If "mob" stands for "Mobilized & Organized Ballot-Casters", then count me in.
9
Charles, have you ever seen a movie called "Arkansas Judge?"
It's an old Republic Picture from 1941 staring those crazy Weaver Brothers and Elviry. Well, the town of Peaceful Valley is torn asunder by liars and cheats. The banker's daughter steals an old widow's money just for thrills, but her father lets suspicion fall on Old Mary, the local house cleaner. When Judge Weaver refuses to charge the poor woman on baseless gossip, the banker sues the Judge for the implied slander of his daughter, and wins big. Then the banker offers to tear up the verdict if only the Judge will arrest Old Mary.
By now, the town is so engulfed in hate, they set Mary's house on fire. Roy Rogers, Mary's attorney, couldn't keep the banker from suing the Judge, but he got Mary out before she went up in flames. And didn't the rich kid finally admit she stole the money from the Old Widow.
All the good people of Peaceful Valley couldn't stop the worst from happening, but they were glad to clean up their mess after the banker got his.
3
How has this mans approval rating gone up? Have Americans lost their minds? Are there that many stupid people? I don’t get it. Growing up in NYC Trump was a joke. He’s still a joke, wake up America!
19
So a stadium packed with folks bellowing ‘lock her up,’ waving Confederate flags, brandishing fists and threatening the press, while the leader of their cult hollers “I’d like to punch that guy in the face,’ and ‘I like a guy who knows how to body slam’... that’s not an angry mob.
But folks who try to get out the vote, address pressing issues, peacefully protest racism and sexism and neo-Nazi white supremacy — yeah, that’s an angry mob.
What mind altering drug are the members of the Trump cult smoking?
11
I have to wonder if Sheldon Adelson or Mr DeVoss is financing the parade of Guatemalan refugees. Yet another "dirty tricks" exercise.
11
I'm with you. The idea that he has convinced his acolytes that we are a "mob" amuses me. I can hope they'll stay home because they're scared of us.
2
He's a salesman who knows his marks. Many suckers are still lauding "He does what he says".
Immigration: He gets press; that's all. Immigration is a problem that can't be solved because businessmen (including farmers and ranchers) prevent legislation of onerous criminal penalties against employers and the follow-up enforcement targeting employers.
About half of the illegal workers are flying-in on student and tourist visas, then overstaying. "The Wall" is a hyped panacea that will solve little and has debilitating initial & recurring costs.
The more political & real capital spent trying to physically stem the tide from one direction, the less emphasis on an enforceable US employee database and for working with governments of Honduras and Guatamala.
The wage earners and graduating students that fall for Trump's con are missing 3 realities:
1. Trump also campaigned on "big, beautiful doors" in his wall. Additional foreign worker visas were granted in last 2 years; and it will be expanded.
2. The proposed reforms are a corporate immigration plan. Highly educated foreigners selected from corporations sponsoring them will complete for and drag down wages of good jobs.
3. Republicans always legislate so that businesses have all of the labor advantages that they want. Exploiting labor is their brand. Their refusal to raise the paltry minimum wage portrays their ideologic stubbornness.
6
What's with all the people saying vote straight democrat even if you have no idea who the candidate is? Is this a political party or a cult? Please take some time to understand issues that are important to you and your family. Then, please vote for the person with the best plan to address those issues.
8
We need not a narrow win but instead a landslide avalanche of democrat and independent voters to thoroughly rebuff this malicious gang of Republicans with their thievery and attacks on women and the most vulnerable of our society. Vote by mail, vote even if you have to stand in line. Bring friends, family, and especially newly registered and first time voters with you. Persist in resisting!
5
Affirming the humanity of all Americans, all immigrants, and all people is not weakness. It is unutterable strength.
Fear is the coin of the realm in Trumplandia. Abandon fear in favor of opportunity, hope, and decency.
Vote as if America depended on it. Because it does.
9
When Trump says of some fantastical lie that "they" are saying one thing or another, the "they" to which he refers is Fox and Friends and the rest of that mob on their "news" programs. He listens to them. He does. This is a man-child raised on t.v. who never out grew it. This country is being run by a t.v. station funded by reactionary billionaires. And we call this a "democracy"? Really, who are the fools?
Today I received my tee shirt from Elizabeth Warren's campaign. It says "impolite, arrogant women make history." That is what John Kelly called her, "impolite and arrogant" because she persisted with her question when he tried to sidestep it. If "impolite" means daring to ask a question or express an opinion, I am all over it! Mob? Sure, sign me up!
3
Trump’s higher-than-ever poll numbers proves once again that Americans are often all too willing to be snookered by the perennial snake oil salesman. With all Trump has done and will do to damage America and steal our money (keep your hands on your wallets, Social Security and Medicare recipients), Americans still buy into Trump’s lies and phony promises, never mind their fear of losing their health care, clean air, and children’s futures. It’s amazing, really, but then again it isn’t, given this country’s history of spawning political Elmer Gantry’s, such as George Wallace and Joe McCarthy. It makes me sad this easily duped sucker class wields so much power in spite of its almost willful ignorance of reality, thanks to our un-democratic presidential election system. All I can say is I hope enough free-thinkers get off their couches and vote Nov. 6. Otherwise, prepare for what will follow from an unchecked Donald Trump.
4
All we hear about daily is Trump, McConnell and all the other Republican reprobates over and over and over. When are we going to hear what the Democratic candidates have to say? I hear a little scrap here and a little scrap there, but nothing of substance. What does the party stand for besides hating Trump and his demonic followers?
I always vote blue and will continue to do so. However, I still feel scalded by what the DNC did during the 2016 campaign. I think of the Democratic Party as the party of the elite and the status quo. Obama was president and the Democrats ruled Congress, but when the healthcare bill was passed, it followed Republican lines and was a great big gift to the insurance companies. It is far from universal and a lot less than what we were promised.
I think so many people are so disgusted that we can't count on the Democrats taking back the House and certainly not the Senate. Between those who are disgusted and those who have lost the right to vote, do we really think there will be a big, blue wave? I'd like to see it, but I'm bracing myself for a nasty red tide.
3
As much as I profoundly dislike Donald Trump for his flawed character and personality, he did something that no liberal or Republican had the guts to do, put an end to illegal immigration.
I am starting to believe that building the wall as crazy as it may sound, is starting to look like a necessity.
When I read that some of these so-called refugees said in no uncertain term that they will continue to break the law until they get in. That is rather arrogant and disgusting. I am sorry to tell you guys that I don't buy their crocodile tears. Please don't compare them to the legitimate refugees from the second World War. These refugees look rather well fed and in good health.
There seems to be no end to the population explosion in Latin countries. They seem to be very happy to dump their overflow to the US. Not acceptable. T
8
Why does the author even try to choose a side when DT tries to simplify it that way? The truth of the matter is that it is he who herds the mob because he is the Mob. When you write about DT's nursery rhymes, you are already in a reactive mode. You want folks to vote---you can write about that without even mentioning DTs name. We should not go vote too stop that guy. We should go to the poles to defend decency and opportunity for all. That's it. Racism is not decency. Kidnapping children at the border is not decency. Exploiting Mother Nature to the point where our very air and water are threatened is not decency. Segregation of any kind is not decency. It really is that simple. You vote for decency or you vote against it. Today I voted for decency. Period. And it stands to figure that when you vote for decency, there is no DT involved.
11
Let's hope everyone votes this November. We can be sure that Trump will be hammering the "caravan" every day until the election, maintaining that the caravan has within it criminals and unnamed people from the Middle East (holy cow...Al Qaeda coming right through our borders along with rapists, drug dealers and murderers!), and blaming Democrats for the immigration problems in the U.S., voters need to get out and support Democrats. Otherwise, it may be a disaster as Trump appears adept at blaming everyone and everything for any and all problems in the United States.
6
Geeees, don't just vote! Get involved in campaigns and do some work, for God's sake!
5
Down in Georgia we have a saying that goes...when you wrestle with a pig you both get muddy. The only real difference is the pig enjoys being muddy. That’s all he understands.
5
It's a mistake to embrace the mob label when it is Trump, his associates, and his supporters who condone, celebrate, and engage in behavior characteristic of mobs and the mob: ordering hits or calling on frenzied minions to demonize, harass, or lock up opponents. People outraged by the debasement of our nation and politics, however impassioned, are not a mob but the muted voice of our constitution and democracy at this moment.
5
Blow, you can say whatever you want about Trump and what the Democratic response should be.
What you fail to take into account is perceptions and how those play out in the voting booth, especially with impressionable younger voters.
My millennial daughter is a prime example. College educated, married, just had her first baby, works for a big investment firm and is actually rather independent politically. She reads and studies political trends as closely as possible.
We were discussing Trump vs the Democrats...Biden, Pelosi, et al and their various platforms.
Her succinct summary of the Democrats: " Dad, all they do is scream names, they have nothing new to offer, and they're all SO OLD".
Dems, how do you overcome THAT?
4
I am bemused and disappointed that we are in a position where Trump’s base, constituted as it is from the anti-federalist bigots of the old South, would have any credible sway over our national elections. But they have turned the debate away from their obvious drawbacks to the drawbacks on the other side. In other words, the left has been discredited to a degree that I’m not sure has ever been seen in American politics.
When Reagan trounced Mondale, he had expanded the Republican coalition. It represented a message of hope, much of which proved to be built on quicksand, but hope nonetheless.
But the Republican message now is one of fear and ad hominem attacks. There are no overarching themes which galvanize voters, except rally around Il Trumpe Duce. How can this narrow rallying cry be even close to competitive?
I don’t pretend to know the answers, but I do know that the Democrats need more than a laundry list of oppressed interests they will prop up if they win. They need a grand theme, and someone with the personality to pull it off. Someone who, like FDR, called out all the fear mongers among us and moved forward with new ideas.
5
Just today online, I had someone tell me that I was part of a cult (simply reaction to my making clear to him that the demolition of ICE was not part of the DNC platform). It made clear that political argument is being rapidly turned on its head. Call Trump supporters part of a cult and X number of weeks later, you'll be called part of a cult. Maybe I'm too myopic, but this feels like the end of language, not something that you can deal with on a rational or reasonable basis. It doesn't matter that you take the high road if the high road is going to be turned upside down into a low road.
3
I virtually always enjoy Mr. Blow's comments, but here, I think his focus might better have been on the danger and rabble rousing impulses that can be unleashed by conceiving of the Left as a mob.
Trump and the Republicans have made comment after comment referring to us a a mob: an unruly and dangerous body that will use violence to get its way.
This rhetoric is probably intended to draw attention away from has all too often become a Republican mob by attempting to turn the tables, but it has potentially dangerous consequences.
Mobs beget mobs and by inculcating the Right with the notions that we are a mob, it empowers them to react rather than act, and that reaction is all too often armed and radical. I think we are wiser to attempt to deflect this kind of inflammatory rhetoric.
5
More rhetoric that works from the Republicans, as absolutely ridiculous as it is. But watch Fox - I just saw the Lou Dobbs (has he gone nuts?) show the few "mob-like" situations for protesting Democrats as if they truly represent most Democrats behavior. The President who yells to the truly Angry Mob at Trump Rallies that the Democrats are an angry mob. If it weren't so scary I would laugh. As Bill Maher suggests, when the Trump supporters stop doing stupid things we will stop calling them stupid.
5
@Denver7756
No one knows who bought Prince Talal's 6% of FOX stock after MBS put him under house arrest last year, but I bet it was MBS. Look at FOX letting MBS's top foreign affairs man use them like a bill board.
Without that 6% of stock shares in allied hands, the Murdochs are vulnerable to their other share holders who have wanted to get rid of that family for years. So all MBS has to do is say "Boo," and FOX will provide.
Two families with similar circumstances. They only have power until they don't.
1
Please count me among your mob, too.
2
Maybe we should embrace this. How about a tee shirt emblazoned with "DEMob".
8
YES. Keep writing, Charles Blow!
7
Mr. Blow,
You make an excellent point - fear is a powerful motivator. And that is much of the basis of Trump’s appeal to the masses of people who are shaken and react with visceral results.
Trump elicits the psychological “fight or flight response”, which is a primitive yet powerful human reaction when threatened. Fear motivates when people they feel there is an existential threat to their sense of well-being. And it cannot be easily dismissed.
And when Trump claims that, “if I’m impeached, just think what will happen to the stock market”, it rings like Pavlov’s bell as a natural reflex.
But we must resist this auto response to Trump’s fear mongering, and rise to a more thoughtful and reasonable human nature.
1
Republicans, and especially Trump supporters, sound and act like they know - but can't quite admit - that they're on the endangered species list and sliding toward extinction. their reaction is to fight the inevitable bitterly, and with every tactic they can muster.
they are fighting to preserve a life they have already lived and not for a brighter future for somebody else's babies.
perhaps Republicans will chalk up some more election day victories or conservative appointments; perhaps they won't. but in the long run, they are in an unsustainable position. they will grow old and die. fewer and fewer will replace them. growth on the opposite side will ultimately marginalize them.
so, the questions is: before Trump Republicans expire, can the nation and the world survive them?
4
Makes me think about the nickname for members of the Dutch uprising against the Spanish King in the 16th century. One of the King's councilors told Margaretha of Parma: "Do not fear, Madam, they are but 'gueux' (beggars)". The Dutch insurgents proudly adopted the insult as their title of honor, and eventually won recognition at the end of their 80-year war of independence...
4
As much as I hate Trumpism, I think the United Staes is headed for a long dalliance with hard-core right wing conservatism. The fact that there is still grave concern that Republicans may not be roundly defeated in November suggests to me that The USA is already past the point of no return and the pendulum will continue this arc for decades to come. Republicans are the easy targets here but Democrats are equally culpable for their lack of action to repel this noxious wave of vitriol and discrimination.
7
@Andrew
You might be right, but it is not because the "pendulum" has swung; it's because of an antiquated system that was designed, ironically enough, to appease slave holders, and because Jim Crow era manipulation is being resurrected as a result of the gutting of the Civil Rights Act. The Electoral College and the two senators per state guarantees minority rule; as more of the population moves to cities and the west and east coasts, as populations increase in "blue" states, the majority of the population loses its voting power. We do not have a system of "one person one vote," and we don't have equal access to voting. If we did, republicans would be the minority party.
11
I agree with your sentiments but you didn’t execute your advice. You cited specifics our mob opposes but not the specifics we advocate for all Americans.
2
Last week [Trump] debuted new talking points, saying that this will be an election about “Kavanaugh, caravans, law and order and common sense.”
The election is about Kavanaugh and much more but, regarding "liberal enthusiasm", it's hard to imagine bigger deflators of enthusiasm than Pelosi announcing that she has no intention of attempting impeachment of kavanaugh, and Feinstein apologizing to Kavanaugh for the protestors during his hearings.
And then there's this enthusiasm-sapping quote by Charles Schumer: "For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.”
Elsewhere in today's Times, there is a report that the Dems may not take back control of the house - and the Repubs may pick up a seat or two in the senate.
Absent an across-the-board Democratic Party leadership change, the party's prospects are bleak
6
Stop playing by Trump's rules is not letting him and Republicans pick the identifiers for Democrates. I'm not part of a mob, I'm part of the majority ad I'm using my right to speak up.
6
Your writing is very evocative. These lines gave me the shivers at how elegantly you have captured what is happening:
Trump "now knows the people who support him very well. He has never stopped playing to them and campaigning for them. They are family. They feast together on hatred and intolerance."
8
If believing that diversity makes us stronger; that immigration contributes to the vitality of our nation; that all of us (regardless of race, creed, or sexual orientation) have a right to vote and enjoy access to a good education and affordable; that until corporations send their children to fight and die in war, they're not people; and that the 1% should pay their share make me part of a mob, so be it. I'm part of the mob and hope for mob rule.
And I'm working hard so that we can triump on November 6 and return this nation to the glory it had before the Trump crime family and its GOP enablers put it up for sale to the highest bidders.
6
Count me as one of the mob,too. I believe in Democracy. I believe in a pluralist society. I believe in America and I take her bitterness with her sweet. I vote and will continue to vote against the Trump ideology.
9
I agree with you, Mr. Blow. What I'm amazed by is that Trump, fellow Republicans, and their supports don't see the mob behavior in the rallies Trump holds for himself, in the jeering, mocking, cheering crowds who show up to idolize him. They don't see the mob that descended upon Charlottesville last year. They don't hear the mob chanting "Lock her up!", applauding, cheering, and jeering when Trump mocked Dr. Blasey-Ford, when he dissed a Gold Star family, when he mocked a disabled reporter, when he calls anyone who looks at him cross ways or who dare to stand up to him "Pocahontas", "Dishonest Hilary", "Little Jeb", "Lying Ted". They don't see the mob that applauded and screamed their approval when he mocked the late Senator McCain, saying that McCain wasn't a war hero because he likes people who didn't get captured. Apparently mobs are only a bad thing when it is your opponents who are marching or demonstrating, never when it is your supporters.
The First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees Americans the freedom of assembly. It does not restrict the right to assembly for liberals and grant expansive rights of assembly to Republicans.
Being quiet presumes acquiescence, that you are okay with what Trump and the Republicans are doing. The best way would be to vote these people out of office.
I disagree that the Democrats lack a message. The problem is that most people have the attention spans of a toddler, so our message must get simpler.
7
Unless the democrats win back the House Trump will be emboldened to act as a dictator especially if he can install an Attorney General wiling to be his Roy Cohen. Sessions religious task force is targeting gay community. Jared is lining up loans from Saudi and Russia and Trump will not attack any country with a Trump hotel or golf course , the GOP looks the other way as long as they are the ruling party for a thousand years when Hatch and Grassly are 110 years old and in charge from their hospital beds. Millenials and minorities who sit out the vote have no one to blame if they find themselves marginalized by white Christian straight male powers having all levers of power .
7
This is a war between 'merit' and 'loyalty'.
Trump's supporters are motivated by a profound hatred of those who live according to merit. Meritocracy has rejected them, cheated them, and humiliated them. They constantly complain against those who have more, who are better educated, who have achieved, who are the winners of globalization, who are the 'elite'. trump's supporters ARE the mob, ready to pounce on their 'betters' with torches, pitchforks, rage and resentment.
The resistance to Trump is exactly the opposite of a mob. It is made up of individuals who have worked hard to educate themselves, to make something of their lives, to take risks, and who make their way through life on their own merits. For the meritocracy, loyalty means nepotism, corruption and fraud. They fail to understand that this precisely what trump supporters crave: reward without competence, privilege and supremacy without merit. Merit and competence only make them losers. Their only hope is that their savior St. Donald will make them winners, despite their lack of merit. Loyalty to their Messiah is ALL they have, and they know it!
This is why this election is so vital. If the Trump loyalist mob is allowed to extend its power, it is only a matter of time before loyalty becomes the only value in society, and meritocracy is discarded, and those with merit are made to pay for the rage and resentment they inspire. If you live by merit, this is your (last) chance to save your life.
2
In the end love must trump hate, or the world will end in fire and flood (wars and global warming).
3
"Mob" works on two levels for me. First, it echoes what ultra-conservatives have been preaching for years under the guise of "federalism." They whine, "We are not a democracy, we are a republic." Which, I guess, to them, means that government of the people, by the people, and for the people is "mob rule." If so, bring it on. I've got Abe Lincoln on my team, and all you have are tired stuffy men.
But second, "mob" is both classic Trumpian projection (Proud Boys, anyone?) and a double meaning that evokes the underworld and shady real estate deals.
So I think it's a powerful word for us to continually deconstruct and hammer away at. This isn't simple co-opting, like the alt-right jerks did with "deplorable."
For myself, I like the Australian aboriginal meaning of "mob" - namely, "a cohesive group."
6
The conflation of the caravan of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers from Central America with Democrats and voting, should be called exactly what it is: bigotry. President Treason is implying that these people will "vote" for Democrats if they get here on time. President Treason is implying that people with brown skin and Spanish surnames are therefore suspicious: they might be one of the 3 million "illegal" votes that cost him the popular vote. He knows what he's say; his cult knows what he's saying. But we can't call them what they are because they're very very fragile, and when they break, they cut.
5
I proudly wear the mob label.
7
Resistance is futile: submit to the GOP
No where in the top 5 items of interest to the US population is climate change. Red state America is sure that it is a hoax. Meanwhile, according to--gasp--scientists, we will reach the point of no return in a decade or two. Thus, the scenario derided by Republicans (due, in part, to Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth") is coming true before our eyes: Florida is receding into the sea.
Mr. Blow suggests that we "lib-tards" find a way to define ourselves. In 100 years, history will look back on this time and shake their heads. Full employment at the expense of the environment. Meanwhile, the hurricanes and melting ice ravage our coastlines, forests burn, and our waterways continue to be polluted, all for the sake of a 4% unemployment rate.
Minority government rule means we have almost no recourse.
A mob singing "America the Beautiful" to Mitch would make a much nicer YouTube video. "And crown thy good, with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea," sung with gusto, would surely get the point across. But will it save the planet?
2
I was reading along until I came to the following - "America is being invaded and overrun by people who are not white and not European, which risks the maintenance of American heritage, which is white heritage. White people’s control of this country is in danger and under assault and must be defended and protected at all costs."
Here is comes again. Racism. Blow's constant alarm bell. I can only wish he lived somewhere where racism was truly institutionalized. But, no Mr. Blow, America is not concerned by the color of invaders, but that they are invading their country. Over 7000 economic immigrants that care nothing for our laws or our immigration policies. Insisting to enter with whomever they've brought (little kids?) and they will not take no for an answer. And before you whine some more about the color of their skin, of which you are constantly obsessed, please note that they are NOT refugees seeking asylum. They've been interviewed, not refugees. Fast forward a few days and they will have been taught what to say to assure that they get 'refugee' status. Your stand on the Mob sickens me. Your stand on immigration outrages me. And your holier than thou trashing of common citizens that just happen to disagree with your politics appalls me.
12
I am weary of so many commentators and opinionators accusing Democrats of not having a message and only being
"against" Trump. Here in Harris County and Fort Bend County, TX, we have a number of wonderful Democratic candidates plus Beto who have strong positive messages and great ideas for moving our country forward. There is no need to mention Trump. Why bother? He's the elephant in the room for those of us who are trying to help turn the state Blue - nothing needs to be said. The energy and vitality in the GOTV campaigns around here is exciting. If the Democratic "message" is lacking elsewhere, come to Houston and listen to our candidates!
12
Ben Bradlee, Jr. was on MSNBC this morning pushing his book about one county in PA that went 60% for trump (after twice going for Obama). He followed 12 people of the 100 or so he interviewed. As of 3-4 days ago, 11 of the 12 are strongly behind trump, still. They like his bulldozing ways, his demeanor, etc. He "speaks" to them. And they don't care that they don't benefit economically from this. Talk about the uneducated masses that trump said he loved! Apparently, 45-50% of the country thinks this way. It sounds like the Ds will not take the House. I am depressed beyond belief.
9
I have this very bad fear, nightmare, that Trump will declare this coming election outcome invalid because of voter fraud or the emegency he is drumming up because of the Central American exodus. If not this one, the next election. It feels so strange that at 79 years old to be doubting my America's very existence.
10
We're in one of those alligators in the swamp things, and that needs to be remembered. This is civil war, a cold war, but a civil war nonetheless, and it's for the soul of our nation.
People need to get out and vote, and no excuse is acceptable. That's the answer. Trump plays dirty, cheats, and always has. And when he's caught he uses every lie and excuse he can. A regular one is accusing his opponent (always an "enemy" in Trump-think) of doing what Trump is doing.
His idea of "negotiation" is to make the enemy think SO MANY bad things will happen if he doesn't take a deal, that he'll accept a really horrible deal to avoid a much worse situation. He's tried it on North Korea, China, Mexico, Canada, Europe, and now, Russia. NK, China and now Russia are ALL playing him, being smarter and more experienced. (Putin WANTS the nuclear deal to end, but wants the US to move first--From Reagan to Obama, Presidents have recognized this..but not Trump).
Again, we're in a fight for the soul of America and if we don't at least take the House, we will probably lose it.
4
I am in terror that Donald Trump will order the National Guard to fire on the caravan.
7
Great piece. Thank you. Everyone, vote!
8
YES! We need a strong democratic leader with a vision. That is why I'm voting for Beto in Texas this week. C'mon Dems!
10
Mr. Blow thinks those who object to a caravan of thousands of people approaching our border are merely xenophobic? Really?
Protecting our borders from those trying to force themselves into our country is not a laudable goal?
So Americans should just welcome invaders with open arms?
12
@Barbara I agree with you 100%. I will never welcome people who break our laws. End of the story. We don't need more people, we need more brains.
3
Oh I plan to vote, just like I have in the past for46 years. The new thing is I will be voting straight down the Democratic ticket- a first!! Instead of who I feel is best qualified. If the USA continues to have no checks and balances, this country is doomed!
11
Your blanket characterizations and outright hatred of people who voted for Trump, and do not necessarily want to see him impeached, is stunning in its absence of compassion. Not for Trump, but for fellow Americans. You are actively encouraging civil war where there doesn't need to be one.
"Trump is campaigning like crazy, trying desperately to stir his base to action, and he knows that the easiest way to do that is to stoke its anger, to appeal to the same misogyny, racism, nationalism and insecurity that carried him to the White House.
"Make no mistake: Trump’s strategy will work. He now knows the people who support him very well. He has never stopped playing to them and campaigning for them. They are family. They feast together on hatred and intolerance."
Wow, if I ever showed my inlaws something that said, they feast on hatred and intolerance, I would feel ashamed. Deeply ashamed.
11
What then is the America we envision?
May I suggest;
Multiethnic, pluralistic, democratic, open to the world, welcoming of refugees, a bother and sisterhood of people united by their common set of values and priorities rather than any particular biologic characteristic.
A society where all persons are created equal before the law with a natural right to life, liberty. and the opportunity to act in promotion of ones own benefit and with a government
created for the benefit of all citizens.
2
@E. Hernandez We have been a plural society for long time. The issue here is the total disrespect for our laws and nothing else. T
3
Mr Blow is hardly into his article before he is citing
'moral rectitude' and it follows that he then is the upholder of moral rectitude and Trump is not. So how did Mr Blow ascend to mount moral to so confidently assert his righteousness and the lack of moral fibre with those who have a counter view.
If I may be impertinent Mr Blow, we do not have an inbuilt moral compass like Bees have stings we are appropriated by culture and arrive at our moral viewpoint through millennia of negotiation and compromise; 'morals' are not causa sui, are they? Etymologically, the term ‘moral’ comes from the Latin mos, which means custom or habit, and it is a translation of the Greek ethos, which means roughly the same thing, and is the origin of the term ‘ethics’. So in Greek philosophy there is no such word as 'moral'. The role of moral language today is employed as a social instrument for persuasion and one notes that NYT journalists, as do Republicans, employ it all the time. The subtext of 'moral' is good, but where is this 'good' derived from even we propose a supernatural property to identify with goodness, for example the property of being commanded by God It still makes sense to ask whether what God commands is 'good'. Lastly one could regard moral judgment as not purely cognitive at all but guided by pre-conceptual inclinations; think Darwin. Still, enjoyed the article.
4
People, please focus and VOTE!! I feel democrats are getting ahead of themselves and there is not going to be any blue wave. Please make a concerted plea to get people out to vote. If you love public education, and libraries and parks and clean air and your Muslim neighbor, please VOTE!!
6
At his so-called rallies, Trump calls for violence against any dissenters and the crowd cheers raucously. Same thing when he mocks a woman who has been sexually assaulted. Then Trump has the gall to call the Democrats a mob? Surely this must be one of the lowest points in American history.
10
"Trump is going to be Trump. Stop playing by his rules. Don’t allow him to dictate the terms of the debate."
The fact that this column does nothing but obsess about Trump tells you that Mr. Blow cannot take his own advice.
12
Charles you are strangely obsessed with mobs not jobs.
What is wrong with a strong economy that puts America First and that gives people full employment and an increasing wage for the first time in 20 years?
8
@Dan Always great to see Trump supporters repeating a catchphrase lifted from Nazi-sympathizers in the 1930s.
5
What constitutes a mob? Does the definition of a mob include: torch bearing neo-Nazi marchers, marchers in full tactical gear bearing loaded weapons, people wearing masks with their hands taped, people making death threats,.. The above are just a small sample of some of the Trump supporters who have been viewed on TV at venues where they claim to support Trump and Trump loves them.
6
OK, so a prominent columnist in what some regard as the country's leading newspaper formally comes out for mob rule. He is the "id" of the Democratic Party. Why any civilized person would vote Dem now, is beyond me.
11
@JackC5 - You didn't read the piece did you? Either that or you don't comprehend it. Try again.
4
My fear is that for young people, freedom and democracy has become an old idea.. an idea endorsed and fought for by their parents and grand parents. These young people have lived with freedom and democracy and it's "old hat." Flee from tyranny? Ha, that's a television show! Much more exciting to grab onto an unpopular idea....stick your tongue out..... Vote? who cares! Help the bleeding refugees....who cares!
5
What I find fascinating is that Trump is such a racist when it comes to Hispanic immigrants while the largest immigrant group right now is Asian. I've never heard Trump mention a word about Asians and can't figure out why he focuses solely on Hispanics. And yes, count me in as a part of the Mob.
I live in California and have never heard of or seen any of the riots he describes over Sanctuary Cities.
He's a liar and worse, he's rabble rouser and that's dangerous.
What a vile pig.
7
I find it interesting that a guy who said Nazis are "fine people"
and worked with the Gambino family calls progressives a "mob."
9
One point Charles makes that I wish would have received more attention in the article - what is the vision the Dems have for America and what are the defining issues and steps to achieve that vision. This isn’t about Trump at all. It’s all about what decent and good Americans want for their country.
Got too many, Trump’s base, that vision is uniquely dependent on fear - fear of what a liberal order would take away from deserving white Americans. Thankfully, that limits the scope of how big that “mob” van be. Unfortunately, it was enough to get Trump and many in the GOP elected in 2016.
From my sample size of one, it seems the Dems have seized on healthcare as the primary issue. They seem to be ignoring 1) fear of what America is becoming under Trump and 2) Trump’s constant race-baiting fueled by fear of immigrants (legal and illegal). The Dems are wise to give these issues no more oxygen than Trump has.
As for the Dem vision for America? That is less clear, and needs a lot more work before the 2020 elections. I’m also concerned that it will make too many Dems complacent in the upcoming elections. The Dems seem to be relying on women to carry the day. That’s fine, but eventually the tent has to get bigger.
All I want at this point (and yeah I’m part of the mob too) is a check on Trump, and that is most likely to come on the form of a House majority. That alone is reason enough to vote. I hope and pray that enough decent Americans are getting the message.
3
Excuse me for repeating myself, but: If you can't imagine how far this country has sunk in just the past two years, can you imagine how much further it will sink in the next two, four and six?
Instead of depending on hollow words such as 'resistance' and 'mob,' use the word 'outsmarted' to describe the loyal opposition's strategies/tactics since 2016, then focus on deciding ASAP who will lead the Democrats to stop the Trump juggernaut in 2020. For the midterms, take a page out of Trump's playbook for 2016, manage your expectations and expect to lose. That way, even a very modest win in the House will be a major turning of the blue tide.
Once again, Democrats have already allowed themselves to be defined by Republicans and will unfortunately continue to be reactive when they must be proactive. And while this ain't gonna happen overnight, it sure could begin on November 6th. Avoid the hangover you're still getting over from the last election.
Vote.
224
@Guido Malsh. Unfortunately as long as success is defined by money, intelligence defined by how well one games the system, and strength defined by how one wields power over the weak, Democrats will continue to be defined by Republicans. Democrats should stand for the hard work of fairness, compassion, tolerance and integrity, values most Republicans have abandoned. In our system those values do not often lead to advantage, but they are worthy values anyway. Democrats/progressives can create jobs, excercise fiscal discipline, respect the environment, build strong international relationships, and generate opportunity for all far more effectively than Republicans. One man one vote. We do not need to let the 1% determine our future.
24
@Brian Cornelius Well said, Mr. Cornelius. Your
thoughts/suggestions should make the 'D' in Democrats stand for Decency.
BTW, it's about time to put the plural spelling of the party back in the game instead of having to walk around with the Republican coined, evil sounding name of 'Democrat.'
Details can often make a big Difference.
1
As another commenter pointed out, the word mob appears to be a projection of Donald Trump's. Anyone who has watched his rallies has seen the mob.
I'm not even part of an ironical mob, but I am part of the vast number of Americans who will go to the polls in November to protect the ACA, Medicare and Social Security (all of which McConnell has promised to put on the chopping block in 2019) and to vote in a Congress with a spine. I want a Congress that works for ordinary Americans instead of donor tax cuts. I'm tired of feeling that we might lose protections against preexisting conditions every time a GOP congress gets into office.
I'm also tired of hearing that tax cuts pay for themselves, and that Medicare as we know it needs to go. Turning Medicare into a voucher system--which appears to be on the table next year--will shift financial responsibility onto seniors and end our guaranteed access to healthcare.
Vote as if your life depends on it.
355
@SandraH. I take the "mob" to be referring to McConnell saying he wouldn't be dissuaded from seating Kavanaugh by a mob, ie democrats protesting him 'shoving Kavanaugh down our throats', as he liked to phrase the passing of the ACA.
I'll be joining you at the polls. If pre-existing conditions rules are rescinded, I'm dead within a year.
2
@SandraH. Because it does!!!
1
@SandraH.: Your thoughts on the "mob" mirror mine! Apparently a mob is only bad if it is Democrats opposing Trump, never if it Trump supporters at his Hitler-like rallies. I'm an Independent who normally votes for the candidates whose values most closely match mine, but this year I will be voting a straight Democratic ticket. Maybe if we get some balance in Congress, some of the worst plans can be checked.
I teach history, and my students are often shocked to learn that mobs created problems in colonial Boston, disrupted government (at best) and committed acts of violence (vandalism, tar-and-feathering tax commissioners, boycotting Tory businesses at worst). The patriot leaders eventually became more skillful in controlling those "mobs" (Boston Tea Party is a great example--only the tea was thrown in the harbor; none was stolen, no other property was damaged, and the ships were even cleaned up afterward) in order to make their points. That is what needs to happen now. Marches and letters to the editor and showing up at meetings are all very well and good, but what do you do when your marches and letters are ignored, and when your representatives refuse to hold town halls and refuse to meet with constituents? Not in my state, but others aren't willing to meet with people, much less talk about their concerns. We need another Sam Adams and Joseph Warren.
In Gustave Le Bon's insightful book The Crowd, published in the 19th century, he notes that observing two people addressing a large crowd, one an inciter like Trump and the other a sensible, well reasoned person, the majority of the crowd goes with the speaker who stirs up their emotions, not their rationality.
It is no coincidence that Trump says he 'loves the uneducated', as many people of that group do not read much and generally are not open to nuanced positions on anything from the health care to care for the environment to mistreatment of women.
Trump agitates and provokes, painting a picture of a country in chaos because of 'the Democratic mob', and says that only he and his vision will save them. Sadly, tens of millions of people believe what he says. Some may not like the crude way he speaks, but they see him as one of their own.
The nasty secret they aren't privy to, and many would not want to be, is that Donald Trump is out to enrich himself and his family and allies, and above all, to protect himself. The only thing he gets from his huge rallies is the adulation the crowd feeds to him. He loves it and he will not stop. He has no true connection to the disadvantaged, the poor and the middle class.
The only way to get that man out is to vote him and his like minded compatriots out.
538
@Tim B -' the adulation of the crowd feeds to him' are
like an addiction to opiates. He needs the constant
fixes that he gets from his rallies.
4
@Tim B
In many instances our uneducated/downtrodden are so described because they have made poor choices during their school years or on the job, not to mention addictions or soured get rich quick schemes. No wonder they’re instantly seduced by flimflam Trump inciting them to get even with foreigners, pushy women, Blacks, and Californians. Trump is just another disastrous choice that will backfire.
1
@Tim B
Trump won a majority of every white age, gender,socioeconomic educational demographic. McCain won 55%, Romney won 59% and Trump won 58% of the white voting majority from 2008-2016.
Trump is hiding his personal and family income tax returns and business records from the American people. Because Trump malignly intends to preserve, protect and defend his profitable good fortune from his occupation of the Oval Office of our White House.
2
We keep hearing that Trump is succeeding in firing up his base. So what! His base is the minority. Whether they are fired up or not, they still will vote for him. When Trump attacks the left, he is actually firing up his opposition. That works to his disadvantage because his opposition is the majority, they just don't vote in numbers that represent how large a group they are. By insulting Democrats and accusing them of being everything Republicans have become, they will stream to the poles in record numbers.
Where do bullies get their power? From the fear they instill in their victims. When the victims rise up and band together, the bullies will make a fast retreat. They will be vanquished, rendered powerless.
This is why Trump is behaving so caustically. This bully knows the majority is on the march. His grip on power is weakening. Trump is afraid.
So go ahead Trump. Call us names. Threaten us. Get your minority of voters fired up. We will extinguish that fire and start one of our own. A fire that will force you to retreat.
The mob is coming Mr. Trump. You will find us at the voting booths. Fear that!
867
@Bruce Rozenblit
Thank you for saying this. It was not Trump's base that put him in power. it was those that are not in his base but decided to support him. Especially women.
72
@Bruce Rozenblit,
His base is an active 35% of the electorate. If they vote, the polls could be wrong. All the attack ads Karl Rove and the gang have cooked up benefit the Republicans.
The NY Times recently ran some interesting psychological analysis on the independents. It turns out that they won't vote if bombarded by negative ads. No matter how impressed they might be by what the Democrats are selling 25-40% of the independents won't vote regardless.
Then, there's the selective game. The GOP does what it can to eliminate voters by various scams: change the polling place; cancel voters from rolls when they fail to send money (respond) to GOP fliers; use the law to prevent poll rides; impose last minute, unpublicized residency restrictions. If they can do this in the right districts they can win (cheat) in November.
And, the Supreme Court decided on a case allowing further GOP restrictions. So, much for the non-partisan Roberts court.
39
@Alison Cartwright
So many women for reasons I will never completely understand voted for Trump - or against Hillary a few have told me. Perhaps they will think differently this time around - we can only hope.
Very well written. Immigration is a strategic GOP winner: Anti-immigration hysteria is far more likely to get Trump voters to the ballot booth than pro-immigration reform (path to citizenship, DREAM Act, etc.) is likely to turn out the left. Yet the fact that Trump was clearly elected by racism rather than economic anxiety does not suggest, to me at least, that a message of economic hope and opportunity cannot defeat a message of racism. We shoud be polling on the *relative* merits of walls vs. jobs. If we can voters to focus on their pocketbooks rather than the immigration straw man --- Trump's own study proves that immigrants are a financial boon to the country, something the rest of us already knew --- we just might defeat those hackable voting machines.
3
I’d rather be part of this “mob” than part of whatever you want to call the Trumpublicans.
9
I truly fear for the country that Mr. Blow advocates for.
15
@Brewster Millions
Yep, having an inclusive instead of exclusive, access to heath care, corporations paying their fair share of taxes, rich people paying their fair share of taxes. A government that values and funds education, a government that protects the health of it's citizens though clean air, and water. Who would want that.....it's much better to pass a tax break for the rich and corporations, that the average working class american will pay for, it's better not to educate our children so they can't compete in the world economy, it's far better and saves money if the population doesn't have access to healthcare so society can pay four times as much as it would have had access to healthcare been available, yes, all those things along with suppression of the minority voter, gerrymandering, will build a much better society than those pesky liberals. All they want is social justice, a funded and accessible educational system, access to college, or trade schools with out becoming indebted for 500K, just so you can get ahead, a fair tax code that benefits, working class, and middle class Americans. Regulations that provide for the health of the citizens of this country, though clean water, clean air, unpolluted rivers, and lands. Yep, who wants those things, who wants a better future for the next generation, that will be left to pay for the folly of the GOP.
5
@Brewster Millions. Why?
2
@Brewster Millions - change is not immutable and necessary
Well written and spot on
2
I’ll stand shoulder to shoulder with Mr Blow. I would also like to see more Democrats running for a postive program. If the only defense againt Trump is a rear guard protection of the status quo, resistance will be futile.
The left needs leaders who don’t hate the left. It is no longer the time of Chuck and Nancy. Vision is required and they dont have it.
4
Fear, hatred and degradation of our country - were the hallmarks of eight long disasterous years under Mr. Obama. President Trump has been phenomenally successful at repairing our economy, rebuilding our military, improving our standing in the world, getting out of bad treaties, getting our allies to pay more towards their own defense, eliminating ISIS, renegotiating NAFTA, cutting taxes, reducing regulations, and so much more. Efforts to undermine the legitimacy of our duly elected President are the most U.N.-Democratic I have ever experienced. Our nation is truly at risk thanks to mindless liberals and their unending hatred of President Trump, American and a majority of the American people. I am disgusted in the liberal mob and fear for America’s future.
13
@William - Trump inherited a good economy. He has alienated our allies and made us the laughing stock of the world.
Those regulations are designed to keep us safe and to keep our air and water clean. The health costs will be enormous and thanks to Trump and co. health care will become difficult to afford.
Liberals do hate, they hate ignorance, greed, bigotry and unfairness. Why don't you?
2
The Republican Party blindly embracing and zealously advancing 45's desperate extremism, appealing to racial internecine, fomenting xenophobia, and inciting calculated fear mongering are rallying cries for Democrats and Independents to galvanize and respond by massive voter turnout. Mr. Blow's opinion is dead on! I am especially proud to be an outspoken, strident member of the mob, outspoken and loud, in promoting the agenda of liberalism. Promoting and encouraging multiculturalism, racial diversity, multiethnic participation, and multireligiouss involvement to register their contempt of the GOP and their candidates campaigning on fear and bigotry by sealing their electoral defeat is worth concerted mob effort. 45 is hellbent upon scaring the diminutive base to flood to the polls or else witness 'their way of life' come to an end by 'those people' who don't look like them, who don't read, write, or speak the King's English, and who do not worship they way 'they' do. And, persistently reminding his followers that 'they are better than them' is tried and true campaign policy from the George Wallace playbook. Though 'they' may be less educated and not holding visibly high paying positions, 'they' are better than 'them' whose racial complexions run the gamut of the rainbow. The 1968 Southern Strategy remains a viable instrument in the arsenal of the Republican Party. Playing the race and immigrant card has limited use. We shall overcome. The GOP's demise is near. Race matters.
3
@Dean Browning Webb, Attorney at Law
According to some people posting here, that are Trump supporters, claim that WE are the problem, that WE run around beating people and carrying Tiki torches, in fact, they are the mob, sowing hate and discord, WE are the mob, fighting those Trumpists that are trying very hard to destroy the ideal's that my father went and fought for in WWII.
4
Since I came here as a young person from Germany I have been amazed how people use "liberal" and "conservative" to describe "Democratic" and "Republican" perspectives. I asked myself: What is the party program? The main German parties have a long history, as do US political parties. The SPD, "Social Democratic Party of Germany" was founded in 1848. The CDU, the Christlich Demokratische Partei was founded after World War II, but its ideals go back much further. Both parties had to change with time. Russia became Communist at the end of the First World War. That had a huge effect on political thinking in Germany. That effect manifested itself during the political turmoil leading up to and after the first, then also the second World War. Right-leaning Germans have always associated the SPD with Marxist inspired ideas and the SPD had to change its program as a consequence. But "conservative" German parties today are far more "liberal" than US conservatives would have it. The "conservative" CDU of course affirms universal state-paid education from Pre-K through your doctorate in law and medicine. The CDU of course also affirms the German universal health care which was started under Bismarck in the late 19th century for political reasons, to take the wind out of Socialism's sails. I plead with my American friends: Please be VERY SPECIFIC, please EDUCATE yourself about what you oppose or would affirm: E.G: How can "Medicare for all" work economically AND politically? Etc. etc.
2
If Trump wins, the American Dream dies.
The United States of America
Rest in Peace
July 4, 1776 to November 6, 2018
8
@Bob Woods
Seems kind of premature Bob.....
1
I'm not sure who is more ridiculous, Charles or the commentariat that parrots his views. The mob? Not really a good idea is it? Although the dems are ineffective, becoming a mob won't make them more so or any more appealing. Perhaps thinking things through and specifically analyzing what it is that upsets the left so (not just I hate Trump, but specific policies, and tell us what you would do instead, specifically) and more important what do dems intend, if they return to power in some way shape or form, to do on key issues? Also recognize that the horse has already left the barn on SCOTUS and another conservative justice may be added before Trump leaves.
13
@Ralphie
One policy that I would not vote for is saying that Nazis are fine people. Another policy I wouldn’t vote for is cutting taxes for the rich while cutting Social Security and Medicare for everybody else. Another policy I wouldn’t vote for are trade wars that are weakening the American economy. Another policy I wouldn’t vote is Trump taking money from the Russians while abetting them in corrupting American elections Another policy I wouldn’t vote for is putting sexual predators who perjure themselves in front of Congress on the Supreme Court. Another policy I wouldn’t vote for is a Republican party called by two prominent political scientists (employed by Republicans) a radical fascist insurgency intent on one-party permanent rule. Gosh, I wonder if I could come up with a few more. Tell us, what would you vote for?
4
The "mob" which Mr. Blow wants to join is the "mob" of Maxine Waters calling for personal public confrontation , Anti-fa rioting in Portland, students denying free speech while rioting in colleges, Mrs. Clinton claiming that civility is impossible unless she's in charge, Nancy Pelosi warning about "collateral damage" , i.e., innocent victims , etc., etc., etc. He is justifying the hissy fit tantrum that progressives have allowed themselves to become a part of. Here's a hint, real liberals don't harass people eating dinner , or bust up cars and store fronts, or wear masks and punch people for the hat they wear.
16
@Bob israel
I don’t belong to any mob, I’m a real liberal, and if I saw Miss Mitch McConnell in a restaurant I would call her to her face what the workd’s most prominent historian of the Holocaust calls her: “the gravedigger of democracy.“ And yes, I would say it to her face. It’s a free country. Probably not for much longer but at the moment anyway.
3
@Bob israel
She NEVER said that, I saw the WHOLE interview, and that is NOT what she said.
Here's what she said,
"You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about," She elaborated further, "That's why I believe, if we are fortunate enough to win back the House and or the Senate, that's when civility can start again. But until then, the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength."
NOWHERE does she mention that it will only happen with her in office. But this is all the republicans have, beating a dead horse, named Clinton. But very soon it will become patently obvious that but for Russian interference, Trump wouldn't be president today, that the 1.5 trillion dollar tax break will be paid for by the very people that voted for him. Trump like a tiger, cannot change his stripes. It's always been about Trump, and who he can cheat out of a dollar, Trump U, is a great example of his lies, so is the Taj Mahal, that too was lie, and investors were taken, while Trump lined his pockets.
Maybe you should peruse this website of legal documents.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-revealed-book-rep...
1
Isn't embracing the term "mob" exactly what Charles Blow is cautioning against, that is, not reacting defensively to Trump's characterizations of us progressives and others on the left? In fact, it reminds us of how Trump turns any critique of him and his followers back upon the opposition. He is a liar who calls other people liars; he's a Russian puppet who called Hillary a puppet; and now he, who is actually inciting mob behaviors at his own rallies, turns the term against peaceful protestors on the left.
6
Opposite sides in any human angry dispute...remember, in terms of human behavior...the more things seem to change, the more they remain the same.
There are times when it does not matter whether a majority or a minority of people have the commanding ruling voice. If the ruling voice is indecent and immoral, selfish and sadistic....then the ruling few or the many......are totally wrong.
What's the difference between a Christian and an atheist.....and the difference between separation of church and state?
Blessed be those that believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Proactive Dems should be looking toward legislation to pass immediately after the midterms. Look at deregulation Trump has installed -- what can be done about that? Look at the ACA -- what could be done to make it stronger, more permanent. Look at immigration -- how to make this process more humane, fair, appropriate and ethical? Look at education, infrastructure -- how has Trump derailed progress? Look at the Saudi's, the Russians, the North Koreans, Iran -- are we inching closer to conflict? If so, how can we dial in more security for the long-term? Concrete plans, legislation, action after the midterms.
4
Charles, you've taken the bait and sprung the trap. Now it's documented in black and white, across the web, for posterity. "Mob", indeed. From a man who makes a living as a writer, I would have expected more foresight 20 or 30 years ago, but my, things have changed. For Trump and his "deplorables", it must feel like shooting fish in a barrel!
9
For me, it’s primarily about the “dumbing down” and cheapening of our national social/political environment that Trump has made more possible. From his self-centered focus, to his misogyny, racism and sociopathic orientation, his unbridled expressions of “I’m in love with me” cheapens everything he touches.
Of course, and this is huge, what Trump has done is to simply expose the dirt that has been hidden under the American rug! No one has to behave the way Trump does, take any pleasure in his ludicrous behaviors or vote for similarly immature politicians, but many have.
That is a problem, now more clearly seen, that strikes at the very heart of our pretense of civility and our adherence to democratic process. The dumbing down and cheapening has been there all along, awaiting this kind of appalling lack of leadership!
3
My biggest hope is that indeed, the mid-terms are a referendum on trump and that there are millions and millions of disgusted Americans that come to the polls and put a voice to their feelings.
Red vs Blue has to end. Trump has pushed it to Good vs Evil. To be clear, he's Evil. Look what he's done to the values of this country and its people. I don't care where you live or what your party is, or what church you do or don't attend. He's split us asunder and this is awful.
It's bad for America. It's for the world. AMERICA! AMERICANS!! WAKE UP! Vote!
7
@TrumpLiesMatter
What's even funnier is, Trump isn't the first, or the only one to use "Make America Great Again" Bill Clinton used it, after Reagan did.
Trump must have taken courses at Liberty University on what inflections in voice to use, how many times to repeat phrases and body language to embrace the sheep like a benevolent Sheppard.
The diabolical members of Congress that have supported Trump need to be removed for we are their enemies as well. They have all violated their oaths of office
3
Mr. Blow Bravo on your article if only our citizenry were educated enough to comprehend it. White Nationalists are cowards afraid of losing something that is not theirs and no longer their at all in an ever more interconnected world.
Geesch, there he goes again....
Trump's "mob" name-calling does not deserve to be dignified with a response.
Give this man-child a pacifier and put him down for a nap.
4
Where are the democrats who are supposed to be leading those opposed to trump and his vision for the country?
1. too busy squabbling over whether or not to support the progressives
2. too busy raising money for whatever next election and whichever next candidates they already support
3. too busy planning for 2020 while the country is metaphorically, and actually, burning
4. having DNA tests that fall right into trump's trap and give him additional fodder
5. trying to force a media that is responsive to their shareholders, and therefore is incentivized to cover the next shiny object, to cover the ground roots struggle of dems instead
Wherever they are, they are inadequately making the case for how seriously antithetical trump's policies and polemics are to the basic values that I thought this country believed in. Rather this country is returning to the basic beliefs of its founders; equal rights for property owners who back then were neither women nor people of color, men in charge, religious freedom for those who believed what the founders believed, and certainly no same sex anything. Add to that the constant stream of lies and threats, combined with a real mob that he is exhorting to violence. And we can't forget the increasing efforts to suppress the vote of more traditional democratic voters. Oh and packing the courts with conservatives who are approving voter suppression, limits on supposedly settled law. I am terrified.
3
Great thinking Mr. Blow, but we better move fast because Republicans are moving quickly to suppress the vote wherever they can, now with the backing of the SCOTUS.
1
If there is a mob in this country, it is the almost exclusively white people I see at Trump's "rallies", the "lock her up" crowd. He demeans, belittles, defames anyone, American or not, who doesn't agree with him, and they clap and cheer his sneering, childish, vindictive bullying.
The hate and surrender to lies and fear scare me. Liberal Democrats can talk all they want about returning to real American values, but what we're watching proves that some of us have no idea what those are and can be so easily manipulated into behaving like the mobs we've seen cheering the world's worst despots.
2
Bring on a vision to aspire to! We (all humans) are better than this. Before putting all the hopeful eggs in the November 6 basket, speak out about voter fraud which allegedly is happening in Georgia and possibly other states.
Sometimes it feels like Republicans strategize with nuclear weapons and Democrats respond with squirt guns. Personally opposing violence, (but the best metaphor I could come up with) I’d just like to see clever strategic vision which evokes and inspires our better selves. Thanks Mr Blow.
Mr. Blow speaks of "..the same misogyny, racism, nationalism, and insecurity that carried him to the White House.." I would suggest that Mr. Blow in his own small way also contributed to Trump's victory. If Mr. Blow wants to limit the duration of Trump's tenure, his constant denigration and obvious contempt for anyone who happened to vote for Trump in 2016 will ironically only help Trump in 2020. Not everyone who voted for Trump is an evil racist as Mr. Blow implies. Some folks hold sincere views on abortion that I very much disagree with but I don't doubt their sincerity and I can see why they voted for Trump on an issue that is paramount to them. Mr. Blow shows a curious way of trying to persuade them to see things his way by insisting that they are all misogynistic racists. Similarly, many folks who loathe Trump - like me - do not support the immigrant caravan and the idea that anyone who arrives in America is automatically entitled to stay. And I would wager that a majority of black Americans feel the same way. Are they racists too, Mr. Blow? So keep preaching to your choir - you're not changing anyone's mind and, again in your own small way, you're helping to re-elect Trump in 2020.
10
Count me in.
Trump represents the worst of humanity.
3
“Democrats are a mob”. Well, don’t get mad, get even. The Democratic Party needs to learn from Trump. Slogans are crucially important, and we have NONE. We, who have truth and justice on our side, have pathetically failed to rally the troops around our flag. If immigrants are the backbone of our nation, where is the 3 or 4 word slogan? If Trump’s administration is corrupt, where
is the slogan? If Trump’s policies are polluting the planet and allowing global warming to overtake our civilization, where is the slogan? If tax cuts for the rich are saddling our children with hopeless debt, where is the slogan.
Tom Perez and the other hapless fools of the Hilary Clinton model have failed time and time again to channel the anger and energy of those who are the victims of Trump- which is all but the Mnuchins and Adelsons of this world.
Slogans don’t have to be pandering. They can and often and often should be uplifting. “Give us the tools and we will do the job.” “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
I for one am sick and tired of Democratic Party collective stupidity.
Barack was smart - he assembled a team of social scientists and psychologists to figure out how best to get his message out to voters, as well as how to get those voters to the polls. We need to bring that kind of team back into the fight.
Being right, being just, speaking the truth - they are simply not enough!
4
@ScottC
So slogans win elections, huh. Well I've had enough of slogans, I'm for action.....
Mob stands for Mobilized! DT.s rants and rallies are more mob-like than democrats.
1
Hiding behind your own incoherent blockade of "tolerance", you forget that your shoes are showing underneath the curtain.
Behind the shroud is the real intolerance. Granting immunity to those who harass, assault (with fully automatic Assault Fists), and destroy the lives of those who disagree with the minority is the epitome of prejudice.
Go ahead, mob away. Shake your assault fists in the air and break the windows. Conservatives do not fear you or your riots. The squeaky wheel of the socialist left is only able seize at this point, no oil handouts today.
8
“...reactive...vision.”
Modern liberalism, along with its diametric opposition and odd bedfellow, Modern conservatism, is wholly reactive and without vision. Much less is it positive. Ideally, it is like its twin in crime, at best intentional and harmful and thus full of vice; or worse yet, unintentional and harmful and hence, negligent. To be virtuous, that is, to have a base of ethics that one can speak of “positively,” means “showing” that positivity. Today, with liberalism as well as conservatism, we see the exact opposite; hate, fear, nihilism, and a general attitude toward self–destruction. Sure we “hear” all sorts of messages, hear, you for instance, writing on and on and so on about Trump, about his faults (and they are many) but rarely do I “see” a remedy. More of the same? I think not. And yet that’s what liberals and well as conservatives offer. I know this left/right dichotomy suits business, suits those in power, suits even writers like you who have a plethora of material to draw upon. But does it suit us, the “people” of this country that do not identify necessarily with an agenda, be it race, gender, etc—that do not, in other words, practice an “identity” politic that is nothing but self–centered nonsense and hence cannot have a positive vision, or any vision at all; other than that that exists in the mirror before it. Hence vision, in an age of so much and immoderate contradiction then is: TO BE UNCERTAIN OF EVERYTHING AND TRUST ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
1
I always thought of Charles Blow as one of the mob. He didn't6 have to be cute about it. He suffers from the same derangement syndrome effecting most newer-style leftists. A definite acolyte of the Maxine Waters school of bipartisan civility now championed by Hillary. Don't bother explaining how you can say you are part of the mob, because of this or that. The left has little left but violence. It truly frightens me to think what happens next if the Democrats don't get control of the House.
8
Not the first Republican president recently elected by a racist anachronism that's been allowed to fester in the Constitution for over two centuries, suppose Trump's not the antithesis of "most American values" but their naked lunch.
@Prof - isn't this what columnists like Collins, Blow, Goldberg et al are trying to tell us?
Stop playing by his rules, then adopt the term he has fastened onto you, "the mob"??!!? That way lies disaster, fighting in the streets, the prelude to martial law. Exactly what he wants.
3
Problem with liberals and democrats in general is that they aren't willing to get dirty and fight the war that the GOP and their white nationalists allies are bringing. Study the Spanish Civil War. Loosely aligned ANTIFA will be no match for what the organized White Nationalist with money from GOP donors are going to be bringing. Dems are fighting a principal high brow argument while their opponents are fighting power politics with corruption and clubs! They aren't fighting to win the idea battle they are fighting to win naked POWER! Dems will continue to lose until they recognize this. Can't have running street battles with Brown Shirts when you can't even field an army. We are already losing this war.
1
Think I’ll take a pass on the POUM, thanks.
1
@Doug
I think you're exactly right, which is the point that Clinton was trying to make.
Nothing is fair in love or war, no such thing as a fair fight, bullies understand one thing, a punch in the face, a kick in their collective umm..groin. I learned that back in the 1960s growing up in mixed race family. I happen to be a white male who's white father never took the time to support us, in fact he abandon us in Germany while we were stationed there. When he was discharged, his CO, said he had the morals of a pig, oddly, looking back, he was just like Trump, a hater of everyone and everything non white, including the black medic that saved his life in Korea.
My mother got lucky and married a black man who accepted us as his own, he never abandoned us, until his death some 30 years later. As a small child it didn't occur to me that even as a decorated WWII veteran, he couldn't even vote in a country he risked his life to save. But it wasn't the country he saved, it was he ideal that he saved, yet he came back to the very thing he was sent to fight against.
Growing up he never mentioned, it, he always believed that this country would get past it's bigoted past, and move into a new era of enlightened thinkers, that would ensure that what he went through his whole life bigotry, hatred, would end, he would have been proud to see a black man as POTUS.
A black man that left office with no scandals, not one white POTUS can say that.
1
NO NO No. Never even allude to the possibility that Dems are a mob. It plays straight into Trump's hands.
Instead report on how Proud Boys are harassing Nancy Pelosi and Donna Shalala on the campaign trail. They are the mob.
5
I’m in!
1
This Vietnam veteran is proud to part of the 60% majority that Putin's puppet calls " A Mob!"
14
Yep, now we all need to go out and vote because 60% is a MAJORITY.
2
Trump is effective politically because he preaches hatred of coloured people and fear to people who hate coloured people and are afraid. He is effective because he preaches misogyny to male chauvinists, and hatred of non-cis-gendered people to the cis-gendered. His basic message is HATE the OTHERS, be afraid of anyone who is different; I will protect you. Classic fascist dictatorship.
That such a message could succeed for one moment is a sad commentary on the entire American political class -- not just the GOP. Democratic candidates who will focus on an economy that rewards people other than the 0.1%, a just tax code, and healthcare can take this warped and vicious buffoon down.
6
Partly, maybe by fear.
More likely it is the reality that white men are losing their jobs, status. And they don't like it. No fear.
More likely it is the religious right who disapproves of abortion. And they don't like it. No fear.
More likely it's their guns they worship. And they don't like people who want to take that away. No fear.
More likely it is trump's bombastic attitude they like. No fear.
More likely it's his "isms" and hate they admire. They have had those "isms" for a long time. No fear.
More like it is trump that they admire. No fear.
Remember the swaggering George W. Bush. They loved him.
Now we have someone even worse than Bush and they love him.
It's not about fear. It's about hate, their interpretation of the "holy" bible, isms, etc.
trump challenges First Amendment rights in several ways. The right to lawfully assemble he now calls mob rule; the freedom of the press - he now calls the press the enemy of the people. These important rights in a democracy that used to celebrate freedom of expression are under dire threat. If trump manages to get control over these heretofore unquestioned freedoms, we are already quite a ways down the road to tyranny.
1
Charles Blow, you are a brilliant writer! Even those of us who are not so liberal but open-minded (read: independent) can understand your cogent and coherent argument. Independents will ultimately decide the fate of this country. If you are an independent in today's dichotomous 2 party system and you find what Trump and his band of Republicans have done and will continue to do to be repulsive, hold your nose and vote for the only sane alternative: Democrats.
2
I just realized among the many things is 45 is not a leader instead he makes everything about him. We now have a president who doesn’t care about the good of the country. 45 calls rightfully concerned Democrats “mobs” and accuses groups that he wants to slam of acting like his base at rallies. It’s really absolutely that the POTUS gloats and laughs while leading a chant to lock up Diane Feinstein.
Of course Donald Trump should know about mobs. He’s apparently had sketchy dealing’s with mobsters for decades.
1
FEAR NOT
The shambles the so-called president makes of our civility, the pain he inflicts on those who he targets will recover and move ahead.
Behind will be the boor and his thugs.
November 6th marks the beginning of restoring America's dignity.
Join in.
It WILL happen
1
I live in Georgia where the airwaves are now filled with ads from GOP PACs depicting Stacey Abrams—who previously enjoyed bipartisan respect for her intelligence and pragmatism—as essentially a radical mad woman leading a pack of rabid dogs.
“TOO RADICAL FOR GEORGIA!” blares the screen in one ad—with an angry mob pushing and shoving in the background. Other ads make bald-faced lies about Abrams imposing a $13,000 tax increase on every Georgian the day after the election and throwing open Georgia’s doors to criminal aliens. In his own ads and in interviews Brian Kemp—who, as Secretary of State, has been methodically purging thousands of people of color from the voting rolls—has claimed that Abrams is counting on votes by illegal immigrants to put her over the top and that the Democrats’ lawsuit over his apparently race-based voter suppression is actually an Abrams’ ruse to get illegal immigrants to the polls on her behalf.
If Abrams and other Democrats do win, I fear the GOP has already sewn the seeds for claiming their victories are illegitimate. My even greater fear is that the anger their ads are inciting could inspire an honest-to-goodness “angry mob” in protest. And that our own president might make another perhaps not-so-oblique reference to “second amendment people”—as he did in his talk about a possible illegitimate victory by Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election—and throw a lighted match into the fray.
3
Live defiant. Act defiantly. Build. Embrace. Include. Make America celebrate again.
2
The idea of Trump and his sycophants in Congress continuing to attack Americans that oppose them by calling them the "mob" is ludicrous and weak. Everyone has seen his crowds, where he has encouraged violence against the press to their applause and approval. In light of the brutal slaying of Jamal Khashoggi this has become transparently dangerous.
I hope those of us that strongly oppose Trump will stay focused on getting out the vote for the Democrats on November 6th and stay focused on a more noble message of humanity and common decency.
1
So we can count on seeing you yelling and screaming at someone whose opinion you disagree with?
I don't remember Martin Luther King, Jr. doing any such thing, but I guess this is a new way to persuade folks to your side.
5
@profwilliams
MLK, Jr?
"The Letter from Birmingham Jail is an open letter written on April 16, 1963, by Martin Luther King Jr. The letter defends the strategy of nonviolent resistance to racism. It says that people have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws and to take direct action rather than waiting potentially forever for justice to come through the courts. Responding to being referred to as an 'outsider,' King wrote, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere'".
2
Glad that Charles Blow wrote this column. It's been screaming to be written. The Democratic Party just needs to stand for its core principles, and not react to the Republican distortion machine.
"It belongs to an America that looks absolutely nothing like Trump’s America."
Okay, but what are you going to do with those people that look like Trump's America?
In era where everyone now has a soapbox, our rhetoric is killing us.
1
Trump is hardly the guy who should be talking about common sense. "Donald J. Trump proudly acknowledges he did not pay a dime in federal income taxes for years on end. He insists he merely exploited tax loopholes legally available to any billionaire — loopholes he says Hillary Clinton failed to close during her years in the United States Senate. “Why didn’t she ever try to change those laws so I couldn’t use them?”
2
Supporters of trump needs to realize while they struggle to make ends meet this President is enriching himself and his family by looting all their money to enrich himself.
His nepotism has no bounds.
By the way who is this Jared ?
Did we vote for him ? No.
why this man holds so much power over our government ?
A resident Journalist of Washington Post Mr. Khashoggi now known to be brutally murdered by the order of Saudi Prince and trump again is remaining silent .
This can not go one for too long , this reign of corrupt trump has to end soon and count me in as well .
2
I wish Trump and his supporters cared more about real issues. When is he going to address health care, education, funding Social Security, income inequality, stagnant wages? These are the issues I want to hear about from the president. What's his plan to deal with any of that? I don't give 2 minutes of thought to immigration, or the national anthem. Everyone I know is sick of hearing about Kavanaugh. Trump is a terrible president, not so much for the reasons Charles Blow describes (although those reasons are good ones), but because he doesn't seem to spend any time actually doing his job. He's campaigning all the time. Or, playing golf. His interviews and speeches make no sense--he rambles and says nothing. And, he never addresses anything that is really important. I'll be voting for people who have some plans to address the issues, not people who just complain about immigrants or Kavanaugh.
2
Brilliant in its clean cut through confusion and discouragement. Thank you so much
You can talk until you are blue in the face, but the fact remains the Democrats are about to lose (in fact have already lost) this election by making exactly the same mistakes they made with, didn't learn from, and cost them in, the last one.
Why bother having painful, spectacular failures if you learn nothing from them? Why bother?
5
And yet my family -- all of them Mormons, all of them white, all of them heterosexual, all of them Republicans (or so-called "Libertarians," whatever that means these days), will steadfastly support ... I don't know what to call him or how to describe him anymore ... "demi-god" perhaps (seeing on how I live in Utah). Or how any rational-minded thinking person can support him and his party's goals.
Remember the times when our moral leaders had to risk prison. Journalists need to do more than exhort us to vote. Let's resist the old fashioned way via disobedience and prison, and let's have Charles amongst us.
Power to the People!
In our system of government, elected officials hold power in trust. On Election Day, during Election Season, for those states with early voting, We the People take our power back. We each have one vote. The poor person has the same one vote as the rich person.
If We the People want an end to thuggishness in our politics, an end of liars and thieves confirming at least one liar to the highest Court in the land for a lifetime, if we want a check on Trump's lies and his degradation of the office of the presidency, We ought to vote for ALL Democrats.
Make America Sane Again.
Make Mitch McConnell MINORITY leader again.
According to Trump, my white suburban professional 50-something self has become a well paid mobster overnight.
Prior to this, my only other mob involvement was participating in a white sale at Macy's.
Should I expect to be paid in bitcoin or pixie dust? It's my first go 'round as a mobster, and I'm not sure how to collect my millions.
2
>
Mobs don't count only votes do.
Again, all this comes down to a head count (i.e., voting) of deplorables vs decent people. The outcome is uncertain where it should be certain. This country will allow you to burn people if the economy is good. Nearly half of the people in this country give DJT the thumbs up!
The polls are closing and will continue to close. It is beginning to feel a lot like 10 days out of the 2016, when everyone said DJT could not win. There just maybe more deplorables than decent people in this country. Dems have listened too long to the optimistic humanist's predictions like TX is going to turn blue, Whitelandia is shrinking, utopia is around the corner etc....
As a pessimist, I'd advise you to prepare for the worse.
DJT is not the problem. The people of this country are. This election should not even be close or in question after what we have witnessed with our own eyes in the last two yrs.
If the Dems lose the House it's over. Just use your imagination as to how embolden he'll be. McConnell will remove the filibuster in the Senate, and they'll ram through SS, Medicare and a host of other cuts.
Even if we win the House, we are not out of the darkness. It will still be a rough two yrs, and look for McConnell to pull some Dems into a "Grand bargain" on SS, Med/care/aid.
The Devil and folly rule this world.
"McConnell will remove the filibuster in the Senate..."
Wasn't it Harry Reid...in spite of McConnell's admonitions...who started us down that road?
Stay informed...low-info voters are the bane of any democracy.
This mobster and his wife will be voting TODAY.
Sadly, due to the failure of any member of the GOP to stand on the side of decency, the actual voting will be easy.
I am old enough to remember a time when a Republican actually earned my support. When we lived in Maine, we voted for two Republican Senators repeatedly. One left the Senate (in apparent frustration) and the other has now drunk the Kool Aid.
We will simply fill in all the Democratic boxes. I don't like it. I want to think independently of a party line. But the new Trump GOP is dedicated to profits over morality and is dooming the future of our planet. It's leader speaks like a fascist. It needs to be voted out.
I am with you Charles. A proud member of your "mob".
Charles Blow, last night's debate between the two men vying for the Governorship of Florida was a microcosm of the horrifically divisive forces in our Trumpian times. Andrew Gillum, Black mayor of Jacksonville, versus a grinning Trump protege (in every meaning of the word) sparred. Frightening --the disparity, the abyss -- between the far right Trump base and the liberal Democrats who have yet to deliver a knockout punch. Re your "Count Me Among the Mob" column today, the Democrats have a tough row to hoe in the coming two weeks. If Trump's evil kudzu weeds continue to burgeon, all of democratic America will suffocate. Democracy is writhing in Trump's literal boa constrictor grip. Florida's Mid-Term elections may be a bell-wether of victorious opposition to Trump, a watershed moment in American history. Or not?
1
For everyone on this blog saying the progressive 'mob' will come out in two weeks, don't be so sure. What happened in 2016 when all the experts predicted a Hillary landslide? liberals love to protest and express outrage at every turn, but they just can't seem to make it to the polls.
2
The latest spin-master tested slogan--jobs, not mobs--made me think again of an old word: jobbery. Jobbery is the exploitation of office for personal gain: exactly what Trump is doing. My slogan is : Trump: jobbery and robbery.
2
Plagiarizing the Nixonian perversion of comity, Trump extols law and order even though he is the mobster in chief who every night collapses into this and that hour of sleep knowing that two-thirds of the world hope he doesn’t wake up. He lives and breathes as a minority president acting against the will of the majority convinced that the majority won’t preserve itself by any means necessary but permit a slate of pernicious deadly values to enhance the wealthiest against everyone not wealthy. And so the Democrats feature an aged doddering crowd of do-gooders to oppose him and the odious gaggle of roosters such as McConnell and Hatch and newly defined Ted Cruz. I remind voters that every poll for half a year showed Sanders crushing Mr Trump, and yet once more we are subjected to the Clintons as the antidote to Trump. It’s profoundly dispiriting that until the Electoral College is erased from our future, the majority will can be subverted by a plutocratic minority. Mr Bannon most admires Lenin, and so he might inform his cheerleader Trump of the fate of the Romanovs. Trump acts against a majority on issues as crucial as our ability to survive on the planet. Ours is a Jeffersonian moment. Well?
1
@Naked In A Barrel
It is a lie that Trump is in any way a minority Oresudent, at least in the sense that his opposition means that Hillary would not have been since she “won” the popular vote.
The 2016 right-leaning parties comprised of Trump, the Libertarians, the Consttution Part, and Romney’s friend in Utah got 50.5% of the popular vote. Hillary and the utopian communist/Putin ally, Jill Stein, got a minority.
If someone wants to make the case that upon pain of a death choice between the two some Libertarians might have gone Hillary’s way, fine, but the point remains that the Left claim to majority status is untruthful.
Trump voters understand that voting is empowerment rather than
just some kind of civic obligation. They know the vote is the
only legal way they can throw a bomb, or perhaps a grenade. We
liberals have to imagine ourselves grabbing that grenade before
it explodes and hurling it back.
1
There are three things that Mr. Blow and the New York Times just doesn't get:
1. You don't convince people to your side by denigrating them (particularly when the denigration is false.)
2. Lots of people didn't vote for President Trump, they voted against Hillary Clinton.
3. The Democrats don't have a consistent and coherent message. Rather it's the rage du jour appealing to a small minority of the voting public.
Americans by their nature are charitable. But they are also rational. Consider "Medicare for all." A significant percentage of those with employer sponsored health care will lose parts of the coverage they already have. And physician price controls will drive even more people out of the occupation. Not to mention the $32 trillion expense when 40% of the people in the United States don't have enough money to pay a $500 unexpected expense. The New York Times could do the needed task of explaining the tradeoffs rather than daily throwing red meat to already convinced masses. But that would cost clicks.
7
@Sailboat Captain Supporting Trump as president - even as a person - is not rational. Voting Republican when you are middle class or lower is not rational. And please, please, I beg you Trump supporters to please start noticing your hypocrisy and irony, like accusing Democrats of having a "rage du jour" and falsely denigrating people. Trump would not be president but for his rage du jours and his denigrating people.
2
The fracturing of America will be complete if the House remains red after November 6th. Trump will then be able, unencumbered, to dismantle the last vestiges of free speech and hasten the slide toward authoritarian fascism.
Has Charles Blow never read George Lakeoff?
By saying he is a part of the mob, however cutely he reinterprets that phrase, Blow winds up legitimizing Trump's framing of the argument. Thus, he loses the argument.
It is ironic that Mr. Blow can't stop himself from doing what he criticizes the Dems for - merely reacting to Trump and not putting forth his own framing. Blow is not part of a mob, but by adopting that phrasing, he plays into Trump's game.
5
Polite is way overrated! I am a child of the 60's and the ONLY way we advanced our agenda was by mass civil protest. Was Martin Luther king polite? How about Ghandi? Was Jesus part of the mob? You bet!! We are accused of being the inciters, the mob, the rioters when it is clearly the Trump mob that is taking over our country. Maybe we could use another term like conscientious protestors or the Resistance. I like that! To me it implies those standing up for morality, the golden rule, equality and Liberty. Now, that has a nice ring to it!
2
@Linda Lutes
So you understand the Tea Party, you understand Trump supporters, the Moral Majority and all the other right wing protest groups? Just the flip side of your coin.
1
Count Charles Blow among the people who are significantly increasing the likelihood of Trump's reelection.
10
Democrats produce mobs while Republicans produce poorly paid jobs, steal from the poor to give tax cuts to the rich, take away healthcare, destroy the environment for profit, steal votes ... no wonder so many liberals, scientists, Democrats and other sensible citizens and victims of the GOP appear like a mob to them.
Tiny trump keeps stealing Democratic, liberal and common sense visions and ideas and destroys them by perverting them into something they are not - that keeps us reacting to their malicious rephrasing of our positive vision. We need to stop them from doing that.
"Resistance is a reaction to Trump" and it's not enough. We need to stop reacting and start defying trump. He wants to reduce voter turnout, we'll increase voter turnout in defiance. He wants to pollute our earth, we'll buy into more environmental industries and buy the most efficient cars in defiance. He wants us to stop kneeling to the flag while kneeling to him, we'll do the opposite in defiance.
Trump wants to militarize a refugee problem at the border likely killing many - like Israel's border - we'll turn out en mass at the border and welcome the refugees in defiance.
Indeed, trump has defied Americans, caravans, law and order, common sense and decency for years. It's now time that we defied him. VOTE your defiance!
The lawless and chaos POTUS is for law and order? The most clueless POTUS ever is for common sense? A democratic mob is preferable to a trumplican lynch mob calling to lock up women
1
If Trump is now defining Americans who stand against his hateful, retrograde and destructive policies as a “mob” so be it, but let’s make sure we carry that appellation to its logical conclusion and (peacefully) “mob” the polling booths on November 6th. Vote!
1
Mr. Blow has consistently and to an almost complete degree railed against trump, simply joining a chorus of voices on the Times that despise him. To criticize him is apt and just, but to repeat over and at great length his sins is merely to play his game -- name calling. He loves it; he has the ear of the people in the US and can shout anyone down. Doesn't Mr. Blow know the only way to defeat a demagogue is to overcome his lies with a better agenda, a progressive agenda of Health Care for All, Control of the crooked banks that led us into the catastrophic condition of '08, a minimum wage of 15$, free college tuitions at state colleges, and health-care for all? This will mean more than devoting so much time and space to analysis and criticism of a man who so obviously is dragging the country to ruin. Speak up more for what is right and less for what one blackguard thinks is wrong.
3
The more Trump demeans and devalues individuals and their values and sexual orientations, the more he affects and intrudes into the lives of ALL Americans. He has now assaulted with his language the adult transgender child of one of my conservative, traditional Republican neighbors.
Does Trump really thinks he has secured my neighbor's vote and approval with this assault?
1
Charles:
You are being disingenuous in your headline and explanation. The "Mob" is not those who are in opposition or resistance to Donald Trump as President. The "Mob" are those who accost people who either support Donald Trump or work directly for Donald Trump, or are Republicans who support Donald Trump.
Big difference.
Threatening people, telling them that they need to leave restaurants, accosting them in the streets, or, as Maxine Waters likes to say telling them they are not welcome anywhere. Does that mean on the whole planet?
ANTIFA is a "Mob." Just look at the footage from Portland, Oregon and other places. Masked individuals, threatening and assaulting people in the name of what?? Resistance?
This is not how Americans act, despite Donald Trump's rude and obnoxious behavior.
It has to stop.
8
@Alison
That’s true. And he’s losing. What does THAT tell you?
Blow makes the liberal mistake of conflating opposition (hatred, really) to Trump as a person, which even many conservatives share, to opposition to Trump policies which, if polls are to be believed, a majority of Americans support. Liberals can rail at Trump all they want but really, what new information will they find? Taxes? Right. Unfaithful to his wife? When has that ever been a problem for Democrats? Undisciplined on Twitter? Really? Boorish statements on the stump? Really hurt him in 2016, didn't it?
When the Mueller probe ends with no evidence of Trump collusion with Russia, what will Blow and the 'mob' be left with? Opposing a strong economy? Cheering for 5000 illegal immigrants? Opposing sanctions on Iran? Conservative judges? Today's NYT outrage about sex identification conforming to genitalia? Get real.
The political world shifted for Democrats with the Kavanaugh hearing fiasco. Live, on national TV, the nation was exposed to the 'mob' and the 'Resistance' and it didn't like what it saw. Forget 2018 midterms, the Democrats should be worried about the 2020 election. They have about a year to come up with a credible candidate and the names floated to-date are not inspiring.
10
@JB - this comment puts things in the perspective of reality!
4
Mr. Blow's column is emblematic of the extreme and corrosive parisanship that poisons our nation. To Mr. Blow, America is full of misogynists, racists, and people who "feast on hatred and intolerance." According to Mr. Blow, if one is against Open Borders for Everyone including Central American caravans, it can only be because one is a racist (couldn't possibly have anything to do with law, order, and fairness). Mr. Blow embraces the labels of "Resistance" and "the Mob" because his morals are more enlightened and important than the will of the electorate. And amidst his personal volcano of moral outrage, he tells us to have a positive vision for the country, although he's skimpy on the details of what that might look like. Whatever those details, one can be pretty sure his vision doesn't include anyone who is part of "the patriarchy" or enjoys "white privilege."
7
It's way past time to begin to refer to the "migrants" and "illegal immigrants" as what they most certainly are: Refugees.
1
if putting the american president in question makes you part of the mob, then i proudly accept being big part of it... joining a great number of people around the world... one big universal mob
2
Putin's recent statement to his people that Trump has led and is responsible for America's decline domestically and internationally. He follows it with "and the decline is almost finished".
Now we our 'liberal' mob hoping for a massive blue wave. One that may prompt Trump to declare the election invalid. Promising pols are surfacing though, Andrew Gillum, Kamala Harris, Stacy, etc and Biden who is poised to be a real threat to Trump's 2020 hopes. These pols stress that we need to draw together to benefit all, not just the white racists.
Hope abounds so I hope we are not disappointed. I will be voting blue across the board.
I am a white Christian male.
Why would I want to become a minority in my country?
How do I benefit from a third world invasion?
7
@Graywolf
Your ancestors were "invaders" of this country.
By Christian, what do you mean? Is Christian a synonym for power, arrogance, or a conviction in one's own superiority?
1
I agree. But democrats need a viable position on globalization, and need to give assistance to communities as they transition to new economies (e.g. coal minors).
I definitely agree that we need to take a positive stance for what we want our country to be and paint the picture of what it has beccome over the past 24 months. We need to do this in simple, easy to understand language and words. What do we believe our country to be and where do we want it to go? Not a mob, an organized pro-American, pro-democracy with humanitarian goals and rights for all people all over the world. No more destruction, rather construction and reconstruction of what constitutes our values and ideals for all!
1
Trump just keeps winning and Mr. Blow just keeps on whining...
6
Liberal ticket this fall:
Racism (they hate whites)
Sexism (they hate men)
Xenophobia (they hate Americans)
Mobs threatening violence aren’t worth discussing (because said mobs target white male Americans).
We should vote in liberals to make, write and enforce our laws because laws don’t matter - be they laws like the presumption of innocent when one is accused of sex crimes or laws about citizenship.
And they’re pushing all this rabid hatred because they hate hate and the people who promote hate.
7
Well, I’d mention guys like McVeigh and Breivik and Root and Bundy to you, but I confess that yeah, a lot of us do hate hate. Not too big on strutting Nazis with tiki torches and cozying up to David Duke and “Pastor” Kevin Swanson, either.
Sorry. I feel just terrible.
@Robert
I would further mention more than 4000 terrorist bombs with 43 deaths set off in the Vietnam War in just one 15 month period of 1969-1970, each one trying to be a McVeigh.
The NYTimes covered these bombings in a 2009 article.
As Casey said, you can look it up.
Those of us who look at America from the outside are forced to wonder what Americans have in mind when they talk about “American values.” Not one American, to my knowledge, has ever proposed repealing the Second Amendment, for example. Today I was having lunch in a restaurant in Prague. Next to me there was a couple from Denmark. I showed them a picture of a sign at the entrance to a hospital in New Hampshire saying that it was forbidden to take firearms into the hospital. It was a real culture shock for them. They immediately understood the difference between European values and American values.
1
The United States is now divided as much as it was in the 1850s, with the Southern and rural areas playing the same role as they did then. Will history repeat itself?
My bet is no Blue wave. The youngsters won't vote. There aren't enough topics that interest them.
Health care? Most 20 year olds are healthy. 80-90% don't have anything more serious than allergies. If immediate family members have health issues, then it may have an effect. But, not many.
Cost of Education? You might think so. If they're smart enough to get to college, they're probably smart enough get all or most of school paid for by somebody. They might have to kick in some. They may get excited by something they see at school, but when they find out their participation is a drop in the ocean, then enthusiasm fades. I blame the average 60 minute tv show.
Trade? You mean trade stuff you have in "Fortnight", for stuff you want in Fortnight? Now that the economy is heating up, millennials can get a job, with plenty of time off, to get their trading skills up. Or, earn more dollars to spend on GrubHub.
Be honest. How many high school seniors or first year college students act in a manor that demonstrates an understanding of American civics? 4,6 maybe 10, out of 100. The other 90 breakdown to something like, looking for a mate, getting free stuff, going to bed early in the morning, to get up late in the afternoon, practicing their rapping skillz and gravitating to areas that have legalized weed.
1
Mob schnob! The deplorables have always been the mob, shouting and screaming "Lock her up," "Bulld the wall," and, whenever they want to assert that racism is out of the closet again, just, "Trump!"
When we suggest civility they immediately call us "snowflakes." When a #me too woman raises her voice to a senator, she is suddenly part of a dangerous mob.
That's their game. If we play it, they instantly win because they've rigged it that way. The answer is simple: keep asserting that civility matters and keep raising our voices at senators who are deaf to the concerns of those who've been sexually assaulted.
In other words, do what most of our moms would do.
And they wouldn't be deterred by fake outrage.
1
I scream at the Dems for constantly falling into the fight plan of their opponents - the enemy of the People (the GOP) - and thus getting mulled;
I scream at them for not yelling from the rooftops the worth of their vision, objectives, goals for average Americans - they have the "meats" why not flaunt it;
I scream at them for not delivering when then should and when they do deliver insist on being modest about it and let the enemy of the People (the GOP) walks all over their achievements.
I scream at them for being hypercritical of themselves and eating their own while the enemy of the People (the GOP) watches with glee;
BUT MOSTLY I scream at them for being lazy, apathetic, cynical, or pouty petulant voters/non-voters.
Read and think about 1930s Europe and then vote like people OUGHT TO have voted in that era!!!
This is not a Conservative vs. Progressive debate over method and means.
Trump and the current GOP are neither Conservative or Progressive - they are ANARCHISTS - they want to divide us, tear down any egalitarian advancement of the People, and re-cast this Nation into a plutocratic oligarchy.
Their strict constructionist view is one of regression to our landed baron plutocratic roots - with all its ugly bigoted theocratic autocratic elitist undertones.
People don't be fooled by the "great new autobahns, the finally a united language, the trains on time, the easy walk to Rhineland victory" - you are in an existential battle this election - VOTE!
This "opinion", (whining and crybaby moaning is more like it), is just more proof that liberalism is a mental disorder.....
6
Is Charles Blow trying to incite violence with this inflammatory headline not to mention his constant stream of rancid columns where he wants to egg the mob on to rioting?
Has Charles Blow ever heard of sedition?
8
Charles Blow seems to forget how well this sort of rhetoric worked for Progressives in 2016. Baskets of deplorables. Mobs. In a race to the rhetorical gutter, I don't think anyone wins.
7
America - founded by a mob of liberal criminals.
Google:
Boston Tea Party
Founding Fathers
Tories
Of course you are Chuck!!!!
Never had any doubt... another useless article. Keep em coming- we will keep winning
5
Trump supporters are the “mob,” as they demonstrated in Charlottesville, Portland, the Malheur, Berkeley, Orange County, just last week in New York. And in all of those instances there was a heavy, sometimes nearly exclusive presence of neo-Nazis. That’s not even mentioning the bloodthirsty rabble at any of the rallies being conducted on the American peoples’ time.
And their cretin hero occupies the White House. Real Americans resist these traitors by any/all means necessary.
1
What made Hitler rise to power? How was he stopped? If we wait too long we will have to become the French resistance.
2
Yes, absolutely..... we need protesters on the streets, in front of the offices of enabling GOP office holders and, most of all at the sites of these disgusting "campaign" style whistle-stops this merit-less scoundrel is currently carrying out. Don't save your wrath for only Nov. 6th, that one day may not be enough. I see McConnell was verbally accosted at a restaurant in Tennessee, gave him hell and called him a traitor, the article related that he was jeered and booed by the patrons there....
Well, a bit uncivil perhaps but these are not civil times; sorry, but it's true. Being overly civil now is tantamount to "rolling over", or as many of Trump's supporters are doing, willfully looking the other way. The GOP must suffer loses at the ballot box and they must see and experience, in their face, ( Short of violence! Even if Trump admires body slammers, and Trump non-thinkers applaud.) the disdain and disgust that is simmering throughout the country. They'll only understand and react sensible then, or get out of the way.
Resist. Where is the indignation?
Gee a D, and member of NY Times is member if resistance. Shocking.
5
You definitely are part of the mob. Your passionate dislike of the President clouds your vision of the bigger picture. The preservation of the stability of the American electoral system is of paramount importance. The structural damage caused by impeachment would far outweigh any of the short term benefits. Thankfully our founders, who greatly feared mob rule, possessed vision enough to make the impeachment process too difficult in all but extreme cases. Suck it up and focus your efforts not on stealing 2016, but on finding a viable challenger for 2020.
4
At the risk of shocking you, a) Charles Blow didn’t say word one about impeachment, and b) the actual Constitution has a good deal to say about impeachment.
But if you’d like to know what I think, which of course you couldn’t care less about, I think impeachment’s kinda silly when you’ll never get the Senate votes to throw this bum out. I’m more of a hey, let’s throw out Gavin Nunes, get an adult in there, and do unto Trump as you lot did unto Hillary Clinton.
Well, not quite that. Because we won’t need to lie.
1
100% Mr. Blow. I'm with you.
2
Charles, get real. We have ALWAYS counted you as in the mob.
3
You and the mob stand for open borders which is a clever way for the rich to get cheap labor. It is simple the more the supply of workers then lower wages are paid. I support controlled but liberal immigration. This is the way to protect workers. Mr. Blow you are a tool and a shill for the rich oligarchy of this country.
7
I’d be fascinated to read your explanation of why Donald Trump, Mnuchin, DeVos, Adelson and so on are not members of your “rich oligarchy.” Wouldn’t mind seeing your analysis of why it’s okay for your boy to be sucking up to Putin and the Saudis, either.
2
I'm going to start a project. I'm going to randomly select 20 editorials by Charles Blow, and see if I can cut and paste a paragraph from each one and create a brand new column. It should be easy.
5
Mr. Blow....sir, you were counted among that mob many moons ago.
You are a ruffian and a malcontent whose words engender more hatred and dissociation.
Many of us pray for a future more based on tolerance, acceptance and love, not racist hatred. Those prayers also include you.
8
We always did count you as a member of the mob Mr. Blow.
3
Since young voters have the lowest voter turnout and could have the greatest power, note this kids: do you want your lives ruled by people who don't even know how Facebook works? I am old, but we need the young people to get rid of this elderly cabal of grifters and take back their future! These dinosaurs support classroom assassinations by default, predatory students loans that strip entire futures away, and your clean air and water be damned. Why is a woman with nine luxury yachts erasing student loans forgiveness?
Vote the fossils out! Support people who care!
1
You poor Libs, every day living in agony. Nobody I know on the right is Racist, Misogynist, or any of the other canned names you use. We are sick of the whining Left who can't tolerate their own citizens and act like children every day. Grow up, you lost!!
10
The reason the word "mob" is in the news is because of acts of physical intimidation and violence. In a column about your proud membership in the mob, you manged to skirt any mention of that.
Anyhow, you're not in the "resistance." You're in the opposition. Being in the resistance means hoping the Nazis don't find the guns or the refugees in your basement and kill you in the morning. Real resistance fighters don't have New York Times columns -- or even the freedom to read them.
Stop with the melodrama, go vote however you care to, then get over your self-important selves and pipe down.
5
"Trump’s default position is the use of fear."
My only possible explanation for Blow's statement is that Blow is simply not self aware. In all of Blow's commentaries about Trump it is all about trying to generate fear. Trump is the antiChrist, Trump is the end of democracy, Trump is Hitler, Trump will bring back slavery, Trump will build concentration camps. All of these things Blow has claimed about Trump. All of it silly nonsense who only the sycophants will cheer and agree with.
7
I’d ask you where this editorial says anything like any of that, if I thought you were reading what Charles Blow actually wrote.
3
Charles Blow is so left that it is hard to see where the center is.
9
Playbook for Trump Re-election:
1) Continue to label anyone who disagrees with them. "Republican's war on women, Republicans are racist, etc."
2) Focus on losing issues like immigration, so Trump can accuse Dems of rewarding bad behavior.
3) Get hysterical over transgender issues which the vast majority of Americans aren't that concerned with.
4) Continue to mock organized religion (except of course Islam) alienating most Americans, particularly Blacks and Hispanics.
5) Obsess over abortion, alienating the Dem Hispanic base, and accuse half the country of waging a "war on women."
6) Continue to believe there will be a blue wave in 2018 and 2020 (just like was predicted by all the experts in 2016.)
7) Keep the old, white decrepit democratic leadership of Pelosi, Hoyer, Sanders, Clintons, Warren, etc. Refuse to allow anyone young or of color to lead.
8) Refuse to acknowledge the strong economy and record low unemployment, and instead insist the economic sky is falling.
9) On a daily basis, allow Trump to suck all the oxygen out of the room by continuing to get hysterical over his verbal diahhreea.
10) Keep all the experts, consultants, decision makers, etc., who incorrectly predicted the 2016 election in place. After all, let's reward the most epic failure in political history.
11) Continue to get hysterical over the #MeToo Movement, while condoning Bill Clinton's past behavior, sharpening the focus of how hypocritical the Movement actually is.
** Pathway to Defeat **
4
Is Charles Blow planning to move to Scotland so he can be part of the mob? Charles Blow won't be satisfied until he provokes the mob into rioting because it's in the name of the cause of overthrowing the ancien regieme. Charles Blow has seen "Les Miz" one too many times.
4
Blow has a mob mentality so I'm not surprised.
3
Mr. Blow is on a roll. It’s not popular these days to call Republicans what they are; racists, xenophobes, misogynists, gay-haters, Nazis, and Jew-baiters. How dare anybody tar all Republicans with such a broad brush? Umm, maybe because it’s true. But at a certain level of truth, alas, Mr. Blow falls for the lie. “Stay focused on the future. It belongs to an America that looks absolutely nothing like Trump’s America. Vote!” It’s too late, Mr. Blow. Timothy Snyder told us that a year ago. Christopher Browning said it two weeks ago. The Times, finally joining the modern era, speaks the truth just this week about the sham we called voting. But we’ve known for a very long time that it’s a sham. For a very long time it has remained the dark unspoken truth, the truth that dare not speak his name, and its name is “banana republic,” and there will be no blue wave and there will be no future without Trump. This game is over, and it wasn’t called because of rain.
https://harpers.org/archive/2012/11/how-to-rig-an-election/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/13/us-election-cybersecurit...
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/pdfs/TheUEPDv00l.pdf
Blow criticizes Trump for speaking out against the mob of Central Americans heading our way. Perhaps his next column hell give us his solution.
I suspect most Democrats running for office will avoid this topic like the plague.
3
Charles Blow continues to champion marginalization.
2
Does Charles Blow realize he's inciting violence with that inflammatory title to his article??
5
@sharon5101
Synonyms for mob: ordinary people - the common people · the masses · the populace · the public · the multitude · the rank and file · the commonality · the third estate · the plebeians · the proletariat · the peasantry.
1
I don't put anything past Republicans anymore. They are probably bankrolling that immigrant caravan and I wouldn't be surprised to find that they are behind the release of Christine Blasey Ford's letter. When they were willing to blow up the confirmation process to the Supreme Court in order to put their partisans on it, they went beyond politics as usual into total opposition to democratic government.The GOP is the enemy of the people; not the news media.
The NAZIs burned the Reichstag as well as vilifying people as vermin. Some people can only gain and retain power by creating fear and distrust. This Republican Party is capable of the same
3
I agree with much of what you say here, but I do believe that you're playing right into trumps hands by saying "call me part of the mob." Because that is the headline. And that is what is being screamed out to America. It infuriates me that after two years of watching Trump incite violence and hatred, now the Democrats are being called "a mob." It's an upside down world. I am sad that you promoted a term, that related to Democrats, that shouldn't even exist.
1
I'm not letting anyone define me as a "mob." Sorry. I'm not reclaiming a pejorative that was never true in the first place, especially when I'm being compared to a bunch of conservative Americans yelling "Lock Her Up" at the drop of a hat.
1
No, Charles. The mob means people who stalk politicians, scream at them at restaurants and throw their food out the door, pull the hair of professors they don't like, and shout down speakers with whom they disagree.
Civil activism is great. But mob tactics, described above, are just mob tactics.
5
Mob or not...the liberal progressives are partisan political losers at the federal, state and local level because a majority of white people are not and have never been those things since the days of Reagan.
Obama won 45% of the white vote against McCain in 2008 and 41% of the white vote against Romney in 2012. Hillary won 42% of the white vote in 2016 against Trump. White Americans have been majority voting their caste aka color aka race instead of their class aka socioeconomics aka education beginning with the election of LBJ and reaching a zenith under Reagan.
The reality is that Trump is Reagan without any of the acting, governing and political experience and talent. Trump also lacks the Reagan gift for rhetorical misogynist xenophobic racist prejudiced euphemism in substantive tenor and tone.
See " Dog-Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class" Ian Haney Lopez
Mobs and caravans top the list of concerns for the GOP. Is it any wonder that nobody believes they can govern?
45's use of words like "infestation" is beyond troubling or disturbing: it's potentially lethal. Demonizing and dehumanizing people is essential before committing violence against them.
2
Again, thank you Mr. Blow. Progressives either show up and do the work, or don’t. We are the majority on all the major issues. The repugnance of Mr. Trump is a feature, not a bug, of the republican play book. Liberals rise to the bait of the latest immorality and waste time that should be spent on civic engagement, grass roots organizing and voter education and turnout. Please keep up your strength and continue to call out the criminal enterprise that currently occupies the white house.
Trump supporters don't respect democratic values, think our government is the enemy, despise civility, resent equality and education, and hate huge swaths of Americans who are not like them.
Is it really ethical to force such people to be a part of this country if they hate it so much?
Maybe we would all be better off and happier if they formed their own country and seceded, as they clearly are very unhappy about what our Constitution stands for.
In the last Canadian election we were on the verge of a Fascist government. PM Harper was destroying some of our greatest institutions. The Geological Survey of Canada, The Hydrographic Survey, The National Research Council and the Department of Fisheries. The Polls said we were headed for a Harper Majority government. He was emptying libraries, destroying collections of science journal that could never be replaced. So what happened? Canadians got up and went to the polls and removed him from power. We elected Justin Trudeau. I remember that morning that the country felt like Canada again. People ask me "What has Trudeau done for you?" Well he has made me feel proud to be a Canadian again!! I have great faith in the US population, that they want to feel proud to be an American again. Please please get out and vote. Nationalism such as Trumps, has never ended well. Just go vote!!
If you happen to live in a broadcast area where Sinclair owns a major network broadcast station, perhaps you've seen the ad which declares "liberals" (progressives) dangerous radicals. I won't watch that CBS station again after seeing the ad twice, once during last night's " 60 Minutes. Resist and VOTE!
I thought voters made their positions pretty clear in the 2016 Democratic primary. The Left wants universal public health care, public higher education, public day care, equal pay, higher taxes on the rich and wealthy, and jobs. Democrats delivered some tepid message about continuance embodied by a rich white woman who attacked sexual assault victims while defending her husband. Yes, you will lose elections with that sort of messaging. Try a little harder.
2
My most frequent comment to left leaning folks is about the lack of a clear story telling how the left improves people's lives and solves specific problems. "Resist" is not enough to win my vote.
3
"Count Me Among The Mob"
So...conservatives should brace for the worst if Democrats lose at the polls in two weeks?
1
@Raconteur
Yes, that would mean more of the worst from Trump proud boys.
1
I think one problem here is the broad swath of people opposed to the crazy guy. Most of the country is like people on a road trip trying to discuss and agreeing to vote on where to go next. On his turn to drive, he's driving us directly into oncoming traffic. We've all been united by shouting at him to stop.
How can we allow a President of the U.S. to be so focused on his base that he ends up caring not a whit about the country as a whole?
No pretending whatsoever that he does care.
And those who should know best...Congress? Silent.
1
Charles,
We always knew you were a member of the mob (actually more of a mob wannbe) but it doesn't mean what you try to make it mean. It means "a large and disorderly crowd of people
especially : one bent on riotous or destructive action"
When the shoe fits, wear it.
3
"Those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it." Trump is a narcissist who tries to exalt himself by lying, conning, and demeaning others.
There's more than one meaning to the word mob. It also refers to the common people, the multitude.
1
For me it has always been about the abandonment of ethics and integrity by leadership on both sides. I have no doubt that the current Dem leadership (the "old" guard) are very much doing everything they can to hold on to their power. Just like the R's. I will vote for every I/D on down the line and then will continue to demand that they release the grip on the levers of power so that the leaders who will follow through and put the people of this country first, not those with money who can buy influence. To think that Dems are immune to the greed and influence that money has been allowed to take hold in our politics is naive. I am anything but naive. I don't care about names. The press does. They are also providing the platform for DT to spew his venom. I do wonder why l the Dem leadership are allowing the R's to define the story we are all subject to instead of reflecting the beliefs that we actually have as the actual majority of Americans. Leadership on both sides have abandoned us and I am going to work to change that. I am volunteering, writing letters to get people to vote and have assured that my whole family is registered and will be at the voting booths. I have given up trying to reason with those who support the R's. They have clearly chosen to win at all costs and have shown total lack of integrity and clearly support hate, lies and everything that goes with the disgusting R's choices. I can't fix stupid or greedy. I can vote. Bottom line is the mob needs to vote.
1
Mr. Blow, I always look forward to your perceptive comments on Don Lemon's program. I, personally, don't know how both you and Lemon find the patience to deal with facile remarks from other guests like stoneface and immorally dead Alice Steward, Scott Jennings and the never disappointing and intellectually insulting Steve Cortez's defense of Trump.
A problem we'll be left with after Trump leaves his trail of slime on our nation (because there's a bunch of younger people not old geezers like me at Trump's rallies) is the absence of any critical thinking about Trump's con job appeal to his base of supporters.
Even Don Lemon expressed his inability to understand why they just don't grasp that Trump is lying so many times to them about everything and they just sit there cheering and screaming in agreement.
Embracing the term ”mob” with pride and in defiance still means adopting a name that is loaded and a misnomer. Americans speaking and marching peacefully are not members of a mob.
But appropriating and altering it could work:
MOAB = Make Our America Better
1
The irony of all that we're accused of isn't that it's not in the realm of the possible, it's that Trump and his people have done it themselves and assume our same lack of morals.
The mob is literally what the Republicans hired to attack the Miami Dade elections office in 2000--yes, they paid for those people to cause a ruckus.
Charles, I think you flatter yourself. You are more a long the line of the person who stirs up the unthinking masses (mob) without putting yourself on the line.
The real question you need to be asking yourself (and your readers) is do we want mob rule or the rule of law. For better or worse, Trump is the duly and legally elected president under the law.
The second question for you to ask is when (and it will be when, not if) a president is elected who shares your political views, will you be as tolerant and supportive of a mob then.
FWIW, I am not a Trump fan. He was not my first (or even second or third choice for president), but he is the president because a majority of the states in our federal republic found him less odious than his opponent.
4
The broad outline of a Progressive agenda is not a mystery. The Progressive agenda correct the conditions that impoverish all of our people and it begins with healthcare.
Sarah Smarsh captures the feeling of "blue-collar white" voters and their feelings about healthcare. "It's a hell of a thing to feel -- to grow the food, serve the drinks, hammer the houses, and assemble the airplanes that bodies with more money eat and drink and occupy and board, while your own body can't go to the doctor. Even though no one complained or maybe even realized it, I could feel that people around me knew they were viewed as dispensable."
Trump empathizes with "blue-collar white" voters only to the extent that he stokes their fear and chronic stress. He is a Republican and views them as dispensable.
November 6 is coming. Vote and make it a date to be remembered.
2
Mr. Blow, you do not and will not stand alone!
3
"And he now wants to cast liberals and Democrats as mobs, saying Democrats produce mobs while Republicans produce jobs."
The Democrats need to point out to this moron President of ours, that Obama, a Democrat, rescued this country from the doldrums it was in when W. Bush--a genuine Republican unlike the fake Republican that Trump is--finished his eight years, which saw the country engaged in military action (war?) in Iraq and Afghanistan and near bankruptcy. Obama was not the only one, of course. There was FDR, another Democrat, who pulled the country out of depression after Republicans nearly ran the country to the ground.
As for the caravan, Democrats better point out to Trump that had he succeeded in getting Mexico to pay for the wall, as he promised, maybe he'd have been able to stop the caravan with his wall, at least in theory.
Democrats should just stop letting him spew nonsense and not let him get away with it.
2
Mr Blow writes, " America is being invaded and overrun by people who are not white and not European, which risks the maintenance of American heritage, which is white heritage. White people’s control of this country is in danger..."
This is the most recent example of Mr Blow's obsession with race. To him, all social, economic and political problems in America reduces to race, which he says white people are fueling. It seems to never occur to him, that perhaps, he is a racist whose columns in the NYTs contribute to racial tensions. I'm a white male, independent voter, who opposes Trump all that he stands for. I'm not the white person Mr Blow describes, but Blow's (and the NYTs') continual attack on my race is increasingly difficult to ignore.
7
Democrats need to embrace the caravan from Central America and abolish ICE .
Vote Blue no matter who in 2018 and beyond. If anyone is wringing their hands about who to vote for after the criminality and malfeasance of this administration, they are just a Trump supporter looking for an excuse for voting with racism, nazism, fascism and whole sale robbery of the US Treasury. Dems need to stand on decency and honesty. However, there is nothing wrong with expressing righteous anger to condemn Trump, the Republicans and their base. If you want to prevent the rise of the 4th Reich, one must fight. If not, don't be surprised if we become the mirror image of Germany in the 1930s and 40s.
3
We do count you among the Mob!
Let them Secede. The ruby red States, including this one. They need to feel the pain of surviving on their own, WITHOUT Welfare from the Blue States. Seriously.
3
Trump thinks anyone peacefully protesting him and his criminal Republican administration is a 'mob'. Yet white supremacists/nazis, who actually killed a peaceful protester, are 'very fine people'. Something is very, very wrong in Trumpville.
3
Overt racist open-borders propaganda: "America is being invaded and overrun by people who are not white and not European, which risks the maintenance of American heritage, which is white heritage." When in fact it is about sovereignty.
And, it should be noted, that many in the caravan undoubtedly have more Western European DNA in them than a good number of Americans who arrived post-Ellis Island.
But that's standard fare from NYT Opinion Kingdom. The least Blow, though, could do is get his cultural Marxist-inspired racism right, namely, that the "white heritage" is the Western European intellectual tradition--which has nothing to do with skin "color".
That minor point aside, it seems, at least for him, the British Atlantic slave-trade appears not to have been all bad--assuming that's the way his family's DNA eventually found its way to the NYT. More important, that "white heritage" yielded "affirmative action" and later, with the help of university Maoist reeducation-camp-conditioning, "white" self-loathing--a good thing for the DNC Politburo.
2
Yet another ridiculous article by Charles.
Trump’s pressing for common sense American values. Democrats press for misery, sanctuary cities for illegal aliens and one world government.
Not a hard choice on Election Day.
5
Good to see you own up to being a member of the mob. You certainly aren't doing anything to create jobs.
5
What I saw at the women's march was not a mob but mothers, sisters, wives, aunts, and grandmothers of all races protesting the actions of a white supremacist. The fat clown king and his sycophants are calling moms a mob. I would think that would make the moms quite angry. Perhaps, angry enough to vote the vile republicans out of office.
Publicize the hate that the fat clown king and his cohorts have for women and people of color as well as the policy of advocating for taxes on the rich and reduced defense expenditures.
2
Donald Trump is a demonstrably vicious, possibly deranged, malignant imbecile whose hold on power endangers millions of people. If Congress won't do its job the American people need to confront him, his criminal partners, and his witless cultists in exactly the way Germany wishes it had treated the frighteningly similar, and yes, evil, rise of fascism. In future movies about the rise and fall of this revolting movement, Antifa will be the heroes.
1
I would love nothing more than to see a yuuuuuge mob....
..... show up at the polls on election day.
2
Count me in the mob!
1
let us pray for a Blue Tsunami!!!
3
What frightens me most is that Republicans are not standing up for their values against Trump. When there is no opposition to an Autocrat, democracy is under attack. This is the most important election ever. Remember that Hitler was elected. Evil begins slowly. . . .
4
A racist thug has taken over the White House and the dems can’t even come up with suitable rejoinders to his outright lies and mischaracterizations. This guy is not even a conservative and yet all republicans try to find a reason to support his toxic agenda.
The presidency has become hostage to Supreme Court appointments. No one points to glaring flaws in American constitution where Supreme Court justices are appointed for life .Whats wrong with retirement age?
Why doesn’t the constitution have an easy mechanism to remove a President who is so obviously unfit to be leader of the free world.
2
This is sick. STOP!
4
Typically gratuitous, Blow: "Well, count me among the mob."
Was there ever a time you weren't? It's all you got to destroy American sovereignty.
5
During the Republican primaries in ‘16 this writer wouldn’t type the name T-R-U-M-P in any of his columns.
T-R-U-M-P appears 15 times in this latest screed.
A bit obsessed in my opinion.
2
Can't rid myself of the headline seen yesterday, or the day before in the NYT, which stated the Russians are (again) meddling in the midterm elections.
Could not bring myself to read it, because I'm waiting to hear what the Con-Man-in-Chief might say about that known fact.
I can imagine what the con-man might say about Russian meddling, since we have heard his con, everyday, for the last 3 years.
Basically, it's mostly, "We'll see what happens."
"No," we've seen "what happens" for the last two years --- and it is nothing but a dark descent into a sewer of immorality, led by the ingrate in the Oval Office, and an ingrate Senator named Mitch McConnell.
It's all very clear --- for all those paying attention -- for all those who have any remaining moral conscience.
2
but what is mr. blow's take on autumnal mead?
Blow’s obsessive anti-white rhetoric is no less noxious, paranoid, and fact-free than what he claims is characteristic of Trump. Racism is racism.
8
Wow blab blab blab I lost my place a half dozen times had to hit look up about the same. And I still don’t know what the heck he’s talking about other then more white noise. That a pun btw. Ppl who try and make this election a race issue are way off. Just bc I think security at the border is important or support the military or police that doesn’t make me or ppl like minded racist. If I think abortion is wrong , there’s only two genders or think the me too is overboard I’m not archaic. Don’t group all of Trumps supporters as the deplorable‘s. Sure there are many of them but the dems got their share too. Religion and politics I was taught two things to never discuss. And all you have to do is look around to see why that’s so true. Shut up till the fat lady sings in Nov. we’ll see then who’s right and who’s wrong and just which direction this broken nation heads in.
3
I did not vote for Trump.
I did vote for Hillary.
I would have liked to have voted for Bernie -
but the Democrat Elites made that impossible.
I know many people who did vote for Trump.
None of them are racists, anti-women.
They do have concerns about Immigration.
But Mr. Blow denigrates them
none-the-less
and the New York Times gives him
space to do so -
week after week.
And you wonder why
they don't tend to vote
for Liberal Democrats...
I hope the Democrats do take back
the House
and
the Senate
so our fragile
Social Safety Net
is not torn to shreds.
But I also hope they
respect those who voted
against them.
5
Mr. Blow is once again on a racist tirad against Trump. His overwhelming hate for all things Trump is ruining each and every one of his days. Even though Black unemployment is at a historical low and more so than any other large group of Blacks in the world, African Americans are prospering. Mr. Black himself has been provided opportunities he would never be accorded in any other country. Mr. Blow has lost all perspective. Instead of using his obvious intellect to help close the divide, he has decided to join the mob. How quickly we forget the many white people including myself who voted for a Black man for president. Instead, because I am a white male, I am automatically called a racist by Mr. Black and now since the Kavanaugh debacle, a rapist! Imagine if we labeled every Black man like this?
3
"Well, count me among the mob..."
Mr. Blow, you (like so many liberals) have just played into Trump's hands. The left's mob-like outbursts of anger on evening news shows turn off far more voters than you attract.
5
I'm in that mob. Trump is associated with the mafia and Russian mobs.
2
Count me among the mob, Charles.
3
Aha, first dislike trump. Then interpret his words as you wish in order to make him even more detestable. Then advocate violent, fascist behavior in order to promote your point of view. And above all, use the world 'liberal' to defend this behavior because, as every fascist knows intuitively, the more you repeat a lie the more the violent mob your are fomenting believes it.
5
This marks the 20,000th Trump hating article! Congratulations!
Trump will dominate the next two elections in spite of these falsehoods because of “Promises Kept!”
Economy is on fire, 401K’s, portfolios, military rebuilt, job security for families & job prospects, your corporations are more confident like consumer sentiment, Leadership with Iran & NATO.
Didn’t Clinton win twice with “It’s the Economy Stupid?”
College educated white women who see these performance results should think of their own job reviews at work.
Listening to the NYC Media Moguls will only sink your job, stocks & living standards.
The SCOTUS decided Abortion and is mainly begnign?
Wake up and think!
Oh, Obamacare & trying to undermine Netanyahu and Israel too??
5
Again, Charles Blow, you do not disappoint and you are so right! Thank you!
2
Charles Blow support for one of the worst candidates in the history of the Democratic Party helped her get the presidential nomination over Bernie, which then directly resulted in the election of the Trumpster. Now Blow wants to lead the Democratic Party to behave like the Tea Party did when Obama was President. The moral high ground, Blow? I don't think so.
Maybe it is time Blow broke with Hillary. Maybe then Hillary's deplorables will consider returning to the Democratic Party. Maybe the next Democratic candidate can recapture the states Obama won. But if Blow's answer to Trump is to trash all white voters, to trash independent thinkers, to trash anybody who wants America to succeed even though Trump is President, then the next Democratic candidate for president will find it hard to recapture the states Obama won.
6
I think it is important to include the Republicans --- all of the Republicans ---- in that crowd around Trump's supporters. Hitler didn't rule alone. He had a congregation. There was an evil center surrounded by symbiotic fellow-travelers and finally collaborators. The Republicans represent that congregation. The inner, evil circle contains power-mad McConnell and ideologue Paul Ryan, control freaks like John Kelly, religious fanatics like Pence, and jingoists like Bolton. The deep inner circle also includes the only people the president truly trusts: his family and, once upon a time, his fixers. Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, and Devin Nunes are mere collaborators in for their own political future.
Who wouldn't rebel against this fascism? What real American would stand still and watch Fascists take over this country for the benefit of oligarchs, like the Koch Brothers?
Let us vote this November. If they cheat, and they probably will, then it's the streets for us. Hopefully, Democracy gets a chance.
2
So every single person who casts a vote for a Republican candidate is a hateful, prejudiced Neanderthal. That, Mr Blow is the reason Democrats are so out of touch.
5
"Therefore, resisting what Trump represents becomes a central point of moral rectitude" - what the poor author and left fail to understand is they have no moral standing vis-a-vis Trump. How stupid do they think the right is?
Re: sex abuse - you turned a blind eye to Clinton when everyone knew he was a serial abuser. And worse a rapist. Do you think the right will let you savage conservative politicians and nominated justices after you've ignored liberal politicians. Still waiting for articles on Keith Ellision.
Re: lying - Obama told some major lies. On health care they are well known. On Benghazi, ditto, he trotted Rice out to 5 morning news shows to lie and tout the morning fax that the whole administration was singing from. We don't even need to discuss Clinton's (both of them) lying, leave it that he was known as "a very good liar". Obama and Clinton lies are totally dismissed by this paper, and then they want to come along and tear down republicans. Not gonna happen!
You will reap what you sow.
4
I'll agree with you. You are in a mob, Mr. B. You are part of a mob as a journalist when you try to destroy people just b/c they are on the other team. You are in a mob on the street if you assail public servants, even women (also at the same time, ironically claiming you are the ones protecting them). You are part of the mob in office when your debating style is strategizing to and then interrupting a congressional committee while "protesters" take turns screaming in the back (which the R chairman foolishly called free speech). You are part of the mob when you accept any accusation against a nominee you oppose politically without critical judgment or claw frantically at the S. Ct like a zombie. It is a mob that chants "death to cops," or burns cars. It is a mob that attacks marchers - even if they are Nazis. We've had arson, riots, rallies taken over, marches by the left attacked in this country for the last few years and yet this media site and many others seem to only worry about white nationalists, who (thankfully), seem a very small and ineffective group. When those who claim the title "journalist" close their ipads to masked brown shirts (ironically, self-styled "anti-fascists) who attack political hqs and rallies b/c they "think" they are on their side - they too are part of the mob. Congratulations. Until they turn on you. And that usually happens with mobs at some point.
7
No problem with your position; you’ve clearly been part of the mob.
5
Embracing the "Mob", like Blow and Hillary Clinton, demonstrates a disrespect for the principles of democracy and freedom of speech.
Endorsing aggressive "silencing" of opposing views is the hallmark of despots and totalitarian groups throughout history e.g. Lenin, Stalin, Nazis and Hitler, Mao, Khmer Rouge, ISIS etc.
To Blow, "the ends justify the means" including by "any means necessary".
"Count " Blow "Among the Mob".
As such, he is part of the problem and the opposite of the solution.
6
This article is Exhibit A as to what created and sustains Trump.
Every time a normal person considers actual policy differences with Trump and how to effectuate them, the radical half of the Democratic Party as exemplified by Mr. Blow's writings rears its head and declares the mission of that party is a jejune socialism full of slogans.
What is the country come to when a prominent columnist for a high-powered and influential media organization with big dollars behind it is actually encouraging mob values. That is not liberalism; it's the genesis of the Committee of Public Safety a la Robespierre.
The NYTimes censor please note: I am NOT advocating the following, but merely positing the theoretical for purposes of comparison. On that basis, if Mr. Blow really believes in mobs, then why does he not publish his home address and schedule for the next 12 months in his next column, so that all of the Deplorables will know where to go and meet him and his family in the manner of Mitch McConnell, Elaine Chao, Steve Scalise, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Ajjt Pai, Kirstjen Nielsen, and Pamela Bodi's sometimes greeters. Mr. Blow may not be a politician, but he's in the public persuasion business, so under the rules he advocates, that would make him fair game.
The NYTimes should remember about not always wishing for that which it advocates, because it might come true.
7
The far left wonders why it loses elections. When Repub's mention mobs they don't mean Democrats who vote in opposition. They refer to such groups as those who attacked and hospitalized a Middlebury College professor, groups that blocked ambulances on an interstate state highway in Minnesota, or groups that smash windows in Berkeley or confront and harass elderly motorists in Portland. Repubs should and do denounce anti-Semitic KKK/Nazis who chant "Jews will not replace us". Why won't Mr. Blow condemn antifi and similar hate groups from the left?
5
Republicans are traitors. Democrats are creators.
3
Your quibbling defense of the Maxine Waters mentality is sad. She and the mob do not represent liberalism, but rather the Bolshevik and Nazi tactic of intimidation. Trump has won if liberalism degrades into the mirror image of his boorish, illiberal personality. Please advocate a higher and more ethical level of political involvement.
6
You don't need to tell us to 'count you in the mob' Mr Blow, you were in the mob before there was a mob.
3
Oh, we do, Charles. We do.
1
Blow should get a mask and burn cars in the streets with Antifa. But he should try to remember that while he may find them to be useful idiots at the moment it is hard to know where it ends. Just ask Robespierre how happy he was about how the Reign of Terror turned out.
3
#metoo
1
well then I suppose I am a Mobster, gladly
Debra Phillip0s
1
I am not part of the mob.
Elections are decided by about 10% of the people who actually swing between Democrats and Republicans.
Convincing that group to vote against Trump is the task of the moment.
I doubt a mob is effective in accomplishing that task.
1
A overwhelming percentage of the 25 poorest states in our union are controlled by Republicans. An overwhelming percentage of the 25 richest states are controlled by Democrats. The Democratic Party has lost its way. What happened to party of the little guy? Which party is now the favorite of the wealthy and the ruling elite? The political parties in America seemed to have flipped in the last 25 years. Trump is now the champion of the forgotten Americans...weird.
1
@Rand Dawson
Trump is not the champion of anyone but himself.
You imply that Democrats are the favorite of the wealthy and ruling elite. Can you give us the names of these folks who were once stanch supporters of the Republicans and now no longer want them in office?
And how did this wealthy ruling elite mess up so bad as to get Trump elected and keep both houses of Congress in the majority?
1
What I personally find most disappointing about modern liberalism is it’s distinct lack of liberalism. Gone are the days when liberals advocated for freedom and individualism. The cornerstone of the creation of liberalism was that individuals lives belong to themselves and not to a king, emperor, ruler, or nation. This enlightened self interest has been the single greatest factor in reducing human suffering. Modern liberalism is merely a guise for identity politics and socialism.
3
I liken the current American climate of Trump's administration to the civil unrest of the 1960's. It will not surprise me to see political assassinations flare up if America cannot find the willingness to pause and anchor itself in some middle ground and tolerance for all points of view.
America still has the power to pin Trump strictly to a 4 year term and fade him out as a failed experiment.
1
"Stay focused on the future. It belongs to an America that looks absolutely nothing like Trump’s America. Vote"
Whether one agrees with Mr. Blow or with Mr. Trump, the central message of the column is spot on. Get out and vote for whatever you believe in. No one can claim to represent the people of America if the people of America are too apathetic to express what that will is.
2
One of the problems I have had with this campaign cycle has been the high level of fearmongering on the Democratic side. It isn't as high as it is on the political right, but it still concerns me.
I am pleased by many Democrats who have taken the offensive on policy and not allowed themselves to be defined by opposition slurs, misrepresentation and outright lies, and pleased that the press is no longer just a sewer pipe for those right-wing claims. It was for far too long, but some desperately-needed fact checking has finally re-emerged in journalism.
I do not stand defined by Trump. I do stand with you, Charles, and with so many others. Ultimately, I don't think we're a mob. We stand together, we stand proud, and we welcome people to join us. We are a community, and we are legion.
1
Excellent column! Mr. Blow points out that liberals are reactive, and unfortunately, he's right. But Trump is clever in stirring us up with one obscene act after another--to which we respond with indignation. While it is urgent that Democrats focus on an aggressive platform calling for better paying jobs for the middle class, for improved healthcare, for directing more resources to education, and more, we get distracted by expressing outrage over yet another program for the commonweal overturned or destroyed by the monster in the White House.
We urgently need to get out and vote in a few days.
3
The midterms are, in a way, about Trump but in effect they are about us, about who we are. Mister Blow writes that the current president and his administration are "antithetical to most American values." Today, really?
November 6th will be the test of that. The president is doing an excellent job riling up his base of misogynists, misanthropes, bigots and xenophobes. Vast swaths of American voters are too apathetic to take their political futures into their own hands.
I hope to be proven wrong on that last point but I am fearing the signals I'm seeing from the pre-election polls and the rank ineptitude of the Democratic Party to put up any discernible resistance.
There are strong individual Democratic candidates for office but the party is disorganized, lacking a strong, strident, visionary and unified voice articulating what it stands for and why the alternative is so antithetical to the common qualities that really made America great.
Who are we, really? We shall know on November 7th.
1
One has to admire the sheer gall of calling those who oppose Trump a mob, especially when that case is made in front of thousands of people wildly cheering Mr Trump at a rally where he expressed admiration for a congressman who assaulted a journalist.
One should also fear his ability to convince people that that lie is truth. If he can convince them that THEY are not the wild eyed mob, but it’s the other guys, he can convince them of anything.
2
O.K. We know what drives Trumpsters: hate, misogyny, racism, nationalism, insecurity. Just like we need to counter these driving forces with driving forces of our own..to push for what we want and not to simply focus on what we don't want. But, it has helped to be able to see what we don't want...see it in action.
It might be a good idea to see what is motivating caravans of people to walk the length of Mexico to try and enter the U.S.
What are they trying to escape? We know what they want. Trump is trying to dash their hopes. How could they manage to get what they want at home? How could we?
Here is how to best win back the nation's promise: Don't descend to Trump's tactics--don't name call or belittle Trump or his followers. Instead, call out the harms being done by his policies and deportment, and advocate for better ones. Don't fall for his categorical slurs--don't accept or focus on the language of the 'mob' (the only point with which I disagree in Blow's essay), 'fake news,' and 'enemy of the people.' Instead, keep the focus on people's real discontents and needs and repeatedly call attention to the hard facts of economic inequality, the nation's security needs (both military and social), and America's changing role in world affairs. And don't give in to the temptation to align yourself tribally against 'others.' Instead, understand that tribal conflicts distract us from the underlying sources of our discontents, a result not only intended by the President's stoking of these internecine battles but one that powerful elite interests have manipulated historically to protect their dominance by getting subordinate groups to blame each other for their woes, real and perceived. Elected officials won't reach across the aisle until citizens begin to mobilize across it.
1
I’d sure rather wear a “mob-cap” than be seen wearing one of Trump’s “MAGA” hats.
5
Our country was birthed by a mob. Protest in the face of injustice, discrimination, lies, a traitorous administration, crimes against the people, and outright incompetence is our birthright. We are U.S. citizens and have the duty to educate ourselves about what is going on, protest, be loud, and show up to vote. Our revolution is never over...we have to remain vigilant and act when our rights are threatened and our leadership fails us. VOTE!!!
2
Me, too!
3
I could write the same comment to so much of the news and opinion pieces, but the "profound disappointment" with which Mr Blow begins his piece prompts me to write it now. My disappointment is with myself as much as the "modern liberalism" to which I adhere. I feel appalled at how my own reactions to Trump and his administration continue to legitimize him. Even as his positions become more erratic, dangerous and outrageous, we (and The New York Times) respond to them as if they might be realistic, even justifiable options. When Trump became President many of us said and read that we would become inured to his extremism, to our and our country's detriment. It seems to have happened. I struggle to figure out how not to define my politics solely in terms of "not Trump, not Republican control), although I am very clear about my democratic, progressive values.
@Rita W
You are right. Not Trump is a losing position. The people who are succeeding are the people like Alexndria Ocasio-Cortez and Beto O'Rourke and those special election candidates who ran on positive platforms and won.
Many of today's popular programs did not originate with the
Democratic Party but were picked up by Democrats when it became apparent that they were popular with the public. Social Security, a 40 hour work week, guaranteed minimum wage are examples that FDR implemented .
We say that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of 1787 are what make up America's DNA.
Those were NOT conservative then they were as radical as a people could get and a large part of the public was against them. They are my DNA, and I will support candidates who express ideas that will further the promises of those documents.
Democrats need to claim the moral high ground in terms the public can easily understand. They have it, as does anyone who opposes Trump. But they haven't claimed it yet. That is their main messaging problem. Dems are for healthcare, and better infrastructure, and care of the elderly and poor, and diverse investment that create jobs, and full rights for all in our country, and protection for average consumers, and compassion for those in need, whether that need be healthcare or refuge from violence in their own countries. These are American values, and we need to start saying so, often and loudly.
We need to wake up anyone with a shred of conscience and bring them to our side.
There is still hope. Oddly, last week, the same day I saw Trump praise the bodyslamming of a reporter, I read a piece in a major white evangelical publication about how a new poll shows that 81% of them voted not so much for Trump but against Hillary, or had other reasons, etc. It was a remarkable piece of spin and excuses, and it kind of made me sick (because in the end nobody cares why you voted for a monster, only that you did so). But the very fact that they feel the need to publish spin and deflect the blame they so well deserved gives me hope that at least some of them are open to voting differently this time around. There are cracks in the bloc that voted for Trump. We should work to enlarge them.
2
I don't understand why the (we) Dems don't have a simple message: "Democrats for democracy." Who can argue with democracy as a central and meaningful value? We have to fight now to keep it, though.
4
"...and he knows that the easiest way to do that is to stoke its anger, to appeal to the same misogyny, racism, nationalism and insecurity that carried him to the White House."
Yawn.
And the Dems know the easiest way to stir up their own base is through hatred of Trump and his supporters, stereotyped as "racists" because if you don't like someone today he or she is "racist," or a pedophile, or guilty of violating #Me Tooism, or of living in "flyover country" desperately clinging to guns and religion.
For the Dems, its all about victimology and identity politics. Or, as they knew it in France during the Reign of Terror, the mob. The Jacobins had nothing over the Democrats during the recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.
Mr. Blow does not have to be concerned; he is grown quite comfortable with his identification with the mob. There is nothing quite like the certitude that your won conception is sacrosanct and the "other" is so totally wrong as to be demonic. Then, everything you do in opposition is for a morally superior "resistance."
It is quite comforting to be as morally superior as Mr. Blow. Even as Mr. Blow cannot reconcile the fact that these same "racist" Trump supporters largely voted twice for Barack Obama.
The only thing missing from Mr. Blow's columns, as they grow increasingly detached from reality in their partisan rage, is an "I am Spartacus" moment.
But I just know it's right around the corner.
5
On the one hand....absolutely, just one moment while I grab my pitchfork. Let's march!
But on the other, there are hard limits to what can be accomplished by the '[bleep] 'em and wait for demographic change' strategy. It leaves me casting around for what could make persuasion, joint goals and compromise (or horse-trading) relevant again.
I've only identified two ideas: re-growth of a common news source; and structural changes (FairVote.org!) that would allow for 3rd and 4th parties and attendant dis-aggregation of issues. The first seems impossible given the vested interests in play, so I'm left with only the moonshot aspirations of the second. Anybody got a rope to throw me here?
I'm afraid that the 'just out-vote 'em' approach turns our political union into a case of mortal enemies trapped in an elevator, rather than a successful marriage as one might have hoped. And the (slowly) losing side is bound to become most extreme and vicious before its power wanes decisively. Mobs begat mobs. Is there -no- way to try to be neighbors instead?
(Okay, postscript - I did think of one other strategy: de-escalation. Pursue policy goals like public option healthcare at a coalition-of-states level, let it grow organically, and go for a national implementation only when 75% or so of the states are already in. Where we can, instead of trying to drag people kicking and screaming into a decent future...make them beg, ha.)
Charles Blow once again lets his true Biased, Trump-Hating colors shine through in this article.
Trump may oppose some liberal values, but he is firmly aligned with conservative values. Liberal values; open borders, sanctuary cities, guilty by accusation without proof. Conservative values; control of entry into our country based on the current immigration laws (change the law, don’t break it), abide by our laws, and innocent until proven guilty.
While Dems have largely stopped talking about impeaching Trump if they win the House, they still are planning impeachment. Symbolic perhaps, realistic, no, evidence of TDS. Trump is on the ticket, because the Dems have put him on it.
Mr. Blow, since you accuse Trump of misogyny, please repost any one of your opinion pieces criticizing Bill Clinton for his sexual predatory attacks on women, before, during, or after he was in the White House. Or perhaps when he was accused of rape. I don’t seem to recall any of your articles on those topics. Hypocritical once again.
And yes, the Dems have been mobs (definition; a large crowd of people, especially one that is disorderly and intent on causing trouble or violence). Standing up for women or other causes is not being a mob, disorderly conduct, screaming into people’s faces, spitting on them and physically attacking them is mob-ish behavior. Good to know where you stand. One person is not a mob. Please look up the definition when you don’t understand the meaning of a word.
4
Speaking of looking stuff up, could you maybe share with us a quote or two from a “liberal,” who’s demanded open borders? Come to think of it, just where did you get your weird def of “liberal?”
2
@Robert
Happy reading Robert. Keith Ellison is just one example.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/opinion/immigration/398786-call...
When The Tea Party spit on members of The Black Caucus they were just Americans expressing their right of free speech? When Nazis carried torches in Virginia and drove a car into protesters it was just a few guys with a different way of thinking.The Mob and The Caravan are great props for Trump's quest to save America for the right people. Trump's poll numbers are up because the chickens are coming home to roost on election day.For all of Trump's faults and there are many Trump is the bulwark of White Privilege.The only counter to Trump and Company is at the ballot box. If after the election if the people doing the most crying about Trump don't vote they deserve what ever Trump does.The Blue Wave could be low tide if people think their position at the top of the food chain is threatened. Racism Trumps everything in America and we need to stop pretending in our so called enlightened age it does not.
5
There’s that simplistic and vapid argument again, that somebody who opposes open borders is by definition a racist, a white supremacist. It is disingenuous arguments like this that have made it easy to cast liberals as out of touch with the concerns of a majority of Americans (including legal immigrants!) and put Trump in the White House to begin with. If a GOP infiltrator wanted to craft propaganda designed to put Trump back in office for a second term, it would look like Mr. Blow’s columns. I for one preferred the intelligent, well-written and thoughtful columns that propelled Mr. Blow into his esteemed position as a NYTimes columnist, before the rise of Trumpism took away his eloquent voice and made him just another writer publicly wailing and gnashing his teeth.
7
It’s more that we think it’s idiotic to keep braying about open borders that nobody supports, and wonder why Trump and Trumpists can’t seem to tell the truth to save their lives.
Then we start figuring that either you guys don’t care what stories you tell if you think it’ll work, or you’ve got some deep-seated ugly ideas about race and anybody who disagrees with you.
1
Your mob are the elitists that give lip service to those who they claim to care about, but in practice do not. This President has capitalized on that, and with his “magic wand” produced for those your mob left behind. The liberal march to socialism , which is rule by elitists wil be the real resistance.
1
Dear Red,
I love you, I always will, but I can't live this way anymore.
I want a divorce.
You're not always wrong and I'm not always right, but we are just screaming past each other all the time.
I don't want to live in the world you want and you seem to hate everything I hold dear.
We have no future together.
Let's call it quits.
You can have the brutish feudal theocracy you've always dreamed of, and I can get on with my life in the 21st century.
Oh Red, I love you and I always will, but I've had enough.
Bluexit.
5
Count me in as both mom and mob. I want to look my children and grandchildren in their sweet eyes and tell them I tried. It’s hard not to be angry with Trumpykins who don’t and won’t benefit from his insane policies. I try to remember most of them have never read the NYT or the WP. Most of the MAGA crowd here get their news solely from Fox and local channels. A good number of them listen to far worse propaganda. It is the sole basis for their approval of Trump. I try not to think my vote doesn’t count, or the money I have given to Beto won’t matter. Someone called Ted Cruz an “oleaginous ghoul”. (Spot on description!) But, they were being kind. John Cornyn is likable, but no better. It’s exhausting to be very blue in a pathologically red state. I suppose one thing we can count on is mortality, and all these decrepit old men will eventually fade into the sunset. Eventually I will have a representative from Texas in DC that represents me..... it’s just taking longer than I find acceptable. Vote Beto, Vote Lizzie Fletcher.
1
Wholeheartedly agree. I wish the likes of Warren would stop making stupid arguments. Of course Trump makes the most stupid arguments, and that is why you cannot win an escalating argument of that nature with him. The only opportunity to do so is past (Biden had it right back then) and now is a matter of being clever and stop making silly I told you arguments. I am not so sure the mob will run over Trump. He is despicable, but the mob is lethargic. Of course, I wish to be wrong and that Socrates is right. But I do not think this process is over. America is overdue for major upheaval.
A term more accurate than 'the mob' would be 'the majority.'
The Republicon Party roundly rejects majority rule.
3
In the Nazi national anthem, written by Horst Wessel, the word "Reaktion" along with "Rot Front" (Red Front) were used to describe the groups that were "erschossen" (shot to death) by Nazi ideology. It seems to me that the Republican party not Democratic, is being reactionary. The reaction is to white, male supremacy being challenged by the rise of multi-ethnic, female power. We are witnessing the last gasp of that white, male supremacy. And it's about time.
4
Sir, it means that two years ago, 53% of white women vote for Trump and no one makes a peep at them, then a bunch of white women storm Washington DC over and over in "protests" about the government's evil actions.
The only protest that matters is the election. Last time white women gave it to the GOP. This time, it looks like Hispanics, with all the mud that has been slung at them and after all the Trump bashing, are not going to vote, because as long as they have jobs, they don't care (I actually had a Hispanic co-worker attacking me by defending Trump recently). The vote is what matters. All these caravans and marches and protests are, in a way, un American.
You can't sit out or watch your group vote in the bad guys and then throw up your arms and wail in protest. Well you can, but then you are a useless mob. In 2016 they won the courts. No protests will remove any white pig they decide to put on it. In 2018, they will win at least the Senate.
Left wing extremism is a problem. Off-the-deep-end talk, is the problem. Bernie is the problem. Bill Clinton and Obama were successful centrists, who are now rejected by large parts of the left. Fix our nuts first and then maybe we can do something about the white racist GOP.
2
More circus than bread. Thanks, GOP.
VOTE: Neuter that Creature.
2
It's now completely predictable. Trump engages in psychological projection all the time and calls others what he himself does. Lyin' Ted. Crooked Hillary. And o on. And now the Democrats are a "mob". In fact, Trump is the classic mob boss: amoral, immoral, untruthful, thuggish, supportive of violence, and unrepentant.
1
Thanks Charles we neede to hear this.
1
There are millions of us who will join your mob Mr. Blow-and we will mob the polls on November 6th.
2
If trump really had a book of hitler’s speeches on his night table beside his bed, he learned how to galvanize ignorance for his own sake. I was just reading the Lens section of the Times. There in color are extreme racists wearing Make America Great Again hats. Some say he gave a wink and a nod to racism. But it’s more like a full throttled hand shake. trump’s father blocked blacks from his apartment houses. It’s an all in the family scenario.
2
Don't worry, Charles. We've always know are a full-fledged member of the mob.
4
Democrats can rally around #1 founding principle of this country, the self evident truth that all people are created equal. The concept that all people are created equal is one that Donald Trump and his supporters self evidently reject. And we must not let that rejection stand.
Democrats must also be respectful of the fact that reasonable and good people can differ in what policies are built on top of this country's founding premise. Let's not get sidelined into discussions about equality of opportunity versus equality of outcome; those discussions sow division and our current politics demands we rise higher.
Likewise, Mitch McConnell has done great harm to this nation, but that doesn't give anyone the right to grab his doggy bag from a restaurant table and throw it on the ground. Don't do that.
2
Whatever you call yourself, you and the entire Democratic Party are going down, again, in a couple of weeks.
Enjoy.
4
The liberal values of my county include: turning our town into Strollerville for overbreeding, overpaid white people; gentrification and driving out minorities; massacring animals in one of the US's worst animal shelters. I just don't know what liberal values are, except creating more homeless people and homeless animals while you cater to rich people. They smell a lot like conservative values. If I could be part of a mob, it would be a mob that would overthrow both parties. Sick of subsidizing the rich, whatever their stupid politics are. There is only one party, which caters to one class: the Parasite Class.
3
I agree with all that you have said but you should have stopped after the first paragraph when you asserted that liberals have been reactive rather than proactive. The fact of the matter is that liberalism , unlike Trumpism, has not articulated a point by point agenda which the voters can embrace. We live in a world where voters, for better or worse, require specifics not generalities.
In order to win and take control of America's destiny, someone is going to have to accept the role as leader of the Democrats and articulate a point by point agenda. It is not a time to be coy or play cards close to the chest. People without a leader are just mob.
2
I found it to be particularly ironic that, when Trump first tried out his "Jobs v. Mobs" line, he was addressing an angry mob of his most rabid supporters and praising his supporters for beating up journalists.
But it is wrong to say that Democrats do not stand for anything and are only campaigning in reaction. We do in fact stand for many good things, things like civil rights, women's rights, voting rights, strong public education, broad-based prosperity, equal justice, fair taxation, new infrastructure, environmental protection, fact- and data-based decisionmaking, consumer protection, medical care as a right, and a strong social safety net. Republicans oppose all, literally ALL, of these things.
Our message has gotten garbled in recent years by the effects of certain anti-democratic Supreme Court decisions, like Citizens United, McCutcheon (and back to the basis of those rulings, Buckley v. Valeo), and striking down key provisions of the Voting Rights Act. This has forced Democrats to kowtow to the insatiable cravings for power and impunity of monied interests or see their campaigns starved for resources, but at least we pick those monied interests we kowtow to with an eye toward our ideals.
The Democratic Party DOES stand for something, but our message gets drowned out by propaganda and fluff. Republicans are well aware that fear and hatred are the most powerful, and most irrational, of all emotions, and they have gotten very good at pandering to it.
1
It would be well worth the space to explain the US role in 20th century Honduran history, not limited to Republicans, but including Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Throughout the 20th century, the US has been involved in businesses and the military as well as the Honduran government.
2
@EKB I did not make clear that there has been a heavy and destructive US hand in the development of the awful problems causing people in Honduras (and Central America) to fear for their lives and to see no alternative to fleeing their homes.
1
I am a member of the Green Party and generally consider myself Liberal. However, I do not believe in mob rule. After watching how the Left hired professional agitators during the Kavanaugh hearings, and how they seek to promote their political agenda through violence on the streets of Portland, and how politicians arrest those only whom they disagree with while letting left-leaning mobs continue attacking citizens, I am afraid that I am now part of Trump's red wave.
As much as I agree with some Democratic policies, I cannot support mob rule. And no, the Republican's are much better behaved. Accosting Senators in elevators and torching the streets of major cities loses my vote, sorry.
6
You know, these “I am a member of the {insert name of liberal or left group here}, but {insert list of ridiculous lies here}, so I’m voting for Trump now,” posts really get tiresome.
Can’t you guys do anything honestly?
3
@Robert
I've gone past eye rolling to outright laughter.
In a column that is otherwise clarion-clear and stirring, Mr. Blow slips briefly into the pervasive spreading of falsehood that he decries. He writes, "Trump has a habit of not believing the women who accuse powerful men..."
Trump does not disbelieve those women; he says that he disbelieves those women, but he is plainly lying. To repeat his false assertions about his state of mind may feel like a harmless bit of sarcasm in the cause of verbal economy, but it does real harm --- it spreads falsehood a little bit in an arena where truth is now really precious. Even Mr. Blow, eloquent as he is, could be more careful with language in these parlous times.
Now address this: Would Pence be better? Only in that the 2020 fight would be easier.
2
I'd rather be part of the majority than embrace being part of a mob. Trump's long association with nefarious characters shows he's just projecting when accusing Democrats of being part of the mob. Embracing Trump's insults is not a winning strategy. Laughing at them from a position of strength is. Pointing out the truth is important, but we've reached the point where arguing about the truth is pointless. A majority of Americans already understand that Trump lies through his teeth daily. If/when Democrats can get voter participation up even 15% from historic norms, the Republican party is over. Let's focus on voter turnout and end the post-truth era. The emperor is not wearing any clothes.
227
@Rusty Carr The only problem with your analogy is in the democrat party's numbers. With Trump's better showing among minorities your idea that democrat voters numbers are all votes for democrats is being a little presumptuous. Be careful, you might get what you're asking for.
@Rusty Carr
Well, you're out of luck. To Donald Trump, the "majority" is the same as Democrats, which is the same as the "mob".
In short, anyone who isn't with him is against him regardless of what name they go by.
2
@Rusty Carr -- Yes. Vote like your Life depended on it.
Gosh, now if only We
could be There
when THEY
count.
the.
Votes.
1
If this election is about Trump, and I think it is, and he wins, I feel like giving up. This is not my place. I'm old. I've fought too many battles to arrive at this despicable reality.
1
Charles this is strong piece and spot on about the liberal message. The paragraph below, though rhetorically poetic, bothers me. It reduces Trump's supporters to the hateful intolerant...
"Make no mistake: Trump’s strategy will work. He now knows the people who support him very well. He has never stopped playing to them and campaigning for them. They are family. They feast together on hatred and intolerance."
I have family members who support Trump who are neither hateful nor intolerant. They do however -- for reasons that bewilder me -- consume a steady diet of Fox "news" and other right wing propaganda which vilify the mainstream press, NYT, CNN, etc and create a narrative about our country that is unrecognizable to me. I was recently sent Bannon's flagrantly ugly, "Trump at War". I despair about the right wing media machine that feeds a dishonest narrative into the minds of otherwise reasonable, caring people.
We, the majority, don't buy into this false narrative.... but what do we do to counter it, without playing on its divisive and reductionist field?
"easiest way to stoke the anger, to appeal to the same misogyny, nationalism, i security that carried him to the White House". Read those descriptive words hundred of times these past two years and each time a nauseous repugnancy returns, not only toward the perpetrator stoking those fears, but toward that fear driven mob that chant their approval.
Voted the last 62 years, occasionally for decent republicans along the way, never voted with more determination, coupled with anger to hopefully thwart and neutralize "demonic" forces slowly creeping into our politics.
This presidency deserves only one thing, total banishment from office with a resounding democratic vote this mid-term.
Following that with: What happens next?
Absolutely one of your best! Trump as a life-long bully with petulant tendencies likes to stoke the anger of resentment and build bravado through fear and innuendo. Kavanaugh and the reaction to his seat on the Supreme Court has put the fear of progress via women back in the hearts and minds of the base. As with Orwell, words have lost their meaning. Life means the fetus, not the child alive who is torn away from mother/father or both at a border that now stands for more than the hope of a job. The press, rather than a hallmark of this country from Thomas Paine to Benjamin Franklin to Woodward/Bernstein to all that is reported and brings light where there is none is reviled and ridiculed. Opposing candidates for all races, judges who rule against this man and his party in whatever capacity or venue are no good, and our relations with other countries have declined due to this president's impulsive and immature and hastily conceived ideas, whether climate change, tariffs, or walls. Shame for this sham of leader and his actions.
1
"...liberalism, … is reactive, governed by what is being done to it rather than its own positive vision." So, what were the positive visions of the past? FDR had the New Deal. Truman offered the Fair Deal. JFK led the way to the New Frontier. LBJ welcomed all to the Great Society. Clinton built the Bridge to the 21st Century. Obama offered Hope and Change. So what is common among these political agendas? 1) They are positive. 2) They are inclusive. and 3) They are forward looking, visionary. Also, real and not imaginary nor self-created problems were addressed. These visions came with visionaries, leaders. "Morning Joe" today wondered out loud who are the leaders of Liberalism and the Democratic Party? If they are not the over 70 something, then who? Resist means both refusal to participate and promote the evil done by this rude and crude administration. It also means, like Daniel from the Hebrew Scriptures, living a healthier alternative lifestyle, speaking truth to power, having the courage to stand amongst the ravenous lions, and being receptive and sharing visions for a better future. "The wise leaders will shine like the bright vault of heaven, and those who have guided the people in the true path, will be like the stars for ever and ever." Daniel 12.3.
This country was founded in part by "the mob" back in 1776!
1
@Chris Rasmussen
Mobs have no vision beyond immediate gratification. Once their fury is spent, good people come to clean up the mess. Chris Rasmussen is part of the MOB because it is easy to break, destroy and sow division. Much harder to build up, grow and steward. Do you know what stewardship means, Chris?
Enemies of liberty definitely belong to the original racist party (hint starts with D E M). Thought police, political correctness, suppression of other's rights, oh lets also add the removal of due process that's the latest hit from this party, violence, double-speak, failed economic practices, excessive government intervention because they can't live in reality, etc etc. these are your totems. The Resistance is actually those opposed to you. Normal people, logical people, intelligent people fight segregation (hmm where again was that and who was the party fighting to keep it?), racism, fascism, intolerance are those you fight. Sad. Have a wonderful day in la la land.
1
I have already voted here in bright red Idaho---a straight Democratic ticket.
3
Don't just vote. Organize! Knock on doors. Make calls. Bring your neighbors!
1
The candidates cannot win the elections! Only the right principles can accomplish that objective. Fight for the principles, not for the party, and you will have the support of the people.
There is nothing easier than fighting against the party that identified self with a single leader. Any leader is just a sinner. All it takes is just to scratch the surface to prove this point.
Compare the basic details of story about Jesus Christ with Jamal Khashoggi. Both of them have stood for the common people. Both of them preached. Both of them were targeted by the perceived “protectors of the religion”. Both were killed in extremely cruel and gruesome way by the field soldiers of the mean emperors. After their death their bodies could not be found. After their death their messages became a thousand times louder and more influential. Eventually everybody involved in their murder has renounced any personal responsibility.
By the way, what does “J” in Donald J. Trump stand for?
Judas?!
From the perspective of critical principles, is there any difference in selling your loved ones for thirty pieces of silver or $110 billion?
Could you sell out the life on any human being for a handful of money? Do you really want to have such a kind of elected leaders representing you?
It’s hard to believe that Mr. Trump was smart enough to understand all the negative consequences of his own words.
Where is the Democratic leadership countering what Trump is saying????
4
Yes, resistance to Trumpism and the alter-globalization movement in Brazil, Germany, Hungary, Austria and others where you have liberalism in trade and finance, but not in movement of people and Yes to a vision for the US and the world where social, ecological and climate justice reigns.
One way of reaching that vision is to transform the very basic monetary/financial global system and put it in service to combat the looming climate catastrophe. The unjust, unsustainable, and therefore, unstable monetary/financial system can be transformed by pursuing the carbon monetary standard of a specific tonnage of CO2e per person. The conceptual, institutional, ethical and strategic dimensions of such carbon-based international monetary system are presented in Verhagen 2012 "The Tierra Solution: Resolving the climate crisis through monetary transformation" and updated at www.timun.net.
Outstanding economist and founder of the effective climate organization 350.org declared: “The further into the global warming area we go, the more physics and politics narrows our possible paths of action. Here’s a very cogent and well-argued account of one of the remaining possibilities.” Bill McKibben, May 17, 2011
Count me among the mob, as well -- even though, in this very small Oklahoma rural town, I am a mob of one.
The only ray of hope that I now have is, that when the tRumpublicans are finally thrown out of office, we will have a clear furrow to plow, in order to bring out country back to its senses.
I hope that happens before I croak.
2
"Count Me Among The Mob"
You've made it abundantly clear where you stand, Mr. Blow.
You were counted (and accounted for) long ago...no further clarification was really necessary,
4
"We must conceive of the country we want and drive relentlessly toward it..."
Dear Mr. Blow,
What, in your opinion, is the country you want?
5
The Democrats at one time stood for schools, parks, libraries, racial equality, labor, health care, and all of the contributions of the CCC, etc. Now we have decided to put all of our chips on immigration. We have tied ourselves to the stake. And leaders like you, Charles, are piling on the kindling. STOP!!!
1
Why is it that the Democrats resort to violence and fascist tactics? Attacking people in restaurants and in public? We don't see conservatives doing that. Almost all of the shootings have been done by wacked out liberals caused by the hateful rhetoric by the left. This is why the Democrats are going to lose big in 2 weeks. Americans are tired of it. I have asked the question before many times, what do the Democrats have to offer the American people to improve our lives? To lower the deficit? Etc... no one can answer that question. The Democrats have no vision for the future of this country. They have no platform.
6
Are you asking me to be like them to defeat them? Are you asking me to have the same vision as you? Do you really believe that the democratic platform of Bobby Kennedy has been antiquated and forgotten? The crooks who wanted in the Kennedy White House changed parties. The reason is careful observance and gentile force rather than rash sentiment.
McGovern and Carter battled under the same flag Dick Durbin and Nancy Pelosi *gasp*. Sheldon Whitehouse is a hard working gentleman who has vision worth your support. Why don't you talk to him? What about Rev. Butler? Do you think he is not a democrat? Just won a MacArthur.
Charles,
Here's how low the bar is now :
The worst Democrat is ten times better than the best Republican.
2
The Democrat “mob” is missing some catchy, shout-out slogans that will help keep their juices flowing and unite them in their shared contempt for their Republican overlords. Why not hire some “Mad Men” type advertising agency for this purpose, or, just steal some from dictatorships that are through with them, you know, like “Lock her up!”or “Build that wall!” or “Enemy of the people!”. I’ve got a few suggestions - howsabout “Hang on to Hope but NEVER, NEVER grope!” or maybe even, “Pride goeth before a Wall!” or, let’s see, oh!, oh!, I know, “Take a dump for Trump!”. That one’s my favorite. Keep up the good work, Charles.
1
Record low unemployment, wages are on the rise, renegotiating trade deals...enforcing preexisting immigration laws....yeah Charles....real degrading stuff.
There's more to the United States than Manhattan, DC , Hollywood and Soro's check book.
6
"If it means people who stand in opposition to Trump’s degradation of the country." No, that is not what it means, Mr. Blow. What it means is people following men and women around after work hours and into private office space and harassing them, threatening them, shouting, cursing, and menacing them. Celebrities have this with sick individuals, but recently we see large groups of people shouting profanity, starting fires, throwing excrement, possibly even using weapons to threaten and terrify distinguished individuals like yourself. This is why the NYT maintains a high level of security; it is to protect you from such people. It is a mark of low political sophistication for you to pretend that mobs act responsibility and you see yourself as part of a distinguished opposition. Mobs break windows, block corridors, deface art works. Read Hannah Arendt's book on the origins of totalitarianism. She devotes a great deal of space to defining mobs.
5
(Mob)ilize ...
in all shapes and forms to get out the vote.
At this point it is the only thing that matters.
1
“This election and indeed all that follow it must no longer be about reactions, but about realignment.”
This is so true. Unfortunately, too many Democrats are afraid to run on ideas. Theijy they wonder why Americans say they don’ know what the Democrats stand fir.
Or
Hgbr exception—Beto O’Rouke, who has proudly stake out strong Democratic idea and calues in the dead mow O’Rouke’s exampld.
"Trump’s default position is the use of fear."
And at this point, the Democrats are fighting fear with fear by basing their campaign on the "We're Not Trump" platform. Too often the left emphasizes how Trump's base resembles the German's who supported Hitler and the racists who support the KKK. In doing so they are not emphasizing the government services that THEY support and the GOP rejects. By ignoring the GOP's premise that "government is bad and markets are good" the Democratic party is defining itself as the "We're Not Trump" party... a civil version of the anti-government pro-privatization GOP and NOT a party that stands for social and economic justice. Given the DNC's decision to fight fear with fear instead of standing up for the benefits of a strong government I would not be surprised to see the party split if they fail to capture control of the House in a couple of weeks.
Would you suggest other Black men get angry and become a mob to fight police brutality and gentrification?
Mr. Blow,degradation of the country ? You mean like job killing regulations, attacking the 2nd Amendment, raising taxes on Americans, record numbers of people out the work force ? Pardon me but I would call that degradation of the country. Simply put, having a controlled border and immigration policy is not racist. Your rant is the typical drivel we hear when one party doesn't have an argument against success of the other. Did you ever consider a platform that would benefit the majority of the country ? It seems to be working for President Trump.
6
Am proud to be part of "D" Mob!
Fiercely and forcefully fighting Trumpism is in itself a poliitical platform.
This is so because all that Trump and his followers beleive is so repugnant and bankrupt that the opposition gives one the outlines of a position.
Trump, for instance, is an apologist for loathsome dictators such as Saudi Arabia's king, Kim and Putin. Taking the opposing view. arguing that we ought to see these men as foes, is a political position.
That said, Democracts do need to present a blueprint for a new, inclusive America. It ought to make the creation of quality jobs, affordale medical care and higher education the centerpice.
It's quite apparent that we are in no position to shape international affairs.
Under Trump, our prestige and moral authority have been badly erroded, and it will take years to repair the damage.
Democrats ought to take Trump's signature slogan and vow to make America the best it can be.
Thank you Charles Blow for your clear thinking and focus on what we, "the MOB" need to do to resist hate, intolerance, and injustice. I am in!
4
@aries Count me in also!
2
Mr. Blow, it is deeply unwise to call yourself part of the "mob".
Rhetoric is getting a little unhinged on both sides, but unfortunately it is the Democrats that the public perceives to be more passionate. If some maniac takes some more shots at Republicans, as happened to Steve Scalise, your tactic of proud membership in the "mob" will severely hurt your credibility.
Democrats should stand for sound policy, a calmer and more rational antidote to our histrionic President. Embracing the "mob" is an unforced error and tactical mistake.
1
@Ted Morgan
I am sorry to point this out to you—you sound very rational—but the Democratic Party has morphed into something ugly.
1
Count me among the mob also. I believe that Trump is on the ticket, just as one of his voter-suppression goons, Kris Koback, is on the ticket for Kansas Governor. That's why I spent part of my day yesterday working the phone at my county's Democratic Headquarters on behalf of Laura Kelly for Kansas Govenor. At 80 years old, I was delighted to speak to young people in their twenties, who, contrary to some reports, are fired up to vote, or they have already voted. This is how we do it; this is how we light our torches in the middle of Trumpian dark nights, and march to the voting booth.
1
"You must be driven toward a concept of what you want this country to become, and not just driven by a fear of what the country could descend into."
November 2nd is a Friday. The GDP numbers for this quarter will be released. GDP will be over 4%. It may may well reach 5%. Coupled with lowest ever Black and Hispanic unemployment numbers, Democrats should be reflective.
"Trump is trying desperately to elevate immigration as a burning issue again,..."
As this caravan grows in size and gets closer, President Trump doesn't need to scare people into action. The idea of dozens or more gang and cartel members mixed into this group provides ample impetus to his supporters. It would be good, if every person at our border were to be turned away, if they have no record of asylum request from Mexico. Anyone with gang tattoos, need not apply.
"White people’s control of this country is in danger and under assault and must be defended and protected at all costs." Charles, you're going to be short of breath, blowing that Democrat dog whistle.
"Stay focused on the future. It belongs to an America that looks absolutely nothing like Trump’s America. Vote!"
Charles, what if Americans vote for America and against the mob?
1
Charles, I so often find myself in complete agreement with you but on this one I must differ. I refuse to allow the miscreant in The White House to define me as precisely what his rabble of supporters routinely appear to be: a mob. They scream insults and voice hatred as though they were ready to lynch someone. Democrats do not behave like a mob, republicans do. One thing we should all have witnessed time and time again is that republicans routinely accuse democrats of exactly what they themselves are doing. The Brett-the-Boofer hearings were a perfect example. They got indignant over legitimate challenges to the Boofer's honesty and temperament, while conveniently ignoring the compelling evidence against confirmation. President deplorable's "Crooked” Hillary or "Lying” Ted insults would have been a perfect fit for his character. His references to animals for various women he hates are far more applicable to him. His apologists’ criticisms of President Tweetstorm's opposition really match their own M.O. You may accept the "mob" label. I won't. Call me an angry, indignant and defiant citizen but even with my fellow angry, indignant and defiant citizens, we are far less a mob than a force of nature that at long last will hold to account the corrupt people now controlling our government. I can hardly wait.
1
Charles Blow says we must be proactive, not reactionary. But then 99percent of the article is reactive. Let's reemphasize the Bill of Rights in today's terms. Let's create equality of opportunity for all. Let's promote the general welfare with healthcare for all. Let's level the playing field for all, showing no preference between corporations. Let's reestablish privacy belonging to the people and as a default, not owned, used, or manipulated by Google or Facebook or Twitter or Apple or Samsung. Let's reestablish truth in advertising and news by enforcing rules against outright lies.
Charles, please help us readers of your column with the eloquence of your writing with your vision of a better world.
2
Stay focused...stay focused...absolutely. Your vote will probably count (unless you live in Georgia or other Russpublican-run states). I spoke with a Trump guy the other day. Nice man, owns a small appliance store/appliance repair shop. Out of the blue, he ventured to make a positive comment about Trump. I stopped making any eye contact but raised my eyebrows and said, "Hmmmmmm." He dropped the subject. Stay focused...don't engage...stay enraged...
1
I believe H.L. Mencken said, "When fascism comes to America, it will have a bible and a cross."
He's crazier every day, as the net closes around him. Forget Russia--it's his financial ties to the Saudis (and how did little Jared suddenly get hundreds of thousands to avoid foreclosure when no NY bank will lend to any Trump?)
A major appeal of the law that you can't be tried twice for the same crime in Fed and State courts is on the Oct. Supreme Ct. docket. That's why T was so desperate to get K confirmed, ASAP. If the State of NY investigation subpoenas his tax returns, the whole country will know everything.
And who knows where it will lead in the Mueller investigation? His base thinks Russia's a hoax. But they've all ripped off by con artists, and no-one like a cheater.
Watergate started with an investigation of a burglary, and brought down the President. Difference was, when Nixon at the end, paranoid, drunk and talking to paintings, Kissinger told the Joint Chiefs to ignore any nuclear command. And BARRY GOLDWATER--not Mr. Liberal--told Nixon, "For the good of the country, you must step down."
But no-one in the R's will stand up to Trump, who destroyed the party.
You should run for Congress, Mr. Blow. Seriously! You are far better spoken than most in either chamber; you make more sense and the values you espouse are far more compelling than those of, say, Mr. Schumer or Ms. Pelosi.
That said, sir, the caravan makes an easy target. No nation on earth, past or present, can accept seven thousand foreign nationals who have decided they want or need to enter it extra-legally to seek their fortune. The US can certainly absorb that number, but precedent matters and the precedent would be unacceptable. It really isn't racist, sir, although Trump has made it so; a caravan of Swedes and Danes would be just as problematic.
We Democrats need a coherent response that stands a reasonable chance of commanding a majority of our fellow citizens if we are to win elections. Characterizing all objections to the caravan as racist and therefore intolerable will lose, every time. If we keep losing, there won't be a nation left the immigration policy of which to debate.
Surely someone of your obvious intelligence and knowledge sees this, but why can't you say it and address the issues explicitly and directly?
I find your (and of course many others of my fellow progressives) inability in this regard confusing and depressing. It won't change my vote, of course, but it, um, curbs my enthusiasm.
There is major irony to Trump calling the Democrats "A mob". The founders of this country feared mob rule, they feared a demagogue like Trump, it is why Senators were not elected and why we had the original electoral college as check and balances against 'the passion of the mobs'. Thanks to Senators being elected, states with little population and views that don't match that of the majority, can dominate that house and rather than act as a check and balance against a Trump, are enabling. Likewise, the electoral college was designed to stop a Trump from taking power, but with rules that basically make it impossible for an elector to switch their vote, it no longer has that power. Worse, because of the way the electoral college is set up, the small states have oversize numbers there, and it is why Trump got elected but not win the popular vote. It is the GOP who is appealing to the mob, it is the GOP who is winning by appealing to the very things the founders feared, to hate, to extremism, and especially to anti intellectualism and appealing to what John Adams and others called the most base among the American people.
2
Joke of a column. The only mobs are on social media or pontificating as here. Do you see fighting in the streets, mass strikes, demonstrations? The mobs are in the tweets.
2
Related to Mr. Blow's column, there is an excellent essay on today's NYT op-ed page by Paul Starr ("What Happened to Center-Right America?"), which unfortunately is not accepting reader comments.
Starr's perceptive essay outlines the dilemma now facing progressive Democrats, as the party is now being forced to accept under its wing the orphaned "Never Trump" Republicans, who have been drummed out of the party by Trump and no longer have any political base or home in the GOP.
In an ideal political world, such as a multi-party parliamentary system, these centrists would have their own party, but under our two-party system, they are now homeless and are seeking refuge in the Democratic party.
Unfortunately, as the price for their supporting Democrats, the Never-Trumpers are demanding that the party abandon its progressive goals and move to the center.
Complicating the matter is the fact that these center-right ex-Republicans, such as Joe Scarborough, Nicole Wallace, David Brooks, Bret Stephens, Jennifer Rubin, Max Boot, William Kristol, Stephen Schmidt, and others, now completely dominate the news media commentariat, (the "professional centrists", as Paul Krugman calls them).
Thus, at the same time that the Democrats are trying to forge a progressive identity, they are being pressured by these influential, refugee Republicans to become a moderate, centrist party.
Unfortunately it seems that our two-party system is now inadequate to the challenge posed by Trump.
2
Trump brags about "law and order" - with his cover-ups for crimes ranging from sexual assault to murder - the way he brags about fiscal responsibility, with his six bankruptcies and ballooning deficit.
3
So any man accused of a crime with no evidence by a women who protests his own innocence has a clear expression of misogyny?
Stop with the stupidity. Ford's claims were not even backed up by her own witnesses who denied her claims about Justice Kavanaugh. This was a clear case of the democrats using a women to try to stop his nomination. Everyone saw through that.
4
Language is a contestable territory so Democrats need to occupy the nomencleture MOB to turn it to their own purposes. How about something like MOB = Making Ourselves Better. Resist their definition by owning the name.
3
It will take every vote!!!!
Do not be complacent! & don't forget the importance & impact of your State legislators, too!
2
Horrible. Liberals accuse Trump of stoking racism yet you are the one accusing those for enforcing the BIPARTISAN immigration laws - including its limits - of being racist. No. Illegal immigration is 1) criminal and crime enabling; and 2) anti-black and anti-worker. As to #2, Illegal immigration is worst for the poor and worst for the poor unskilled workers in the US. In reality, that means its worst for poor black men. Illegal immigration is a strategy Democrats employ to further undermine poor communities so they'll vote Democrat thinking tax and spending is the solution.
4
Trump is a disgrace, not just to America, but to the world. It is disgraceful that there will be millions if voters who actually vote for Trump’s minions. I am part of the mob. It believes in truth and justice. It believes in evidence. It believes in loving human beings more than money.
1
The original Tea partiers who threw tea overboard in colonial Boston harbour were also called “ “a mob”
So were the rebel American Revolutionaries
So were those who fought slavery
So were the anti Vietnam War protestors
I wear the ‘name calling name ‘ proudly too!
For Ametican “mobs” helped make this country what it was before todays GOP were ever born
2
The NYT would do a great service if they started outlining the candidates' positions. No one else is. I am sick to death of reading the latest stupid thing Trump did; I want to know where my local candidate stands on healthcare for all, medicare, ss, climate change, etc. My local paper is owned by Murdoch so it is skewed alt right. I'd like to hear from an intelligent paper like the NYT on each candidate because half my town has no idea there is even an election going on. Ignorance is killing this country.
3
Trump is a self-righteous, narcissistic bully, who wants to destroy our American liberal democracy, so that he can become a totalitarian dictator. A vote for Trump or any Republican enabler of his is a vote for totalitarian rule. A vote for a liberal democracy is a vote for a free America. You have a choice - choose wisely. Vote like George Washington did in 1776 - for freedom.
1
No revolution will succeed without a vision. Ralph Nader lays out the basics for the MOBS that he hopes will converge on DC:
a guaranteed living wage, full government-funded health insurance, free education including at the university level,
the prosecution of corporate criminals, cutting the bloated military budget, an end to empire, criminal justice reform,
transferring power from the elites to the citizenry by providing public spaces where consumers, workers and communities can meet and organize, breaking up the big banks and creating a public banking system, protecting and fostering labor unions, removing money from politics,
taking the airwaves out of the hands of corporations and returning them to the public , ending subsidies to the fossil fuel industry while keeping fossil fuels in the ground to radically reconfigure our relationship to the ecosystem.
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/10/18/rats-revolt
Thursday, October 18, 2018
By Truthdig The Rats Revolt
There is no American who has fought with more tenacity, courage and integrity to expose the crimes of corporate power and to thwart the corporate coup d’état that has destroyed our democracy than Ralph Nader.
by
Chris Hedges
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-rats-revolt/
2
We will soon see how many Americans are as amoral as Trump.
2
VOTE VOTE VOTE!!!
Like your future and that of your children and grandchildren depends on it.
Because it DOES!
All that America holds dear is on the line today.
9
If you are happy to be counted among the Democratic mob, please post your social schedule at the end of every column, so that those on the right can organize flashmobs of their own and verbally harass you and your partner about whom they know nothing at the drugstore, when you go out to dinner, and at your gym. Fair's fair.
5
We know that Trump is a repulsive racist with authoritarian desires. No mystery there. What is even more revolting is that tens of millions of Americans cheer this despot on and love what he is doing. Trump has exposed a deep undercurrent of hatred in America. We knew there were lost souls out there, but tens of millions?
3
As someone who detests Trump I can see him winning a second term. If I were to describe Trump supporters I would be described as an elitist bigot.
One way or another Trump will leave this country in shambles. Too many people will decide not to vote - why bother is the mentality. Too many will buy his regressive tax policies. Too many will believe medical care is a socialist plot. People with any beliefs will be considered ignorant, stupid, and traitorous by both the right and left.
Extremism begets intolerance on issues large and small. If Trump is reelected he will be a vindicated hero with, in his mind, free reign. If he loses he will be a martyr of the right.
History has repeatedly shown that only major catastrophes will bring change - for the better or worse. Hitler or Roosevelt.
It may take a hundred years to get past this sociopathy. In the interim America will be considered a country to denigrate and avoid. Unlike Rome, Greece, and others the American Empire will not last 300 years.
2
Shame on you. Are incivility, disturbance, violence and negativity all you can bring to the table and to our society?
4
@libertyville: You *are* addressing the so-called president in this comment, aren't you?? He completely embodies incivility and negativity. He is the Seven Deadly Sins personified.
4
@libertyville Hello. Newt Gingrich? Tea Party mobs? How about the Republican congressman who body slammed a reporter is "My kind of guy"?
2
DemocracyIsLove!!! Love of country, love of liberty, love of learning and love of fellow citizens. The mob must be in pursuit of love. We must form a covenant with one another to seek the love in support of our democracy!!!!
2
Trump is once again, projecting his own evil onto his opponents. After all, he's the one with the mass of digital "Brown Shirts" who threaten his political opposition with death threats and destruction of their lives and families. Trump owns the mob and is of the mob. He and his followers are a cancerous growth on our body politic.
1
Thanks so much for this article today. I needed to hear this. I get so discouraged sometimes about what is happening in this country. I fear for my children and grandchild. I agree - we need to be on the offensive - not defensive against Trump and those that choose to hate and fear everyone who is different from them.
Thanks again -
2
If you belong to, or support, mobs, shame on you.
If you are part of a mob accosting Republicans or Democrats in restaurants, shame on you.
If you were part of the mob that was banging on the doors of the Supreme Court after the Kavanaugh hearing, shame on you.
If you are among the anonymous mobsters sending threats to politicians and their families, shame on you.
If you are part of a masked mob carrying weapons and protesting anything at all, shame on you.
As a life-long Democrat I am disgusted by the tactics adopted by many Democrats (not to mention Antifas). Non-violent protest is acceptable; violence and mob attacks are not.
We Democrats should not stoop to, nor support, thuggish tactics.
Violence and threats and intimidation are not free speech.
Voting is the answer, not mobs.
2
I stand with the mob. I believe in hope not anger and fear. I stand for equality for all. I stand for universal health care, a living wage, secure retirement. I stand for the rule of law, democracy, decency, integrity in government. I stand against white supremacist mob rule, liars, vulgarity, narcissism, misogyny and fascism. Vote this November. Let us all work toward reconstructing the America that is the one envisioned for all of us not just the rich white and powerful.
5
"Second, Trump is trying desperately to elevate immigration as a burning issue again, "
When did immigrations drop off the stage as a burning issue?
You could take the same approach the NYT took during the children's surge at the southern border. First deny any such thing exists then cry out when Trump changed policy regarding the situation that the NYT claimed didn't exist.
That'll work.
1
“and not just driven by a fear of what the country could descend into”
Correction: “and not just driven by a fear of what the country HAS descend into”
2
I've grown disgusted by his face.
He almost makes the day grow dim.
I've grown disgusted by the bile
He’s tweeting all the while,
His smile, his frown
He’s such a clown.
He’s creepy-crawly for me now.
Like throwing up my morning chow
I was serenely independent and content before we met,
Surely I could always be that way again and yet,
I've grown disgusted by his look,
Disgusted by his voice, disgusted by his face.
I'm very grateful he’s elected and will not be here for long,
Rather like an illness or a really awful song,
I've grown disgusted by the lies and nonsense on the air.
Disgusted by his hair.
5
Trump’s people are the mob. There is no Democratic mob- the media are playing to Trump. The mob was the Tea Party shouting down fellow Congressmen and Congresswomen. No one called them out. The Democrats are crowded out by Trump - look at the NYT - any mention of them on the front page?
2
DST has only one motivation; the same motivation that he has only ever had: and that is, you guessed it: DST!
Why does he bow and scrape before Putin? DST!
(Meaning: Putin has the golden showers tape)
Why did he, as the traitor he is, announce at Helsinki that he believes Putin over our intelligence services? (see above)
Why does he continuously attack the FBI? DTS!
The FBI has represented a major direct threat to DST with their ability to prove his unlawful behavior.
When the FBI raided Michael Cohen's home, office, etc. did he say it was an "attack against our country"? Answer: DST!
I was NOT an attack against our country; it was part of the pursuit of justice - which endangers DST.
I personally cringe when I hear Cable News pundits or Democratic politicians express surprise at anything DST says or does.
You don't need a PhD in psychology: the reason is always the same: Donald S Trump.
Although this thin-skinned con man has managed to con some 40% of the American electorate into supporting him, know that it is all about him should give Americans with a brain all the ammunition they need to politically out maneuver this grifter.
Will the opposition be smart enough to use DST's psychological weakness to entrap him?
I fear not. The Dems, led by the DNC, always allow the GOP to win arguments. They (the DNC) must be all be in the pay
pockets of the GOP.
The only real mobs in this country right now are the angry, hateful people that gather in arenas to satisfy Trump’s megalomaniac desires. That irony is completely lost on them, they’re too busy shouting lock her up.
Please vote, and let’s end this nightmare!
2
Does this mean Mr Blow supports Maxine Waters suggested methods of resisting..'in the restaurants..at the gas stations'?
There's a lot of new Trump converts, of all stripes doing well not impressed with mob behavior.
1
I am a Navy Vietnam Navy (Fire Control Tecch. Gunnery 3rd class) ['65-'69] and a retired federal prosecuting attorney. That said, you can count me among the mob, Mr. Blow.
And in so doing, I fondly recall Gandhi's words, that are as relevant now as when he first spoke them, to wit, "We must be the change we wish to see."
These words must now form the basis for our clarion call. A call that will ensure that we end the reign of the criminal and illegitimate occupier of the White House as soon as possible.
4
To Trump's mindless "Jobs not mobs" mantra, Democrats should reply: "No more con jobs. No more mob boss!"
3
Oh, for a Lincoln or a Churchill right now...
Anyone out there? Anyone?
2
Let's talk about what you mean by "counting you among the mob."
Does this mean you endorse harassment of Republicans trying to dine at a restaurant, and will throw their food away (like what happened to Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao this past weekend).
Does this mean you will trespass on a Republican's lawn, and beat him to the point of breaking several ribs (like what happened to Rand Paul).
Does this mean you will go to the Republican softball practice, and start firing your weapon (like when Steve Scalise was nearly killed by Bernie Sanders support Hodgkinson).
Charles, you need to help us tone down the leftist rhetoric, not inflame it further.
12
Purple. When will ALL 50 states become reliably purple voting blocks?
3
FFSf
in Trimpworld a mob is people exercising their First
Amendment rights
the only one preaching violence is Trump he actually
praised the criminal
Gianforte for assaulting a reporter for having the temerity to
ask questions.
now Trump has taken a dump on REagan for
seeking out of the nuclear arms treaty.
vote
3
Hate has always been a superior POLITICAL motivator to Hope. The rare exception retired on 2016.
Dems need to stir young people..but this 18 to 35 crowd is by and large lazy, entitled. They think not my fight. because their future... far away..after all of this is gone...is ideal..to them.
only when young people saw their brothers and friends die in Vietnam, or in the South racism, were young people broadly motivated.
No major Dem message and unifying Dem Leader. Therefore young people will again not show up... and it will remain a GOP House.
Not what I desire. I will vote in my 24th election since 1972.
1
I notice Trump hasn't mentioned election rigging regarding the midterms ..
2
he will if the Democrats win
4
Well said, Mr. Blow, Dems need a platform / agenda much stronger than mere opposition to DJT and/or any GOP scam.
Tom Perez and others of self-anointed DNC leadership, does this strike a chord with any of you? To what effective action?
Meanwihile, many consider the mob those currently bent on aiding and abetting Trumpster as he heaves USA into the dumpster.
Me too Charles because Trump is about many degradations;
Of public education
Of the environment
Of empiricism
Of equality of races
Of altruism
Of humanism
Of the rights of the disabled, the poor, the sick
Of sexual equality
Of our souls and so much more.
2
This perfectly exemplifies the arrogance, self-righteousness and sense of victimhood that large parts of this country hate in the left.
We have in very recent weeks been treated to women clawing at the door of the Supreme Court, to the black-masked thugs of Antifa in Portland, Oregon and now to a 5,000 member (and growing) caravan of foreigners who are *demanding* to be allowed entry to the U.S. It used to be the Klan that wore masks.
As a sometimes Trump supporter, I can only say: bring it on. The Democrats simply do not know when to stop losing.
4
If you want to see protesters, watch an anti-Trump demonstration. If you want to see a terrifying, hate-filled, literally foaming at the mouth mob, go to any Trump rally.
4
The Republican Party is now the Fascists Party. Rather than suggest liberals define their goals, which is democracy for all, let the Republican Party change its name to what it truly has become--a group of fascists because their tactics are right out of the fascists' playbook. Maybe we should stop referring to them as Republicans when we write and talk about them, and just use the proper term of Fascists.
3
Calling a large group of the “other” a mob is a tenet of fascism and this is what the Republican Party has become. It is time to stop soft-pedaling it as populism or nationalism. Fascism is evil.
2
If you belong to, or support, mobs, shame on you.
If you are part of a mob accosting Republicans or Democrats in restaurants, shame on you.
If you were part of the mob that was banging on the doors of the Supreme Court after the Kavanaugh hearing, shame on you.
If you are among the anonymous mobsters sending threats to politicians and their families, shame on you.
If you are part of a masked mob carrying weapons and protesting anything at all, shame on you.
As a life-long Democrat I am disgusted by the tactics adopted by many Democrats (not to mention Antifas). Non-violent protest is acceptable; violence and mob attacks are not.
We Democrats should not stoop to, nor support, thuggish tactics.
Violence and threats and intimidation are not free speech.
Voting is the answer, not mobs.
11
@Ro Ma consider #walkaway?
The democrat party and true liberalism left the party long ago. It has been replaced by leftists.
Look no further than Alan Dershowitz as a reminder of what once was.
Read down the comments and you can feel the hate and visceral disgust.
Odds are most Americans would identify with basic libertarian principles. We love people and are generous by nature. We understand there are limits and hard choices to be made and consequences from those choices. We understand that when we lose we wait, make better arguments and vote (which we did from 08 to 16 quite successfully.)
If this November goes like November of 16 we will see the “mob” and their true face as we got a glimpse of during the Kavanaugh confirmation.
Ideas? That argument is over. The only thing left to to left is, regrettably, fists.
"Mob- a large crowd of people, especially one that is disorderly and intent on causing trouble or violence"
Well that just might define the unruly Boston Tea Party, or the Vietnam Protestors, or that deplorable group of Patriots on the Lexington Green in April, 1775. And there are hundreds more examples of what some might call Mobs, while others define it as Patriotism.
I'm all in for Charles Blow's Mob.
4
" . . . modern liberalism . . . is reactionary" Exactly! Rightists have been saying all along that the Dems have no positive program; liberalism is exhausted, it's hit the wall. Mr. Trump has taken the side of successful practicality--do what works. Should the voters support robust success, or bleeding-heart appeals for more freebees for long-faced layabouts, and some sort of vague social equity combined with a crusade to save the planet from 'heat death'? Get real, man!
1
I think it's difficult to rehabilitate the word "mob' to signify a group in rational resistance to Trump's demagoguery and his actions, all of which undermine democracy and are inimical to the best interests of our nation and the majority of its population. The neo-Nazis and alt-rightists in Charlottesville, and those at Trump rallies who feel encouraged- to heckle and threaten members of the press and use violence against private individuals are the true political mob.
1
Yes! This is the column I've been waiting for. Keep it up Charles.
2
“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” -Samuel Johnson
People can wrap themselves in — or around — all the American flags that they want, it doesn’t demonstrate anything other than a fondness for baubles.
If being “pwnt” means that I get to watch as Donald Trump mortgages the future of all his supporters’ children, then I suspect I’ll manage.
Middle-American milquetoast, unite! When you focus on homogeneity long enough, it’s only a matter of time before you’ve arrived at incest.
2
This being one of the most critical milestones in our history, critical steps must be taken to wrest away power from this demagogic oligarch president and his equally culpable co-conspirator's, the entire Republican party. Thus, we must do everything within in our power to organize, resist, and take back the power which Trump and his Fascist Regime now controls with an iron fist. They're are no rules in a knife fight, Butch, and this coming war with Trump will show him no quarter. In two weeks, let US. begin to engage this battle with all the force we can muster. We live in times which will live in Infamy.
DD
Manhattan
3
Perfectly stated. As always, your column speaks to the direct heart of our political and moral state. A positive vision is what Amercians responded to in electing Pres. Obama,. It is what we need now.
3
The lie-fueled fears of the Trump minority are nothing but a distraction. But the idea of a better economy without all the income inquality is not necessarily the solution. Most Americans equate having more money with buying more stuff. I prepared taxes for thirty-six years and soon learned that for most people added income only led to added spending; saving and conserving did not increase. Read the articles in the paper today. Entire kelp forests dying leading to ocean desertification and threatening the food chain. Toxic red algae destroying Florida's waters. More frequent and more intense storms fed by the warming oceans. To confront the real threat to our comfy American lives, we must change the entire consumerist paradigm. Unfortunately that will never happen until the situation has progressed beyond dire.
5
Regarding Mobs vs. Jobs, the US Dept of Labor has consistently shown that Democratic administrations since Truman, not Republican ones, are responsible for bigger and faster job growth.
6
"You must be driven toward a concept of what you want this country to become, and not just driven by a fear of what the country could descend into."
Well said Mr. Blow. Democrats must accept some blame for how far we have fallen from what this country has stood for. We also need to accept the fact that the world is becoming a space where there are "many equals". The United States is not the only "shinning light" on the hill as Ronald Reagan once said.
We need a western alliance more than ever paying particular note of the continued rise of China that seems to be slipping further from some form of democracy.
Further, let us recognize that Trump's rise to power has as much to do with a government that refused to accept the fact that we cannot be everything to everyone. We have limited resources and must learn to optimize how they are used.
God Bless America.
1
Here's a progressive agenda: Term limits, Campaign Finance Reform, Single Payer Health Care, Low-cost Post Secondary Education, Redesign and Renovate our Infrastructure and Education System, Eliminate the Electoral College, Term Limits for SC Justices.
1
Trump hates democracy. After all more people voted against him than for him - so honestly what good is it for? He really does not talk about democracy much - about as often as you hear him speak the name of Jesus (regardless of how many moneyed up pastors rub his elbows.). Too many people are not white to begin with. That needs dealing with. People in Puerto Rico have been told if they do not kiss the ring or behind they can forget about statehood. So much to stifle and set right! Some animals are more important than other animals is the new order. Democracy is a shallow bad word.
Trump’s rallying cry is Kavanaugh, Kleptocracy, and Karavans, the same cry of his father Fred, a member in fact.
Trump is projecting the moniker of mob, which he stirs up in his hate-filled rallies to liberals who actually reject such frenzied mindlessness and hate-spewing.
Mobs are “blocks, stones, worse than senseless things” who can be turned to violence by a master manipulator like Trump and his crazed autocratic cohorts.
I reject Trump’s naming of those who stand up for the truth, for human rights, and for the founding principles of this democracy.
We are a dedicated group of individuals like-minded who believe in the ideas enshrined in the Declaration that these truths are self-evident: all of us are created equal, we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This hate-filled mobster does everything in his power to undermine our rights as citizens. It is time to end this tyranny. Vote to end this madness.
1
The great progressive cause-that Liberals are for rather than simply being against trump-is the fight against global warming coupled with reducing the wealth divide.
Liberals have traditionally been for civil rights, the fight against global warming is the greatest struggle for civil rights there has ever been-as a matter of fact. it pits the civil rights of future generations against our own and of the rich against the poor.
It is amazing to me that defeating global warming and saving the world, keeping it liveable for humans at least, is not seen as the central issue it is. Again and again I hear that the Dems ot the left is not really for anything-what tosh, saving the world is not nothing it is in fact the most important thing.
Resistance against trump is also resistance against the folly of burning ever more hydrocarbons and watching the world burn because we are too greedy and stupid to do anything-
4
Since I was a teenager, inspired by JFK and Robert, Martin Luther King and eventually Malcom X, I’ve been dreaming of a great and wonderful America.
I dream of an America where there is real religious freedom and respect for all religions, or of none. A place where education is available to all, so that everyone has a chance to improve their lives without being hampered by giant loans for 20 years after they graduate. An America where someone just diagnosed with cancer doesn't have to worry if they can afford their treatment. I dream of an America where a black man driving his lovely wife and little girl home is not shot in front of that same lovely family by the police for no good reason. I dream of a place where instead of locking people up fleeing oppression and danger in their own lands, we find a way to help them. My America has no guns and it doesn't sell weapons to other countries either. My president would be respected by all other leaders and americans. My American dream is a land where the words – all men are created equal - is replaced with all PEOPLE are created equal. My America strives every day to be better than the day before, not worse.
My dream is so big it doesn't fit in this box. I think it fit here in 1974 but we have been going in the wrong direction most of my adult life.
is there a - MOB - 2. The mass of common people; the populace. that thinks like me? How is it then our vision is not even close to being realized?
4
Being concerned about this caravan migration has nothing to be with being while or of European descent. Immigration should be an orderly process , grounded in law and due process. This movement simply ignores immigrations laws, and resorts to a mob effort to overwhelm the process. I have no doubt that this mob has been both organized and financially supported by some organization, and that there is an ulterior motive or purpose to their activity. This is what the NY Times should be reporting on. But instead, Mr Blow, in his usual ignorance, puts the focus on fear and Trump! The whole thing is a very simple issue of law and due process, Mr Blow, nothing more. The fear that you see is in your own eyes.
3
"Stay focused on the future. It belongs to an America that looks absolutely nothing like Trump’s America. Vote!"
Here's the thing. The future only belongs to those willing to take it. If you want a future America unlike Trump's vision, you need to act and act now!!! It's time to fight for what you believe in. If you don't believe in anything, then others will decide for you.
I believe in saving the planet from climate change...Trump doesn't.
I believe Christine Blasey Ford and so many other victims of sexual assault...Trump doesn't.
I believe immigrants have made America great...Trump doesn't.
I believe in health care for all...Trump doesn't.
I believe in a free press...Trump doesn't.
I believe in free and fair elections...Trump doesn't.
I believe in LGBTQ rights...Trump doesn't.
I believe in the free practice of religion, but not the imposition of religion on others...Trump doesn't.
I believe I will
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
6
It is indeed ironic that this Fake President would refer to his opposition as “the mob”. Whether heading his shadowy, corrupt Trump Organization or now serving as the Chief Executive of an Administration awash in repeatedly unethical, illegal, and compromised conduct, he has constantly exhibited behaviors more suitable to the head of a criminal enterprise. Perhaps Trump selected the term simply because it rhymed with “jobs”, and would be an uncomplicated critique to throw out to his hungry base(mob) at those feverish rallies. When this narcissistic misfit refers to “law and order”what he actually means is a desired system of authoritarian “justice” where he would function as judge, jury, and executioner. MAGA.
3
Trump is a national disgrace. Let us hope that the harm he inflicts on the United States of America it's not irreparable. But let's not automatically champion everything he deplores.
The caravan of would be immigrants from Central America now traveling through Mexico cannot be allowed to succeed. Should it do so, it would set a very dangerous precedent.
It flouts both Mexican and American law. Unfortunately, it plays right into Donald Trump's jingoism and his xenophobia. It could cost the Democrats some House seats, and I doubt it will help in the election of a new senator from Texas, which is something devoutly to be wished.
2
You're all going to vote, right? You're all going to call your friends and make sure they vote, too, right?
3
Long live the “mob.” If that’s the rhetoric Trump wants to use to describe the millions of people angry about the degradation of American values, then so be it. We honor women and don’t dismiss their agony over sexual assault. We don’t put children in cages and take them from their parents.
We’re sick and tired of being represented by a president who leads cheers of “lock her up” by, yes, white mobs who attend disgraceful rallies. We believe in climate change, and are willing to do whatever it takes to stop the looting of the country by the wealthy.
And we will gather Nov. 6 to defeat those leaders who fawn over Trump. Humanity will win out over an ugly white nationalism that tries to suppress, rather than accept, others.
4
Same, I am in.
2
No, Trump absolutely believes the women who accuse men of sexual assault. He just defines it differently, as a man's right to do as he pleases to a woman's body.
4
Well, I like "Stop the Insanity".
1
President Trump is on the ticket next month. If the Democrats win, the media will tell us the people have rejected Trump's blah, blah, blah...insert your favorite gripe with the President here. I don't know how the media will react if the Republicans keep control the House, but it will probably be blamed on racism, because...that' s all you got!
2
Nah. We also got an understanding that the prob is, your boy’s playing you for suckers, and really doesn’t give a rat’s about you or America or much of anything else.
Oh, I’m pretty sure that he’s got some racial hatred in his head someplace, and really sort of thinks that his slashing at everything is a Good Idea.
But mostly, he’s just selling you what he thinks you wanna buy. Good luck explaining to your grandkids how much you got played, and the mountains of bills you helped stick them with.
1
It's hard to believe how many continue to follow this sideshow huckster and think they have the corner on patriotism for doing so. Unfortunately, they're dragging the country into a rabbit hole from which it will not emerge unscathed.
4
I think the business of America should be taking care of children and other citizens, not just vulture capitalists and Second Amendment misinterpreters. I guess that makes me a mobster. That's fine. (Just don't call me a Republican or Democrat.)
3
The GOP is referring to the protestors as a “mob” because they were angry women. If they had been angry men, they would be demonstrators.
Never forget, sisters and brothers, that Brett Kavanaugh is the soul of the GOP that wants to keep its boot on your neck.
4
Blow knows very well, who "the mob" refers to - and it isn't a group of thoughtful people sitting at a table engaged in a discussion over issues and principles, and then deciding how to vote.
It is the Antifa street rioters.
It is the people who invade restaurants to harass people having dinner with their families.
It is the lemmings of the left, malleable, in the hands of professional radical progressive organizers.
Blow's attempt to deflect attention away from people who believe that rules are for everyone else, is consistent with the new Democrats, who cannot win at the polls and so resort civil disorder and societal disruption.
Thank you for reminding me why I voted for Trump in the first place.
6
@Objectivist Those folks do not represent the majority of Democrats and Progressives, groups to which I belong. They are exactly like the screaming, ranting, raving haters that attend Trump's campaign rallies, at taxpayer expense. These degenerates are thrilled when Trump imitates the body slam a Republican candidate, now a Senator, used against a reporter who merely asked a question, as reporters do. I think the Antifa and violent "lemmings" are just taking a page out of Trump's playbook.
2
@Objectivist
"professional radical progressive organizers"
Wow. Now there are "professional" organizers on the left. And where, exactly, did they get their "professional" diploma's or credentials? I mean, besides your fever dreams.
Antifa and a few angry citizens in restaurants will amount to nothing in the election. Calling all Democrats a mob or lemmings is an insult. But an insult from a fascist should be considered high praise.
Hillary said that half of Trump's supporters were deplorables...not because they couldn't think for themselves, but because what they thought was racist, misogynist, homophobic and anti immigrant. She was wrong...it wasn't half of his supporters, it was all of them. Count yourself in that mix.
VOTE OUT ALL REPUBLICANS
1
Not a big fan of Antifa: I think they’re lazy, get-rich-quick twits who have way too much in common with the Trumpists they calim ti be fighting.
But when “Antifa street rioters,” start shooting people praying in a church basement, strutting down the street waving tiki torches and screaming about Jews, taking over bird sanctuaries, body-slamming reporters and bragging about it, taking kids from their mom, and all the rest of the ugly little realities, you’ll have a point about that there mob.
Until then, Blow’s column is dead on about why you guys voted for Trump, and it certainly wasn’t anything resembling an objective view of reality, any more than that dingbat Ayn Rand’s hilarious “objectivism,” was.
Actually, Blow was relatively nice. Myself, I look at the bragging, the screaming unreason, the amazing glugging of the Koolaid, the spit-spraying hatred from guys who don’t know anything, and I reflect on Trumpist hatred of America and desire to stay in infancy forever
2
This is more than politics. This is about choosing what level of consciousness we want to occupy. Trump is in no way sophisticated enough to understand why his primitive brain structures resonate with hatred and oppression. He just likes it, and wants to drag us all down. The depths he occupies were the abode of the worst people in history.
3
You, Mr. Blow, once said you will not mention this man's name when it was becoming dangerous. Only Bill Maher and Michael Moore saw his ascendancy, even when he did not. Are you truly ready for 1938?
You would think that Trump did nothing for the country since becoming president; nothing for the economy, nothing for averting an almost certain war with North Korea, nothing to curb an illegal alien invasion that rivals a science fiction movie.
And a movie character is how a minority of people view Trump Like Trump is an evil movie character. Like girls crying over a soap opera.
When you look at Trump's accomplishments I think he's even more popular now.
3
We must counter Trump. But we must do so by understanding what/who we are dealing with.
First, Trump is a psychopathic narcissist. Expert psychologists/psychiatrists (including Harvard professors) wrote of this before the 2016 election, and since.
Here are recent evidence of his psychopathy (his lack of empathy for living things - cares only for himself, and no one else):
• Trump does not care that a journalist was butchered; he's more concerned with selling arms to the journalist's killers.
• He does not care that his policies still separate children from their parents and keep them in cages & tents, that these children are being traumatized.
• He does not care that he's lying to his supporters who've put their full hopes in him
• He does not care that his supporters are getting poorer while the rich get richer
To counter a seriously volatile and unstable person like Trump, we must ignore him. He wants attention, and he wants to "fight" with his perceived enemies (Democrats, China, Mexico, women, etc.).
Democrats should never reply to his attacks, and should not engage him in fights -- resisting will emotionally weaken and anger him. Both will increase his instability, which is needed to reveal to everyone what he is truly like - he will eventually erupt - for everyone to see.
Discuss our goals:
• More better paying jobs. Current jobs numbers show increasing part-time low-wage jobs - that's bad.
• Lower taxes for the middle class
• Education
• Infrastructure
• Trade
...
1
What liberals and progressives are for is what Trump and his flock are against; what we are against is what they are for.
It isn't just abhorrence of Trump that animates our opposition; it's the assertion of American values he tramples upon daily. It is offense as defense; our pushback against his provocation.
It is the confident and resolute enforcement of political principles and practices enshrined in the Constitutional foundation of America. Sustained and strengthened by blood and sacrifice, consecrated in the fury of war at home and abroad.
It's no surprise Trump would mistake as a mob what is the mandate of the majority, a consensus of the clear-minded and conscientious who are repelled by the reptilian instincts of someone who bellyaches despite his untold billions and rages for more despite already having too much.
Trump is the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz, but he's also the tin man without a heart and the scarecrow with no brain.
Trump's money measures nothing that will last beyond his last breath (or tweet). He has assured himself a legacy of loathing and contempt. What history will record is his self-love on steroids, an emptiness so vast even his delusions can't encompass the void. He hates all who won't love him. But he despises all who profess to love him because they're dupes and deplorables he's stepped on all his life.
For Trump there's no glory being the god of losers.
For America, there's only disgrace being led by one.
4
Mr Blow, if one realized that the only thing worth resisting is the notion of politics by any means necessary, one might realize that, indeed, being a part of the mob is not quite as ennobling as a writer for the Times might think. Why, one might actually conclude one has been a part of the problem far longer than one has been helpful. But then that would require a level of self awareness that is lost at The Times and among the Left broadly.
2
Sure be the mob and resist, protest and stand keep being critical of Trump but that is hollow if there is no suitable alternative person or policy to replace Trump who will keep America safe, keep unemployment low, wind down or try to wind down the Bush and Obama wars from 2001 to 2016 in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen, reduce civilian deaths significantly and stop illegal migration to our great country.
3
It isn’t enough for “educated” liberals and progressives to vote. They need to know WHO to vote for and it is the Democrat, no matter what the colors of their shoes are.
Rail against the system as much as you like but US Elections are binary choices and if you don’t vote for the Democrat you are voting for the Vichy GOP. You are voting for the PARTY, not the PERSON. Once the choice is made, you don’t talk about “flawed candidates”. You don’t “hold your nose” or “sit it out” or make a “protest vote”.
Even the rubes who fell for the grifter in chief’s con understand that. That is why evangelists voted for a non-Christ and free trade Vichy GOP voted for a protectionist. They know you have to WIN elections in order to govern.
Also, they don’t need to be”motivated” to vote. There are elections EVERY year and that is “motivation” enough.
For Democrats, it is important “their” candidate be “pure” on their issue so they force their candidates to take unpopular positions that lose Democrats the independent voters we need to win in a center-right country.
Because of that, you get situations where Al Gore isn’t as pure on the environment as Ralph Nader so George Bush becomes President.
Till “educated” Liberals and progressives get politically smart, their planet will be plundered, their abortion rights restricted and their freedom of speech will be curtailed.
And frankly, they will deserve it.
1
So agree that liberals lack a message, beyond anti-
Trumpism. For that matter, we also lack a little thing called a candidate (or two or ten)!
Yes, its still early, but c'mon, somebody stick your neck out. Let's have our own rallies and gin up our own base. Without a focal point for all this frustration, we might be in trouble.
1
Right now, on Twitter, Charles Blow’s headline is being used as proof on Twitter that liberals support mob violence. I respect Blow’s willingness to take a stand, but he is just as poorly equipped to handle rhetoric in the era of Trump as rest of the op-ed pundits.
1
@citybumpkin
Oh please. These folks will twist ANYTHING that anyone says to suit their agenda.
Don't believe the hype....and VOTE!
1
I won't play along with Trump's name calling. I haven't seen any "mob." I have seen Americans protesting his policies.
Trump is the scourge of our nation. He is receiving way too much media coverage. He should be ignored and left to dissolve in a puddle of hate and greed.
5
Democrats, please fight for the soul of the country. Each Trump rally exudes hate, both from Trump and from the people attending. Lies abound. Voters, please get your information from reliable news sources and not from Facebook or Twitter or other short sound bites. And vote...vote to save the country!
4
Be the Mob!
It is beyond convenient that 4000 Honduran refugees are marching toward the United States just in time for the midterms. Could it be a sinister covert campaign investment ploy to persuade desperate people to migrate, only to ignite the President's base. Perfectly timed investment. SAD!
1
Whose jobs to illegal immigrants take? One of the possible answers is unskilled black men.
Do employers prefer illegal immigrants because they think they will do more work for lower wages? Do they regard black US citizens as troublemakers who will demand higher wages and better working conditions?
It's nice if you have a steady gig as a columnist for the NY Times - no illegals need apply. But out in the real world, many US citizens of all races are wondering who really has their best interests in mind. Kavanaugh? Rude tweets? Show me the money and the jobs!
3
Where—and especially when—does the national Democratic Party invite the public back to the political center? Maybe it's because I live an a fairly safe Democratic state that I rarely see ads which advocate for an idea of what this nation's government should be for anyone not a 1 percenter and whose skin is less than lily white.
My fear is the lack of a Democratic leadship out there explaining to voters what Democrats stand for: The common man, equality in all things, democracy, taking care of the disadvantaged, promoting affordable quality education and healthcare for all. On and on.
This election may or may not be good for Democrats, but they need someone to remind voters what they positively stand and not just "Resist!"
2020 is just around the corner.
1
I found Charles Blow's post deeply inspiring.
10
Yes Charles, thank you! We indeed stand against all the sexism, racism, hatred, cruelty and xenophobia of this corrupt administration and Republican Congress. And proudly count me as part of THAT mob standing against!
But democrats and more progressive people stand FOR empathy, compassion, inclusion, good jobs, healthcare for all, good public schools, inexpensive college education, maintaining and growing our civil rights for all of us, protecting freedom of speech and freedom of the press, strong social security, Medicare and Medicaid, good immigration and protection for dreamers, sensible gun laws that protect our children and all of us, decent policing that keeps us all safe and protects people of color the same as white people. Robert Reich today outlined three EASY solutions to protect social security, Medicare and Medicaid that republicans don’t want people to know about or understand. But he’s right! We can do it! It should be really easy, we stand for true fairness and cooperation, and most humans have a strong sense of fair play. To say it’s not fair to the vast majority of all of us in America under this demagogue and Republican Congress isan understatement. Let’s make it fair for all, not just the wealthy.
Vote vote vote! Democrat all the way up and down every ticket in every race so we actually can put a check on the corrupt republicans in Washington and the WH, and start repairing our country and make it good for ALL!!!!
7
Trumps genius is that he turns liberalism against itself, manifesting and highlighting the ugly aspects of it. And he presents himself as the anecdote. Resisting only strengthens himself by making liberals haters. So get used to toss up elections for awhile. This is the new American face of American democracy which is nothing new at all: love him, hate him, or don’t care. Either way we all lose because it’s all about him.
2
The thing that really upsets me is that a demagogue like Trump plays his base like a musical instrument, always hitting on the same tired notes, and they don't even know they are being played. They make up their minds based on impressions rather than facts or intelligent analyses. It depresses me to think that our educational system has failed so miserably. And if that sounds elitist, so be it. Our founding fathers were elitists who introduced us to democratic principles that are being threatened today by Trump and his
kind.
6
I love Mr. Blow's writing. As a white, heterosexual male Progressive, I look to him to voice my resistance to Lying Trumpism and Retrograde Republicanism. But today I find disagreement with "Count Me Among the Mob."
"Trump is going to be Trump. Stop playing by his rules. Don’t allow him to dictate the terms of the debate." Absolutely! The biggest mistake Sane Americans and Sane Media have made (continue to make) is allowing Lying Trump to define the issues, define the news, define the resistance.
So when Mr. Blow goes on to say, "Let him call you whatever he likes. If he says you are part of a mob, so be it," Mr. Blow falls into the same Lying Trump trap: allowing Lying Trump to define us.
We should never agree to be called a mob. We are not a mob. We are passionate, dedicated American patriots fighting for the survival of the America of honor, decency, compassion, law and order, and the values and ideals which our forefathers have striven for, fought for, died for.
Trumpism is to describe us as a mob. Passivism is to let him do it. Resistance is to turn the tables.
Lying Trumpism, Retrograde Republicanism are anathema to Sane Americans. Supporters of Lying Trump and his puppet court of Retrograde Republicans are not just a mob, they are mobsters. They are white supremacists, white nationalists. They are unthinking people who attend Lying Trump rallies to chant "Lock her up!" They are the mob which threatens, roughs up protestors. They are Lying Trump's mob of zombies.
6
Charles, perhaps the Democrats should start by telling us what they want to do.
Complaining that things are not the way they would be under Democrat leadership doesn’t do much for us because that’s what we voted for.
Coming up with one end of world prophesy after another, all due to some potential action Trump might take, and then having none of them come true, makes you look addled and makes us a little hysteria weary.
7
Charles may be too busy, but since you seem baffled by what could possibly be wrong with the current picture of America: I will tell you what we democrats want to do. We want equality for the vulnerable population which includes but is not limited to Black People, Immigrants, LBGQ, Woman, People with Disabilities and People suffering from addiction and mental Illness and The Homeless population. We want to be respected and heard. We want help from the government when we are in need. We want affordable housing, we want a clean environment, we want opportunity to work with out being discriminated against by gender or color or religion. We want Police Protection for All People. We want to end Police Brutality. And we want Trump out. He doesn't fit the bill of a civilized country. And this is just the beginning of the American Dream.
1
@Ariel H
You seem to want a lot. Ideally, all free, right?
Wanting those things is not the same as having solid proposals to achieve those things.
Nothing is free.I propose we elect leaders who care about all of these things. President Obama was such a leader: we need more like him. If Canada can afford health care for all its citizens a rich country like USA should be able to do the same. But there is a mentality of being stuck,poor, desperate and cheated and then voting for Trump. Even rich Republican Americans behave like they're poor. Like they will get buried with their last dollar. Its pathetic, Ken. Since you asked. Good luck with that.
Charles I proudly join you in the mob. Everything that Trump says or does trashes American values. As Hillary once said. It takes a mob to raise a child. It is my honor to be a charter member of the mob. We should convene our next meeting on November 7.
4
When my father came to this country as a 40 year old refugee from Nazi Germany with my mother and me in tow, he saved string.
He arrived nearly penniless, had very little English except what he could discern as a result of his gymnasium classes in Latin and found a job at a May Company Department Store as a worker in their stockroom.
Thrifty by nature and upbringing, he was astounded to learn that large quantities of string were being discarded every day, and began saving the string for reuse later.
For his trouble, he got laughed at by the other stock boys and his boss, all of them native-born Americanos.
Skip ahead a few years, and my father and mother had opened a tiny store where they and several chocolate-dippers produced some very good candy, which in turn ultimately enabled them to purchase a house and pay my way through college.
The May Company has since gone out of business, and I guess the stock boys who laughed at my father went out of business with it. Doubtless, many of them who still survive and their children are currently members-in-good-standing of Trump’s mob.
Not all of the refugees I have known made out as well as my father, but many did and some made out even better.
If I was in put in charge of attracting more people for some sparsely populated country -- say Greenland, Iceland or parts of the USA -- I’d look for refugees from persecution and migrants attempting to escape life-threatening poverty who know how to save string.
10
This may seem terribly naïve of me, Mr. Blow, but I think the looming midterms hinge upon one single dynamic: are Americans, at bottom, people of goodwill?
14
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
A compelling question. I guess we will have the answer in 3 weeks.
1
As always, Mr. Blow expresses what I for one am feeling. We must stop allowing Trump to dictate and define our message.
We can do that! Dems/progressives/liberal brothers and sisters please:
1. Stick together!! Stop piling on whenever one of our party makes a mistake. The Elizabeth Warren DNA issue is a good example of the way in which we pile on rather than have each other's backs! Rather than engaging in the endless debates about her actions. character etc (Oh how the republicans must relish watching us batter our own!). Other examples are the viscious attacks on HRC I see right here in this paper and many other places, regularly! Stop it already! It's helping the republicans, not us.
1A. Cease and desist calling our democrat women leaders names like 'shrill'.
2. Think, act and campaign in a coordinated way. Think tanks. Coalitions! Imagine the landslide we would have won if Bernie and HRC had created a united front, early on, and campaigned on a shared vision of health care for all, womens rights, clean environment, etc. They BOTH had great vision and ideas. They wasted valuable campaign time fighting with each other over it! Stop it already. Come together! Right now!
3. Spread a sense of joy, compassion, humor. Activate the higher emotions in the masses to counteract the negativistic fear based amorality of Trumpism. Remember Hope and Change? Powerful stuff!! Bring it now!
Take 1 and 2 and create 3 and we will have a winning campaign. Let's go!! We can do this.
5
Resist illegitimate authority. Condemn all harassment and demand good faith bargaining.
1
Beto O'Rourke is what I consider as the example Democrats should be emulating. He has as message and sticks with it, with one exception (his Ly'in Ted comment used last week which he recognized was an error) not allowing himself to respond to the baiting of Republicans and in particular by Trump. The GOP wants to wallow in elephant-chit, fine, but Democrats don't have to stoop to their level and join them there. And work to present their message to all people, not just to appeal to the base.
3
This morning, while watching "Morning Joe", I heard for the first time something I have been begging and hoping to hear in the press and media, a question which has been needed to be asked but it seemed no one dared ask. Joe Scarborough looked into the camera and asked Trump supporters, in response to their tolerance of his relentless lying to the country, his praising the violent body slamming of a journalist by Greg Gianforte, etc., "Who raised you?" We have got to start asking what has happened to 45% (Trump's approval rating) of the electorate. Why does the hideousness, his adolescent "mean-girl" nature, his chronic lying, his bullying, his ad hominem attacks on specific individuals, appeal to them? Why does his megalomania, his pathological narcissism, his obvious intent to make America about him and not the Constitution, not turn them off, let alone not scare them? What is wrong with these people? Who raised them? America, under Trump and his base, feels like a household in which the nasty, ignorant, toxic teens have taken over. Yes, vote, because Democrats must "Take America Back", but not only from Trump but from the inexplicable masses who abet him.
9
I always wonder, do progressives have a special pin they plan to where when the revolution comes? Do they have a symbol for letting the mob know, "I live on the UWS but I'm one you I swear!"?
Everyone loves righteous justice and civil disobedience...until you're on the receiving end of the pitchforks.
Be careful what type of vigilantism you endorse because the revolution will always eat its own.
10
@Arturo, your concern is precious. When Democratic leaders suggest we all start body slamming Republicans, get back to us.
2
The country also needs principled and well grounded Democrats who are not themselves racists.
Unfortunately, that is not always the case.
Many American liberals and conservatives hoping that they represent "the better angels of our nature" were appalled at Elizabeth Warren's DNA
testing and the explicit racism (and opportunism) it represents.
If politicians doing DNA testing is not racism, what is racism?
Especially on the part of an allegedly liberal Democratic presidential aspirant claiming she is not "white" because she had a distant native American ancestor.
One drop of native American Indian blood makes you a native American?
How offensively racist can you be?
If Republican politicians started doing DNA testing to prove
their racial heritage to the voters, they would be thoroughly trashed
as racist by liberal Democrats and for excellent reasons.
4
@David, why did she feel the need to prove it? Could it be that like Obama's birth certificate, Trump and his cult followers would bring it up at every. Single. Moment that they could. I don't blame her for trying, and I think it's weird that folks like you make it sound like she claims she's a member of a tribe. Only Trump and those who think like him would ridicule. Especially when you are all about white supremacy, genetic makeup and proving your ancestry. Hypocrites, all of you.
3
@David
Where have you been David? DNA testing is a huge industry. Warren is not just a politician, she is a citizen. If she wishes to be proud of ALL her ancestral lineage, as many Americans are, that's her right. She made her family history public because she was challenged on it, called a liar. To twist her intentions is what's appalling.
Trump needs no swab. He is equal parts narcissism, greed, xenophobia, and misogyny.
2
Trump won with lies assisted by Putin. Trump won wit propaganda assisted by FOX/Murdoch. Trump won with manipulation of the public assisted by the Koch brothers. Never forget that.
Every time anyone, including you, says the Democrats don't have "a vision" or leadership I want to scream. They most certainly have both. They are not just reactionary. Many of them have great ideas, new directions and lots of hope for what we can be that is better than anything Trump can deliver. They do not get press coverage. Why not? They should.
Trump gets lots of free press. He is schrewd in the way a snakeoil salesman is, picking up on what the customer wants to hear and telling him just that. He cares for one thing only, himself. McConnell can't stand him but is happy to have him around because he is easy to manipulate by extreme flattery.
Please try not to write about Trump in your column. Write about Kamala Harris and Kristin Gillibrand, about the other women who are in congress or running. Write about the ideas the Democrats for the USA. Help them all in getting their vision out into the world and silence Trump by the thing he hates most, being ignored!
6
As an elementary school teacher who serves children and their families from all parts of the globe, I find it intensely embarrassing to me as a citizen, and frightening to my young students that such a man resides in the White House. Almost daily, his name comes up, and his few defenders use the same racist catch phrases as their chief executive, while the rest of them tell their white classmates what it’s like to fear for themselves or their families, even though their citizenship or residency is well established. Never have I had to be in the position of arbitrator in such acrimonious times, with students who are so young, because of the lust for power of one immoral man.
3
Yes. I'm not only a member of the "Mob" -- but I'll go as far as to say that most of us here in New York City, Donald Trump's own hometown, are members of the "Mob" as well.
And here's a word to those who are still managing to find fault with one Democrat or another: Now is not the time!
We have to stand firm and present as much of a united front as the Republicans have if we want to make any progress from where we now stand.
If you want any political change, we must all stand together and get out the VOTE!
The fate and future of our country depends on it.
5
Count me as part of the mob as well, Charles. I am not happy with a lying, cheating, divisive president. I am not happy with his calling people seeking safety in our country...as did my grandparents...rapists and criminals. I am not happy with a new highly partisan Supreme Court justice in a court that is supposed to be objective. I am not happy with a president who cites profit when a Washington Post correspondent is brutally murdered by Saudia Arabia, I am not happy with a president who incites violence against a free press. I am not happy that the signature of the United States on any peace treaty no longer means anything. I will certainly vote on November 6. But, truly , the way I feel...one vote is not enough.
5
Another right on, righteous column. Keep on keepin' on!
4
"degradation of the country"
What country does Blow live in?
Unemployment is exceptionally low, having recently hit all-time record lows for African Americans.
Wages are starting to tick up.
Coal miners and steel workers are not being driven out of their jobs by the government.
Iran and North Korea are cowering, with the most progress against North Korea in generations.
The government is taking less money out of people's pockets in taxes for all but the very rich.
What is the problem? The only degradation is the toddler meltdown of Democrats as people can plainly see that Democrat polilcies don't work, but Republican ones do.
7
@Son of the American Revolution
Unemployment is exceptionally low - A continuation of the trend started by the Obama Admin.
Wages are starting to tick up - Same story. Remember his $10.10 minimum wage for Fed employee's followed by blue states opting for the $15.00 min wage? Remember the GOP rage
Coal miners and steel workers are not being driven out of their jobs - Even in coal country Pa, they recognize coal is dead and jobs are (finally) steering towards other industry, proving you sometimes can make the horse drink. As to steel, yeah, the tariffs are doing a bang up job of closing out jobs here in the states as the 7 year old POTUS preens.
Iran and North Korea are cowering, with the most progress against North Korea in generations.
- DRK and Iran have not cowered, in fact they haven't even blinked. Progress is now as it has been, non existent.
The government is taking less money out of people's pockets in taxes for all but the very rich. - This doesn't even warrant comment aside from noting the 1500 you might get as a refund this year is a loan being paid for by your kids and eventually with the decrease in the SS, Medicare/caid Groups allocations, meanwhile multi-millionaires, billionaires and Corporations (who our SCOTUS tells us are "People" too) ride for free as we inch, no, rather gallop, to reaching the trillion dollar deficit bar, after Obama working us away from the hole GWB created for us.
Sorry, facts are not negotiable, in spite of what "Tiny" tells us.
1
"White people’s control of this country is in danger and under assault and must be defended and protected at all costs."
Every complex organism--biological, demographic, corporate, or of any other nature--that's capable of responding to changes in its environment has the equivalent of a survival instinct. If it didn't, it wouldn't have survived long enough to be observed. And that's true, too, of the demographic organisation called "white people." And one of the most foolish thing the Left does is run around gloating, "By the year 20xx, whites will be a minority in this country."
Do they think "whites" are just passively suicidal?
It's axiomatic that organisms that have a survival instinct have a means of exercising it. They can fight back. And they will. And the greater the perceived danger, the harder they fight. You don't ever want to corner a feral cat.
My mother was born in Germany, a survivor of WWII, and an immigrant to America. One of her oft-repeated observations was that America had been populated by sore-heads who'd been kicked out of Europe for being too violent and uncivilised. This from a survivor of the Dresden fire-bombings.
Mr Blow says the future "belongs to an America that looks absolutely nothing like Trump’s America." I assume you see the conflict between my mother's comment and Mr Blow's comment.
2
@Henry Miller
Race is an artificial construct created to divide humanity. Your argument illustrates a common belief system of fascism. This idea that hierarchy and suppression are natural, and therefore, unavoidable, is untrue. I believe we can choose to be inclusive, to be just, and hold each other to the standards of common decency. The color of our skin is irrelevant.
3
@Martha Grattan
Four or more thousand years of recorded human history suggests you're wrong: "hierarchy and suppression" have indeed been "natural" behaviours in every known human culture, skin colour, language and spoken accent, and behaviours just being some of the characteristics used to establish that hierarchy. Almost any excuse will do.
People don't change much over centuries or even the millennia. We still roam the world in warring tribes, for all that we have mobile phones and better weapons now.
The liberal agenda is not just reactionary. Hillary Clinton, while not the best candidate clearly spelled out a liberal agenda which clearly mirrored Barack Obama’s wonderful agenda which truly made America a great country.
And to show that America believed in that agenda Ad 3 million more people voted for her. That 77,000 people over three states helped tip the electoral scales and let Trump run rampant against the will of the people is one of the most heartbreaking things of my life. PB
2
I'm a proud to belong to the Democrat mob.
As a long standing Dem-mob member I'm intensely curious to know exactly who the organizers of the current immigrant caravan are.
Who is behind this, and why stage it to arrive at the border exactly when crucial mid-term voting is at its height?
The timing of this large caravan is very, very suspect. Just in time for trump to bugle out to the base.
Trump bleats that all anti-trump protesters are paid. Is that because his partisans really are paying the organizers of these vulnerable, desperate young people, using some of those millions of last minute campaign funds?
What lies have the caravan marchers been told about being welcomed at the US border? Do they understand they sacrificial goats are being used by a political party to swing an election?
Very, very suspicious timing. Needs looking into...
6
@Myragrandotter. Agreed. The timing of this caravan is very suspicious. It is truly red meat thrown at 45’s base.
3
So what's the vision, Mr. Blow? Let's start with healthcare. My vision is that when you get sick, you get the care you need to get well. You don't have to worry about it. It's not free, everybody has to pay what they can afford in the form of an income-based tax, but it's always there, no matter how you earn your living or where you live. Next, nobody has to go into debt to get a college degree if they're smart enough and willing to do the hard work of learning. And lastly, nobody works 40 hours a week at anything and still can't afford a decent two-bedroom house or apartment in a safe neighborhood, one reliable car, gas, utilities, food and clothing. Nobody, nowhere. Those three things describe a vision of an America where every life matters, all work is rewarded, and everyone who makes the effort and obeys the law can improve their standard of living, guaranteed. My personal vision is an America with fewer billionaires and millionaires in gated communities, and more happy, healthy, hopeful working people in modest homes and safe, clean neighborhoods. What's yours, Mr. Blow?
4
So, Mr Blow, will you be departing the Country when your side loses in November or continue the tirade and roar of a losing position? If you believe the Country supports your open border policy, put it to a vote. No Democrat will do so because they know what the answer will be: as proved by the most liberal State's question on illegal aliens in Prop 187 back in the 80's. Nothing has changed, believe it or not. But quit claiming primacy of either morality or reality, please.
7
Can't wait for the tyranny of the minority to replaced by the tyranny of the majority. What can possibly go wrong? Except all wrongs will be righted (actually lefted) by the kind, caring type of people who fill these comments with their regard for anyone who doesn't quite fit the way they think.
7
@Rob
The party of "diversity" struggles with the notion of diversity of thought and ideas.
They have little use for that concept.
It's a bit ironic, honestly...
2
Count me in, Charles. I am proud to be a member of the "mob". One of the problems, however, is that people such as Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are doing the Democrats no favor by staying on. They lack the political courage to offer a viable opposition to Trump and his congressional lackeys.
Until establishment Democrats stop worrying about offending, not much is going to change.
5
Bring-on Joe Kennedy, Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg to lead the Dems. The message should be clear; corporate America will pay our taxes! More money for everyone to spend for corporate goods and services. It's about time...
Well said. We have lost our moral compass and this vessel for good and justice has been pirated by a rogue citizen called Trump.
Men of historical good will, the Republican Party, has assisted him in the capture of this once great country
Continue the resistence. God please bless America again.
6
The "mob" characterization is a bad one. It implies violence. This is Trump's characterization. We cannot allow Trump to bait us. That is what he wants. And it gives Democrats/liberals a bad name. Trump uses fear to drive anger. Let that be his problem, not ours.
5
Trump is trying to generate fear and loathing in the hearts of his audiences against their fellow citizens to motivate them to vote and to con gullible independents into voting for Republicans. Trump is a demagogue at every rally and in many of his tweets. Demagogues turns gatherings into mobs, that’s what they do. His assertion that Democrats are mobs and Republicans respect rules and laws as he whips up his audiences into a mob like mentality with the assertions is just more misrepresenting of reality. Reality does not depend upon people’s beliefs. But people’s behavior can be motivated by false representations of reality. Trump has no conscience, he would not regret setting off mob violence.
2
Alas Charles,Trump's fascination for power and media coverage, and what Joseph Conrad refers to as our atavistic fascination with "the abomination" create a nightmare culture of 24/7 Trump. All media coverage, even daily reports of Trump's every lie and outrageous statements, builds Trump's brand, and the effect is to ever so gradually have us forget morally centered and public minded politicians and civil servants, not only because Trump now is the ugly embodiment of our government, he also makes sure that he trashes those who came before him and those who don't support him as America's enemies. I greatly fear that he is winning the battle for America's heart and soul, by appealing to humanities worse instincts
4
Here is a list of American military deaths from 1775 to the present as a result of major U.S. wars:
American Revolutionary War (25,000)
War of 1812 (15,000)
Mexican-American War (13,000)
Civil War (655,000)
Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars (6,500)
World War I (117,000)
World War II (405,000)
Korean War (37,000)
Vietnam War (58,000)
Afghanistan and Iraq Wars (7,000)
Total from all conflicts: over 1.3 million
What did they die for?
For Trump? For his enablers? For those who put themselves above their country? For those who protect and defend their own interests ahead of those of their fellow citizens? For those whose primary motivation in life is pettiness, mendacity, and self-centered greed?
I believe we are better than such people.
And I believe that those who gave their lives for their country think the same of us as well.
We can hope so. Or we can show them.
Let's show them on November 6.
10
Approximately the 140th straight column by Mr. Blow about Mr. Trump. Approximately 100 columns to go. I still am firmly convinced that there are millions and billions of things going on in this country that have nothing to do with Don Trump. And most of them are good things. I am just recommending a little perspective.
12
It's the same story with Trump, over and over again. The process is simple: throw red meat to the base by saying the country is being overridden by immigrants and that he is the one savior who will fix it. Imply that women and racial groups need to be curtailed and that he will stand in the way to make it so. Brag about the economy even though it is Obama-inherited, corporate tax-cut induced, and debt-increasing created through massive breaks for the rich.
Let's not forget that "the mob" is not the 30% who like these policies. "The mob" wants to see morality, decency and the preservation and respect for our institutions. "The mob" hates the divisiveness. Whereas Trump, a Roy Cohn brawler-type, views it as a life-or-death struggle of "love me or hate me."
If you like where Trump has taken the country, then by all means you will vote for the continuation of this through House and Senate races. But if you're on the other side, and you think this is dead wrong, you must be outraged and show that by voting in large numbers. It's very simple.
6
"They feast together on hatred and intolerance."
With so much bilious misunderstanding - I think deliberate, in Blow's case - it is easy to understand why, in a midterm that should be coming up a sea of blue, Democrats now speak of limiting losses in the Senate and trying to squeak by a House majority. Sad, and frankly, the principal legacy of the Obama years, which is sadder still.
5
Yes, yes, yes to all of this.
But it still doesn't solve the Democratic party's messaging problem.
Republicans know the value of a short, sharp, shocking slogan. It's because they have a better sense of the realpolitik of our nation--the voters, by and large, are uninformed (victims of a diminished educational system that they have contributed to gutting) and can be motivated by a simple message that can be uttered in a breath, even if it's a complete lie. That's why "Make America Great Again" works. And why "Democrats produce mobs while Republicans produce jobs" works. The rhyme itself is worth three points in an election cycle.
Democrats love to produce wonky position papers and complex program initiatives, but while these have their place in governance, that place is not in a campaign. They need to get out there with better slogans.
I suggest the following:
"Republicans scream. Democrats dream."
Or:
"Republicans lie. And they want you to die. So they can have your slice of the pie."
Feel free to come up with your own, and put them on T-shirts, bumper stickers, billboards, social media. Because messaging matters, and simple messages work better (especially when so many are simple themselves).
346
@Glenn Ribotsky You took the words right out of my mouth, Glenn. Team Trump has a brilliance at reducing things to Tweetable mnemonics. And our attention-deficit-afflicted populace (a euphemism if ever there was one) often prefers them to the messy, complex nuance that characterizes our political reality...even if they are hollow and untrue. I will get out my rhyming dictionary and go to work with you post haste.
2
@Glenn Ribotsky
Hmmmm. “Republicans scream. Democrats dream”?
Someone must not have seen the ‘protests’ at the Kavanaugh hearings. Back to the drawing board.
4
@Glenn Ribotsky
I especially like your third slogan--a bit too long for a teeshirt but not for a protest sign. Unfortunately only the choir see the protest signs (them, plus extreme hate-mongers who show up at rallies).
I believe we need to tackle the words as well--"regulations" and "red tape," for example. "Pro-life." "Liberal." Even words like "abortion" which almost always implies baby killing. Address any words or phrases that are irrational rallying cries--deal with them the way Obama dealt with his past association with Louis Farrakhan. Be courageous. Attack, don't defend. (Climate change for example--Trump et al support planet destruction. How is that pro-life?)
Anytime (and all the time) his faithful followers hear certain words it stirs their passions--exactly what Trump wants. As he said on the campaign trail in 2016, "I love the undereducated."
104
Perhaps Trump is more clever than we realize or give him credit for: by polarizing the country he is making his opponents visible and more easily dealt with by a police state. That police state will solidify its hegemony over the unhappy little people who pay all the taxes and who Trump exults in having at his nonexistent mercy. Any semblance of representation in our government is gone, considering that a close and frequent reading of the "Federal Register" reveals the legislative depredations of the multinationals who really rule us. The little people will remain atomized, transfixed as they are by addictive electronic toys and the infantile pleasures of social media, which could otherwise be used as a force to coalesce resistance to the new fascism...
1
Where is this guys Achilles heel. Where is he vulnerable and weak. So, far, nothing sticks. He maintains the support of his diehard followers. The Dems reaction to him has to be a brutally prosecuted battle plan. Swift, consistent, truthful explanations of the impact of his policies on them. Repeated over and over. Saturate the airwaves and social media in Trump country. So, the Democrats have to get their act together and meet his lies with truth and facts. Until then he'll carry on his PT Barnum act....with Kellyann Conway flying through the air with the greatest of ease.
Trump's antics are a distraction allowing the GOP Congress to enact their miserly agenda. In "No Country For Old Men" Anton Chigurgh ignites a car in front of the pharmacy he intends to rob then walks in and takes the items he needs, unopposed.
The media are fascinated by tracking Trump's boorishness and by catching him in petty lies.
Meanwhile his accomplices are walking in and taking what they want.
5
If we need goals or guides we could start by being guided by three words, Honesty, Honor and Hope.
4
@george Honesty and Hope, yes. But Honor can be perverted more readily by honoring but honoring what shouldn't be. Doing so is how we got here in the first place. So, how about something like Respect instead? Doing so would dull trumpian behavior while also giving everyone a let up, mutually.
1
American heritage is NOT white heritage. I would point to slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Civil Rights movement is an integral part of our American heritage. The American heritage is all of it for all of us.
You slipped on that one.
3
Still one more segment of Trump's base to rile up to a frenzy was just added not too many hours ago...his discriminating evangelical Right. Front page of the NY Times as I awoke and to my utter disbelief, was, and I quote: "'Transgender' could be defined out of existence" per this administration. This unconscionable specimen of a man has sunk so low as to declare WHO we are. Who! We can not be Brown; we can not be Black; we can not be Native American, to whit North Dakota; we can not be woman; we can neither be Muslim nor agnostic nor atheist; we can not be immigrant, refugee, gay, and now transgender. In other words, we count for nothing. We are not worth existing if we are not White, of European ancestry, or a "neo-Christian" who ironically defies rather then follows the teachings of Christ.
So yes, count me in to be part of the mob. I am angry, and I have had enough. Charles Blow has a point. Although justified, it is not enough to just protest the blatant and rampant corruption and amorality of not only the Trump White House but also of too many in his Republican Congress. It is imperative that we also roll up our sleeves and become proactive. Let us work hard for those individuals who have policies and plans to save a sinking democracy. Let us work hard to have the backs of those who seek for us equality and fairness and health...for all of us, our kids and grandkids, to be given a fighting chance to thrive.
3
Bad political timing for Hondurans to be coming north. What are the chances that Russia is paying their way? The strangest improbable possibilities become reality every day.
5
The problem's not whose side you're on but labeling the other side a "mob".
2
As Mr. Bruni pointed out in yesterday's op-ed, attempting to project a clear policy message through Trump's fog of war is very difficult---and one which the media is making more difficult with its fascination and overreporting of his Oval Office circus. I recognize that the kind of mayhem Trump creates---covering up a murder, daily scandals, racists/sexists comments, threats of war---is difficult to ignore---but, the media needs to stop focusing on what happening under the big ten and instead concentrate on what Trump's policies are doing to all the little tents throughout this country.
3
you know...if the Dems only stopped attacking guns and gun owners at every turn they would wipe the GOP off the face of the political map. too many gun deaths? increase the size of the police force to solve the crimes....crime prevention is the certainty criminals have of being caught. but the Dems don't say that do they? they attack the rights enshrined in the 2A... and it's sad really. there are ALOT of gun owners, responsible ones... and one other thing. 2A was established to prevent the hot from running roughshod over our rights..so let's not be too hasty about ridding ourselves of our ultimate protection of an authoritarian government...
1
I think the problem liberals are having at this moment is the fact that Trump and right wing media are not only redefining concepts that liberals hold dear but reality itself. If you believe Trump the 8 years prior to his coronation was the most lawless, evil, destructive, poverty-stricken, desolate time in America. It was run by a feckless dictator who did everything for non-white people and threw Caucasians' under a bus and then backed over them again.
There are think tanks, foundations, cable channels, websites, and international hackers all with the expressed desire to keep liberals out of power which makes figuring out a tactic to counter them seem daunting. In the past the facts and reality would kick in but we are beyond that now.
I too wish the Left (and Independents) would have better mobilized against this onslaught but it is dangerous. Once you make them aware of your existence all manner of attacks are free to be employed against you and truth doesn't matter. This is the world where Kavanaugh is held up as a martyr despite having an extremely powerful life time job he is unqualified to do. If that is the result of being a martyr where do I sign up!
The tactics should have always been to go after the congress who is allowing Trump's abuses to go unchecked. It was their spinelessness that should have been reported constantly until they made an attempt to do their job. They are not as skilled at lying and fault lines would have been made obvious.
2
Mr Blow: My wife and I were watching NBC nightly news with Lester Holt this past week when a thirty-second national spot commercial came on, sponsored by the GOP. It was appalling in its depiction of Democrats as exactly what you say, "a Leftist mob," "socialists," "destroying America," "pro-criminal immigrants," etc. It hit all the buzzwords, of course, but was absolutely vile in its intent and presentation. My wife and I, no novices to this kind of thing, were shocked that this would be put on national TV. This is an indication how low the GOP has sunk. We expect much worse before election day. My wife and I are now "proud mobsters," looking forward to voting against such hatred and bile.
8
We know exactly what we’re for, but we know that almost half of this country has been brainwashed into believing that the things we want will leave them in some powerless communist dystopia. We can’t have a rational conversation about the things we believe in because the other side only sees fear or rage.
We want universal healthcare, good maternity leave, a robust, well-funded school system that serves the poor as well as the rich, we want gun control so those well educated kids don’t have to worry about being massacred in their classroom, we want equal rights for all races and sexual orientations, and we want the separation of church and state.
4
Many of us have watched Trump since he took office and assumed at anytime the country as a whole would come to its senses and wholesale reject him. However, it appears that isn't going to happen. Trump's followers see nothing wrong with and in fact continue to eat up his banter that among other things demeans women, denigrates immigrants, and vilifies the media, including glorifying a violent attack on a journalist.
I think Michael Moore put it most succinctly in an interview when he said: “A waste of time! Oh my God! If you’re still for Trump [after] two years, [with] everything you’ve seen, you’re gone, no one can convince you of anything!”
I guess our only hope at this point is the "mob," and let's hope it grows in size come November 6th. The thought of the Republicans maintaining control of both Houses of Congress with Trump at the helm is something too scary to contemplate.
7
Disparaging his opposition as a "mob" is a cheap way for Trump to revisit his lie that he stands for "law and order."
In truth, it is Trump who fancies himself above the law, who creates chaos in our highest office, and who goes after those who dare cross him.
Trump isn't worried about any mob. He fears that changing powers in Congress would finally make him accountable.
8
Our country is gravely ill. If this doesn’t turn around at the midterms the US will be on life support.
4
"Stay focused on the future. It belongs to an America that looks absolutely nothing like Trump’s America. Vote!"
Mr. Blow, your most valuable contribution to the debate, also the most dangerous to "Trump's America," is your mobilization of hope. Paraphrazing Michelle Obama, when they peddle despair and resignation, we counter with hope.
I am a European and I hear you. This is my struggle also.
5
There's enough corruption and malfeasance going on to satisfy any Democratic candidate no matter which Republican he/she is running against. It's mostly about who is the messenger.
We need 100 Beto ORourkes or Barack Obamas running for the Senate and another 435 of them running for Congress. Whether they're male or female versions of Barack or Beto doesn't matter. And only one more running for President.
6
Get rid of the republicans in Congress . They have allowed trump to survive this long. There is no excuse for them. trump did not win this election and should never have been allowed to take the oath of office. Kavanaugh and Gorsuch should be removed from the Court because their nominations resulted from the same ill-gotten election. Our House is filthy and needs a thorough scrubbing. Demand the cleanup from the Democrats. Vote Blue for equality for all citizens. Vote Blue for the return of heart and soul to our government. Vote Blue for a humane immigration policy. Vote Blue for science. Vote Blue for qualified people in government, for a robust State Department.
3
You know the scene in It's a Wonderful Life when the angel Clarence shows George what Bedford Falls would be if it hadn't been for him?
That's what America now looks like to me. Trump and everyone who supports him fit into those scenes making America Potterville.
The "mob" needs to be the swell of people who come to back George when Potter's bank examiner is about to indict George for the short fall caused by Potter's theft from George's uncle of one day's deposit of the Savings and Loan George's father founded.
Sorry to go so far into the details of the movie, but I think it's beneficial and helpful to see how closely the procedural process of the movie resemble's how trump operates.
Trump=Potter A unceasingly voracious greed for all everyone has because he has no core personality to be satisfied with anything.
If you can't stomach reading the full NYTimes Story, listen to the authoring reporters on Fresh Air and make sure everyone you know does too.
The Allied forces in WWI and WWII weren't a mob. Nor those who came to NYC's rescue after 9/11.
Let Trump/Potter call us a mob, it makes it so much easier to understand he is Potter. We aren't a mob. We are each one of us, George.
The question we must ask us now is: What would George do?
And do it.
11
@memo laiceps
Amusing rant, but Trump won the election, mostly heartland votes, to the Bedford Falls White House, which is when Clarence got his wings, it seems.
2
@Alice's Restaurant
Alice, Neither amusing nor rant but polite discourse, yes. As opposed to your belittling and dismissing snark. Actually, Bedford Falls is in New England and for the record, in terms of number of votes, Hillary won by over 3 million votes. It's not the voters but the rigged electorial college and jerrymandering that gave the white house to trump. Know your facts. Your life depends on it.
"Trump is antithetical to most American values"
I'd love to believe that statement. In my heart, I do believe it. But the sad truth is that roughly half of America supports the man destroying those values and our country. It's truly incomprehensible that these people call themselves Americans. But they do.
As a passionate member of the resistance, I consider myself a patriot. Sadly, trump supporters think I'm a traitor. Where does that leave thus country? It's very, very hard to be hopeful about America's future.
6
If we don't vote all will be lost. Climate change is real and it will destroy the loves for future generations. Our inaction, our indifference, our apathy is stealing their chance to live on a habitable planet as we know it. Of the many abominations that the Trump administration is committing, it's unconditional support for fossil fuels will be judged by future generations as a crime against humanity. Focusing on the future of our children and the welfare of future generations should be our number one priority. If you care at all about our children and their children vote, please, vote.
6
I completely agree with you, Mr.Blow. there has to be a vision of what needs to be achieved and not just reaction to his words. Don't like what trump represents be part of the mob that represents a diverse country. Don't become defeated before the election. Go out and vote. Please. As a Canadian and your next door neighbor I don't like this poison that is spreading once insidiously and now out in the open and creeping in through our borders. Because if America says this is the way, so go many others. Develop a vision of ethical behavior and respect for all people. You are teetering into chaos. Thank you, Mr. Blow, for your brilliant articulate columns and fighting with moral courage in these desperate times and representing those of us who think like you.
8
Trump is not Superman. He is not fighting for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way." Only the Democrats are fighting for health care, a growing economy and a living wage, fairness and equality for women's rights.
It's way pass time to put an end to Putin's puppet and MBS's mouthpiece.
Trump is the enemy of Truth, Justice and the American Way.
7
The British called the Sons of Liberty a mob before we declared our independence from England. Our democracy was formed out of mobs protesting a tyrannical King George III and a parliament that wanted to tax the American colonists without having them represented fairly in the government. American colonists revolted. We are now faced with an authoritarian president who would like to be a tyrant, who has been allowed to spew his hateful venom because the Republican Party never properly vetted him, and has seen fit that we are NOT fairly represented in government too, by gerrymandering districts to afford their candidates the best chance of winning each district and voter intimidation and repression. Americans have revolted. Americans are revolted. Americans will revolt, if justice is not served in the midterms and in the courts regarding our president, who says he is about law and order, while he foments anger, fear and hate and doesn't obey the laws himself. "Whoever says he knows God, but does not do what He commands is a liar and the truth is not in him". Whoever says he is an American, but does not follow the creeds, laws, traditions, values of America is a liar and the truth of who they are and who they really represent (Russian and Arab interests? or their own selfish interests) needs to be made known and they should be fired immediately. They don't represent the majority of Americans nor the country we love, they took an oath to uphold and defend.
2
Right now, as I write, I hear motorcycles rumbling a short distance away. Their riders are winding up (another) "Bike Weekend" in this little tourist town about 30 miles north of the center of Phoenix.
Our one road through town is stacked at one end with western saloons & biker-friendly bars that draw large crowds on weekends for whatever "event" the merchants who really run this town dream up to make money.
One of the concessions set up along the road catering to the bikers this weekend is an enormous Trump souvenir stand. I drove by it this morning, when the crowds were still sleeping off Saturday night. The stand sells hateful posters & paraphernalia, along side "patriotic" items that made me cringe with embarrassment & disgust. This is how facism comes to town. Masquerading as a carnival.
Resistance? It's hard in a place where open & hidden carry is allowed. These are angry armed haters fueled by booze, testosterone & resentment just looking for an excuse to take down any resistance. The town & the sheriff's deputies are useless. The former collects the sales taxes & the latter probably agrees with the bikers.
My only recourse is my vote. Or, to move. But Arizona needs my vote & those cast by my like-minded friends & neighbors. Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff, they're solidly Democratic. But these little towns, for all their breathtaking beauty, have a very long way to go.
5
@QueCosa
Persist, my friend.
1
It’s interesting that Mr. Blow says that liberals should articulate their vision of the future but does not explain what it is. Isn’t it a little late? The elections are just around the corner. It’d be a real dereliction of duty if a political movement only now came to realize that it missed having a platform. But I suspect that it’s not that Mr. Blow does not know what his vision is; he doesn’t want to say. I think that the left-wing radicals, counting on the American historical amnesia, are now trying to smuggle into our political discourse real socialism: the state ownership of the means of production, which means that all corporations become governmental property and smaller businesses are either phased out or nationalized. Raise your hand if you want this, and the inevitable economic collapse, violence and imppverishment that follow. Everything else on the Dems agenda is either a small correction or gradual improvement. I am not that old but I still remember the Obama years and in no significant way was the basic economic and cultural infrastructure of the American life different from what it is today. So, dear mob, please be clear. If you are protesting Trump because you don’t like him or his policies and want a return to an improved status quo, many will join. If you want state ownership of the means of production, enraged crowds will turn against you.
2
You have not defined socialism (in which the workers own the means of production), but communism (state control.)
1
@Mor
Your understanding of socialism is fatally flawed.
You're describing Communism, they're competing political philosophies.
1