2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumBanana Republic
Many of you will not want to hear this.
If the person who gets fewer votes wins elections (Dim Son, Comrade Trump) and the person who gets more votes loses (Gore), even 3 million more votes (Hillary) still loses, then it's a banana republic. If that result has become so routine that nobody even talks about it or cares, then it's a deeply entrenched banana republic.
If control of one house of the legislature is pre-determined for five elections in advance, as the U.S. House of Representatives currently is by extreme gerrymandering, then it's a banana republic.
If a map of your gerrymandered legislative districts looks like a snake pit with added mutant alien spiders and if it's drawn that way specifically to dramatically favor one party, then it's a banana republic.
If top law enforcement officials use the power of their office to actively favor one party by selective releasing and withholding of information, then it's a banana republic. James Comey supports a banana republic. Major factions of the FBI favor a banana republic. James Comey is a tool of Putin.
If the electoral system gives a disproportionate bonus (the "redneck bonus" so that some voters' votes count more than others, then it's a banana republic. (Redneck Bonus: the electoral college gives two bonus votes to every state in addition to votes proportionate to their population, so that some states get one electoral vote per 100,000 population while other states get only one vote per 550,000 population. Without the redneck bonus, Florida wouldn't even have mattered in 2000--Gore would have won clearly.)
If there is massive voter suppression, through onerous restrictions specifically designed to disenfranchise one party's voters and through deliberate barriers to voting such as making some voters wait in lines for five hours to vote, then it's a banana republic. There has never been a case in the history of America where the voters in a rich old white Republican precinct had to wait in line five hours to vote. But it's commonplace for poor young non-whites to have to do so. Every single time that happens, it's because one side (always the same side) controls the voting sites, machines, times, and days, to rig the election. Every. Single. Time. When you see pictures on TV on election day of people standing in line for hours to vote, you know it's a banana republic. And when nobody even notices or cares any more, then it's a deeply entrenched banana republic.
If the officials who run elections are also the campaign officials for one side and they routinely conduct elections in a manner to favor their side, then it's a banana republic.
If insecure black box vote counting computers are programmed by 26-time felony loser hackers and attempts to verify and recount are always completely thwarted by election officials who flat out lie about the results, then it's a banana republic.
If massive amounts of secret money control the election process and a candidate must either be a billionaire or have billionaires who want to buy them power in order to even compete, then it's a banana republic.
If the rules change depending on which party is in power (e.g., North Carolina), then it's a banana republic.
If an enemy foreign power hacks the election to favor Putin's Puppy and nobody really cares (although they may pretend to, until they get a chance to sweep it under the rug), then it's a banana republic. Red Donald is a symptom of a banana republic.
So who wants America to be a banana republic? Who strives to make (and keep) America a banana republic? Obviously, Banana Republicans!
Banana Republicans gerrymander, Banana Republicans redline voters, Banana Republicans disenfranchise voters, Banana Republicans kettle voters, Banana Republicans rig elections, Banana Republicans change the rules to favor themselves. Frankly, Banana Republicans want to establish New Rhodesia in the new world.
Putin is not stupid. He knows that if you want to destroy America, make it a banana republic. If you want to destroy America, let Banana Republicans rule.
pbmus
(12,438 posts)Is Trump a resurfacing of white supremacist genealogy much more deeply rooted inside the US colonial conquest of America and imperial warmongering around the globe, Asks Dabashi.
Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
"Trump's banana republic", declares the title of a passionate opinion piece on the pages of The Boston Globe after a televised presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. "This is banana republic territory," the writer declares after criticising Trump for attacking the sacrosanct law enforcement officials and casting doubts on their reliability.
The metaphor become perhaps the most potent political allegory of this election season. America would be Trump's banana republic, was the title of another opinion piece by Fareed Zakaria for The Washington Post. "The picture presented to the world," he wrote as he criticised the "vigilante rage" of the Republican convention, "has been of America as a banana republic."
The European press soon chimed in: "Sounding more like the potentate of some palm-dotted tropical island than a presidential candidate," declared Nick Bryant of the BBC, "Trump twice declined to say during the final televised debate whether he would accept the results of the 2016 election."
"Trump's Banana Republic Justice" was the title of yet another piece in October in Newsweek, when criticising Trump's attacks on Clinton: "This is the stuff of banana republics, not mature democracies."
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/12/prospect-banana-republic-161207123725710.html
triron
(22,240 posts)Raster
(20,999 posts)...they are the most corrupt, foul organization on the face of the planet today. The GOP is firmly rooted in Party before anything or anyone else. Case-in-point: The GOP support for the most supremely UNQUALIFIED candidate for POTUS in over a century. Further case-in-point: The GOP's blatant commitment to voter suppression and electoral disenfranchisement.
FUCK THE GOP! Resist at all costs!