Category Archives: Politics

Why Didn’t We See That Train Coming ?

Current Affairs, Japan, Politics

Donald Trump is a stupid man’s idea of a smart person, a poor man’s idea of a rich man, and a weak man’s idea of a strong man. Fran Lebowitz.

I thought Vice President Kamala Harris and Tim Waltz were going to win the last election. I even wrote several posts about it, such as Why Harris & Walz Will Win. Unfortunately, the proverb Seeing is believing is backward. Actually, believing is seeing. I live in a bubble of beliefs that define how I see reality. In my reality, my bubble, not being an asshole is essential, and knowing what the job is and how to do it is important.

However, most people who voted in the last election are not in my bubble, and I didn’t see their discontent that trumped Trump’s assholery and incompetence. I’m still trying to figure out why I didn’t see that anger, but I think I’m starting to understand part of it.

I want to start with a story that is not about politics (well, sort of not about politics, anyway). Years ago, in, I am going to guess, 1967, Sam Berland, my boss – I say “boss” because, even though we were partners, he had been my boss at our previous company, and I still thought of him as my boss – and I agreed to take on a third partner. Sam had met a man, who I’ll call Jim, about the same age as me, who worked for a lumber company that had gotten into the recreational land-for-sale business and was now trying to get out by liquidating their holdings. Sam thought Jim would be perfect as a partner and land expert.

Jim’s boss, who Sam knew, gave Jim an outstanding recommendation, as did a co-worker Sam also knew. We hired Jim with the plan of making him our third partner. We didn’t make him a partner, but, in this case, even an almost partner was a disaster, alienating everybody he interacted with, and it cost us a lot of money to get rid of him.

A couple of years later, I ran into the co-worker who had given Sam the excellent recommendation and asked him why he had done that. His answer surprised me. Jim had blown the whistle on a couple of employees who had been skimming money off of the escrows on the land sales, and consequently, Jim was revered by the company’s top brass. But he was a jerk, and none of his coworkers liked him. Jim disrupted the office, but they couldn’t fire him. All they could do was hope somebody else would hire him, so when we came along, they were thrilled and gave us a very positive recommendation.

Because Jim was a jerk and ostracized by his co-workers, he was, in effect, a permanent outsider. He was in the right place to see the employees skimming, but most of his co-workers and his boss were also in the same place. But unlike his co-workers and boss, his vision wasn’t clouded by friendships or the pressure of conformity, and he could more clearly see what was going on.

Trump is like that. Like most of us, he is in a position to see the growing disparity between the college-educated elite rich* and the rest of the country. But he also saw the monetary and psychic damage done by sending good jobs out of the country and letting in poor, desperate people who would work for less money, thereby taking away more good jobs. I keep thinking, Why did he see that pain and anger, and none of us did? He’s a rich narcissist. How did he see what most of us didn’t and many still don’t?

First, like Jim, Trump was an outsider for most of his life. An ill-mannered guy from Queens, trying to make it in Manhattan society but never fitting in. Like Jim, Donald Trump was not hindered by friendships or the pressure of conformity. He was an outsider and felt mistreated; more importantly, he felt disrespected.

It’s easy to say that Trump projected that feeling of being disrespected onto the people he wanted to attract, and this may be true. But it is also true, and may be hard to admit for most of us, that we college-educated elite rich* don’t respect or value people who aren’t as educated, nor do we consider them worth listening to. I know that all of us do respect some people who aren’t college-educated, but that is only after we get to know them as individuals; as a group, we don’t listen to them or interact with them. Trump did and does.

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

*Even though it is buried in a footnote, I want to be clear: we are the elite rich, and while we might not think of ourselves as rich or elite, we are definitely rich compared to people living paycheck to paycheck or afraid of losing their homes if they get sick.

“Oh No”:A Couple of Some Not Entirely Random Thouhts

Japan, Politics, Travel

“We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us” Pogo (well. Walt Kelly, really).

We’re not in the US, but I can feel the trauma, the shock, of the election. The people voted, and the majority of them didn’t vote the way we wanted and expected them to vote. A couple of days ago, at a Craft Fair at the Shiinoki Cultural Complex in Kanazawa, Michele got into a conversation with a local, and he asked, “Why?” Michele said she didn’t have an answer.

I don’t really either. But the distraction of being in a new environment gives me the luxury of not thinking about it very much. That makes it easy for me to fall back on my old answers, and I don’t think, at 84, my old answers are really the answers that fit today. My politics are almost a perfect match with Senator Bernie Sanders, so I love his answers, but as much as I love them, I think Bernie’s answers are outdated.

What I do think, however, is that Harris and the Democrats didn’t lose because Harris didn’t go on Joe Rogan enough or used the wrong typeface in her ads. I don’t even think that Harris lost because we are a sexist or racist nation. We are, probably, but that’s not why we lost. I think we lost because the economy was better under Trump. It turns out that most people thought their lives were better under Trump. I don’t mean because of Trump; I think Trump looked good because he inherited the fruits of the Obama recovery. But that may just be my Liberal rationalization.

Coastal California is one of the most Liberal parts of the country, and our Liberal policies have not solved any of our biggest problems. California has the largest homeless population in the country, and we give our children a shitty education. We are #37 in Pre-K-12 education and #22 in High School Graduation Rate, according to U.S. News & World Report. How can that be if our ideas are so much better than, say, Florida, ranked #10 in Pre-K-12 education and #19 in High School Graduation, or Georgia, #25,#17?

What we do do well is take care of our elite selves. Silicon Valley is booming; we have 186 billionaires, an almost infinite number of millionaires, and our elite colleges are the best in the world. We have great parks – National, State, and local – and we keep the homeless out so we don’t have to see them and feel bad or even guilty. Many of our highways are perpetually congested, so we are making special lanes so those who can afford it can pay a little money – for them – to get where they want to go faster.

Don’t get me wrong; I love my life in the United States of America, and especially in California, but the laws and policies are made for me – by people like me – and that is not the way to get votes from people who are not like me. I don’t know what the answers are, but I do know that saying that people who voted for Trump are stupid or saying that Trump is a fascist is not effective.

Well, Shit

Politics, Psychological Musings

Populist Revolt Against Elite’s Vision of the U.S. New York Times

Not really a big surprise, still a big shock. It’s very likely not as bleak as it looks this morning.

It’s probably going to be a little worse if you are Jewish, or Muslim, or undocumented, or a woman, or anything but white European male, for that matter. The white male hierarchy – and it must be larger than I imagined from the viewpoint deep in my little bubble – will have more legitimacy.

The very rich will do better, NATO and Ukraine worse, but in our day-to-day lives, we (Michele and myself and most people we know) probably won’t notice much change .

DMC 2024

Americana, Current Affairs, Politics
Photo from Los Angeles Times

“Thank you, Chicago, for your energy; thank you, Kamala Harris and Jim Walz, for your vision; and thank you, Joe Biden, for your service.”  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

“The existence of my family is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recent as 25 years ago … This kind of life went from impossible to possible. From possible to real. From real to almost ordinary.”Pete Buttigieg

“Tim Walz is a weaponized Norman Rockwell painting.” Ezra Klein 

“And to be clear: In my entire career, I have only had one client. The People.” Kamala Harris

I thought I must have blogged about almost every Democratic National Convention since Obama. However, as I go back through my blog, I see that the only Convention I commented on was the 2020 Democratic Convention, which was during Covid and was more of a virtue convention on Zoom (mostly, at least, as I remember). Maybe I haven’t written about past Democratic Conventions because all conventions are pretty much the same – especially political conventions.

Political conventions are pep rallies, and the latest Democratic National Convention was no exception. It was more professional than most pep rallies, which is to be expected because the same guy – Ricky Kirshner, who has 26 EMMY Nominations, 9 Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and an Edward R. Murrow Award – has been doing DNCs since Clinton. Still, it was a bunch of talking heads, of which only a few were interesting. On the first night, that included Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hillary Rodham Clinton – introduced as the former United States Secretary of State, which, I guess by the introduction, is higher than Senator – and President Joe Biden.

Of the three, I thought Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hillary Rodham Clinton gave the best speeches, and President Biden gave the weakest speech. In Ocasio-Cortez’s case, I may have been overly influenced by my admiration for her, but I don’t think so. Ocasio-Cortez – or AOC, if you prefer – is a staggeringly good politician. She has been on the National Stage for less than six years, and she is already a household name. I was surprised at how good a speech Ms. Clinton delivered. Now that she has nothing to lose, she is much looser and less preachy. Listening to President Joe Biden’s speech, I was reminded that, even at his best, he is not a natural public speaker.

The second night, Tuesday, was another night of talking heads – most of whom were forgettable – which ended with three super speeches. The first was by Kamala’s husband, Doug Emhoff, who I thought gave a better-than-expected speech. The night ended with Michele Obama and Barack Obama. Of the three, I thought former First Lady Obama was the best speech. By far. She came dressed for battle, in a sort of ninja outfit, her arms bare and her hair pulled back from her face in a long braid.

What I thought was most interesting about the speeches was the comparison between Michele Obama and Barack Obama juxtaposed to Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Michele Obama and Kamala Harris’ childhoods were in segregated worlds. Tim Walz and Barack Obama were not; Walz because he is White and Obama because his early childhood was in Indonesia and Hawaii. Their speeches reflected that. Both Obama and Walz gave speeches that said we can all get along, with Obama saying, “That’s the America Kamala Harris and Tim Walz believe in. An America where We the People includes everyone. Because that’s the only way this American experiment works.” and Walz saying, “But I’ll tell you what, growing up in a small town like that, you’ll learn how to take care of each other that that family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they’re your neighbors, and you look out for them, and they look out for you.”

Michele Obama and Kamala Harris were much less conciliatory. Michele Obama had similar words as her husband but from a different point of view, saying, “Kamala knows, like we do, that regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love, how you worship, or what’s in your bank account, we all deserve the opportunity to build a decent life. All of our contributions deserve to be accepted and valued because no one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No one.” And Kamala by saying,” “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man…Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.” In speaking about the Republican position on abortion, she said, “Simply put, they are out of their minds.”

The third night included Governor Josh Shapiro – who I read was the vice-presidential nominee that the Democratic establishment wanted – former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz. I thought Walz was terrific, a poster child for the mid-west. Still, as somebody who was in the Army for three years, what I find most interesting about Walz is that he was a Command Sergeant-major. There have been many vice presidents who were officers and many who were privates, even vice presidents who were not in the military, but only one other sergeant, Al Gore. Gore served in the Army as an enlisted man, spent six months in Vietnam working for an Army newspaper, and was discharged as a Sergeant E-5; despite that, he was not a career NCO like Tim Walz. Having been a career NCO and not having graduated from Harvard – Walz went to Chadron State College in Nebraska – will bring a much-needed new outlook to Washington.

The last night – the biggest night – was all about Vice-president Kamala Harris. The speakers were old friends, various members of the House of Representatives, and even a member of the Central Park Five, a group of young black men who had been wrongly charged and jailed for a crime they did not commit. Harris’s speech was excellent, but it came after several days of hard-to-follow great speeches. For me, the most appealing thing about Harris is that she will bring a new outlook to the presidency. I hope.

I say “I hope.” because we have been here before. By here, I mean an outsider bringing a new perspective to the inside of the Beltway thinking that has seemed to deadlock Washington. Biden was effective because he had been around long enough to understand how Washington works and doesn’t work. Harris has not been in Washington nearly as long; she was a Senator for only four years before becoming vice president for another four years, but hopefully, she has been around for enough time to know where the power is and how to bring change.

Why Harris & Walz Will Win

Current Affairs, Japan, Politics

“We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” Senator JD Vance.

[The] false claim by Trump that Harris is generating fake big crowds with AI was a true Captain Queeg moment, maybe the most bat-guano crazy thing I’ve seen in 40 years of covering presidential elections. Will Bunch National opinion columnist, Philadelphia Inquirer.

But there’s no question something big happened on July 21. Lenny Bronner  in the Washington Post

“I don’t know where you all are, but Gov. Tim Walz, everybody gives him thumbs up. By the way, I didn’t get that 100 percent thumbs up for any of the other candidates.” Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.

Vice-president Kamala Harris is going to be the next President of The United States. That shocked me, and I’m not sure why. Part of the reason, I think, is that I thought an Elizabeth Warren or Amy Klobashure type would be the first woman President. Harris seems too young or too lightweight, too amateur, because of her coltish demeanor and laugh. Now, I think that is part of her draw.

Ambition is not considered a virtue in women. “She is ambitious” is a slur, just like “He has no ambition” is a slur. That Hillary Clinton was ambitious was one of the things that many people didn’t like about her, and Harris being ambitious was a detriment when she ran for President in 2020, but this time around, Harris didn’t run for President; she was in the right place at the right time, and it seemed to just fall – for lack of a better word – on her.

Even if Harris thought Biden might drop out, she must have been somewhat surprised when he did; still, she moved extraordinarily quickly to round up support and money. She started with the party royals; the Clintons backed Harris on the first day after Biden withdrew, and the Obamas were brought around on day 4. That’s impressive. There must have been other contenders, but Harris sewed up her nomination before they even got started. Then she didn’t pick the guy the party establishment wanted her to pick. She picked the guy she wanted. Harris immediately took control.

I voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and I voted for Joe Biden in 2020, although I didn’t really vote for either of them; I voted against Donald Trump. Since then, Trump has become even more erratic and bitter and, to my thinking, even harder to vote for. He has become a senile old man ranting about how everybody is cheating on him and treating him wrongly. Strangely – or weirdly, if you prefer – Trump has retreated to Mar-a-Largo.

Michele thinks that the reason Trump is holed up at Mar-a-Lago is because his crowds are smaller than Harris’ crowds. That may be a factor, but I think the biggest reason Trump isn’t holding rallies is because he is afraid after he was almost shot dead at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. And, I have to say, I don’t blame him; I’d be afraid, too, if some wacko had tried to kill me.

Meanwhile, Vice-president Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz are on the campaign trail and drawing record crowds. It turns out that Walz is a great campaigner and an effective attack dog, playing bad cop to Harris’ good cop (which is, after all, one of the main jobs of the VP). It turns out that Harris was right about her VP choice. That’s a good quality to have as President.