Blue Monday Archives - Page 2 of 6

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On Trump’s Dangerous Words

Why We Need to Use the Word “Impeachment” Now

April 29, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

We humans are many things. One is that we are beings who understand, construct, and change our world in and through language. In the beginning there were words. The late great writer and dissident-citizen-president, Vaclav Havel, said it well in his powerful 1989 acceptance speech to the German Booksellers Association, “Words ...

Blue Monday

Two Cheers for Impeachment

The political “risks” are not that great, and they are worth taking

April 22, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

In an ideal world, the thought of impeaching Donald Trump would warrant at least three cheers, along with some somersaults and a marching band (my preference would be for a New Orleans Second Line led by Trombone Shorty). Yet in an ideal world Donald Trump would be nothing but a ...

Blue Monday

Further Thoughts on Why I Hope Biden Goes Away

He offers too little, beyond nostalgia, at a time when much is called for.

April 15, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Last week I offered a critique of a Joe Biden candidacy that centered on the idea that “he is looking backward at a time when we need to move forward, and he is inviting the Democratic Party, and the American public, to move backward with him.” I stand by this argument; ...

Further Thoughts on Why I Hope Biden Goes Away

Blue Monday

Bye Bye Biden

The weakness of his entire candidacy is that he is looking backward at a time when we need to move forward

April 8, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“The more one suffers, the more, I believe, has one a sense for the comic.” – Søren Kierkegaard There is much suffering in the Age of Trump. The principal source of grief is Trump himself: what he does and doesn’t do, what he says and doesn’t say, and what and who is ...

Blue Monday

Trump, The Mueller Report, and Democracy

Very Preliminary Thoughts on an Unfolding Story

March 24, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

[Note: this piece was filed on Sunday at 2 pm, revised after the release of Attorney General Barr’s letter at 4 pm, and refiled for publication at 6 pm. God only knows what will transpire in the interim.] The issue has always been the need to defend democracy by addressing its ...

Trump, The Mueller Report, and Democracy

Blue Monday

We Must Stop Using Hyperbole that Foments Needless Anger and Division Among Progressives

Defeating Trump Politically Part 7

March 11, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

The tag line on Facebook poses the question: “Is Diane Feinstein a Bigger Climate Threat Than Trump?” The headline of the actual article in The New Republic is less curious: “Diane Feinstein is a Bigger Climate Threat Than Trump.” The actual article, and the author who wrote it, is done a great injustice ...

We Must Stop Using Hyperbole that Foments Needless Anger and Division Among Progressives

Blue Monday

In Defense of Ilhan Omar, Again

Did the House pass such a full-throated Resolution about anti-Semitism after Charlottesville, or after the recent Pittsburgh synagogue massacre?

March 5, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Ilhan Omar is again at the center of controversy, this time for remarks she made last week at a panel discussion at Busboys and Poets, a Washington, D.C. bookstore and restaurant. Omar’s “offending” comment was a reference to “the political influence in this country that says that it’s ok for ...

Blue Monday

Socialism and American Politics

A Brief Recollection (2009)

March 4, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Note: I recently found the piece below on an old hard drive. It was written on March 2, 2009, exactly ten years ago this weekend. It was written for the brand-new blog that Dissent Magazine was then starting. It was never published. I’m publishing it now for three reasons: (1) ...

Blue Monday

Why AOC is Such a Terrific Member of Congress

Defeating Trump Politically, Part 5

February 28, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has taken Washington, D.C by storm. She successfully ran an insurgent, grass-roots Congressional campaign. She is exceptionally bright. She is incredibly media savvy. She is hugely charismatic, because she is telegenic and photogenic, but also because she consistently seems to be a sincere, authentic, and truly nice and caring ...

Why AOC is Such a Terrific Member of Congress

Blue Monday

Kamala Harris Is Not a Red-Baiter, She’s Just Not a Socialist (Like Most Americans)

Defeating Trump Politically, Part 4

February 26, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

In recent columns I have celebrated the energy and ideas brought into the Democratic party by newly-elected young leftists, defended them from criticism, condemned the red-baiting of the left, and explained how and why “socialism” has played an important role in the history of American democracy, and ought not to ...

Kamala Harris Is Not a Red-Baiter, She’s Just Not a Socialist (Like Most Americans)

Blue Monday

American Socialism Is Nothing to Be Afraid About

Defeating Trump Politically, Part 3

February 25, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Note: A shorter version of this piece was published yesterday at The Daily Beast here. Thanks to Michael Tomasky for his help. Socialism has captured the attention of American elites in a big way. On the right, it is clear that Donald Trump and his Republican followers are intent on using Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ...

American Socialism Is Nothing to Be Afraid About

Blue Monday

New Blood Brings New Energy to the Democratic Party

Defeating Trump Politically Part 2

February 20, 2019 • by Jeffrey C. Isaac

“I really like the new crop of young people who were just elected to Congress. They now need to stop acting like young people. It’s time to do that.”--Aaron Sorkin, self-important screenwriter of television shows about politics “What . . . really distinguishes this generation . . . is its determination ...