05-01-2017, 04:40 PM
(05-01-2017, 02:24 PM)David Horn Wrote:(04-27-2017, 10:31 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(04-27-2017, 02:19 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: The thing we all need to understand about Trump is his gut level skill of knowing how to rile up certain market segments. He has a peculiar skill of showmanship. He has identified a collection of disparate market segments, each of which, alone, would be merely a marginalized fragment. But he has mastered the art of juggling between all these segments (e.g. throwing each one of them bones) and thereby cements his coalition of odd outs. Any time he tweets something, or even pursues something real, be thinking - who is he really throwing a bone to? It's more about the immediacy of his presence and maintaining his position in the media stream than doing anything substantial involving the main stream establishment.
If anything, when you see him doing something more normal, that is him being cowed by the establishment, to the chagrin of his die hard believers.
Although it's tempting to interpret this or that outrage as Trump+the establishment clawing back progressive gains, in reality its more likely Trump doing things to maintain support of the various odd outs.
Well, except that those odd-outs he is throwing bones to, now that he's president, pretty-much all turn out to be extreme right-wing wackos of one sort or another. It's a coalition of wackos, including those in the Establishment. And his particular media skill is undeniable.
I have to disagree with this. Most Trump supporters are not wackos of any sort, and that's why Hillary's use of the word "deplorables" rankled. Most of the people backing Trump see him as the last opportunity they expect to see, because the mainstream pols all screw them consistently. It's either Trump or the dump, and they've seen plenty of the latter.
Eventually, Trump will disappoint too, but for now, he's got 50 miles of rope to run on.
If Trump's voters weren't wackos, his political appointments are often such.
That's not good for accomplishing much, and that's not good for strengthening one's Party in a midterm election or winning re-election.
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.