I posted this on my Medium thing, and I’m putting it here, too, for today’s Daily December.
There’s a lot of triumphant “get over it you Libtard you lost” going around. I understand that. I get it. It’s shitty, and it’s obnoxious, but I understand that impulse. In 2008, I felt so relieved that President Obama was elected, because I felt like it was a chance to repair a lot of the damage done by the Bush/Cheney administration. I really wanted to believe that voters — that America — had repudiated Bush and Cheney. The vote totals certainly told us that. The polling certainly told us that. Unfortunately, when President Obama had majorities in both houses of congress, and progressive policies could be passed with relative ease(relative to the unprecedented obstructionism that was to come), the Democrats and the president didn’t really seem that invested in doing that. They seemed to be infuriatingly focused on “healing the country,” and making the Republicans who ran deceitful, hateful campaigns feeel better, which is something that right wingers always call for when they lose elections. Hey, how did appointing Republican James Comey to head the FBI work out for you? And taking that public option off the table? Letting Lieberman off without any consequences? All good, right? Yeah.
I understand why the deplorables are walking around with their dicks out, setting couches on fire and flipping over cars every chance they get. They know that nobody is going to stop them. They are as empowered as they’ve been in a generation, and they’re just getting started.
This isn’t about that election, but it’s an introduction to give context to this: I understand why the deplorables* are walking around with their dicks out, setting couches on fire and flipping over cars every chance they get. They know that nobody is going to stop them. They know that they can get away with it. They are as empowered as they’ve been in a generation, because even though they didn’t actually win a contest of ideas, and there’s a ton of evidence to support the contention that voter suppression efforts in states controlled by Republicans worked exactly the way they were designed to work, they still won. If you thought those shitbags were obnoxious when they were relegated to the gutter where they belong, just wait and see how terrible they can really get.
Donald Trump is not just profoundly unqualified to be president, but poses a legitimate and clear danger to the safety of Americans and the stability of the world.
But I understand their impulse. It’s got to feel really great to know that even if only 25% of the country agrees with you, you still get to have your guy in the White House, and you make life miserable for the majority. Everyone gets a trophy, but your trophy is even bigger than the one that was earned by the actual winner. Congratulations!
Democrats, who will be the opposition, have all but disappeared since November 7th.
Nothing Matters and Everything is Terrible
I keep pointing out that they are the minority, because that is important. Or at least it should be. It should matter in a democracy (cue pedants to tell me that we live in a republic) and it’s depressing, and defeating, and infuriating that it doesn’t. The people who have given Congressional majorities to right wingers are significantly outnumbered all over the country, but that doesn’t matter, because they have a majority of state governments, and have gerrymandered themselves into a House that makes that majority pretty much untouchable. It doesn’t matter, because the simple fact is that Republicans play to win, and fuck the rules because rules are for losers and Democrats. Just look at what’s happening in North Carolina right now for an example.
Republicans never let facts get in their way, (climate change and voter fraud come to mind) so even though Trump and his basket of douchebags can not claim any real and meaningful mandate, they will govern like they have one.
They can do this because the facts just don’t matter (again: climate change). Even though Cheeto Hitler lost the popular vote by the largest margin in history, even though he will take office with the lowest approval rating in this century, the deplorables will convince themselves that he has a mandate. And why shouldn’t they feel that way? Democrats, who will be the opposition, have all but disappeared since November 7th, and the Republican majorities in Congress are so amped up to tear apart the social safety net and destroy what’s left of a progressive tax code, they have no reason to say or do anything that will check or balance what Cheeto Hitler and the Deplorables (which is the name of my Ted Nugent cover band) want to do.
So we get “Fuck you, libtard! We won! He said he’d drain the swamp and even though he’s filling up his administration with insiders and put a Goldman executive in charge of the Treasury department, we won! WE WON AND YOU LOST AND THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS!”
He has designated former Goldman Sachs banker Steve Bannon as his senior White House strategist, Goldman veteran Steve Mnuchin as Treasury secretary, billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as Commerce secretary and billionaire activist Betsy DeVos as Education secretary.
Even though he has never held a public office, or cared about anyone other than himself in his life, he and his toadies will do everything they can to destroy the popular, progressive achievements of the last century that have made life better for tens of millions of Americans, they will enact policies that will greatly harm the very people who voted for him, and undermine our national security so that Exxon can make more money. None of this matters to his voters, because they won. People all over America — including Trump voters — who have genuinely benefitted from the Affordable Care Act are going to lose their health insurance, struggle financially, and some of them will die, but they don’t care because they won! Yeah! Fuck you, Liberals and Feminists and SJWs! We won! HASHTAG GAMERGATE HASHTAG FREE MILO.
We’re fucked.
Part of me that’s still Bargaining continues to hope the Electoral College will stop the most dangerous and unqualified person to ever run for president from taking office.
I know it isn’t going to happen, even though the daily evidence continues to mount that Donald Trump is not just profoundly unqualified to be president, but poses a legitimate and clear danger to the safety of Americans and the stability of the world. And I know that once he is sworn in, we are fucked. Democrats don’t have the numbers to really do anything to assert themselves, even if they suddenly became a bloc of people who didn’t back down from a fight for the first time in over twenty years. Congressional Republicans who couldn’t fund enough investigations into every breath Hillary Clinton took are suddenly too busy to look into Russian meddling in the election. Jason Chaffetz, who promised “years of investigations” if Hillary Clinton was president just doesn’t think it’s a big deal to find out what Trump knew and when he knew it. And who cares if Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State has no experience with diplomacy, is close friends with the leader of a hostile foreign country, and has consistently put the interests of his company ahead of America’s national interest? They’re finally going to repeal Obamacare and replace it with … something. Maybe. The important thing is, they won, and they put that uppity bitch Hillary Clinton in her place.
What did Trump know about Russian meddling in the election, and when did he know it?
Trump will treat the presidency like he is a king, and if you look at the people he wants to head up government agencies, especially his nominee for Secretary of State, you’ll see that he doesn’t give a fuck about America or Americans. He is going to do everything he can with the power of the presidency to enrich himself and his family, even if it means the destruction of America as a respected leader in the world. He lied to his voters, they were played for chumps, and now they’re going to be serfs in his kingdom. Paul Ryan is going to take the garbage heap that is Atlas Shrugged and use it to tear apart every last thing that makes the American Dream possible, so unless you’re already wealthy or part of a wealthy family, try not to get sick and if you do, at least try to die really fast, as they say. And I hope you aren’t into public education, national parks, and any scientific research that challenges right wing orthodoxy, because the agencies that are responsible for all of those things are about to be headed up by people who want to destroy those things.
But maybe we aren’t fucked.
It’s really easy for those of us who see through Trump, who care about the integrity of our elections, who believe scientists and experts on everything from climate change to public health policy, to feel despondent. I mean, I move through the stages of grief on a daily basis and today I’m clearly doing anger. I’m sure that the deplorables are loving that we feel this way, and why shouldn’t they? If something happened to make a neonazi unhappy, I’d feel pretty great about that.
So even though it’s really easy to feel terrible (especially since it looks like Democrats are going to roll over and do nothing to fight back and protect the same people they send hysterical fundraising emails to every election cycle), there is some hope.
And this has all been a very long introduction to what I wanted to share in the first place: A group of former Democratic Congressional Staffers have put together a document that outlines a solid and tested plan to fight back against Trump and Trumpism, and it’s intended to empower citizens who are fed up with their members of congress doing fuckall to represent and listen to them. It’s based on the phenomenal success the Tea Party had disrupting President Obama’s popular agenda, and everyone who cares about starting a resistance so that we don’t need a rebellion, should read it and pass it around, so we can use it to disrupt and defeat Trump and Paul Ryan’s unpopular agenda.
Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda
Former congressional staffers reveal best practices for making Congress listen.
Donald Trump is the biggest popular vote loser in history to ever to call himself President-Elect. In spite of the fact that he has no mandate, he will attempt to use his congressional majority to reshape America in his own racist, authoritarian, and corrupt image. If progressives are going to stop this, we must stand indivisibly opposed to Trump and the members of Congress who would do his bidding. Together, we have the power to resist — and we have the power to win.
We know this because we’ve seen it before. The authors of this guide are former congressional staffers who witnessed the rise of the Tea Party. We saw these activists take on a popular president with a mandate for change and a supermajority in Congress. We saw them organize locally and convince their own members of Congress to reject President Obama’s agenda. Their ideas were wrong, cruel, and tinged with racism — and they won.
We believe that protecting our values and neighbors will require mounting a similar resistance to the Trump agenda — but a resistance built on the values of inclusion, tolerance, and fairness. Trump is not popular. He does not have a mandate. He does not have large congressional margins. If a small minority in the Tea Party can stop President Barack Obama, then we the majority can stop a petty tyrant named Trump.
To this end, the following chapters offer a step-by-step guide for individuals, groups, and organizations looking to replicate the Tea Party’s success in getting Congress to listen to a small, vocal, dedicated group of constituents. The guide is intended to be equally useful for stiffening Democratic spines and weakening pro-Trump Republican resolve.
We believe that the next four years depend on citizens across the country standing indivisible against the Trump agenda. We believe that buying into false promises or accepting partial concessions will only further empower Trump to victimize our fellow citizens. We hope that this guide will provide those who share that belief useful tools to make Congress listen.
This isn’t going to be easy, but we have to start fighting back right now. If we don’t, we are fucked.
Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET
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Thanks Wil, I have shared this with my friends, at least its a map to grow a pair.
This post could do with some editing.
I agree…could you do it?
I’ve gone around in circles about how much I hate the incoming administration… and still hold out hope for Dec 19. I’m too much of a democrat I guess. I will pass this around.
In a spectacular twin moment of the day…. I’m arguing with one three year old in the bathroom because she wants a band aid, so I’m making her show me where her boo boo is. She points at various places of her legs and none of them have a boo boo… just then I hear slurping behind me and the other twin is standing next to the toilet… licking her WET HAND. 😳😳
Oh and I keep getting told that snopes has a liberal agenda and if I believe that I probably believe CNN and politifact too. WTF?!?! If you google search whether you can trust snopes you just get a bunch of fuck all websites from the right.
Is snopes still trustworthy?
When you’re dealing with people determined to believe lies…well, there’s been a plan to ensure such people will be who you face. It’s why you’re getting those messages.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-12-13-games-and-politics-in-2016
yes
Thank you so much for these resources. I will definitely be putting them into action, for as long as it takes to get this misogynistic white supremacist regime out of my government. It’s incredible to know that awesome people like you will be out there fighting with me. Stay strong!
There’s a time for peace, and healing, and coming together. This is not that time.
Rage on, Wil. Some of us will be right there with you, in any way we can.
I absolutely agree with JSc..This is giving me flashbacks of the Nixon years, Vietnam and Kent State…We must not be complacent…They are counting on that
RAP
Thanks Mr. Wheaton for putting to words what a lot of us are feeling. Not to mention giving us a guide to direct that anger and frustration. It may not be the end of the world but it sure as hell feels like it. We have a ego maniac ready to run the country like his own private party and people are going to get hurt. We need to stay strong and angry for the next 4 years. Oh and Mimi…the fact that a bunch of right wing sites hates Snopes prob tells you there at least a good amount of truth there. Just my 2 cents.
Interesting blog entry. I am however curious why aren’t people like you upset at Hillary and DNC for screwing over Bernie?? He would have won over Trump.
A LOT of my friends (ages of 20-30) purposely didn’t vote for Hillary because she screwed over Bernie.
Steve, just an FYI. Wil was originally a strong Bernie supporter. Hillary was not his first choice, nor Tim Kaine.
Hillary shouldn’t have been ANY choice !!! …
Thank you. That is exactly what the problem is. A ‘corporate creation ‘ or a ‘douche’ , that’s what this country offered us.
Then a LOT of your friends are fucking idiots, who probably realize it now, but don’t have the balls to admit it. They can fuck right off.
THat is the bull shit thinking that got us Trump
Steve — That is the kind of polarization we MUST AVOID!
I, too, was a Sanders supporter. I voted for him, I contributed multiple times to has campaign, I believed in nearly all of his message.
But I am also a life long (70 years) political activist who started studying politics in grammar school, involved in my first campaign in the late 1950s (non partisan city commissioner race), minored in political science in my undergraduate years (emphasizing political parties and electoral behavior), worked for. Oth major political parties and third party candidates.
This does NOT make me an “expert,” but I would HOPE it might make you listen to my opinion.
Clinton was NEVER the evil political figure painted by the right. Bernie was NEVER the white knight presented by his campaign. Third party politics almost always result in the OPPOSITE results intended by those who promote them.
Now is the time we MUST work together to salvage what we can and stop the polarization that divides us!!!
This is true. However, and I know I am changing topics here, the truth of this loss lies in several facts. A) Hillary was hated. There were people who hated her who were barely alive when Bill was president. The stories told were added to the long list of things from AR…mainly the death of Vince Foster. Does NOT matter the stories are old and false. Add poorly explained events in Benghazi and the republican lynching of HRC, and you have several VOTING generations who “didn’t” trust her. THEN…follow with the fact those SAME people must have thrived on djt’s TV show and the crappy people he grabbed for contestants..he had his core following: TV watchers of a grade D show and Hillary haters. B) Bernie’s followers: I supported Bernie financially and voted for him in the primary. When I realized his was a valiant effort, I shifted to HRC. Was I giddy about her? No. By that time it was apparent the single most horrid American was going to run for president against the Democrats. C) djt ran for president because HRC was running. Go back 20 years and read how many times he was going to run. He knew (A) above.
As I write this more info is being released re: interference. There is no doubt on my part as to veracity of this information. And what is djt doing? Continuing to lie…to disavow…to be the loudest one in the controversy. Think of the myriad of lies he has told for nearly 2 years just in relation to this election. Amazing there are that many people who believe him…or just flat out don’t care because they hate HRC. There is something seriously wrong with that reasoning. Stories about HRC are that: stories. Stories about djt include what these people HEARD with their own ears…not to mention SEEING him say the lies!! And they believe the lies. smh
So..instead of wondering what the dems should have done…or do….they have to get CLEAN, FRESH blood. Cory Booker anyone?
Thank you for such an honest and great post. I’m ready to stand and resist. If you haven’t seen it I highly recommend the Vice episode “A Nation Divided.” We have a hell of a lot of work ahead.
Excellent post, Wil, and a reminder we need to be vigilant and involved and pay attention, and keep paying attention. Thank you for this.
Wil, how about in the interest of full disclosure you tell us how much you got paid to shill for Hillary Clinton?
Of the two bad choices we were given she is by far the most dangerous. Trump may be orange, but Clinton is without a doubt evil. Quit with the overblown statements. No-one is “fucked”, least of all someone in your position.
Oh okay. Zero. Happy to help out.
Clinton is “evil”? Now you’re just being silly. People have legitimately criticized both Clinton (and Trump) are many issues, but I wouldn’t call either of them “evil”.
Hillary is evil? Can you hear and see? Why are you even here?
Complicit, through her reign as head of the Dept. of State, in the destruction/persecution of the public, and/or infrastructure in : Honduaras, Iraq, libya, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, Ukraine, Yemen !!! …but a lot of you NPR totebag liberals seem to miss/avoid these awful actions done with U.S. State dept., AND CONgressional approval, on BOTH sides !!
I agree! I, and other supporters I know, took a chance on Trump for several reasons….one of them is not wanting the USA to suffer the same infiltration that Europe, Sweden, and the UK are experiencing….the Iman’s say loudly, that they are coming to take over, they have no intention of assimilating, they want our country to be ruled be Muslims and implement sharia…..Hillary said she would bring in thousands more than Obama! She said she wants open borders…..why would any American want this kind of world for their children and grandchildren????? It’s insane
I think of it in terms of evolution. Every survival strategy that succeeds produces the environment that encourages the growth of a new survival strategy that will eventually win over the previous strategy. What that strategy will be is not yet clear. But it will come and it will succeed(*).
(* For a while at least. Since it to is subject to the same rule that will defeat what is successful today.)
I tend to subscribe to that as well. The issue becomes how long does it take the other side to develop a new survival strategy? People who subscribe to this kind of analysis might be doing so out of a desperate search for hope for 2018 or 2020, but realistically it can take multiple cycles for a losing party to fully process the lessons of losing. I told myself something very similar to this comment when the Republicans took over my home state in 2010. Nearly 7 years later, I’m still waiting for the Democrats to gain any foothold in state government. If they’re coming up with a new survival strategy, it’s difficult to see the work in progress.
Just remember that when anyone on ‘your side’ wins, it’s still just 25% of the population (that’s just how Presidential elections work in our system), and the opposition is just as miserable as you feel now. It’s the same thing, only the sides change. In reality, it’s not even 25% that support the winning candidate btw, merely about that many that voted that way (believe me, the two aren’t the same thing). When you actually break it all down it’s around 8-15% of the population that actually supports any given candidate (and it only gets up that high with the winners usually). There are a number of excellent scholarly works on the subject if you’re interested.
I don’t bring this up because I support Trump mind you (I do not), I just like people to have an honest view of reality. I’m opposed to partisanship and the kind of ‘belonging’ that stretches from sporting events to elections and drives people to think in terms of binaries or sides. I think it’s ignorant, counter-productive, and even dangerous.
As for the rest, good post. There are things people can do that MIGHT actually help, and even if they don’t at least you’ll be trying. Personally I think the whole system is irretrievably lost to us, and we need a wipe and reboot, but it doesn’t stop me from trying whatever I can along the way.
Following the same election math, Barack Obama only got 28% of the vote in 2012 and everyone who did not vote for him therefor disagreed with everything he did from 2008 to 2012
Let me put it in different terms: Pollsters poll 1000 citizens of voting age to find out how the election will turn out. They predicted a 4% Clinton win and were off within the margin of error (3%). She won by 2%.
The general election is nothing other than a gigantic poll. Following propability math this brings down the margin of error to a very accurate representation what ALL Americans think and want.
As in: Clinton got 48% of the vote. Most of Americans didn’t want her. Trump got 46%. Most of Americans didn’t want him either. But with a 52%/54% against result not 74.5%/75%.
Telling yourself most of Americans disagree with Trump isn’t a good recipe for winning 2020
Wil
Thank you for your thoughtful post. I’m especially grateful for the pragmatism you have tried to convey – at a time when most of us on the Left are stuck between anger and despair.
I’ve spent most of the 2nd half of 2016, in response to the resurgence of the far right, thinking “I need to do SOMETHING, but I have no idea what”
At least now I have some thoughts to direct where to start
— Mike
Hi Wil,
first of all I am a big fan of your blog! You are asking, what is on my mind and I will share a thought..
I think it might be difficult to mix up very personal things of you(your personal life and work as an artist) and political statements. That would change the blog. Think about it, if you want this. Discussion here will completely change and that affects you, mostly.
Thank you, Wil. I will be reading this and taking what steps I can.
Also, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s last message, from Rebels:
“I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen, with the the dark shadow of the Empire rising to take their place. This message is a warning, and a reminder, for any surviving Jedi. Trust in the Force. Do not return to the temple. That time has passed. And our future is uncertain. We will each be challenged: our trust, our faith, our friendships. But we must persevere. And in time, a new hope will emerge. May the Force be with you. Always.”
This is your blog, and therefore you can put on it whatever you want. I also imagine that your core audience is likely to be left/progressive/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, so they are fine with these types of posts. From someone who is not of that political persuasion, however, I can tell you that these “Trump is going to be President, the sky is falling” posts are a turn off. Yes, yes, I know: this is Wil’s blog, he can put whatever he wants on it. I already said that, didn’t I? Wil is also in the business of creating a platform for his artistic work, some of which I imagine is consumed by those who are not politically aligned with him. I for one enjoy reading his posts about bettering himself, his artistic process, etc. If he wants to continue on this path, so be it. His blog. Also my right to simply turn him off and go elsewhere.
Geez Wil,
It’s really cute you have a brain and an opinion and all but come here to be entertained by you my actor puppet! Entertain me and don’t talk about anything that is dominating your thoughts at the time if it’s an unpleasant subject that others may disagree on. I’m not here for that! Besides Cheeto Hitler isn’t REALLY going to force women to die in back-alley abortions, register and deport muslims, repeal healthcare for millions, and hinder rights for LGBT people. Stop worrying! So what if Russia helped elect the least qualified person ever in history to run for president! You lost, get over it! Climate change is a hoax too. All those hundreds of scientists are paid by Wilford Brimley to scare you into not making money for the oil companies!
Sarcasm sarcasm sarcasm.
Lets’ all look the other way while our seas warm up and fill with plastic and fucking fight over money until every last human is dead. Uncontrolled climate change will kill off humans. Realize that. Which fucking side do you want to be on?
You need to realize that the democratic party, Clinton, Obama, and the entire democratic political establishment DO NOT represent Liberals or Progressives. They represent a bunch of corporate globalists who want to fold our country into what they believe is their version of Utopia, which for them is a one world govt controlled by a committee of global corporate leaders and technocrats. The Conservatives are in the same predicament. The reason Obama did not do what you expected is because Obama is not the leader of our country. He is merely a figurehead who does what his controllers tell him to do. These controllers are a hodge-podge of banking and multi-national leaders who have incestuous relationships with each other across a bunch of Boards of Directors. In other words, we have lost our national sovereignty to Corporatism. Getting it back is going to take a lot more than voting for con artists (politicians) pretending to be on your side, my side, or anyone’s side. Bush, Trump, Clinton, Kerry, McCain (the list goes on and on) are just con artists who lust for power, money and control. They are not driven by the same desires as you and I, and they could care less about our country or its people. Do not fall prey to the false words uttered from their mouths. The people of this country have been duped. It’s simple to do when everyone is uneducated about how govt really works today. We’re all fed a fairytale version of what’s going on by our media and our education system because they’re both owned lock and stock by the same people who are duping us. Everyone needs to wake the hell up before we lose it all and for good. Go back and listen to Obama’s 2008 DNC speech and write down every promise he made. If you look back you will see that he did the exact opposite of every single promise. Clinton would have done the same thing and so will Trump, just like Bush did and Obama did. It would be hilarious if it were not so tragic. These people are groomed to be morally corrupt. If they weren’t they wouldn’t be allowed to join the club. Sometimes someone real sneaks through, like Kennedy, and we know what happened to him.
Yeah, we get it. Everybody’s corrupt. So what would you have us do? We now have a petulant toddler poised to be president, and a gang of corporatists for the Cabinet. At least Will brings some immediate, practical suggestions to the table.
Wow!!!!!!! Well said, Glenn R!!!!!!! Wow!!!!!!! My sentiments exactly!!!!!!!!!!
Glen , at last, the blaring horrible truth! Though I feel exactly like Wil, even more so, I am old enough to have watched this fiasco, that is their government, for 7 decades. The last true progressive president, who actually represented the PEOPLE, was Roosevelt, who brought forth the new deal, Social Security & Medicare! I voted for the 1st time for Bobby Kennedy, after the assasination of John Kennedy and yes that is why they were murdered! I refuse to sit quietly on the sidelines while they destroy our country & our planet! I for one intend to fight ! I will march, protest , sit in, get arrested & whateverelse it takes to protect my 6 children, 17 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren & the families & children of all Americans & the children of the world! We must stand up with courage & the hell with all that BS about ” when they go low, we go high”, F that!! Look where that got us. Besides none of the people on the hill will suffer under this ” Hitler”, not the Obamas, the Clintons , the Bidens etc. & most of all not any of the fake Christian Alt Righters from the hill! We the people will suffer! All is fair in love & war & this is WAR!!! Take actions right out of the 60’s playbook !! Get in the streets & up in their faces, all of their faces! I will continue to email all of them, sign every petition, support only progressives from the bottom up, starting with school districts , city councils, mayors, governors etc. ! I’m proud to say that in California, our governor Brown, our attorney general, our legislators , University Chancelors & the Mayor of Los Angeles are not sitting around on their thumbs! They have already passed numerous bills to fight the trump crime family! trump has already threatened California with canceling federal funding if they don’t go along with his Nazi game plan & guess what they punked him! States have the power to fight this dictator & my state has already begun this war! We have already hired a lawyer, Eric Holder, former US ATTORNEY GENERAL, to represent us in lawsuits against the trump crime family & to protect us from trumps threats ! California is the 6 th largest economy in the world & we will lead the way in this fight against those who would destroy our country , our way of life & our multi cultural heritage! BRING IT, TRUMP YOU CHUMP!
Don’t pay Federal Income Tax. If enough people refuse to pay, the IRS AND the Hitler administration will collapse.
Sounds good to me after all as far as we know Trump did not either
‘
Mr WheatonI commend you, good for you for having a pair, to speak out publically. Just Imagine if we would all say ” HEY TRUMP HASNT PAID HIS TAXES IN 10 YEARS, I THINK ILL FOLLOW MY PRESIDENTS LEAD AND NOT PAY MINE EITHER” If its good for The so called “President” it must be good for his people right??? why not? lets show them how powerful “WE” people are.
Hey Wil.
Thanks for the article link. It does hold very good ideas on how to get organized.
I must say, that to me, it is quite a lot of information to learn and could use some editing. I mean no offense to the authors – I do appreciate all of the information. It’s just that trying to sort through it all and keep it mentally organized is a bit of a struggle and some may give up. I’ve spent two hours organizing it for my own purposes and I’m about halfway through. (I realize it may be fine as is to others. It’s just that I need ideas and instructions to be organized in an easily understood outline type of format.) Just an idea. If a previous poster already said this, sorry to repeat.
Thanks again for posting the link. It’s good information for all citizens under any administration.
Hey Wil,
Hillary won California by over 4 million votes, which means the entire rest of the country went for Trump both in electors and popular vote – if we take out California, Trump would lead by 1.5 million votes. So what’s more likely, that you (in California) “can see through” Trump’s appeal, or that you’re in a bubble of folks who never saw the appeal in the first place?
If only to better understand the people you’re fighting, might I suggest you find some conservative or libertarian news or opinion source to balance your more liberal news sources? For instance, rather than only listening to The Young Turks maybe occasionally try listening to, say, The Fifth Column? If you only listen to right-wing stuff through the filter of what left-wingers get outraged about, it’s hard not to get the impression right-wingers are terrible people who only say terrible things, rather than human beings who – like you – are trying to solve problems they see in the world.
The problem mostly shows up when you let your brain get hijacked by silly memes like “Trump said he’d ‘drain the swamp’, but he’s appointing billionaires and Goldman Sachs people to the cabinet! His supporters should be DISAPPOINTED Trump LIED to them about draining the swamp!” Well, no. If a liberal candidate had promised to ‘drain the swamp’, that reaction might make sense, but the parts of government that Trump and his supporters think of as “the swamp” are not the same as the parts YOU think of as “the swamp”. He might be trying to drain DIFFERENT swamps. For instance, to the extent that the federal Department of Education has become a swamp in need of draining, appointing a voucher advocate who didn’t come up through the ranks could be…an attempt to drain the swamp. Several of his picks have that characteristic – he’s appointing people who don’t like or have serious problems with the department they’re heading (Ben Carson is another example). It is extremely likely that his picks will fail at “draining the swamp” – fail to make much progress at reforming, reinventing, or paring back the bureaucracy in these institutions. It’s a long-shot. But it might work. It might be worth trying.
(FWIW, I didn’t vote for Trump.)
Glen I don’t want to burst your bubble but if you take out California you also have to take 4 Million votes away from The Donald.
I guess this brings me back to the US educational system…
Sebastian: Yes, I was assuming you take both sides out of the equation. If that was unclear, I’ll elaborate:
The NYT says that in California Hillary got 8,753,788 votes and Trump got 4,483,810, a difference of ~4.2 million votes. So if you remove both Hillary’s 8.8 million and Trump’s 4.5 million from the national totals to see what the US-minus-California looks like, that has to shift the balance by 4.2 million in Trump’s direction. The margin goes from Hillary being up about 2.6 million (in the whole US) to Trump being up about 1.5 million (in US-minus-California).
Perhaps we should declare Hillary the President of California and Trump the President of the rest of the US.
This point is relevant to at least a few of Wil’s claims above. Notably this one:
To which I was pointing out that people who voted for right wingers may be hugely outnumbered in California but…not so much the rest of the country.
Thanks for this! Sharing it with my local groups who are organizing now.
Thanks, Wil. The tribe in my life which has been doing what they can to make a difference in our immediate community will be able to learn and grow thanks to this post.
On a different note. whether the subject speaks to my interests (Star Wars!) or bores the life out of me (poker) I enjoy your writing style. It is always entertaining, and I will always return to read your blog.
Thank you very much for calling attention to this valuable resource. I believe that it is really important that everyone possible sees the Indivisible document. So please move the link to the top of your post so nobody gives up reading before they see it.
A reply to the full 9-minute read would be exhausting, and potentially wasted, but here’s the way I look at the situation:
The world is always shit, it was shit yesterday, it’s shit today, and the only thing stopping tomorrow from going to shit, is us. Obstruction should always be a last resort, but there are definitely some things we can do in the interim while tempers remain taut.
Firstly, we need a better way to organize communication online. The written word is so much more powerful in terms of distance and time, especially since anyone can do it without having to be the best orator, and being able to use this skill in real-time can even bolster our communicative abilities. The issue is in the organization of so many voices. This is why I’m currently building a large mod for Reddit to create such a system. [I could elaborate, if you’re interested]
Secondly, we need a common platform for organizing the actions and media concerning our public officials, so come election time research is available and organized. You can even build campaigning tools into the platform to open the local, state, and national elections to anyone, effectively cutting the ever-steepening learning curve into small manageable pieces. [this would be my next project after the discussion mod]
Finally, we need to just remain patient and continue to be examples of patience and understanding when discussing anything online, no matter how insulting and demeaning the opposition becomes. Simply address the insult curtly and politely (the snark will be very difficult, since it’s so easy to hide) then move on to your retort.
The coming years were always going to be difficult, even without Trump. At least now we have enough polarization that it makes it easy to know who you should strike a conversation with first. Use your wits and your kindness and hopefully we’ll all survive to see the new millennium (presuming medical advances allow for a longer life)
Just like when everyone called in to stop repubs from gutting the Independent Ethics Committee. We just need to never take our eyes off them now.
Thanks for this great start. We in Santa Fe, New Mexico have been working on a website that leverages the free market as a political tool. AParallelWorld.com shows how to move our buying decisions in a way that moves political influence away from Meg-corporations back to working Americans. Keep it up.
The Democrats, since 2006, haven’t done jack sh!t, except saying ‘we’re not the worst’ … rallying the SJ war-cry, cynically, for votes … and passing the completely awful ACA …aka the GIVE BIG PHARMA, BIG INSURANCE, & BIG MEDICAL COMPLEX everything their lobbyists asked for ACT…. while telling the plebes ‘to eat their peas’ !!
Where have these people been the last 8, or, I dare say, the last 11+ years ….. I’ll tell you where …. Sucking-up to BIG MONEY …that’s where … but they give a good line,with their virtue signalling and hypocrisy ! ! The ‘Neoliberals’ are no better than the than the ‘Neocons’
To quote Nancy ‘have to pass it, to see what’s in it’ Pelosi ……. EMBRACE THE SUCK boys and girls !!!
I was a life-long democrat up until 2006, when I finally realized just how feckless & conniving the DNC and congressional democrats had become, and this last election proved it, in spades ….
With Trump, we either swim to high ground … or we sink in the muck, but know this : millions of voters, many of whom were democrats, cast their ballot for the orange coif, because they were sick & tired of being played for chumps !
Polecat, you are extremely misinformed about the ACA, which was a compromise to a to a single payer system. If you study the health care system and the nuances about the ACA, you will see that it was a solid solution to escalating health care costs and coverage, but that it ended up costing a lot for individuals due to to two important reasons. 1. The Supremes ruled that states did not have to participate in the exchange, thereby mostly defunding it, and 2. People are pretty sick in our country, primarily due to lifestyle and poverty. Rather than it being deconstructed, the ACA should be improved.
so did you just Quote Trump word for word or do you have your own thought process?
You see the irony here, do you not? Those who were sick and tired of being played for chumps were played for chumps by Trump.They will learn this sooner or later within the next four years. So these voters, who think they won, actually lost.
You must act. I don’t think many people realize this yet. But you are saving our democracy. Trump will try to become a dictator. I have doubts the senate has the backbone to stand up to hate and ignorance.
The last thing we need to do is stoop to the level of the Trump campaign. We need to use reason and emotion in careful balance. We are part of a democracy and we have a Constitution that applies to all. We need civil disobedience to send a message to those elected officials at our most local level that Trump is a liar, ego manic, and has few characteristics that show promise of good leadership. He needs to resign or follow the will of the majority. Let your local representatives defend him and own his policies or work to compel him to serve your interests.
I see a lot of comments saying ‘you will win.’ He/she/they cannot. WE can. Kinda the whole point of the article, folks. Stop looking for a hero and be one. It only works if we all get to work.
My only other concern is who gets left out. As a transwoman, we are often the first group thrown under the bus – by liberals! – either to appease bigots, or by bigots. Anyone who quotes that “First they came for….and I did nothing” bit and leaves us out can go fuck themselves, as far as I’m concerned. Just sayin’
Yes yes and yes!
Glad to see you’re onboard with Indivisible, Will. Are you involved in a chapter? We’re everywhere. https://www.indivisibleguide.com/local-action-groups
The people of this world will never be satisfied with any human ruler. As people with original sin they wanted an earthly king instead of the King Of Kings (God) and until Christ comes back to reign as King on earth again everyone will be miserable. Everyone will also remain miserable until they turn to Christ as their Lord and Savior and coming to acknowlede that he died on the cross for our sins and God as his father and pur heavenly father. I pray for all those who choose to still be blinded by sin. That they will finally turn to Christ.