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2:00PM Water Cooler 11/6/2024

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By Lambert Strether of Corrente.

Patient readers, brunch was quite something today, so please forgive any solecisms or infelicities. –lambert

Bird Song of the Day

Northern Mockingbird, The Celery Fields, Sarasota, Florida, United States.

* * *

In Case You Might Miss…

  1. Election 2024 roundup.
  2. Gram Parson’s birthday.
  3. Welding.

* * *

Politics

“So many of the social reactions that strike us as psychological are in fact a rational management of symbolic capital.” –Pierre Bourdieu, Classification Struggles

* * *

2024

Results: Handy map:

Certainly Trump’s solid win in the popular vote is legitimizing, and makes the kind of spook manipulations I was concerned about, like a color revolution, far less likely, though the nature and role of the Intelligence Community as an extra-constitutional entity remains a question. (Sadly, CIA Democrat Elissa Slotkin may yet pull out a win.)

Trump’s popular vote win was also unexpected:

“Harris to concede Wednesday afternoon” [Associated Press]. “Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver a concession speech Wednesday at 4 p.m., her office announced. Harris will speak at Howard University, her alma mater in Washington, where her supporters watched returns Tuesday night before being sent home after midnight as President-elect Donald Trump pulled ahead in battleground state results.” • In the election Live Blog, I published a schedule of returns from the Harris campaign: “Thursday, 11/07 & Beyond: If results are very close in any state, the race still may not be called.” But events moved much, much faster than the Harris campaign expected!

“Harris congratulates Trump on winning the presidential race” [Politico]. “Kamala Harris has called Donald Trump to congratulate him on winning the 2024 presidential election, according to a senior Harris aide. The vice president talked about the importance of a peaceful transfer of power and being a president for all Americans, the aide said.” • Oh. Hopefully she’s not lying on the “peaceful transfer” part; I still don’t see how you just hand the keys to the White House over to someone you devoutly believe is a fascist. (unless they were lying all along). RussiaGate was launched, IIRC, in the Clinton campaign plane the day after the election, so maybe Kamala’s people were hatching the same sort of plot before 4:00pm today. We shall see.

* * *

A compendium of reactions. –lambert

Class: Harris always did well in the Hamptons:

Shoutout to Ferguson and Storm:

Trump being an expert in sniffing out weakness. Turns out the Democrat weakness was class, as one would expect from a party whose base is the PMC. Sadly, the only way to express this is through immigration. “Lived experience,” doncha know.

Universal concrete material benefits:

* * *

Missouri:

Counties: “Early Results Show a Red Shift Across the U.S.” [New York Times]: “Of the counties with nearly complete results, more than 90 percent shifted in favor of former President Donald J. Trump in the 2024 presidential election.”

Kamala’s underperformance:

See the community note. There are 3.144 counties in the United States, and 58/3,144 = 0.01844783715, which is zero for all practical purposes. (I also think Twitter, or, I suppose, Musk, deservers credit for the “Community Notes” feature. I find it useful.)

Data point (1):

Data point (2):

The Blob: I wonder how the “thirty five year national security expert” is feeling?

Perhaps all the endorsements from generals and spooks and national security goons were — hear me out — a negative?

Our Democracy: Misery:

One party’s candidate was chosen in primaries; the other’s was selected by a small cabal. One party’s base hated its leadership, and used the primary mechanism to get rid of it. The other party wouldn’t even consider such a thing, and operates strictly by seniority. Which party is more democratic?

Democrat Leadership: The entire Democrat leadership ought to be purged, for starters:

Of course, that won’t happen, and the entire party has been made over in the image of the failed leaders (Exhibit A: AOC), so even if it did happen, it would make no differenece.

Identity Politics: “A historic realignment” –Trump

Abortion: “Reproductive Freedom” outperformed Kamala:

This suggests, perhaps counter-intuitively, that the Supreme Court in Dobbs, which left abortion up to the states, will in fact maximize poltically feasible codification (assuming Trump keeps his promise not to push for a national ban. No doubt the Christianists will push for a national ban when Congress reconvenes, so we’ll see what happens. Personally, I think Trump would like the whole issue, and its zealots, to go away).

Our Famously Free Press:

The “dark” meme reappears:

Fascism:

I disagree with scholar-of-fascism Paxton’s claim that this is a fascist moment (see extended discussion here). I don’t think it’s evidence-based, let alone based on scholarship. That said, I agree wholeheartedly with him here: “Whatever Trumpism is, it’s coming ‘from below as a mass phenomenon, and the leaders are running to keep ahead of it.'” Democrats will, of course, be incapable of even perceiving this “mass phenomenon,” let alone analyzing it. Ditto RINOs. Today’s Republicans? I don’t know.

Liberal Inability to Self-Reflect: “Would it not in that case be simpler for the government to dissolve the people and elect another?” — Bertolt Brecht

The sad thing is that even though Kolbert is at The New Yorker, I’ve enjoyed her writing on climate.

Schadenfreude: The Bidens (1): Ouch!

The Bidens (2): Biden’s counter-programming, whatever the cause, cannot have been helpful:

(“I want her to know it was me” is a Game of Thrones reference.)

Get the word “Lincoln” out of your mouths:

The fall of House Cheney:

* * *

Lambert here: This post brings Water Cooler’s daily election 2024 coverage to an end, although the election will continue to be a rich vein of inquiry as the transition to a Trump administration takes place (assuming, of course, that there is not a third, successful assassination attempt, or some late-breaking lawfare imbroglio). Let me briefly review my methodology. Since this is not my blog, I don’t make “calls” and certainly don’t make endorsements. Rather, I lay out my evidence and thinking and trust the readers to make use of them as they may. Back in December 2023 I wrote, looking forward, or at least ahead, to the year’s coverage:

340 days is a long time in politics. In the formulation of stability vs. volatility — that is, the view that the race is a “regular order” of Trump v. Biden, vs. the view that it is by no means certain that Trump and/or Biden will nominated[1], elected, and allowed to assume office[2], and further, that the means by which the parties will select their candidates is unknown[3], and even the nature of victory is unknown — I am firmly on the side of volatility[4].

[1] In fact, Biden was defenestrated. [2] We can’t be sure: The transition period is a long time of politics. [3] Kamala was selected not in a primary, but by a small cabal. [4] I think the upheaval on election day comes under the heading of volatility (in addition to Trump being the second President since Grover Cleveland to serve two non-consecutive terms). Further:

Hence my grimly detailed and methodical pointillist method; we need to know as much about all the players and fields as we possibly can, because we cannot know who will emerge from the pack[5], or even, at this point, why[6]. The powers that be can rig the election all they want, but if the dogs won’t eat the rigging, what then? And if they will, what then? So strap yourselves in.

[5] Robert Kennedy. [6] Uncommitted and Stein re: genocide.

I feel that the “grimly detailed and methodical pointillist method” cannot but have given readers insight into splendor and miseries of electoral politics, the strengths and weaknesses of the parties and the players, and “vibes.” What I did not anticipate, going into 2024, was the sheer volume and solidity of the bullshit I would have to contend with, and the overwhelming commitment of the press to the victory of one candidate/party. These two factors made the daily task of plucking nuggets from the news flow much more time-consuming and, indeed, risky than I have become accustomed to, because literally every data point had to be “assessed,” as if I were some sort of spook myself. Another way of saying this is that the PMC are my people, the press being a subset thereof; and I have been accustomed to being able to apply a proper discount to a large array of PMC work products, venues, etc., shortcutting the assessment process. Not so this year! Another methodological issue was representing the ebb and flow of candidate support in the campaign. Here, I decided to use the RealClearPolitics (RCP) poll averages every week. RCP is a conservative source, but and so its averages protected me (and you) from polling error and manipulation. Throughout, potential paths to victory for the ultimate winner were always clear. I’m also happy to have kept drawing that red box around Pennsylvania, where the Blue Wall first cracked. (I was surprised that Trump won the popular vote, but I never did track it, since it wasn’t relevant to victory). Here endeth my criticism/self-criticism for Water Cooler’s election coverage.

Syndemics

“I am in earnest — I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — I will not retreat a single inch — AND I WILL BE HEARD.” –William Lloyd Garrison

* * *

Covid Resources, United States (National): Transmission (CDC); Wastewater (CDC, Biobot; includes many counties; Wastewater Scan, includes drilldown by zip); Variants (CDC; Walgreens); “Iowa COVID-19 Tracker” (in IA, but national data). “Infection Control, Emergency Management, Safety, and General Thoughts” (especially on hospitalization by city).

Lambert here: Readers, thanks for the collective effort. To update any entry, do feel free to contact me at the address given with the plants. Please put “COVID” in the subject line. Thank you!

Resources, United States (Local): AK (dashboard); AL (dashboard); AR (dashboard); AZ (dashboard); CA (dashboard; Marin, dashboard; Stanford, wastewater; Oakland, wastewater); CO (dashboard; wastewater); CT (dashboard); DE (dashboard); FL (wastewater); GA (wastewater); HI (dashboard); IA (wastewater reports); ID (dashboard, Boise; dashboard, wastewater, Central Idaho; wastewater, Coeur d’Alene; dashboard, Spokane County); IL (wastewater); IN (dashboard); KS (dashboard; wastewater, Lawrence); KY (dashboard, Louisville); LA (dashboard); MA (wastewater); MD (dashboard); ME (dashboard); MI (wastewater; wastewater); MN (dashboard); MO (wastewater); MS (dashboard); MT (dashboard); NC (dashboard); ND (dashboard; wastewater); NE (dashboard); NH (wastewater); NJ (dashboard); NM (dashboard); NV (dashboard; wastewater, Southern NV); NY (dashboard); OH (dashboard); OK (dashboard); OR (dashboard); PA (dashboard); RI (dashboard); SC (dashboard); SD (dashboard); TN (dashboard); TX (dashboard); UT (wastewater); VA (wastewater); VT (dashboard); WA (dashboard; dashboard); WI (wastewater); WV (wastewater); WY (wastewater).

Resources, Canada (National): Wastewater (Government of Canada).

Resources, Canada (Provincial): ON (wastewater); QC (les eaux usées); BC (wastewater); BC, Vancouver (wastewater).

Hat tips to helpful readers: Alexis, anon (2), Art_DogCT, B24S, CanCyn, ChiGal, Chuck L, Festoonic, FM, FreeMarketApologist (4), Gumbo, hop2it, JB, JEHR, JF, JL Joe, John, JM (10), JustAnotherVolunteer, JW, KatieBird, KF, KidDoc, LL, Michael King, KF, LaRuse, mrsyk, MT, MT_Wild, otisyves, Petal (6), RK (2), RL, RM, Rod, square coats (11), tennesseewaltzer, Tom B., Utah, Bob White (3).

Stay safe out there!

* * *

Stats Watch

There are no official statistics of interest today.

* * *

Today’s Fear & Greed Index: 57 Greed (previous close: 43 Fear) [CNN]. One week ago: 57 (Greed). (0 is Extreme Fear; 100 is Extreme Greed). Last updated Nov 6 at 2:00:00 PM ET.

Musical Interlude

Gram Parsons’ birthday was the other day:

Book Nook

“Report finds ‘shocking and dispiriting’ fall in children reading for pleasure” [Guardian]. In the UK: “Children’s reading enjoyment has fallen to its lowest level in almost two decades, with just one in three young people saying that they enjoy reading in their free time, according to a new survey. Only 34.6% of eight- to 18-year-olds surveyed by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) said that they enjoy reading in their spare time. This is the lowest level recorded by the charity since it began surveying children about their reading habits 19 years ago, representing an 8.8 percentage point drop since last year. It is also part of a broader downward trend since 2016, when almost two in three children said that they enjoyed reading.” • That’s a steep drop-off!

Gallery

What color!

Zeitgeist Watch

Finally!

News of the Wired

“Only 5.3% of welders in the US are women. After years as a writing professor, I became one − here’s what I learned” [The Conversation]. “Recognizing the good pay and job security, U.S. women have moved in greater numbers into skilled trades such as welding and fabrication within the past 10 years. From 2017 to 2022, the number of women in trades rose from about 241,000 to nearly 354,000. That’s an increase of about 47%. Even so, women still constitute just 5.3% of welders in the United States.” • Worth a read, particularly if you’re a woman thinking of entering the field.

* * *

Contact information for plants: Readers, feel free to contact me at lambert [UNDERSCORE] strether [DOT] corrente [AT] yahoo [DOT] com, to (a) find out how to send me a check if you are allergic to PayPal and (b) to find out how to send me images of plants. Vegetables are fine! Fungi, lichen, and coral are deemed to be honorary plants! If you want your handle to appear as a credit, please place it at the start of your mail in parentheses: (thus). Otherwise, I will anonymize by using your initials. See the previous Water Cooler (with plant) here. From Milton:

Milton writes: “Fall Colors around of Big Pine along Hwy 395 in the Eastern Sierra. This was taken as I took the turn off to the Bristlecone Pine forests.”

* * *

Readers: Water Cooler is a standalone entity not covered by the annual NC fundraiser. Material here is Lambert’s, and does not express the views of the Naked Capitalism site. If you see a link you especially like, or an item you wouldn’t see anywhere else, please do not hesitate to express your appreciation in tangible form. Remember, a tip jar is for tipping! Regular positive feedback both makes me feel good and lets me know I’m on the right track with coverage. When I get no donations for three or four days I get worried. More tangibly, a constant trickle of donations helps me with expenses, and I factor in that trickle when setting fundraising goals:

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About Lambert Strether

Readers, I have had a correspondent characterize my views as realistic cynical. Let me briefly explain them. I believe in universal programs that provide concrete material benefits, especially to the working class. Medicare for All is the prime example, but tuition-free college and a Post Office Bank also fall under this heading. So do a Jobs Guarantee and a Debt Jubilee. Clearly, neither liberal Democrats nor conservative Republicans can deliver on such programs, because the two are different flavors of neoliberalism (“Because markets”). I don’t much care about the “ism” that delivers the benefits, although whichever one does have to put common humanity first, as opposed to markets. Could be a second FDR saving capitalism, democratic socialism leashing and collaring it, or communism razing it. I don’t much care, as long as the benefits are delivered. To me, the key issue — and this is why Medicare for All is always first with me — is the tens of thousands of excess “deaths from despair,” as described by the Case-Deaton study, and other recent studies. That enormous body count makes Medicare for All, at the very least, a moral and strategic imperative. And that level of suffering and organic damage makes the concerns of identity politics — even the worthy fight to help the refugees Bush, Obama, and Clinton’s wars created — bright shiny objects by comparison. Hence my frustration with the news flow — currently in my view the swirling intersection of two, separate Shock Doctrine campaigns, one by the Administration, and the other by out-of-power liberals and their allies in the State and in the press — a news flow that constantly forces me to focus on matters that I regard as of secondary importance to the excess deaths. What kind of political economy is it that halts or even reverses the increases in life expectancy that civilized societies have achieved? I am also very hopeful that the continuing destruction of both party establishments will open the space for voices supporting programs similar to those I have listed; let’s call such voices “the left.” Volatility creates opportunity, especially if the Democrat establishment, which puts markets first and opposes all such programs, isn’t allowed to get back into the saddle. Eyes on the prize! I love the tactical level, and secretly love even the horse race, since I’ve been blogging about it daily for fourteen years, but everything I write has this perspective at the back of it.

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210 comments

    1. griffen

      I can remember in 2008 when John McCain gave his speech as the losing candidate to Barack Obama, our twice elected 44th President….” My friends, my friends …” That’s about all I can remember, fwiw. Since that time & onward, I’ve lost jobs and gained jobs, switched jobs… seemingly and just maybe highly independent of whomever was in the WH.

      Obama was not the human embodiment of the book of the Revelations all time villain, the Anti Christ after all, upon reflection… Offering a mere, suggestible counterpoint.

  4. Louis Fyne

    >>>Donald Trump just won Anson County, North Carolina. The county is 40% Black.

    Exit polling has been “crap-ified” so dunno if this can be proven—–but look at the votes of regular church-going Christians. I’d bet Harris got mauled in that demo across all groups.

    Combo of a tone-deaf campaign staffed by bicoastal, secular non-humanists and own-goal gaffes by Harris at rallies denying Jesus Christ that went viral on social media. (when Kamala is a self-reported Christian)

    1. griffen

      Remarkable stat that is, and to think that I quite frequently drive through that particular county, en route to visit family in nearby Moore county…a rural but not remote stop on the way to the beaches of Wilmington and Wrightsville….

      My two cents, the popular vote just proves how so not close this result turned out. High prices leaving a mark…and not the nonsensical reactions by say , I dunno Stephen King or Mark Cuban. Please just pipe down, or maybe stay in your lane for goodness sake.

      Added, that I do not immediately presume a Trump win is the sudden, effective tonic on say housing costs and ongoing inflation pressures. Watch the worm turn in 2025 if these past months of solid appearing GDP or mostly solid employment numbers begin to reflect more statistical variations.

    2. Randall Flagg

      >Combo of a tone-deaf campaign staffed by bicoastal, secular non-humanists and own-goal gaffes by Harris at rallies denying Jesus Christ that went viral on social media. (when Kamala is a self-reported Christian)

      I think you could add that Harris got a lot of the wrong kind of help from Biden calling half of US citizens garbage, Clinton saying that immigration should have been tightened on who is allowed in (think Laken Riley),Mark Cuban saying Trump does have any strong women around him, the media defending Biden (he’s sharp as a tack, runs circles around younger staffers) the media again C’mon, it’s only a handful,A HANDFUL of apartment complexes taken over by Venezuelan gangs, likely dozens more. Never mind Harris going from zero to hero in a week with the MSM help. And worst of all, they still won’t get it.

      1. IM Doc

        And you must never forget Whitmer and the Dorito Eucharist. I am STILL hearing about that one in church circles. I think that was one of the most damaging events of this entire race.

        1. Randall Flagg

          How many WTFs were yelled after Jill walked out in that?

          Oh well, Harris and Hillary can get together over a beer and compare notes.

      3. Verifyfirst

        I think the Republican ad where Kamala is talking about every prisoner having a right to transgender surgery also had an impact.

        1. Michael Fiorillo

          Likewise, and that tag line: “Harris is for They/Them; Trump is for you” was pretty devastating.

          1. Dermot O Connor

            Dems re-running the 2016 playbook! Right down to the ‘garbage’, deplorables. Incessant drivel about Hitler hitler hitler.

            I don’t think it occurred to them that Biden didn’t beat Trump in 2020, COVID did. They didn’t learn anything from 2016, 2020, so I doubt they’ll learn one iota from 2024.

  5. Jason Boxman

    In the end, Donald J. Trump is not the historical aberration some thought he was, but instead a transformational force reshaping the modern United States in his own image.

    …

    Populist disenchantment with the nation’s direction and resentment against elites proved to be deeper and more profound than many in both parties had recognized. Mr. Trump’s testosterone-driven campaign capitalized on resistance to electing the first woman president.

    Bzzt. Wrong. It’s never about material benefits. Already lying about what’s happened.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/06/us/politics/trump-america-election-victory.html

    1. Louis Fyne

      I was wrong about Jill Biden. Whether via skill, intuition, or just plain luck—-the history books will end up being very kind to Biden along the lines of Jimmy Carter (despite the death toll via US munitions shipped around the world in the last 3+ years).

      Jill deserves the Rasputin of the Decade award.

      1. urdsama

        Doubtful.

        He has decades of being a mean, miserable racist (at a minimum). Just look at his time as a senator.

      2. Big River Bandido

        I feel *not an ounce* of empathy for Joe Biden. Between the “vaccine” mandate, genocide, and betraying rail workers, I think this pretty well qualifies as a failure on the political and moral levels. And the dude has always been a third rate kind and a major league asshole. Defenestration couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

        Jimmy Carter? Gimme a break.

        1. eg

          I also anticipate further unsavoury connections to Ukraine based graft on the part of Biden Family Inc to emerge in the not so distant future.

  7. AG

    Thanks, some excellent items.

    Abortion: “Reproductive Freedom” outran Kamala:
    Will be very useful for discussions in Germany!

    Ryan Grim is actually funny (Cheney now stole 2 elections from the Dems)

    and Peter Daou: “Notice how WaPo and NYT use the term “dark” to describe Trump, but never used that for Biden and Harris while they spent a year bombing babies?

    Yes, Trump is bad, but this kind of media whitewashing of Dems has to stop.”

    p.s. Stephen King – why is it that by design as soon as you have a famed member of the “arts” – (call me arrogant, I read 2 books neither of which I liked) – they sing the same idiotic tune. If they do not, well they end up with Taibbi! ;-P

      1. AG

        Thanks for the info.

        But: look at that image by Teen VOGUE!

        Why is it that today even on social issues i.e. real life issues, they offer photographic work which is made with too-obvious fashion models posing as what – here Teen VOGUE – believes to be young people under financial hardship.

        I said it before: Once photography used to give a sense of reality and non-photoshoped human beings.

        Today however the world in the streets has nothing to do with the world the people are being presented when they have left those streets for the privacy of their homes and tune into media.

        Yet that doesn´t change the reality in the streets. Dems need to learn that lesson. Either they change that reality for good. Or at least they acknowledge it.

        1. steppenwolf fetchit

          If the Teen Vogue people are in the young PMC class, they won’t know any poor or near-poor young people. They just don’t travel in poor or near-poor social circles.

          Given that, they have done good work and keep doing good work and I am not going to treat their cultural exposure/experience limitations as some kind of moral failure.

    2. lyle

      On national bans on abortion, I suspect that would take an amendment to the constitution , just like it took to ban alcohol. Of course with dobbs the reverse it true, and with the requirement that 37 states would mean that neither could be passed. If a national ban was passed it would be the best thing that happened to drug dealers, and pharmacies outside the us. (Since we can not even stop Fentanyl at the borders).

    3. jsn

      I didn’t have time to fact check the abortion tweet, but the Florida law didn’t pass so I’m not sure what the % refers to.

      So either I’m misunderstanding something, which is quite likely, or there may be additional misrepresentations in that graphic.

      1. ForFawkesSakes

        For Amendments like the abortion one, Florida requires a 60% majority. The Amendment received majority support of around 54%, but was defeated by not reaching the required 60% threshold.

        So even in Florida, abortion rights WERE still more popular than KH. I hope that helps a little.

    4. SomeGuyinAZ

      I dunno, didn’t they enjoy the ‘dark’ overtones and memes for Dark Brandon? I could be misremembering that I guess.

      Seems a shame that they’re just going to double down on the same selfish PMC policies annd reporting instead of actually taking the time to learn why they were so wrong and thus actually help the American public. It seems to pay MUCH better with the blinders on.

    5. Ignacio

      Dark is the description all around the PMC based MSM. As it was for instance with the editorial at El Pais, the quintessential PMCish private equity owned media here in Spain. The arguments against Trump are all identity politics memes: racism, abortion rights, misogyny you name it. The editorial manages to grasp that there is “real dissatisfaction” among the populace but avoids the search of reasons or causes behind it. In their view the Democracy has lost because disinformation and because social networks so you can foresee the trend in the following years: the PMC will try its best to gain more control of the information and crack down social networks into the PMC narrative. You can bet they will not bother with social welfare.

  8. JM

    The New York Times archive link goes to a seemingly completely unrelated German language archive page.

      1. JM

        I don’t know about if all data has been restored or not, but archive.org should be back up and running as it was before the trouble. I saw a post from a day or two ago that they were back archiving sites like before.

  9. Kurtismayfield

    Do you think this is finally the election that the DNC stops courting the Rs and bragging about Cheney supporting them? Maybe they will go back and finally shore up their base?

    Who am I kidding!

    1. griffen

      Think of the very deep bench of candidates for 2028… I’ll suggest those current governors of largely Dem leaning states to ratchet up the totem pole to grab the proverbial conch shell. Newsom, or Whitmer, or Shapiro….naming just a few.

      Lord of the Flies man…Lord of the Flies. One hopes that Trump and Vance, Senate Republicans, etc …just have not been handed the keys to the Titanic….\sarc

      Adding that it’s understandable to mix my metaphors.

          3. pjay

            Adam Schiff! One term (or partial term) as Senator, like Obama and Harris. Backing by the intelligence community. Hero to the delusional anti-Trump “resistance” Democrats. Obvious friends in high places. Hypnotic Rasputin-like eye contact in public appearances. Not afraid to lie with impunity. Makes the other pretenders look like wimps.

            I say move Adam up on the list!

          4. farmboy

            squeaky clean, newly elected Bob Ferguson from Washington awaits. somebody get him a hat to throw in the ring

        2. NYMutza

          One can be sure that Gavin Newsom is happy with the results. He need wait only four years for a chance at the prize. Eight years in the political wilderness may have ended his political career.

          1. Big River Bandido

            Seems to me this election is just more proof that a California Democrat will never win the Presidency. Absolutely out of touch with the mainstream.

          1. The Rev Kev

            Trump could always make Hunter Biden the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration because of his extensive “experience”.

            1. SocalJimObjects

              Trump could also just give the man back his laptop so he could make a trip to Ukraine and use his Burisma experience to end the war in a day. It’s like a two in one deal.

              #HunterBiden2028

    2. Lefty Godot

      But Chuck Schumer assured me the Democrats would pick up more than enough suburban Republican voters to make up for losing the hated white working class!

      We could make it through a complete flip of party identification from where we were in the immediate post-World War II years, as long as the Musk “government efficiency” commission doesn’t kill SS/Medicare/Medicaid: the Democrats will have become the socially liberal, foreign interventionist Rockefeller Republicans while the Republicans will have become the lower class, big government Dixiecrats.

      Good luck in 2028. The Democrats have no bench strength. All they have is geriatric gnomes and high society dames like Schumer, Pelosi, the Clintons, Biden, Obama, and a host of slightly less superannuated mental midgets selling the same tired brand.

          1. John k

            Wrong then and now. But donors won’t let them offer anybody except the rich real material benefits, so what can they do?

  10. dave -- just dave

    Will Bunch’s analysis seems accurate to me – that each side is living in a bubble of delusion.

    https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/trump-elected-president-meaning-america-20241106.html?id=t0CPj8uwcdyTv&utm_source=social&utm_campaign=gift_link&utm_medium=referral

    Katharine Lee Bates wrote these words in 1893, and during the twentieth century I had the good fortune to hear Ray Charles sing them in person:

    America! America!
    God mend thine every flaw
    Confirm thy soul in self-control
    Thy liberty in law!

    In the 21st century, will America the country “hit bottom” and re-evaluate our approach to public life? One never knows when something surprising might happen, and it could be that the Trump Restoration will eventually be seen as an inspirational counterexample on how to do things. As Krishna points out, people have both divine and demonic tendencies.

    1. Lambert Strether Post author

      Bunch concludes:

      We need to build both a culture of democratic resistance and also a new political movement that provides a true alternative to Trump’s reactionary autocracy, and we need to start quickly.

      Unfortunately, the Democrat Party stands in the way of that. I don’t know what the solution is, there.

      1. hk

        One could almost say thar the coalition that elected Trump this time is precisely what Bunch is describing, except this coalesced to stop the Ds’ increasing tendency towards autocracy.

    2. Mikel

      He fails to mention that giving a blank check to genocidal maniacs doesn’t exactly equal “democracy.” Zero moral credibility.

      So he hasn’t said a damn thing that means anything.

  11. jo6pac

    There is some good news with the trumpster winning. He can fire the kitchen staff and have McDonalds installed. I’m sure musk can do this a cost saving.

    I’m just trying to be helpful/s

    1. griffen

      The Hooters chain of noted fame ( for their food and chicken wings, I’m told ) could use the helpful boost as well ! You know, it’s not like the McDonald’s chain is really needing to add locations I suppose. Bill Clinton gave them plenty exposure in the 1992 race, I thought.

      Hold the onions of course !

  12. Lambert Strether Post author

    I have added orts and scraps (basically more election snippets), and also a self-assessment of Water Cooler coverage (big methodological issues this crazy year).

    I will resume — assuming nothing blows up — the regular order tomorrow, with more syndemics coverage. H5N1 is as bad as ever, if not worse, and I keep seeing anecdotes go by that say Covid is getting worse again.

    2. sardonia

      Know that the entire NC commentariat is giving you a standing ovation for your incredible coverage of this election year.

      4. rowlf

        Huzzah!

        As the Virgil Bliss (comedian Marshall Dodge) presidential campaign in the late 1970s said: “He’s different, but so are you.”

    3. eg

      Lambert, your election coverage has been peerless. It (along with the field reports of so many in the commentariat) was precisely what I needed to keep me from being entirely embubbled by a Canadian media environment that frankly has a terribly narrow understanding of the American political scene.

  13. Verifyfirst

    It seems likely the lower income workers who benefited from the pandemic programs under Trump (he having been in office when the pandemic hit) are going to be sorely disappointed–Trump and the Republicans are not going to bring back anything like that!

    1. Jason Boxman

      Nope. They’re gonna smoke public health perhaps. Even more. If H5N1 plays out, watch out. Democrats opened the door, and kicked it off the hinges. As usual.

    2. jsn

      Events my friends, events!

      I have every confidence we’re going to get to watch reactionaries react a lot in the next 4 years!

      The volatility has just locked into gear. All the noise Lambert’s been filtering for us this last year was just the synchromesh aligning the cogs for the up shift. Fasten your seatbelt and drink your liquor from a small neck bottle, it’s gonna be a ride!

  14. Screwball

    Dear Kamala, I guess all I have to say is; you are now unburdened by what has been. Now please go away.

    For those looking for a laugh, although a dark one, this is well done rather you like it or not. It’s all over Twitter, but this is the first one I could find. Joe Biden congratulates the DNC on losing another election to Trump. Also NOT SUITED FOR WORK. Link is to Twitter;

    Joe Biden congratulates the DNC on losing another election to Trump.

    3. Jonathan Holland Becnel

      Zomg I sent this to my Trump loving cousins in the Northshore!!!

      They laughed their asses off!

      DARK BRANDON STRIKES BACK

      1. steppenwolf fetchit

        I think it is “DANK” BRANDON rather than “DARK” BRANDON, but perhaps I am hearing it wrong.
        Its a small thing, to be sure.

  15. Tom Stone

    Fear is the most contagious emotion, followed closely by rage.
    I expect we will see rage exhibited by many people over the next few months with unfortunate consequences.
    I have people I care about who have TDS, I will be having coffee with some of them this weekend and will listen quietly and then suggest something positive they can do.
    A lot of this fear and anger comes from feeling powerless, taking positive action of almost any kind helps a great deal.
    Teach an adult to read, volunteer at the local foodbank, work with “Habitat for Humanity” or your local creek cleanup group…Physical action where you can see that you are making your world a better place.

    1. Screwball

      Yes, in my travels there are people having a very difficult time today, very difficult. My ex girlfriend is one of them. He changed her Facebook page to all black instead of pictures, and told everyone she is out and off Facebook. Many who were in her support group (started with Trump 1) are the same way. They are completely distraught and emotional. I’m guessing there are millions like them. They are scared to death, even suggesting they will get killed in their house by Trumps army.

      It would really be difficult if she was still here as I feel just the opposite. I’m glad the dems got smoked for what they have done over the last x amount of years. We probably would never make it if she was still here. I feel bad for her, but at the same time, I can only blame her. I had her weened off this stuff over 10 years ago, and then came Trump. She was off and running. Became a political junkie and watched nothing but CNN, MSNBC, The View, The Talk and every other propaganda outfit she could find, and it made her insane. So sad.

      I don’t understand how people can allow that to happen to themselves.

      1. The Rev Kev

        Pretty sad when you have people tie in their own personality and identification with a politician of all things. It never ends well. With your ex going off Facebook, maybe that will be a good thing and an opportunity to do something different like reading or gardening or something like that.

  18. psv

    A little late to the game, but I have to give a big thank you to Lambert, Yves, and the commentariat for the live blog last night. It was the only place I had the desire to check in on, and you made me laugh too. I so appreciate having had an oasis of sanity over these days and months.

    Also, Lambert, love the paintings, those are beautiful violets today!

    1. Mark Gisleson

      Just got done watching her.

      She has the gospel preacher cadence down. Other than that seems to have learned nothing.

    2. divadab

      Heh heh. Give the girl a break – she thought she would win. Having a smoke before reading her concession speech is something I might do. That said, I started listening to her speech and just couldn’t hang in there for more than a minute. A half hour of empty podium followed by empty platitudes from an empty pantsuit. Worst candidate ever following the worst President ever.

      Seriously, who the frap is running the Dem party – Mr. frapping Magoo? The whole bunch of idiots and losers and traitors, anyone who thought Hillary, then Biden and now Kamala were the right choice for President, should get the heck out of Dodge. Seek employment somewhere more suited to their skills – like dishwasher or walmart greeter.

        1. Dermot O Connor

          Yup; holding working class people and working class jobs in contempt is for the Dem PMC types. Let them keep doing that for another 4 or 8 years and see where it gets them.

      2. Useless Eater

        In my final analysis, the Trump phenomenon is primarily a product of running against garbage candidates, some of the worst ones I’ve ever seen. He would have been very beatable by anyone decent.

        1. ambrit

          That’s the problem. The Democrat Party inner circles, (sort of like Dantes vision of the Inferno,) know not what decency is. Indeed, they despise anyone who has that character “flaw.”
          This is a second-rate bunch of would-be Machiavelli’s.

  22. Bazarov

    Surprised by the lack of rage among those in my social circle that suffered this symptom in 2016.

    Mostly they’ve reacted with a shrug. After all, the country got through 2016. Life goes on.

    Tells you how excited they really were for Kamala, though. Not an ounce of mourning in them, lots and lots of criticism.

    1. Mark Gisleson

      Lots of new victims this time around. Gen Z just got a lot more cynical (if that’s possible).

  23. AG

    I just got off the phone after a fight over all this shit.
    Damn…
    I said “You call yourself a true leftist yet you describe American whites and non-white working-class who voted for Trump “idiots and morons”!?
    What a day…

    btw Garland Nixon was right yesterday:

    Scholz just dismissed his finance minister Lindner.

    Parliament now has to decide in January. If they vote against the government we got new elections.

    I wouldn´t have thought It would come to that.
    I don´t know what either man´s plan is.

  24. .Tom

    This Harris concession is painful. Long-winded platitudes seasoned mixed with hypocrisy and seasoned with sanctimony.

    1. Neutrino

      Soon to fade into irrelevance. People don’t want to be associated with the stench of a loser. Her 15 minutes lasted way too long.
      Maybe some nonprofit board in San Francisco can invite her to join? Or a nanny shelter?

  25. Mark Gisleson

    My feed didn’t show any crowd shots. If Harris was conceding at Howard University, I’d love to know if Nikole Hannah-Jones was there.

  26. Boris

    Harris in her concession speach: Keeping up that grinning mask we know of her, while she can impossibly feel like it—either she is insane or she is on some substances that I would really love to know about.

  28. JCC

    The Conversation and women welders… I have a female friend (my age and retired now) who started her career as a welder in central NY back in the late 1980’s and never looked back.

    She loved her job, made good money, had no problems at all with male co-workers, and told me often that it was the best career move she could have made.

    1. XXYY

      One of the things that struck me about this piece was the many photos of things she had fabricated as a welder. Obviously a lot of pride here, and rightly so. I think this is one thing the trades provide that many other professions don’t.

      Hopefully she will also notice that her sense of pride will increase as her experience grows.

    1. tegnost

      I’d send any youngster into electrician apprenticeship…the plumbers are always under the house yelling in pain as the solder drops on their arm…sure, pex, but a good copper pipe is sometimes the thing, maybe ambrit will pipe up on this controversial topic…

  30. Lou Anton

    Bernie’s at least giving introspection the old college try.

    “It should come as no surpise that a Democratic party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class would abandon them.”

    “First it was white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well.”

    “Do they [the Democratic party] have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not.”

      1. Lou Anton

        It’s in there too:

        Today, despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans, we continue to spend billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government’s all out war against the Palestinian people

      2. The Rev Kev

        If you said that to him, he would reply like he did with another questioner ‘Who’s paying you!’ It was interesting to see how in this election he was virtually a non entity and you didn’t her much from him.

            1. Lou Anton

              Sigh…from the link:
              “despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans, we continue to spend billions funding the extremist Netanyahu government’s all out war against the Palestinian people which has led to the horrific humanitarian disaster of mass malnutrition and the starvation of thousands of children.”

                1. Lou Anton

                  Not rhetorical: what do you want him to do? Who knows, maybe he’s got staffers that read the site!

                  With Dems in the minority soon, I don’t know how much legislative power he’ll have. Maybe missed opportunity, but it’s not like the Democratic party was looking to anything he said with any degree of seriousness anyway.

                  2. Big River Bandido

                    A single United States Senator may not be able to pass a damn thing. But a single Senator who is wily and versed in Senate rules is capable of halting all business in the chamber, as Ted Kennedy did all the time. A single Senator can use the investigative powers of office to frightful effect, like the “Lone Wolf Investigator”, John J. Williams of Delaware.

                    The power of a single Senator is vast — just not in the normal ways of using power. Sanders surely knows all this. I recall his solitary filibuster. There are lots of things a Senator can do independently; the office is designed that way.

              3. steppenwolf fetchit

                It always seemed to me that Bernie’s problem was that he is a nice guy and he thinks it is not nice to use mean and dirty tactics and methods. He was never the type of person to have anything of higher caliber in his arsenal, or even to have an arsenal.

                That’s not the same as being a “sheepdog” which some people take pleasure in calling him.

                1. Lena

                  I remember when Sanders first ran for President, his brother Larry was asked what Bernie was like growing up. His brother said, “Bernard was always a gentle child.” This was very revealing to me. Gentleness has given Bernie great empathy. He genuinely cares but he lacks a ‘killer instinct’. I cannot fault him for that. He has given voice to the poor and the suffering in many ways during his political career. Yes, he has made mistakes. He is not perfect, not the messiah we might have wanted him to be, but in the main, I thank him for the work he has done.

                  1. Pat

                    Thank you both for better expressing many of my thoughts about Sanders. (I still have some idea that many of his most inexplicable actions are explained by fear and protectionist choices, his opponents absolutely have an arsenal, and we have evidence of the last few years that they are willing to do things that have not been seen in my lifetimes in attacking the enemy.)

    2. Acacia

      Thanks for sharing this. Sanders is dead to me, but I know his name still means something to many Dems.

      Quoting this statement could be an excellent response to any Dems who “don’t understand” how Trump could have possibly won.

    3. ChrisPacific

      I think Bernie has always understood the problem. Judging by the lengths they went to to shut him down in 2016 and 2020, the Democrats do not want to hear about it.

      Maybe we’ll get more than the usual denial and victim blaming this time around, but I’m not holding my breath. Democrats have had eight years now to practice ignoring Bernie and have gotten very good at it.

      1. tegnost

        yeah, I think there’s a horses head in there somewhere…he doesn’t seem like the epstein type but they could have something on a close associate that he would protect…he’s a mensch generally…the birdie told me so……..

    4. Randall Flagg

      I’ll call horse manure on Bernie. If he cares so much about the working class, then why the hell did he endorse Harris and not the Green party? I speculate he obviously thought the Ds would win and he could work with them but now he is out in the cold. What a dink.

      And our Gov. Scott voted for Harris so good luck getting a federal disaster declaration from Trump without having to eat S**t the next time within the next 4 years.

  33. Neutrino

    Jake Tapper was shocked, shocked that Kamala did worse than Biden in all the counties.
    His ventriloquist role doesn’t allow time for what used to be journalistic research, or independent thought.

  34. ChrisRUEcon

    #2PMWaterCoolerElectionExcellence

    Thanks so much for a year’s worth of superlative analysis and engagement! It’s truly special.

    And now, a small gift of early orts and scraps from yours truly:

    #Astrology … it was written in the (Chinese) stars
    Circling back to Two Steps From Heaven’s comment on 10/23/2024, and my own response to it, the Year of The Dragon did prove to be bad luck for both Harris and Walz. I’ll have to take my future Ben Ming Nian(s) seriously! (Lot’s of wearing red!)

    #WhiteWomen … again … never bet against ’em
    Yep, early exit poll data, but read ’em and weep (via statista.com). Trump won the demographic again, 52 – 47, basically a mirror of his 2016 performance. That won’t stop the blame cannons from being aimed elsewhere, but for those post Thanksgiving dinner debates, another arrow in your quiver!

  35. IM Doc

    Day 1 –

    I have had one patient now so suicidal that they had to be admitted on a psych hold. Actively suicidal. All because Kamala lost.

    I have another situation where a young man who is severely autistic has locked himself in the bathroom and trying to drown himself. The paramedics were able to intervene – all because Kamala lost.

    I have had about a half dozen or so today who were so severely anxious that they were having clinical symptoms of palpitations and chest pain. All because Kamala lost.

    I have talked to several today who are convinced that the stormtroopers are on the way and the concentration camps are already set up somewhere in the Great Plains. There is no amount of talking I can do to assuage them – again – we are going to have to educate our PCPs how to deal with deprogramming. Cult deprogramming is a very different animal than normal psychiatric therapy. The problem with this is our medical societies and boards and their journals are all in on this same behavior. What I have seen today online in some of these journals is just beyond belief. I mean – why does the journal Nature feel it necessary to opine about an American presidential election? And that is just one example – and the mildest one. The cavalry from the experts is not going to be coming – they are just as deluded as some of these patients.

    I am very very tired today – and very upset. I cannot believe we have allowed the propaganda to affect people’s mental health like this. It is truly disturbing.

    1. Bazarov

      Propaganda is powerful. Just look at what happened after 9/11. Or the Satanic Panic of the 1980s-1990s. The United States went insane, and then forgot about it all as if merely waking from an unpleasant dream.

      Gore Vidal’s immortal quip: The United States of Amnesia.

      This too shall pass into oblivion.

      Tragic to hear about your autistic patient, especially. I hope they recover soon!

      1. Dermot O Connor

        Neil Postman called it the ‘peek-a-boo’ media.

        https://quote.ucsd.edu/childhood/files/2013/05/postman-amusing.pdf

        this ensemble of electronic techniques called into being a new world–a peek-a-boo world, where now this event, now that, pops into view for a moment, then vanishes again. It is a world without much coherence or sense; a world that does not ask us, indeed, does not permit us to do anything; a world that is, like the child’s game of peek-a-boo, entirely self-contained. But like peek-a-boo, it is also endlessly entertaining.

        Of course, there is nothing wrong with playing peek-a-boo. And there is nothing wrong with entertainment. As some psychiatrist once put it, we all build castles in the air. the problems come when we try to live in them. the communications media of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with telegraphy and photography at their center, called the peek-a-boo world into existence, but we did not come to live there until television. Television gave the epistemological biases of the telegraph and the photograph their most potent expression, raising the interplay of image and instancy to an exquisite and dangerous perfection. And it brought them into the home.

        We are by now well into a second generation of children for whom television has been their first and most accessible teacher and, for many, their most reliable companion and friend. To put it plainly, television is the command center of the new epistemology. There is no audience so young that it is barred from television. There is no poverty so abject that it must forgo television. There is no education so exalted that it is not modified by television. And most important of all, there is no subject of public interest–politics, news, education, religion, science, sports–that does not find its way to television. Which means that all public understanding of these subjects is shaped by the biases of television.

    2. Jason Boxman

      And hilariously we’re about to have a peaceful transfer of power. So was Trump a Nazi communist or not? Apparently not. But after 8 years these people believe it.

      I wonder how many peddlers do? I guess no one serious in the Harris campaign. Or there’d be no concession and Biden would be declaring martial law.

    3. AG

      Just told a psychoanalyst I know, your story and he has had similiar issues with patients for months now over AfD, Russia, Gaza (did I forget one?) – he didn´t mention Taiwan!🤔

    4. RookieEMT

      I’m not calling you out, but it’s just hard to believe that it’s gotten THAT bad. Shall call my family now and check on em’.

      1. ChrisFromGA

        I spoke with of my elderly parents today and they both sounded seriously depressed. These are two fine individuals who survived the 70’s inflation, 80’s under Reagan, etc. They managed to raise me and my brother and get us to adulthood. Dad lost his job multiple times during the Carter/Reagan years.
        And Mom went back to school later in life to get a MS after we hit latchkey kid age.

        They are hardly what I would call non-resilient.

        And yet I heard the defeated sound in their voices and I felt their pain. I wish I could somehow cheer them up, but I suspect that the fact I voted for Stein isn’t enough and they are too far into the gaslighting to come back without some help.

      2. IM Doc

        I wish you could call me out.

        After I wrote this, I was called to an emergency meeting with our primary care medical staff to discuss how we will deal with this crisis. It is not just my practice. Please note, I am in a very blue area.

        The mental health provider was somewhat reassuring. They felt we were in the acute revulsion period and things should start to improve in a week or so.

        We will see.

        1. Jason Boxman

          The Establishment media has done these people and all of America an incredible disservice. And they don’t even have victory to show for it. They still can’t get rid of Trump.

          1. marym

            It may be unrealistic for anyone to have any trust in the Democrats, but it’s still not It’s not unreasonable for people who depend for protection on some bit of a social safety net or regulations, to be afraid when Trump and his allies explicitly say they intend to reshape the federal government. The same is true for the many categories of people demonized, threatened, or harassed by Trump, the elite people around him, or his rank and file supporters.

            I don’t see the concerns of potential targets of these threats as purely a product of similar demonization by the Democrat-aligned media.

            1. IM Doc

              I understand what you are saying. However, that is not the reality in my world. Other than the autistic kid not a single one of these people have a single need for any kind of government services. They are all PMC. Highly educated and have no financial needs at all.

              The people around here who do use govt service have in varying degrees left the Dem party long ago and I would say are mostly Trump voters and are handling things emotionally quite well.

              1. marym

                Yes, I should have made that distinction in my comment. If comfortably middle class PMC’s believe the next Trump era will be very dangerous, they should use their resources to help mitigate the dangers to the most vulnerable – community work, advocacy, charitable contributions etc.

        2. ChrisFromGA

          I’m just thinking out loud, maybe Trump should announce a new government program for subsidized psychotherapy to help de-gaslight these poor folks?

          What can I say to my parents? I would start from the basics, like Socrates.

          “I hate Trump!!”

          Why?

          “Because he’s evil!”

          What is evil?

          He … (insert Orangemanbad, maybe election conspiracies or calling Puerto Rico a garbage island)

          What really happened in those situations, objectively? What evidence do you have, is it first hand, did you read in somewhere, etc.

          Of course, this all presumes a rational person who can regulate their emotions.

          A 30-day media detox would be the first step, IMO

      2. ChrisFromGA

        Like a lot of institutions in this country, the media lost its way decades ago. It’s hopeless, like a house in NC that got flooded by Helene. It needs a complete tear-down.

        The press’ job is to act as a neutral, objective observer. Think of them as sitting up in the balcony, looking down at the play. Watching Shakespeare unfold. Taking notes, creating a story based on facts and evidence, not wishes.

        Instead, we have a press that thinks its job is to influence events and actively advocate for one side.

        Imagine if the audience got down from the balcony and started screaming: “I don’t like this ending! I want Romeo and Juliet to live happily ever after!”

        Now, we all have biases and there is a place for an opinion column or an editorial page. But this MSM act like same entitled babies that are melting down on Twitter/TikTok right now.

        It got super awful after the 2020 election and Ukraine war. Entire media outlets got hijacked and turned into the modern equivalent of the Goebbels propaganda reels. “Ukraine is winning, Russia is fighting with shovels, Putin has AIDS!”

        These people beclowned their entire industry and livelihood.

      3. tegnost

        I want msnbc to get sued for unnecessary traumatization
        Class action so the penalty rivals the one russia laid on the gug…

    6. Lena

      I am feeling very depressed today. I was hoping both candidates would lose. No such luck.

      For people like me, dependent on government assistance to survive, life has been hard during the Biden/Harris administration. It is likely to get worse under Trump. That is not me listening to propaganda, that is me facing reality.

      Long ago, the poor could look to the Democratic Party (waving at you, Franklin!) for help. No more. I sincerely doubt Trump, Musk or RFK Jr care about me or people like me. If I believed something ludicrous like that, I would definitely be buying into propaganda.

      There is real reason to fear the future for many of us. It would have been so if Harris had won. It is true now that Trump has been elected.

      Because of my illness, I spend most of my time in bed these days, resting or trying to sleep (sleep does not come easily). I have a bed and a small nightstand where I have my liquid meals now that I can’t swallow solid food. It’s not much of a life.

      I do have my new kitty to comfort me. She likes to sleep next to my pillow with one paw on my chest, close to my heart. What a sweetheart she is.

      1. Lena

        I have had Democratic women tell me that because I was a Bernie supporter in 2016 and 2020, they are glad I am terminally ill. They see it as Karma for my sins. No doubt they would be even more vindictive (if possible) if they knew I did not vote in the 2024 election. Such lovely women. Hillary worshippers, all of them. She attracts the best people.

        2. Randall Flagg

          I would like to be a fly on the wall when those nasty POSs are teaching their kids about kindness to others, treat others as you would like to be treated, etc. How do they justify that when they look into their own eyes in the mirror. Would they be proud of themselves? Would they be glad to relate that to their own mother or grandmother?

          I’m so sorry that you have to be in the situation you are in. It only pisses me off worse when i think of how quick our “leaders” are to throw money into every corrupt rathole around this earth and we have no interest in taking care of our own. I would like to think that someday, somewhere in the great cosmos they will have to face an accounting of themselves

      2. antidlc

        When your mental health is shot because you’ve spent the last two years fighting with insurance companies and billing departments and you are already hanging on by a thread… and the insurance you have is a crappy Obamacare plan…and people voted for someone who wants to get rid of Obamacare which would leave you with nothing..so, yeah, it’s depressing.

        Hang in there, Lena. I hear you.

      3. MaryLand

        I’m so glad you have your new kitten. It can make a huge difference. Sending positive wishes your way.

      4. Pat

        Many good thoughts and virtual hugs being sent to you. And lots of virtual pets for your very good kitty.

      5. Big River Bandido

        I feel terrible for you, Lena, especially considering what your “friends” said. The cruelty is painful even when I’m not the direct intended victim.

        Sending you love and healing thoughts. And for your new kitty, too. Peace.

    7. Pat

      Good thoughts being sent for you and your colleagues. Between propaganda, advertising and a thoroughly corrupted media, it can be hard to escape the delusion. I wish they didn’t need a detox and that you and your colleagues weren’t needed to shepherd the process.

      Thank you for your kindness and your professionalism.

  36. The Rev Kev

    ‘Emily Kopp
    @emilyakopp
    For eight years legacy media abandoned its objectivity and its principles in the name of preventing this outcome. It happened anyway. So now what?’

    Well that’s a bit of a lie right there. She is making it sound like that this was all about Trump but it never was. The media appointed themselves as the keeper of the narratives instead of reporting the news – the new gatekeepers. They felt that they had the right to vet political candidates and would not report the news from candidates not to their liking. They support aggressive wars like the invasion of Iraq, boosted Jihadists terrorists in the Middle East, Nazis in eastern Europe, censorship at home and the genocide of a whole people in Gaza. They fell into line how Harris was foisted onto the Democrats and made out that she was this superlative candidate to stand against Trump of all people. Fewer and fewer people care about the legacy media anymore and I suspect that with young people, they do not care at all.

  37. Jason Boxman

    Democrats can’t math. People are hysterical on Twitter that a few states decided the election, but Trump won the popular vote. So how does that math? Eliminate the electoral college he still wins. No capacity to self reflect. I guess we bring back voting tests? Only the right people can vote.

  38. AG

    I assume there will be coverage of Germany.

    Would that include, I wonder, an assessement of Lindner´s paper, which I had no time to read but which was used as pretext to end the coalition.

  39. Jeremy Grimm

    RE: “Report finds ‘shocking and dispiriting’ fall in children reading for pleasure”
    The “fall in children reading for pleasure” comes as no surprise to me. I believe our school system can claim this accomplishment for their tireless efforts to purge all joy of learning from all but the most obstinate of students. One Einstein quote I especially like: “It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” The current school system in the u.s., and apparently in the u.k. as well, has through great effort and expense succeeded in quenching the flames of curiosity that once compelled children to ask “Why?” And the destruction of “pleasure from reading” should be regarded as either collateral damage, or what is more likely … regarded as a collateral benefit.

      1. Harold

        The humanities arose in 14th century Italy to teach administrators and municipal officials the art of writing letters, considered at that time an invaluable skill.

    2. Lefty Godot

      I think it’s been like that for a long time in many US schools. Teaching kills most students’ interest in whatever it is that’s being taught. A few clever students who learn what to repeat back to make the teacher happy get a good grade and learn how to progress to the next level of authority-pleasing endeavors. Eventually they become the next generation of teachers, at the college level if they really get the rap down. The other students get sorted out into some other track where they will eventually have to deal with the real world in a less edifying environment. Really, it’s amazing we still manage to reproduce after having been subjected to sex education.

  40. The Rev Kev

    ‘Coco 🇺🇸
    @CoClarified
    Jill wore all red to vote. As the wife of a democrat politician there’s no way she doesn’t know how this looks. Biden and Jill are pissed.’

    No grace at all, just spite. A real piece of work. Somebody should photoshop a red MAGA cap on her head to make the outfit complete.

  41. Ben Panga

    I find it curious that Epstein-linked Bill Clinton would make such an obvious error as his “Palestinians are bad” speech. And that said speech would help elect Trump, who Bibi clearly yearned for.

    I cannot imagine why such a shrewd political operator as Clinton would have done such a thing.

  42. michael99

    Re: the popular vote, Trump currently has 72.5 million. In 2020 he finished with 74.2 million, so he’s pretty close to what he got in 2020 and will get closer or perhaps surpass his 2020 total when all of the 2024 ballots are tallied.

    Harris currently has 67.8 million but in 2020 Biden got 81.2 million! That’s a difference of over 13 million votes.

    Taibbi and Kirn discussed this a bit on their livestream earlier. Taibbi said this year’s results make the 2020 results look a little fishy.

    It may be though that Kamala will close that gap considerably when the final tally is made. In California Kamala currently has 5.7 million votes but with only 55% of the votes counted, so she may pick up another 4 – 5 million just from CA.

    1. Lefty Godot

      The 81 million was from people stampeded into voting against Trump because narrative say he so bad. I was one of those suckers. Four years later, many of those 81 million saw quite clearly that Biden was worse than Trump, that we would have been better off voting for Trump in 2020 so both he and Biden would be out of the way now. So I would bet many of those 2020 Biden voters either stayed home on election day or voted third party (like me for Stein) or just left the President choices unchecked. Biden was a disaster and Harris was an empty suit ninny who could not, even on the rare occasions she was articulate, differentiate herself from Biden or distance herself from his positions. The same fate befell Hubert Humphrey in 1968, he couldn’t separate himself from his unpopular President as the replacement candidate (and this comparison ignores that Johnson and Humphrey were several cuts above Biden and Harris in the intelligence department).

      They had several months to make the case that 2020 was fishy and couldn’t do it, even with sympathetic judges, even with a Republican contractor auditing all the votes in Arizona. I’m sure there were some shenanigans, but the fact that they had Stop the Steal up and running on election night, before all the votes were even counted, makes me think that whole narrative was fishier than the election result itself.

      1. Big River Bandido

        The comparison is very unfair to Hubert Humphrey, who was intelligent, thoughtful, a great speaker, an inspirational leader, and a true hero of the civil rights movement in the political arena.

        Kamala Harris put poor black moms in jail because their kids missed classes in school and she thought that would make her “popular”. She’s a vapid high school cheerleader with zero strength of character whatsoever. She was a 2-time presidential candidate who never in her entire life ran a competitive election — always, there were old men foaming the runway for her advance.

        That the Democrats somehow thought “sure, she’ll do” is testament to their stupidity, or corruption, I’m not sure which. Losing 13 million votes, well, that’s gotta leave a mark somehow.

    1. flora

      adding: Americans voted their pocketbooks which are much thinner than 4 years ago. They’ve told pollsters all year that the economy is their number one issue. The Dems ignored that, the MSM hid that fact under panic-mongering about scary orange man bad instead of addressing the voters main issue. Rachel and others tried to convince Americans the economy is terrific, wonderful, what are Americans complaining about? This was a throw-the-bums out election, imo, not the rise of imagined knuckle dragging hordes. Less shifting right than voting for the other guy since the current Dem estab and KH did not campaign on the economic issues. So you have some states that both elected T and voted to raise their state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.

      That’s very reassuring to me. Americans voted their pocketbooks, in general. That’s as American as apple pie, as they say.

      1. The Rev Kev

        It’s almost if you are saying that Americans want actual material concrete benefits in exchange for their votes. Sooooo selfish that. /sarc

  45. AG

    Thanks!

    An overblown argument from my side:

    This tiny tiny detail – sorry – in the second paragraph:

    Marcetic says about Trump:

    “despite the fact that he has been deeply unpopular”

    and he links to this Gallup poll:
    https://news.gallup.com/poll/652427/trump-harris-favorability-low-end-year-trend.aspx

    which shows a list of all Nominees ranked
    on “10-Point Favorability Scale, 1956-2024” –

    Eisenhower is top with 84% liked vs. 12% disliked
    Johnson 81% vs. 13%

    worst is: Trump 2016 with 36 vs. 61
    better is Trump 2024 with 50 vs. 48

    But then who is worse? right: Harris with 48 vs .50

    But Marcetic never mentions this tiny fact that Harris too has bad, in fact worse, numbers in that same poll.
    This tiny move is typical…

    p.s. I haven´t time to check the other many sources Marcetic thankfully cites, the way I checked the initial Gallup but I think it´s adequate for handing this item to others to make a point about the election – instead of yelling at each through the phone.
    (I still have a landline with decent sound which makes the yelling more intense.)

    2. Terry Flynn

      Gallup poll is not even wrong. Unless somebody invented some new MRI type scanner recently that enables us to check whether people’s rating on a “scalometer” – NB even the writer had to put that in quotes which is a major red flag – conforms to a ratio scale (necessary for numbers to be properly added, multiplied etc to give averages) then these numbers are garbage.

      They don’t even pass the sniff test: look at the 2016 numbers! They are vastly at variance with the actual result. They do, however, suggest to me major scale use bias: a very strong usage of disapproval ratings for Trump*. If you actually read past the first paragraph, the stuff that came from Gallup researchers actually acknowledges that they know their methods are flawed. They admit that they dropped numerical rating scales years ago. BTW I’m not the first by any means but everyone who actually predicted stuff correctly ditched these decades ago because they mean squat. When discussion of extremely high usage of +/-5 on Rotten Tomatoes reaches the mainstream you know you have a problem. That’s before I even address the number 4. I’ve written about the problems with certain numbers on the 1-10 scale elsewhere – highly amusing but NSFW. But trust me, having put in rating scales into choice experiments for 20 years for the LULZ I can confirm that these “weird” spikes and dips at certain numbers ARE real.

      I’m the last to defend the pseudo Nobel in Economics but McFadden certainly deserved SOME kind of major prize. And he did it via using questions that very closely replicated real life decisions that enabled amazingly precise prediction for the BART before they laid a single bit of track.

      The Gallup people ironically draw attention to a method that pre-dates the methodology I and co-authors published a book touched upon: net approval scores. These have been used pretty routinely for decades and unlike any of the stuff this garbage study quotes, DO possess the necessary properties to calculate averages and compare over time. Plus they are invulnerable to scale use bias.

      * The figures are informative but just not in the way they should be. I personally am not entirely unsurprised by them. With my knowledge of how the electorate was moving in terms of attitudes, these figures strongly indicate TDS but “hillary is baaaad” is not being picked up. This is but one example of where a flawed methodology produced figures that are VASTLY at variance with the real world result. If your method can’t reproduce the real world then I would respectfully suggest you ditch your model and construct one based on theories that have predicted correctly. YouGov did this with their “alternative” model (a traditional polling model augmented by an entirely separate attitudinal model to “break the mean-variance confound” inherent in all polls) in 2017 (as did I and I made money at the bookies but that’s another story) and were laughed at for predicting Theresa May would not only not increase her Westminster majority but would lose it. They (and I) had the last laugh.

      PS You are ENTIRELY welcome to call me on this, but I thought 80% chance of Trump win 10 days before election date. I did NOT have the crucial secondary attitudinal data to make a robust prediction, but I did have a lot of very useful anecdata from the commentariat here. I watched how “adverse events” had minimal/no effect on Trump’s support, leading me to the inescapable conclusion that a traditional choice experiment (vary an independent variable and see how much the dial moves) was useless: it was all about experience and attitudes. Once you go by just those two factors, it was pretty obvious the Biden/Harris administration was toast.

    3. Jeremy

      What is this “typical” of? That’s cryptic. Harris’s own unpopularity doesn’t undermine the thesis or even really bear upon it at all… Dems went 1/3 on beating a widely-disliked man. What’s the issue here

    1. Samuel Conner

      Thank you. Intriguingly, Prof. Keen is recruiting “rebel economists” (details at end of the talk). I wish him success; we need economic practitioners who are not brainwashed with “loanable funds” fallacy and the like.

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