Preface:
This blog picks up on a few threads from the last blog or two. My apologies in
advance! Writing purely on topics of public concern; never seditious; but strictly
out of the primacy of the concern for the health and very future of our democracy.
Note: This blog was drafted April 2nd,
in the wake of the healthcare act drama.
See
Post-Script for reaction to U.S. air strikes in Syria.
The recent failure of Trump’s attempt
to railroad Congress into passing the healthcare bill, to replace and repeal
Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Act, put the dysfunction within the White House
on full display for all to see. As noted previously, not only are the players
not working together, it’s not even clear they’re on the same team, or even
playing the same sport. The only silver lining is that their damage has been
limited so far thank goodness due to their lack of organization, and the checks
and balances our founders put in place, anticipating just such a day could come
for the fledgling democracy.
At a recent focus group gathering in New Hampshire, Mark Halperin (MSNBC) asked the audience to describe Trump using a single word.
It
took me a while, but I finally came up with my word for him: naïve. He thought
he could just walk in and, because of his position, tell people what to do, dictate
orders, and expect that everyone would obediently fall in line.
That’s
not how Washington works. It’s complicated. It’s more like how you move around
on a crowded T car. You can’t move too far in any one direction or another
without bumping into or stepping on someone. Literally, really, this happened
to me one time. The train lurched to a start, and I didn’t have a grip on
anything, and I took three steps – step, step, step – and stepped on the feet
of three different people. Our president has also lost his grip.
Democracy
takes hard work, negotiation, balancing priorities, consideration, courage,
compassion, and a conscience. Some people bring up consensus-building. They are
dreamers; that’s not reality. Compromise is reality.
Successful
negotiation results in everybody walking away from the table feeling like they
got something out of the deal. Something, not everything. It has also been
described as the process of making everyone equally unhappy. Some very sage old
advice is to start with what’s easy; something that everyone can agree on.
Don’t start with the most difficult controversial item. But, who am I to give
advice to the guy who wrote the book on the art of the deal?
Instead,
the chaos continues, now with a dash of Russian influence and intrigue thrown
in. We actually made a passing reference to this “alternative theory” in our
March radio show, noting that when we came up with our theories to explain how
Trump got into office and what his game plan might be, we thought we had been
pretty creative, but we hadn’t even considered Russia. I still can’t get over the timing, though. We
taped the show Sunday March 12th, a full week before FBI Director
Comey testified to the House Intelligence Committee, debunking Trump’s
allegations (via Twitter of course) that Obama had ordered the wiretapping or
other surveillance of Trump (though some communications were collected
incidentally as part of other legal investigations), and revealing that in fact
the FBI was investigating potential links between the Trump administration and
Russian election interference.
Now,
there is the added question of whether Susan Rice (National Security Advisor in
the Obama administration) requested the unmasking of names in the collected
intelligence for security reasons or for political reasons. Could there have
been impropriety on both sides? Is this just another tack to throw the press and
the public off the trail leading back to Russia?
What
exactly does election interference look like? It sounds like the actual results
were not tinkered with, electronically or mechanically. The latest stories seem
to indicate the possibility of fake news stories being generated out of Russia,
attacking Hillary Clinton, and playing into Trump’s hand (see articles by
Posner and Reichmann). These are dark days indeed. So far, Paul Manafort
(previous campaign adviser) and Michael Flynn (appointed as National Security
Adviser, resigned or fired February 13, 2017) have been implicated.
How
could the American public be duped so easily just by these media ploys? We
would all like to think that we are smarter than this. It’s not as if they
exercised some Vulcan mind control over people. The influence game is real and
it’s powerful. If it didn’t work, then there wouldn’t be a multi-billion dollar
advertising industry. We are a highly suggestible, impressionable species. If
we see some commercials claiming this place has the best roast beef, or this is
the best tasting, least filling beer, we might just bite. If the power of
suggestion did not work to some degree, companies wouldn’t waste their money on
advertising.
Samantha
Bee did a whole riff on this topic:
What
is sad is that there was actually a tiny chance that Trump’s presidency could
succeed, as he would not be beholden to either party, and could choose to
surround himself with the smartest top-notch advisers in the Capitol, drawing
from both sides of the aisle.* One must choose their counsel wisely. Good
Counsel is hard to come by. Instead, he has surrounded himself with a band of
deplorables. His pool of candidates became limited because he alienated so many
during the campaign through his childish name-calling, and many respectable
Republicans opted to distance themselves.
That
was one mistake that Hillary Clinton made: Apologizing for calling Trump
supporters a “basket of deplorables.” She would have earned far more respect if
she had come right back, no apologies, and owned her words, and said, “Yes,
that’s exactly what I called them. Yes, the KKK and white supremacist groups
that are supporting Trump, and have been emboldened and legitimized by his
campaign, are deplorable, despicable, disgusting. I could go on and on.” Instead
she apologized, because she was so afraid of upsetting anyone, while Trump made
a regular habit of offending anyone and everyone.
The
one glimmer of hope is that the institution of Democracy will prove to be
greater than any one individual, and that the systems of checks and balances
will continue to keep the White House in bounds. To share a quote from George
Packer’s article in the February issue of The
New Yorker: “If Trump
were more rational and more competent, he might have a chance of destroying our
democracy.” So, the dysfunction in some ways has been a saving grace.
The
problem is that all of this chaos and instability in the White House puts the
United States at risk. We are vulnerable because our attention is diverted, and
we have lost our focus. The last time there was this much disruption in the
White House, with the whole Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky affair, the leader
of a fringe terrorist group declared war on the US, and we didn’t even notice. Maintaining
stability and security takes constant vigilance. The chaos, instability,
immaturity, naïveté, and dysfunction in the White House is putting our nation
at risk. We need leadership with courage and conscience, who can play well with
others, and do the hard work to keep our country functioning, safe, and secure,
and to uphold the ideals of a democratic society.
The question still remains: Do we let
Trump take over our lives and permeate our every waking moment? And, even
sometimes our dreams, too? It’s exhausting. Take a break when you need to. Sing
a song. And then come back. This is a marathon.
We
need to keep speaking up.
I Still Can’t Keep Quiet
Mark
your calendars:
· April
8 – #ICan’t Be Quiet Day, announced by Milck. We’re supposed to do something,
maybe get together and do a flash mob wherever we are at 1:00 on Saturday.
Anybody want to meet up on Boston Common? Put on your pink kitty caps!
·
April
17 – Boston Marathon (which is also an actual marathon)
·
April
22 – March for Science, 2 to 4 PM, Boston Common. Better get started knitting
your green and/or blue caps! I have to believe the March for the Arts can’t be
far behind, right?
·
Walk
For Education, United Negro College Fund(UNCF), October 14, 2017
Post-Script
I woke up this morning asking the
question, “Are we at war?” The U.S. launched 60 Tomahawk missiles at Syrian air
bases overnight, in response to Syrian President’s suspected use of a chemical
agent (sarin, a nerve gas) against civilians. It is described as a tactical,
strategic strike against military infrastructure. Seems to strike the right
tone. For years, everyone has been asking, “When is somebody going to do
something about Syria?”
Perhaps the U.S. could no longer be
quiet.
See
blog post from October 11, 2015 on the refugee crisis:
To stand idly by and watch a leader
commit such atrocities against his own people seems wrong, and brings to mind
U.S. isolationism during the early years of World War II. We didn’t want to get
involved. Sitting here today, we wonder how we could have done such a thing,
and ignored the deaths, the murders of those being rounded up and taken to
concentration camps. One can wonder, how much did we really know? Today, with
modern communication technology, a tweet can travel the globe in seconds,
instantaneously, practically in real time.
Life, the news, the world is happening
faster than I can write and blog. I can barely keep up.
Maybe Trump has sought and found some good
counsel.
Maybe this is the thing that we can find
agreement on. After all, nothing unites people like a common enemy. Remember, violence
is easy. War is the failure of diplomacy and rationale conversation. And it is a
slippery slope. It is easier to escalate, than to bring it back down.
There is this quote I recall from many years ago, but can’t find a proper reference now. It might have been a Native American saying. It went something like this:
Words unleashed, like arrows fly, and once
released cannot be called back.
In a similar way, missiles unleashed, like
Tomahawks fly…
And, to quote our old friend Mr. Spock
again:
“As a matter of cosmic history, it has
always been easier to destroy than to create.”
“The
problem for the country and the world remains that Trump could surround himself
with the smartest people in Washington. He won’t.”
Interestingly
enough, Thursday morning’s newspaper reported that Steve Bannon had been
removed from the National Security Council, because he was no longer needed.
The story told is that Bannon was added to the Council to monitor Michael
Flynn. Since Flynn was off the Council, Bannon was no longer needed on it.
Interesting timing given that this happened the day before the air strikes on
Syria.
March
Radio Show
The following is the
audio link for the March radio show, “Schmidt Happens,” which was recorded
March 12, 2017, and first aired Saturday night March 18, 2017 on WBCA-LP 102.9
FM Boston, hosted by Jumana Hashim and Rosemary Schmidt.
Audio
Link via SoundCloud:
https://soundcloud.com/rosemary-schmidt-673577789/schmidthappens20170312-marchshow-motivationsBannon’s Game
About
WBCA-LP 102.9 FM Boston & Schmidt Happens:
WBCA is a community radio station
sponsored by the Boston Neighborhood Network, and is on the air from 6 PM to 2
AM each night.
Radio Beantown is on the air! Jumana
Hashim is a current member of Beantown Women’s Rugby Club, while Rosemary, aka
Rosebud, Schmidt has been retired a few years.
Beantown will be playing Hartford
Saturday April 8, Quebec April 16, and finally a home game vs. the D.C. Furies
April 22 in Amesbury, MA.
Go Forward, Support!
Songs
For The Day:
“I Can’t Keep Quiet,” of course, by
Milck. The first is my favorite version, taped on the fly, so spontaneous and heartfelt,
during the Women’s March in January. The second is from the Samantha Bee show.
And, a fitting song for President
Donald Trump: “Naïve Melody (This Must Be The Place)”, by Talking Heads.
References
(new ones added since the last blog are in bold)
Abrahams, Yvonne. 2017. Our Chance to
Write History. The Boston Globe. February
5, 2017.
“If Trump were more rational and more
competent, he might have a chance of destroying our democracy.”
Pillalamarri, Akhilesh. 2017. Steve
Bannon, Dharma Warrior: Hindu
Scriptures and the Worldview of Trump’s Chief Ideologue. The Diplomat. February 3, 2017.
Posner,
Sarah. 2017. Today’s Russia hearings actually revealed something new and
important. The Washington Post. March
30, 2017.
Raifman, Julia; Ellen Moscoe, Ellen,
and Bryn Austin. 2017. Difference-in-Differences Analysis of the Association
Between State Same-Sex Marriage Policies and Adolescent Suicide Attempts. JAMA Pediatrics, published online
February 20, 2017. Doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.4529
Riechmann,
Deb. 2017. Russia disinformation campaign allegedly targets Paul Ryan. Associated Press/The Boston Globe. March
30, 2017.
©
2017 Rosemary A. Schmidt
Rose
Schmidt is the author of “Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life” (Gainline
Press 2004). The views expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do
not reflect the views of any other agency or organization. Use of individual
quotes with proper citation and attribution, within the limits of fair use, is
permitted. If you would like to request permission to use or reprint any of the
content on the site, please contact me. Twitter: Rosebud@GainlineRS
Radio
Broadcast © 2017 Jumana Hashim and Rosemary Schmidt. For permission to re-print
or re-broadcast the radio shows, please contact the radio hosts and/or WBCA-LP
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quoted/cited. Any errors or omissions are not intentional and every effort will
be made to make corrections as soon as they are brought to our attention.
Mission
Statement: To Educate, Inform, Entertain, Inspire, and Open Minds.
(E.I.E.I.O.M.)
