Turkeys of the Year and Golden Drumsticks For 2020

Michael Siegel

Michael Siegel is an astronomer living in Pennsylvania. He blogs at his own site, and has written a novel.

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112 Responses

  1. Philip H says:

    Great post. I confess to not having read the prior posts, but this is refreshing.

    IMHO its probably shorter to list all the folks NOT receiving the Turkey awards.Report

  2. Chip Daniels says:

    Once again- The worst rioting such as the burning of the Minneapolis police station and the murder of several officers was perpetrated by right wing white supremacists, who somehow, despite being identified as the primary terrorist threat to America, managed to escape the list.Report

    • Fair enough. But I’d put them more in evil category, TBH.Report

      • Chip Daniels in reply to Michael Siegel says:

        I think it is pretty much the norm in most political commentary that “Woke Democrats” and Antifa loom very large in the discourse while the actual terrorist actions of white supremacists fade into the background.

        My theory isn’t that this is done consciously, but more that because armed right wing people (e.g. the armed mob who stormed the Michigan legislature) appear to our eyes as “guys like us” whereas “Woke Democrats” (e.g. Ilhan Omar) appear different somehow.

        I don’t really have a corresponding theory of why Antifa somehow has assumed such a commanding position in anyone’s imagination. They are mostly young white men, of the same demographic as we see in Second Amendment gatherings except they never carry guns. Their body count is zero, number of riots started zero, and their only fights have been against literal Nazis.

        So, I dunno.Report

        • Chip Daniels in reply to Chip Daniels says:

          Comment in moderation.
          I did Not See the word which may have flagged it.Report

        • North in reply to Chip Daniels says:

          Antifa and similar leftist forces have a massive media apparatus dedicated to signal boosting them and also have the alliance of the more general media which desperately needs them to be a major force on the left to balance out where the right has gone.

          And it needs mentioning that the illiberal left is deeply loathe to find any difference with Antifa types to call out and that makes the liberal left pretty shy about publicly duking it out with them. It’s a dicey proposition- it’s hard to win an election by making war on your own wingnuts.Report

  3. I have to say I enjoyed most of this, however I’d take out “woke democrats” because that isn’t a real thing and replace it with Rudy who has had an incredible second half of 2020 that saw him get fooled by Borat, holding a press conference in the back of a landscaping company next to a crematorium and a sex store, and his continued underwhelming and comical attempt at being a lawyer. All more tangible than the idea that there are such a thing as “woke democrats,” which is just a derisive euphemism for people that dont like to see people (not just black people) get killed by cops for no reason and maybe suggest that white folks don’t say the “n word” in public.Report

    • Rudy is included in the Trump campaign entry, although I didn’t mention him specifically. Should have mentioned the landscaping thing because that was … so perfect.Report

    • Oscar Gordon in reply to Christopher Bradley says:

      “All more tangible than the idea that there are such a thing as “woke democrats,” which is just a derisive euphemism for people that dont like to see people (not just black people) get killed by cops for no reason and maybe suggest that white folks don’t say the “n word” in public.”

      How about we go with “Woke Progressives who poll heavily as Democrats”? But let’s not pretend that such attitudes didn’t hurt the down ticket races.Report

  4. LeeEsq says:

    The alleged Portland riots was literal in an area under a square mile in a city over hundred square miles. It didn’t even cover most of downtown. Americans have a low tolerance for even slight disorder.Report

  5. Oscar Gordon says:

    We should give a shout out as well to the Astra-Oxford team for their vaccine, less because it’s coming out, and more because of the long view they had taken.Report

  6. Saul Degraw says:

    I’m not sure what Gavin Newsome did to earn a dishonorable mention. The French Laundry thing was an unenforced error but he realized it and apologized. Otherwise, I am pretty please with his performance as a Governor this year with COVID and the Wild Fires. He is doing all he can to keep California safe in the face of an unresponsive and gleefully cruel Federal Government.

    Not sure what Nancy did here as well. Biden won the election by a significant majority of the popular vote. The Democrats retained the House and the seats they lost were edge districts. 2018 was a wave election and those are done on margins Spanberger and Lamb won releection by wider margin in 2020 than they did in 2018 despite their complaining. The Democrats gained seats in the Senate but she is not involved in that.

    This list feels very Both Sides and intentionally so.Report

    • Philip H in reply to Saul Degraw says:

      Same questions RE Adam Schiff and Kamala Harris.Report

      • Pelosi lost seats in the house and was caught getting her hair done during a lockdown. I have no idea how you call this a wave election when they underperformed so massively. And I have very little tolerance for the “rules are for plebs” attitude, which has done a lot to undermine anti-virus efforts.

        Harris has repeatedly shown herself to be ignorant of the issues and an empty suit on policy. She styles herself as a “progressive prosecutor” despite an awful record. That she’s better than Trump or Pence doesn’t mean much.Report

        • Saul Degraw in reply to Michael Siegel says:

          I think this is a common trap in American politics where we associate/blame one person for an event that he or she might not have had much control over.

          2018 was a wave election and wave elections are settled on margins. Democratic candidates received 10 million more votes than Republican candidates in 2018. Some of those were in seats that normally lean R. As it is, a lot of the currently undecided seats are in very narrow bands of victory. IA-2 is separated by about 38 votes according to the Times. CA-25 is separated by 25 votes. CA-39 was a Republican stronghold for decades before Gil Cisneros won it on a thin margin in 2018 and Young Kim won this year on a thin margin as well.

          I’m just not sure how much of this belongs to Pelosi as loses.Report

          • Oscar Gordon in reply to Saul Degraw says:

            It’s a trap if we blame some random Dem for the loses. It’s not a trap if we blame persons in leadership positions.

            IMHO, we have a severe problem with leadership in this country (political and corporate) doing everything they can to avoid having any responsibility over anything, and apologists like you perpetuate that.

            Pelosi sought and won her leadership position. When feces hits the rotating airfoil, she gets splattered with it by dint of being in that position.

            Great power, great responsibility, and all that.

            So stop making excuses for leaders just because you like them. You only encourage them to keep making excuses.Report

          • greginak in reply to Saul Degraw says:

            Meh. Biden is up by over 6 million votes at this point. The D’s losses in congress don’t match with that. Sure some seats were always going to be close so some reversion to the mean is understandable. But to much of that happened to just say “oh well, that happens.” I’m not a pelosi hater, she has some skills. But she is also way old and we have to many really old people in gov. She doesn’t understand modern politics i think and is way to passive. If the D’s had some pick ups and some losses then she would be in a better position. As it is we have a very old leadership and who exactly are they training to step in when they are gone?

            I’m not surprised she won the speakership again, that is how power and influence work in parties. But it isn’t all that good and the D’s need to be focused on moving on from her.Report

            • Philip H in reply to greginak says:

              Agreed mostly. I’m not saying hand the reins to AOC (YET) but surely there are younger savvier democrats who can helm the House . . . .Report

              • Michael Cain in reply to Philip H says:

                There’s a whole contingent of 50- and 60-year-olds waiting for their turn. Absent a change in the Dem House rules, AOC and company are 20 years away from any chance at committee chairs or top leadership positions.

                One of the things Gingrich accomplished was decreasing the importance of seniority on the Republican side. As it stands, the Dems could never have a Paul Ryan, who chaired both Budget and Ways and Means, and won the Speakership, by age 45.Report

              • North in reply to Michael Cain says:

                I mean that cuts both ways. The GOP definitely got fresher blood in there but when ya look at where the GOP ultimately went under that system of leadership…
                I mean I’d love to see the Dems get younger leadership but if it meant a disingenuous plutocratic poodle like Paul Ryan (only painted from the left) got the job I’d take an old pol any day of the week.Report

            • North in reply to greginak says:

              I think Pelosi has done an ok job but that doesn’t mean it isn’t time to hand the reins over to someone new. Unfortunately the way seniority works among the Dems makes it quite possible that we’ll just get a 60 year old instead.Report

            • Saul Degraw in reply to greginak says:

              Hard disagree. Biden won nearly 6.5 million more votes than Trump and his electoral college victory is nearly identical, 306 v. 304. There is a lot of structural fucked-upness in the Constitution that currently benefits Republicans. This is before you get to gerrymandering.

              The Democrats might have also been hindered in taking COVID seriously and not holding rallies or going door to door like the Republicans.Report

              • Jaybird in reply to Saul Degraw says:

                Fundamental message: Democrats don’t need to change.

                They don’t even need to *CONSIDER* changing.Report

              • Chip Daniels in reply to Jaybird says:

                Both parties are within striking distance of a trifecta, controlling all three branches of government.

                Why should either of them change?

                Is there some evidence that changing would gain either one of them a net addition of votes?Report

              • North in reply to Saul Degraw says:

                Biden significantly outperformed his party Saul and that isn’t something we can just handwave away. There clearly were a not insignificant number of voters who affirmatively voted FOR Biden and then voted AGAINST the Democratic Senate and House candidates on the exact same ballot. I think it’s a pretty important thing to wonder why that occurred don’t you?Report

              • Saul Degraw in reply to North says:

                1. It could be more anti-Trump than for Biden. Perhaps these were relatively ticket splitters. That being said House Democratic candidates received nearly 76 million votes (50.5 percent of the vote) vs. 72.3 million for Republicans. Trump also outperformed Republican house candidates but not by as much.

                2. Voters are weird and inconsistent. New Hampshire votes went easily for Biden and re-elected Democrats to the House and Senate but gave Republicans control of the State Legislature even though Democrats controlled it from 2018-2020. In Maine, Biden and the Democratic house members won easily but voters seem to have fallen for Collins’ symbolic vote against ACB.

                2. The places where Democrats did pick up seats had court-ordered redistricting because the previous districts were considered racial gerrymanders in violation of state constitutions and/or are part of the areas that are supposed to turn states purple. This was North Carolina which otherwise went red easily except for Roy Cooper and GA-7.

                3. Mark Kelly outperformed Biden in Arizona so it wasn’t always a clear cut case of Biden outperforming Democrats.’

                4. I do think downballot Democrats were hindered by restrictions on door knocking because of COVID that were enforced from above.Report

              • North in reply to Saul Degraw says:

                1. Yes but Biden won the presidency while the Dems barely held onto the House and made barely any progress in the Senate.

                2. Amen. Also I think you’re right about Collins but that is really infuriating that Dems couldn’t shoot that pathetic defense down.

                3. Mark Kelly is a frickin astronaut but he certainly wasn’t very leftist.

                4. I am dubious that ground game disparities have explanatory power considering how Biden did. The ticket splitters really have me frustrated.Report

              • Saul Degraw in reply to North says:

                Biden was running a national campaign that got splashed across national media and local media daily. Mainly because Trump couldn’t help himself with being a cartoon villain combined with his twitter temper tantrums. Local politicians probably need door knocking more.

                The main point though is that there is still a lot of racial gerrymandering and it hurts Democrats except in superwave elections like 2018. An ordinary election can still lead to an in-house advantage for RepublicansReport

              • North in reply to Saul Degraw says:

                Maybe, perhaps. One thing is for sure, they didn’t lose their grip on the levers for gerrymandering after these results.Report

        • Chip Daniels in reply to Michael Siegel says:

          What makes anyone think that “Pelosi lost seats”?

          Was she somehow a factor in the races?Report

          • Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels says:

            My favorite part of this “why do people think Proposition P is true?” technique of argumentation is that it leverages one’s own ignorance as being the problem of someone else.

            The problem is that it’s insurmountable.

            I’m sure that someone, somewhere, could write a short essay on why the Democrats were expected to do better in the House than they did. They might cite polls or something. Point to expectations. Maybe even point to how Biden did and how they didn’t expect split-ticket voting.

            But we don’t even have to think about that. Why might someone hold a position that I don’t already hold? I haven’t thought about it but why does that matter?

            What makes anyone think that thinking about things is a silver bullet?Report

            • Chip Daniels in reply to Jaybird says:

              Not insurmountable at all.

              In order to surmount my ignorance, all someone would need to do is explain why the Speaker of the House, not the Democratic National Committee or the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, not the local candidates themselves is to blame for the losses.Report

              • Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                All or nothing at all? I’d probably argue that, when it comes to the House, she is the face of House Leadership.

                If you vote for the Democratic House Representative, you are voting for Nancy Pelosi, the sentiment goes.

                On one level, you could argue that “no, this is about John Jackson versus Jack Johnson and NOTHING ELSE I CAN’T HEAR YOU LA LA LA LA LA LA” but, on another, you might take into account that Joe Biden ran on a strong centrism that allowed for split-ticket voting and he would rather have someone that voted for him and a Republican downticket than someone who might not vote at all or feel like they might have to vote for Trump to oppose Pelosi’s agendae.

                But if you’re arguing “NOPE! IT’S ALL OR NOTHING”, I’m pretty sure that we won’t be able to come up with something.Report

              • Oscar Gordon in reply to Jaybird says:

                This.

                Leadership ALWAYS has to shoulder some of the blame. Constantly giving leadership a pass when it’s convenient just means we get weak leaders who do stuff like give responsibility to incompetent people because it’s politically expedient, simply because they can duck the subsequent responsibility when the implosion happens.

                There is a reason military leadership always pays the price when subordinates screw up in significant ways, and it’s not because the military are a bunch of a$$holes.Report

              • Jaybird in reply to Oscar Gordon says:

                I wonder if Chip understands how the Senate elections in Georgia could be interpreted by someone to be about more than Perdue vs. Ossoff.

                I mean, I know that *HE* doesn’t think that it has anything to do with Mitch McConnell.

                I just wonder if he might understand how someone else could think that they might have something to do with Mitch McConnell.Report

              • Chip Daniels in reply to Jaybird says:

                “If you vote for the Democratic House Representative, you are voting for Nancy Pelosi, the sentiment goes.”

                I don’t believe this is true, at all.

                When you look at the right wing media, Nancy Pelosi is mentioned much less than AOC or Ilhan Omar.

                And when you look at the losses, most of them are by very small margins in districts that are hotly contested.

                It would actually make more sense to lay this at Biden’s feet by asserting that he had no coattails.

                Or it may also be possible that there were multiple lines of causality, with different districts having different dynamics.Report

              • Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                Do you see how the Senate elections in Georgia could be interpreted by someone to be about more than Perdue vs. Ossoff?Report

              • Chip Daniels in reply to Jaybird says:

                So what you’re saying is that the race wasn’t so much about the local issues;
                And it wasn’t campaign strategy by the DCCC, or even any sort of tactical leadership from Pelosi;

                Instead you’re saying it was a nationalized election in which Nancy Pelosi was a polarizing figure who drew negative attention?

                Is this your argument?Report

              • Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                “So what you’re saying is”…

                No. I didn’t even read the rest of the comment.

                I am writing this having read solely the “what you’re saying is” on the sidebar.

                What I’m saying is that I find the argument that brags about being unable to comprehend another point of view to be bad. Like, bad to the point where it should stop.

                People shouldn’t brag about being unable to work with some kind of theory of mind.

                If someone says something like “I don’t understand how someone could think X”, that should be the start of self-reflection and the beginning of a journey to understand another way to look at a thing.

                Not as a stopping point. Not as a point in which to dig in.

                Oh, you’ve thought about it and you *STILL* can’t come up with anything? Then ask for people to explain it and get you to open your mind.

                But coming out and saying “I don’t see how someone could disagree with me” is not a good place to be standing.

                That is what I am saying.

                Now I will press the “post comment” button and read your comment in full.Report

              • Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                Having read it: I find myself once again curious as to my question.

                “Do you see how the Senate elections in Georgia could be interpreted by someone to be about more than Perdue vs. Ossoff?”

                Not whether you agree with that or not.

                Just whether you, if you stretch your brain, could see how someone else, someone who wasn’t you, might think that.

                Even if you think they’d be wrong! Do you see how someone could look at the state of affairs and come to the (wrong) conclusion that the Georgia Senate election coming up had something to do with Mitch McConnell enough to the point where Mitch McConnell would have an impact on how they would be voting in the election?

                You answer that question and then I will answer yours.Report

              • Chip Daniels in reply to Jaybird says:

                Look, if you really don’t have an argument for why Nancy Pelosi deserves blame for the Congressional races, fine we can leave it there.Report

              • Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                Do you see how the Senate elections in Georgia could be interpreted by someone to be about more than Perdue vs. Ossoff?

                I do have an argument for you, but it requires that you answer this question first. It takes your answer to this question as a starting point and goes from there.Report

              • At least here, for a stretch of time, plenty of negative ads showing Biden, Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi. Basic message was “Don’t vote for any Democrat!” They pretty much disappeared once the national money decided there was no chance of saving either the EC votes or Cory Gardner.Report

              • Chip Daniels in reply to Michael Cain says:

                From my perspective, Nancy has pretty much faded as a lightning rod for rightwing attacks, in favor of much more “on brand” targets like AOC and Ilhan Omar.
                But maybe its different in other states; Can you imagine a Democratic Speaker who WOULDN’T be featured in ads with Biden and Schumer?

                Or to put it another way; If Joseph Biden, the human equivalent of a golden retriever is the boogeyman, why should I think that swapping out Pelosi for another Dem make any difference in electoral outcomes?

                Am I supposed to imagine a guy in Tennessee saying, “Grrr, me hates that Nancy Pelosi! I will crawl over broken glass to vote against her! But, oh- that Abigail Spanberger? Oh, she not so bad.”Report

              • greginak in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                The issue with Pelosi is not her being the magnet for attacks. Any D leader is going to be that. She was mostly passive re: trump’s corruption and law breaking. Did we see the well deserved investigations in the House for the last couple years at least. No. Why the hell not. They had some power and an oversight role but didn’t not much with it. She is also in ineffective PR leader which is part of her role. She is a leading Dem but does not know how to get social media to work for her or lead messaging.Report

              • North in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                I’m inclined to agree with you but only insofar as the right has found people who they can use that’re more scary than Pelosi. You named them yourself. The core point, I think, is that Biden out performed his party and that is a serious conundrum for Democrats. I’d assert it’s an especially serious conundrum for the further left wing of the Dems to wrestle with but I, being a filthy neolib squish, would say that wouldn’t I. Also they don’t have to wrestle with it since the seats where far left Democrats get elected aren’t the ones that are in danger in these circumstances. What is good for the individuals not being good for the organizations etc.

                As for Pelosi herself? She deserves admiration and acclaim for her past accomplishments and I think she has managed her party and the politics of things well but clearly she’s not nimble and deft on the politics side of things anymore. The party could do better with someone who’s more politically savvy, though lord(lady?) knows the party could do a hell of a lot worse than Pelosi as well.Report

              • Jaybird in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                “From my perspective”

                Chip, I appreciate that this is from your perspective.

                I am asking you to branch out and consider other perspectives. “How might people see this from another angle?”, if you will.

                Instead of humbly admitting that you can only see things from where you are, trying being arrogant enough to imagine that you can imagine how something might look from another angle.

                For example, consider the question of the senate.

                Do you see how the Senate elections in Georgia could be interpreted by someone to be about more than Perdue vs. Ossoff?Report

              • I don’t know from Tennessee. My perception here in Colorado is the local Republicans have cast Pelosi as the Wicked Witch of the West since her first stint as Speaker. AOC, on the other hand — young, female, Hispanic, an environmentalist — looks a lot like the voters that the Republicans have to attract somehow if they intend to stay relevant.Report

              • Oscar Gordon in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                It would actually make more sense to lay this at Biden’s feet by asserting that he had no coattails.

                More like, it’s part of Nancy’s responsibility to recognize that Biden had no coattails to ride on and employ a strategy to deal with that reality. You could even argue that Biden really had exactly one job, to beat Trump, and that one should not insist he also develop coat tails to make things easier for down ticket races, as doing so might distract from the primary task at hand.

                Leadership is supposed to keep the big picture in focus, develop strategies, and delegate tasks to the right people to make that strategy a reality. Now perhaps Nancy did the very best she could with the resources she had, and it just wasn’t enough, but that doesn’t stop her from bearing a large share of the responsibility for the losses.

                And if she doesn’t like that, no one is forcing her to hold those leadership positions.Report

              • Slade the Leveller in reply to Chip Daniels says:

                “And I can’t operate on this failure, when all I want to be is completely in command.”Report

              • Did we see the well deserved investigations in the House for the last couple years at least. No. Why the hell not.

                Because the executive branch ignored subpoenas? Emily Murphy did that just this week, offering a half-hour of a subordinates time instead.Report

      • Jaybird in reply to Philip H says:

        If I had to guess about Schiff, making him the face of the impeachment could be said to have been a less good choice than Replacement Level Dem.Report

    • Oscar Gordon in reply to Saul Degraw says:

      No, Newsome was caught and apologized after a round of rationalizing the incident as ‘not a big deal’.

      It’s not the error, it’s if you own the error without being pressured to do so, and how you own the error.Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Saul Degraw says:

      I’m not sure what Gavin Newsome did to earn a dishonorable mention.

      Additionally, he lied about it.

      On top of that, some of the other folks there were California Medical Association officials.Report

    • DensityDuck in reply to Saul Degraw says:

      “The French Laundry thing was an unenforced error but he realized it and apologized.”

      are you fucking for real bro

      “he apologized”. really? really? he apologized? that’s what makes this okay for you? in fucking November 2020 he figured it was okay to just go hang out at a crowded indoor restaurant with a bunch of different households but it’s okay because he apologized?

      everything in California that isn’t a huge chain is shutting down forever and meanwhile Gavin Newsom is going to dinner at a fancy restaurant and you think that’s not a problem because he APOLOGIZED.Report

      • Kazzy in reply to DensityDuck says:

        Agreed. All the PsTB who not only put in place lockdown orders but then shamed, mocked, and/or disparaged anyone who didn’t fully comply only to pull a “Weeelllllllllll…” when they got busted deserve their place on this list. Bullshit, plain and simple.Report

      • fillyjonk in reply to DensityDuck says:

        what I saw was also more of an “I’m sorry you were offended because I went to a fancy restaurant while also telling you what you can do for the holidays” apology. But there might have been a more genuine one elsewhere.

        One thing I have learned this year is that the ones we chose to be our leaders largely don’t, which is why we see stuff like kids holding bake sales to buy PPE for medical professionals. (And I am forever angry about those being presented as “heartwarming” stories; they are not)Report

        • Jaybird in reply to fillyjonk says:

          I saw at least one prominent person argue that the news media did the country a disservice by publishing the story. “We need moral clarity right now. Publicizing this dinner diminishes the moral clarity needed by this moment.”Report

          • Kazzy in reply to Jaybird says:

            Governor Murphy got in a bit of hot water when photos emerged of him indoors at a restaurant. There were disputes as to whether he was dining indoors or simply went in due to rain or went in to pay the bill and if the photos were legit or “GOTCHA” or whatever.

            But this guy went around calling everyone knuckleheads for any perceived violation of the rules, written or otherwise.

            When you are in his position, you shouldn’t be hemming and hawing over where the line is and if you stepped on or over or stayed just inside it. In these times, you should be living your life so far from the lines that there is no opportunity for ambiguity. His messaging was always, “We’ll loosen up a bit but don’t make us slam back down again!” The implication being that even allowable behavior could get your hand slapped. So, yea, brah, don’t even go out. Eat at home. Like you demanded everyone else do for months. You can do it a bit longer. You’re a frickin’ “leader”, right?Report

            • Jaybird in reply to Kazzy says:

              This usually gets subsumed into the “Al Gore Is Fat” argument. “Just because he is important and needs more things than you do does not change the calculus of his important message about how you don’t need as many things as you have. Do the right thing even though there are different standards for important people.”

              And people who point out that the problem with collective action problems require collective action can be dismissed as concern trolls.Report

              • Kazzy in reply to Jaybird says:

                I agree and disagree.

                Wearing a mask, avoiding large gatherings, trying to stay outdoors, etc. has whatever impact it has on the spread of the virus independent of the actions of those advocating those steps. Wearing a mask doesn’t suddenly become less effective because Newsome was a clown.

                But if Newsome or Murphy or whomever are gonna get up at the lectern and say, “You’re a knucklehead if you do X,” and then they do X, they really have zero legs to stand on when they start getting called a knucklehead.Report

            • James K in reply to Kazzy says:

              A big part of why our lockdowns worked is that the rules were evenly applied. When the Minister of Health drove to go on a bike ride instead of staying local like he was supposed to Adern gave him a public dressing down and replaced him as Minister of Health as soon as the immediate crisis had ended.

              For government policy to work properly people have to trust their government, and that means government needs to act in a trustworthy way.Report

              • Jaybird in reply to James K says:

                Why would he give the opposition party a win like that?Report

              • InMD in reply to James K says:

                Don’t take this the wrong way but I don’t think people from other countries, including (maybe especially) culturally western ones appreciate why American culture is as low trust as it is. There are peculiarities to our history that reinforce the situation but it isn’t just some superstition or irrational nervous tick. There’s a combination of sanctimony and blatant defection that makes it totally understandable just as it is unfortunate. I had many conversations about this dynamic years ago when I was in Germany and I still don’t believe people quite got it.Report

              • James K in reply to InMD says:

                I’d be keen to hear your perspective but my impression is that the US government isn’t trusted because it doesn’t act in ways to create and preserve trust.Report

              • greginak in reply to James K says:

                That is true to a degree true. It has also been a specific goal of a party and their aligned media to degrade trust in government. So that hasn’t helped.Report

              • Saul Degraw in reply to James K says:

                Yes and no. The problem with the U.S. is that we are highly partisan and very federalized with split government so there is not quite the opportunity for uniform response.

                Even with in state governments, there is a lot of independence between branches and hard limits on what a governor or state legislature that wants to take COVID seriously can do.

                Trump and the Republicans decided to abdicate responsibility on COVID, double down on conspiracies, and decided that their hatred of welfare state policies is more important than doing the right thing and bailing out people and businesses in order to beat the pandemic.

                So this limits what a governor that wanted to take it seriously could do because they did not have funds. Some governors were also hampered because their state legislatures went against them. Whitmer in Michigan is an example.

                So it becomes a brutal cycleReport

              • DensityDuck in reply to Saul Degraw says:

                bro

                you’re honestly saying that Gavin Newsom going to a restaurant for dinner with a whooooole bunch of people is not worth comment because A) he apologized and B) Trump exists

                that is your take hereReport

              • James K in reply to Saul Degraw says:

                This isn’t simply about policy though. The Republicans didn’t make Newsom organise a large dinner in the middle of a pandemic. If a country’s leadership creates the sense that the laws or rules only apply to ordinary people, you can’t be surprised when people come to see government as a racket.Report

        • Speaking of which, does anyone know what happened to all the PPE that was hijacked from the states for the federal stockpile?Report

      • Philip H in reply to DensityDuck says:

        I pointed out his hypocrisy in Facebook recently and was excoriated by left leaning friend from Cali about the Left’s willingness to shoot it’s own foot off to prevent the perception of impurity. I pushed back hard on how it was fodder of the Right that didn’t need to have been given, and would be used to shoot down mask orders etc. You’d have thought I had grown a third eyeball and started voting Republican.Report

  7. Jaybird says:

    I’m not sure what Woke Democrats did to earn a dishonorable mention.Report

  8. Kazzy says:

    So where do I collect my turkey…?Report

  9. greginak says:

    This dude gets a solid drumstick for this here twittering. He is complaining about Parler censoring hash tags, which is the least surprising thing in the world. But he is going on the Evil Twitter to complain about it. Wasn’t he supposed to leave Evil Twitter?

    https://twitter.com/williamlegate/status/1331086973956657153Report

  10. North says:

    I think your list is great overall but I’m gonna join my fellow liberals in observing that if feels unfair that the Democratic Party gets a dishonorable mention for underperforming in a supposed wave election while the GOP doesn’t even get mentioned despite losing the presidency by more than anyone since Hoover, being captured root to branch by Trump and ALSO for indulging Trumps blatant attempts to overturn the election.Report

  11. Pinky says:

    I have no problem with celebrities singing online. I don’t get it, but some people are elevated by celebrities. Sure, “Imagine” is an insipid song about atheistic communism, and it’s way beyond a stretch to see it as a Covid rally song. But I don’t understand the backlash. People sing dumb songs online all the time.Report

  12. Chip Daniels says:

    Re: BLM and the “Woke Democrats” and the claim that “substantive reform died”;

    True, in that there hasn’t been spectacular and camera-ready progress made;

    However, here in Los Angeles, one of the largest jurisdictions in America now has a progressive district attorney as a result of an election which very pointedly revolved around BLM.

    Also, in San Francisco, “District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced that his office had filed homicide charges against former San Francisco Police Department officer Christopher Samayoa…”

    “Boudin argued that cases such as the police killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville, cases that sparked protests across the country, reflected “the failures of our legal system to hold police accountable for the violence committed against the very members of the public they are entrusted to keep safe,” he said.”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/24/san-francisco-police-homicide-charge/

    This is change. Smaller than it should be, but still change and it should rightly be seen as a victory and vindication for the protests, however messy and unproductive they appeared.Report