Donald Trump’s entire life is imploding

Bill Palmer

Palmer Report » Analysis

 

How bad are things for Donald Trump right now? Everyone who matters is merely laughing at his dead-ended attempt at rejecting the election results. Jared Kushner is letting it be known that he wants Trump to concede. Even Trump’s pal Netanyahu is now busy kissing up to President-elect Joe Biden.

Everything is going to fall apart for Donald Trump now. As bad as today must have been for him, every remaining day of his life is going to be even worse. Right now he’s just a guy who got humiliatingly fired as people in the streets celebrated. Soon he becomes a private citizen, stripped of immunity from prosecution, and grand jury indictments will come from all over. Soon he’ll lack the influence of the presidency, and his various creditors and blackmailers alike will have little reason not to simply finish him off.

The thing is, there’s no way to know for sure how precisely how Donald Trump’s life will unravel from here, only that it will – and that probably makes it even worse for him. We all saw the look on his face when he returned from the golf course today and saw thousands of protesters outside the White House celebrating his downfall. That look on his face was dread. It was the look of a man who has no idea what’s coming next, only that it’s going to keep getting worse for him. His entire life is now imploding – and this was just Day One of it.

Romano Prodi sulle elezioni americane

Ricostruiamo il rapporto fra Europa e USA per dare nuova vita alle democrazie

Le proteste che mettono a rischio la democrazia

Articolo di Romano Prodi su Il Messaggero dell’ 8 novembre 2020

Ci sono voluti ben quattro giorni per constatare la vittoria di Biden, anche se  non si spengono le violente proteste dello sconfitto. Eppure Biden ha largamente prevalso su Trump nel voto popolare, distanziandolo di un buon 5%.

Il fatto che il sistema elettorale americano divida la competizione nazionale fra i diversi stati e premi il voto rurale rispetto al voto urbano può sembrare ingiusto, ma non sorprende. Basta infatti ricordare che, nelle più recenti elezioni, Hillary Clinton aveva ottenuto tre milioni di voti in più del suo rivale, ma Trump è diventato presidente degli Stati Uniti. Il rispetto delle regole, perfette o imperfette, è il fondamento di ogni sistema politico.

La gravità di quanto è avvenuto in questi giorni negli Stati Uniti sta proprio nel fatto che la ribellione di Trump di fronte al risultato elettorale mette in crisi questa regola fondamentale. Tutto ciò sta avvenendo nel paese che è sempre stato il leader della democrazia e accade in un periodo storico in cui i governi democratici stanno arretrando quasi ovunque.

Eppure, per un lungo periodo di tempo, a partire dalla fine della Seconda guerra mondiale, il trionfo della democrazia sembrava inarrestabile. Proprio sotto la spinta iniziale degli Stati Uniti, a cui si sono progressivamente associati i paesi europei, i governi costruiti sul suffragio universale hanno progredito ovunque.

Ogni anno i bollettini dell’ONU ci informavano della continua ascesa del numero dei paesi che, in modo più o meno corretto, affidavano il loro futuro al risultato delle elezioni.

Tanto diffusa era la fiducia nella democrazia che divenne comune opinione che tutti i paesi, a partire dalla Cina, ne avrebbero prima o poi seguito l’esempio.

Col progredire del nuovo secolo questo cammino ha invertito la sua direzione: le guerre spacciate come necessarie per  esportare la democrazia, l’aumento delle diversità e delle ingiustizie, i numerosi casi di corruzione e la trasformazione della competizione politica in lotta personale hanno progressivamente indebolito il fronte democratico in tutto il mondo.

Il desiderio di autoritarismo si è diffuso in ogni direzione: dalle Filippine a numerosi paesi asiatici, dalla Russia alla Turchia, fino al Brasile e all’Africa, dove sono ormai quotidiane le tensioni causate dai leader in carica che vogliono rimanere al potere oltre i limiti previsti dalle costituzioni del loro paese.

Ciò si accompagna a una crescente critica nei confronti dei meccanismi elettorali, accusati di essere ormai dominati dalla quantità del denaro impiegato e dalla potenza di fuoco dei vecchi e dei nuovi media.

Tutto questo processo sembra essersi concentrato nell’ultima campagna elettorale americana, nella quale il tema dominante è stato la demolizione della personalità del candidato concorrente, a cui si è aggiunta l’insinuazione che l’andamento elettorale potesse essere addirittura determinato dal sostegno di potenze straniere.

Si è quindi preparato il clima per cui i risultati elettorali sarebbero stati non credibili, in quanto frutto di comportamenti criminali, non importa se originati in patria o all’estero.

In quest’atmosfera avvelenata, il ristretto margine dei risultati di diversi Stati dell’Unione ha permesso a Donald Trump di aprire un conflitto che non solo sta ulteriormente spaccando il paese, ma demolisce in tutto il mondo la già declinante fiducia nel funzionamento della democrazia.

Sono già stati scritti milioni di pagine per spiegare perché gli Stati Uniti sono arrivati a un confronto così conflittuale e divisivo.

Un confronto esasperato dalla paura di una grande parte della classe media di perdere il lavoro e il benessere per colpa della nuova globalizzazione, dalla paura della provincia meno colta di essere emarginata da una élite percepita come estranea e, soprattutto, dalla constatazione della popolazione bianca non privilegiata di trovarsi ormai in minoranza di fronte al crescente numero dei cittadini di colore e dei nuovi immigrati.

Nonostante il dramma di questi ultimi giorni, non solo mi auguro ma sono certo che la plurisecolare democrazia americana sarà ancora una volta in grado di ricostituirsi. Un paese nel quale centocinquanta milioni di cittadini si esprimono col voto è un grande paese democratico, anche perché la maggioranza di loro ha votato per un presidente democratico.

Tuttavia è indubitabile che gli Stati Uniti abbiano perso una parte non trascurabile del loro softpower, di quel potere “dolce” che ha così a lungo influito sulla vita del nostro pianeta. Per questo motivo penso che, se si vuole invertire il processo di arretramento della democrazia nel mondo gli Stati Uniti e l’Europa debbano operare insieme in questa direzione.

Negli ultimi tempi, non è stata forse l’Europa il baluardo della democrazia? Solo noi siamo stati capaci di esportarla e senza nessun atto ostile, estendendola nei paesi dell’ex Unione Sovietica dopo la caduta del muro di Berlino.

Nonostante le nostre difficoltà e le diversità fra i paesi dell’Unione, l’abbiamo poi conservata anche negli anni della crisi economica e stiamo perfino rafforzandola in questo terribile periodo di pandemia, durante il quale cominciano ad indebolirsi le tendenze autoritarie che tanto si erano espanse nel recente passato.

Quanto è avvenuto in questi giorni dimostra quindi che solo uno stretto rapporto fra gli Stati Uniti e l’Europa è in grado di dare nuova vita alle democrazie del nostro pianeta. La storia personale di Joe Biden dimostra che questo è possibile.

Che succede adesso alla Fox ?

 The Intercept

As Trump Is Defeated, the Murdochs Try to Dodge Backlash for Fox News

The Murdoch family, owners of Fox News, oversaw a pivot against President Trump as his defeat loomed.

Peter Maass

A behind-the-scenes struggle that could determine the extent of post-election violence in America is breaking into the open, but it’s not at the White House or inside the GOP. It is within the billionaire Murdoch family, the owners of Fox News.

On Friday morning, a day before Joe Biden was declared president-elect, one of Rupert Murdoch’s daughters-in-law, Kathryn Murdoch, tweeted out an unprecedented criticism of Fox News and the family’s handling of the network as President Donald Trump was heading for defeat. Responding to CNN anchor Jake Tapper saying that it was time for Fox and the Murdochs to make clear that there was no credible evidence of election fraud, Kathryn Murdoch tweeted, “I agree with this.”

Her sentiments appeared to have support within the family, because their media holdings — not just Fox News — began sending out clear signals to President Trump that he should accept defeat. On Friday evening, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page skeptically noted that the Trump campaign “will have to prove” its baseless claims of election fraud, and advised the president to be ready to “concede gracefully.” The article’s headline was “The Presidential Endgame.” On Fox News last night, primetime host Laura Ingraham, a guest at the White House just a few days ago, said the president should exhibit “grace and composure” when the moment comes to admit defeat, which she seemed to feel was coming soon. A graphic displayed during her show stated that one of the three tasks ahead is to “Accept the Results of the Election.” Finally, the front-page headline of Saturday morning’s New York Post seemed to mark a clear turn from the Trump era, blaring out, “Ready, Set… Joe?”

The Murdoch family, presided over by 89-year-old patriarch Rupert Murdoch, owns Fox News and a constellation of other media properties in the United States and across the world; the family is the inspiration for the HBO series “Succession.” The political bent of Fox News and other media outlets reflects the right-wing orientation of Rupert and his eldest son Lachlan, who now oversees the network as chief executive of its parent company, Fox Corporation. But the family’s ownership of its media properties is a 50-50 split between Rupert on one side and his six children on the other. The key progeny, when it comes to running the empire, have nearly always been the conservative Lachlan and his younger brother James, who is a centrist.

Kathryn Murdoch is James’s wife. In recent years, she and James have not hidden their political preferences: They made significant donations to the campaigns of Pete Buttigieg and later, Joe Biden, once he became the Democratic Party nominee. Earlier this year, after James lost a succession battle to Lachlan and resigned from his last remaining board position, he issued an oblique criticism of the political direction of the family’s holdings, but he did not say anything specific about Fox News and its central role in laundering white nationalist extremism and its related conspiracy theories.

With Trump’s defeat, the network and the family are at a crossroads, facing far more critical scrutiny and pressure than they ever have in the United States. Fox is in the position, at this moment, of state broadcasters in unstable countries where an unpopular leader has been voted out of power but refuses to accept the result. Will the broadcaster be loyal to the defeated leader and claim that the election was rigged — a path that will probably not be successful but would nearly guarantee a higher level of post-election instability? Or does the broadcaster take the journalistically and morally correct path of reporting the fact that the president really did lose an election that was not rigged against him? In the 24 hours leading up to Biden surpassing 270 Electoral College votes on Saturday, the Murdoch properties showed added evidence of taking the latter path.

It is useful to step back for a moment and realize the deformity of this moment. Due to the unique power of Fox News — alongside Facebook, it is the most prominent platform in the U.S. for spreading right-wing disinformation — a single family with a net worth of approximately $17 billion is positioned to decide whether election conspiracy theories will have the media oxygen they need to spread widely and deeply across the country. It is a concentration of power that has been amassed and abused for decades by the Murdoch family, and has caused immense damage in the U.S. and other countries too (the Murdochs are responsible for similar harm in the U.K. and Australia, where they also have significant media holdings).

Photo: Michael Nigro/Sipa USA/AP

As election results came in and showed Trump on a trajectory to defeat, Fox’s coverage became notably split earlier this week. The so-called news side of Fox, which is anchored in its daytime programming with conservative but not delusional journalists like Chris Wallace and Bret Baier, has done a generally straight-up job of reporting the results. Fox’s data team is still the only cable network to have called Arizona for Biden, a move that infuriated the White House and was apparently a factor that led a crowd of pro-Trump protesters outside a ballot-counting office in Phoenix to chant “Fox News sucks.”

In a reflection of what would seem to be early evidence of a Murdoch inclination to take their media properties in a pragmatic direction, the New York Post, which was one of Rupert Murdoch’s first media acquisitions in the United States and has been consistently right-wing under his decades of ownership, published two articles on Thursday that were sharply critical of Trump’s fraud claims, including a story that was headlined, “Downcast Trump makes baseless election fraud claims in White House address.”

But the primetime hosts at Fox News, especially Sean Hannity, who also functions as a nonofficial adviser to Trump, did not move as quickly to change their pro-Trump cheerleading. Thursday night’s episode of Hannity’s show was particularly egregious, with such guests as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich angrily repeating the Trump campaign’s evidence-free assertions of election fraud. It was 60 minutes of nationwide conspiracy dissemination, a brutal demonstration of Fox’s power to superspread a political virus in America. While Ingraham altered her position on Friday night, Hannity did not modulate his they’re-stealing-the-election tune.

And this has led to unusually direct scrutiny of the Murdoch family, whose name has not usually been mentioned in the many years and fountains of media criticism of their network. In addition to Tapper’s monologue, CNN’s Brian Stelter put his finger on the Murdochs after news broke that a memo circulated at Fox News on Friday instructed on-air talent to not refer to Biden as president-elect once he amassed enough Electoral College votes to win. “The Murdochs are ultimately responsible,” Stelter said. “Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch are responsible for what is on this network in the coming hours.” On Saturday morning, as Fox’s pivot became more apparent but hardly complete, Stelter pointed to Ingraham’s shift and Hannity’s intransigence, saying there is a “giant tug of war” at Fox right now.

Read Our Complete CoverageElection 2020

Kathryn Murdoch is the only family member to have spoken out since the election. The Murdoch family holds its intramural activity fairly close, but her tweet, endorsing a call for the family to put country before profit, touches on what might be the family’s main concern: money. While Rupert and Lachlan have strong conservative political beliefs, the Fox proposition has always been a business one — the family has reaped billions from the network. In the U.K. in 1997, the Murdoch media holdings shifted their support to then-Labour Party leader Tony Blair, not for ideological reasons but business ones. Now, Kathryn Murdoch, in calling for the network to report honestly about election-fraud conspiracy theories in the U.S., seems to be acknowledging that it would not be a revenue-enhancing position. Many of Fox News’s pro-Trump viewers would be incensed, and a loss of viewers could ultimately affect the network’s crucial revenue stream: cable fees.

The question could be asked: After decades of running Fox News as an irresponsible right-wing propaganda machine, why change now, why speak out now, after all that’s been done by the network and supported by the family? The answer might be that the Murdoch family’s run of remarkable impunity could really be over as there is now greater scrutiny of what they’re responsible for. Kathryn Murdoch had a little-noticed Election Day tweet that hinted at her reputational concerns. “What will you tell your children or your future self about the part you played in history?” she asked. And after Biden was declared president-elect on Saturday, she tried to publicly implant herself even more firmly in the anti-Trump resistance, tweeting out, “We did it!!!”

Whichever direction the Murdochs take with Fox News in the coming hours and days, their effort to avoid history’s judgment, if not the judgment of courts too, is perhaps doomed even if their network reports the truth now that Trump’s defeat is official. This was noted by Angel Carusone, the chief executive of Media Matters for America. “When this is all over,” he tweeted, “Everyone should take a respite. And then, we need to finally do something about the deceitful and destructive force” that is Fox News.

Basta con l'era della 'demonizzazione'

 

Stephen Collinson and Caitlin Hu

'Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end'

 

The world took a momentous turn at 11:24 a.m. ET on Saturday: In the instant that CNN projected Joe Biden would become the 46th president, the United States embarked on a starkly different road than the one it would have barreled down had President Donald Trump won a second term.

Presidential attacks on democratic institutions, science and the vulnerable, including immigrants and religious minorities, will stop. The White House will stop being the country’s biggest source of lies. America will no longer have a President who uses division as an instrument of power. Governance and foreign policy will not be made by tweet. Biden has already announced a task force to fight the worsening pandemic. And the burden of Trump’s racial fear-mongering will be lifted from Americans of color.

Trump’s demagogic presidency will become an aberration in American history, rather than a new foundation that affronts the country’s bedrock values. Fears that a second Trump term would destroy NATO and buckle America’s role as an exemplar of democratic values will not materialize, however treacherous the world remains. The US will try to do something about a warming planet. Trump’s defeat caused relief abroad, where the lives of people who have no capacity to influence American power are shaped by the behemoth between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 

But explosions of joy on the streets of cities like Philadelphia and Atlanta where citizens voted in extraordinary numbers were not shared in the vast American heartland. More than 70 million Americans voted for Trump, and followed him with an intensity that matched the antipathy felt by his critics. Those critics always struggled to understand how friends and relatives who love him rationalize his belligerence, lying and bigotry. But Trump partisans saw in his chaos a scourge of "elites," who they believe patronized them and their values.

 

Trump spoke for vast numbers of Americans who believed their government’s embrace of globalization destroyed their livelihoods. Growing secularism and liberal social reforms convinced others that their Christian faith was threatened.  The fact that Republicans may cling onto the Senate and cut the Democratic majority in the House  suggests that while many conservatives are tired of Trump’s antics, they're not done with his policies.

While Trump will soon be gone, the political dislocation he tapped to win the presidency in 2016 endures. His refusal to concede defeat now will foment a grassroots outrage that could strangle Biden’s presidency. The aftermath of the election is serving only to highlight internal estrangement in the Disunited States of America. Biden recognizes the choleric forces rocking the nation he will lead in 73 days -- but whether he can heal them will be the story of his presidency. (CNN)

We will try, but it won't be easy ....

 

 

 

 

Dear President-elect Joe Biden: 

From 11:20 am this morning, November 7, 2020, a hot autumn Saturday, the conclusion of the vote counts in the uncertain states allowed You to cross the fateful threshold of 270 voters compared to 214 totaled by your opponent residing in the White House. 

The televisions continue to show the massing of spontaneous crowds starting with those facing your next home in Washington. 

They are mostly young people full of energy who dance and sing; I believe that for you, Mr President, this is the finest gratification at the end (almost) of a long, stressful, unbearable electoral campaign. 

In your Twitter and speeches, you insist on the fact that your commitment will be dedicated to the reconciliation of the two Americas which are today radically polarized, are no longer able to dialogue in a civilized manner, cloak themselves in mutual hatred. 

Whoever writes you proudly belongs to the more than 75 million American citizens who wanted to give their preference to you and Senator Harris. 

Your election does not reassure us completely because we know that your opponent will do everything to make your appointment as president of the United States impervious. 

To the point that it cannot be excluded that your official 'coronation' will be reached on January 20st with an America led - so to speak - by two presidents. 

But by holstering my incurable pessimism and treasuring what a dear conservative friend told me ("you will see that everything will heal sooner"), I take note of your invitation, Mr. President, to re-establish a habit of civil democratic life with the many friends-acquaintances of the Italian-American colony who voted for Donald Trump. 

We can understand why millions of American compatriots with little culture and in love with an excellent TV salesman have done so. 

We find it a bit difficult to justify the millions of Latinos who, despite the terror and misery caused by Mr. Trump to migrants from Central South America, voted in favor of Donald because they were fascinated by his perennial soap opera made up of billions of dollars (lucky him ), of ultra beautiful females even if of uncertain morality (lucky him), but above all these Latinos motivated by: "it is better that migrants stay at home and do not come to break the balls to us who have already made a bunch so to live and work in the United States. "

 We do not understand the millions of women who have given their excited support to the current tenant of the White House, despite the declared and proven misogyny. 

It would be enough to recall the well-known statement of Mr. Trump according to which, when you meet a beautiful girl, instead of shaking her hand it is good to "Grab them by the pussy", that is: give her a handful in the pubic part. 

Someone with strong psychological and psychiatric knowledge told me that, in a world characterized by a substantial and growing separation of the sexes, the unhappiness of many women in the face of the incapacity and insecurity of the ordinary male, can somehow also accept the most vulgar machismo. 

We are stunned to see that Donald Trump has had the support of millions of evangelical Christians who, praying to Jesus, have implored the divine hand on this notorious great sinner for the confirmation of his high office. 

But those of our friends-acquaintances with a high cultural level and a substantial financial and monetary portfolio that we highly esteem remain outside these considerations. 

 Experts tell me that these are manifestations and behaviors determined by the fascination of the mythical prophet of the moment. 

They remind me of the Italian love for Mussolini, they remind me of the esteem-pride-dedication at all costs of the Germans for their Adolf Hitler. 

In a world dominated by image, Donald Trump has demonstrated for over four years (including the 2016 election campaign) that the body language of those who can manage television can have a great impact on a broad spectrum audience in which whoever drinks his image without asking himself any problem of verifying his statements which are taken as dogmas not to be discussed. 

In short, kind uncle Joe President-elected of the United States: following your repeated warning I will try in my small way to return to a civil dialogue with those acquaintances friends, hoping to find on their part the desire to trim the acidity of radicalization that have brought this wonderful nation at a level of absolute mutual incommunicability. 

Best wishes, Mr. President, for you, for us, for America and for the nations that look and continue to look at the United States as an unparalleled lighthouse towards the safe harbor of true democracy. 

Oscar

_____________________________________________________

Oscar,
Very nice!
All the best,

Mark & Marina Faraone
___________________________________________________

Hi Oscar,
My explanation for the undeniable support T has received is simpler but much longer to explain. This character, of so dubious morality and little empathy for misfortunes and, why not, the inability of others, who has an interest only in himself, is the symbol of a new generation of old Americans (over 60).
I believe I can position the beginning of this mutation with the birth of the Tea Party and the neo-cons. This path has changed a general dissatisfaction with the rules (and taxes) imposed by the government, into an unbridled individualism, which has overwhelmed the underlying values ​​of American greatness, such as social solidarity and patriotism.
Today, even people with a high cultural and even scientific backgrounds, accept the cultural misery and the absurdity of theories without scientific basis nor proven by facts, in exchange for presumed personal convenience.
Basically, if I have a few thousand dollars more at the end of the year, a few more deaths in the statistics and a general weakening of the reliability of the US as a global strategic partner is an acceptable price.
This behaviour can be mitigated (at least for the rational component of supporters of this approach to society) only by highlighting the overall and historical vision of such choices.
Indeed, this approach causes ever deeper dichotomies between social and racial strata of society. These distances are highlighted in riots and economic uncertainties, which in turn undermine the quality of life not only of the less affluent classes.
It is a bit what Obama tried with the slogan "you didn't do it yourself", to highlight that the corporations that have had such great success here in the states owe it also and above all to the stability and reliability of a rule of law that has allowed investors and entrepreneurs to invest effectively in the development of technologies, products and services which are then sold all over the world.

As a man of science, I can testify that the only reason why many of our compatriots have been so successful here, despite being immigrants, is due to a superior preparation of Italian high schools and universities, combined with the Italian art of getting by.
This explosive mixture has made it possible to be successful here even for people who perhaps would not have shone in Italy, either for objective preparation below the average of the competition at home or just for the inability to adapt to the local Italian baronies.
But only because of the aforementioned stability and objectivity in recognizing merits, typical of American society, which has also allowed many immigrants the success that at home they could not or would not have been able to have.
But now, it's easier to see yourself as a hero of the "me" microcosm, and claim that you don't need anyone else, let alone lower-level people and / or the government, to be successful.
And the lack of gratitude is reflected in the inability to "give back" to this country, to allow others to enjoy the same success.
And this cynicism belongs precisely to the generation of 55 and over ...
And this is America too ... 

Clark
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"We were Wrong About America". Outstanding appraisal of this election, and why I personally feel a bit less than excited than I should.

All best, Nancy
Inbox
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We Were Wrong About America

NOVEMBER 5, 2020 / JOHN PAVLOVITZ

The delayed results of the presidential election will be revealed soon, but in many ways, those results will be secondary to what we already know now: we were wrong about America.

The fact that it was even close, the fact that more people voted for him a second time, the fact that a higher number of white women inexplicably affirmed him—it is all confirmation that whether we remove the very visible, unsightly symptom or not, the pervasive disease is still horribly afflicting us.

Numbed by a cocktail of optimism and ignorance, many of us imagined this was a sick, momentary aberration; a temporary glitch in the system that would surely be remedied: after so much ugliness, such open disregard for people of color, such inhumanity toward migrant children, such a sickening failure in the face of this pandemic—sanity would surely come to the rescue.

We were certain that we would collectively course-correct; that the pendulum that had so wildly swung toward inhumanity would come roaring back to decency in these days; that we would presently be basking in the glory of a radiant dawn referendum on all this bloated bigotry.

We thought we would be dancing on the grave of fascism.

We thought, of course the good people of this nation would come to their collective senses, leaving behind political affiliations and superficial preferences and ceremonial ties, to rescue us from a malevolence that had proven itself unworthy of its position and toxic to its people.

We were certain there would be a mass repudiation of the racism that this man has revealed and the violence he’s nurtured, because for all its flaws we really believed America was better than this.

We were wrong.

We were wrong to believe that white people weaned for decades on supremacy, would suddenly embrace disparate humanity and make more space at the table.
We were wrong to believe that white Christians would finally have the scales fall from their eyes and abandon their blind adoration of this vile false prophet of enmity, and once again embrace the expansive, compassionate heart of Jesus.
We were wrong to believe that kindness and science and facts and truth and goodness would be found more valuable than the fool’s gold of sneering, star-spangled, American greatness.

We were wrong to hope that more Republicans would cross party lines in order to defend their country from the greatest terrorist threat in our lifetime.

We were wrong to believe that hope would rise up to cast out fear.

And most of all, we were wrong about people we know and love and live alongside and work with and study beside; about our parents, spouses, siblings, uncles, best friends, and neighbors: they are not the people we thought they were and we do not live in the country we thought we lived in.

We believed the best about this nation and we were mistaken.

To many oppressed and vulnerable communities, to people who have long known the depth of America’s sickness because they have experienced it in traffic stops and workplace mistreatment and opportunity inequity and the bitter words of strangers—this may be less shocking news than it is to those of us with greater privilege and more buffers to adversity and the luxury of naiveté.

But this is the sober spot in which we stand now: realizing that our optimism about the whole of this nation was misplaced, our prayers for the better angels of so many white Christians were unanswered,our childish illusions that people were indeed basically good and decent, seared away in their reaffirmation of something that the rest of the watching world finds reprehensible.

And now, we’re left with two terribly unfortunate choices: leave the America we have, because it is so very different than the America we hoped for—or stay, realizing that we are surrounded by so many people for whom racism is not only not a deal breaker but a selling point; in a place we know is less safe and less decent and less kind than we wanted—not because of any politician but because of those who embraced him a second time, people who share our kitchen tables and churches and break rooms and cul-de-sacs.

I don’t know what the right decision is.

Right now, the only thing I know is that I expected something fully beautiful and life-affirming was going to mark this day and it isn’t.

I was certain we were better than him, but we are not.

I was so sure that even though I know hatred dies hard, that America was going to let love have the last, loudest word.

I thought I was wrong.

But maybe, I just have to wait to be right.
_____________________________________________________________

Óscar.
Bellissimo quello che hai scritto.
Louisa e Joe.
_____________________________________________________________
Eccellente Oscar..grazie.
Anna Keuter

Ci proveremo, ma non sara' facile....

 

 

Gentile Presidente Eletto Joe Biden:

Dalle 11:20 di questa mattina, 7 novembre 2020, un caldo sabato autunnale, la conclusione dei conteggi dei voti negli Stati incerti le ha consentito di superare la fatidica soglia dei 270 elettori rispetto ai 214 totalizzati dal suo avversario residente alla Casa Bianca.

Le televisioni continuano a mostrare l'ammassamento di folle spontanee a cominciare da quelle che fronteggiano la sua prossima dimora a Washington.

Sono soprattutto giovani pieni di energia che ballano e cantano; credo che per lei, Signor Presidente, questa sia la più bella gratificazione a conclusione (quasi) di una lunga, stressante, insopportabile campagna elettorale.

Nei suoi Twitter e discorsi Lei insiste sul fatto che il suo impegno sarà dedicato alla riappacificazione delle due Americhe che sono oggi radicalmente polarizzate, non riescono più a dialogare in maniera civile, si ammantano di odio reciproco.

Chi le scrive appartiene con orgoglio agli oltre 75 milioni di cittadini americani che hanno voluto dare la propria preferenza a Lei e alla senatrice Harris.

La sua elezione non è che ci tranquillizzi completamente perché sappiamo bene che il suo oppositore ce la metterà tutta pur di rendere impervia la sua nomina a presidente degli Stati Uniti.

Al punto che non è da escludere che si arrivi alla sua incoronazione ufficiale il 20 gennaio con un'America guidata-si fa per dire-dalla bellezza di due presidenti.

Ma riponendo nella fondina il mio insanabile pessimismo e facendo tesoro di quanto mi ha detto un caro amico conservatore ("vedrai che tutto si sanerà al più presto"), prendo atto del suo invito, Signor Presidente, a riallacciare una consuetudine di civile vita democratica con i tanti amici-conoscenti della colonia italiana-americana che hanno votato Donald Trump.

Possiamo comprendere perché lo abbiano fatto milioni di connazionali americani di scarsa cultura e innamorati di un ottimo venditore televisivo.

Ci riesce un po' difficile giustificare i milioni di latinos che nonostante il terrore e le miserie causate dal signor Trump ai migranti dal centro sud America, hanno votato a favore di Donald perché affascinati dalla sua perenne soap opera fatta di miliardi di dollari (beato lui), di femmine ultra belle anche se di incerta moralità (beato lui), ma soprattutto motivati questi latinos dal: "è meglio che i migranti se ne stiano a casa e non vengano a rompere gli zibidei a noi che già ci siamo fatti un mazzo così per vivere e lavorare negli Stati Uniti."


Non comprendiamo i milioni di donne che hanno dato il loro eccitato sostegno all'attuale inquilino della Casa Bianca, nonostante la dichiarata e dimostrata misoginia. Basterebbe ricordare la nota affermazione del signor Trump secondo cui, quando si incontra una bella fanciulla, anziché stringerle la mano è bene "Grab them by the pussy", ovvero: darle una manciata nella parte pubica.

Qualcuno forte di conoscenze psicologiche e psichiatriche mi ha detto che, in un mondo caratterizzato da un sostanziale e crescente distacco dei sessi, l'infelicità di tante donne di fronte all'incapacità e all'insicurezza del maschio ordinario, può in qualche modo anche accettare il più volgare machismo.

Siamo imbambolati nel constatare che Donald Trump ha avuto il sostegno di milioni di cristiani evangelici che pregando Gesù, hanno implorato su questo noto grande peccatore la mano divina per la conferma del suo alto incarico.

Ma restano fuori da queste considerazioni quei nostri amici-conoscenti di alto livello culturale e di sostanzioso portafoglio finanziario e monetario che noi stimiamo molto.

Gli esperti mi dicono che si tratta di manifestazioni e comportamenti determinati dalla fascinazione del mitico profeta del momento.

Mi ricordano l'amore italiano per Mussolini, mi ricordano la stima-orgoglio-dedizione a tutti i costi dei tedeschi per il loro Adolf Hitler.

In un mondo dominato dall'immagine, Donald Trump ha dimostrato per oltre quattro anni (comprendendo anche la campagna elettorale del 2016) che il linguaggio del corpo attuato da chi sa gestire la televisione può avere un grande impatto su una audience a largo spettro nella quale chiunque beve la sua immagine senza porsi alcun problema di verifica delle sue affermazioni che vengono prese come dogmi da non discutere.

Insomma, gentile zio Joe Presidente Eletto degli Stati Uniti: seguendo il suo ripetuto monito cercherò nel mio piccolo di tornare a dialogare civilmente con quei conoscenti amici sperando di trovare anche da parte loro la voglia di rintuzzare le acidità della radicalizzazione che hanno portato questa meravigliosa nazione a un livello di assoluta incomunicabilità reciproca.

Auguri, Signor Presidente, per Lei, per noi, per l'America e per le nazioni che guardano e continuano a guardare agli Stati Uniti come a un faro ineguagliabile verso il porto sicuro della vera democrazia.

Oscar 

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 Egregio Oscar, non sapevo che oltre alla chitarra suonasse cosi' bene anche il violino.......la battuta e' venuta spontanea

just kidding ovviamente 

Cordiali saluti

Giancarlo Belluso 

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Complimenti caro Oscar, il tuo riepilogo selle elezioni di Biden è davvero completo, oltre che divertente! Tifiamo tutti per Biden, che ci fa molto sospirare… speriamo in bene! 

Marisa Brambilla 

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Carissimo Oscar, ti ringrazio, anche a nome degli Amici che (ancora per poco) rappresento, per questa lucidissima riflessione sulla realtà sociale del Paese in cui tu vivi, nella speranza che simili fermenti di consapevolezza possano trasferirsi anche in Italia. Mi sembra doveroso da parte mia condividere con i miei amici, anche profani, questa tua brillante considerazione. 

Spero che la tua salute fisica sia allineata con la freschezza del tuo pensiero e che possa continuare a trasmetterci le tue brillanti spigolature.

Un affettuoso  fraterno abbraccio!

Paolo 

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Giuseppe Consigli

Sono contento per il popolo americano .Finalmente manda fuori dalle balle un Trump. la cui polit ica era divisoria,e contro la UE.avendo inoltre appoggiato la Brexit di JONSON ( altro maghetto della menzogna)

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Caro Oscar,

Avete scelto il male minore con Sleepy Joe. Però è incredibile che una nazione come gli USA non riescano più ad esprimere un Presidente adeguato alla potenza del paese.

Aldo Nicolosi 

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….ma che fatica! Ora c’e’ davvero da rimboccarsi le maniche!

Franco  Be. 

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Caro Oscari,
difficile pensare che si voglia tornare "a parlare civilmente" se si considerano gli avversari
" Possiamo comprendere perché lo abbiano fatto milioni di connazionali americani di scarsa cultura e innamorati di un ottimo venditore televisivo.
Ci riesce un po' difficile giustificare i milioni di latinos che nonostante il terrore e le miserie causate dal signor Trump ai migranti dal centro sud America, hanno votato a favore di Donald perché affascinati dalla sua perenne soap opera fatta di miliardi di dollari (beato lui), di femmine ultra belle anche se di incerta moralità (beato lui), ma soprattutto motivati questi latinos dal: "è meglio che i migranti se ne stiano a casa e non vengano a rompere gli zibidei a noi che già ci siamo fatti un mazzo così per vivere e lavorare negli Stati Uniti."
Non comprendiamo i milioni di donne che hanno dato il loro eccitato sostegno all'attuale inquilino della Casa Bianca, nonostante la dichiarata e dimostrata misoginia...... "
VISTO CHE LEI CONSIDERA CHI ABBIA VOTATO TRUMP UN DEFICENTE, IGNORANTE ECC.ECC.
...E SE SEMPLICEMENTE FOSSE GENTE CHE LA PENSA DIVERSAMENTE DA LEI?
Io (voto in Italia) sono di destra, ho 2 lauree, lavoro nel sociale ecc.ecc. eppure i miei amici "progressisti" con supponenza mi hanno sempre considerato un cretino, pure "pericoloso" perchè - con coerenza - ho convinto tanta gente a votarmi (dal consiglio comunale al parlamento ad essere eletto sindaco della mia città mi hanno eletto 20 volte su 20)
Finchè la sinistra considererà cretini tutti gli avversari e manterrà quella "puzza sotto il naso" per me irritante, ingiusta, supponente e - molto spesso - molto contraddittoria (visto i rapporti con discussi personaggi del mondo economico), SI DIMOSTRERA' PER QUELLO CHE E' OVVERO "DEMOCRATICA" NEL NOME E NELLA FORMA (si ricorda la DDR e il muro di Berlino?) MA NON NELLA SOSTANZA
Un cordiale saluto

Marco Zacchera
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Gentile Signor Sindaco,
Ricordi alla sua dattilografa che 'deficiente' si scrive con la 'i'.
Quanto all'accusa di essere il sottoscritto di sinistra le ricordo che mi riesce un po' difficile visto che porto su di me ancora le cicatrici delle percosse dei compagni comunisti di Firenze.
Stia bene.
Oscar
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Caro Oscar,
seguiamo ogni momento le notizie dal "fronte" delle elezioni ancora contestate da questo "golfista", che pensa solo ai suoi "affari" e all'instaurazione di una dinastia ereditaria. Ha portato il Paese verso una deriva autoritaria, suprematista e razzista e lo ha spaccato in due. Non è uno spettacolo istruttivo quello al quale stiamo assistendo: minacce ai dipendenti federali, verità contestate, comportamenti dichiarati illegali e ricorsi seriali alla magistratura, ma ancora senza uno straccio di prove . Tutto nella speranza che la Corte Suprema - "acchittata" da lui a 6 contro 3 - alla fine di tutto decida in suo favore. Comunque la lezione che si può ricavare è che il peggio non è mai morto e che il livello dei politici è in pericoloso abbassamento in tutto il mondo. Anche In Italia. Per quanto riguarda la nostra famiglia stiamo abbastanza bene e resistiamo anche alla seconda ondata del covid con attenzione, determinazione e positività. Spero che questo mio saluto - a Franca, Max, Marco e te - vi trovi tutti bene. Un abbraccio, Vincenzo

p. s. Visto che sono nato un giorno dopo zio Joe, dovrai chiamare anche me.. zio Vincenzo. 

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Lei è un tipico esempio del razzismo ideologico dì sinistra: chi non vota come voi è un bruto, un animale, un essere inferiore sul quale è lecito qualunque insulto e insinuazione perché voi siete la razza superiore, tolleranti (con chi la pensa come voi), buoni (idem) e di cultura (che spesso è fatta di luoghi comuni di dubbia verità ripetuti senza neppure comprenderli). 

Se per caso legge questa (non penso perché scritta da uno che avrebbe volentieri votato Trump, dunque bruto e ignorante) le spiego uno dei tanti motivi per cui milioni di cristiani hanno pregato per la vittoria di Trump: perché è contrario all’aborto fino a un minuto prima della nascita che consiste nell’estrarre un bambino pronto a respirare, a piangere a vivere, dalla vagina della madre, risucchiargli il cervello con una siringa o assassinarlo in altri modi, per poi estrarlo totalmente e quindi venderne organi e tessuti. A questi cristiani ciò è parso più grave di una pur pessima e condannabile frase, perché il vero cristiano non è ipocrita e tra offendere donne e uccidere i bambini sanno cosa è peggio. Trump, peraltro, non ha mai importunato bambine, ma ha risvolto le sue attenzioni ad adulte. https://youtu.be/eKJYPBNB1Yk

Ora chieda a suo Zio Joe di evitare di tornare a scatenare guerre davanti a casa nostra, come in Libia dove il terzetto Obama-Biden-H. Clinton ha provocato decine di migliaia di morti in una guerra tutt’ora in corso, centinaia di migliaia di immigrati attaverso il Mediterraneo, sul fondo del quale giacciono a migliaia. 

Abbia rispetto per i 71 milioni di americani che hanno votato per Trump e pensi ai bambini che potranno essere straziati grazie al suo voto. Un giorno gliene sarà chiesto conto. E il consenso dei media quel giorno non conterrà. Quei cristiani pregano anche per il suo pentimento.

Lucio Malan 

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Gentile Signor Malan:

Il mondo e' bello perche' e' vario (qualcuno sostiene 'avariato'). I suoi insulti mi lasciano indifferente e si ritorcono su chi li esprime con tanta sicumera. Devo dirle che le persone come Lei mi fanno paura, soprattutto quando si definiscono cristiani, perche' mettono a repentaglio la mia fede sopravvissuta a fatica nonostante i marosi della vita. Sono altrettanto convinto che Lei fa parte della accolita che sta sparando contro il Pontefice qui in America, finanziata da Steve Bannon , consigliere molto ascoltato di Trump.

Stia bene e tenga d'occhio le coronarie.

Oscar  

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On Tue, Nov 10, 2020 at 5:21 PM <lucio.malan@senato.it> wrote:

Tipica tracotanza e doppio standard: lei paragona i 71 milioni di elettori di Trump ai seguaci di Hitler ma se uno glielo fa notare sono “insulti”. Quanto alle sue “cicatrici” della lotta al comunismo credo che siano guarite durante la sua brillante carriera all’IRI dell’esperto di sedute spiritiche Prodi. 

La mia famiglia non ha particolari simpatie per i papi da almeno 800 anni essendo valdesi. 

Il suo “simpatico” augurio di un infarto è finora infondato: quando sono stato operato al cuore 10 anni fa mi hanno tenuto 29 sotto i ferri, ma le coronarie erano e sono in ottimo stato è così spero le sue. Non così si può dire dei neonati uccisi da Planned Parenthood, che ha impiegato 45 milioni per la campagna di Biden.

Lucio Malan

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Gentile Sig. Malan:

Se vogliamo riferirci ai trascorsi professionali, Lei per molti anni ha servito, in qualità' di responsabile della comunicazione, un noto puttaniere, condannato , fondatore di un partito azienda, creatore di un modello di comportamento che ha avvelenato un'intera generazione.

Questo spiega il suo apprezzamento per un altro puttaniere, biscazziere, pluri bancarottiere, bugiardo patologico.

L'invito a tenere conto delle coronarie e' una sincera manifestazione di affetto del sottoscritto reduce da un triplo bypass.

Le ripeto: stia bene.

Oscar

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The Oscar's Stories # 10: Novodevichy Cemetery is the most important cemetery in Moscow

Novodevichy Cemetery is the most important cemetery in Moscow, located at the Novodevichy Monastery, a 16th century convent, a World Heritage Site since 2004.

Anton Chekhov was one of the first characters buried in the new necropolis, and Nikolai Gogol 'was later moved here too. During the Soviet era it became the most exclusive cemetery in Russia, thanks to the presence of Nikita Khrushchev, Sergej Prokofiev.

 

 One afternoon I left the fair pavilion in Sokolniki and decided to pay a visit to this famous cemetery. After a quick glance at the graves of the most important characters, I entered the church whose floor was covered with straw according to an Orthodox autumn ritual while at the altar three popes sang splendid music accompanied by four black dressed 'pinzochere' (nuns).

 

At one point a woman came out of a side door, also completely covered by a large black shawl. She was holding a bundle to her breast.

She approached the pope who interrupted their chants while whispering. One of these muttered something and gave a blessing with the sprinkler.

That woman was one of the many mothers who, risking big problems with the police, went to that church to have their babies baptized. (a few decades later Vladimir Putin would have said he was also one of the baptized secrets).

I noticed that on my right in an almost completely darkened area was a guy, a young man, stuffed into a black anorak.

"Do you want to bet this guy is a secret police officer ?!", I said to myself, as the young man was moving in my direction.

 

 

 

"Where are you from?" he asked me in a low voice in French.

I told him I was Italian and at that point his face cleared up; he put his hand in his pocket and took out a small book of photographs. They were reproductions of Raphael's works of which Pietro, this is his name, was a passionate admirer.

We became friends Pietro and I and every time I returned to Moscow I did not fail to call him and spend a few hours with him in a restaurant.

Pietro was a cardiologist and earned as much, if not less, than a foreman in a state company.

 In his shared room in an apartment in an old building, he had an upright piano on which he played with great skill.

 

 

Pietro was married to a famous violinist, constantly traveling to perform in theaters of the Western world, obviously accompanied by the political commissioner and two bodyguards to avoid escapes.

My cardiologist friend practiced in the few free hours left by his profession playing the piano until the other occupants of the apartment ordered him to end it at least for that day.

Pietro hoped to be able to accompany his wife as a pianist in some of her performances abroad.

I asked him to guide me in the visit of the State Tretyakov Gallery.

In front of the icons of the centuries before the nineteenth century, he said to me: "See the gaze of Christ; it is turned to the sky. Look instead at these icons filled with metal from the nineteenth century. Here Christ looks down because it is as if it had burst a nuclear bomb ... "

 

 

 

 

 

 We paused in front of a bust of Stalin and Peter said to me: "Stalin was very suspicious because he feared an attempt on his life. One evening on his way home he caught a glimpse of movement behind the curtains in the dining room. He pulled out his gun and fired a few shots killing the young bride who hid to surprise him ... He never recovered from this story ... "

 

In the section of "socialist realism" we pause in front of a large painting depicting Lenin.


"This is one of the last images of Lenin. See how emaciated he is compared to the other paintings in this section of the gallery. By now the syphilis, having reached the third degree, was eating his brain ..."

In my last trips to Moscow I have tried to reconnect with Pietro without success. None of his roommates wanted or could tell me where he had moved or where 'they' had moved him.