2018 Film Roundup, Part 4: The Rest (The Good, the Bad and the Godawful).

The annual post-Oscar film roundup is a pre-blog tradition that comes in four parts. In addition to this section, there's The Oscars and the Year in Review, The Top Four and Noteworthy Films.

Incredibles 2: The first film remains one of Pixar's best, and the sequel isn't as strong, but if you like the characters, you'll want to check it out. In this one, wealthy Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) loved superheroes as a kid and has a public relations plan to win back the rest of public to the idea. He's assisted by his tech genius sister, Elaine (Catherine Keener). In the first film, Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) has the starring role, but here he must adjust to be the at-home parent while Helen Parr/Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) goes on the first missions (she's less likely to break things). While Helen tries to track down a menacing new foe, the Screenslaver, Bob has to deal with young Jack-Jack's burgeoning powers. Dash (Huckleberry Milner) struggles with his math homework, and Violet (Sarah Vowell) is justifiably upset that her potential boyfriend had his memory wiped to preserve their secret identities and can no longer remember her. Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) and mad scientist fashion designer Edna (Brad Bird) are back, too, of course. The film does a nice job during the last act of giving all the characters something to do. This installment's not a classic, but it's still a fun outing.

Deadpool 2: It's not as good as the first film (notice a trend?), but if you liked that, you'll enjoy this one. This time, Wade Wilson/Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) has to deal with personal tragedy and defends awkward teenaged mutant Russell Collins/Firefist (Julian Dennison) from Cable (Josh Brolin), a mutant cyborg from the future intent on killing Russell for horrible actions he performs in the future. Deadpool gets an assist from the preternaturally lucky Domino (Zazie Beetz). As you'd expect, the film is mainly an excuse for Ryan Reynolds to riff, ham it up, mock himself and others, and push the boundaries of taste, but he was born to play this character and the movie's often entertaining. This is definitely a rated "R" movie, with gratuitous violence to make you laugh and cringe. You probably know if this flick's for you.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: After Infinity War, maybe you were in the mood for a… smaller movie. Paul Rudd is back as Scott Lang, trying to creatively spend time with his daughter Cassie and not violate probation. This means occasionally facing off with FBI agent/probation officer Jimmy Woo, played by comic actor Randall Park with an amusing straight-man approach. But Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) come calling for help in possibly rescuing Hank's wife and Hope's mother, Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Scott feels compelled to try. Hope finally gets to suit up as the Wasp, and she and Scott are doing well until they run into the Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), a high-tech thief who appears to phase through solid objects. Hank winds up seeking help from his old, semi-estranged partner, Bill Foster (Laurence Fishburne). And of course, Michael Peña returns as Luis, the most memorable of Scott's business associates. The structure of the film is surprisingly tight, and I enjoyed it more than I expected. The Ant-Man films are funnier than most of the Marvel movies, but this one also makes some pleasantly unexpected choices, and Rudd remains good as the main character. Make sure to watch the end credit sequence (if you're a Marvel completionist).

Ready Player One: Steven Spielberg directs the adaptation of Ernest Cline's 80s geek nostalgia book, with entertaining but not overwhelming results. It's the future, and corporations rule the world even more than they do currently; most people live hardscrabble lives. They spend most of their time in the Oasis, a vast virtual reality consisting of entire solar systems. There's competitive gaming in the Oasis in any historical, fictional or fantastical world you can think of — and the best gamers can get rich — but school and other mundane activities are also handled in the Oasis. The Oasis' creator, James Halliday (Mark Rylance), decides to create a will leaving ownership of the Oasis to whoever can solve a series of riddles and find the ultimate gamer hidden Easter egg; that person would become one of the richest and most powerful people alive. "Gunters" are egg hunters, competing against IOI, an evil, powerful corporation led by Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), who's a ruthless CEO, yet also a skilled gamer with a staff of uber-geeks to help him and his IOI troops find Halliday's Easter egg.

Our hero is Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) known online as Parzival, a poor, orphaned teenager and skilled gamer who spends all his spare time researching Halliday and trying to find the egg. His best friend is Aech (pronounced "H"), who he's never met in real life. They help each other out, and Parzival winds up in friendly competition with, and smitten with, Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), a great gamer and cool customer who fiercely opposes IOI.

You don't need to get all the references to enjoy the ride, but you'll probably like the movie more if you remember the 80s and its video games, role-playing games, movies, TV shows and other pop culture. (I'll admit some references made me smile.) The book presents the Oasis as central to society, and it's less so in the movie. But the book, while enjoyable, plays heavily on nostalgia and isn't that deep. Its main female characters start out well and then become disappointingly one-dimensional in the final stretch. In the book, Halliday is presented as a genius, but of the Asperger's variety; some readers might see past Wade's hero worship and find Halliday manipulative and a bit pitiable. His contest essentially amounts to an OCD guy forcing people to pore over all his favorite books, movies, TV shows and games looking for clues. Spielberg and screenwriter Zak Penn (Cline is also credited, but Penn was the lead) wisely try to translate the book's contests into cinematic terms, which includes a funny homage/parody of a notable 80s horror film. It was an inspired piece of adaptation, all the more enjoyable because one character doesn't like horror and goes on to make every horror character mistake imaginable. The single best choice Spielberg made, however, was casting his previous collaborator, Mark Rylance, as Halliday – Halliday in the book might be somewhat cold and problematic, but Rylance oozes humanity, and his Halliday comes off as brilliant, lonely and socially awkward, but truly kind-hearted and well-intentioned underneath it all. In this sense, he's a bit like Hammond in Jurassic Park, who Spielberg transformed from the book's ruthless, selfish capitalist eager to gouge money from rich families into a kindly Santa Claus figure played by Richard Attenborough (who would go on to play Santa Claus). I thought that change made Hammond less interesting, but Spielberg loves the warm-fuzzy family stuff, and I thought the film Halliday was more interesting and three-dimensional than the book version. Rylance is such a fine actor he can make a single word with a small pause or stutter hit you. Meanwhile, the young cast is pretty good, and the women drive the action a bit more than they do in the book. Spielberg deserves particular credit for casting actors with good vocal work, because Parzival and Art3mis especially are animated voices for much of the movie. Simon Pegg, he of impeccable geek cred, is well-cast as Halliday's former best friend and business partner, Ogden "Og" Morrow. Spielberg even gives his villain Sorrento a nice moment of wonder. This isn't a great film, but it's a fun popcorn flick for a certain crowd, especially the ones who still remember how to navigate the maze in the Atari 2600's Adventure cartridge without using the bridge (ahem). You might catch visual or aural references to Excalibur, Monty Python, Clash of the Titans, Krull, War of the Worlds (the 1953 one, not the Spielberg one), among the many, many more obvious ones.

Annihilation: Give Annihilation credit for being genuinely creepy at times. A phenomenon called "the Shimmer" has sprung up around a meteorite in Florida. No one who enters the Shimmer comes back… and it is slowly expanding. But then Kane (Oscar Isaac), the husband of biology professor and military veteran Lena (Natalie Portman), suddenly appears back home after being gone for a year and presumed dead after a covert mission. He doesn't seem fully himself and has potentially severe heath issues. It turns out he's the first person ever to return from the Shimmer. Lena is recruited by Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to join her all-female team to enter into Shimmer; Lena hopes to find something to cure Kane (although she and Ventress keep her connection to Kane secret) and none of the rest have family attachments. (The other three are played by Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson and Tuva Novotny.) The Shimmer messes with the team's sense of time, and they encounter a number of dangers, especially strange, hybrid mutations. The standout scene of the movie is a tense and legitimately unsettling one involving a mutant bear; if you've seen the trailer, you've caught a glimpse. At times, the Shimmer is rather pretty and not all of its oddities are menacing, but it seems to affect each member of the team differently. The score, by Geoff Barrow and Jeff Salisbury, is dissonant, jarring and pretty effective for creating unease. The movie's adapted from the first book in the Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer, which I have not read. I was not a big fan of adapter and director Alex Garland's previous film, Ex Machina (reviewed here), but I thought this one was much more effective. The premise and focus on atmosphere and personal histories reminded me the most of Tarkovsky's Stalker, although that's much more of an art house film, and "explore the odd phenomenon" and "big dumb object" are pretty standard setups in science fiction. More in the…
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The climactic scene, with the mirror dance/fight, made for pretty interesting cinema. I didn't buy that the heads of the project would put apparent Lena and apparent Kane together unmonitored at the end, though. The heads seem to accept too quickly that apparent Lena is indeed Lena and fine. Maybe in the sequel it's revealed that they were being recorded or more tests occur.

Pacific Rim Uprising: The first Pacific Rim film (reviewed here) was a fun outing of humanity fighting giant kaijuwith giant mecha called Jaegers, driven by a pair of pilots in mental synch. It wasn't deep, but director Guillermo del Toro brought his usual zest and flair. This is director and cowriter Steven S. DeKnight's first feature film (although he's directed television episodes before), and it's not nearly as good, although you might like the fights and some of the actors. The stars this time are Jake Pentecost (John Boyega), son of Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba) from the first film, Jake's former partner, Nathan Lambert (Scott Eastwood), with whom he has bad blood, and Amara Namani (Cailee Spaeny), a teenage street urchin-genius mechanic. Her small, highly mobile mech makes for some entertaining sequences. Returning from the first film are former Jaeger pilot Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), who's now head of Earth's mecha defenses, and mad scientists Hermann Gottlieb (Burn Gorman) and Newton Geiszler (Charlie Day). Better mecha-kaiju stories definitely exist, so the main appeal here is seeing what a big Hollywood visual effects budget can do with the genre.

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Go in with low expectations, and you may be pleasantly surprised. Alden Ehrenreich gives his best shot at playing the iconic Han Solo as a young man. Along the way, we get to see how he met Chewbacca (now played by Joonas Suotamo) and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover, who lobbied hard for the role). Woody Harrelson plays Beckett, head of a gang of thieves; Paul Bettany plays Dryden Voss, Beckett's main employer; and Emilia Clarke plays Qi'ra (pronounced Kira), who grew up with Han and who he still loves. The screenwriters, Jonathan Kasdan and his dad, Star Wars veteran scribe Lawrence Kasdan, have fun riffing on many of Han Solo's most famous lines and tweaking them in a way that'll make fans smile and chuckle.

The film has two major problems. One, it's almost impossible to find anyone with the raw charisma and charm that Harrison Ford had playing Han Solo. Ehrenreich gives it a go, even mimicking some of Ford's slouches and mannerisms, but falls short of the sheer wattage needed. Two, Han really needs to be much more a scoundrel. That's always been a key part of his appeal, and this film makes him far, far too nice and self-sacrificing. I'm going to blame that one on Disney suits. Original directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were fired and Ron Howard took over, continuing a trend from Rogue One. Most of the film was reshot and the leaked stories from set were not encouraging. So although Solo could have been better, it could have been far worse.

Bohemian Rhapsody: Bohemian Rhapsody follows the usual rule for biopics: the lead performance is the best thing about the movie, which is otherwise so-so. We follow young Farrokh Bulsara (Rami Malek), part of an immigrant family in England, who redubs himself Freddy Mercury as he starts performing with the band that becomes Queen. Off-stage, Mercury is somewhat shy, and his pronounced overbite makes him looks a little odd, but he has an astounding voice and creates a flamboyant stage presence. He and guitarist Brian May (Gwilym Lee), drummer Roger Taylor (Ben Hardy) and bassist John Deacon (Joe Mazzello) collaborate and spar as you'd expect among young bandmates, occasionally creating a big hit, the most unusual and ambitious being the title song. (The recording segments are fun to watch.) Meanwhile, Mercury adores his girlfriend Mary Austin (Lucy Boyton), but he's gay; they resolve to remain friends, and do so, with Austin even moving next to him in London. Queen becomes big, and Mercury enjoys the rock star life of sex, drugs and general excess. The film's final push centers on Mercury meeting love interest Jim Hutton (Aaron McKusker), Mercury's HIV diagnosis and Queen's 1985 Live Aid concert performance. The movie takes historical liberties, is fairly conventional and episodic, and also feels disjointed at times. Still, Malek gives a fine performance and the supporting cast has good moments (especially Lee as Brian May). Personally, I'm not a huge Queen fan (the songs make for good stadium rock but aren't very deep), but it would be hard not to be impressed by Freddy Mercury as a vocalist. Malek isn't much of a singer himself, but the sound team used recordings of Mercury, mixed in a little bit of Malek and used singer Marc Martel to fill in other gaps. (If you're into sound design, it's interesting stuff.) Malek worked with a movement coach, studying footage of Mercury and practicing relentlessly to nail his moves and timing. The overall effect is pretty compelling, and given some painfully bad lip-synching in recent years (Empire, La La Land), seeing it done well is all the more welcome. This film had off-screen controversy due to credited directed Bryan Singer being fired (and his sexual assault allegations); Dexter Fletcher finished directing the film and editor John Ottman supposedly did a tremendous amount of work to save the picture. (I would have given the editing and sound Oscars to other films, but good jobs by the teams.)

The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: The Coen brothers latest movie wasn't well advertised, and mainly appeared on Netflix. The trailers also don't tell you much, so you might be surprised by a sudden ending and learning this in anthology film, with six tales in all. The quality markedly varies. The first segment is a hoot, starring frequent Coen collaborator Tim Blake Nelson as Buster Scruggs, a singing cowboy with preternatural shooting skills. It's basically a tall tale, live-action cartoon. "Near Algodones" stars James Franco and has some memorable scenes and lines, but doesn't have much of a point. The third story, "Meal Ticket," sees Liam Neeson as the promoter for Harrison, an actor with no limbs but strong voice, which he uses to perform "Ozymandius" and other poems and speeches. (He's played by Harry Melling, best known as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films.) You'll probably see where it's going before the end, but the segment's memorable and creates a creepy mood, aided by Neeson's performance: all quiet facial reactions, never speaking. The fourth segment, "All Gold Canyon," stars Tom Waits as a grizzled prospector, and he's well cast, but the story isn't terribly strong. The fifth, "The Gal Who Got Rattled," stars Zoe Kazan and is something of a love story as a wagon train travels through perilous territory. It raised some plausibility questions for me, but I still found it moving. The last segment, "The Mortal Remains," is an absolute gem of writing, directing and performance, centered on five passengers in an evening carriage; the baggage on top includes a corpse. Featuring Brendan Gleeson, Tyne Daly and Saul Rubinek, it's got a wonderfully spooky feel, and you'll find yourself questioning the true nature of the ride and speculating about its conclusion. It's a segment that would excel as a short story or stage piece as well, and it's so good it's worth sitting through the less impressive vignettes. A little more in the…
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In "The Gal Who Got Rattled," I found it unbelievable that Alice (Kazan) and Mr. Arthur (Grainger Hines) could get in a battle just over the hill and their gunshots could not be heard by the wagon train, which is depicted as being quite close. Either they could retreat or they'd get reinforcements. I thought it was a sad, affecting tale, though. For "The Mortal Remains," I was left wondering if the carriage was going to Hell or some other version of the afterlife, as other viewers surely will. We're left constantly guessing throughout, which makes for delicious tension.

Private Life: A middle-aged couple wants a child and struggle with fertility treatments, adoption and surrogacy in this comedy-drama (emphasis on the drama). Paul Giamatti is well-cast as Richard, weary but trying to be supportive of his extremely hormonal wife, Rachel (Kathryn Hahn, in her most serious major role to date). Relative newcomer Kayli Carter gives a memorable performance as Sadie, Richard's free-spirited, twenty-something niece, who feels closer to Richard and Rachel than her own parents, played by Molly Shannon and John Carroll Lynch. Almost all the actors chosen by writer-director Tamara Jenkins have comedic chops, and some are primarily known for it, yet Jenkins wisely has them playing their situations straight, rather than going for the joke. Private Life is well-acted and has its moments of levity, but is actually pretty somber and realistic, as Rachel and Richard face a series of setbacks that strain their marriage and other relationships. This is a decent flick, but don't go in thinking it's a light comedy. This film premiered at Sundance and then was distributed by Netflix.

Ocean's 8: This is a good-but-not-great heist film with an all-woman crew. Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) is the sister of Danny Ocean (George Clooney), who's presented as dead at the start of the film, although Debbie and other characters question whether that's true. Debbie targets the annual Met gala, full of celebrities and rich people who are sure to wear expensive jewelry. Debbie works to orchestrate that starlet Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway, basically playing a parody version of herself) will wear the Toussaint, a $150 million Cartier necklace normally kept in a vault. Just as in Soderbergh's Ocean's 11, there's also a personal angle beyond greed: Debbie wants revenge on her ex-boyfriend, Claude Becker (Richard Armitage), an art dealer who helped send her to prison, although pursuing payback could endanger the heist. As in Ocean's 11, the key partner is troubled by this, in this case, Lou Miller (Cate Blanchett, who's unfortunately underused in the movie). The film doesn't have many surprises, but it's enjoyable enough, especially if you like the cast or the idea of a female heist crew. The other members include Helena Bonham-Carter, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna and Awkwafina. For a more serious all-female heist film with much higher dramatic stakes, check out Widows instead.

Crazy Rich Asians: Crazy Rich Asians, based on the book of the same name, is a fairly typical Hollywood romance, except the lead cast is all Asian and the cultural clash is a Chinese-American, Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), meeting the Singapore family of her boyfriend, Nick Young (Henry Golding). Rachel is a young economics professor at NYU, and has a good relationship with her boyfriend, Nick, who pitches her on a trip to Singapore for his best friend's wedding; he's to be best man. Rachel is surprised to learn that Nick's family is wealthy and powerful. This has its perks, but it also means that Nick's family has significant expectations for him, including taking over the family business (he's the favored child) and marrying someone of high standing, which in their world would not include Rachel .The biggest obstacle is Nick's mother, Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh, in a rare semi-villain role), but she's far from the only one opposing their union. Crazy Rich Asians has some comedy – Awkwafina's scenes are particularly funny – but this is often more a romantic drama than a comedy. The leads are both pretty and pretty likable. Young is best known as a model, and Wu is best known as the mother on the sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, where she's quite funny – this is a much more serious role. There's little surprising here, but it's a solid pick if you're in the mood for a romance or find the cultural angle appealing.

Life of the Party: Just after Deanna (Melissa McCarthy) and Dan (Matt Walsh) drop off their daughter at their alma mater for her senior year of college, Dan announces he wants a divorce and has been seeing another woman. Deanna is devastated, but then decides she should return to school to finish her degree – she dropped out when she was pregnant with Maddie (Molly Gordon). Maddie is close with her mom, but a bit apprehensive about her crimping her style at school. Deanna is definitely uncool and is the object of ridicule from some, but she's authentically kind and Maddie's sorority sisters wind up liking her quite a bit. Various affirming moments and setbacks ensue; some really strain credulity. McCarthy's a comedic talent, but often doesn't get good scripts – and I'd say that's the case here. Apart from a great restaurant scene that's also genuinely funny, there aren't many surprises. Life of the Party is a feel-good movie more than a comedy; mother and daughter express their love for each other at least a dozen times. McCarthy's also playing a naively sweet woman, and even her most confrontational scenes are pretty good-natured; there's none of the biting, acerbic wit she flourishes in her best films, such as Spy, The Heat and Bridesmaids (reviewed here, here, and the 13th film here, respectively). All of Maya Rudolph's scenes are good, and not coincidentally, she also occasionally gets to be mean (and goofy, and raunchy). Deanna could have used more range as well. (I was also reminded a bit of Legally Blonde – Elle Woods is also an unconventional student but nice, so that approach can work, but I think her character's better written and Legally Blonde is a stronger film.)

Uncle Drew: This is a silly but enjoyable summer sports comedy centered on senior citizen, former basketball stars competing in the Rucker Classic, an annual New York street basketball tournament. Dax Winslow (Lil Rel Howery) has put together a team and paid the entrance fee, in hopes of winning the $100,000 grand prize. But his star player and team, and then his girlfriend, Jess (Tiffany Haddish), are stolen by his old nemesis, Mookie Bass (Nick Kroll), who blocked Dax from taking the winning shot in a key game when they were kids. The despairing Dax stumbles upon Uncle Drew (Kyrie Erving), an old man and local legend who still has incredible moves. Dax pleads with Drew to play for him in the Rucker, and Drew agrees, on condition that he gets to pick the team, which will consist of his old buddies. Those include Lights (Reggie Miller), who can't see, and Boots (Nate Robinson), who can't walk. Rounding out the group is Preacher (Chris Webber), who has to flee his wife Betty Lou to go (Lisa Leslie), Maya (Erica Ash), Boots' granddaughter and a Dax love interest, and Big Fella (Shaquille O'Neill), who's running a dojo and bears a large grudge against Uncle Drew for something in their past. The basketball stars are given funny one-liners and situations and not asked to do much; the exception is Erving, who as Uncle Drew has to carry some scenes and is surprisingly funny. (Although if you take a drink every time he says, "youngblood," to Dax, you'll get alcohol poisoning.) The wigs and old-age makeup are pretty obvious and sometime ludicrous (old face but young hands, for instance). The film's predictable throughout, but still fun if you're in the mood for this kind of flick; you know what you're getting here.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2019

Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Over at Crooks and Liars, I linked two pieces. First, at the Conversation, "The 1938 Kindertransport saved 10,000 children but it’s hard to describe it as purely a success":

One of the UK’s most significant child rescue efforts began on December 1, 1938: the Kindertransport.

Following the November pogrom of the same year – when SA paramilitary forces and German civilians perpetrated acts of state-sponsored violence against the Jewish population, their places of worship and property – pressure built on the UK to help Jewish citizens in the German Reich. In response, the British government decided to waive visa requirements for unaccompanied minors fleeing persecution.

Aid organisations both in the UK and on the continent leapt into action, and the first “Kindertransport” arrived in the country on December 2, bringing around 200 child refugees to the UK. Overall, approximately 10,000 children and young people arrived before the scheme ended with the outbreak of World War II.

Today, the legacy of the Kindertransport is frequently discussed as a positive example of the UK’s humanitarian attitude towards refugees in the past. However, in the last 20 years, extensive research has shown that the legacy of the 1938/39 Kindertransport should be seen in a more critical light. Yes, it was a visa waiver scheme initiated by the UK government, but financial and organisational support was largely provided by charities and volunteers. It also only allowed those under the age of 17 to find refuge in the UK. Adult refugees had to meet very restrictive criteria and most applications from adults were unsuccessful.

Second, at NPR, a rare positive story, "A Toy Monkey That Escaped Nazi Germany And Reunited A Family":

The monkey's fur is worn away. It's nearly a century old. A well-loved toy, it is barely 4 inches tall. It was packed away for long voyages, on an escape from Nazi Germany, to Sweden and America. And now, it's the key to a discovery that transformed my family.

The monkey belonged to my father, Gert Berliner, who as a boy in Berlin in the 1930s rode his bicycle around the city. Clipped to the handlebars was the toy monkey.

"I liked him," recalls my dad, who is now 94. "He was like a good luck piece."

Both pieces are worth checking out.

My longer, original posts on the Holocaust and related themes can be read here.

MLK Day 2019

For the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., I have King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis on in the background. It's a 1970 documentary, just over three hours, that originally showed in movie theaters as a one-day special event. One of the local TV stations has broadcast it occasionally. It's a great collection of footage and audio recordings.

The local PBS station has sometimes rerun Eyes on the Prize, but this year has been showing Henry Louis Gates' four-hour series, Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise today and last week.

Over at Crooks and Liars, I linked "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," which remains timely, and The Academy of American Poets's nice collection of poems for the day. And over at Hullabaloo, Dennis Hartley offers 10 films for MLK Day.

How are you celebrating the day?

Jon Swift Roundup 2018

(The Best Posts of the Year, Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)

(A Jon Swift lolcat.)

Welcome to the 2018 edition! I hope this year ends on a hopeful note.

This tradition was started by the late Jon Swift/Al Weisel, who left behind some excellent satire, but was also a nice guy and a strong supporter of small blogs. As usual, I'll quote Lance Mannion, who nicely explains:

Our late and much missed comrade in blogging, journalist and writer Al Weisel, revered and admired across the bandwidth as the "reasonable conservative" blogger Modest Jon Swift, was a champion of the lesser known and little known bloggers working tirelessly in the shadows . . .

One of his projects was a year-end Blogger Round Up. Al/Jon asked bloggers far and wide, famous and in- and not at all, to submit a link to their favorite post of the past twelve months and then he sorted, compiled, blurbed, hyperlinked and posted them on his popular blog. His round-ups presented readers with a huge banquet table of links to work many of has had missed the first time around and brought those bloggers traffic and, more important, new readers they wouldn’t have otherwise enjoyed.

It may not have been the most heroic endeavor, but it was kind and generous and a lot of us owe our continued presence in the blogging biz to Al.

Here's Jon/Al's massive 2007 and 2008 editions (via the Wayback Machine). Meanwhile, our more modest revivals from 2010–2017 can be found here.

If you're not familiar with Al Weisel's work as Jon Swift, his site (via the Wayback Machine) features a "best of" list in the left column.

Thanks to all the participants, to Balloon Juice for hosting a self-nomination thread again, and apologies to anyone I missed. (As always, my goal is to find the right balance between inclusive and manageable.) You still can join in, by linking your post in the comments. Whether your post appears in the modest list below or not, feel free to tweet your best post with the hatchtag #jonswift2018.

As in Jon/Al's 2008 roundup, submissions are listed roughly in the order they were received. As he wrote in that post:

I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing what your favorite bloggers think were their best posts of the year, but be sure to also visit some blogs you've never read before and leave a nice comment if you like what you see or, if you must, a polite demurral if you do not.

Without further ado:

The Professional Left Podcast/Blue Gal
"Special Pre-Election 'Both Sides Don't' Podcast"
Blue Gal: "For our episode right before the midterms, we read out a list of the things "both sides don't" do. It's a really good introduction to our podcast for first-time listeners, too."

The Rectification of Names
"Literary Corner: Particular Vernacular"
Yastreblyansky: "A song about Donald Trump, using the rhyme scheme and meter (paeonic tetrameter!) of "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General". Everybody sing along!"

Bark Bark Woof Woof
"Sunday Reading – Allen’s Big Adventure"
Mustang Bobby: "A love note to my sweetheart."

Kiko's House
"What Will Trump Do When The Alternative To The White House Is The Big House?"
Shaun D. Mullen: "The Founding Fathers worried from the jump that there would be attempts to subvert the infant American democracy. What they did not foresee in their bewigged wisdom was a batshit crazy real estate developer and reality TV star with evil in his heart and nothing between his ears conspiring with America's greatest enemy to steal the presidency and then cement his primacy by installing nose rings in more-than-willing Republicans."

David E's Fablog
"The Second Amendment Solution"
David Ehrenstein: "I did this about the Parkland massacre."

Poor Impulse Control
"Hours In An Offhand Way"
Tata: "A region's disaster can be one person's art supplies."

Lotus – Surviving a Dark Time
"What's Left Special Report: Guns"
LarryE: "I largely took a break from political blogging in 2018, but did do one of significance at the request of the director of the community cable TV outlet where I work. He wanted something to address the issue of guns in the US and insisted I was the one to do it. So I did."

You Might Notice a Trend
"WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?!?!"
Paul Wartenberg: "GODDAMMIT WE ARE KILLING INNOCENT CHILDREN IN THESE CONCENTRATION CAMPS ALONG THE BORDER. Thousands of children placed in baby jails, forced to live in tent cities in abysmal weather. WE SHOULD BE MARCHING EVERY HOUR OF EVERY DAY TO END THIS NIGHTMARE."

Strangely Blogged
"Die Geister, die ich rief"
Vixen Strangely: "This post examines the persistence of racism in American culture, the danger of employing racist tropes in political rhetoric, and how Donald Trump is unfit for calling up specters that encourage indefensible acts that he cannot wholly condemn, because he can not wholly own the damage of his words."

Mock, Paper, Scissors
"Unite the White and NPR"
Tengrain: "The press does not usually give valuable airtime to every racist crank from Possum Hollar who can fill out a National Park Service application for a rally, but for some reason, NPR decided to do exactly that."

Shakesville
"On Mike Pence's Destructive Ambition"
Melissa McEwan: "Vice-President Mike Pence is the proverbial one heartbeat away from the presidency, which he has ruthlessly pursued his entire adult life. And yet, even as Donald Trump's presidency is increasingly imperiled, Pence thrives in the inattention of a political press which continues to resist the close scrutiny of his corrupt past that it so urgently deserves."

Show Me Progress
"Be the badass on the right"
Michael Bersin: "In the late afternoon of June 29, 2018 at a Kansas City rally in support of Muslims, Immigrants, & Refugees a young woman with poster board and a marker took it upon herself to peacefully confront a right wingnut counter protester."

Darwinfish 2
"The GOP Playbook: A Study in Attaining and Maintaining Power"
Bluzdude: "How the GOP seized power and endeavors to keep it, and how The Resistance needs to use their own methods to seize it back."

his vorpal sword
"The Monster Tu Quoque Stalks the Land"
Hart Williams: "The common political "excuse" that drives policy that no mother who ever lived ever bought, or ...Donner party! Table for four! Donner party! Er ... table for three!"

The Brad Blog
"Indictment of Sitting President May Be 'Only' Means to Ensure 'Equal Justice Under Law' "
Ernest A. Canning: "Legal scholars find DoJ opinion fails to consider Constitutional measure for Executive Branch continuity during a President's criminal trial..."

Infidel753
"Inexorable evolution"
Infidel753: "Why are Trumpanzees so angry and resentful when they got their wish with Trump and the Republicans in power? It's because what really upsets them is cultural changes which are mostly immune from politics."

driftglass.blogspot.com
"Today In Both Sides Do It: Advice From The New York Times On The Proper Use Of 'Fuck' "
driftglass: "In the early days of Liberal blogging (when everything was made of wood and Haloscan walked the Earth) when the GOP got into extinction-level trouble and Liberal voices threatened to break through to the mainstream, the Beltway would dispatch a special enforcement squad known as the "Tone Police" to explain that the real problem was Liberals using intemperate language. Nothing has changed."

First Draft
"White Girl, White Lies"
Peter Adrastos Athas: "Hope Hicks leaves the White House. Hilarity ensues."

Brilliant at Breakfast Rebooted
"On being a secular Jew in neo-Nazi-ascendant America"
Jill: "The rise of neo-Naziism in the US in the age of Trump requires some soul-searching among secular Jews who are not Zionists and don't practice the religion of their forebears, but still strongly identify as Jewish."

bjkeefe
"I pretty much never watch videos anymore, and this one sums up why"
Brendan Keefe: "Sums up a gripe of mine with today's Web: Please, don't make me watch. Let me read."

Perrspectives
"The Budget Reform America Needs Most? Government Rate-Setting for Health Care"
Jon Perr: "The biggest driver of America’s long-term debt is the growing cost of health care. The remedy is for the United States—at long last—to join the vast majority of its economic competitors by having the government set the prices for drugs, tests, doctor's visits, hospitalization, surgical procedures, and just about every aspect of health care."

Spocko's Brain
"Watch The Sexy Spy, But Follow The Rubles To NRA’s GOP Campaigns"
Spocko: "There was a long-term, multimillion dollar plan by the Russians to interfere with our elections and the NRA was an eager and willful participant. But it was a boring story for the media until sexy Russian Maria Butina was arrested. Watch this short video to see all NRA execs and GOP politicians who should be in jail with her."

The Debate Link
"What We Put There Ourselves"
David Schraub: "The great philosopher Richard Rorty taught us that there is nothing deep down inside us but what we put there ourselves. We can say that banning Muslims or caging refugees is not "who we are", but the fact is – it is who we are. We put it there ourselves. And if we don't like what is indeed inside us, then it is up to us to put something else there."

Self-Styled Siren
"Anecdote of the Week: 'She hated him.' "
The Siren offers an intriguing look at actress Jennifer Jones and her relationship with producer David O. Selznick.

Just an Earth-Bound Misfit, I
"His Bone Spurs Were Acting Up"
Comrade Misfit: "How Trump and Xi are marching the world into another major war."

Way of Cats
"Where the movie starts"
Pamela Merritt: "We don’t have to adopt our cat as a kitten to have a great relationship, any more than we have to meet all our future friends in kindergarten. We can adopt a cat at any age, get to know them, and love them just the same."

Doctor Cleveland
"I Am Part of the Resistance Inside King Lear's Court"
Doctor Cleveland AKA Jim Marino: "A parody mashing of the Washington Post's anonymous "Resistance Inside the Trump White House" op-ed with Shakespeare's King Lear."

Gaius Publius
"There Will Be No Chinese Century"
Gaius Publius: "I can't imagine why people who look into the future, seeing better smart phones, smarter door locks, driverless cars, the next big thing only bigger, don't see this, don't factor in the tsunami that even now wets their faces. But it's clear they don't."

[this space intentionally left blank]
"An Open Letter to David Meinert"
Dallas Taylor: "In the summer of 2018, Seattle impresario/person of consequence David Meinert had his #metoo moment, which he vigorously fought back against. In response, I wrote this open letter, hoping it might help him see past his reflexive defensiveness and engage thoughtfully with his past behavior and the present moment."

M.A. Peel
"The Centenary of the Armistice: A Personal Cycle Closes and a Gash that Never Heals"
Ellen O'Neill: "The world recognized the centenary of the end of World War l on November 11, 2018. I became interested in WW1 in high school through T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and felt connected to the centenary lo these decades later."

The Steel Pen
"Warrington & Co.: 1865–1885"
AAAndrew, aka Andrew Midkiff: "My blog captures the lost history of an American industry: the steel dip pen. In between quills and fountain pens, for almost 100 years the steel dip pen was the primary means of putting ink to paper, and no one has ever gathered the history of these manufacturers until now. This post is a good example post and captures one of the first makers to emerge out of the second industrial revolution in the US."

World O’ Crap
"Dungeons & Dragons"
Scott Clevenger: "Scott takes the Better Living Through Bad Movies approach to the this timely epic which eerily predicted both the George W. Bush and Trump administrations with its focus on slimey reptiles, overpriced real estate, do-nothing legislatures, ambitious Veeps, shameless thieves, bald henchmen, lazy Chosen Ones who seem to think the Elves owe him universal health care, and kick-ass ladies who can’t even with your shit."

Alicublog
"In No Position to Make Demands"
Roy Edroso: "I covered all the hot topics during the course of the year, but most of them, even when treated with humor, are at least somewhat depressing because they chronicle the decline of a once-great nation. So I choose to be represented instead by one of my rare moments of uplift, a moment when a lot of people realized they don’t have to tolerate jerks like Alex Jones on bogus “free speech” or any other grounds: “….[guys like Jones are] so accustomed to bullying cowards like the New York Times editorial board that they think, in any situation, all they have to do is yell YOU'RE DEPLATFORMING ME like Rudd yelling 'Diplomatic immunity' in Lethal Weapon 2 and they'll get what they want. Guess what, guys: Revoked."

Mad Kane's Political Madness
"Our Shocking News"
Madeleine Begun Kane: "A two-verse limerick summing up the latest in the Trump Horror Show. (It includes a short audio clip of me reading my limerick.)"

Lance Mannion
"Of Pop Mannion, Mrs M, spinach pasta, and the persistence of memory"
Lance Mannion: "A story from a very hard year with a sad part, a funny part, and a happy part."

This Is So Gay
"Kindness Is Not Enough"
Duncan Mitchel: " Inspired by the recent excellent documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" This is why I think that adult fans of Mr. Rogers's Neighborhood are misusing his program and dishonoring his legacy."

Bluestem Prairie
"On Labor Day, Wardlow promises to be ally for workers; in MNHouse authored right-to-work bill"
Sally Jo Sorensen: "While most of the media in Minnesota covering the state attorney general's race were still focused on Keith Ellison's past romantic breakup, I turned instead to scrutinizing the record of Republican opponent one-term state House wonder Doug Wardlow. Having just reviewed the bills he sponsored—topped by a bill to make Minnesota a right-to-work state, I was astonished to read Wardlow's pledge of support on Facebook: 'As Attorney General, I will always be an ally for Minnesota workers.' "

Schroedinger's Cat
"Happy 4th"
schroedinger's cat: "4th of July, 2017 was the anniversary of my first day as a citizen of the United States. In this post, I recount my memories of the citizenship ceremony at the Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts."

Vagabond Scholar
"What's to Be Done About Conservatives?"
Batocchio: "An attempt to assess American conservatives and the Republican Party in some depth. Spoiler: they're awful."

Thanks again, folks. Happy blogging (and everything else) in 2019. (Vive la résistance!)

What's to Be Done About Conservatives?

What's to be done about American conservatives and the Republican Party? For decades, they've stood for plutocracy and bigotry, and using the latter to achieve the former. Almost none of their policies help Americans as a whole; instead, their policies benefit a select few, most often those who are already rich and powerful. Conservatives and Republicans serve their donors, not the majority of their constituents. On the merits, their policies are awful, so they lie about them constantly. About their only true principle is acquiring more power and keeping it, by almost any means necessary – norms of governance, democratic representation and fair play be damned.

Their supporters come in different flavors, mostly unsavory. Many simply seek short-term personal gain, ignoring long-term harm, to their descendants if not themselves. Others, the dark money crowd and their eager servants, truly wish to further entrench the powerful as a ruling class. The most rabid members of the conservative base are frightening, cherishing spite more than their own children. (Who needs a decent wage when you can 'own the libs'? Who needs bread when you have the Fox News circus?) The remainder are mostly loyal Republican voters – "nearly 90 per cent of self-described Republicans voted for Trump, very similar to the proportion in previous elections." None of the horrible things Trump said or did prior to the 2016 election were dealbreakers for them. They rationalized that Hillary Clinton was worse or simply voted their true values instead of their stated ones. To use the terms of an old post, conservatives are a mix of reckless addicts, stealthy extremists and proud zealots, with far too few sober adults to be found.

As for the media, good journalists still exist and always deserve support, but many corporate media outlets aren't truly focused on creating a more informed citizenry. Instead, they churn out a thin, news-like substance to try to fill their never-ending news cycle – they need volume, and high quality isn't cost-effective. Conscientious citizens might want good, better government, and the fact-checking and other essential information to help achieve that – and some journalists really do work hard to provide it – but media company owners need sales and profits. Stories deemed too complex aren't covered – for example, explaining the abuse of Senate procedures and contextualizing them. More importantly, calling out one political side is simply not good business, especially when one side is consistently worse about lying, violating political norms and screwing over the citizenry. One of our national political discourse's key scourges is false equivalence, or "both siderism," claiming both sides are just as bad even when evidence to the contrary stands overwhelming. (For much more on this, see the archives of Digby, driftglass, alicublog, Balloon Juice, LGM or my own archives.)

Related to this, in our current mainstream national political discourse, we generally do not discuss policy in any meaningful way. That's not to say everyone needs to read policy papers, which will always be done by a more niche group – but we do not discuss policies and their proven or likely effects. We do not talk about their effect on actual human beings and their lives. We do not accurately assign praise or blame to politicians and political parties, or engage in more nuanced analysis and discussion. For instance, who did this tax bill benefit, and who did it benefit the most? How successful was this antipoverty measure? What effects did providing more health care have on this community? Maybe we could provide some statistics, but also talk to some people, and put a human face on these issues? Coverage on the 2016 presidential race almost entirely ignored policy issues and focused on shallow issues with false balance. Obviously, this approach gives a tremendous, unfair advantage to the candidates with worse policies, nebulous positions or a vaguer grasp of important issues. It makes it much easier for them to bullshit, which really doesn't help for the whole informed citizenry, better government thing.

For all their faults, though, mainstream corporate media outlets normally get basic facts correct. Some media outlets are little more than propaganda operations. Dodgy left-leaning outlets do exist, but don't have nearly the influence of conservative outlets, most of all Fox News. Rank-and-file conservatives believe false things and are fearful in part because they have been lied to and fed fear. Several studies have shown that Fox News viewers score less accurately on basic news tests than people who don't watch the news, yet Fox News viewers are also more likely to believe that they're better-informed than their fellow citizens. Stewing in Fox News makes them both less informed and more certain. (That's a feature, not a bug, of course.)

Ideally, policies would be discussed on their merits, and praise and blame (or measured, nuanced assessments) would be accurately assigned. In actual practice, due to all the factors discussed above, conservatives and Republicans are rarely held accountable for their policies and decisions. The conservative movement works to prevent any such reckoning.

(It might help to look at some specific policies. but before that, a brief segue.)

Conservative Versus Republican

Anyone's who criticized conservatives in some depth has probably encountered pushback that, for example, George W. Bush wasn't a true conservative, or Trump isn't, or neither of them is emblematic of the true Republican Party (never mind those pesky votes and other support).

It's true that "conservative" and "Republican" aren't always synonymous, but since the two major political parties realigned in the 1960s, the Republican Party has been more conservative on almost every issue, and the majority of Republicans consistently identify themselves as conservative. As Digby's observed, conservatives like to pretend that conservatism cannot fail; it can only be failed. (Self-described libertarians love this "no true Scotsman" game, too.) Every time conservatives are discredited, it's common to see a disowning of key figures, plus conservative rebranding efforts. We'll also see pundits yearning for the more reasonable, decent conservatives and Republicans of yesteryear, and not just for, say, Eisenhower (for whom some good arguments can be made), but Goldwater, Nixon, Reagan, and both Bushes, among others. Although those individuals may indeed have been better than the current crop in some particulars, an honest, fair assessment would judge that many of their policies stunk and quite a few of them had pretty crazy views. The Democratic Party has become more liberal over time, and the Republican Party more conservative, but the Republican drift has been more extreme. The Republican Party Platform of 1956 would be denounced as socialist by the conservatives and Republicans of today. In contrast, the Democratic Party Platform of 1972 is quite similar to recent platforms on many issues, except that contemporary platforms are much stronger on LGBT rights and other social issues. The Democratic Party does have an establishmentarian, corporatist faction, but also a more liberal one. The Republican Party is not a mirror image; it's purged almost all nonconservatives from office. Republican officials are more conservative and extreme than many members of their own party, and much more conservative and extreme than their constituents as a whole. Voters may have more variety, but when it comes to political figures, for practical purposes, "conservative" and "Republican" are generally effectively the same. Accordingly, in this piece I'm using the terms fairly interchangeably unless the distinction matters (for instance, discussing conservative Democrats).

As for Trump specifically, occasionally, we'll see some bullshit arguments that he's some sort of aberration, but some style differences aside, Trump is firmly in the conservative tradition. Some conservatives effectively admit this – they might criticize Trump's style, but support his policies nonetheless. Neither major political party is entirely pure or evil, but comparisons are both possible and essential. The truth is, Republicans are primarily to blame for the political problems in Washington, D.C. and the nation, and that definitely includes the rise of Trump.

Conservative Policies

Conservative policies almost always benefit the rich and powerful – the donor class – rather than average constituents and the country. That's no accident. Although sincerely held ideology might drive some conservatives and Republicans, in many cases, their motivation amounts to simple corruption. For the horrendous Republican tax bill of December 2017, Republican representative Chris Collins flat-out admitted, "My donors are basically saying, 'Get it done or don’t ever call me again.' " (And sure enough, after the bill passed, the donors were pleased.) Let's take a look at some policies.

Inequality: Wealth and income inequality in the U.S. are at their worst since the gilded age, and are likely to become more extreme. This neofeudal model stands in sharp contrast to the New Deal and post-WWII policies aimed at helping the nation as a whole. Those policies gave the U.S. the "great compression," a period of enormous economic growth, decreased inequality, an expansion of the middle class and shared prosperity (with some important caveats about denied opportunities based on race, gender, etc.). A model of hoarding power and prosperity versus sharing it is probably the defining difference between conservatives and nonconservatives (liberals and so-called moderates). The aforementioned 2017 Republican tax bill was designed – like Reagan's and all major Republican tax proposals since Bush's twin tax cuts – to massively benefit the already wealthy. It remains bad fiscal, economic and social policy. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities summarizes, "The major tax legislation enacted last December will cost approximately $1.5 trillion over the next decade and deliver windfall gains to wealthy households and profitable corporations, further widening the gap between those at the top of the income ladder and the rest of the nation." (As the report continues, wage stagnation certainly doesn't help.) Those are features, not bugs, as are decades of conservatives yelling that any effort to lessen massive inequality is communism. Americans as a whole want a more fair system, but Republicans are more likely to think the current system is already fair and that poverty is due a lack of effort instead of circumstances beyond one's control. (They are wrong.) However, Americans really have no idea how bad inequality is, and even rank-and-file Republicans favor a more equitable distribution when it's presented as a choice. Inequality remains a major issue beyond economic matters – conservatives and Republicans stand for acquiring more power and keeping it, even if it hurts the country at large.

Climate Change: The Trump administration, true to Republican form, has decided to ignore climate change, including the government's own National Climate Assessment. Meanwhile, an alarming new report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns of potentially terrible consequences as soon as 2040. Some Democrats are also beholden to the fossil fuel industry, but industry donations heavily favor Republicans, and conservative Republicans are the group most opposed to acknowledging climate change and to doing anything about it. That position is one of many conservative shibboleths to affirm tribal identity. Climate change is arguably the single most important issue we face, because human life on the planet could significantly, negatively change if it's not addressed. Yet the Republican Party is just about the only major political party in the world to deny climate change and oppose universal health care. Speaking of which…

Health Care: The Affordable Care Act is about the most conservative health care plan possible that can actually work – it doesn't dismantle private, for-profit health insurance, and uses that mechanism to provide health care for the majority of Americans. It's a far cry from the better, universal health care systems that most other industrialized nations have, and that liberals favor, but the ACA has had a positive effect: "In 2016, there were 28.6 million Americans without health insurance, down from more than 48 million in 2010." Rather than addressing that remaining gap, Republicans voted to repeal the ACA over 70 times as of July 2017. Republicans had promised for several years to produce an alternative to the ACA, but never offered a coherent, workable plan. When Republicans finally did produce something, their plan allowed states to waive the provision that prevents insurance companies from refusing to cover or to charge more to people with pre-existing conditions. Such a move would save for-profit insurance companies money, of course, but would be absolutely horrible for citizens. Naturally, conservatives lied about this. It's important to note how much bad faith has featured in conservative arguments about health care, captured by Jonathan Chait's "Heritage uncertainty principle": "Conservative health-care-policy ideas reside in an uncertain state of quasi-existence. You can describe the policies in the abstract, sometimes even in detail, but any attempt to reproduce them in physical form will cause such proposals to disappear instantly."

The Social Safety Net: The usual Republican pattern since Reagan has been to pass tax cuts heavily favoring the rich, increase military spending (optional), create a deficit, and then claim the shortfall has to been made up by cutting the social safety net, especially Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Sure enough, the Republican "starve the beast" gambit is right on time, with Republicans calling to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell even blamed the deficit on social spending and not the obvious culprit, his own tax bill, because he has no shame. It's crucial to notice that rank-and-file conservatives will publicly rail against social spending, but they're in favor of it when it benefits themselves – they just don't want it going to Those Other People. As Matt Taibbi concluded after interviewing supposedly anti-government conservatives, "they're full of shit."

Norms of Process and Governance: It would be hard to overstate just how much Newt Gingrich did to destroy Congress as a functioning institution in the 1990s, making the Republican Party far more tribal, vicious and dysfunctional to this day. More recently, in 2016, Mitch McConnell refused to grant a hearing to then-President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. It was a stunning abuse of power and violation of norms, but McConnell's bragged about it (because again, he has no shame). Meanwhile, Republican state legislatures in Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina, after losing the governorship to Democrats, have moved to limit the powers of the governor that were just fine when in Republican hands. Conservatives have an attitude that any election they don't win is inherently illegitimate, because the other guys aren't supposed to win and any abuse of power or change of the rules is thus justified. They'll argue for the power of the majority when in the majority, but will fight ruthlessly for minority rule when they're not. They do not want a fair system. They simply do not care about the will of the people if it doesn't align with their goals.

Democracy and Representative Government: Related to the norms above, the majority of conservative Republicans oppose making voting easier for everyone. Conservatives keep working to suppress voting , and this has a strong racial component. (Before the parties realigned in the 1960s, some of those anti-voting social conservatives were Southern Democrats.) Both parties have been guilty of gerrymandering, but after the 2010 midterm elections, the Republicans have been worse and gerrymandering is likely to become more pronounced. Conservatism has always had an anti-democratic streak. In 1980, Paul Weyrich, cofounder of the conservative Heritage Foundation and also the so-called Moral Majority, said:

Now many of our Christians have what I call the "goo-goo" syndrome – good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people – they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.

It'd be remiss not to also mention the racist Southern Strategy that's been key to most Republican presidential runs since Goldwater. It hasn't always worked, luckily, but winning elections through bigotry is not something to be proud of.

Wall Street and Consumer Protections: Both major parties are pretty beholden to Wall Street and the financial industry. Still, to quote a 2016 post:

. . . the Republican Party is demonstratively worse, opposing and trying to water down the Dodd-Frank Act (rather than seeing it as not going far enough), trying to block the creation and staffing of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (and then trying to weaken or eliminate it) and generally supporting plutocracy. Liberal activists aren't shy about criticizing the Democrats on this issue.

Predictably, the Trump administration has moved to curtail the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau even more. Financial companies make a killing as it is, but why protect average constituents when you can serve wealthy donors instead?

Attending and Affording College: Without going into depth on this issue, conservatives consistently work against the interests of students and for rich lenders instead.

Gun Safety: It's possible to support both gun ownership and reasonable restrictions for public safety, but the National Rifle Association, which once was a more moderate "sportsman" group, has for decades opposed almost every and any measure restricting firearms. Just this year, the NRA has issued rabid, apocalyptic, hyperpartisan ads, and has tried to bully doctors into silence: "Someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane. Half of the articles in Annals of Internal Medicine are pushing for gun control. Most upsetting, however, the medical community seems to have consulted NO ONE but themselves." (Yes, why hasn't the medical community consulted non-doctors about a health issue? How unfair! Trauma surgeons have responded to this ludicrousness, of course.) It's no surprise the NRA heavily favors donations to Republicans. Conservative arguments about gun safety often ignore the history of the Second Amendment, and the U.S. has an odd, destructive gun culture that complicates most discussions. Perhaps most galling is how the NRA and conservatives have worked to block research into gun violence. They're not arguing for better policies. They're actively preventing a more informed discussion, probably because they know enough to fear accurate conclusions.

Reproductive Freedom: Little has changed in decades, sadly – conservatives continue to attack reproductive freedom and women's rights, and the Trump administration has predictably done the same.

LGBT Issues: Some conservatives have gotten better on these, but as usual for conservatives on social issues, improvement is more the result of being dragged along by the culture than leading the cause. Opposing gay rights is a socially conservative movement, and it's no secret that homophobes overwhelmingly identify as conservatives and/or Republicans. Some try to use the patina of religion to justify their attitudes, but it's still bigotry. During his presidential campaign, Trump unconvincingly promised to protect gay rights, but of course he has been horrible.

Immigration Reform: Back during an 1980 debate, George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan were asked about how "illegal" immigrants and their children should be treated. Both candidates spoke about treating immigrants well, about how they were good people and should be made citizens. Both men would be booed by their party today. A recent study estimates the number of undocumented immigrants at 10.7 million. That number may be decreasing, but it's still far too high to make any kind of arrest-and-deportation scheme practical; a road-to-citizenship plan would be far more realistic and also much more humane. Trump's proposal to build a physical wall on the border is likewise ridiculously unrealistic and ignores glaring practical issues. Back in 2012, then-presidential-candidate Mitt Romney suggested a ludicrous self-deportation policy. The Trump administration has done the same, but also crafted a broader, crueler immigration policy. Indeed, it's hard to keep up with all the horrific stories from the border. Trump launched his presidential campaign with racist statements, and that approach remains central to his pitch and appeal.

Other Issues: I still haven't covered foreign policy, military spending, due process, torture, supporting the arts, and many other issues, but I've done that at some length in other pieces. Briefly: There's broad bipartisan agreement on general imperialism and military spending, although Republican presidential candidates always agitate for greater military expenditures, even though the U.S. military budget dwarfs that of the rest of the world. Many conservatives show a juvenile hostility toward the State Department, the United Nations and the value of diplomacy in general. Republicans were unwilling to hold the Bush administration accountable for lying the U.S. into the Iraq War and starting a torture regime. Democrats deserve some credit for leading a detailed torture investigation, but it's still classified, and real accountability remains unlikely. Obama's "look forward" policy was a mistake, because torture is more likely to come back. Just witness Trump's imbecilic, macho bragging about torture, Mike Pence refusing to disown it and Trump appointing a CIA head complicit in the torture regime who refused to condemn torture as immoral. Finally, in a sharply different vein, conservatives routinely threaten the relatively meager federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts, NPR and PBS as an affirmation of tribal identity and just to be assholes.

Conservative policies are awful on the merits. That also means their positions leave little room for common ground, which doesn't have value if the ideas stink, no matter how much some pundits fetishize bipartisanship.

It wouldn't be right to abandon political outreach completely, but it's wise to identify who can actually be reached and who's a lost cause, at least in the short run. It's folly to expect conservative and Republican leaders to develop a conscience. It's dangerous to believe that their donors, who have invested in a long game of increased and hoarded power, want a democracy and a fair system. It's madness to think that rank-and-file conservatives and Republicans will abandon spite or party loyalty. And it's wishful thinking that mainstream corporate media outlets will abandon bothsiderism bullshit and other shallow analysis, no matter how much it hurts the nation. For now and the foreseeable future, the key thing to do about American conservatives and the Republican Party is to vigorously oppose them. It's up to the rest of us who care about good policy and responsible governance to talk, learn from each other, support each other and mobilize.

(Cross-posted at Hullabaloo.)