#526 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Monday December 5)
Good morning,
RACISM OUT IN THE OPEN
There is a saying from Poor Richard’s Almanack that “if you lay down with dogs, you’ll wake up with fleas.” I wanted to know if this was the original source. Apparently it was taken from a 1612 John Webster play The White Devil, which has the line "For they that sleep with dogs, shall rise with fleas."
In any case, Donald Trump has lain down with more than his share of dogs. There are Steve Bannon, Jeffrey Epstein, Alex Jones, the “good people on both sides,” and any number of other folks. But he appeared last week to have outdone even himself when he hosted Ye (nee, Kanye West) and Nick Fuentes, noted racist, white supremacist, and antisemite.
Among Mr. Fuentes’s views (accumulated and published by the ADL) are:
Called Matt Walsh, Daily Wire columnist, a “Shabbos goy race traitor” because he works for Jews
On a livestream episode, Fuentes “jokingly” denied the holocaust and compared Jews burnt in concentration camps to cookies in an oven.
Asserted that “whites are under attack” and that minorities are changing the “texture of life” in America.
In a 2021 debate, Fuentes made numerous antisemitic remarks, including, "I don’t see Jews as Europeans and I don’t see them as part of Western civilization, particularly because they are not Christians.”
In April, Fuentes appeared to urge mainstream Republicans to champion an antisemitic focus on “Jewish control,” tweeting, “The next big frontier for populist and conservative inc [sic; this is the America First term for establishment GOPers] to coopt [sic] is discussing Jewish Power. Somehow I don’t think they’ll broach that one!”
Speaks about the white supremacist ideas of “race realism,” a belief that one’s race governs traits such as behavior and intelligence – with non-whites being inferior to whites. For example, Fuentes tweeted, “Any serious person thinking about globalization and demographic changes should actually care a lot about racial differences in intelligence. But this subject doesn’t “interest” you because it’s not convenient for your trojan horse brand of kosher nationalism.”
After the Derek Chauvin verdict, said it was proof minorities are “being put at the top of a racial caste system.”
During the 2021 AFPAC, Fuentes remarked further on the rising civil rights movement championed by Black Lives Matter, stating “White people founded this country. This country wouldn’t exist without white people…people are done being bullied.”
Asserted that segregation and policies in the pre-civil rights-era American South “was better for them, it’s better for us, it’s better in general.”
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The guy is the personification of white supremacist racism.
THE RESPONSES
Mr. Trump’s latest flirtation with white supremacists may finally signal the break between him and more “mainstream” Republicans. While the Republican leadership has been shameless in its unwillingness to distance itself from the former inciter-in-chief, often embracing him shortly after his prior adventures, this time it feels a bit different. This time, they may be reading the tea leaves that Americans have had enough, as many Trump-endorsed candidates, parroting his unproven lies of election fraud, went down to defeat. Many have condemned the dinner and the fact a former president entertains such people. But many have not.
While Mr. McConnell stopped short of saying Trump “shouldn’t” be president again, he said this: “There is no room in the Republican Party for antisemitism or white supremacy,” and anyone meeting with people advocating that point of view, in my judgment, are highly unlikely to ever be elected president of the United States.” So, good for Mr. McConnell. He notes that Mr. Trump is unlikely to win, but he still won’t say that he shouldn’t win…
Meanwhile, the notoriously spineless Mr. McCarthy claims that Trump condemned Mr. Fuentes’s comments four times. He of course was lying—as has been noted by multiple news sources, Mr. Trump has denied nothing.
Mr. Trump, notoriously a narcissist who thrives on people fawning over him, has been unwilling to distance himself from either Ye or Fuentes. Remember, it is Mr. Trump who feels there were “some very fine people on both sides” of the violent white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia. Whether or not he is a racist himself, he can’t bear to separate from them for fear of losing an important part of his base.
TRUMP AS CANDIDATE—GOOD OR BAD?
There are those in the Democratic Party who would like nothing better than to face a weakened Mr. Trump in 2024. Certainly after the results of last month’s election, it seems many supporters have finally have grown tired of him. If he were the Republican nominee, based upon the facts today, he would seem eminently beatable. Some of the more cynical people in the Democratic leadership would welcome him as the Republican nominee. But events change and people’s reactions to those events are unpredictable. I would far prefer that Mr. Trump be soundly defeated and a more “reasonable” Republican alternative was the choice before the American people.
Let’s remember that the Republican nominating process, with its “winner take all” philosophy, favors the winner of pluralities in the early primaries. This was Mr. Trump’s key to success in a crowded field in 2020. When there are six candidates and you win 30% of the vote, you’ll accumulate delegates early and such an early lead becomes nearly insurmountable…
AND YET THERE ARE SUPPORTERS
Even after embracing Kanye and dining with Fuentes, some of Trump’s conservative Jewish supporters discount all the antisemitism and maintain Trump really is a friend of the Jews because of the Abraham accords, moving the American embassy and recognizing the annexation of the Golan Heights. It’s curious how low the price is to keep these people happy and silent to the vile rhetoric and continued insults to our society emanating from Mr. Trump.
Meanwhile, Kanye has tweeted a swastika and he has declared that “I like Hitler.” Even Elon Musk seems to have had his fill of this sort of hate speech…
IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE
Who doesn’t remember the singular pleasure of licking the batter off of your mother’s electric mixer, just before dropping those delicious dollops onto a cookie sheet?!
I’ve written in the past about pancakes and various versions of chocolate chip cookies. Today, I want to share the best recipe I’ve found on-line (and I’ve tried several). This is from Joy Food Sunshine and it is extraordinary, with the appropriate crispness on the outside and moist, melted chocolate on the inside.
I made these last night and they were delicious before bed. This morning, I confirmed that chocolate chip cookies indeed are also a breakfast food.
Here's the recipe:
INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter (I use unsalted)
1 cup white (granulated) sugar (I use ¾ cup, as these are plenty sweet enough)
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt (I use ½ tsp)
2 cups chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (I prefer chopping bars of Guittard 70% semi-sweet chocolate)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and set aside
2. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder. Set aside.
3. Cream together butter and sugars until combined.
4. Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients until combined.
6. Add 12 oz package of chocolate chips and mix well (14 oz is doable for more chocolate; 16 oz is excessive).
7. Roll 2-3 TBS (depending on how large you like your cookies) of dough at a time into balls and place them evenly spaced on your prepared cookie sheets. (alternately, use a small cookie scoop to make your cookies).
8. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 8-10 minutes. Take them out when they are just BARELY starting to turn brown.
9. Let them sit on the baking pan for 2 minutes before removing to cooling rack.
Enjoy!
Glenn
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