Can this ever go "back together?"
Has Trump crystallized permanent division?
If We Want To Change the Way Things Are,
We Must First Look At How We Got Here.
Events have left us with no sensible alternative to "embracing the inescapable."
At this juncture we are forced to conclude that whatever wreckage may remain of our country's democracy is now firmly in the hands of the US oligarchs and the Russian oligarchs. Moreover, with the current minority in control of Washington it is painfully clear that decades of rancid media, voter suppression and gerrymandering have finally succeeded, too. Seated behind the locked gates of their country clubs, our craven billionaires are -- at this moment -- still panting from their "victory lap." The Republicans who have enjoyed the criminal benefit of all this anti-democracy effort remain almost comatose, thoroughly inebriated with their sudden, unexpected ascendancy.
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| Fevered Trumpkins fantasizing about what "Make America Great Again" might possibly mean. [image] |
In fact, given the extreme degree of this "drunkenness," a reasoned estimate of what's coming next for us may well be described as a descent into the "arrow in the eye hang over phase." MeanMesa is headed to WalMart to buy extra ammo.
President Trump's Theatrics "Placate"
His Base Without Anything "To Announce"
Amazingly,Trump voters remain absolutely besides themselves
with his zero accomplishment of "policy successes."
Rats. It's always tricky to try to pick really
great birthday presents for dour, grumbling nihilists.
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| There's nothing. Like it. [image] |
The brutally hideous House version of the American Health Care Act should have been more than enough to "surgically separate" hordes of mindless Republican voters from their "lemming-like," repetitive, quadrennial pilgrimage to the polls to painfully reelect their Congressional tormentors. [MeanMesa employs the term "Congressional" to include both House members and Senators. At least in theory, bit groups comprise the "Congress."]
A truly weird "injury priority" has colored most of the few discernible shards of the Trump "proposals" on matters ranging from tax reform to immigration to infrastructure to the nation's budget. None of this should present any sort of an "imponderable mystery" to those observing the destruction. Trump's base has a single obsession. It is one which may take a myriad of incomprehensible political forms, but it exists nonetheless.
What obsession?
Trump and his supporters want more than anything else "to get even."
Neither the President nor his rambling, largely incoherent voter base are burdened with any matter as
abstract as actual policy. The Trumpkins don't particularly care about infrastructure, wealth inequality, NATO, GDP figures or, probably, even what twisted form their health insurance might take in a few months. Only a barely detectable, ghostly, statistical demographic of the Trumpkin base care a whit about the President's embarrassing proximity to literal clouds of Russian oligarchic mobsters swirling around the Oval Office like gnats at a picnic.
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| The prospect of vengeance [image] |
For the "to date" duration of the Trump Administration we have seen an obsession with "getting even" which has repeatedly manifested itself in the grisly procedure of:
1. identifying "enemy targets" among the citizens,
2. justifying "injury priorities" which will consistently strip away any existing benefits enjoyed by these "enemy targets," and,
3. re-framing each such an attack as some sort of economic or political "necessity" required to "get things under control" again.
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| Trump's supporters will need LOTS of VooDoo dolls. [image] |
The Trump base has no idea that the results of these "getting even" efforts will have, at best, a minuscule impact on either the national economy or their traditionally pathetic personal finances. Recent polling suggests that, even though the GOP now controls the entire Potomac, Trump supporters continue to blame Washington Democrats for Donald's increasingly troublesome lack of accomplishment. When the President does something -- anything -- which horrifies the more rational players in politics, his base is elated. Trump has "served" them even if the banquet's main course is "best served cold come the dawn." The new political reality must not be dismissed in favor of comfort.
Trump voters were not seeking relief,
they were seeking revenge.
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| Trumpkins spelling out "legislative changes" they consider crucial. [image] |
So, in terms of "inspiring" Trump voters to be attracted by some sort of policy, "nothing is real," right? No. Unhappily this is all painfully real -- not to mention, terrifying.
So far this tactic has served the President fairly well. Polls suggest that Trump's 35% base has eroded very little while confronted what is now clearly seen by others as complete paralysis in the government.
Although, amid this current chaos this type of speculation can become quite "wordy," we can, hopefully, simplify things to a more manageable discussion by considering the likely course of events with respect to structural elements of US government and policy which will "set the tone" for the next few months. The specific areas which seem most likely to set the stage seem to be:
1. the GOP Congress
MeanMesa suspects that the Republicans currently controlling the government will continue to passive "tolerate" Donald Trump as President just as long as the "investment continues to deliver a profit." The "line in the sand" will probably become more and more visible as the President's approval rating drops closer and closer to around 30% -- a politically caustic nightmare for anyone needing to win an election.
As of this posting the political weight of this continued support is dwindling for a number of lethal, political reasons. The chilling void of any legislative "products" beyond the frantic shoveling of everything "not bolted down" into the pockets of the billionaires who own the Republican Party may, over time, become a frightening political disadvantage.
The most ardent Trump supporters will, undoubtedly, remain utterly unaware of this legislative paralysis, but the "independent" voters in that demographic may become restive with the complete inaction. On the other hand, as mentioned above, once the "bleeding" starts among the first victims of the cruel health care proposal and the painful austerity of the Trump "budget proposals," many of the original "Trump gang" will wander off grumbling.
Hopefully, this pit of illiterate despair and low information frustration will be literally seething by the 2018 mid-terms.
2. the Trump Presidency
So, What Do We Expect Next?
MeanMesa Offers an over view of short term
possibilities that might map out some of our likely futures.
Although, amid this current chaos this type of speculation can become quite "wordy," we can, hopefully, simplify things to a more manageable discussion by considering the likely course of events with respect to structural elements of US government and policy which will "set the tone" for the next few months. The specific areas which seem most likely to set the stage seem to be:
1. the GOP Congress
2. the Trump Presidency
3. the US economy, and
4. international affairs.
1. the GOP Congress
MeanMesa suspects that the Republicans currently controlling the government will continue to passive "tolerate" Donald Trump as President just as long as the "investment continues to deliver a profit." The "line in the sand" will probably become more and more visible as the President's approval rating drops closer and closer to around 30% -- a politically caustic nightmare for anyone needing to win an election.
 |
| Nothing feels better than being a victim. [image-YOUTUBE] |
The most ardent Trump supporters will, undoubtedly, remain utterly unaware of this legislative paralysis, but the "independent" voters in that demographic may become restive with the complete inaction. On the other hand, as mentioned above, once the "bleeding" starts among the first victims of the cruel health care proposal and the painful austerity of the Trump "budget proposals," many of the original "Trump gang" will wander off grumbling.
Hopefully, this pit of illiterate despair and low information frustration will be literally seething by the 2018 mid-terms.
2. the Trump Presidency
Donald Trump's White House is already under siege. The President, suffering with his reputation for being dangerously incompetent and untrustworthy, isn't even able to retain quality counsel for his glacier of legal problems "sprouting up everywhere." The Democrats have shown an admirable appetite to stand up to Trump, but MeanMesa suspects that there are a shocking number of cases of quiet enmity boiling behind the scene in Trump's Congressional Republican "colleagues," too.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of Trump's political affections and administrative competence can be seen in the present state of vital governmental capabilities. The Justice Department has been, necessarily, castrated with an insipid toady as Attorney General and internecine mayhem raging through every cubicle and hall way. The State Department, still largely un-staffed, is functioning at roughly 30% of its pre-Trump capacity. Most of the remainder of the Executive branch has been sold to the highest bidder -- primarily inexperienced billionaires and Goldman-Sachs imports.
Trump's "surviving" political career -- shockingly, not even yet navigating to its inevitable nadir -- is careening to a static state where nothing necessary can be done and nothing which might help has been proposed. The President's foreign relations gaffs seem to be impatiently converting disastrous possibilities into disastrous realities.
Of course, absolutely none of this so much as "perturbs the naps" of the mindlessly unaware and uninterested Trump voters or the Republican Congressmen opening fat checks from the billionaires -- billionaires who happen to be "enjoying a sudden, undreamed of prosperity."
3. the US Economy
[MeanMesa intends to look into this in more detail in a future post.]
To date Trump has, actually, done very little with the economy. The same cannot be said for the Congressional Republicans. They have demonstrated an emboldened legislative avarice to a degree not previously thought to even be possible. In all aspects this legislative action has been a quiet wealth distribution. In ten years the Republican "Trump Care" bill alone would obliterate $100 billion in the taxes imposed to pay for Obama Care [these were the "mandates" which initially served to make the ACA "revenue neutral"].
Trump's fever dreams for tax reform would propel these cuts into truly unexplored realms. Adding those totals to his big plans to aggressively expand military spending paints a really gloomy future for the nation's future annual deficits. The GOP Congress has been well paid to vaporize almost every law passed to deter the economy from repeating the 2008 free fall -- notably, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street "discipline" legislation. The new administration has clearly flashed the green flag for the GOP Congress to "sell" the repeal of every regulation which is worth anything to an eager benefactor ready to pummel the crooks with "campaign donations" -- this has very clearly included an unprecedented "flood of sweet favors" to hedge fundies, bankers, brokers and other corporatists.
With the Oval Office now surrounded by ex-Goldman-Sachs "heavy hitters" and defiantly brazen insider traders, Trump has begun to install generals to make up for what appears to be a recruitment shortage for more racist billionaires.
4. International Affairs
Presidents generally arrive at the White House with a robust -- although often not strongly formalized -- "foundation" concerning foreign affairs around the world. This foundation is comprised of rather impressive amounts of raw, public data, enough knowledge of history to have a "perception" of historical vectors in other countries, a, perhaps intuitive, understanding of both visible and hidden explanations of the behavior and motivation of their counter parts and, importantly, a very well understood of their own, private ideals with respect to what such a President thinks the country ought to be doing.
However, President Trump is not really motivated to particularly "fit into" the analytical processes and "guidance" models of traditional Presidents. Although there may indeed be more deeply rooted , stable characteristics of Trump's personal ideas which remain obscured by his maudlin, lurching, public relations jolts, in the visible frame he is careening right and left on so many issues that no one is currently claiming to be able to anticipate his position, minute to minute, based on an understanding of his fundamental policy positions.
While there are almost certainly financial ties to the Russian mafia/oligarchs, and there seems to be a fundamental religious bent against "everything Muslim," the most pressing issue of Trump's foreign policy possibilities rests squarely on his yet unrevealed war making penchant.
Recent US history has already shown us that un-elected Republican Presidents, as their administrations inevitably slide into disrepair and Congressional paralysis, gradually become politically desperate. At this point the "war making impulse" presents itself as a political remedy. Given the flavor of the advice from those currently surrounding the President, the intrinsic danger of this impulse is even further aggravated.
While Trump might prefer to attack Muslims, political imperatives may well serve to shift his attention to North Korea. Worse, although a deep, conventional weapons attack on North Korea would probably accomplish just about any military objective, he may choose to use nuclear weapons to impress his base support. [who, as an electoral demographic, generally have no understanding or information about nuclear]
The Dark Side - American Oligarchs and American H-Bombs/MeanMesa
Perhaps the most telling aspect of Trump's political affections and administrative competence can be seen in the present state of vital governmental capabilities. The Justice Department has been, necessarily, castrated with an insipid toady as Attorney General and internecine mayhem raging through every cubicle and hall way. The State Department, still largely un-staffed, is functioning at roughly 30% of its pre-Trump capacity. Most of the remainder of the Executive branch has been sold to the highest bidder -- primarily inexperienced billionaires and Goldman-Sachs imports.
Trump's "surviving" political career -- shockingly, not even yet navigating to its inevitable nadir -- is careening to a static state where nothing necessary can be done and nothing which might help has been proposed. The President's foreign relations gaffs seem to be impatiently converting disastrous possibilities into disastrous realities.
Of course, absolutely none of this so much as "perturbs the naps" of the mindlessly unaware and uninterested Trump voters or the Republican Congressmen opening fat checks from the billionaires -- billionaires who happen to be "enjoying a sudden, undreamed of prosperity."
3. the US Economy
[MeanMesa intends to look into this in more detail in a future post.]
To date Trump has, actually, done very little with the economy. The same cannot be said for the Congressional Republicans. They have demonstrated an emboldened legislative avarice to a degree not previously thought to even be possible. In all aspects this legislative action has been a quiet wealth distribution. In ten years the Republican "Trump Care" bill alone would obliterate $100 billion in the taxes imposed to pay for Obama Care [these were the "mandates" which initially served to make the ACA "revenue neutral"].
Trump's fever dreams for tax reform would propel these cuts into truly unexplored realms. Adding those totals to his big plans to aggressively expand military spending paints a really gloomy future for the nation's future annual deficits. The GOP Congress has been well paid to vaporize almost every law passed to deter the economy from repeating the 2008 free fall -- notably, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street "discipline" legislation. The new administration has clearly flashed the green flag for the GOP Congress to "sell" the repeal of every regulation which is worth anything to an eager benefactor ready to pummel the crooks with "campaign donations" -- this has very clearly included an unprecedented "flood of sweet favors" to hedge fundies, bankers, brokers and other corporatists.
With the Oval Office now surrounded by ex-Goldman-Sachs "heavy hitters" and defiantly brazen insider traders, Trump has begun to install generals to make up for what appears to be a recruitment shortage for more racist billionaires.
4. International Affairs
Presidents generally arrive at the White House with a robust -- although often not strongly formalized -- "foundation" concerning foreign affairs around the world. This foundation is comprised of rather impressive amounts of raw, public data, enough knowledge of history to have a "perception" of historical vectors in other countries, a, perhaps intuitive, understanding of both visible and hidden explanations of the behavior and motivation of their counter parts and, importantly, a very well understood of their own, private ideals with respect to what such a President thinks the country ought to be doing.
However, President Trump is not really motivated to particularly "fit into" the analytical processes and "guidance" models of traditional Presidents. Although there may indeed be more deeply rooted , stable characteristics of Trump's personal ideas which remain obscured by his maudlin, lurching, public relations jolts, in the visible frame he is careening right and left on so many issues that no one is currently claiming to be able to anticipate his position, minute to minute, based on an understanding of his fundamental policy positions.
While there are almost certainly financial ties to the Russian mafia/oligarchs, and there seems to be a fundamental religious bent against "everything Muslim," the most pressing issue of Trump's foreign policy possibilities rests squarely on his yet unrevealed war making penchant.
Recent US history has already shown us that un-elected Republican Presidents, as their administrations inevitably slide into disrepair and Congressional paralysis, gradually become politically desperate. At this point the "war making impulse" presents itself as a political remedy. Given the flavor of the advice from those currently surrounding the President, the intrinsic danger of this impulse is even further aggravated.
While Trump might prefer to attack Muslims, political imperatives may well serve to shift his attention to North Korea. Worse, although a deep, conventional weapons attack on North Korea would probably accomplish just about any military objective, he may choose to use nuclear weapons to impress his base support. [who, as an electoral demographic, generally have no understanding or information about nuclear]
Additional Reading:
The Dark Side - American Oligarchs and American H-Bombs/MeanMesa
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