Clarissa's Blog

My BFF knows me very well and she sent me this link that explains exactly what I’m trying to say in my posts of this morning .

I am not even in Texas yet but I’ve already spotted 2 people in cowboy boots. The horror. Cowboy hats can’t be far behind. 

Woe be unto me.

I didn’t mention the people who were truly economically devastated by globalization in my posts. Those people absolutely do exist, I’ve seen them, I’ve seen their little towns that look like a war zone. These are people who either don’t vote, or if they do, they go Democrat. 

The line about Trump voters being devastated by globalization makes zero sense to me. I’m not seeing any evidence of that. The plight of such people is real and it’s tragic. But Trumpism is about cultural alienation, not economic.

Also, the “if only we’ d gone with Bernie” folks: Hillary lost because half of the country sees her as way too progressive for their liking. Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true. She didn’t lose because she wasn’t progressive enough. Take a peek at who holds most governorships, the Senate and the House for clues. By the way, who’s the governor of Vermont?

And to conclude. I know people who voted for Trump. Several people. Very anecdotal evidence but I can only speak to what I know. And what I know is that they are good people. One of them is in economic distress. The rest are not. Two families are very well-to-do.

They explained their position to me and I find it hard to condemn them. Not a single one disliked Hillary for being a woman. Not a single one brought up race, especially since several are immigrants and not white. They said different things but there was one common thread: “They despise me because I’m religious and because of the kind of life I live – marriage, children, church – so how can I join them?”

What if we try to meet people – not racists or the KKK maniacs – but regular people a little bit closer to where they are? Maybe assume that they are not all deranged but that maybe there might be a logic and a reason to their position.

Yes, I’ve got more, and all of it unwelcome.

2. Trump takes a kernel of truth and grows it into complete insanity. The kernel of truth, however, is there. And since people don’t hear this kernel acknowledged anywhere else, they perceive Trump as refreshing. 

Example. The “Trump is anti – PC” trope. Yes, the bastard legitimized  public nastiness, absolutely. But that’s not the whole story. There are crowds of eager speech-policers that try to shut one up constantly. Their smugness is very off – putting. Yes, they are a tiny minority. But they yell very loud. They need to get a pushback. Let’s stop excusing the snowflake rebellions on campuses. And as for campuses, by God, let’s stop being such a blasted echo chamber. Let’s stop censoring because we totally do. Many of our students are religious and conservative. Let’s show tolerance and fucking respect that.

Another example. Yes, not all Mexicans, absolutely. Not even close to a majority either. And not all men but try trotting that out at a feminist website and you will be rightfully chucked off. It’s deranged, simply deranged to deny that the heroine which is causing the current epidemic of addiction is not coming from outer space. And it’s as deranged to deny that the ideology of affirmative consent sounds ridiculous to many Hispanic immigrants. It sound ridiculous to me, too, actually. 

3. And God, the holier-than-thou enforcers of ideological purity. Those are the absolute worst. When people see how actively Hillary tried to move to the left but still failed to impress the guardians of progressive virtue, they realize it’s hopeless and they’ll never find a place amidst such impossible orthodoxy. All of these snobs who despised “incrementalism” and pouted about wanting everything right now are not attracting anybody to the movement.

This is probably a bad time to write about it because everybody is devastated and needs to grieve. But I grieve through intellectualizing and making lists. So let’s try it out.

Racists and sexists, yes. They obviously exist. There are clearly many of them. Trump’s unshakeable base was 3 0- 3 5%. Where did the rest come from? You can decide the whole 47% are racists and sexists. But there’s nowhere to go from there. Let’s just give up on the spot, then.

Here is what I think really happened. There are things in the Liberal movement that put many people off. Instead of looking for flaws in the individuals who ran for office and lost or in the procedure, let’s talk about flaws in the movement.

1. Democrats are not doing as well as they need with immigrants. Example. Remember that family of immigrants from Mexico that I keep writing about? Hard-working, wonderful people with 4 amazing kids? I’m yet to spot a single non-immigrant Liberal who wants to be friends with them. The only people who come to their parties, who have them over, who babysit their kids, etc are ultra-conservative Republicans. Who do you think they will vote for?
I’m an immigrant, too, and every single instance of being treated like crap I have experienced came from a Liberal. And every single instance of asking me about the place I came from, instead of lecturing me about it, came from a conservative.

To many immigrants, the idea of a wall  (real or metaphoric) is appealing because it will underscore their achievement in getting citizenship. It’s important to understand that and acknowledge it as a valid position. It’s important not to lump all immigrants together. It’s important to stop lecturing. It’s important to recognize that people are entitled to their own history and their own concerns. 

Example. Lecturing somebody from a 3rd world country on environmentalism and the importance of using less plastic is extremely off – putting. If you are talking to an immigrant , forget the word ‘ recycling ‘ aaltogether. Yes , it’s a trivial little thing but it’s one of a thousand.

People, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature, so let’s stop treating it as a bug.

We couldn’t deliver a sure thing with Al Gore – he was unlikeable, supercilious, full of himself, couldn’t get people excited, plus the Nader people robbed him of a crucial percentage of votes.

We couldn’t deliver a sure thing with Kerry – he was unlikeable, couldn’t get people excited, plus there was that whole swiftboater scandal that turned people off.
We couldn’t deliver a sure thing with Hillary – she is unlikeable, supercilious, full of herself, couldn’t get people excited, the Stein people robbed her of a crucial percentage of votes, plus there was that email scandal thing.
Notice a pattern? 

Every failed election brings out the same tired nitpicking about personalities. It’s always about some imperfection in the candidate’s personality and some tiny mistake by some tiny group.

We’ll keep losing until we recognize that it’s not about any of this little stuff at all. It’s not about finding the perfect candidate. The opponent’s won the trifecta last night with a bunch of super imperfect candidates. If Roy Blunt wins in Missouri, there’s something bigger than personalities that is going on because that fellow’s personality is sure to repulse door knobs off doors.

Last night we suffered a pathetic, humiliating defeat that we can’t afford, that the world can’t afford. Please, just please, let’s not do more of the same and repeat the same tired narratives that led us to this place.

Yesterday was about bored people in an opulent society treating national politics as a joke that it’s rapidly becoming. 

People simply want something fun to watch on their huge TVs. Nobody is  victim, nobody is in distress. It’s all about sated, burpy boredom of the jaded and the spoiled.

This is Grindelwald, Switzerland. I will be stuck all alone in Texas at a time like this, so I’ll need to meditate.

Good night, my friends. We all need to rest before figuring out the next step. 

Fucking Roy Blunt won in Missouri. The fucker is more corrupt than you can begin to imagine. Everybody in his family is a lobbyist: his wife, his 3 children, everybody. But Republican voters are into outsiders, so they returned Blunt, with his DC mansion and his lobbyist family, to the Senate. 

So, puh-leeeese, don’t give me any outsider talk. It’s ridiculous.