Some bonus reading 🙂
Apologizes for this detour from all things football. But I could not resist. This has been something I’ve been mulling over for a week or two now. I finally concluded that it was necessary to exorcise this from my mind by committing it to paper. So, apologizes in advance.
Can DT be as dire as he behaved during the campaign? Surely he was pandering to his constituents to get elected; saying anything and everything. Being as outrageous and inflammatory to get attention. He did not spend that much money. He alienated most of his own party. But, as they say, he tapped into the inner voice within America. And he got elected. He’s now our President.
Yes, he’s a narcissistic megalomaniac. Ever since I can remember DT has been on the front pages – with his books, with his bankruptcy and with his Babes. In many ways we know what he’ll be like – random, inconsistent and inarticulate. But, again, he knew something most of us did not know. And that is, what most of Americans (though not the majority) are feeling (but not thinking).
He has the unenviable task of now trying to satisfy these people and also square the circle that is the Republican party. The same party that (understandably) denounced him during the campaign. The leaders of this party are in for a shock though – as they found our over the last year they won’t be able to control him. As opposed to McCain and Palin, DT is a true maverick.
Both parties are a mess. The Democrats will now try and find their soul. But if they believe that Bernie was their answer then they will be out of power for many election cycles. In some ways, the need to appease the Bernie supporters caused Hilary to move from the (vacant) middle ground and alienate those future Trump supporters. Bernie’s naïve, simplistic McGovern/Humphreys-like approach will never allow the Democrats to win elections. He was ineffective in the Senate and I wish he was just as ineffective within the Democratic party. But he’s awakened the Occupy-Wall-Street sentiments and it’s not clear how those flames will now be fanned.
And the Republicans are going through a complete overhaul. These leaders have no idea what their constituents want. Nor they do understand what DT wants.
So, we’ll have to buckle up for a period of instability while we see which DT will run this country. Of course, that will change hour by hour. The worst parts will likely come when he represents the country overseas or deals with foreign leaders. He will make it seem like George Bush was a talented, informed and articulate leader. Having to listen to him stumble through his 10 world vocabulary will be excruciating.
He’s ability to select the next Justice for the Supreme Court is one area where he could do long lasting damage. But the Democrats and Obama blew that (not that I know what they could have done). At best we’ll end up with the same 5 – 4 imbalance that existed prior to Justice Scalia passing away. But if other (liberal) Justices retire or die or, unbelievable DT gets a second term (who knows, I’ve been wrong about everything else) then he could oversee a generational shift on the Court.
But, we really don’t know what kind of President he’ll make. I still don’t think he ever thought he’d win the Primary let alone the Presidency. This is going to be a hard, long, pressure-filled job. And he’s not a young (or fit) man. But I also can’t deal with the people protesting on the street against him. Or demanding recounts. What’s the point? The election is done and dusted. He’s our President now. Protesting just makes you look like a cry-baby. If you’re looking to change the outcome then change your own party. But that will come at the grass-roots level and won’t effect this election outcome.
BTW, what was the impact of the third party Independents on this election. It’s not clear from what party they pulled their votes but in a number of the swing states their vote count was larger than the margin between the two main parties. In other words, given that Hilary won the popular vote, these “wasted” votes arguably were the most valuable votes of all – for Donald! These were the votes that in the swing states handed him victory.
And what about the media? How is it possible to get all the predictions to utterly wrong? And that’s after we had the experience of Brexit. And where is the introspection of these outlets? Where is their analysis of their failings? Along with the FBI they let down the country. Instead, we have to put up with the New York Times shouting in bold headlines that the Trump transition is in disarray. How is that? Sure. You don’t like his appointees (who does). But this is the same paper that stood by, seeking balance when Rumsfeld and Cheney were appointed along with all those other neo-cons. That was far more damaging to our country. This is the same paper (along with other outlets) that provided balance via the false equivalency of all DT’s utterances to Hilary and her emails. It’s hard to read the NYT these days and believe there is any balance.
And that’s the real loss here. The loss of the sensible middle ground. Bernie and Elizabeth will never allow the Democrats to regain their electoral power. Yet I understand how this election will energize their constituents. But what if they had not pushed Hilary to the left. What if their supporters had come out en-masse? And what if the polls had been more accurate and Hilary (potential) supporters might have voted through fear of DT? And what if the FBI had not inserted themselves at the last minute?
Long term, I worry way more about the repercussions of Brexit than I do about DT. Even in the worst case (well, assuming he does not impose a dictatorship) he’ll be gone from the Trump House in 8 years. But in 8 years we’ll still be dealing with the fallout from Brexit and the general balkanization of Europe. Who knows what Catalonia, Scotland, Ireland etc will do next. And Europe is not the place where you want to see nationalism and xenophobia on the rise. Other idiots like Farage will emerge and find ways to divide people and incite violence in Europe. Be way more worried about what’s happening other there.
Now I’ll strain to make some tenuous link back to football…..
The original intent of this article had been to point out that Donald was the Jose of the football world. That is, Jose is to football what DT is to politics. However, I then got sidetracked. So, let me quickly consider this idea. No-one in football can stand Jose – he’s a narcissistic ego-manic. Nothing is ever he’s fault. He’s a bully and he hogs the limelight. See, which one are we talking about? He’s cunning and he always seems to come out on top. But no-one respects him and no-one likes him (though both can use charm when it serves their purpose). Jose is a maverick – we’ve never seen a manager like this before. Wherever he goes he is disruptive – trading off short-term gains for the long-term health of the organization; it’s always about him. As for the differences, there is genuine evil with Jose that I’ve not quite seen in Donald (but give him time). Donald needs to be loved whereas Jose needs to win at all costs. Both leave a trail of destruction in their wake. If I had to choose the lesser of the two evils, it would be Donald. I would not be able to sleep at night if I made any peace with Darth Vader; we know, for certain, that we’re at the end of the world if The EvilOne was to become President.
Phew, that’s done with. Now back to important stuff…..
– LB7