I remember first moving to the DMV from Los Angeles in the early 1980s and what most struck me about media coverage of politics was that it was all about gamesmanship and tactics. I think your brilliant analysis shared with Deuce Davis reflects a similar illumination.
The question isn't "how we win this contest?" It's "what and how do we change a structure that gets us into this evil place, over and over?" I've lived long enough (nearly 73) to have watched seeds of where we are now laid down over the decades. Of course it goes much farther back in time than my own (white female) life. Indeed, at least back to the 3/5 compromise.
It goes back to an original trick of mind. Human beings hold urges that oppose other urges: an urge to gain relative status, safety, and power by climbing to the top of the hierarchy - if you will, the testosterone mind; and at the same time a drive to care about others and to foster community - if you will, the prostaglandin mind. We hold both urges in tension within ourselves as individuals. Over the history of our country, this apparent complexity has been "resolved" by the powerful convincing themselves that certain others are less worthy, even less human. That way they can freely use, oppress, kill, and torture others even while they can remain convinced that they are caring, loving, friendly people. Thus racism, as well as misogyny, lie at the heart of all the structures we've built over the centuries. It creates a sickness in all of us,
Great work! You put words to my uneasiness with those folks. I kept thinking, you effers were GOP when GOP was hating on LGBTQIA, and Blacks, and Latinos, and anyone but white, cis, straight, Christians... And NOW you see the light?! Hmmm....
Thank you for this. I’ve been watching for someone to be this explicit ( ;) ) about this issue for a while, and you did a masterful job of it. After reading Debra’s second comment below I might even have to watch it!
For me, the two most important points were "opposing Trump is not the same as repairing the system that produced him.” and "But what if racism and sexism are not the slice? What if they season the whole pie? “ We have to recognize that we can’t just go back to the way it was before, when this country elected Obama and he could give away universal healthcare without a fight because it was the politic thing - something was better than nothing, and women’s bodily autonomy depended on a convoluted legal argument, and the tax system was structured to efficiently hoover up assets from most of us and deposit them with a very few of us without us really noticing. We had made enough progress that most of us had enough to think it was survivable, and incremental progress would continue. The last veil is gone now, and it’s clear we have to start at the very beginning to not just repair, but rebuild. In my brighter moments, I guess we can appreciate that Trump and his allies have done the demolition that was needed to allow a total rebuild. Fitting, for a “real estate developer”.
Jamelle Bouie has been writing recently about the need for a Project 2029 document that lays out the vision for the new, real, democracy. Not just a collected patchwork of policies and programs, but the vision that ties them all together. The Declaration of Independence, as opposed to the Constitution. I’d love to hear you and him talk about that.
I had to comment twice. I'm so glad you covered this (in depth). I have wondered WTF about all these "anti-Trump" REPUBLICANS and where they'll be once the orange tyrant dies. Any worth his salt, (and I guess I'd include the Republican shapers like David Brooks or David Frum or Steve Schmidt or George Conway who is running as a DEMOCRAT) if he is a true conservative and not just a money and power monger, would naturally revert to his ideological Edmund Burke thinking, which is decidedly different than those of us who are more inclined to Thomas Paine it all. We need to be vigilant. Your example of the Bullwark (I do not understand how a gay man or woman can also be conservative) is exactly what I'm talking about. WTF!?!
Dude! You are walking (I think, I haven't seen it) talking evidence that practice makes perfect! Walter Cronkite, move over! This was awesome!
I remember first moving to the DMV from Los Angeles in the early 1980s and what most struck me about media coverage of politics was that it was all about gamesmanship and tactics. I think your brilliant analysis shared with Deuce Davis reflects a similar illumination.
The question isn't "how we win this contest?" It's "what and how do we change a structure that gets us into this evil place, over and over?" I've lived long enough (nearly 73) to have watched seeds of where we are now laid down over the decades. Of course it goes much farther back in time than my own (white female) life. Indeed, at least back to the 3/5 compromise.
It goes back to an original trick of mind. Human beings hold urges that oppose other urges: an urge to gain relative status, safety, and power by climbing to the top of the hierarchy - if you will, the testosterone mind; and at the same time a drive to care about others and to foster community - if you will, the prostaglandin mind. We hold both urges in tension within ourselves as individuals. Over the history of our country, this apparent complexity has been "resolved" by the powerful convincing themselves that certain others are less worthy, even less human. That way they can freely use, oppress, kill, and torture others even while they can remain convinced that they are caring, loving, friendly people. Thus racism, as well as misogyny, lie at the heart of all the structures we've built over the centuries. It creates a sickness in all of us,
Great work! You put words to my uneasiness with those folks. I kept thinking, you effers were GOP when GOP was hating on LGBTQIA, and Blacks, and Latinos, and anyone but white, cis, straight, Christians... And NOW you see the light?! Hmmm....
Thank you for this. I’ve been watching for someone to be this explicit ( ;) ) about this issue for a while, and you did a masterful job of it. After reading Debra’s second comment below I might even have to watch it!
For me, the two most important points were "opposing Trump is not the same as repairing the system that produced him.” and "But what if racism and sexism are not the slice? What if they season the whole pie? “ We have to recognize that we can’t just go back to the way it was before, when this country elected Obama and he could give away universal healthcare without a fight because it was the politic thing - something was better than nothing, and women’s bodily autonomy depended on a convoluted legal argument, and the tax system was structured to efficiently hoover up assets from most of us and deposit them with a very few of us without us really noticing. We had made enough progress that most of us had enough to think it was survivable, and incremental progress would continue. The last veil is gone now, and it’s clear we have to start at the very beginning to not just repair, but rebuild. In my brighter moments, I guess we can appreciate that Trump and his allies have done the demolition that was needed to allow a total rebuild. Fitting, for a “real estate developer”.
Jamelle Bouie has been writing recently about the need for a Project 2029 document that lays out the vision for the new, real, democracy. Not just a collected patchwork of policies and programs, but the vision that ties them all together. The Declaration of Independence, as opposed to the Constitution. I’d love to hear you and him talk about that.
Speaking of the Declaration of Independence, I highly recommend a recent episode of WBUR’s “On Point” on that. https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2026/06/01/declaration-of-independence-250-years-later Meghna Chakrabarti is doing an occasional series on the founding, and all of it so far is superb.
I had to comment twice. I'm so glad you covered this (in depth). I have wondered WTF about all these "anti-Trump" REPUBLICANS and where they'll be once the orange tyrant dies. Any worth his salt, (and I guess I'd include the Republican shapers like David Brooks or David Frum or Steve Schmidt or George Conway who is running as a DEMOCRAT) if he is a true conservative and not just a money and power monger, would naturally revert to his ideological Edmund Burke thinking, which is decidedly different than those of us who are more inclined to Thomas Paine it all. We need to be vigilant. Your example of the Bullwark (I do not understand how a gay man or woman can also be conservative) is exactly what I'm talking about. WTF!?!
Please move your mike closer! I can always hear your guests, but I can't turn my volume up any higher to hear you.