Stupidity, The Former Guy, and the Presidency- three concepts that shouldn't be aligned
Populism has always depended on appealing to the stupid and easily propagandized. The American Sheeple are no different.
Stupidity is much the same all the world over. A stupid person's notions and feelings may confidently be inferred from those which prevail in the circle by which the person is surrounded. Not so with those whose opinions and feelings are an emanation from their own nature and faculties.
John Stuart Mill, The Subjection of Women
And then he thought: Is this how idiots rationalize their stupidity to themselves?
Orson Scott Card, Ender's Shadow
It’s not breaking new intellectual ground to state that like attracts like. In the case of The Former Guy (TFG), stupid people attract stupid people. Except there’s more to it than that. If one were to look back through history to despots/populists like Hitler, Franco, Mussolini, and others, it’s no surprise that none of them were intellectual titans. Their superpower was their ability to read a room.
Successful populists have a gift for knowing what people want/need to hear and reflecting it back to them in precisely the way that will excite their fears and prejudices. TFG didn’t win people over because of his brilliant oratorical skills; the man can barely string together two coherent sentences. Nor did he convince undecideds to vote for him due to his incisive grasp of arcane issues; he doesn’t know Latvia from Lithuania. Or economic policy from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
No, he won because he articulated a vision of America as a clenched fist, a country that takes what it wants and asks questions later. TFG presented his belief in America First- AmeriKKKa über Alles- a country that dictates instead of negotiating and shoots first and asks questions later. And millions of frightened Germans AmeriKKKans swallowed it like mother’s milk.
This belief system holds that considering the interests of other countries is a sign of weakness…and weakness cannot and must not be tolerated in a leader. No, a leader must be firm and decisive at all times and in all things. Kick ass, take names, and leave the mess for others to clean up.
Mary Trump, a psychologist and cousin of TFG with a unique insight into the twisted psychological makeup of the Trump family, has some interesting observations about those who’ve bought into the culture surrounding TFG:
Thanks to the first two years of the Trump administration, during which 100% of the federal government was under the control of the Republican Party, and thanks to the willingness (and, in some cases, eagerness) of that party to back a fraud, thief, and traitor, that support has grown well beyond the so-called base.
I don’t know what it is about the lives of those who continue to champion or at least tolerate Donald and this party, but they are drawn to the loud and the wasteful, the dirty, the dark, and the dangerous as long as they themselves feel safe.
They don’t want a leader to look up to; they want somebody on their level, equal to or (preferably) beneath them. Somebody who doesn’t need to descend into the gutter to “fight for them” (hate for them, threaten for them) because he’s already there—and has been living there for all of his adult life.
TFG would never “rise” to fight for the “little guy.” He’s had someone else do his fighting for his entire life. I doubt he’s so much as scuffed his knuckles. He talks a good ball game, but he’s never really participated in the give-and-take in his life. No, like a good mob boss, he has people to do his dirty work.
People love TFG because he hates the same people they do and because he’s promised to create a world that caters to White Conservative Christian cisgender heterosexuals.
All others need not apply.
And, because TFG has thoroughly terrorized the GOP from top to bottom, he’s been able to do what he wants when he wants and to whom he chooses. It’s his party, he knows it, and so does everyone else in what used to be the Republican Party.
Conservative ideals no longer have anything to do with who wins the GOP nomination. The only ideals that matter are TFG’s, and even with 91 indictments arrayed against him, he remains a hero (some would argue even more so) to his base.
Donald’s exaggerated displays of confidence and his refusal to play by the rules, continue to draw some people to him while the Republicans (including those who are allegedly in competition with him) continue to leave the field open for him to dominate.
Recently, “Trump or Death” flags started making an appearance. Now, what? What is the end-point of this kind of display? What will the corporate media do when Donald fails to condemn such sentiments and actually embraces the kind of rhetoric that leads to them?
It turns out we already know the answer—they will do nothing. Because that’s exactly what happened when Donald announced General Mark Milley should be put to death. As far as Donald is concerned, his followers should be willing to die or kill for him— he believes he’s worth that level of devotion. As far as the media are concerned, his latest threat is the logical extension of all of his rhetoric that has come before.
As far as TFG is concerned, it’s not about doing what’s best for America; HE is what’s best for America. TFG has already clarified what he plans to do when he returns to power. It’s a frighteningly anti-democratic plan that will almost certainly mean the end of American democracy as we know it.
It’s never been about what’s best for America or our democratic system of government. It’s always been about that which allows TFG to become an autocrat.
He wants to revive the practice of “impounding” funds, refusing to spend money Congress has appropriated for programs a president doesn’t like — a tactic that lawmakers banned under President Richard Nixon.
He intends to strip employment protections from tens of thousands of career civil servants, making it easier to replace them if they are deemed obstacles to his agenda. And he plans to scour the intelligence agencies, the State Department and the defense bureaucracies to remove officials he has vilified as “the sick political class that hates our country.”
“The president’s plan should be to fundamentally reorient the federal government in a way that hasn’t been done since F.D.R.’s New Deal,” said John McEntee, a former White House personnel chief who began Mr. Trump’s systematic attempt to sweep out officials deemed to be disloyal in 2020 and who is now involved in mapping out the new approach.
“Our current executive branch,” Mr. McEntee added, “was conceived of by liberals for the purpose of promulgating liberal policies. There is no way to make the existing structure function in a conservative manner. It’s not enough to get the personnel right. What’s necessary is a complete system overhaul.”
Of course, this plan has nothing to do with “Conservative” ideals or policies. It’s about placing a stunning amount of political power in the hands of TFG, who plans to wield it in such a way as to consolidate and expand that power. America will, in effect, have its first dictator, a lá Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.
TFG has already promised to shut down MSNBC and NBC News because of their “Liberal” bias. Ultimately, I suspect that, if carried out, any news outlet viewed as “Liberal (i.e., anti-TFG in whatever form) will be shut down as any “enemy of the state.”
Will this happen? It’s difficult to know. America has never faced this sort of threat before. But could it happen? Absolutely, but do we want to see things pushed to the brink of that? Is it worth risking the freedoms we enjoy now simply because those in his cult are too stupid and undiscerning to recognize they’re being duped?
The media isn’t doing their ONE JOB: Speaking truth to power and holding those people in power accountable. Why? Because the false “horse race” narrative is good for advertising rates and, thus, their bottom line.
Why call it out, then—especially if doing so interferes with the horse race? They need to keep the race between Pres. Biden and Donald close. In order to do that, they obsess about Biden’s age without acknowledging his fitness and accomplishments while normalizing Donald as the Republican front-runner while failing to mention that he’s only three years younger in addition to being a cognitively impaired, fraudulent traitor to the United States.
It’s early days, yet, and, as the saying goes, things will get worse before they get better. Unfortunately, both the media and the Republican Party seem to be doing everything in their power to prevent the “getting better” part. The calculation behind the choices made by each of these groups is related to narrow self-interest. The media are only concerned about what will benefit their bottom line; Republicans only care about what will gain them more power. The irony of the media’s gambit, is that caving to and enabling anti-democratic forces will ultimately be fatal to journalism. The Republican Party, on the other hand, understands that the future of the party is entirely dependent on following the road map Donald left them—never admit you’re wrong, never take responsibility, and never care about the well-being of anybody other than yourself.
TFG has nothing to gain by taking responsibility for his f**k-ups or mistakes. He only maintains his air of infallibility (something only he and his ignorant cult believe) by denying, deflecting, and/or assigning blame to others. Someone else is always to blame, somebody else f****d up, or some incompetent fool failed him.
In addition to being a blowhard and a liar (30,000+ lies during his firm term), TFG is also a world-class narcissist and a sociopath. Not only will he never take responsibility or admit a mistake, he cares only for his own well-being. He expects people to take a bullet for him, but he’d never do the same for anyone in a million years.
He may instill fear in others, but he’ll never have what he most craves- love and respect. That’s because everything in his life- even his marriage- is transactional.
What’s in it for me?
American politics, particularly on the Far-Right, has become entirely too transactional because that’s what TFG has demanded of it.
What’s in it for me?
There are so many problems facing the United States right now. The impact of those that are beyond our control (the widespread wildfires and flooding, for example) is exacerbated when we deliberately choose to make those things worse which we could improve right now.
We could, for example, solve the epidemic of gun deaths in America, just like every other developed country has. Procedurally it would be quite easy—ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, tax bullets, strengthen loopholes, enact stricter gun laws, institute gun buy-back programs. These are policies that upwards of 70% of Americans want.
The significant minority of people who own the vast majority of guns, however, is represented by 100% of their NRA-beholden politicians, and they won’t allow it.
We could also solve—or at least significantly diminish—child poverty. How do I know that? Because we already have. But then House Republicans decided to trash the policy that improved the lives of millions of children.
Why? Because that’s what Republicans do these days. The cruelty IS the point. How often has the GOP attempted to balance the budget on the backs of the poor and oppressed? How often have Republicans tried to slash America’s social safety net because they believe it will leave poor people sucking at the government teat and unable/unwilling to do for themselves?
Worse, Republicans seem to have no real issue with childhood poverty. They see no need to improve the lives of children, even if studies show it will save the government billions of dollars down the road.
What ever happened to collective action for good? I don’t know if you remember this, but when I was a kid, the accumulated actions of human beings since the Industrial Revolution started punching holes in the ozone layer. Cities like Los Angeles were almost constantly shrouded by thick layers of smog. Scientists identified the causes of the problem, took the necessary steps to slow the damage, and ultimately reversed it. Yet, 50 years later, when faced with problems that can be similarly solved—like climate change and COVID pandemic—we can’t get it done because we’re up against a bunch of unreconstructed anti-science, dead-end cultists who apparently believe the only desirable alternative to Donald is death.
It's not that they want to burn it all down in order to get their way—burning it down is what they want.
Elected Republicans at every level of government will assist these nihilists in this effort as long as the immature assholes and wannabe bullies who comprise an alarming percentage of the American electorate continue to keep them in power.
As simplistic and self-serving as this may sound, I believe events have shown this to be true. One of the most fundamental differences between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats care and Republicans don’t give a damn. Democrats want to govern and make America better. Republicans want to burn things down; they not only have no commitment to the common good, they don’t even recognize it.
And those “unreconstructed anti-science, dead-end cultists who apparently believe the only desirable alternative to Donald is death” nihilists will do whatever they can to keep the American Sheeple scared and stupid. Sadly, that’s proven to be surprisingly easy.
It’s time for those of us who believe in the future of American democracy start to accept the unacceptable—at least in the short term. We need to concede that 1) tens of millions of American adults are beyond reaching either because they don’t care, they’ve checked out, or, hardest of all to swallow, they’re vicious, anti-democratic thugs who want what today’s Republican Party and its de facto leader are selling; 2) the corporate media, by virtue of its lack of journalistic integrity, moral cowardice, and addiction to ratings, is firmly on the side of the fascists; and 3) there is no way to change 1) and 2) in the crucial months leading up to the 2024 election.
While it’s true that almost 12 million more people voted for Donald in 2020 than in 2016, it’s also true that 15 and a half million more people voted for the Democrat in 2020 than in 2016.
So, we run the table. We put out the fire.
Things always look darkest before they put the bag over your head and choke you out, right? Well, in this case, things aren’t nearly as bad as they seem because those of us who still believe in American goodness and decency still have the ultimate weapon available to us- the ballot box.
We will prevail as long as we can get more of us to exercise our franchise. It’s simple math. It doesn’t matter what the media, the Right-wing thugs, TFG, or anyone else does. If more of us vote, we’ll win and beat back the threat for two more years. No, it’s not going away, but we can tamp it down for at least a few years.
So, yes, things look like a shitshow now…because that’s what it is. That doesn’t mean we have to stand idly by and allow it to overwhelm us. We’re not powerless, and we’re certainly not voiceless.
And the idiots, thugs, and haters can only win if we allow it to happen…so let’s not, ‘kay??
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