10-12-2018, 09:44 AM
(10-11-2018, 10:36 PM)Galen the Quack Wrote:(10-11-2018, 05:12 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:(10-11-2018, 02:09 PM)Eric the Obtuse Wrote: Millennials need to see the harmful effect of Trump and Republican policies. I don't know what makes that happen.
They do. Polling results based on generational definitions show Millennial adults least receptive to Trump. Trump offers them nothing.
On the other hand, given actions of Antifa and Hillary's latest comments. Currently the Dims sound like a bank robber holding somebody hostage until they get what they want. Can't imagine that is making a really good impression on the Millies.
Antifa is not a part of the liberal mainstream. Most liberals have no desire to punch a Nazi.
By objective standards, Trump is a horrible President. He sloughs off a near-majority of Americans as irrelevant, which would be wrong no matter which side of the spectrum he were on. He disparages those not in his camp as 'losers' -- they weren't losers before he was President. He appeals to the worst in human nature -- greed and tribalism.
Surely you have seen my comparisons between Eisenhower and Obama. Obama may be different from all other Presidents for his origin alone, but he has to be more like at least one President than like others. Without question, what Obama and Eisenhower have in common are good for not creating problems:
1. Recognition that the Constitution is the Law, and that decisions of the US Supreme Court are more definitive than popular sentiment or political advantage.
2. Respect for precedent and protocol.
3. Avoidance of corruption.
4. Not sponsoring financial bubbles.
5. Not supporting new and dangerous adventures.
6. Not vilifying the opposition.
7. Not attacking the news media when it disagrees with one.
8. Putting service above partisanship.
9. Not snubbing America's certifiable allies or getting cozy with dictatorial regimes.
10. Not filling administrative posts with cronies.
11. Getting along with the military and the intelligence services. You never know when those will be useful.
12. Not doing dirty tricks.
13. Never expecting anything to be easy or to be solved by the politician's personality.
14. Knowing history.
Much of the other similarity relates to Eisenhower and Obama both acting like 60-something Reactives who know that they cannot get away with much, and have divested themselves of any cynicism. The Reactive style makes Liberty, Lost, and now the one X President (so far) similar enough to be predictable. The Gilded took on some Civic characteristics due to the Civil War, and that allows more diversity among them as Presidents. Obama is one of those types who, irrespective of his generation, acts middle-aged from youth.
Except that Trump has not gotten a chance to start a financial bubble, which may have prevented a 1929-style or 2008-style crash, and has not been able to start some war for profit and his glorification, Trump fits none of the shared virtues of Eisenhower and Obama. Obama may be more like Reagan in his ability to communicate, and Reagan had a more permanent and immediate influence on American economic life and foreign policy. Obama could not undo Reagan's tax cuts and didn't really try, and it is still far easier to see similarities between the foreign policy of both Reagan and Obama. Trump has made a shambles of American foreign policy without any excuse, and he has imposed tariffs that can mess up the American economy badly.
After Trump we are going to be extremely ready for an Eisenhower or Obama as an antithesis, irrespective of ideology. Donald Trump is not a conservative; he is practically a fascist as shown in his despotic and dictatorial tendencies.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.