Family Photo
UPDATE Nov. 16 2024: Please read this paragraph, and the last comment from me on this page as well. This post originally was published on Nov. 9. Subsequent there have been many comments. I would encourage you to read the comments, including the links included. I’ve read them all. In addition are these posts from the past few days: Armistice Day (Nov. 11); Remembering (Nov. 12) and Senate District 47 (Nov. 14). I will continue to post as usual, but will likely not send out any notice of new posts until the New Year. Stop by once in awhile, if interested. [As of 11:48 p.m. CST Thursday Nov 14, 2024: Kamala Harris vote count is 73,169,047. Updated data from CNN.com] Have a good Thanksgiving and Christmas as this most unusual and uncertain year in American history winds down.
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Nov. 5, 2024, Presidential Election was the family photograph of the United States of America.
The photo represents who we, the people, are at this point in our history. By now you know the picture conveyed by over 142 million citizens marking their ballot for President of the United States. The whole world knows who we are and where we stand. At the very least the picture is bewildering.
Nearly 70 million of us didn’t agree. Below is the latest vote total for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz (as of Friday morning Nov. 8, 2024 from CNN). I simply want to emphasize that there are tens of millions of us who did not agree with the outcome of Nov. 5. Yes, we lost. But don’t count us out. Kamala and Tim did an incredible job. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris still have over 80 days in office.
(The winning number was about 4 million votes greater. The number were eligible, but didn’t vote at all, was nearly 100 million.)
As you have already noted, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz and Joe Biden have graciously conceded. We’ll proceed as we had for all of U.S. history until the last four years of chaos. I have heard not a single report of any voting fraud this year. Doubtless there were some isolated incidents, but not many.
There is much more election data available from many sources, of course. For Minnesotans, here’s the report on local races.
For the moment, I’ll simply stand by my own earlier recommendation to vote Harris/Walz and any Democrats this 2024 round. I think Kamala and Tim ran a superb campaign, and I was a strong supporter of Joe Biden, even after the debate problem. They all brought a positive tone and accomplishments to government.
I encourage a careful read of Army Talk 64 and careful attention to the nuclear bomb in our midst Project 2025. Now is not the time to be silent.
Can Fascism happen here? Here’s what I wrote on July 15, 2016, after the first day of the Republican National Convention. At the time I knew almost nothing about DJT. I had never (and still have never) seen a single episode of The Apprentice, and knew only that he had no public service experience at all.
Christian Nationalism: I would urge you to take the time to read this long article from Vanity Fair Oct 2024. Thanks to Kathy for this. The title is “Bad Faith”, and is about the Evangelical Religious Right, the Catholic Church, and Christian Nationalism Vanity Fair Bad Faith Oct 24. Readers know I’m lifelong Catholic and you’ll find me in church on Sunday morning. Most Americans aren’t Catholic. So, what, in my opinion, does “Catholic” mean in this context? It certainly doesn’t mean the people in the pews. The church as I define it here is the hierarchy of the United States church, mostly Bishops and Cardinals, who are almost all white men, mostly old, never married, who are the messengers and bottlenecks to communication about belief and faith, holders of power and authority. This church is no democracy (except of course no one can be forced to join or remain in, or even contribute). Hierarchy (and by extension Priest) selection is directed from Rome and depends on the administration (Pope) in charge at the time of their appointment. The current movie “Conclave” is an excellent primer, and while based on a novel, seems to reflect a very possible future reality. It is important to understand this, since the “church” is obviously a major player in all things relating to government in this country – all legal, of course. (Jim, in on-line comments below, offers a few more interesting observations, as does Larry.)
COMMENTS (check for more at end. The first comments came before I published the above post):
from Dick: there are eight comments at the Election Day post. I wholeheartedly recommend any and all posts from Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American) and Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse). (Linked are posts from both after midnight Nov. 9, 2024.) There are other very credible sources as well. I refer to them from time to time here. Check them out.
from Fred: My conservative friend Bill sent a fairly mild jibe at me yesterday. He ended it with “Are you still there?” I wrote a reply:
from David, responding to Fred: As Fred and I have discussed many, many times, there is an element of the MAGAs who are flat out racists. Trump gave them license to come out of the shadows. However, I’m not ready to believe that half the US population is ready to head to Walmart the next time there’s a sale on Tiki torches.
from James, about Democracy’s future:
Carol responding to a post “I blame the media“: Haven’t read this, but… the finger-pointing folks are really lining up. Not nearly enough finger-pointing at the VOTERS, however… who made the choice to be uninformed and vindictive and self-centered, and to follow a despicable cult leader. (At some point, anyway, they still had choice.) It’s not really the job of the media or anyone else to knock these people down and spoon-feed them. All sorts of information was out there at their fingertips. Whether they chose to care about facts is on them. They follow someone who literally lies every time he speaks, but then they get their undies all in a bundle because Harris once said she was against fracking, then changed her mind. Because she can’t show receipts from when she worked at a McDonald’s many years ago. Etc.
More comments below
from Kathy: “The end” from Neal Gabler, Nov. 6, 2024: Neal Gabler
from Carole: Thank you. Also listen to Bubba on X talk about the importance of values and good character. (Dick. This is excellent, about 5 minutes, over a million views.)
from Judy: Thank you for this piece. I could never imagined an outcome like this. I am reminded that in the 1950’s when I was in HS in Duluth our school principal would not allow “Negros” to attend. If they lived in our district and a few did they were sent to another HS. I fear Tues reminded us we are returning to such an era………….
from Brian: Later today I’m flying off to Berlin to see some great credit union friends. I met them while I was in Bolivia working with credit unions. I love languages and really enjoy speaking German. Well, you know Germany’s story: they survived Hitler; and I sure hope we survive Trump! Scheiße! I really enjoy your posts, thanks so much!!
from Sue: I am persuaded that, after running a brilliant campaign and working like a slave to win over the country, Kamala Harris ran smack into Western civilizations’ entrenched patriarchy. She could not get elected because she is a woman. End of story. And from Joyce: I absolutely agree; it’s the misogyny. Even women can be misogynistic; my own mother, who despised women in positions of power, and often told me that anything a woman could do a man could do better, was a perfect example.
from Donna: I have not read your newest post but have listened to Jon Stewart’s show with Heather Cox, an historian and thought you might find some hope in this recent filmed interview of Jon Stewart’s Weekly Show Podcast .
from Sandy: Thanks for all your words of wisdom about the election! We were devastated for sure and I guess we were surprised that so many Americans voted for a convicted Con Man and Felon. What he wants to do to this country is very scary and troubling for sure. I dont think the people that voted for him really thought he would do things he plans to do. We will have to hopefully put in some guardrails and hopefully before Biden leaves he and congress will take some much needed steps. Take care and my dad would be so heartbroken with this Trump victory for sure
from Remi:
Dave, Nov. 16: Predicting the Fure, Nw York Times: NYT Adam Grant Nov 12 24
Dick Nov. 14, 2024: I published the Election Day post right before 10 p.m. Central Time on Nov. 5, just before the polls closed on the west coast. The Family Photo post (this one) I published on Nov. 9, after the Presidential Election results were called for DJT. I mention these times only to point out that I wanted my opinion on the court before the counting of votes began, and after the winner was declared. It is just my opinion, and matters only to me. The final comment, above, came yesterday.
The last e-mail of today brought this column of Heather Cox Richardson. (Donna’s response, above, has a link to a long video interview/conversation between professor Richardson and Jon Stewart. The interview is very well worth your time.)
I am visualizing this time in U.S. history as like being in the eye of an immense hurricane, larger than anything we’ve ever experienced. Like a real hurricane, if it hits, it’s too late to prepare. It won’t discriminate between good people and bad people. We’re neighbors, everywhere. You just don’t know. If it hits your neighbor, it will hit you, too.
Today we’re all going about our normal business, sun is shining and nice day here. We know there is something going on, but we’ve got 67 days until inauguration. Let the good times roll. Then comes the hurricane, or maybe it will fizzle. Or maybe your house will evade it, or maybe not. We don’t prepare by pretending it’s no problem. Let the buyer beware.
The people have spoken, and it only the people who are accountable for what happens in the coming two years.
This election should’ve been a blow out for the Democrats given the candidate the Republicans put up, but they gave us the wrong candidate and the wrong issues. They should’ve run on a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, College for All, work place democracy, expand Social Security, Housing for all, NO funding of foreign proxy wars and Genocide. But they didn’t and now their worst nightmare is realized, and they will blame everyone but themselves.
I voted for my highest ideals and values and I’m proud and thankful that Minnesota allowed Jill Stein on the ballot …I voted GREEN!
Good to hear from you. I understand your idealism,, but the result seems always the same. Over 97% of the vote on Tuesday went to either DJT or KH; One-half of one percent went to the Greens, and a slight sprinkle to some others (the link to the Minnesota totals is earlier in this post). I look back to Bush-Gore in 2000, where the issue was decided on 512 votes difference in Florida out of about 6 million total. Ralph Nader got about 100,000 Green votes that year, and it is probably still debated whether that fringe total cost Gore the election…. The reality is that we’re a two-party country (if we can even keep that) and I think it’s best to fight within the existing system.
I agree, Dick.
The reality of voting for a third party as a protest or whatever is that it only helps the candidate that you really do not want to win win as was the case with DJT’s landslide and easy win over Harris last Tuesday in a non-contest. In 2016, many folks who “did not like “Hillary” did not vote for the POTUS or voted for a third party or voted for DJT just to make a point. In doing so, of course, they helped DJT win his first term.
America has voted and has made it very clear that they want Trump at the POTUS after their landslide victory of Harrie and Walz. Not even close! As usual the Democrats insisted on finding a way to eat their young by pushing a very progressive agenda by focusing their support for this or that minor group and making its cause seem to be an important cause of theirs as well. For most people, the causes that eh Democrats seemed to put forward as being more important than everyday bread and butter issues had no relevance. Trump et al was able to easily exploit the concern that such support aka putting them in the faces of voters caused and drove them to Trump. It is good that the Democrats understand the issues related to some of those smaller groups and that they welcome them to the big tent. The problem for the Democrats is that they always seem to put “God’s special little people” on high pedestals under that rainbow-colored tent and make them and their concerns paramount over the needs and concerns of most of the voters. Yes, I know it is the principle of the matter and all meaning in this case at least that the Democrats got their hinders handed to them on a silver platter for putting so much emphasis and focus on such issues so unimportant and often fear producing to many voters. Just as Trump is a master of exploiting the fears of American voters, the Democrats are just as skilled in being able to so often snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by focusing on relatively issues and concerns of little interest or concern to most voters.
About the Catholic hierarchy: The Roman Emperor Constantine made the Catholic church one of the allowed (later, the only allowed) religions in the Roman Empire if it could be constructed to his liking. His liking was a copy of the structure of the Roman Empire. So the then bishop of Rome became the Pope (emperor), the church senate members became Cardinals (proconsuls), Bishops (legates) led church territories. And so it is today, a replica of the Roman Empire.
Yep. If memory serves (fact check me if I’m wrong – I’m not relooking it up), the Holy Roman Empire is also considered the First Reich (around 1870 came the Second; thence the infamous Third Reich). Charlegmagne, who has a French name was likely Germanic, born in what is now borderland Belgium/Germany…or so I think. This church and state business has a very long history. I’m half French, half German and 23andMe refers to me as French-German from northwest Europe. So much for pure-bred. The German side was basically Westphalia, borderland Netherlands east of Amsterdam.
As a Canadian neighbor deeply in awe of your country, I am devastated, grieving, and fearful about the recent election results. Yet, I don’t think it’s time to despair. Many voters weren’t casting ballots for cruelty, bullying, conspiracy-addled madness, or Project 2025; they were voting for lower rent and affordable prices. There was likely nothing the Democrats could have done to win this election. As noted in the Financial Times, the incumbents in every single one of the ten major countries that held national elections in 2024 were severely punished by voters. This is the first time in nearly 120 years of records. There seems to be “no set of policies or personas that can overcome the current global anti-incumbent wave.”
Despite this, Democrats performed better down-ballot than in any other country. The House of Representatives will be nearly tied, and many progressive initiatives succeeded—even in some of the most conservative states. Trump will inherit a gangbuster economy that’s the envy of the world. Where the Democrats fell short, a skilled salesman like him could make this resonate broadly. However, policies like tampering with the Affordable Care Act and incompetence and chaos will likely prove both damaging and unpopular.
Public opinion has shifted dramatically with each election cycle in recent years, and there’s every reason to expect the same in 2026.
With all due respect, Dick, I cannot understand why, as late as this morning, Catholic media was bashing Kamala during a post-election period. It isn’t enough that a convicted by a jury rapist, con artist, liar, racist and bully of the first magnitude got elected by non-thinking voters. The church has to kick Kamala Harris while she graciously accepted the loss in support of American democracy. Something he didn’t do. Why does the Roman church do this? From arch-right-winger on Catholic media, Raymond Arroyo, to two women on another EWTN program saying how “bad” Harris is while excusing everything from that Trump has done, from foul language to threats against immigrants. Immigrants, legal or otherwise, aren’t the rapists! Trump was convicted by a jury of that crime, among other criminal and civil verdicts. But hey, Catholic media condemns a lifelong practicing Catholic, Joe Bidden has shown more Christian love on his little finger than Trump has in whole body. As an ELCA Lutheran, I don’t care what Catholics believe but what pulls my chain is the Vatican’s insistence on changing our laws to match their religious dogma. They do this and so do those in “Christian nationalist” churches. How those that espouse Christian principles could vote for Donald Trump is beyond me. Thinking of him makes me sick.
Dick, I noted that one of your correspondents closed with “BLAME THE VOTERS.” I’m not picking on her, because the thought is not original to her – I read a lot of “media” from a broad variety of sources this week, and I’ve seen a lot of this, sometimes stated as explicitly as this, sometimes posed in ways I’m sure an author felt were more nuanced and well-argued. My problem with the sentiment is that I know of no one who has identified where we can get different voters to work with…! As a candidate or a political “operative”, one cannot blame the people that it is YOUR job to persuade. I find the statement to be not only misguided, but anti-democratic, and un-American.
By my standards, Biden was a substantially deficient performer as President. He should have kept to his stated intention of 2020 to simply serve in transition – he should not have run again. The months of “covering” by others for his senescence, followed by even more delay once the debate made it undeniable, all but guaranteed us Kamala Harris as our wholly-untested default candidate. Her campaign was not as tragically brain-dead as her 2020 campaign, which was SO bad that it literally did not make it TO 2020 – she suspended it in December 2019. But it may have been the SECOND worst campaign of recent years.
I have had now, for 8 years, a grudging by unavoidable respect for Trump. After decades of working on campaigns, I long ago decided that one of the most impressive things anyone can do in life is to run for ANY political office that is truly contested, and win. Regardless of whether the “chance to lose” is in a general election against a member of the other party, or in a primary against a fellow partisan. Most impressive of all are individuals who can succeed when they are up against both of those chances to lose in the span of a few months.
Biden did that in 2020. Trump did that in 2016, and he just did it again. For the record, I am not ashamed to be impressed just because he’s “not ours”.
I have also long held that having that very special, very rare set of skills and talents does NOT guarantee good performance in office. But it IS one factor, and in my experience, it makes it at least a little more likely.
The constituencies Trump has courted for nearly a decade now are NOT to be confused with the Republicans of cycles past. He saw that constituencies that had once been solidly parts of the Democrats’ coalitions were being served by neither party. Many of us forget that opposition to unregulated immigration (leading to abuse of immigrants for their labor by business interests, and un- and under-employment of working class citizens as a direct result) USED to be a Democrat thing. Many also forget that as recently as 2014, our own DFL debated, at pretty much every convention for decades, “free trade agreements” such as NAFTA and TPP. The LIBERAL/PROGRESSIVE Democrat position was to OPPOSE these. We never won, and the Dems remained alongside the GOP as a party that supported “free” trade. But supporting abusive free trade BEGAN as a GOP thing, which we, too, later adopted – except for selected “economics progressives” like Bernie Sanders. Trump picked up an issue the GOP was solidly opposed to, and the Dems were lopsidedly divided on, but largely also opposed to, since Bill Clinton, at least, and he made it his.
So, in spite of the fact that Trump is, personally, a walking pile of excrement, it’s hard for me to hate him as a politician or an office-holder, and I understand fully why so many people don’t. He didn’t just campaign by appealing to “deplorables” (-H.Clinton), the “weird” (-T.Walz), and “garbage” (-J.Biden). He made his appeal to the people I COME FROM – working class, working poor, children and grandchildren of legal immigrants – and to the people my wife comes from (rural folks). And, on issues and policies alone, he made his appeal to ME. I’m not convinced enough to become a MAGA Republican, but “I get it”. I will not denigrate his voters.
In fact, one of the best columns I read this week (I wish I could remember the author) analyzed the demographics from the exit polls, and built its way to a conclusion… that… the 2024 Trump coalition was the closest thing, demographically, in the last 50 years, to – wait for it… – FDR’s New Deal coalition. I had to read it through twice, but I think he’s correct.
So I have some (not a lot, but some) hope for what is to come.
Where I feel despair is when I think not about my country, but about my Party’s place in it, going forward. This cycle was, plain and simple, a train wreck. Aside from everything else, we now have a sizable faction that can’t tell the difference between bloodthirsty and hateful practitioners of genocide, and those who would seek to protect themselves by arms against that genocide. And it has been a long time since the internal fissures in the Democratic coalition have included the third axis of foreign policy, in addition to economics and social/cultural issues. This is a real problem. It’s going to take us a while even to fully scope, never mind solve.
I read every word of your writing. I specifically note three phrases, the first two are the first and last sentences. The third is somewhere in the middle (where the important phrase often is found, I’ve noted). What you said there is most key among all the words: “…Trump is, personally, a walking pile of excrement….” says it all. We’re good friends, you and I, and you know where I stand from these posts, so let’s leave it at that for the moment. Thanks for the response. Off to the Armistice Day observance at 44th and Victory Memorial Drive in Minneapolis.
That was a clever rhetorical response, Dick. But I must correct you. The most important parts of my sentence containing that phrase are, well, all the OTHER parts. I’m pretty sure of that, since I wrote it.
We Democrats need to grow up emotionally to the point a majority of the nation’s voters apparently already have – and get to a place of understanding that the election for any public office, but especially the Presidency, is not, and must not become, something akin to the “Miss Congeniality Award” at a beauty pageant, or the “Lifetime Achievement” or “Humanitarian” Awards at the Oscars. Too much depends on the choices made in elections to let factors that simply don’t matter (when it comes to policies and performance) hijack our brains. We have to stop thinking we can convince voters to vote against their own policy preferences due to factors which, while perhaps as upsetting to many of them as they are to us, aren’t likely to change any voter’s policy calculus. This was true when, for example, Republicans were dumping on Bill Clinton over his own personal shortcomings (Were you persuaded? I know I wasn’t…), and it’s still true today when the shoe is on the other foot. Eight years is an awfully long time for us Dems to have learned nothing on this score.
So long as we continue to “blame the voters”, and think that name-calling the opposition candidate and/or his supporters, counts as effective “persuasion”, or that it is somehow important to do so anyway, even though we know it’s UNpersuasive; We will continue to have many, many voters to blame, because we will continue to persuade no one, and we will continue to lose a lot of thoroughly winnable elections.
We should not want to be as good at that as we are.
I appreciated the comments from everyone about the election. I’d just like to share some information, and to help clarify the situation in light of Fred and David’s comments and the ads in the last week of the recent campaign. It is about “whose came first”.
It was NOT the Democratic party who sought out the issues listed by Fred, but, at least in one case, it was the conservative Right who created the issue as a negative move against the Democrats.
Let’s look at some facts. Less than 1% of the US population is transgender. 24% of the US population knows someone who is transgender. In my humble and shared-by-many opinion and that of the Supreme Court, LGBTQ, including transgender people, deserve the same equality in rights as others in our country. And people who do not have an understanding relationship with transgender people (or people from other minority populations) should be encouraged to develop such relationships in order to learn about their fellow citizens. Meanwhile, transgender people–a minority within a minority– make the easiest target for the bullies, especially by those who flaunt breaking the law.
It was not the recent Democratic party who initiated support specifically for transgender people; it was the equity component of health care and other legislation, including equity in health care for prisoners (see 1976 Supreme Court law; whether initiated by Democrats or not, this law should be supported by the Democrats because Democrats should stand for supporting equity and laws, and Harris enforced and followed the law).
In fact, the conservative Right became upset by the legalization of marriage for LGBTQ (which the Supreme Court supported on equity grounds) and started a false and intentionally inflammatory issue about bathrooms use; this motivation and resulting action based on “no substance” was admitted by at least one person directly involved in that Republican political move, but raising “the problem” was effective, tapping into cultural biases and inflaming the Right and others.
During this latest campaign, the Republican operatives and their minions flooded the media with the pictures to bash Harris about not only transgender prison health care but about transgender people’s involvement in athletics, suggesting that such concern for such people was initiated by the Democrat party and specifically Harris. In fact, Idaho Rep. Barbara Ehardt, labelled a “Republican lightning rod” by an Idaho paper, began the issue. Further, transgender people’s participation in sports in whatever fashion is determined by the sports entity, such as the Olympic Sports Committee’s various sports-specific organizations or the NCAA, but in accordance with state laws that may affect those decisions. In other words, transgender athletes’ participation in sports is a states’ or local issue; a national restriction or approval is not needed until the states sort this out better, and thus Biden said he would veto a national ban. (If Trump is in favor of the states controlling women’s choice issues, why not transgender ones?) Finally, Harris took no stand on this issue. The ads were clearly creating an election issue to rile up people’s prejudices.
Common people (often dark-skinned males) were upset with police violence, including the death of citizens who were not involved in crimes that warranted such police reactions, and started the slogan of Black Lives Matter. While those common people were not trained organizers adept at stating the issue in a politically successful manner, they were not against all policing, but instead against police brutality by some, in favor of a different kind of policing and more social support in challenged neighborhoods, and in favor of equity. Again when Democrats spoke up for common equality, the Republicans tagged the Democrats as starting a movement against the police.
On short, I think we Democrats, at least, need to recognize which party has been responsive to common people’s request for equality and the following of laws having to do with equity for ALL, and be proud of that respect for fellow people, and also refute the idea that Democrats were instrumental in starting those fights—a claim that some Democrats have adopted due to mistaken memory about history or Republican propoganda.
It seems to me that we Democrats need to be proud that we are for equality and supporting Supreme Court laws–a message we should be repeating over and over because research shows that what is ACCURATE is not remembered as well as what is WE HEAR/SEE REPEATEDLY, especially from people we find interesting and/or respect. Republicans use their media to pound on an issue they created. For example, “the Trump campaign spent more than $11 million to run the ad on broadcast television in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., according to AdImpact, an advertising tracking service, as well as around $361,000 to run it on digital platforms.” PBS found that, from Oct. 7 to Oct. 20, Trump’s campaign and pro-Trump groups spent an estimated $95 million on ads, more than 41 percent of which were anti-trans. More important than ads, Republicans live as consumers and providers in a wide range of electronic media. Who are all their podcast creators, blog creators, influencers, publishers, editors? How many are there? Where do they start and how do they gain followings? How do they link together? How are they supported financially? We Democrats need to do the same and better. We need not insult as they do, but we need to communicate clearly and simply with FACTS, not lies, and respectfully, not insultingly. We need to connect, reflect, repeat, show support for each other– together. And we need to move into the Republican communication spheres, no longer simply talking to other Democrats (though that is comforting and certainly necessary) but we need to get into those electronic networks with our truths. Yes, Joe Biden was having trouble communicating, but I suggest that we all have (including me here). But we can improve. Meanwhile, let’s not buy into the Republicans’ faulty memories about history and propaganda.