What Does a Biden Presidency Mean to America?
By Thom Hartmann A...
We're coming out of one of the darkest times in American history, certainly the darkest time in the memory of most living Americans.Fear and hate have been the dominant national emotions during the last two Republican presidencies. They were used to lie us into a war in Iraq, and to tear us apart from each other for the last four years.
Joe Biden becoming president means that we can focus on making life better for American citizens, rather than trying to demonize each other.
A Biden presidency means we can begin rebuilding our country and infrastructure, rather than continuing to let it deteriorate and fall apart.
A Biden presidency means we can begin to heal our environment rather than keep lobbyists for the oil and coal industry in charge.
With Trump gone, the grifters and opportunists in his cabinet will be gone, too.
The Education Department can once again focus on building a strong public school system.
The Environmental Protection Agency can go back to protecting our environment.
The State Department can work on rebuilding our international alliances and stop coddling dictators and autocrats.
The Internal Revenue Service can aggressively audit rich people again, and the Federal Election Commission can hold fatcat cheaters to account again.
As Trump goes on his "Death and Destruction Goodbye Tour," we can go back to thinking about friends, family, country and the future, rather than obsessively checking the news every 10 minutes to see what new fresh hell Trump has unleashed.
It will take some time for America to recover from four years of continuous assault by a psychotic president. Most Americans are experiencing some form of political PTSD. But we will heal from this and a brighter future is coming.
-Thom
Comments
#2
With Biden, the only thing we can say for certain is that Trumpian attacks on our sensibilities will recede. But many of the things we rile about happened with Biden's participation e.g. Iraq war, deteriorating infrastructure, low wages, exported jobs, wealth concentration etc. While I have heaved a sight of relief, I am not hopeful about many other things that we all cherish such as universal government funded health care, low cost post secondary education, reduction of arbitrary police powers, interference in the affairs of sovereign governments etc. Also, Biden won but almost half the voters voted for Trump. These people are highly volatile and I am afraid they will pick up their guns and revolt at his suggestion anytime. Democrats and Biden have not offered any substantial benefits for us. And the benefits that have accured to the ultra rich are left untouched. not only that, Republicans have now taken up the mantle of the working man. Good job Democrats!
#3
Voter Suppresion and partisan gerrymandering needs to be fought and crushed.
Our Democracy infrastructure has been trashed, bullied, and broken by years of Republican attacks. So much to do there. While there are obviously many more things Biden/Harris will be working on in addition to what Thom highlighted, such as - immigration, economic justice, international policies..., to sustain progress we'll need to fix the process we use every 2 years to put leaders who reflect the will of the people into the halls of power. ... AKA, "Voting Infrastructure".
If we don't, another Republican in the White House may finish the work of Trump and Republicans in destroying what's left of our Democracy.
#4
Thom is absolutely right and we should enjoy this moment of success. But we must also remember that the struggle is not over. In one form or another it has been going on since the first Neolithic village tyrant discovered that people would follow him. When Cheney became vice-president I said to my wife, "Didn't we get rid of people like that with Nixon?" And she wisely replied, "People like that always come back." Trump may fade away like an exiled pretender to the throne, but the next rising person with his ideas will be much slicker. It is likely that America will mostly heal from the damage done by this psychopath, but we can never let our guard down either.
#5
We'll still have to be "obsessively checking the news every 10 minutes to see what new fresh hell [McConnell] has unleashed." The Republican Leader for Life is going to do everything in his power to block Biden and the Democrats at every turn. That's how Republicans incite their angry and hateful base. And, good god almighty, do they ever need their loony tunes to come out in force for the two Senate runoffs in Georgia!
#6
Hey, all you Trump dead-enders, in case you missed the viral video: "Stay the fuck away from Canada!"
#7
Thom, back on or about Oct. 28, you opened a segment of your show talking about sociopaths. I believe this to be the most important subject of our time!
On January 1, 2021, I will be 77 years old. For most of my early life, I had but a passing interest in politics. That dramatically changed with the murder of President John Kennedy on November 22, 1963! A few weeks later, after I saw Life Magazine’s detailed color pictures of the Zapruder film showing the President’s head and brains being blown BACKWARD after being shot in the face, and NOT being shot from behind – as declared fact by the Warren Commission Report – I began my personal search to find out who, why, and how my government was intentionally lying to all of us then, and forward to this very day.
Initially, since there was no Internet for the first three decades, my search was slow and labor intensive. However, with the advent of the Internet, my searches became much more productive. I attempted to find answers relating to politicians, other governments, the CIA, the Mafia, bankers, etc., and was about to give up on finding a satisfying answer until, about a dozen years ago, I found and read an article titled, Beware The Psychopath, My Son.
After reading that article, I came to the forehead slapping realization that for all of those years I was expecting to find my answers among groups of people and all the while it was the commonality of the mental composition– of specific powerful menWITHIN those groups! It was the key which almost instantly answered so many more questions than I had ever even begun to consider. It answered political questions, economic questions, legal questions, historical questions, sociological questions, racial questions, religion questions, media questions, sexism, rationalizations for wars and so much more!
I have spent the last decade confirming and expanding on my “discoveries” and last year I began what has become a three webpage explanation for all to read, absorb and then hopefully help usher through Congress a very specific bill into Federal law. So now, I would sincerely appreciate any feedback, criticism, questions, support and/or – at least pass this short introduction along to someone who may find it of interest.
--
Note: The above mentioned article, upon which all of my studies are based, is the first link on the first webpage listed below. That link begins with, “Research studies have shown …”.
www.rushtopower.net/action.html
www.rushtopower.net/reset.html
Respectfully,
Terry Sneller aka, Tarry Faster
terry@rushtopower.net
#8
Amen to Terry and Thom. Anywhere from 1% to 3% of society have no conscience. That's a lot of people in America. They rise to the top roles in corporate or political circumstances because of their brain pathology. Psychopaths and sociopaths are not who the uninformed think they are. It is not a CHOICE nor is it EVIL. However, without a doubt they can do evil things. I have been studying too. Dr. Robert D. Hare writes for the layman.
For those already lamenting that we may not get rid of Moscow-Mitch as Majority Leader, please look-up what is happening in 2022. If we keep working and get some good results, that could be our year. I hope so because we really need that public option! A whole bunch of bills are already written and have passed the House, maybe Joe will be able to get Mitch the Bitch to bring the infrastructure ones to the floor. Jobs, jobs, jobs. Look at me, I said something hopeful. Isn't that quaint? It reminds me of Barrack; it was so good to see him. I think that may happen more often. He finished his book.
If you didn't see Saturday Night Live, you really must, because it was brutal but epic. Chappelle took everyone to church.
#9
There are Democrats and Democrats. Those who wanted Hillary over Sanders and promoted Biden over the others, are happy to see that the Senate is still at the hands of Republicans. Biden was the "breaks" for Obama and the senate will be the "breaks" for Biden. Hopefully, Biden will be able to deliver some real as opposed to superficial solutions to the ever increasing problem of inequality within USA society. (Inequalities in all kind of situations: financial & educational opportunities, health access, the rights to life, liberty and the pursuiut of happiness). And to the Dems who did not and still do not like Sanders: If Biden fails, then perhaps next time around they will have to deal with someone like AOC! Nighty-night....
#10
It will be nice to not hear daily lies and train wreck scandals. Hope that Trump will quietly disappear. Anthony Scaramucci suggested that he move to FL and play golf. But he will probably be a loud mouth "I could do better" type. Hopefully Twitter bans his account. They recently banned Steve Bannon.
The Republicans, the ones that enabled this monster for 4 years are still very strong. A friend of mine that was a vote counter said that a lot of ballots had Biden and straight Republican the rest of the way. They took several Congress seats and so far still have control of the Senate. The voters of Kentucky screw this country a lot by keeping Moscow Mitch in office. Hopefully a couple of Senators will realize the power that they have by crossing over, but I doubt it. Thus we have 2 more years of Mitch Blocking everything. Worse of all getting away with it, with little media coverage. The Right Wing Media machine will swing into action.
I find it interesting that my neighborhood still has a lot of Trump signs up. Maybe 50% were taken down. Kind of like advertising their stupidity. Do you think that Trump will run in 2024? I doubt it. They have a huge number already hinting. Kamala is the presumed front runner for the Dems. I am not a great Joe fan but he was probably the best candidate to run against Trump. I doubt that he will run at 83. I like a lot of the others that were in the field but they would have been torn apart by the Trump machine. We have a lot of hate in this country. Joe's experience and recognition won. As usual he is inheriting a terrible mess from a Republican Administration.
70 days or 1694 more hours with Trump. Good luck!
Deepspace, thanks to the Republican dealings with Covid, we cannot move to Canada. The border is closed. Very few countries will let us in. We have Kooties. We are considered diplomatically a high risk country. You cannot even vacation in other countries. You cannot even visit New Mexico without a 14 day quarantine.
Alaska Governor had to publically denie that they are using dog sleds to deliver the ballots. Democrat Gross still stands a chance. Plus, a nut case right winger 3rd party is pulling 5% of the vote. We think of Alaska as a nowhere place, but 2 Senators is very powerful. It takes 22 smaller states to add up to California's population. They get 44 Senators, California gets 2.
MSNBC just reported that 55% of White Women voted for Trump.
#11
yesterday I wanted to comment on someone who said Mr Biden had not accomplished much, he was one representative and one senator among a lot of other people. When he was vice president the senate was held by the republicans who blocked almost everything he and Mr. Obama tried to accomplish.
I have a local businesswoman who thinks culling the minks in Denmark and racoon dogs in China is a distraction. This is the sort of mental capacity we deal with when speaking to republicans. They think any effort at mitigating the Covid19 spread is against their personal civil rights even in a foreign nation. Gaia is pissed at such stupidity and we all are suffering.
#12
Two startling facts keeping floating back to the surface of the swirling swamp sewage of the last four years, constantly being flushed down the memory hole to make room for more: 1) corporate media has virtually created the Trump brand from the very beginning during his early rise to stardom in New York City right up to today's news cycle; 2) the Republican Party has wholeheartedly embraced a mentally ill authoritarian who is actively destroying our democracy.
"The more things change, the more they stay the same." - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr
As they drain ever more wealth away from the working class, Republicans' Wall Street benefactors have declared war on the little people and on the Democratic Party, which dares to defy the "Masters of the Universe" and to threaten their iron grip on the real political power behind the scenes. Massive tax giveaways for the one percent, who continually abdicate their share of responsibility in helping to maintain a functioning society as they continually concentrate the nation's wealth into their own hands, have further impoverished the rest of America. Massive deregulation of the one percent's monopolized industries has further poisoned our air, land, water, and food.
Yet, when Wall Street's political forces lose elections, even decisively as they did this time around, corporate media begins almost immediately to broadcast loudly the logical fallacy that the winners must bend their thinking toward that of the losers -- you know, in the great patriotic crusade to "unite the country."
Yeah? Why is that? And why does it never seem to work in reverse?
Is not the real story that the losers should have to re-think their own out-of-step politics, which has been resoundingly rejected by a strong and undeniable majority of real live people (not just ballot statistics), who are royally pissed off at the outrageous behavior of the l-o-o-o-s-e-r-s?
How do Democrats compromise with Trump's 25,000 + obvious lies? How do sane people "meet in the middle" with crazed zealots so far gone that they truly believe their political opponents secretly belong to a worldwide ring of godless, satanic pedophiles who drink the blood of babies on sacrificial altars during sex orgies? How exactly does one negotiate intelligently with Republican leaders who give a wink and a nod to such ridiculous nonsense, cowards who live in mortal fear of angering their repugnant base of white-nationalist freaks lest they get primaried out?
No, for the nation to heal, it's time for the 70 million Republican fools who voted for outright fascism to get off their high horse and to come back into the fold of genuine democracy. Democrats did their patriotic duty. Republicans, at long last, must now do theirs.
And if they can't be genuine, then maybe they could at least fake it. (That's a joke, son, a flag-waver.) They're good at pretending if nothing else.
#13
They called Democrat sore losers in 2016! There is no dispute, that Trump has lost the Popular Vote twice. 1670 hours of total chaos left.
#14
Alis,
I am, along with a few of my activist friends, going to attempt to create and guide a two part bill through Congress that will require that the President, as well as the members of Congress and the Supreme Court pass a Security Clearance. The second part is to also require that they all pass Dr. Hare's test for psychopathy. We are currently on hold until we see wheather or not the Senate will be controlled by Moscow Mitch, or not.
If you, or anyone else, would care to help us develop our movement for such a bill, please send me an email.
terry (at) rushtopower (dot) net
#15
I find myself elated that a monster was defeated, but, many of it's minions remain. It remains to be seen if the Biden/Harris admin. can rise to the occasion, given their records, and their pro-corporate leanings. We're already seeing attacks on the progressive wing of the party, to pave the way for Biden/Harris folks to waffle on pushing a progressive policy to help the working classes. If the new admin. doesn't push back early and often against the neo-liberal advice being given by the corporate oligarchs, we'll know then, there's more of the same old BS coming.
Dimocrats ALWAYS have a messaging problem, I 'm believing it's by design, because more of them care about their donors, than the working classes they give lip service to.
Two issues are paramount; Controling the virus, and getting economic relief to the working classes and small businesses.
IF, those two issues aren't fast tracked, I'm afraid it's more of the same old BS.
Biden will have the "Bully Pulpit". He better damn well use it!!!!
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Hi Thom
I thought today was the day they were coming back and going to make sure to jump right on the stimulus package ha ha.
Instead all I see is McConnell talking about how it's totally justified that Trump can sue.
Joke. Knew it.
Citizens count last.
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