Will you still get fringe benefits, Mr. Bovino?
Draft Dodger-in-Chief
Please Read This
We had a bit over 10” of snow all day on Sunday here in NW Washington, DC. It’s dense and I cleaned some of it on Sunday evening and yesterday. But, I hired someone to do the difficult part in front and back of the house involving slippery stairs.
He just arrived and so, I’ll be in and out of the diary over the next hour or two. I will, as usual, post some more editorial cartoons.
- 7:57 pm EST — Scroll down just above the diary poll to see manual updates.
Thanks for your support.
As a long-time student of international relations, I have always felt that one of the strongest aspects of this country is that civil society — and, not the government — ultimately holds the upper hand and is stronger. This basic concept is at the heart of what makes for a healthy democratic society.
Presidents can send troops abroad for illegal wars and wreak havoc on innocent civilians, uproot them, kill them in droves, cause regional instability, all in violation of international laws, but civil society — students, activists, teachers, members of the clergy, community leaders, NGO’s, labor unions, and average Americans — can rise, organize, and force the government to reverse course. Domestically, we’ve seen it just in the past day or two that, as horrendous as the price has been — two American citizens were shot dead in cold blood this month — the brave people of Minnesota basically echoed what Howard Beale (Peter Finch) famously said in the movie, Network, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” (YouTube link)
It shouldn’t take the killing of innocent American citizens exercising their constitutional rights to affect a change in policy and tactics that are overwhelmingly rejected by a majority of Americans.
What can be done to bring about change? A thought-provoking article in the New York Review of Books (arguably the best English-language magazine in this country dealing with society, art, culture, politics, etc.) provides some guidelines. The gist of this article is that while “Technical Politics” — one of winning elections — is desirable, that in itself isn’t sufficient. The Democratic Party needs the “Politics of Raw Power” — enlisting different factions of civil society to join it — to counter and defeat the worst of Republican plans to turn this country into a one-party state. An outside movement, merged with the best the Democratic Party can muster, can be an unstoppable force.
This will require hard work by all of us, and as has been abundantly clear over the past couple of days, nothing lasts forever. As Markos wrote in a front-page post yesterday, Trump knows that he is in serious political trouble moving forward and is, forced by protests, changing course. He’s not doing it willingly — Why Trump is finally waving a white flag in Minnesota.
For this NYRB article, author Joseph O’Neill was interviewed by Daniel Drake.
Daniel Drake:As for the opposition party, last February you wrote that “Democrats have disgraced themselves. They’ve looked terrified and defeated and confused.” How much has the intervening year changed that assessment? How can the party mobilize the manifest political energy of, say, the “Mamdani coalition,” or, more importantly, the tens of thousands of people who have taken to the streets in Minneapolis, Chicago, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Memphis, and more to oppose ICE and the Trump agenda?
Joseph O’Neill: Let’s begin with a very important distinction. There are two kinds of politics going on. The first is technical politics—electoral politics centered on the economy, jobs, health care, immigration, crime, and “affordability.” On this front, the GOP is in trouble. Even as Trump retains the devotion of almost all Republicans, independents and demographic groups that were essential to his 2024 win—Latino voters, young voters—have swung hard away from the Republican Party. If the midterms proceed normally, Democrats can look forward to capturing the House and maybe even the Senate—an almost unthinkable prospect when you and I last met.
The second kind of politics is the politics of raw power. This is where things become difficult. The Republican Party, animated by fantasies of crushing liberals and minorities once and for all, is fundamentally devoted to achieving one-party rule. This is the intention of its base, its D.C. and state politicians, its Supreme Court judges, its propagandists and ideologists, and of course its would-be Supreme Leader. This intention can be seen everywhere from the evil fervor of certain administration apparatchiks to the decorous enablement by elder statesmen in Congress and on the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Roberts, for example, may not actively dream of a Republican dictatorship, but he has purposefully used his power to advance that scenario.
x x x
In response to another question, O’Neill responds this way.
Republicans may not know how to govern, but they have a real talent for imaginative destruction—attempting to undo the Canadian federation, say. I don’t subscribe to the theory of “TACO”—Trump Always Chickens Out. That meme is Democratic projection. In extremis, Republicans do not give up power of their own accord. Technical politics will be necessary but probably insufficient. The GOP’s attempted coup in January 2021 demonstrated this. What it boils down to is that, in addition to technical politics, we have to prepare for a showdown—a decisive, probably drawn-out power struggle involving politicians, judges, media, and mass mobilization of the citizenry. That’s the size and nature of the challenge. I believe we’re up for it. We have to be.
You can read the rest of the article here. You’ll get a better sense of why O’Neill is optimistic that change can, and will, happen, even as he is not very impressed by the current leadership of the Democratic Party — The Politics of Raw Power.
At the ground level, in online independent media, here’s what Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan of “IHIP News” had to say about the Democratic leadership. Reflecting the righteous anger of a large portion of the Democratic base, they are as blunt as one can be. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two podcasters as angry as Welch and Sullivan are in this video.
Rotten to the Core
Bon Voyage
Attribution: Paul Noth @paulnoth.bsky.social
The Tide is Turning
A new YouGov poll finds 57% of voters, including 61% of independents and even 21% of Republicans, say the federal agents who killed Alex Pretti over the weekend should face criminal charges.
The Source of All Trouble and Violence
Yes, We Know
The Right Answer
Fighting Fascism a Second Time
“The architect of President Donald Trump’s harshest immigration policies is now being sidelined as the White House confronts the repercussions of them,” the Daily Beast reports.
“Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and Homeland Security adviser, was reportedly shut out of a closed-door White House meeting on Monday night after a second U.S. citizen was killed by a federal agent in Minnesota, triggering a national outcry over federal immigration enforcement.”
Also read this news — Stephen Miller Directed False Claim About Alex Pretti
Same Old Story
Showing Their True Selves
Yeah, Sure
Your Day in Court is Coming
MAGA is Getting Desperate
Why Guns Are Needed or Not
Tit for Tat
Worst. President. Ever.
Rest in Peace, Philando Castile, George Floyd, Renee Good, and Alex Pretti
Your sacrifices will not go in vain. Our condolences to all the families left behind.
Manual Updates Posted Here
ICED
I Hope There is a Nuremburg-Style Trial for These Criminals
Criminals, One and All
This Isn’t Going to End Well
Gone for Good, We Hope
Moron
Once You Go MAGA…
When Will We Get Rid of ICE?
Let the Trials Begin
This is What It’s Come Down To
The Making of An ICE Killer
These Condos Will Be Built on Top of Thousands of Graves
