Monday, January 23, 2017

Trumpismo: Reasons for Optimismo

Trump’s campaign has flushed out a whole cohort of emotionally damaged people in this country, that I’ve heard estimated around a third of the population. That’s about the number who elected him: controlling personalities, people who see themselves as victims, who deal in hatred of others different from themselves, of the scions and perpetrators of authoritarian personalities. These are people who are frequently angry, often vent (a self-indulgence), are incapable of thoughtful analysis, think in clichés, are often abusive. Still, they can hold down a job, accept responsibilities, raise families (similarly damaged). These conditions are now considered disorders, but in the past they’ve been the mode. Lloyd de Maus and his psychohistory has addressed this in fascinating ways. But Trump’s constituency actually measures it.

He’s going to make such a mess of things, the Republicans will soon consider him a curse. And if we can get some attention paid to election theft and interstate crosscheck (the means by which the GOP purged as many as 7 million minority registrations, according to gregpalast.com), we may gain the upper hand sooner than we think. He’ll become an embarrassment to the Deep State. Hillary would have been a better bet, but the greedy ones (viz. the Koch Brothers) wanted it ALL, viz. lower taxes and fewer regulations (they don’t play well with others), so they bet on any Republican and got a monster. I want to see how vulnerable the Koch Bros. are, and what they’ll do with Trump in the saddle. They have so much money they won't lose out, but they may lose some grip on our political system. Remember that the Tea Party is entirely their creation, and they fund it.

So cheer up. Things are bad throughout the world in the hands of the international globalized economic powers, who are smart, amoral, infinitely greedy, and utterly lacking in empathy. But Trump will be a weak link in this chain. The moral divide is so obvious, that even the New York Times may play a useful role in taking Trump down.

Let’s enjoy it!