Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, Pseudo-Election 2016

Tomgram: Andrew Bacevich, Pseudo-Election 2016

Posted by Andrew Bacevich at 7:50am, August 4, 2016.
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[Note for TomDispatch Readers: TD is taking this weekend off. Next post: Tuesday, August 9th.  Tom]

If you’re of a certain age (as I am), there’s something that should have startled you recently and yet, as far as I know, no one has bothered to mention it: anytime in the last seven decades, any American politician running for any position from dogcatcher to president who had called on Russia’s leaders for help in a domestic campaign (no less for them to release the supposedly cyber-hacked emails of a former secretary of state) would have been pilloried.  His or her career would have instantly been over; his or her reputation turned to ash; his or her future life, rubble.  No exceptions.

Yet the immortal Donald, the Incredible Hulk of present-day American politics, did just that -- not once but twice.  First, he said: “By the way, [the Russians] hacked -- they probably have her 33,000 [missing] emails.  I hope they do. They probably have her 33,000 emails that she lost and deleted because you'd see some beauties there.  So let's see."  Then, assumedly just in case anyone had missed what he was getting at, he put it even more bluntly: “Russia, if you're listening: I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.  I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.  Let's see if that happens."

Tomgram: Thomas Frank, Worshipping Money in D.C.

Tomgram: Thomas Frank, Worshipping Money in D.C.

Posted by Thomas Frank at 7:55am, June 30, 2016.

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[Note for TomDispatch Readers: Read today's piece and then get your hands on Thomas Frank's new book, Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?  It's the political must-read of this season if you want to know where liberalism went in the last two and a half decades.  The next TomDispatch post will be on Tuesday, July 5th.  Tom]

I’m no stranger to shakedowns. I’ve experienced them, in one form or another, from Asia to Africa.

Sometimes the corruption is subtle. Sometimes it’s naked. Sometimes you press folded currency into someone’s palm. Sometimes there’s a more official procedure. Sometimes a payment is demanded outright. (A weapon might even be involved.) Other times, it’s up to you to suggest that we somehow work things out privately.

Luckily, I live in the United States, and if the 2016 presidential campaign has reminded me of anything, it’s that America is, by definition (and unlike so many of the other countries on the planet), a corruption-free zone. Mind you, no one would claim that the race for the Oval Office is free of unethical behavior. It’s just that the actions and efforts involved aren’t considered “corrupt” here.