Political violence and elections in Trumplandia
That Kavanaugh victory party feels like it was so long ago. The GOP sounds nervous again. The mid-term elections are a referendum on Trump, so Trump declares. If the Trump-sympathetic doesn’t judge their well-being in stock market performances, it’s going to be hard to say they are better off now than 2 years ago. Hell, […]
Cicilline describes life inside, and politics behind, tender age detention centers
“It’s horrific,” said Congressman David Cicilline. “It’s barbaric.” The Rhode Island Democrat was describing what he saw after visiting immigration detention centers on the Texas/Mexico border this weekend where President Donald Trump’s family separation policy is playing out as a moral and political crisis before America’s and the world’s eyes. “It is horrifying to see […]
Trump makes America Koch again
President Donald Trump claimed to be an ally to the working class, deriding the so-called swamp and corporate control of politicians during the campaign. But the billionaire real estate developer has governed as an ally to his fellow well-connected business tycoons – cutting corporate taxes, gutting Obamacare, and abandoning the Paris Accord. To this end, […]
Are Democrats too concerned with Russian election meddling?
There are many people on the left who think “Russiagate” merits wall-to-wall news coverage and MSNBC’s near-singular focus. I’m not one of them. In fact, I’m beginning to find the rhetoric coming out of the Democratic Party on Russia, with its comparisons to the deadly attacks of 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, more than misplaced. They’re […]
19 legislative Democrats represent districts Trump won
Of the 114 legislative districts in Rhode Island, President Donald Trump carried 28 of them. But only nine of those districts sent Republicans to the General Assembly. That means there are 19 Democratic legislators who represent districts that voted for Trump in 2016. The most famous example is House Speaker Nick Mattiello, whose Cranston district […]
Trump made Nellie Gorbea and John Marion happy, Ken Block sad
President Donald Trump did something yesterday that pleased both Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea and Common Cause of Rhode Island Executive Director John Marion. Namely, Trump shut down his controversial voter fraud commission. “I was not surprised to learn that President Trump has dissolved his Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity,” said Gorbea, in a […]
RI delegation denounces Trump’s tax plan
Rhode Island’s all-Democratic Congressional delegation is none-too-pleased with Trump’s tax plan that seems poised to reach his desk today or tomorrow. “Republicans just pulled off one of the biggest cons in the history of American politics,” said Congressman David Cicilline. Senator Jack Reed went almost as far, saying, “It is an historic transfer of wealth […]
RI reacts to Trump decision to keep EPA from presenting local climate findings
The authors and supporters of a new report called The State of Narragansett Bay and Its Watershed hoped the new report would help call attention to the dire effects of climate change on coastal Rhode Island. Instead, the report is calling attention to the dire effects of the Trump Administration on science and speech. “I […]
RI delegation chides Trump for administrative dismantling of Obamacare
Rather than dismantling Obamacare through executive orders, Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation urged President Donald Trump and Republicans to work with Democrats to fix the Affordable Care Act. The four Democrats oppose Trump’s executive orders that would allow for cheaper plans with fewer benefits and stop subsidies for some poor people’s health care. Senator Jack Reed […]
Cicilline legislation would provide view into Trump’s swamp
Congressman David Cicilline’s new bill won’t actually drain the swamp out of Trump Administration, but it could give America a better glimpse at that ecosystem. It’s called the DRAIN The Swamp Act, or the Determining if Regulatory Actions are in the Interest of the Nation or the Swamp Act, and it would require “agencies to […]
Something’s gone missing in the struggle for social change, part 2
In Something’s Gone Missing Part 1, I took you on a personal journey through a portion of the Resistance to the Trumpian agenda in Rhode Island as I learned that many social change organizers today approach their work in ways fundamentally different than the decades ago. This new way I believe, leaves out an essential ingredient of the kind of revolutionary positive change we and the world so need.
Intellectual responsibility reconsidered: A Trump-vigilant sociology
Editor’s note: This post is part of a summer-long series, The Sociology of Trump. Every Friday RI Future will feature an essay written by a Brown University sociology student on an aspect of Trumpism. Read the introduction: Culture, power, and social change in the time of Trump. What does intellectual responsibility mean in these times? […]
How technology and Trumpism met in 2016
What unique qualities and conditions of Donald Trump allowed for his election and, dually, what unique qualities of American society in 2016 allowed for the election of Trump?
Interpreting Trump: How body language reveals unstated truths
One countlessly repeated example of Trump’s unique body language is evidenced by his dominating and aggressive handshakes, which are doled out to constituents and opponents alike…
Moment or movement? Sociology in the rise of Donald Trump
“The day after Donald Trump’s election, Barack Obama gathered bleary-eyed staffers in the Oval Office to reassure them that their progress over the last eight years would not vanish. History, he promised, “does not move in straight lines; sometimes it goes sideways, sometimes it goes backward…”
How should immigration allies respond to the end of DACA?
I am not an immigrant, but like almost all of us in this country today, I am descended from immigrants. My ancestors are from Eastern Europe. Some came here fleeing pogroms and conscription into the Czar’s army, while others merely came here for better economic opportunity. I am Jewish, but like the majority of Jews […]
RI Democrats stand with Dreamers, oppose ending DACA
Top elected officials in Rhode Island spoke out against President Trump’s plan to cancel DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that grants amnesty to 800,000 children of undocumented immigrants. “As long as I am Governor of this state,” said Governor Gina Raimondo, “Rhode Island will stand up for the American Dream, and the […]
RI delegation chides Trump for ending DACA
Rhode Island’s all-Democratic congressional delegation reacted harshly today after the White House confirmed President Donald Trump plans to upend immigration status for 800,000 Americans by eliminating DACA, or the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. “President Trump’s priorities are backwards,” said Senator Jack Reed. “This decision is shameful and cruel,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. “America has […]
Trump and white evangelicals: points of conversions
Editor’s note: This post is part of a summer-long series, The Sociology of Trump. Every Friday RI Future will feature an essay written by a Brown University sociology student on an aspect of Trumpism. Read the introduction: Culture, power, and social change in the time of Trump. The election of Donald Trump surprised many. His […]
Translating Trump: Sociology of language in the time of Donald Trump
2017 marks a time of incredible political divide in the United States. While some might argue that Donald Trump is the wedge driving people apart, I argue that it is more accurate to say that he reveals the divisions that had already been festering for some time.
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