Things Trump Is Doing Right

[Bob Butler 54]

(05-13-2017, 09:49 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(05-13-2017, 01:14 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:

(05-13-2017, 10:06 AM)pbrower2a Wrote: I expect a decline in living standards for most Americans under Trump, whether through an economic meltdown or through policies that enrich elites at the expense of everyone else. Ronald Reagan did get away with cutting expectations (which put an end to Nixon-Ford-Carter inflation); he isn't as good a communicator as Reagan.

While Trump has been telling extreme red partisans what they want to hear very well, I'd nominate "he isn't as good a communicator as Reagan" as quite an understatement.  It's still early to dismiss his hold on the red extreme base, though.  The unraveling memes are set hard in parts of the population.

Ronald Reagan is the minimum standard for a successful 4T President.

America will need a President capable of convincing people to make great sacrifices for the Nation, if not for Humanity as a whole. We are going to need a President capable of telling youth that they need to risk sudden death or crippling injury to fend off a real threat to America and its allies... Great leaders can keep convincing people that there are fates worse than battlefield death -- like enslavement -- so long as they keep their integrity intact or have victory in sight. Great leaders can convince people to sacrifice hedonism for preservation of traditions of political decency. That's a tough standard, but I see it in Disraeli, Lincoln, Juarez, Garibaldi, Churchill, FDR, and Mannerheim. (Mannerheim? The one Axis leader that I wish were on our side).

Part of what is needed for a great 4T leader is a great 4T problem situation.  Generally, by the time the country is about to enter full fledged crisis, many people have a good idea as to what has to be done.  The storm can be seen rolling over the horizon well in advance.  The potential grey champion has to be able to articulate the problem and the answers very well, formulate them in terms of both deep seated values and practical actionable plans, build a coalition, jump off a cliff and get the country to follow one over the cliff.

It is hard to do all that if there isn't a very real and visible need.  It is too tempting for the typical individual to keep riding the old values of the last crisis.  Thus, the Democrats might still be thinking somewhat from an FDR New Deal perspective, while the Republicans are trying to take Reagan's unraveling ideals to new extremes.  What sort of politician can build a new economy while taking climate change seriously?  Bernie and Elizabeth are laying the groundwork, but might be too old to do the implementation.  Meanwhile, while the people don't see the need for a different future, no new future will come, no matter how brilliant the politician.  Folks like Lincoln and Churchill made some grand speeches that caught oh so well the issues of their time, but could those speeches be written and truly heard before their time had come?

Reagan had a feel for where the country was at.  He could deliver a speech.  He packaged together a world view and value set that took deep hold on a significant part of the country.  As much as I believe his message has lived beyond its time, he found and/or built a wave that is only now hitting the beach and starting to roll back out to sea.  No small player he.

But how much was he tied to the unraveling values he is identified with?  If a young Reagan clone were moving into politics today, what set of ideas would he try to run with?  As a youngster, he was a Democrat, a new dealer, one who tried to make America great.  He changed, becoming a champion of unraveling.  What would he see today?  I truly don't know.