“As the world absorbs the shockwave of Donald Trump’s win in the US presidential election, the playbook for his second term, designed by a handful of right-wing extremists, is already underway in Argentina. Project 2025 is set out in a nearly 900-page ‘Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,’ produced by the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing U.S. think tank, as a ready reckoner for the incoming Trump administration. It details authoritarian tactics that exist in various parts of the world, from attacking public education to dismantling policies to tackle climate change to restricting the rights of women, LGBTIQ+ people, migrants, workers and Black people. But if there is one country already trying some of Project 2025’s most extreme policies to weaken the state and render the enjoyment of rights obsolete, it is Argentina.” [editor’s note: Posted for your amusement; one more delulu “progressive” pundit incapable of letting go of the hoaxes – SAT] (11/07/24)
“The most important and globally misunderstood aspect of tariffs is their impact on the stock market. History has demonstrated that tariffs can cause immediate market corrections and destroy investor capital. They also backfire on American manufacturers and consumers. Tariffs may be aimed at foreign companies and governments, but their domestic consequences are often far greater. Advocates for protectionist measures on steel, lumber, electric vehicles, and other products fail to understand that everyone who invests in the stock market has suffered losses because of this policy.” (11/07/24)
“America’s presidential elections are a great survey of public opinion as well as a call to action. Yet while Donald Trump won both the popular vote and the Electoral College on Nov. 5, it could be that the exit polls will drive the course of his second term. The theme of those polls? Americans seek a restoration of past norms of balance or harmony – balance in the economy for Trump supporters and, for those who voted for Kamala Harris, harmony in democratic norms. Among the third of voters who identified the economy as their primary concern, 79% chose Mr. Trump, according to Edison Research’s exit polls. More specifically, 73% who see inflation as a severe hardship voted for the Republican candidate.” (11/06/24)
“President-elect Trump says he can end the war in Ukraine in a day. But there is a catch. Washington institutions and EU policy makers have Trump-proofed the war for at least another year. This idea — that hard-wired Western support for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s fight against Russia could be insulated from the incoming U.S. president — has been cooking for the past year. … Provisional Western funding for another year of war had already been secured in June in the form of the G7’s $50 billion lending package for Ukraine. That gives Zelenskyy enough to plug the yawning hole in his state finances sufficiently to keep fighting.” (11/07/24)
“‘Reconsider Any Belief In Innate American Goodness,’ Ken White advises at the Popehat Report. ‘A country that votes for Trump is broken in very complicated and daunting ways,’ informs the attorney and podcaster. ‘Fuck Civility,’ he declares, and for good measure, ‘Stay Tuned For Violence.’ They do sorta go together, eh? ‘Debate is preferable,’ he notes for the record, ‘[b]ut most Americans would agree with what Thomas Jefferson said about the blood of patriots and tyrants. At some point violence is morally justified and even necessary. Americans will disagree on when.’ Though, let’s all agree, not now.” (11/07/24)
“Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, needs a way to lose the war with Russia. American voters may have just given it to him. In his victory speech early in the morning of November 6, President-Elect Donald Trump said, ‘I will govern by a simple motto: Promises made, promises kept. We’re going to keep our promises.’ He promised fixing our borders. He promised the greatest economic comeback. But there is only one thing he promised to do even before he took office and that is end the war in Ukraine. That will be the first test of his governing motto.” (11/07/24)
“While some voters were undoubtedly voting on democracy, or immigration, or race, or gender, most of them seem to have been participating in a pretty normal anti-incumbent election in which a telegenic candidate beat a weak opponent who was tied to an unpopular administration and following a suboptimal playbook. Obviously, that’s disappointing if you supported Harris and think Trump’s character is unworthy of the office. But it also means that in four years, you’ve got the normal chance of taking that office back.” (11/06/24)
“In 1937, it was said that a critical shift of one justice in a critical case ended the move to pack the Supreme Court by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was said that it was ‘a shift in time saves nine.’ In 2024, a shift in the Senate may have had the same impact. President-elect Trump’s victory this week means that absent a renewal of the court-packing scheme and other extreme measures of the left [sic], the court will remain unchanged institutionally for at least a decade. The expectation is that Justice Clarence Thomas could use this perfect time to retire and ensure that his seat will be filled with a fellow conservative [sic] jurist. Justice Samuel Alito may also consider this a good time for a safe harbor departure.” (11/07/24)
“In the coming days, much will be written about working class concerns — issues that have become familiar focal points for those seeking to understand Trump’s support. But while inflation and border policies will have no doubt played a role in the Republicans’ landslide victory, we might also want to look at the sentiments expressed by young male voters — voters who represent a new and emerging contingent in American politics. Nothing about the young men I spoke to appeared particularly conservative or ‘right-wing.’ Yet it was easy for them to explain why they voted for Trump. And if we zoom out and look at broader cultural trends, it should be easy for us to understand too.” (11/06/24)
