Great piece. There is so much uncertainty in the next two .years(the mid terms may give Dems more power). But, it is possible that Trump will be as incompetent this time as he was before. If that is the case, he will be embroiled in lawsuits all over the country. The whole idea of tossing immigrants out of the country by the millions will leave us wondering why we don’t have edibles coming into grocery stores. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal in 2011 tried terrorizing migrant workers out of the state. He claimed there were lots of Americans wanting those jobs. Not. Most lasted one or two hours and never came back. Crops were rotting on the vine. Farmers were losing millions of dollars. That was deemed a monumental failure never to be repeated again.
I know many of my neighbors here in northern California. They supported Trump. The problem is they love the crazy rhetoric but have no clue how this will play out. This is ag country. They know they need those migrant workers to pick their crops. Most farmers barely break even in a good year. These new policies could very well put them out of business.
I’m hearing rumbles from some Trump supporters that they want the criminals who are here illegally, deported…but, not the people running the taco stands . “He didn’t mean them, right?” Reality may hit our little college town sooner than I thought. Students need and rely on those taco stands. Not wise to come between a hungry college student and their favorite taco truck.
And, I’m trying to tone down my deeply felt hysteria by using words like “interesting”. My grandson’s reaction to Trumps win was “we’re doomed.” I’m not sure. I hold out hope. I still think most people voted for cheaper eggs, having forgotten how terrible Trump was in his first term.
Will, the problem is that Trump is unkind, and his supporters like that. That’s why they voted for him. They like that Nancy Mace is Tweeting non stop about an incoming colleague. They like that Jesse Watters laughed about how he can’t wait for the raids of non citizens. On an individual basis, Trumpers may be kind to people they know, but they are too afraid of the unknown to be kind in general. I’m remembering an interview with a woman back in Trump’s first term who was upset that some of her entitlements might be going away and said “he wasn’t supppsed to hurt US”. Oh well. Leopards eating faces, etc.
Pam, this is a truth I think many Democrats (and other anti-Trumpers) have struggled to understand since he first did that escalator photo op: his (and his supporters') crude behavior and speech is a feature, not a bug. We kept waiting for him to suffer consequences for being an asshole without realizing he WAS suffering those consequences; stronger support from a terrifyingly large pocket of America.
Even in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign we heard the "experts" talking about how Trump was on the ropes because he was calling Harris a bit***, and for various other verbal indiscretions. They never learned the lesson that he was using that language to rally his base and that nothing he said or did would drive away his supporters. Attacking him on that front was useless but we kept doing it because surely at some point the voters would see he's a dangerous, crazy asshole, right?
Will, be honest: the point of this was that you can watch and enjoy Woody Allen movies again, right?
As for the Mendelsohn anecdote, there's an alternate explanation, I think: I can't speak to why he was exhausted, but I can tell you that I'm tired of living in a society where so many people, and so many institutions are led by people who, treat women and people of color and LGBTQ people like second class citizens. It would be nice if we didn't feel like we have to parse every statement and every action for the discriminatory intent *just* under the surface. It would be nice if I didn't have to choose which fried chicken fast food or home improvement warehouse or crafting supply store based on their treatment of the LGBTQ community, but I don't want to supply those assholes with more funds with which to be assholes, so here we are, and yeah, it's exhausting.
“You are inherently limited by your own perspective, and the minute you close yourself off to anything outside that perspective, you stop growing as a human being—you lock yourself in place”.
Thank you for this line. I’m been trying to articulate this in my own head for too long and you did it beautifully.
I listened to the “Emilia Perez” episode this morning. I thought about your “Flash” episode as it began. Your struggle to consistently nail down Miller’s pronouns stuck with me—for your dogged persistence as much as the struggle. Naturally, I wondered how you might handle describing Manitas, the character who becomes Emilia.
Was your approach perfect? Considering Manitas doesn’t express preferred pronouns, it struck me as well-handled—and proof of your growth and thoughtful care, even for a fictional character. Like you, I liked the film, but like Tim, it didn’t exactly move me. Your efforts, tiny though they were, did.
The reason I appreciate you so much is that a piece like this, self-deprecatingly reflecting on the “Flash” episode, lends your words sincerity. We don’t agree on everything, but your genuine effort to reflect and grow and remap old customs sets you apart. Perfecting pronouns and nailing names for young people is a part of my job, and I do mess up—not a lot, but enough times that I wrote “a lot” first and scratched it out for this. The reason those mistakes don’t end positive, productive relationships is because those kids believe in my sincere desire to support them. I believe in yours.
Thank you for doing that and writing this. Yeah, it is a little bit harder to institute a tiny tape delay on everything we say, but that kindness really seems to mean a lot to the people we’re doing it for. Whatever a person’s politics, I swear every person is worth those milliseconds.
Thanks for this ... I think Grierson is actually better about this than I am (I should probably have been more careful about roping him in on this when I think this is something he's better about than me ... but I'm trying) ...
Look man, I’m just gonna be honest, and I hate I have to do it under the guise of anonymity…whenever anyone drops the “convicted felon” or “34 felonies” I pretty much tune out the rest of the argument.
There’s mountains of things to argue against Trump, but that conviction was straight up lawfare and overreach.
Not only do I not think most people could even articulate what the convictions were for, but I believe it was the line in the sand for a lot of undecided voters and may have backfired.
Many Thanks for your consistently smart and sensible words.
Great piece. There is so much uncertainty in the next two .years(the mid terms may give Dems more power). But, it is possible that Trump will be as incompetent this time as he was before. If that is the case, he will be embroiled in lawsuits all over the country. The whole idea of tossing immigrants out of the country by the millions will leave us wondering why we don’t have edibles coming into grocery stores. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal in 2011 tried terrorizing migrant workers out of the state. He claimed there were lots of Americans wanting those jobs. Not. Most lasted one or two hours and never came back. Crops were rotting on the vine. Farmers were losing millions of dollars. That was deemed a monumental failure never to be repeated again.
I know many of my neighbors here in northern California. They supported Trump. The problem is they love the crazy rhetoric but have no clue how this will play out. This is ag country. They know they need those migrant workers to pick their crops. Most farmers barely break even in a good year. These new policies could very well put them out of business.
These will be interesting times.
Interesting is one word for it!
I’m hearing rumbles from some Trump supporters that they want the criminals who are here illegally, deported…but, not the people running the taco stands . “He didn’t mean them, right?” Reality may hit our little college town sooner than I thought. Students need and rely on those taco stands. Not wise to come between a hungry college student and their favorite taco truck.
And, I’m trying to tone down my deeply felt hysteria by using words like “interesting”. My grandson’s reaction to Trumps win was “we’re doomed.” I’m not sure. I hold out hope. I still think most people voted for cheaper eggs, having forgotten how terrible Trump was in his first term.
Will, the problem is that Trump is unkind, and his supporters like that. That’s why they voted for him. They like that Nancy Mace is Tweeting non stop about an incoming colleague. They like that Jesse Watters laughed about how he can’t wait for the raids of non citizens. On an individual basis, Trumpers may be kind to people they know, but they are too afraid of the unknown to be kind in general. I’m remembering an interview with a woman back in Trump’s first term who was upset that some of her entitlements might be going away and said “he wasn’t supppsed to hurt US”. Oh well. Leopards eating faces, etc.
Pam, this is a truth I think many Democrats (and other anti-Trumpers) have struggled to understand since he first did that escalator photo op: his (and his supporters') crude behavior and speech is a feature, not a bug. We kept waiting for him to suffer consequences for being an asshole without realizing he WAS suffering those consequences; stronger support from a terrifyingly large pocket of America.
Even in the final weeks of the 2024 campaign we heard the "experts" talking about how Trump was on the ropes because he was calling Harris a bit***, and for various other verbal indiscretions. They never learned the lesson that he was using that language to rally his base and that nothing he said or did would drive away his supporters. Attacking him on that front was useless but we kept doing it because surely at some point the voters would see he's a dangerous, crazy asshole, right?
I just wonder when and why "woke" or "wokeness" became a bad word?
Isn’t woke to say I appreciate you for this week’s column? Good stuff dude.
Will, be honest: the point of this was that you can watch and enjoy Woody Allen movies again, right?
As for the Mendelsohn anecdote, there's an alternate explanation, I think: I can't speak to why he was exhausted, but I can tell you that I'm tired of living in a society where so many people, and so many institutions are led by people who, treat women and people of color and LGBTQ people like second class citizens. It would be nice if we didn't feel like we have to parse every statement and every action for the discriminatory intent *just* under the surface. It would be nice if I didn't have to choose which fried chicken fast food or home improvement warehouse or crafting supply store based on their treatment of the LGBTQ community, but I don't want to supply those assholes with more funds with which to be assholes, so here we are, and yeah, it's exhausting.
Shhhhhhh....
“You are inherently limited by your own perspective, and the minute you close yourself off to anything outside that perspective, you stop growing as a human being—you lock yourself in place”.
Thank you for this line. I’m been trying to articulate this in my own head for too long and you did it beautifully.
Thank you .... still not sure I quite got this one exactly right ...
I'm gonna keep on doing what I'm doing. I'm sure not gonna stop now.
Planning on reaching out for Dashman details in a couple years when my boys go into elementary school.
I listened to the “Emilia Perez” episode this morning. I thought about your “Flash” episode as it began. Your struggle to consistently nail down Miller’s pronouns stuck with me—for your dogged persistence as much as the struggle. Naturally, I wondered how you might handle describing Manitas, the character who becomes Emilia.
Was your approach perfect? Considering Manitas doesn’t express preferred pronouns, it struck me as well-handled—and proof of your growth and thoughtful care, even for a fictional character. Like you, I liked the film, but like Tim, it didn’t exactly move me. Your efforts, tiny though they were, did.
The reason I appreciate you so much is that a piece like this, self-deprecatingly reflecting on the “Flash” episode, lends your words sincerity. We don’t agree on everything, but your genuine effort to reflect and grow and remap old customs sets you apart. Perfecting pronouns and nailing names for young people is a part of my job, and I do mess up—not a lot, but enough times that I wrote “a lot” first and scratched it out for this. The reason those mistakes don’t end positive, productive relationships is because those kids believe in my sincere desire to support them. I believe in yours.
Thank you for doing that and writing this. Yeah, it is a little bit harder to institute a tiny tape delay on everything we say, but that kindness really seems to mean a lot to the people we’re doing it for. Whatever a person’s politics, I swear every person is worth those milliseconds.
Thanks for this ... I think Grierson is actually better about this than I am (I should probably have been more careful about roping him in on this when I think this is something he's better about than me ... but I'm trying) ...
I'm sure Dashman will be missed!
Look man, I’m just gonna be honest, and I hate I have to do it under the guise of anonymity…whenever anyone drops the “convicted felon” or “34 felonies” I pretty much tune out the rest of the argument.
There’s mountains of things to argue against Trump, but that conviction was straight up lawfare and overreach.
Not only do I not think most people could even articulate what the convictions were for, but I believe it was the line in the sand for a lot of undecided voters and may have backfired.
There’s mountains of things to argue against Trump, but it you happen pick the one I don’t agree with, I’m tuning you out. Seems reasonable.
Correct. It shows you’re not a critical thinker and probably arguing in bad faith.
Probably, but you would have no idea since you’ve tuned it out.
I wonder if you know what critical thinking is. Check the definition.