It’s still the quickest way to the top, in 3 easy steps – demonise minorities, amplify their threat and convince the mainstream they are losing grip on power.
What happens when Donald Trump realises the extent of America’s powers? When all the might is flexed? And the true position of the USAs geopolitical power is laid bare? What does he turn to? How does he flex? What happens when no amount of fake news and posturing can convince the American people he is making them great again? The answer is not quit. Because we know that there is one thing that Donald Trump will never do…quit. Donald Trump will keep going, he will never relinquish power. The desk in the oval office is his until his heart stops beating. The White House is Orange until a bullet takes him out.
Donald Trump has played us all for fools. Fear mongering always works. He knows that, in fact we all know that and yet once again the left has been made to look like the oppressor by right-wing fear mongering. They do it to us every time. And we let it happen. Careless with economy, wooly on the big issues, overly permissive, giving the crazy fringe special privilege, idealistic, out of touch with the hard working majority who are just trying to make and honest living and put food on the table for their families.
We always assume the most articulate and most qualified make the best leaders but every few decades the charismatic snake charmer rises up and leads the pack into the abyss. A politician doesn’t win elections. Celebrity wins elections. The old reliable statesman in a grey suit who we assume knows better than us, is not very TikTok. The celebrity with an arsenal of sound bites and catch phrases, whose the embodiment of god, country and flag with a flare for gladiatorial theatrics, is. God, country and flag are terms so often weaponised against the left. So too “family values”. Jesus fuck the amount of times I’ve heard people use “family values” to justify some extreme far-right idea. The breakdown of the family is a consequence of the breakdown of society. Not the other way round. DICKS. Suggesting that anything outside of social norms is worthy of a voice can easily be blown out of proportion by the far-right and rebranded as an attack on the pillars of a civilised society.
Transgender rights becomes a devious disguise for rapists and the end of women’s sport. Actually, in time, transgender women in sport will be regulated. If men are dressing as women to win, common sense tells us that some sort of regulation will be introduced. Can you really imagine a world where transgender women dominate professional women’s sport and cis-gendered women are the meek and defeated minority? And the vast majority of rapes will still be committed by a bloke in trousers not a bloke in a dress.
Grown children of undocumented Mexican migrants becomes the biggest threat to American jobs. Grown children of undocumented migrants are blameless. Surely? What about the decline of manufacturing in the USA, surely that has something to do with it?
Chinese e-commerce marketplace like Temu destroying the American economy. Not really. The big American companies still play a significant role in driving innovation, economic growth, and global trends.
Lazy bureaucrats wasting tax payers money. It’s hard to measure government efficiency in a world that uses profit margin as its only gauge. A review of government efficiency is a great idea and I would say a necessary process. Most hard working folk are unwilling tax payers so holding these ‘dead at the desk’ civil servants accountable feels good. But it’s impossible to know what efficiency looks like in government agencies because they are not geared up to declare efficiency savings because that would make them vulnerable to budget cuts. It’s much safer to pretend your super stressed and over-worked and struggling to deliver on a shoe string budget in the public sector. I’ve been watching this facade play out throughout my entire career in the public sector. The private sector is about the art of what is possible and celebrating riches. The public sector is about regulating, safety-netting and crying poor.
None of this reasoning and rational thinking will prevail while there is boundless money and power attached to fear mongering. It’s still the quickest way to the top, in 3 easy steps – demonise minorities, amplify their threat and convince the mainstream they are losing grip on power.
The English have an expression ‘all fur coat and no knickers’ and that my friends is America today. What’s left of that fur jacket in 4 years time is anyone’s guess. And how many seals will need to die to make a new one is also anyone’s guess.