The call to advent

An answer to Chris Cutrone's 'Why not Trump?'

The call to advent

 November 8, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

THE SHORT ARTICLE “WHY NOT TRUMP?” by Chris Cutrone in Platypus Review #891 is both brilliant and deeply flawed. It is brilliant in its provocative polemic, starting with the title, forcing us to engage with the question in a fresh way. This undeniably is what Cutrone intended, a challenge starting with and finally culminating in “the obvious question that is avoided but must be asked by anyone not too frightened to think. [Read More]
Chris Cutrone  Donald Trump  /2016 American Presidential Election 

Why not Trump?

Why not Trump?

 September 6, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

IF ONE BLOWS ALL THE SMOKE AWAY, one is left with the obvious question: Why not Trump?1 Trump’s claim to the Presidency is two-fold: that he’s a successful billionaire businessman; and that he’s a political outsider. His political opponents must dispute both these claims. But Trump is as much a billionaire and as much a successful businessman and as much a political outsider as anyone else. Trump says he’s fighting against a “rigged system. [Read More]
/2016 American Presidential Election  Donald Trump 

Paralysis of will

Bernie Sanders's capitulation

Paralysis of will

 September 6, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

THE U.S. DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONVENTION in Philadelphia ended with a big schism that divides not only the supporters of Hillary Clinton from her opponents, but also Bernie Sanders from the movement he led until not very long ago. The senator from Vermont who attracted thousands across America to his rallies and ignited them with his speeches looked helpless – even ridiculous – in Philadelphia. In a matter of seconds, his speech endorsing Hillary turned a charismatic leader who embodied the hopes of millions into a pathetic old man who does not understand what is happening around him. [Read More]
Bernie Sanders  Donald Trump  /2016 American Presidential Election  Democratic Party 

Who's afraid of Donald Trump?

Who's afraid of Donald Trump?

 July 11, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

AGAINST THE BACKDROP of the numerous discussions of the political agenda, appearance, and vocabulary of the candidates running in the American presidential election, there is almost no demand for one subject: What is the class nature and mass social base of each politician? This approach comes naturally to the right-wing and liberal media, but why is it completely alien to the Left? The reason seems to be that the answers we would get if we were to consider this issue seriously would not be palatable for everyone on the Left. [Read More]
Donald Trump  Bernie Sanders  /2016 American Presidential Election 

Sanders, the Democrats, and the Left

Sanders, the Democrats, and the Left

 May 3, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

ON APRIL 2, 2016, during its eighth international convention in Chicago, Illinois, Platypus brought together Jason Schulman of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and Bernard Sampson of the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA), to discuss how the electoral campaign of Bernie Sanders matters for the Left. Coeditor of the socialist journal New Politics, Jason Schulman’s latest book is Neoliberal Labour Governments and the Union Response: The Politics of the End of Labourism. [Read More]
Bernie Sanders  DSA  CPUSA  Hilary Clinton  Democratic Party  /2016 American Presidential Election 

The Sandernistas

Postscript on the March 15 primaries

The Sandernistas

 March 30, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Coda to “The Sandernistas: The Final Triumph of the 1980s,” Platypus Review 82 (December 2015). THE PRIMARY ELECTIONS for the nomination of the Democrat and Republican candidates for President have demonstrated the depth and extent of the disarray of the two parties. Sanders has successfully challenged Hillary and has gone beyond being a mere messenger of protest to become a real contender for the Democratic Party nomination. But this has been on the basis of the Democrats’ established constituencies and so has limited Sanders’s reach. [Read More]
Bernie Sanders  /2016 American Presidential Election 

The 2016 elections

A response to Baszak and Henwood

The 2016 elections

 March 30, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

IN HIS FEBRUARY 2016 review of Doug Henwood’s new book, My Turn: Hillary targets the presidency, Gregor Baszak summarizes Henwood’s disdain for Hillary Clinton and his ambivalence toward Bernie Sanders. (See Gregor Baszak, “Book Review: Doug Henwood, My Turn: Hillary Targets the Presidency,” Platypus Review 83, February 2016. Available online at 2016/01/30/book-review-doug-henwood-my-turn-hillary-targets-the-presidency-new-york-or-books-2016/) Baszak concludes the Sanders campaign is another step toward liquidating the Left into the Democratic Party, what some call the “graveyard of social movements. [Read More]
Bernie Sanders  Hillary Clinton  /2016 American Presidential Election 

Book Review: Doug Henwood, *My Turn: Hillary Targets the Presidency*

Book Review: Doug Henwood, *My Turn: Hillary Targets the Presidency*

 January 30, 2016  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

New York: OR Books, 2016. “MY TWO CENTS’ WORTH – and I think it is the two cents’ worth of everybody who worked for the Clinton Administration health care reform effort of 1993–1994 – is that Hillary Rodham Clinton needs to be kept very far away from the White House for the rest of her life… Perhaps she will make a good senator. But there is no reason to think that she would be anything but an abysmal president. [Read More]
Hillary Clinton  Doug Henwood  /2016 American Presidential Election 

The Sandernistas

The final triumph of the 1980s

The Sandernistas

 December 17, 2015  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

THE CAMPAIGN CYCLE for the 2016 general election in the U.S. has been characterized by some throwbacks to the 1980s, most notably in the two major party challengers, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Most remarkably, the Sanders campaign has introduced the word “socialism” into mainstream political discourse. It’s clear that what socialism means in Sanders’s mouth, however, is New Deal liberalism – despite the poster of Eugene V. Debs that hangs in Sanders’s Senate office. [Read More]
Bernie Sanders  Liberalism  New Deal  /2016 American Presidential Election