US Politics in an Age of Uncertainty

by Lance Selfa

  25.Lauren McCauley, “Ugly and Unprepared, ‘Knife Fight’ Breaks Out in Trump Transition,” CommonDreams, November 15, 2016, www.commondreams.org/news/2016/11/15/ugly-and-unprepared-knife-fight-breaks-out-trump-transition; Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Mark Mazzetti, and Maggie Haberman, “Firings and Discord Put Trump Transition Team in a State of Disarray,” New York Times, November 15, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/us/politics/trump-transition.html; Michael D. Shear, “Trump Says Transition’s Going ‘Smoothly,’ Disputing Disarray Reports,” New York Times, November 16, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/us/politics/donald-trump-administration-twitter.html.

  26.Michael D. Shear, “Donald Trump Picks Reince Priebus as Chief of Staff and Stephen Bannon as Strategist,” New York Times, November 13, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/14/us/politics/reince-priebus-chief-of-staff-donald-trump.html.

  27.Julia Hahn, “Michael Savage Warns Donald Trump: ‘Rinse’ Reince; He’s ‘Everything the Voters Rejected,’” Breitbart, November 13, 2016, www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/11/13/michael-savage-warns-donald-trump-rinse-reince-priebus/.

  28.Allum Bokhari and Milo Yiannopoulos, “An Establishment Conservative’s Guide to the Alt-Right,” Breitbart, March 29, 2016, www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/03/29/an-establishment-conservatives-guide-to-the-alt-right/.

  29.Alan Rappeport and Noah Weiland, “White Nationalists Celebrate ‘an Awakening’ after Donald Trump’s Victory,” New York Times, November 19, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/us/politics/white-nationalists-celebrate-an-awakening-after-donald-trumps-victory.html?_r=0; Joseph Goldstein, “Alt-Right Exults in Donald Trump’s Election with a Salute: ‘Heil Victory,’” New York Times, November 20, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/us/alt-right-salutes-donald-trump.html?ref=todayspaper. Trump, in his interview with the New York Times (“Donald Trump’s New York Times Interview: Full Transcript,” New York Times, November 23, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/23/us/politics/trump-new-york-times-interview-transcript.html), distanced himself from the white nationalists, saying, “I don’t want to energize the group,” while claiming that Bannon was not a racist.

  30.Virgil, “How A Newly Elected Republican President Can Gain 17 Points in His Reelection Campaign,” Breitbart, November 18, 2016, www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/11/18/virgil-how-a-newly-elected-republican-president-can-gain-17-points-in-his-re-election-campaign/; “It’s On! The Battle for Blue Collar America: Remembering the Forgotten Man,” Breitbart, November 21, 2016, www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/11/21/virgil-battle-blue-collar-america-remembering-forgotten-man/.

  31.Michael Wolff, “Ringside with Steve Bannon at Trump Tower as the President-Elect’s Strategist Plots ‘An Entirely New Political Movement,’” Hollywood Reporter, November 18, 2016, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/steve-bannon-trump-tower-interview-trumps-strategist-plots-new-political-movement-948747.

  32.Julia Hahn, “Day before Election Paul Ryan Said GOP Not Trump’s Party,” Breitbart, November 12, 2016, www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/11/12/day-election-paul-ryan-said-gop-not-trumps-party/; “GOP Lawmakers Work behind Closed Doors to Stop Donald Trump’s Mandate,” Breitbart, November 15, 2016, www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/11/15/gop-lawmakers-work-behind-closed-doors-to-stop-donald-trumps-mandate/.

  33.“Donald Trump is Choosing His Cabinet: Here’s the Latest List,” New York Times, December 7, 2016.

  34.Reed Abelson, “Health Insurers List Demands If Affordable Care Act Is Killed,” New York Times, December 6, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/06/business/health-insurers-obamacare-republicans.html?emc=eta1.

  35.Binyamin Appelbaum, “Terry Branstad, Iowa Governor, Is Trump’s Pick as China Ambassador,” New York Times, December 7, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/us/politics/terry-branstad-china-ambassador-trump.html?emc=eta1.

  36.David E. Sanger, “Tillerson Leads from State Department Shadows as White House Steps In,” New York Times, March 11, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/11/us/politics/rex-tillerson-trump-white-house.html?emc=eta1.

  37.US Chamber of Commerce, “US Chamber President Comments on Election Results,” press release, November 9, 2016, www.uschamber.com/press-release/us-chamber-president-comments-election-results.

  38.A Better Way website, http://abetterway.speaker.gov/.

  39.Pam Key, “Ryan: Border Security Is Our Focus, Not Mass Deportations,” Breitbart, November 13, 2016, www.breitbart.com/video/2016/11/13/ryan-border-security-focus-not-mass-deportations/; Julia Hahn, “Paul Ryan: No Deportations,” Breitbart, November 13, 2016, www.breitbart.com/video/2016/11/13/ryan-border-security-focus-not-mass-deportations/; Julia Hahn, “GOP Rep: Paul Ryan’s Immigration Policy Not ‘In Best Interest of America,’” Breitbart, November 14, 2016, www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/11/14/gop-congressman-mo-brooks-paul-ryans-position-immigration-not-best-interest-america/; Ezra Klein, “Senate Republicans Can Save the Country—and Their Party—from Trump,” Vox, November 28, 2016, www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/28/13758376/senate-republicans-trump.

  40.Julia Hahn, “Dave Brat Urges Delay on Speaker Vote: A ‘Better Way” Did Not Animate This Historic Election,” Breitbart, November 14, 2016, www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/11/14/dave-brat-urges-delay-on-speaker-vote-a-better-way-did-not-animate-this-historic-election/.

  41.Landon Thomas Jr., “Investors Make Bullish Bet on Trump, and an Era of Tax Cuts and Spending,” New York Times, November 21, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/business/dealbook/investors-make-bullish-bet-on-trump-and-an-era-of-tax-cuts-and-spending.html?ref=todayspaper.

  42.Henry Fountain and Erica Goode, “Trump Has Options for Undoing Obama’s Climate Legacy,” New York Times, November 25, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/science/donald-trump-obama-climate.html?ref=todayspaper.

  43.Bob Herbert, “Get Ready for War on the Poor,” Nation, November 22, 2016, www.thenation.com/article/get-ready-for-a-war-on-the-poor/.

  44.Marisa Franco and Carlos Garcia, “The Deportation Machine Obama Built for President Trump,” Nation, June 27, 2016, www.thenation.com/article/the-deportation-machine-obama-built-for-president-trump/; Elliot Young, “The Hard Truths About Obama’s Deportation Priorities,” Huffington Post, March 1, 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hard-truths-about-obamas-deportation-priorities_us_58b3c9e7e4b0658fc20f979e.

  45.Amy Chozick, “Trump Appears to Soften on Deporting Thousands of Young Immigrants,” New York Times, December 7, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/us/immigration-dreamers-trump.html?emc=eta1

  46.National Right to Work Committee, “National Right to Work Act,” https://nrtwc.org/facts-issues/national-right-to-work-act/. See also Harold Meyerson, “Donald Trump Can Kill the American Union,” Washington Post, November 23, 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/11/23/donald-trump-could-kill-the-american-union/?postshare=6271479932172355&tid=ss_mail&utm_term=.29ed659b93ab.

  47.Leon Neyfakh, “Can the ‘Secret Government’ Save Us?,” Slate, November 14, 2016, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/11/can_the_secret_government_save_us_from_donald_trump.html.

  48.Jennifer Steinhauer, “Senate Democrats’ Surprising Strategy: Trying to Align with Trump,” New York Times, November 16, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/us/politics/democrats-house-senate.html; Jared Bernstein, “Trump’s Misguided Flirtation with Keynesianism,” Politico, November 21, 2016, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/trumps-misguided-flirtation-with-keynesianism-214468.

  49.Demetri Sevastopulo and David J. Lynch, “Trump Reverses Course on Core Campaign Promises,” Financial Times, November 22, 2016; Michael D. Shear, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, and Maggie Haberman, “Trump, in Interview, Moderates Views but Defies Conventions,” New York Times, November 22, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/us/politics/donald-trump-visit.html. The permanent staff of the CIA opposed the reintroduction of waterboarding. Michael Hayden, the former CIA director, said that Trump should “bring his own bucket” if he wants to bring back waterboarding. Matt Apuzzo and James Risen, “Donald Trump Faces Obstacles to Resume
Waterboarding,” New York Times, November 28, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/us/politics/trump-waterboarding-torture.html.

  50.Larry Buchanan, Alicia Parlapiano, and Karen Yourish, “How Hard (or Easy) It Will Be for Trump to Fulfill His 100-Day Plan,” New York Times, November 24, 2016.

  51.Carl Hulse, “Trump’s Next Battle: Keeping These Republican Senators Happy,” New York Times, November 26, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/us/politics/donald-trumps-republicans-senate.html; Klein, “Senate Republicans Can Save the Country”; Nelson D. Schwartz, “Wary Corporate Chiefs Keep an Ear Turned to Trump’s Messages,” New York Times, December 7, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/business/donald-trump-corporate-chiefs.html?emc=eta1.

  52.Among other recent articles, see Eduardo Porter, “Trump Campaign’s Easy Answers Confront Hard Reality,” New York Times, November 15, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/business/economy/trump-campaigns-easy-answers-confront-hard-reality.html; David E. Sanger, “From Iran to Syria, Trump’s ‘America First’ Approach Faces Its First Tests,” New York Times, November 17, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/us/politics/from-iran-to-syria-trumps-america-first-approach-faces-its-first-tests.html; Neil Irwin, “What Will Trump’s Trade Policy Actually Look Like? Three Possibilities,” New York Times, November 22, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/upshot/what-will-trump-trade-policy-actually-look-like-three-possibilities.html; Eduardo Porter, “A Trade War against China Might Be a Fight Trump Couldn’t Win,” New York Times, November 22, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/business/a-trade-war-against-china-might-be-a-fight-trump-couldnt-win.html; Nelson D. Schwartz, “Wary Corporate Chiefs Keep an Ear Turned to Trump’s Messages,” New York Times, December 7, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/business/donald-trump-corporate-chiefs.html?emc=eta1.

  53.For an excellent discussion of these obstacles, see Kevin Young, Tarun Banerjee, and Michael Schwartz, “Who’s Calling the Shots?,” Jacobin, February 6, 2017, www.jacobinmag.com/2017/02/trump-banks-protests-carrier-business-gop/.

  54.For the full transcript of Trump’s speech, see CNN, March 1, 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/02/28/politics/donald-trump-speech-transcript-full-text/. The notion that protective tariffs would allow the United States to industrialize without producing a deskilled and degraded industrial working class was a mainstay of the worldview of the US industrial capitalist class for the century before the Great Depression of the 1930s. See Allen Kaufman, Capitalism, Slavery, and Republican Values: American Political Economists, 1819-1948 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1982), chaps. 4–5.

  55.See the National Immigration Forum website, immigrationforum.org.

  56.Robert Pear and Thomas Kaplan, “House Republicans Unveil Plan to Replace Health Law,” New York Times, March 6, 2017, www.nytimescom/2017/03/06/us/politics/affordable-care-act-obamacare-health.html?emc=eta1.

  57.Jeremy W. Peters, “Why Republicans Are Battling Republicans On Obamacare Repeal,” New York Times, March 9, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/us/politics/why-republicans-are-battling-republicans-on-obamacare-repeal.html?emc=eta1; Carl Hulse, “GOP Desire to Keep Party Feuds Private Breaks Down Over Health Care,” New York Times, March 12, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/09/us/politics/why-republicans-are-battling-republicans-on-obamacare-repeal.html?emc=eta1.

  58.Abby Goudnough, Robert Pear, and Thomas Kaplan, “Health Groups Denounce GOP Bill as Its Backers Scramble,” New York Times, March 8, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/us/politics/affordable-care-act-obama-care-health.html?emc=eta1.

  59.Thomas Kaplan and Robert Pear, “Health Bill Would Add 24 Million Uninsured but Save $337 Billion, Report Says,” New York Times, March 13, 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/us/politics/affordable-care-act-health-congressional-budget-office.html?ref=todayspaper.

  60.See Paul Heideman, “It’s Their Party,” Jacobin, February 4, 2016, www.jacobinmag.com/2016/02/democratic-party-realignment-civil-rights-mcgovern-meany-rustin-sanders/.

  61.Michael Kruse, “What Trump Voters Want Now,” Politico, November 18, 2016, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-voters-pennsylvania-blue-collar-214466; Sherryl Gay Stolberg, “Trump’s Promises Will Be Hard to Keep, but Coal Country Has Faith,” New York Times, November 28, 2016, www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/us/donald-trump-coal-country.html.

  62.Hatewatch Staff, “Update: Incidents of Hateful Harassment since Election Day Now Number 701,” Hatewatch (blog), Southern Poverty Law Center, November 18, 2016, www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/11/18/update-incidents-hateful-harassment-election-day-now-number-701.

  Who Put Donald Trump in the White House?

  1.Nate Silver, “The Mythology of Trump’s ‘Working Class’ Support,” Five ThirtyEight, May 3, 2016, http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-mythology-of-trumps-working-class-support/; “Election 2016, Exit Polls,” CNN Politics, November 23, 2016, www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls.

  2.US Census Bureau, “Educational Attainment of the Population 18 Years and Over, by Age, Sex, Race, and Hispanic Origin: 2014,” Table 1, 2014, www.census.gov/data/tables/2014/demo/educational-attainment/cps-detailed-tables.html.

  3.National Small Business Association, NSBA 2016 Politics of Small Business Survey (Washington, DC: National Small Business Association), 4–6; US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, SBA Demographic Characteristics of Business Owners and Employees: 2013 (Washington, DC: Small Business Administration), 1; Bureau of Labor Statistics, “May 2015 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States,” www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#00-000; “Small Business Owner Salary,” Indeed, www.indeed.com/small-business-owner.htm.

  4.“Election 2016, Exit Polls; President,” CNN Politics, November 23, 2016, www.cnn.com/election/results/president, www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls.

  5.Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Occupational Employment, Job Openings and Worker Characteristics,” Table 1.7, 2014, www.bls.gov/emp/ep_table_107.htm.

  6.The Data Team, “Where Donald Trump’s Support Really Comes From,” Economist, April 20, 2016, www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2016/04/daily-chart-14?zid=297&ah=3ae0fe266c7447d8a0c7ade5547d62ca.

  7.Harry Enten, “How Much Do Democrats Depend on the Union Vote?,” FiveThirtyEight, July 1, 2014, http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/supreme-court-ruling-wounds-both-democrats-and-unions-neither-fatally/; “Election 2016, Exit Polls; President.”

  8.Kim Moody, US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, the Promise of Revival from Below (London: Verso, 2007), 145.

  9.Roper Center, “How Groups Voted,” 1980, 2014, http://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/how-groups-voted/how-groups-voted/; “Election 2016, Exit Polls.”

  10.Roper Center, “How Groups Voted,” 1996, 2000, http://ropercenter.cornell.edu/polls/us-elections/how-groups-voted/how-groups-voted/.

  11.Sean McElwee, “Why Non-Voters Matter,” Atlantic, September 15, 2015, www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/09/why-non-voters-matter/405

  12.David Wasserman, “2016 National Popular Vote Tracker,” Cook Political Report, December 15, 2016, http://cookpolitical.com/story/10174; US Electoral College, “2012 Presidential Election,” www.archives.gov/federal-register/electoral-college/2012/popular-vote.html; “Election Center: President: Ohio,” CNN Politics, December 10, 2012, www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/state/OH/president/#exit-polls and www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/state/OH/president/.

  13.Wasserman, “2016 National Popular Vote Tracker”; US Electoral College, “2012 Presidential Election.”

  14.“Election Center: President: Ohio.”

  15.“President, 100% Reporting,” New York Times, http://elections.nytimes.com/2-12/results/states/ohio; US Census, “QuickFacts, Lorain County, Ohio,” 2016, www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/39093.

  16.Russel Saltamontes, “A Union County,” Jacobin, October 6, 2014, www.jacobinmag.org/2014/a-union-county; US Census, “QuickFacts, Lorain County.”

  17.Lorain County Board of Elections, “2016 Primary Election,” http:media.wix.com/ugd/2568d0_
45e5b97f36b54098befa5ee19cb7f8e3.pdf.

  18.Lorain County Board of Elections, “2012 General Election,” http:media.wix.com/ugd/2568d0_45e5b97f36b54098befa5ee19cb7f8e3.pdf; Lorain County Board of Elections, “Lorain County 2016 General Election Results,” November 8, 2016, www.loraincounty.com/government/2016-general/; US Census, “QuickFacts, Lorain City, Ohio,” 2016, www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/3944856; US Census, “QuickFacts, Elyria City, Ohio, 2016, www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/3925256.

  19.Donald Green and Michael Schwam-Baird, “Mobilization, Participation, and American Democracy: A Retrospective and Postscript,” Party Politics 22, no. 2 (2016): 158–64; National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), “Voter Identification Requirements / VoterID Laws,” www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id.aspex.

  20.“Campaigns and Voter Information: Elections in a Digital Age,” Politics & Policy, http://politicsandpolicy.org/article/campaigns-and-voter-information-elections-digital-era; Max Willens, “Election 2016 Ads: Xaxis Will Target Voters Using Their Digital and Real-Life Data,” International Business Times, November 9, 2016, www.ibtimes.com/election-2016-political-ads-xaxis-will-target-voters-using-their-digital-real-life-2176196; DSPolitical, “Voter Targeted Digital Ads Now at Fingertips of Thousands of Democratic Campaigns,” http://dspolitical.com/press-releases/voter-targeted-ads-now-fingertips-thousands-democratic-campaigns; Hari Sreenivasan, “The Digital Campaign” transcript, PBS, 2012, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/digital-campaign/transcript/.

  21.Harry Davies and Danny Yadron, “How Facebook Tracks and Profits from Voters in a $10bn Election,” Guardian, January 28, 2016, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016//jan28/facebook-voters-us-election-fed-cruz-targeted-ads-trump; Green and Schwam-Baird, “Mobilization, Participation, and American Democracy,” 158–64; Willens, “Election 2016 Ads”; DSPolitical, “Voter Targeted Digitial Ads.”

  22.Davies and Yadron, “How Facebook Tracks and Profits from Voters.”