In about three weeks, the 44th President of the United States will leave office, by virtue of the 22nd Amendment. Over this past eight years, Barack Hussein Obama has held a steady hand, but in these increasingly polarizing times he (depending on who you ask) steered America back in the right direction or further into the abyss. From a historical perspective, however President Obama will ultimately rank somewhere in the middle of the pack. There is such a compelling case for his strengths and weaknesses, from his liberal champions to his right-wing detractors, that they nearly cancel each other out. The general consensus --if there is one-- suggests that Obama was a weaker president than Bill Clinton but stronger than George W. Bush. For myriad reasons, that is reasonable opinion on the surface but substantially not so cut and dry.
Indeed, the most divisive president of our time may have been a victim of circumstance. Just before taking office, conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh openly and infamously wished that Obama would fail, and most right-wing pundits never gave the man the chance. If you were compelled to vote for Obama in 2008 on the oversimplified promise of "hope" and "change," then there is no doubt that you were underwhelmed. The reality was more pragmatism than cynicism, and even if there was only a sprinkle of hope and a spoonful of change, President Obama made a conscious effort to avoid the mistakes of his embattled predecessor.
After an embarrassing showing by Republicans in the 2008 elections, the Tea Party movement rose out of thin air, created internal strife within the GOP and proved rather persistent in their criticism and obstruction of the president. Moderates in the ranks, anyone who could've potentially agreed or compromised with Obama, either retired or fell victim to this pesky grass-roots movement. The failure to capitalize on the super-majority of 2009-10 led to one filibuster after another, the Democrats lost the House of Representatives in the midterms that year, then lost the U.S. Senate four years after that. Arguably, President Obama's repeated inability to connect with voters outside of urban areas and Democratic safe spots may have played a part in Donald Trump's victory last month. Even when Obama tried to play the middle, wins did not come easy. The vision of post-partisanship remains a pipe dream.
If there is one thing that truly bothered me about President Obama, it was his timid, wait-and-see approach to foreign policy. That is not to say Obama was a complete milquetoast: he was very cooperative with our allies and encouraged multilateral thought, he ended the Iraq war, and bolstered our presence in Afghanistan. At the very least, Obama deserves partial credit for the death of Osama bin Laden. Still, his handling of Syria was oddly meek, and his rapid pullout of American troops may have contributed to the rise of ISIS. (Bibi isn't happy, but then again, it takes a lot to please the guy.) The impact of the Iran nuclear arms deal and resuming trade with Cuba, like a certain grandiose piece of legislation of his, will take years to unfurl and truly understand.
This is in relative contrast to to how President Obama handled domestic affairs, which was both effective and with an even keel. Amid layers of hearsy and legal prattle, the actual substance of Obama's domestic policies and their impact on the country remains poorly understood. I will elaborate more upon this with part two, sometime in January.
(538)
Friday, December 30, 2016
Monday, December 26, 2016
That Wonderful Year in Music... 2016
If there is a scientific correlation between trying times and excellent music, then let 2016 be a case example. This was the year where we were frequently reminded of our mortality (RIP David Bowie, Prince, Phife Dawg, Leon Russell and Leonard Cohen) and that R&B and hip-hop were socially conscious again (Beyonce, John Legend, Chance the Rapper, the surviving members of A Tribe Called Quest). Even if Ms. Knowles and the Thin White Duke were dominating the music conversation, there was an abundance of essential music released in the last 12 months.
BEST ALBUMS:
1. Blackstar, David Bowie. What does it mean when the best album of the year was released on January 8th? As inauspicious as that may seem, it meant that all the artistic pinnacles of 2016 were edged out by one last masterpiece by an all-time great. Initially heralded as Bowie's best work since 1983's Let's Dance, the subtext of death and finality became context three days after its release, when the Thin White Duke left this mortal coil. Whether Bowie's decade-long hiatus prior to 2013's The Next Day was due to burnout or the feeling that his audience was taking him for granted, we'll never know, but tracks like "Lazarus" assured us that the man was at peace.
2. Lemonade, Beyonce. 2016 was a trying year, especially if you were a young woman named Becky with good hair. Queen Bey's sixth solo album was a multi-platform, multi-platinum declaration, both an artistic statement and a call-your-s***-out diatribe. She both demands contrition from her adulterous partner (come on, Hova) and reevaluates the relationships in her life: men and women, romantic and platonic. The three-quarters of Lemonade are dark and cathartic yet compellingly erratic; the last three songs, "Freedom," "All Night," and the single "Formation," makes for a torrid and focused hydra.
3. Coloring Book, Chance the Rapper. Coincidentally called "Three" in some circles, this Chicago-based rhymer spent Spring 2016 inadvertently teaching white kids lyrics from '90s gospel tunes. Technically an album-length mixtape rather than a proper album, Chance is compellingly fun and rambunctious; he is spiritual and humble in contrast to Yeezy's doubting swagger (he cameos on "All We Got"). This combination of skill, charisma, and quality control is both unique and astonishing, especially so early in an artist's career. Chance's voice is an iconoclastic one, and could very well be the bellringer for hip-hop in the next half-decade.
4. A Moon Shaped Pool, Radiohead
5. The Life of Pablo, Kayne West
6. Emily's D-Evolution, Esperanza Spaulding
7. Teens of Denial, Car Seat Headrest
8. Wildflower, The Avalanches
9. Blond, Frank Ocean
10. You Want It Darker, Leonard Cohen. In some ways, Bowie's death was bookended by the less startling passing of Field Commander Cohen. The legendary poet and troubadour had been in poor health for some time, and like Blackstar his dwindling time on Earth is largely implied but never directly addressed. The title track, doubling as a sly epitaph, is easily his last great song; Cohen has made his peace with God, and now he awaits his fate.
11. Malibu, Anderson.Paak
12. Untitled Unmastered, Kendrick Lamar
13. We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service, A Tribe Called Quest
14. Puberty 2, Mitski
15. A Sailor's Guide to Earth, Sturgill Simpson. Rooted in outlaw country and drenched in old-school virility, Simpsons fancies himself as a Millennial answer to Waylon Jennings. This is all on display on Sailor's Guide, a concept album written for his infant son. The one cover on the album, an inexplicable take on Nirvana's "In Bloom," is effortlessly connected back to Glen Campbell's collaborations with Jimmy Webb. Simpson makes clear that even if you don't achieve goals the way you set out to, the real story is in the journey.
16. Ouroboros, Ray LaMontagne
17. Stranger to Stranger, Paul Simon
18. Love You to Death, Tegan & Sara
19. The Colour in Anything, James Blake
20. Schmilco, Wilco. Written and recorded at the same time as 2015's Star Wars, Schmilco is both its predecessor's companion piece and the Abel to its Cain. Trading ramshackle noise-pop for caustic introspection, Jeff Tweedy's knack for melody carries the proceedings, with the rest of the band painting the corners and building texture.
BEST JAZZ ALBUMS:
1. Arclight, Julian Lage. A onetime guitar prodigy now in the prime of his career, Lage blurs genres and demonstrates almost freakish dexterity in this solo effort. Joined by bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen, Lage works with his rhythm section in natural simpatico rather than forcing them to keep pace. The opening track "Fortune Teller" is mesmerizing in both presence and magnitude, and everything after that is both eclectic and convivial.
2. Chulca Vulcha, Snarky Puppy
3. Perfection, Murray Allen Carrington Power Trio
4. Birdwatching, Anat Fort Trio
5. Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny, Cuong Vu & Pat Metheny
Honorable Mention: Krokofant II, Krokofant.
Best Album That Missed My 2015 List Cutoff: King Push - The Darkest Before Dawn: The Prelude, Pusha T. Released just days before Christmas last year, this ten-track effort is both a teaser for an as-yet-released magnum opus and a dense, hard to navigate, standalone piece of art. Pusha writes a killer lyric, and the production crew assembled here is airtight. I just wish music critics (professional, amateur, or otherwise) had a little more notice.
BEST SINGLES:
"Born Again Teen," Lucius
"Dangerous," Big Data feat. Joywave
"Wish I Knew You," The Revivalists
"Cold Light," Operators
"Off the Ground," The Record Company
"Casual Party," Band of Horses
"Deadbeat Girl," Day Wave
"Telomere," Mystery Jets
"One More Night," Michael Kiwanuka
"Fall On Me," Kitten
"Cleopatra," The Lumineers
"TV Queen," Wild Nothing
"So Down," Martha Wainwright
"Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)," White Denim
"Walk To the One You Love," Twin Peaks
BEST VIDEOS:
1. "Lemonade," Beyonce. The only entry on this list to get an Emmy nomination. Just buy the DVD. It's unforgettable.
2. "Burn the Witch," Radiohead. The beloved British childrens' series "Camberwick Green" mashes up with "The Wicker Man" in a visual experience that is both whimsical and disturbing. It took me awhile to realize the whole thing was a metaphor for European nationalism.
3. "Gosh," Jamie xx. I don't know if there is any singular director that is dominating the music video scene in the 2010s, but Romain Gavras is certainly a contender. Gavras is more inclined to make musical short films that are meticulous in concept, though this time he trades in his usual violent themes for a different fear: that the dystopian future we all fear is going on right now.
4. "Subways," The Avalanches. It antagonizes me that this Australian electro-pop collective went 16 years between their first and second albums, because they're denying us both great music and clips. This trippy, scatological cartoon merits all sorts of repeat viewings.
5. "Angels," Chance the Rapper feat. Saba. Christianity and goodwill permeates through Chance's rhymes, and its rarely more evident in this clip, shot mostly around Chicago's Loop. Whether he's a superhero, an angel or simply a flying Ghostbuster, he doesn't ignore the grim realities of his upbringing but always maintains a positive outlook.
6. "Conceptual Romance," Jenny Hval. The third short-form collaboration between art-pop renegade Hval and filmmaker Zia Anger isn't terribly pleasant, and its not intended to be. (I might as well tell you now, its NSFW.) The commodification of women's bodies is displayed in griping fashion; canvas, fake blood, and plastic buffers us from our most basic instincts.
7. "Wide Open," The Chemical Brothers feat. Beck. A simple but mesmerizing idea: a woman dances (and strips) to reveal the lack of humanity within.
8. "The One Moment," Ok Go. Because of course Ok Go would make the list.
9. "Your Best American Girl," Mitski. Another Zia Anger-directed clip with more feminist subtext. Mitski herself plays the protagonist in a meet-cute scenario; a male model reciprocates her flirting until she's pushed aside by a Coachella reject. They snog and she shreds the guitar.
10. "Elevator Operator," Courtney Barnett. After a plethora of downer videos, this clip is a goofy little charmer. Cameos and slapstick abound as Barnett plays a well-meaning operator in a very surreal office building.
Honorable Mentions: "Easy," Hinds; "Lazarus," David Bowie.
Your thoughts?
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Random Notes, December 2016
Some hot takes from all around:
+ So far the cabinet choices of President-Elect Trump have been, to no liberal's or moderate's surprise, an ongoing nightmare. With the possible exception of Bush 43 reheat Elaine Chao, each appointee has been subject to controversy, either because of a lack of qualifications or they inherently oppose whatever department they were chosen to lead. Gov. Rick Perry, the new Secretary of Energy, famously forgot that he wanted to abolish that position in a debate five years ago. Fingers crossed, he'll forget to show up for work.
+ Why was Kimberly Peirce booed and heckled? The students that organized this protest likely don't understand that "Boys Don't Cry" wouldn't have been made if the lead actor was trans; the very idea of a movie about a person transitioning in the late 1990s was very daring, thought-provoking stuff. The far-left undergrads likely don't understand (or remember) that the LGBTQ movement was in a more nascent place in 1999 then it is now. Its still new for a lot of people. She deserves an apology.
+ Well, I somehow survived my first semester of grad school. On to the next one.
+ For the first time since 2005 (the year I started blogging) I will not be posting my annual Best of TV list. My hectic schedule prevents me from watching television live, unless its a sporting event, awards show, or SNL. Thank goodness for DVRs, except when they automatically delete older shows to make space for new stuff. Allow me the mulligan while I catch up.
(536)
+ So far the cabinet choices of President-Elect Trump have been, to no liberal's or moderate's surprise, an ongoing nightmare. With the possible exception of Bush 43 reheat Elaine Chao, each appointee has been subject to controversy, either because of a lack of qualifications or they inherently oppose whatever department they were chosen to lead. Gov. Rick Perry, the new Secretary of Energy, famously forgot that he wanted to abolish that position in a debate five years ago. Fingers crossed, he'll forget to show up for work.
+ Why was Kimberly Peirce booed and heckled? The students that organized this protest likely don't understand that "Boys Don't Cry" wouldn't have been made if the lead actor was trans; the very idea of a movie about a person transitioning in the late 1990s was very daring, thought-provoking stuff. The far-left undergrads likely don't understand (or remember) that the LGBTQ movement was in a more nascent place in 1999 then it is now. Its still new for a lot of people. She deserves an apology.
+ Well, I somehow survived my first semester of grad school. On to the next one.
+ For the first time since 2005 (the year I started blogging) I will not be posting my annual Best of TV list. My hectic schedule prevents me from watching television live, unless its a sporting event, awards show, or SNL. Thank goodness for DVRs, except when they automatically delete older shows to make space for new stuff. Allow me the mulligan while I catch up.
(536)
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
My Toxic College Relationship, Conclusion
After graduating from college, I drove straight back to the west suburbs. What was supposed to be a three-month layover has dragged on more or less for nine years. Regardless, after that last encounter with Babs returning home felt cathartic; I knew our friendship was strained, and she wouldn't bother me in a part of the suburbs that she detested for vague reasons. (Her July 2006 visit was a disaster, but she already had a preexisting bone to pick with Downers Grove and Westmont.) We were still Facebook friends, but I felt no inclination to drop a private message, or leave a wall post, or even a solitary poke. The distance was geographical and emotional, palpable yet comfortable.
Babs reached out by DM in March 2008, three months after I graduated. It was a sincere apology but also a belated one; it seemed like she was finally doing something about her hair-trigger temper. She suggested meeting up over summer break, but with my work schedule and general lack of interest, I didn't take her up on the offer. Communication after this point was sporadic, the occasional email or Facebook message, and just that.
Even though I felt cool and collected, I was still struggling to move on. My inherent social awkwardness and lack of dating experience made asking women out a landmine of failure, and the handful of dates I went on went nowhere. I created an account on POF, but that was also a dead end. Babs continued her pattern of meeting guys of her particular type, getting bored and cheating on them, then dumping the cuckolded guy for the new slab of meat. Then this happened.
I was lethargic for days, and a phone conversation with Babs a few days later did little to console me. I thought it was strange that she would get engaged less than five months after meeting this guy, but knowing Babs' tendency to act on impulse and not thinking things out, I was almost certain the engagement would fail. Did she even know the guy? Indeed, it did fall apart and for a lot of the same reasons she dumped me: she clashed with her would-be mother-in-law, religious differences, her fickle tendencies. In our next Facebook chat, Babs implied that he was verbally abusive, and legal action was taken to prevent the two from ever encountering each other again.
Professionally, Babs was also fledgling. Her lifelong dream was to be a park ranger, or at least work in the U.S. Park Service in some capacity. Apparently, she had a job interview for a ranger position, but lost the job to a woman of color. Not only did Babs complain about affirmative action to me, but she also complained to the woman who conducted the interview... in person. (She was escorted out of the building.) Ultimately, she landed a gig working in a rehab facility for troubled teens, which was demanding and only sporadically fulfilling. From a distance, I worried if her temperament would be her undoing again.
I continued to maintain a distance. Our last real conversation was in July 2011; she wrapped up the late night chat by saying she wanted to see one of my improv shows someday. She loathed city driving, or being in urban areas in general, but I knew in that instance she meant well. At the same time, her hair-trigger temper was starting to spill into social media. On three occasions, I commented on a status update she posted, and she called my response pointless and idiotic. On the last of those occasions, she posted something about a sick grandmother, though it was unclear if she was talking about her own grandma or someone else's. She left a terse wall post clarifying that it wasn't her grandma, then unfriended me. I replied in defense, but I knew she wouldn't have read it. It was the last time I attempted to contact Babs. I knew she was overreacting (again) but this was the final straw. It was March 2012, six years and two months after we first met.
For some inexplicable reason, my sister is still in touch with Babs on Facebook. She claims they only talk about dogs, and only every now and then. I have asked my sister to sever ties with Babs, to no avail. On the one occasion when I dared to ask about her current whereabouts, my sister told me she moved to Dallas in 2014. Babs and I one had a dozen mutual friends; when I last looked at her profile two years ago, we were down to three. I was still friends with most of these people, and I wasn't the only one that get fed up with Babs. Maybe she was projecting her insecurities, maybe she had an as-yet-diagnosed case of borderline personality disorder. I'll never know and quite frankly, I don't care. It goes without saying that I have no intention to reconnect on my own volition.
So why am I sharing this story? In some ways, Babs is a cautionary tale; it took a lot of growing up and introspection to realize that abusive relationships may not necessarily be rotten at the surface. It was my first relationship and the one that provided the harshest learning experience. There is something cathartic about excising toxic people from your life, a person who may seem sweet or wayward on the surface who gradually exposes the worst attributes of their personality. I've moved on; I've been in relationships with other women, and I'm content without Babs in my life.
(535)
Even though I felt cool and collected, I was still struggling to move on. My inherent social awkwardness and lack of dating experience made asking women out a landmine of failure, and the handful of dates I went on went nowhere. I created an account on POF, but that was also a dead end. Babs continued her pattern of meeting guys of her particular type, getting bored and cheating on them, then dumping the cuckolded guy for the new slab of meat. Then this happened.
I was lethargic for days, and a phone conversation with Babs a few days later did little to console me. I thought it was strange that she would get engaged less than five months after meeting this guy, but knowing Babs' tendency to act on impulse and not thinking things out, I was almost certain the engagement would fail. Did she even know the guy? Indeed, it did fall apart and for a lot of the same reasons she dumped me: she clashed with her would-be mother-in-law, religious differences, her fickle tendencies. In our next Facebook chat, Babs implied that he was verbally abusive, and legal action was taken to prevent the two from ever encountering each other again.
Professionally, Babs was also fledgling. Her lifelong dream was to be a park ranger, or at least work in the U.S. Park Service in some capacity. Apparently, she had a job interview for a ranger position, but lost the job to a woman of color. Not only did Babs complain about affirmative action to me, but she also complained to the woman who conducted the interview... in person. (She was escorted out of the building.) Ultimately, she landed a gig working in a rehab facility for troubled teens, which was demanding and only sporadically fulfilling. From a distance, I worried if her temperament would be her undoing again.
I continued to maintain a distance. Our last real conversation was in July 2011; she wrapped up the late night chat by saying she wanted to see one of my improv shows someday. She loathed city driving, or being in urban areas in general, but I knew in that instance she meant well. At the same time, her hair-trigger temper was starting to spill into social media. On three occasions, I commented on a status update she posted, and she called my response pointless and idiotic. On the last of those occasions, she posted something about a sick grandmother, though it was unclear if she was talking about her own grandma or someone else's. She left a terse wall post clarifying that it wasn't her grandma, then unfriended me. I replied in defense, but I knew she wouldn't have read it. It was the last time I attempted to contact Babs. I knew she was overreacting (again) but this was the final straw. It was March 2012, six years and two months after we first met.
For some inexplicable reason, my sister is still in touch with Babs on Facebook. She claims they only talk about dogs, and only every now and then. I have asked my sister to sever ties with Babs, to no avail. On the one occasion when I dared to ask about her current whereabouts, my sister told me she moved to Dallas in 2014. Babs and I one had a dozen mutual friends; when I last looked at her profile two years ago, we were down to three. I was still friends with most of these people, and I wasn't the only one that get fed up with Babs. Maybe she was projecting her insecurities, maybe she had an as-yet-diagnosed case of borderline personality disorder. I'll never know and quite frankly, I don't care. It goes without saying that I have no intention to reconnect on my own volition.
So why am I sharing this story? In some ways, Babs is a cautionary tale; it took a lot of growing up and introspection to realize that abusive relationships may not necessarily be rotten at the surface. It was my first relationship and the one that provided the harshest learning experience. There is something cathartic about excising toxic people from your life, a person who may seem sweet or wayward on the surface who gradually exposes the worst attributes of their personality. I've moved on; I've been in relationships with other women, and I'm content without Babs in my life.
(535)
Thursday, November 17, 2016
The Morning(s) After
Over a week later, I'm still a little gobsmacked. The man who hijacked the Republican Party will become our 45th president. A man who ran for president for his own personal gain got what he wanted. Any speculation of a schism within the GOP was quashed by a conscious effort from former chair/new chief of staff Reince Preibus. Top Democrats weren't able to do the same, crippled by the Schultz-Sanders affair and their own aloofness. Bigotry, bloviating, and opportunism won. I think this essay by comedian/writer Dana Gould sums up my thoughts to a tee. (Yes, you can still read it if you don't have a Facebook profile.)
I want to end this post on a positive note, so I'm sharing (and tweaking) my 12th annual "thanks/no thanks" list. I don't think I need to elaborate further upon what I'm not grateful for, so I'll accentuate the positive: my family, my friends, my Facebook page, and having a car that runs without problems.
(534)
I want to end this post on a positive note, so I'm sharing (and tweaking) my 12th annual "thanks/no thanks" list. I don't think I need to elaborate further upon what I'm not grateful for, so I'll accentuate the positive: my family, my friends, my Facebook page, and having a car that runs without problems.
(534)
Monday, November 7, 2016
Some Final Thoughts on the 2016 Presidential Election
This year, I saw America. This wasn't a specific goal, but the circumstance and result of doing some long-awaited traveling. I spent quality time in seven different states, including a part of my home state of Illinois that I hadn't visited in some time. I nonchalantly interacted with locals, tried things I had never previously experienced, met the spouses and family of good friends, and generally tried to appreciate the atmosphere of an unfamiliar terrain. I connected with some wonderful people and created memories that I'll always treasure, in an attempt to temporarily bridge a gap between age, religion, and culture.
I mention age, religion, and culture because I spent of this time in what would be considered "red state" territory. The atmosphere was humble and relatively speaking, socially conservative. I largely avoided talking politics, even though this brutal election was on nearly everyone's minds. I came to realize that Donald Trump, the multimillionaire who finagled his way to the Republican presidential nomination, represented none of these people.
In the early days of the 2016 presidential campaign, I was baffled by how Trump and his incendiary, nationalist rhetoric was polling ahead of the perceived GOP front-runner, Gov. Jeb Bush. As it turned out his anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim, and mostly meninist platform catered to an ignored demographic, a new silent majority of sorts: social conservatives that didn't identify as Republicans. They were on the fringes of society and politics itself: bigots, rubes, conspiracy theorists. The type of people that make the most appalling hashtags trend on Twitter, who only listen to conservative news-talk pundits like Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Alex Jones and perceive them as beacons and not bilious entertainers. In other words, people who think mainstream conservatism is too out of touch with their toxic beliefs.
Indeed, Trump took advantage of this silent majority, and made Twitter his playground. If the election was limited to one social media outlet, then the New York real estate mogul would be winning decisively. He ran laps around Sec. Clinton, demonstrating a lack of filter and tact not previously seen by a presidential candidate. The woman who would become the Democratic candidate did her best to take the high road until she finally told Trump off. She tweeted "Delete your account," a succinct but oddly flaccid retort. Where Clinton emphasized her many qualifications (and Trump's lack thereof), Trump just kept attacking anything and everything without remorse. The pandering and flame-throwing was incessant, and his status as the fringe right's patron saint was solidified. Clinton knew better than to add gasoline to a flame war, and stayed on the high road instead.
I grew up around mostly Republicans in a shallow-red Chicago suburb. I was raised to not judge a person by their gender or race or faith or creed, even though my hometown circa 1991 was overwhelmingly white and Catholic. That wasn't something to came to me innately; I remember my first grade teacher, a woman of Greek descent, struggling to explain why Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks were so important to American history to a classroom that was over 90% white. I had two minority classmates, a third-generation Mexican-American and a girl who was half-Haitian, half-African American. The Latinx classmate was extroverted and well-liked, but the other girl was awkward, timid, and a bully target. My teacher failed to make her (and our class in general) understand what King and Parks sacrificed to give her the right to be as equal as everyone else. It was until she moved away, about a year later, that my classmates and I realized how awful we were.
When I see the childish antics of Trump's most ardent supporters, I think back to that first grade classroom. They all had something in common: they were rural or suburban and overwhelmingly white, but also left behind in the new economy, expect easy answers to hard questions, and worst of all reluctant to accept that America is more multicultural and diverse than its ever been. They see Muslims, blacks, and the LGBTQ community as threats, but their real-life interaction with them is minimal and they base their fear out of stereotype. As a result white supremacy, anti-Semitism and sexism have shifted from the fringes to the middle of the discussion. Moderate conservatives, or at least Republicans that supported minimally more palatable candidates like Ted Cruz and Dr. Ben Carson, begrudgingly joined the frenetic Trump bandwagon because, well, who else was going to beat Hillary?
Even though the Democrats have labeled itself as the "party for women," there was a time in the early-to-mid 1980s when the GOP headquarters staffed more women than men. Where Democrats have more or less embraced feminism (with some qualms), Republicans have largely been either ambivalent or oblivious. Where the women of the GOP mostly stayed in low-level administrative roles, women in the opposing party ran for office and inspired the next generation to follow their footsteps. The backward legacy of Phyllis Schlafly, the face of anti-feminism, lingers in the GOP months after his death and will likely do so for years to come. If the 2012 election was a deliberation on women's health rights, then 2016 is about what it means to be an American woman, period.
This is the sixth election, presidential or midterm, that I've covered in this blog. I usually end each pre-election missive with a nonpartisan plea to vote, to demonstrate the most basic tenet of democracy. This year, I can't bring myself to play my intercession down the middle. Where Hillary Clinton has many flaws, Donald Trump has proven repeatedly that he is vile and shortsighted beyond redemption. He is shameless opportunist that will break every campaign promise the moment he enters the White House, then blame his failures on everyone except himself. Trump was overexposed as a reality star 10-plus years ago and exhaustively omnipresent now. Say all you want about decades of unproven rumors and right-wing vilification, Hillary Clinton is the only logical choice to be our next president. Someone will bring up Benghazi and the private emails, but someone else will retort with at least 20 things that Trump did. This election is about a leader against a demagogue. Beyond the former first lady, there is no other viable option.
(533)
I mention age, religion, and culture because I spent of this time in what would be considered "red state" territory. The atmosphere was humble and relatively speaking, socially conservative. I largely avoided talking politics, even though this brutal election was on nearly everyone's minds. I came to realize that Donald Trump, the multimillionaire who finagled his way to the Republican presidential nomination, represented none of these people.
In the early days of the 2016 presidential campaign, I was baffled by how Trump and his incendiary, nationalist rhetoric was polling ahead of the perceived GOP front-runner, Gov. Jeb Bush. As it turned out his anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim, and mostly meninist platform catered to an ignored demographic, a new silent majority of sorts: social conservatives that didn't identify as Republicans. They were on the fringes of society and politics itself: bigots, rubes, conspiracy theorists. The type of people that make the most appalling hashtags trend on Twitter, who only listen to conservative news-talk pundits like Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, and Alex Jones and perceive them as beacons and not bilious entertainers. In other words, people who think mainstream conservatism is too out of touch with their toxic beliefs.
Indeed, Trump took advantage of this silent majority, and made Twitter his playground. If the election was limited to one social media outlet, then the New York real estate mogul would be winning decisively. He ran laps around Sec. Clinton, demonstrating a lack of filter and tact not previously seen by a presidential candidate. The woman who would become the Democratic candidate did her best to take the high road until she finally told Trump off. She tweeted "Delete your account," a succinct but oddly flaccid retort. Where Clinton emphasized her many qualifications (and Trump's lack thereof), Trump just kept attacking anything and everything without remorse. The pandering and flame-throwing was incessant, and his status as the fringe right's patron saint was solidified. Clinton knew better than to add gasoline to a flame war, and stayed on the high road instead.
I grew up around mostly Republicans in a shallow-red Chicago suburb. I was raised to not judge a person by their gender or race or faith or creed, even though my hometown circa 1991 was overwhelmingly white and Catholic. That wasn't something to came to me innately; I remember my first grade teacher, a woman of Greek descent, struggling to explain why Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks were so important to American history to a classroom that was over 90% white. I had two minority classmates, a third-generation Mexican-American and a girl who was half-Haitian, half-African American. The Latinx classmate was extroverted and well-liked, but the other girl was awkward, timid, and a bully target. My teacher failed to make her (and our class in general) understand what King and Parks sacrificed to give her the right to be as equal as everyone else. It was until she moved away, about a year later, that my classmates and I realized how awful we were.
When I see the childish antics of Trump's most ardent supporters, I think back to that first grade classroom. They all had something in common: they were rural or suburban and overwhelmingly white, but also left behind in the new economy, expect easy answers to hard questions, and worst of all reluctant to accept that America is more multicultural and diverse than its ever been. They see Muslims, blacks, and the LGBTQ community as threats, but their real-life interaction with them is minimal and they base their fear out of stereotype. As a result white supremacy, anti-Semitism and sexism have shifted from the fringes to the middle of the discussion. Moderate conservatives, or at least Republicans that supported minimally more palatable candidates like Ted Cruz and Dr. Ben Carson, begrudgingly joined the frenetic Trump bandwagon because, well, who else was going to beat Hillary?
Even though the Democrats have labeled itself as the "party for women," there was a time in the early-to-mid 1980s when the GOP headquarters staffed more women than men. Where Democrats have more or less embraced feminism (with some qualms), Republicans have largely been either ambivalent or oblivious. Where the women of the GOP mostly stayed in low-level administrative roles, women in the opposing party ran for office and inspired the next generation to follow their footsteps. The backward legacy of Phyllis Schlafly, the face of anti-feminism, lingers in the GOP months after his death and will likely do so for years to come. If the 2012 election was a deliberation on women's health rights, then 2016 is about what it means to be an American woman, period.
This is the sixth election, presidential or midterm, that I've covered in this blog. I usually end each pre-election missive with a nonpartisan plea to vote, to demonstrate the most basic tenet of democracy. This year, I can't bring myself to play my intercession down the middle. Where Hillary Clinton has many flaws, Donald Trump has proven repeatedly that he is vile and shortsighted beyond redemption. He is shameless opportunist that will break every campaign promise the moment he enters the White House, then blame his failures on everyone except himself. Trump was overexposed as a reality star 10-plus years ago and exhaustively omnipresent now. Say all you want about decades of unproven rumors and right-wing vilification, Hillary Clinton is the only logical choice to be our next president. Someone will bring up Benghazi and the private emails, but someone else will retort with at least 20 things that Trump did. This election is about a leader against a demagogue. Beyond the former first lady, there is no other viable option.
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