We were all so busy taking delight in the announcement last week of Trump’s indictment on 37 felony charges involving his theft and mishandling of national security documents that we missed Ron DeSantis, running for the Republican Party’s nomination as its presidential candidate in the 2024 election, promising that should he be elected president, he will reverse the renaming of the North Carolina army post formerly known as Fort Bragg to Fort Liberty. DeSantis told the North Carolina Republican Party Convention last Friday that Fort Bragg.
Insecure and envious of others. Graspingly ambitious well beyond the scope of their pitifully few talents...wait, was I speaking of Trump or DeSantis? Seems that they are different sized coins of curiously similar stamp. DeSantis will not be able to out-Trump Trump.
I like what Lucian says: not all 74 million Trump voters in 2020 were racists, BUT THEY ALL WERE WILLING TO GIVE THEIR VOTES TO SOMEONE WHO OBVIOUSLY IS. Trump is not the problem, he's just the boil on the surface that pusses awfulness out. We've made some strides in my lifetime, since the forties, in trying at long last to live up to the beautiful words and thoughts of the Declaration of Independence and the remarkable (though deeply flawed) founders. But the closer we've gotten to "all men are created equal," the nastier the people who've profited from the inequality for generations have gotten.
Coupled with the increasing willingness of many to turn off the mental mechanisms that tell truth from lies -- and despise the lies -- and we've got one big fuckin' problem. But as long as the good guys stick together we can overcome. Be scared, by all means, but do your part. Call out bullshit whenever we see it, work for good candidates, scream, vote. The whole thing.
Contrary to the mealymouthed claim in the Holder decision, there is not less racism than there was in 1960. There is not less racism in this country than there was in 1860. It just changes its clothes to suit the fashions of the time.
I think racism went on the offensive after the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the mid-1960s. Before that, the racists were complacent because they knew they were in charge. As they saw their control slipping, or threatening to slip, they began to mobilize in a different way. "Southern strategy," here we come . . .
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
It’s not just the TiC, it’s the people - lots of them. I live in a very red county. These are most definitely NOT good people. They’re very much like rabid dogs.… truly.
I used to be what was once called a “Rockefeller” Republican (internationalist, strong on civil rights, in favor of a properly-regulated market economy). I gave up completely on the Republicans several years before Trump when I saw the outcome of a poll taken solely among registered Republican voters. I can’t remember the poll taker, but it might have been Gallup. The poll asked a very simple question: Was the abolition of slavery a good idea or a bad idea? Approximately 20 percent of the respondents said abolishing slavery was a bad idea. Another 20 percent said they weren’t sure.
We can lay a great deal of this reprehensible baggage at Trump’s feet, but we shouldn’t forget that Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for the presidency in 1980 in Philadelphia, Mississippi (the town where Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney were murdered by the Klan). That symbolism was not lost on a large percentage of Republicans although most of rest of the country seemed to be clueless with regard to what Reagan was doing.
My father was at Dartmouth when Rocky was there. He really liked Rocky. I met him while he was NY Governor. You could not meet a more charming man. There is not a Republican politician today anywhere near like Rocky or Eisenhower.
I've always prided myself on never for a moment regarding Reagan with anything but utter contempt. and that was BEFORE he was president. when he was president, that contempt blossomed into hatred.
He and Nancy were Hollywood C-list, desperate for money, so he became an anti-union shill for GE. GE then had lots of problems with its manufacturing unions. A long strike in Schenectedy (HQ) really hurt. (I had GE stock, so I always tracked their doings, even in college) So, they split their plants all over, especially in NY. He would go to all these small plants and talk about how Communistic the unions were. Without GE, the Reagans would have starved. I'm sure Nancy's Chicago family kept them afloat, too.
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
The embers seem to smolder unnoticed perpetually till someone spills some gasoline on them. de santis fills his jerrycans at the same station where trump gets his. Not a new thought but Taegan Goddard's blog reminds us "Obama told David Axelrod that the rise of Donald Trump was related to the fears of having the first African-American president." https://politicalwire.com/2023/06/15/obama-says-trump-was-a-reaction-to-his-presidency/
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
Obama got it, and thanks for reminding us.
I moved to the Prescott AZ area in 2009. I joined the American Legion in Dewey-Humboldt AZ. It was close, cheap drinks, and known as "The Post With A View", which was absolutely true; you could see for tens of miles.
It had not one Black member, but by the way the guys talked one would think we (White people) were under attack. It was all because we had a Black President. Their hatred of Obama, and their existential fear of Black people, was depthless. I spoke out too much, whenever someone said something racist. They said nasty crap at me, these fools, and I quit the Post. I'd guess Trump got over 90% of their vote. Veterans!
Nobody, btw, asked me to come back, though they needed members.
Note the date of my letter. What followed Trump's election should not have been a surprise to anyone. This is a copy/paste.
National Commander Dale Barnett
The American Legion
5745 Lee Road
Indianapolis , IN 46216
7/29/16
Dear Commander Barnett,
I am hoping that the AL does not endorse Donald Trump. I am presently a member of Post 78, Humboldt AZ.
As a Vietnam vet (Navy LT, Attack Squadron 52 and Army Advisory Team 86, SVN), I would be disgusted if the AL backed Draft-Dodger Trump---but that is just one of many reasons.
The AL should never back any candidate that not only favors TORTURE, but wishes to do more of it---and Trump has said this more than once. I saw that torture does not work in SVN; mostly, it damages the men doing it. I stopped it whenever I saw it.
Furthermore, it deeply endangers our men who get captured. Yet, just yesterday, Trump said that the Geneva Convention “is out of date.”
Any educated appraisal of Trump’s behavior would come to the conclusion that, at the very least, Trump is mentally ill.
To repeat, I am hoping that the AL does not endorse Donald Trump. I really would not want to be a part of any organization which backs Trump.
I support your sentiments and thank you for taking a principled stance. How is it possible that we are still fighting the Civil War and the MEGA pledge is really a return to infamy!?
His politics were far too timid for my Bernie-ish leanings, but the electrifying night of Obama's election will stay with me forever. The glow here would have lit Manhattan like stadium lights if there had been a blackout. A historic beginning. We had no premonition of what.
He made a campaign promise to shut down Gitmo, a torture prison opened by Presidential Order--GW Bush. Obama didn't do what was a simple thing. HUGE disappointment to me.
yeah, but not YOUR kind of member. reading that sentence back, I feel like I need to add that any obscene pun was unintended.
I had an upstairs neighbor who was never without his American Legion hat and who liked to sit in the mailroom and say ugly things. and he was not being "conversational" about the ugly things he said. believe me, I TRIED.
he was, however, an excellent upstairs neighbor because, in this building, you can hear every step the upstairs neighbors take and he was drunk enough to pass out by nine every night.
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
Next door to the 'Fantasticks' theater on Sullivan Street was an inviting-looking American Legion with prominent signage. Being near the tourist heart of Greenwich Village, naturally it attracted numerous visitors. They never visited long. They might as well have wondered into a mafioso clubhouse. In fact, maybe they actually had. (Hmmm. Or was that a VFW? Lucian?) Otoh, the Charleston, WV, American Legion was the coolest bar in town except the Empty Glass, plus the bartender personally prepped a mean fried baloney sandwich.
I think it was a VFW. Next door to the theater was a "laundry" that would not do your bags of laundry because it was a lookout for the mob numbers joint next door, had a Father Gigante poster in the window, which was interesting because the good father's parish was in the Bronx but his brother Vincent "The Chin" Gigante's social club was in the next block up the street.
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
Social club or apartment? Those blocks are where Chin shuffled around in his bathrobe and slippers on the street for years to establish a legal claim to incompetence. Father Louis, revered for actually doing good works in the Bronx, often joined his brother on those walks and always backed his claims. Wasted effort when it got to court. "Social clubs" were in storefronts all over Italian parts of the Village in those days. A sinister "laundromat" you'd never take laundry to operated across Cornelia Street from the Caffe Cino.
He had a social club just north of 3rd st. on the west side. I know this, because I made the serious error of parking in The Chin's spot right in front of the club one day. It was a Tue Fri spot, so it was a good one. I never made that mistake again. The laundries were invariably look outs. The guy at the one on Sullivan St. on the day I attempted to drop off my bag of laundry helpfully directed me to one over on Sixth Avenue just north of Bleecker. I caught a glimpse of the interior of the storefront next door one day. Actually, it was right across one of those double-storefronts with a tenement entrance in between them. A row of desks with black dial phones on them and thick necked men seated at them. It was a bookie lay-off joint, took bets from street bookies and served as a bank if anyone hit it big at Aqueduct on the daily double or triple.
when, nowadays, is that NOT true? another rhetorical question.
and I've been meaning to ask you...did you have dealings with the NY Observer when it was brand new (and a noble experiment)? the managing editor, Kenny Paul, was an old HS friend and I was wondering if you'd ever crossed paths...lovely guy, terrific editor, formidable intellectual.
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
[This is so deep in the thread I doubt anyone else is still tuned in, so … ]
I worked more closely with Ken as managing editor than anyone else at the paper except the editor, John Sicher, for the Observer's first three years. All you say, I agree totally. He trained a.young staff that graduated to prominent careers—one not only as a respected author but who also helped her then-husband get elected mayor of Denver, then governor of Colorado. Ken and I didn't stay in touch, but my impression was that after editing Arthur's Litchfield paper he landed at the Times. If so, a nice arc since he started at wapo. How cool, that you knew him so well!
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 17, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
that's amazing. but I just had a feeling...
we haven't talked for a lot of years, but I can honestly say that Kenny was one of my two or three BEST friends for a very long time. we became close when he was editor of the high school paper and I was (a year behind him) one of the go-to essayists and interviewers. we lost touch for reasons that feel obscure now. but we're FB friends now, although we don't actually communicate. he might be pissed off at me for losing touch. but during our decades of friendship, he was also very, very close to my whole family, especially my dad. but we were tight...in '73, I visited him in London when he was finishing at Oxford nd we toured Ireland together. in fact, his car's radiator was destroyed when we were in Connemara and it's Connemara in my new avatar photo, but 22 years later. I'd also visited him when he was teaching in Concord, NH a few years before that. I read my poetry to his HS English class. "ignorant woe" is a relevant Ginsberg phrase.
and yes, he was an amazing editor...pretty much everybody he "discovered" has gone on to major, major careers (Michael Lewis, Mike Tomasky...and it was a very welcome landing strip for Andrew Sarris). and John Helperin was probably the best drama critic in town.
did Kenny ever tell you that he was the Dartmouth valedictorian in '69? and his gig as Special Projects Editor at Newsday (prior to The Observer) was nothing to sneeze at...he had great Murray Kempton stories to tell. and yes, he's at the Times. I recall a stint at another weekly, but I forget which one.
it really hurt me to see what happened to The Observer after he left.
and oy...it just occurred to me that I missed his birthday last week. and yes, I revised my original post.
I think the truth of this is fairly obvious. I remember my total, tearful joy when Obama won, but I shouldn't have been so eager to discard my cynicism about American politics.
I have long thought what Mr. T. articulated in this column. "Who Let The Dogs Out," indeed? It was, of course, Trump, a misfit with money. He not only harbored abhorrent views which he decided to say out loud, he somehow unleashed the hate that other misfits felt. Make America Great Again? Nah. Everybody heard the unspoken word: Make America *White* Again.
(And while the hate machine was revved up, make things hot for gays, Jews, trans people and, of course, Blacks, who were first among the groups for poor Whites to feel better than.)
As for personality-free DeSantis, he's going nowhere. The minor things that register with people who may be unaware of these things registering at all (he's pudgy, has bad skin, is short, and has a terrible voice) are added in with the major things that are discussed: he's mean, punitive, unfair, and a pussy-whipped hater who leans heavily into authoritarian government. He reminds me not so much of a thug as a street punk.
So yes, Trump opened the door, and a whole bunch of ambitious imitators walked through it. The price may well be democracy. However ... historians say democracy has a lifespan of 250 years. I'll do the math for you. That would be 2026, so maybe these disgraceful people are right on time.
Jun 16, 2023·edited Jun 16, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
Subscribe to probably almost all of your post, but I want to suggest we could fairly reconfigure the estimate of a 250 years lifespan for a "democracy," by dating it from the first years when women, Black Americans, and other ethnic minorities and voters suppressed by pre-Civil Rights era laws, were legally enfranchised - instead of dating it from when white male property owners had those rights.
If so, starting from a date in the 1960s, we have about 190 years to go, given a helluva lot of hard electoral and other work, that is!
Lucian's incisive column also reminds me of this song, here in a segment from the film version of the Broadway musical South Pacific:
{EDIT - After nearly ten minutes trying to adjust the color on this clip, it's seemingly
a problem in this specific You Tube video; the music and emotional power of
the music and lyrics remain, this is also the only clip up there that supplies a wider
context to "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" in the plot}
You know all of the following basic info, Margo, but for anyone else who is unfamiliar with it:
"South Pacific is a 1958 American romantic musical film based on the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, which in turn is loosely based on James A. Michener's 1947 short-story collection Tales of the South Pacific. The film, directed by Joshua Logan, stars Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr and Ray Walston in the leading roles with Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary, the part that she had played in the original stage production. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the Academy Award for Best Sound for Fred Hynes. The setting is 1943 during World War II on an island in the South Pacific.
The soundtrack album of the film was released in 1958. The album became a major success, reaching No.1 in both the US and UK. In the US, the album stayed at No.1 on the Billboard 200 for seven months, the fourth longest run ever. The album remained in the top five of the UK Albums Chart for 27 consecutive weeks before reaching No.1 in November 1958. It stayed at the top for a record-breaking 115 weeks and remained in the top five for 214 weeks."
Ima go with the historians, but you do you. As for "South Pacific," how did you know I saw "South Pacific" with Mary Martin?! Granted, I was young -- but I was there.
And ... might you remember the Chinese rag picker in Michener's book "Hawaii "? He was the father of a Chinese Hawaiian mogul named Chin Ho. I got to meet him in Hawaii (I was 12) at the home of George & Esta Chaplin on Christmas Eve.
He was the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser, and a good friend of my mother's.
It occurs to me that we are seriously off message here, so before Mr. T. tells us to put a lid on it, I bid you a good night.
Thank you, Mr. Trumbull. I refuse to believe that Democracy has a "use by" date. I realize we are on some kind of cusp and that the next several elections are very critical for the health of this country...but I'm an incurable optimist and I feel a change for the better in the dem party. WE want our country back and we're rolling up our sleeves and grabbing the tools to work on getting it back.
& as you have one of the alternate spellings of my surname, here's some brief history...if we have no alternative, we rebel. Sometimes even if they are "alternatives," we rebel.
The Turnbulls held land throughout the Borders. ... They were the only clan to have a bounty placed on them by the King. ... William Turnbull received a charter ...
Origins of the name · 15th to 18th centuries · New World · Other notable members
Was played repeatedly in our house - also the original Broadway cast recording. My younger brothers and I did essentially commandeer the stereo once "Beatlemania," Dylan, the Stones, and too many others on 45 RPM vinyl to list arrived, but there's no real conflict beyond the superficial level, for example:
as soon as I read your "problem," I knew what it was.
for some incredibly stupid reason, when Joshua Logan directed the (to me, pretty lame) movie, he decided to frame the musical numbers by using a single color to tint the screen during each number.
I vastly prefer the original Broadway soundtrack because of Ezio Pinza, arguably the most beautiful bass (the kind of bass opera folks call a "Basso Cantante") voice of the last century. Giorgio Tozzi did the singing on the movie soundtrack, and he was certainly no slouch, but Pinza had that "thing." I did find out that when he was at the Met, Tozzi learned hypnosis and hypnotized a number of people at the Met to help them stop smoking. yes, opera singers used to smoke and stopping is really tricky for them because right after stopping, their voices go through a weird stage during which it's not really possible to sing full out without a lot of phlegmy stuff happening...and even in the '50s, good opera singers were booked well into the future.
Yeah maybe but thanks! - I can see in my mind's eye the album cover of the original recording you mention, I also really enjoy (most of) the film version, but that wacky cinematography choice, man...and from someone who REALLY should have known better, should have listened to movie's filming experts, but NOOOOOOOO.
In any case that's a valid concept for sure - performers who have "it, " able to take over a scene as lead or supporting actor, without histrionics, in fact much better without that, making it seem effortless.
"...he 74 million Americans who turned out to vote for him in the last election. They are not all racists, but every single one of them was willing to give their vote to someone who is."
Thank you, Lucian. I was 10 years old in 1957, living in the Texas Panhandle. The images of Faubus’s storm troopers on the nightly news (only 15 minutes long in those days) sparked my “radicalization.” By 1960 it was complete. By 1965 I was in Alabama doing voter registration. By 1966 I was leading a prominent campus anti-war group. I went ‘home’ again exactly twice, to bury first my dad and then my mom. My true home was elsewhere.
I’ve seen this image surely hundreds of times by now and, until today, I always saw the same things. Hate. Racism. Ignorance.
Today I saw strength and courage, the kind of courage that can move a mountain ... or a nation. If only more of us had the kind of moral bravery this girl modeled for us more than 60 years ago. Today this image brought me up short, and I realized that the real story here isn’t their hate but her courage.
About 15 years ago I had the privilege of meeting a few of these kids, 50 years after the fact, in connection with the premiere of a stage play based on their experience. (I’m a retired theatre guy.) They still had a special light around them.
I wrote a line once in a speech. I used to give a lot of them. “The essential qualities of a life well-lived are not power and fame, but courage and compassion.” As long as there are kids like her we have hope.
All this is true. The racists are now publicly proclaiming their bigotry and racism loudly, but I think we're also missing something else going on that is very subtly happening:
Trump's followers are slowly peeling away-in the last two instances of his 'call to arms' for the base of deplorables, it ended up with very paltry attendance in New York and Miami.
Not the Jan 6 hordes, and not even his rally crews.
Just a few outliers that waved their flags, wore their hats and spoke their piss-ant bullshit. They were outnumbered by cops, partisans of the other side, and the media.
That doesn't mean the problem of these people is going away, but I think the hot fever that was Trumpism is cooling off very gradually.
I think that some have see what their allegiance to Trump will cost them-in most instances a federal felony conviction and sometimes a very long time in prison.
That is the deterrence that the prosecution of Jan 6 has wrought. A lot of those convicted were racists, as well. Or did anyone notice the overwhelming numbers of white people there?
The racists have always been among us. Unfortunately that poison is embedded in those who subscribe to it, generation after generation. It's hard to flush it out-but it can if we just keep on pushing the edge back to where they are no longer acceptable in polite company.
But it's going to be still hard to get them flushed out of the system and it's been a battle for the ages ever since the Civil War, which some states (Florida, I don't even know what they fought for-the alligators?) will not even accept they lost.
We almost have made it, but people like DeSanctis and Trump (along with a few more in Congress who do not deserve to have their names written) are not allowing us to go forward.
We just have to shove back and hard. Like one sign at a woman's protest stated:
"I just can't believe that I have to fight this battle all over again:"
By the way, Ft. Moore is a nice name for the base formerly known as Benning. At least it honors those who have helped others in their work.
there actually were SOME. but very few. and they were very quiet.
I'm not saying there aren't lots of TFF's supporters in NYC, but they have to be a few extra degrees of stupid after the DECADES of his clown persona being in all our faces. my bp still goes up perceptibly every time I remember "Best Sex Ever."
the really infuriating about this phenomenon is how in-your-face cowardly it all is. it's not so much that people are "peeling away" as that they've decided to begin to consider (yes, I meant all those qualifications) the possibility that they might need an exit ramp at some point in the next year or so, so they're determined to have their cake and eat it. or to try. and of course, since everyone is supposed to be "presumed innocent," they can hedge their bets by saying things like "IF it's true," etc.
any journalist worth the title shouldn't let anyone get away with this. and that includes the "journalists" who are racists, fascists, whatever. the next question needs to be something like "well, let's assume it IS true..." and when the answer is "I don't like to deal in hypotheticals," the person saying it should be reminded that running for office involves endless dealing in "hypotheticals," as in "if I'm elected, I'll..."
a few weeks back, the NYT Opinion section had a cover story about "The View" not "offering any real debate." there's a reason why people so often trash the NYT...
I occasionally tune in to help with my waking-up (I'm a late sleeper). what I was objecting to was the NYT notion that there are two equally valid sides to every issue. and they used to have Megan McCain on, who--while hardly formidable--was very much the resident pain in the ass.
Today's post is extremely important. Racism is thriving in the GOP, with DeSantis just one example. I'm appalled, though not surprised, that he wants to undo Fort Liberty's naming. Thank you for decrying this. More in the media need to.
I literally threw up when I learned that Traitor Tot was going to be in the White House, realizing that this malignant misanthrope was going to be my career USCG son's CIC and what that could lead to. I was with my psychic friend that night who was fielding calls from clients after the news broke. She told me it's actually a good thing that he was elected because it would expose the evil that is and make positive change happen much faster than it would have otherwise. She said we saved a hundred years. It's been drip, drip, drip, but we may finally be getting close to where crime is illegal again.
I don’t think she was right. What he did was expose the scarred underbelly of the racist, hyper religious, south. And stirred up a nightmare for the rest of us.
Yes, the racists and far right extremists were always there. Trump was the clarion call, and he gave them permission to act on their racist and extremist beliefs.
As a Naval Officer. I’m embarrassed that this clown once wore my uniform.
My people of my Navy are diverse, queer, brave and beautiful. And he is a small obnoxious fearful man.
Insecure and envious of others. Graspingly ambitious well beyond the scope of their pitifully few talents...wait, was I speaking of Trump or DeSantis? Seems that they are different sized coins of curiously similar stamp. DeSantis will not be able to out-Trump Trump.
I'm not buying the ignorance excuse any more. If you are a Republican today you are a racist whether you like it pr not.
I like what Lucian says: not all 74 million Trump voters in 2020 were racists, BUT THEY ALL WERE WILLING TO GIVE THEIR VOTES TO SOMEONE WHO OBVIOUSLY IS. Trump is not the problem, he's just the boil on the surface that pusses awfulness out. We've made some strides in my lifetime, since the forties, in trying at long last to live up to the beautiful words and thoughts of the Declaration of Independence and the remarkable (though deeply flawed) founders. But the closer we've gotten to "all men are created equal," the nastier the people who've profited from the inequality for generations have gotten.
Coupled with the increasing willingness of many to turn off the mental mechanisms that tell truth from lies -- and despise the lies -- and we've got one big fuckin' problem. But as long as the good guys stick together we can overcome. Be scared, by all means, but do your part. Call out bullshit whenever we see it, work for good candidates, scream, vote. The whole thing.
With all due respect, in 1961 i registered as a republican to be able to vote. Vote for whomever i choose too vote for.
I dont see a point in changing my registration.
Does this not mean you are only provided the Republican ballot when voting?
Contrary to the mealymouthed claim in the Holder decision, there is not less racism than there was in 1960. There is not less racism in this country than there was in 1860. It just changes its clothes to suit the fashions of the time.
I think racism went on the offensive after the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the mid-1960s. Before that, the racists were complacent because they knew they were in charge. As they saw their control slipping, or threatening to slip, they began to mobilize in a different way. "Southern strategy," here we come . . .
It’s not just the TiC, it’s the people - lots of them. I live in a very red county. These are most definitely NOT good people. They’re very much like rabid dogs.… truly.
GOP, KKK, what’s the difference?
I used to be what was once called a “Rockefeller” Republican (internationalist, strong on civil rights, in favor of a properly-regulated market economy). I gave up completely on the Republicans several years before Trump when I saw the outcome of a poll taken solely among registered Republican voters. I can’t remember the poll taker, but it might have been Gallup. The poll asked a very simple question: Was the abolition of slavery a good idea or a bad idea? Approximately 20 percent of the respondents said abolishing slavery was a bad idea. Another 20 percent said they weren’t sure.
We can lay a great deal of this reprehensible baggage at Trump’s feet, but we shouldn’t forget that Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy for the presidency in 1980 in Philadelphia, Mississippi (the town where Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney were murdered by the Klan). That symbolism was not lost on a large percentage of Republicans although most of rest of the country seemed to be clueless with regard to what Reagan was doing.
My father was at Dartmouth when Rocky was there. He really liked Rocky. I met him while he was NY Governor. You could not meet a more charming man. There is not a Republican politician today anywhere near like Rocky or Eisenhower.
I've always prided myself on never for a moment regarding Reagan with anything but utter contempt. and that was BEFORE he was president. when he was president, that contempt blossomed into hatred.
He and Nancy were Hollywood C-list, desperate for money, so he became an anti-union shill for GE. GE then had lots of problems with its manufacturing unions. A long strike in Schenectedy (HQ) really hurt. (I had GE stock, so I always tracked their doings, even in college) So, they split their plants all over, especially in NY. He would go to all these small plants and talk about how Communistic the unions were. Without GE, the Reagans would have starved. I'm sure Nancy's Chicago family kept them afloat, too.
The embers seem to smolder unnoticed perpetually till someone spills some gasoline on them. de santis fills his jerrycans at the same station where trump gets his. Not a new thought but Taegan Goddard's blog reminds us "Obama told David Axelrod that the rise of Donald Trump was related to the fears of having the first African-American president." https://politicalwire.com/2023/06/15/obama-says-trump-was-a-reaction-to-his-presidency/
Obama got it, and thanks for reminding us.
I moved to the Prescott AZ area in 2009. I joined the American Legion in Dewey-Humboldt AZ. It was close, cheap drinks, and known as "The Post With A View", which was absolutely true; you could see for tens of miles.
It had not one Black member, but by the way the guys talked one would think we (White people) were under attack. It was all because we had a Black President. Their hatred of Obama, and their existential fear of Black people, was depthless. I spoke out too much, whenever someone said something racist. They said nasty crap at me, these fools, and I quit the Post. I'd guess Trump got over 90% of their vote. Veterans!
Nobody, btw, asked me to come back, though they needed members.
The saddest thing about your story, Rich, is that it's unsurprising.
difny: This is for you as an editor.
Note the date of my letter. What followed Trump's election should not have been a surprise to anyone. This is a copy/paste.
National Commander Dale Barnett
The American Legion
5745 Lee Road
Indianapolis , IN 46216
7/29/16
Dear Commander Barnett,
I am hoping that the AL does not endorse Donald Trump. I am presently a member of Post 78, Humboldt AZ.
As a Vietnam vet (Navy LT, Attack Squadron 52 and Army Advisory Team 86, SVN), I would be disgusted if the AL backed Draft-Dodger Trump---but that is just one of many reasons.
The AL should never back any candidate that not only favors TORTURE, but wishes to do more of it---and Trump has said this more than once. I saw that torture does not work in SVN; mostly, it damages the men doing it. I stopped it whenever I saw it.
Furthermore, it deeply endangers our men who get captured. Yet, just yesterday, Trump said that the Geneva Convention “is out of date.”
Any educated appraisal of Trump’s behavior would come to the conclusion that, at the very least, Trump is mentally ill.
To repeat, I am hoping that the AL does not endorse Donald Trump. I really would not want to be a part of any organization which backs Trump.
Very Respectfully,
Rich—We had no idea how innocent we had been before we endured one term of trump.
I support your sentiments and thank you for taking a principled stance. How is it possible that we are still fighting the Civil War and the MEGA pledge is really a return to infamy!?
When Obama won the South Carolina Democratic primary, I thought, gee, maybe we are now (finally) live in a post-racist America. Boy was I wrong!
His politics were far too timid for my Bernie-ish leanings, but the electrifying night of Obama's election will stay with me forever. The glow here would have lit Manhattan like stadium lights if there had been a blackout. A historic beginning. We had no premonition of what.
same here. same. here.
He made a campaign promise to shut down Gitmo, a torture prison opened by Presidential Order--GW Bush. Obama didn't do what was a simple thing. HUGE disappointment to me.
I am so disturbed by the right wing political leanings of so many of my fellow vets.
yeah, but not YOUR kind of member. reading that sentence back, I feel like I need to add that any obscene pun was unintended.
I had an upstairs neighbor who was never without his American Legion hat and who liked to sit in the mailroom and say ugly things. and he was not being "conversational" about the ugly things he said. believe me, I TRIED.
he was, however, an excellent upstairs neighbor because, in this building, you can hear every step the upstairs neighbors take and he was drunk enough to pass out by nine every night.
Next door to the 'Fantasticks' theater on Sullivan Street was an inviting-looking American Legion with prominent signage. Being near the tourist heart of Greenwich Village, naturally it attracted numerous visitors. They never visited long. They might as well have wondered into a mafioso clubhouse. In fact, maybe they actually had. (Hmmm. Or was that a VFW? Lucian?) Otoh, the Charleston, WV, American Legion was the coolest bar in town except the Empty Glass, plus the bartender personally prepped a mean fried baloney sandwich.
I think it was a VFW. Next door to the theater was a "laundry" that would not do your bags of laundry because it was a lookout for the mob numbers joint next door, had a Father Gigante poster in the window, which was interesting because the good father's parish was in the Bronx but his brother Vincent "The Chin" Gigante's social club was in the next block up the street.
Social club or apartment? Those blocks are where Chin shuffled around in his bathrobe and slippers on the street for years to establish a legal claim to incompetence. Father Louis, revered for actually doing good works in the Bronx, often joined his brother on those walks and always backed his claims. Wasted effort when it got to court. "Social clubs" were in storefronts all over Italian parts of the Village in those days. A sinister "laundromat" you'd never take laundry to operated across Cornelia Street from the Caffe Cino.
He had a social club just north of 3rd st. on the west side. I know this, because I made the serious error of parking in The Chin's spot right in front of the club one day. It was a Tue Fri spot, so it was a good one. I never made that mistake again. The laundries were invariably look outs. The guy at the one on Sullivan St. on the day I attempted to drop off my bag of laundry helpfully directed me to one over on Sixth Avenue just north of Bleecker. I caught a glimpse of the interior of the storefront next door one day. Actually, it was right across one of those double-storefronts with a tenement entrance in between them. A row of desks with black dial phones on them and thick necked men seated at them. It was a bookie lay-off joint, took bets from street bookies and served as a bank if anyone hit it big at Aqueduct on the daily double or triple.
sorry I missed it. sic transit gloria mundi.
when, nowadays, is that NOT true? another rhetorical question.
and I've been meaning to ask you...did you have dealings with the NY Observer when it was brand new (and a noble experiment)? the managing editor, Kenny Paul, was an old HS friend and I was wondering if you'd ever crossed paths...lovely guy, terrific editor, formidable intellectual.
[This is so deep in the thread I doubt anyone else is still tuned in, so … ]
I worked more closely with Ken as managing editor than anyone else at the paper except the editor, John Sicher, for the Observer's first three years. All you say, I agree totally. He trained a.young staff that graduated to prominent careers—one not only as a respected author but who also helped her then-husband get elected mayor of Denver, then governor of Colorado. Ken and I didn't stay in touch, but my impression was that after editing Arthur's Litchfield paper he landed at the Times. If so, a nice arc since he started at wapo. How cool, that you knew him so well!
that's amazing. but I just had a feeling...
we haven't talked for a lot of years, but I can honestly say that Kenny was one of my two or three BEST friends for a very long time. we became close when he was editor of the high school paper and I was (a year behind him) one of the go-to essayists and interviewers. we lost touch for reasons that feel obscure now. but we're FB friends now, although we don't actually communicate. he might be pissed off at me for losing touch. but during our decades of friendship, he was also very, very close to my whole family, especially my dad. but we were tight...in '73, I visited him in London when he was finishing at Oxford nd we toured Ireland together. in fact, his car's radiator was destroyed when we were in Connemara and it's Connemara in my new avatar photo, but 22 years later. I'd also visited him when he was teaching in Concord, NH a few years before that. I read my poetry to his HS English class. "ignorant woe" is a relevant Ginsberg phrase.
and yes, he was an amazing editor...pretty much everybody he "discovered" has gone on to major, major careers (Michael Lewis, Mike Tomasky...and it was a very welcome landing strip for Andrew Sarris). and John Helperin was probably the best drama critic in town.
did Kenny ever tell you that he was the Dartmouth valedictorian in '69? and his gig as Special Projects Editor at Newsday (prior to The Observer) was nothing to sneeze at...he had great Murray Kempton stories to tell. and yes, he's at the Times. I recall a stint at another weekly, but I forget which one.
it really hurt me to see what happened to The Observer after he left.
and oy...it just occurred to me that I missed his birthday last week. and yes, I revised my original post.
I think the truth of this is fairly obvious. I remember my total, tearful joy when Obama won, but I shouldn't have been so eager to discard my cynicism about American politics.
I have long thought what Mr. T. articulated in this column. "Who Let The Dogs Out," indeed? It was, of course, Trump, a misfit with money. He not only harbored abhorrent views which he decided to say out loud, he somehow unleashed the hate that other misfits felt. Make America Great Again? Nah. Everybody heard the unspoken word: Make America *White* Again.
(And while the hate machine was revved up, make things hot for gays, Jews, trans people and, of course, Blacks, who were first among the groups for poor Whites to feel better than.)
As for personality-free DeSantis, he's going nowhere. The minor things that register with people who may be unaware of these things registering at all (he's pudgy, has bad skin, is short, and has a terrible voice) are added in with the major things that are discussed: he's mean, punitive, unfair, and a pussy-whipped hater who leans heavily into authoritarian government. He reminds me not so much of a thug as a street punk.
So yes, Trump opened the door, and a whole bunch of ambitious imitators walked through it. The price may well be democracy. However ... historians say democracy has a lifespan of 250 years. I'll do the math for you. That would be 2026, so maybe these disgraceful people are right on time.
Subscribe to probably almost all of your post, but I want to suggest we could fairly reconfigure the estimate of a 250 years lifespan for a "democracy," by dating it from the first years when women, Black Americans, and other ethnic minorities and voters suppressed by pre-Civil Rights era laws, were legally enfranchised - instead of dating it from when white male property owners had those rights.
If so, starting from a date in the 1960s, we have about 190 years to go, given a helluva lot of hard electoral and other work, that is!
Lucian's incisive column also reminds me of this song, here in a segment from the film version of the Broadway musical South Pacific:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9kZ4jRn2eU
{EDIT - After nearly ten minutes trying to adjust the color on this clip, it's seemingly
a problem in this specific You Tube video; the music and emotional power of
the music and lyrics remain, this is also the only clip up there that supplies a wider
context to "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" in the plot}
You know all of the following basic info, Margo, but for anyone else who is unfamiliar with it:
"South Pacific is a 1958 American romantic musical film based on the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, which in turn is loosely based on James A. Michener's 1947 short-story collection Tales of the South Pacific. The film, directed by Joshua Logan, stars Rossano Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, John Kerr and Ray Walston in the leading roles with Juanita Hall as Bloody Mary, the part that she had played in the original stage production. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, winning the Academy Award for Best Sound for Fred Hynes. The setting is 1943 during World War II on an island in the South Pacific.
The soundtrack album of the film was released in 1958. The album became a major success, reaching No.1 in both the US and UK. In the US, the album stayed at No.1 on the Billboard 200 for seven months, the fourth longest run ever. The album remained in the top five of the UK Albums Chart for 27 consecutive weeks before reaching No.1 in November 1958. It stayed at the top for a record-breaking 115 weeks and remained in the top five for 214 weeks."
Ima go with the historians, but you do you. As for "South Pacific," how did you know I saw "South Pacific" with Mary Martin?! Granted, I was young -- but I was there.
And ... might you remember the Chinese rag picker in Michener's book "Hawaii "? He was the father of a Chinese Hawaiian mogul named Chin Ho. I got to meet him in Hawaii (I was 12) at the home of George & Esta Chaplin on Christmas Eve.
He was the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser, and a good friend of my mother's.
It occurs to me that we are seriously off message here, so before Mr. T. tells us to put a lid on it, I bid you a good night.
I accept the historian's basic concept, it's their political science acumen I dispute!
And "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught" is about as "on message" as it gets, so what the hell, I say let the clip stay for that reason too...
Thank you, Mr. Trumbull. I refuse to believe that Democracy has a "use by" date. I realize we are on some kind of cusp and that the next several elections are very critical for the health of this country...but I'm an incurable optimist and I feel a change for the better in the dem party. WE want our country back and we're rolling up our sleeves and grabbing the tools to work on getting it back.
You're welcome, I entirely concur!
& as you have one of the alternate spellings of my surname, here's some brief history...if we have no alternative, we rebel. Sometimes even if they are "alternatives," we rebel.
Clan Turnbull
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Clan_Turnbull
The Turnbulls held land throughout the Borders. ... They were the only clan to have a bounty placed on them by the King. ... William Turnbull received a charter ...
Origins of the name · 15th to 18th centuries · New World · Other notable members
I have that album.
Was played repeatedly in our house - also the original Broadway cast recording. My younger brothers and I did essentially commandeer the stereo once "Beatlemania," Dylan, the Stones, and too many others on 45 RPM vinyl to list arrived, but there's no real conflict beyond the superficial level, for example:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHAqAO7w8M8 - Beatles version,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLDsLeVxOaU - 1962 film version, which is incomparable, so there is no conflict!
as soon as I read your "problem," I knew what it was.
for some incredibly stupid reason, when Joshua Logan directed the (to me, pretty lame) movie, he decided to frame the musical numbers by using a single color to tint the screen during each number.
I vastly prefer the original Broadway soundtrack because of Ezio Pinza, arguably the most beautiful bass (the kind of bass opera folks call a "Basso Cantante") voice of the last century. Giorgio Tozzi did the singing on the movie soundtrack, and he was certainly no slouch, but Pinza had that "thing." I did find out that when he was at the Met, Tozzi learned hypnosis and hypnotized a number of people at the Met to help them stop smoking. yes, opera singers used to smoke and stopping is really tricky for them because right after stopping, their voices go through a weird stage during which it's not really possible to sing full out without a lot of phlegmy stuff happening...and even in the '50s, good opera singers were booked well into the future.
now THAT was truly off message....
Yeah maybe but thanks! - I can see in my mind's eye the album cover of the original recording you mention, I also really enjoy (most of) the film version, but that wacky cinematography choice, man...and from someone who REALLY should have known better, should have listened to movie's filming experts, but NOOOOOOOO.
In any case that's a valid concept for sure - performers who have "it, " able to take over a scene as lead or supporting actor, without histrionics, in fact much better without that, making it seem effortless.
"...he 74 million Americans who turned out to vote for him in the last election. They are not all racists, but every single one of them was willing to give their vote to someone who is."
~thunder~
Thank you, Lucian. I was 10 years old in 1957, living in the Texas Panhandle. The images of Faubus’s storm troopers on the nightly news (only 15 minutes long in those days) sparked my “radicalization.” By 1960 it was complete. By 1965 I was in Alabama doing voter registration. By 1966 I was leading a prominent campus anti-war group. I went ‘home’ again exactly twice, to bury first my dad and then my mom. My true home was elsewhere.
I’ve seen this image surely hundreds of times by now and, until today, I always saw the same things. Hate. Racism. Ignorance.
Today I saw strength and courage, the kind of courage that can move a mountain ... or a nation. If only more of us had the kind of moral bravery this girl modeled for us more than 60 years ago. Today this image brought me up short, and I realized that the real story here isn’t their hate but her courage.
About 15 years ago I had the privilege of meeting a few of these kids, 50 years after the fact, in connection with the premiere of a stage play based on their experience. (I’m a retired theatre guy.) They still had a special light around them.
I wrote a line once in a speech. I used to give a lot of them. “The essential qualities of a life well-lived are not power and fame, but courage and compassion.” As long as there are kids like her we have hope.
Magnificent, life and post.
All this is true. The racists are now publicly proclaiming their bigotry and racism loudly, but I think we're also missing something else going on that is very subtly happening:
Trump's followers are slowly peeling away-in the last two instances of his 'call to arms' for the base of deplorables, it ended up with very paltry attendance in New York and Miami.
Not the Jan 6 hordes, and not even his rally crews.
Just a few outliers that waved their flags, wore their hats and spoke their piss-ant bullshit. They were outnumbered by cops, partisans of the other side, and the media.
That doesn't mean the problem of these people is going away, but I think the hot fever that was Trumpism is cooling off very gradually.
I think that some have see what their allegiance to Trump will cost them-in most instances a federal felony conviction and sometimes a very long time in prison.
That is the deterrence that the prosecution of Jan 6 has wrought. A lot of those convicted were racists, as well. Or did anyone notice the overwhelming numbers of white people there?
The racists have always been among us. Unfortunately that poison is embedded in those who subscribe to it, generation after generation. It's hard to flush it out-but it can if we just keep on pushing the edge back to where they are no longer acceptable in polite company.
But it's going to be still hard to get them flushed out of the system and it's been a battle for the ages ever since the Civil War, which some states (Florida, I don't even know what they fought for-the alligators?) will not even accept they lost.
We almost have made it, but people like DeSanctis and Trump (along with a few more in Congress who do not deserve to have their names written) are not allowing us to go forward.
We just have to shove back and hard. Like one sign at a woman's protest stated:
"I just can't believe that I have to fight this battle all over again:"
By the way, Ft. Moore is a nice name for the base formerly known as Benning. At least it honors those who have helped others in their work.
Were there Trump supporters at his New York arraignment? All I saw was a giant banner that said. “New York hates you!” You go, New York!
there actually were SOME. but very few. and they were very quiet.
I'm not saying there aren't lots of TFF's supporters in NYC, but they have to be a few extra degrees of stupid after the DECADES of his clown persona being in all our faces. my bp still goes up perceptibly every time I remember "Best Sex Ever."
the really infuriating about this phenomenon is how in-your-face cowardly it all is. it's not so much that people are "peeling away" as that they've decided to begin to consider (yes, I meant all those qualifications) the possibility that they might need an exit ramp at some point in the next year or so, so they're determined to have their cake and eat it. or to try. and of course, since everyone is supposed to be "presumed innocent," they can hedge their bets by saying things like "IF it's true," etc.
any journalist worth the title shouldn't let anyone get away with this. and that includes the "journalists" who are racists, fascists, whatever. the next question needs to be something like "well, let's assume it IS true..." and when the answer is "I don't like to deal in hypotheticals," the person saying it should be reminded that running for office involves endless dealing in "hypotheticals," as in "if I'm elected, I'll..."
a few weeks back, the NYT Opinion section had a cover story about "The View" not "offering any real debate." there's a reason why people so often trash the NYT...
I don’t get your comment on “The View” and the NYT. I’ve never watched The View
I occasionally tune in to help with my waking-up (I'm a late sleeper). what I was objecting to was the NYT notion that there are two equally valid sides to every issue. and they used to have Megan McCain on, who--while hardly formidable--was very much the resident pain in the ass.
Today's post is extremely important. Racism is thriving in the GOP, with DeSantis just one example. I'm appalled, though not surprised, that he wants to undo Fort Liberty's naming. Thank you for decrying this. More in the media need to.
I remember them as the George Wallace vote
Brilliant as always, Lucien.
I literally threw up when I learned that Traitor Tot was going to be in the White House, realizing that this malignant misanthrope was going to be my career USCG son's CIC and what that could lead to. I was with my psychic friend that night who was fielding calls from clients after the news broke. She told me it's actually a good thing that he was elected because it would expose the evil that is and make positive change happen much faster than it would have otherwise. She said we saved a hundred years. It's been drip, drip, drip, but we may finally be getting close to where crime is illegal again.
I don’t think she was right. What he did was expose the scarred underbelly of the racist, hyper religious, south. And stirred up a nightmare for the rest of us.
Yes, the racists and far right extremists were always there. Trump was the clarion call, and he gave them permission to act on their racist and extremist beliefs.
Sadly all this rings too true
IMO when it comes to corruption and racism DeSantis is a piker compared to Trump.
My friends and I did have a debate about a hypothetical situation:
If say Harris County in Texas had the same racial make up but 90% voted Republican would there be drop off voting locations on every corner?
It's an interesting question. Maybe they are all racists but is racism what motivates them?