If I have one plea to ask of my fellow liberals, it's this: please, please -- regardless of what happens with the election, don't make comedian Jimmy Dore the spokesperson for the blue cause. In case you don't know who he is, here's a brief recap: Dore is what you get when you combine Glenn Beck's wing-nutty bullshit ideas and theories, mixed with Bill Maher's smug, sometimes condescending demeanor, if you removed his ability to make an audience laugh. Lately he's been the voice for disgruntled and disillusioned Bernie Sanders supporters who believe the choice between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is a vote for the same-old establishment politics that have screwed over the middle class and enriched the top 1% and that Bernie Sanders was the only candidate that could break the spell of business as usual with a political revolution.
At one point, a guy on the show named Robert basically tells Jimmy that his idea of persuading his audience to vote for a third party candidate is "pissing up a rope," and the product of wishful thinking. I feel he's correct: Dore's calculation, his idea that voting for Jill Stein would put the Democratic party on notice, as well as a Trump presidency would benefit Liberalism long term is bogus.
The idea that Donald Trump, should he capture the White House, would be inept at running the country, I do agree with. He'd be a walking catastrophe, and the Republicans wouldn't give a shit, as long as he rubber-stamps every piece of legislation -- be it making the tax cuts for big business permanent, or introducing laws that would make it all but impossible to a woman to have an abortion, or rounding up illegal immigrants and shipping them back to Mexico, etc., -- that is brought to his desk to sign. Do you really see House Speaker Paul Ryan telling a President Trump that his overreach of power is a bridge too far? Can we really count on Majority Speaker Mitch McConnell to stand up to Trump if he starts a Twitter war when he doesn't get his way? And do you really think, for one minute, that the man would care? He already sees himself above everyone else, so you think Congressional Hearings or Impeachment proceedings would make him think he's not above constitutional law?
Dore points out that the Democrats would band together in unison with independents and some Republicans to obstruct Trump. That could be a possibility, but it wouldn't do them much, save making appearances on MSNBC and the occasional dissenting opinion that can only be seen on C-SPAN. Even then, McConnell and Ryan would demand complete loyalty with their president to keep their people in ranks, or face the idea that the RNC money chest might not be so generous when you're facing a primary challenger (a threat which has already been leveled by the Speaker). Furthermore, should a Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren continue to bitch, holler and yell about a congressional budget that guts the Affordable Care Act, or continues to place the burden of paying for increased tax breaks on the backs of the shrinking middle class, who's to say McConnell might call for the Nuclear Option and destroy the filibuster completely? Lastly, given how Republicans have already gerrymandered the hell out of congressional districts, don't you think they'll go out of they way to make it harder for certain people to vote, like, say....African-Americans, Latinos and young people?
And as for Stein getting 15% of the vote in this year's election? All it would do is help Trump get elected President. The Greens don't have the finances to make any sort of strides in the political process, and I haven't seen one Green party member make it to Congress, the Senate, a Governorship or even make it on the local ballots for state senator or a run for mayor. While I understand this election is between two highly polarizing figures, let's not pretend that there's not a difference between them. One wants to expand a Medicare by-in to aged 55 and support a public option; the other wants to eliminate the ACA entirely. One wants to give women equal pay for equal work to their male counterparts, the other spends his time calling women pigs, slobs and determining their worth to his brand by whether or not their fuckable. One candidate want s to do something about climate change, the other has tweeted out that it's a hoax. And on down the line it goes.
The ideas that Jimmy Dore are throwing out there to the disheartened and bitter Bernie or Bust crowd aren't based in political reality. The conspiracy theories he's now parroting and selling to his audience about Hillary Clinton (allegedly) wanting a well-known whistle-blower executed is dangerous and irresponsible. Look, I get that you hate Hillary Clinton: you hate her politics, her decisions made as First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State, the fact the Democratic base elected her to be our nominee for President over Bernie Sanders, and probably just her as a person, but floating these sort of conspiracy theories that she's nothing but a cold-blooded killer is simply reprehensible.
This is the sort of baseless, gutter-level vitriol I expect to hear from Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Alex Jones, even from Donald Trump himself, but not from our side.
I always believed that, as liberals, that we were above letting scumbags like that speak for our causes and our beliefs, on our behalf.
We can do better than a delusional, smug, arrogant, dismissive fuckwit like Jimmy Dore. We have to.
Dore's argument boils down to the following: the Democratic establishment needs to return to its FDR roots; the only way to do that is to let Trump win the election, that way the establishment will either have a choice of going with a moderate and further alienating millennials and angry liberals (I'm using the term liberals rather than progressives because it's just the same label, only longer), or nominating a "true" liberal, uniting the base. Dore also believes that four years of Trump will end up benefiting our cause because he'd be a completely ineffective President who would divide the Republican party and bring more independents to our side, thus bringing about a revolution in 2020 where Democrats sweep into power in both the legislative and executive branches of government.
Here's the full case Dore is making with radio host Sam Seder, as well as him highlighting his case on his own show.
At one point, a guy on the show named Robert basically tells Jimmy that his idea of persuading his audience to vote for a third party candidate is "pissing up a rope," and the product of wishful thinking. I feel he's correct: Dore's calculation, his idea that voting for Jill Stein would put the Democratic party on notice, as well as a Trump presidency would benefit Liberalism long term is bogus.
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| Don't let this fucking asshole speak for us. |
Dore points out that the Democrats would band together in unison with independents and some Republicans to obstruct Trump. That could be a possibility, but it wouldn't do them much, save making appearances on MSNBC and the occasional dissenting opinion that can only be seen on C-SPAN. Even then, McConnell and Ryan would demand complete loyalty with their president to keep their people in ranks, or face the idea that the RNC money chest might not be so generous when you're facing a primary challenger (a threat which has already been leveled by the Speaker). Furthermore, should a Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren continue to bitch, holler and yell about a congressional budget that guts the Affordable Care Act, or continues to place the burden of paying for increased tax breaks on the backs of the shrinking middle class, who's to say McConnell might call for the Nuclear Option and destroy the filibuster completely? Lastly, given how Republicans have already gerrymandered the hell out of congressional districts, don't you think they'll go out of they way to make it harder for certain people to vote, like, say....African-Americans, Latinos and young people?
And as for Stein getting 15% of the vote in this year's election? All it would do is help Trump get elected President. The Greens don't have the finances to make any sort of strides in the political process, and I haven't seen one Green party member make it to Congress, the Senate, a Governorship or even make it on the local ballots for state senator or a run for mayor. While I understand this election is between two highly polarizing figures, let's not pretend that there's not a difference between them. One wants to expand a Medicare by-in to aged 55 and support a public option; the other wants to eliminate the ACA entirely. One wants to give women equal pay for equal work to their male counterparts, the other spends his time calling women pigs, slobs and determining their worth to his brand by whether or not their fuckable. One candidate want s to do something about climate change, the other has tweeted out that it's a hoax. And on down the line it goes.
The ideas that Jimmy Dore are throwing out there to the disheartened and bitter Bernie or Bust crowd aren't based in political reality. The conspiracy theories he's now parroting and selling to his audience about Hillary Clinton (allegedly) wanting a well-known whistle-blower executed is dangerous and irresponsible. Look, I get that you hate Hillary Clinton: you hate her politics, her decisions made as First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State, the fact the Democratic base elected her to be our nominee for President over Bernie Sanders, and probably just her as a person, but floating these sort of conspiracy theories that she's nothing but a cold-blooded killer is simply reprehensible.
This is the sort of baseless, gutter-level vitriol I expect to hear from Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Alex Jones, even from Donald Trump himself, but not from our side.
I always believed that, as liberals, that we were above letting scumbags like that speak for our causes and our beliefs, on our behalf.
We can do better than a delusional, smug, arrogant, dismissive fuckwit like Jimmy Dore. We have to.
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