question that Doctor King addressed: what is the nature of unity in a radically diverse society?  What defines the community we aspire to join?  How do dramatically different people live peacefully and productively together? How do we build an overarching community that welcomes everyone while still honoring and respecting our differences?

I think the answer lies in what has been called America’s “civic religion”—our allegiance to the overarching principles embodied in America’s constituent documents—values that are absolutely central to what I call the American Idea. Those values are what motivate the cosponsors of this event, and numerous other organizations—like the aptly named “Indiana Citizen”—that are now preparing to defend them. Those values will be under attack by an administration that one pundit has described as “an affront to the very idea of America.”

In 2004, I wrote a column in which I listed what I saw as the values that define us as Americans– principles that infuse the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and that are absolutely central to the America most of us inhabit. We are here today to honor and reclaim those principles and values, at a time when too many voters and political figures have abandoned them.

What are they? What do “real” Americans believe?

Americans believe in justice and civil liberties—in equal treatment and fair play for all citizens, whether or not we agree with them or like them or approve of their life choices.

We believe that no one is above the law—and that includes those who run our government.

We believe that dissent can be the highest form of patriotism. Mark Twain once wrote that patriots always support their country– and support their government when it deserves it. People who care about America enough to speak out against policies they believe to be wrong or anti-American or corrupt aren’t just exercising their rights as citizens, they are discharging a sacred civic responsibility.

We believe that “wedge issues”– playing to people’s fears and prejudices and marginalizing or demonizing any minority in the pursuit of political advantage– is un-American and immoral.

We believe passionately in what one pundit has called “critical intelligence, tolerance, respect for evidence, and a regard for science.”

We believe, to use the language of the nation’s Founders, in “a decent respect for the opinions of mankind” (even non-American mankind).

We believe in the true heartland of this country, which is anywhere where people struggle to provide for their families, dig deep into their pockets to help the less fortunate, and understand their religions to require goodwill and loving kindness rather than cruelty, nastiness or cultural dominance.

And we really do believe that the way you play the game is more important, in the end, than whether you win or lose. If the Bill of Rights stands for anything, it stands for the proposition that the ends don’t justify the means.

Today we honor Martin Luther King, who reminded us that—despite the fact that we have too often failed to live up to those aspirations—it is fidelity to those values that REALLY makes America great.

Those of us who are here today intend to reclaim those values and rededicate ourselves to their realization. We are here to pledge our efforts to rebuild an America that works to embody and protect the American Idea. And we are also here to send a message to those who ignore and dishonor the American Idea: we will resist your assaults with every fiber of our beings.

Thank you all for coming to pledge allegiance to the American Idea on this cold January day, and please help me welcome the wonderful clergy who are joining us today: Quaker Pastor Phil Gulley; Rabbi Aaron Spiegel; and Reverend David Greene.

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