Thursday, July 19th, 2018
Stephan: Over the past several weeks, as the fundamental structures of America and its international relationships have been sabotaged by Trump and the Trumplicans in Congress, what has fascinated me in a macabre sort of way is that Trump's poll numbers amongst what has become known as the Trumplican "base" -- which is to say the White supremacist christofascists -- have actually gone up.
But have you noticed the strange silence? I understand television networks don't want to drive away viewers so they hardly mention this trend. And I understand why the quislings in Congress don't talk about it for fear the Trumplican "base" will turn against them and they will lose their cushy gigs.
But I don't understand why the other two-thirds of the country have been so complacent. We are finally beginning to see some demonstrations but the kind of passionate defense of the country, such as one saw in the Civil Rights era remains strangely missing.
We are four months away from an election that is going to determine America's course for the foreseeable future. Do you think all those complacent Democrats and Independents will vote, or will they just watch America come apart, and become a Neo-feudal authoritarian state? What will you do?
Credit: Marc Piscotty/Getty Images
A week ago, Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, brought some attention to a growing threat to the integrity of our elections. “[B]y 2040 or so,” he tweeted, “70 percent of Americans will live in 15 states. Meaning 30 percent will choose 70 senators. And the 30% will be older, whiter, more rural, more male than the 70 percent.” Two days later, the Washington Post’s Philip Bump ran a check on the numbers, citing an analysis of Census Bureau projections from the University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. “In broad strokes,” he wrote, “Ornstein is correct.”
[In 2040] eight states will have just under half of the total population of the country, 49.5 percent, according to the Weldon Cooper Center’s estimate. The next eight most populous states will account for an additional fifth of the population, up to 69.2 percent — meaning that the 16 most populous states will be home to about 70 percent of Americans.
[…]Ornstein’s … […]
See https://youtu.be/_4q8x5fR4Sw, Randy Rainbow’s All About His Base song parody
Absolutely everyone should click through on the URL Sherry Belman posted in her comment. Wonderfully funny.
— Stephan
I agree with your word “quislings”. I had never heard it used, but it does certainly apply to the Trumpians.