On Trump
Howdy,
Trump sat down with Time Magazine and basically said all the quiet things out loud.
What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 million people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women’s pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn’t carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America’s founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn’t paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen.
You should read the whole thing. It’s a great piece.
One of the great things about Trump is that he’s full of shit and “speaks his mind.” He’s full of shit because he lies like he breathes. But he’s also “honest” because he says all the quiet things out loud until someone tells him it might cost him an election, and then he quickly backtracks. He’s purely transactional, the essence of capitalism.
I’ve been Never Trump for the jump. As someone who spent 4 1/2 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, I find Biden deplorable. But in this the year of our Lord 2024, it’s either RFK Jr’s impressive pecs or Biden’s senility. I’ll go with Biden, but you can spare me the finger-wagging that I’m not over the moon about voting for someone who blames dead Afghans for being dead.
I think Trump will win, and honestly, we deserve it. I appreciate the fact that Trump is telling everyone what he’s going to do. That way, they can’t say they weren’t warned, and thus, they will have earned their fate.
I love The Bulwark; I really do. They are true believers, and I love that about them. I don’t write politics for them, primarily because they have smarter people, but also because I’m a “hard right” conservative who votes for Biden because the alternative is a madman.
If I were to write politics for The Bulwark, my main line of attack would be: Why Is Anyone Surprised?
Seriously? Trump is just the symptom of all that is wrong with the American experiment. It’s not just MAGA. Oh, I am so sorry to disappoint you, but as we speak, throughout college campuses, people are hoping someone will kill me and my daughter because we are Zionists. (Well, she’s not, but I doubt they’d be willing to spare her).
Here’s a nice little video of these “pro-Palestinian” protesters.
Look around you, people. The rot is everywhere. I’m not surprised because I’ve been watching it for decades.
The All-Volunteer Force, born in 1973 from the Gates Commission, was the beginning of the rot. By entering into a Faustian bargain, the American people were officially relieved of duty. They are on a permanent vacation from history, removing any last vestiges of civics and responsibility in the process. In return, their security is provided, and all they have to do is mutter, “Thank You For Your Service.”
It’s the deal of a lifetime.
With their permanent vacation from history in the bag, the American people slowly but surely began amusing themselves to death. Occasionally, they are aroused but are quickly put back to sleep.
Remember when President Bush told Americans to go to the mall after a terrorist attack on the homeland?
Don’t sacrifice. Don’t take up arms. Just pull out the old credit card and get yourself something nice at Old Navy. Don’t worry; we’ve farmed out this splendid little war to some young lads who will carry these scars forever while you consume yourself into debt.
Trump is the perfect encapsulation of us. We are unserious people who don’t deserve the gift the greatest generation bled for on the beaches of Normandy. We are historically illiterate but consumed by the latest twists and turns of our favorite influencers. We cannot pay attention long enough to see that a madman is on the loose and is willing to burn down the country to return to power. But, while he does that, he’ll make sure your interest rates are lower for that new house you don’t really need.
He is us. And we are him.
Sure, there are people who will fight him when he wins. Maybe they’ll succeed in halting his authoritarian reach, for now. But, as my mentor JVL often writes, if one side has to win constantly to beat back an authoritarian party, then time isn’t on our side.
My little coda to all that is that we’ve been running on fumes for a long time. You shouldn’t be surprised that people don’t care about January 6 if they don’t really give two shits about Afghanistan.
A country that shrugs its shoulders about losing a war that started with an attack on the homeland isn’t going to give two shits about a coup either.
Buckle up, folks. It’s all coming to an end.
Until Next Time.
My reaction to the 2016 election (once I got out of the fetal position the morning after) was to look around and see what I could do to make things better.
I felt so powerless to do anything to change what was happening, which led to despair. My remedy was to take long walks. Very long walks. I was newly retired and had the time to ramble for as long as I wanted to through my walkable neighborhood and surrounding communities. And it turned out the act of walking brought me to what has become the passion that led to my "second act."
I became an advocate for safer streets in my neighborhood. That led to contacting city officials, asking for improvements and finding people all over the country focused on the same kinds of issues (as well as other topics related to building sustainable communities). I was very pleased that in 2021, the local focus on safer streets led my city to elect a council that shares these concerns.
I think we feel helpless when the enormity of a problem makes it impossible to know what we can do to make a difference. We all live in communities somewhere, though, and it's so much more possible to start there. Or as the Strong Towns people say:
1. Humbly observe where people in the community suffer
2. Ask: What is the next smallest thing we can do RIGHT NOW to address that struggle?
3. Do that thing. Do it right now.
4. Repeat.
The world is too big for an individual to fix. So is this country. But we can all make small differences that add up where we spend the most time -- our own communities.
I sometimes wonder how much of the hatred and anger we see all around us would diminish if more of us tried to find small ways to be better citizens, right in our own backyards.
Perfectly written. Solidly correct on all points here. I’ve echoed many of them in the past/present.