Bipartisan shock – and consternation – greeted President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that sex-scandal tainted
, mega MAGA Trump supporter Rep. Matt Gaetz was his pick for Attorney General. The pick reportedly generated negative reaction on Wall Street, among a big chunk of Republicans, Democrats and former Trump cabinet members.
Some Senate Republicans contend
the nomination is doomed, but the operative question is now: will Gaetz and others undergo traditional hearings in the Senate or will Senators forgo their Advise and Consent role and allow Trump to do a vote-less recess appointment on his often exotic appointees?
Republicans regained the U.S. Senate last week with a decent majority, 53 seats, so it was strange the other day when President-elect Trump issued a pre-emptive demand that his own party let him make recess appointments, “without which we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner.” It’s easier to make sense of this brainstorm now that Mr. Trump says his nominee for Attorney General is the regrettable Rep. Matt Gaetz.
The Constitution restrains the President’s appointments by giving the Senate the power to confirm, or not, his nominees. Hamilton in Federalist No. 76 writes that this provides “an excellent check upon a spirit of favoritism in the President, and would tend greatly to prevent the appointment of unfit characters.” If Mr. Gaetz is nominated, Republican Senators would think hard about voting no. Hence, Mr. Trump’s interest in bypassing them.
Because the Founders had to travel to and from the national capital by horse, they also granted the President the power “to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate.” Such appointments are temporary but can last about two years. The point was to prevent the President from being left short-handed. “Until the beginning of the 20th century,” according to the Congressional Research Service, “the Senate was, on average, in session less than half the year.”
And:
Mr. Trump seems to be asking Republicans to help him exploit this exception by making it into the rule for presidential nominees. “We need positions filled IMMEDIATELY!” he posted on Truth Social. The prospect is that Mr. Trump might try to bully the Senate to go into a recess, so he can unilaterally make Mr. Gaetz the Attorney General, maybe until the end of 2026. He could fill other vacancies across the federal government in the same way, with no need for confirmation hearings or votes.
The idea is anti-constitutional, and it would eliminate one of the basic checks on power that the Founders built into the American system of government. If Mr. Trump gets away with it, the next Democrat to win the Oval Office would whoop through left-wing nominees. Whoever holds the Presidency would gain unilateral power to name cranks and cronies to offices of immense authority. Or maybe Mr. Trump’s attempt to eviscerate the Senate’s constitutional role would go to the Supreme Court.
This is a bad choice for AG that would undermine confidence in the law. Mr. Trump lauded Mr. Gaetz’s law degree from William and Mary, but it might as well be a doctorate in outrage theater. He’s a performer and provocateur, and his view is that the more explosions he can cause, the more attention he can get. “It’s impossible to get canceled if you’re on every channel,” he once said. “If you aren’t making news, you aren’t governing.”
Mr. Gaetz has no interest in governing. When Republicans took control of the House in 2022, it was with a small margin. Rather than work to get things done, Mr. Gaetz sabotaged Speaker Kevin McCarthy before finally leading a rebellion to oust him. Eight Republican malcontents plunged the GOP into weeks of embarrassing paralysis, since Mr. Gaetz had no alternative that could command a majority. Finally Speaker Mike Johnson emerged.
Mr. McCarthy has intimated at times that he thinks Mr. Gaetz is primarily motivated by personal grudges related to an investigation into his conduct. According to an ABC News report from April, the House Ethics Committee obtained a sworn statement from a woman who says in 2017 she “attended a party in Florida that Gaetz also attended,” where there was cocaine and “bedrooms that were made available for sexual activities.”
I realize that we are occasionally given to hyperbole about the untoward nature of politicians, but let me be clear: Matt Gaetz is a sex trafficking drug addicted piece of shit. He is abhorrent. His eyes are permanently rimmed with the red rings of chemical boosters. In person, he smells like overexposed Axe Body Spray and stale Astroglide. The fact that he boasted on the floor to multiple colleagues in the House of Representatives of his methods of crushing Viagra and high test Red Bull to maintain his erection through his orgiastic evenings is perhaps the least offensive of his many crimes against womanhood and Christian faith. The man has less principles than your average fentanyl addicted hobo. He likes them underage and he’s not ashamed about it. Matt Gaetz isn’t just your average extreme Florida MAGA Man, he’s a hypocritical ass with the worst Botox money can buy, pursuing an ever-thinner nose and higher cheekbones at every opportunity like a Real Housewife gone mad for fillers. Every Republican in Washington has an opinion about Matt Gaetz, and 99 percent of those opinions are “Keep Matt Gaetz away from my wife/daughter/friend and anyone I care about.” He is a walking genital, warts included as a bonus. If I was merely attempting to count the number of women I know who have had bad experiences with Matt Gaetz, I would run out of fingers and toes. If you vote for him to be the Attorney General of the United States, you don’t just need your head examined, you need to be committed to a mental institution. The man is absolutely vile. There are pools of vomit with more to offer the earth than this STD-riddled testament to the failure of fallen masculinity.
Donald Trump’s nomination of congressman Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general has arrived like a thunderclap in Washington.
Of all the president-elect’s picks for his administration so far, this is easily the most controversial – and sends a clear message that Trump intends to shake up the establishment when he returns to power.
The shockwaves were still being felt on Thursday morning as focus shifted to a looming fight in the Senate over his nomination.
Trump is assembling his team before he begins his term on 20 January, and his choice of defence secretary, Fox News host Pete Hegseth, and intelligence chief, former Democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, have also raised eyebrows.
But it is Gaetz making most headlines. The Florida firebrand is perhaps best known for spearheading the effort to unseat then-Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy last year. But he has a history of being a flamethrower in the staid halls of Congress.
In 2018, he brought a right-wing Holocaust denier to the State of the Union, and later tried to expel two fathers who lost children in a mass shooting from a hearing after they objected to a claim he made about gun control.
His bombastic approach means he has no shortage of enemies, including within his own party. And so Trump’s choice of Gaetz for this crucial role is a signal to those Republicans, too – his second administration will be staffed by loyalists who he trusts to enact his agenda, conventional political opinion be damned.
Gasps were heard during a meeting of Republican lawmakers when the nomination for America’s top US prosecutor was announced, Axios reported, citing sources in the room.
Republican congressman Mike Simpson of Idaho reportedly responded with an expletive.
What to watch: if Republicans give Trump his wish and axe hearings for recess appointments how will they spin it? It would mean Congress surrendering one of its constitutional powers and obligations.
Gaetz must be the worst nomination for a cabinet position in American history. This is something that falls well outside the proper scope of deference to a President nominating members of his senior team. Gaetz is not only totally incompetent for this job, he doesn’t have…
Conservative lawyer @gtconway3d
on Trump’s latest cabinet picks:
“If you were actively trying to do harm to the country, to destroy the country, these are the kind of people, if not the people, you would pick…Mark my word-It is only going to get worse.” pic.twitter.com/y06dKPWws0
Remember when Obama had an empty SCOTUS seat and the GOP-controlled Senate was like “fuck that” and legal scholars said “technically, you could do a recess appt” but Obama was like “that’s too controversial” and the Democratic Party was like “just let Hilary fix it when she wins”… https://t.co/61j8d6XWvJ
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s pick of Matt Gaetz for Attorney General: “You know, in a lot of jobs being investigated for sex trafficking underage girls would hurt your chance for advancement. But in the Trump administration, you can list it on your résumé under special skills.”
Donald Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz as Attorney General sends a clear message that it doesn’t matter whether or not he’s qualified for the job: all that matters is loyalty to Trump.
Matt Gaetz used to walk around the cloakroom showing people porno of him and his latest girlfriend,” one former Republican lawmaker told me. “He’d show me a video, and I’d say, ‘That’s great, Matt.’ Like, what kind of a reaction do you want?” (The video, according to the former… pic.twitter.com/FDqn887Rfn
Rep. Matt Gaetz’s (R-Fla.) resignation from Congress came two days before the House Ethics Committee was set to vote on releasing a “highly damaging” report outlining its investigation into the Republican, according to multiple sources…
Former Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy: “The more you get to know Matt Gaetz the less you’re going to like him. I’m going to be really surprised if he can get confirmed.”
— Republican Voters Against Trump (@AccountableGOP) November 14, 2024
A quick ? on what seems to be Trump’s plan to obliterate the Senate’s advise and consent responsibility so that he can recess appoint his cabinet, or at least those members who lack the votes to get confirmed by the Senate. 1/
Sen. Cornyn tells @rachelvscott
he “absolutely” wants to review the House Ethics Committee’s investigation of Matt Gaetz during the AG confirmation process. pic.twitter.com/FSTcUGzgox
Now, the Taliban are continuing their assault on education for both boys and girls by changing the curriculum in grades 1-12. They have already revised textbooks
up to eighth grade, and they’re on track to finish the rest
within months. After completion, the revised curriculum will go up for approval by the Taliban’s supreme leader and will likely be followed by swift implementation. The process is straightforward. The supreme leader of the Taliban controls education policy – including the curriculum. Once submitted to him, he has no reason to reject or delay the implementation.
The Quran, Islam’s sacred text, will become a more prominent part of Afghan education under a series of proposed changes by the Taliban. Wakil Kohsar via Getty Images
The curriculum changes
Afghanistan’s education system is centralized, meaning all schools follow a single curriculum. The current textbooks are the result of two decades of reforms
that followed the country’s recovery from the Soviet invasion and civil wars of the 1980s and 1990s.
In the last decade before the Taliban regained power, the Ministry of Education was still attempting to reform curriculum to focus on students’ personal and economic growth
. Unfortunately, the ministry never completed the reforms.
Taliban soldiers in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Oct. 16, 2024. Wakil Kohsar via Getty Images
Within a few months after their takeover in August 2021, senior Taliban leaders criticized the previous education system and curriculum, saying it was brainwashing Afghan youth and weakening religious values
. They called for a reeducation campaign.
Since then, the Taliban have been revising the curriculum and aggressively rewriting textbooks for grades 1-12. This is based on 26 recommendations from their education commission. Some of the changes approved by the commission include:
3.) Removing all images of living beings from textbooks, including pictures of humans, animals, sports and anatomy. The Taliban believe that only God creates living beings, and producing or distributing images of God’s creation is prohibited.
5.) Shaping student behaviors to fit the Taliban’s vision of society, similar to what they defined in recent vice and virtue laws
that ban women’s voices and bare faces in public, among other rules.
6.) Requiring schools to teach and assess students on “emirate studies
,” which glorify Taliban leaders and their history by characterizing the Taliban takeover as a defeat of secular values, including equal rights, civil society and democracy.
Beyond shaping thought processes, the Taliban aim to influence students’ actions. Through rigid rules and corporal punishments – including humiliation, beating, slapping and foot whipping
– they seek to produce immediate behavioral changes that reflect their desired norms. Their ultimate goal is to cultivate individuals who embody the regime’s values and ideologies.
Consequences for Afghan students – and the world
During their first regime from 1995-2001, the Taliban used textbooks with biased content that promoted violent jihad. For example, the alphabet taught to first graders included teachings like “J” stands for jihad and “M” for mujahideen
– referring to Islamic guerrilla fighters.
The Taliban are threatening to do the same today with their latest curriculum changes. Schools may turn into indoctrination centers instead of places for real learning. I fear that the altered curriculum could breed mistrust in public education. Furthermore, the Taliban removed
the 2008 law that made school mandatory
. As a result, many parents may pull their kids from schools again.
The ideologically driven curriculum also raises international concerns
and has already led to cuts in foreign aid
. Donors won’t support institutions that promote discriminatory ideologies. This is straining an already vulnerable education system, threatening its survival.
Ultimately, the Afghan people will bear the brunt of these policies, but the effects could spill beyond the country’s borders and impact the world.
According to The New York Times, “… a newly triumphant Republican president” is “once again in the headlines.”
What will it take to break “the present national divide, between the narrow but solid Republican majority and a Democratic party seemingly trapped in second place,” asks the Times. That pattern “may be hardening” into one “that will persist for years to come.” Perhaps breaking the divide will require “an act of God
,” the Times writes.
The article quotes a number of eminent historians and political scientists who predict a new era of enduring Republican electoral dominance. In the words of one: “The Republicans are basically unchecked … There is no check in the federal government and no check in the world. They have an unfettered playing field.”
Despite the lessons of this history, a new round of doomsayers are ready to write the Democrats’ obituary in 2024. According to one journalist, “Democrats are a lost party. Come January, they’ll have scant power in the federal government, and shriveling clout in the courts and states
.”
The Washington Post reports, “More broadly, many Democrats view their defeat – with Trump making inroads with Latinos, first-time voters, and lower- and middle-income households, according to preliminary exit polls – not just as a series of tactical campaign blunders, but as evidence of a shattered party with a brand in shambles
.”
I believe – as the author of a book about how political parties respond to election defeats
, and as the example of 2004 shows – it’s easy to overstate the enduring impact of an election. Unforeseen events arise that alter the political landscape in unpredictable ways. The party in power often makes mistakes. New candidates emerge to energize and inspire the defeated party.
Zigging and zagging
The parties themselves are often incapable of figuring out the best way forward.
Following Mitt Romney’s loss in the 2012 presidential election
, the Republican National Committee commissioned what it called an “autopsy” to determine how the party should move forward. The report urged Republicans to become more inclusive to women, young people, Asians, Latinos and gay Americans by softening their tone on immigration and social issues
. The report was a thoughtful and thorough examination of the problems confronting the GOP.
The contents of the GOP’s ‘autopsy’ examining how, after it lost the 2012 election, the party should move forward. Screenshot, WSJ.com
I’d be the last person to try to predict the 2028 election, but there are a number of reasons to be skeptical of doom and gloom scenarios for the Democratic Party.
First, the 2024 election was extremely close. Once all the votes are counted, it will probably end up being the closest popular vote contest since 2000
. In addition, it’s possible that Donald Trump will fall below 50% of the popular vote. Any loss is difficult, but this is hardly the 49-state drubbing that Democrats endured against Ronald Reagan in 1984
.
In addition, the 2024 results fall pretty close to the outcome predicted by election models that were based on economic fundamentals
. This suggests that voters were registering dissatisfaction with poor economic conditions rather than offering a wholesale rejection of the Democratic ideology.
And even if the public has become less enamored of liberal governance over the past four years, this is both natural and temporary. Political scientists have long observed the thermostatic nature of American politics
. That’s a fancy way of saying that when a Republican occupies the White House, the public becomes more liberal. Conversely, under Democratic presidents, the American people become more conservative
. Given this pattern, it seems very likely that in four years the public will be in a more liberal mood.
President Ronald Reagan and wife Nancy celebrate his reelection in a 49-state drubbing of the Democrats in 1984. Bettman/Getty Images
Self-reflection is good
Democrats should also remember that Donald Trump has been a uniquely polarizing and unpopular figure in American politics.
Despite a generally strong economy during his first term in office, he was never able to rise above a 50% approval rating. Trump did himself no favors in this regard
. As political scientists John Sides, Chris Tausanovitch and Lynn Vavreck point out in their book on the 2020 election
, on issue after issue during his first term, Trump rejected policies that the majority of Americans supported and instead chose those that aligned only with his Republican base
. There seems to be little reason to think that Trump will govern any differently in his next term.
Since Trump can’t run again in 2028, that also means that Democrats will likely face a better political environment in 2028. Since 1900, the out-party (the party that doesn’t control the White House) has won eight of the 11 elections without an incumbent president on the ballot. In fact, the last time the out-party failed to defeat a nonincumbent was nearly 40 years ago when Republican George H.W. Bush defeated Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988
.
None of this guarantees a Democratic victory in 2028. Most importantly, a strong economy might be enough to lift the GOP to victory in 2028.
Nor should the Democrats just assume that everything will be fine. Self-reflection is good for political parties as well as individuals.
Still, the lesson of history is that it’s a good idea for Democrats to resist the temptation to catastrophize
their loss. Instead, they might consider using the Serenity Prayer as a guide for the next four years: “Give us the serenity to accept the things that can’t be changed, the courage to change the things that can be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
For more than five years years MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have been at the forefront of those who’ve warned about “normalizing” Donald Trump. They’ve made ringing statements condemning Trump comments that were divisive, racial, anti-democratic or misogynistic . They were media outrage machines on an often thoughtful show where they presented themselves principled partisans. They were seemingly defenders of democracy.
To be sure, many viewers had given them a pass because they were previsouly at the forefront of helping normalize Trump in his march to the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination. They had shifted gears once before and this shift seemed genuine.
Now Joe and Mikka seem to be echoing the immortal worlds of SNL’s Gild Radner as Miss Emily Letilla:
Seven years after they last spoke to him, MSNBC Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski traveled to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend to meet with President-elect Donald Trump.
The duo, who used to be friends with Trump, turned into fierce critics during his first term in office, and he returned the favor, occasionally ripping into them in posts on X (formerly Twitter). At the top of Monday’s program, they disclosed their trip, acknowledging that his decisive win influenced their decision.
“Joe and I realized it’s time to do something different and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump, but also talking with him,” Brzezinski said. “For those asking why we would go speak to the president-elect during such fraught times, especially between us, I guess I would ask back, why wouldn’t we? Five years of political warfare has deeply divided Washington and the country.”
Many aren’t buy it and some who watched the show regularly and now calling for a boycott. Or perpetual boycott.
1. They visited Trump but didn’t do an interview. The bottom line is that this looks about just mending fences. Aka, access. Place your best now on when Trump will do a pre-inauguration interview on “Morning Joe” with few tough follow up questions.
2. Was there a calculation that because MSNBC’s ratings including for their show are nosediving they needed to find a way to regain viewers? Have they calculated that for all those that boycott the show they’ll they pick up Trump supporters to make up for or surpass the loss?
3. How many times can someone shift their stance without losing all credibility?
4. Is this further proof that in the 21st century outrage is a cheap commodity to be brought out, then dropped with a “never mind” when there’s a new establishment reality – as quickly as seemingly deeply held principles are jettisoned like old Band Aids?
The answer will come in future “Morning Joe” show broadcasts.
But, as of now, it certainly does look like they’re saying:
“Democracy is at stake!”
“Trump is a fascist!”
Oh and we just met with the guy to reconcile with him.
How many Democratic elites actually believed the things they told their voters about Trump? https://t.co/SPdcJYZvXZ
Trump on his meeting with Joe and Mika at Mar-a-Lago:
“I very much appreciated the fact that they wanted to have open communication…They congratulated me on running a ‘great and flawless campaign, one for the history books,’ which I really believe it was, but it was also a… pic.twitter.com/B8w0jGLEmh
Morning Joe’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski normalizing Donald Trump after meeting with him at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. This is how we got President Trump the first time. They learned nothing.
When Nikki Haley is mocking you for being a fraud and a sellout, that’s when you know it’s really bad because she’s an expert. pic.twitter.com/i7OzzYcR1J
So Joe Scarborough and Mika went to Mar-a-lago to speak with Trump? No interview? They say they pushed him hard? Told him they’d continue to speak truth to power. Or did they beg him not to go after them? This is insane !!
Oh, Lord. Joe and Mika went to Mar-a-lago. “What we did agree on,” Mika said, “was to restart communications.” Access. “He seemed interested in finding common ground with Democrats.” Credulity. They revert to their mean. pic.twitter.com/6n3YhALz5p
— Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis (@jeffjarvis) November 18, 2024
Joe Scarborough and Mika from Morning Joe, their ratings plummeting, made a pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago because they decided if you can’t beat him, grovel for access and help normalize him AGAIN.
Meaning our ratings are down and we would love the opportunity to minimize the danger of this presidency. Helps no one. Bet you won’t see Joy Reid groveling. #DemsUnited pic.twitter.com/NitxpqKRSo
Lol Joe and Mika were given marching orders to cut the over the top Trump outrage theater. They actually are talking about finding common ground with a guy they called a dictator and threat to democracy. This ridiculous show needs to be canceled once and for all. #MorningJoe
I’m begging you all to quit watching @Morning_Joe
. Those hacks, @JoeNBC
& @morningmika
were Trump’s biggest cheerleaders back in 2016. They helped get us to this point and I will never ever forget or forgive them.#MorningJoe
Joe and Mika of Morning Joe went down mar a logo, to kiss the ring of the President elect Donald Trump because they’re scared he’s gonna come after them.
And today they want us to believe they did it for America to be at peace,I will not be watching Joe anymore.
Scarborough said Trump is Hitler and a serial rapist and Trump said Joe left Congress because he murdered a staffer, but let’s put all that behind us now and chill because the show must go on.
With the news that Joe & Mika flew to Mar-a-lago over the weekend, folks are none too pleased. And @Morning_Joe
has blocked comments on their feed. These two quislings are groveling again. Not surprised at all. Fck ’em. And @msnbc
wonders why viewers are leaving. ? https://t.co/VsTsPwODNspic.twitter.com/PYaooOnXkN
With the news that Joe & Mika flew to Mar-a-lago over the weekend, folks are none too pleased. And @Morning_Joe
has blocked comments on their feed. These two quislings are groveling again. Not surprised at all. Fck ’em. And @msnbc
wonders why viewers are leaving. ? https://t.co/VsTsPwODNspic.twitter.com/PYaooOnXkN
I get what you were trying to do. The whole point of my podcast, “The Social Contract with Joe Walsh,” is to sit down with ANYONE of good faith who disagrees with me, to seek understanding & common ground. And to that end, I sit down with Trump…
In other words, Joe and Mika saw the declining ratings and decided to revert to their true selves…like back when they provided free air time to Trump every Friday during the primaries in ‘16.
Friends, if you haven’t done so already, please stop watching cable TV news. For the sake of your mental health, please stop. I stopped and my mental health is much better for it. Joe and Mika bending the knee should be the death knell for cable TV news. What a goddamn joke.
After a decade of attacking President Trump’s rhetoric, much of it justified, calling him no less than Hitler, these @MSNBC
Chicken Hawks went down to Ma-a-Lago to kiss the King’s ring. @Morning_Joe
dressed like a woman and boarded a boat off the Titanic.
A despondent Joe and Mika decide to do a “make up tour” to MAL to kiss Donald’s ring. Rating agencies say Morning Joe lost HALF their audience after the election. Now they’re hoping to jump on Trump’s Fascist bandwagon! Disgusting people. pic.twitter.com/ki6UhwwmQK
The American Revolution would have failed without French help. Their assistance allowed us to form an independent country that would become the world’s first modern democracy. Since the 1770s the situation has reversed: The United States has helped preserve and spread freedom in Europe many times. One hundred and forty years later we enter WWI to save France from German military conquest. We continued to help France, and Europe, throughout the 20th Century. In WWII we led the effort to end Hitler’s domination of Europe, in the 1980s we helped end the Soviet Eastern European empire, and in the 1990s we intervened to stop genocide in Bosnia.
In addition we initiated the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1948 to stop the Soviets from adding western European countries to their empire. The NATO alliance was initially composed of the United States, Canada, and ten western European democracies. The United States has been, and continues to be, disproportionately the major economic and military resource contributor to the alliance; in 2023 sixty eight percent of the total military budget of all 32 NATO was contributed by the United States. In the beginning the European excuse for not contributing more was that their impoverished economies were still recovering from WWII devastation. That excuse lost credibility a long time ago: the European Union is one of the most prosperous economies in the world. As the opening paragraph indicates, Europeans became overly dependent on Americans for the initiative and resources needed to resolve European issues.
Currently the United States is heavily contributing to another European issue: the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The United States has contributed the highest percentage of the military resources given to Ukraine to fight the Russians. The Trump administration is unlikely to continue to be the major contributor to Ukraine. The European members of NATO will have a choice: to significantly increase their support of Ukraine, or allow Putin to conquer Ukraine. The Europeans have the economic and military capability- the issue is political will.
Currently political will is lacking. North Korean troops entered the Ukraine war on the Russian side, and so far NATO has not responded to this latest escalation, despite Zelenski’s pleas. Once Trump becomes president and cuts off American support the situation becomes even more dire. Putin has European expansion ambitions. He is a former Soviet KGB official and he wants to reestablish the Soviet Empire. For those who don’t remember or never knew, the Russians controlled Eastern Europe from 1945 through the early 1990s. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were all under the Russian yoke. Putin doesn’t just want Ukraine; he wants these countries returned to Russian control.
Most of the former Soviet-dominated countries listed above are now democracies and part of NATO. The leaders of these countries understand and fear Putin’s ambitions. Hopefully they can persuade the alliance to fill the resource vacuum created by the withdrawal of American support.
The importance of doing so is not just relevant to Europe- it has relevance for the entire world. The four most potent dictatorships in the world are Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. They have formed an alliance. China, North Korea and Iran are all supporting Russia in the Ukraine war, and in general they are all helping each other. Each country has unfulfilled expansionist desires. They all wish to conquer or destroy other countries. NATO is the only viable alliance of democratic militaries in the world. NATO weakness in Ukraine will be seen as democratic inability to stop dictatorial ambition anywhere in the world.
For the foreseeable future the European countries will have to lead NATO, which essentially means leading the free world. It is a role the United States has played since 1945. Perhaps it is time for a united Europe to assume the free world leadership role.
Mainstream media pundits have had a field day in the past week, but don’t be fooled. Donald Trump did not obtain a giant leap in popular vote support. Those 75,575,000 votes are only 2.2% more than the 72,414,000 in 2020. It’s barely more than 50% of the total. Trump did better with voters in 2020, when he received 4.6% more votes than he had in 2016.
Voters treated this election like the Obama second term contest in 2012: fewer voters trekked to the polls (only 148,042,000, via in person or the dining table). The Biden-Trump election in 2020 reversed that trend and set a record for voters (156,620,000).
So yes, Trump won a second term, like George W. Bush, but with a only slight majority of the popular vote. Both men met this milestone on their second election, not the first. With Bush, more voters went blue in 2004 than 2000. This time the Democratic-leaning voters chose to stay home.
That’s the question of the day: why did so many registered voters abstain from what former Trump officials considered a referendum on an existential threat to democracy?
None of this would be happening if 121,000 people had filled in the little bubble next to Harris’ name instead of Trumps.
Notice the difference in third party votes: in the 20th century, it weakened both the Democratic and Republican parties. In the 21st, the Democratic Party. Ironically, the last name of each affected Democratic candidate was ‘Clinton.’
A word about Reagan
Reagan is given credit for a landslide in 1980 because electoral college maps show results in large geographic units rather than Congressional districts or voting percentages.
Did you realize Reagan received only 50.7% of the popular vote in 1980, only slightly more than Trump’s 50.2% (13 Nov 2024).
I have spent 44 years under the impression that America gave Reagan a sweeping mandate when he defeated Carter.
We did not.
The damage Reagan wrought … culminating in Trump’s presidencies … began with the will of a minuscule majority — less than 1% of the voting populace. Just like Trump.
For both “landslide” misrepresentations, I blame traditional news media.
Reagan’s election in 1980 began with an illegal negotiation with a foreign power (release of Iranian hostages), but that’s for another day. However, Reagan’s shenanigans was not unlike Trump’s invoking “illegals” in his campaign. Trump’s was made possible only because he demanded Republicans reject their own bipartisan border bill. We’ll leave Putin for another day, as well.
What some call a disability may be your greatest asset
by Dan Piraro
“Danny has a problem paying attention and following instructions,” read the damning note scrawled across my report card. My parents lectured me, but…I wasn’t paying attention.
Being different has always been stigmatized. Most of us outside the norm strive to “fit in.” But should we?
I don’t care if he is full of candy, we don’t tolerate bullying at this school.
When kids are physically or mentally different from the average, they are often treated like threats or targets. Bullies abuse them, and adults often want to separate them from the “normal” children. When I was a kid, some were sent to stand in the corner as punishment when their behavior was deemed “disruptive.”
One of my sisters was dyslexic, but that condition wasn’t commonly known when we were young. Only two explanations were considered for children who had trouble reading: stupid or lazy.
My parents didn’t want a “stupid” kid, so they pushed her to try harder at something she was neurologically incapable of doing at that time. They may as well have been imploring her to levitate or speak Mandarin. That made her feel stupid, though she certainly was not.
I wasn’t dyslexic, but when I started school in the mid-1960s, sitting still and paying attention to a teacher was as unavailable to me as space flight. I could pay attention if I was doodling on a piece of paper as I listened, but that went over as well as if I’d tried juggling chainsaws.
I was far behind the other kids in learning to read, too. I was much more fascinated by the shape and design of letters than the sounds of them. Even after I got the hang of converting symbols to sounds, I could read an entire story and have almost no idea what it was about—the alternate stories simultaneously happening in my head demanded more attention.
Adding to my challenges was my family’s Catholicism. Dad had attended Catholic school, and it had toughened him up for Marine boot camp, so he did not want to deny me the same advantage.
My teachers were old-school nuns whose notion of compassion was to refrain from putting their full weight behind the yardstick they were swinging at our knuckles. Our school was connected to a church where my fellow students and I were required to attend mass every single morning, for an entire hour, presented in Latin.
Who brings a yardstick to church? Sister Mary Contusions did.
Sitting still under her watchful eye and listening to a man wearing a decorative shower curtain blather in a foreign language for an hour was torture for a kid like me.
To endure it, I would fall into my mind’s eye and let it wander far and wide. My mental adventures were just enough to get me through six years of five masses per week (and another on Sunday with my family!) without developing split personalities to bear the abuse.
Like many folks who can’t read, I used my wits to hide that I was so far behind the norm, and I found ways to make decent grades without reading the assigned materials.
The older I got, however, the more difficult that charade became.
After a lousy report card in middle school, my father insisted on helping me with my homework. When he saw the doodles all over my notebooks, he chided that I would never amount to anything if I didn’t stop drawing all over my schoolwork. I tried to explain it was the only way I could pay attention, but he was no more convinced than the old-lady nuns had been.
By the time I went to college, it was a lost cause. The assigned reading was too much and I dropped out after one semester.
It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to read, it was that I could not concentrate on what I was reading. I had to cover the same material over and over to comprehend it.
I lost count of how many lectures I’d heard on applying myself, but “not trying” was never my problem. I wasn’t behind the average because I was stupid or lazy—it was simply because I was not average.
In those days, society had yet to discover the obvious: Not everyone’s mind works the same way—and that’s okay.
Kids who learn differently are often called disabled, and shuttled off to a special school, or considered “slow” and placed in a remedial learning group. Worse yet, some are punished. I spent plenty of time standing in the corner. Humiliation did not cure me.
***
The concept of “learning disabilities” did not become mainstream until later, so I was never diagnosed, but I’ve always wondered if I had a few. I have long suspected I had ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) but have recently discovered I’m firmly on the autistic spectrum. You could have knocked me over with a feather.
My case is not as pronounced as it might’ve been, so I was not shipped off to an internment camp for fidgety slackers, but I experienced enough judgment to sympathize with anyone who is pigeonholed for not being like most people.
Capitalist societies need worker bees, and that’s what traditional education trains kids to be. But some folks are not suited for working in the hive, and that can make a person feel unfit, like an outsider who isn’t welcome to the party.
In my early adulthood, I lamented not being better at “normal” jobs (though these were jobs I didn’t want to do anyway!) but eventually, it was precisely my so-called “disorders” that enabled me to forge a successful career as a cartoonist.
Now in my sixties, I’ve written, drawn, and published over 12,000 cartoons in newspapers and magazines in the past few decades: one each day for almost forty years. And each time I’ve sat down to come up with a new gag, I’ve dropped into that place in my mind where I’d go as a kid during church each morning and tap into that creative flow—the same one that interrupted me when I’d try to read or listen to a lecture.
I have a theory why doodling allows me to pay better attention: Language and creativity operate from opposite sides of the brain. If I calm the creative side with drawing, it allows me to pay better attention to speech with the other side. When I look at those doodles later, I can remember what was being said when I created them.
For me, it is more effective than taking notes in English. (If only I could’ve drawn while reading!) But to this day, if I’m drawing, people assume I’m not paying attention.
That powerful, right-brain creative flow that refuses to be ignored and routinely inserts itself when I am trying to do something else is a symptom of my autism. But it is also the reason I’ve been able to adhere to such demanding cartoon publishing schedules.
What was labeled by the system as a “deficit” and a “disorder” turned out to be one of my greatest assets.
***
And my dyslexic sister who did poorly in school? She went on to manage a credit union, then later headed up her local Habitat for Humanity office, arranging financing and building homes for hundreds of low-income families in her community. Not so bad for a “stupid” and “lazy” kid.
As for my dad, he loves to tell the “if you don’t stop drawing all over your schoolwork” story on himself. He couldn’t be more proud of my career and laughingly thanks me for having ignored his fatherly advice.
He’s also lovingly apologized to my sister for misunderstanding her reading problems.
***
Most non-average behaviors are now called “neurodivergent,” which is a less judgmental and more accurate term than ADHD and the like—the Ds standing for “deficit” and “disorder.” “Neurodivergent” simply means a person thinks differently than is typical, and it’s no crime.
Know who else was different? Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, William Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Virginia Woolf, Steven Hawking, Toni Morrison, and Bruce Springsteen all displayed characteristics that were not average but proved to be why we know their names. Though I certainly don’t deserve to, I’d stand in the corner with those folks any day.
If you are neurodivergent—or socially, culturally, or physically different than the local norm—remember that you’re in pretty good company. Embrace your differences and the struggles they present, whatever they are. Use them, revel in them, display them with pride.
Our entire universe thrives on diversity: No two things anywhere are exactly alike. And here on Earth among humans, diversity is what makes history.
Dan Piraro is the creator of the syndicated newspaper and online comic Bizarro
. His cartoons can be seen at bizarro.com
. His creative writing can be subscribed to via bizarro.com/signup.
To read his graphic novel Peyote Cowboy as it is being illustrated, see PeyoteCowboy.net
