Newsletter #14: Guidance for Apes, Sudan Strikes for Freedom, Trumpistan vs Democracy, and the Death of a Legend
A very short newsletter today, I’m afraid: just a plug and a few reflections/pontifications.
The lessons of evolution. In Areo, I reviewed the new book by Heather E. Heying and Bret Weinstein, and found it somewhat wanting. See here.
Sudan protests. I was disheartened to read that the military had overthrown the Sudanese transitional government. I’ve written in a previous newsletter of the high hopes I have for Sudan, which cast off its aged Islamist dictator (an old pal of bin Laden’s, incidentally) and set itself on the path to democracy and secularism. Perhaps I should be pessimistic, then. Perhaps I should feel cowed in my idealism. But I am not, because the people of Sudan are fighting back. Astonishingly huge protests have erupted against the military, with marchers demanding democracy. I think the coup is merely a bump on the long road to freedom, albeit a pretty big one. I’m convinced democracy will come to Sudan in the near future. No, people do not just want ‘order’ or ‘stability’: something in the human spirit, as can be seen in all times and all places, yearns for freedom.
Trump and Tucker. I notice that Tucker Carlson has made a documentary about January 6, the mind-numbingly idiotic trailer of which tells you all you need to know about the rot at the heart of right-wing politics in the U.S. Trump and Tucker: the Two Ts, the Two Tits.
It’s always been too easy to laugh at Trump, but he was and remains a dangerous man. If the GOP had had the balls to impeach him after Jan 6, he could have been prevented from running again, as he is likely to do. But no, now we face another concerted attempt by Trumpistan to steal an election. Please read this article by Andy Craig, which details the ways in which Trump is gearing up to kick American democracy in the teeth yet again: this is not frivolous, unserious, or impossible, but a real threat to the U.S.—and therefore to many of the rest of us. Craig also tells us how to counter the Trumpists. I only hope he is listened to.
Four Hours at the Capitol. Relatedly, I also recommend the recent BBC documentary on January 6, which features previously unseen footage of that day and interviews with people, protestors, police, and politicians alike, who were present. If anyone still says the riot was merely a ‘protest’, that it wasn’t a violent attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election, that Donald Trump wasn’t responsible for it, tell them to watch this documentary. Actually, don’t bother: they are either being dishonest or are so blinkered that it wouldn’t change their minds.
In the documentary, we witness the playing out of a horrific irony: self-professed patriots trying to destroy the democratic core of their country, so lost are they in the vortex of conspiracies and idiocies that forms the discourse, such as it is, of the postmodern right. We can see self-professed defenders of the Constitution storming Congress in a bid to restore to the presidency someone they believe to be literally appointed by God. Clearly, they missed the class on the First (and best) Amendment, electing instead to take their civic lessons from a slimy pastor, who, we can see, exhorts the faithful mob to prayer from the Capitol.
There was no real chance of anything truly terrible happening, you say? Well, you can see people who have at some point likely chanted ‘blue lives matter’ beating up cops and tasing them in the skull as staffers cower under desks fearing they’ll be raped and murdered. You can see how close the mob came to Representatives and Senators. What on Earth do you think would have happened if, as was very possible, the mob had gotten their hands on, say, Chuck Schumer or Mike Pence? You can see one rioter pointlessly getting herself killed. You can watch a tearful widow tell the story of her police officer husband’s suicide because of that day and hear who she blames.
Who was that, you ask? Apart from the goons and loons themselves, Donald Trump and his friends, who had stoked conspiracies about stolen elections since 2016 and spent much of 2020 preparing the ground to overturn an electoral defeat. For hours, Trump’s supporters were in the Capitol and he did nothing, even though it was his words in the end that convinced them to leave. Why didn’t he do anything sooner? (Now we know that he is desperate to keep records of his actions on that day out of the public eye. We all know the reason—they would incriminate him.)
But there were heroes that day, too, none more heroic than Officer Goodman, who calmly faced down a mob all by himself and cleverly led them away from the Senate chamber in which legislators were still present.
Do I need to go on? Am I suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome? Isn’t this old news? Well, Jan 6 isn’t over yet: as I said, Trump’s anti-democratic efforts still pose a serious threat, not to mention that the GOP is in thrall to the man and now shares his disdain for democracy. Andy Craig wonders whether we will see rival inaugurations in 2025; such is the path to civil war. In the name of sanity, Trump’s vulgar and authoritarian campaign must be countered—preferably by people who can actually do something and not just scream into the void like me.
Death of a legend. Finally, I want to mention Walter Smith, former manager and chairman of the Glasgow Rangers, who died recently. I know nothing of football and care even less for it, but my Dad was a diehard Rangers man which means I’m one by inheritance. Dad loved Walter Smith and so, in honour of him, I pay tribute to the legendary manager here.
And that’s all for this week. Sayonara!
DJS