“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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Charles M. Blow: The Menace of Trumpism
Senator Jeff Flake gave a powerful, even poetic speech on Tuesday rebuking Donald Trump and the menace of Trumpism consuming the damaged Republican Party. But he undercut the power of the speech by coupling it with the announcement of his impending retirement from the Senate.
Anyone who has ever left a job knows that what you say during your exit interview — no matter how compelling and profound — is of limited utility.
More important, this was the kind of speech where people focus more on the excerpt-worthy flourishes than on the disturbing minutiae.
Yes, it was historic to have a sitting senator attack the sitting president of his own party from the Senate floor.
But Flake wasn’t only excoriating Trump, he was also excoriating his fellow elected officials, particularly Republicans, and the Republican Party, which finds itself caught in a perpetual rage spiral, in which no one but extremists are pure enough. The circle of inclusion is being drawn smaller and tighter around an electorally deadly singularity: White people who espouse Christianity, accept patriarchy and misogyny, and turn a blind eye to (or sometimes openly encourage) white supremacy.
E. J. Dionnne Jr.: Republicans won’t quit Trump
Yes, it’s a very big deal that Republicans Jeff Flake, Bob Corker, John McCain and George W. Bush are now ready to take on what Flake rightly calls President Trump’s “reckless, outrageous and undignified” behavior. Their voices are the sound of the protective political wall around the White House cracking.
But the other side to this story is as disturbing as the signs of open rebellion are heartening: Both Corker and Flake have chosen not to run for reelection because they know that their views are out of line with those of the GOP’s electorate.
Flake was plainly on track to lose reelection next year. The Republican congressional leadership, far from embracing Flake and Corker, moved immediately to sidestep any challenges to their “complicity” and get on with tax cuts, their sacred cause.
And House Republicans responded to the crisis in their party by announcing — a new investigation of Hillary Clinton’s emails! “Saturday Night Live” writers, take note.
Steven W. Thrasher: Should black Americans boycott American Airlines?
After a months-long investigation found “a pattern of disturbing incidents reported by African American passengers, specific to American Airlines,” the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has issued a “national advisory alerting travelers – especially African Americans – to exercise caution, in that booking and boarding flights on American Airlines could subject them disrespectful, discriminatory or unsafe conditions”.
This is a wise move for the venerable civil rights organization, as boycotting or threatening to boycott companies – especially airlines in regards to racism — is the only way to push reforms and seek an end to racial profiling, micro-aggressions, and outright violence.
When the NAACP celebrated its centenary during the Obama administration, it had a naive “mission accomplished” feel. However, it has been increasingly assertive over the past few years, pushed to greater relevance by the Black Lives Matter movement and the rise of Trumpism.
Jeff Barkan: Jeff Flake is no hero of the resistance
For those who don’t know any better, Jeff Flake will always be a hero of the resistance. The Arizona senator gave his farewell address on Tuesday, declaring that he will no longer be “complicit or silent” as Donald Trump, a fellow Republican, rages in the White House.
“Without fear of the consequences and without consideration of the rules of what is politically safe or palatable, we must stop pretending that the degradation of our politics and the conduct of some in our executive branch are normal,” Flake said from the floor of the Senate. “They are not normal. Reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has become excused and countenanced as telling it like it is.”
Flake, an arch-conservative who recently published a book highly critical of Trump, went out in a blaze of pundit-approved glory. Never mind that he was polling well behind a fiery, pro-Trump challenger who threatened to unseat him next year. He was leaving on his own terms, dropping the mic and telling everyone how he really felt.
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