Michael Moore recently released his 10-Point Plan to Stop Trump. Since it has already been shared over 20,000 times on social media, I feel compelled to respond.
1). Moore writes as if all these problems began the moment Trump was inaugurated. By saying we simply need to “stop Trump” – we focus on one person as opposed to the larger structures of racism, heteropatriarchy, and capitalism. Trump is just the most visible and visceral representative of an oppressive system. Even if Trump has a “much-shortened presidential term,” we are still left with an oppressive apparatus.
2). Moore argues that we need to make daily phone calls to legislators because “Democrats need to hear from the boss – you!” I mean, sure, that sounds nice. But this is only true if we pretend that corporate funding, the electoral college, and voter disenfranchisement do not exist.
Let’s be honest: making phone calls is not a solution to the problem, it is an acknowledgment of one. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) voted to approve Mike Pompeo as director of the C.I.A. – a person who supports torture as an interrogation tactic. If we actually need to remind our representatives that torture is awful … then these phone calls are a colossal waste of time, folks. The fact that Democrats need to be pressured about basic human rights proves it is time to stop having faith in the system. Period. Moore’s ideas that we simply need to “take over the Democratic party,” “run for [Democratic] office,” and “let the DNC know that they must elect Keith Ellison” challenge absolutely nothing.
3). Moore says we need to develop our own “personal rapid response teams.” The idea is promising, but his description is incomplete. We need more than groups of people to attend protests and share articles online. We also need to develop/strengthen mutual aid networks so we have alternative connections and resources outside the capitalist State.
4). Moore says we need to “join, join, join” organizations, but goes on to list only those affiliated with the Democratic Party and/or the nonprofit-industrial complex. Unbeknownst to Moore, there are groups to the Left of this entire framework. Consider donating to, joining, or forming organizations along these lines, as well.
February 23, 2017 at 9:55 am
I always applaud Michael Moore for his brilliant pieces on things. For me, he doesn’t acknowledge how corrupt the Democratic party is. All politicians are dirty.
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February 23, 2017 at 9:59 am
Absolutely! He is a great film-maker and he has some good ideas, but for the most part, his work is dripping in a naive allegiance to the Democratic party. Whenever I read his stuff, I get the same vibe I get when I encounter a battered spouse: an unwillingness/inability to blame the abuser, and always having faith that it’ll all work out, smh.
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February 23, 2017 at 10:02 am
Right, like in Michael Moores eyes the Democratic Party is always right. I remember watching TRUMPLAND and thinking “Wow this is great, but Hilary Clinton is not the greatest.”
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February 23, 2017 at 10:06 am
Lol! Exactly. I agree with his Trump assessments (and he rightfully predicted that Trump was going to win) – but Clinton had A LOT of problems that he failed to acknowledge. I wish Moore would use his platform to go beyond the Democrats.
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February 23, 2017 at 1:44 pm
Reblogged this on The Most Revolutionary Act and commented:
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I can’t for the life of me imagine why Moore is seeking to deflect all the massive protest energy that’s being generated on removing Trump – when it should be focused on dismantling capitalism. What he’s proposing in another words is another faux color revolution like the CIA-sponsored Arab Spring revolutions – that removed sitting leaders like Mubarak – but left ordinary people worse off than ever in terms of human rights and social justice.
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February 23, 2017 at 1:56 pm
Exactly! His presence and platform is siphoning away and containing genuine anger that should be used to topple oppression. It’s pathetic that he simply suggests we “laugh” at Trump and make a few phone calls!
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February 23, 2017 at 3:06 pm
If phone calls made any difference, would we be where we are today? Exactly! They don’t make a difference because I cannot back my phone call up with a briefcase full of money and not only get my point across, but get some action.
Michael Moore should just stick to his documentaries or whatever it is he’s always making because the democrats are not the ‘answer’ to our problems, they’re just another problem to U.S.
You make excellent points!
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February 23, 2017 at 3:19 pm
Lol @ “cannot back my phone call up with a briefcase full of money”. Damn, that’s true. If you have no money, they make you call the standard hotline and leave a message. If you have that briefcase, though, you get the politician’s personal cellphone number 😂
You are right: Moore needs to fall back and stick to making those movies instead of misguiding masses of people!
Thanks for weighing in, Shelby!
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February 23, 2017 at 3:23 pm
I am in total agreement with your comment! As we used to say back in the day, “Right on!” LOL!
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February 23, 2017 at 5:31 pm
Fully agreed that Trump is an ugly Person, but many selfconsidering leftist (like Moore) are obviously almost totally unaware of what Clinton and her backers are! Clinton is the spearhead of the Neocons in the democratic party. She brought Victoria Nuland (quote: “fuck the EU”) into the Obama administration. Nuland is the wife of Robert Kagan. Robert Kagan is co-founder of the neoconservative “ Project For The New American Century”. The neocons are more and more in control of the democratic party and of the US administration. If one wants to know what is in the Neocon „pipe“, one should read their think tank papers. In September 2000 the US Think Tank “Project for the New American Century” issued the paper “Rebuilding America´s Defenses”. On page 60 you find the announcement of Fascist atrocities! It reads:
„And advanced forms of biological warfare that can “target” specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool.“
Surely it should not target white Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASPs)! About the possible consequences and background: “US Power Elite Declared War on the Southern Hemisphere, East Asia and all Non-Western Countries in September 2000”: https://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2016/03/13/us-power-elite-declared-war-on-the-southern-hemisphere-east-asia-and-all-non-western-countries-in-september-2000/
Andreas Schlüter
Sociologist
Berlin, Germany
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February 23, 2017 at 11:14 pm
Absolutely true! Thank you for the link. Moore, and those who theorize in that same vein, suffer from a major case of aphasia. They are completely incapable of critiquing the Democratic party. Hillary Clinton is a warhawk. She claims to be a feminist while simultaneously bombing millions of Arabs in the Middle East. She accepted campaign contributions from Saudi Arabia, which is a dictatorship and, according to the CIA, 15 out of 19 of the 9/11 hijackers were allegedly from there. You are right – it is in fulfillment of the imperialist, neoconservative agenda.
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February 24, 2017 at 6:39 am
Thanks for your friendly reply. But, please, leave the “Hijackers” out of the Nine Eleven “game”. Those were patsies, possibly tricked into the Setup. See:
Two pieces on that: http://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2013/09/11/nine-eleven-a-dozen-years-ago-stirred-it-the-third-world-war/
& http://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2014/08/12/usa-and-israel-the-helpless-giant-and-his-mad-dog-are-there-more-dirty-secrets/
And the “28 pages” are just another desinformation:
„US Neocon Power Elite: Lines of Defense around the Inside Job Nine Eleven“: https://wipokuli.wordpress.com/2016/09/29/us-neocon-power-elite-lines-of-defense-around-the-inside-job-nine-eleven/
Best regards
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February 24, 2017 at 7:27 am
Of course – that’s why I used the word “allegedly” – to demonstrate that even by their logic, their foreign policy still makes no sense. Thank you for the links.
Here is a short poem about 9/11 I wrote: https://zoneofnonbeing.wordpress.com/2016/09/11/the-best-way-to-honor-911-victims/
I am a “9/11 Truther”. I will go a step further and say that there were no airplanes at all … those images were simply edited in. The entire story, from back to front, is fraudulent!
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February 24, 2017 at 10:28 am
Nice Poem! As for the planes, I think planes crashed into the (“well prepared”) Towers, but not those ones said. And Pentagon and Shanksville was something else.
Happy Weekend greetings
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February 24, 2017 at 10:42 am
Thank you!
I agree that there were no planes in Shanksville or the Pentagon. But since they lied about THOSE planes, why should we believe the ones that hit the Towers were real!?
When we look at the Tower impact-footage closely, it becomes obvious that these planes were edited into the shot afterwards. Keep in mind: airplanes are made of aluminum and fiber glass – because they are light materials that enable it to be aerodynamic. The Towers were made of steel. When these materials collide with steel, they should break apart. It’s like a car hitting a brick wall: the car does not go THROUGH the wall, the car hits the wall and crumbles to pieces, right? So why is it that the 9/11 Tower videos show the planes literally cutting through steel!? The wings of the plane, which are flimsy, cut through the building like butter! This is physically impossible. These are cartoon graphics. In the media’s rush to brainwash us, they didn’t even bother to make the images realistic. Please watch this 2 minute video of a “plane” hitting the Tower, and tell me what you think!
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February 24, 2017 at 1:57 am
I distrust Michael Moore. Once upon a time I used to love him — I thought ‘Bowling For Columbine’ and ‘Fahrenheit 911’ were great, for example. But now — knowing what I know about the Democrats and their war mongering, plus Hillary’s evils — I just cannot support Moore. He seems to me a blind sheep, or perhaps more accurately, a person who knows the hand that feeds him (Corporate Media, Soros, Global Agenda, lobbyists, etc.) and he is not willing to ever bite that hand. (Which is why he is constantly offering these silly platitudes.) Plus it annoys me that he is obviously a multi- millionaire, yet he thinks he can portray an image as ‘one of us’ with his decidedly shabby clothes, etc. (Gimme a break lol!) I grow very tired of his hype.
As always, great post Darryl! And important food for thought!
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February 24, 2017 at 8:04 am
Good Morning Christine! Thank you!
You said: “it annoys me that he is obviously a multi-millionaire, yet he thinks he can portray an image as ‘one of us’, with his decidedly shabby clothes, etc. (Gimme a break lol)” 😂 😂 lol that is hilarious!! You are right, I never even considered the fraudulence of his thrift store swag lol.
I cannot trust Moore either. Throughout the campaign cycle (and today), a person’s position on the Democrats and Hillary Clinton was/is my litmus test of character. Anyone that can rationalize corporate involvement and neoconservative agendas – I immediately discount their opinion. Michael Moore worships the establishment, so I cringe when I see footage of him at rallies talking tough to the other sheep. He sells the idea of radical change but it is nothing more than pathetic reforms.
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February 24, 2017 at 6:27 pm
Yes — he is a puppet, bought and sold by the Clinton machine. His dumpy clothes got more and more annoying to me as time went on. The guy from Flint Michigan (who now owns NINE MANSIONS, some upside of 2 million dollars!) is no longer fit to speak for ‘everyman’. Nor lecture us, nor give ‘advice’ 🙂
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February 25, 2017 at 3:09 am
I completely agree! ICE is performing ungodly raids and deportations on undocumented immigrants. He has nine mansions … but I have yet to hear him offer any of his property up as “sanctuaries”. It’s time to exit Stage Left, Sir!
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February 25, 2017 at 9:08 am
Lol! It is the same old thing — all these extremely wealthy people (George Clooney is another one) who are so sympathetic to the refugees, but do they open up their many mansions to even one of them?? Of course not. Exit indeed. No credibility!
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February 26, 2017 at 10:02 am
One of the problems with liberal Democrats, in addition to their unconscious biases, is their refusal to acknowledge the problems within the Democratic party. I was born in the U.S. My parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. were born in the U.S. My family is filled with Democrats, but having grown up from a poor Black kid in the South to an intelligent Black woman, I can honestly say I don’t believe the DNC cares anymore about its poor constituents than the GOP cares about theirs. There’s corruption on BOTH sides, Democratic and Republican, and the DNC is not perfect.
Everyone is an uproar as if Trump CREATED racist Americans. They already existed, he just emboldened them. Trump didn’t create systemic oppression either. This country was restructured around systemic racism and oppression. Trump’s just a practitioner of it, like many others in this country, including many former U.S. presidents. SMH.
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February 26, 2017 at 10:35 am
Great points! I agree that the DNC doesn’t care anymore than the RNC does.
One of my endeavors is to show that the so-called “Left wing” and the so-called “Right wing” belong to the same bird. Most of our political commentary boils down to this simple binary. But at the end of the day, we are screwed with either party: its just a matter of how we will be screwed. The only difference is: the Democrats use lubricant.
I agree that the “DNC is not perfect”. I would go a step further and say that the DNC is a tool for neoliberalism. For example, the DNC decided to throw all of their support behind Clinton instead of Sanders – and they got demolished. A lot of the states where Trump won (MI, OH, IA) – Obama won them last time. This tells us that a lot of Trump supporters are disgruntled Obama supporters. Neoliberalism has been crushing the (white) working class – and they are fed up with it. The mortality rate of poor whites is astounding; so when Clinton was on that stage promising the same ol’ garbage, they went with Trump. The anti-corporate message of Sanders appealed much more to the white working class than Clinton; and it was the unwillingness of the DNC (because they worship corporations) to see this that we are now stuck with Trump.
Just yesterday: the DNC elected Tom Perez instead of Keith Ellison. Perez was the labor secretary under Obama. During Obama’s administration, 94% of the jobs “added” to the economy were part-time or contract labor. Workers have become much more disposable. Perez oversaw the rise of Uber. I mean … come on! Perez, Obama, Biden, Clinton, etc are all neoliberals. Meanwhile, Ellison was backed by Sanders – and they could at least understand the failures of neoliberalism. The fact that Perez won tells us that the neoliberal wing of the Democratic Party controls the Party itself. As some have argued, the DNC routinely gives us the middle finger.
So, in the past year, the DNC has betrayed liberals by choosing Clinton over Sanders; and now choosing Perez over Ellison. When will liberals learn that the Democratic Party is not, and cannot be, the solution to our problems? We need a #DemExit! Democrats need to shift to the Left (i.e. socialism, anarchism, etc) because the Democratic party itself has shifted to the Right.
I was going to write an article about Perez and the DNC – but you know what? Trump said it best. Last night, Trump tweeted this: “Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who just became the head of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party”. In other words: there is nothing threatening about Perez … he plays right into the hands of the Republican Party. The sooner liberals realize that the Democratic Party is the collapsing into the Republican Party, the quicker they can form movements and parties outside of this.
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February 26, 2017 at 11:39 am
“The only difference is: the Democrats use lubricant.” 😂😂😂😂
“…a lot of Trump supporters are disgruntled Obama supporters. Neoliberalism has been crushing the (white) working class – and they are fed up with it.” I think one of the reasons so many Democrats are converting to Republicans is that they feel the party has abandoned them.
Many liberals hail Barack Obama as the greatest President ever. Granted Republicans did everything they could to undermine him, disrespect him and his family, and fight against anything he tried to accomplish…but he wasn’t perfect. There are some aspects of the Affordable Care Act that must be eliminated. For example, the fact that it makes having health insurance mandatory, and that failing to do so will cause you to be financially penalized, as if the poor aren’t struggling enough. Furthermore, government plans under the ACA are NOT affordable for the average American. Obama’s administration was focused on the middle class, and like always the poor Democrats were forgotten, not that politicians like Paul Ryan (R) helped. The way Ryan continues to screw the poor as Chairman of the House Budget Committee is disgusting.
Last year I was extremely displeased by our presidential choices: a reality star/”celebrity” con-artist and racist liar, and a liar who will pander to minorities simply to garner votes. Say what they will of Trump, he was and always will be a bigot who has never nor will ever care about minorities or the poor, but at least he’s open with it…unlike some Democratic politicians.
I have to tell you, you and our discussion on this topic has just inspired me to write an article. Thank you! 😉😉😉
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February 26, 2017 at 11:58 am
I agree. When I think of the ACA, I think of a line from J.Cole: “the good news is … you came a long way, the bad news is … you went the wrong way”. The ACA has made a monumental achievement in extending health insurance to people until they are 26, and eliminating clauses about pre-existing conditions. But like you said, it is not affordable. It is based on the profit-driven insurance industry, when it should be a single payer system. Most of the states in the South opted out of the Medicaid expansion. This has a disproportionate impact on the poor/blacks/women.
And the one thing I like about Trump is his honesty. His views are problematic but at least he keeps it real … unlike Democratic politicians. I admire that in a person.
I am glad this discussion inspired you to write an article! I’ll be over to check it out ☺
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February 26, 2017 at 12:10 pm
You know some liberal just can’t admit that the DNC has some hidden Trumps. Some of them feel just like him, but they hide it, won’t acknowledge it. Do you want you racism and discrimination covert or overt? I prefer it overt, that way I know the type of person I’m dealing with.
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February 26, 2017 at 12:13 pm
Exactly! Electing the “first Latino ever” with Perez is just window dressing. He is a white supremacist irrespective of how fluently he can speak Spanglish.
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February 26, 2017 at 12:15 pm
Dude, my typos!!! 😭 Apologies.
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February 26, 2017 at 12:16 pm
I didn’t even notice lol. Amazing how the brain auto-corrects lol
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March 1, 2017 at 6:19 pm
Very good thoughts as usual.
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March 1, 2017 at 6:29 pm
☺ thank you my friend!
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