Re: <nettime> What is the meaning of Trump's victory?

[Michael Goldhaber <michael@goldhaber.org>]

Brian and others,

Now is a time for painful gnashing of teeth, moaning , and beating of chests in despair. All that I can agree with... 

It may feel fine to come up with  the instant analysis you’ve been nurturing, most probably, for quite a while, but it starts off factually wrong. The majority did not vote for Trump. In fact, Hillary won a plurality of the popular vote, with probably a larger margin than Gore in 2000, once the California tally becomes final in a few days (absentee ballots mailed on election day have three days to arrive and still be counted). 

It’s also absurd hyperbole to say that Bill Clinton sold out “all that remained of  social democracy”;  he subtracted from it in some degree but added to it in other areas, such as the Children’s Health Insurance  Program,  midnight basketball and similar measures. The majority you keep referring to, or the working class, as you use it, is neither; it is parts of the white working class. 

Let’s remember that the rise of Hitler followed on a period of social democratic rule in Germany. Sure, some pent-up hostilities may have their roots in capitalistic unfairness, but antagonism to equal rights for minorities would exist anyway. 

In my view, your simplified ranting critique neither explains Trump adequately nor gets us very far towards a sense of a reasonable program now. 




Best,
Michael

> On Nov 9, 2016, at 12:44 AM, Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldrift@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The shock that now assails the ruling classes is in direct proportion
> to their blindness. If you were shocked, then you shared in that
> blindness.
> 


<....>


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