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Why Richard Cohen Is The Perfect Metaphor For The GOP: It’s Not Me, It’s You

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By far, the top story today, discussed on every cable news show, reported on several times by every major news organization is Richard Cohen’s racist opinion column in the Washington Post.

LOOK: Washington Post Writer: Interracial Couples Make ‘People With Conventional Views’ Vomit

For the sake of the few who might not have read it yet, allow us to present the relevant paragraph at issue. The bolding is ours:

Today’s GOP is not racist, as Harry Belafonte alleged about the tea party, but it is deeply troubled — about the expansion of government, about immigration, about secularism, about the mainstreaming of what used to be the avant-garde. People with conventional views must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children. (Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?) This family represents the cultural changes that have enveloped parts — but not all — of America. To cultural conservatives, this doesn’t look like their country at all.

The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates explains exactly why this is “horse-shit.”

“The problem here isn’t that we think Richard Cohen gags at the site of an interracial couple and their children. The problem is that Richard Cohen thinks being repulsed isn’t actually racist, but  ‘conventional’ or ‘culturally conservative.’ Obstructing the right of black humans and white humans to form families is a central feature of American racism. If retching at the thought of that right being exercised isn’t racism, then there is no racism.”

Richard Cohen is the perfect metaphor for today’s GOP. He just cannot grasp that America no longer thinks like he does. And even if you buy his argument that he was merely giving voice to those in the Tea Party who do think like that, his previous works really eviscerate that claim.

Which makes it all the more troubling that Cohen’s bosses at the Washington Post not only defended his column once it was clear it was being attacked in seemingly every major news outlet across the nation, but extolled it before the backlash began, as “brilliant.”

Here’s a tweet from the Publisher of the Washington Post, late last night:

 

The Post’s editorial page editor, Fred Hiatt, offered to take the heat.

“Anyone reading Richard’s entire column will see he is just saying that some Americans still have a hard time dealing with interracial marriage. I erred in not editing that one sentence more carefully to make sure it could not be misinterpreted.”

Well, that’s false. Let’s look at that again.

“Anyone reading Richard’s entire column will see he is just saying that some Americans still have a hard time dealing with interracial marriage.”

No, what he said was, “People with conventional views” want to vomit when thinking about interracial couples.

And then, there’s the comment that Chirlane McCray “used to be a lesbian.”

Did Hiatt err in not editing that one sentence more carefully, also, to make sure it could not be misinterpreted?

No, I’m pretty sure the Washington Post erred by not firing Cohen by now, and I’m pretty sure that if they opened their eyes and realized that it’s not 1950, they would see just how wrong Cohen is.

Because the fact is that biracial, or interracial couples, today are the norm. President Barack Obama, by the way, is the offspring of a biracial couple.

The dated idea that any of us is “Black” or “white” at this point is a joke — with the punchline being the news yesterday that a white supremacist found out — on TV — that his DNA proves he is fourteen percent African.

“People with conventional views,” Richard Cohen claims, “must repress a gag reflex when considering the mayor-elect of New York — a white man married to a black woman and with two biracial children.”

No, actually, people with unconventional views may — but people with conventional views surpassed racists and bigots many years ago.

Apparently, Richard Cohen doesn’t understand this — and thinks that — at least what seems like — the vast majority of Americans who today are calling him a racist, are mean.

“The word racist is truly hurtful,” Cohen told the Huffington Post. “It’s not who I am. It’s not who I ever was. It’s just not fair. It’s just not right.”

“I didn’t write one line, I wrote a column,” he added. “The column is about Tea Party extremism and I was not expressing my views, I was expressing the views of what I think some people in the Tea Party held.”

“I don’t think everybody in the Tea Party is like that, because I know there are blacks in the Tea Party,” he said. “So they’re not all racist, unless I’m going to start doing mind reading about why those black people are there.”

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Regardless, let’s look again at that.

“I was not expressing my views, I was expressing the views of what I think some people in the Tea Party held.”

The only world in which that statement might make sense is if Cohen admits he himself has “unconventional views.”

So while all this “it’s not me, it’s you” excuse-making is swirling in your head, let me share something else with you.

My father was a Brooklyn-born Jew whose parents came from Poland and Lithuania — although we were always told Russia. I’m certain our last name was a lot longer before they landed here. I had relatives we’d see, rarely, on the Jewish holidays, who had numbers burned into their forearms. When I was young I asked why. And I was told we had other relatives who died in the Holocaust. My mother, who denounced the Roman Catholic church after moving to America to attend Columbia University — where my parents met — is from Central America. She has both Spanish and Mayan blood.

Frankly, I have no idea what I’m supposed to call myself.

My sister and I grew up in a household where we called our friends’ parents “Mr.” or “Mrs.” but our parents’ friends by their first names. It wasn’t until high school or college that I even understood that someone with the name Goldberg was probably Jewish. We just never were taught things like that.

I remember growing up, being told by my mother that a friend of hers, who was white, was forced to rent an apartment in her name because her husband was Black and no landlord in Connecticut would rent an apartment to an interracial couple. I didn’t understand how that was possible.

And I remember growing up just assuming that I could never marry because I’m gay.

Today, I’m happily married. My husband is of Irish and German ancestry.

Frankly, with all that “ancestry” sloshing around in our veins, I have no idea what we’re supposed to call ourselves. Bi-racial? Inter-racial? Metro-racial? Legally married will do just fine, thank you very much.

Today, Hawaii became the sixteenth state to extend marriage to same-sex couples. Last week, it was Illinois. Three other states also did this year. Top LGBT organizations promise marriage equality in all 50 states within five years. I suspect it will happen in less time.

Our neighbors down the hall are an interracial couple. I hesitate to use the term bi-racial because I have no idea what their DNA looks like. And I don’t care. They’re lovely people, probably two of the best parents I know.

What I’m certain of is that I don’t know a soul with conventional views who could look at them and their four-year old daughter — who is cute as a button — and be forced to “repress a gag reflex.”

I mention all this merely because, while I acknowledge that being a gay man of mixed ancestry married to a gay man of somewhat less-mixed ancestry, living in Manhattan, may make me, indeed, somewhat “unconventional,” I’m fairly certain there are more of “us” — people of mixed ancestry in interracial marriages and relationships — than “them” — people in monoracial (is that a word?) marriages or relationships.

This is an America that elected — twice — a Black president, an America in which for several years now, the majority has supported same-sex marriage. (“Should I mention that Bill de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, used to be a lesbian?”)

And this, dear friends, is why Richard Cohen is the perfect metaphor for today’s GOP. Today’s dying GOP.

Because they think being racist is when you call someone the “N” word. If you don’t, you’re not. Nuance eludes them.

They think everyone else thinks like they do, because so many on the right only watch Fox News, and so many on the right only read Tea Party columnists, and Breitbart, and Drudge, and listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.

And they haven’t a clue that it’s 2013 and they’re a dying breed.

Editorial note: A previous version of this article stated the Post had not reported on Cohen’s column, based on a search of the Post — which when checked after publication later turned up two pieces.

Image: Washington Post

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‘No Amnesty’ and No Plan: Trump Ag Sec Grilled on Farm Labor as Deportations Continue

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One day after appearing in front of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to tell reporters there will be “no amnesty” for undocumented farm workers while insisting adults on Medicaid could replace them, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins faced sharp criticism for having no “concrete” plan to meet what she declared is the Trump administration’s goal of an entirely “legal” U.S. farm worker workforce.

“It sounds like you don’t yet have a concrete proposal to deal with farmers who rely on undocumented workers, am I right?” a Fox News Business host asked (video below).

“Well, no, we are working on it. We’re working on a concrete proposal,” Secretary Rollins insisted.

READ MORE: ‘Secretary Chaos’: Hegseth Running ‘Absolute Clown Show’ Critics Say, Amid Calls to Resign

“You’re working on it but that’s not a concrete proposal,” the host sharply charged.

“Well, no, the president has been very, very clear. We need to make sure that the food supply is safe,” Rollins said, before insisting that “ultimately, we have to move toward a 100% legal workforce, and that’s what this president stands for, and that’s what we’re doing.”

“The mass deportations will continue, but the president has been very clear that we have to make sure we’re not compromising our food supply at the same time,” Rollins said before declaring that “Congress has to fix it,” and U.S. Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer “is on it.”

“The border has to be secure and there will be no amnesty,” Rollins added, before the host again pointed out the administration has no plan yet.

READ MORE: Trump Claims ‘Tremendous Power’ to Run ‘Places’ Like DC and NYC

“It’s not easy, but I don’t think it’s fair to say there is a concrete proposal when you’re still working out details to try to deal with the needs of farmers who need a lot of these undocumented workers and at the same time not providing an amnesty.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Stupid Liberals With Stupid Policies’: Trump Transportation Secretary Slams NYC

 

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‘Secretary Chaos’: Hegseth Running ‘Absolute Clown Show’ Critics Say, Amid Calls to Resign

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Last week, reportedly without consulting the White House, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth unilaterally approved the decision to halt critical weapons shipments to Ukraine, which has been the target of increased attacks in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s illegal war against the sovereign nation.

President Trump on Tuesday claimed he had no knowledge of who ordered the halt in weapons shipments. That pause came just after his July 3 call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Hours later, Russia launched a massive bombing campaign against Ukraine.

“Russia launched its largest-ever drone and missile barrage on Ukraine, two days after the US stopped the delivery of some key weapons to Kyiv — including crucial interceptors used to shoot down Moscow’s missiles,” The Financial Times reported on July 4. “The barrage began soon after an hour-long phone call between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.”

READ MORE: Trump Claims ‘Tremendous Power’ to Run ‘Places’ Like DC and NYC

The halt of weapons to Ukraine was so catastrophic and damaging that it set off “a scramble inside the administration to understand why the halt was implemented and explain it to Congress and the Ukrainian government,” CNN reported. “The US special envoy to Ukraine, Ret. Gen. Keith Kellogg, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser, were also not told about the pause beforehand and learned about it from press reports, according to a senior administration official and two of the sources.”

“The episode underscores the often-haphazard policy-making process inside the Trump administration, particularly under Hegseth at the Defense Department,” CNN added.

Last week’s halt was the third time Secretary Hegseth unilaterally decided to stop weapons shipments to Ukraine, according to NBC News.

Pentagon officials last week said the halt was due to concerns over U.S. weapons stockpile levels, but NBC News reported that “an analysis by senior military officers found that the aid package would not jeopardize the American military’s own ammunition supplies, according to three U.S. officials.”

Hegseth’s decision “blindsided the State Department, members of Congress, officials in Kyiv and European allies.”

Now, critics are calling for Hegseth’s resignation.

Declaring the Defense Secretary “completely unqualified, and on an ego trip,” U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) responded to a post about Hegseth not informing the White House about his weapons halt.

“When is Pete Hegseth going to resign?” asked Congressman Lieu, a retired U.S. Air Force officer.

“This would be a good time for Congress to investigate Hegseth’s Pentagon and push for his resignation,” wrote Jeet Heer on Monday at The Nation.

READ MORE: ‘Stupid Liberals With Stupid Policies’: Trump Transportation Secretary Slams NYC

Many of my GOP friends and colleagues are decorated military veterans who have risked their lives for our country,” remarked U.S. Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY). “If they believe — as they must — that @SecDef poses a grave danger to our national security and that of our allies, I hope they will urge POTUS to finally fire him.”

Iraq War veteran Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), and host of the Independent Americans podcast, blasted Hegseth.

“No surprise here,” he wrote, also responding to a post about the weapons halt. “The sloppiness and incompetence is consistent. And his flawed leadership continues to disrupt and frustrate folks all across the Pentagon. And now, it’s also frustrating the White House and Trump himself.”

“He is Secretary Chaos,” Rieckhoff continued. “And every day he falls deeper beyond his depth. We are less safe, our allies are weakened, and our enemies are celebrating.”

Decorated former CIA operations officer Marc Polymeropoulos of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, wrote: “Leadership dysfunction at DoD…. This stuff just can’t happen… serious real world ramifications… (ie Ukrainians die). Is there any accountability?”

“Hegseth is running an absolute clown show,” warned Colby Badhwar of The Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).

RELATED: ‘Cartoon Villains’: Ag Secretary Under Fire for Medicaid-to-Farm-Work Plan

 

Image via Reuters

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Trump Claims ‘Tremendous Power’ to Run ‘Places’ Like DC and NYC

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President Donald Trump claimed the White House has legal authority to run parts of the country including Washington, D.C. and New York City, especially should he oppose its elected leaders. His remarks were another attack on the nation’s largest city, which his Transportation Secretary also targeted earlier on Tuesday.

Trump told reporters, “we have tremendous power at the White House to run places where we have to.”

“We could run D.C.” he alleged. “I mean, we’re looking at D.C. We don’t want crime in D.C. We want the city to run well.” Hey also claimed that the White House is currently “testing” running D.C.

Washington, D.C. and its 700,000 residents have an elected city council and mayor. While Congress maintains some control over the nation’s capital, a complete federal government takeover of a city would be unprecedented. Presidents have, at times, had to send in the National Guard, but never to permanently occupy and run a local government.

READ MORE: ‘Stupid Liberals With Stupid Policies’: Trump Transportation Secretary Slams NYC

Trump added that his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, “is working very closely with the mayor and they’re doing alright. I mean, in the sense that we would run it so good, it would be run so proper, we’d get the best person to run it.”

“The crime would be down to a minimal, would be much less, you know, we’re thinking about doing it, to be honest with you. We want we want a capital that’s run flawlessly and it wouldn’t be hard for us to do it.”

If attempted, a federal takeover could raise serious concerns about voter disenfranchisement and further inflame opposition from advocates of D.C. statehood.

Trump also attacked Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s Democratic nominee for mayor, as “a man who’s not very capable, in my opinion, other than he’s got a good line of b—s—.”

READ MORE: ‘Absolutely Mind Blowing’: Trump’s Ukraine Weapons Remark Draws Concern, Backlash

“I can tell you this,” Trump continued, I used to say, ‘We will not ever be a socialist country,’ right? Well, I’ll say it again. We’re not gonna have if a communist get elected to run New York, it can never be the same, but we have tremendous power at the White House to run places where we have to.”

Trump has previously threatened Mamdani “with arrest, denaturalization and removal from the country while repeatedly branding him a communist,” according to The Independent.

Watch the video below or at this link.


RELATED: ‘Cartoon Villains’: Ag Secretary Under Fire for Medicaid-to-Farm-Work Plan

 

Image via Reuters

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