Some ‘Dreamers’ thought they had been reduced to pawns in political games. It looks like they were right.

benfell

Updates

  1. Originally published, February 8, 1:16 am.
  2. February 8, 12:02 pm:
    • The stock market is having another bad day.[1] (Wall Street)
  3. February 8, 3:02 pm:

Wall Street

Sylvan Lane, “Dow falls more than 1,000 in biggest daily point-drop ever,” Hill, February 5, 2018, http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/372403-dow-plunges-by-1179-points-shattering-record

James F. Peltz, “Dow plunges 1,175 points as stocks fall, wiping out all of this year’s gains,” Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-markets-20180205-story.html

Akane Otani and Lisa Beilfuss, “Dow Swings Sharply, Finishes 2.3% Higher,” Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2018,https://www.wsj.com/articles/stocks-in-asia-follow-the-dow-lower-1517876595

Associated Press, “Stocks drop further; Dow industrials slide 600 points,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-markets-20180208-story.html

Akane Otani and Jon Sindreu, “U.S. Stocks Dive as Investors Brace for More Volatility,” Wall Street Journal, February 8, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/asian-shares-lack-direction-1518051458

Jim Puzzanghera, “Dow dives more than 1,000 points despite attempts by Fed to calm investors,” , February 8, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-markets-20180208-story.html

James Comey

Even if you accept the argument in the Nunes Memo as valid, the premises that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had deceived a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court by omitting information about the source of the information, Christopher Steele’s dossier, used to obtain a warrant and that that dossier was anything more than “a key component” (even this might be exaggerated) in the application for that warrant are simply, flatly wrong[3]:

Devin Nunes said Monday the FBI had disclosed political backing for a Trump-Russia dossier in October 2016, but a controversial GOP memo released last week did not mention it. . . .

The debate revolves around an October 2016 FBI application to a federal judge for a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant against Page. That FISA application — and whether the FBI was fully transparent with a federal court that approved it in October 2016 — is at the heart of mounting allegations by President Donald Trump and allies in Congress that the FBI abused its spying authority during the 2016 campaign.

But Friday’s memo also acknowledged that the Page warrant came only months after the FBI had already opened an investigation into Russian influence over the Trump campaign because of information it had received about another Trump foreign policy adviser, George Papadapoulos, whom The New York Times has reported learned in early 2016 that the Russians had stolen Clinton campaign emails.[4]

Which is all to say that the Republican argument here is simply fantasy.

Kyle Cheney, “Republicans concede key FBI ‘footnote’ in Carter Page warrant,” Politico, February 5, 2018, https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/05/fbi-footnote-carter-page-warrant-390795

Karoun Demirjian and Devlin Barrett, “House panel clears release of Democrats’ rebuttal to GOP memo, forcing showdown with Trump,” Washington Post, February 5, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-attacks-schiff-ahead-of-vote-on-democrats-russia-probe-memo/2018/02/05/abf388fc-0a8c-11e8-8b0d-891602206fb7_story.html

Byron Tau and Rebecca Ballhaus, “House Panel Agrees to Release Democratic Memo on Surveillance of Trump Associate,” Wall Street Journal, February 5, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-panel-agrees-to-release-democratic-memo-on-surveillance-of-trump-associate-1517872696

Katie Bo Williams, “House Intel votes to release Dem countermemo,” Hill, February 5, 2018, http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/372421-house-intel-votes-to-release-dem-countermemo

Katie Bo Williams and Jordan Fabian, “Pressure builds on Trump to release Dem countermemo,” Hill, February 7, 2018, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/372650-pressure-builds-on-trump-to-release-dem-countermemo

Donald Trump

Daily Cartoon, by Peter Kuper, February 6, 2018. New Yorker, fair use.

James Hohmann, with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve, “Why Trump flippantly accusing Democrats of ‘treason’ is not a laughing matter,” Washington Post, February 6, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2018/02/06/daily-202-why-trump-flippantly-accusing-democrats-of-treason-is-not-a-laughing-matter/5a792a2130fb041c3c7d7657/

Census

Lydia Wheeler, “Citizenship question drives uncertainty over 2020 census,” Hill, February 6, 2018, http://thehill.com/regulation/372445-citizenship-question-drives-uncertainty-over-2020-census

Unauthorized migration

Democrats had previously tried to use their leverage on spending bills to secure legal protections for undocumented immigrants called Dreamers, who were brought to the U.S. at a young age. Mr. Trump in September ended the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that shielded them from deportation, but gave Congress until March 5 to pass its replacement.

In a testament to the complicated politics of the pact, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), one of the leaders who helped craft the spending agreement, took to the House floor for eight hours Wednesday to oppose it. Other House Democrats are expected to back the budget deal, but Mrs. Pelosi’s speech—breaking a record for the longest address in the chamber—aimed to show her support for the party’s liberal wing that has made immigration its top priority.[5]

Jordan Fabian and Rafael Bernal, “Trump: ‘I’d love to see a shutdown’ if Dems don’t meet immigration demands,” Hill, February 6, 2018, http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/372576-trump-id-love-to-see-a-shutdown

Kristina Peterson and Siobhan Hughes, “Congressional Leaders Say They Agree on Budget Deal,” Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/pelosi-wants-ryan-to-pledge-vote-on-dreamers-as-condition-for-budget-deal-1518019752

Polarization

I don’t agree with pointing the finger of blame for political polarization solely at Vietnam. And as a historical note, it was neoconservatism, including that of the #NeverTrump variety, that formed in significant part in response to the anti-war movement (and other 1960s-era social upheavals).[6] By contrast, authoritarian populism, including that of Donald Trump’s base[7] and that of many in the military, looks to me[8] an awful lot like how Colin Woodard describes the people he associates with what he calls ‘Greater Appalachia.’ The latter folks started arriving in what would become the United States well before the revolution that separated it from the United Kingdom and have always been disruptive in multiple ways, some of them violent.[9] Which is to say that they have been a source of polarization since before the country was even a country.

I would encourage you to read Gil Barndollar’s article[10] anyway. He highlights the difference between those who join the military and those who don’t,[11] which is important in itself, though he is, by no means, the first to do so.[12] His explanation, at minimum, nonetheless helps to enrich our understanding of polarization.

Avoiding Vietnam has been no bar to advancement in Washington, nor has it been an impediment to calling for other Americans to fight and die in other questionable interventions. It is one of history’s ironies that Vietnam veterans likely played an important role in electing the three recent presidents who avoided serving in Vietnam by various means.[13]

Gil Barndollar, “50 Years Later: What Tet Didn’t Destroy, Deferments Did,” American Conservative, February 6, 2018, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/50-years-later-what-tet-didnt-destroy-deferments-did/

Secession

Sam Levin, “Resisting the resistance: anti-liberal rage brews in California’s right wing,” Guardian, February 7, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/feb/07/new-california-movement-rightwing-resistance-liberal-trump

Student loans

Adam Harris, “Federal Student-Loan Program Is Rapidly Losing Money, and Income-Based Repayment Is to Blame, Report Says,” Chronicle of Higher Education, February 2, 2018, https://www.chronicle.com/article/Federal-Student-Loan-Program/242426

North Korea

David Nakamura, “Democratic senators: Trump lacks ‘legal authority’ for preemptive, ‘bloody nose’ strike on North Korea,” Washington Post, February 5, 2018, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2018/02/05/democratic-senators-trump-lacks-legal-authority-for-preemptive-bloody-nose-strike-onth-korea/

Daniel Larison, “Pence’s Misguided Asia Trip,” American Conservative, February 6, 2018, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/pences-misguided-asia-trip/

Same sex marriage

Apparently from a court ruling:

The State’s purpose to ensure an accessible public marketplace free from discrimination is laudable and necessary public goal. No vendor may refuse to sell their public goods, or services (not fundamentally founded upon speech) based upon their perception of the gender identification of their customer, even upon religious grounds. A retail tire shop may not refuse to sell a tire because the owner does not want to sell tires to same sex couples. There is nothing sacred or expressive about a tire.

No artist, having placed their work for public sale, may refuse to sell for an unlawful discriminatory purpose. No baker may place their wares in a public display case, open their shop, and then refuse to sell because of race, religion, gender, or gender identification. The difference here is that the cake in question is not yet baked. The State is not petitioning the court to order defendants to sell cake. The State asks this court to compel Miller to use her talents to design and create a cake she has not yet conceived with the knowledge that her work will be displayed in celebration of a marital union her religion forbids. For this court to force such compliance would do violence to the essentials of Free Speech guaranteed under the First Amendment.[14]

Leonardo Blair, “Calif. Court Rules Christian Baker Cannot Be Forced to Make Cake for Same-Sex Wedding,” Christian Post, February 6, 2018, https://www.christianpost.com/news/california-court-rules-christian-baker-cannot-forced-make-cake-gay-same-sex-wedding-216575/

#MeToo

Dennis Prager, “A Defense of Evangelicals Who Support Trump,” National Review, February 6, 2018, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/456140/evangelicals-trump-defense-of-support

  1. [1]Associated Press, “Stocks drop further; Dow industrials slide 600 points,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-markets-20180208-story.html; Akane Otani and Jon Sindreu, “U.S. Stocks Dive as Investors Brace for More Volatility,” Wall Street Journal, February 8, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/asian-shares-lack-direction-1518051458↩
  2. [2]Jim Puzzanghera, “Dow dives more than 1,000 points despite attempts by Fed to calm investors,” , February 8, 2018, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-markets-20180208-story.html↩
  3. [3]Kyle Cheney, “Republicans concede key FBI ‘footnote’ in Carter Page warrant,” Politico, February 5, 2018, https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/05/fbi-footnote-carter-page-warrant-390795↩
  4. [4]Kyle Cheney, “Republicans concede key FBI ‘footnote’ in Carter Page warrant,” Politico, February 5, 2018, https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/05/fbi-footnote-carter-page-warrant-390795↩
  5. [5]Kristina Peterson and Siobhan Hughes, “Congressional Leaders Say They Agree on Budget Deal,” Wall Street Journal, February 7, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/pelosi-wants-ryan-to-pledge-vote-on-dreamers-as-condition-for-budget-deal-1518019752↩
  6. [6]George H. Nash, The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America Since 1945, 30th anniversary ed. (Wilmington, DE: Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2006).↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “Authoritarian populism in the age of Donald Trump,” Not Housebroken, January 30, 2018, https://disunitedstates.org/2018/01/30/authoritarian-populism-in-the-age-of-donald-trump/↩
  8. [8]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
  9. [9]Colin Woodard, American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America (New York: Penguin, 2011).↩
  10. [10]Gil Barndollar, “50 Years Later: What Tet Didn’t Destroy, Deferments Did,” American Conservative, February 6, 2018, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/50-years-later-what-tet-didnt-destroy-deferments-did/↩
  11. [11]Gil Barndollar, “50 Years Later: What Tet Didn’t Destroy, Deferments Did,” American Conservative, February 6, 2018, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/50-years-later-what-tet-didnt-destroy-deferments-did/↩
  12. [12]James Fallows, “The Tragedy of the American Military,” Atlantic, January/February 2015, http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/12/the-tragedy-of-the-american-military/383516/; Jennie Haskamp, “I’m a veteran, and I hate ‘Happy Memorial Day.’ Here’s why,” Washington Post, May 22, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/05/22/im-a-veteran-and-i-hate-happy-memorial-day-heres-why/; David Zucchino and David S. Cloud, “U.S. military and civilians are increasingly divided,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 2015, http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-warrior-main-20150524-story.html↩
  13. [13]Gil Barndollar, “50 Years Later: What Tet Didn’t Destroy, Deferments Did,” American Conservative, February 6, 2018, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/50-years-later-what-tet-didnt-destroy-deferments-did/↩
  14. [14]David Lampe, quoted in Leonardo Blair, “Calif. Court Rules Christian Baker Cannot Be Forced to Make Cake for Same-Sex Wedding,” Christian Post, February 6, 2018, https://www.christianpost.com/news/california-court-rules-christian-baker-cannot-forced-make-cake-gay-same-sex-wedding-216575/↩

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