“There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat;
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures.” William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
We haven’t done this in a while, so it might come as a shock, but we need to talk politics. I’ve got a few issues to bring to the table, so this week we focus on the Presidential candidates and the topics at hand. First up, Trump, whose to blame and why.
I know, I know, you’re probably thinking, Et tu, Brute? After all, what is there to say about the bloviating, arrogant, grandiose, windbag? Surely, if we just ignore him, Trump will go away. I get it. In fact, this is how I felt at first; his bid for the White House had to be a joke, right? Was he doing it for ratings or did he just like the press coverage? It turns out, even after being fired from his Television show, The Apprentice, and losing his spot as a Macy’s brand, Trump continued with his shtick, which turns out, may not be shtick at all.
As I watched his first few interviews I thought perhaps he was a Democratic plant, or a very, very well played troll, out to make the GOP look bad (as if they needed the help) but as time goes on, and his popularity grows we have to ask an important question: What the hell is going?!
Love him or hate him, one thing is clear, Donald Trump has hit a nerve and the blame for his popularity rests squarely on the shoulders of the GOP and the 24 news cycle.
Trump’s racists, misogynistic message is indicative of all that is wrong with the GOP. For the last 8 years we have watched our do-nothing but scare people Congress, sink into a cesspool of hate and fear. Their refusal to work with our President and spew nonsense about issues, especially women and Climate Change, goes hand in hand with the willingness of certain “news” organizations who are all to happy to repeat and sometimes, lead in the spread of such nonsense. Everyone sees that the system is broken, and those that continue to “want their country back” are all too willing to have Trump as their spokesperson. Ever distrustful of the government, but yet have bought into the fear mongering, these people yearn for someone who will take on the establishment and put it in its place. Trump is a loud mirror that projects what these people are thinking; and they are thinking racist and misogynistic thoughts because they have been spoon fed by the GOP and the media who supports the party. Trump is their monster let loose. And just like in the book Frankenstein, the GOP created him, but now does not want him. Oh the delicious irony!
It would be easy to dismiss Trump as just another crank, whose 15 minutes of fame has continued far longer that it should have, thanks to the mainstream media, but we can’t. Not now that we’ve seen other candidates take up his message. Just this week, after Trump announced he wants to get rid of the 14th Amendment, many of the other Clown Car, GOP candidates repeated his idea as if it were their own. Scott Walker, one of the least informed of the candidates, actually said he would get rid of it and enforce our existing immigration laws. Sir, how do you uphold existing laws while simultaneously wanting to strip a Constitutional law? What kind of mental yoga is this?
This repeating of his message is only fanning the flame that is Trump. Instead of pushing him away, they are embracing some of his crazier ideas. This in turn makes Trump the stronger candidate, as he always says it first! His ideas become their ideas, but people will not look to the GOP, they will look to Trump because he is always a step ahead of them. This is one reason why he is leading in the polls.
The mainstream media is not helping either. Trump is now the leading American zeitgeist. Whether they are cowering to him or making fun of him, Trump is the central story. Even the liberal news channels are now taking him seriously and talking as if he will be the GOP nominee. Can you imagine? I can, and it scares me.
This is because of the GOP’s continued move to its crazy, paranoid base. They have embraced the cranks and duped them into thinking their fears are well founded; that the bogymen outside of our borders are coming to get them and take their jobs and religious freedom. The system is broken. Make no mistake, Trump won’t fix it, but to many he may be the best defense against a crumbling political body and nation. They don’t see that he is merely a Golem created by the GOP and 24-hour news cycle (they are the ones who planted these ideas in his head). Or maybe they do, and don’t care. This thought to me, is as scary as anything Trump says.
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/ But in ourselves.” William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar
The View From Sari's World 
It’s not Trump or the would-be Trumps or even yet the rightwing media that frightens me, it’s the once so-called ‘silent majority’ who feel empowered to not only be vocal on their prejudices but to shout everyone else down.
Sadly the same is happening over here in the UK, with politics becoming ever more polarised and populist prejudiced ideas about immigration, left-of-centre policies and the rest becoming mainstream, against all the tolerant fairplay currents that supposedly characterised British attitudes. And the media is merely amplifying all that noise rather than filtering out irrational arguments.
LikeLike
Trump is “one of us” in the same way that Palin was “one of us,” (or William Henry Harrison in 1840, for that matter): he’s the common man who made good, and isn’t afraid to speak his mind to denounce cultural changes that make Fox viewers nervous. The serious problem with this in my mind is that those supporters think of themselves as the “real Americans” who held sway in this country continuously from 1776 until 1933/1961/1993/2009. It’s both an exclusionary and historically inaccurate mindset.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Did you catch the “speech” he made in Alabama Friday? If he isn’t trolling the GOP, then he is one crazy, deluded man. Sadly around 30,000 people cheered him on. I am truly afraid for our country.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sari, I hadn’t actually heard about it until now (I’m out of touch day-to-day right at the moment, which is why I’m also a few days behind on blogs.) So I went and read several articles in the news. Yeah, shades of an American Hitler: we used to be great, foreigners and aliens have corrupted us, so let’s kill them. Not that he QUITE said the last.
Add on top of that the weird argument that the GOP accepts uncritically: businessmen make great political office holders . . . which is why G. W. Bush was such a success. (Read the last clause with sarcasm, fyi.) Which brings us to the other character Trump resembles: businessman and showman extraordinaire P. T. Barnum.
If there’s an amusing side to this, it’s that Trump in past has taken political positions directly opposed to the GOP norm. Wonder whether he’ll switch positions to win the GOP, of hold to them and see if he can still demagogue his way into the nomination.
LikeLiked by 1 person