The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    On Things Best Left Unsaid

    By PeraclesPlease on Thu, 03/10/2016 - 3:23am |

    [on the rise of the "Trump Democrat"

    Hillary’s liberal enough for me, was 8 years ago.

    I didn’t think Obama could get done everything they were claiming,

    and mostly he didn’t – 8 years later, the economy’s mostly recovering,

    employment’s up, even manufacturing’s coming back. Too cautious

    and surrendering towards Republicans, but then they control most all the cards too.

     

    Trump vs. Cruz is the epitome of the “big blowhard who knows little except

    how to throw his weight around effectively and brow-beat people” (see Chris Christie)

    and the “craven atavistic omnivore who’s probably not human and would slash up

    his own mother to see even the promise of one tax cut” (see the rest).

    Oh, and then there’s Lindsey Graham, who as probably a closeted gay really symbolizes

    all the Republicans who’ve closeted their actual conscience towards anything in order

    to enable and play this tough guy Rambo image of not-so-compassionate-conservatives

    and abandon any sense of being an adult to the romper room kindergartners who’ve

    totally taken over the party.

     

    Dumb vs Dumber is hardly an enlightened outcome of supposedly 16-20 of the GOP’s best

    and brightest competing for their party’s top slot. Obviously there are enough dumb Democrats

    to build a cottage industry, and since Trump’s made a career of suckering the easily deceived,

    that’s his natural constituency, from whatever walk of life. And yes, there are people who

    will always love a “straight-shooter”, someone who unchains their voice from any cognitive

    throttle and just vent, however unhinged. Adam Sandler is a multi-millionaire and I’m not for that and many

    other reasons. Supposedly grown up men still go to his movies and laugh at all that wasted pent-up

    juvenile behavior they’ve suppressed so long (at least 5 minutes), so why would anyone

    find it strange that Donald Trump can draw a crowd as well. Presumably “short fingers” will

    lead to a round of fart jokes in our next Reality Show gross-off, maybe with the moderators

    providing lighters to “let it rip”.

     

    Meanwhile the intelligent side of the aisle doesn’t give a rip, and is instead content to debate

    how far to push dreams to institute policies that help people. I’ve tried to avoid even discussing

    the Trump phenomenon, because I learned long ago from a college dormmate that

    you end up being what you oppose. Yeah, there was a guy who talked about how boring his

    old roommate was, someone who’d go around saying “Bummer” all the time. And this guy had

    inherited that meme, would only say “my roommate said Bummer” and acted fairly lifeless

    and robotic, so soon we called him “Bummer”. Trump will win by people raving against him

    and then emulating him & his methods if not message, and soon we will all be assimilated.

    So as Ken Kesey noted, just walk away – do something else, smell the flowers or recycle or

    support someone with a plan. Don’t fret the lost souls all around – I think Jesus said there

    have always been the poor, and I think he included with that the stark-raving lunatics as well.

    We’re mostly not equipped to transfer their burdened souls into a herd of swine that we then

    send storming suicidally into the a vast pit of water to drown in a bubbling frenzy. Alas. So better

    to live within our own puny limitations and enjoy life just thinking about it.

    Comments

    I hear you PP, and recognizing "our own puny limitations" is of course a major part of coming to terms with ourselves beyond the political realm.  The thing with Trump is that he scares me in a demagogue kind of way (hope this isn't retreading subject matter that's been exhausted), even as I see people who I know who are drawn to him.  So, I guess the thing is, we're watching Trump exploit anger and frustration with a warped populist message and a brilliant media strategy, and with just awful racist under and overtones at its core.  It's hard to sit back and watch that happen, no?  I mean, if he says he's going to deport all these people, I guess one could assume that in fact he could not and will not do that if he's elected, but it's hard to ignore I think.  

    Anyway, pleasure to read.


    by Bruce Levine on Thu, 03/10/2016 - 7:41am

    Peracles, you're right. Recycle. Oh, shit, that's the business I'm in and which sometimes drives me to drink..

    I think there are two ways to diffuse the sorry state of the Trump supporters in the Republican party. First, they are boils which need to be lanced in order to return to normalcy. Second, it's a civil war in that other party and until they solve it,they most likely won't elect a President and the country will stalemate with respect to infrastructure, climate change and education.


    by Oxy Mora on Thu, 03/10/2016 - 11:08am

    The only way to lance the boil is for the base to get their candidate nominated, likely Trump, rather than the less extreme compromise candidate. And then for that candidate to be soundly defeated in the general. A close race won't do it. That will only empower them with thoughts of almost there, next time. If Trump is defeated by a large margin they will slink back to the racist and conspiracy theory backwaters of the internet to mutter to themselves and their crazy friends.


    by ocean-kat on Thu, 03/10/2016 - 1:44pm