Pessimism of the Mind

Climate warnings seem to range from urgent to extreme. But the headlines are filled with the latest twist in the national soap opera. In the shadows, Republicans commit to wreaking as much damage as possible. And the rich won't be stopped from reaping undeserved largesse.

Would a "blue wave" even turn things around?

In interviews, more than a dozen Republican politicians, activists and consultants — including some current and former [von Clownstick] campaign aides with direct lines to the president — said they are increasingly convinced a Democratic House victory in the midterms and subsequent impeachment push would backfire and ultimately help the president in 2020.

So far, the Democratic prospects for 2020 are less than inspiring--and yet, we need someone to catch fire. A handful of progressives get some national attention and attacks from the right are expected, but then it's discouraging to come across disparagement from the left. Maybe I give it too much attention, but a purist attitude just leaves me feeling hopeless for making any kind of change. "Or Bust" is an option from which we might not be able to recover.

Update (August 17):  Heather Digby Parton looks to Andrew Johnson rather than Bill Clinton as a better comparison to von Clownstick.

Johnson's "swing around the circle" strategy [in the 1866 midterm election] greatly damaged his presidency and he went on to be the first president to be impeached, only surviving conviction by one vote in the Senate. He couldn't even win the Democratic nomination in 1868 and the party lost the presidency later that year.

And Amanda Marcotte counsels patience.

This isn't just about politics, to be clear. There's also a moral argument here. There is so much that the public doesn't know about this president and his background, and so much that [Dear Leader] is clearly hiding. We have a right to know, at long last. Rushing into impeachment, a divisive drama that [von Clownstick's] defenders would paint as pure partisanship, could leave far too many stones unturned. It's imperative that, after all this time, the public actually gets a chance to find out what the secretive, paranoid [Fuckface] is so worried about.

[T]he main reason for patience is that it's the best chance the Democrats have of successfully laying waste to this horrible, corrupt administration. Jumping the gun on impeachment early in 2019 will means it dies a near-certain death in the Senate. Building up a case over time, however, and bringing forward new information could change the political calculus so that impeachment is more likely. There might be evidence so serious it finally chips away at Republican support for [Orangeman] and pushes GOP senators to do the right thing. Yes, that's unlikely, but it becomes less so if enough time is given over to investigations.

Andrew Levine is all for hobbling Fuckface as much as possible.

The main thing to hope for from this election, though, is that, when it is over, Democrats, not Republicans, will control the House and the Senate. This is important for damage control, and not much else. Even with a dozen Ocasio-Cortezes and Tlaibs elected, that wretched party will still be part of the problem, not the solution.

Perhaps they and others like them who might emerge out of the forces mobilizing to defeat the [Orange] Party this November will inspire the handful of Progressive Caucus stalwarts who do sometimes show signs of being on the side of the angels to defy their party’s leaders. If that happens, then there might before long be a Progressive Caucus, by that or some other name, large enough and progressive enough to make talk of “democratic socialism” more than just talk.

Update (August 20):  Chris Hedges has the end in sight.

The failure to act to ameliorate global warming exposes the myth of human progress and the illusion that we are rational creatures. We ignore the wisdom of the past and the stark scientific facts before us. We are entranced by electronic hallucinations and burlesque acts, including those emanating from the centers of power, and this ensures our doom. Speak this unpleasant truth and you are condemned by much of society. The mania for hope and magical thinking is as seductive in the Industrial Age as it was in pre-modern societies.

Update (August 30):  David Wallace-Wells acknowledges that in terms of coverage on television, climate change is a "ratings killer".

[I]t is perhaps important to remember that the media did not ignore these stories, or the month of global climate horrors that gave rise to them. Television networks covered those heat waves 127 times. That is, actually, a very lot! They just utterly failed to “connect the dots,” as Emily Atkin put it incisively at The New Republic —broadcasters told the story of the historic temperatures, but chose not to touch the question of why we were seeing so many of them, all at once, with the atmosphere more full of carbon, and the planet hotter, than it has ever been at any point in human history.

Update (August 31):  In a talk about his book, America: The Farewell Tour, Chris Hedges describes Fuckface as a symptom of a failing system that's bringing the rest of us down as the ruling elite fight to maintain their wealth and power. He argues that we need to come to grips with the magnitude of the problem. We can't rely on "hope"; we need figure out ways to resist. Hedges wants the one percent to feel fear. We don't know how things will turn out, but we fight fascists because they are fascists. The way to overcome despair is through resistance.