It's 11:55 a.m., and I'm enjoying my last five minutes of sanity in American governance.
In five more minutes, we all become the captive audience of the reboot of Donald Trump's presidential reality show, starring a whole new line-up of crazies--Dances-With-Strippers Pete Hegseth, Rootin' Tootin' Pet Shootin' Kristi Noem, RFK the Whale Decapitator, and the Skipping Dipshit Elon Musk.
One of the auteurs of NBC's "The Apprentice" offered a mostly-ignored endorsement of Harris in which he apologized to America for molding public perceptions of Trump as a sane and canny businessman. Read it here: https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2024-10-16/we-created-a-tv-illusion-for-the-apprentice-but-the-real-trump-threatens-america
I'm all for public apologies from anybody responsible for normalizing Trump and getting him elected. But I remain convinced that he is a symptom of larger national ills: apathy, ignorance, consumerism, and detachment from reality. These are products of years of substandard education, lack of community spirit, cynicism about our political system, and addiction to social media.
Can any of this get better? And how can I help? Those will be the two questions I will try to keep top of mind in the next four years.
You?
Yes, I’ve heard this from Chris Hedges. Trump is not a cause but a symptom. America always had these defects but Reagan put them on steroids. Now the diseases are in stage four. But Biden and the Democrats are , sadly to say, a quack cure, an ivermectin, ineffective and distracting. Biden was a died-in-the-wool zionist. Even if he was losing it, his blind, unconditional zionism was reinforced by rabid zionists like Blinken. We now know that the “we-have-no-power-over-Israel” line was a pathetic excuse. The ceasefire, whatever it’s worth, and probably not much, makes Trump look good and the Democrats like feckless fools which is what they are. Everyone knows that with Israel, if you grab them by the gazongas and twist, their minds and hearts will follow. Of course, the Israelis will welch out like they always do. Well, at least the Gazans get a break. But who knows what under-the-table deals were made.
ReplyDeleteMy guess: Trump will be definitely bad for us short and long term, good for the Gazans short term, bad for the Gazans (no real change from Democrats) long term until the American Empire collapses and Israel with it.
DeleteYah, I guess I'm less interested in predictions than in trying to combat some of the causes and effects of MAGA. I am not ever going to be a successful church-goer, though I admire those who are (Church Ladies notwithstanding). So I am trying, within limits of age and infirmity, to look for ways to build community in my local area, to support others, to promote working together, to be encouraging--all without worrying or talking too much about political affiliation. I am also writing letters to my elected reps at all levels. Also avoiding news headlines with "might," "could," "conceivably," "possibly," and similar words that jack up speculative catastrophizing.
DeleteStanley, you got your wish re Leonard Peltier: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/20/biden-commutation-leonard-peltier
DeleteI am glad to hear that about Leonard Peltier.
DeleteYes. Happy to hear that. Glad he can go home to spend the rest of his time with family. Mumia Abu-Jamal didn’t get anything unless I missed it. Maybe the other legal efforts will help him.
DeleteI got paywalled out of the US News and World Report article, but it is pretty well summarized here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/former-nbc-exec-regrets-helping-market-the-apprentice-1236034931/
ReplyDeleteI think you are correct that Trump is a symptom of the national malaise.
Can any of this get better? I don't know, but I hope so. I think there are a few reasons for hope that he won't be able to do as much damage as he promised to do (I realize that "not as much damage" is a pretty thin reason to hope, but I'll take what I can get.) For one thing, despite all the billionaires and incompetents that he has chosen to surround himself with, he doesn't have a well oiled machine. He's got dysfunction junction, with half of them fighting with the other half . He's subject to flattery, and like all reality show stars, he cares a lot about ratings. He will backtrack on things that bring his "ratings" down. In spite of the narrative he's putting out, he does not have a mandate. He has a razor thin margin . Nearly half of the people who voted, voted against him. And people cuss the filibuster, but we may have occasion to be thankful that it is still in place. The midterms in 2026 are likely to be a day of reckoning for the Republican party.
As far as what I can do? Probably not much. If I'm lucky, I might have 10-15 years left before the sand in my hour glass runs out. I for sure don't have four years to spare wringing my hands about Donald Freaking Trump. The best I can do is try to make things better where I am, encouraging friends and family, and encouraging efforts in my town and state to ensure justice and support for the marginalized.
And the Trumpy billionaires who are drunk on power need to sober up. It's a dangerous thing if too many people get p#ssed off, think late 18th century France. We really do not want to gp down that road; I think that is more of a danger than the US turning into Nazi Germany.
DeleteYep. When the ballots stop working, people start thinking about bullets.
DeleteBoy, I can't see Amazon or Facebook workers hauling their capitalist overlords off in a tumbrel to visit Madame Guillotine. But I agree that Trump's love of chaos often limits him, so yay that!
DeleteSorry about the paywall. I wonder how I managed to see it.
There may be a limited number of free articles, and I might have already maxxed out with those.
DeleteWell, the reality show is already heating up. See this story in yahoo news.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-forced-vivek-ramaswamy-doge-155007414.html
If the civil war among the troops continues it may prevent the worst happening due to infighting and incompetence.
At best, the USA will be effectively rudderless. Better than steering us straight into the darkness. Trump says God saved him to make America great again. More likely it’s comeuppance for killing all those indigenous and the racism.
DeleteGood news about Ramaswamy. He is irritating as hell.
DeleteI agree about Ramaswamy. Musk is also irritating as hell, and I am in hopes that he likewise gets voted off reality island by Trump.
DeleteOne other thing we can do is to support independent journalism. People are going to have to learn how to figure out what is true and what isn't, particularly as regards visual images.
ReplyDeleteYes, good point! I am keeping my subscriptions up to date and trying to at least make token contributions to NPR and The Guardian.
DeleteI am keeping NYTimes, as long as I keep getting the reduced rate of $4 a month. But I'm not renewing Washington Post (mad at Bezos) . I hate it that the Omaha World Herald is now $27.99 a month, and I let it drop. It was a shadow of its former self anyway. Our local paper is that high too, but we kept that. But we can't afford to subscribe to everything.
DeleteGlad you are supporting yr local paper. News desert here in the cornfield.
DeleteBesos is part of the problem with this country, busily trying to work his way into pharmaceuticals and telehealth while selling us all crap from China busting unions.
I am off Amazon and Prime. Almost anything on Amazon can be ordered direct from manufacturers and delivered by the USPS.
I can't see boycotting the Post reporters and editors trying to do a decent job.
I don't blame WaPo reporters and editors for having Bezos for a boss. But the publication has changed in some ways I don't like lately, and apparently some of their writers don't like the changes either, because they have bailed and gone elsewhere. I am thinking of being more of a reader of The Guardian.
DeleteJean - re: what to do: I think you're already doing the first practical idea which comes to mind, which is: support your local Democratic candidate for Congress. Trump has inordinate influence over Republicans in Congress, and a razor-thin majority.
ReplyDeleteAs I am a man of the cloth, I also have no qualms about suggesting you pray. Even Trump can have a change of heart.
This fall the cops arrested a local guy with an arsenal and homemade bombs in his car. Said he planned to blow up the local Dem office and a local place named The Rainbow Bar because the name attracted homosexuals. Local minister with a bullhorn attends all farmers markets to read Bible verses and rant against gays and feminists. My hair stylist and his husband have been subject to people pulling in their driveway and laying on the horns late at night and shooting guns out the window. They've lived here all their lives, but they've gunned up in self defense. Some dad up at the school freaked out at a teacher trying to "suppress masculine energy" of his third grader by including a song about a ladybug in a school program.
DeleteThese are not things a Democrat in Congress can fix. These are signs of collective insanity happening within 10 miles of my house, and a lot of men of the cloth around here are helping to stoke it.
So, yah, sure, I pray, but God is either on the side of MAGA or God has decided to let us reap what we've sown.