The high water mark of American white male reactionary revenge rampage is upon us. The truth is that it is the death rattle of a rotten, evil culture that in twenty years will be dead along with the old churchy boomer billionaires funding it. And some other folks.
I hope you're right. But someone is listening to Joe Rogan, Matt Walsh, and all the rest and I think they tend to be younger people. JD Vance is there to cater to that crowd.
Yes, my sons tell me many of their high school friends have fallen down that rabbit hole here in “liberal” Northern California. They are in their late 30’s early 40’s.
Many of the J6 insurrectionists, maybe most(?), are already put of jail. The point of their pardons, besides the messaging, is that many of them were legally barred from owning firesrms because of their convictions. And now they can buy and own them again.
I’m so glad I paid for a subscription because you regularly encapsulate what I’m thinking, but don’t express as compactly as you do. Keep going. Your words matter.
My understanding is that Trump’s (unconstitutional) order ending birthright citizenship also applies to people whose parents were here legally (e.g. on a student visa) when they were born. Anyone whose parents were not citizens at the time of their birth.
At least it's not retroactive. They haven't tried to take citizenship away from those who already have it. Yet. (And to Lyz's point, if they can take away rights from groups of people they choose, it's not clear to me what's left of citizenship anyway).
Really scary times for the US and the world. Male grievances lead to harm, and the men seem to get away with it, by labelling women as “crazy”, “unreasonable” and “liars”. Women’s rage (not that I’ve done any research, leads to underlining the above accusations. Think Amber Heard and Blake Lively. They were just asserting their rights as human beings but they got derided and the men were hailed as heroes. I have to confess, although we have structural racism and misogyny here in the UK, I’m glad I’m not an American.
The anti-trans stuff is particularly pernicious. For one thing, none of those actions keep ‘men’ out of women’s spaces. Women’s prisons still have male guards and wardens. Women’s sports teams still have male coaches, trainers, and doctors. The ONLY thing those actions do is reinforce a brutal gender hierarchy in which cis males can interact with women ONLY IN POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY OVER WOMEN. This is exactly the model used for race relations under Jim Crow laws: there were NO spaces entirely for Black people — white males could go anywhere they wanted — and Blacks were allowed in white spaces only as inferiors. White women had Black domestic servants but no Black bridge club members or doctors. See the same pattern in gender relations now? All interactions reinforced the unjust hierarchy.
The Hadix sisters are from Manly, Iowa--the town in which I was baptized and where my paternal grandparents are buried. My father's family was the only Catholic family in town (Kensett, Iowa) and was subjected to "charming" prejudice (stealing from Trevor Noah). I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the racism in that area of Iowa in those years but, it's still shocking! Lots of famous entertainers played at the Surf Ballroom. Richie Valens, a Mexican-American, did his last performance there before dying in a plane crash. I wonder if the local yokels knew of his ancestry.
Lyz, Lyz, Lyz. You wrote, "Trump is an effective president. He does what he says he will do."
He said he would build a wall. He did not. He said Mexico would pay for it. It did not. He said he would restore America to greatness. He did not. He just declared the cartels to be terrorist organizations, which, under International Law, will legalize the asylum seeking of hundreds of thousands of people under their sway.
Trump is NOT an effective President, ("Effective" - successful at producing a desired or intended result"). His ill-considered actions will produce paradoxical, unexpected and negative results. Instead of restoring America's credibility on the world stage, it will again bring derision at the stupidity of its leader(s). Instead of protecting "life," his policies will result in the deaths of women and their fetuses.
On the other hand, he will do SOME of what Project 2025 wants him to do, or Elon Musk or Vladimir Putin or the last person he talks to tells him to do. But it's not predictable based on what he says, because hyperbole is his middle name. And those things might be really bad for many of us.
Keep up the incredibly good work. But, please, do not call America's Con Man an effective President.
I understand you don't like him, but he's fulfilled enough promises to his base to get re-elected. You are not his base. But if you want to understand America and what's happening, it is important to look beyond your personal biases and see how he's worked to push through (legally or otherwise) his agenda, and how he continues to push it through. This is actually him fulfilling his promises and it's part of why he's popular with his base. He is effective. He kept more of his promises than Biden did. And I think we will see him railroad his agenda through. I don't like it, but he is effective.
I deleted my other response, because (it was pedantic bullshit) I think you make a good case that Trump is "effective," though as you noted, my bias colors my desire to not use that word applied to Trump.
I woke up to news that DEI personnel had been put on paid leave, and that all DEI focused programs and departments would be shuttered. My husband and I were talking, and we wondered how many people would even know what DEI is. Conversely, as my students once again learn how to write analytical papers they are grappling with social construction of gender, single mothers, and whether women have value beyond reproduction. I only have 50 writing students, but I'm in a small town in rural Oregon, so there can be a ripple effect. I am trying to curate my news feed so that I get more facts and less spin. I don't want to get sucked into outrage about Trump, either, because I did that for 4 years and I feel like I missed something in terms of understanding what is happening in the world.
Now accepting any and all theories on what is going on with middle aged white dudes. Being one, I have my thoughts but really not interested in huffing my own farts on this.
Just a theory, but in many parts of the world - including much of Northern Europe, where I'm from - men have been liberated from toxic stereotypes and are free to exist as fully realized, emotional beings. Forty years ago, my older brother became a stay-at-home dad because his wife was better at making money, and there was zero shame in it. Men voted for Angela Merkel because she was the most pragmatic choice and didn't loose their virility in turn. The US, sadly, is way behind the times...
My heart goes out to all the women who reported the Jan. 6 criminals. A NY lawyer friend said "it is almost certain that at least some of the convicted criminals who received pardons or commutations will be recidivists - they will commit crimes again. And when they get convicted of their post-pardon or post-commutation crimes, their sentences will be longer." I don't want to even think about the crimes some of them may commit against the women who turned them in. Thank you, Lyz, for calling out these issues.
EO: DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING
Sec 3:
"(c) When administering or enforcing sex-based distinctions, every agency and all Federal employees acting in an official capacity on behalf of their agency shall use the term “sex” and not “gender” in all applicable Federal policies and documents."
(The term "gender" cannot be used by federal government employees?)
"(e) Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other messages. Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology."
(Remove communications? Seems a bit like scrubbing history.)
Section 8 (d) If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
(You're going to have to file a lawsuit for every item?)
EO: REFORMING THE FEDERAL HIRING PROCESS AND RESTORING MERIT TO GOVERNMENT SERVICE
Sec 2 (b) This Federal Hiring Plan shall:
(ii) prevent the hiring of individuals based on their race, sex, or religion, and prevent the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to *faithfully serve the Executive Branch*;
(I'm sure the screening process will include whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen, as in the application process on Project 2025.)
EO: Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing
"Sec. 2. Implementation. (a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear. ..."
The high water mark of American white male reactionary revenge rampage is upon us. The truth is that it is the death rattle of a rotten, evil culture that in twenty years will be dead along with the old churchy boomer billionaires funding it. And some other folks.
I hope you're right. But someone is listening to Joe Rogan, Matt Walsh, and all the rest and I think they tend to be younger people. JD Vance is there to cater to that crowd.
You are correct. There is an entire industry devoted to stoking male rage.
Yes, my sons tell me many of their high school friends have fallen down that rabbit hole here in “liberal” Northern California. They are in their late 30’s early 40’s.
Amen to that.
I keep thinking of Jackson Reffitt…
Many of the J6 insurrectionists, maybe most(?), are already put of jail. The point of their pardons, besides the messaging, is that many of them were legally barred from owning firesrms because of their convictions. And now they can buy and own them again.
And become Trump’s brown shirts
Yup. Straight from the Hitler playbook.
oh, good heavens, i never thought of that!
Truly terrifying
Yes, have seen posts saying specifically that, “now I’m going to go buy guns”
I’m so glad I paid for a subscription because you regularly encapsulate what I’m thinking, but don’t express as compactly as you do. Keep going. Your words matter.
My understanding is that Trump’s (unconstitutional) order ending birthright citizenship also applies to people whose parents were here legally (e.g. on a student visa) when they were born. Anyone whose parents were not citizens at the time of their birth.
It does
At least it's not retroactive. They haven't tried to take citizenship away from those who already have it. Yet. (And to Lyz's point, if they can take away rights from groups of people they choose, it's not clear to me what's left of citizenship anyway).
This is excellent and true.
Really scary times for the US and the world. Male grievances lead to harm, and the men seem to get away with it, by labelling women as “crazy”, “unreasonable” and “liars”. Women’s rage (not that I’ve done any research, leads to underlining the above accusations. Think Amber Heard and Blake Lively. They were just asserting their rights as human beings but they got derided and the men were hailed as heroes. I have to confess, although we have structural racism and misogyny here in the UK, I’m glad I’m not an American.
The anti-trans stuff is particularly pernicious. For one thing, none of those actions keep ‘men’ out of women’s spaces. Women’s prisons still have male guards and wardens. Women’s sports teams still have male coaches, trainers, and doctors. The ONLY thing those actions do is reinforce a brutal gender hierarchy in which cis males can interact with women ONLY IN POSITIONS OF AUTHORITY OVER WOMEN. This is exactly the model used for race relations under Jim Crow laws: there were NO spaces entirely for Black people — white males could go anywhere they wanted — and Blacks were allowed in white spaces only as inferiors. White women had Black domestic servants but no Black bridge club members or doctors. See the same pattern in gender relations now? All interactions reinforced the unjust hierarchy.
woah, these are all EXCELLENT points even as they are terrifying... dang. makes me think of the book The Women Could Fly by Megan Giddings.
The Hadix sisters are from Manly, Iowa--the town in which I was baptized and where my paternal grandparents are buried. My father's family was the only Catholic family in town (Kensett, Iowa) and was subjected to "charming" prejudice (stealing from Trevor Noah). I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the racism in that area of Iowa in those years but, it's still shocking! Lots of famous entertainers played at the Surf Ballroom. Richie Valens, a Mexican-American, did his last performance there before dying in a plane crash. I wonder if the local yokels knew of his ancestry.
Lyz, Lyz, Lyz. You wrote, "Trump is an effective president. He does what he says he will do."
He said he would build a wall. He did not. He said Mexico would pay for it. It did not. He said he would restore America to greatness. He did not. He just declared the cartels to be terrorist organizations, which, under International Law, will legalize the asylum seeking of hundreds of thousands of people under their sway.
Trump is NOT an effective President, ("Effective" - successful at producing a desired or intended result"). His ill-considered actions will produce paradoxical, unexpected and negative results. Instead of restoring America's credibility on the world stage, it will again bring derision at the stupidity of its leader(s). Instead of protecting "life," his policies will result in the deaths of women and their fetuses.
On the other hand, he will do SOME of what Project 2025 wants him to do, or Elon Musk or Vladimir Putin or the last person he talks to tells him to do. But it's not predictable based on what he says, because hyperbole is his middle name. And those things might be really bad for many of us.
Keep up the incredibly good work. But, please, do not call America's Con Man an effective President.
This is actually where the hope is for those of us who are against these fascists.
I understand you don't like him, but he's fulfilled enough promises to his base to get re-elected. You are not his base. But if you want to understand America and what's happening, it is important to look beyond your personal biases and see how he's worked to push through (legally or otherwise) his agenda, and how he continues to push it through. This is actually him fulfilling his promises and it's part of why he's popular with his base. He is effective. He kept more of his promises than Biden did. And I think we will see him railroad his agenda through. I don't like it, but he is effective.
Constantly directing anger at "them!"
I deleted my other response, because (it was pedantic bullshit) I think you make a good case that Trump is "effective," though as you noted, my bias colors my desire to not use that word applied to Trump.
I woke up to news that DEI personnel had been put on paid leave, and that all DEI focused programs and departments would be shuttered. My husband and I were talking, and we wondered how many people would even know what DEI is. Conversely, as my students once again learn how to write analytical papers they are grappling with social construction of gender, single mothers, and whether women have value beyond reproduction. I only have 50 writing students, but I'm in a small town in rural Oregon, so there can be a ripple effect. I am trying to curate my news feed so that I get more facts and less spin. I don't want to get sucked into outrage about Trump, either, because I did that for 4 years and I feel like I missed something in terms of understanding what is happening in the world.
Now accepting any and all theories on what is going on with middle aged white dudes. Being one, I have my thoughts but really not interested in huffing my own farts on this.
Just a theory, but in many parts of the world - including much of Northern Europe, where I'm from - men have been liberated from toxic stereotypes and are free to exist as fully realized, emotional beings. Forty years ago, my older brother became a stay-at-home dad because his wife was better at making money, and there was zero shame in it. Men voted for Angela Merkel because she was the most pragmatic choice and didn't loose their virility in turn. The US, sadly, is way behind the times...
My heart goes out to all the women who reported the Jan. 6 criminals. A NY lawyer friend said "it is almost certain that at least some of the convicted criminals who received pardons or commutations will be recidivists - they will commit crimes again. And when they get convicted of their post-pardon or post-commutation crimes, their sentences will be longer." I don't want to even think about the crimes some of them may commit against the women who turned them in. Thank you, Lyz, for calling out these issues.
Thanks for talking about the dark side of "Iowa nice" and making us all aware of the need to be allies.
1984 anyone?
EO: DEFENDING WOMEN FROM GENDER IDEOLOGY EXTREMISM AND RESTORING
Sec 3:
"(c) When administering or enforcing sex-based distinctions, every agency and all Federal employees acting in an official capacity on behalf of their agency shall use the term “sex” and not “gender” in all applicable Federal policies and documents."
(The term "gender" cannot be used by federal government employees?)
"(e) Agencies shall remove all statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications, or other internal and external messages that promote or otherwise inculcate gender ideology, and shall cease issuing such statements, policies, regulations, forms, communications or other messages. Agency forms that require an individual’s sex shall list male or female, and shall not request gender identity. Agencies shall take all necessary steps, as permitted by law, to end the Federal funding of gender ideology."
(Remove communications? Seems a bit like scrubbing history.)
Section 8 (d) If any provision of this order, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this order and the application of its provisions to any other persons or circumstances shall not be affected thereby.
(You're going to have to file a lawsuit for every item?)
EO: REFORMING THE FEDERAL HIRING PROCESS AND RESTORING MERIT TO GOVERNMENT SERVICE
Sec 2 (b) This Federal Hiring Plan shall:
(ii) prevent the hiring of individuals based on their race, sex, or religion, and prevent the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to *faithfully serve the Executive Branch*;
(I'm sure the screening process will include whether they believe the 2020 election was stolen, as in the application process on Project 2025.)
EO: Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing
"Sec. 2. Implementation. (a) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), assisted by the Attorney General and the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), shall coordinate the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear. ..."
(ACCESSIBILITY?)
By the way, orgnizations and teams that practice DEI create better outputs and better solutions to problems. It's just the smart thing to do!