{"id":22251,"date":"2024-07-15T17:32:09","date_gmt":"2024-07-16T00:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=22251"},"modified":"2024-07-19T15:33:43","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T22:33:43","slug":"what-democracy-is-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2024\/07\/15\/what-democracy-is-for\/","title":{"rendered":"What Democracy Is For"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for another batch of short items. <em>NYT<\/em> and <em>LAT<\/em> (before the assassination attempt) think Trump unfit; items about the Ten Commandments, <i>Fly Me to the Moon<\/i>, conspiracies, a comment on TV about how democracy should work; and how Republicans are using the assassination attempt to deflect all criticism of Trump and his authoritarian policies. Another Trump judge dismisses a case against Trump, what a surprise. Zack Beauchamp, a name to look for. And others.<\/p>\n<p>My take-away from among all these: that comment on TV about how democracy should work.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/94284760-76f9-4919-aaf4-93de4d34db1f.jpeg?crop=2500%2C1667%2Cx0%2Cy0&amp;width=1280\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Just a couple days before the assassination attempt, both <em>NYT<\/em> and <em>LAT<\/em> published similar pieces &#8212; as if responding to criticism of the the media for continually harping on Biden, rather than Trump.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>LA Times, 11 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/opinion\/story\/2024-07-11\/la-trump-unfit-for-office-biden-election\">Editorial: One candidate is patently unfit for the White House. It\u2019s not Biden<\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong>NY Times<\/strong>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2024\/07\/nyt-editorial-board-trump-is-simply-unfit-to-lead\/\">Donald Trump Is Unfit to Lead<\/a>. This piece, coincidentally, was published in print on Saturday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>And the day before that: <strong>Boing Boing, Mark Frauenfelder, 10 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/boingboing.net\/2024\/07\/10\/new-book-reveals-why-maga-cult-adores-trump-hes-openly-corrupt-a-liar-racist-and-sadistic.html\">New book reveals why MAGA cult adores Trump: he&#8217;s &#8220;openly corrupt, a liar, racist, and sadistic&#8221;<\/a>. But nothing really new here: &#8220;it&#8217;s because their tribe demands a corrupt authoritarian leader.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Another gloss on conservative morals? <strong>Salon, Amanda Marcotte, 10 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2024\/07\/10\/the-grift-behind-project-2025-leader-john-mcentee-made-an-app-to-hustle-cash-from-lonely-maga-men\/\">The grift behind Project 2025: Leader John McEntee made an app to hustle cash from lonely MAGA men<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;In Trump world, there&#8217;s always money to be made by sowing the destruction of American society&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>From <strong>Raw Story<\/strong>, via JMG, 6 Jul 2024: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2024\/07\/trump-again-claims-credit-for-law-signed-by-obama\/\">Trump Again Claims Credit For Law Signed By Obama<\/a>. In 2020, when called out on the lie by a reporter, Trump simply turned and walked out of the room. Four years later, he&#8217;s still saying it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Salon, Paul Rosenberg, 7 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2024\/07\/07\/ten-commandments-gone-wild-the-christian-rights-latest-distraction\/\">Ten Commandments gone wild! The Christian right&#8217;s latest toxic distraction<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;A tale of the evangelical right, the least religious president ever and Cecil B. DeMille&#8217;s phony list from God.&#8221; The question always is, as they pick and choose the version of the commandments they prefer, what is their basis for making their decisions? Apparently, according to this, they&#8217;re using the version from the 1956 film starring Charlton Heston. So much for Biblical fidelity!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Slate, Dana Stevens, 11 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/culture\/2024\/07\/fly-me-to-the-moon-scarlett-johansson-channing-tatum.html\">Channing Tatum and ScarJo Made a Rom-Com About Faking the Moon Landing. Houston, We Have a Problem.<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;<i>Fly Me to the Moon<\/i> is a $100 million disaster.&#8221; And it strikes me as irresponsible to make such a film. What&#8217;s next, a movie about faking 9\/11? (Also, as someone on Fb noted, the review fails to mention the much earlier film with a very similar premise, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Capricorn_One\"><i>Capricorn One<\/i><\/a>.)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Slate, William Hogeland, 11 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2024\/07\/biden-step-down-history-heather-cox-richardson.html\">Is the Age of the Resistance Historian Coming to an End?<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;People who study the past don\u2019t always have special insight into politics. Recent events have made that crystal clear.&#8221; This seems to be a critique of Heather Cox Richardson in particular, as an historian who (according to the piece) is always finding historical precedents to &#8216;explain&#8217; current politics. I haven&#8217;t read this closely enough to form an opinion.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Washington Post, 12 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/interactive\/2024\/cognitive-test-questions-biden\/\">Biden is resistant to taking a cognitive test. Try a short one yourself.<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;This isn\u2019t a real cognitive test, but it should give you an understanding of how simple screenings work.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Center for Inquiry, Benjamin Radford, 10 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/centerforinquiry.org\/blog\/boeing-admits-to-conspiracy-conspiracists-dont-care\/\">Boeing Admits to Conspiracy; Conspiracists Don\u2019t Care<\/a>. We&#8217;ve seen this before. Conspiracy theorists are interested only in purported plots that support their paranoid world-view.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Friendly Atheist, 12 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendlyatheist.com\/p\/democrats-to-irs-investigate-right\">Democrats to IRS: Investigate right-wing groups that pretend to be &#8220;churches&#8221;<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;Non-profit groups shouldn&#8217;t be allowed to call themselves churches to &#8216;avoid public accountability,&#8217; say House Dems&#8221;. We&#8217;ve seen this over and over. You&#8217;d think, if any group might be more honorable and honest than all other groups, it would be the religious, who claim to follow the directives of their god. But in fact, that&#8217;s rarely the case.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now we&#8217;re up to today&#8217;s items.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, a comment I heard last night on one of the <strong>TV news shows<\/strong>, somewhere amidst the endless commentary about the attempted Trump assassination. I&#8217;m paraphrasing: &#8220;A democracy is not about getting everyone to agree. That will never happen. A democracy is about rules for allowing everyone to live alongside others who don&#8217;t agree.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Slate, Emily Tamkin, 15 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2024\/07\/trump-shot-jd-vance-violent-rhetoric-criticism-slovakia.html\">What the Republicans Blaming Democrats for Trump\u2019s Shooting Are Really Up To<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;This response is a trap. Don\u2019t fall for it.&#8221; What is the trap?<br \/>\n<blockquote><p>Vance and Co. were encouraging the very thing that they\u2019re pretending to criticize: division and targeting of political enemies. What\u2019s more, the comments are an attempt to use political violence to chill criticism of a political ideology that has itself <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2021\/01\/violence-republicans-trump-right-wing-threats.html\">inspired or been connected<\/a> to violence.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That is, criticizing Trump for being a would-be dictator is now taken as incitement to political violence. A strategy to silence criticism.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Same point: Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 15 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2024\/07\/15\/on-exploited-an-opportunity-to-shame-dissenters-from-the-maga-movement-into-silence\/\">Attack on Trump exploited: &#8220;An opportunity to shame dissenters from the MAGA movement into silence&#8221;<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;&#8216;Republicans will exploit the assassination attempt to emphasize Trump\u2019s near-martyrdom,&#8217; Steven Beschloss predicts&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>And this. <strong>Vox, Eric Levitz, 14 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/360516\/trump-assasination-attempt-democracy-threat-rhetoric-critics-violence-politics-biden\">Yes, it\u2019s still fair to call Trump a threat to democracy<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;The attempt on his life shouldn\u2019t cow his critics.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Salon, 15 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2024\/07\/15\/marjorie-taylor-greene-evil-democrats-for-by-registered\/?in_brief=true\">Marjorie Taylor Greene blames &#8220;evil&#8221; Democrats for shooting by registered Republican<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;The Congresswoman\u2019s words come amidst calls from the President to &#8216;lower the temperature'&#8221;<\/li>\n<li><strong>Vox, Zack Beauchamp, 15 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/360557\/trump-assassination-attempt-republican-response-political-violence-irresponsible\">This is how you get escalation<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;Political leaders should try to douse the flames. The right\u2019s leaders are fanning them.&#8221; It begins: &#8220;Roughly two hours after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) blamed President Joe Biden.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>The same guy, Zack Beauchamp, was on <strong>KQED&#8217;s Forum<\/strong> radio program this morning, with Mina Kim: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/forum\/2010101906308\/zack-beauchamp-on-how-the-reactionary-spirit-is-threatening-democracy-worldwide\">The Trump Assassination Attempt and How \u2018The Reactionary Spirit\u2019 is Threatening Democracy Worldwide<\/a>. Very well-spoken and provocative. He has a new book out, but I already have so many books&#8230;.<\/li>\n<li><strong>JMG, 15 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2024\/07\/alabama-gop-refiles-bill-to-arrest-public-librarians\/\">Alabama GOP Refiles Bill To Arrest Public Librarians<\/a>. Because, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2024\/07\/11\/save-the-children\/\">Protect the Children<\/a>!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Slate, 15 July 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2024\/07\/aileen-cannon-jack-smith-classified-documents-case-trump-trial-clarence-thomas.html\">Keeping Up With the Trump Trials: \u200b\u200bWow, Aileen Cannon Really Dismissed the Classified Documents Case!<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;She\u2019s following Clarence Thomas\u2019 lead.&#8221; Another Trump-appointed judge lets Trump off the hook! Amazing how that works.<\/li>\n<li><strong>JMG, 15 Jul 2024<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2024\/07\/matt-walsh-the-deep-state-is-behind-rally-shooting\/\">Matt Walsh: The Deep State Is Behind Rally Shooting<\/a>. Walsh recites the implausibility of that 20-year-old got into the position he did. &#8211;Actually, I think that now-iconic photo of Trump, blood dripping down the side of his face, pumping his fist and shouting &#8220;fight! fight!&#8221;, is as staged as anything the &#8220;deep state&#8221; conspiracy theorists could imagine. So there.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for another batch of short items. NYT and LAT (before the assassination attempt) think Trump unfit; items about the Ten Commandments, Fly Me to the Moon, conspiracies, a comment on TV about how democracy should work; and how &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2024\/07\/15\/what-democracy-is-for\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,96,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservatives","category-human-nature","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22251"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22286,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22251\/revisions\/22286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}