The fallout from Donald Trump’s victory: Daily Bullshit, November 19-20, 2016 (updated)

Updated for a story on Brexit from yesterday that I forgot earlier.

Horse race

Yesterday, a report appeared on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in which the Canadian Ambassador to the United States declared that “Canadians have to do a better job selling Americans on the benefits of our interdependence on issues like trade and security.” He means to defend trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, which Donald Trump ran against.^[1] I respond to His Excellency here.

I have previously commented on the gist of Rob Hoffman’s analysis in Politico here, here, and here, but one thing Hoffman observes is that “liberals are seemingly yet to grasp why they lost this election.”^[2] It’s early yet and there are occasional counter-indications,^[3] but I don’t see anything like enough to say he’s wrong. Indeed, when Democrats blame redistricting,^[4] they’re actually begging the question because the reason the Republicans are able to gerrymander in favor of Republicans is that Republicans have been winning at the state level pretty much throughout Barack Obama’s presidency.^[5] So an answer to the question of why Democrats are losing requires answering why they’re as unpopular as they are.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “Canada needs to do better job selling the U.S. on trade benefits, says ambassador,” November 19, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/nova-scotia/canada-ambassador-trade-benefits-with-u-s-1.3858829

Rob Hoffman, “How the Left Created Trump,” Politico, November 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/how-the-left-created-donald-trump-214472

Maggie Severns and Theodoric Meyer, “House Democrats lament blue-collar collapse,” Politico, November 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/house-democrats-worry-blue-collar-voters-231635

Brexit

Now that Donald Trump has won in the U.S., European leaders are taking seriously the possibility that Marine Le Pen might win in France. Hoping to discourage that eventuality, they will adopt a harder line against Brexit.^[6]

Toby Helm, “Europe’s leaders to force Britain into hard Brexit,” Guardian, November 19, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/19/europes-leaders-force-uk-hard-brexit-farage-le-pen

1. ^[1]Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, “Canada needs to do better job selling the U.S. on trade benefits, says ambassador,” November 19, 2016, http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/canada/nova-scotia/canada-ambassador-trade-benefits-with-u-s-1.3858829↩
2. ^[2]Rob Hoffman, “How the Left Created Trump,” Politico, November 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/how-the-left-created-donald-trump-214472↩
3. ^[3]for examples, Juan Cole, “Why the White Working Class Rebelled: Neoliberalism Is Killing Them (Literally),” Truthdig, November 9, 2016, http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_white_working_class_rebelled_neoliberalism_is_killing_20161109; Cathleen Decker, “For reeling Democrats, now what?” Los Angeles Times, November 10, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-clinton-democrats-20161109-story.html; David Dayen, “The ‘Deplorables Got the Last Laugh,” New Republic, November 9, 2016, https://newrepublic.com/article/138615/deplorables-got-last-laugh; Jonathan Easley, “Seething liberals vow revolution in Democratic Party,” Hill, November 12, 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/305617-seething-liberals-vow-revolution-in-democratic-party; Thomas Frank, “Donald Trump is moving to the White House, and liberals put him there,” Guardian, November 9, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/09/donald-trump-white-house-hillary-clinton-liberals; Kevin Gosztola, “The Hubris of Democratic Elites, Clinton Campaign Gave Us President Trump,” Common Dreams, November 9, 2016, http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/11/09/hubris-democratic-elites-clinton-campaign-gave-us-president-trump; Brad Reed, “Michael Moore’s tough words for liberals: ‘You weren’t paying attention to your fellow Americans,’” Raw Story, November 9, 2016, http://www.rawstory.com/2016/11/michael-moores-tough-words-for-liberals-you-werent-paying-attention-to-your-fellow-americans/; Darren Samuelsohn, “Democrats: We ran into an unstoppable wave,” Politico, November 9, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/clinton-supporters-fallout-2016-election-231056; Maggie Severns and Theodoric Meyer, “House Democrats lament blue-collar collapse,” Politico, November 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/house-democrats-worry-blue-collar-voters-231635↩
4. ^[4]Maggie Severns and Theodoric Meyer, “House Democrats lament blue-collar collapse,” Politico, November 20, 2016, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/house-democrats-worry-blue-collar-voters-231635↩
5. ^[5]Jeff Greenfield, “Democratic Blues,” Politico, August 20, 2015, http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/democratic-blues-121561.html; K. K. Rebecca Lai, Jasmine C. Lee, and Karl Russell, “In a Further Blow to Democrats, Republicans Increase Their Hold on State Governments,” New York Times, November 11, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/11/us/elections/state-legislature-change-in-control.html; Reid Wilson, “Dems hit new low in state legislatures,” Hill, November 18, 2016, http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/306736-dems-hit-new-low-in-state-legislatures↩
6. ^[6]Toby Helm, “Europe’s leaders to force Britain into hard Brexit,” Guardian, November 19, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/nov/19/europes-leaders-force-uk-hard-brexit-farage-le-pen↩