Hello from Paris!
I was gonna take a break for a week or two, but if a self-coup doesn’t deserve its own newsletter, I don’t know what does.
Me, I’m tempted to cower under the covers, not just until January 20, Inauguration Day, when Joe and Kamala finally take over, or even Groundhog Day February 20, which may give us some sense of how long this political and pandemic winter will go on. But perhaps until midterm elections, November 2022, when we’ll see what the real consequences are.
Right now, of course, outraged Democrats are planning to impeach Trump for refusing to accept election results and encouraging a mob insurrection. There are pros. There are cons. On an emotional level, I feel—meh. He’s on his way out, anyway. Though of course I’d be happy to end his access to nuclear codes and red telephones and a future presidency. It would be nice, too, to see his ragtag and delusional mob defanged. (There’s a call for more violence on January 17.)
But I’m far more interested in those other Republicans— the eight GOP senators and 138 Republican representatives—who did their calculations, and after fleeing an armed mob, hearing gunfire, learning that there had actually been a death, not to mention many injuries, still proceeded to vote to throw out the results of the election as if our votes, and democracy itself, was so much garbage.
What about them? Do they get to keep their jobs? Will they be punished at the polls? What about the lax security that enabled this? How compromised is the secret service, the FBI, CIA? In November, several venues reported on Democrats' alarm as Trump stacks Pentagon with loyalists. Now the Washington Post reports that the Pentagon placed limits on D.C. guards ahead of pro-Trump rally. So, umm…?
As Zeynep Tufekci writes,
…the reason why this matters so much: not just because of how outrageous it is to have thousands of people overrun our Capitol, but because they had allies who shared their objective, strong allies, at every level of government from the executive to the legislative. …
In a future scenario where the election had come down to PA—for example if Joe Biden hadn’t very very narrowly won Georgia and Arizona by a total of about 23,127 votes out of total of about hundred-and-fifty million cast, or if Trump hadn’t just contributed to the loss of two senate seats in Georgia for the GOP, and thus the loss of the control of the Senate. It’s absolutely plausible to me that even more Republicans would have joined this blatant attempt to overturn the election and that their base would mostly have been fine with that. The (self)-coup train wasn’t something that was just for show; it just wasn’t close enough to work this time.
In short, this was just a trial run. Which went ridiculously well. For fuck’s sake, a guy had his feet up on Nancy Pelosi’s desk with only one casualty on their side—a woman who sincerely believed all the QAnon stuff about international pedophile rings suppressing good Christian voters.
Here, in France, meanwhile, where there actually are a shocking amount of pedophile rings, I sometimes wonder about democracy’s prospects. The fascist-lite Marine Le Pen had a very good showing in the last presidential election, in 2017. There’s nobody very persuasive on the left who isn’t smitten with some form of lefty “for-your-own-good” authoritarianism. As for the center, the current president Macron’s hold is incredibly shaky.
Already weakened by endless crises, Covid could easily take him down, and prevent a second term. Not because his government is fucking things up more than any other country, (I’d give them a B- or C+) but because conspiracy theories have been flying fast and furious since it began.
Have I mentioned how seemingly rational people, including a delightful neighbor with a small child, or the gynecologist I went to go see over the summer, or now, the friend of a scientist friend, have all claimed the villainous government is only imposing various restrictive measures to turn the courageous French population into a bunch of sheeple? It’s time to fight back, they say. Demand that restaurants and bars be opened now! It’s their democratic right.
And while the European Union talks a good game for democracy, they, too, seem flummoxed about how to deal with growing authoritarianism in places like Hungary and Poland where President Andrzej Duda recently warned that “LGBT ideology” is more “destructive to man” than Soviet communism.” Women’s rights, also, are getting kicked to the curb, though they’re fighting back. Though at least the EU’s decided that fighting disinformation and fake news should be a priority. Which I totally agree with.
Yeah, interesting times all around.
If you need me…
I’ll be watching Netflix.
I’m not usually into costume dramas, but the baby dykes on Twitter have promised that the much-lauded Bridgerton is a glorious boobapalooza of push-up corsets, and rounded billowy breasts. Not to mention the not-quite-colorblind casting. Wigs that would make any drag queen proud. And boobs, don’t forget the boobs, that invite you not just to stroke them, but cuddle up and nap.
Though maybe watching Season 2 of Killing Eve on network TV is a better idea, with its creatively murderous women and absurdist turns. Screw passivity. Why should I be the one huddling under the covers waiting for the shitshow to end?
Grub
Remember how the archeologists just uncovered food stalls in Pompeii? A writer at Salon recreated a stew inspired by their findings. It actually sounds kind of good.
Well, that’s all I got. Drop me a line. Say hello. Tell me what you’re drinking. I’ll see you in a couple weeks.
Disgruntedly yours,
Yelpy Coupswell