STEADY essays by Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Guns, Abortion, and the American Flag
Can Democrats turn the tables?
Guns.
Abortion.
And the American flag.
For a long time, most Democratic campaign strategists viewed wading into these topics with about as much enthusiasm as running naked through a patch of poison ivy. There were exceptions, but the thinking was that guns and abortion were the kind of so-called “culture war” issues (more on that phrase in a moment) that animated the right flank of the political spectrum. And flag-waving patriotism was also something that Republican candidates tended to carry off more naturally (and successfully) than their Democratic counterparts.
Coverage of politics often takes on the vocabulary of war. And these issues were considered Republican turf, easy for the GOP to defend and weaponize for their advancement. In political campaigns, these topics were often treated as three fronts of the same battle. Republican candidates frequently have used their definition of patriotism — which includes expanding gun culture and ending a woman’s right to choose — as a rallying cry for their voters to come to the polls. This has been the strategy across decades of elections, around the country and at all levels of government.
The way conventional wisdom tends to work in politics is that it doesn’t shape only how campaigns are run, but the coverage of campaigns, as well — and thus, by extension, the broader political dynamics of the country. There is a feedback loop between what campaigns think will work and what reporters say does work. So these strategies are trotted out, election season after election season, because they are assumed to be effective. And what I have witnessed over the years suggests those assumptions were mostly correct.
But here’s the funny thing about conventional wisdom: It is true until it isn’t. The nature of politics makes determining what works and what doesn’t quite difficult to tease out. People vote for candidates for a variety of reasons, and ultimately it often comes down to a binary choice. Do I pull the lever (or circle in the bubble) for the person with an R next to their name, or a D? What motivates people to get out and vote is the secret sauce of effective political movements. And there is a school of thought that political campaigns tend to make the mistake of running the playbook of the previous election, just as armies make the mistake of fighting the last war.
The purpose of this column isn’t to dive into the social science research of voting patterns or to analyze the larger trend lines of previous elections. We may return to some of these issues in the future, such as the rural/urban divide and the reliability — or unreliability — of the youth vote. We will note, as we have in the past and will likely do again in the future, that race and views about race command an outsized influence in our political dynamics.
At this moment, however, I want to suggest that perhaps we are at an inflection point on guns, abortion, and even the definition of American patriotism that could upend the political calculus of the country. On the other hand, maybe we are in for more of the same.
The headwinds for Democrats in the midterms appear to be at a gale force. There is the reality that the party not occupying the White House usually wins seats in Congress, and often a lot of them. So Democrats, with their thinnest of majorities, are presumed by most election handicappers to be in trouble. When you add to these historical headwinds a very unpopular president and spiking inflation, the picture becomes even bleaker.
The mantra of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign, “It’s the economy, stupid,” doesn’t sound too good for the Democrats now. It doesn’t matter if the causes of inflation, and high gas prices in particular, are global and complicated. The party in the White House usually takes the blame, regardless of which party it is.
You can add the potential for voter apathy to the mix of dangers the Democrats face. Without Trump on the ballot, and with economic and other uncertainties unsettling the electorate, there’s a real question of how many Democratic voters will show up in November. The party tends to have trouble with turnout in midterm elections. And while some Republican voters and independents who lean that way voted for Biden in 2020, will they return to the GOP this time around?
The difficult case the Democrats have to make is that yes, the economy is in a rough place, and yes there is uncertainty, from the pandemic to war in Europe, and yes much of Biden’s agenda has been stymied in the Senate, but the Republicans are not to be trusted with your future or that of American democracy. It can be boiled down to “authoritarianism is a lot worse than high gas prices.” You would hope it would be an easy sell. But it must start with people believing the existential threat to America is real.
And this is where the “culture wars” come in. I use this phrase because it is part of our current political parlance, but I don’t like it. It suggests that these are issues of culture rather than health and safety, or autonomy, or basic decency. It assumes opposing forces with absolutist beliefs and no room for compromise. And it suggests those forces are of equal or at least near-equal strength.
Abortion and guns have animated our political discourse for a long time. There is clear delineation between how the political parties view these issues, at least today. It wasn’t always the case. Yet the political polarization isn’t matched by the beliefs of the population at large. There is overwhelming support for some limits on gun ownership, such as background checks, raising the minimum age of purchase, and red flag laws. On abortion, there is also majority support for women having control of their own bodies. And yet the Republicans have made pushing their minority views a hallmark of their political posturing and their selection of judges.
The Supreme Court may turn out to be an unwitting ally for Democratic get-out-the vote efforts. With decisions pending that will apparently overturn Roe v. Wade and weaken gun control measures, the court is injecting a combustible uncertainty into the elections. So too are governments in red states, which are passing draconian measures on both issues that are far outside of the mainstream American consensus. There is an open question, however, of whether these provisions, as unpopular as they may be, will spur opposition at the polls. People say they don’t like abortion restrictions and do want commonsense gun laws, but will they be motivated to vote because of it?
But there is another issue at play that may amplify the electoral energy for Democrats, and that is the very definition of America. After the first night of congressional hearings into the coup attempt of January 6, it is clear that the events leading up to that day, and the explosion of violence on January 6 itself, will be a storyline in the fall elections. The high ratings for people tuning in to watch the hearings suggest there is a lot of interest across the country. This is the most egregious attack on America’s constitutional order since the Civil War. The rioters who used American flags to beat police officers at the Capitol and who waved Confederate flags in the halls of Congress represent as clear a definition of the antithesis of American patriotism as you are likely to find.
Guns. Abortion. And the American flag — it is a narrative that provokes a series of piercing questions:
Over the course of my life, I have seen the pendulum of American politics swing back and forth. Overall, however, the path has been one of general progress toward becoming a more just and inclusive democracy. In recent years, however, one political party has swung far to the extreme, both ideologically and in terms of desperation to retain power. Democrats will try to make the case that this is a dire and untenable state of affairs, an existential threat to America. Will they get enough voters to look past the pronounced challenges of the present to repel extremism and vote to strengthen American democracy for the future?
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The Coup Continues
There is nothing past tense about January 6, 2021
There is nothing past tense about January 6, 2021, even though the date itself is about 18 months ago. The currents that exploded that day are, and will continue to be (with an emphasis on the present and future tenses), a direct threat to the continuation of the United States as a democratic republic.
The congressional committee investigating the insurrection represents not merely a fact-finding exercise to correctly document history, as important as that mission would be. They are firefighters battling a blaze of autocracy and unconstitutional depravity sweeping across the country.
In the hearings this week, the esteemed Michael Luttig, a retired conservative federal judge, starkly concluded that had Donald Trump been successful in his attempts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election, America “would immediately have been plunged into…a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis."
As becomes more and more clear through a cascade of revelations, this was an organized attempt to destroy the United States as a nation based upon the rule of law and the principle that when we hold elections, we honor the results, no matter if our preferred candidate wins or loses. And the pressure on Pence was only part of the plan. It also included attempts to appoint alternative slates of electors in battleground states in direct contradiction of the will of the voters in those states. The goal was to sow confusion, violence in the streets be damned, just as long as Trump could remain in power.
Trump and his confederates — and I choose that word in full recognition of its historical meaning — sought to foment this chaos through the raw exploitation of power and intimidation to nullify Joe Biden’s victory. That a conservative of Judge Luttig’s stature would speak with such unequivocal force, and that it would be echoed by Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, and the Republican staffers on the committee, makes clear that there is a delineation in what they are investigating that is based not on politics but on fidelity to the law and America’s democratic principles.
As the hearings paint a devastating picture of Trump’s plot, there is an emerging Republican talking point that this is all old news. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, whose ambition to be president is about as naked as a jaybird, called it “beating a dead horse.” It’s an approach that works both to minimize the coup attempt and suggest the Republican Party should move beyond Trump and embrace something new (as in him).
June 15th 2022
24 Retweets82 LikesDeSantis’s self-serving protestations, and those of others like him, deliberately obscure the truth. Exposing an attempt to override elections and the will of the voters is not beating a dead horse, unless that horse is American democracy. Promoting the Big Lie as an excuse to nullify Democratic victories has become a mantra for large swaths of the Republican Party.
In his Thursday testimony, Judge Luttig made this chillingly clear. He wasn’t there just to talk about the past; he emphasized that his greatest fears lie in what might come next.
June 16th 2022
8,634 Retweets25,040 LikesThe focus thus far of the January 6 committee has rightfully been on exploring and clarifying the narrative around what happened that day, and specifically President Trump’s role in fomenting the violent coup attempt. But as we can see with the statement above from Judge Luttig, hanging over this entire proceeding is the current danger America faces.
In a front-page article this week, The New York Times analyzed recent election results and concluded something many of you already know: In several battleground states, Republicans have nominated extremist candidates eager to do Trump’s bidding — or that of any Republican leader who wants to dynamite the American political system.
June 16th 2022
185 Retweets354 LikesThis is of course an American problem, because it threatens our entire constitutional order. But we need to be very clear — this is a cancer that resides firmly within the Republican Party. It has been allowed to linger and grow, and now metastasize. And it is taking root by infecting state and local governance in ways that could very well turn what happened on January 6 into just an opening act.
What makes this so dangerous is that Republican election officials don’t need to actually overturn elections to serve their purpose. They can just cause havoc and chaos, and by doing so undermine the faith the American people have in our democratic systems. We saw a preview of this recently in New Mexico.
June 15th 2022
9,738 Retweets22,645 LikesIt is notable that Congressman Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the January 6 committee, called it out, along with its implications. Because this movement animates the Republican Party, it is incumbent on all those Republican leaders who eagerly wrap themselves in the mantle of “patriotism” to stamp out this contagion. But what do we hear? Many enthusiastically back these extremists. Others offer tacit endorsements or silence. This is a party that would rather hold on to power than our democracy.
The likes of Bill Barr can call “bullshit” on the Big Lie in sworn depositions, but they should receive no accolades for their forced honesty. Where were their statements at the time? And what are they saying now about the same, pardon again the language, “bullshit” about future elections? Where is Senator Mitch McConnell? Or Vice President Pence? Or the Bushes? Or almost any other Republican of note, past or present?
All who are looking the other way, keeping their heads down, obfuscating, accepting, or outright endorsing this autocracy are willingly gambling with the future of American democracy. Whether it’s born of a desire for power or from cowardice doesn’t matter. Now is a time to stand up and be counted; almost every Republican leader is failing the test.
So what are the rest of us to do? Hopelessness and despair are not options. First and foremost, this should be a major issue on everyone’s radar. And I think the January 6 committee will help with that. But all citizens have a role to play. Getting out to vote for those who would protect democracy and encouraging others to do so is essential. This is not a matter of policy. This is about the basic mechanisms of democracy. Do we respect our elections? Do we count the votes and declare those who won the most to be the winner?
As with issues like abortion and guns, I think a large majority of Americans want our basic democratic system to continue. They might even want reforms to make it fairer. And this points to another approach to countering those who would attack our system. We can shame them, call out their playbook now, let them know that we see what they will attempt to do, and declare their “voter fraud” propaganda what it is — a farce and a lie. Put all Republican officials on the record.
In the lead-up to the war in Ukraine, the United States did a masterful job of preempting Russian propaganda. We let the world know what the Russians would do and the lies they would use to justify it. We can use the same approach toward those lining up to attack our democracy. We see them. We know their tactics. They aren’t trying to hide them. There can be no “false equivalence” allowed around this matter, in the media or in the public at large.
What these would-be autocrats are saying is they want a system that is essentially, if I win, I win, if you win, I win. They claim fraud only when Democrats win the vote. They claim a vice president can overthrow an election only when a Republican is vice president. This isn’t a matter of politics. It’s a matter of democracy. The stakes aren’t between Republicans and Democrats. All Republicans who understand this, the Judge Luttigs, the Liz Cheneys, the Adam Kinzingers, and any who join the ranks now, should be welcomed and encouraged.
The dividing line is pretty simple, and I believe the vast majority of Americans fall on one side. This is about who believes in the health and security of the United States, our Constitution, and our rule of law, and who does not.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
A Party On The Extremes
This fall, we will have elections across the United States. There will be Republicans on the ballot and Democrats. The candidates will have earned the right to be there by winning a primary process currently nearing its completion. There will be rallies and television advertisements, polling and punditry, news stories and debates.
On the surface, the mechanisms of our democratic process will be familiar. And it is likely that much of the populace, and the press, will treat them as such. We will be reminded about the headwinds the party in power historically faces in midterm elections. There will be speculation about which base is more energized. Voters will head to the polls weighing continuity versus change. They may vote on very important issues, like gun safety, abortion access, and the economy.
But we should not let the familiar distract us from an underlying truth: There is nothing normal about this election, or the political system it reflects. By any reasonable analysis, one of our two main political parties has been consumed by an extremism that threatens the very stability of our nation.
There is no satisfaction in saying this. And I come to this conclusion based not on any matter of policy. This is not about how we set up our tax system or how we protect the environment. It’s not about how we fund our schools or regulate Wall Street. This is about whether we believe in representative democracy, the rule of law, and the right to vote. This is about the cohesion that holds our nation together and allows for us to shift course via a process of free and fair elections.
This past week, we have seen more evidence of the danger we confront. Foremost has been the congressional commission investigating the January 6 insurrection. Over the decades I have covered Washington, I have seen enough congressional investigations that I nurtured high hopes, but relatively low expectations, for this one.
I have been impressed. The approach has been methodical, compelling, and damning. It is clear that one of the committee’s chief objectives is to create an indelible demarcation between those who defend democracy and those who eagerly trade our protections and freedom for their craven path to power. This is an urgent exercise before the next elections.
We can see that, with a few notable exceptions, Republican officials across the country are embracing a vision of governance that is antithetical to stability, and frankly, sanity. One chilling data point comes from my beloved home state of Texas, where state Republicans recently adopted a platform that should anger — and frighten — any American of conscience, regardless of ideology.
June 20th 2022
344 Retweets976 LikesThe platform’s specifics are outright nuts on issues from President Biden (“not legitimately elected”) to the very continuation of Texas as a state (“Texas retains the right to secede from the United States, and the Texas Legislature should be called upon to pass a referendum consistent thereto”). You can dive into the murk on topic after topic: race, education, health, LGBTQ rights, even repeal of the Voting Rights Act.
These details are important, but one should look at the entirety of this dangerous document — marinated in conspiracy theories and bad faith — to understand the broader picture. This is full MAGA in spirit, tone, and substance (or lack thereof). Whether Texas Republicans are leading the charge into the abyss or following the national party’s broader assault on American democracy is difficult to discern — and somewhat beside the point. The process by which the Republican Party writ large has come to represent a Tucker Carlson rant has been swift and overwhelming — its own self-propelling force.
Another example of the depths to which the Republican Party has descended occurred in the Missouri Senate primary this week. The frontrunner in the polls, Eric Greitens, issued a video ad that blatantly promotes political violence. Carrying a shotgun and positioned alongside heavily armed men storming a house, Greitens claims he’s on a "RINO hunt" (as in, "Republican in name only," a familiar pejorative against any member of the party who dares to criticize it). Greitens, you might remember, was once governor of Missouri but had to resign due to allegations he had threatened a mistress with blackmail and nude photographs. He was also accused of multiple campaign finance violations. More recently, Greitens’ ex-wife has alleged he was abusive.
It is not clear that Greitens will win the primary, but that also is beside the point. This kind of divisive, destructive rhetoric is a test of the health of our political system. It is incumbent on all Republican leaders to repudiate this naked appeal to violence. In a positive sign, the Republican leader in the state senate said he had contacted law enforcement about the ad. But we need a lot more: Where are Greitens’ potential future colleagues in the U.S. Senate with their denunciations? Or are they more interested in acquiring another member of their caucus?
June 21st 2022
572 Retweets2,268 LikesThe danger of this political climate is directly tied to what happened on January 6, 2021, and the years that preceded it. What we are learning from the commission about the overt and back-channeled threats to undermine our electoral system, including through violent means, is the preface to the upcoming 2022 elections. As we noted recently, the “coup continues,” with Republicans elevating candidates in races across the country who not only shamelessly parrot the Big Lie, but would also be in positions to undermine election integrity in 2024.
Political parties are not static, although the consistency of their names conveys a false sense of permanence. Democrats and Republicans, Republicans and Democrats. We talk about them as fixed entities, like rocks and trees, permanent features of the landscape. We point to histories that stretch back into our distant past. They are the two pillars that comprise our political system.
But to think of these groupings and definitions as consistent when the world has changed so dramatically is a foolhardy exercise. When I was growing up, Texas was a solidly Democratic state. As I remembered in What Unites Us, “My father once joked that if I wanted to see a Republican, he would take me to the Hermann Park zoo. He said they had a stuffed one there, and while he had heard there were great herds of Republicans in the North, we hadn’t seen a live one down in Texas for quite some time.” Texas was Democratic because it was part of the Solid South, as in the former Confederacy, which fought the North and the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, in the Civil War.
Many of you know the history of what came next. The reason the South became solidly Republican for so long was due largely to the actions of President Lyndon Johnson, a son of Texas, who came to be viewed as an apostate for championing civil rights. Richard Nixon and others parlayed that shift into a major political realignment with a strategy that mined votes by leveraging white grievances.
The roots of the current Republican Party can be found in this identity shift. It was further fostered by the likes of Newt Gingrich and others who hardened our political discourse into a zero-sum game. But what we have witnessed in the last few years is an escalation into an entirely new dimension. Whereas in the past, Republicans and Democrats competed for votes within a system of agreed-upon winners and losers (Bush v. Gore a notable and under-scrutinized exception), we now are in a state where the very system of elections is being threatened with violence and illegitimacy by major forces within one of the two major political parties.
The debate is no longer over policy but over the stability of our republic based on the principles of freedom and democracy. And while there are still some Republicans of principle, the energy of the party is clearly with those who would scuttle our democratic institutions.
Once again, there will be R’s and D’s on the ballot in November. But we should not allow that consistency to lull us into a sense of complacency. The R next to many of those names might technically stand for Republican, but “reactionary” would be more accurate.
To say all of this infuses me with a deep and profound sadness. Our role as journalists is not to promote one political party or denigrate another. We are supposed to hold all accountable. But at the same time, we must be vigilant against the pull of false equivalence. I hope that the Republican Party can repudiate its descent into authoritarianism. But until it does so, unequivocally and en masse, any consideration of the party that doesn’t recognize the danger it poses to American democracy misses the truth. Sad to say: Extremism is not a facet of today’s Republican Party, but its driving force.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Echo Chamber of Extremism
A legitimacy in tatters
A day at the Supreme Court that shakes America to its core.
What to say that hasn’t been said but needs to be said again, and again, and again: This is not a court of humble jurists who are bound in any way by fidelity to precedent, the law, or common sense. There is nothing “conservative” about these damaging decisions, or the men and woman who have imposed their extreme views upon the American populace.
Right-wing politicians decry “elitism,” but what is more elitist than unelected and unaccountable activists using the language of legal argumentation as a fig leaf for their naked exercise of power?
There is no way that these decisions would pass a vote of the American public. Indeed, a majority of the justices were installed by presidents who lost the popular vote. And the polling on the issues these rulings tear asunder suggests that what these justices are doing is unpopular — in many cases, very unpopular.
But they sneer from their echo chamber of extremism. They are emboldened by a system that has been fixed, with the complicity of Mitch McConnell and others, to advantage minority viewpoints by leveraging a branch of government not designed to be a political actors' stage in order to circumvent the legislative and executive branches.
Where to begin, and where will it end?
The Supreme Court has further cemented its role as a reactionary force in American life.
Today it was abortion, on top of recent decisions on gun regulations, public funding for religious schools, and Miranda rights. Soon they will likely gut environmental regulations, and we can guess at what comes next — gay marriage? Contraception?
We can’t let this moment pass without recognizing what a horrific decision today's is, and how it will relegate women to second-class status in decision-making over their own bodies. This will lead to a host of suffering and likely death. It will imprison women where control will be imposed by the state. It is the opposite of freedom. It is a right that existed — and still should.
The Supreme Court depends on its legitimacy, and today that is as tattered as the constitutional rights on which it has trampled. The Roberts court will be marked as a cabal of intemperance that made America far less safe and far less free. It will be noted for its zealotry and its cynical embrace of the ends justifying the means.
But as with all chapters of history, how our present is ultimately viewed depends on what comes next. Will these rulings lead to outrage-fueled activism that upends the political system, or apathy and defeatism? Will the majority mobilize? Will there be reforms? Will there be a recalibration of the current balance of power?
One of the few things I have learned with any certainty over the course of my life is not to attempt to predict the future. I have seen unimaginable change come about. I have seen long odds overcome.
I leave you today with the words of Sherrilyn Ifill, civil rights lawyer and president and director-counsel emeritus of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She has experienced the fight from the trenches of justice, and her perspective mirrors my own. I could not have expressed it better.
June 24th 2022
5,132 Retweets20,393 LikesNot today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Steady
If You Don't Want To Be Seen As a Partisan Hack...
So I saw that Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was trending this morning. Not something I expected to see so I checked in to find out why, and - hoo-boy! Well folks, in case you haven’t seen this yet, this is a doozy. And for those who have, I am sure you are doing some form of slapping your face in disbelief.
You see, it seems that the Justice had some thoughts that were bothering her, so she found the perfect venue to express them. I will let Piper Hudspeth Blackburn of the Associated Press set the scene in what could easily be a shooting script for an episode of The Twilight Zone. (full article here)
I mean introduced by McConnell? At the McConnell Center? Complaining about the impression that the current Court might be seen as partisan? This is about as rich as a New York cheesecake drenched in chocolate sauce with a scoop of ice cream, but with none of the sweetness and all of the heartburn.
It doesn’t take a PhD in American history to understand how soaked in context this all is. Merrick Garland. Presidents choosing justices after losing the popular vote. Decisions to gut voting rights, gun control, protections on the environment, and now abortion. Barrett replaced Justice Ginsburg in the waning days of the Trump presidency. All of this set the stage for where we are today. And all of this was orchestrated by McConnell himself in the most brazen of partisan string-pulling.
The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Once again, however, we have a case where the quiet part is said out loud. I mean, if you don’t want to seem like a partisan hack, perhaps you can speak through jurisprudence and your rulings and not in a venue where Mitch McConnell was your opening act.
One person who I am sure was not pleased with this morning’s headlines was the Chief Justice, John Roberts. He’s a savvy enough political being to understand the optics of this are about as subtle as an elephant in an elevator. Roberts has been attempting to swing the Court far to the right. But he has done so with an aw-shucks affect, disarming smile, and just enough siding with the liberals to gain effusive media coverage as a moderating voice that softens much of his true trajectory. Now he has to deal with the mask being torn off.
Of course for anyone paying at least somewhat close attention, that mask had been off for a long time, if it was ever on. But one definitely gets a sense that something big has shifted in our politics around the Court. After decades of the Right running against the bogeyman of judicial overreach, we have a case of the dog catching the car. The not-so-secret truth is that much of what the most reactionary members of the Court want seems not to be very popular. They might appease their base, but they’re also powering the opposition. The threats these justices pose are not theoretical, and they are no longer being obscured through complicated legal frameworks. Millions of people can feel their rights being taken away.
It is tempting to look at Justice Barrett’s remarks and be gobsmacked at the echo chamber she must live in to think that this event, blessed by McConnell himself, would have her intended effect. But I think there is another way to read this. There is an old saying that “Supreme Court Justices read newspapers too.” And that suggests they can be swayed by public opinion. The uproar over the Texas abortion case has certainly penetrated the marble halls of the Court and those who work there. Now I don’t think justices like Alito or Thomas give a whiff. But Barrett, who knows? And playing armchair psychologist for whatever that’s worth, Justice Kavanaugh seems like someone who wants to be liked and considered reasonable.
More generally, however, the Court is now a topic of great concern on the political left. In the past it hasn’t generated a lot of passion or votes for Democrats. We will have to see if this time is different. In that way Barrett did the country a service with her remarks. They clarify the stakes perfectly. One of the strategies of McConnell was to stock the entire court system with enough young, far-right judges that they can undercut Democratic election victories and policy objectives for decades. In that way they are the ultimate Deep State. But they also need legitimacy, especially if they get more and more out of step with the will of the majority of Americans. Ideas which once seemed radical, like expanding the courts, term limits, and other checks on judges, are gaining traction even with more moderate voices in the Democratic Party and are being treated seriously by the press.
Is this pure partisan politics? Of course it is. Now that we got that straight, let’s see what the public has to say about it.
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Shaken
This seems surreal. But it’s all too real.
June 28th 2022
3,432 Retweets9,743 LikesI am shaken. And I don’t feel like I shake easily.
Our nation. The president. A set of facts — damning testimony — that would have been beyond most of our abilities to imagine. But here we are.
I have seen a lot over the course of my life, but I have never seen anything like this. I know I have said that a lot recently, but events keep escalating. And it continues, sadly, to be true.
This seems surreal. But it’s all too real. This happened. What we learned today in the committee hearing is that the president of the United States knowingly fomented, and was eager to lead, an armed mob to attack the U.S. Capitol.
The threat of violence was known far in advance. We now have eye and ear witness testimony plus other strong evidence of proof that the threat of bodily harm on a branch of government wasn’t an unfortunate byproduct — it was a driving force.
Sometimes fate shines a bright spotlight on people who have been far outside the public’s consciousness. Before reporters last night identified today’s star witness as Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, how many Americans had heard her name? Now she will forever occupy a place of import in American history.
There are some who are dismissing Hutchinson’s courage. They note that she was a loyal acolyte of the Trump White House. She kept these secrets until compelled under oath to testify. What choice did she have, the argument goes, but to speak?
There is some merit to all of this, but I would not dismiss what it means to stand up and tell these truths to a global audience when we have seen such vindictiveness and threats leveraged from the former president and his enablers and henchmen. Hutchinson's story is beginning. We will see where she goes. And let us not overlook how stark her example stands in contrast to the cowardice of all who have remained silent — mostly senior men of privilege and power.
There will be time for much more thoughtful analysis to put what we are learning now in real time into greater context. For now, however, we must remember how close we came to never learning the full story.
If the Republicans had a majority in the House, there would be no committee. The majority of elected officials in that party are not only eager to sweep this insurrection under the rug, they still pay fealty to the would-be dictator who fomented it. We have had far too much silence. Far too much complicity. Far too many lies.
And I have a sickening feeling that we will learn a lot more. I dearly hope we can purge this cancer from our body politic and that all who are responsible feel the full weight of justice.
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
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Antisemitism Once More
Amid the discussion around the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago and what it might mean for Trump and the rule of law in America, there is a detail that I worry isn’t receiving enough attention but that points to a dangerous reality in the United States today.
It centers on Bruce Reinhart, the magistrate judge who signed the FBI's search warrant. As his name became public, he has faced a withering volume of threats from those who believe Trump should be above the law. In today’s America, with the MAGA crowd revved up for attack, that was to be expected. But that attacks were to be expected should not obscure the fact that they are dangerous. Very. The possibility of their leading to violence should not be underestimated.
Many of these threats focused on the fact that Judge Reinhart is Jewish. It got to the point that the synagogue where Judge Reinhart sits on the board had to cancel Shabbat services:
August 12th 2022
25 Retweets33 LikesAntisemitism is on the rise in America, as those who track such nefarious trends will tell you. It can be found in some form across the political spectrum, but it has become a particular hallmark of elements of the Republican Party, especially in the age of Trump.
In the wake of the FBI search, the New York Young Republican Club resorted to well-worn antisemitic tropes, for example. “Internationalist forces and their allies intent on undermining the foundation of our Republic have crossed the Rubicon,” read their statement, in part. The conspiracy theory that Trump is being thwarted by a global cabal of “elites” funded by “George Soros” in ways that will undermine traditional American “values” represents coded language (and by "coded," I mean as subtle as a marching band through a library) that is pushing a dangerous line of attack. Dangerous on a personal level and dangerous for our country as a whole.
While there are extreme fringe groups who speak bluntly and declaratively of hating Jews, most American antisemitism is less obvious. Republican supporters of Trump say they can’t possibly be antisemitic because Trump’s own son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is Jewish, as were many members of his administration. They say Republicans have strong supporters in Israel, including former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They point to Democratic politicians who have been critical of Israel, or others with ties to more overt antisemites.
All of this is true. But it is not an excuse for what is taking place now.
It should be noted with emphasis that antisemitism isn’t limited to one political party or ideology. Furthermore, the Israel issue complicates the discussion, because criticism of Israel as a country is not necessarily antisemitic. Many American Jews object to Israeli policy. But there are also ways Israel is spoken of that clearly cross into antisemitic language.
It is impossible in a column such as this to parse the morass of antisemitism in America. But it is vital that we see how the fundamental rhetoric that has propelled antisemitism over many centuries around the globe helps fuel the larger Trump movement. This is about the “othering” of Americans who don't support Trump. It is about dividing the country into “us” and “them.” It is about claiming that only those who back the former president are “patriotic.”
What the Trumpification of the Republican Party has achieved (though we recognize that some of this existed prior to Trump) is labeling two Americas, one “real” and one supposedly not. And that is the purpose of all this Soros and internationalist talk: scapegoating. It tells people that they can and should direct their anger, which can easily escalate to violence, at those who are “different.” And those people are often Jews, or Black people, or people of Asian or Hispanic heritage, or LGBTQ+ folks, or other groups considered not sufficiently “American.” The fact that it isn’t all Jews or all Black people (the GOP lionizes Clarence Thomas, after all) doesn’t excuse the larger message.
We should be on guard not to make imperfect analogies to the past. For numerous reasons, I do not believe we are not on the brink of becoming Nazi Germany. But that doesn't mean we don't face great peril. As soon as we start playing to stereotypes, as soon as we interpret people’s race, religion, or other background demographics as a measure of their worth as citizens or humans, we risk destroying our society.
It is sickening. It is vile. It is menacing to America’s historic mission as a citadel of freedom and high ideals. So it is incumbent on citizens with decent intentions to speak up. “Never again” doesn’t mean only that we must do all we can to avoid another Holocaust. It means never again shall we be silent. Never again shall we look the other way. Never again shall we allow hate to take deep root.
Of course, hate has always been a part of the human experience. It has wreaked havoc across history, causing the pain, suffering, and death of countless people. It is fueled by seeing others as enemies rather than as fellow members of the human species.
Antisemitism is one virulent manifestation of this "us vs. them" mindset. To survive and thrive, America must reject it in all of its forms.
I’m often asked by people who love their country but are worried about its future, “But what can one person do to make any difference?” My answer usually begins with, “Make sure you vote, work to get others to vote…ask yourself how you can help another person and help your community.” Speaking out against antisemitism, teaching the young its dangers and the dangers of hate more generally, is a worthwhile addition to this list.
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Republicans in Disarray?
As we head toward Labor Day, emotions are emanating from the two major political parties that are different from the moods a few months ago.
As we head toward Labor Day, when the midterm election season will kick into high gear, emotions are emanating from the two major political parties that are different from the moods a few months ago.
There is hope among the Democrats that the fall elections will not only not be a bloodbath, but that the party may do much better than they feared. Could they not only hold the Senate but expand on their razor-thin majority there? Even less likely, but maybe not impossible, is it crazy to think they keep the House?
Among Republicans, concerns now that prospects for a “Red Wave” may be receding, leaving behind anxiety and recriminations. How could they not mop up considering high inflation and President Biden’s low approval ratings? Normally the party out of power does very well in midterms. Will Republicans this year historically underperform?
What is driving a lot of this speculation is a series of polls in battleground states, particularly in Senate races, that show Democrats leading or at least highly competitive. There is also the often-predictive “generic ballot” question, which asks voters which party they plan to vote for for Congress. It has been trending in the Democrats’ direction. And then there are some real results — a few special elections where Democrats did better than expected and the massive win for reproductive rights in Kansas. These data points suggest that Democratic voters are energized and that their turnout could be significant.
Now before we go on, you are urged not to ignore the many caveats. A lot of this excitement is based on polls, and polls have been wrong before. These polls are also close. A small change in one direction could lead to a big shift in electoral fortunes. Furthermore, we have a long way to go. Even if Democrats are leading in the dog days of summer, it doesn’t mean they will be in November. Races often tighten or shift, and we have no way of knowing what external events might push the national environment one way or the other.
This election will ultimately be decided by voters. It will matter how motivated they are, how organized they are, and how determined they are. What makes midterms even harder to predict than presidential elections is that turnout is more variable. And that is especially true in this election, with so many unusual factors.
In short, nothing is in the bag or a given for either side. This is a volatile moment with even more than the usual unpredictability.
WIth all that said, there is something we can discuss with more certainty. And that is the nature of the Republican candidates running in races across the country. The number who have embraced the “Big Lie” about the 2020 election somehow being “stolen” is strikingly high. We also have seen a fealty to other aspects of the increasingly Trumpist Republican Party. Campaigns are being run on false grievances, identity politics, and divisive social issues.
Furthermore, many top-tier candidates — particularly those running for Senate — are stumbling badly on the trail. This includes celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, the old football star Herschel Walker in Georgia, and the venture capitalist and author J.D. Vance in Ohio. All are political neophytes promoted by Donald Trump. And all are showing it in races that should be winnable for Republicans.
A pair of articles recently in The Washington Post highlighted the struggles the Republicans are having. One, titled “McConnell’s grim 2022 expectations-setting,” focused on some political prognostications made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell:
A lot of ensuing commentary focused on McConnell’s “candidate quality” reference and the implicit criticism of Donald Trump for promoting candidates who were less electable.
Another Post article focused on the money woes of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) under the leadership of its chairman, Senator Rick Scott of Florida. Under the provocative headline, “‘It’s a rip-off’: GOP spending under fire as Senate hopefuls seek rescue,” the article notes that the NRSC is pulling ad buys from competitive races and that Democratic candidates are vastly outspending Republicans:
Reckless and undisciplined spending without accountability. Extremist candidates and feckless celebrities not ready for the spotlight. These are not accidents or anomalies. This is the modern Republican Party taken over completely by Donald Trump and Trumpism. If Mitch McConnell wanted candidates who had a better chance of winning, he would have had to stand up to Trump, and we all know how that would have played out. If you’re not sure, you can ask Liz Cheney about it.
There is no nostalgia among the Republican base for anything the party claimed to have stood for in the past. To many people, the party doesn’t stand for much of anything in the present, other than an unquestioned loyalty to its leader. You would be hard pressed to find what Republican candidates actually want to do if given the keys to governance. It’s all “voter fraud,” and “critical race theory,” and “build the wall.” To all but the (sizeable) core of Trump loyalists, it’s showboating, not substance. It’s lies and not legislation. It’s autocracy and not democracy.
The Republicans didn’t get “unlucky” with who they are running for Congress. This is who the base wants. And the opaque fundraising and reckless and unaccountable spending is also par for the course. It’s the Trump way. So it’s the Republican way. There should no longer be any question about that, whether the press covers it that way or not.
To the question of what will happen in November, know this: The Republicans can still certainly win control of both houses of Congress. But that is not a given anymore. American voters, Democrats, Independents, and even some Republicans could rise up in sufficient numbers and say Trump may be able to take over the Republican Party, but we will not let that party take over the country.
To end this, I go to the wisdom of the late E. A. “Squatty” Lyons. He’s long gone now, but he was the longtime county commissioner in Harris County (Houston), Texas, when I was coming up as a young reporter.
Squatty at the time (the 1950s) had won more consecutive elections than anyone in the history of the region. He was a character straight out of “The Last Hurrah,” not college educated but an honors graduate from the School of Hard Knocks.
He and I had graduated from the same tough neighborhood high school. So in the shank of one election night, after he had won again, I asked him for some advice on covering politics.
His answer, which I never forgot, was:
“As the ancients knew well, when it comes to politics, what we most expect oftimes never happens; what we least expect often occurs.”
Seems as applicable today as it was the night old Squatty said it.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Part of me wants to say, "Wake me up when it's over," and that feeling will grow as we get closer to the midterms. Fall will be a time of much anticipation, probably even a bit of anxiety. And this does not even include the concern over what will happen after the fall out. The potential for increased violence is being widely talked about.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
They Knew. They All Knew.
Cowardice, Cynicism, Contempt, Rationalizations
Sometimes we write a lot of words on Steady. Today will be an exception. Because for all that there is to say, for all that needs to be said, for all that an accounting for history requires we say, the general sentiments are quite simple:
They knew. They all knew.
It was clear to anyone who had an ounce of appreciation for what the job of the presidency entails, to anyone who respected the constitutional order of our government, to anyone who worried about the health and safety of this nation, to anyone with a moral compass, to anyone who prizes the common sense of purpose that great leaders can summon, that Donald J. Trump had no business anywhere near the presidency.
Now, as he melts down in the face of a serious criminal investigation, as we see pictures of how he stored classified material and his utter disregard for our nation’s most sensitive secrets, as we are left to wonder what he was up to and what damage was done, we should recognize that we would not be where we are today without his enablers, apologists, and hangers-on.
And who are they? They are the Republican politicians, the so-called serious ones who expressed their concerns in private even as they used Trump to achieve their desired tax cuts and judges. They are the members of his administration — senior and junior — who jockeyed to maximize their career benefit at the expense of doing the necessary work for the American people. They are the lawyers who twisted themselves into pretzels to try to legalize his inherent lawlessness. They are the media personalities who saw Trump as a printing press for their accrual of wealth and power. They are the capitalists who put corporate earnings ahead of the well-being of the nation.
While Trump’s voters were primed with a toxic stew of hatred, bigotry, and divisiveness, the small cabal playing the inside game didn’t bother with the MAGA hats. They were too busy trading access for favors. The naked self-interest was so rampant that Trump’s West Wing could be considered a nudist colony where decency was shed instead of clothing.
But make no mistake...
They knew when they could have stopped him — before he became president, and once he was president.
But they didn’t stop him. And with their inaction, they encouraged him.
As the Trump bubble begins to pop, all these people who knew what he was all along will likely scurry like cockroaches when the lights go on. They will make all sorts of excuses for their complicity. They will gaslight, lie, and try to rewrite history. You can already see it in many of their so-called tell-all books. Except what they are telling is only the story they want people to hear. It is not the truth.
The truth is that they don’t dare say what we all know. They knew.
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
The Golden Age is 2 months away. And guess what….. you’re gonna love it! (teskeinc 11.19.24)
1998: Noblesville; 2003: Noblesville; 2009: EV Nashville, Chicago, Chicago
2010: St Louis, Columbus, Noblesville; 2011: EV Chicago, East Troy, East Troy
2013: London ON, Wrigley; 2014: Cincy, St Louis, Moline (NO CODE)
2016: Lexington, Wrigley #1; 2018: Wrigley, Wrigley, Boston, Boston
2020: Oakland, Oakland: 2021: EV Ohana, Ohana, Ohana, Ohana
2022: Oakland, Oakland, Nashville, Louisville; 2023: Chicago, Chicago, Noblesville
2024: Noblesville, Wrigley, Wrigley, Ohana, Ohana; 2025: Pitt1, Pitt2
Steady
Toddler In Chief
Mine, mine, mine, mine
You don’t have to listen to Donald Trump for very long to discern a worldview that is completely and utterly egocentric.
He has gallivanted through a life made possible by his daddy’s money (nevermind the shadows under which it was accumulated). He has exploited a business and social structure designed to cater to, indulge, and excuse men like him. He is driven only by quenching his basest desires.
And over and over again, Donald Trump has gotten away with it — like a young child who has been given (and has taken) everything without ever being told “no.”
Now he is being indulged by an entire political party. And like a misbehaving toddler, his disruptive antics have spread to others. They mimic his temper tantrums. Chaos escalates.
Except this is not a preschool classroom, it is a nation.
Petulance is not measured in hoarded blocks and broken crayons but in the demise of our democratic order.
Trump sees a simplistic binary world where everyone is either there to serve his needs or they are the enemy. Material possessions are to be accumulated and used however he sees fit — according to the metric of personal benefit.
The way our system of government aspires to work is that the law applies evenly to all citizens. Sadly, history has shown time and again how far from that reality we often are as a nation. But the principle of “equal justice under the law” is fundamental to the American ideal, and we as a people overwhelmingly believe in striving for it.
Trump and his acolytes do not even pay lip service to it. There is no “my fellow citizens,” no commonality. He expects to exist in an alternate universe. By his formulation, the law applies only to “thee” as in us, and never to “me,” as in him.
This mindset was destructive enough when it drove the decision-making in the Oval Office. Since Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election, the danger in some ways has escalated. The truth is that the president of the United States is afforded many special privileges and powers. But they reside in the office and not the person. Donald Trump is no longer president. And yet the court ruling from a judge he appointed runs roughshod over this democratic principle.
Trump's motives for hoarding classified documents at Mar-a-Lago are unknown. Recent reporting that they contained some of this nation’s most sensitive secrets raises very disturbing ramifications. But regardless of what Trump was doing, one thing we can say for certain is he believes the rules don’t apply to him.
And if you judge by his legions of apologists and lackeys, he is correct. They are happy to excuse his behavior or just look the other way. It’s why people like Senator Marco Rubio are eager to blame federal law enforcement for what he deems the minor infraction of a private citizen keeping highly classified documents in an insecure location for who knows what motive. “I don't think a fight over the storage of documents is worthy of what they've done,” he said recently. The storage of documents? Is that really what we’re talking about? Of course not. And of course Rubio had a very different take when we were talking about Hillary Clinton for a far less serious infraction.
We have seen some version of the same excuse each and every time Trump has blown past what had been the limits of accepted behavior. Because it’s Trump, they say it’s okay. Everything he does is okay.
We saw it in the run-up to the 2016 election. We’ve seen it in the lies too numerous to count, the unstable actions, and the pernicious divisiveness. Heck, we saw it with two impeachment trials. It’s happened over and over again. It’s like a preschool teacher saying, in effect, “Oh that’s just Donnie being Donnie.” Except every preschool teacher or responsible parent I know understands you can’t do that.
Actions must have consequences if order, rules, and laws are to hold. The Department of Justice and other prosecutors can say, “No, you can’t do that.” Juries, including grand juries, can, too. And so can voters. Elections, after all, also have consequences.
Note: If you are not already a subscriber to our Steady newsletter, please consider doing so. And we always appreciate you sharing our content with others and leaving your thoughts in the comments.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Dan Rather, Fake Newsman
It’s fitting that Dan Rather is best known for bringing to the world a piece of fake news about George W. Bush’s Air National Guard service in Texas, because that’s where he began his career in shoddy journalism. The bungling goes all the way back to 1963 Dallas. His presence there on the day President Kennedy was assassinated helped create the legend of Dan, but he actually blew the story that made his name.
Rather had heard from a priest that the president was dead, but knew that wasn’t a strong enough source to back up such a huge story, so he didn’t pass along the tip to his superiors while he tried to shore up the rumor. According to Alan Weisman’s biography Lone Star: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Dan Rather, Rather became confused about who he was talking to on the phone. Thinking he was speaking to a fellow reporter on the ground, Eddie Barker, who was elsewhere in Dallas, he was actually on the line with the CBS News control room in New York: “Did you say, ‘dead’? Are you sure, Dan?” said the voice in New York. “Right, dead,” Rather said, still thinking he was talking to Barker. So, to Rather’s horror, CBS radio blasted the news out to the world. “Rather said he began shouting into the phone that he had not authorized any such bulletin,” Weisman wrote. “Accurately or not, Rather was credited with being the first to report the death of the president.”
If Rather is barely a working broadcaster anymore, Rather’s fans at Peoplitico cite his popularity on Facebook, where he has 2 million Likes. His feed News and Guts has over a million of its own. His personal posts are the usual leftist porridge of overreaction, anger, and hysteria about President Trump: “This is an emergency . . . it is gut check time,” Rather wrote on February 24, referring to (remember when this was a thing?) “the barring of respected journalistic outfits from the White House.” (Politico itself now acknowledges that the alleged conflict with the media is a “fake war.”) After Wall Street Journal editor Gerard Baker calmly explained that he was reluctant to label a misstatement by Trump or anyone else a “lie” if he couldn’t show intent to deceive, Daily Kos and other field reps for the perpetually agitated Left thrilled to Rather’s angry Facebook response, “A lie is a lie is a lie.” He ought to know.
The appeal to younger progs seems to work like this: Donald Trump’s presidency is so outrageous that even staid, studiously neutral octogenarian anchorman Dan Rather agrees with us and is publicly losing his spit. It’s cathartic and awesome to witness so much venom spewing out of such a geezer. Rather is the journalistic Bernie Sanders, just as Sanders is the political Larry David. Watching cranky old men go nuts is fun.
This is nothing really new for Rather. Entertaining his audience has always come first and if (as in Dallas) he sometimes mangled a story so badly that he would have been fired if he had been working on a small-market city desk, he always kept his newsman face on. “Rather would go with an item even if he didn’t have it completely nailed down,” wrote Timothy Crouse in his chronicle of campaign reporters, The Boys on the Bus. “If a rumor sounded solid to him . . . he would let it rip. The other White House reporters hated Rather for this. They knew exactly why he got away with it: Being as handsome as a cowboy, Rather was a star at CBS News, and that gave him the clout he needed.” Rather’s big Watergate moment, typically, was simply about Rather: At a press conference, the president asked him, “Are you running for something?” and Rather cheekily if nonsensically replied, “No, Sir, Mr. President, are you?” We’ve grown so used to showboating news blowhards making themselves the center of attention that it’s easy to forget where it began. In Rather’s era, other TV newsmen strove to be self-effacing and bloodless — John Chancellors and Roger Mudds.
Did Rather ever break any news? Sure. He reported, in 1969, that President Nixon was about to fire J. Edgar Hoover. Except Nixon never did fire Hoover, who was still FBI director at his death in 1972. Rather also bungled a story that Nixon was about to fire a top Vietnam official. “Dan had an overwhelming drive and ambition, and at times his ambition overcame his journalistic caution,” Rather’s longtime CBS colleague Bob Pierpoint told Weisman, adding, “He had a more dramatic persona than the others.” (Pierpoint praised Rather’s “mannerism and his delivery.”)
The “dramatic persona” gradually grew ridiculous, as during the 1980 60 Minutes segment that Washington Post TV critic Tom Shales memorably dubbed “Gunga Dan.” Rather, dressed ludicrously in mujahideen-wear, breathlessly told the cameras that he was disregarding his own safety and sneaking into Afghanistan for a segment Shales called “punchy, crunchy, highly dramatic, and essentially uninformative. . . . We knew something about the war against the invading Soviet troops before 60 Minutes, but, and this is important, did we know how the war was affecting Dan Rather?” Shales noted that Rather is seen nervously asking about distant bombing. His interpreter replies, “Nothing to bother us. Don’t worry.” Shales concluded, “It’s hard to decide whether [Edward] Murrow is smiling down approvingly or spinning in his grave.”
There was always a fine line between Gunga Dan and Diva Dan. When Rather stormed off the CBS Evening News set in a hissy fit in 1987 because he learned that U.S. Open tennis coverage was going to bleed into the news and cost him precious face time, the network was forced into the unprecedented situation of going black for six minutes. Even being fired by CBS after the 2004 debacle in which Rather’s team, in collusion with John Kerry’s campaign, aired unverified documents about George W. Bush’s National Guard service that were almost certainly fake, didn’t teach Rather anything: He still stands by the story.
Vamping for the Politico photo shoot, Rather brought out a costume and props: He wears a trenchcoat and carries a reporter’s notebook, as though he’s ready to pump Kid Rock for sources. The picture brings to mind the 2005 New Yorker profile by Ken Auletta, in which a pathetic Rather, desperate to prove he’s something more than a performer reading scripts, is seen lunging for phones and asking about meetings that took place as usual without him. He’s a daffy, irrelevant figure who, when an outsider came to profile him, “pretended to be more involved in shaping the daily broadcast — barking orders, assigning stories, writing copy — than he actually was.” That’s Dan Rather: fake newsman.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
9/11
21 years later
9/11 21 years. We tend to mark major anniversaries. But why should this year be less important? It isn’t. And yet I wonder: Is this still a day that stops us in our tracks? We will never forget where we were when we heard, when we saw, when we cried. But so much has passed between then and now. 9/11 changed our nation forever. But so too have events that followed. History marches in only one direction — forward — in lockstep with our lives. Still, I am drawn back. I know that it will be so for as long as I am here. That bright, sunny morning — a postcard of a New York day that turned hopelessly dark. I smell the smoke. I hear the screams. I see the faces of the perpetually missing in walls of photographs. I touch the void. I think of the mistakes that preceded 9/11. And the mistakes that followed. I think of our national goodwill and how it was squandered. I wonder at a unity that has dissipated to acrimony. I mourn for those who died that day. And those who perished in the wars that followed. One of which was a misguided war of choice. The folly of Iraq still haunts us. What if? What if? What if? The questions accumulate. We ask despite knowing there are no answers. Fate can be cruel. And on that day the cruelty left us all altered. I think especially of those who lost friends and loved ones. The personal emptiness they have had to face is greater than our collective grief. Let us never forget that. For the rest of us, we lost a sense of invulnerability. How could our mighty nation be thus attacked? Today the vulnerability of terrorism remains. But it is crowded with a long list of others. Our country is precarious. We feel exposed. At risk. And it is not only for us as individuals. Our national freedoms, Our constitutional rights, Our public health, and the very mechanisms of democratic governance are under threat. We yearn for stability knowing it will be ever elusive. But strength and resilience are possible. We saw that then. And we can see it now. For those of us who were lucky enough to emerge from the tragedy, steady we must be. Steady. Steady. Steady. To carry on the memory of those who perished into the challenges ahead. _______________ On the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, I recorded some remembrances of that day for a special program on my newsmagazine "Dan Rather Reports." I share a few selections here. The memories are as fresh now as they were then.Note: If you are not already a subscriber to our Steady newsletter, please consider doing so. And we always appreciate you sharing our content with others and leaving your thoughts in the comments.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Trump Had a Day
And it might get worse
Well, well, well. Let’s just say that Donald Trump has had better days.
This could be one of his worst, but there may be far worse ones coming down the line if today turns out to be a preface and not a denouement.
This morning started off bad enough.
New York Attorney General Letitia James made it known that she was going to issue a “major announcement.” And she did not disappoint. The lawsuit she filed in state court is in essence a guided missile aimed right at the heart of the Trump family business. Calling the level of fraud she uncovered “staggering,” James outlined a list of facts that could have been a plotline in The Sopranos.
And it isn't just the patriarch in her legal crosshairs. The three children who have been foisted upon the American public — Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka — also earned starring roles in the court papers.
While this is a civil suit, that’s because James is limited from bringing criminal charges. She did refer her findings to federal prosecutors in Manhattan, but if they choose to press forward, they will likely have to get in line.
That’s because as rough as this morning’s news cycle was for Trump, more pain was in the offing.
This evening, the 11th Circuit ruled on the outrage that has been festering over the investigation into the classified documents the former president took (for still unknown reasons, at least publicly) to Mar-a-Lago.
If Trump was hoping that Trump judges at the appellate level would fall in line like Judge Cannon (the district judge who’s done legal backflips well beyond the bounds of precedent or prudence to accommodate Trump), he was sorely mistaken. Two Trump judges sided with an Obama appointee to issue a stinging rebuke of the lower court’s ruling — a ruling that most judicial experts had felt was about as serious as an episode of Laugh In.
I will leave it to legal scholars to parse the specifics of the lawsuits and rulings, but some big things are clear. One, Trump is in trouble. Big trouble. And not the kind of trouble that he can squirm his way out of by bloviating to Sean Hannity or browbeating Mitch McConnell. He’s on the defensive, and pressure is closing in from all directions.
The timing of these quickening drumbeats of scrutiny overlap with the final stretch of the midterm elections — into which Trump has vociferously inserted himself according to the only metric he knows: what benefits him. November thus is shaping up to be a referendum on Trumpism, to the dismay of many Republican officials. But those same Republicans have made a decision en masse to embrace Trump, at least publicly. From a cynical political calculus one can understand why. The Republican base is the Trump base, or maybe it’s more accurate to put that the other way around.
It is also clear that the core of this base is not enough to power Republicans to majorities in Congress. And yet, if the base stays home, Republicans also will lose.
With so much at stake, the unknowns hanging over Trump and his legal jeopardy are very consequential. How bad might this get for Trump and those who have fastened themselves to him? Will more be revealed? Will any Republicans decide that they need to separate themselves from Trump? Will that lead to disarray within the party as election day approaches? All of this is possible. But it is also possible that Trump skates by once again, at least for now. It is possible that Republicans take back Congress, and they frame their victory as a validation of Trumpism, nevermind what it means for the health and security of the country.
Right now it looks like a close election, but tides can shift, sometimes drastically. Support can crumble. What once looked like strength can be recast as weakness. Just ask one of the few people having a rougher go of it of late than Trump — Vladimir Putin.
Oh, and in other late-breaking news, the January 6th committee has come to an agreement to interview Clarence Thomas’s wife Ginni Thomas. Can’t forget about that investigation.
One imagines all is not quiet tonight in Mar-a-Lago.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
With “Friends” Like Saudi Arabia
We are long past due for a reckoning
The news today that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states are slashing oil production is a boon for Russia and a slap in the face of the United States. And especially President Biden. It is the result of a dysfunctional relationship long in the making. And it ushers in a new era of America’s interactions with the Middle East.
Gas prices will likely rise, just in time for the midterm elections. Was this the point? It doesn’t take a conspiracy theorist to start putting some troubling pieces together.
You have a regime in Riyadh that was chummy with Donald Trump and his inner circle, especially son-in-law Jared Kushner, with whom the Saudis “invested” $2 billion. And let’s be clear, nobody who is actually looking for a return on their investment would invest in Jared. What was that really about?
The Saudis are led by Mohammed bin Salman, a young autocrat with a reputation for ruthlessness, whose treatment of his own people is marked by atrocious human rights abuses. U.S. intelligence says he personally gave the go-ahead for the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and critic of the regime who wrote for The Washington Post. What a “prince” (well, he’s technically a prince, but you get the point).
The Saudis have been forging stronger ties with Russia, which desperately wants higher energy prices to help it evade Western sanctions and put more pressure on the West to back away from support for Ukraine. So this move clearly reflects the triumph of Putin’s interests over America’s (again bringing us back to the specter of Trump).
Then there is the matter of the missing top secret documents Trump had at Mar-a-Lago. We have seen no proof that the Saudis are involved in that saga, but it’s understandable that so many conspiracy theories would revolve around such speculations.
After all, there is so much about America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia that is shady, and this is just what we know about.
One thing is certain: Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states have made a very strong statement in rebuffing requests from the United States not to cut production at a perilous time for the world economy. You could try to use the vocabulary of diplomacy to put what happened into context. But another way of looking at it is that the United States sent a long text message to its supposed “friend” group in the Middle East imploring them not to do this and got in return a single emoji with a raised middle finger.
For decades, the United States has walked a tenuous line — dependent on Saudi crude (and happy for a bulwark against Iran) while overlooking a human rights record that is among the worst in the world.
Along the way, the U.S. saved the Saudis from Saddam Hussein and Iraq when they were severely threatened near the end of the last century. And more recently has been protecting them from Iran.
These dynamics offer a real-world example of realpolitik, a foreign policy based on a cost-benefit analysis measured in energy prices and the complexities of the Middle East instead of the values of freedom and democracy that the United States has long espoused. Critics who say all this talk of American values represents rank hypocrisy often have pointed to Saudi Arabia as example 1A.
So where do we go from here? One imagines that the Biden administration had to be planning for this contingency. The president traveled to Saudi Arabia in July to try to ward off the kind of action we saw today — a trip for which he was heavily criticized by those rightly outraged by the Kingdom’s atrocities. Now, that effort has obviously failed.
It is past time for a reckoning between the United States and Saudi Arabia, something that should have happened long ago — such as after 9/11 (15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi). Any notion that the Faustian bargain we’ve forged with the Kingdom makes sense should be shattered by this latest development.
All options are now, or should be, on the table. Should we halt military sales to Saudi Arabia? Should we find ways to break up the power of OPEC? There is reporting from The Wall Street Journal that the Biden administration may be turning to Venezuela. What other pressure points can be exerted?
What is also clear is that we are seriously overdue to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels — for the sake of the planet, as well as our national and economic security. The Saudis have played their hand. Have they overplayed it? Perhaps they can ask their friend Vladimir how things are turning out.
© 2022 Dan Rather
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
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another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Antisemitism Is Evil
Hate is hate. It doesn’t get much more complicated than that.
Antisemitism.
Some of us forget about it.
Some never learn about it.
And some resolutely reject it.
But it needs to be discussed, often as a reminder, and taught to the young of each succeeding generation. It is an essential lesson of history, past and present.
It is hate. Often murderous hate.
And like racism, xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, and other forms of hate, antisemitism is a destructive and violent force that will continue to weaken our nation and our world unless it is continually confronted head on, with unity, energy, and action.
The inspiration for this post today is the antisemitic vitriol of the musician Kanye West. If you want to know more about what he said and who he is, there is no shortage of sources for that information. But while we should hold accountable the individuals who spew hate, we cannot overlook the broader environment that is allowing this bile to spread.
And we cannot excuse or condone all those who know better but remain silent, let alone those who wink and nod along for their own cynical gain.
We have written before about antisemitism on Steady. We do so out of a sense of decency and duty, and because history and personal experience have taught us how important it is. Ancient wisdom needs to be repeated in order to be learned, preserved, and passed on. It is especially important that younger generations learn the historical lessons of hate and that they see adults disavow it. The Jewish holiday of Passover is guided by this instinct; the story of slavery, persecution, and freedom is told every year, and children play an important role in confronting it. But all of us, regardless of faith or other heritage, need to join in raising awareness for pervasive threats to the health and security of our fellow citizens and ourselves.
Antisemitism is like gun violence, the threats to our democracy, racial injustice, and many other destructive forces that pool beneath the surface, waiting to erupt. In a repetitive raising of awareness, we can build defenses of strength and resilience.
Hate is hate. It doesn’t get much more complicated than that.
Those who spew or defend hate often use contortions, rationalizations, and lies to try to obscure the purity of the hate. They want to make it seem that THEY are the victims.
It’s why Putin claims that he is pursuing “de-Nazification” of Ukraine when he rains down missiles on parks, schools, and hospitals, and his troops torture and murder civilians, dumping bodies into mass graves.
Here in the United States, it’s why politicians have long stoked fear and animosity toward the “other” — defined in different times and places in different ways, as Black, Asian, Jewish, Catholic, Muslim, Latino, Native American, etc. — as “replacing” and endangering the “real America.”
A few days ago, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville spoke at a Trump rally and said the quiet part out loud. Referring to Democrats and Black voters in particular, Tuberville riled up the Trump base with this straight-up racist rhetoric: "They are not soft on crime. They're pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that."
It’s not so different from what segregationist politicians were saying in the 1960s, except then they might have used a more overtly racist term to describe those they were attacking than “they.”
The general response from Republican politicians to Tuberville was largely the same as it was to Kanye West, or Donald Trump for that matter — a combination of silence, deflection, and various levels of endorsement.
Their cravenness deserves attention, even if it happens over, and over, and over again.
What can we do about it? We can start by being allies to those under attack. In the case of antisemitism, it’s especially important that the burden for raising this issue does not fall on only Jewish Americans. It’s the same for racism, homophobia, and misogyny. We all must speak out. We must use whatever platforms we have to spread messages of support and outrage, to share history, and to elevate voices of healing and understanding.
Ultimately, all the energy that those who spew hate spend trying to convince us that it isn’t really hate is a tipoff that hate is unpopular. So let the spotlight of truth illuminate it for all to see — and call it what it is — so that it can be repudiated and defeated, especially at the ballot box.
© 2022 Dan Rather
548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Three Weeks
The midterms loom
Three weeks.
That is all that remains between today and Election Day. Voting has already begun in many parts of the country.
Three weeks.
For months, polls have shown race after race as tight, differences of a few percentage points here and there, within margins of error. But recently, those polls seem to suggest Republican momentum. How much? How far will it go? How real is it? We’ve been burned by polling errors in the past. Are they off again now? If so, in which direction? The spectrum of possible outcomes is almost as broad as the country itself.
Three weeks. And America’s future is on the ballot.
All elections are about the future of the country: Who will be granted the keys to power by the public? But not all elections are about the survival of American democracy itself. This one is. During the Republican primary season, candidates echoing the dangerous lies of the party’s leader, Donald Trump, about “stolen elections” and “voter fraud” won many races.
An anti-democratic current now subsumes the Republican Party. At the state level in particular, election-denying governors and secretaries of state could easily wreak havoc and undermine the fairness of future elections. Will they emerge victorious?
For many Democrats, independents, and even Republicans, an existential dread looms over these elections that drowns out any horse race analysis and the idea that this should be a “normal” election driven by issues like the economy. There is a deep and abiding fear, one that is warranted, that America’s system of governance is at a perilous crossroads. But how much has this apprehension affected the electorate at large?
The Republicans enter this election with several structural advantages. Perhaps the biggest one is that they are the party out of power in the House, Senate, and White House (it’s a different story for governors and state legislatures). Parties out of power in Washington tend to win in midterm elections, often big. Over the decades, it hasn’t mattered whether it was Republicans or Democrats in this position — both parties have won. And it has happened so frequently that it’s now almost taken as a given starting point for election analysis. But it doesn’t always happen. Will this be one of those years?
Then there’s the matter of the economy. And here again, the polling suggests it is the biggest concern among voters. The United States might be faring better than other countries in a global inflationary environment, but that is small comfort for those who are struggling with spiking bills for groceries, goods and services, and particularly gas. It’s not clear what Republicans’ proposed solutions would be (or even that they have any), but in election after election, voters have shown that they tend to be guided by their pocketbooks and punish or reward the party in power. In the current environment, sticker shock is hurting working families and people on fixed incomes.
Another Republican advantage is rooted in the way political power is distributed in the American system. Gerrymandering districts is a bipartisan affair, but those who analyze the drawing of electoral district maps tend to give Republicans the edge after the last census. It wasn’t as extreme as Democrats had feared, but a couple of bad breaks from the courts and state legislatures mean the Democrats start at a disadvantage, especially in their bid to keep the House.
Finally, there is the specter of Trump. We have seen the former president take over the Republican Party and infuse a fervor into millions of voters who enthusiastically bask in his cult of personality. They swelled voting ranks when he was on the ballot in 2016 and 2020. Those who understand Trump to be a dangerous autocrat don’t like it, but Trump still has a wide following fueled by a media and an online ecosystem where American problems are blamed exclusively on Democrats. Will these voters show up again in 2022?
Despite Republican momentum, this fall’s races still show some signs of being closer than a normal midterm with a struggling economy would indicate. For starters, while Trump is popular with his base, he is also despised by tens of millions of voters. After all, he lost reelection, which is a bit unusual for modern American presidents.
Trump has injected himself into the 2022 election, to the dismay of many Republican Party leaders. He refuses to cede the spotlight, especially as he worries about his pending legal woes. So while most former presidents tend to play a muted role — especially those who lost after a single term — Trump is everywhere. Will his presence remind voters who don’t like him — or even hate him — that there’s an election in which they should be voting?
Trump has also played kingmaker in anointing Republican candidates, especially in Senate races. This involvement has led to nominees who are underperforming in the polls considering GOP advantages, including in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. The party can still win these races, and might even be favored, but the Democrats have a chance.
Another hope that Democrats have is anger, and anger can be a powerful motivator in getting your supporters to vote.
Perhaps the event that has done the most to shape these elections and give Democrats hope is the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe. By casting aside decades of precedent and wiping away fundamental rights that Americans had come to take for granted, the Republican-appointed justices on the court gave strong evidence of what many had warned but too few had heeded — that they are politicians in black robes using legal decisions to rewrite American society in ways they never could accomplish through legislative means.
They are acting without restraint and will continue to do so unless reined in by the other branches of government. The unpopularity of many Republican core positions is now out there for everyone to see, with a visceral impact that can be measured in the fraught experiences of real people. The fury generated by this ruling could turn the tide for Democrats in several key races.
For all who hoped Trump’s 2020 defeat would put the country on a more sane and less precarious course, the last two years have proven deeply disappointing. The January 6 committee has highlighted how close America came to a full-blown constitutional crisis that could have shattered our democratic institutions. That danger, as noted above regarding election-denying Republicans running for office, has spread like a pandemic of autocracy. Those who care about our democracy and the rule of law — and that includes many independents and traditional Republicans — are rightly livid and very worried. Will enough vote accordingly?
There are many other factors at play in addition to the ones listed above. They swirl around one another, but ultimately we are required to vote for a person, not a list of issues. And votes count only if they are cast. So it is every qualified citizen’s duty to vote, and to encourage others to do so.
Who will turn out? Who is persuadable? Who will win?
We will know a lot more in three weeks, although with the races this close, we should prepare ourselves that final results could take longer.
What we know right now is that the future of American democracy is on the ballot. Our core principles, our institutions, and our traditions are all at stake. Make no mistake: This country will look very different depending on who wins this election.
The reason why we hold elections is that voting matters. We do not decide our leaders by polls. Right now, there does seem to be a shift in the winds favoring Republicans. But mobilizing voters, getting people to the polls, making sure your side votes, are the actions that will determine the outcome. And that outcome, no matter what you are reading about or feeling today, has yet to be written.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Steady
Election Day
At our core, we are uncertain about our national identity
Here we are. The sun has set across most of the United States on “the day before.” Tomorrow, or today depending on when you are reading this, is Election Day.
According to the Associated Press style guide, Election Day is to be capitalized. It is a proper noun, a day circled on the calendar, a day of consequence and import.
What is there to say about this Election Day that hasn’t already been said? Very little. All there is to do is to await the final judgment. Will it be a decisive moment or a muddled narrative? On that, there is no shortage of opinion. The range of what even “responsible” observers think is possible is about as wide as the Rocky Mountains.
Why this is the case says a lot about the skittishness around polls. We treat them with healthy skepticism. We have been burned in the past.
But it’s not just that. The polls are all over the map, literally and figuratively. There are races that could decide the House and Senate in many different states. Meanwhile, those from both sides of the political divide can cherry-pick data to support their fervent hopes, or their deepest fears. We just don’t know.
Perhaps there is also something more fundamental at play. Perhaps a key reason we are so uncertain about tomorrow is that at our core, we are uncertain about our national identity.
These questions, and many others, pull at us, shake our confidence, and undermine our sense of self. We are all of these, to varying degrees. We are, after all, a big, diverse, complicated, continental nation full of contradictions. Our divisions are rooted in our history and our culture.
We have always been a nation lurching toward an uncertain destiny — both liberated by our most noble ideals and tethered by our prejudices. The question in each election is, at that moment, which vision of the United States prevails. Who will be given the power to shape our future?
We will know once all the ballots are counted. (That may take awhile, so we’ll need to be patient.) Right now, all we can do is vote, if we haven’t already, and encourage others to do so.
In times like this, a mantra of “steady” may seem incongruous. That is what makes it all the more necessary. Regardless of what happens this Election Day, the fight for a more just, more free, more empathetic America will continue.
Finally, to all those who kindly inquired about my health after my COVID diagnosis, I am happy to report that after getting vaxxed to the max, and treated with Pax(lovid), I have never been more positive about being told I’m negative. Still must be cautious to guard against a “rebound” but am optimistic. Thanks for all your well wishes. They mean a lot, as does this community. Whatever happens tomorrow, we will be there for each other.
Steady.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Steady
The Red Wave (That Wasn't)
The day after Election Day
And so we wait.
Control of the U.S. Senate, and even, improbably, the House of Representatives, is unknown the day after Election Day and will likely remain so for days and possibly weeks to come. It is a stunning turn of events that should force a reckoning across both parties about old assumptions around voting patterns, the choice of candidates, and messaging. Perhaps the political press and the pundit class should engage in some introspection about why so many could have gotten so much so wrong.
As we stand now, there are some things we can say with certainty.
There was no red wave. Not by a long shot. When you consider the political and economic context for this election, Democrats over-performed at a historic scale. As we and others noted many times, the party that doesn’t control the presidency almost always wins, and usually big, in midterm elections. Not this time. And when you add in President Biden’s relatively low popularity, inflation, and the general unease of the nation and the world, it makes the results we are witnessing even more stunning.
It is clear that the Supreme Court tossing away the right for women to have control over their own reproductive choices was rejected by a lot of Americans. Exit polls showed that abortion was a big issue for voters. And abortion rights measures won in several states, including Kentucky, Montana, and Michigan. As a highly partisan and reactionary Supreme Court continues to rule more as politicians than as justices, it will be interesting to see how, or whether, this shapes the electorate. Also, most Republicans who did win election favor severe abortion restrictions. This issue is not going away.
Donald Trump had hoped to take a victory lap this week as his candidates swept into office, culminating with an announcement he is running for president. He may yet make that announcement, but Trumpism by and large fared poorly on Tuesday. In a number of high-profile races, voters recoiled at the chaos of MAGA America, the outrageousness of the Big Lie, and the nihilism of candidates who would destroy our democracy. Heck, even the toxic Lauren Boebert lost her House seat in Colorado.
To be sure, many Republicans who won at all levels of government have pledged their fealty to Trump and his destructive politics. The dangers to our democratic order remain. But we have a clearer sense of the battlefield. Millions and millions of Americans went to the polls and said, “Enough.” It is fair to guess that if Republicans had run more mainstream candidates, they could have had a better night.
One notable exception to this narrative comes from Florida. The state was once a battleground. It now appears to be ruby red under Governor Ron DeSantis. He emerges as a major power in the Republican Party, and it is clear he wants to be president. Many party leaders would love for him to be the standard bearer, but one person who is not on board is Trump.
This dynamic could lead to an intra-party fight the likes of which we have not seen in a long time, if ever. At stake are a few big unknowns: How loyal will the MAGA crowds be to Trump? What about right-wing media? Trump may be wounded and facing major legal jeopardy, but he has always put his personal interests first. If he goes down, he will try to pull others with him, and he doesn’t care a whit about splitting the Republican Party. Dare we say Republicans in disarray?
It is also striking how different the election results are from the way the races were covered. We heard that voter anxiety over inflation, crime, and even immigration would lead to a red wave. We heard that the Democrats were flailing in finding a message that would resonate with the electorate. We heard about major momentum swings. It was considered a given that Democrats would lose the House. And while that might still happen, it is at least going to be close.
We should be reminded anew to take all political prognostications with caution. And the political press perhaps should focus a bit less on the horse race, especially because they aren’t very good handicappers, and a little more on covering the issues that matter. If you want to know what Americans think, you can’t go only to rural diners. As we saw last night, the voters who are shaping this country can also be found in college dorms, Black barber shops, and suburban book clubs. The “average American” isn’t who it was in the 1950s. A diverse, young, and multiethnic United States made a statement this election.
At the same time, Trumpism is not vanquished. The structural challenges to our democracy, such as partisan gerrymandering, the Electoral College, and courts packed with ideological judges, remain. The fight for the soul of this nation continues, but there is a strong constituency for democracy and normalcy.
There is a lot more to say about individual races and broader trends. We will continue to follow the story of American democracy at Steady. For now, however, we can say that there is reason for hope and optimism about the future of this country. Maybe a fever is starting to break. There were Republicans who won last night who are trying to forge a different path forward for their party. We want to have elections between people who differ on policy, not on whether they believe in a constitutional republic based on the principles of freedom and democracy.
So we return to the notion of steady. We can breathe deep, take a moment to reflect on all that is good about our country, and continue the hard work of forging a more perfect union.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Destroying Democracy
A former president attacks the Constitution
The oath of office for the presidency of the United States is not very long and gets right to the point:
First, you say you’ll do the job. The second part is all about the document that underpins our democracy — the Constitution of the United States. Your duty as president is to “preserve, protect and defend” that document, and by so doing, the nation.
This language isn’t limited to the presidency. For example, this is the oath for military enlistees:
In this case, the Constitution is the subject of the first two clauses. Your job is to defend and bear allegiance to this document and what it represents, even at the risk of death. You will also obey orders issued by others — the president of the United States and officers in the military. It is no coincidence that they have also sworn an oath to the Constitution.
That’s because there is no United States without our Constitution.
It defines this nation as one ruled by laws and not by men. It delineates our rights. And it provides for us to change our government through peaceful transfers of power as we deem it appropriate.
That’s what happened in the election of 2020. And the loser of that election hates it. By extension, he hates our country and our laws for allowing his defeat to occur.
This isn’t speculation. He said it himself in a post on his social media channel a few days ago.
We quote verbatim (while recognizing the words have no basis in fact and have been disproven countless times):
“So, with the revelation of MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION in working closely with Big Tech Companies, the DNC, & the Democrat Party, do you throw the Presidential Election Results of 2020 OUT and declare the RIGHTFUL WINNER, or do you have a NEW ELECTION? A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution. Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
Is this statement unhinged? Certainly. Is it full of lies, conspiracy theories, and a misplaced sense of victimhood? Of course. And if these were the harmless ravings of a man on a soapbox on a New York street corner, we could hustle by, trying not to make eye contact. But they’re not.
This is a former president. This is a man who still controls much of the Republican Party. This is a man who most Republican officials feel they cannot denounce publicly with any more force than one applies to a feather duster on a porcelain figurine.
Let’s go back to what he said — in his words. This man just publicly called for “the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.”
Many in the press and pundit world worry that words like “fascism” and “autocracy” are too extreme to apply to American politics. Perhaps that was once the case, but there is also a danger in tiptoeing past the truth. Because what is being said here, with all the subtlety of a Harley revving through a yoga retreat, is that this man, who six years ago pledged an oath to defend the Constitution, now seeks to destroy it. This is the definition of autocracy. It is the seed of fascism.
There is a cruel irony that he invokes the Founding Fathers in his anti-democratic delirium. They wrote the Constitution as a check on men like him. Its protections, its separation of powers, its very spirit were meant to create a wall of stability holding back the kind of mob rule he seeks to unleash in his desperate graspings at absolute power.
This man is damaged goods — by definition, a loser. He lost the 2020 election. Most of his hand-picked candidates lost in this year’s midterms. And then there's his pathetic win-loss record in the courts. His nonsense about a stolen election was litigated and readily dismissed; judges tend to like arguments based on facts and evidence. And now, he is personally in all sorts of legal jeopardy, and he’s racking up losses there, as well.
He’s also being further damaged in the court of public opinion. There is the business of hanging out with antisemites. Turns out most Americans don’t like their leaders breaking bread with people like that. Even many in his party are now speaking out.
But if you listen to them carefully, notice their rhetorical two-steps. They may denounce the people he hangs out with and the worldview these people espouse, but few elected Republican officials or other party leaders take on the man himself with anything more than a frustrated tut-tut. When asked if they will support him in 2024, they talk about how there will be many other candidates to consider. Some even say they won’t be supporting him because he will likely lose.
All of this is fine, but it’s far from sufficient. It’s transactional.
It might matter for the Republican Party that he loses them elections, but what matters for America is that he wants to destroy the very foundation of our country. And it also matters to the country that many in his political party won’t come out and say it is wrong to call for the end of constitutional order. And why is that? Do they believe the lies of the former president? Some do. Most, however, are probably more worried that even tepid criticism might anger the base and cause them to lose future elections.
The political calculus is chilling. The political cowardice is reprehensible. You can wrap yourself in the American flag as much as you want, but if your values are not firmly rooted in the Constitution, you might as well be wearing the emperor’s clothes.
Who will have the courage to say what everyone can see?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
A Cyclone of Crazy
House Republicans try to choose a speaker
Hold on to your hats and sunglasses, folks. There’s a cyclone of crazy swirling among the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives. As they sit precariously perched on the precipice of a very narrow majority, we can expect more fireworks than on New Year’s Eve. And while this show promises to be just as loud, it’s likely to be a lot less pretty.
There was a time not that long ago (most of the last 100 years, give or take) when Republicans were considered the party of discipline and Democrats the party of “circular firing squads,” civil wars, or whatever other synonym for dysfunction was preferred. These stereotypes were unfair only insofar as they were a bit of an exaggeration, but they were based on some kernels of truth.
As far back as the 1920s and '30s, the humorist Will Rogers made a living commenting on Democratic disunity. He famously quipped, “I’m not a member of any organized political party … I’m a Democrat.” And “Democrats never agree on anything, that’s why they’re Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they’d be Republicans.” His quotes have been referenced time and again by political reporters in more recent decades, too.
We can point to a lot of reasons for the dysfunction. Democrats have become a "big tent" party, and big tents are held up with a lot of different poles. A bigger tent makes room for more religions, races, and social identities, which can bring competing ideologies but certainly different lived experiences and personal perspectives. Democrats are also more liberal and thus challenge the status quo, while conservatives try to preserve it.
We could go on and on — entire political science careers have focused on this issue — but we won’t. Because right now the narrative has flipped more dramatically than an O’Henry short story.
For several years running, Democrats in the House have been largely united in both the majority and the minority under the leadership of Nancy Pelosi. This cohesion has produced a stunning list of legislative accomplishments (and successful resistance to Republican presidential initiatives like privatization of Social Security). When Pelosi and other senior party leaders stepped down after the 2022 midterms, we might have expected a wild free-for-all for their replacements. But those elections contained about as much drama as the ones in North Korea.
Instead, it is the Republicans who are being pulled in multiple directions by a caucus wearing chaos as a badge of honor. At the time of this writing, it doesn’t seem that Kevin McCarthy has locked up the votes for speaker. Even if he gets there, he might have had to make so many concessions that his daily hold on leadership would be as tenuous as a candle flame in a hurricane. He has few votes to spare. That’s why his retaining the likes of George Santos, the man who lied about his entire resume and family history, is so important.
Stepping back from the machinations of House leadership, the battle McCarthy faces and embodies is a symptom of a more fundamental rot within the Republican Party. In the coverage of McCarthy’s winding path to speaker, most of what we hear about is power, not policy. For what does McCarthy stand? What does he want to do with the speakership? What about his supporters? And what about the band of Republican holdouts seeking to exact their pound of flesh?
For that matter, what legislation did the most recent Republican president want to pass with his power? What were his priorities other than a border wall and “owning the libs”? And what of those of Mitch McConnell and other Republican leaders in Congress? Tax cuts, for sure. And stacking the federal judiciary. The courts offer a way for Republicans to get the policies they want without having to legislate — from partisan gerrymandering to abortion bans to gutting environmental regulations.
Whatever one thinks about the Democrats’ agenda, one cannot deny that they like passing bills and want majorities in the House and Senate to do just that. Using the legislative branch to legislate: what a concept. Democrats have compromised with Republicans to get the votes they needed. They’ve even voted against their short-term political self-interest — as with Obamacare, when many Democrats in Congress supported a bill they knew was unpopular at the time and would be used against them in the upcoming elections.
You hear almost nothing about legislation from Republican representatives these days. It’s all about who is going to have the power and not how they want to use it to help the American people. We can expect investigations into the Biden administration for sure, along with dangerous games of chicken around the debt ceiling, aid to Ukraine, and other pressing issues. Even Newt Gingrich had his Contract with America. This crowd mostly has their Fox News auditions in mind.
Perhaps this is why Republicans are having such trouble with the speaker vote. Because when you stand for nothing other than the raw exercise of power, the only thing you’re voting on is power itself. And who wants to give that up?
The current fight over Republican House leadership may strike many Americans as boring, “inside the beltway” blather that in the great scheme of things doesn’t really amount to much. But it does, if you believe that our elected representatives in Washington should be deciding substantive policy issues to benefit the country and acting as responsible participants in our constitutional system of checks and balances.
As far removed as this dynamic may seem from the concerns of daily life, it matters. A lot. And there may be ample proof of that in the months and years to come.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Steady
Outside The Law
The danger of extralegal action
When Donald Trump turned himself in for booking (and a mugshot and fingerprinting) in Atlanta, Georgia, for charges related to a conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election, it marked the latest chapter in a legal drama that has engulfed him and will shape the future of the nation in unknowable ways.
We — as a country, as a people — have never seen anything like this. But for all that is unprecedented in a former president (and current candidate for the office) facing dozens of federal and state criminal charges, there is also a lot that is familiar about the spinning wheels of justice.
The law is, by definition, governed by rules that dictate how those involved are permitted to act: prosecutors, law enforcement agencies, judges, defendants and their counsel, and so on. There are rules for evidence, rules for testimony, and rules for juries. There is a well-trodden process for booking defendants, setting trial dates, hearing pre-trial motions, and the trial itself.
Our courts are ideally places of rationality and decorum, where justice is free from intimidation and administered without bias. Of course, the judicial process is ultimately an exercise performed by human beings and thus shaped by our inherent frailties and shortcomings. The rules are intended to limit the outside forces of prejudice, terror, and street justice from influencing the workings of the court. And yet that sometimes proves impossible.
As the trials of Donald Trump unfold, it will be vital that the nation keeps its eyes on both the action taking place inside the courtroom and that outside it. Because even while Trump’s lawyers will be presenting legal arguments before judges and juries, you can bet the former president will be seeking to defend himself in ways that lie far outside the traditional boundaries of our legal system. He’s done this his entire life, especially during his time as president and after his defeat in 2020.
In the wake of that election, Trump’s lawyers pursued all possible legal avenues to challenge its result, and they lost, everywhere. But at the same time, Trump was summoning his supporters to steal the election. It is for these actions — phone calls, tweets, and exhorting the mob directly on January 6 — that he finds himself indicted in both federal and state court. Trump was eager to use whatever means he could — legal or otherwise — to destroy America’s constitutional order. To what lengths will he go when trying to keep himself out of prison?
As president, Trump always used speeches, interviews, phone calls (like the one pressuring Ukraine), and social media to whip up passions and serve his naked self-interest. He has shown no compunctions about embracing bullying, divisiveness, intimidation, lying, and even the threat of violence. This has long been the playbook of autocrats. But it has also been the approach of mobsters seeking to avoid the reach of the law.
It is portentous that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is using the RICO law to go after Trump and his co-defendants in their alleged plot to steal the election in Georgia. This has been a favorite approach of prosecutors to bring mafia kingpins to justice. In essence, Willis is saying that Trump’s election team had a lot in common with other kinds of criminal enterprises.
With this context in mind, we should consider the long and sordid history of crime figures and extremist political groups eschewing traditional legal defenses in favor of “extralegal” ones: intimidating witnesses, spreading lies to pollute the jury pool, and even resorting to violence against those seeking to hold them accountable. We have already seen credible threats against judges and others involved in the Trump case. And that leads to an important question: How much of this turmoil has been encouraged by Trump’s defiant and antagonistic lie-filled rhetoric?
With most criminal defendants, judges can threaten punishment like fines or jail time for the kinds of things Trump regularly says about law enforcement, members of the court, and witnesses. But in Trump’s case, they have to tread with care lest they turn him into even more of a martyr — a role he is eager to play. And there are also legitimate First Amendment considerations for a leading candidate for president. In his case, the legal and the political are inextricably intertwined.
Trump knows this and will eagerly push the boundaries of what he can get away with. He also knows he will almost assuredly have the backing of the Republican Party no matter what he does. Just look at all those who raised their hands on the debate stage to say they will support him as their party’s nominee even if he is convicted. It’s craven. And it’s dangerous.
Violence against the rule of law and violence against a peaceful political process are two sides of the same coin. They have combined at some of the most dire moments in the history of our nation. In a recent column in The New York Times, Anthony Michael Kreis, assistant professor of law at Georgia State University, noted the historical context of Reconstruction after the Civil War — including in Georgia — for Trump’s fourth indictment.
Kreis succinctly states:
As we reckon with the uncertainty and the peril of our moment, we can recall the words of James “Jem” Coughlin in the Irish mob film “The Town.” Says Jem, “If we get jammed up, we’re holding court in the street.” Trump already showed us he feels the same way.
Trump has a long history of winning court cases through bullying and the use of extralegal techniques. The least we can do is to be alert for them, recognize them for what they are, and stay determined that the verdict on him — whatever it may be — will be decided inside courtrooms, not by a power play outside them.
In a democratic republic, governed by the rule of law, we cannot allow extralegal methods, for anyone. And least of all for a would-be autocrat desperate to return to power and escape accountability for his actions.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Excellent essay, thanks!
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Steady
Votes Count
Who knew?
This week once again taught an important lesson to anyone who would listen: There are two kinds of polls.
There are the polls sponsored by media outlets and universities that come with margins of error, crosstabs, and deep debates over methodology. These are the ones that dominate the talking head panels on cable news (and Democratic doom scrolling).
Then there are the polls where voters actually cast ballots and elect representatives or pass ballot measures.
Guess which one counts a heckuva lot more.
In the first kind of polls, particularly a recent one by The New York Times that showed President Biden trailing Trump in key battleground states, the Democrats and their incumbent party leader are in a world of hurt.
The second kind of polls, the ones to which the voters traipse on Election Day (or vote absentee), have tended to paint a different picture. Starting with the midterms in 2022, through a slew of special elections, and now with votes in multiple states last night, the Democrats are outperforming expectations (at least the ones set from the first kinds of polls).
That’s election after election of actual data.
What’s going on?
It’s hard to tell exactly. It’s not like opinion polls showing very low approval ratings for President Biden and ominous signs for Democrats generally are outliers. Poll after poll shows these things. As do focus groups with voters. There seems to be a lot of dissatisfaction about how things are going in the country. There is angst over high prices, discontent about a broken system at the border, fretting over crime and world affairs. As for Biden, people say they are concerned about his age and his ability to handle everything else that worries them.
The president’s supporters are a bit apoplectic. They argue, with considerable justification from the actual data, that the United States economy is brimming with success, especially when compared to other parts of the world. Millions of new jobs have been created. There have been huge wins for labor, and economic growth has been robust. As for other Biden accomplishments, his backers note that he passed the largest climate bill in American history, and it is already paying dividends; he has appointed an inspiring and diverse set of new federal judges; and he has rebuilt America’s standing on the world stage and rallied allies around crises in Ukraine, the Middle East, and elsewhere.
All of that may be true, but even successful presidencies come with caveats and complexities. Making policy is about making choices and compromises. You are bound to disappoint or alienate someone. And often, setting a nation up for long-term success, as President Biden argues he is doing, does not translate to visible wins in the short term.
Indications abound that, fair or not, there is unease and perhaps widespread dissatisfaction in the electorate. And that usually bodes poorly for the party that holds the presidency.
It’s a pretty tidy narrative with a lot of historical precedent. It is also a narrative that has crashed into a wall of reality when it comes to actual voters.
Remember all the talk about the “red wave” going into the 2022 midterm elections? We all saw that the only wave that happened was waving goodbye to the heady expectations of Republicans. And then last night. After days of doom and gloom for Democrats fretting over scary poll numbers, more banner election outcomes in numerous states.
One of the big successes came in Ohio, where voters in what has become a solidly red state overwhelmingly enshrined a right to abortion in the state constitution (they also legalized marijuana while they were at it). Abortion was a major part of Kentucky Democratic Governor Andy Beshear’s successful reelection campaign, too. Democrats in race after race highlighted the issue. And it proved to be a big winner.
The momentum that abortion has provided in shaping the American electorate doesn’t seem to have dissipated in the nearly 18 months since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. And it now appears this may continue into the 2024 election. And as long as this is the case, it will be a strong wind at the back of Democratic candidates.
There are still a lot of notes for caution or even concern for President Biden and his party heading into 2024. World events are unstable, and what is taking place in the Middle East is especially straining the Democrats’ coalition. Some election analysts also contend that there are some voters who come out only when Trump is on the ballot. And certainly Democrats remember the lessons of what happened in 2016. And finally, the issue that started this column — President Biden is not especially popular (whether or not that is fair).
There are also a lot of unknowns between now and Election Day 2024, which is just under a year away. One big factor is what is going to happen to President Biden’s likely opponent, the most famous criminal defendant in America. Will he be a convicted felon come November? And will that matter?
There is no place for complacency for Democrats. But any Democrats who are worrying about all the troubling poll numbers should also take some solace in the message coming from the only polls that really matter.
Ready for more?
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14