Elizabeth Goitein observes Trump Is Destroying His Own Case for a National Emergency (“By waiting for Congress to act, the president is undermining the legal basis for any declaration”): Here’s how the legal process for emergency powers works: Under the National Emergencies Act, passed by Congress in 1976, the president has broad discretion to declare a…
Authoritarianism
43rd Assembly District, Authoritarianism, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Immigration, Law, Liberty, Local Government, Never Trump, Politics, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The ‘Republican’ Candidate’s Meet and Greet
by JOHN ADAMS •
One reads that the self-described Republican candidate for the 43rd Assembly District will hold a meet and greet next week at a private establishment in town. Good for him – free speech is a core political right. (He’s also scheduled to appear at a local candidate’s forum this week. See The First & Last Questions.) He’s a…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Bad Ideas, Bigotry, Demographics, Ethnicity, Immigration, Race, Radical Populism
Her Loss is America’s Gain
by JOHN ADAMS •
Laura Ingraham: "The America we know and love doesn't exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted on the American people, and they are changes that none of us ever voted for, and most of us don't like … this is related to both illegal and legal immigration" pic.twitter.com/s5G2qIY4W0 — Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) August 9,…
America, Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty, Politics, Trump
A Roadmap for Renewal
by JOHN ADAMS •
No map provides all the detail one encounters when traveling a terrain; it is enough that it makes one’s chosen direction discernible. Our present national conflict will one day end, and when it does millions who will have swept Trumpism into the dustbin will then have to renew American politics, restoring to this society once…
America, Authoritarianism, Trump, Trump-Russia, Tyranny
‘America Used to Stand Up to Dictators’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Immigration, Race, Trump
Reimagining Trump’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ as a 1940s Propaganda Film
by JOHN ADAMS •
Videographers Taige Jensen, Leah Varjacques, and Japhet Weeks observe that “a U.S. government film from 1943 justifying the detention of Japanese-Americans in internment camps has new relevance in light of the president’s immigration policies.”
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Immigration, Resistance, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
Sounds of Trumpism’s Malevolence
by JOHN ADAMS •
Robert Kagan, writing of Trump’s foreign policy, describes the uncaring malevolence of Trump’s perspective: Trump’s America does not care. It is unencumbered by historical memory. It recognizes no moral, political or strategic commitments. It feels free to pursue objectives without regard to the effect on allies or, for that matter, the world. It has no…
America, Authoritarianism, Trump
Anton Leaves the Field, But We’re Still Here (in Opposition)
by JOHN ADAMS •
It was Michael Anton, writing as Publius Decius Mus, who famously declared that support for Trump was an existential necessity for conservatives in 2016: 2016 is the Flight 93 election: charge the cockpit or you die. You may die anyway. You—or the leader of your party—may make it into the cockpit and not know how…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Law, Liberty
Mycielski’s Complete Four-Page Guide to Surviving an Authoritarian Regime
by JOHN ADAMS •
European journalist Martin Mycielski has prepared a Complete Four-Page Guide to Surviving an Authoritarian Regime (“in graphic form, With love, your Eastern European friends.”) As he now sees the return of authoritarianism to his native Poland, we now see the beginning of it in America. Here is Mycielski’s guide:
Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Putin, Trump, Trump-Russia
America, Russia…
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s true that a well-ordered society would not be governed by (an unrepentent) former KGB agent. It’s just as true that a well-ordered society would not be governed by a bigoted, autocratic, dissolute liar. Yet here we are, and there they are. .@tolokno was imprisoned for speaking out against Vladimir Putin's presidency in Russia. She…
America, Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump
‘Gradually and then suddenly’
by JOHN ADAMS •
David Frum, to explain inevitable failure, instructively quotes Ernest Hemingway on going broke: A famous line of Ernest Hemingway’s describes how a rich man goes broke: “Two ways … Gradually and then suddenly.” That’s how defeat comes upon a president as well. The live question for Trumpists in 2018 will be whether they can hold…
Authoritarianism, Foreign Affairs, Putin, Russia
Frontline: Putin’s Revenge (Part 1)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Watch the first part of “Putin’s Revenge” wherever you are tonight — on @PBS , on Facebook Live or on our website: https://t.co/GbH41aBls3 pic.twitter.com/MyGFa0oPD9 — FRONTLINE (@frontlinepbs) October 25, 2017
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Resistance, Trump
Truths About Trump
by JOHN ADAMS •
For supporters and those in thrall: It was a con. It was always a con. even people who thought they were in on the con were being conned. — Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) September 14, 2017 You know why? Because you elected a guy who has broken every promise he’s ever made to his wives, his…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump, Trump-Russia
The Premature Question
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at the Daily Beast, Joy Reid asks What’s Going to Happen When the Trumpists Realize the America They Yearn for Is Gone? It’s an interesting question, perhaps, but more importantly it’s a premature one. We’ve a long road ahead before Trumpism is finished, and you’ll excuse me if the time for pondering life after…