Tag: Frank Bruni

Hours after being sworn into the House, Rashida Tlaib was heard saying, "We're gonna impeach" President Trump. What can we do to build on these victories and produce more in this year's elections — and in 2020? We must assess this broad strategy ourselves, for most of today's mainline political analysts focus solely on "candidate politics." Obviously, we need information about the principals who are asking for our votes, but too much "focus on the candidate" pushes America's election story into the swirling shallows of gossip and puffery while ignoring the bigger, more significant story in 2018: movement politics. Thus, the media reduce our nation's vital democratic exercise to comic-book buzzwords like "blue wave" and "red wall," trivializing the extraordinary efforts of the multitudes who are striving to create a progressive future. New York Times commentator Frank Bruni, for example, even consulted a Harvard professor of evolutionary psychology to develop his novel grasp of last year's voter behavior ("Politics aren't pretty. But politicians are," Nov. 20). Normally a smart guy, he veered off into the psycho-pop ditch, writing after the election that the meteoric rise of such progressive candidates as Andrew Gillum in Florida, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York and Beto O'Rourke in Texas was attributable to a political quality they share: They're "hot," the scribe explained. Apparently, the lesson we should take from these candidates is to prioritize hunkiness and gorgeousness in recruiting future progressive candidates. Grassroots participants and some of us less prominent pundits would argue that in 2018, progressive forces prioritized a very different kind of political beauty: genuine democratic populism.

However, I take issue with Mr. Bruni’s assertion that “anger isn’t a strategy.” Does Mr. Bruni feel the same about the anger expressed by the Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school students, the anger expressed by the women writing about their own #MeToo experiences or the anger currently being expressed through social media regarding Homeland Security’s separation of children from their parents? Being passive and calm does not always raise the same awareness and can sometimes show weakness and lack of commitment. Anger can bring needed change; profanity is rarely helpful. To the Editor: Frank Bruni may be right to blame incendiary celebrity rants for helping President Trump. But the reason that Democrats are currently out of power, despite being right on a majority of issues, is not too much fire but lack of it. For better or worse, what Donald Trump brought to voters was passion. If calculation and moderation couldn’t defeat him in 2016, why would we expect it to work now? They accomplish nothing except to embarrass themselves and push the self-righteous Trump supporters further into his corner. Let’s be rational in our opposition and bring the populace that is getting fed up to see the light. To the Editor: Frank Bruni argues that anger is not the appropriate strategy to use against President Trump.

Subscribe to the Real Time YouTube: http://itsh.bo/10r5A1B Attorney Michael Avenatti joins Bill to discuss his lawsuit on behalf of Stormy Daniels regarding an alleged 2006 & 2007 affair with Donald Trump. Connect with Real Time Online: Find Real Time on…

Subscribe to the Real Time YouTube: http://itsh.bo/10r5A1B Attorney Michael Avenatti joins Bill to discuss his lawsuit on behalf of Stormy Daniels regarding an alleged 2006 & 2007 affair with Donald Trump. Connect with Real Time Online: Find Real Time on…

Subscribe to the Real Time YouTube: http://itsh.bo/10r5A1B Bill recaps the top stories of the week, including Donald Trump's new lawyer, Donald Trump's old lawyer, and Starbucks in hot water. Connect with Real Time Online: Find Real Time on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Maher…

Bill and his roundtable guests - Michael Avenatti, Jordan Peterson, Frank Bruni, Gov. Jay Inslee and Alex Wagner - will answer viewer questions after Friday's show. ***If stream fails to load, please refresh your browser.***