Trump Moves as America Stands Still

[Raúl Ilargi Meijer]

W. Eugene Smith Orson Welles 1942   Ever since the November 8 election, it’s been hard to write anything that makes actual sense, as evidenced by
[See the full post at: Trump Moves as America Stands Still]

[Birdshak]

After election, Donald Trump immediately betrayed the people and principles he championed during the campaign, from the Alt-right to climate change to jailing his opponent. For this perfidy he garners the praise of The Automatic Earth. I had considered The Automatic Earth an advocate for honesty, kindness, and fair play. Please forgive my naivete.

[regionswork]

Good analysis. Trump demonstrated that the politically-correct policies of both Republican and Democrat parties had not worked for most Americans. Why should the people expect more of the same to work? I did not expect him to win, but am not disappointed. Perhaps a real estate developer is more alert to the damage war does to public infrastructure and private property. Would a Trump condo turnaround/save East Allepo? Might it be better to build golf courses than military bases? Instead of a “green zone” approach to security, how about City-regions where local production and consumption operates without need of worldwide supply chains enabled by cheap fuel, labor and border-free capital? All stuck in their particular idealism will not understand that this is part of the winning formula the Trump voters and non-voters. Those who stayed home, voted as well.

[XYZ]

Hello All,

Don’t you love it when you write a post, lay out your case and the first person to respond completely misses the point, not only that, they continue to spew the same bile that the post was intended to mitigate.

This is going to take some time, I guess. But truly, how much time do we have?

[Patricia]

It works!!
From far away New Zealand – thank god – the whole world looks like a boiling cauldron. Perhaps it is something in the air or perhaps there is the start of a world wide revolution. Personally I would not be surprised if it is the latter. The western world is used to their standard of living rising and rising but when the group of disadvantaged people gets bigger and bigger can we be surprised when the Trumps of this world get elected? No, he is not a particularly nice person but there was no box marked ‘nice’ to tick. He has been elected though. And even uncouth people can have some good ideas. And, most importantly, he is not afraid, to take on the oligarchs.

[seychelles]

I always viewed Trump as a shrewd third party candidate…or a second party candidate since the Democrats and Republicans had long become functionally identical puppet-parties giving Americans only a simulacrum of choice. I think he should be very cautious giving Bernie Sanders a position of power in his administration. After donating quite a bit to Sanders’ campaign early on, it was very disheartening to see him blatantly let down his people and support HRC. This indicated that if he had won the election, it would have only meant more of the same. He is as phony as Bush or Obama.
In the world that’s evolving, flexibility=resilience=survival. So encouraging to have a leader who understands this.

[rapier]

The price for what may be more rational US economic and foreign policy is going to be the centralization of political power in the White House. The culmination of 70 years of power moving to the cente,r to let’s call it the Beltway, but now concentrating in the White House. I guess it is difficult for non Americans to grasp but Trumps ideas and most of his concepts of how they will be done are un or extra Constitutional.

Don’t get me wrong I am no fetishist of the Constitution or one of the millions who thinks the Constitution means exactly what they want it to mean. I am fully aware too that the centralization of power in the US as the result of WWII and its outcome stripped much basic character of what had been American Constitutional governance before. I know too that our ‘elites’ have failed in many many ways. Throw in there was almost certainly no way that the entrenched governing elites were going to be ushered out the door by any incremental change. I know all that.

What I also know which most all, alt economic denizens seem unable to grasp right now in their glee is that there is going to be no fundamental change from the centralization of economic power. None, nada, zilch. It’s going to be meet the new boss, same as the old. I also know that the fall of the ever more ridiculous cultural warriors is not going to be something better, some flowering of common sense, but something worse. That is the forces of right reaction coupled with police power, the ultimate state power over individuals is going to grow quickly. Throw in that if the Republican party has the will and I think they do, then America is going to be a one party state.

If some short term improvements are evident to your or any eyes let me suggest that never ever has more centralized economic and political power lead to a better outcome over a longer term. I had always made the mistake of thinking the financial/economic dislocation would trigger the political one. Now however it seems the financial/economic dislocation may be put off by the political one. The result will be just as bad but in the meantime the pain is going to be imposed selectively, on the bottom by the political order, in order to maintain the system for those at the top.

[Hotrod]

I am somewhat surprised by the reaction to Trumps election among so-called independent thinkers. His nominations, so far, have been extreme right wing conservatives of the Pence mold. No new ideas or thinking among the lot of them. The same old Republican and New Democrat trickle down economic dogma, disguised as a new populism. No war with Russia is a positive, but we will need to attack somebody to keep the military machine well oiled and happy. Iran, perhaps North Korea?

[oxymoron]

Look Donald is gonna give it his best shot through the eyes with which he sees. He is a human being and a goal-oriented one. In the world of bodies and time and space what else have you got? By the time you get to 70 I imagine you have seen a great many ambivalent points of view and that has to soften your position – I mean just having less time left to be alive is humbling and I reckon the man is more humble than people realise – not that I give a shit. I think he has an ego – he wanted to be President – but if you woke up this morning breathing then so have you – the body being the symbol of individuality. Let us bring power back towards ourselves by taking a little more command over the necessities of our existence bit by bit and then or (hopefully during) bring peace to our mind by remembering that a whole lot of bad shit is going on all the time but what has it got to do with a mind that can simply look – wait and judge not? (well maybe a bit of judging….- who am I kidding a lot of judging).
Thanks for a great post Raul.

[Joe Clarkson]

<i>Does anyone want to argue such a clean up was not needed?</i>

You have always argued that a real “clean up” is not possible, that there is no way that the growth of the global market economy will continue forever, unconstrained by resource depletion and financial crises.

I agree with your argument. Since Trump won’t really be able to do anything productive (nor would have Clinton), why do we need to be “flexible”. Is it just to make him feel presidential? Is it to hold hands with his supporters and sing kumbayah in perfect harmony? Sorry, but catering to Trump is a waste of time and energy. I’ll save what little extra I have (after my horticultural exertions) for expressions of contempt, not only for Trump but the people who have made us listen to him try to put a complete sentence together for the next four years.

[V. Arnold]

I’ll echo XYZ.
Me? I’ll wait and watch how this all unfolds. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes.
Will Trump be sworn in as president?
We’ll see…

[oldwood]

First, Trump must actually take office and there are still considerable powers still aligned against him to prevent it.
While we can have no real idea of what may come from Trump, the one thing I am positive about is that he is not part of the existing cabal of corruption. I can tolerate the inefficiencies and destruction of an all powerful government. What I cannot tolerate is the notion that it is deliberately destructive and wasteful or at the very least designed principally to transfer great wealth and power to a relative few…..and THAT is a current reality.

[Author]

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