The press strains to show “balance.” They do not differentiate between a conventional candidate with experience and knowledge and a candidate who lacks experience, is woefully uninformed, and uses his speaking skills to appeal to the mob’s basest instincts.
Many people, especially Bernie supporters, dislike Clinton’s policies, but she is not a menace and a threat to the future of the nation and the world. Trump is. He makes outrageous statements every day, which the press no longer finds novel.
She dares to say that “half” his supporters are “Deplorables,” and the press blows it up into a media firestorm. But was she right? David Duke tweeted last night, “We are the Deplorables.”
Do you want to see the faces of the Deplorables? Read and watch this article that appeared in the New York Times a. On the ago. The NY Times has published other articles about the neo-Nazism, white nationalism, and race hatred that Trump’s rallies bring out.
CNN and MSNBC have reported on Trump’s avid interest in and support for the Birther movement. He claimed repeatedly that he needed to see President Obama’s birth certificate. He claimed he sent a team of investigators to Hawaii and what they were finding was “unbelievable.” True, it was unbelievable. They found nothing. Now Trump surrogates like Rudy Guiliani and his campaign manager now say that Trump acknowledges that the President was born in America, but Trump has never said it. He thus manages to signal the paranoid right that he is on their side without saying anything more. He owes the President an apology but it will never happen.
Thanks to the media’s lust for trivia, scandal, headlines, and false equivalence, this unhinged conspiracy theorist could be elected president. Those who facilitate the ascendancy of this dangerous know-nothing are the Deplorables.
I exempt the Huffington Post from this generalization because it states at the end of every article about Trump:
“Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Why isn’t every single journalist and talking head on television asking Trump and all of his surrogates this question:
Are your supporters like David Duke, who tweeted a photo of you and him arm and arm, deplorable or not?
Instead, they will simply debate whether this is very bad, or very very bad for Hillary.
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this just in from The Hill….
Doctor: Clinton has pneumonia, was dehydrated and overheated Sunday
Hillary Clinton has been ill with pneumonia, her doctor said Sunday evening in a statement.
Dr. Lisa R. Bardack revealed the diagnosis on Sunday evening, hours after the Democratic presidential nominee was seen stumbling after exiting a 9/11 memorial event early.
Bardack said Clinton had an examination at her home in Chappaqua after the incident Sunday, and was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday.
Read the full story here
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Yes, I heard that she had pneumonia on NPR. But when she came out of her daughter’s apartment later on Sunday, she seemed good. When I had pneumonia, I was out of commission for a month totally spent and exhausted. How can she function with pneumonia?
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I suspect it is walking pneumonia.
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Honestly, Hillary is all of those things too in her own ways. She is just as fascist, and possibly even more disengenuous. There is no clear choice this time around. Given all that has transpired just over the course of the election, I fail to understand how any reasonable, thinking person can give her a free pass.
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So the fact that Trump was a birther is nothing in your eyes? That fact that he doesn’t emphatically, loudly and publicly condemn David Duke is OK? Hillary is not even close to being a hate monger on the level of Trump.
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agreed
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James,
Hillary is not a racist, a homophobe, a misogynist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic, nativist, and xenophobic.
Donald Trump has encouraged people who are to join him. David Duke is ecstatic with Trump’s candidacy.
I fail to see how any reasonable, thinking person can support a man who is ignorant, crude, vulgar, dumb as a rock on any issues related to domestic or foreign policy, who fawns on Vladimir Putin, and who has lived his life in service to his own greed.
Hillary, by contrast, is a well-educated, experienced woman who is knowledgeable about government. Many on this blog disagree with her policies (or what they think will be her policies) but they don’t think she is an ignorant, racist buffoon like Trump.
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I support Trump because he is running against Hilary Clinton. Whether you see it or not, there are thinking people who have simply had enough of career politicians who have used their office for personal gain. It doesn’t matter what Trump is–he’s not Hilary and for some of us that’s all that matters. You don’t have to understand the hatred some of us have for Hilary Clinton and the corrupt DNC that conspired against Bernie but you have to accept it exists and accept the fact that for some of us a vote for Trump is a vote against democrats who assume they have an educator’s vote. Not this time. Democrat Race-to-the-Top Obama, Democrats Arne Duncan, John King and Andrew Cuomo are why I have abandoned the Democratic Party. There should be a price paid for their betrayal and the only price we can levy is voting for the other guy. And the fact is one need not be a reasonable thinking person to cast a ballot. A racist misogynist’s vote is still a vote equal to yours or mine.
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to Jane Mayer who says: “I support Trump because he is running against Hilary Clinton. Whether you see it or not, there are thinking people who have simply had enough of career politicians who have used their office for personal gain.”
Do you think Trump does not plan to use his office for personal gain? And what of Hillary’s long track record of public service, including through the Clinton Foundation? Let’s hear what Trump has done for anyone but himself?
Also, neither “I don’t like Obama’s policies, so I’m not voting for Hillary” nor “I’m voting for the one who has no political career or experience and who knows nothing BUT personal gain” makes no sense to me, and certainly doesn’t sound like it comes from “thinking people.”
Then you say,” And the fact is one need not be a reasonable thinking person to cast a ballot. A racist misogynist’s vote is still a vote equal to yours or mine.”
That’s quite true. So how long can a democracy last when the voting public is increasingly unthinking and unreasonable and then chooses their representatives and president who will then make our educational policies? And by the way, what kind of education did these unthinking and unreasonable, racist, etc., people get?
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To Catherine Blanche King: If Trump wins the presidency, his true motives will soon be revealed. I’m certainly not claiming he’s Mother Teresa. For me this vote is about the democrats who have betrayed us. As I said a price must be paid. If they wanted my vote then Obama should not have shoved RttT down our throats. He should have fired Duncan for making a racist statement about white suburban moms and he should never have invited John King to DC. You can’t spit in my face and expect my vote. You can’t spit in my face and then be shocked when I support the other guy…the guy who hates you as much as I do.
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To Jane Myers: I doubt anyone is 100% happy with the politics of the day. But even if you were right about “the democrats” (I don’t think so, and Hillary is not “the democrats”), Trump is to a vibrant democracy what the atomic bomb is to a firecracker. (Lighten up?)
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Jane,
I share your outrage about RTTT, Duncan, King, etc but I am unwilling to turn the country over to a totally unqualified egotist who bullies people for fun, encourages racists, belittles women, and would be a disaster on every issue including education
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And people wonder why I get outraged. I suspect James is a troll who wouldn’t support anyone who wasn’t as racist or fascist as Trump. But if he is really a former Bernie supporter or Democrat, then he certainly repeats the right-wing talking points loud and clear.
Every time I read a supposed pro-Hillary endorsement that includes all the “but of course she is criminally corrupt, just not as corrupt as Trump” I cringe. Every endorsement of her buys into the “but she’s really corrupt” meme that the right wing so successfully got them to believe. Many Dems and Republicans are in bed with with the rich, but every discussion of them does not include “of course they are corrupt and breaking the law and would sell out national security if the price is right”.
There is a danger in all these so-called pro-Hillary endorsements, including some I see here. The underlying belief is not that she is a flawed candidate like Obama or Romney or Palin. The underlying belief is that she is a corrupt candidate just like Trump. And the people who read those endorsements are thinking “well if both candidates are corrupt, I might as well vote for one who wants change. Or who won’t sell out national security for money.” Those kinds of endorsements of Hillary just convince the people leaning toward Trump that Hillary is just as bad, so they might as well vote Trump. And Karl Rove and Roger Ailes are breaking open the champagne because those “well I’ll reluctantly vote for Hillary even if she is really corrupt” endorsements are exactly what they wanted to hear. Instead of convincing leaning Trump voters to change their minds, they convince leaning Trump voters that “even the people who support Hillary know how corrupt she is”.
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Yes, James, and that is why I am voting for a third party candidate Jill Stein.
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Diane says: “The press strains to show ‘balance.’ They do not differentiate between a conventional candidate with experience and knowledge and a candidate who lacks experience, is woefully uninformed, and uses his speaking skills to appeal to the mob’s basest instincts.”
I think they ARE straining for the truth (in most cases) and to maintain their mediating position as “the Press.” And I think that the false balance is felt by most, and oh-so-clear to many. But I think the strain is and will remain extreme: because the tension is not only about the extreme disjunctions between Trump’s and Hillary’s arguments; but also because Trump’s arguments, as bad as they are, are still grounded in the foundational legitimacy of his constituency. The Press HAS to honor that, and so do we–WITH appropriate discourse and the laws, while we still have a right to it and them.
Hillary struck out at that truly ignorant constituency yesterday with her “basket of deplorables” reference; and I wonder if it was spontaneous or a part of an overall strategy? Regardless of its prima facie truth, I don’t know. But if it WAS a strategy, it would be to “divide and conquer” the hard-core racist etc. Trump supporters from those who are squeamish about supporting what they DO understand as an amoral, socio-pathological, megalomaniac moron.
But Trump puts the press in a very bad position, indeed. In order to serve the truth, they have to creatively moderate their own set of principles. I hope it’s not too late when they get to it. Trump, however, is an assault on civil discourse because he methodically attacks it at its core. (thank you, oligarchic Republicans (and some Democrats).
But I think the larger question is whether Hillary will recognize this “at least” situation: that those more moderate Trump supporters, IF they don’t understand the danger of a Trump win, and correct or not, they (at least) see HER as a part of “the billionaire rigging problem” that Trump SAYS he will fix (ha!). It’s the same movement towards oligarchic predation on the body democratic-politic, e.g., through corporations, pseudo- non-profits that are really money-laundering schemes, their business ideologies, and their privatization. Those supporters overlook that Trump understands it so well <precisely because HE’S A PART OF IT>–it’s written in his psychological and political DNA, e.g., everything is a “deal,” his tax avoidance, his paying off of government prosecutors, need I go on?
That’s where Hillary needs to hit Trump, however. He IS the very thing he says he’s against. And Hillary needs to become a monk, leave her non-profit behind, and then go on attack by questioning Trump about what will happen to his hotels and casinos et al when (and if) he becomes president?
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Agree with all you say, Catherine.
Just ran across this from a Huffpost article’s history on Trump re his 9/11 response.
“Donald Trump Boasted His Building Was Tallest After Towers Fell On 9/11
“When they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest.”
09/11/2016 01:58 pm ET
Igor Bobic
Associate Politics Editor, The Huffington Post
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump bragged that his building was the tallest in New York City hours after the World Trade Center towers fell on Sept. 11, 2001.
Audio of the real estate mogul’s comments was obtained and published by Politico reporter Michael Kruse on Saturday. In the middle of a 10-minute conversation with local television station WWOR, Trump took the opportunity to plug his 71-story skyscraper located in the financial district, just blocks away from the doomed towers.
“40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest — and then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And now it’s the tallest,” he says in the clip, as footage of the towers falling rolls on screen.”
HIllary was right to call him and his followers, DEPLORABLE.
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Trump applied for and took $150,000 from the 9/11 fund for his building, which was not damaged
See Rolling Stone
#despicable
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Hello Dianne and Ellen: Forgive me–I forgot to mention: Opportunist.
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To Ellen Lubic: Again to Trump’s true expression of himself as the king of zero-sum-games: OMG.
Two other things: (1) Trump said this morning that this will be our last election (paraphrasing) because of all those horrible, sub-human immigrants that are flooding our borders. But I think having no elections is “in his dreams” because he doesn’t WANT elections, or even to live in a democracy–unless everyone agrees with him. That’s why he admires Putin so much.
(2) (Forgive the cliche) but for the oligarchs who live by the zero-sum game principle, those who live by the sword, die by the sword. For oligarchs cum fascists, it’s not a matter of getting elected, but rather who has the most brute power. Last election, indeed.
I bet that when Hillary became faint in the heat this morning at the 9/11 ceremonies, Rudy Gulianni wet his pants (did I really write that?).
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Catherine…Gulianni has worn Depends for some time since as the world can recognize, he is in the throes of dementia. I think this might also be Trumps health problem.
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Ellen
That is not nice but , I did get a chuckle thinking of Rudy’s shoes getting wet every time he went to the bathroom.
He was a failed mayor before the Towers went down. Amazing how one can become a hero by walking away from the seen of a disaster.
Of course on 9/11 it is helpful to remember that the genius placed the Emergency Management Center inside the Trade Center. Who would have thought that the Towers were a terrorist target?
Anybody with half a brain after the 93 attack . I guess that excludes Rudy
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Joel . . . every time he sees Hillary sneeze.
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I agree with everything you have written about Trump. But, again and respectfully, I disagree with your endorsement and characterizations of Hillary Clinton, whom, in this latest blog, you describe as “not a menace and a threat to the future of the nation and the world.” Not only would she be precisely such, she already has been for years. Her positions and policies, as a Senator and particularly as Secretary of State, have been catastrophic for the people, especially the children, of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen,Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Guatemala, Honduras and Haiti, and would now be for Syria, Iran and who knows where else. We can disagree about her motivations, for example how much her actions have been influenced by her ties to the fossil fuel industry, weapons contractors, banking interests and other geopolitical power brokers, whether direct donators or contributors to her Foundation. But the effects, in the deaths of civilians, the economic and environmental devastation left behind, and the arming of terrorists, seem to me to be undeniable.
We also need to consider her championing of fracking, internationally and at home, and the impact that would have on the drinking water of children and the environment they will have to grow up in. We can’t express outrage over the treatment of children in Flint, Michigan while under-reacting to this. Your blogs have served a commendable service in informing and unifying the field. But the recent electoral emphasis, while obviously important and inseparable when it comes to education, has, in my view, divided and (I believe) misinformed what needs to be a strong, savvy and united force. The candidate who does not support educational privatization, who does not present a ”menace and a threat,” whom, in my opinion, we should be supporting en masse so as to make her candidacy viable and express consistency of our goals and ideals, is Jill Stein.
While Hillary has been completely silent about the Dakota pipeline and its dangers to and the attacks on the Native Americans trying to protect themselves and their children, Jill Stein has been issued an arrest warrant for her involvement. You referred to the Bernie supporters, of whom you were one, but few of us are not of the conviction that Hillary Clinton and the machine that has backed her didn’t undemocratically steal the nomination from him. I urge an open and respectful debate if the blog will continue to influence your loyal and appreciative readers to support Hillary Clinton.
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Trump or Clinton. That’s it, in this world.
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webera2014,
Barack Obama was your ideal anti-war candidate, opposing the war in Iraq from the start.
If you don’t like the policies of the US government the last 8 years, you should blame the candidate who was the most anti-war, Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton has had nothing to do with US policy since she stepped down as Secy of State when his 2nd term began. Barring Hillary having some kind of evil power over Obama to make him do her bidding despite his anti-war stance, I am willing to believe that the US was making what they thought were the best decisions at the time. Foreign policy is hard. There are no good answers. Ultimately, you have to trust that Obama’s actions were made for the right reasons, even if they are wrong in the end, because you think your President had the interests of the US at heart, and not the interests of billionaires in the defense industry, etc. I think Obama tried to do the right thing for the right reasons. I think Hillary will try to do the right thing for the right reasons. I didn’t trust Bush-Cheney to act in the interests of the US, and I don’t trust Donald Trump. They are in it for the interests of the few.
Jill Stein is like Ralph Nader. I like her policies but she wants to take a short cut to the Presidency because it is so much more easier than doing the hard work of working her way up the political ladder. Trump tried that too, for 8 years, so maybe in the future she will have a chance. I get that running for a lower office and having to deal with the dirty reality of politics is nasty and dirty, but it’s also a good learning experience. Otherwise, you start to think you can run America like a fascist, as Trump shows. Why do you think Bernie didn’t endorse Jill Stein? Bernie isn’t a Democrat, never has been, and as you point out owes no loyalty to the Democratic Party that you are 100% certain stole the election from him.
But Bernie has been in politics for a long time. He understands what it means to lead a country and that it isn’t something that someone does on a whim because she had good ideas.
If you think Bernie is a sell-out and a tool of the DNC, by all means ignore his advice.
If you think Bernie Sanders decades in government has made him a pretty good judge of what a good candidate looks like, and that’s why he didn’t endorse Jill Stein, then vote for Hillary.
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^^^and I look forward to your theory as to why Bernie Sanders would sell out the American people just to please a Democratic Party establishment whom he has never been part of and who, according to you, stole the election from him.
I find it hard to believe that you could think Bernie would make a good President and yet not trust his judgement as to whether Hillary Clinton would. Either you think Bernie is a liar, or you aren’t being honest about your admiration for him. You don’t seem to trust him at all.
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Donald Trump is a textbook demagogue fomenting mistrust and hate. As is the case with with all demagogues, his existence is predicated on a receptive population of collaborators. The very fact that there are enough supporters in this nation to allow a hate group favorite to represent one of the two major parties is truly deplorable and speaks poorly about who we are. Clinton has merely pointed out the elephant in the room.
HC had no reason to walk back her statement. It’s tremendously sad that after electing the first African American President–whatever one thinks of the job he has done– our nation has provided Trump as a counterpoint.
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There were things that Obama had no control over. There was much that he was responsible for. In 2008 and 12 he ran on positions that were far to the Left of where he even attempted to govern. The half HRC referred to has always existed. They supported George Wallace in 68. Some, not many, but enough of the other half to make Trump a viable challenger were driven away from the democratic party by bad policy decisions.
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For the record: when it comes to Donald Trump, what we’re talking about is someone who has a pre-scientific way of thinking….. When you try to follow his train of thought it’s as if the Enlightenment never happened. Logic flies out the window. If elected, he’s going to “get all Medieval on us”. I’m reminded of Neil Postman’s graduation speech about the Athenians and the Visigoths. This guy is clearly a Visigoth.
If someone is still undecided at this point in the “campaign” I don’t know what rock they have been living under for the past year. And, I have to wonder what chance I have of changing anyone’s mind who already supports Donald Trump. I’ve been involved in some of the strangest conversations I’ve ever been part of during my lifetime. There are some people I know and like who are voting for Trump. I try to understand where they are coming from but, WHAT THE HELL??? I remain stunned that this is where we are, here in the United States of America, circa 2016.
Of course, I will remain as professional and objective and unbiased as I can humanly be within my classroom, my school.
But it is time people stand up. November 8 I will go down and vote for Hillary Clinton. I only wish the election was tomorrow. I can’t stand listening to Trump blabber on for one more day -let alone the possibility of hearing him for four years. God help us all!
Those of you wrestling about Clinton or Stein or Johnson I respect you all. At least you’re trying to THINK about this mess we find ourselves in.
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Excellent comment, John. Trump is indeed a Visigoth. I agree with you that this is the moment to choose a somewhat flawed believer in our Democratic Republic, Clinton, over the knuckle dragging Visigoth, T-Rump.
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Thanks,, James, for exemplifying why I did not support Bernie despite liking his style and stance. While most of his supporters were rightly alarmed at the direction of the country toward oligarchy, there was too much of yelling fascist every time someone drifted slightly right of center that took me back to the 60s. If you missed some marches, you can burnish your radical credentials by joining the Standing Rock demonstrations. If you want to call someone fascist, look to the altright, not centrist Democrats. It was a friend setting me down in 1965 to explain that “North Viet Nam” and “South Viet Nam” were fictions designed to bolster the colonialist regime that convinced me to oppose the war, not someone calling me a fascist. Read Lawrence Britt’s 14 Principles of Fascism (http://www.ellensplace.net/fascism.html) to see what fascism is. It is not disappointing Bernie supporters.
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Someone can point out Trump’s negatives all day long, but it has no effect on his core group of supporters. But I do believe there is a large number of current Trump supporters who can be reasoned with, if Democrats give them reasons.
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Agreed
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HRC could start with a statement calling for O to pull the TPP off the table. It would go a long way in demonstrating a resolve to represent Main Street over Wall Street.
But John is right. How can one be undecided between the two? Perhaps undecided between the four demonstrates the existence of some gray matter.
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How about strengthening Social Security without penalizing recipients? Raise the cap as a start. Obama was all too willing to sell out. If jobs go overseas, companies should be held accountable instead of reaping the rewards of a system they undermine. The wealthy have had a free ride. The tax code penalizes work while giving a pass to people like Romney and Trump who game the system. Stop importing H1bs. There is no skills gap, only age discrimination. Make college affordable again. It used to be a person could work their way through state university. College loans should be dischargeable. No student should have to graduate with $100000 in debt. Everyone knows the system is rigged. The question is how to fix it.
People are not undecided. They are angry and feel they have been lied to. They have lost faith in institutions. They are humiliated by working hard all their life only to be forced into serving fries to survive retirement. When people are insecure and demoralized, they look for a demagogue. Trump tells them what they want to hear. It isn’t Trump, it is the message. Democrats CAN capture that message again and unambiguously support teachers, middle class, working Americans, retirees, families. Obama was a disappointment. Hillary has been uninspiring. It is a movement, not an election. If Democrats can capture that, I do believe many Trump supporters will turn
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I agree with Vale Math. I don’t think any of those ideas are very far from what Hillary Clinton believes and wants to do. I don’t know why her ideas for governing are getting so lost.
In an ideal world, this would be done in the debates. Make each candidate state their position on social security and taxes and college costs and whether we should give families vouchers to attend any school. Then make them defend their positions.
Obviously, I’m living in a fantasy world. The questions will instead be “Hillary, why did you insult Trump’s supporters?” and “Donald, how strong and great is Putin?”
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NYC Parent,
The debate will focus on Hillary’s emails and her health.
Issues? Policies? Not so much.
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Yes to all ! I focus on TPP because it shows a willingness to oppose the corporate agenda. It also shows a willingness to confront Obama who should be forced to back down if Clinton and the party is truly sincere. A bare minimum litmus test for a progressive vs a neo-liberal (hate that term )
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I stand with Charle Blow’s column in today’s edition of the New York Times on who is ‘deplorable’.
I have dwindling patience with those who continue to complain about this year’s candidates and who advocate for Stein or Johnson as viable alternatives; neither has a snowball’s chance in Hell of being elected.
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What you don’t understand, Anne, is that initiating and implementing children’s health and education program and legal service for the poor have ALWAY been the path to power for dictators.
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My s key doesn’t work well.
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