Month: February 2016

Three Reasons Why Liberals Should Support Trump

Buck Banks

There are three reasons, in descending order of obviousness, for a liberal to earnestly and patriotically support a Trump Republican nomination. The first, of course, is that he would almost certainly lose… Second, a Trump nomination might upend his party … About half of Republicans favor higher taxes on the rich, a position that has zero representation among their party’s leaders. And those Republicans are the most likely to support Trump. … The third reason to prefer a Trump nomination: If he does win, a Trump presidency would probably wind up doing less harm to the country than a Marco Rubio or a Cruz presidency. It might even, possibly, do some good.

— Jonathan Chait in New York Magazine

How Space Travel Puts Politics in Perspective

Buck Banks

You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the Moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch’.

— Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon, who died Feb. 4 at age 85, quoted by Space Flight Insider.

Clinton Still Taking Wall Street’s Money

Buck Banks

$21.4 million

Amount Hillary Clinton’s campaign has taken from donors at hedge funds, banks, insurance companies and other financial-services firms through the end of December — “a sign of her deep and lasting relationships with banking and investment titans.” That comes out to be more than one of every 10 dollars of the $157.8 million contributed to back her bid, the Washington Post reports.