Category Archives: Politics

Genuflecting To The Right

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In large part, Trump’s 2016 upset of Hillary Clinton was attributed to his personal bravado. His supporters liked how he repeatedly said crass things that paralleled their thinking. Finally, a politician who just shoots from the hip, focus groups and polls be damned.

If there’s any truth to that analysis, how do you explain the contents of this article, “Trump Keeps Rejecting Pleas From Allies for Pro-Vax Campaign”?

Paragraphs to ponder:

“More than 400,000 Americans had died of coronavirus when Trump left office, and the death count has swelled to more than 600,000 since. But as Trump has settled into a post-presidency defined largely by prolonging his anti-democratic crusade and settling scores with Republicans who crossed him, the former president has privately dropped hints about why, exactly, he has been so derelict.

According to two of the sources who have spoken to Trump about this, he has occasionally referenced polling and other indicators—such as what he’s seen on TV—that show how the vaccines are unpopular with many of his supporters. This has left the impression with some of those close to Trump that he doesn’t want to push too hard on the subject, so as to not ‘piss off his base,’ one of the two people said.”

Maybe Trump was never that distinctive of a politician. Or the ‘swamp’ changed him. Add ‘being too busy assessing which way the political winds were blowing to help us get the upper hand on the ‘rona’ to his legacy.

‘Not Paying Taxes Makes Me Smart’

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I received a letter from my uni’s CFO—Creative Financial Officer—who earned his degree from Trump University. He said there was good and bad news.

The bad news. . . I’m not going to be paid my normal salary anymore. The good news . . . the university is going to provide me with a car, a Parkland pied de terre, and some petty cash for weekly dining at Marzanos.

Really Disappointed With The ‘Former Guy’

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Truth aside, the Former Guy routinely wielded the English language in unique and original ways that worked for him. I acknowledge, conceding that probably makes me a “sad (sick) guy”.

So today, when he called the fifteen indictments against his organization “a political Witch Hunt by the Radical Left Democrats,” I was sorely disappointed by the banal redundancy. There is absolutely nothing unique or original in that description.*

I suppose it’s no surprise he’s lost a step. First there was the embarrassing electoral ass whipping. On top of that people don’t fully appreciate how much leading an Insurrection takes out of you. Then, worst of all, the irrelevance.

This is for all my friends seeking some semblance of balance from the Humble Blog. “Lock him up!”

* I grew numb to the Capitalization Errors a long time ago.

How To Avoid The Culture War Trap Around Critical Race Theory

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Read Linda McClain’s and Robert Tsai’s essay of the same title.

Then visit the Educating for American Democracy website McClain and Tsai highlight and familiarize yourself with EAD’s report and roadmap:

“’Reflective patriotism’ is a model of civic education proposed by a new group called Educating for American Democracy, supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and reflecting a collaboration of leading and ideologically diverse experts in civic education, history, and constitutional studies. Instead of viewing current social movements ominously as aiming to ‘destroy the Constitution,’ as anti-CRT ideologues have claimed, EAD sees evidence of such mobilization as warning signs for a political order that has fallen short of stated ideals. Recognizing that the U.S. ‘stands at a crossroads of peril and possibility,’ it calls for a ‘reflective patriotism’ that unites ‘love of country’ with ‘clear-eyed wisdom about our successes and failures in order to chart our path forward.’ It aims to educate young Americans ‘to participate in and sustain our constitutional democracy,’ and—echoing the Constitution’s preamble—to make our union ‘more perfect.’ It emphasizes that the constitutional order has become more democratic over time due to efforts by social movements—for example, the efforts of suffragists and civil rights activists to expand the right to vote.”

Thanks to EAD’s report and roadmap, my Multicultural Education students will become intimately familiar with the concept of reflective patriotism this fall. That’s the way forward.

Paragraph To Ponder—Self Delusion Edition

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“Donald Trump is writing a book. And, as with all things Donald Trump does, he is already marketing it with a combination of hyperbole and outright lies. Although the former president has boasted that rights to a memoir about his political career—the ‘book of all books’—are being fought over by major publishers, and that he has already turned down ‘very substantial offers’ from ‘two of the biggest and most prestigious publishing houses,’ reporters have uncovered zero evidence to substantiate his claims. According to Politico, none of the editors and publishers contacted at the Big Five publishing houses—Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, Macmillan Publishers, and Simon & Schuster—said they were aware of any such offer. One source was openly ‘skeptical’ of his claims. ‘He’s screwed over so many publishers that before he ran for president, none of the big 5 would work with [him] anymore,’ the source told Politico.”

I can hear him now, “I NEED you to find me 11,780 more readers!”

Postscript: Awkward.

What To Make Of The Secret IRS Files

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A week ago, ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest showed how the wealthiest Americans pay little in income tax compared to their wealth in “The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax”.

Pro big business libertarians were outraged at ProPublica’s decision to release private tax information of people who, in their view, have contributed disproportionately to the public good.

The extremely well written report left many others shocked by the findings and gleeful that the billionaire class was exposed.

Long story short, most Americans pay 14% of their income in taxes, billionaires pay 3+% on average. That’s because we tax income and not wealth and billionaire’s wealth grows much, much faster than their income.

Everyone concedes that the highlighted billionaires haven’t done anything illegal, which leaves many wanting to make our tax system much more progressive.

A few thoughts:

  1. As long as we tax income and let wealth slide, the Great Tax Divide will only widen. At some point, billionaires’ physical safety may very well be threatened. It is in their self-interest that we have a more egalitarian society. Therefore, it is in their interest to pay more in taxes.
  2. We need to invest a whole lot more in the Internal Revenue Service. Specifically, we need more, better trained agents who understand of how the ultra-wealthy avoid taxes sometimes illegally. Right now the ultra-wealthy are emboldened by the ridiculously low rate at which they are audited.
  3. Conservatives often defend things like video surveillance by asking, “Well, what do you have to hide?” In that same spirit, when it comes to personal income taxes, maybe we should go the way of Norway.
  4. Debates about the ethics of ProPublica’s decision-making will continue especially since they’ve said this is just the first of several related reports. As will debates about the implications of the data and related policy questions.

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