The Strangest Election in U.S. History
I tend to use musings to address more philosophical issues than straight political issues. Of course the two can get intwined. This one will be pure political analysis; then I am anxious to move on.
For some time past Donald Trump had been hinting he might run for President. Perhaps he just wanted to see his name in the paper. It is probably not unfair to assume that Trump is addicted to money, to power, to recognition, to making sure that he always comes out ahead in any contest or deal, and at any cost to others. That is where an analysis of Trump begins for this musing.
A couple of years ago I watched some dinner, I think it had to do with the press. A comedian, forget his name was busy roasting the politicians. One of his jokes was something like this: “I see Donald Trump is here with his (comment about his hair) and I understand he is thinking about running as an Independent for President. That surprises me, I thought he would run as a joke.” When the camera panned on Trump it was obvious that he felt really, really angry and embarrassed. Whatever else Donald Trump considers himself, the last thing is a joke.
Now I make two other observations about Donald Trump: Revenge is a very strong part of his personality. Second, he doesn’t seem to have any strong opinions on a lot of political issues, especially the hot button issues. If getting nominated as a Presidential candidate would be easier in the Democratic party he probably would have run as a Democrat. It is never the issues with Trump, but in what way can he himself further himself financially and image-wise.
From the first time Trump appeared on the stage with like more than ten other Republicans seeking the nomination, he made it immediately into an entertaining ‘reality show’. He even went so so far as to state the one female on the stage was so unattractive that nobody was going to vote for any woman with a face like hers. When another panelist objected to his comment, Trump responded that “I haven’t said anything about your face so quite whining—but I will say your face gives me a lot to work with.” He said the meanest things about any candidate who had polling numbers, or was a well know politician. From this point on it became more like the Dating Game or some trashy sit-com where endless insulting one liners keep the audience tuned in. Each threatening opponent became a Trump created caricature of ridicule. Any policy comments were general and incidental, like “I will be the biggest job creator President of all time.”
Trump knew a lot of Americans were angry, very angry, but not all angry about the same things. Unlike Obama, who genuinely appreciates the diverse groups which make up our citizenry, Trump simply calculated which group he insults will bring additional people to his side. Trump seems to understand that prejudicial votes, once attained, will stick no matter what else he might say or do. Political issues these days are complex, and over the head of most voters because of the complexity. I mean, how many of us could go more than a minute or two with intelligent input about the issue climate change. We can’t. To keep this short, Trump who by nature is a very angry person, thrives on his anger—it fuels his energy. For this election, policy debates were far behind the anger issue. So many of those really angry—about their financial situation, abortion, gay marriage, immigrants, kicking the butts of certain foreign countries, particular minorities, and so on, felt the anger of Trump and decided he was the best candidate who expressed the same level of angriness as they did—so he was their candidate. He was the one candidate who was not concerned about political correctness. The more he trashed establish ‘norms’ of correct society, the more loyal his supporters became. Trump once remarked during the campaign that “I could kill someone and my people would stick with me”. Trump went to an evangelical convention, made a pitch which simply said “Vote for me and I will support the very things you want.” They endorsed him. On the way out some reporter asked when was the last time Trump went to Church. He replied that he had too many important matters to deal with and didn’t have the time to go to Church. In truth, just about every behavior Trump engaged in throughout his life was definitely against evangelical beliefs. But that became tolerated because he said he would support whatever it was they were against. Just another angry group to toss in his vote bag.
Trump broke every rule in the book about proper things to say or do in a campaign. When he bragged on a tape about how he was so important that he could simply grab a female by the ‘pussy’ and get away with it, it was passed off as just Trump being Trump—the boys will be boys mentality. Except those kind of boys don’t usually run for President. Yet there was no big drop off in support by his female fans. Actually, late in the campaign, when some mother and her son in a wheel chair with cerebral palsy were at one of his rallies, and they were chanting “Trump makes fun of the handicapped”. Trump from the stage asked his supporters to “get those two out of here”. Ok, not so unreasonable, the crowd did come to hear Trump. But amazingly the crowd began to chant: “Grab her pussy”. That’s a different kind of signature campaign rally call.
I doubt Trump really expected to become President. He simply wanted the notoriety and personal attention he got with every victory at the polls. He was no longer a ‘joke’. Many prominent Republicans were mortified at his comments and felt for sure he was relegating the Party to extinction. I mean, who would vote for a person like this to be President? It might be a clue to watch the kind of reality shows and sit-coms which are so popular on TV. Towards the end of the campaign most party notables would not appear on the stage with him. Almost all polls showed Hilliary winning.
But, as a sign of the times, when the election was over, Trump was now the President. And the whole saner part of the planet was shocked. The huge number of people across the globe who detest their government leaders, were ecstatic, jubilant——the establishment is gone. And whoever got rid of it was their hero. None of his supporters knew what he would really do if President. It didn’t matter, what he did do is get rid of the establishment. This is global now in democratic elections—get rid of the incumbents.
The democrats are now totally shut out of all branches of the government, even though at the start of the campaign the democrats were a shoo in to control congress, the Presidency, and the Supreme Court. By the time election night was over, they would be controlling nothing. BUT, does anyone really know what Trump will do as President? My guess is that he will continue to do whatever makes his ego grow larger. Because of the way he won he is not really beholden to anyone. Can the evangelicals really depend on him to back their religious demands? If doing that is not beneficial to his own interests, they probably need to be concerned. Frankly, Trump won because the rural white voters who used to vote Democratic, switched and voted Republican. If Trump can keep these rural citizens on his side, how do the Democrats get back in power? However, be all this as it may, if the financial status of the poor, which often includes rural whites, continues to tank in all aspects, Trump will be booted out. What are the chances that Trump will be able to tax the wealthy enough to help return some of their wealth back into society? Probably zilch. What are the chances that Trump can get global decent minimum wages? Probably zilch. What are the chances that Trump can stop global human overpopulation? Probably zilch.
Notice that suddenly, after the election Trump is being especially kind-worded to those top Democrats who he had never missed a chance to assassinate their character. And the reverse is true to some extent. Now that Trump is President a lot of people are more than willing, or at leas publicly hoping that Trump will be a different kind of person. The same thing happened with Hitler. His opposition reasoned that once in power Hitler would behave differently. While I don’t think it is possible to accurately predict what Trump will do, the odds are high, that whatever his position on any issue that comes up will not be decided on whether it is good for the country, but what a chosen position will do for his image and control over our citizens. It is good to keep in mind that right now Trump is the Republican Party, stripped of past leaders, and serves at Trump’s pleasure. On these hot button issues which I doubt Trump cares little about one way or the other, they will be decided on how best his actions here serve his own interests. Just to weaken and destroy the Democratic Party Trump might (I said might) do some good things for hispanic, blacks, gays, women and so on. How can he personally lose if he does? When he attacked them while campaigning his attacks on certain groups gained him votes. Now, anything he does nice for these groups will gain him support. Like who will his right wing supporters in the election turn to? His strong sense of revenge argues against any of this but it will boil down to whether he gets more satisfaction from revenge or taking support away from the democratic party. Even the millionaires and billionaires need get edgy. Trump already has used the ‘rigged’ system to make his millions and is assured millions in the future if he ends up another Rush Limbaugh radio or TV talk show host. If cutting the rug out from under his fellow rich beyond imagination can make him a hero to the less wealthy, he might very well just do it. After all, Trump’s age demands he become a hero to the greatest extent possible right now.
What Trump says today is based on what that will do for Donald Trump today. What Donald Trump says at any point in the future will depend on what that will do for his personal image at that future time.
So it will be great theatre. Most politicians have strong positions on a lot of issues. They sometimes fall on the sword pushing their support for these issues so dear to them. So, realistically, we really don’t have any sure basis to know what Trump will do on most anything. So far in his life, including his campaign, he doesn’t listen too much to any advisory staff and they often quit because he pays no attention to them. Thus the fact he won the election on his own terms probably ensures he will call his own shots during the Presidency also. We also don’t know how long he can handle the stress of the Presidency. He is very high strung. Putin is probably depending on Trump to cause so much domestic turmoil that he won’t have time to bother Putin much with Putin’s global actions, what ever they might be. A lot of Americans believe Trump will blow everything up and cause social and economic turmoil, and probably so does Putin.
At this point, I am tired of this musing and do not know what Trump will do about most anything.From past musings it is clear that I see major social, economic, and military/terroristic implosions in the near future; who is President will not be able to stop these implosions, only move the date forward or backward. Personally, I am not going to nitpick over a few years one way or the other. It is what it is and will be when it will be. No, the Shadow doesn’t know either. Only the laws which control the evolutionary process dictate the future, and set the time table. No species, and certainly no individual member of any species, controls the destiny of evolution. We are unwilling players in the game, but never in control of where evolution takes us. Individuals can impact only on how much personal contentment they achieve in their brief existence—and this depends on how closely they follow the Golden Rule combined with how many others around them follow the Golden Rule. Contentment is not self achievable. It requires some luck (chance) and lots of help from others as we wend our way to personal extinction.
Surprise!!! Again I end as I so often end a musing:
“There is a way of life, a way of thinking, of behaving towards other men and your fellow creatures, towards all living things, towards the whole earth and the sky and the sun that is based on love, on compassion, on respect, on cherishing everything there is around you because it is wonderful, unique, it’s natural and good and it evolved that way by itself, it’s got to be cherished and if we think like that, and live that kind of life, we can all have our freedom, we can all have our happiness, we can all feel the sun and smell the grass and smell the flowers and look upon each other with appreciation.” (Unknown)
I will add one more nugget here: “It is commonplace of all religious thought, even the most primitive, that the man seeking visions and insight must go apart from his fellows and live for a time in the wilderness. If he is of the proper sort, he will return with a message. It may not be a message from the God he set out to seek, but even if he has failed in that particular, he will have had a vision or seen a marvel, and these are always worth listening to and thinking about...... One must seek, then, what only the solitary approach can give--a natural revelation.” Loren Eiseley (Anthropologist, philosopher, natural science writer, sometimes called ‘the modern Thoreau’)
I think the above is why my favorite hobby is the long solo walks I take in various nature settings and city communities. Nothing mellows me out more than these solitary wanderings. It makes me feel more appreciative of my own existence and more in tune with the diversity of life on our planet. It is more rewarding to accept that everyone matters than to be too self serving and full of ourselves. It’s all good theatre and a tad sad for me to realize that soon the curtain will fall for someone my age. No tragedy. No whining. No feeling that God is about to forsake me. No axe to grind. No need for a coffin, a tombstone, a funeral, just vanish and be one of the ‘grateful dead’, which sounds good but means nothing. We start as a nothingburger and end up a nothingburger. As T.O. would say: “Fair is fair.” Smile.
