Text of the response from a friend on another list: Thanks Sukla for the two excellent perspectives that together offer a good way to look at what is going on in Washington. I especially liked this bit from Usborne in the Independent:
"That Access Hollywood tape about Trump’s boasting of sexual predation was the death of his campaign until it wasn’t. ... With this tirade, for instance, he didn’t just change the subject, he scrambled it, a trick completed when the White House asked Congress at the weekend to include consideration of the Obama administration breaking anti-snooping rules, including possible wire-tapping of Trump Tower, in its incoming investigations into possible Trump-Russia ties. ... Thus several things have happened. Now when the subject comes up of Russia and Trump, the default response of Trump’s supporters, at least, will be be, “Ah, but look at how much worse Obama was”. It’s like the school bully responding to being told off for some random act of violence by concocting something much worse about someone else in the playground. In the meantime, any White House official who is asked to offer substantiation for this Saturday morning’s Tweets can now shrug and say it is a matter for Congress to sort out." This provides a segue for me to comment on the inability of some on the left to let go of Democrats, Obama, Clintons etc. XXX is a good example. There seems to be an assessment that Trump is a logical consequence of horrible Obama, or at least that Trump’s policies were presaged by horrible Obama (and perhaps Clinton before him). This is just wrong, dangerously wrong at that. One doesn't have to believe that Obama was a great socialist to see that US Republicans are a combination of white racists with religious fanatics and other predatory elements whose goals are not influenced by what Democrats do or don't. Obamacare is the most progressive US welfare program in 50 years, but the GOP mobilized whites rich and poor to defeat it, essentially on the grounds that poor people, many of whom are minorities, deserve no help, even though the majority of the beneficiaries are white. This is the US reality today, and perhaps the world reality as well, looking at Brexit and Modi and Duterte. Leftists need to decide where they want to spend their energies. The sectarian attitude is to complain ad nauseum about how Democrats have disappointed. Well, tough. Why don't we give whatever money we can spare to support US groups fighting Republicans and Indian groups fighting Modi? That would be actually productive, contributing to efforts that resist these fascist forces and perhaps even defeat them. There are any number of worthwhile groups in both places. I will be happy to discuss options for overcoming hurdles, and there are plenty of people who can help direct concerned people. If, instead of that, we talk about Obama’s views on whistleblowers during a week of revelations about Trump’s unconstitutional and other illegal acts before and after the election, that is truly bizarre if not reactionary, enabling the sort of thing Usborne talks about. Likewise over confirmation hearings and votes. There are real issues to hold Democrats accountable on like EPA, Obamacare, Medicare, Medicaid, public schools, workplace safety, worker rights. To focus on an ex-governor or senator becoming a cabinet member is a distraction. It seems some on the left have a hard time deciding who the real enemies are, or perhaps the goal is to justify personal inaction. Thanks again Sukla for keeping me and others informed. END Sukla On 08/03/2017, Sukla Sen <[email protected]> wrote: > I/II. > https://www.yahoo.com/news/donald-trump-thinks-pretty-clever-200300512.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=2_07 > > Donald Trump thinks he was pretty clever shifting the Russia focus to > Barack Obama. He wasn't > > The Independent > David Usborne > The Independent March 7, 2017 > > Donald Trump and Barack Obama enjoy a light-hearted exchange with > journalists in the White House in December: Getty > > For a White House that so disdains the media, it sure spends a lot of > time obsessing about it. After the giant sigh of relief that met > President Donald Trump’s speech to Congress a week ago, the unveiling > of a pared-back Muslim-majority country travel ban was put back to > allow the glow to linger a little longer. But that went out the window > twenty four hours later with the revelations that Attorney General > Jeff Sessions had lied about meeting with the Russian ambassador. > > Rendered apoplectic, not least by Mr Sessions’ decision (cowardly, in > his view) to recuse himself from all further investigation into > alleged Russian meddling in last year’s election, Mr Trump then found > a way to change that conversation again by making the explosive claim > in a series of Tweets on Saturday morning that his predecessor, Barack > Obama, had ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower in October without > offering any evidence to support it. > > Come Monday, unveiling the revised travel ban seemed suddenly, if not > to Trump himself, then certainly to his frazzled aides, like a good > idea again. Trump was kept off the airwaves, as three grey-haired > cabinet members, led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, soberly > presented a new executive order that removed Iraq from the list of > affected countries and had otherwise been tweaked in hopes the courts > wouldn’t blow it up again. > > This is the pinball reality of Washington nowadays – multiple metal > balls ricocheting in all directions, unleashed by an intemperate and > gleeful player-in-chief, all accompanied by a non-stop cacophony of > bells, klaxons and flashing lights. No one can hope to keep up and no > one can tell yet if the score he is piling up in spinning neon digits > is impressively high or disastrously low. But to Trump, all that > matters for the moment is the racket and the motion. > > His Towergate play on Saturday was especially diabolical, one more > masterstroke of distraction to add to a long list of them. Like the > time he said millions had voted illegally when he was forced to > confront the fact that he had lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton > by a mile. Or the time he claimed record crowds for his inauguration > when the rest of us were looking at photographs of empty fields. > > Follow > Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump > How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very > sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy! > 5:32 PM - 4 Mar 2017 > 52,628 52,628 Retweets 160,821 160,821 likes > But this was especially wanton. Such an assertion demanded some crumb > of proof. He surely knew no president – even he – has the legal > authority to order secret surveillance of a political rival. It would > require a green light from a judge or a court. That, moreover, would > only be given if credible evidence were already present to suggest > that indeed the Trump campaign had colluded with a foreign power to > subvert the election. Is that where Trump wants this to go? > > So there we are then. This time Trump really blew it. His most trusted > officials have been unable to contend that their boss had the faintest > idea what he was talking about when he made those Tweets, which > included the description of Mr Obama as “bad” and “sick”. Most > extraordinary were reports that James Comey, the FBI director, had > asked the Justice Department publicly to repudiate them as pure > nonsense. Less than six weeks into his first term, the law-and-order > President has triggered mutiny from the very top of his most important > law-and-order agency. > > Yet, we can barely count the times we have declared with great > certitude that Trump had finally crossed a line only to find it had > been drawn in disappearing ink. That Access Hollywood tape about > Trump’s boasting of sexual predation was the death of his campaign > until it wasn’t. > > So, we must pull ourselves in check. Trump doesn’t ignore the rules > just because he likes to or even just because he knows his supporters > want him to. Nor is it just that he knows he won’t get punished for > doing it, at least not any time soon. His reasons for breaking the > rules are often more complicated and more devious. With this tirade, > for instance, he didn’t just change the subject, he scrambled it, a > trick completed when the White House asked Congress at the weekend to > include consideration of the Obama administration breaking > anti-snooping rules, including possible wire-tapping of Trump Tower, > in its incoming investigations into possible Trump-Russia ties. Plenty > of Republicans have already said they will go along. > > Thus several things have happened. Now when the subject comes up of > Russia and Trump, the default response of Trump’s supporters, at > least, will be be, “Ah, but look at how much worse Obama was”. It’s > like the school bully responding to being told off for some random act > of violence by concocting something much worse about someone else in > the playground. In the meantime, any White House official who is asked > to offer substantiation for this Saturday morning’s Tweets can now > shrug and say it is a matter for Congress to sort out. > > Clearly Trump reacts to things on impulse, often with the help of > Twitter. The Sessions affair was the last straw. For days, he had been > fuming about endless leaks meant to harm him and the media’s appetite > for them. On Saturday he let off steam, and the immediate fall-out may > actually have been positive for him. Indeed, by all accounts, he > remains quite unrepentant about them. > > But wait. Trump may not have been as clever as he thinks. Having your > FBI chief give you a public spanking is not clever. Giving Congress > reason to expand, not narrow, its probes into your possible collusions > with Russia during and after last year’s election is not clever. And > if you have any desire to broaden your support and rescue your > approval ratings, calling your popular predecessor a crook is > definitely not clever. Even the Kremlin on Monday was desperately > trying to distance itself from the whole mess that the topic has > become in Washington. > > He may not see any of this yet, but he will eventually. This will seem > like wishful thinking to some, but the day will come when Trump’s > magic bottle of disappearing ink runs empty. > > II. > https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/06/president-donald-trump-most-powerful-cornered-animal-world?CMP=fb_gu > > President Donald Trump is the most powerful cornered animal in the world > > Lawrence Douglas > > Trump lashes out by creating a chaos of conflicting claims to distract > attention away from real allegations. It is all too effective > > ‘If there is something extraordinary about Trump it is how low he is > willing to go.’ Photograph: UPI / Barcroft Images > > Monday 6 March 2017 19.28 GMT > > For all his inconstancy of character, Donald Trump is a master > manipulator. He rose to political prominence by slandering Barack > Obama. He rode the birther myth as far as it would go – before > brazenly jettisoning it with the insistence that it was all the > handiwork of Hillary Clinton. > > Now once again, he seeks to buoy his political fortunes by attacking > Obama. Perhaps what is so striking about the tweets is not their > desperation, but their cynicism. In exclaiming “This is McCarthyism!”, > Trump said something deeply revealing – only about himself. > McCarthyism was never in the first instance about wiretapping. It was > about defaming public officials with charges of treason without a > shred of evidence. Sounds familiar, no? > > Play VideoPlay > Current Time 0:00 > / > Duration Time 1:26 > > Trump’s wiretap ‘smear’ prompts spirited reaction from across political > divide > Equally revealing was Trump’s tweet: “I’d bet a good lawyer could make > a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my > phones in October, just prior to Election!” As Trump well knows, a > good lawyer can make a case out of anything. > > In the 1970s, after the justice department accused the Trump > Corporation of racially discriminatory rental policies, Trump hired > Roy Cohn. This was a man who, as a young lawyer, had assisted Joseph > McCarthy’s red-baiting. On Trump’s behalf, Cohn countersued the > government for $100m, a tactic Trump absorbed and has practiced > throughout his career: when on the defensive, attack. > > Trump’s wiretap paranoia and the reality of modern surveillance > Read more > > Concerned about congressional investigations into contact between his > campaign and the Russians? Make a groundless charge of wiretapping > against Obama and insist that the allegations be included in the > investigations. > > Cohn’s countersuit did not prevail, nor will Trump’s charges against > Obama stick. But that is not the point. The point is to distract > attention away from real allegations by creating a chaos of > conflicting claims. And in this regard the strategy is all too > effective. If there is something extraordinary about Trump it is how > low he is willing to go. > > Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee was undoubtedly correct when she > observed that “if this [the wiretapping] happened … we have … seen … a > huge attack on democracy itself.” But if it didn’t, we have witnessed > an attack on democracy no less ominous. It is an attack at once > concerted and ongoing. > > It’s hard to know where it goes from here. Perhaps Trump will turn his > attention to a more traditional enemy: not a perceived political rival > but a nation allegedly threatening American interests. Not an > Australia, but a North Korea or Iran or even China. No better way to > drown the voices of dissent than by pounding the martial tattoos of > the war drum. Or maybe he will continue to tilt at his fellow > Americans. > > Since his inauguration a scant six weeks ago, Trump has defamed a > great newspaper, a federal judge, and a former president. He has > attacked whole institutions, pillars of American democracy. He appears > willing to hold a great constitutional order hostage to his narcissism > and political insecurities. > > One wishes to echo the words of Joseph Welch who famously asked of Joe > McCarthy: “Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you > left no sense of decency?” > > > > -- > Peace Is Doable > -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
