US election 2020 thread

[Dogsauce]

“Blue lives matter” .

That changes things quite a bit, doesn’t it? Not looking good for Donny.

 

[bimble]

That changes things quite a bit, doesn’t it? Not looking good for Donny.

Yep. It will get very lonely in the bunker now.

 

[bimble]

 

[SpookyFrank]

Well bloody hell. What caused him to make that speech? Fear of impeachment?
Yesterday he told the ‘infiltrators’ who he’d instructed to go to the capitol that he loved them and they were very special. What changed.

Maybe someone whispered in his ear that he'd be spared prosecution if he called off his orcs.

 

[planetgeli]

Maybe someone whispered in his ear that he'd be be spared prosecution if he called of his orcs.

Something like this.

I've noted on here before that Trump seems to have nobody in his team prepared to have a quiet word. I think this quiet word has come from somewhere else. He's been threatened. He didn't exactly say the words like he meant them. No gravitas. Just the words. Until he got to the bit about the journey just beginning, he had to pop that in didn't he.

 

[bimble]

Not sure when donald released his hostage-style video but it might be to do with this, the judiciary chairman (i dont know what that title means) calling for impeachment to skip the usual step of going through commitee and be immediately voted on.
Chairman Nadler Statement in Support of Removal of President Trump
Apparently that's a big deal, would speed the thing up a lot.
May fail to pass senate but the republicans being forced to vote on it, now, that would be extremely uncomfortable for them, especially with the dead policeman.

 

[Smokeandsteam]

One of the most interesting features of the events of Wednesday has been the hysterical reaction of liberalism. An unedifying frenzy of dangerous mislabelling, state worship, and erroneous anticipation of the nature of the incoming regime. None of it is a serious response. None of it attempts to understand or explain what’s happened and is going to happen.

Linds article is one of the more measured takes. Still flawed but at least something that attempts a coherent worldview and analysis. Something that most of liberalism seems to have abandoned:

The Five Crises of the American Regime

The mob assault on the Capitol is simply another entry in the catalog of American decline

www.tabletmag.com

 

[killer b]

is this (from Lind's piece) anything like true?

The leaders of both parties have weaponized anarchic mobs against their rivals—the Democrats, by tacitly encouraging and bailing out foundation-funded NGO staffers with secret identities and superhero-style antifa outfits during the tolerated riots of summer 2020

 

[bimble]

six republican elected politicians were involved to various degrees in the 'anarchic mob'. Only one of them stupid enough to post a video of himself climbing in through the broken windows though.
At least 6 GOP legislators took part in Trump-inspired protests

 

[SpookyFrank]

is this (from Lind's piece) anything like true?

The leaders of both parties have weaponized anarchic mobs against their rivals—the Democrats, by tacitly encouraging and bailing out foundation-funded NGO staffers with secret identities and superhero-style antifa outfits during the tolerated riots of summer 2020

With these stories I always think, who would risk years in prison or getting shot by police for a day's pay? Why go to such trouble to engineer a sitatuation with no predictable endgame?

 

[Cloo]

As my husband said, he looks like a 3 year old who's been told to say 'sorry' when he doesn't wanna.

Obviously he was told to stay on script and not say use the words 'I won', 'fraudulent election' or 'cheating'

 

[TopCat]

Cop died of his injuries?

Mmm...

 

[teqniq]

'I called in the National guard and law enforecement' Lying piece of shit. Pence did that.

 

[Sprocket.]

Cop died of his injuries?

Mmm...

Probably fell down those stairs!

 

[existentialist]

It's awful when people have different views and opinions to your own, isn't it? My apologies for all the distress my right to have my own views and opinions is causing you. Take some deep breaths. Then, if you can face it, here's another video:

My point was not the nature of your opinions, but the fact that all you were doing was posting links.

Being a sneering cunt this esrly on in your Urban career might turn out to be a shortsighted move, too.

 

[bimble]

The trump video is not going down well at all with his most dedicated supporters (on parler etc).
Some are hopeful that its a body double, because the hair's the wrong colour, but most seem to be absolutely furious, he has turned on them after they risked their lives for him etc.

 

[bimble]

My point was not the nature of your opinions, but the fact that all you were doing was posting links.

Being a sneering cunt this esrly on in your Urban career might turn out to be a shortsighted move, too.

Maybe just ignore it, would be great if we don't have to have a surrogate marty taking up space and energy, waste of time.

 

[Lord Camomile]

The trump video is not going down well at all with his most dedicated supporters (on parler etc).
Some are hopeful that its a body double, because the hair's the wrong colour, but most seem to be absolutely furious, he has turned on them after they risked their lives for him etc.

I'm genuinely torn between feeling sorry for them because they've been lied to and led so astray (I've a soft heart), and thinking "rise and fucking shine, ya dumb bastards! Welcome to the party!" (it's a cold, soft heart).

Ultimately, it's just one more set of people he and his enablers have screwed over.

 

[Shechemite]

Headbangers the lot of them Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer wanted by police for storming US Capitol

 

[Smokeandsteam]

is this (from Lind's piece) anything like true?

The leaders of both parties have weaponized anarchic mobs against their rivals—the Democrats, by tacitly encouraging and bailing out foundation-funded NGO staffers with secret identities and superhero-style antifa outfits during the tolerated riots of summer 2020

Lind’s main argument identifies, correctly, the period as one of Gramscian morbidity as America enters a 5th decade of the neo-liberal order. He wants his side to get its head around that crisis rather than flogging the dead horse of the old order and assuming that all will be well once Biden and co get to work in trying to reconstruct a politics that led America to where it is now.

As a piece of analysis and polemic it stands in stark contrast with the hysterical (it’s a FASCIST putsch) or hilarious (the direct equivalence drawn between Wednesday and Pearl Harbour by a quivering Jon Sopel for example) dribble that liberals have offered up by way of analysis.

As for the paragraph you’ve highlighted Lind’s argument is that both Wednesday and the summer are contextually located within that crisis. He’s right

 

[tendril]

 

[killer b]

Lind’s main argument identifies, correctly, the period as one of Gramscian morbidity as America enters a 5th decade of the neo-liberal order. He wants his side to get its head around that crisis rather than flogging the dead horse of the old order and assuming that all will be well once Biden and co get to work in trying to reconstruct a politics that led America to where it is now.

As a piece of analysis and polemic it stands in stark contrast with the hysterical (it’s a FASCIST putsch) or hilarious (the direct equivalence drawn between Wednesday and Pearl Harbour by a quivering Jon Sopel for example) dribble that liberals have offered up by way of analysis.

As for the paragraph you’ve highlighted Lind’s argument is that both Wednesday and the summer are contextually located within that crisis. He’s right

is he right that Democrats, by tacitly encouraging and bailing out foundation-funded NGO staffers with secret identities and superhero-style antifa outfits during the tolerated riots of summer 2020 though? I'm sure there's all that great analysis later in the piece, but it starts with some lurid both-sidesism that's verging on conspiracy theory. Doesn't really encourage me to read on tbh.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Only one available. Communications can be hard to come by in rural areas. You may not have access to internet service or you have really slow connections. Some parts of native reservations often don't have phone service, electrical access, or running water. Access to news is only part of the problem. I've sometimes referred to my hometown as "a sensory deprivation tank with cows."

Considering what fox trot out that is really rather scary and perhaps explains a lot. Even in this country I wish newspapers and TV news could be more easily held accountable for spreading misinformation, but fox takes the biscuit.

 

[hitmouse]

Lind’s main argument identifies, correctly, the period as one of Gramscian morbidity as America enters a 5th decade of the neo-liberal order. He wants his side to get its head around that crisis rather than flogging the dead horse of the old order and assuming that all will be well once Biden and co get to work in trying to reconstruct a politics that led America to where it is now.

As a piece of analysis and polemic it stands in stark contrast with the hysterical (it’s a FASCIST putsch) or hilarious (the direct equivalence drawn between Wednesday and Pearl Harbour by a quivering Jon Sopel for example) dribble that liberals have offered up by way of analysis.

As for the paragraph you’ve highlighted Lind’s argument is that both Wednesday and the summer are contextually located within that crisis. He’s right

But his argument is also that the summer was pretty much masterminded by the Democrats. He might be too restrained to actually say Soros dunnit, but that's the logic running through his whole piece: "our warring political factions can summon mobs of alienated, mostly young militants anywhere in the country on short notice, overtly like Trump or discreetly from behind the scenes, like Democratic donors and politicians through the local NGOs they fund. The flash mob, originally used for fun, has now been weaponized for street warfare by Democratic and Republican party leaders from the luxury of their mansions or apartment suites or offices. The Democratic street armies, with their national networks of bail funds that enable the coastal rich to spring left-wing rioters and looters from jail in staged protests across the country, is far more sophisticated and enjoys far more corporate and financial sector support than the less-developed, but increasingly militant, right-wing alternatives."

 

[bimble]

What a load of shite that is, takes all the agency and puts in it the hands of the politicians only. Tabletmag usually a good read too.

 

[ska invita]

is this (from Lind's piece) anything like true?

The leaders of both parties have weaponized anarchic mobs against their rivals—the Democrats, by tacitly encouraging and bailing out foundation-funded NGO staffers with secret identities and superhero-style antifa outfits during the tolerated riots of summer 2020

what piece is this please?

 

[killer b]

what piece is this please?

the article smokeandstream posted in the post directly above mine. (edited cause got his name wrong sorry!)

 

[hitmouse]

The Lind piece is The Five Crises of the American Regime

Also, short and sensible analysis from Three-Way Fight here: Broken windows fascism

1. When Donald Trump was first running for president in 2015-16, a lot of alt-rightists supported him not because they thought he could win, but because they hoped he would help destroy the Republican Party. He hasn’t quite done that, but he has created a serious crisis within the party, which is now deeply divided between those who accept and those who reject the legitimacy of the existing electoral system. A broken GOP might sound like cause for celebration, but it’s likely to benefit the far right most of all. Today’s physical assault on the houses of Congress was the militant edge of a much larger movement, and while it will alienate or frighten some sympathizers it will galvanize and embolden others.

2. In broader terms, Trump’s insistent denial of the November election results has spurred a massive political shift within the U.S. right, as millions of people have moved—at least temporarily—from system-loyalty into system-opposition, as symbolized by Proud Boys stomping on a Thin Blue Line flag. We should expect this oppositional right to remain active and violent long after the current fight over the presidency has died down, as Natasha Lennard argued yesterday. And as Robert Evans documents, the oppositional right is a meeting place where different rightist currents and ideologies—such as neonazism and QAnon—converge and interact. It remains to be seen how unified or well organized the oppositional right will be, what kind of strategies and tactics they will use, and whether or not Trump himself will continue to play an active role.

3. The attack on the U.S. Capitol is, as many have described it, an attempted coup. It dramatizes Donald Trump’s authoritarianism, demagoguery, and repudiation of the electoral system that put him in the White House, but it also highlights one of the key limitations that separated the Trump administration from fascism. Fascism requires an independent mass organization in order to carry out its attack on the established political order. Trump has never tried to build such an organization. He has skillfully used social media and rallies to mobilize supporters, but organizationally he has relied on existing institutions, above all the Republican Party, which is part of why his administration was a coalition between America Firsters and conventional conservatives of various kinds. Now that coalition is falling apart. And Trump’s control over the federal security apparatus also proved to be quite limited. He could mobilize Homeland Security agents and U.S. Marshals to crack down on Black Lives Matter protesters last summer, but he failed to deploy any federal agents to help him overturn the results of the 2020 election. Today's mob of Trump supporters never had a chance of seizing power, but they did bring Congress to a complete standstill for hours. With better organization and leadership, the movement they represent could quickly turn into something far more dangerous.

4. A question for the coming months and years is: to what extent will the state repressive apparatus be used to crack down on the oppositional right? Certainly, cops aren’t likely to go after MAGA activists and Proud Boys the way they go after Black Lives Matter and antifa, but there’s a long history of federal security forces targeting far rightists, especially through covert operations. Joe Biden likes to talk about unity, but it’s not hard to imagine his administration reviving and expanding FBI and Homeland Security capabilities for tracking white supremacists and other far rightists. It’s also not hard to imagine some conventional conservatives actively supporting this effort. Let’s remember that the federal government’s most serious and systematic effort to crack down on oppositional rightists in the past 40 years—from The Order to the Lyndon LaRouche network—took place under Ronald Reagan. And let’s remember, too, that in the hands of the capitalist state, antifascism can be a powerful rationale for building the repressive apparatus—which ends up getting used mainly against oppressed and exploited groups. Even when the cops and the Klan don’t go hand in hand, neither one is our friend.

5. Instead of looking to the state to bring things under control, there's an urgent need for broad-based militant action on two fronts: to combat both the openly supremacist forces of the oppositional right and the less blatant but still deadly systems of established privilege and power. The past four years have been nightmarish in lots of ways, but they've also been a time of dynamic liberatory activism on a large scale. There are a lot of powerful examples of militant, creative organizing we can look to for lessons and inspiration.

 

[killer b]

But his argument is also that the summer was pretty much masterminded by the Democrats. He might be too restrained to actually say Soros dunnit, but that's the logic running through his whole piece: "our warring political factions can summon mobs of alienated, mostly young militants anywhere in the country on short notice, overtly like Trump or discreetly from behind the scenes, like Democratic donors and politicians through the local NGOs they fund. The flash mob, originally used for fun, has now been weaponized for street warfare by Democratic and Republican party leaders from the luxury of their mansions or apartment suites or offices. The Democratic street armies, with their national networks of bail funds that enable the coastal rich to spring left-wing rioters and looters from jail in staged protests across the country, is far more sophisticated and enjoys far more corporate and financial sector support than the less-developed, but increasingly militant, right-wing alternatives."

oh wow it gets worse.

 

[Ax^]

Cop died of his injuries?

Mmm...

Bacon