“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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Keith Olbermann: The Surprisingly Easy Way to Get Rid of Donald Trump
Heather Digby Parton: Is Donald Trump’s transition being outsourced to the Heritage Foundation? That’s not good news
As we go into the long Thanksgiving weekend, shell-shocked by events surrounding the presidential transition that are becoming more surreal by the day, it’s almost comforting to read a piece of news that sounds even slightly like familiar political activity. I’m speaking about something that would have made for screaming headlines and much gnashing of teeth on the left just a few months ago but now seems almost quaintly normal: the news that Donald Trump’s transition team has outsourced much of the lower level government staffing to the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, which is in the hands of right wing extremist Jim DeMint. [..]
Most members of Trump’s transition team have some affiliation with Heritage, it turns out. All the conservative talent in town knows this and has figured out how to funnel a CV to the right places. It’s quite a stampede, according to the article, and what one might expect. These are people who have been in the wilderness for eight long years and this is probably an unexpected opportunity.
It’s surprising in some respects, however, because throughout the Republican campaign the Heritage Foundation was sharply critical of Trump as an unreliable conservative who could not be trusted. DeMint, the former senator and keeper of the right-wing flame, met with Trump and decided to simply keep his distance rather than oppose him directly. But the Heritage Foundation did help with one important matter that, according to the Politico article, is considered to have been a defining issue for the campaign. It’s one that may have persuaded a number of those college-educated whites and evangelicals to stick with Trump rather than vote for Hillary or stay home: the Supreme Court.
Kate Aronof: The Standing Rock protests are a taste of things to come
Horrific scenes have been coming out of North Dakota these last several days, where the battle is ongoing to stop the Dakota Access pipeline. On Sunday night, police turned tear gas and rubber bullets on hundreds of unarmed “water protectors”, as those taking on the pipeline prefer to be called. They deployed water cannons as well, in temperatures well below freezing. More than 160 people were injured, and many sent to the hospital. As a result of the standoff, a young woman could lose her arm.
For those with a passing knowledge of the kind of tactics faced by America’s civil rights movement, the above might sound like blast from our more brutal past. As Donald Trump prepares to enter the White House, it should also sound like our possible future.
Every signal we have from the president-elect points to an administration defined by three core tenets: white supremacy, unprecedented corporate influence and an uptick in state violence. Aside from climate catastrophe, the result could be a disturbing and dystopian new normal, where episodes like the one unfolding in Standing Rock become all too common.
Dean Baker: Turning the White House into the New Headquarters for Trump University
There are sharp differences between the political parties in many areas, but one principle on which there has been a longstanding agreement is that the presidency should not be used as a marketing platform for the president’s personal business interests. Donald Trump seems determined to break with this principle. [..]
Presidents of both parties dating back to Lyndon Johnson followed the practice of putting their assets into a blind trust. Richard Nixon did it, Gerald Ford did it, as did Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Both President Bushes put their assets into a blind trust. And President Reagan put his assets into a blind trust.
None of these presidents had any problem with the idea that they should not be in a position to know whether their actions were directly helping or hurting them financially. Apparently, Donald Trump thinks he is different.
Amanda Marcotte: The swamp won’t be drained: Donald Trump’s Supreme Court pick will almost certainly oppose campaign finance regulation
One of the most alarming aspects of the Roberts Court, at least when Justice Antonin Scalia was alive, was the way in which a 5-man conservative majority seemed ready, eager even, to dismantle decades of campaign finance law that restricted the amount of money that wealthy people and corporations could use to influence elections.
The most prominent was the 2010 decision Citizens United v FEC, which ended restrictions on corporations and other organizations from spending money on advertising to influence a campaign, so long as they didn’t go directly through the campaign. [..]
But in aggregate, unchecked spending is bound to benefit Republicans more than Democrats, which is no doubt one reason Republicans generally support dismantling campaign finance regulation while Democrats want to strengthen it. The Republicans are, after all, the part of wealthy business interests, whereas the Democrats want to raise taxes on the rich and pass regulations that favor working people and the environment over industry profits. Democrats may target seats weakly held by Republicans for outsized spending, but overall, the Republicans have the finance advantage across the country.
This issue cuts deeper than these partisan concerns, however.
“Freedom of speech belongs to us, not just those of us who have a fat wallet,” Donnelly said.
“What we need to do is get back to a system where regular people feel they can run for office,” he added. Right now, people who don’t have the ear of wealthy donors are effectively shut out of running, even for small offices like state legislator. And while he promised to “drain the swamp” of moneyed corruption in D.C., there’s more reason to trust Trump’s campaign vow to appoint judges that will continue chipping away at laws passed to level the playing field between the rich and the not-rich in our political system.
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