The Creep of Trumpism #244
By Hank Silverberg
My wife and I have raised two daughters who are now in their 30's. They are educated and productive young women of whom we are very proud. Like many of their generation, they are faced with problems we did not anticipate when they were born in the 1980's.
Both have staggering student loan debt, even though we had saved what we thought was a substantial amount of money and borrowed some ourselves to pay for their education. It wasn't enough.
We thought they were growing up in a world where women were finally going to be treated equally with men and where racism and sexism was slowly fading into history. We were wrong.
The conservative, white, Protestant male who has ruled with privilege for centuries just hasn't surrendered yet. In reality, they have launched a counter-offensive which denies women control of their own body and separates everyone by race, class and religion as much as they did in the 1950's. It may actually be more like the 1930's.
I write this as a disenchanted child of the 60's who just can't believe how little we have progressed in the last 50 years.
This week, in the middle of an election season which has dramatically highlighted a return to the past, I will focus again just a bit on what has gone wrong.
I will start with the media coverage of Donald Trump. He is a former president under constant fire for misdeeds in office, including his alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The man is a proven liar. I write that not as a comment from a partisan hack, but as a fact proven over and over again.
Trump lied about many things while in office and continues to lie to this day when he claims almost daily that the 2020 election was fraudulent. There is just no evidence to back that up. I lost track of the large number of court filings and recounts and vote canvases that were done to try to prove the fraud that just wasn't there.
So now Trump remains a major factor in the approaching mid-term elections. He has endorsed candidates, campaigned for many of them, and has attacked Democrats everywhere. But many reporters are afraid to use the term "lie" or "liar" when they report on one of Trump's outrageous statements about the election, or anything else. It's just not in the nature of journalists to use that language.
They will report the outrageous statements, put a sentence in that says: "There is no evidence to support that claim," and move on. Just once I would like to hear someone with real journalism credentials give us a "Walter Cronkite on Vietnam moment" and call Trump a liar. (Some pundits have, but they don't count.)
Reporters, real reporters--not the fake ones on Fox News and some other right-wing media-- real reporters won't do that, because it's not in their nature and not in their training.
That might change if Mr. Trump ever faces criminal charges and a trial. But that is not likely to happen. And despite the subpoena issued by the January 6th Select Committee this past week, it is highly unlikely that he will ever testify before Congress.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump/
There are 229 people running for Congress or state offices this November who have been endorsed by Trump, according to Ballotpedia. In 2021, 67% of those he endorsed were elected, though it was a much smaller number that are currently running. Of the Republican candidates running for national office, 291 of them embrace the "big lie" that the 2020 election was fraudulent, and they are continuing to talk about it on the campaign trail.
The Republicans’ second-biggest lie (msn.com)
With that focus, I challenge every reporter, whether they be in Washington or some small market somewhere, to call out those assertions and ask those candidates why they continue to lie. And yes, in this case, I would use the word "lie".
And I would extend that to anybody currently serving in local, state or federal office. As reporters you are not doing your job if you don't challenge false information.
As for those millennials and generation Z seeking the still-elusive gender and race equality and control of their own bodies, your solution is to vote. Those under age 39 constitute one third of all eligible voters in the United States. But in 2018, the last mid-term election, only seven out of ten of the 18 to 29- year- old voters actually cast their ballot.
Has Trump again shown his true antisemitic self?
While on the subject of Donald Trump and those 47% who approve of him, we have this story.
"U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel — before it is too late!"
Those words came from Trump on his own media website, Truth Social, this weekend.
This is a renewal of previous comments where he questioned the loyalty of American Jews and where he would call Israel "your country" when speaking to Jewish groups.
Antisemites have argued for centuries that Jews had "dual loyalty" to their religious faith over their country of residence. Today antisemites often argue that Jews have an allegiance to Israel over anything else. American Jews in a majority, support Israel, but they are American and proud of it.
Trump claims to have done more for Israel than anyone else. But other than shifting the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, granted a significant move, his administration's policy towards Israel was similar to that of American presidents over the last seven decades. His claim is another lie.
It's always been unclear when Trump talks about "Jewish loyalty" if he is talking about loyalty to Israel or loyalty to Donald Trump.
In the 2020 presidential race, 68% of Jews who voted cast ballots for Joe Biden, only 30% for Trump. In 2016 Hillary Clinton received 71% of the Jewish vote and Trump only 24%.
A Long Overdue Apology
Better late than never. Stanford University has issued a formal apology for limiting the number of Jewish students who were admitted to the school right after World War Two. In the past, the prestigious school had denied that there were any quotas, but now after a special task force took a closer look, Stanford has admitted that "actions to suppress" the admission of Jewish students to Standford did, in fact, occur in the 1950's.
The evidence included a memo from 1953 in which
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| (Standford University) |
It's unclear how long the practice lasted, or whether it was extended to other groups.
Stanford University President Marc Tessier-Lavigne called the report "saddening and deeply troubling," and he said:
"As a university, we must acknowledge it and confront it as a part of our history, as repellent as it is, and seek to do better."
The report is recommending more anti-bias and related training, including antisemitism and recognizing the Jewish High Holidays and accommodations for Jewish students living on campus.
This report is an example of what has been talked about behind the scenes for decades, that many Ivy League and prestigious colleges and universities had quotas for Jewish students. In some cases, it continued all the way into the 1970's.
Homeless
Right now, in 2022, in the United States of America, there are over a half million people with no home. The World Population Review says the four main causes for chronic homelessness are--in
There has been some improvement. Homelessness among veterans is down. California has the highest homeless population with more than 161,000, while New York State is second. New York City now has its highest number of homeless people since the Great Depression, at more than 59,000.
You can see a state-by-state breakdown here: https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/homeless-population-by-state
And these numbers may be mitigated by the pandemic, which actually decreased the homeless population because of an influx of stimulus money and extended unemployment benefits.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
This week's dumb quote comes from a repeat offender. It's Wisconsin's Republican Senator Ron Johnson. He was debating Mandela Barns, the
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| (Wisconsin in red) |
So then, in his response, Johnson said this:
"I appreciate the fact that Lt. Governor Barns had loving parents. A schoolteacher. Father worked through shifts, so he had a good upbringing.....I guess what puzzles me about that is, with that upbringing why has he turned against America?"
The audience at the debate booed Johnson and they were right to do so. After all, a man like Barns who is serving as Lt. Governor of Wisconsin and is running for the U.S. Senate, has NOT turned "against America." He wants to make it better, and apparently Johnson just doesn't get that. The race is a dead heat. But for the first time, Barns now has a one-point lead over Johnson, 48% to 47% in the FiveThirtyEight poll.
(Your comments and suggestions are welcome)
My book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:
HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature.)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796
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