What They Voted For: Conservative Fulfillment

#trumpswindle | #WhatTheyVotedFor

“I had an opportunity to speak with President Trump and he, I would say to all my colleagues, has indicated he’s prepared to sign the bill. He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. And I’ve indicated to him I’m going to support the national emergency declaration.”

―Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)^α

The underlying theme of the #trumpswindle is that despite mutterings here and there among Beltway Republicans, the Trump Administration is hardly a departure from the GOP of recent decades; the sticky sensation of pining nostalgia for the ’80s is no mere coincidence. The Senate Majority Leader is hardly making a radical break with mainstream American conservatism in abdicating to a Republican president verging toward a national emergency against migrants.

Our American atrocity is afoot. Once upon a time, the joke was that we need another Vietnam^β. For Trump voters, apparently what we really need is another atrocity against nonwhites. For all the excuses Republican voters have offered over the years for bargaining with supremacism^γ, they just haven’t really gotten much in return. There is the economic wreck and fiscal nightmare inflicted against the country over the course of the last twelve years, and that atop the general failure of their trickle-down myth; the Bush Doctrine has laid their foreign policy ambition to the bone. All these voters ever got for their votes is the traditional supremacism, and having suffered a definitive loss in the Gay Fray^δ, have redoubled their efforts to assail the human rights of women. A national emergency in order to establish extraordinary authority to build border wall, at a time when a Republican administration runs internment camps for migrant children, is a happy day for American conservatives. This is #WhatTheyVotedFor.

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^α Transcript corrected from linked article, per video source.

^β e.g., Bart Simpson, ca. 1996 (#3F16)—

Bart: What the hell is this?
Lisa: It’s one of those campy seventies throw-backs that appeal to Generation X-ers.
Bart: We need another Vietnam, to thin out their ranks a little.

—exploiting a roadworn American trope about youth. It is, however, worth noting that when Congress refused to support President Obama’s request for new authorization against Daa’ish, Democrats saw too much risk and entanglement, while Republicans complained that the administration was not intending a large enough war.

^γ Because, after all, those voters are not racist; but it’s just unfair to alienate supremacism like that, and it’s not like anyone is ever really going to let them be in charge. Right?

^δ Which, in turn, was always about women, anyway.

Image note: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY; left), walks with President-elect Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol for a meeting, 10 November 2016, in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Bolton, Alexander. “Trump to sign border deal, declare national emergency”. The Hill. 14 February 2019.

Some Sort of Nostalgia

[#xkcd]

No . . . no, we’re not going to actually do it. It’s okay, though, to to thank Randall for the earworm.

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Image note: Detail of xkcd #1981, by Randall Munroe, 16 April 2018.

One of the Best Rock Albums Ever Recorded (head vs. wall)

Once upon a time my brother wanted to show off just a little. We stopped by a booth at the county fair where a local radio station was giving away records. Most of it was understandable; they just didn’t play Top 40, for instance. My brother had made friends, though, with one of the DJs, and wanted me to see him hanging out and looking cool with cool music people. There were, of course, some gems in there, and I still wonder if they had other copies of head vs. wall, by Chicago band The Service, because what I walked away with that day is one of the best rock albums ever recorded.

I probably owe my brother thanks for that, after all these years. It’s funny, I don’t think he’s ever sat down and listened to the album, even though one of two copies I’ve owned over the years has resided in his vinyl collection for over a decade.

What is it, a bit over forty minutes? Forty-four, or so? It really is worth the time.

Your Quote of the Day (Bigot Bawling Breakdown Edition)

“Essentially they want to recapture an America that no longer exists, one that has white people at the center of the culture, on top of the world, secure in their place as the highest caste. That’s what they hear when he says he will ‘Make America Great Again.’ And that’s just not something that anyone deliver for them, not even Donald Trump.”

―Heather Digby Parton

There is always a reason.

To wit, there is a reason why reading through Digby’s latest analysis of the Trump phenomenon should inspire recollection of Mr. Fish’s inquiry eighteen months ago.

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Image note: Detail of cartoon by Mr. Fish, via Clowncrack, 30 November 2014.

Digby Parton, Heather. “Birtherism and bigotry: These are the vile impulses driving voters to Trump — stop thinking it’s anything else”. Salon. 3 June 2016.

The Thrilling Stupidity of Yesteryear

You know, nostalgia is as nostalgia does―

Russian submarines and spy ships are aggressively operating near the vital undersea cables that carry almost all global Internet communications, raising concerns among some American military and intelligence officials that the Russians might be planning to attack those lines in times of tension or conflict.

(Sanger and Schmitt)

―but this is a bit ridiculous. I mean, really, a lede like that in the twenty-first century?

That it is even possible to write a lede like that is something of a testament to humanity, though hardly one to be proud of.

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Sanger, David E. and Eric Schmitt. “Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort”. The New York Times. 25 October 2015.

The Dropped Call of Cthulhu

This public service announcement is brought to you by Adam Huber.

There are, of course, so many things we might say.

Not that any of them are good or useful.

Do we go with the cigarette joke, or the … er … yeah, you know, never mind.

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Huber, Adam. “This is Your Brain on Cthulhu”. Bug Martini. 17 August 2015.

Your Morning Metal (Persecutor)

At the edge of metal and the new sonic wave came Floater. I dare you to find another band so goddamn cool.

I am of alien intelligence, at least they say so. I could show you anything unless I want to. Many people run away from me; I make them angry. They don’t like the way I shake, I am reminded. Oh, I am reminded. Stop and take a look at where your words are falling. Listen to where your wisdom goes. Oh, you might be disappointed at just how much your victim knows. You better kick in. Oh, I am sickened. Oh, you won’t listen. Little girl has learned a lesson today, she has a value. Get up and change the sheets again; late night with Gallo. Many people run away from her, she makes them angry. They don’t like the way she moves, she is reminding. Oh, she is reminding. Did you wake up today? Did you wake up yesterday? Did you wake up today? And will you wake up tomorrow? It came up from the water, down into the village, now. Followed me to my home, and spoke to me and said: Don’t worry, ’cause this is only meant to be just like a warning to you from me, and I am only meant to be affectionate.

―Floater, “Persecutor” (1995)

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A Moment With Mary

I confess I couldn’t muck this one up properly, so, you know, here you go. Not quite Mary Zen, but, you know.

You know what would really suck about Utopia?

Having nothing left to hope for.

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Tarpley, Matt. “Prepared”. Mary Death. 18 June 2015.

Your Morning Metal (Modern Day Cowboy)

There did come a point at which it seems laughable to call it metal, yet we did. Still, we all had our favorites.

Stormy night, under jet black skies. Billy pulls into town. Thunder rolled and the lightnin’ bolts come crashin’ to the ground. Cold as ice, hard as stone as he walks into the room with another man who was feelin’ the same way; all Hell’s breakin’ loose. Bang, bang! Shoot ’em up! Bang, bang! Blow you away! It’s a showdown in a no man’s land for the cowboy of the modern day. Come on, sundown, don’t be hangin’ ’round, ’cause the cowboy will blow you away, yeah. Al Capone and Bad Boy Jones, one the wrong side of the law. Johnny Dee and his company, always first to the draw. Gangster lean, feelin’ so mean. Tryin’ to take more than their share, ’cause all they saw was ruling it all. The scent of blood was in the air. Bang, bang! Shoot ’em up! Bang, bang! Blow you away! It’s a showdown in a no man’s land for the cowboy of the modern day. Come on, sundown, don’t be hangin’ ’round, ’cause the cowboy will blow you away, yeah. So here we are, and we’ve come this far, but it’s only getting worse. Foreign lands with their terrorist demands, only cause the good to hurt. The USA, the USSR, with their six-guns to their side. I see the message written on the wall. Too much anger, deep inside. Bang, Bang! I’ll shoot ’em up. Bang, bang! Blow you away! It’s a showdown in a no man’s land for the cowboy of the modern day. Come on, sundown, don’t be hangin’ ’round, ’cause the cowboy will blow you away, yeah.

―Tesla, “Modern Day Cowboy” (1986)

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Your Morning Metal (Male Supremacy)

Look, this has always been hilarious more than anything else. I can actually give a nod to Tipper Gore herself for pointing the way to Carnivore, a band, as you might imagine, that horrified the moralists.

―Carnivore, “Male Supremacy” (1985)

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