Donald Trump’s victory, along with Republicans’ diminished hold on the House and their capturing of the Senate, may be characterized by some as a triumph of populism, but its aftermath already can fairly be characterized as Predators’ Ball, Part Deux. Trump’s under-50-percent popular vote and his historically narrow popular-vote margin over his opponent may be hailed as a mandate by his supporters, but already, the signs of unchecked overreach foretell a betrayal of the working-class Americans he claims to champion.
As we discussed yesterday – and what longtime Trump observers know – Dear Leader is going to keep the promises he made to his extremist supporters and enablers. To do that, he's going to betray the regular people who let themselves be lured by a siren song of improvement in their lives. This American Prospect piece looks at just a few of the many, many ways the latter effect will emerge, including deregulation of financial institutions, an absolute guarantee that – at best – countless millions of Americans will lose money in the financial industry's old cons and, thanks to cryptocurrency scamming, new ones. With anti-vaccine nutcases taking a more and more prominent role in Trump world, watch out for health disasters (even if the bird flu doesn't get traction) that unnecessarily sicken and kill people in ways we haven't seen for decades. Our adversaries and enemies – some of which may have helped engineer this cascade of woe-to-come – are chortling.
The ultimate cause of their demise is simple: reprioritization by foundations and high-net-worth individuals away from financially supporting this overarching, public-informing, community-building work. In their place we have seen a boom in partisan-aligned nonprofit organizations that use similar tools and techniques, but as auxiliaries for the parties in their trench warfare over political power. The result is a tragedy of the public commons. Open government is essential to a flourishing democracy. It helps the public identify waste, fraud, abuse, and malfeasance. But even more importantly, it provides insight into whether policies are working as intended—and allows for course corrections. If you think transparency is a bad idea, try driving a car with the windows painted black.
As this Bulwark commentary (alternative link here) notes, funders of nonprofit organizations are short-sighted and fickle even when they have the best intentions. The wonderful trend of not so long ago, to help nonprofits make government data and actions more transparent, is fading fast. I can vouch for all of the organizations mentioned here. If you are in a further-giving mood this holiday season, maybe you could help one or more of them.
Which brings us back to our original thought as we watched the media let Trump steamroll over it as he has for a decade. And that is how absurd it is that reporters still, still, after all this time, troop into these rooms with Trump like a bunch of lemmings, knowing they will be lied to, knowing they will be berated and threatened and insulted, and dutifully write it all down without standing up for themselves and their profession. Trump even at one point commented on Monday that the press conference felt like the old days. But the old days sucked!
Glad to see that at least Wonkette (alternative link here) employs journalists still do actual journalism about Trump and his endless lies and deceit. Our media thought this stuff was entertaining, for the most part, during his first administration. It was always much more malign. It was dangerous, and the danger is amplified now. Trump is suing everyone in sight, and when even big news organizations pathetically capitulate, the bullshitter-in-chief becomes even more the bad-faith litigator, as should be clear in his new kill-the-press-with-legal-expenses case against the Des Moines Register. Trump long ago made clear his contempt for journalism that even attempts to do its job, and now he's in the direct punishment phase. Which makes it absolutely crucial that big news organizations just stop attending his deceit-fests, the charades he (and they) call press conferences. It's embarrassing – and harming our country.
The American Republic has been pulled down, possibly past the point of no return, by affluent people. People who have lives their ancestors would have literally killed for. Who on average spend 10% of their pay on groceries, the lowest in the country’s history, not to mention human history. Who are lashing out at others at the slightest inconvenience, because they want to lash out at others. Americans are prosperous, but without any deep sense of obligations to others.
I want to stress at the outset that I don't agree with all of the points the author makes in this thought-provoking (and occasionally rambling) piece. But he touches on a host of topics that make it worth your time. A key truth here is that too many of us don't give a damn about other other than to hold them in contempt. The unfortunate withering of community has been well-chronicled, to the point of being overstated, but when we don't know our neighbors we are missing something vital. Anyway, have a read.
This newsletter is a compendium of the reporting and commentary that best explains the America's political, economic, and social conditions – and, most important, how we can find a way back from the dark days ahead. You will rarely find anything here from the New York Times or Washington Post or any of the other Big Journalism companies that failed us so completely during the 2024 elections and are now sucking up – even more than usual – to Donald Trump, his cult, and corporate oligarchs. My focus will be on smaller, more honorable outlets (and individuals). I hope you'll support them with your attention and your money. For more details, please read my About page.
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Harold Meyerson
Daniel Schuman
Toby Buckle
