The "Democrats Miss The Meaning?" Uh, NO, Peggy Noonan Misses The Meaning - Blinded By The Trumpism Mind Virus

As I noted in previous posts, it is often amusing to see the lengths to which conservative writers will bend themselves into pretzels to try to criticize the Brat -in -chief, but without upsetting his brainwashed deplorables, otherwise known as the MAGA Walking dead, i.e.


In a way this "tiptoeing"  approach is understandable given that each time Trump  

gaslights or dispatches another dog whistle his lapdogs are sure to growl, bark and maybe even bite. They also have been shown to have a low tolerance to op-ed writers (even in the WSJ) who don't kiss Trump's butt....errr, "ring" with the proper obeisance.

So it is understandable WSJ op-ed columnist Peggy Noonan ('The Democrats Miss The Meaning' Aug. 22-23, p. A13):

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-democrats-miss-the-meaning-11597980333

would tread carefully, but in this case to the point of contradiction, confusion and utter absurdity.   On the one hand we can applaud her effort to give credit where it is due, in the handling of the Democratic National Convention and its "Zoom" formula.  As Chris Hayes put it last Friday on 'All In: This is what you have when you are in the middle of a pandemic.  This is the new normal"

Indeed, so it isn't necessary to begin one's column writing:

"To be fair in critiquing certain public events you have to be like a judge in the Olympics and factor in degree of difficulty. No one had ever done a Zoom convention before, so no one knew how to do it. Should there be a host each night? Should it be an earnest actress? Does that make us look shallow? Do we want to look shallow?  What hadn’t been done before was done rather poorly, with high schlock content. You got the impression no one creative or daring was authorized to be either."...

Hmmmm.... sour grapes to say the least.

In fact, given the limitations it was a resounding success, all Peggy's twaddle to the  contrary. It was perhaps the "gold standard" for a convention conducted in the middle of a pandemic with only some minor peanut gallery complaints, e.g. the Dems didn't allot enough time for AOC (she did get ample for what she had to do), and there was no Julian Castro  (Castro turned down the invitation to speak).  Other than that the showcasing of diverse people was nothing short of stellar and we especially enjoyed Obama's takedown of the bloated orange fungus fouling the White House, Michelle Obama's warning, and the roll call of the states. The visual for that bested anything seen in historical conventions.    

At least Peggy and I agreed on Barack Obama's masterful speech, as she wrote:

"Barack Obama's speech will stick in history, it won't just slide away. No former president has ever publicly leveled anything like this criticism at a sitting successor."

Noting accurately how Trump "never took the job seriously" and never "grew into the office of the presidency".  How could he,  watching TV  (FOX)  seven hours s day and tweeting nonstop the another three?   As NY Times columnist David Brooks described it:

"His speech was fiercely pro-American and fiercely anti-Donald Trump, showing that to be fiercely pro-American you have to be fiercely anti-Donald Trump."

Well, because Trump is the archetypal anti-American, ready to praise Putin and Russia at the drop of a hat but willing to tear down every constitutional norm and principle that makes this country great.  SO it is cognitively dissonant at one point to read in Noonan's essay:

"Apart from the We the People gauziness there was a nonstop hum of grievance at the convention. To show their ferocious sincerity in the struggle against America's injustices, most of the speakers thought they had to beat the crap out of the country."

Which is, alas, exactly the inverse take to what was said. Rather, the speakers highlighted TRUMP'S injustices done in America's name!  From separating migrant infants from parents and locking them up, to allowing a storm trooper   attack on peaceful protesters, both in D.C. (to enable Dotard to hold a fake bible as a PR stunt) and in Portland.  The mission and portrayal then wasn't to "beat the crap out of the country" but to beat the crap our of what TRUMP has let the country become.  As Tim O'Brien has aptly pointed out (Bloomberg News):

"Trumpism has fostered a cult of personality around Trump, allowing him to posture as the final arbiter of truth and guardian of the downtrodden. But division, chaos an disrepair - and the corruption of the American experiment - are the long term consequences."

Hence, no good thing can really be said of our nation until and unless the Trump interregnum is totally canceled, extirpated. Only then can we rebuild the nation to what it was,  what it could be.  Right now, with the Trump cancer we are pitied around the world, as we should be. 

Trumpism then has defiled not only the office of the presidency, but the government at large - undermining every agency with Trump toadies, from the FDA, to EPA, to USPS,  CDC, DOJ and HHS -  thereby ripping asunder the nation's aspirations and principles as a whole.  See e.g.

Feeling the Consequences of Trump’s Rotten Presidency, First Hand

One wonders why this is so difficult for Noonan to process, then one realizes she's trying to walk a weasel's 'tightrope' and not offend Trump's deplorables too much before the RNC.  

So it is also choice to see her ask: "Do Democrats understand how hunkered down many people feel, psychologically and physically, over the past six months??"

Of course, Peggy, since they have been hunkered down too! Dems are not space aliens walking among us and impervious to the slings and arrows of Covid 19.   They are every bit equally affected, from determining how much elderly relatives need to be protected to how soon their kids can return to real classrooms.   But they are also perceptive enough to know this hunkering down, and re-hunkering down, did not have to be this traumatic. Not if Dotard Trump the wannabe dictator had followed a coordinated strategy to contain the virus - as opposed to pissing the time away.   We know this because it's been well-documented, e.g.

Trump Has Sabotaged America's Coronavirus Response

Excerpt:

" In 2018, the Trump administration fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure. In numerous phone calls and emails with key agencies across the U.S. government, the only consistent response I encountered was distressed confusion."

 Instead of grasping all this Noonan prefers to divide and sow polarization like Trump - who recall, she asked to resign in a previous column.   Peggy and her sidekicks at the WSJ may not like to hear it but the DNC was light years beyond the asinine clown show on offer from the Repukes this week, in sobriety, diversity and responsibility.  As one MSNBC commentator put it this morning: "The Republican Convention has been just a forum and show for a dictator in training which is why we need to remove him."


See Also:

The 2020 RNC Isn't a Political Convention — It's a Celebration of the Trump Cult

by Heather Digby Parton | August 27, 2020 - 8:12am | permalink

— from Salon


And:

Fascism | Republicans

Were Don Jr. And Kimberly “Coked Up”? Maybe Not, but It's All Part of the Fascist Tradition

by Amanda Marcotte | August 26, 2020 - 8:11am | permalink

— from Salon

And:

My RNC review: Hannibal Lecter’s dinner party was visually sumptuous

And:

First Family

Melania Trump’s Redesigned Rose Garden is a Massacre

by Samuel Vargo | August 27, 2020 - 6:24am | permalink

And:

Donald Trump

Don’t Let This Mad, Manic President Wear You Down

Why This Government Shutdown Could Last Weeks

Sign for closure placed outside a gov't bldg.
One of the favorite depictions seen on signs of women marchers.

"As Lindsey Graham has been reporting, a 32-year old aide (Stephen Miller) is telling the President of the United States what to do.  Trump gives Minority Senate leader Schumer a number for agreement, Schumer accepts it - then it's blown up when Miller sees it. ...The real damage is that leaders across the world are seeing how weak, how pathetic  this President can be. He has to be the weakest in allowing a 32- year old to lead him around by the nose, and actually undercut him in negotiations with Senate leaders." - Joe Scarborough on MSNBC this morning


As the shutdown continues, most sentient beings in the capitol agree that if anyone apart from the Dotard gets the blame it is the 32 year old proto Nazi and Joseph Goebbels look-alike Stephen Miller, e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgypWo0DCps

Miller's cynical manipulation of Trump was pointed out by Senator Lindsey Graham yesterday and repeated by Joe Scarborough in his statement this morning. Miller, the Goebbels wannabe, has had Trump's ear and been blowing up deal after deal, amendment after amendment - including an amendment proposed by Sen. Claire McCaskill to deliver emergency  funding to the military. But just as Dotard signaled possible agreement and an end to the shutdown, "Goebbels Junior"  nixed it. In other words, he barks "Jump!" and Dotard - like a beaten whelp- asks "How high?"  As Scarborough added:

"Would Barack Obama ever let a 32-year old staff member undercut him? Never! Never in a million years. Barack Obama was a strong leader. What we have here is a weak, weak uninformed leader - Michael Wolff was right.  We have such a weak leader that he lets 32 year olds lead him around and undercut him on negotiations."

This is why Scarborough could say that leaders across the world are seeing what a weak. pathetic putz we have for a leader. What a spineless, contemptible Pillsbury doughboy - all flab and no brain.

How is this germane? Because as long as Jr. Nazi Miller is driving Dotard, there will be NO deal, no end to the shut down. Further, the toxic rancor and rhetoric will accelerate.  How can it be otherwise when the man who purportedly should lead an end to this miasma doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground and has to consult a 32 -year old jackoff Nazi punk on when to take a dump.  For example, the tweet shown on Scarborough's show this morning had all the earmarks of a dumb puppet having his feeble brain "strings" pulled by Obersturmfuhrer Miller, e.g.

"The Democrats are turning down services and security for citizens in favor or services and security for non-citizens. Not good!"

But as Scarborough pointed out for the more feeble minded,  unsure of who to blame:

"Anybody who watched TV this weekend (e.g. C-SPAN) and saw the Senate in session saw that Claire McCaskill tried to pass an amendment that would allow for full funding of the military - Republicans stopped it. They tried to pass funding for the CHIP program, Republicans stopped it.  Tim Kaine tried to re-open the government for three days to get them the space to negotiate this week, but Republicans stopped it. Then Schumer and Trump came together on a deal for DACA - but Miller and the staff stopped it."

And so it's gone and so it goes. But do not look for daylight, as long as extremists are dictating terms to the alleged "leader of the free world" and his GOP cohort.

Let's not candy coat it: things are getting ever nastier in the home of the brave and the land of the free. The ongoing shutdown, itself a sign of the current levels of polarization and division,  descended to new lows over the weekend. This followed the incessant lies from the Trumpies- fanned by Miller and  his Right wing hack allies and followers.. Not to mention putting out a despicable TV ad released on Saturday, which said Democrats were: “complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants”.  You think the Dems will be inclined to deal with these asswipes now? Including agreeing to a short term (3 week) CR by noon today? If so you probably also believe in unicorns.

This is how low the current shutdown dialogue has taken us and it is bound to go to ever lower depths as the shutdown continues. And yes, this could last for weeks even as the mainstream media continue to breathlessly gasp about the "blame game".

Look, there is no "blame game" other than in pundits' feverish brains.  Graham and Scarborough nailed WHO is to blame and the Dems have nothing to do with it. As I posted previously this is all on the Repukes (wifey hates that term, but too bad, I'm sticking with it until they prove they can cease "re-puking" unworkable positions.)  -as The Denver Post reported yesterday (p. 11A) have now fully lined up with the extremist Right anti-immigration faction to try to disparage DACA  and the Dreamers. 

The Post didn't mention it but Lindsey Graham did later, that Stephen Miller is the extremist "avatar" keeping Trump on the path to refusing every offer made by the Dems -including even providing significant funding for his goddamned stupid wall.  These extremists are the ones pushing the GOP to yield no ground for any compromise - say to put DACA on the table - for any continuing resolution (CR) or other bill to break the shutdown logjam. 

This is why NO deal will manifest today, so don't hold your breath. The Dems - as part of any short term CR (until Feb. 8th) insist that the DACA issue be integrated into any future bill. The Democrats, in contrast to Trump, have consistently  made it  clear there can be no deal without DACA included. This is given 800,000 kids or young adults would otherwise be sent back to countries they've never lived in by March.  Further, the Democratic base and resistance is fully behind this stance. To cave now, or show cowardice in any form,  will definitely earn the Ds  resounding midterm losses as the base abandons them in November. So, they had better stay strong  and avoid bringing a mere knife to a gun fight. We want Uzis or AK-47s!

How low have things gotten in the meantime? Just look at that reprehensible ad released on Saturday, which said Democrats opposing Trump's hardline immigration agenda were “complicit in every murder committed by illegal immigrants”.  Marc Short, the White House director of legislative affairs, told NBC’s Meet the Press “that ad was produced by an outside group and not those of us in the White House”unfolds"   Never mind, Trump still approved of it, including  a picture of Dotard giving two thumbs up and his voice saying: “I’m Donald Trump and I approve this message.”

Bernie Sanders condemned the ad, saying, on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday:

“It is really unbelievable and so sad for our country that we have a president of the United States who says such nonsense and such outrageous statements,”

You own it, fat boy, so deal with the fallout, which is primarily bad faith, lack of trust. The Dotard, with his balls locked up by the extreme Right, can't be expected to broker any reasonable end to the shutdown. Indeed, yesterday this turd tried to short circuit the process by appealing to his Repuke tribe to use the "nuclear option".  Such a move would allow Republicans to pass legislation without Democratic support, by lowering the majority needed to pass a bill to just 51 votes.

What was especially gratifying to see, was all the News shows  yesterday that repeated Fox and Friends footage from 2013, when Republicans in Congress drove the last government shutdown, over healthcare reform.  There, captured for posterity, was Donnie Dotard himself, bloviating:

“Well, if you say who gets fired it always has to be the top.  I mean, problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top and the president’s the leader. And he’s got to get everybody in a room and he’s got to lead.”

Donnie Dotard thought at the time he was too clever by half, given his critique took a shot at then President Obama.  But he couldn't have known that 4-plus years later his words would apply to him. I mean HE is now the guy at the top, or is supposed to be. HE is the one who is supposed to make the hard decisions to solve the shutdown - not let Right wing crazies bend his ears to keep it going.

As Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a Senate floor speech Saturday,  he had “essentially agreed to give the president something he wants” – funding for a border wall – “for something we both want”, status for Dreamers. Adding:

"It was now up to the president to end what he repeatedly called “the Trump shutdown."”.

But see, given Dotard's balls are in hock to Herr Miller and the extreme Right, he can't. He is essentially a political eunuch - having neutered himself - by ceding so much power to his junior aide Miller and the FOX et al crazies. Crazies (like John Birchers) who, merely 50 years ago, were rightfully scorned and relegated to the margins of American political status. While today, idiotic voters - hankering for an authoritarian white Master - have given them center stage.

So much for being the leader. Flush this presidential turd down the political toilet as numerous depictions portrayed in the Women's marches across the nation. 

What's even more incredible than a U.S. President being led by the nose by a proto-Nazi punk?  Well, the answer is how many - who were ready to disown "the Donald" and  toss his fat ass into a mine shaft three months ago - are now prepared to follow him into hell over this shutdown and his anti-immigration stance.

Again, don't look for anything to come of the D-R confab a few hours from now, to try to get a 3 week reprieve. . Until and unless the Repukes detach themselves from the Right wing extremists - especially Stephen Miller - there will be no end to the shutdown.

See also:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/bruce-ticker/77340/blame-only-republicans


Update: 2: 20 p.m. MST

As per the latest news it appears a temporary agreement - for a 3 week reprieve on the shutdown  - has been reached after all. This was after the Republicans made a "pledge" to consider DACA as part of any new spending bill. Before anyone gets all hyped up and overly positive let's bear in mind we've been down this road before - in December -, when Dems got a similar "pledge" from Bitch McConnell,  then were stabbed in the back. (Why many Left groups are saying the Dems caved.)  Personally, my bet is we will be right back where we are now come Feb. 8th. I could be wrong, and pigs could also fly and unicorns frolic in Rocky Mountain National Park..

Bottom line is there is a window to work things out during which the U.S. government will be open for business. But this depends on the good faith of the GOP (and especially Dotard and 'Mitch the Bitch')  to see the DACA aspect through and not screw over the Dems again. If I were a gov't worker, I'd start salting away money from now in case you face a much more prolonged furlough after February 8th.

On the actual positive side, the CHIP program as a result of today's CR vote, gets funding extended for another six years. Maybe that is worth caving for now.

Oprah Winfrey Will Not Rescue Us From Trump - Forget #Oprah2020!

Oprah Winfrey in her Golden Globes speech received kudos. But that doesn't translate into being a viable Dem candidate for the presidency - especially vs. Drumpf.

In the wake of Oprah Winfrey's stirring Golden Globe speech, I had to howl with laughter at all the peanut- brained libs and Democrats who suddenly think this celebrity is the presidential answer for 2020. Please give me a freaking break. I refuse to believe that Americans - even on the Left- can be this stupid.  The saving grace is that at least Oprah herself appears to realize this political brain fart is simply that - and no more. A nice entertaining fantasy but not one to take seriously or use as a basis to mount a presidential primary campaign. Or to use the words of one Politico reporter three nights ago (appearing on Brian Williams MSNBC show):

"Why when you have $2.8 billion would you do that? Why put yourself in for all the hate, the bigotry and ugliness when you don't have to?"

He has a point. Why indeed? Because, believe me, giving an eloquent and positively resonant 15- minute speech to fellow celebs is not like slogging through dozens of states in primaries (what 2004 candidate Howard Dean called a "meat grinder"), or squaring off in debates against a lying, hateful maggot like Trump. (Which experience Jess McIntosh compared-  in the fall of 2016 - to "facing a wild monkey with a gun")

Or, getting into twitter wars with this this degenerate who - according to one recent WaPo report - has delivered more than 2,000 lies since his inauguration.  Will Oprah really be ready to tangle with this pig via tweets?  Will she be ready for the lies, slander and slurs of Right wing TV and radio? Or will she take the "high road" and ignore the haters, as they pile slander on slander, lie on lie?

One gets a taste of what sort of attacks Winfrey may face just by checking out some Right blogs, such as one wherein the blogger writes:

"We then have…a 2013 interview with the BBC, when Winfrey said that entire (older) generations “just have to die” to cure the problem of racism....Uhhh…okay, bitch…Sieg Heil!…of course, you ain’t no spring chicken either…so perhaps ya wanna include yourself in that ‘mass genocide’!...That said, OW would have a tough time explaining a lot of things in her past – especially during the debates."

So will Oprah truly be ready to get down in the mud to face off against the Right's attack machine? I doubt it. She's too refined and uplifting, positive in her mental outlook to take on the psyche of a political mud wrestler - even for presidential aspirations or putatively saving the country. While some Winfrey backers have tried to argue she could do it because "she started HARPO productions on her own", that is not the same thing as being ambushed every day from the Repuke slime machine.

And what about the racism that will be certain to come down on her like it did on Obama, even more because she's a black woman aspiring to the White House?  I still have the letter that appeared in US Today on Tuesday, written by a Mark West:

"Yeah, I'm sure it was so hard for Oprah Winfrey to give a speech in front of a few hundred supporters, all of whom are desperate for their next President Obama.  The left loses its mind over anyone who can deliver a good speech. Why not just pick the next TED X speaker as their leader?"

Well, not all of us do. I also want to see what political heft, experience and savvy the person has, also whether that candidate has the capacity to engage in the political equivalent of hand to hand combat. Bernie Sanders absolutely has it, so did Hillary Clinton, as does Elizabeth Warren. Oprah? I don't buy it.  What this whole response shows me is that the Oprah backers for 2020 have the political sense and intelligence of infants, and ultimately can't be trusted in their choices.  As smirkingchimp blogger  Sonali Kohatkar put it ('What  #Oprah2020 Says About The State Of  U.S. Politics''):

"It says a great deal about the depths to which American politics has fallen that we are now seriously considering the presidential candidacy of Oprah Winfrey. The internationally famous television talk show star turned media mogul could easily win a global popularity contest, and in a world where Donald Trump is the president of the U.S., such accomplishment appears to be qualification enough to lead the world’s economic superpower. But should it be? Winfrey herself is not to be blamed for this absurd status quo—her brief speech at the Golden Globes was powerful, moving and necessary. The blame lies with us, with our political leaders, with our media and with the pop-culture-obsessed society we’ve created."

As Ms. Kohatkar goes on to ask:

"The fact that #Oprah2020 is so popular says much more about us than it does about her. Have we really given up on the idea of a political candidate who is both politically experienced and can articulate a progressive vision for the nation? Is that really so much to ask in a nation of more than 300 million people?"

Evidently it is because too many don't take politics seriously in this country. The Millennials - who've turned out the least to vote (especially in midterms) - think they can get all their news from late night comedy shows.  The older lot have few insights other than whatever they garner from talk shows, and they do not read in depth. Too many have zero experience in deep politics research.  I daresay most can't even distinguish liberalism from neoliberalism. If that's the case most of these Oprah backers wouldn't even know that  "Winfrey possesses many of the qualities that Hillary Clinton did—her allegiance to Wall Street and her concept of neoliberal capitalism is certainly as strong as Hillary’s".  Ouch! 

The main benefits of a Winfrey run? She has an especially strong connection to women and non-whites and with her personal fortune she could likely finance her own campaign. The downside? She'd lose white men by an estimated 2 to 1 ratio and perhaps even more if they latch on to Trump as a pseudo-male defensive mechanism like they did against Hillary last year.  As for the poor whites that went by 61 percent for Dotard, I can't see them bailing on the Dotard and now going for a black female Obama.  Other worrisome aspects as Sonali Kohatkar notes:

"Winfrey’s political positions are largely indiscernible, probably by design. In fact, the idea to draft her to run for president originated from a lifelong Republican from Kansas who says he did not vote for Trump. Bizarrely, in 1999 Trump himself  touted Winfrey as his first choice for vice president if he were to ever run."

I believe these facts need to be known before too many lose whatever common sense they have left and push for a Winfrey run. I believe such an effort would be self-defeating and leave us little better than we were left on Nov. 8th last year.  Hell, when you even have arch Neocon Bill Kristol backing her in a tweet you ought to know you've jumped through the looking glass. According to Kristol:

"Sounder on economics than Bernie Sanders, understands Middle America better than Elizabeth Warren, less touchy-feely than Joe Biden, more pleasant than Andrew Cuomo, more charismatic than John Hickenlooper.#ImWithHer"

Except she isn't "sounder on economics" than Sanders. She's just cloaked her positions in indiscernible mush which she'd be forced to explicate in any primary debates. Bernie, for one,  would rip her to shreds once her actual, detailed positions became known. As for "less touchy feely than Joe Biden", I doubt it. Has Kristol ever actually watched an Oprah Winfrey show?

Finally, I agree 100 percent with Kohatkar's take:

"We deserve better. And, we can get better than Winfrey if we demand it in the wake of Trump’s failure. The administration is on the defensive, thanks in large part to Wolff’s claims but also because of relentless activism by ordinary Americans and, simply, because of Trump and his team’s sheer ineptness."

The best contribution Oprah Winfrey can make for the 2020 campaign? Plow her money into supporting actual Democratic candidates who have experience and stand a chance against Trump. Meanwhile, let her keep her feet on the ground and refuse to let addle- brained nincompoops push her into something she might later regret.  As the Politico reporter put it, "Why put yourself in for all that ugliness when you don't have to?"  Stay instead in the background and contribute support!

To read Sonali's full piece go to:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/sonali-kolhatkar/77176/what-oprah2020-says-about-the-state-of-u-s-politics

Yes, "Identity Politics" Will Be With Us For The Forseeable Future

"BWAAAAHAHA! Dat Bob Mullah goin' after me Daddy Donald!"  (A portrait of a typical Foxite Trumpie)

Donald Dotard tends to his "tribe", but what is this tribe? How best to define it? Is it like a menagerie of the downtrodden under a Stockholm syndrome, who fancy having their master abuse them with phony tax cuts and repealed health care? Or is it more like a clan of clueless infants endlessly bawling for "justice" and importance? Or maybe it's a bit of both.  We do know many of them actually back Dotard's policies - including getting rid of the ACA and giving $800 billion in corporate welfare to the rich in the GOP tax "reform" bill. This despite the fact those actions will wreak the most havoc on the Trumpies.  They also seem to be A-ok with repealing net neutrality despite the fact if that happens most of their blogs will get cold and inactivated since they won't be able to afford keeping them - at least functioning expeditiously - i.e. without taking nine hours to get a post up.

In any case, there is no way the nation's tribal politics and polarization are ending anytime soon. And it would be unwise for the Left to surrender its own identity politics.

In a recent WSJ column ('Selfie Politics', Nov. 9, p. A15) Daniel Henninger wrote:

"Democrats found validation for the politics of identity in the Virginia results. Some 77 percent of unmarried women voted for Ralph Northam. Ed Gillespie was standing in front of an anti-Trump train."

Let's point out here that child molester Roy Moore in Alabama was also standing in front of the same train. As noted in a recent TIME article (December 25, p. 30):

"Moore and his allies distributed appeals  about preserving Confederate monuments, NFL players kneeling at football games and dangerous criminals registering to vote. The Republican gubernatorial candidate Ed Gillespie in Virginia, took a similar tack. If either had won Trump's divisive tactics might have become the 2018 campaign blueprint for countless candidate."

But instead (ibid.):

"The tide has started to turn away from the insanity we have been living through. It is time to return to decency and compassion."

WHY has the "tide" started to turn? (At least for those of us who accept facts.) Because the Dotard Tribe's playbook is now a losing one. Sensible people, voters across the nation, are simply tired and fed up with the Steve Bannon- Dotard style of destroying the civil fabric of the nation and doing so under the banner of "destroying political correctness" - unaware they are also mangling civility and democracy..

Of course, the damage extends to international relations as well, as we've seen  with micro-Nazi Nikki Haley warning the 128 nations in a UN vote that condemned the Trumpie Imperium.  This was after Dotard declared Jerusalem as formal capital of Israel - thereby demolishing the entire peace process. To add fuel to the fire this incompetent shitwit also declared the U.S. would move its embassy there. See e.g. http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2017/12/brace-for-wave-of-terror-after-dotard.html

So, of course, the sane nations of the planet would come out against this fell move. But there was Haley, five brain  sizes too small for her role as UN Ambassador, declaring....eerrr whining: "The United States will remember this day for which it was singled out for attack.. This vote will be remembered and have consequences."     Oooooohhh! What, exactly? Disallowing any Dotard visits? Halting the puny 2 percent funding you've failed to provide anyway?

Uh no, dope. The U.S. was not "singled out for attack", rather its reckless attack on the Mideast peace process was simply condemned in a democratic VOTE at the UN. Deal with it, idiot.  But this is the grievance mentality the Trumpites have stoked to a tee which yes, has spawned separate national identities in this now rapidly declining nation.

Why this anger and stoking of phony outrage? Because in Trump's as well as Steve Bannon's playbook: "tribal grievance is more powerful than tired policies."  That's why, before the Alabama Senate special election, Bannon tried to rile up the base of cracker Trumpites with bombastic blather such as:  "They hate the Trump miracle and the nullification project. They're trying to get you to shut up. They couldn't beat Trump becausxe they couldn't beat you."  And so on, with endless  whining full of mock grievance.

And yeah, it's easier to get your tribe worked up over kneeling NFL players during the anthem, or abortions or removing Confederate monuments than it is to craft and implement policies that redound to the benefit of all citizens. It's easy to pull chords of emotions of your tribe and get them worked into a frenzy than not.

Henninger's WSJ piece goes on (ibid.):

"The Democrats not unreasonable takeaway from Virginia will be that identity politics works, so do more of it."

Well, kind of, but not quite.  He misses the point that the identity on the left has accrued and developed as a reaction to the free for all hate fest on the Right. In other words, it has been developed in order to preserve civil society by amassing a truly democratic counter weight, as opposed to a mass of screaming zombies only out to tear down the nation by draining an imaginary "swamp".

The most derelict balderdash of all in Henninger's piece is:

"For all the antipathy directed at Mr. Trump, he in fact speaks for the Everyman of America's selfie politics. Embrace Me! Self interest, the old normal in politics, has been replaced by insistent self regard."

Which is to say, whining as an art form based on relentless  navel gazing and scapegoating. As pointed out in a recent New Republic article ('It's the Culture, Stupid!', November, p. 14):

"In last year's election, according to an analysis by political scientist Tim Wood, 61 percent of the poorest whites - those in the bottom third of income distribution - voted for Trump."

Who are these whites?   A Dec. 5th, 2016 article in The Economist gives us a jarring insight (p. 30):
"The anxiety Trump supporters betray by looking for scapegoats says most, of course, about themselves. Typically members of the white lower middle class, they are at once jealous of the small privileges that distinguish them from the toilers below, and bitterly resentful of the faraway government that provides their Social Security, VA care and Medicare."

Bitterly resentful. An attitude that reached its nadir once Barack Obama took office, and these poor whites couldn't bear to see an intelligent black man reach the acme of governance in our nation. To them he was an alien, and a "Hussein" - always making sure to use his middle name when characterizing him. Bitter and resentful. Deplorable.  But deplorable is not a deserved epithet unless and until it crosses over into blatant racism - which it did- leading them to circulate vile, hate-filled images such as:

These are the "everymen" to which Henninger refers, who are a disgrace to any true "Everyman" worthy of the name.   Thus, what drove the aberrant vote in 2016 for Trump wasn't income but identity. An identity connection which Trump has  fostered by pandering to their insecurities, stroking their pathetic egos ("You will never be ignored again!") then more recently attacking the Mueller probe and our justice system - Constitution ("We have a rigged system").

Henninger also claimed (ibid.):

"The only thing the Democrats self categorizers can see staring back at them from their screens is whatever awful thing Trump has tweeted about....Me!"

Missing the essential point that each focus of a Trump tweet attack has been an element of our democracy - whether James Comey, Bob Mueller, the courts that thwarted his Muslim ban, the NFL players exercising free speech, the press and media or - more recently, the FBI in toto ("They are in tatters!")  If I was any self respecting FBI agent, I'd yearn to put this guy's head on a pike.  But there it is.

Henninger's delusion is to believe the normal citizen response (as in the Resistance)  to Trump's attacks is simple solipsism. In fact, it translates to  a defining counter attack against Trump's OWN attacks on civil,  democratic society. Hence, Elijah Cummings recent injunctions to those of us who seek to protect it, to do so. This is especially in the wake of the ongoing attacks by Trump TV flunkies  on the CIA, the FBI, Bob Mueller, and the current Trump-Russia investigations by fifth columnist traitors like Devin Nunez, Trey Gowdy and their cohort .

THIS is the danger missed by the illustrious Henninger in his myopic effort to scapegoat the Democrats and those of us who inveigh against Dotard's attacks. Because we understand, like Henninger does not, the dangers posed by  degenerate support for a minority faction of the populace - who are severely propagandized (via FAUX News)  to follow their leader (like the "Good Germans") - and also to despise their fellow citizens.  The dynamic enables easy identification with fellow Trumpies via their mutual hatred of  "political correctness"  and  "establishment elites".  Hence, Bannon's blueprint to encourage this faction to disbelieve anything the mainstream media reports no matter how credible or damning.

  Their narcissistic hunger (in some cases driven by a sense of inferiority) mirrors Dotard's and has compelled them to identify with Trump in his destruction of norms and regulations (i.e. citizen protections), which has exacerbated political divisions in the country.   Thus, Neal Gabler's trenchant and pithy words in a recent smirkingchimp.com blog post:

"Historians may determine that November 8, 2016  was the date America’s second civil war began. By that perspective, just as the first Civil War was the last gasp of slavery, this second is very likely the last gasp of aging white Americans — their full-throated death rattle against an America that they detest for having changed so dramatically.."

Naomi Klein in her recent book, 'NO Is Not Enough - Resisting Trump's Shock Politics'), argued that, pp. 90-91:

"It is short-sighted,  not to mention dangerous, for liberals  and progressives to abandon their own focus on identity politics",

because:

"To a terrifying degree, skin color and gender conformity are determining who is physically safe in the hands of the state, who is at risk from vigilante violence, who can express themselves without constant harassment and who can cross a border without terror."

Bottom line? So long as the Right embraces identity politics and tribalism  - seeking to stoke their voters using hate and distrust,  we on the sane side  must adopt a counter identity politics - appealing to the angels of citizens' better nature - not their worst.  Those appeals to citizens' better natures then are all about protectively circling the  "wagons" - whether on behalf of the 800,000 DACAns Trump wants to ship out, or the decent Muslims he wants to block from coming in, or the Puerto Ricans he has abandoned as "too costly" for federal assistance after Hurricane Maria. In other words, our tribal identity must be to protect those minorities threatened by the howling banshees of the Right.

Oh, and lest I forget, that protective brief extends to Robert Mueller's remaining as special prosecutor, and repelling any and all attacks against the integrity of his investigation. As we know, and anyone who's followed "Trump TV" is aware, the Foxites have been going batshit insane the past few weeks trying to foment a conspiracy from whole cloth rubbish. They've conjured up  and woven together disparate nonsense such as the already disproven "uranium one" (which eight federal agencies approved), Clinton donations, and the Steele dossier to arrive at a "coup" attempt  to oust their little asshole, Donnie Dotard.   These Reeptards - hysterical that the FBI and Obama-Clinton surrogates want to "undo"  Trump's ascension-  are pulling on any straw a drowning rat might. That  includes the use of willing toadies like Devin Nunez and Trey Gowdy - as well as Chuck Grassley - to scuttle the congressional investigations. They're primary objective is to also  discredit Robert Mueller's investigation because one FBI agent made negative email comments about Donnie the Dotard..  Failing to process or notice that Peter Strzok also made damning remarks about Bernie Sanders and Hillary.

He was, in other words, an equal opportunity texting bomb thrower. But the poor little crying tribe of Trumpies just zoned in on what he said about the Donald i.e. that he was an "idiot". Well, at least he didn't call Dotard a “fucking moron"  like Rex Tillerson did.  But this is what gets the panties of the Dotard tribe all in a twist, to the extent that many of these knot heads claim Strzock's email texts show such extreme bias against Trump that the Mueller investigation is compromised.

These Reeptardos can't get it into their noggins that nothing was compromised. As Rod Rosenstein pointed out to the House Judiciary 'pukes, even FBI agents are entitled to their own opinions. Yeah, this guy Strzock did get caught, but he was also fired back in July last year. So the Reeptards foaming at the mouth are all beating a dead horse that left the "barn" 17 months ago..  But this is what what they want to do for their tribe, to keep them stoked with misplaced fury. sowing even more division, more polarization.

The other reason tribalism and identity politics can never cease is that we have nearly a third of the nation following the lies of FAUX News.  Ingesting daily the lies that Mueller's investigation is "biased" (never mind most of these imps were singing Mueller's praises back in May as a Republican and "straight arrow"), and a "coup" is afoot to "undo the election" of their  little bastard, Dotard. 

Since by its nature truth and national advancement can never be in league with lies, destruction and chaos, then there can be no common cause or polity with the Trumpie Foxites. Their tribe must hang by itself, on all their lies they are ingesting. We on the other side - who value genuine science, proper regulations and stable governance -  cannot be one with them.

Hence, the national scene is set for perpetual division: tribalism and identity. When will it end, or can it end? Only when the minority side now creating "mischief of faction" (as warned about by James Madison) comes to its collective senses - ditches Dotard, and returns to embrace truth,  democracy and national unity - including abiding by the rule of law and whatever finding Robert Mueller's investigation arrives at.

If not, we shall remain a nation divided, possibly to the point of another Civil War.

See also:

www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/marjorie-cohn/76808/trump-apologists-are-gunning-for-mueller

And:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/bill-berkowitz/76848/white-house-press-secretary-sarah-huckabee-sanders-obliterates-and-obfuscates-the-truth-at-will

And:

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-reich/76851/the-big-picture-of-how-we-got-into-this-mess-of-trump-and-how-we-get-out-of-it