Neighbors put up this sign at entrance to Clinton home.
At Chappaqua public library talk, Nov. 9, 2016
New York city
My talk at Barnard College
I
take back what I said about wishing the presidential election and campaign were
over. Now the nightmare has become real. Those who refused to vote for the “lesser
of evils”—that is Hillary Clinton--either by abstaining or voting for a 3rd
party candidate, now have the greater of evils. To make matters worse, Trump’s
popularity has reportedly increased since his Electoral College victory nor is
he giving any quarter to the majority of voters who did not support him. On the
contrary, he seems bent on appointing the most retrograde of advisers, Bannon
and Sessions, guys even beyond the fringe, perhaps as vengeance toward those
who voted against him. Mitt Romney would be the exception if he becomes part of
the Trump administration—we would feel relief if a cooler head were on board. I
never thought I would say that about Romney, but it’s all relative. And it
would good to see some Republicans in Congress and the Senate opposing Trump if
they don’t like his direction or his takeover of their party. However, at this
early stage, his popularity has reportedly grown—not to 50% yet, but an uptick.
Let’s see how long that lasts.
The
New Yorker issue published just
before the election, which arrived in our mailboxes afterward, had a clever
cover applicable to whichever outcome would actually occur, namely an image of a
guy reading an open newspaper on the subway showing these headlines: “Oh, Sweet
Jesus, Please God, No; Anything But That; Come On.” In that same issue (cover dated
Nov. 14 but issued the week before) is a long, detailed “Letter from Venezuela,
A Failing State,” by William Finnegan about how that once-prosperous nation has
spiraled down, not only because of lower oil prices, but because of a failed
ideology and coercive political tactics. (By helping a Venezuelan asylum
applicant, I’ve got an inside look on how one family was impacted.)
Needless to say, being in Chappaqua the day after the election was
a real downer--only 8 people attended my talk there. Townspeople had erected a
sign next to the Clinton driveway saying "Hillary we love you." Little
girls there were carrying around small hammers to “break the glass ceiling.” At
Barnard College, two days later, less than half the people who had signed up
for my talk actually attended. Lots of demonstrations raged in NYC, especially around
Trump Tower. Buildings bearing Trump’s name on them are taking it off and daughter
Ivanka’s clothing line is apparently tanking. If Trump entered the presidential
race to increase his fortunes, that’s not happening, at least not yet. Of
course, if he succeeds in lowering tax rates, especially on the top brackets, his
wealth might increase. That he would be willing to sacrifice the nation’s
wellbeing, including that of his fervent low-income supporters, to further
increase the wealth of his family, well beyond what they could possibly ever
spend or need, is a sign not only of avarice, but of emotional illness. His
Trump Foundation has turned out to be phony, just like everything else.
In Manhattan, an 11-year-old girl vacated her bedroom for me. Her
big pillow said A WOMAN'S PLACE IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Many young girls like
her were disappointed. We've got to think of some effective counter-strategy. So,
Democrats didn’t pay sufficient attention to the white working class? Well,
there are a lot of other folks out there, like me and all my neighbors, who now
feel ignored; we are people and voters too, so watch out! I thought GW Bush was
our worst president in my lifetime, but I would say that Trump trumps him and
he hasn’t even gotten started. I hope to live to see the end of his presidency.
Trump
is not only a blatant and shameless liar, but pretty obviously has sexually
assaulted numerous women, perhaps short of rape, in any case, without their
consent. I hope they will pursue their cases, but it’s going to be a battle. Bill
Clinton is a womanizer, but his liaisons apparently have been consensual,
though, in the Lewinsky case, because of her youth and subordinate position,
there may have been implied coercion.
While
name-calling and stereotyping should be avoided, in Trump’s case, they are no
exaggeration. Trump is a cheat, trickster, braggart, someone who promotes fake
news and takes advantage of others—totally dishonest. Who can trust his word? He
flaunts his wealth in a garish way, with gold furniture and appliances. He
seems to be unable to focus. He loves disparaging people and name calling. The
whole birther thing was ridiculous and even more ridiculous was his statement
that Hillary Clinton started the birther rumor and he ended it! I felt somewhat
sorry for him for being such a dysfunctional human being until he became
president.
Trump’s presidency
has many people, myself included, uncertain about what tactic to adopt next—whether
to focus on issues and ignore Trump’s outsized personality or what? I don’t
think demonstrations against his policies and boycotts of Trump properties
alone will do it. And civil war is not the way to go. Civil disobedience is. The
non-cooperation of sanctuary cities in immigration raids is a good first step,
even if federal funds should be withheld in retaliation. An internet and buying
blackout is proposed for inauguration day and a women’s march, which I plan to
join, on the next day. My daughter Stephanie is joining us then from Hawaii. I
hope Trump doesn’t find a way to block our plans. And we have to make gains in Congress and
the Senate 2 years hence (speaking here as an already disenfranchised DC
citizen myself). We must keep our energy from flagging and push the
momentum in the other direction.
Trump just settled a lawsuit against his totally fake, exploitative
Trump University for $25 million. He had duped those who signed up for courses,
just as he has duped most of those who voted for him. He may enjoy a respite at
first because the Republican Congress will not constantly block him, as they
did Obama. Infrastructure spending, which Hillary also championed, may move
forward more quickly with Republican support, but with tax cuts (Hillary
proposed increases on the top brackets, including on social security earnings) will
bring on inflation, a ballooning deficit, and a possible recession. Of course,
he proposes tax cuts at the top levels and the end of the estate tax, the
deficit be damned. He will try to blame a recession on Obama.
Reportedly, Trump’s hotels and daughter Ivanka’s clothing
line are losing money and the slack is not being made up by Trump’s Rust Belt
supporters who cannot afford such luxuries. That may make an impact. Brexit was a
warning signal. Far-right parties in Europe will now feel encouraged.
http://michaelmoore.com/trumpwillwin/ Michael Moore,
unfortunately, nailed it before the election and David Remnick of the New Yorker afterward. http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-american-tragedy-2
To
add insult to injury, last I heard, Hillary Clinton was leading Trump by over 1.5
million in the popular vote—that must be a record for a losing candidate. If
the system was rigged, it was rigged in Donald Trump’s favor. Since Trump’s margins were usually so slim
in the states he won, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that he owes
his victory to Snowden, Assange, Putin, Weiner, and Comey. At least Trump’s
e-mail won’t be hacked, because he doesn’t do e-mail. Maybe Trumpcare will
replace Obamacare? If the coverage is similar, who cares? Something must be
done to reign in healthcare costs, as well as provide more coverage to more
people, though Trump may not go in that direction. He is more likely to cut
benefits and beneficiaries. I do feel that healthcare providers’ salaries,
including those for doctors and nurses, need to be held in check. Their
contributions are vital, but are far above what is earned by health professionals
in other developed countries and each profession keeps on pushing its own compensation
up. I speak as someone who worked for 16 years for a healthcare provider
organization and witnessed those constant salary efforts.
On Nov.
14, President Obama gave a very good press conference. He is amazingly cogent and
convincing, unlike Trump, who prefers tweets, soundbites, insults, and over-generalizations. Trump needs to become more presidential—stop tweeting and
being so thin-skinned.
Here’s
another commentary if you are in the mood.
What all this will mean for human rights, Amnesty
International, and the Caribbean region (my volunteer
responsibility for Amnesty) is anyone’s guess. Such issues have
not been prominent in the presidential campaign and Trump
is so impulsive, his course there
is unpredictable (speaking here as private citizen, not an Amnesty representative). Campaigning in Florida, he did promise to
roll back the Obama/Raul Castro accords and I know some Cuban Americans who voted
for him solely on that issue, which upsets me. In my
book talks in the NYC area, I had planned to suggest some next steps that
Hillary might take on Cuba. Now Trump, with Congressional support may well try
to backtrack. Raul Castro wisely called Trump to congratulate him and immediately
ordered military maneuvers. Trump is a big fan of Putin, a close Castro ally.
It’s a sad day for our
country. Let's work to get rid of the Electoral College and keep fighting
against Trumpism. We can only hope against hope that his bark turns out to be
worse than his bite. He is notorious for changing his positions on everything
(remember Barack Obama's birth certificate?), which may cause some pushback within
the Republican Party and end up educating some gullible voters. There will be
no wall with Mexico--except maybe a short, symbolic one—and Hillary won't be
locked up, 11 million people won't be deported, and coal and steel won't be
coming back. Will any of that matter to Trump supporters?
Children and their future had the most at stake in this
election, as Donald Trump can do lasting damage by reinforcing and giving
legitimacy to the worst instincts and attitudes of certain segments of the
population (Hillary's unfortunately labeled "deplorables"). Already
the Ku Klux Klan has been marching in celebration
As I had predicted, Trump is not keen on moving into the White
House and Melania certainly is not. He is also resisting giving up involvement
in his financial empire. I suspect he entered the presidential race only to
further his name recognition and family fortunes.
50
GOP national security officials said before the election that Trump would be
'most reckless president in American history’ https://www.yahoo.com/news/gop-national-security-trump-reckless-000000096.html
Let's hope that Trump turns out to be merely mediocre or bumbling,
rather than malignant. He's getting off to a disorderly start, so it seems. The
guy has opinions but no experience and is easily bored. It’s hard to imagine
that he would want to run for a second term. Indications are that he enjoys
campaigning and the adulation of crowds (or of being a reality TV star) more than
the nuts and bolts of governing or actually running anything. I'm feeling
pretty discouraged. I did vote for Hillary. I had been in meetings with her on
gun control and health care reform back when she was First Lady when I was writing
for OT Week, a publication of my employer. She had impressed
me then as being more personable and cogent that she seemed later on the
campaign trail.
Cuba
Cubalex’s director, human rights attorney Lartiza Diversent, was a member of my Amnesty
Int’l Conference Cuba panel last April in Miami. Her appearance on our panel
may have put her at additional risk. Below is part of an Urgent Action on her
case—the full action is available on the Amnesty website.
UA: 261/16 Index: AMR 25/5156/2016 Cuba Date: 18
November 2016 URGENT ACTION HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYERS UNDER THREAT Members of
Cubalex, a Havana-based organization of human rights lawyers, have been
subjected to months of harassment and intimidation by the Cuban authorities for
their work. Progressively since September, Cuban authorities have intimidated
members of Cubalex (Legal Information Center), a non-government organization,
not recognized by the Cuban authorities, which provides free legal and human
rights advice in Havana, the capital. On 23 September, according to its
Director, Laritza Diversent, authorities searched Cubalex’s centre of operation
without warrant, confiscated a number of laptops and documents, and forced at
least one woman to undress.
Honduran
Migrants: We left because we had to.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-37935357
I’ve known many of these Hondurans, Migrants maimed by ‘The
Beast’ visit Miami to recount their ordeal https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/ee68e2dc-a166-3ef5-abe1-37fb5b83c021/ss_migrants-maimed-by-%E2%80%98the.html
Some good news about Honduras for a change, namely that
US-funded programs there seem to have had a beneficial effect on the crime and
murder rate. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/opinion/sunday/how-the-most-dangerous-place-on-earth-got-a-little-bit-safer.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share
_______________________________________________________
BOGOTA. [Former]
President Álvaro Uribe of Colombia and Marcell Felipe, President of Inspire
América Foundation, meet in Bogota to discuss specific plans to be implemented
to promote democracy in the Americas. The former President sent a message of
support to the Cuban Opposition. Asked if the Cuban regime had any moral
authority to mediate the Colombian peace talks with the FARC when the Castros
were part of the conflict itself, the President was clear: it does not.
South Sudan
http://www.newsmax.com/World/GlobalTalk/AF-AP-Explains-South-Sudan-Turmoil/2016/08/19/id/744307/
