#They overturns Roe V. Wade and this guy turned it right back around

[hoosbandewan]

No matter who someone votes for does not make them a bad person. If someone votes differently than you and you find that as a reason to not support them then you are part of the problem. I'm thankfully open-minded and glad I can have Democrat and Republican friends and we can all still be friends even with different beliefs and opinions. I don't understand how anyone can have that mindset.... You want Peace and love but are the first ones to throw someone under the bus if they think differently than you do.

And using Ewan to push your thoughts is shameful

Having friends on both sides of the aisle is fine. Having a difference in opinions is fine. I think it can be incredibly damaging for people to get caught in an echo chamber and be surrounded only by people who share their same viewpoint. And the fact that we can all have our own thoughts and opinions is what makes a free country like the U.S. so wonderful.

I even know a good number of Republicans and conservative-leaning people who didn't and wouldn't vote for Trump. And, you see, that's the difference.

Voting for Trump.

You cannot, in good conscience, look me in the eye and tell me that casting a vote for Donald Trump makes you a good person. I could have forgiven a Trump vote in 2016, but not in 2020 and certainly not in 2024.

Trump attempted to overturn a democratic election and was indicted for it. And on that day, he voiced support for the Capitol rioters who wanted to hang his vice president for failing to reject the electoral votes that proved Biden's win.

Trump nominated Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, a move that has already killed women and will continue killing people. In Texas alone, the maternal death rate rose by 56% between 2019 and 2022, the year that Roe was overturned. Since the reversal, the infant mortality rate has risen by 7% nationally - and by 13% in Texas alone.

Trump is unapologetically and unabashedly racist, displaying repeated and disturbing rhetoric aimed at immigrants, Mexicans, black Americans, Haitians, Muslims, and more. In his first term, he instituted new procedural barriers to prevent immigrants from seeking asylum in America. He put migrant children in cages. He has unjustly called for the death penalty for numerous people of color - remember the Central Park 5?

Trump has threatened to deploy the military and law enforcement to target his political opponents and left-leaning Americans.

Trump rolled back almost 100 policies focused on clean air, water, wildlife, and toxic chemicals in an era when mitigating climate change is more important than ever. And he plans on gutting even more.

Trump is a convicted felon with 34 felony counts under his belt.

Trump has shown time and time again that his views and policies align with fascist ideals. He wants very, very badly to turn the U.S. democracy into an authoritarian regime.

And if this isn't enough, Trump has been endorsed by the KKK since his 2016 campaign. He's the golden child of white supremacists and white nationalists everywhere.

So, yeah. If this is your guy, I don't want fucking anything to do with you.

I am so sick and tired of Trump supporters crying about peace and love and civility and "oh, but where are the tolerant left?" when they turn right around and vote for Donald Trump.

You don’t get to hold abhorrent views and beliefs and then be friends with us. You don’t get to be friendly to our faces all while supporting a man who wants us dead or oppressed. You can't profess to love your fellow Americans if you are condemning them.

I don't want to hang out with racists and fascists. Because if you choose to support and vote for a racist, fascist, misogynistic, dangerous person, then that makes you one, too.

[dicapiito]

White women aren’t feminists in the slightest. They’ll literally say they are and turn around and vote for someone to strip them away of their rights.

Gonna be so awkward as fuck when they try calling the police on their equally shitty partners and police can be either “ I’m joining in!” even more than they have currently. It’s just insane they just went “ but but but Black Woman would be in charge and I don’t want that!”.

They think that tradwife shit isn’t filled with financial despair relying on the mood of a guy. 57% is a wild number to see and because white women are so fuckin hateful of progress; they set themselves back and they should never be trusted to do the right thing ever.

Come the holidays; don’t engage with their white guilt. They will go “ but I voted for Kamala” and expect some sort of award for doing the bare fuckin minimum ( or just lying really) and I can’t wait until they all make those annoying crying videos wondering “ how it went wrong in America” when they’re the reason it all went to shit. To give America back to the man who let over a million die from Covid is actually pretty fucking stupid and anti feminist as it gets.

They never cared that Roe v Wade was overturned because if they did then why does the number of Trump support keep increasing ? And some white women voted a split ticket because they’re also fuckin racist and didn’t realize all three branches needs to have the majority because they’re that in love with being racist.,

White women are truly fucking dumb.

Thanks for helping usher in Project 2025,you goddamn snowroaches

[forest-faerie-witch]

RIP America

I have been up all night. I've been following the campaign since Harris was at the first DNC. I have hoped and hoped that she would win. But now, as that lunatic is 3 points from winning, my chest is tight and I'm fighting tears.

I've been terrified through this whole thing. Afraid of losing my right to control my own body. Scared of losing my disability income. Worried about my daughter's rights. I'm deeply troubled about our world. What is going to happen to Ukraine now? To our immigrant friends?

There are things I can't wrap my head around. How is it OK for a convicted criminal to not only run for public office, but THE public office? To lead our entire country?! How is this lawful? How did our founding fathers not anticipate this? Did they just think "Well, it's just common sense, right?" They obviously didn't have the foresight to see the state of human beings in this century.

And what happened to separation of church and state? Why are the religious nuts still waving their bibles around at my uterus? How about, it's NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS! You wanna believe in your god? Good for you. But don't tell me how to live just because we don't agree. I don't tell you what to do. I don't care. It's a free country, right? Well, apparently not if we are still being held to christian ideals.

This country was NOT based on religion. It was based on the freedom from religious persecution. (Do your homework people). It is NOT one nation under god. That was added to our money and our pledge in the 50s by... you guessed it, the religious right. Look it up. It's fact.

And now women are going to continue to die because of the abortion bans because of that fucking maniac's overturning of Roe v Wade. And once he's in office his MAGAtards are going to feel it's open season on all "other" people. Gays, trans, some of whom I call friends. It's going to be the wild west. Redneck ideology will only be rivaled by the christian right, comingled in most cases.

Haven't we had enough racism? Isn't there enough hate already? You guys - the HALF of our country who thought it was a great idea to put this fucking piece of shit back in the white house - are going to see. Yeah, you think he's so funny. "Oh he just says it like it is, says what's on his mind, etc." Oh yes, so presidential. If I want to talk shit with people, I don't go to the white house for it. I want my commander in chief to be presidential. Not a fucking convicted rapist, cheater, misogynist, lying waste of air.

He is going to pardon himself. All he's wanted through this whole thing was to win so he wouldn't go to prison. You'll see. He does NOT CARE ABOUT YOU! All he cares about is Donald Trump. He surrounds himself with sycophants who lick his arsehole and do his bidding. He'll let all the lunatics out that attacked our capitol. Insurgents. People, wake the fuck up! Think about this. All you who consider yourself "patriots," how would you feel if a group of people attacked the capitol when it wasn't your idea? You'd be furious!

I'm not saying Kamala was perfect. And she did the best she could in the short time she had to run. But at least she had solid plans for furthering our people. Her vision was one of unity, safety, equal rights and building the economy where everyone has a fair shot. I've never heard a single detailed policy from that... thing. All he does is wave his hands around and say don't worry, it's going to be great.

WHAT'S GOING TO BE GREAT?!!!!! Explain it to me. Tell me how you're going to do these things? Oh right. Tariffs. The idiot doesn't even know how tariffs work. Tariffs will cost the AMERICAN PEOPLE! If an exporter has to pay more to export their goods to us, then the companies that buy those goods have to pay more, and in turn, we pay that difference. The man is a moron. It's no wonder all his businesses fail and he filed bankruptcy 6 times.

He has no idea how to run a country. He let 100s of thousands of people die with his deplorable handling of COVID. Inject bleach... how fucking stupid can someone be. He inherited a good economy from Obama and fucked it up. And then has the nerve to further hypnotize his cult followers saying his presidency was the best ever. His economy the best ever. Everything the best ever. When the rest of the world knows he was the least popular president - ever. Was the worst president. He's so deluded by his own ego he believes his own lies and then so do his followers.

I'm old. I have a small income. I can't afford to pack up and try and find another country to live in. And believe me, I've been looking into it. But the only way you can live in another country is if you have MONEY. If you can't contribute to society in another country, good luck moving there. But the prospect of living in a Trump dystopia is terrifying.

Let's hope that I'm wrong. I'm really hoping I am.

[plebeiangoth]

I'm really fucking angry, yet shouldn't be surprised, that apparently a lot of even you guys need a reminder that it is top priority for us in the US right now to keep Trump out of the Oval Office. No, now isn't the time to pick nits about the Harris Walz ticket, that isn't the ticket with Project 2025. Not only is Project 2025 my nightmare and yours, it could be a fucking reality if you guys keep perpetuating the idea that "voting doesn't matter" because it sure does seem to matter when the majority of the voter base continues to be old conservatives who never miss an election and want to go back to the McCarthy era.

Check your voter registration

If you're not registered, get it done before it's too late

A reminder of what Project 2025 is

Or you could read the damn thing for yourself, it's available for free

Or have a funny British man explain it to you, no it's not any easier

No, the current administration didn't fix a lot of the problems Trump started. Kids are still held in cages at the border, the SCOTUS which Trump assembled overturned Roe v Wade, and Biden not only didn't do anything about it but is also selling weapons to Israel because apparently both sides of the aisle are totally chill about genocide. Things haven't gotten better since Trump but DO YOU FUCKING THINK THAT LETTING HIM BACK INTO THE OFFICE IS A GOOD IDEA??? The same guy who incited an insurrection because he lost a democratic election? Who tried to build a wall across the US/Mexico border? Not to mention that his presidency emboldened the kind of people who, say, murdered George Floyd in broad daylight in the streets of Minneapolis.

Will the Harris Walz vote fix these problems? Probably fucking not. But they sure as shit ain't pushing Project 2025 which will, with absolute certainty, turn the US into a worse "Christian" theocratic dystopia than it already is. If we keep allowing this shit to happen because we didn't vote, then it's our fault. I know the electoral system is broken, I've gone down the rabbit hole too fucking many times to try to understand it, stop preaching to the choir.

If you block me or dog-pile me for telling you to vote then whatever, congrats on literally electing to shut me up and proving my point that you actually have some fucking impact on the word around you. Fuck around with that shit at the polls and find out maybe.

[deansmom]

For the people who keep saying “it’s not like it’s gotten better in the last 4 years” you’re forgetting that Congress changed hands because we lost seats in 2022, and that’s when shit started well and truly going down hill (I know it wasn’t going well, but it went from a slow descent to a sharp drop). I know it’s scraping the bottom of the barrel, I know the bar is in hell, but I don’t think most of the people saying this are thinking about how much worse of a place we could be in right now. When half the country is white nationalists and some of the highest ranking congress members are proud nationalists, it’s going to take a hell of a lot more than 4 years and one president to accomplish what we want.

We’re too far down the track to fascism to turn around now, okay? We’re already on our way there. That clip of Biden from the other day is fucking vile and it made my stomach turn, but genoc*de Joe or whatever you guys are calling him now is at least slowing the fucking train down a little bit. When Bernie Sanders and Katie Porter are saying the same thing as his office, you should take that as the canary in the coal mine that it is.

A good chunk of the money is for Palestinian refugees and Ukraine, okay? That doesn’t make up for a damn thing or a single fucking missile that we’ve fired, but it’s important information to have. This situation fucking sucks. The options fucking suck. But unless a GENUINELY viable candidate shows up between now and the election, he is still the option that will do the majority of the country the least harm.

The next time you think a trumper has a point, the next time one of them says something vaguely pro Palestine or criticizes the way the Biden administration is handling this, I want you to remember that these people planned overturning roe v Wade before the 2016 election. They are playing the long game. They know how we work, they know how we think, and they know how to turn public opinion against somebody. They want us to believe that they’re dumb, but they are smart and they are good at organizing.

Look at Florida. Look at Tennessee. Look at Texas. Look at every news story of every ridiculous, horrifying law that has been proposed or passed since 2016, because that is their plan for the country. Every law that they’ve proposed that threatened a marginalized group? It’s a set up for it to be brought before the Supreme Court. It’s exactly how Roe v Wade got overturned.

I don’t have any good answers for anyone. Nothing about this is good. But I am fucking begging you to take half a step back and look at the big picture & remember the last ten years & to not fucking fall for it because they are playing y’all like a fiddle.

sorry but i want to hit every american talking about not wanting to vote democrat anymore with hammers. lol

[gubes-sweaters]

Unexpected Turns: Chapter 13

Author’s Note: I was going to post this about two weeks ago, but Roe V Wade was very sadly overturned. Since I’m pro-choice, it felt a bit insensitive to post something like this. So if this isn’t your cup of tea because of everything going on currently, I completely understand. 

Content Warning(s): Pregnancy, childbirth (if you want to skip that section it's after the third banner and it ends right before the fourth banner), small mention of amniotic fluid

Word Count: 3.8k

Chapter 13: My Little Love

The contractions started late into the night. Spencer was already fast asleep, and you couldn’t get comfortable for the life of you. You were finally asleep when you felt the contractions. At first, they were brushed off as Braxton-Hicks just like last week when you had thought you were going into labor. You were currently a week from your due date, and you couldn’t wait to not be pregnant anymore. You were done with your swollen feet that you could no longer see, and you were finally excited to meet your baby. 

When another wave of contractions crashed into you, they felt different from before. You decided to get up and walk around a bit, but when you stood up gravity took hold. You stood for a second in shock thinking “Did my water just break?” You sit on the foot of the bed trying to catch your breath before you lean over and slightly squeeze Spencer’s calf muscle. You try to shake his leg slightly and call out to him to wake him up. Once he wakes up, he shoots up and realizes you were at the bottom of the bed.

“Is everything alright?” He asks before rubbing his eyes and reaching for his glasses. 

“I think I’m going into labor, like for real this time,” you say, your voice wobbling for a bit.

“Okay, okay, uhhh-” he mutters to himself before getting up and turning on the bedroom light.

You try to breathe through the aftermath of your contractions as Spencer rushes back over to you.

“How about we count the length of the contractions and the time in between to determine how quickly we need to go to the hospital,” Spencer says, sitting down next to you before he begins rubbing your back. 

You rock back and forth as he tries to relieve some lower back pain you’re having. The both of you end up sitting on the edge of the bed working out your plans for an hour as Spencer times your contractions and the time in between them. 

“You have fifteen minutes between your contractions. We can take more time if you want,” he says, obviously nervous. He laces his fingers into yours, and you lean your head on his shoulder, thinking about your options.

“I’m going to take a shower, and we’ll go. I should probably call JJ and my mom.”

“Okay, I’m going to grab our hospital bags out of the nursery. If you need me, just shout,” he says, giving you a kiss before helping you up off the bed.

On the way to the hospital, Spencer is clearly more shaken up than you. For some reason, as you had stepped out of the shower, you felt completely calm, which you never had anticipated before. Your mom, JJ, and other people in your life who had a baby said that once they had gone into labor they were pretty calm. You thought you’d be too stressed, but you weren’t. Other than the unnerving pain you felt, cloud your brain a bit, your head was completely clear. Once you got cleaned up, you checked in the nursery to make sure everything was ready for when everyone came home from the hospital. Looking around at the gorgeous nursery that you and Spencer worked so hard to complete, it gave you a sense of peace. Almost as if it was the physical embodiment of all the love and dedication the both of you had already poured into a baby who wasn’t even here yet.

Spencer, on the other hand, was a bit of a wreck. Logically, he knew everything was fine. Based on your contractions and the time it would take to get to the hospital, you guys would get there in plenty of time. All of that information and statistics he had retained throughout your pregnancy, also made him think about all the rare chances of things that could go wrong. He never wanted to think of the absolute worst, so instead, he would peek over his book, that he was pretending to be engrossed in, from the living room. He was staring straight into the nursery from the couch as you folded a few of the newborn baby clothes and stacked diapers and wipes in the drawers beneath the changing table. You weren’t privy to the fact that Spencer was a nervous wreck, you had just thought he was reading a bit while waiting for you.

When you finally walked into the living room he felt a bit more relieved. He got you down to the car which already had the car seat sitting in the back ready. You couldn’t tell if he was shaky and nervous because he barely ever drives or if it’s because you’re in labor, most likely a mix of both.

You just had ended your phone call with JJ and you had already called your mom. JJ is stopping by your apartment to make sure everything is put together one last time because you’re a bit nervous. Your mom had to quickly rebook her flight, and you feel a bit bad because she’s been going back and forth so often to see you. You assume it’s in attempts to fix the broken relationship the two of you had when you moved out here, and you do appreciate the effort. 

“While we're waiting in traffic why don’t we finalize our favorite baby names. I have a feeling we won’t know for sure until they’re finally here, and I can see them though,” you said.

“I've been thinking about Atlas for a boy, and for a girl I really like the name Hazel,” Spencer says with a wholesome grin painted on his face, almost as if he was recalling a memory. You tried thinking of where either name had come from that would elicit a reaction like that, but you couldn’t quite remember.

“I love the name, Lillian. I feel like the nickname Lilly is so cute, but Lillian could fit the baby later in life,” you said, reading through a long list of names you were trying to shorten.

“What about a boy's name or a more gender-neutral name?” He asks, looking over at you quickly.

“Well, I like the name Oliver for a boy, but I think it’s a bit overused. I really like the name, Channing. It makes me think of a girl who I went to school with who was super sweet, but it also makes me think of the actor,” you say.

“Who?” Spencer asks.

You take a moment to laugh to yourself because how do you explain the movie ‘Magic Mike’ to Spencer right now. You quickly think of a movie that he may have possibly seen. 

“Have I ever had you watch ‘She’s the Man’ with me?” 

“No,” he says, thinking for a second.

“Okay, we can watch it when we get home,” you say with a small laugh.

Once you get settled into your hospital room, you are already seven centimeters dilated. Nurses bounced back and forth, coming to check up on you often. With your baby coming only a week early there wasn’t much to worry about, but with the recent stress that has just now dissipated your blood pressure was a bit too high for their liking. You got an epidural and when the pain was finally relieved, all you could feel was the pressure and the baby's movement, and you were so thankful. Even though the epidural gave you the jitters, which apparently was more common than you thought. Spencer sits beside you and rubs your shoulders as you eat ice chips early in the morning. 

It’s around ten am by the time you are fully dilated and ready to deliver. At this point, you’re so thankful for getting an epidural. Spencer was able to hold your hand and help you the entire way. He helped brush your hair out of your face and told you how good you were doing. 

The nurses and the obstetrician helping to deliver your baby were also super encouraging. You were glad that earlier on in your pregnancy Spencer had pushed for you to find what hospital you wanted to have your baby at. You can see how it’s now to your benefit, even though it wasn’t the closest hospital to you.

When the doctor tells you one last push, you’re out of breath and exhausted. When you stop, you can feel a little movement. For a split second, the entire world feels like it’s come to a halt and anticipation builds, before a tiny cry erupts into the room. 

“It’s a boy!” You hear a small shout from one of the nurses just before she sets the crying little baby on your chest.

Spencer was beside you with a wide grin. They swiftly whisk your baby away to clean him up. Spencer looked over at you, and you shooed insisting that you were okay, and you were concerned for your baby. He walked over and peered at the tiny baby who was being swaddled in a pastel blue and white striped blanket. 

It was late into the afternoon when JJ came into the hospital room with Will and Henry, who was holding her hand, trotting alongside her. Your little boy who still was missing a name was just now waking up from another nap. Spencer set the book he was reading down when he saw them walking into the room. 

Your little boy opens his eyes before scrunching his face up a bit. He gives a big yawn, and you fall in love just a little more. JJ walked up to you very gently with eyes as big as saucers.

“Hi,” she drags out the ‘hi’ in a hushed tone as if she were approaching a wild animal. Too afraid to be too loud or sudden.

“Hey guys,” you respond while slightly maneuvering your son, so he could be better seen, but still comfortable and supported.

“Wow, he looks just like you,” Will chimes in, his southern drawl coming through.

“I know that’s what the nurses said,” you say, smiling proudly at your baby. Spencer comes by your side to admire the little one along with everyone else. 

“Can I see?” Henry states, not being quite tall enough. In response, you scoot over slightly and pat the hospital bed. Will then helps Henry up, so he can get a good look at the newborn. Henry just ‘oohs’ and “ahhs” at your son, but he refrains from touching him, almost as if he knows how delicate and precious the newborn is. 

After Henry gets a good look and everyone else makes small talk, like most children, he gets bored somewhat fast. Henry proceeds to ask for a snack and since Spencer was the only one who had money for the vending machine, Spencer, Will, and Henry all took off down the hall.

“So, I want to ask you a question,” you state.

“What is it?” JJ responds inquisitively.

“Do you want to be his godmother? You always know if anything ever happened to Henry, Spencer, and I as his godparents would always watch after him. I trust you just the same,” you say with confidence.

“Of course I do! Who's going to be his godfather?” JJ asks.

“Spencer and I talked about it and we're going to ask Morgan when he stops by later,” you respond.

The afternoon was filled with visitors, balloons, teddy bears, and bright smiles. After JJ left, Garcia and Morgan came soon after. Garcia came strutting into the room with a huge smile and a huge teddy bear and Morgan with a big smile and food. You had forgotten how late in the day it was, and you hadn’t eaten much of anything yet. Garcia was more than ready to hold the little baby and while she was occupied Morgan clapped Spencer on the back before giving you the best hug he could. That’s when you and Spencer asked whether he would be his godfather, of course, he said yes. 

After Morgan held the baby for a bit, it was just about time for your son to take a nap once again. You also wanted to take a nap, but the baby was just starting to fall asleep on your chest. So you could take a nap without feeling a bit odd leaving him in the cramped bassinet next to your bed, Spencer elected to read to him. It was heartwarming to see your boys lay together. The tiny newborn curled up on his chest while Spencer got comfortable before cracking open a book. 

When you woke up from a nap it was very dark outside, but Spencer was still awake with the tiny baby curled up on his chest, but instead of reading, he was admiring your son with a wholesome smile.

“This is a sight I could get used to,” you say, slightly startling him. 

“I was thinking. I really like the name Atlas,” you state, smiling at the tiny baby. You glance over and see that he is reading Homer's Odyssey and that’s when the memory hits you.

Rain was slapping against the jet. With every small bump or odd movement of the jet you shivered. You never liked flying and being on a large jet like this for the first time was a bit scary. Of course, it would be your luck that in your first case you had to leave for was across the country. You were already anxious. After all, your phone was blowing up from your boyfriend because you didn’t come home yesterday. You were supposed to, but the weather was even more treacherous last night than it is right now. You were curled up in a seat while most of the team was fast asleep. The only other person awake was Spencer, who had multiple papers sprawled out on the couch. 

You peak over at Spencer and his conglomeration of papers. You get up and scoot past JJ, who was fast asleep with a bag of Cheetos resting in her lap. 

“Hey,” you say, sitting down next to him. He glances up at you with a shy smile. You two haven’t known each other for long, but he was always sweet from the few interactions the two of you had. 

“Sorry I don’t mean to be nosy I’m just a little stressed with flying and my flying companion bailed on me,” you say with a sad laugh, in reference to JJ.

“Oh yeah, I didn’t like flying the first time either. You get used to it. If it’s the turbulence you’re worried about, we’ll be just fine. It’s very rare for a place to crash through turbulence. You know, through 1980 and 2008, the FAA reported only 234 plane crashes, public or otherwise. It’s not common enough to worry about,” he says, gathering a few of his papers before shoving them into the highly worn satchel. He pulls out a book.

“This is The Odyssey in Homeric Greek, but I’d be more than happy to translate it for you. I mean if that’s okay with you. You look like you could use a distraction,” he states.

“That would be nice,” you say with a small smile.

 “Did you get that from The Odyssey?” you ask, scooting yourself back up in the bed.

“Yeah,” he says with a small smile. When he smiles at you, you know some things would never change, his smile that makes your heart soar is one of them. 

“That sounds perfect,” you respond while mentally recalling the memory of when he read The Odyssey to you.

The next day, you face-timed your mom before her flight out. After breakfast, Hotch stopped by with Jack. Wanting to congratulate you and asking if there was anything either of you needed. Jack was very similar to Henry in that he was very intrigued by the baby at first, but then after a bit, he became bored. After they took off, you took the time to quickly email your dad on your phone, with pictures of your son, who finally had a name after last night.

Emily stopped by with doughnuts for you two. She had said that you were going to give everyone in the BAU baby fever because he was so adorable. She wanted to see him before she took off for a small vacation with her girlfriend Fiona. You wished her a good trip and told her to tell Fiona she said hi.

Finally, your mother arrived, and it was safe to say she was enamored with the tiny baby. She got excited to hold her grandchild. 

“Ohh I can’t wait to see you all the time!” She says while rocking the infant.

“What do you mean?” You ask her with a frown on your face.

“Marcus got a job offer in Maryland, and I was looking at this beautiful house in Montgomery County,” she says with pride. You immediately want to throw yourself out the nearest window. Montgomery County, Maryland borders Virginia, and that’s a bit too close for your liking

“Mom the houses out there… I mean it’s pretty pricey,” you say.

“I know, but we’ll go half on the house. Plus, I’m not looking to live in a mansion, so what’s the harm,” she says, making faces at your baby. You just give her a silent nod before moving on to the conversation.

If you could roll your eyes anymore, you would. This was one of the biggest problems the two of you had when you were a child. She had to be the center of attention or at least take all the credit when you were the center of attention. You couldn’t tell if she was living vicariously through you or if she was just jealous. She also lived beyond her means so often, dipping into the savings account your father and her used to share. You hope she isn’t rushing with this boyfriend and moving in quickly just so she could move closer to you. 

You were comfortable with her being here often or even going back home to visit her, but living so close to Virginia makes you want to roll your eyes until they fall out of your head. You just try to placate her for the time being since you don’t need an argument when she’s holding your newborn baby. 

After a bit, she drops the conversation, now steering it towards more mundane and easy conversations. She does that until the baby inevitably gets hungry and when he does, she finally hands him back to you. You feed him and burp him before finding a way to politely get her to leave. You just use nap time as an excuse.

Soon after, a nurse came in and checked on you. Stating she came by earlier, but didn’t want to intrude with visitors. After she checked up on you and saw Atlas sound asleep, she said everything was fine, and you could go home tomorrow. Afterward, Spencer got in the hospital bed with you. The both of you tried watching a movie on your laptop, but you weren’t able to focus. 

“What’s wrong?” Spencer says, pausing the movie.

“My mom,” you say with a huge huff. He gives you a small inquisitive expression, silently asking you to elaborate further. 

“She’s just always had this thing where she butts herself into everything I do. To be honest, the only time I’ve ever had any piece was when I dated Jo because she hated him. Everything I’ve ever done is because she wanted me to do like pageants, competition dance, softball, soccer… which was only because JJ played soccer. She was all about appearances and moving to Virginia was my escape I guess,” you say with a tired look on your face.

“I’m sorry sweetheart,” he says before he kisses your temple.

The two of you sit in silence as you look over at the small baby. Spencer follows your gaze over to the infant who was sound asleep in the bassinet next to the hospital bed.

“I just want to go home,” you say.

“Me too,” he says before turning more towards you and wraps his arms snugly around you, burying your face in his chest.

In the morning you diligently signed papers as Spencer packed your bags up. He dashed down to the car to put everything in quickly. It was fair to say the both of you were antsy to get home and spend the next couple of weeks together. You feed your son as you look out the window admiring the cloudy sky as it starts to drizzle. You sit back in the hospital bed one last time and relax. You look up at the TV that was across the room, squinting your eyes to see the news coverage. When you see a familiar face, you quickly turn the sound up. It was the chief of police making a small statement about four officers being fired in relation to the “recent string of murders” as he called it, but it was so much more than that. Not wanting to upset yourself, you decided to turn it off.

After your son was finished eating, you clipped the strap back to the nursing bra and threw a hoodie you had packed on. Soon after, Spencer came back, albeit slightly out of breath, but he was back nonetheless. He helped you put Atlas into the baby carrier and put a small hat on him that Garcia crocheted herself. Two of the nurses who helped look after you guys the past two days came to quickly say goodbye and coo over the cute baby one last time. 

When the two of you stepped out into the chilly air, you tucked the baby blanket from the hospital a little closer to his tiny body. You lifted your baby out of his carrier and Spencer went around to the other side of the car to put it in the back seat. You strap him into his car seat, making sure to be delicate. After you’re finished, you ask Spencer if everything looks secure, and he agrees before walking over to the driver's seat. You offered to drive, but he insisted.

You place a gentle kiss on his cheek. You were trying to say so much with a simple kiss. You were trying to convey how much you appreciate him and all of your love for him. Judging by the way he turns to look at you with wide eyes that mirror your adoration for him, he understood.

.

.

.

.

.

Taglist: @striving4averagegirl @measure-in-pain @tvandfanfic @haylaansmi @rexorangecouny @sophiario

[twothumbsandnostakeincanon]

Okay. ALRIGHT. I saw THIS picture:

and immediately reblogged it with THESE tags:

which @graciebirdie then reblogged with THESE tags:

to which I responded with THIS message:

YES. YES YES. The BEST part of this idea is that while Allison looks like a Bad Girl™ and is an actual facts badass when it comes to brass tacks, she's also definitely still that girl who's gonna cry when she accidentally hits a dog. She absolutely listens to "Backstreet's Back" on a loop. So when she and Lydia hook up, first Lydia's like "oooh, she's so mysterious, she’s probably killed a guy, that shouldn’t turn me on but it totally does” but then she sees Allison trapping spiders and letting them go outside the house because -they’re important to the ecosystem, Lydia- and Lydias like “oh my god I have to protect her.”

And APPARENTLY I’m not done with this yet, come with me on a journey:

Allison leaned against the building, stubbing the last of her cigarette out on the brick and flicking it in the trash. “I need a vape pen,” she mumbled to herself. Secondhand smoke was nasty shit.

So was firsthand smoke, but whatever. She’d quit… someday.

She adjusted her shirt, ensuring her favorite tattoo was showing so as to make an accurate first impression, and walked into class.

She handed over her transfer card to the lit teacher and idly glanced around the class.

Bored looking students zoned out around the classroom, staring out the window if they had a view- except for one. A goofy looking shaggy haired kid was staring at her with his mouth slightly ajar. Great. There was already a dude who wanted to take a walk on the “wild side.”

She held in a sigh when she realized the only free desk was directly behind him.

Just as she slid into her seat, the boy turned around and wordlessly offered a pen.

She looked from him to the pen, surprised, but didn’t take it.

After a moment he got a confused look on his face.

“Didn’t you say you need a pen?” he asked.

She stared at him, astounded that someone would so blatantly admit to having heard something that should have been impossible to hear with normal human ears- even if he had actually misunderstood her.

The teacher stood up to get their attention, and the boy finally turned back around, still holding his pen.

She watched closely, trying to peg what exactly the guy was, and it didn’t take long. The way he cocked his head every time a car drove by outside, the way he obviously sniffed when a late student arrived with their closed coffee thermos: he was a werewolf, and an absolute shame to the stealth supernatural community.

When class was over and the students were spilling into the hallway, Allison took off her jacket, revealing what would hopefully be a full tattoo sleeve on her left arm someday. If she could find another artist to pick it up, anyway. She draped the jacket over her bookbag and headed out, considering whether she should just bluntly approach the kid about his wolf-hood or try to sniff out information on why he was so blasé about it first.

Just as she stepped into the hallway, she was accosted by a short red-headed girl who was followed by a beefy “I Strut Because I’m Insecure” type; clearly the boyfriend.

“That jacket is killer!” the girl gushed. “I’m Lydia, this is Jackson,” she jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Buff and Insecure.

“Allison.” She stuck out her right hand to shake, but Lydia reached for her left one and pulled it straight to look at her tattoos. Allison twitched as she suppressed the reflex to put her in a choke hold.

“Oh, these are beautiful! What class do you have next? How did you get these? You can’t be eighteen already, do you have a fake ID?” Lydia threw question after question at her, and Allison had the feeling that it was more calculated than it seemed.

“I knew an artist,” Allison said vaguely. “And I have…” she checked her schedule, “U.S. History next.”

“With who? Ms. Masi?”

“Um,” another quick check. “Yes.”

“That’s my class! I’ll show you where it is. Bye Jackson,” she said flippantly without looking at him, hooking an arm into Allison’s and trotting along.

Allison side eyed her and glanced back at Jackson, who she caught checking out her ass. She rolled her eyes and faced forward. God, that could turn into a ridiculous mess in half a minute if Lydia turned out to be a possessive, blame-the-girl type.

Lydia chattered as they walked along, and Allison tuned in and out, keeping an open eye for any students who were preternaturally attractive/strong/whateverthefuck.

“-and we’re supposed to do a project on a landmark supreme court case, I was thinking Roe v. Wade, does that sound good to you? There’s a lot to explore since nine states have trigger laws in the case of it being overturned, with three of those criminalizing-”

“Wow,” said Allison, surprised. “You know a lot about it.”

Lydia’s stride broke for a single step before picking right back up.

“Oh, yeah, there was an episode of ‘L.A. Boys’ about it,” she said breezily.

Allison was almost a thousand percent sure that wasn’t true. Why on earth would she pretend to be uninterested in Roe vs. Wade right after suggesting it as a research topic? Why would she pretend to be dumber than she really was? Jesus Christ, what was wrong with people at this school?

“Well, you know what they say,” Allison said casually. “Smart is sexy.”

Lydia looked at her with a sharp smile. “Is it now?” she purred, pulling a classroom door open and swaying her hips as she walked in, looking over her shoulder at Allison.

Oh God, Allison thought, mouth dry and heart racing. 

Maybe it wasn’t Beefy Boy she needed to worry about.

(imma throw in a tag for @areiton cause I think you were interested in this too?)

[l0sstkiddd]

I’ve been trying to figure out a way to express my thoughts; but fuck it I’m gonna just start talking because this is complete and utter bullshit.

To the Supreme Court of the United States,

I personally cannot wait for all of you to die so we can stop going back in history to the stone ages; because overturning Roe v. Wade that is where we’re heading. Has it occurred to you that we live in a world war women actually have rights and they are not meant to be baby breeders or your own personal trophy. We are meant to be seen and heard due to the fact that we do have a voice according to the 19th amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

The thing I don’t understand is how can you tell us what we can do with our body when majority of you on the Supreme Court have not experienced a pregnancy before. You want all of these babies right but you can barely keep formula on the shelves.

What about if a women gets raped, and they don’t wanna keep the baby because it is a constant reminder of the terrible trauma they experienced especially if she has the baby and it looks like her rapist?

Did you even consider the foster system? Y’all can’t handle it right now did you think or even consider how many babies are going to end up in the foster system because their parents don’t want them or they just can’t afford to have a kid?

Then you guys turn around and tell us practically beg us to adopt children and you make it nearly impossible to do so.

Oh and also let’s address the fact that you were trying to make being gay illegal snd brainwash us in to thinking that gender is binary because you believe it’s unnatural. Being gay is not a choice we were literally born this way choose to be gay.

THIS IS WHY WE HAVE PRIDE MONTH.

THIS IS WHY STONEWALL HAPPENED.

We didn’t feel seen or heard so we MADE you see and hear us. Things to Marsha P Johnson throwing that rock in t that window. You a real one.

Nobody chose to be transgender or non-binary. Nobody chose to be born into the wrong body and you guys refuse to see this because you guys are refusing to educate yourself because you think all of this is unnatural. When a transgender person is born it’s literally like the wrong switch was turned on in their brain. They were born as a boy but they believe that their a girl are vice versa. People were born this way. It’s not a decision that they make. They can’t fucking help it.

Next thing you know y’all are gonna make corrective rape legal because you can’t separate the church from the State.

As a Black disabled woman who identifies as non-binary and has experienced the uncomfortableness of gender dysphoria or being told that you’re too pretty to be this masculine. You need to grow your hair out. You need to act more feminine, you need a man or you’re going to hell for being gay.

I say this with the upmost sincerity, fuck you. I can’t wait for the day where all you die and rot in hell.

To Greg Abbott,

I do not consider you my Governor, nor do I respect you. Just as I expect you could never find it in yourself to respect someone like me (a growing majority of young, empathetic, and progressive Texans).

That said, here is a reminder that you were voted in by less than 5% of Texas' voting eligible population during your first primary. Then you continued to decrease voting rights as you still fight to do. Your influence and corrupted power have gone unchecked for too long. You and your minority of the state population will soon run out of influence.

I sincerely hope you lose the election this November.

- A highly concerned citizen of the United States

[belaborthepoint]

Vice Presidential Debate 2020

SUSAN PAGE: Welcome to the first, and thankfully only, vice presidential debate of 2020. It is my honor to moderate this debate, a messy and chaotic charade that's such an important part of our democracy. We have a small audience here tonight, in part because of covid, and also because no one wanted to come. No one here tonight wants to be here, but with a lot of encouragement they have agreed to express enthusiasm two times. Senator Harris, let's start with you. Please talk about some concrete things that the Biden administration will do to handle covid. You have two minutes.

KAMALA HARRIS: Thank you, Susan. I think instead I'd like to use these two minutes as an opportunity to summarize all the ways that Trump has mishandled the virus. Biden probably does have some ideas, but I will not tell you any of them. Just know that he will do things, and I believe he will do them well.

SUSAN PAGE: Um. Okay. Vice President Pence, I'll give you an opportunity to answer a question. Why is the U.S. death toll higher than that of like every other wealthy country?

MIKE PENCE: Thank you, Susan. I will not answer that, but what I will do is tell you that under President Trump's leadership, Operation Warp Speed, we have something called Operation Warp Speed, which is totally badass. I think ultimately Americans will be proud to have died for their country. Thoughts and prayers to all the families of people who died solely due to our negligence.

SUSAN PAGE: Vice President Pence, your administration has made a mockery of the national response to covid. You don't wear masks and you don't social distance and now Trump has covid himself and is actively exposing other people. How do you expect the American people to take this seriously if you don't?

MIKE PENCE: Well, thankfully most of the country is composed of people who are more intelligent, thoughtful, and compassionate than us, and we trust that they will do the right thing. I have to believe this. President Trump and I are pieces of living human garbage, and if I didn't trust that most people out there are actually decent human beings, I wouldn't sleep at night. I just have to believe that we are the very worst that humanity has to offer if I want to have hope for the future.

SUSAN PAGE: Cool. So, for both of you, have you talked to the guys about if they die because they’re old/one of them has covid?

MIKE PENCE: I appreciate that question, but I would like to go back--

SUSAN PAGE: I would prefer if you answered the question actually.

MIKE PENCE: I respect that you feel that way, and instead I will not do that. Senator Harris, I'd just like to say that a lot of people got sick with a cold under Obama's leadership, and if the common cold were as bad as covid, literally millions upon millions of people would die. Lots of people get the cold, and they would all die.

KAMALA HARRIS: Okay?

MIKE PENCE: Also, I think I would be remiss if I didn't remind all of us about the Plague of Justinian that killed 25 million people from the year 541 to 542. The bubonic plague RAVAGED Europe, and where was Barack Obama then? Nowhere to be seen.

SUSAN PAGE: ....alright. Senator Harris, would you be willing to answer the question that Vice President Pence so ineptly evaded?

KAMALA HARRIS: I would not. But speaking of aging and death, I'd like to talk about life, my life, and some highlights from it. Life is so precious. Here one day and gone the next. Which is why it's so important to take stock of the times in our lives that we felt truly happy, because happiness is ephemeral. It's something we can't grasp with our hands, like a butterfly. It's a chimera of a memory of a moment, and we have to hold onto it. When Joe Biden asked me to be his vice president, it was on a zoom call. Haha, anyone here use zoom? Haha just kidding. But it was a zoom call, and it reminded me of my mother, and the day I came out of her sack of flesh that is a human body. It's beautiful, but also gross and weird. But everyone was crying, because I was a baby who became born, and that's amazing.

SUSAN PAGE: I don't even know why I'm here. Okay, well, we're supposed to be talking about the economy now, if that matters to anyone.

MIKE PENCE: Thank you so much, Susan. What Joe Biden wants to do is to tax people. He will tax you. He will take a portion of your money and use it to invest in PUBLIC SERVICES.

KAMALA HARRIS: Yes, correct.

MIKE PENCE: What? No, we don't like that. He will use YOUR MONEY to build ROADS and LIBRARIES and invest in EDUCATION.

KAMALA HARRIS: Yeah.

MIKE PENCE: Uh, uh, okay, hold on, okay, he's also going to BAN. FRACKING.

KAMALA HARRIS: He will do no such thing.

MIKE PENCE: He wants to ABOLISH. FOSSIL. FUELS.

KAMALA HARRIS: No he doesn't!!! We like the fossil fuel industry!!!!!

SUSAN PAGE: Vice President Pence, do you believe that climate change is related to the fact that the climate is changing?

MIKE PENCE: Nope. I believe that the air and stuff are all actually very clean, not in spite of, but because of capitalism. The free market economy is actually the reason why the earth is in such good shape.

SUSAN PAGE: Huh. Okay, let's talk about China. President Trump is a racist. Can you speak to that?

MIKE PENCE: I am also racist and xenophobic, and those are values that are important to me. Joe Biden, however, doesn't hate China that much, which is bad. He actually likes China. He's obsessed with it. He's also a gay cheerleader. He's a cheerleader for gay communists. Biden has been a cheerleader for communist China for years, ever since he joined the intramural adult cheerleading squad for people who love communism. He literally goes to China and wears one of those little skirts even though he's a dude, and he waves pom poms around and does splits and has people throw him up in the air while he shouts good things about Mao Zedong. In his fifth year on the squad, the whole group got matching tattoos of Chairman Mao on their lower backs, and it was all Joe Biden's idea.

SUSAN PAGE: We've seen strains in our relationship with China. Senator Harris, what's your definition of the role of American leadership in 2020?

KAMALA HARRIS: Thank you, Susan. I like that you use the word 'relationship,' cause I think it really is all about relationships. I talk about this with Joe a lot, and how how important friendship is, and how you have to trust your friends. You have to be honest and loyal to them, Susan, because they are your friends. And that's what it's all about.

SUSAN PAGE: Uh, okay. Moving on, Vice President Pence, if Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed as a supreme court judge and Roe v. Wade is overturned, would you want your home state to ban all abortions?

MIKE PENCE: That's a really interesting question, Susan, but I think I'll just take this time to say that everyone who practices Islam is a terrorist and Joe Biden loves terrorists. Joe Biden created an entirely different intramural adult cheerleading squad so he could be a cheerleader for Osama bin Laden, because he's obsessed with terrorism. Also, I hope you don't treat Amy Coney Barrett like you did Justice Kavanaugh, whom you criticized and bullied relentlessly just because he's a rapist. If Amy Coney Barrett turns out to be a rapist, I hope you'll give her the respect she deserves. Also, if you critique the pro-life movement it means that you're intolerant of Christianity and you hate religion.

SUSAN PAGE: Senator Harris, same question: if Roe v. Wade is overturned, what would you want California to do?

KAMALA HARRIS: Okay, I just need to make it very clear that Joe Biden and I both believe in God and we're really into going to church. Joe Biden is a Catholic, and I am extremely proud to be friends with him. Catholic men have been persecuted in this country for too long and I'm so happy to say that soon we will have a Catholic man serving as president of these United States of America. But yeah, obviously women should have control over their bodies.

MIKE PENCE: Joe Biden and Kamala Harris murder babies.

SUSAN PAGE: Maybe we should talk about actual murder. Senator Harris, on the subject of racial justice, do you think it's okay that the cops who killed Breonna Taylor aren't being indicted?

KAMALA HARRIS: No, obviously not. We need to reform our criminal justice system.

SUSAN PAGE: Vice President Pence?

MIKE PENCE: Well, you know, it's an interesting question. I think that...death...is....not good. I do not love it when any person dies. It is not my favorite thing by a long shot. That being said, I think the most important thing is that we have blind faith in our incredibly broken justice system, and they said that everything was fine here. So was it wrong that she died? No. And frankly I think it's rude that you would disrespect cops by condemning the act of murder that they committed.

KAMALA HARRIS: Dude, I love cops. I AM a cop. I just think they shouldn't murder people. And I think that if we make it so that they're not allowed to, they will stop.

MIKE PENCE: Why are we talking about human life right now when we should be addressing the real issue at hand which is destruction of property? Killing human beings is one thing, but destroying property? Reprehensible. The only time I've ever been ashamed to be an American is when I spoke personally to the CEO of Target and saw the grief that he and his family were experiencing at the hands of rioters and looters. Those looters have the blood of private property on their hands. I mean, you know, not literal blood, but like, the stuff that buildings are made of.

KAMALA HARRIS: Why can't you just condemn white supremacy? It's really not hard.

MIKE PENCE: Because we ARE white supremacists.

KAMALA HARRIS: Oh, true. Also you have a fly on your head.

FLY: Greetings.

MIKE PENCE: Okay but should we talk about your history with criminal justice reform? Cause it's also not great.

KAMALA HARRIS: It's fine. You still have a fly on your head.

FLY: Howdy.  

SUSAN PAGE: Yeah, there is totally a fly on your head, dude. Now I want to address the fact that Donald Trump will refuse to leave office even if he loses the election. Senator Harris, do you have a plan for if that happens?

KAMALA HARRIS: I think everyone should vote.

SUSAN PAGE: Yeah, but--

KAMALA HARRIS: Everyone needs to vote. Voting is extremely important, and you should do it.

SUSAN PAGE: But do you have a plan for--

KAMALA HARRIS: Voting.

SUSAN PAGE: Okay, whatever. Vice President Pence, what will you personally do if Trump loses the election and refuses to accept it?

MIKE PENCE: He's not going to lose so I actually don't need to think about that.

SUSAN PAGE: Yeah but if he does--

MIKE PENCE: He's not gonna.

SUSAN PAGE: But IF--

MIKE PENCE: Nope. Not gonna happen. I would also like to say that when Joe Biden was vice president, he made the FBI spy on us and our campaign. They had a little man that they shrunk down to fit inside of my pocket and listen to what I said with a little tiny ear trumpet, and he wrote it all down on a small notepad. They spied on us, and if Joe Biden is president he will make lots of small men to climb in people's pockets and spy on the American people. It is unethical and I will not stand for it. But it's fine because Joe Biden will not win.

SUSAN PAGE: Well tonight was a massive waste of time. To conclude this spectacle, we're going to ask a question from an 8th grader. It's not a real question so don't worry about coming up with anything substantial, just say some nice stuff to end the night on a good note. This question is from Brecklyn.

BRECKLYN: It makes me sad when people don't get along. Why can't people just get along?

MIKE PENCE: Brecklyn, that question was dumb as shit. But it was also beautiful, and the only question I will actually bother to answer. Brecklyn, sometimes your friend is a white supremacist. Sometimes, your cousin has blue hair and is a lesbian. But at the end of the day, we all want to smile and hold hands in a circle, because underneath our skin, we all have bones and muscles, and they can look different, but we're all made of the same stuff. We're all made of stars. And that's America. Thank you, Brecklyn.

KAMALA HARRIS: Yes, that's an excellent question. And Brecklyn, I want to tell you that Joe Biden also feels sad sometimes. If I know anything about Joe Biden, it's that he is a human man. He's literally a living human person, which means that he has experienced emotions. He has felt a lot of emotions such as sadness, joy, anger, that specific kind of secondhand embarrassment that you feel for fictional characters on tv, and lots of other human feelings, because he's a person. He's not a lizard, he's not a small pile of rocks, and he's not a piece of wallpaper. He is a human person. THAT'S America.

SUSAN PAGE: Cool, thanks. Well that's that. We hope you'll join us for another presidential debate next week if Trump is alive and has somehow recovered from covid. Which we want. We wish him a, uh, recovery. Goodnight everyone.

[megacircuit9universe]

Cage Match

FRI SEP 18 2020

I really did want to keep my posting to just once a week or less. Every time I do one, I risk oversleeping and being late for work the next day.

And today, when I woke up and checked my phone, to see that Trump had announced he was going ahead with the TikTok ban, ordering it to be out of the app stores by Sunday... I figured that could wait until next week to talk about.

Users who already have the app installed on their devices will still be able to use it, and a full crackdown (the execution of which is legally murky) isn’t slated to begin until mid November, after the election... and thus might not happen at all, or... might only be a few months long, should Biden win.

But then, just around sunset, I received a notification on my phone that Ruth Bader Ginsberg had died.

We all knew she was 87, and had been in and out of the hospital battling cancer over the past few years... so this shouldn’t have been too big a shock, but... we all prayed to Jesus, Mary, and God that she would make it to 2021 at least.

Trump has already gotten two conservative justices into the Supreme Court... the first thanks to McConnell refusing to hold any hearings for Obama’s last nominee, Garland, in March of 2016, because a general election was happening in just eight short months... and the second, after Justice Kennedy retired unexpectedly, under shady circumstances.*

Even if it’s not true that Kennedy was pressured to retire by Trump, who had dirt on his son... you cannot say that blocking Garland was fair, unless you agree that it’s also fair now, to hold off on any hearings to replace RBG until after the current general election, which is only six weeks away.

But that didn’t stop Mitch McConnell from coming out only ONE HOUR after the death of RBG today, and saying the Senate will definitely hold confirmation hearings for her replacement as soon as possible.

In the second hour after her death, her body still warm, not yet stiff, Republican trolls went out on Twitter and all other social media, like hounds, released to justify the immediate confirmaton of whoever Trump nominates to replace her, calling to bypass hearings altogether... because look what a circus the Democrats made of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, right?

Democrats had to immediately strike back, rolling clip after clip of McConnell, and Graham, from 2016... still in their PRESENT TERMS expounding upon the public’s sacred right to have a say in any Supreme Court nomination, so close to a Presidential election.  My oh me... how could anybody disagree?

These are not clips of young Graham and young McConnell from 1996, arguing for impeachment... against their gray haired selves from 2019 saying impeachment is wrong... this was four years ago Graham and McConnell arguing against themselves from earlier in the self-same six-year term they were last elected to... for which both are up today, for reelection.

But the hypocrisy of the impeachment example only serves to magnify the hypocrisy of the moment for both of them. And in the present political climate... with Trump just having been exposed on Tape admitting to a caronavirus cover up, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives... voters are keenly taking note.

Both of these guys, two of Trumps top sycophants in the Senate, have enjoyed decades of easy congressional races in safely red states against weak, token opponents who stood no chance of beating them.

But in 2020, that’s not been exactly the case. Both these assholes have had to spend some real money, and sweat a little, as, for the first time in their careers, polls have been showing their opponents within striking distance of unseating them.  And that was before today.

I hinted in the last entry that Trumps exposure by Woodward justified his impeachment.  Why?  He was impeached for holding back despirately needed weapons to an ally, unless he got some falsely manufactured dirt for his reelection in exchange, and he did not care how many Ukranian lives were lost as a result.

But, GOP senators failed to remove him and, when Caronavirus came along a few months later, Trump witheld PPE and ventilators from American governors, and left all American citizens hanging out to dry, even on the basic informational level about the threat... again, for the sake of reelection.

They should have removed him, but they couldn’t, because they’d already removed their testacles and handed them up to him in a slavish offering of cult loyalty... and now, here they are... trying to fuck us over again, in the eleveth hour, to replace a Supreme Court Justice who... even as I write... is days away from having a proper wake... much less a burial.

But this is not just because of slave-ball oaths to an authoritarian spank daddy... the GOP has been salivating about overturning Roe V Wade since long before Trump joined their ranks, and now... like Golem, from LOTR, hissing and salivating over the One Ring... they see it within their grasp!

PRECIOUS!!!

This is why, an hour after her eyes went cold, the 2020 election turned into a no-holds-barred political cage match to the death, tonight.

Dust clouds are billowing... people are breaking kitchen sinks over one anothers heads... spitting out teeth after getting punched... then jumping up to go at it some more.

The big questions here are:

1) What happens to the nation if they do replace Ginsberg immediately?

2) How will this affect the voter turnout on November 3rd?

3) How will the shift in the balance of the Supreme Court affect the outcome of the election, should Trump sue to challenge the results when he loses?

4) How are we all not going to die?

The big answer is... it all depends on how big a win Biden gets on election night.  If biden loses... or it’s too close to call... or  only wins by a slim margin in one state... or only wins by a slim margin in two states... we are all royally fucked up the ass.

If that’s the case, then, even if Ginsberg’s replacement wasn’t already rammed through, he will be, and then the election results will go straight to the new Supreme Court, who will rule in favor of Trump, and then he’ll effectively be King.

Because... with the Supreme Court behind him, and with his second term a go, he’ll invalidate the House and Senate election results in the months before the new House and Senate can come in... and once he’s stacked congress in his favor, he’ll be invincible.

On the other hand...

If Biden wins a decisive victory on November 3rd... over 270 in the Electoral College, with all the states that gave him those electoral votes, having done so by large margins that can’t rationally be contested...

Then even if Trump has replaced Ginsberg, the Supreme Court will refuse to hear any challenges to the election results, and the Military will recognize Biden as President Elect.  The House will continue to resist, having potentially grown stronger, and the lame duck Senate... possibly housing a lot of lame duck Republican Senators, will stand down... taking solace that they packed one extra conservative Justice into the court before their ride was over.

And then, when the new Congress comes in, with Democratic majorities in both houses (because this would be the case if enough Democratic voters turned out to give Biden a decisive victory on election night) they’d expand the number of Supreme Court Justices from 9 to 11... or 13... to mitigate the nighmare scenario where Roe V Wade gets overturned, etc.

So...

Which outcome is more likely?  A solid win for Biden on election night?  Or a contestable win / outright loss for Biden?

Presuming that voter suppression, and foreign tampering are turned up to 11, in favor of Trump... can Democrats so overwhelm the polls that Biden still gets that decisive victory?

Well... in some other year, probably not.

But in 2020, probably yes.

Why?

Well, for starters, all the anti-abortion voters already always vote in every election.  You can’t scare up any more of them to get to the polls, because they’re already, always at 100% attendance... primaries, generals, federal, state, gubenertorial, mayoral, dog-catchorial. 

So, the long awaited (from their perspective) death of evil RGB, will not change that base line.

On the other hand, the long dreaded death of RGB, will bring out legions more young women, between 18 and 35, who do not want Roe V Wade overturned.

The banning of TikTok... which Trump also committed to today... will bring out legions of voters, 18 to 35, who are feeling very keenly the threat to their free speech and expression that this move represents.

And this is on top of all the voters, young and old, who normally don’t vote, who were already champing at the bit to defeat Trump and his junta for a thousand other contemporary reasons, from Covid19, to protest crackdowns, to calling all fallen soldiers suckers and losers, and on.

Very few extra right wing votes will be cast on election night, in comparisson, by crackdown supporters, or people who want to see more denigration of war heros.

In short, the cage match atmosphere that the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg has now created for this election... Doesn’t do much to help an anti-abortion turnout that’s already maxed out.  But it does motivate pro-choice turnout like crazy, especially among young women who are facing a life of oppression if they don’t get out there.

And that same dynamic goes for all younger voters, and all armchair liberals of older generations... for related reasons.

And these people are overwhelmingly white, and middle to upper class... meaning that voter suppression techniques, and foreign tampering won’t affect them.  They are a sleeping army, immune to such tactics.

Voter suppression targets minority people of color and the poor.  Foreign social engineering techniques target the poorly educated, and mentally ill.

That worked in 2016, when the electorate was snoozing... didn’t want any part of the drama... when Millenials were apathetic, and Gen Z was too young. 

The world has changed in four years.  A lot!

So, it’s time for bed again, but I do see a clear pathway for dramatic change on November 3rd... and the TikTok ban, and the death of RBG only intensify the potential for a sound smack down of Trumpism, and hyper-conservatism.

*Justice Kennedy’s son Justin, who became the head of real estate capital markets at Deutsche Bank, worked closely with Trump in the years before his presidency, swinging him billion dollar loans at a time when no other bank would loan to Trump.  

Such dealings were almost certainly criminal to some degree, and so it is speculated that Justice Kennedy resigned to avoid a scandal.

Calls were made for the Judiciary Committee to investigate, before the Senate held any hearings to nominate Kavanaugh as his replacement, but they were steamrolled.

[weeklywtf-blog]

January 29, 2017

For those of you following along at home: it's been a deranged week. It started off with Kellyanne Conway's bogus introduction of "alternative facts" (straight from the alternate universe that Tiny Hands tweets from), lead to a lone park ranger championing a social media coup in 140 characters or less, and finally, just yesterday, he really did it you guys, he banned Muslims. Here at WWTF we are just as astounded, bewildered, mind-boggled, confounded and astonished as you are, but we've done our best to list the top five most utterly insane moments for your reading (dis)pleasure.

1) The Mexico City Policy was first established in 1984 by the Reagan Administration. It forbids the United States from providing funding to any international nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortions as part of comprehensive family planning services. Why it matters: It's a fact that often seems to slip pro-lifers' collective minds but a piece of legislation called the Hyde amendment, introduced in the 1970's, banned the use of taxpayer dollars or federal funds for abortion services, except in cases of rape, incest, or maternal life endangerment. Before the Mexico City policy, NGOs that provided abortions could continue to accept funding from the United States as long as that money was kept separate from anything abortion related. Now, with the reintroduction, any NGO that provided abortion services would be forced to forfeit US dollars. This is a BIG deal because the United States is currently THE largest donor to global healthcare causes. Marie Stopes International, a women's health services organization operating in 37 countries, estimates that just in the next 4 years this policy could be the catalyst to 6.5 million unintended pregnancies, 2.1 million unsafe abortions, and 21,700 maternal deaths.  Read More: here and here.

2) Badlands Against the Cheeto In the aftermath of a temporary social media blackout imposed upon the Environmental Protection Agency by the Trump administration; one rogue employee at the Badlands National Park used the official twitter to spout some climate change truth bombs before apparently being shut down. The tweets were later removed from the account but the screenshots and the anonymous employee will live forever in internet infamy.  Why it matters: Donald Trump has made his opinions on climate change quite clear: in that he's not all that worried about it and he's pretty sure “China made it up”. Hey Donald, tell that to the babies in Madagascar who have never taken a bath.

3) All that Crumbles: Trump & his F*cking Wall On the campaign trail Donald Trump's prized plan for making America great again was introduced in the form of a 1,900 mile wall along the southern border of the United States and Mexico. Trump admonished his rabid fans with promises of a "gorgeous wall", a "beautiful wall", and best of all, a wall funded by the country of Mexico. Trumpers everywhere reveled in cement and rebar themed dreams. Why it matters: Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has been particularly outspoken in his vigorous opposition to the idea, he refers to the revered wall as a "racist monument". Current Mexican President Nieto canceled a meeting with Trump after Tiny Hands tweeted this: "The U.S. has a 60 billion dollar trade deficit with Mexico. It has been a one-sided deal from the beginning of NAFTA with massive numbers of jobs and companies lost. If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly need wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting." Since the meeting that wasn't, Trump has advanced the idea of a 20% import tax on Mexican goods to pay for the wall. Taxpayers and Republicans alike are in anguish; Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is particularly worried about the margaritas. The rest of us, well, we weren't interested in this GD wall in the first place, and certainly not if the price we have to pay is jacked up prices for shots of Patron. Viva tequila.

4) Pence the Pusher Pence is a self-proclaimed "evangelical Catholic" and he's already begun to push his pro-life agenda by becoming the highest ranking official to ever address the crowds at the annual March for Life in Washington on Friday. Kellyanne Conway also spoke, delivering the message that the right to life is "not a privilege". Why it matters: The current administration is expected to move forward with anti-abortion policies: the looming threat to defund planned parenthood and the terrifying possibility that a conservative Supreme Court appointment could give rise to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. What's most concerning about Pence, Kellyanne, and their ironic new catchphrase "life is winning" is that it's not. These pro-choice shamers are not pro-life, they are pro-birth; and after that, well, who cares, they've done their Christian duty. They are worried that the child is born, not that it grows up with equal access to healthcare and education. They insist that all life is sacred, and yet they turn their backs on refugees. The hypocrisy is stunning. Take it from Texas: the state that did defund Planned Parenthood and is now the shamefaced population with the highest maternal death rates in the DEVELOPED world: women's health services are necessary and abortion is a medical procedure not a talking point for Christian conservatives. 

5) Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States is the frilly name for what Americans have been calling the "Muslim Ban" since Trump's chaos-inducing executive order went into effect late Friday night. Why it matters: The order is yuuuuge slap in the face to the set of ideals that this nation was built upon. The Statue of Liberty boasts: from her beacon-hand, glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command, the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. "Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses hearing to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my limp beside the golden door!" With a few slashes of his presidential pen the Cheezit in Charge has added a final stanza to the famous poem which will permanently freeze Syrian resettlement in the United States and has put a temporary ban on the travel of citizens from six, mostly-muslim nations: Libya, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Somalia. Americans have been protesting and collaborating around the clock in response to this poorly executed order; lawyers showing up to JFK, Dulles, and Boston Logan to offer their services free of charge. In the midst of a mess of detained foreign nationals, bumbling border patrol and customs agents, and airport protests around the country, Trump quietly demoted the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence and invited his top political advisor, Steve Bannon, to a permanent position on the National Security Council. If that sentence doesn't make you shiver find out why it should here.

[leftpress]

TRUMP PREPARES VICIOUS ATTACKS – WE MUST PREPARE MASSIVE RESISTANCE

January 3, 2017 | By Calvin Priest, Philip Locker and Tom Crean

Trump’s victory in the presidential election was a profound shock to tens of millions of progressive workers, young people, immigrants, women, people of color, Muslims, and LGBTQ people across the U.S. The target list of Trump’s administration has become clearer. This is compounded by a rise in hate crimes around the country since the election. The enormous fear and anger in many communities is only increasing.

Trump’s reckless and undisciplined nature has also opened up real divisions in the ruling class itself, with a large section fearing that he could damage their interests domestically and internationally. This division was seen most recently in Trump’s dismissal of the CIA announcement that the Russian government was behind the hacking of the Democratic National Committee. This brought a sharp rebuke from key Republican leaders.

Many are waiting to see how events unfold or hoping against hope that Trump will see reason and moderate his positions. But the plans to deport three million people, target Muslim immigrants for “extreme vetting,” criminalize dissent, and nominate a Supreme Court justice who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and shred union rights in the public sector are not idle threats.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets across the country in the weeks after the election. Socialist Alternative called many of the first protests, which were dominated by young people. But now we are seeing wider forces preparing for what will be truly massive protests around Trump’s inauguration, particularly the Women’s March on Washington, D.C. on January 21. We and Socialist Students are also focusing on building student walkouts across the country linked to actions around the world on the actual day of the inauguration, January 20, which could become the biggest coordinated student actions since the Vietnam War (see Why We’re Walking Out Against Trump).

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No Mandate

The truth is that Trump’s racist, misogynist agenda does not have a popular mandate. Despite winning in the undemocratic Electoral College, Trump received only 46% of the popular vote and 2.9 million fewer votes than Clinton.

The huge political and social polarization in the U.S. remains. Big sections of society moved to the left in recent years. This was expressed in Occupy, the fight for $15, Black Lives Matter, mass support for marriage equality and, more recently, for the struggle of Native people against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Without doubt, the most dramatic expression of this trend was the support for Bernie Sanders. Millions, especially young people, supported Sanders’ call for a political revolution against the billionaire class. At the end of the day, Clinton’s status quo campaign had no appeal to those hostile to the ruling elite and failed to energize and mobilize progressive Americans in sufficient numbers, despite the fear of Trump. As the roughly 54% election turnout showed, tens of millions of Americans simply saw no point in choosing between the two most unpopular presidential candidates in the country’s history.

This has led to the situation where the right now controls the White House, as well as both houses of Congress. In 23 states, the Republicans have control of all three branches of government. This gives the right enormous institutional power. There is also the real danger of an energized hard right sinking roots. But there is huge potential strength in the opposition to Trump, especially if the social power of the working class can be brought to bear. Trump’s agenda is beatable, but it will require the most profound social struggle since the Civil Rights and antiwar movements of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Trump’s Appointments

Despite Trump’s talk of “healing divisions” from the campaign, his emerging agenda and his appointments to cabinet and adviser positions in the White House point to the most reactionary administration since at least Ronald Reagan. Among his closest advisers are Steve Bannon from Breitbart News, which has provided cover for the “white nationalist” far right, while his key security adviser, General Michael Kelly, is a crackpot who believes Islam is a “cancer.”

For Secretary of Education, he has appointed an enemy of public education; for Secretary of Labor, he appointed a fast-food executive and enemy of raising the minimum wage; for Secretary of the Interior, he appointed a sworn enemy of emissions controls on coal-fired plants.

He said he would “drain the swamp” of Washington insiders and corporate hacks and then brought in a Goldman Sachs executive to be Treasury Secretary. Besides swamp monsters he has stuffed the cabinet with billionaires. The Daily Mail (12/16/16) reports that his cabinet will have a higher net worth than the bottom third of American households combined! This from a guy who said he was going to represent the “forgotten men and women” of the working class!

Trump’s Agenda Becomes Clearer

We need to be clear about the multiple threats a Trump administration poses to working people and minorities.

He intends to deliver on his promise to rapidly deport three million immigrants. If successful, Trump will do in months what it took the Obama administration eight years to accomplish, as it deported 2.7 million people. There will also be a special focus on Muslim immigrants under the cover of “fighting ISIS,” with “extreme vetting” for all people from a list of “Muslim” countries.

Trump will nominate a right-wing justice to the Supreme Court who will be committed to going after Roe v. Wade, and he may be in a position to make a further appointment in the next four years. This comes after years of relentless attacks on women’s reproductive rights by Republican-dominated Southern state legislatures, which is now spreading to the Midwest.

Unions and union rights will be targeted, especially in the public sector. Trump’s team sees Scott Walker’s successful campaign to eviscerate public-sector unions in Wisconsin as a model. But the administration’s more immediate target will probably be the unions representing federal employees and those workers’ rights and benefits. They undoubtedly see the federal workforce as a “soft target” that will not elicit much sympathy. If they succeed, it will allow them to ramp up the anti-union campaign more broadly.

Trump will gut environmental protection in the name of “bringing back jobs” in the energy sector and beyond. This will effectively be a huge handout to the world’s largest oil companies. Despite campaign rhetoric, the coal industry actually collapsed due to market factors, especially the extremely low price of oil and natural gas, not “over-regulation.” Trump will seek to reverse the victory against DAPL.

Trump will support the rollback of Obamacare, which will deprive millions of health insurance – especially if the Republicans succeed in reversing the extension of Medicaid. They may try to privatize Medicare. We must oppose all these attacks while pointing toward a single-payer system that can provide health care for all.

Trump knows he will face massive opposition, and he will seek to criminalize dissent. This is part of what’s behind his ominous talk about a “law and order” offensive. He will go after the Black Lives Matter movement specifically. Former Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, a key Trump ally, has described BLM as “inherently racist” and “un-American.”

But in addition to his reactionary agenda, Trump will also push populist measures like infrastructure spending and paid parental leave. He will halt negotiation of further trade deals as part of a protectionist shift. At this point, the Trans Pacific Partnership, which represented a serious threat to workers rights and the environment, is dead in the water. A section of the working class and middle class has real expectations based on Trump’s promises to bring back manufacturing and good jobs. They will be severely disappointed – but perhaps not immediately.

The Lessons of the Past

The stakes now are extremely high. Trump will seek to inflict severe and demoralizing defeats by picking off one target at a time. All sections of society targeted by Trump must therefore unite their forces from the start.

The old slogan of the labor movement – “an injury to one is an injury to all” – was never more relevant. And the labor movement has a key role to play in this situation. Despite its long retreat, the unions still represent 16 million workers and retain strength in some industrial sectors – but especially the public sector and in key cities that will be central to the resistance against Trump. The social power of working people uniting to build a mass movement must be counterposed to the institutional power of the right. The mass protests around the inauguration are a crucial first step. But we must draw critical lessons from previous battles against the right wing to prepare for the situation after January 20.

In 1981, the air traffic controllers’ union PATCO went on strike for better working conditions. President Ronald Reagan turned this conflict into a showdown with the labor movement as a whole by firing all PATCO members – despite their endorsement of him in the 1980 election!

There was an enormous willingness in the still-strong labor movement to fight back. Labor Day in 1981 saw 250,000 workers march in Washington, D.C. with the PATCO workers at their head. But the union leadership criminally refused to extend the strike and PATCO was smashed, putting the labor movement decisively on the defensive. The defeat is what is remembered, but what is equally important is that Reagan could have been beaten. A PATCO victory would have changed the entire dynamic and encouraged the development of a mass movement to defeat the rest of Reagan’s neoliberal agenda.

In 2006, the Republican-dominated House passed the Sensenbrenner Bill, which threatened mass deportations of all undocumented workers in the U.S. and made it a crime to help them. This sparked the biggest mass demonstrations in U.S. history, including the May 1 “Day Without an Immigrant,” which had elements of a general strike of Latino immigrant workers. The movement beat back the bill and also pushed back anti-immigrant attitudes for a period. Although many were sympathetic with the stand of millions of immigrants demanding citizenship rights and “equal rights for all workers,” the native-born working class largely stood on the sidelines. This allowed the Bush administration to eventually savagely repress the movement, especially those immigrant workers who were actively moving to unionize.

In 2011, in Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature moved to impose savage cutbacks in education and also cripple public-sector unions by stripping their right to collectively bargain over anything besides wages. This was the most serious frontal attack on the labor movement since the PATCO strike. In early 2011, tens of thousands marched in Madison, the state capitol, on a weekly basis, and the capitol building itself was occupied for weeks on end.

Beating Walker required escalating the movement. Socialist Alternative argued for a one-day public-sector general strike as a first step in this direction. There was an enormous positive response to this idea from workers, but the national leadership of the AFL-CIO, as in 1981, put on the brakes. Rather than escalate, they de-escalated and campaigned to recall Walker to get a Democrat elected. This strategy failed comprehensively and Walker is still in office today.

As in 1981, 2006, and 2011, the right can be beaten but only with an effective strategy and an utterly determined leadership.

The Right Is Beatable

There are several factors that can help the movement against Trump. First of all, right-wing ideology is weaker in society today than in the 1980s when neoliberalism had a real base of social support, including within sections of the working and middle classes. The far right is emboldened by Trump’s victory, but their social base is still very weak.

Also, as pointed out earlier, the ruling class remains, on the whole, deeply unhappy about Trump’s accession to power. They see him as potentially highly damaging to their global and domestic interests. It is true that Wall Street is enthused about his proposals to further cut taxes for the super-rich and to repeal financial regulation. But there is a real possibility of global and domestic recession in the next period, which would throw a Trump administration into deep crisis.

With or without a recession, sections of the ruling class could begin to exert real pressure against Trump, especially if he overreaches and provokes effective mass resistance. They would do this in the wider interest of the system and precisely to cut across a mass movement from below. In this context, it is significant that a number of Democratic big city mayors are promising to resist attempts to ban “sanctuary cities” for immigrants, despite Trump’s threats to cut federal funding. Governor Cuomo of New York, a reliable ally of Wall Street, even declared that he, as the grandson of immigrants, should be deported first.

But where was Cuomo as the Obama administration ramped up deportations to record levels? We cannot rely on corporate Democrats, whose anti-working-class policies have driven so many into the arms of the right. Instead, a mass movement against Trump must be centered on the social power of working people mobilized to fight for their own independent class interests.

Working-Class Unity Against the Right

The liberal media has written a lot lately about the “white working class,” either vilifying it as one reactionary mass in lockstep behind Trump, or trying to “understand” its concerns. We have consistently rejected the narrative that the support for Trump is simply motivated by racism and sexism, although that is a real factor for a section of his supporters. We have repeatedly pointed out that Trump, through a right-wing populist and nationalist appeal, tapped into the anger at the effects of neoliberalism and globalization, especially the massive loss of manufacturing jobs. This was partly the result of trade deals like NAFTA. According to the Economic Policy Institute, five million manufacturing jobs were lost in the U.S. between 2000 and 2014.

But neither are we blind to the fact that Trump’s open racism, xenophobia, and misogyny resonated with a section of his supporters. This is not the first time in history that the accumulated failures of the left and the labor leadership have opened the door to dangerous right-wing ideas. This situation can be reversed with a determined mass movement that speaks directly to the common interests of all sections of the working class and firmly opposes racism and sexism.

The truth is that the Democratic Party establishment has lost the ability to even pretend to speak to working people’s interests, whether white, black, or Latino. What was notable in this election was not just a limited – and frequently exaggerated – turn by white workers to the Republicans, but the lack of enthusiasm among young black workers for the Democrats and, incredibly, a nearly 30% vote for Trump among Latinos.

While some will seek to dismiss Trump supporters as one reactionary mass, it is clear that if we are serious about building a movement to defeat the right, this will require articulating a program that speaks to the needs of working people generally, and through fighting for that program, winning over sections of Trump’s base. Can this be done? Sanders’ poll numbers against Trump – significantly higher than Clinton’s – and the huge response he received for his pro-working-class program shows it can.

Another section of Trump’s base will not be reached. But it is possible to isolate and defeat the organized far-right forces, including the “alt-right” – which, though emboldened, at this point remain small and generally ineffectual.

Growing Push to “Take Back” the Democratic Party

A huge debate is opening up among workers and youth about how to defeat Trump and fight for genuinely progressive politics. Packed meetings of hundreds of people, including many organized by Socialist Alternative, are being held around the country.

One common idea is that we must combine the building of a movement against Trump with a determined effort to “take back” the Democratic Party and make it an instrument that represents the interests of ordinary people rather than Wall Street. This is the argument of Bernie Sanders and his Our Revolution group, as well as the dominant elements in the Democratic Socialists of America.

Given the divisions that have opened up in the Democratic Party due to their incredible failure to defeat the odious Trump, it is understandable why many would be attracted to this perspective. More than at any time in the past 40 years, the “centrist” neoliberal leadership of the party is on the defensive. The position of Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren has been strengthened. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has even responded to growing demands for change by backing the candidacy of Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Keith Ellison to lead the Democratic National Committee and by giving long-time independent Sanders a junior role in the party leadership.

But at the same time, the dominant wing of the party is pushing back hard against any idea of drawing lessons or responding to the massive anger at corporate politics. This is exemplified by Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s stunning denial of any need to take stock: “I don’t think people want a new direction” (RealClearPolitics.com, 12/4/2016).

Ellison’s campaign is running into fierce push-back from the Obama White House and key Democratic leaders. The race has now been upended, with Labor Secretary Tom Perez being brought in as a safe establishment alternative, and he is likely to become the new favorite. If Ellison is defeated, all three of the key leading positions in the party will continue to be filled by establishment Democrats.

The question of the character of the Democratic Party was sharply posed by Sanders’ historic campaign earlier this year, which was met by ferocious resistance. A total of 40 Democratic Senators opposed Sanders, while only 1 endorsed him. The lengths to which party leaders were prepared to go to stop Sanders’ pro-working-class campaign was revealed by Wikileaks.

We believe in the unity of the widest possible forces in common action against Trump’s attacks. But we strongly disagree with the view that the corporate Democratic Party can be turned into an instrument for working people. There is a mistaken idea promoted by some on the left that the Democrats once represented the interests of working people. This was never the case. The progressive policies often attributed to leaders like Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson were, in fact, concessions to the demands of powerful labor and social movements. FDR famously defended his New Deal policies to business leaders as necessary to forestall greater rebellions by workers, saying he was “the greatest friend American capitalism ever had.” LBJ, concerned about the growing revolt on his watch, bent to the enormous pressures of the Civil Rights Movement.

It is true that the party moved further to the right in the ‘80s and ‘90s, but this reflected the needs of capitalism in a new period, which had shifted to neoliberal policies in order to restore corporate profitability.

The Democratic Party is tied by a thousand threads to big business and Wall Street. While many reason that the existing framework of the party is valuable and makes reforming it easier than launching a new party, the opposite is true. The Democrats’ existing structures will be used as weapons against Our Revolution and other progressive reformers, as was already on display during the elections. To even have a chance at seriously challenging the Democratic leadership, Our Revolution and groups like it would themselves need to have a grassroots activist character, with local groups and democratic decision-making instead of the current top-down model. But this would actually point toward the outline of a new party.

As Sanders correctly said in the debates, you can’t serve the interests of both Wall Street and working people. A party that stands for the 99 percent must advance a bold anti-corporate, working-class agenda and be prepared to welcome the contempt of the billionaire class. It would need to require its elected representatives to refuse all corporate donations and accept only the average income of their constituents, like socialist Councilmember Kshama Sawant in Seattle. Most Democratic elected officials would choose to leave the party rather than accept this situation.

This is why we will continue to argue for a new party of the 99%. While there is no doubt that many good people will fight to reform the Democratic Party in the coming period, the corrupt party leadership will block any and all such attempts by whatever means necessary, in order to defend the interests of their big business allies. This will lead the best workers and activists to see the need for their own party, independent of all corporate cash and influence.

Huge Challenges Ahead

The enormous determination to fight back already being shown by hundreds of thousands of young people, women, people of color, and LGBTQ people points to the potential for building the biggest mass movement in American history, which can inflict a decisive blow to the right.

But to win we have to clearly understand the tasks posed and who our friends and enemies are. We need a clear strategy based on the social power of working people. Some might despair, given the conservative leadership of the existing unions. But there have also been real signs of life: the Verizon strike earlier this year was the biggest strike in nearly 20 years.

At the end of the day, Trump’s ascendancy is a reflection of the deep and growing crisis of the capitalist system, whose institutions have been deeply discredited during the last historical period and even more during this election cycle. Trump himself, though distasteful to many in the elite, is actually the perfect embodiment of the thoroughly corrupt, predatory nature of this social order.

The ruling class is divided, not sure how to respond. The economic collapse of 2008 and 2009 led to millions of jobs lost and homes foreclosed while the rich got richer. Along with the looming climate catastrophe and the exposure of searing racial injustice, this has led to a serious questioning of the system by millions of people.

Trump’s presidency will deepen the radicalization of sections of society. Poll after poll indicates growing support for socialism – especially among young people. Socialist Alternative is working toward forming a new socialist party, based on Marxist politics. The movement we are building will need a clear anti-capitalist, socialist force within it that argues for a working-class-centered struggle against Trump and the entire system, which has totally outlived its usefulness. If you agree, join us!

This is an updated version of this article that was published in Socialist Alternative #29 as three articles.

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