#1385 The Lost Causes of the Confederacy and the Forty Fives
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 9 December 2020
⏱️ 68 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 12/9/2020
Today we take a look in real-time at the construction of the world's newest Lost Cause narrative, the failed re-election of Donald Trump. This is not our country's first experience with Lost Causes and it's not, contrary to popular opinion, even our second connection to a Lost Cause narrative because we didn't invent the first one, we borrowed it from somewhere else and I will tell that story today.
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SHOW NOTES
Ch. 1: Jay's Opening Comments
Ch. 2: Reading Harry Potter In Scots
Ch. 3: Jay’s comments: the history of a Lost Cause
Ch. 4: Sir Walter Scott, The Old South and The Lost Cause - Who Put The Klan Into Klu Klux Klan?
In this documentary, archaeologist and historian Neil Oliver examines racism in the Deep South and the Scots who first occupied it who influenced where we are today.
Ch. 5: How Southern socialites rewrote Civil War history - Vox - Air Date 10-25-17
The United Daughters of the Confederacy altered the South's memory of the Civil War.
Ch. 6: How the 'Lost Cause' narrative became American history - Washington Post - Air Date 3-5-20
How the 'Lost Cause' narrative became American history - Washington Post - Air Date 3-5-20
Ch. 7: Monumental Lies - Reveal - Air Date 12-8-18
Myths of the Civil War and slavery are being kept alive at Confederate monuments, where visitors hear stories of “benevolent slave owners” and enslaved people “contented with their lot.” We team up with The Investigative Fund
Kevin Levin Exposes the Lie and Whitewashed History of So-Called "Black Confederate Soldiers" and the American Civil War - The Chauncey DeVega Show - Air Date 10-18-20
Ch. 9: MAGA, the New Confederate Lost Cause Part 1 - The United States of Anxiety - Air Date 11-16-20
White supremacist myths turn defeated leaders into heroic victors. Will Donald Trump now get the same transfiguration as Robert E. Lee? If history is our guide then there’s reason to worry about the answer to that question.
Ch. 10: MAGA, the New Confederate Lost Cause Part 2 - The United States of Anxiety - Air Date 11-16-20
White supremacist myths turn defeated leaders into heroic victors. Will Donald Trump now get the same transfiguration as Robert E. Lee? If history is our guide then there’s reason to worry about the answer to that question.
MEMBERS BONUS CLIPS
Ch. 11: MAGA, the New Confederate Lost Cause Part 3 - The United States of Anxiety - Air Date 11-16-20
White supremacist myths turn defeated leaders into heroic victors. Will Donald Trump now get the same transfiguration as Robert E. Lee? If history is our guide then there’s reason to worry about the answer to that question.
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 12: Jay’s comments: the last few connections
Ch. 13: Final comments on our ongoing campaigns
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
- Opening Theme: Loving Acoustic Instrumental by John Douglas Orr
- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
- Activism Music: This Fickle World by Theo Bard
- Closing Music: Upbeat Laid Back Indie Rock by Alex Stinnent
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of Left Podcast in which we shall learn |
| 0:07.8 | about the real-time construction of the world's newest lost cause narrative. |
| 0:13.4 | The failed re-election of Donald Trump. |
| 0:16.0 | This is not our country's first experience with lost causes, however, and it's not contrary |
| 0:21.0 | to popular opinion, even our second connection to a lost cause narrative because we didn't |
| 0:26.9 | invent the first one we borrowed it from somewhere else, and I will tell you that story today. |
| 0:32.3 | I do have clips for you today, as I normally do, but first I'm going to set the stage a |
| 0:36.6 | little bit, and I'm going to start at the end. |
| 0:39.8 | My conclusion today is that we are witnessing the birth of a new lost cause narrative. |
| 0:45.0 | That Donald Trump's refusal to accept the election results is not just due to his oversized |
| 0:49.5 | egos inability to accept defeat, nor is it purely a money grab, though it is obviously |
| 0:54.9 | that as well. |
| 0:56.4 | In addition to those factors, we are also witnessing the creation of a lost cause myth, |
| 1:02.7 | and I think the motivation behind this is that lost cause myths have proven to be some |
| 1:07.9 | of the most durable and powerful legacies that can be left behind to live on after a movement |
| 1:14.4 | has faltered or failed. |
| 1:16.8 | It's the ideological seed that gets planted for a future generation to harvest. |
| 1:28.4 | So this morning, while many of us were still lost in our dreams, Donald Trump tweeted, |
| 1:33.5 | and I know that is a sentence. |
| 1:35.7 | None of us ever really need to hear again, but this time it seemed to imply that he had |
| 1:41.0 | gotten his head around the fact that Joe Biden won the election. |
| 1:45.1 | This of course set all kinds of people ablaze, wondering if he was finally prepared to concede. |
... |
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