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Wednesday, 21 September 2016

Prominent Republicans Turn On Trump

Donald Trump cartoon by Wendy Cockcroft

The US media is presenting the presidential campaign as a close race. I remember the last time they did this and the truth is it was a shoo-in for Obama Administration, Part II. Now that it looks as though Trump the Chump might actually win, all sorts of people are wriggling out of the woodwork to try to stem support for the outsider.

Air of desperation


There's an air of desperation in the anti-Trump crowd. If this was a British election I'd advise against it as we tend to side with the underdog. I remember the outpouring of mockery over the Chairman Mao-style bicycle the Times were all a-froth about when describing Jeremy Corbyn. That stupid comment actually garnered more support for the Labour leader as people poured scorn on the sheer desperation revealed in that one line. Like Trump, Corbyn is very anti-establishment and as the Blairites struggle to wrest power from the left of the party in a bid to win power for its own sake (any party that thinks the people didn't vote for them because they didn't push austerity hard enough is not interested in meeting people's needs) they paint him and his supporters in the most negative light possible. Perhaps they hope that the strength of their vitriol will be enough to poison the well for anyone they disagree with, the idea being they will only unite behind one of their kind, the people be damned. In any case it's hard to imagine Labour winning any election in the state that it's in; I wouldn't vote for that bunch of self-centred backstabbers if my life depended on it. The Corbyn supporters I know are decent people whether I disagree with them about the virtues of Socialism or not. If Corbyn wins the latest challenge they need to remember the other half of the Twofold Principle: "...and the will of the people must be respected."

Them V us


The American right has only got itself to blame for the mess it's in: if you boil a pot of broth and bones for long enough sooner or later you end up with a kind of concentrated jelly. They've been banging on along the lines of "Government bad!" for almost forty years; how in the world did they think that was going to maintain any status quo? That's anarchism, people, and as I've already warned you it doesn't scale. By refusing to understand the role of government and the application of governance, they've ceded power and influence to the elites they affect to despise. And those elites have been using boogeymen figures to stoke the flames of resentment and rebellion in an effort to scare people into going along with them. Well they scared them but they've lost control of the chain reaction they've set in motion: half of Americans appear to see the other half as the enemy. You will see this played out in the comments section of any media outlet where politics is discussed. And here's the fun part: people are swinging further and further to the right because they're scared and they want the change that was promised them if the "correct" people won. They've been told for years "government is bad," which they took to mean "the Establishment is bad." Now they want to get rid of the thing they've been told is bad. Who would have seen that coming?!

The net is closing


Whether or not there really is a close race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the fact that the press is pulling out the stops to discredit him is testament to the desperation that the "smart elites" are evidently feeling. Like the recalcitrant Israelites of the Old Testament, they're making homes in the metaphorical mountain clefts instead of repenting their sins even as the armies of their enemies approach to dispense divine wrath. In other words, the last thing they want to do is change the status quo; what they want is to persuade the people to accept it, and what better way to do this than to present a stupid nutter with right-wing son as the only alternative to business as usual? This appears to have backfired as people are so desperate they'd actually vote for the loon if it means they get the hope and change they were promised two elections ago.

The GOP is imploding


I was expecting the Grand Old Party (the Republicans) to implode after the election but as the party grandees contemplate either President Trump, Global Laughingstock or President Hillary, Because All The Other Options Were Hopeless, they're sharpening the knives on him now. Here are some of the highlights:



There's an ever-growing list of anti-Trump Republican insiders who are either voting Clinton or third party. One generally waits until the body has stopped twitching before one buries it, but these people are shoving the man into his shroud and trying to nail the coffin shut while he's still breathing.

Meanwhile the media is merrily whacking him like a piñata:





The last two don't half smack of desperation, though:

And my personal favourite:

Read through the comments to see how well the Americans take to "Chairman Mao-style bike"-type comments about the popular outsider. Hint: about as well as we do here in Britain.

Divisions on both sides


I'm getting through a lot of popcorn over this. I mean, it's as funny as a tarantula in a tutu but there is a serious message at the bottom of it all; the two-party system isn't bringing clarity, it's causing problems. The Democrats are also divided because the Progressives are being sidelined by the neoliberals and they're not happy about it. They're not as nutty as the Republicans; Democrat rule might hurt a bit less but they're not doing much to effect change, and that's what people want. Hillary Clinton may benefit from Trump's lunacy but ultimately people want change and they will vote in their millions for whoever will deliver it.

This is not about America not being ready for a woman president, this is about America wanting a move away from business as usual to government by the people for the people of the people. Expect to see more clowns in the crazy parade until this happens.
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