The idea that Donald Trump is forcing the Republican Party to moderate its extreme positions on abortion and LGBTQ rights would make for an interesting story. So interesting, in fact, that the story was all over the mainstream press. The only problem with this very interesting story is that it didn’t happen.
On Monday, a draft of the GOP platform began circulating ahead of the Republican convention. The coverage of the platform’s position on abortion was remarkable in its uniformity. The New York Times’ headline blared, “Following Trump’s Lead, Republicans Adopt Platform That Softens Stance on Abortion.” NBC News announced, “Trump Pushes New GOP Platform Softening Party’s Positions on Abortion and Same-Sex Marriage.” The Washington Post concurred: “GOP Adopts Platform That Softens Language on Abortion, Same-Sex Marriage.” These headlines could not be more misleading. (One outlet, The 19th, commendably got it right.)
First, although the new platform omits language from the 2016 version opposing marriage equality, it is silent on equal rights for same-sex couples, and certainly does not endorse them. That omission is meaningful, and should not be interpreted as moderation. The Trumpified right-wing majority on the Supreme Court has already taken quiet aim at the decision that granted same-sex couples the right to marry, and some of the sitting justices, such as Samuel Alito, have denounced that decision outright. Once the right-wing bloc on the Court has the numbers and the right case, that decision will likely be overturned.
In other words, the removal of the previous opposition does not amount to a recognition of equal rights for same-sex couples. It is a strategic silence asserted in the belief that the Roberts Court will narrow those rights in its own time without the GOP having to pay a political price for making that happen. Other language in the new platform refers to being able to “act in accordance with those [religious] Beliefs, not just in places of Worship, but in everyday life.” This is about justifying religious exemptions to anti-discrimination laws, which will target LGBTQ Americans and women, among others. This is an agenda that contemplates second-class citizenship for anyone who is not a right-wing Christian, and elevated status for those who are.
Our FOR PRIVATE PROFIT news media would much rather ingratiate themselves to the Fuhrer than be the fourth estate and report on him earnestly.
Antagonizing a future President openly feening to attack any organization that says an unkind word sounds like a recipe for lost revenue, and they can’t risk lost shareholder value over something as trivial as representative democracy.
Any way you slice it, Donald Trump is the product and symptom of our society’s tolerance and servitude to our greed class. Remember the theme of Donald’s game show? We chose to die alone fighting against one another over scraps rather than living together as a society back in the 80s with the Reagan Revolution and the legislation of greed as our only cultural value.
This is just the bill coming due. Somewhere, the ghosts of all the struggling neighbors we cut the net out from under, and vilified as “welfare queens and filthy takers,” to cut taxes for people like Fred and Donald Trump back then are laughing.
We made profit the only motive. It was bound to happen when duty and integrity dont make you hundreds of millions of dark dollars. Are we blind? I’ve been shouting this is what will happen since I was a teenager.
It’s willful blindness, because rather than be a society, many to most still cling to the fantasy that one day it could be their turn to be the fuckers living like modern Pharoahs in cartoonish excess, even from the trailer park.
We are way down the list for upward mobility in the developed world, btw. We’re in the high 20s and the nordic nations dominate the top 5. Despite all the laughable bootstrap talk of meritocracy being our thing.
The sad fact is, more Americans would rather keep up with and fantasize about being a Kardashian than condemn their ridiculous life of needless excess while others struggle for food and shelter.
That’s what the American Dream has devolved into since Reagan, a fantasy of participating in owner class excess that should instead enrage us.