Election Year Thanksgivings’ are always the most fun!
In my family, it's a bit of a pastime to talk politics at the dinner table.
First off, Happy Thanksgiving holiday weekend, everyone! I’m thankful for many things. At this very moment, I’m especially thankful for this platform to share my thoughts with you.
At my dinner table over Thanksgiving, the topic of politics was certainly a conversation we had. I wasn’t sitting at the dinner table with any Trump fans, as this was a bit of a smaller family gathering, surrounded more by the fellow teachers in my family. (Not to say all teachers are Democrats…but, still).
While almost everyone at this Thanksgiving dinner voted for Harris over Trump, there certainly wasn’t the same shock over a Trump victory as there was in 2016.
It’s hard for me to pinpoint the national mood of the country in 2016, but it certainly didn’t have the same across the board anger over things and anxiety about the economy and inflation the way this year in 2024 has.
I was listening to Bill Simmons interview Chuck Klosterman1, and Klosterman did an informal survey of his circle of people about the election results. Klosterman said rather counter-intuitively that the people he knows who are complete political junkies, were totally shocked that Trump won.
As for the people he knew who keep abreast of political issues, but don’t live it and breathe it, they were not at all surprised that Trump won. This made Chuck Klosterman question his entire world-view.
But, maybe he shouldn’t.
America is a land of multiple bubbles, in which the national conversation is more noisy than what is happening in people’s communities on a day to day basis.
Obviously, there are large national trends impacting many if not all communities. The cost of rent across the country has gone up, even if rent prices in Pennsylvania seem way cheaper than rent prices in NY. It’s still impacting everyone!
<Beneath all that competition for affordable living, is the rise of migrants coming to America, taking away what is left of what’s good and affordable in America.>
Let me preface that prior statement by saying that the perception is that migrants are taking away what’s left of what’s good and affordable in America.
The reality of any situation is always up for debate. But, the optics often shape our perception, and our perception often dictates what we interpret as our reality.
As in politics as in life, people’s economic circumstances always plays a huge factor in people’s “interpreted” reality!
The picture above is of Democratic operative James Carville2, the man credited with masterminding the Election of Bill Clinton to the Presidency in 1992.
Aside from the domestic issues causing Americans to have a lot of anxiety, we also have a lot of international conflict going on.
Ross Barkan wrote a great piece on the war going on in Ukraine3. An issue I’m not nearly as well-versed in as I feel like I should be.
From reading Barkan’s piece, and some of the pointed criticism at it from the comments section, it makes me realize that there is more then one war many Americans feel emotionally invested in.
Of course the other war that has taken up more of my emotional bandwidth is “The War in Gaza”4. An issue that has in my view created an even more partisan split within the Jewish community (and world at large).
Interestingly, Trump has come out saying he wants a cease-fire in Gaza before he enters office on Day #15.
The ongoing conflicts in the Middle-East is something I’m certainly paying close attention to. I find people who most support the genocide against Palestinians… I mean the Israeli war against Hamas, vehemently against a cease-fire.
But, maybe Trump’s desire for a cease-fire, makes people’s desire for blood-lust, finally somewhat satiated. This very well could be Trump’s “Nixon goes to China” moment6.
The more magnanimous side of me, is appreciative that this could be the result. The cynical side of me is pretty disgusted that some people might all of a sudden agree with a cease-fire only because of Trump. The nihilistic side of me thinks we are all idiots in this political charade.
I’m sometimes of the belief that “Humanity” is eventually going to run its course7 . These current bloody wars and conflicts are merely just another sad chapter in a sad book of sad chapters on people’s quest to conquer and kill one another.
Sorry, I’m not leaving you all on a more positive and cheery note. It’s late November in NY. It’s freezing outside, and the sun now goes down before 5 PM every day. There will be more posts to come from me, however. You can be sure of that.
Until Next time!
-JPJ
Side-note: If you received this newsletter in your email inbox, and want an optimum viewing experience, I suggest you go directly to my site to read this.
Also, I have started to make more use of footnotes in my posts. I find this to be valuable and less distracting as you enjoy your reading experience, here.
AND… If you missed my latest piece, check it out, here.
FOOTNOTES/END-NOTES
Bill Simmons, Chuck Klosterman interview, November 27, 2024 https://www.theringer.com/the-bill-simmons-podcast/2024/11/27/24306988/holiday-check-in-on-anything-and-everything-with-chuck-klosterman
There’s a documentary out featuring James Carville called “Winning is everything, stupid”
“Trump Wants Gaza Cease-fire” https://www.axios.com/2024/11/29/trump-gaza-ceasefire-hostage-deal
Quote from https://www.wikipedia.org/
The phrase "Nixon goes to China", "Nixon to China", or "Nixon in China" is a historical reference to U.S. President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to the People's Republic of China, where he met with Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong. Its basic import is that Nixon's well-established reputation as an anti-Communist "hawk" gave him political cover against domestic criticism for a move that might have been portrayed as conciliating a geopolitical rival.
This video (below) will be shared/referenced in a later post as well. It’s incredibly interesting as the narrator explains how Human-Civilization has gone through 4 or 5 other incarnations. It’s kind of mind-blowing, if you ask me.