Take Heart November 10, 2024November 10, 2024 PART I – Why We Lost I’ve previously linked to the David Brooks and Bret Stephens columns that I think explain much of it — must reads, if you missed them. To those let me add: Why Does No One Understand the Real Reason Trump Won? It wasn’t the economy. It wasn’t inflation, or anything else. It was how people perceive those things, which points to one overpowering answer: . . . the right-wing media. Today, the right-wing media—Fox News (and the entire News Corp.), Newsmax, One America News Network, the Sinclair network of radio and TV stations and newspapers, iHeart Media (formerly Clear Channel), the Bott Radio Network (Christian radio), Elon Musk’s X, the huge podcasts like Joe Rogan’s, and much more—sets the news agenda in this country. And they fed their audiences a diet of slanted and distorted information that made it possible for Trump to win. . . . billionaires on the right have invested far more heavily in media in the last two decades than their counterparts on the left . . . This is the year in which it became obvious that the right-wing media has more power than the mainstream media. It’s not just that it’s bigger. It’s that it speaks with one voice, and that voice says Democrats and liberals are treasonous elitists who hate you, and Republicans and conservatives love God and country and are your last line of defense against your son coming home from school your daughter. And that is why Donald Trump won . . . Liberals must wake up and understand this and do something about it before it’s too late, which it almost is. Worth reading in full. (And, of course, the right-wing media has this huge advantage: they don’t care if something’s true. If it’s eye-catching — Haitians eating pets — they run with it. It’s the National Enquirer brand of “journalism” — Supreme Court Justice Scalia Murdered By A Hooker! — that grabs eyeballs and has helped Trump every step of the way.) Of interest, too, if you have time: Our Mistake Was to Think We Live in a Better Country Than We Do . . . The principal problems that got us to this bleakest moment in American history are intertwined. They are the crisis of masculinity, the failure of the mainstream news media and the rise of Silicon Valley, and in a way they are all the same problem. . . . PART II – Now What? Start with The Borowitz Report: If history’s any guide, some nasty surprises await Donald Trump. And Joyce Vance: Whatever the next days and weeks hold, the most important thing is not to let Donald Trump take away your sense of power as an American. Do not, as Tim Snyder says, obey in advance. We did not quit during Trump’s first four years in office and we are not going to quit now. We will pick our priorities and marshal our resources to do what must be done. Make sure you take the time now to nurture yourself for what is ahead. There will be a role for each of us. And Jamie Raskin’s email to supporters [abridged]: My Dear Friends: The last few days have been a blur of grief, disbelief and denial, regret, despair, resignation, estrangement and loss, heartbreak, and maybe, just maybe, the first stirrings of acceptance and renewed resolve. If you want to start to feel better, think about this: We’ve expressed our disappointment civilly and our hopes for the future honestly. We’re not telling sinister judicially-debunked lies about who won the election to divide America. We’re not concocting disinformation and propaganda about imaginary election fraud in the states. We’re not committing fraud by trying to get state election officials to fabricate thousands of nonexistent votes to change the results. Nor are we preparing counterfeit electoral college slates. We’re not summoning mobs and violent extremist groups to attack police officers and destroy the peaceful transfer of power. We’re not out inciting mob violence against Capitol police officers, Montgomery County and D.C. police officers, federal law enforcement officers, Members of Congress, the Vice-President or anyone else in order to overthrow the election and block the peaceful transfer of power. We are modeling true democratic citizenship without jettisoning our principles and values. As Democrats we undoubtedly made strategic and tactical mistakes in this campaign. We need a rigorous analysis of what worked and what did not work against the dreadfully effective tactics of our homegrown authoritarians and oligarchs. But our values have never been a mistake. We have defended constitutional democracy against right-wing coups and violent insurrection. We have defended the freedom and health care of women against theocrats. We have fought for children and opportunity against the defenders of inequality and the promoters of chaos who vow to destroy Head Start and the Department of Education. We have championed the right to health care and cheaper prescription drug prices, Social Security and Medicare, the work of climate scientists. We have defended libraries against book-banners, the right to vote against vote suppressors and fair elections against the lords of gerrymandering. We have insisted upon a foreign policy based on democracy, human rights and the rule of law. During my travels across Maryland and America this campaign season, I’ve met wonderful people hungry to address the real problems of our day—the mounting calamities of climate change, the omnipresent peril of gun violence and the deepening of inequalities between tens of millions of working people who live below the poverty level and the billionaire class increasingly usurping government power. For as long as I am alive, I am going to honor and participate in this urgent fight for strong democracy, freedom and progress for all. I will never back down to the bullies and the oligarchs, the autocrats and the theocrats, the extremists and Russian bots. This is our country and I’m going to fight alongside you to defend it every day. With total solidarity and immense gratitude, Jamie P.S. “Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.” – E.B. White As always, Heather Cox Richardson provides perspective. BONUS Trump Could Bring a More Peaceful Middle East This is the opinion of foremost Mid-East expert Dennis Ross and others and . . . should it come to pass . . . wouldn’t that be a wonderful silver lining to an otherwise horrible election that has put into jeopardy the very democracy so many of our veterans, whom we honor today, fought and died to protect.