Tag: Trumpocalypse

The Great Revolt – by Salena Zito and Brad Todd – A Book Review – Part 1

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The full title of this book is “The Great Revolt, Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics.”  When I was told I needed to read this I was a little resentful.  I don’t enjoy reading about politics for the most part.  This may be because lately political books are typically candidates telling us their inspirational biographies and why they are uniquely qualified to save the United States and by extension the whole free world.  Obama, Hillary, McCain, blah, blah, blah.  But I dutifully bought it two months ago and put it into the stack.

So, I started it.  It’s a combination of election analysis identifying the categories of voters who flipped the election to Donald Trump and then interviews with people in those categories.  The analysis is interesting but the interviews are riveting.  As someone who understands the anger over being categorized as a deplorable or being dismissed as unimportant or openly mocked as a defeated yesterday man with no future I was fascinated.  The stories being told by people from small towns and dying cities in the Rust Belt resonated like a tuning fork with what I felt.  Now here I am, an Italian American from Brooklyn living in New England and an engineer working in a 21st century industry and yet I feel more kinship with these unemployed factory workers and small business people than with any of the people I work with every day who don’t believe in any of the things I do.

They voted for Trump for a variety of reasons depending on the type of person or their specific circumstances but as a whole they were voting for the idea that they still counted and couldn’t be just discounted because they weren’t the coalition of tomorrow.  Their grievances weren’t progressive enough and they were too white.  They were old news.  And the interesting thing so far is that all of them that voted in 2008 and 2012 voted for Obama.  I’ve still got a bunch to read and I have to digest the analytical stuff to see what it means to my understanding of national politics but I can already see that the personal stories are the bigger news.  This proves to me that the Trump rallies were very significant.  A lot of these people voted because it was personal.  Trump reached them with his message.  It spoke to them.  These marginalized people in depressed areas of what used to be the industrial heartland resonated to a message from a billionaire New York City reality show cartoon character.  I think this means both parties have abandoned a very large swathe of Americans and if Trump can address what they want he actually could ignite a Populist Revolt.  If most people figure out that they’ve been used by both parties we could have a real awakening and some big things can get done.

I’ll get into more detail when I finish this, but I’ve already learned more about the 2016 election from reading the personal accounts than by all the political analyses that came out in the last almost two years.  I’ve met the people that made Trump president.  Zito and Todd have written an important book.

photog Goes Full-Pollyanna On the Trumpocalypse

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Any fans of Tropic Thunder know by analogy that you never go full-Pollyanna.  And it would be wise for me to tamp down any outbursts of unbridled enthusiasm but I gotta tell you I can’t do it.  And this isn’t predicated on the IG report burying Comey & Company or Mueller calling it quits in the near future or even the Republicans holding onto the House.  I no longer think any of those things are required for Trump to get some big things done.  The country at large is starting to see what really is going on in their government and I think they see who is doing things that help them and who is not.  The G7 press conference and the Singapore meeting have provided President Trump with a stage from which to address the country directly.  They are seeing an active leader who actually addresses American concerns in the international arena.  Even his enemies like Bernie Sanders have no choice but admire his negotiating talent and ability to get off the dime with such tough customers as China and North Korea.

I think Donald Trump is intent on using his instincts for deal-making to renegotiate the globalization project in a way that re-establishes America as a manufacturing nation.  And I think Trump wants to dump all the international relationships with countries that hate America.  And that is my favorite side of him.  He is a vindictive bastard who holds a grudge like nobody’s business.  By a funny coincidence, so am I.  It would warm my vendetta-loving heart to see him giving all our many false friends in the United Nations a hearty heave-ho over the side of USS America First.  Every tin-pot Latin American, African and Middle Eastern dictator who ever chanted death to America should get evicted from his digs on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and sent packing back to the inhuman hellhole he came from.  And I think he intends to use the NAFTA negotiations to address the illegal immigration problem.  After all, why would you give free trading access to a country that openly advocates flooding your country with illegal aliens?  And I think the NAFTA negotiations are the basis for President Trump’s statement that Mexico will pay for the wall.  He will make them pay for the NAFTA agreement with a closed border and repatriation.

So that’s why I’m a big old optimist.  And every day The Donald says or does something that makes me smile or chuckle with unrestrained schadenfreude.  Every shot he takes at Hollywood or The Press or The Swamp or the Dems is music to my ears.  And now, even when I hear of the latest anti-Trump atrocity (like by that imbecile De Niro), I am only mildly amused to think that these buzzing gnats are impotently attacking a giant that doesn’t even have a weapon small enough to use on them.  They can only be mocked or ignore.

Of course, this does leave me with a problem.  Ginning up outrage is sorta my whole stock in trade.  I’m going to have to find a new source of outrage.  Hmmmm.  Well, I could go after nuns.  I still owe them payback for the 8th Grade.  That might work.  Okay Sister Gertrude, put on your game face, it’s on!

The ZMan Has a Witty Article Comparing the Trumpocalypse to the Mongol Horde Not Invading Europe

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It’s always nice to reflect on the surprises of world events and the death of the Great Khan saving Europe was one of the great bits of serendipity  to come our way.  Read the article.  It’s fun and interesting even if you are aware of the facts.  He writes well.

 

http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=13915

Curbing My Enthusiasm

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So yesterday I allowed my unbridled exuberance to get away from me (The Trumpocalypse Picks Up Steam) and today I’m feeling the let down as my feet touch the ground again.  That’s okay.  It’s better to try your wings once in a while, no harm done.  But let’s then look at the negative side of the picture today:

  • The wall isn’t built or even funded.
  • Thirty million illegal aliens still inhabit the U.S.
  • Robert Mueller wants to interview President Trump.
  • Justice Kennedy hasn’t ended his reign of judicial terror.
  • The Clintons still infest Planet Earth.
  • Affirmative action is still the law of the land.
  • Smarmy college students still hector the normal people about white privilege.
  • Twitter, Google, YouTube, Facebook and Amazon still function as on-line speech police against the Right.
  • Virtually every college in the country is a propaganda indoctrination center.
  • California and New York (and several other states) criminally interfere with the enforcement actions of the Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents.
  • Nancy Pelosi hasn’t been euthanized yet by either PETA or the American Humane Society.
  • Rosie O’Donnell hasn’t yet been assigned the status of food aid, rendered into 250,000 MRE and flown to North Korea as part of the peace deal.

Well, okay, those last two were just added for fun but you get the picture.  There’s still plenty for President Trump to do in the second half of his first term.  I shouldn’t be so happy.  It’s unwarranted.  And yet I am!

I’m sorry, I can’t feel down.  Looking at all these problems only increases my belief that the Republicans despite their epic cowardice and stupidity will benefit from President Trump’s popularity and hold onto the House and Senate.  This won’t be for their sake but it will be the American people’s desire to help Donald Trump.  And I think the Mueller investigation will end without doing any real damage to the Trump Administration.  And I think that Sessions will finally clean out the rat’s nest of cabalists in the Justice Department.  And I now believe that President Trump will get to appoint at least one more Supreme Court Justice.   And finally, I’ll go out on a limb and say that the Supreme Court will find in favor of the baker in that Gay Marriage Wedding Cake Trial travesty.  And that last one is just a hunch.  Common sense says that Kennedy will go out with one last assault on normal Americans.  But somehow the change in the climate makes me think Kennedy will try and strike a balance if for no other reason than to moderate the anger that is growing on the right toward all these outrages against common decency.

So there it is.  I’m slap happy from all the winning.  Maybe I’m completely delusional.  Time will tell.  But the sun is shining, the birds are singing and all’s right with the world in this best of all possible worlds.  Well except that Nancy Pelosi and Rosie O’Donnell still walk the earth.  Well, that can wait for the second term I guess.

The Trumpocalypse Picks Up Steam

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I sense a stirring in the force.  Even the NeverTrumpers detect the turning of the tide.  The New York Times is starting to talk about it.  I’m not saying that I’m tired of winning but I definitely notice that the orcs are starting to waver.  Politico has written off the Senate as unreachable for the Democrats.  The generic Congressional Preference Poll has gone from Dems +10 to even.  What a wonderful place to be in the spring of a Mid-Term election year.  I noted recently that the NY Times is providing us with the acceptable “ intellectual leaders of the dark web.”  To me that says they’re trying to blunt the force of the tsunami headed their way.  Next will come the congressional “moderates” reaching across the aisle to come up with sensible (understand liberal) choices for the Supreme Court.  Before you know it the MSM will start touting the remaining liberal Republicans as elder statesmen and intellectual leaders of the Grand Old Party, “the party of Lincoln.”  We’ll be told that good old American compromise is the bedrock virtue on which all others rest.  And then the wackiest of all transformations will occur sometime around the beginning of Trump’s second term.  We’ll hear about  how moderate Trump is but how radical Pence has somehow become.  How we need to find a better candidate for 2024 that better reflects the spirit of the times.  Possibly Mitt Romney or even JEB!.

Let’s hope that Republican leaders (?!) and voters have learned something from the Bush years.  Don’t trust the Dems.  Ever.  And if you get them on the ground put your foot on their throat and keep it there.  Permanently.  These people are the problem and the ones who want to compromise with them are idiots.

I look forward to a few things happening this spring.  I assume the rest of the FBI cabalists will be fired and hopefully prosecuted.  The Mueller Investigation will be terminated either willingly or unwillingly.  And I hope to see the Supreme Court come out on the side of the Wedding Baker.  Even that idiot Kennedy will have to own up to religious freedom existing in the Bill of Rights.  Beyond that we’ll see.  I hope the #metoo movement will continue to terminate Democrat slimeballs.  And if somehow the Republican congress can manage to get out of its own way, I even have hope that the House of Representatives will remain in Republican hands.  I say this because all the ballyhoo about the blue wave seems like self-generated hype by the MSM.

So fellow deplorables, ask not what your Uncle Donald can do for you, ask what you can do for Uncle Donald.  After all, he’s achieved more than anyone imagined he could.  Make sure you don’t gripe every time the MSM paints a decision or an action as “unconservative.”  Remember what the Bible says about the Devil quoting scripture.  In Trump we trust is the mantra and until he sells Alaska back to the Russians I’m firmly in the “Trump Can Do No Wrong” crowd.

Reductio ad Absurdum

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Back in the Paleolithic Epoch I read a story by Brother Heinlein called “The Year of the Jackpot.”  In the story a statistician named Potiphar Breen has detected a convergence of all the various human and natural cycles.  Everything from the sunspot cycle to stock market crashes are headed for a simultaneous crescendo that he predicts will shatter normal human patterns.  Proof of his thesis is detectable in a rash of lunatic behavior in every human grouping.  Aberrant behavior like transvestitism is becoming commonplace, ordinary women are spontaneously stripping in public and in general, people are becoming unhinged.  Based on his calculations he believes it will come to a head within a year and will result in cataclysm.  Not to ruin the story, which is actually quite fun, but as predicted, all hell breaks loose when all these metaphorical evil slot machines pay off at once.

As is typical in the age we live in, all Heinlein’s predictions fall short of reality.  His fictional transvestitism is now a feeble half-measure compared to the reality of transgender lunacy that we currently endure.  And all other aberrations he predicted pale in comparison to the actual insanity that currently reigns on our streets and in our homes.

As far as The Year of the Jackpot, well, all the trend lines for disaster have been pegged out as vertical asymptotes for so long that we’ve forgotten that they can slow down, never mind actually reverse direction.  Predicting catastrophe is meaningless.  We’ve been in a perpetual train wreck for decades.  All the stored-up reserves of stability and normalcy are completely depleted.  Every societal structure meant to support our civilization is dry-rotted and hollowed out.  The only real question is what straw will break the camel’s back.  So, in the spirit of Heinlein’s story I’d like to examine our current world and extrapolate where the trends will lead.

Probably most significant of the latest developments is the #metoo phenomenon.  The ongoing media circus is consuming movie, news and political celebrities in Hollywood, New York and Washington at a pretty good clip.  I think I read the current count is about one hundred accused.  The great majority of these are lefties so the entertainment value is undeniable.  But the hoped-for target is the President.  What is the likelihood of it succeeding?  I’d say extremely low.  The current targets all work for liberals (either in corporate leadership or as a constituency).  Trump owes exactly zero allegiance to feminists and their rules.  But will there be any other upshot of the continuing rollout of this phenomenon?  I think there will be.  As the numbers start to increase I predict that even the feminists will see the downside of removing all functionally heterosexual men from the liberal institutions.  What it will do is reinforce that politically correct rules of behavior are not only inherently anti-male but obviously unjust.  Due process and the presumption of innocence have no part in these proceedings.  All men are presumed guilty with no possibility of appeal.

All this will have a two-fold effect.  In the case of leftists their friends will throw them under the bus to toe the line.  Eventually, as the offenses become more and more trivial these men will start hiring lawyers to defend their interests.  The backlash promises to be substantial and equally hilarious as the accusers are made to look rightly ridiculous in their paranoia and pettiness.  In the case of right wing individuals not associated with left wing institutions, they will defend themselves against these charges and begin the process of rolling back some of this extra-judicial overreach.  Hopefully this will have the effect of discouraging exaggerated accusations.  It will also draw attention to the ridiculous state of sexual harassment laws and their irrational double standards of application.

But the much bigger story is the ongoing Trumpocalypse.  The enormity of this phenomenon is almost impossible to exaggerate.  Regardless of whether President Trump can achieve an actual reversal of the in-progress vivisection of the legacy citizenry of the former United States of America, he demonstrates just how desperate the situation actually is.  All the harassed non-protected groups banded together and elected a reality tv comic book character to be their savior.  And against all odds and expectations he has proven to be an heroic figure.  Almost single-handedly he has taken on both parties in Congress, the various tentacles of the Deep State and the entire Hollywood Media Complex.  While doing this he has provided endless entertainment and moral support for every down-trodden man in this troubled land.  So, if he succeeds in reversing the direction we’re headed and begins fixing the worst of the problems the leftists have inflicted on us (mass immigration, affirmative action) then that will be against a might upheaval of the cultural Marxist establishment.  There will be riots in the streets and insane propaganda unheard of since Baghdad Bob was running Saddam Hussein’s public relations office.    But even if he is brought down by the leftists I forsee him providing the spark to finally blow this whole powder keg sky high.  I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that there would be a march on Washington that will make the various million-man marches look pathetic.  He has awakened a very large force of really pissed off men.

To get back to my original thesis, the Year of the Jackpot is upon us very soon.  Will things fall apart or improve?  Yes.  Maybe even both.  And it’s actually a relief.  Realizing that things cannot continue along the same trajectory is encouraging.  Something’s gotta give and hopefully it’ll be them.  But even if it’s actual dissolution it is better than the slow collapse.  This way at least something may be saved.  And as more people wake up to just how bad things are it adds to the weight pushing against the locked door of the burning barn.  We may get out alive.  Here’s to the Jackpot.

Trumpocalypse Reloaded

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Has it already been a year since that marvelous day? It certainly went fast. And how has the world changed? Well, Hillary Clinton isn’t in jail. Liberal judges are still victimizing normal Americans for trying to be normal Americans. There’s no big beautiful wall on the southern border. And the New York Times hasn’t gone out of business. So, we’re not in heaven for sure.

But the world has definitely changed and there’s no going back. A very significant part of the right knows that the GOP establishment is a sham. These people know now that Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan aren’t interested in preserving conservative values in America. They are only interested in preserving their hold on power in Washington. It has become crystal clear that the GOP establishment and the Never-Trumpers in the media are much more interested in maintaining their monopoly on right wing voters than actually doing anything to make the country a better place for those voters. With respect to immigration, trade, jobs and leftist cultural attacks they are indistinguishable from Chuck Schumer and the New York Times. And these awakened voters won’t ever forget what they’ve learned. They say knowledge is power and it is. But there’s more to it than that. Just knowing why things happen the way they do banishes the confusion that leads to despair. You’re not always blind-sided by events. It allows you to plan ahead and avoid pain and protect yourself and those you care about. It allows you to know what is possible and avoid trying to do what can’t be done. It lets you be more at peace and it makes you more effective.

Donald Trump has given us the example of someone who doesn’t let the Left dictate the terms of engagement. He rejects their framing of events and uses their own methods against them. He has become the World’s Greatest Troll. Watching how day after day, week after week, every one of their pronouncements of the end of the Trump presidency turns into a nothing burger has shown me that once people stop believing fake news the Fake News Media loses almost all its power and just becomes a laughing stock.

Of course, candidate Trump was wrong about one thing he said. I am definitely not tired of winning. In fact, I’m getting impatient again. I’d really like to hear of another Supreme Court appointment and that tax bill passed and an executive order lowering the legal immigration quota to 200 people a year. But I’m also happy to let the President get things done in his own way. He has proven to me that he is perfectly capable of advancing his agenda quickly. And finally, I am worried about Mueller. I really don’t see why he doesn’t fire that man. He’s an enemy and he will do great harm if he’s not stopped. And while the President is at it he needs to give Sessions an ultimatum, start cleaning house in the Justice Department or clear out and let someone else do it.

So, as we begin year 2 A.T. (After Trumpocalypse) I am happy and energized knowing that the changes are as much in the people as they are in the government. We know who is helping and who is hindering us. And we know which voices to ignore (or mock) and which to heed. And finally, it was so much fun to watch all those YouTube videos from a year ago as all those liberal pundits lost their minds and hopes when the Trumpocalypse swept away all their dreams and left Hillary Clinton washed up like a beached whale rotting on the shores of Loserville.

 

Since my readers don’t always stop by every day I figured I’d paste this poll on each post for a while to see what folks call themselves.  This is the post the poll came from  Who Are We?

… And that got me thinking. Who are the people who read my blog?  I thought it might be fun to see what the cross-section looked like.  If you feel like saying what you believe in, feel free to leave a comment and/or pick a label from the poll below.  I think it might be interesting.

 

[Total_Soft_Poll id=”6″]