Credit Trump with transforming the Republican Party? I don't buy it. More likely his oversize personality simply lured the gullible into believing it was safe for them to step out of the shadows and expose themselves for who they truly are. That there has been so little blowback from the party establishment just goes to show how far and wide these feelings run. I won't say that there are no Republican Patriots left in America, but I do suggest that they are fewer than we thought.
1
Virginia voted for hillary. I hope Viginia will vote for Tim Kaine. Stewart represents the past, and in a very outrageous way. The GOP had, in the recent past with Nixon and Reagan, favored polite racism. Now with Stewart and Trump, the racism is out front and center. I hope the northern and eastern parts of Viginia can overcome the support of those in the wouth western part of the state who want to return to the 1860s
2
Not a symbol of hatred, but "of our heritage." And that heritage is slavery and the ownership of another human being forced to provide labor for free. Some heritage, Mr. Stewart!
1
Unfortunately, as President Trump noted, Kaine does come across as a stiff! One of the side reasons, never mentioned, why Hilary lost to Trump! Nonetheless, Kaine should defeat Stewart, who has too much fringe right wing baggage! What a Poltical season with the Reality star as our President!
1
Even without Corey Stewart at the top of the GOP ballot, Representatives Brat, Scott and Comstock would have difficult races. The Democrats here in VA have nominated three exceptional women to run against them for Congress—Abigail Spanberger, Elaine Luria and Sen. Jennifer Wexton. With Sen. Tim Kaine, who has won several state-wide elections at the top of the Democratic ballot, the GOP down ballot candidates would be in trouble even without Stewart hurting them.
2
This country's race to the bottom continues. Have we no shame?
2
Every Republican loss is a win for America.
2
How different is Stewart standing by a confederate flag and a German standing by a Nazi flag? Most of the Germans have accepted the responsibility of the terror committed by the Nazi but people like Stewart continue to deny the terror of slavery by the Confederate states and publicly embrace segrigation.
1
Go to Berlin, where all monuments stand. It's history Stupid, that's all. Get it?
1
Uh, I'll take the "stiff." You can have the fascist.
4
Once upon a time Republicans were the champions of civil rights - Lincoln. Later Republicans were in the vanguard of progressive reform - Teddy Roosevelt. Then somewhere they got the idea if they only looked the other way they could strengthen their position by courting Dixiecrats. This worked for awhile but by 1990 the Dixiecrats were running the Party. Then the Dixiecrats, now called Republicans, realized that they could encourage racists and bigots to come out and vote for them if they carefully used the right dog whistle language; things like Obama wasn't born in the U.S, or Mexican immigrants are rapists and murderers. And now guess what - the Republican Party is being run by racists and bigots. The only question is, how long will it take for decent people to figure this out?
9
President Donald J. Trump calls Sen. Kane of Virginia "a total stiff." Is dis guy (Trump) classy, or what?!
7
How do you spend your daily existence? Use a line - one end is a focus on atoms and molecules, then moving over to electrons, then photons, then ideas at the other end. Then array the necessary education so that you can flourish at whatever point on the activity line you exist - the more education, the higher the point.
A few years ago I moved from a relatively high point on the ideas end of the line to Southside Virginia (the area east of the mountains, west of the fall line, south of the James and north of the Carolina border). Here it's rural, agricultural and low-end manufacturing - classic atoms and molecules. Education isn't shunned, but not overwhelmingly necessary. If you do pursue education, it's challenging to find opportunities on the higher points of the electron/photon/ideas end of the spectrum.
People here are friendly, caring and social. That their fears and worries get exploited by scaremongers is neither new nor uncommon. What I have come to see is that intellectual rigidity isn't an inherent trait - it seems to arise from a consistent pattern of feeling exploited, ignored and/or despised. It's been hundreds of years in the making, and I believe it will only be reversed when the scaremongers are numerically overwhelmed by those who espouse openness and tolerance.
These folks also tend to pose a really good question: if NJ (for example) is so great (and folks there are so smart), why is it going bankrupt?
1
I wish NY Times would explain what "Hard Right" means. A specific description that university political scientists use? The Times outlines some positions of this candidate, but for all intents and purposes it is more accurate to describe him (from reading other sources as well as the Times) as a white supremacist or Nazi. One definition is adapted from the world of political science "hard right" which describes some of this person's policies, but not all. By choosing "hard right" and not a more accurate descriptor, NY Times seems to be making a moral value judgement here about the terms Nazi and White Supremacist, perhaps that they are too strong to use. Why? Why is Socialst used so cavalierly when describing Bernie Sanders (an equally value laden political science term) but not this candidate? What is the Times protecting here by not using more accurate language? It is similar and reminds me of the frustrating contortions that the paper uses not to use the word lie. Certainly your reporting is not more accurate by not using these terms when necessary throughout the paper, so what is the editorial choice about when it is done? Your language can be more accurate and it is getting untenable that accurate language isn't used.
Democrats are resting too easy, coming up with reasons not to vote for the opposition, as opposed to reasons to vote for them. That's how Hillary lost in 2016, and how the House and Senate slipped thorugh their fingers. Most of them, unlike me, will not hopd their noses and vote for a candidate they detest this November solely because that person if elected, will not vote for a Republican as Speaker. Democrats are no less craven when chasing money, speaking unturths to powerful consitutencies, and ducking common sense when speaking it will enrage a voting bloc. I am cautiously optimistic, but every time I see Tom Perez on TV— whom I would not be surprised to learn is a Russian plant too for all the nonsense he speaks and the breathless wasy he speaks it— I fall into despair. Democratic candidates would do well to remmeber that Democfrats are, for the most part, smarter than Trump supporters, and want to be treated that way.
So things are reaching the point where so-called "moderates" who might also be termed "apathetic" need to figure out if they want to live in a right-wing dictatorship or a democracy that might lean a little further left than they prefer. Either way, sitting in the middle is not a free choice.
5
The 2018 elections are calling all racists and mysogynists to complete the task over of the Republican Party. Being ethical and conservative is optional. Add a little sarcastic MAGA to the movement.
2
People like Corey Stewart and President Trump are unintentionally educating people about the importance of voting in every election. The backlash they are creating will ultimately drive them and similar politicians from office paving the way to a saner, more accurate and humane political situation.
5
Ah, those benighted Appalachian baskets of deplorables, kind of like the hicks foolish enough to live north of the Tappan Zee Bridge in a state that profanes the Great City's name. You really know how to advance your cause. Keep it up.
Has anyone pointed out to the Evangelicals yet that among the crimes against humanity of Trump's latest distraction, Kim Jong-un, is the brutal persecution of Christians?
They didn't seem to like that with ISIS.
9
He will cost them nothing. We must accept that there is a significant portion of the country's electorate that is racist. Trump's election just unleashed those tendencies. The Republicans are on their way to cementing their gains this year, leading to Trump's re-election in 2020. Where the does the country go from there? I am not hopeful, to say the least.
1
This election will be the tipping point for VA. I'm more concerned about downballot candidiates, and jettisoning the destructive Tea Party remnants that are still very powerful here, including do-nothings like Dave Brat and Morgan Griffith--those whose constitutents include some of the poorest Appalachians yet they oppose the ACA, medicaid, medicare, women's right to self-determine health care choices, job growth (except in coal) renewable energies, and infrastructure projects. They claim to be fiscal "hawks" yet both voted to blow the deficit up with the Tax Cut Act. Yes NoVA is blue but we are a big, diverse state, not just a suburb of the Capitol District, and we have a long way to go to our whole house in order.
6
When will these hard-right Republicans realize that they're flying around fast-dimming lights like dying moths?
6
"As chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, Mr. Stewart promoted a policy in 2007 to deny county services to immigrants without legal status."
Perhaps the Prince William County taxpayers approved of this policy given he was re-elected several times since then. I doubt all these voters were from the hard right fringe.
But the editorial is correct that Stewart will be an underdog against Kaine. But ousting any incumbent is an uphill fight these days.
2
The Republican Party was founded by anti-slavery Whigs in 1854. It has come full cycle with a KKK/Nazi sympathizer and rabble-rousing charlatan as its candidate for the Senate. Let us hope this standard-bearer of hate is humiliated and crushed for all his political life. He deserves no less. Let us hope also that his model and exemplar, the con man and treasonous stooge of Russia, Donald Trump, is disgraced and compelled to face punishment for his crimes. For all those Trump supporters who see their hero and leader riding high, there are many historical examples of disastrous collapse and total ruin in a short while: Hitler dominated Europe and looked as if he would rule the world in December 1941. In a few years, he was finished and Germany lay prostrate.
2
Glad to see some Republicans see Facism in some candidates.
3
I live in Maryland and work in Virginia, so I'm very familiar with Mr. Stewart. Hopefully Democrats and other voters who are disgusted with Mr. Stewart will NOT pay any attention to polls op-ed pieces declaring that Stewart can't win. That kind of complacency and laziness is one of the reasons we have Trump as president.
9
Here's my favorite bit of hypocrisy from the wannabe-Scandinavian carpetbagger, Stewart, a Minnesotan who only moved to Virginia to chase a career:
"@CoreyStewartVA
Nothing is worse than a Yankee telling a Southerner that his monuments don't matter.
9:40 PM · Apr 24, 2017"
2
A sure sign that a party's position are failing to win its vote is that party's desperate resort to gaslighting. Seriously, this is the party of race baiting, bigotry and religion-mongering, and they have the gall to accuse the Democrats of "identity politics." The GOP will soundly lose Virginia this year because the "establishment wing," will not be able to stomach voting the ticket this year even with their noses clamped shut with vice-grips. The racist stench of Corey Stewart AND those who refuse to disavow his hateful brand of politics will permeate every race on the ballot.
8
Oh boy!, here we go again!
There is no such thing as "hard right" nor "alt-right" nor "populists" Republicans in Virginia.
There are only white supremacist Confederate Ku Klux Klan White Citizens Council Tea Fox News Neo-Nazi Party bigots like Sean Hannity, Jeff Sessions, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell led by Donald Trump and Mike Pence.
With the likes of Steve Mnuchin, Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner and Steve Miller ignoring their "Jews will not replace us" torch carrying marching chants.
7
Be proud, SHOW us your white sheets !!!!!
3
Stewart , and degenerates like him, will now be the new face of,the GOP. At least the rest of us will now know and can vote accordingly. This white nationalism will die out eventually, until the next Trump comes along.
7
What used to be the underbelly of politics is about all that's left.
1
I surely hope such a candidate will depress Republican turnout, but we can't be completely sure considering the full embrace of divisive Trumpism by the Republican Party. The good news is that such a candidate should increase Democratic turnout even beyond what we saw last year in Virginia, and hopefully will deliver some House seats.
6
Stewart is venal. Virginia can do better than that. And ditto for Trump, who congratulated Stewart's win, from one racist to another.
14
I don't buy the notion that Stewart is unpopular at all.
I also think he's right when he qualifies the extremist liberal campaign against Confederate war memorials as ISIS-like.
There simply isn't any group in the world so renowned for iconoclasm than ISIS, except the Taliban.
Stewart's nomination is just the beginning of a push-back from Southerners against their history, culture and indeed, their very existence.
2
You are absolutely wrong. The only isis like entity here is the defenders of those ridiculous flags and monuments to , well , losers. The confederacy was the terrorist entity . Glorifying this group is wrong and I contend, unAmerican.
6
I don't think the fine people of Virginia seek to support treasonous behavior of the past as somehow nostalgic.
2
You mean the culture and history of owing black people? Because that is not something most normal people consider good.
5
This is potentially very good news for democrats, both in Virginia and nationally. The Dems need to tightly tie this miscreant to every Republican in every race in the country. No, the base won't care, but a lot of independents will.
17
Whites R Us
Guns R Us
Spite R Us
Ignorance R Us
Anti-Christs R Us
Mindless Tax Cuts R Us
Intellectual-Moral-Economic-Bankruptcy R Us
Nice GOPeople
November 6 2018
Vote
55
“Nothing is worse than a Yankee telling a Southerner that his monuments don’t matter,” he said on Twitter, though he was born in Minnesota.
In Germany, it is a crime to display the swastika and other Nazi symbolism and there are no 'heritage' statues of Hitler or any of his generals. In the US, Confederate flags, statutes, and other symbols of the treasonous war in the 1860's are supposedly protected under the First Amendment as free-speech expressions.
But every constitutional scholar agrees that Free Speech is not unlimited -- ie.g., it's unlawful to falsely yell "fire!" in a crowded theater, or advocate for the assassination of the President. So what about this:
"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. . . . ."
U.S. Constitution - Article 3 Section 3
Q: Does keeping alive the spirit of the treasonous rebellion of 1860 by proudly flying the flag of the perpetrators and erecting statues in their honor not constitute "adhering to their Enemies," even if those enemies are long dead?
If so, perhaps it is time to start hanging the likes of Mr. Stewart.
18
Wow. Hanging. You ever wonder why some people might vote for Trump
The Confederate flag has nothing whatsoever to do with the swastika and pretending it does is the height of ignorance.
The same goes for the odious and false comparison between statues of Hitler and Confederate monuments dedicated to American soldiers and civilians, who lost their lives during the Civil War.
Finally, how interesting that you forgot to quote Section IV Article IV of the constitution, which states:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature can-not be convened) against domestic Violence."
Seems like the accusation of treason applies equally well to the Northern states.
2
The stench of white supremacy and antisemitism is one that doesn't easily wash off.
24
The biggest problem for down-ballot Republican candidates may be the decline in GOP turnout that could result from a Stewart candidacy. It's not just that people like Comstock will suffer from being associated with Stewart, but that her voters may be less motivated to turn out without a plausible Republican senatorial candidate at the top of the ticket. Stewart could not even turn out as many voters in 2018 as he did in 2017.
4
Republican party was destined to have crooks like Trump since long. They destroyed public education so that people do not learn the basics of logic and truth, Promoted religion and racism so that its core vote bank can be mobilized in the name of christian bigotry and white supremacy, appeased corrupt and criminal minded businessmen who have least concern about the country and its people so that the party can get huge election campaign fund. All these practices, that Republican party actively promoted can not help but to strengthen crooks like Trump.
The main test would be in November.
14
I like to help Democrats understand what helps or hurts GOP turnout, as their usual sources are biased towards the Morning Joe/Neocon minority of the party.
Candidates who run on explicit identity issues, like Corey Stewart, are MORE likely to get me out to vote for them.
Moderate Republicans are just Democrats driving the progressive speed limit.
2
I'm not sure that's something to brag about.....
14
Identity issues?
The identity of treasonous owners of other human beings? And you are bragging about this?
1
This is a gift to Democrats, IF they will recognize and use it.
18
Lets be honest.
Who cares about these right wing Republicans when they are
not fighting the racist policy of Trump and Sessions,
in putting children in what in reality are concentration camps.
MSNBC reports that people are lied too when they are seeking asylum as children are removed under the pretense that they need food or to see a doctor, but are taken away.
The parents then realize that they have been lied too as they children are not seen again.
So what is the GOP all about?
1930's Germany?
It is "Time" that America awakes up and realizes that this is what vile people did during the 1930's Germany.
What is the GOP all about?
What is the Republican party all about?
33
Yes, it is.
This is one of the most important issues today. Children are being harmed; refugees are being mistreated. This is against international law and has been condemned by the United Nations. Nazis separated children from their families.
Trump's twitter tantrums, the purported love of Confederate monuments erected by white supremacists long after the Civil War was over, his praise of one of the most murderous dictators in the world (who has more than 100,000 labor camp prisoners including children and families who simply watched soap operas on TV), and the open bigotry of the right wing are symptomatic of the rise of fascism here.
The victims are the innocent children, some of whom are in cages. The lies are reminiscent of the lies that Nazis told their victims about the "showers", and in what civilized country are children seized from their parents and put in prison centers, some of which are literally run by private prison companies (which also alter prisoner buses by putting child seats in them).
Trump has appointed several hate group figures to the immigration and other positions, elevating some of the most bigoted people in the country to positions of power over vulnerable children and immigrants.
This is the Nazification of the Republican Party. Basically the Congressional Republicans don't care. This is an atrocity and someday there will be an accounting.
34
Trump's government does indeed resemble Nazi Germany in it's demonization of immigrants, Muslims, undocumented workers, gays and minorities. Hitler was careful to portray people who were not ethnic Germans as racially inferior, unhealthy, criminal, sexually perverted and in other ways to alienate them from mainstream communities - which is what the Trump administration is doing right now. If you want to destroy a group of people, the Nazi playbook on demonization is the first step towards making brutalization of a group acceptable to other citizenry. Nothing speaks ill of Trump and his administration more than this - unless it's the demonization of our Justice Department, intelligence communities and law enforcement - the people we must rely upon to fight back against Trump and his hateful policies of punishment, hate, demonization and extremism that do not resemble America we all know and love.
9
As a Minnesotan it makes me ill that this malignant racist comes from my state. Virginia, you need to repudiate this man and all that stand with him.
69
Born and raised in Minnesota. Minnesota has a lot of repudiating to do at this point. Michelle Bachman anyone?
There is no doubt that Corey Stewart is a right winger. But I object to the way that is illustrated. The man has done so many divisive things, it's not hard to come up with examples that prove the point. But the examples chosen here are highly questionable. If you labelled every defender of the Confederate flag as a right wing extremist, some mainstream Democrats would be right wingers, too. In particular, former Virginia Democrat Senator Jim Webb -- highly respected among his colleagues -- refused to come out in favor of getting rid of the flag from state buildings. And, as for the Charlottesville march, many mainstream Republicans argued that the role of the far left demonstrators had to be considered and they suggested there was blame on both sides. Even the Times acknowledged that defense until a good deal of time had passed.
Stewart is an extremist because honoring the Confederacy is a central plank in his agenda, because he rails against party moderates, because his position against immigration is extreme, and because he draws his support from white nationalists.
I know nobody cares to keep the Times honest. But sloppy reporting has to be attacked unless you don't care about the truth. The Times surely has its heart in the right place. But its main job is to get the facts straight. This article fails that test.
3
I've met Jim Webb numerous times and have heard him speak at length. Webb's a decent man who's very proud of his Scots-Irish roots and military service. But his comments on the role of the Confederate flag in our society - a flag which deserves no public or officially sanctioned role - demonstrated that Webb is in many ways a far-right Republican who for years tussled with and criticized the mainstream Democratic party which had given him a political home. Jim Webb is not a 'mainstream Democrat' and I doubt he could win the Democratic nomination for senator or governor in Virginia today, given his support of the Confederate flag and other untenable positions. Virginia has evolved. Further, the leftist demonstrators in Charlottesville did not voice a desire to harm or kill minority groups - which was done by the far right demonstrators, creating a violent atmosphere that resulted in the killing of a young woman. White people like you - and me - whose ancestors were Confederate soldiers should not be the only people to decide whether the Confederate flag & statuary plays a role in our society. That decision must reflect the values of all of society. History is always being reevaluated and policies and beliefs which seemed acceptable in the past often change over time as we gain greater understanding of how our society has evolved. It's necessary and important to show respect for all our citizens and condemn policies which work against that.
13
You’ ve got me and my comment all wrong. I’m from Boston. As for Webb he gave what is considered the best Democrat response to a State of the Union in decades. Every source but you gives him high praise. And you miss the point on the leftists. I don’t say they are relevant. I say the TImes treated them as relevant at first. Do a search and
you’ll see that i’m right.
You forgot to add, "in my not so humble opinion."
I happen to think that the Confederate flag does deserve a public and an officially-sanctioned role.
There is nothing untenable about that position.
The republican party was concerned about tax theft. the replacement of extreme right radical judges (especially on SCOTUS) and the repeal of everything the ''black man'' touched.
Every single republican is tied to that and tied to the President as they have voted in goose step since the election.
The people are voting accordingly, with republicans for even MORE of the lies, racism and bullying, and for Democrats for a return to reality.
On to the blue wave !
37
Funky--Only if we all stay engaged, not worn out, not demoralized, and vote, vote, vote, for years to come. And, also continue to lecture the DNC about its wishy washy messages. This is the only way we can have the country we want. Dump the old guard, and get some fresh new blood. Remember Mark Twain's famous quip: "I'm not a member of any organized political party, I'm a Democrat."
16
Will Rogers is responsible for that quote....but I see your point.
1
Stewart is a carpetbagger from Minnesota.
6
As is his opponent Mr. Kaine, who was born in St. Paul and grew up in Overland Park, KS.
2
So the GOP, the party of "Family Values" has an adultery for a president, an avowed racist running for Senate in VA and a brothel owner running for Representative in NV. Too bad Jeffrey Dalmer the murdering cannibal was not available.
Some values!
98
Corleone Family Values.
2
Liberals never tire of playing the fake news race card.
But I think the nation is tired of them playing it.
2
You forgot to add "in my not so humble opinion".
11
What exactly is fake about this? This guy is a white supremacist. He's perfectly open about it.
55
What's truly tiresome is rightwingers playing the 'fake news' card whenever the news isn't complimentary to them.
25
My grandfather was a coal miner in Appalachia (actually a coal camp called Derby about a mile from Appalachia--the town) from the 1920s to 1960s, before mine work killed him (he was bed-ridden the last 20 years of his life with black lung and a eye put out by a flying coal chip).
My dad was bound and determined NOT to work in the mines. I know these southwest Virginia folks. They will line up fast to vote for Corey Stewart.
Anti-black
Anti-jew
Anti-liberal
Anti-education
The folks like my dad, and a few uncles and aunts, who had a brain left that part of the world for a better life--for them and their children.
I know there's a lot of good people still there. I read about modern-day Appalachia a lot. But they're fighting a losing battle.
So on election day, check the voting totals in Wise County or Scott County or any of the counties in the "toe" of the Virginia "boot."
It will be 70%+ for the Neo-Nazi and 30%- for Tim Kaine (the sane one)
26
Voters, particularly Republican voters, often put logic and party before all. That is how we got the Tea Party in the first place. And that is how we got Trump.
So, what indication is there, really, that when 50 year old white voter goes to the polls in VA that he/she will vote for anyone OTHER than the Republican on the slate?
2
I’d leave logic out of that first sentence.
9
Cory Stewart will go the way of Roy Moore .
period.
end of discussion.
11
I hope Virginia Republicans (and all other eligible voters) realize all that Virginia has to lose: tourism, tax and corporate dollars, economic growth, and racial harmony. They stand to gain personal and corporate boycotts and petitions of all shapes and sizes.
The last thing Virginia needs is the moniker "The state that elected a blatant racist."
54
Mr. Stewart's antisemitism and affiliation with white supremacists should endear him to republicans, not repel them. Trump's victory and continued status of a cult-leader have rubbished all republican party's claims of fiscal conservatism. The veneer of decency, and the espousal of conservative fiscal values, have been totally debunked and rendered irrelevant.
The republican cult of antisemitism and white supremacy (which inexplicably includes neocons, despite the antisemitism) is no longer a fringe, they are mainstream. There is no surprise that their candidates reflect their core values.
So what are the democratic core values today (that are meaningfully different from whining, weeping, and playing victim)?
Don't underestimate so called independents, who will still vote for any white guy over a liberal.
3
Lots of independents in Maine! Have had Governors, legislators, and now a Senator in Washington.....notice that many other Senators listen to him advice.
1
Following November, there is going to be an out migration of people from states that vote Republican's into office. We're going to see the economic decline of the most Republican of states. Large and small businesses are not going to be moving to or investing in those states either. In fact there are going to be opportunities for economic development people to poach large businesses from those states. Today's republican party is about hatred of others, rejection of all facts regardless of substance, and embracing treason (its just another fact people turn a blind eye to). The old small government republican party is long dead.
23
“Hard right”? He is a hard man, but there is nothing right about him. We need to lose the word “right” in discussing politicians of this ilk. It gives an unfair bias advantage to abhorrent unamerican conduct.
15
Hopefully the Republicans will take a bath in the election, but at 72 I doubt it. America has been on this Trump road for a long time portraying itself as the nation of Democracy and goodness which were never true in the first place. I learned while serving in the Marines in the Vietnam War what the real America was becoming. If Bobby Kennedy would have not been killed and won in 1968 the country may have gone onto to greatness and become a more human place and one that was respected. I and my late wife have lived in Canada for a long time now and can see the difference in Canadians/Americans two people on the sharing the same area and yet, what a difference. The Republicans have said nothing about the tariffs or the treatment of Canada and the European allies. Most Americans are like Trump whose goal seems to destroy, create chaos and mock anyone or any world leader that does not kiss his ring. What has angered Canadians is we took in so many after 9/11, died in Afghanistan, is that Canada is a threat to the US National Security. Justin's late father Pierre would have punched the coward Trump in the face. Yet, as bold as can be the Republicans are "fellow travelers" with Putin and other dictators. Trump says, Kim's people love him he is a nice guy. Kills hundreds of thousands even his own relatives, starves his own people. If a Democrat said any of this the Republicans would demand they be arrested. Pathetic country. Jim Trautman
42
Hi Jim,
As a child we sang America The Beautiful everyday in school. It was brainwashing. America is not beautiful now and maybe it never was. I am of Jewish Heritage. There was a Catholic and Public school in town. When the school day ended we walked home together. I was called "Dirty Jew" "Jesus Killer" etc at certain times of the year, so this is what they were taught. Later in High school I was called Dirty Jew by a Lebanese class mate. She asked me where were my horns. Those hurtful words have lingered and now with Trump as President, these memories are resurfacing. Trump sleeps with an edition of Mein Kampf on his night table. He has brought us back in time. He is manipulating his base of uneducated people to trust him while he stabs them in the back by placing taxes/tariffs on countries that buy and trade that which these people produce at work. College education is not affordable for his supporters, yet they don't realize that his party controls that too. Our health Insurance system is now on the brink of not covering people with preexisting conditions or making their coverage not affordable. It amazes me how the Republican Party is allowing this attack on the people. They are all afraid of Trump. The meeting with Kim Jong Un illustrates how he is in awe of dictators. The USA is no longer a democracy. It is in the process of becoming a Capitalistic Dictatorship. It sickens me. I have friends In Canada. I wish I could move there.
4
The country is not going to move in the direction Trump wants. The way to look at this is we finally have an opportunity to fix all the problems we've had in this country for so long. You just have to find a way to work on those items and ignore the con man and his weak minded followers. Just look at the Me Too movement as one example of real progress on something. Now focus on something else and move the dial.
I’m originally from Virginia, but have lived in Singapore for the last eight years.
Every year I begin to make plans to move my family back home.
But every year I look at the coming-you-the-surface hate/ignorance, the gun violence, the diminishing hope, and the opioid zombies...
Against the background of a rising Asia and Australia with safe streets, good schools, and booming economies... (also... healthcare)
... why would I?
I like a good plate of bbq as much as the next guy, but frankly people: at the moment it’s a better place to raise a family out here.
108
Glad you're happy to live in an authoritarian city-state where chewing gum is illegal. Corey Stewart will be creamed in the general and the incredibly decent, honorable, and able Tim Kaine will easily be returned to the Senate. In case you missed it, last year we elected a Governor who just expanded Medicaid in the state. Our other Senator, Mark Warner is as decent and able as Tim Kaine and is unbeatable in Virginia.
4
Speaking to young adults from Singapore scares the heck out of me. They talk about a virtual police state, where most fun must be had by traveling somewhere else.
Overly policed societies should not be our example to a brave, free society.
1
It's probably best for you stay put until we get the Trump contagion cleaned up. It's a nasty business, indeed.
When the Republican party embraced the president in 2016, the dye was cast for the GOP, perhaps for generations to come. The conservative party of President Eisenhower, Everett Dirksen and George Romney in the 1950s is no more, nor is it even the party of Ronald Reagan. These seeds were sown in 1964 when Barry Goldwater was the GOP standard bearer. Was Goldwater the best the Republicans could come up with after Nixon refused to be kicked around anymore?
Republican office seekers today represent not a cross section of Americans but a swath of intolerant opportunists who are controlled by a rabid red grass roots base that was spawned by the Tea Party in 2010. The president’s antennae was sensitive to white resentment taking hold in the heartland and capitalized on it.
Corey Stewart is the best of that the GOP could offer in Virginia. Stewart is clinging to a Confederacy that is no more but waxes nostalgic about statues and flags and heroes who bore arms against the United States. He’s running on the idea that white makes right and sees the president and himself as the new wave of the Republican party. Stewart feels that if the president could win in 2016, so can he in 2018. It would be poetic justice if it is Charlottesville and the ugly aftermath of last summer that dooms Stewart this fall.
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Since Stewart is originally from Minnesota -- not southern at all -- his embrace of the Confederacy is just pandering to Virginia Confederate heritage adherents.
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If Virginia Republicans stayed home and didn't vote, one can only conclude it's because they share Mr. Stewart's opinions and will be satisfied if he wins the general election. His link to White Supremacy is not a handicap to him, and must even be an advantage in Virginia. It is no longer possible to dismiss White supremacy as a determent to winning political office, and this is obviously true for Virginia Republicans. This is the Republican Party of 2018. Republicans are no longer able to claim that candidates like Stewart are outliers. For the White House to claim that Trump will go to Virginia to show his support for Mr. Stewart certainly indicates that Stewart is an acceptable candidate and his positions are accepted as the norm.
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He won't win if he doesn't get more votes than Mr. Kaine. When people are turned off by their party's candidates, they either stay home and don't vote or they will vote for a "protest" candidate, anything but vote for the person they cannot stomach. I'm sure you've seen this dynamic in action, if you are at all familiar with politics at all, whether at the national, state or local level. Regardless of what your personal beliefs may be, white supremacists are not a majority in this country and never were. If they were, the North would have lost the Civil War.
Stewart is a perfect candidate for the Trump GOP, in which open racism has become not only acceptable but the animating force. The Republican platform has become turning back the clock on modernity, a hundred years or more, and erasing the modern world economy and all of this pesky diversity.
Anyone who doesn't believe in that hateful, destructive fantasy better get to the ballot box in November and make a difference.
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“Nothing is worse than a Yankee telling a Southerner that his monuments don’t matter,”
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Believe me, it's not just Yankees. It's plenty of your neighbors, too.
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Virginia is a strange mix of post-modernism in that the northern part of the state is bluer than blue. This could be because of its proximity to the government-laden job market in Washington. The area is also attractive to immigrants, especially those with college degrees who find work in the software industry and managerial positions. Northern Virginia, is a proudly progressive, diverse place to live, work and raise children.
The other side of the state’s courtly coin resides in its far western and southern sectors, the first bordering on the Appalachian spine with all its negative associations of unredeeming backwardness and racism. Along its border with North Carolina, the Virginia Commonwealth is home to those who cherish the weird romanticism of their holy “Lost Cause.” These areas are the feeding grounds for Corey Stewart. He isn’t likely to unseat the incumbent Tim Kaine because the numbers don’t favor Stewart’s identification with the symbols of slavery and treason but they’re undoubtedly powerful motivators for the pro-Trump movement throughout the nation.
In another era, perhaps, Corey Stewart’s appeals to tribe would be enough to seal his electoral success. But in a state where people are more interested in progress than in a sterile, useless remembrance of a history in which defeat and subjugation are (some of ) its only relics, it would seem that Stewart, a Trump-light acolyte, is destined for the identical resounding repudiation that was Ed Gillespie’s reward.
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Only in the minds of the most extremist liberals, would Confederate war memorials to fallen American soldiers and civilians, who died during the Civil War, be qualified as symbols of "treason" or "slavery".
This ISIS-like campaign on the part of Democrats to remove/destroy Confederate monuments is the very reason Stewart won the primary.
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Since the Confederacy was an attempt to destroy the Union, it was by definition treason. You can mourn the loss of life by the individual conscript or soldier fighting in a war with little understanding beyond my side versus their side. To honor the leaders is a celebration of treason. My great, great grandfather in the Union Army was an American. Confederates were fighting against Americans.
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That being the case let's erect a monument to those gallant SS stormtroopers who so bravely defended Nazi Germany.
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Huh. How is celebrating the Confederate flag acceptable--touted as part of the South's glorious "heritage"--while taking the knee to the American flag is considered treasonous?
The first honors a history of slavery, as well as treason against the union, while the latter is a call for Americans to live up to "the better angels of our nature."
Why do we still tolerate the Confederate flag?
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That is a very one-sided view.
If you think the secession of the Confederate states was "treason", how would you qualify the invasion of those states by the Northern states in direct violation of Section IV, Article IV of the constitution?
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Chris, why don’t you try answering a question instead of simply posing new ones in your numerous comments?
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Virginia has become a reliably blue state with the advance of the highly educated voters in Northern Virginia. I live in a N. Virginia county that's been ranked as the 3rd most educated county in the United States. My neighbors include successful people from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ghana, Ivory Coast, the Philippines, Iraq, Great Britain, Germany, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia, Turkey, Iran, Turkey, Greece & India - to name a few. They include doctors, nurses, engineers, public relations and advertising executives, military, civil servants & many other occupations. Some are Muslim, some LGBT. My long personal experience is all of these people are successful, patriotic Americans & good neighbors.
This is a beautiful community that includes some of the finest public schools in this country & in no way resembles the comfortable but segregated community I grew up in in the deep South. Corey Stewart may still be able to scrounge some votes from deplorables who believe "segregation now, segregation forever" but my community, emblematic of the Washington D.C. suburbs, is too busy to hate. Stewart & his ilk are dinosaurs that are dying out across this country as Americans embrace our diverse county that, until Trump's election, was admired throughout the world for our economic success, innovation, forward thinking & love of democracy.
The likes of Corey Stewart will not defeat us. Come November, this state will give him a whupping.
-fast/furious, the new world in Northern Virginia
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Thank you for your overwhelmingly positive comment. I think we need many more people in this country to stand up and say “this is what it looks like when progressive policies, education, and the welcome mat work,” not just “Trump is awful and so are his supporters.”
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@ fast/furious -- a beautiful comment. My guess is that you hail from Loudoun County, where Stewart doesn't have a snow ball's chance in Hades of being even remotely competitive.
As you correctly note, Northern Virginia has residents from all over the world, of all colors and religions. All are welcome in these diverse suburbs. This is the America that US citizens and people the world over came to know until the campaign of hate happened in 2016.
Northern Virginia represents a rich tapestry of assimilation and tolerance that was the model of the great American experiment and dream until hate reared its ugly head in the last general election.
The president and people like him don't want a Loudoun County anywhere in America because the success of these Virginians contradicts the president's hateful message to the country. He sees these successful professional men and women as outsiders who don't belong in America.
Finally, note that the technology of today has far surpassed the industries of 50 years ago and represents a changing America. It's called progress. Engineering, science and technology now carry the day while coal mining is a distant memory.
People from foreign lands come to America to succeed, and if they can prosper, why can't Appalachian coal miners? The president demonizes immigrants for their success which cruelly deceives his supporters. The disservice he has done to his own base is incalculable, and they don't even know it.
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Thank you, I sure hope so.
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