This is the greatest video I’ve ever seen. No notes. The lifeless clanker carcass just laying there. No crowd reaction, anything. Just Billie Jean. Until its lifeless shell is shamefully dragged off. Purely amazing.
A defining characteristics of Trump II has been to take actions that have never been taken -- or even publicly contemplated -- then casting them as routine, commonsensical or supported by tradition.
A couple of things, as I see them:
1.) Trump won by a lot in a lot of places. That's just what happened. There was not one singular reason, not one neat trick, just a lot of factors all playing in.
2.) There are no eternal victories in politics. Trump has widened the GOP tent to such an extent that there are people who voted for him for precisely contrasting reasons and it'll be... something to see how all that works out (to wit: https://t.co/GyZguNzchU)
3.) I grew up in a swing state that turned red. A thing I learned from that is that most people don't agree with me or share my politics. It is useful to remember that more generally. "If only x had done y" is based on your understanding of both x and y, and that can be and is often wrong.
4.) I am going to be posting here less, and generally just about sports. I've been on this platform for sixteen years and I think that it has changed me in ways both good and bad. I also think that it has not proved to be helpful in understanding... anything.
5.) My mom is dying of ALS. She had a feeding tube installed last week but there was a problem and it was very, very scary. Being alive is good. Finding an interior life that you can protect is even better.
6.) There are people on here who will find deep validation of the stuff they already think in the results from yesterday. I think that is generally not how to think about politics.
7.) Culture wars are unwinnable and unloseable. The people who seem gleeful right now will become enraged in ten seconds because someone is going to do something they don't like somewhere. Performative outrage is a performance, but for some people now it is their life. Sad!
8.) Go Blue still means Go the University of Michigan.
Anthony Santander on when he might start thinking about his future: “I don’t know. In this moment, I only have a chance to think about my broken heart.”