Resistance to Trump: Doesn’t Everyone Have a Boiling Point? (Maybe Not)
A reader notes on a Facebook post on the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education: (Your) kind of anti-Trump rhetoric is painfully damaging to America.
I believe that it’s not nearly as “painfully damaging” as Trump himself, but I grant that we’ll have to wait and see how all this turns out. And certainly it’s more than the demolition of public schooling; it’s the evisceration of environmental regulations, the inclusion of White supremacists in the upper echelon of government, the almost-daily barrage of bald-faced lies, the illegal ban on immigration, the bait and switch Trump pulled on his supporters re: Wall Street, the bromance with Putin and its terrifying implications, the appointment of a labor sec whose life’s work has been grinding and cheating his workers, the rollback in women’s and minority rights, the breaking of (more) treaties with the Native Americans, insulting other heads of state, etc. I’m curious to know: what’s going to be the ultimate deal-breaker for you? How far does this have to go? There has to be some point somewhere, doesn’t there?
In case I haven’t made it clear before, I believe that all this anti-Trump rhetoric is actually vital to the needs of America, in that it will hasten the expulsion of an emotionally unstable and horrifyingly dangerous person from the highest position of leadership on Earth. We don’t have any higher priorities.
Craig,
There’s an old saying in politics, “oppositions don’t win elections, governments lose elections”.
As long as the current administration provides effective government to fulfill the aspirations of sufficient numbers of voters to retain office, it remains safe.
Trump’s reforms are seen by his supporters as necessary to correct the trend of previous government administrations.
That must be very hard for supporters of the previous administration. It maybe that the Trump administration’s reforms prove excessive and it loses support, but right at the moment it’s still the government and entitled to govern to the best of it’s judgement.
It will be assessed on the value of that judgement at the next election.
Trump has moved quickly to impose his reform agenda. In doing so he’s deliberately provoked the most strident of his opposition to an early fight on his terms. It’s the sort of high risk, crash through or burn, strategy favoured by many commercial developers.
This strategy relies on increasing the level of hysteria among the opposition until they look increasingly irrational and unreasonable. This has the effect of ‘dumbing down’ issues to a simplistic and emotive level, becoming a battle between two tribes.
In such a contest the government only retains the initiative it starts early, focusing the public’s attention on the actions of unreasonable opposition, rather than areas of government weakness.
As long as Trump can concentrate public attention on his fight with the left, he has an excuse for his lack of sound economic policies.
His supporters will not be swayed by opposition demonstrations, fights against pipelines, pointless delays in confirming administrative appointments, court cases trying to stop election promises being implemented.
Issues like these only increase his support among voters, many of whom may not like Trump, but feel a newly elected administration should be allowed to at least try new policies without interference from the old regimes followers.
The weakness of the Trump administration lies not in the sideshow, but it’s lack of sound economic management. If he fails to deliver prosperity, his brash style will become annoying to the average voter.
If he can deliver economically, then his eccentricities will be forgiven and even praised.
As arrogant as Trump may seem at times (although he has disarming moments of self-deprecation), your own rhetoric possesses the same arrogance. What does ” highest position of leadership on Earth ” actually mean ??
The US is the world’s largest economy, and arguably processes the most powerful military technology. However, the assumption by American’s that this somehow translates to moral authority is arrogant self-delusion!