If a Democrat is elected in 2020, that person should use all the powers of the office to demonstrate once and for all that the prion disease afflicting the Republicans now has reached terminal stage and that the GOP is a mad dog, snapping at phantoms in midair, and endangering the public health and welfare. Mitch McConnell should be made an object of anger and ridicule, and that work should come from the top. The mad dog is at the door.
I don't have to "understand" the people who cheer this maniacal prattle—even though that's not particularly hard. For the good of the country, their political power has to be crushed, repeatedly, election after election, until we are sure this mockery of democracy never happens again.
I've been asking people what they think about Washington Governor Jay Inslee for president for the last two years and mostly they say, "who?" Personally, I think that's a selling point. A well-known national profile isn't always such a good thing in presidential politics. (Ask Hillary Clinton ...)
I've followed his career with interest and people I know from the state admire his leadership. So, I'm glad to see that he's decided to enter the presidential fray and he's doing it in an interesting and important way:
What if a meteor were hurtling toward the Earth, about to kill millions and reshape life on the planet as we know it?
And what if the president, instead of doing anything to help, made it worse in just about every way, and called it a hoax (and any solutions a scam) instead of the very real, very clear disaster taking shape?
And what if all the Democrats running to beat him in the next election went on and on about how concerned they were and how it’s our most pressing problem—but none had ever done much more than talk about the problem, and for the most part only started doing that in just the past few years?
That’s where Jay Inslee thinks America is when it comes to climate change. And that’s why he’s going to run for president. The question is whether he can convince anyone else that he’s a big-enough player to be a serious candidate.
And the contest continues between the Orange Loser and Governor I Got Mine Fuck You for who can present the biggest "Moron or Motherfucking Liar?" question.
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) on Monday told President Donald Trump that a “culture of death,” “psychiatric drugs” and a lapse in morality are contributing to the increase in mass shootings in America.He also said guns are not to blame because “there have always been guns.”
SNIP
Monday was not the first time Bevin, a National Rifle Association-backed supporter of gun owners’ rights, has blamed mass shootings on cultural and moral issues, or on “psychiatric drugs.”Last month, after an armed student attacked a school in his state and killed two and injured 18, Bevin blamed violence in movies, video games and music lyrics for desensitizing young people to violence. During an interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” last week, Bevin made similar claims and said that since guns have been around for decades, blame shouldn’t be cast on weapons.SNIP
Oh, yes, America: This is your post-trump future. If you're wondering what could possibly be worse than the Orange Loser, watch Kentucky. That motherfucker is running for president, and we're fucking doomed.Kentucky is one of the top 10 states with the least restrictive gun laws, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The state does not require background checks for purchases, doesn’t license firearms owners and doesn’t regulate assault weapons.
No more celebrities, no more amateurs, no more reality-deniers.
Political Animal:
Then I finally read what Dahlia Lithwick wrote and all I could say was, “amen to that!”I loved Oprah’s Golden Globes speech on Sunday. It was mesmerizing, pitch perfect, and gave voice to many lifetimes of frustration and vindication with eloquence and a full authority she has earned. But I found the strange Facebook response of “Oprah 2020” weirdly discordant and disorienting. Oprah’s speech—in my hearing—wasn’t about why she needs to run for office. It was about why the rest of us need to do so, immediately.The dominant theme I heard was about giving voice to invisible people. It was the arc of the entire speech…What I heard in her speech wasn’t a bid to save us all, but rather a powerful charge to the young girls watching at home to tell their own stories, to fight for their own values, and to battle injustices with the certainty that they will be seen and heard……what Winfrey and Obama talk about is the limits of top-down power. It is one of the great sins of this celebrity age that we continue to misread this message as a call to turn anyone who tries to deliver it into our savior. When someone tells you “I alone can fix it,” you should run screaming for the emergency exits. When someone tells you to get off your ass and fix it yourself, you should think first about running for office yourself.Having watched these kinds of outbreaks come and go, I’ll guarantee you that all of the focus on whether or not Oprah will run for president will disappear in another day or two. What we could learn about this incident is that the media remains obsessed with the horse race of presidential politics and doesn’t seem capable of covering a story outside of that frame. By doing so, they create and affirm a narrative that what this country needs is a savior, which smacks of authoritarianism and is the opposite of democracy.Even more disturbing is when liberals follow the media down that rabbit hole and assume that the big story is about who is going to run for president in 2020. I agree with Lithwick, Oprah’s message last night was “a powerful charge to the young girls watching at home to tell their stories, to fight for their own values, and to battle injustices with the certainty that they will be seen and heard.” If they take her up on that, it will create a wave that will dwarf the story about who runs for president in the next cycle.Finally, before Oprah, there was another guy who gave powerful speeches that had nothing to do with running for political office, and yet managed to lead a movement that changed this country. The New Yorker remembers him this way today.
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