September 4, 2018--Negative Partisanship

This weekend's series of tributes to John McCain caused me to wonder again why so many conservatives and, especially, Donald Trump feel animus toward the late senator from Arizona. 

It wasn't because he was such a maverick and voted solidly against Trump's agenda. In fact, with notable exceptions (among a few others his thumbs down vote not to repeal Obamacare) he voted for at least 90 percent of the legislation supported by Trump.

And, I recalled, Trump savaged McCain early in the 2016 campaign, well before it was known who would win the nomination. He mocked McCain for what can only be viewed as heroism during the Vietnam War, a war that Trump did all he could to dodge. Perhaps, I thought at the time, Trump was jealous of McCain's unstinting courage. Trump knew in his heart that McCain was a hero while he was a blowhard coward.

I also thought at the time, well before Trump loomed as the frontrunner, that taking on McCain in this gratuitous way would doom his changes. Candidates traditionally drop out of contention for doing a lot less. But not Trump. There is little that is political traditional about him. His people stuck with him and he rolled inexorably toward the White House.

More surprisingly, it appears that the vast majority of Republicans detest McCain and are even comfortable mocking his service.

So I continue to be puzzled about why Trump is so bulletproof. A recent article in the Washington Post, "Republicans' Anger at McCain Speaks Volumes About Tribal Politics," offers some additional insights.

From the article--

Over the past few decades, Americans have fled to the political poles, leaving fewer in the once vibrant and decisive middle. Increasingly, those partisan voters are being driven more by fear and loathing for the opposition party than admiration for their own party’s leaders--a phenomenon that political consultants call “negative partisanship.” 

Today, partisanship has a “stronger influence” on voters’ behavior than at any time since the 1950s, Alan Abramowitz and Steven Webster, two Emory University political scientists, wrote recently. One result: Any act of compromise with the enemy--or opposition party--is greeted with anger and derision.

The article includes a few quotes from conservatives who hated McCain. They offer a glimpse of the intensity of their fury--

“Sorry, phony, fraud and a traitor,” Shawn Halan, a Southern California real estate agent, wrote in a social media post. “He was a pathetic egomaniac bent on fighting conservatism and did it as a pretender!” 

“Faux conservative,” added another supporter of President Trump. 

“We can admire his service in Vietnam, but also realize he was a scoundrel and backstabber as a politician,” wrote a photographer based in the New York area. “I don’t mourn.”

Negative partisanship it is.

August 3, 2018--The Donald, Jr.

"What is it Udai? Are you and your brother Qusai in trouble again? Here's twenty. Now go away."

"But Daddy . . ."

"Don't you see I'm busy. I'm trying to round up 150 thousand. That moron Cohen-Head tells me that bimbo what's-her-name insists on cash or a check or who-knows-what. He thinks I'm made of money. 

"I've had it with him. All he does is call me up to beg me to come to Passover or his kid's bar mitzvah. He thinks I'm Jewish like that gorgeous sister of yours. 

"And he mumbles all the time. I can't understand a word he says. He keeps telling me to talk slower and louder. He must be going deaf. Or you'd think he's trying to make a tape recording or something. What a jerk.

"I wish someone would shoot him already. Let's see if he really wants to take a bullet for me. One of these days I might just do it myself. And like I keep saying I could shoot someone and my people wouldn't blink an eye. My favorables would probably go through the roof. Like Reagan's or Lincoln's."

"But Daddy . . ."

"Didn't I tell you I'm busy? Here's another five. Take Qusai with you and go play in traffic."

"But Daddy I just got an email from some Russian woman lawyer--Natalia Vaseline or something. I never can pronounce their names. They're all Greek to me."

"To make a loan to us? They're rolling in it. We got a shit-load from Deutsche Bank. It's a regular Russian laundromat."

"It's not about money, it's about Hillary. They have dirt."

"What? What's this dirt business?"

"This lady lawyer said they had a lot of dirt on Hillary and her campaign and want to take a meeting with us--I don't mean with you but with me and Qusai and Jared and that weasel Manafort."

"What does she look like? You know some of those Russians . . . If you were a man I could tell you stories."

"We can always say it's about adopting Russian children. Nobody would care about that or want to know the specifics. Not even CNN."

"Remember--no collusion. And while you're at it see if they can get their hands on Hillary's server. And her 30,000 emails. See if they have any tapes of Clinton fooling around when he was in Moscow. He's there all the time making deals for their uranium and he likes the ladies. We could leak it to Hannity."

"I'll remember to ask. But are you sure we should meet with them because . . ."

"As long as I don't know about it. You see me winking? Remember no collusion." 

"I already forgot we talked."

"Good boy. Here's a hundred. Take Qusai out for a nice lunch."

Above--Saddam Hussein With Udai and Qusai 

November 22, 2016--Obama's Legacy

Nary a day goes by when there isn't talk about Obama's legacy.

In this weekend's New York Times Sunday Review section for example, in addition to a number of passing references, there is Julian Zelizer's article, "Wrecking Obama's Legacy."

Enough.

Obama himself is so involved with polishing his historical reputation--not wanting his legacy to be only about his being the first African-American president--that the rest of us should leave it at that.  Leave it to him rather than feel that we progressives have a responsibility to protect his reputation and to resist soon-to-be-seen efforts to chip away at his accomplishments. Obamacare, for example which is slated by Donald Trump to be "repealed and replaced."

Good luck with that.

We can see how well this legacy protection is working. During the recent race for the White House Obama spent a lot of time appearing before black audiences in the Carolinas in an effort to explicitly encourage them to vote for Hillary Clinton in order to protect his legacy.

African-American turnout, as it turned out, was much less than projected. Perhaps because his self-serving appeal turned off even black voters.

When campaigning, he didn't just say that Clinton had many programs that would benefit people of color or that she would do a better job than Trump of keeping America safe. What he in effect said was think of a vote for Hillary as a vote for his legacy. His legacy as an African-American president, as if it were disconnected from concerns about America's future.

Imagine the understandable firestorm if a white president toward the end of his term beseeched supporters to vote for his successor because she is white.

Additionally,  it is not up to the liberal media or the rest of us to focus on what Obama accomplished and to feel compelled to promote it. We should be thinking about what's good for America going forward. Especially how to keep Trump from making things worse. Potentially much worse.

If Obama was so concerned about his legacy perhaps when he had majorities in both houses of Congress he would not have traded away the single-payer health care option without a fight or without getting anything in exchange. Now, because of its inherent flaws (not just because of Trump and Paul Ryan) it is collapsing of its own weight.

If he was so concerned about his legacy perhaps Obama would not have contributed to messes with Russia and in Libya, Egypt, and Syria among other places in the Middle East. Maybe we wouldn't have helped catalyze the rise of ISIS.

These among other things will be at the heart of how history will regard him. Thus I understand why he would be concerned.

This is not to say that there are not real accomplishments to be tallied--Obamacare is in fact a step toward wider coverage; we didn't get suckered into further entanglements in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, or in various direct and surrogate ways with China. Then, he made some significant gains in climate and environment policy as well as with energy diversification and self-sufficiency. And, of course, he did many good things to help stabilize and rebuild the nearly collapsed economy he inherited.

But again, none of us should spend one more minute thinking about much less defending Obama's legacy. He has two months to go and we are facing at least four years of Trump and that deserves his and our full attention.