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issue #78 posted 12 / 10 / 2024
Trump's Victory: in the news: In the aftermath of the USA presidential election, pundits and poll watchers struggled to explain, "Why Trump Won." Michael Mechanic, writing for Mother Jones, said wealth inequality. Michael Tomasky, writing for The New Republic, pointed to the right-wing media, saying "they fed their audiences a diet of slanted and distorted information that made it possible for Trump to win." The following days saw Trump identify several people he planned to nominate for key posts in his new administration. Many of these selections were met with shock and disbelief by those in the mainstream media. Those eliciting strong reaction included Matt Gaetz / Justice Dept (who later withdrew when it became apparent he could not be confirmed,) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. / HHS, Tulsi Gubbard / DNI, Pete Hegseth / Defense Dept, Lee Zeldin / EPA, Linda McMahon / Education Dept., Chris Wright / Energy Dept., and Kash Patel / FBI, etc. Trump also indicated billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would head up an informal Dept. of Government Efficiency (DOGE) that supposedly would find trillions of dollars of wasteful government spending to cut—something Mechanic has recently analyzed with another post on the Mother Jones website. Could Trump's election triumph result in even more cynicism (see # 36A Cynicism.) in the progressive community? (see note #1 below) Perhaps, but hopefully its members continue seeking constructive ways forward. Consider the last alluded piece from
Michael Mechanic. Along with his lamenting of "the
great fucking-over of the American middle and working classes" that
began with Reagan and 1980s "supply side economics," he constructively offers several places to look to find government revenue
instead of cutting programs that help those who need it. That is, instead
of targeting programs that benefit the "have nots" and
those #24A Struggling With
A Basic Need: Sustenance The latter refers to the USA budget deficit which each year adds to a national debt that has grown to a staggering $36 trillion! Where are the Republican fiscal conservatives who once rallied against this? It certainly looks like (in choice #48 terms) those with the #45A Borrowing Mentality have triumphed. The "plunder" Mechanic refers to is described as it relates to education dollars in his November 21 article "Linda McMahon, Secretary of Plunder." There he notes the National Education Association opinion of the agenda behind her nomination: "Her chief goal for education is to promote vouchers, which drain resources from public schools and send taxpayer money to unaccountable private schools that are permitted to discriminate against students and educators." This is anathema to those idealists who value #31 Education for Democracy. In writing about (in his November 17 offering) Trump nominee Chris Wright, Mechanic recalls the doublespeak language George Orwell describes in his classic novel 1984. He remembers this book's "dictatorship represented by the all-powerful “Big Brother” [which] dictates the reality its citizens must adhere to, however topsy-turvy. Official slogans include “ignorance is strength,” “freedom is slavery,” and “war is peace.”" He then considers Trump's promise to "drain the swamp" in this regard. He writes "It’s not the slogan itself that’s Orwellian. The Orwellian part is Trump’s evocation of the Swamp as he appoints foxes to guard the federal henhouse yet again. It’s a trolling of the libs, but a trolling with potentially dire consequences—and a signal that our government is for sale, more openly now than ever." This is hardly the #21A Idealistic Populism which celebrates the wisdom of common people as "the most honest and safe depository of the public interests." It's not the respect for "law & order" of #34 Valuing Traditions... To those who've proclaimed Trump's victory as a triumph of populists or conservatives, I say Trump is the demagogue boogey-man of populism. And point out it's much easier to argue he is a bomb-throwing radical, not a conservative. Consider the characterization of conservatives (by the American Enterprise Institute's Yuval Levin) as "people who believe in institutions". As I described in my 2022 book based on his first term record, and as what we expect from many of his second term nominees to lead key government agencies, I believe Trump is more about destroying institutions than strengthening them. Sadly, after a constructive suggestions start, this blog has now ventured into negativity. Millions are frustrated with Trump's return to power. Mechanic's article identifying wealth inequality as the reason for it noted, "There is little that leaves people as pissed off and frustrated as the feeling that no matter how hard they work, they can’t ever seem to get ahead." As I write, that frustration—apparently related to corporate greed and health insurance policies—led to someone's breaking point and the murder of the United Health Care CEO. This violent extreme expression of frustration is terrifying by itself (see note #2 below). But here's a possibility I find more chilling: frustration leading millions of caring, concerned American citizen to turning (in choice #32 terms) away from #21B Service to Others. Trading that for selfishness. Giving up on humans as fundamentally flawed—becoming mired in # 36A Cynicism. Besides telling those dealing with such disillusionment to "hang in there," I could tell them to have hope (see #201B Positive Expectations). And point out that dealing with feeling depressed by staying busy (in particular as in #102A Conscientious, Efficient, Stewardship) can be a good strategy. Notes note #1 This blog began covering (then candidate) Donald Trump over eight years ago (see Worldview Watch #48) and—while alluding to him in several issues—focused on him and his actions in issues #51, and #66, note #2 This killing is made scarier in that it was apparently accomplished by using an unlicensed "ghost gun" made by 3D printing |
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