Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Let there be snark.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Israel, don’t be dumb like we were in the US after 9/11!

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

“In the name of Zandar, I will fight the Stupid!”

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Bark louder, little dog.

There are no moderate Republican – only extremists, and cowards.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / At This Point, Michelle Goldberg Is the Only Reason to Read the NY Times Op-Ed Page

At This Point, Michelle Goldberg Is the Only Reason to Read the NY Times Op-Ed Page

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She’s a national treasure:

Trump Is a White Nationalist Who Inspires Terrorism – Don’t pretend his teleprompter speech changes anything.

Surrendering to political necessity, Trump gave a brief speech on Monday decrying white supremacist terror: “In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy.” He read these words robotically from a teleprompter, much as he did after the racist riot in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, when, under pressure, he said, “Racism is evil — and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs.”

Back then, it took about a day for the awkward mask of minimal decency to drop; soon, he was ranting about the “very fine people” among the neo-Nazis. Nevertheless, on Monday some insisted on pretending that Trump’s words marked a turning point. “He really did set a different tone than he did in the past when it comes to condemning this hate,” said Weijia Jiang, White House correspondent for CBS News.

If history is any guide, it won’t be long before the president returns to tweeting racist invective and encouraging jingoist hatreds at his rallies. In the meantime, everyone should be clear that what Trump said on Monday wasn’t nearly enough. He has stoked right-wing violence and his administration has actively opposed efforts to fight it. Further, he’s escalating his incitement of racial grievance as he runs for re-election, as shown by his attacks on the four congresswomen of color known as the squad, as well as the African-American congressman Elijah Cummings. One desultory speech does not erase Trump’s politics of arson, or the complicity of the Republicans who continue to enable it.

Just the facts. Not prettying it up in both sides bullshit to appease the fascists.

Reader Interactions

127Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    Trump Is a White Nationalist Who Inspires Terrorism – Don’t pretend his teleprompter speech changes anything.

    Truth.
    Truth.
    And More TRUTH.

  2. 2.

    hueyplong

    Weird, isn’t it, that every known instance of Trump being “presidential” has been his use of the teleprompter so derided when Obama was president.

  3. 3.

    schrodingers_cat

    Vichy Times does not deserve clicks or subscription for committing an occasional act of journalism. They can DIAF for normalizing T’s bigotry and xenophobia. NYT used to be my homepage, I swore off NYT after their gaslighting coverage of T’s immigration speech in the Fall of 2016. They haven’t changed a damn thing about their fawning coverage of the Orange in the WH. So no clicks from me even for rare supposedly wonderful op-ed writer. She does not make up for the Douthats, Brookses and elebenty and one interviews of T supporters.
    I am an immigrant and a Democrat to NYT I am not a person, I don’t exist other than to condescend to occasionally in the Lifestyle pages. So thanks but no thanks.

  4. 4.

    James E Powell

    One desultory speech does not erase Trump’s politics of arson, or the complicity of the Republicans who continue to enable it.

    Or the complicity of the press/media, led by the New York Times, who continue to cover for Trump and who have been covering for Republicans and their racist rhetoric and policies for years.

    Everyone at the New York Times needs to be reminded every single day that that paper, more than any other person or institution, is what put Trump in the White House.

  5. 5.

    The Moar You Know

    Nevertheless, on Monday some insisted on pretending that Trump’s words marked a turning point. “He really did set a different tone than he did in the past when it comes to condemning this hate,” said Weijia Jiang, White House correspondent for CBS News.

    Nice that the GOP doesn’t even bother making excuses for the motherfucker, they just let the media do it for him. God knows they’re willing and eager.

  6. 6.

    Jeffro

    Isn’t he already tweeting his outrage at Obama’s comments from yesterday? “DID GEORGE W CRITICIZE OBAMA FOR SHOOTINGS?!?!??!” Or something like that.

    Yes, Twitler, it’s exactly the same thing – remember all the racial hatred and mass shootings inspired by Obama’s hateful words???

    Jackass

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    Michelle Goldberg is fabulous, clear-eyed, and on point.

    But do not forget K-Thug! Props to Paul Krugman, who probably shudders more than we do at his column’s home. Can you imagine some of the conversations he’s probably had on the topic.

  9. 9.

    geg6

    My favorite thing is her calling out the shitty, shitty, shitty CBS News. Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow weep in their graves.

  11. 11.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    Obama is a bigger person than I am. All the lying malicious shit Trump and his horrible family gave Obama? Obama knowing that his very existence drives them round them bend? I would have to drive them crazy. I could not resist.

  13. 13.

    henqiguai

    From the Boston Globe, just now —

    Publisher Alfred A. Knopf says Morrison died Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. She was 88.

  14. 14.

    geg6

    @Kay:

    LOL! Me too!

    My John and I were just discussing this very thing last night. But we never claimed to have as much class and elegance as Obama.

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    @James E Powell:

    Everyone at the New York Times needs to be reminded every single day that that paper, more than any other person or institution, is what put Trump in the White House.

    You’re assuming they would see that reminder as a reprimand. The problem is that too many at the top see it as a job well done, even if they’re unwilling to say so publicly.

  17. 17.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I went to this, last night:

    Schiff began by telling the packed church, “There is no better antidote to the hate and violence than love and community, which is represented so well by the audience here tonight.”

    All in all, it was great. At least until the protestor disrupted the whole vibe.

    Also, while the panel was amazing (really everyone was great), when my question about how do we confront the issue of White Nationalists, Xenophobes and Violent Misogynists in Law Enforcement?, which was intended for Schiff, got asked to Omar Ricci (former LAPD officer) who pulled a really gross Blue Lives Matter/#NotAllCops/JustAFewBadApples moment that was just gross considering only 20 minutes earlier Andre Henry spoke eloquently about the history of policing being tied to slave patrols and the need for our society to be honest about why Black people are entirely justified in not trusting the police.

    Acknowledging the weekend shootings, Schiff remarked, “I wish this was not such a timely discussion.”

    Schiff continued, “There is no escaping the clear and present danger of white supremacist violence in the United States, and the terrible urgency to confront this,” he added. ‘It’s domestic terrorism, these acts of unspeakable violence.”

    Schiff noted that of the 248 mass shootings that have occurred in 2019, 39 were committed by avowed white supremacists, a steady rise over the last three years. He called for tougher gun control laws, universal background checks, and a ban on assault weapons.

    “This will save lives,” he said, but noted that “with the weapons in El Paso and Ohio, and Gilroy capable of firing 30 to 40 to 50 rounds in less than a minute,” responders can never respond fast enough.”

    “The damage has already been done, and the lives have already been destroyed,” he said, adding, “No one has a reason to have a weapon like this, other than to kill as many people as possible as fast as possible, which is exactly what they did.”

    Schiff also called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to stop blocking two active House gun control bills that would close gun registration loopholes and expand background checks.

    “Those bills have been waiting around in the House, and they shouldn’t wait any longer,” he said.

    Spreading a wider net around the problem, Schiff also demanded the end of online companies who provide technical support for online sites like “8Chan,” where the alleged El Paso shooter posted a manifesto shortly before his shooting rampage.

    Schiff added later, “We need to concentrate on the issue of domestic terrorism the way we do with international terrorism.”

    While listing a number of specific remedies for the problem, Schiff returned to the president.

    Asked what he would say to Trump, were Trump there, Schiff told Pasadena Now, “I would say, ‘Mr President, you bear some responsibility for the tragedies that we have seen over the last several days. Your rhetoric, your dehumanization of people of color, and of immigrants, contributes to a climate in which people who identify with white supremacy feel empowered to act out in the most horrific ways.”

  18. 18.

    Roger Moore

    @Jeffro:

    Yes, Twitler, it’s exactly the same thing – remember all the racial hatred and mass shootings inspired by Obama’s hateful words???

    Yes, he absolutely does. He probably blames Obama for the shootings happening now. If Obama hadn’t stood up for immigrants and minorities, white supremacists wouldn’t be so angry today. Therefore this stuff is all Obama’s fault. It’s the same way that pointing out when they do something racist is the thing that’s turning them into Nazis. It’s how they think; it’s never their fault.

  20. 20.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Bill Hicks: The bar is in the basement for the Racist President and the racist enabling so-called paper of record. They continue their shitty behavior because no matter what they do, they have legions of fans willing to excuse them.

  21. 21.

    Mike in NC

    Fat Bastard is not a white nationalist. He’s a white supremacist. Don’t let the media try to bullshit us.

  22. 22.

    Betty Cracker

    The NYT is in full defensive crouch mode today for that shitty, inexcusable headline. Good.

  23. 23.

    Pete Mack

    Indeed. And while Linda Greenhouse is also very good indeed, she is not listed as an op-ed contributor on the web page.

  24. 24.

    geg6

    @Betty Cracker:

    I had Morning Joe on this morning and noticed that while every other morning I catch parts of the show, it is littered with NYT reporters pontificating on any and everything, there was not a single one on today. I don’t think that’s ever happened.

  26. 26.

    Turgidson

    @Jeffro:

    Whiny old white FoxNews viewers believe in their bones that Obama’s presidency deliberately sowed racial discord.

  28. 28.

    catclub

    @James E Powell:

    Everyone at the New York Times needs to be reminded every single day that that paper, more than any other person or institution, is what put Trump in the White House.

    Virtually every newspaper editorial page came out in 2016 against Trump, but the news pages (and CNN) all covered him in a manner
    that ignored the editorial pages. And the people mostly ignored the editorial pages.

  31. 31.

    Fair Economist

    The NYT is a business. If they get clicks only for the decent stuff they will improve. A complete boycott isn’t productive.

  32. 32.

    PJ

    @catclub: The editorial is usually the last two pages of the first section of the paper, whereas the news about the 2016 was always on the front page, sometimes with headlines like, “FBI clears Trump of involvement with Russians”, or “FBI reopens investigation into Hillary’s emails,” a few days before the election (neither of which was true).

  33. 33.

    catclub

    Trump knows that the press has the attention span of a flea.
    A press with longer attention span would ask – “If mental health is so important, what has your administration done?”
    A press with a longer attention span would say back to him what he said after the previous shooting and what has been done – nada.

  34. 34.

    James E Powell

    @catclub:

    Virtually every newspaper editorial page came out in 2016 against Trump, but the news pages (and CNN) all covered him in a manner that ignored the editorial pages.

    I’m not talking about 2016 alone. 2016 was the culmination of a 20+ year smear campaign against Hillary Clinton. The NYT’s hatred for the Clintons has never been explained.

  35. 35.

    Harbison

    Ooga boogo boo- NYT bad

    You can get all the quality news you need from the reporters at Twitter and Facebook!!!!!

  37. 37.

    Roger Moore

    @Fair Economist:

    The NYT is a business. If they get clicks only for the decent stuff they will improve. A complete boycott isn’t productive.

    I’m not convinced this is true. Yes, the NYT is a business. It’s also the personal plaything of its owner. Too many newspapers wind up being used at least as much as propaganda mills for the owner’s personal political views rather than profit making businesses. In that case, the paper won’t change until/unless it becomes so unprofitable that the owner sells it or it goes out of business.

  39. 39.

    Faithful Lurker

    I don’t know how to bring a video clip to Balloon Juice but everyone should watch/listen to C.S.Glaude (@esglaude)’s impassioned speech on Nicole Wallace’s show on MSNBC.
    I found it on Seth Abramson’s blog site. It is amazing and the righteous truth.

  40. 40.

    joel hanes

    @Harbison:

    [derisively] NYT bad

    The FTFNYT still employs many fine reporters, and many of them do fine work. The national political editors have been excruciatingly bad for at least two decades, and the paper’s reactions to well-founded criticism have been uniformly blinkered and thin-skinned. With its resources and reputation, the paper could be much better than it is — it has the potential to be almost as great as its conception of itself makes it. That it chooses not to do so is a great loss for the nation.

  41. 41.

    kindness

    Maybe John but there is no reason what so ever to actually pay for a NY Times. Ever.

    Speak with your wallet. It’s all they see (they see it but they won’t understand it).

  42. 42.

    cain

    @catclub:
    That’s not how they think. The press falls back on “common wisdom”, basically Republican talking points from the 90s. The republicans have used video games and mental health from back then, it’s always been their fallback. The press knows that this will be the answer, they never follow up on it because it’s just a familiar game. They don’t seem to really understand that the country is teetering on the brink. They are still in their bubble.

  43. 43.

    patrick II

    My Headline and story for his speech would have been:
    “Trump Contradicts Everything He Actually Stands For”.
    In a turnaround for President Trump, during his “condolence” speech to the country, he did not actually laugh out loud and say “but it wasn’t in the panhandle” when he spoke of the El Paso shooter actually shooting Mexicans. For ten minutes, speaking in the tone of a mean boy being held by one ear and forced to apologize to his sister, President* Trump monotonically pushed out words, some of which might be considered words of solace if coming from nearly any other human being. He also tightly gripped the side of the lecturn to prevent himself from giving the o.k. White Power sign. All things considered, it was as good as could have been expected.

  44. 44.

    cain

    Can we get some relevant posts from independent news sites like Pro Publica? Seems relevant that we should at least prop up the good news sites that practice good journalism.

  46. 46.

    Sloane Peterson's knee therapist

    Uh, news flash jackals, the NYT has always been a right leaning, Republican centered newspaper since it’s inception. Being from NY and the lone black sheep of a solid Republican family it was my dad’s go-to newspaper for news and business reports. I automatically hated it because no funny pages. Now the funny page is right up front.

  48. 48.

    Bob

    What has been totally left out of all of this talk about white hate organizations is the Southern Poverty Law Center and all the work they have been doing for decades in exposing these extremist groups.

    They deserve a lot more recognition then they get.

    Give them a read once and a while and maybe drop a dollar in the box once in a while.

  49. 49.

    rikyrah

    @Faithful Lurker:

    Mr. Claude is a fraud.
    He was one of those muthaphuckas from 2016 who couldn’t quite push himself to vote for Hillary. And, told Black folks to leave the vote for President Blank.
    AND, he hasn’t apologized for that shyt.

    So, excuse me if I never listen to anything he ever has to say again.

  50. 50.

    rikyrah

    @Faithful Lurker:

    I got nothing for Black men who didn’t vote for Clinton in 2016.

    These pseudo “intellectual” Black people impeded progress in a significant way and they aren’t forgiven.

    As a Black person Ian, I need you to stop glorifying their messaging.

    — Amene (@Ange_Amene) August 6, 2019

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    Texodus and the Democratization of the Lone Star State
    by Nancy LeTourneau
    August 5, 2019

    On Monday morning, Representative Kenny Marchant became the fourth Republican congressman from Texas to announce that he won’t run for re-election in 2020. Here is what you need to know about why.

    After a generation of dominance in Texas, Republicans are now facing the same challenges as their counterparts in other parts of the country: By linking themselves to President Trump and his incendiary brand of nationalist politics, they are alienating the sort of suburban voters who were once among the Republican Party’s most dependable supporters.

    This realignment, combined with Texas’s increasing diversity, propelled two freshman Democrats, Representatives Colin Allred and Lizzie Fletcher, to victory last year in districts anchored around Dallas and Houston…

    The same demographic forces were also looming for Mr. Marchant, whose district sprawls to the northwest of Dallas. After winning re-election by 33 percentage points in 2014, his margin of victory fell to 17 percentage points in 2016 and then plunged to just three points last year. Similarly, while Mitt Romney won the district by 22 points, Mr. Trump carried it by only six points in 2016.

    …………………..

    But beyond that, here is what the Texas GOP was already facing coming out of the 2018 midterms.

    Tarrant County, the last GOP urban center flipped blue.
    12 state house seats flipped, which robbed GOP of their once reliable supermajority.
    2 state senate seats flipped, robbing GOP of their once reliable supermajority.
    2 Congressional seats flipped.
    6 Congressional seats held below 55% margins.
    All 59 incumbent GOP judges in Houston lost their seats.
    Harris County Clerk (Houston) flipped into voter expansion advocate’s hands.
    And finally, record turnout that blew past every internal GOP estimate.

  52. 52.

    rikyrah

    Death By Entitlement
    by Trevor LaFauci

    He had a “hit list” and a “rape list”.

    This revelation from the Dayton shooter should speak volumes to all of us. We have reached a time in our country where entitled White men feel so empowered that they feel they can kill anyone who doesn’t worship the ground that they walk on.

    Entitlement is nothing new in this country. We were a nation founded on slavery that engaged in a genocide that wiped out all but 5 percent of the native population. We fought a civil war with half the population perfectly content to have those from the African continent be seen as property or, at best, 3/5 of a White man. For our first 300 years, we saw women as inherently inferior and unworthy of participating in our democracy. Up until 1954, we saw no problem in educating the races differently. And it wasn’t until 2015 where we decided that everyone was legally entitled to marry the person that they love. For 400 years and our first 43 presidents, White men had it pretty good in this country.

    But after the election of Barack Obama, a large percentage of White men got scared. Some of them got scared because the man’s middle name was Hussein. Others were scared because he may have been a secret Muslim. Others still were scared because he may have been born in Kenya. But mostly, these White men got scared because this Obama fellow had a year-round tan that they had never seen before by someone in the White House. He represented something foreign to them. Foreign in his experience. Foreign in the way that he talked with his peers. Foreign in the way that he interacted with certain individuals of his own race. Foreign in the way that, for the first time, they were unable to see themselves in the President of the United States.

    This lasted for 8 whole years.

  54. 54.

    trollhattan

    @joel hanes:
    They only played a major role in torpedoing Hillary Clinton’s campaign with their Comey-fired butter emails campaign. What’s your beef, buddy? :-P

  55. 55.

    The Moar You Know

    Whiny old white FoxNews viewers believe in their bones that Obama’s presidency deliberately sowed racial discord.

    @Turgidson: They really do. The first time I heard one of them say “Obama was the most racist president we’ve ever had” you could have knocked me over with a feather.

    I’ve heard it plenty of times since. I never get used to it. They’re working out of some alternate reality in which the words of our shared language aren’t actually shared…they don’t mean the same things. Apparently “racist” means “encouraging non-whites to think they’re human beings” but I freely admit I could be wrong.

  56. 56.

    jonas

    @Roger Moore: No, seriously, this is what he thinks. That’s why he’s offered to tie any gun control legislation to his (well, actually Stephen Miller’s) neo-Exclusion Acts. It’s the fault of too many immigrants that crazy gun nuts are triggered by their presence and go on these sprees. It’s like offering to pass anti-lynching legislation if Congress would also pass an anti-Blacks-making-passes-at-white-women law.

  60. 60.

    Betty Cracker

    @Aleta: That is so true. Thanks for sharing the link. I hadn’t seen that before. You’re right — it’s great advice for greeting anyone you love, from a child to a spouse to a crabby old aunt to a beloved pet.

  61. 61.

    Aleta

    The Black Caucus @TheBlackCaucus

    The Bluest Eye
    Sula
    Song of Solomon
    Tar Baby
    Beloved

    These are just a few of Author and Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison’s work.

    She was a brilliant writer who shared heartbreaking and poignant stories about Blackness in America.

    May her soul rest in peace.

  64. 64.

    jl

    Had time yesterday, after a stiff drink, to read Trump’s speech carefully. Except for a few phrases of pro forma condemnation of racism and white supremacy, and a couple of weak policy proposals with no urging McConnell to get off his ass, it was same mess of insulting and ridiculous excuses, misdirection and evasion of responsibility spewed out by other GOPers on Fox News (and who wouldn’t show their faces on other outlets).

    And Trump started undercutting his own speech the same morning on twitter. Didn’t have to wait a day.

  65. 65.

    joel hanes

    @The Moar You Know:

    The first time I heard one of them say “Obama was the most racist president we’ve ever had”

    I watch for claims that Obama was “divisive”, which is just as certain a tell, though worded a bit more artfully. Be glad they’re letting us know who they are, so we can counter their influence.

  69. 69.

    prostratedragon

    @Aleta: Amen.

    Yashar Ali included another quote from Toni Morrison in the thread that states something I’ve been feeling acutely of late, not only regarding racism, but also regarding the need to address the walking compendia of pathologies that are rampant in our public life and decisionmaking:

    The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.

  72. 72.

    Patricia Kayden

    @prostratedragon: I love that paragraph from and. Morrison. This is why we shouldn’t waste time taking to racists. There’s nothing I as a Black woman can do or say which will humanize me in their eyes. No need to bother.

  73. 73.

    jl

    @catclub: “If mental health is so important, what has your administration done?”

    Simple. Cut funding. It’s Trumpstertown, Jake.

    Trump did sort of vaguely call for adoption of California style red flag laws to take guns out of the hands of people who are a demonstrable danger to themselves or others. But without pledging to put pressure on McConnell and GOP Senate, it is an empty gesture. Nice if the corporate press could notice that. But it would be inconvenient for the hordes of GOP hack operatives who seem to feed the corporate press its national political material to bring that up. Was convenient to bring it up when Obama or other Democrats were president.

  74. 74.

    catclub

    OT: I think there are at least three really important things going on in the world right now.
    1. Hong Kong Protests
    2. India and Kashmir and Pakistan.
    3. Brexit

    Brexit seems to be on a summer lull, but the other two look really important for the world.
    The common thread seems to be right wing over-reach. (but if it works, is it over-reach? time will tell).

    also, compare the response of the US press (right-wing) to Ebola in Congo during 2014 before the election, and now.
    crickets.

  75. 75.

    sherparick1

    I would add Paul Krugman and Jamelle Bouie as reasons to read the NYT. Also David Leonhardt. The political desk is a dumpster fire and has been since the Bush I Administration.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    Stay classy, Texas.

    Texas police have apologised after an image of two white officers on horseback leading a handcuffed black man by a rope caused an outcry online.

    Galveston Police Chief Vernon Hale said on Monday the technique was acceptable in some scenarios, but that “officers showed poor judgment in this instance”. He said there was no “malicious intent” and has changed department policy to “prevent the use of this technique”.

    Many people on social media said the photo evoked images of the slavery era.

    According to a news release from the Galveston Police Department, the two mounted officers, named only as P Brosch and A Smith, arrested Donald Neely for criminal trespass. The officers were taking Mr Neely to a police staging area. Police clarified that he was not tied with the rope, but “was handcuffed and a line was clipped to the handcuffs”.

    The department added: “We understand the negative perception of this action and believe it is most appropriate to cease the use of this technique.”

    With their excellent Governor Abbott, I expect commendations for all involved by Friday.

  77. 77.

    Hoodie

    @Fair Economist: Seriously? So I should watch FoxNews, but only Shep Smith? Fox will just pay Hannity more with the subsidy. Corporations do all kinds of non-market responsive things, they can be as irrational actors as their customers and can do so for a long time if they have market power. The NYT will run itself into the ground thinking it’s doing what it’s readership wants. It’s only national competition is the WaPo, it has a long way to fall.

  78. 78.

    Mandalay

    @rikyrah:

    He was one of those muthaphuckas from 2016 who couldn’t quite push himself to vote for Hillary. And, told Black folks to leave the vote for President Blank. AND, he hasn’t apologized for that shyt

    He’s even worse than that. Not only did he shit on Clinton’s campaign in 2016, but when Trump got elected he blamed white people rather than look in the mirror.

    Eddie Glaude in 2016:

    I am not voting for Hillary Clinton, regardless of her endorsement by Bernie Sanders…I don’t agree with her ideologically…Democratic values centered on economic and racial justice shape my own politics. I’m not convinced those values shape hers.

    Eddie Glaude in 2017:

    Sometimes to be heard you’ve got to sing out of key. We have to imagine a new kind of politics. The one good thing that comes out of the election of Trump is that he’s flattened the political landscape. He’s opened up space for us to think anew.

    Eddie Glaude in 2018:

    What I did wrong in 2016 is I overestimated white people. I didn’t think white people would put him in office.

    Apart from his obvious failings with self-reflection and honesty, Eddie Glaude is as dumb as a box of rocks. And until he admits he fucked up in 2016 his opinions are worthless, because he’s just going to spout whatever is politically convenient for Eddie Glaude.

  79. 79.

    jl

    @catclub: The corporate press’ national affairs coverage, and also any topic that has a racist or xenophobic angle to national politics is run by GOP hacks whispering BS in their ears.

    As Jerry Brown said to the California press as they chased him down some corridor (paraphrase): You people are like little lapdogs, whenever the GOP farts, you run to sniff it.

    Need more Democrat politicians to talk straight to the press, like Jerry Brown and Barney Frank.

  80. 80.

    MomSense

    Did I hear correctly that the White House announced flags will return to full staff on 8/8???

    Surely the FBI, DOJ, and DNI all told the president that was an exceedingly bad and inappropriate date. Literally the HH date the white supremacists and neo NAZIs love so much.

  81. 81.

    jl

    @Hoodie: I think Fox News lets Shep Smith run his show, and Mike Wallace do a few good interviews with GOPers just to keep the facade of their “Fair and Balanced” facade. I guess they do some good. If any Democratic politician feels the need to deal with Fox News, they should only deal with those two. Other than that, doesn’t mean much. People like Smith and, often but not always, Wallace, are in some ways, loss leaders, just as you explain.

  82. 82.

    Roger Moore

    @jonas:

    No, seriously, this is what he thinks.

    I was being absolutely serious in what I said. White supremacists start from a position of believing that whites deserve to be in control of the country. They think that’s the natural order of the world. Anything that interferes with that control is not just wrong but evil, and they, as whites, are within their rights to use any means necessary to reassert their control.

    This is the core of why they’re perfectly fine cutting a treasonous bargain with Russia (and previously with Iran and North Vietnam) to win an election. Democracy is only an acceptable form of government as long as it leaves control in the hands of whites. If non-whites- or a coalition of non-whites and white race traitors, which is more or less the same thing- can win, we have to jettison Democracy so we can preserve white supremacy.

  83. 83.

    WhatsMyNym

    @Fair Economist:

    If they get clicks only for the decent stuff they will improve.

    That’s the funniest thing I’ve read all year. TFNYT has been a republican mouthpiece since they printed their 1st paper. That’s why it exists.

  84. 84.

    Steeplejack

    @geg6:

    “He really did set a different tone than he did in the past when it comes to condemning this hate,” said Weijia Jiang, White House correspondent for CBS News.

    I looked up Jiang, who gave us that piercing bit of analysis. She’s 34, a graduate of William & Mary, and she got a master’s in broadcast journalism at Syracuse. She’s strictly a TV “reporter”; she worked at two local stations in Salisbury, MD, and Baltimore and peaked at WCBS in New York for three years before joining CBS in 2015.

    I’m showing my bias, but one thing the national press is missing these days is solid reporters who have experience doing shoe-leather reporting down in the trenches, usually at the local level. Not sure how much of that Ms. Jiang did. It’s not showing up in her current work!

    But, hey, the New York Times did a Style piece on her wedding last year to Luther Lowe, college classmate and now “global vice president for public policy at Yelp.” Yay!

  86. 86.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: The ghost of Mike Wallace takes possession of Chris Wallace when he does good interviews with GOPer politicians.

    Everyone knows that. Many people are saying that. Believe me.

    Edit: and Mike Wallace has been doing great work recently.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    @Hoodie:

    Corporations do all kinds of non-market responsive things, they can be as irrational actors as their customers and can do so for a long time if they have market power.

    This. Corporations are ultimately run by small groups of human beings, and those human beings are just as prone to the kinds of stupid mistakes as their customers. They can actually be worse than their customers, because their customers are a big enough group to have the advantage of the wisdom of crowds, while corporate leadership can get sucked into groupthink and all the other logical mistakes small, insular groups are prone to.

  88. 88.

    Roger Moore

    @MomSense:

    Surely the FBI, DOJ, and DNI all told the president that was an exceedingly bad and inappropriate date. Literally the HH date the white supremacists and neo NAZIs love so much.

    He knows, which is precisely why he’s pushing so hard to do it.

  89. 89.

    Aleta

    It’s good that Michelle Goldberg’s op ed openly links the radicalization force of the internet to the radicalization forces of the presidency being used by T (and Pence, CBP officers and GOP reps). (Especially since the rest of the NYT still omits that it + other MSM was a normalized force all set up for them when they arrived, and its willingness a force multiplier.)

    On Monday, by coincidence, Cesar Sayoc Jr., the man who sent package bombs to Democrats and journalists he viewed as hostile to Trump, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In a court filing, his defense lawyers describe how he was radicalized. “He truly believed wild conspiracy theories he read on the internet, many of which vilified Democrats and spread rumors that Trump supporters were in danger because of them,” they wrote. “He heard it from the president of the United States, a man with whom he felt he had a deep personal connection.” He became a terrorist as a result of taking the president both seriously and literally.

  90. 90.

    Starfish

    @James E Powell: General disdain for Southerners and/or strivers that allowed them to write all those pieces about white people that looked like anthropological studies rather than true understanding of other humans

  92. 92.

    ThresherK

    @Mandalay:

    Glaude: What I did wrong in 2016 is I overestimated white people. I didn’t think white people would put him in office.

    He’s a black man who probably rested assured that Clinton would get elected and thought he had the luxury of snowflaking for someone else. Screw that mindset; I know a lefties who celebrated “I voted for a woman today–Jill Stein!”. Glaude and those purity trolls share the same mind.

  95. 95.

    ThresherK

    @Geeno: Heehee. Boffo stuff, especially considering how difficult it is to satirize what has become RW reality.

  99. 99.

    catclub

    @Roger Moore:

    He knows, which is precisely why he’s pushing so hard to do it.

    I think you are making too much over it. Having flags at half staff means nothing to them, in the first place, so returning them to normal also means nothing.

  100. 100.

    joel hanes

    @jl:

    Trump did sort of vaguely call for adoption of California style red flag laws to take guns out of the hands of people who are a demonstrable danger to themselves or others.

    One of Trump’s first official acts was to cancel an Obama administration initiative that would have prevented people with certain kinds of psychological illnesses from easily purchasing guns.

  103. 103.

    jl

    Except when GOPer hacks thought saying Obama wasn’t ‘authentically’ black, would split African-American support.
    After Obama was elected that line was dropped, since obviously it didn’t work.
    Might be an example of everything being projection with the GOP and reactionaries: they naturally assume everyone is as bigoted as they are.

    Edit: and I remember after Obama was elected, Kerry type attacks of being elitist were rolled out from time to time. Once the mustard he put on his burger was deemed to fancy, or something. But the straight up racism was such a hit with their supporters, that was soon the mainstay. That was where the real passion and commitment was.

  104. 104.

    MomSense

    @catclub:

    I completely disagree. These groups are really keyed in to symbolism and to looking for signs from politicians that they are sympathetic.

    I’m not brave enough to go looking in the hate sites – but I bet they approve and took notice.

  105. 105.

    jl

    @joel hanes: Thanks for reminding me. The speech was a fraud. As I noted, Trump didn’t call on GOP Senate to stop blocking everything. And without that, and actual follow-up, it means nothing. Of course, Trump doesn’t have the focus to follow up, and is too pliable to the last person to come in and talk with him, anyway.

    A national affairs news media that was trying to actually analyze the situation, as opposed to running a boring and fugly reality show, would have noted that.

    Maybe they will, but I haven’t noticed anything yet.

  106. 106.

    catclub

    @joel hanes: yes. but notable changes in my list are happening on week to month timescales.
    That’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it. I am amazed that I floss my teeth because somebody told me if I didn’t I would regret it in ten years.

    With climate change: “you need to change so somebody else will not suffer in 50 years” is a hard sell.
    (and yes I know there are obvious effects now.)

  107. 107.

    Tenar Arha

    @jl: The speech was awful, even for him & the GOP’s general awfulness. Red flag laws are designed to remove the guns, not commit people. And I noticed online how people with serious mental health issues really noticed how he talked about changing laws to allow for involuntary commitment.

  109. 109.

    Elizabelle

    @Aleta: I cannot get into Twitter at all. Today or yesterday. (That happening to anyone else? I should probably just reboot my computer.)

    Anyhoo: is the Toni Morrison advice something you can cut and paste for me? I would love to see it.

    Thank you.

  110. 110.

    Elizabelle

    Marvelous. Bring it on. WaPost website headline and blurb:

    Peter Strzok, whose anti-Trump texts got him fired from the FBI, sues for reinstatement

    The former FBI agent alleges his removal from the bureau was “part of a broader campaign against the very principle of free speech.”

  111. 111.

    J R in WV

    @Turgidson:

    Whiny old white FoxNews viewers believe in their bones that Obama’s presidency deliberately sowed racial discord.

    To whiny old racists, nothing is worse than suddenly having a black boss, which is what happened when President Obama was elected. Think about it. Horrifying reversal of the “way thing should be” with all white racists on top and all minority folk on the bottom.

    Suddenly there’s a black family in the White House, on Air Force One, traveling around the world representing the US to foreign dignitaries. Racists cannot imagine anything worse, literally. Nothing. The nuclear end of the world would have been less bad to the racists.

    It took me a little while to realize this was what was happening in their tiny minds, why birtherism happened, why we saw those horrible drawings of the president as witch doctor. Those obscene acts were all vain attempts by racists to repair the damage to their tiny egos by having a black man as the leader of the nation.

    So to help myself I remind me that only a very sick and somewhat demented person would need to do that kind of obscene ritualistic nonsense. And very, very small in every possible way, that’s why they are the way they are.

    Remember how unattractive the white people trying to call the cops on black people having a picnic in the park are? They know they’re ugly inside, that’s why they’re acting out the way they are.

  112. 112.

    J R in WV

    @James E Powell:

    The NYT’s hatred for the Clintons has never been explained.

    Pretty simple, really. Neither of them were from New York — they were rural yokels. Yes, I know Hillary is really from an upscale neighborhood in the Chicago area, which to the Timesmen was still a yokel.

    Remember the inner circle DC socialites who told each other,”This is not their town — this is OUR town!” ? The NY Times spent the next 30 years attempting to make that so, and finally, in the 2016 election, they did so. To our very great misfortune.

  113. 113.

    TriassicSands

    At this point, Michelle Goldberg is the only reason to read the NY Times Op-Ed page

    I’m sorry, but that’s a really ridiculous (and inaccurate) statement. As Elizabelle (and others have) pointed out above, Paul Krugman is still writing for that page. I think Goldberg ‘s voice is eloquent and important, but Krugman combines his deep knowledge of economics with an inexhaustible passion to expose the crimes and incompetence of Trump and the Republicans. When I finish a Goldberg column I invariably think “I agree with that.” But I’m much less likely to have learned anything new. With Krugman, I get both. Op-Ed columns can do more than simply reflect my own personal passions.

    I hope they both continue to write for years to come, but if I had to (reluctantly) give up one, it wouldn’t be Krugman.

    There are others who appear on the Op-Ed page who are worth reading (at least sometimes).

    John, if you had written that in your opinion Goldberg is the best reason to read the NYT Op-Ed page, I might not have agreed, but I wouldn’t have bothered to quibble.

  114. 114.

    Kirk Spencer

    @ThresherK: Alternately, he didn’t vote for Clinton because, to quote a young man at work, “I don’t think a woman should be president.” Hated Trump, but didn’t vote.

    I had reason to discuss this with him the other day and he’s unrepentant. Won’t vote for Harris or Warren or any other nominated woman regardless.

    Racism is a problem, but given we elected a black man and not a white woman I’m gonna say the misogyny is worse. Just my opinion, of course.

  115. 115.

    Monala

    @The Moar You Know: They often cite evidence of Obama’s “racism” as incidents such as Obama saying that Trayvon Martin, “could have been my son,” as if Obama’s expression of empathy for a kid who had lost his life was in any way comparable to calling Mexicans rapists, black athletes sons of bitches, and African countries sh*tholes. That or his fairly mild criticism of the Cambridge Police “acting stupidly” when they arrested a black professor for breaking into his own home.

  116. 116.

    greenergood

    @henqiguai: She was the greatest American fiction writer of the late 20-early 21st century; she was the equivalent of Melville in defining and also challenging American culture. The more I see her defined as ‘Black Woman US’ writer, the more I get pissed off – not that because she is defined by those labels, but because the labels seem to limit her, rather than releasing her. Her fiction was always a challenge, and an exploration of worlds so many of us [i.e., me, white] Americans hadn’t a clue, but were amazed to discover when we did . She changed my perspective (perception?) – forever Thank you Ms Morrison

  119. 119.

    Janesays

    @schrodingers_cat:

    So no clicks from me even for rare supposedly wonderful op-ed writer.

    The FTFNYT sucks, but that’s an unnecessary and unwarranted slam on an excellent journalist. She’s not a “supposedly wonderful op-ed writer” – she’s a wonderful op-ed writer. Period.

    Do you think Charles Blow sucks, too? Jamelle Bouie? Paul Krugman?

    You don’t have to sell me on the bad far outweighing the good at the the Grey Lady these days – there are a lot more terrible writers like Ross Douthat, Brett Stephens, David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, etc. than there are good ones like those mentioned above, but that doesn’t negate the value of the work put out by those good writers.

  120. 120.

    J R in WV

    @Janesays:

    You don’t have to sell me on the bad far outweighing the good at the the Grey Lady these days – there are a lot more terrible writers like Ross Douthat, Brett Stephens, David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, etc. than there are good ones like those mentioned above, but that doesn’t negate the value of the work put out by those good writers.

    Yes, there are a few good writers at the NY Times, but to read those writers, you must also support Dowd, Douthat, et al. Many of us are no longer willing to do so.

    Thanks for your attention to this matter. Sorry you missed the point til now.

  121. 121.

    dww44

    @rikyrah: Gee, I didn’t know that. Am sort of shocked that he did that in 2016. He was very passionate in that piece on Nicole Wallace’s show that’s being linked. Saw a replay of it on Velshi/Rule’s MSNBC show earlier. Glaude gets a lot of air time on many of the MSNBC shows..

  122. 122.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:
    I think it’s quite possible that they are amazed that everyone doesn’t agree with them. They are the chosen ones and see no other possible explanation for race than that whites exist to show their superiority and everyone else exists to prove that.

  123. 123.

    dww44

    @Janesays: But what does carry the day is their supposedly straight news reporting and its framing. Misleading, biased, conservative leaning framing is very damaging to liberals, especially when the conservative world and media still promotes the NYT as the ultimate bastion for the left when it clearly isn’t. They need to be held to account and it would be so nice if we had another national media outlet.

  124. 124.

    janesays

    @J R in WV: I missed no point. She condescendingly referred to Michelle Goldberg as a “supposedly wonderful op-ed writer”, and I was calling out that characterization, because it was bullshit.

    I don’t subscribe to the NYT either… but I know how to bypass the paywall for pieces that I actually do want to read.

  125. 125.

    TriassicSands

    @J R in WV:
    And you seem to be missing a point as well. There is a lot in the Times that has nothing to do with politics. I spend much more time reading articles about science, medicine, the arts, etc. than I spend reading about politics. I also criticize the Times political coverage on a regular basis. I want the Times to exist and do a better job on politics. You, apparently, just want the Times to die. Myself, I have no doubt which would be a better outcome.

  126. 126.

    bob

    @ joel hanes

    Absolutely !

    It’s just that corporate owned news ain’t never going to allow those voices to be heard or seen in any of their offerings that they call news. That is not in the quarterly profits bylaws. There are exceptions once in a while.

    But not this putz:
    Do I even have to mention David Freakin’ Brooks continuing to spew 800 mixmaster mash week in and week out at the NYT.

    But yes I agree Michelle Goldberg is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and an exception to the rule at the NYT. From my point view she tells it like it is. She has my vote to be on the panel to ask the candidates questions at the candidates debate

  127. 127.

    bob

    Off topic:

    I forgot to add: Moscow Mitch,Moscow Mitch,Moscow Mitch,Moscow Mitch,Moscow Mitch,Moscow Mitch,Moscow Mitch,Moscow Mitch,Moscow Mitch, is a Moscow Mitch!

    Mitch if you happen to read this you are still a Moscow Mitch.

    Sincerely, honestly…

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