(PROPOSED) TALKING POINTS FOR (PUTATIVE) PUNDITS
I’ve been feeling a bit peeved lately. It seems the pundits and political analysts are not reading my column! And they keep repeating the exact same things over and over, the things they’ve been saying for two years now. If they would read my blog, and understand it, they might not be getting things so wrong.
So, I decided it was time to put it in a format that they could understand – a bulleted list of talking points. Then maybe they will get it, without having to read through actual sentences and paragraphs. So here it is, for everyone who is following the sideshow in our national capital, if you want to get things straight. A list for you.
Hillary won more votes than her opponent, the man who is currently sitting in the White House talking about his bigly victory
The Electoral College disenfranchises millions of voters every election cycle
It assumes certain votes are worth more than other votes
You assume that when you talk about how important it is that we don’t let the coastal cities (where most of the people live) elect our leaders
The people who have votes that are worth less than others tend to have darker skin or no penis – yes, cities have larger minority and female communities than the rural areas of the Midwest you think are so important
White men have never been ignored; they are impossible to ignore
The Midwest has never been ignored; they, too, are impossible to ignore
Assuming everyone is entitled to equal rights is not identity politics
Assuming one particular group, i.e. white males, is entitled to rule is identity politics
The Democrats are not losing because they are too far to the left
The Democratic leadership is to the right of Richard Nixon
Trump voters did not vote that way because they are out of work
They voted that way because they are:
Racist
Sexist
Xenophobic
Entitled white males
The entitled white wives of entitled white males
Greedy
Deplorables
All of the above
Hillary did not run a bad campaign
She did not smile enough
She was “shrill”
She wore pantsuits
She had e-mails
She was female
All of the above
Hillary was not “shrill”; she has a reasonably appealing speaking voice that happens to be pitched somewhat higher than the usual presidential candidate
Hillary was ambitious
This is expected in a Presidential candidate
This would be okay if Hillary were a man
But Hillary is female
Hillary made some errors of judgment as Secretary of State
This is expected; Hillary is human
Many of these same errors were committed by male counterparts who were not hounded, harassed, or had someone shout “lock him up” about them
Hillary is female
Hillary has written a book about her experience
As has Barack Obama
And Michelle Obama
Who is on a book tour that is renting venues usually used for rock stars
But is not getting crap about it from the people on the left who think Hillary should shut up
Trump won the election in part because of the free coverage he was given by the media
Non-stop
All day
Every day
Front page
Headlines
Unable to be escaped no matter how hard one tried
Did I say free?
Hillary was usually below the fold when she was there at all
Did I mention Hillary is female?
The Fairness Doctrine was repealed during the Reagan administration to allow this to happen
This is no ordinary presidency
Those who are outraged at him are not just being partisan
They are being sensible
He has no idea what he is doing
But thinks he knows more than anyone else
He is a national embarrassment
But he still gets treated just like an ordinary president
He has installed his family in high positions for which they are not qualified
He has insisted on putting a likely sexual predator on the Supreme Court
He has stifled investigation into that nominee
He calls the accuser names
He calls everybody names
He lies
He cheats
He steals
He has rallies – seriously?
Where he shouts epithets about people who disagree with him
And encourages his supporters to violence
He refuses to engage with the international community as an adult
He tossed candy at the leader of Germany
Who happens to be a woman
Of course
I could go on…and on…and on. But the attention span of our media is shorter than that of our kindergartners, so I will leave it at that. They can break it into small bites, and take it in…but they won’t. They will continue to ignore everyone of these facts and continue to evaluate the presidency as if the occupant were a political figure that won an election against a weaker opponent (see point 1). They will continue to use the same waffle words they always use to avoid telling the blunt truth about a president and his family that are breaking our country (and yes, even if you have a lot of problems with how our country is working, like I do, recognize this: Breaking it is a bad thing, especially when you have no plan and no skills to put it back together in a better form…or any form at all).
The media helped elevate the Donald to the highest office in the land, because he boosted ratings. He still boosts ratings, so they continue to treat him as a president, refusing to admit that there is a significant portion of this country who believes one of two things: Either we are in a great big reality show, or…Donald Trump is a great president. Neither of these things has any basis in fact, but the media still continues to play along with the angry white male as though somehow, somewhere, in some universe, he has a legitimate right to be angry. The only way they get away with this is by refusing to talk about what Trump’s base is really angry about: other people are insisting on, and getting, the ordinary rights that adhere to a citizen of the United States, and they do not like these people, and believe that these people should be subservient to the white rural Midwesterner. If you don’t believe that, then shut the hell up about the legitimate grievances of the Trump voter. Thank you.