Posts Tagged ‘politics’

GOP? What GOP?

November 27, 2024

I think it’s important to acknowledge that the Republican Party, as once constituted, no longer exists. For that, I mourn. The noble conservative values and policies that were central to Republican governance have been completely and utterly subsumed by Donald Trump’s MAGA cult of personality. The GOP does not exist. And that’s simply shameful. One result of this is that MAGA politicians are forced to contort themselves into ideological pretzels just to stay one step ahead of the retribution that follows for those who buck Dear Leader.  

For example, could there be anything more disingenuous and dishonest than a politician who’s willing to find Donald Trump objectionable during one election cycle and surprisingly supportive of him in another cycle? That’s what New Hampshire has in MAGA Governor-Elect Kelly Ayotte. What has to happen in a politician’s life that they’re willing to swallow their ethics, values, and beliefs just to follow the orange brick road to the Oz of Trump World? In Ms. Ayotte’s case, she narrowly lost her bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2016 having bad-mouthed Donald Trump over the Access Hollywood tapes which exposed (once more) Trump’s pathological disrespect for women. Ms. Ayotte’s take-away from this experience? Never question Donald Trump again. So, with an open Governor’s seat in New Hampshire this year, Ms. Ayotte embraced the role of Trump acolyte and had better electoral results than Trump himself. (FYI New Hampshire has a lengthy history of sending Democrats to Washington and members of the other party to Concord.) As with so many politicians, Ms. Ayotte feeds off her status as a seemingly powerful politician. And power may be the best all-purpose elixir of them all. However, obeisance to cult leader is not a sign of power. It’s the sign that your soul has been hollowed out by a malignant force. The politician, like the political party with which they once aligned, ceases to exist in any meaningful form when fealty to Dear Leader is willingly surrendered. And just like Ayotte herself, the people of New Hampshire are the losers.

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Letter to the Editor of the Portsmouth (NH) Press Herald (with a few tweaks since submission on 11/26/2024)

November 27, 2024

I was disappointed to read the Press Herald’s recent uncritical lionization of Karoline Leavitt upon her elevation to White House Press Secretary for the Trump administration. Ms. Leavitt’s only qualifications for the position are her sunny smile, the ability to string two or more thoughts together coherently (unlike the man she’ll be working for), and unwavering loyalty to a despot who cares nothing about the actual well-being of the nation and its people. Her job will be to paint the picture of reality that Donald Trump wants us to see, grim as that reality will be. Given that the once-and-future President doesn’t live in a world known to most of us, Ms. Leavitt will need to muster all her fast-talking obfuscation skills to paint a pretty picture of the garbage heap Donald Trump leaves behind each day. Ultimately, I hope that Ms. Leavitt learns a few lessons as she assumes her new role. One is that the press corps in front of her is NOT the enemy, as her boss believes. They will hold her feet to the fire precisely because that’s their job! It’s an essential function of democratic governance whether Ms. Leavitt likes it or not. And she’s made it abundantly clear that she doesn’t like it. The second is that she’ll eventually learn that defending the indefensible is a soul-deadening proposition. And that serving Donald Trump is a living dead end. 

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A Presidential Candidate Civics Test

June 24, 2024

With the first scheduled Presidential debate this coming Thursday evening, I found myself reflecting on an article I recently read in The Philadelphia Citizen by The Hon. Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia, 2008-2016. In the article, Nutter addresses the moderators of the debate – Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. Before asking the heavy-duty policy questions, he suggests they start by having the two participants answer questions from the US Citizenship Test. For example: Name two authors of the Federalist Papers? What is the Hatch Act? Which President first recognized the state of Israel? As you probably know, the USCIS administers the test in 2 parts: a) Civics and government, and b) English proficiency. Both tests are oral and take place in front of an immigration officer.  

With thousands upon thousands of citizen applicants having passed this test (including former First Lady Melania Trump), how well would our two presidential candidates fare on the Citizenship Test? My rarely unbiased guess is that President Biden would do pretty well. For better or worse, he’s spent his life immersed in the functioning of our national government. He knows the country and its history backwards and forward. He’s a walking-talking civics lesson.

(BTW Joe Biden may be old, but he wasn’t in Congress when the Hatch Act passed. That was 1939.)

How about former President Trump? My guess is that he wouldn’t do well. A person has only to answer 10 civics and government questions correctly to pass, but Mr. Trump lacks the intellectual curiosity and essential knowledge to meet even the lowest possible threshold. This is not a secret. Donald Trump has been a public figure for over 50 years. He is well known as someone who doesn’t read, doesn’t care a lick about history and civics, and truly detests academics, researchers, and any person whom he knows to be smarter than he. And please remember, the man who claims to be “a very stable genius” has already muffed the “Who is Frederic Douglass?” question on the test. That was in 2017 when he praised Douglass for “(doing) an amazing job” despite having died in 1895. It should go without saying that a person who couldn’t possibly pass the Citizenship Test should never be elected to high office, but this is 2024. Perhaps when Mr. Trump stumbles over “What are the first three words of the Constitution?,” we can all shout – WE THE PEOPLE. And we’re way past done with you.

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