No one stood for anything except their desire for power

The second debate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.  Like most political debates, it was rich on talking points, and poor on any real substance.  

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During the first debate, only two candidates would say that they considered Trump unfit to serve as president.  It was fitting that there is no venom as strong as that from a politician who feels as if he was previously denied his place as #2 on the presidential ticket.  Chris Christie was that man.  Everyone else that made it to the second debate was willing to kiss the ass of Trump so that they could be his VP choice for the 2024 nomination.  

Why is this important?

The GOP no longer has any leaders who can steer the party away from the cult of Trump.  The only hope for the GOP would be for Trump to eat a prescribed diet from the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, and pass away like its former spokesman.  Virtually all the candidates are afraid of Trump's followers, as many have used violence (or the threat of violence) to intimidate GOP leaders who believe in real law and order.  So, they avoid taking positions against him, even though they wish hed go away and give the GOP a better chance of winning next November.

90 years ago, another democracy was under threat from a cult leader (and his followers) who believed that his will would triumph over all.  Heck, a movie (Triumph of the Will) was made at one of his rallies won the a gold medal at the 1935 Venice Biennale, and the Grand Prix at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris.  His nation was under great social stress as ours is today, and like Trump, he promised redemption.  True redemption never came, as this leader led his country into war and its distruction 6 years later.  Established politicians thought they could control this monster, as they once thought they could control Trump.  But the cult got out of control, and the evil leader ended up ruling everyone by fear - as is the threat if we let Trump get back into power.

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One problem with cults is that no one likes to admit that what they are part of is a cult.  The cult has its own myths that must be accepted to be a believer, and has its own reinforcement mechanisms to prevent its followers from questioning the cults beliefs or leaving the cult.  Some cults are benign, only affecting the lives of their followers.  Heaven's Gate was one of those groups, even though everything ended in a mass suicide.  Jim Jones' People's Temple cult was more malignant, as a congressman investigating the cult and 4 members who wanted to leave were murdered before the mass suicide in Jonestown.  (This is from where we get the expression "Drinking the Kool-Aid.")  But worst of all so far, is the cult of Trump.  At least 6 outsiders died as a result of the January 6th insurrection.  And yet, 35% of GOP members believe that the rioters were defending their country.  What flavor of Kool-Aid did they drink?

On January 7, 2021, most GOP legislators were willing to speak the objective truth about the soon to be former president.  Yet, within 2 weeks, they became afraid of their base and decided against impeaching him a second time (and finally convicting him for a threat against their lives.)  The leaders are afraid of the cult, and its leader is still spewing venom.  Trump has no respect for the rule of law, as it has never been effectively used to stop him from achieving his goals.  His followers have no respect for the rule of law, as they only want it applied to people who are not members of his cult.

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As I write this, one of the extremist members of Trump's cult is calling for the removal of the Speaker of the House for cutting a deal with the opposition party to keep the government running.  These extremists do not care how many people in their districts will be hurt by a government shutdown.  They only care about serving their cult's leader.  And he wants to destroy the government, so that it can not destroy him.

The year coming up will likely be a very interesting year.  But I yearn for the relative peace of my youth.  Things were much better when the two political parties would work out deals with other and both take credit for doing good things.  We need that spirit to return, and we need to develop mechanisms to keep the lunatics from gaining control of the asylum....

Throwing a "Monkey Wrench" into the system.

The American people have spoken, and they have thrown a big monkey wrench into the system.  Should this have been seen beforehand?  Yes!  But there are many tired voters, people tired of having their views ignored, people tired of changes that don't benefit them, people tired of an elite which doesn't care for America first.  And it is these voters who have chosen to take a dose of "Fuckitall" instead of letting someone like Hillary run this country.

As much as I think these people were making a big mistake, I think the common person has a real grudge against the elites. And I can't blame them much for voting for someone who spoke their language, used their metaphors, and echoed what they feel are the "real" truths in life - regardless of how little these so-called truths are based in reality.  This happened in Central Europe during the 1920's and 1930's, and it could happen here to the same disastrous affect - if we don't wake up, and listen to the alienated people who live in both rural and urban areas.

Sadly, I feel that Trump is not qualified for the job he has at hand.  But he is what we got now.  Supposedly, he was very surprised to find out how large a staff he and his minions must appoint in the next 2 months. At least, Trump has demoted Chris Christie even further, so that Trump is able to keep his distance from "Bridgegate" as much as possible.  (No, Trump had no hand in that debacle.  But why should he get his reputation prematurely tarnished by association with his former chief of transition?)

For the most part, I do not worry much about Trump yet.  It will be hard for him to dismantle Obamacare without a major backlash.  Even Obama himself was uncomfortable with the individual mandate, but was shown that insurance would cost much less for old people because the insurance pool would contain enough healthy young people to offset the cost of providing care to old people.  He will not be able to overturn Roe v. Wade without the cooperation of the "Blue States" - and this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.  He will find it hard to unwind many of the treaties we have enacted, and his military advisors will likely keep him from using the codes in the "Biscuit" with the "Football" an aide carries with him at all times.  But there are people who have legitimate fears, most of whom are poor, and are in populations marginalized in "Red States" - such as gays, lesbians, and transgender folk. With a Vice President like Pence, I have good cause to worry.

With things the way they are now, I'm tempted to utter the simple phrase:

"Houston, we have a problem."

All we have to go on are the lies of our president elect, and the lessons of history.  Yet, there's a part of me that believes that our founding fathers may have thought someone like this would be elected president, and held the belief that honorable men would strip this man from power if he went too far.  If he does go too far, I hope that my faith in the founding fathers forethought still holds true.

Trump - Off the deep end!

Joe Scarborough is a conservative host on a network that has leaned to the left. And he has said that he can not support Donald Trump because of Trump's refusal to disavow the endorsement of David Duke, former head of the KKK.  Sadly, Joe's outrage, and the outrage of the GOP elite is too little, too late.  The only chance that Trump can be stopped is if the Democrats put up a winning candidate.

Sadly, Hillary Clinton is a weak candidate.  Even worse, in an election where the public (for the most part) wants to vote to "throw the bums out", Hillary represents the interests of the ruling elite.  In the past 30+ years, the elite of both parties have praised the benefits of globalization, without providing a safety net for the structural unemployment that this trend would create.  Neither political party has given a damn about the growing inequality between the working class and the wealthy elite.  In fact, people like Trump have said that our national minimum wage is too high.  Too high?!?!?!?  When I was young, minimum wage was enough for a person to feed his/her family and put a roof over their heads.  Now, a person working minimum wage would be lucky to be able to take care of one person's needs while working 3 jobs!

Where was the outrage in the GOP when Trump insulted Mexican-Americans?  Where was the outrage when Trump insulted Muslims?  Where was the outrage when he acted like a bully, destroying healthy political discourse?  Sadly, the GOP reaps what it sows, and may possibly fall apart as the Whigs did in the 1800's.  And this would be a healthy thing, if centrists were to regain control of the party.  Unfortunately, I don't see that happening.

Recently, Chris Christie came out in support of Trump.  What will he get for his endorsement?  We now have bombastic blowhards who have seduced a large part of society in the hope that a "fearless leader" can "Make America Great Again."  We've seen what happened in Central Europe did this in the 1930's.  

Why do I mention Central Europe?  Two things happened today that give me pause for concern.  At my office, two people were having a political conversation (both moderates) about Trump, and got concerned about my overhearing their chat - as if I were a Trump supporter.  They were pleasantly surprised to find out that Jimmy Kimmel, Matthew Broderick, and Nathan Lane did a spoof of "The Producers", and that I had a sense of humor.  Instead of being worried about being open around me, they became relaxed because they found out I may have the same sense of shock that Trump is a viable candidate for the GOP nomination.  And then, on the way to the railroad station's parking lot (on the way back to my car), one woman and I had a more serious conversation, both of us seeing the parallels between the USA and Weimar Germany.  

How can Trump be defeated?  One can't do it by being mean.  He's a mean person, and can out do any civilized person who has any sense of ethics.  But he can be defeated - by humor.  If people laugh at him, make fun of him, he will lose power each time a person laughs.  One of my favorite spoofs at the expense of Trump came with a person echoing Trump's words from a South Carolina speech with a "gay voice". Once you hear these words coming out of someone else's mouth, you'll realize how insane these words sound. And the clip is funny - unlike Trump....

We have an important choice to make in November.  But the work to make sure that dysfunctional leaders don't get elected starts now.....

Did anyone seriously consider this blowhard fit to serve?

In fairness, I shouldn't have chosen this unflattering picture of Chris Christie.  But his personality is so ugly, that I felt I needed to show the man in a harsh light.

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I'll start off by saying a good thing about this candidate - he does have a good position on drug addiction, The man believes in treatment and not prisons. There is some good that one can say about the man - especially after seeing this video. (Note: This link points to an article containing the video clip.) Unfortunately, the man is willing to sacrifice the interests of his own state, flip flopping his own positions to further his political ambition and that includes the medical care these addicts need, while placing the blame elsewhere.

That alone should be enough to disqualify him from higher office.  But Bridgegate shows that the man's style encouraged a group of staffers to exact political vengeance on a a small time politician (and his town), causing interstate traffic to grind to a halt, and possibly causing a person to die because the ambulance couldn't get the person to the hospital quick enough due to the traffic jam.  If Christie knew of this beforehand, he is guilty of misuse of power to further his political goals.  And if he didn't know of this, he is an incompetent manager who is not fit to run this country.  

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Sadly, people like Christie because of his "angry" style.  I say, look beyond the style, and you'll see something disgusting inside - and very scary.....

I never thought that Pataki would try again....

This is a picture of the former governor of New York state, George Pataki. Officially (at the time I wrote this entry), he's now the second "major" candidate from New York to be running for the presidency. And in certain ways, he is the most qualified candidate (at this time) of those who have formally announced that they are running for POTUS, having served as governor of New York for 3 terms.  Executive branch experience (in either state or federal government) counts for a lot when one is the president, and this man (in any other era) would be a shoo-in for the nomination. Sadly, we live in a very strange era - where one party has too many candidates running for POTUS, and the other has too few candidates running for POTUS.

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I am familiar with Pataki since his days in Peekskill.  His family had a farm just off of the Bear Mountain Parkway, as it loops around the city proper. The property was worth much more developed into housing than it ever would have been worth as a small farm in Westchester county - and I only wonder how conservationists let that property slip through their grasps.  (Please note: Westchester county already had a working farm (Muscoot Farm) which it used to preserve part of its heritage - one could argue that we didn't need another within a half hour's drive.) 

When serving in public capacity, Pataki had a local office in the heart of Peekskill - and it had one of the better storefronts on the block. I wonder how much he was responsible for the gradual long term revival of Peekskill as a small city. At least I haven't yet heard a lot of negative scuttlebutt from my friends in Peekskill regarding this man.  If he is able to avoid drinking too much of the GOP Kool Aid, he may just be the candidate they need to defeat Hillary.

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We will find  out a lot about Pataki over the next few months. For example, his position on abortion and guns did not reflect that of the GOP base.  Will he flip positions to gain votes? I'm not sure. But he is front loading a lot of effort into the early primary states to get momentum as early as possible.  One problem - Chris Christie is doing the same thing. If I were Pataki, I'd remember one thing - Christie will cross that bridge when he comes to it!

Political Inequality - Even some conservatives see this as a risk

A while back, Andrew Sullivan commented in his blog about the political threat of soaring inequality. That problem is still with us, and is getting worse.

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One of the things noted in the chart below is Elite Fratricide preceding Political Disorder.

This is a very dangerous time for any nation, as the lunatics come out and are at risk of gaining power.  Recently, the Governor of Texas put the state guard on alert, claiming to protect Texas from an invasion from the United States. Even Forbes Magazine (where this link originated) senses that people who would believe this are Right Wing Nut Jobs!  And yet, the polity in many of the Red States keeps electing people who in other times, would only be fit for a clown car.

In the past, I posed the question:

How many clowns can be fit into a typical Clown Car?

And I realized that I already had the answer:

No one knows - it is still spewing out clowns.

In the case of the GOP's field for 2016, we now have so many candidates, that it will be impossible to have all of them on the debate floor at the same time.

The "Tea Party" said that giving financial aid to Hurricane Sandy victims would be a big mistake because of all the fraud that would be involved. (And they were right.  Does anyone remember the "Stronger than the Storm" campaign, which had Governor Chris Christie prominent in every ad?") And now that Texas has been hit by a natural disaster, they have changed their tune....

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What we're seeing here is a political party that is out of control, a party which favors the political elite over the common good of society, and one that wants to continue adding to the economic inequality which is now disrupting the body politic.

An example of the disconnect between the GOP and reality is the candidacy of Carly Fiorina for the presidency. She is running, using her experience as CEO of Hewlett Packard as her way of showing she is qualified to hold high office.  One problem - HP kicked her out of the "C-Suite", as the firm under performed during her tenure. Can we risk having a poorly performing business person running the country, if we want America run as if it were a business?

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Right now, there is a case working its way through the court system which is geared to disrupt the idea that congressional districts are to contain equal numbers of people, by posing that the districts should contain equal numbers of voters.  Is this fair? Probably not. But, like Jim Crow, we've seen unfair systems established before in this country to keep a ruling elite in power. And I keep wondering - how long will it be before the disenfranchised say: "We're not going to take it anymore?"