Democrats organize to fight back

[Bob Butler 54]

(11-20-2016, 06:29 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(11-20-2016, 03:05 AM)Galen Wrote: Consider the following idea for a moment.  If Trump is a tool of the economic elites that have run the US for the last century then why did they expend so much effort to keep him from being elected?  One way to take the measure of a man is to look at his allies.  It is also possible and necessary to look at his enemies as well.

I do not know whether you are a libertarian, a conservative, or a fascist, but either way you should recognize the danger of populism. Politicians running on populist lines often betray the people that they use to achieve power once achieving the promises become inconvenient to the Judas who wins election. People who feel cheated (and they wi9ll feel cheated) keep the old anger and herd instinct which together prove incompatible with domestic tranquility. They will be angry as long as the leader  who betrays them remains in power.  Another possibility is that the populist tries to deliver on his often contradictory and absurd promises, which usually has the effect of draining the treasury in measures that counteract each other. Quite possibly the hazard to someone on the Right is that the populist fails to have your agenda.

I expect Donald Trump to reconcile with the economic elites with which he is a member and support the usual right-wing agenda of gutting the strength of labor, attacking intellectuals of all kinds when they find that even scientific data (as on global warming) contradicts the will of the economic elite), crushing academic freedom when it runs afoul of a profits-first ideology, and fostering the brutalization of corporate management. This is not the capitalist ideology of, for example Ronald Reagan; this has a dictatorial style attached.

We are in new and uncharted lands. Here be cannibals inland; here be crocodiles in the waterways.

It's too soon to know exactly what Trump will do, but he does seem to be disregarding the 'drain the swamp' promise.  An awful lot of the people he is bringing in are former lobbyists.  One can also find any number of articles suggesting he intends to abandon this promise or that, but anyone can float a rumor.  I don't really know where he is going to go.

I have a sense that the various people fighting for positions and status in his new White House are selectively leaking to the press in their own self interest.  Thus, I'm taking lots of stuff with many grains of salt.

Still, he's no longer a robber baron.  He's the robber king.  I anticipate you are correct, that he will end up abandoning the populists promises and support his own kind.  I'm just going to wait a bit before making a call on how far he'll go in that direction.

I also don't think he has the people skills to build and hold a coalition.  The cast of Hamilton can join all the other people he is displeased with.  The New  York Times has earned a special place in a media he scorns.  Repeating lies worked on the Republican base, but that won't fly with the media and professional politicians.  He reacts directly and emotionally to any form of criticism or opposition, and he's going to get lots of that.  Will he learn the discipline not to shoot from the hip at the first sign of disparagement?  Will he try to use the government to retaliate against political opposition, or will he stick with 3:00 AM tweets?  I just don't know.  I suspect he is too old to change his temperament, but if he doesn't he'll find himself constantly swarmed by angry hornets.  How many hornet stings before things get fatal?

There are enough people on this forum anticipating the worst, rousing up anger and distrust for stuff he hasn't had a chance to do  yet.  Fine.  Enjoy yourselves.  There is plausible reason to anticipate the worst.  I'm just concerned that minds are being closed by the hatred and paranoia.  Is one paranoid if there is reasonable cause to believe he is out to get you?  Perhaps not.

There are some who think it's a good thing to keep one's head when everyone else has gone bonkers.  Might be quite a trick these days.  I may try to give it a shot.