Season's Bleatings
Wherein I detail the hypocrisy, whining, and indolent behavior of humans over the last year. I include myself.
168 is a newsletter emailed on an unscheduled basis in which I share my thoughts on various topics for discussion. Your comments are welcome so please feel free to post them. To view archived newsletters, please visit www.1hundredsixty8.substack.com.
As the year ends, it is traditional to reflect on the events of the past 12 months. In the truest sense of Confusius’ words, we live in interesting times. The push and pull of social forces, our divisive politics, the armed conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, and the changing climate are reminders that peace and harmony require persistent effort. This is especially true in democratic societies and ours is no exception There is a propensity to assume the rights and freedoms we enjoy are magically self-sustaining. We ignore the implications of Murphy’s Law* at our peril and 2023 offers plenty of evidence.
The House Republicans
Right out of the box in January, given the narrow majority they won in the 2022 Congressional elections, it was a good bet the Republicans would not accomplish much in a divided government. Their contempt for compromise and government itself meant their priority was “owning the libs” by conducting non-consequential investigations of little public interest to allow them a public forum to attack Democrats in general and the Biden Administration in particular. As for a legislative agenda, there wasn’t one. The shambolic process of electing a speaker (Kevin McCarthy needed 15 ballots to earn the gavel) presaged a year of Congressional dysfunction.
When the legislative session ended earlier this month, the House had passed just 22 bills that were signed into law, one more than the 21 bills passed by the Republican-controlled House in 1930, the previous record for legislative lassitude.1 As things go in the bizarro world of MAGA politics, after only 10 months GOP extremists engineered McCarthy’s ouster as Speaker for the sin of making a deal with House Democrats to keep the government running. (McCarthy has now resigned from Congress.) It took another 3 weeks for the Republicans to reject a series of candidates before uniting to elect MAGA-wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing Representative Mike Johnson as Speaker. Johnson quickly made a deal for Democratic support of a Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded for several months, essentially the same deal that had cost McCarthy his Speakership. Irony is not dead… Nor is obliviousness.
Since ‘tis the season to do folly, the House buckled down to work under Speaker Johnson, promptly expelling one of their own, weirdo-fraudster George Santos (we believe that’s his real name). They followed that up by approving a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden without any evidence. (This leads a snark-meister like me to ask whether they understand that if their masturbatory fantasy of having the Senate remove Biden from office were realized, the reviled VP Kamala Harris would become President. It would be the perfect example of the dog catching the car.)
Like the Deep Throat character tells Robert Redford in All the President’s Men, “The truth is, these are not very bright guys. Things got out of hand.”
Does “winning” include being indicted on more charges than any other ex-president?
Donald Trump talks a lot about being a winner. After all, he was elected President, though his victory was due mostly to the byzantine workings of the Electoral College. Beyond that chapter in his career, the man’s record of failure speaks for itself: multiple bankrupcies of various businesses including three (!) casinos, two impeachments as President, and numerous accusations of sexual misconduct, to name a few. Unfortunately, history will be forced to acknowledge that he held the same office as Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, et al. He now faces the possibility of spending some part of his remaining life in a state or federal prison. Politics is a tough business and we recognize that many of its most effective practitioners are not without their flaws. However, at his core Trump is an amalgamation of failures wrapped in a gilded foil of lies, excuses, and self-aggrandizing bullshit. He lacks the intelligence and sense of duty we expect from the person who holds the nation’s highest office. A shameless narcissist with an outsized public persona, Trump is currently reveling in the abundance of criminal charges he’s accumulated, using it as a pretext to raise money from his followers.
Behind him in the rankings of ex-presidents who faced criminal charges are… No one. His losses in the lawsuits filed after the 2020 election (61 out of 62 cases), the E. Jean Carrol defamation trial, the New York civil fraud trial, the Trump University settlement, and the fact he has been indicted this year in four separate cases on felony charges in separate jurisdictions means he has earned a resounding victory as The Biggest Loser. Nonetheless, he is leading the Republican race to be the Party’s nominee for President next year, meaning he remains a threat to the continued existence of our democratic republic. If elected again next year, there’s a good chance he would be America’s Caligula, the Roman Emperor who said “"Remember that I have the right to do anything to anybody."
Postscript: This week the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution means Donald Trump is not eligible to appear on the ballot for President in that state. The case is likely headed to the US Supreme Court and the outcome is not yet final. Another reminder that this is the man who promised us so much winning we’d ‘get bored with winning’.
Foreign Despair
In the Venn diagram of modern geopolitics and the global economy, a large overlap illustrates how events in one part of the world have far-reaching effects. Russia’s invasion impacted Ukraine’s agricultural sector, reducing grain exports and causing food shortages and price increases in Europe, Africa, and Asia.2 The sanctions and price caps placed on its oil forced Russia to sell below world market prices, a benefit for those countries not party to the sanctions (India, China, Turkey) but a threat to European nations dependent on Russia for heating oil in the winter. As the Israeli-Gaza war drags on, the Houthis, the anti-government rebels in Yemen, have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones. According to a CNN report3, the rebels “say [the attacks] are revenge against Israel for its military campaign in Gaza”. The result is, that since 12 percent of global trade, including 30 percent of container ship traffic, moves through the Suez Canal-Red Sea route between the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans, shipping firms are choosing to avoid the Red Sea and route their ships around Africa, increasing costs. For now, the US Navy is busy shooting down $20,000 drones with $2.5 million anti-aircraft missiles.
The war in Gaza, precipitated by Hamas’ savage attack on October 7, is the latest flareup in the decades of conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The situation seems intractable, and mostly for domestic political reasons. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relies on the support of hard-line right-wingers to maintain power; Hamas, which the US and others label a terrorist organization, functions as an authoritarian governing party, repressing the media and political opposition. Unlike the Palestinian Authority which has semi-autonomous control over parts of the West Bank, Hamas has not renounced violence. Given Israeli determination to eliminate Hamas, there appears to be no end to the death and destruction anytime soon.
In conflict situations that have arisen since the end of World War II, the United States has often had a key role.4 One result of the post-9/11 “endless wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan is the recognition by our leaders that American boots on the ground are not necessarily a solution to complex problems. Unlike the ham-handed Trump administration, the Biden foreign policy team has opted for a team-building approach in dealing with challenges outside our borders. Reaffirming US commitment to NATO was a good start, and rallying European support to supply Ukraine with the weapons and materials needed to defend itself was also a positive. But the vagueries of domestic politics have left Biden’s request for additional funding to aid Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan languishing while the House gave itself an extended holiday until January 9.
Since the House must also deal with the appropriations can-that-was-kicked-down-the-road in September, it will be under pressure to avoid a government shutdown… In an election year… With the Republicans in control of initiating the funding bills. So let’s add domestic political kerfuffles to our Venn diagram. A shutdown of the US government while we are facing many challenges internationally (and would include the whole other issue of increasing tensions with China over Taiwan) would not only have political and economic consequences but would once again damage our standing as a world leader.
Mea Culpa
I have not produced as many written pieces in 2023 as I would have liked. I started many but for many reasons- or, better yet, excuses- did not complete them. This newsletter is a personal project but not one of vanity. I write to express ideas and to compel myself to observe and reflect. I can attest to the truth of the adage “The act of writing is a struggle; having written is a joy.”
Happy Holidays! Let’s look forward to 2024 with the determination to be better.
* “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
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Some commenters think that rendering Congress dysfunctional is the true objective of post-modern conservatism. Given the traditional antipathy to “big government”, reducing public faith and trust in its institutions would open the way for what anti-tax activist Grover Norquist said was the goal “to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.“
Examples: Korea in the 1950s, Vietnam in the 1960s, Desert Storm and the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and in this century, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Tuned in, as I am every day, to the national news, I don't need to reflect on a year's 'accomplishments', particularly for the do-nothing House of Representatives. President Biden has continued to wring blood from a stone to get things done for Americans. The GOP Republicans continue to do little or nothing outside the U. S. Senate for America. It shows one more reason why Biden should be reelected in November. More than most Democratic presidents, he has worked for average Americans against inflation, against right wing histrionics, and toward more stable climate.
Too bad the Trump extremists are still trying to take over the country for a democracy-negating dictatorship. Partly the inaction in congress is to meet their goal of minimizing government 'to drown it in a bathtub. That's why the perpetual crises in paying national bills. Blogs are bemoaning China and/or Russia killing the global benchmark U.S. dollar that just won't happen. It's why the bemoan gas prices that are higher than normal thinking cutting funds to Ukraine will let Putin off the hood and lower the price per barrell, now artificially elevated by Russia and oil-cartel OPEC. That's why they want to shut the southern border cutting off immigration to keep food prices elevated due to lack of hands to harvest and process many food stuffs.
We still have the January 6, 2021 insurrection leader facing judicial trials because of due process time limits and also his appointing so many judges beholden to his warped view of laws and Constitution. Democracy requires speedy trials but courts of Trump/McConnell appointees slow walk everything with appeals. With attention to the 14th Amendment, maybe those 'originalists' will find law and facts enough to deny ballot standing in the nation. Not on the ballot; no chance to be reelected, the fear of all straight thinking Americans. Ditto, Giuliani, Meadows and others who abetted Trump's attempted coup. Thankfully these are not very bright people, but in office again, they can cause much mayhem we don't need. When Trump is finally in jail or broken financially, we'll still need to defeat State candidates and incumbents who posit conspiracy theories, pedophile theories, trafficking theories, criminal immigrant theories and more that upset ordinary Americans for the lack of evidence to support them in our nation of laws. So vote Democratic up and down ballot till all the malcontents, the Nazi-sympathizers, the insurrectionists, the separatists, the isolationists and the fear-mongers are gone.
With so many independents and progressives discontented with Biden, we should see Biden flood the zone with all his cabinet members on the stump campaigning on good accomplishments, and prospects for more with Democrats in charge at all levels. Too many voters are disengaged today and not getting updates on the threat to democracy posed by Trump followers. The GOP is good at sandbagging Biden (with impending impeachment threat and economy above 2% inflation) like they did to Hillary Clinton, painting them in a bad light which doesn't really apply. Dems must campaign back on social media, broadcast media and personal appearances to counter drumbeat wrong propaganda from the far right. Also, 'former' Republicans must step up and echo the Democrats and Biden's good performance as president and defender of democracy. The 7 million vote plurality of 2020 for Biden should be expanded in 2024, if people have the facts starting right now.
More must be done to defeat Russia in Ukraine; where are the fighter bombers they have requested for a year? Why can't House Republicans vote for those funds and more for Israel, our 76 year ally? Why can't the Israeli public settle for a 2 state solution with U.S. prodding? Where are the food and fuel mercy ships and ground tankers to alleviate Palestinian hunger? Why aren't American warships sinking more Huthi and Iranian attackers of shipping around the Red Sea? Why can some of those billions appropriated for war be redirected toward screening devices and personnel at our border? Where are the executive orders to do more good without legislative blocking?
One hopes our democracy survives with aging Biden in charge, a stellar negotiator and patriot, a pro-middle class executive, who is farsighted toward climate abatement and financial stability. One wonders who is advising Biden and Harris toward the future? Guess the 'caretaker' self-label is overwhelming in Biden's mind. Where are the activist party leaders in nation and state. Trump should never have been elected; nor, MTG, not Gaetz, nor Boebert, nor Tuberville. The list goes on. Let's see more of CA's Newsome, and other DNC darlings from blue states in public. That's forward looking, I hope prescient.
Congratulations. You now have me officially hopeful 2024 will be (if nothing else) more interesting than 2023. Nice piece!