Alan Kohler's summary of the Trumpian project seems very accurate:
To make America great, Donald Trump is undoing its greatness as global stock markets fall
This part:
There are two immediate questions: first, will the Trump revolution collapse from its own incompetence?
And second, will an effective opposition/resistance emerge and blunt it?
The incompetence comes from "common sense".
In his speech to Congress last week, Trump described what he is doing as a "common-sense revolution that is now — because of us — sweeping the entire world".
Who can argue against common sense? Sounds fine, right?
Well, yes, except that in practice it means decisions and executive orders are not based on data, inquiries or science, but simply what Trump thinks.
For example, there was no Treasury inquiry and report into the impact of 25 per cent tariffs on Mexico and Canada, with the result — among other things — that General Motors told him they'd be bankrupt in three months, so its parts had to be exempted.
In fact, the whole tariff venture has become a complete mess of U-turns and exemptions, because it was based on common sense and not thought through. It's also the main reason the US economy is in danger of a big slowdown.
And of course the abandonment of efforts to reduce fossil fuels and combat climate change — in favour of "drill, baby, drill" — are not based on science, but simply his "common sense", along with that of other people on the right, that the energy transition is expensive and pointless.
I have been looking at the example of Australian Trump supporters who hang out online at New Catallaxy. Look, the average age seems to be about 65 to 70, so it's not as if they are any representative cross section of the population, but reading them, as well as online Right wing America sites, makes it absolutely clear that they are so much still in the thrill of having their culture war priorities put into place by Trump that they simply don't care at all about his entirely haphazard way of governing, and his neverending stream of lies and grifting that, with 100% certainty, would have appalled them if it were being said or done by a Democrat.
In the media landscape: not that I subscribe, but from what I can gather, the Wall Street Journal is a traditionally Right wing outlet that is giving substantial pushback due to the economic damage Trump policies will cause. But it's galling that this also represents the Murdochs in his traditional fashion: making money by letting one outlet appeal to the "not on board with Trump" element of the Right, while letting its MAGA devoted night time lineup on Fox News continue to compete with North Korean media in how far they can suck up to the cult leader. Daddy Murdoch, and his Right wing son, are entirely unprincipled and happy to see the world burn as long as it makes money for them in the process.
9 comments:
If they can’t restrict tariffs to finished goods it will be a disaster. But Trump likes to put phantom threats around and spin them up into negotiating ploys so it’s not clear that he does not realise this.
But the main thing that must be emphasised is that public service jobs must be slashed like it’s an Olympic sport. So these scientists and experts that your man is talking about …….. their jobs need to go too.
If you are depressed I have good news for you. Elvis never died. He just turned 90. He is still very healthy. He goes under the name Pastor Bob Joyce
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wsGZqzuJkKo&pp=ygUaYm9iIGpveWNlIGFtZXJpY2FuIHRyaWxvZ3k%3D
Many of the old right-wing bloviators happy to support Trump do so, I think, not so much out of ideological conviction, but simply because he is on their side and he did win two elections. He is a crook and is destroying a lot of the things that make American democracy worthwhile, but, gosh darn it, he won. It's a team spirit thing. It's an easier and happier thing to cheer on your team when they win than to actually do the hard work to criticise it.
All the stuff Trump throws out for his supporters - executive orders about gender, cutting back government positions - is by and large a distraction, and will in the long run be a positive liability for those portions of the political right in the US and over here who actually support principled changes like lowering of tax rates, cutting back on government expenditure. Because Trump is so palpably corrupt, and his reasons for making these cuts are so obviously to give himself more power - not to make government 'smaller', as it were, but to make him 'bigger'.
Cutting back government employees is a distraction? You got to get a brain transplant followed by a serious education fella. The survival of the country turns on getting rid of parasitical undertakings. Our country as well.
Trump's popularity is the lowest of any president at this time point. Tesla sales have fallen through the floor. The stock market is diving. Canadians are refusing to buy USA products. Cost of living is already rising.
Guys you think I am hostile to all of you but I want all our brothers lives to be enhanced. Listen to Elvis sing. As recent as 2021 you can hear his golden voice. He fashions himself as Pastor Bob Joyce. He has outlived every woppy gangster that threatened his life.
In rock and roll they say the kids are alright. Bowie told us let the children boogie. I am not sure about that. I think the kids are far from fucking alright. They can’t sing like Elvis. And in 2010 to 2020 Elvis may still have been Americas best male vocalist
Added to that his piano playing had gone forward in leaps and bounds
No wait? Elvis sings in 2025. Just a few days short of his 90th birthday. His powers are undiminished and at Vegas level. But be careful. Sure you will become a believer that Bob is Elvis. That’s not the issue. The conundrum is that he may make you a believer in a deeper way.
Right. And Trump has lost focus on internal reform. The clock is ticking for the Republic. If Trump gets bogged down abroad and can’t redirect focus to closing government departments the US can’t last another decade.
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