Thursday, October 25, 2018

The Final Solution: The Lord of Misrule




Trump is the Lord of Misrule. For the average liberal, the news cycle has become A Midsummer Night's Dream turned nightmare. The Iran nuclear deal, the Paris environmental accords, the nuclear arms treaty with Russia, the Kavanaugh appointment (not to speak of Gorsuch), the responses to the Khashoggi murder and to recent mail bombs, immigration, NATO, the UN, Puerto Rico, gun control, Charlottesville, the repeal of public lands protections and now transgender rights. Whether its Pruitt or Wheeler, Trump appoints EPA chiefs who are not interested in regulation. There’s not one moment of respite. In fact the whole agenda of the presidency is the destruction of the kinds of entitlements (the Affordable Care Act has so far miraculously survived) that most Democrats had mistakenly taken for granted. Reagan and both Bushes had conservative agendas, yet neither mounted an across-the-board attack on everything that most of the President’s New York neighbors stand for. What’s interesting is that Trump himself had once been a Democrat and a friend to the Clintons. What went wrong? Was he snubbed at a fundraiser? Did he finally get the idea that the average New Yorker didn't like his hair? Nixon displayed a similar venom and ended up resigning. Maybe Mueller will come up with something that will topple the presidency. However, what gives Trump his power is that a large part of a divided populace not only thinks the way he does, but are willing to use any means to get to the ends they wish to achieve. Trump once said he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody” and not “lose any voters.” It’s not a joke. Due process, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are what’s up for grabs. It’s no wonder Trump is able to buddy up with the likes of Kim Jong-un and MBS. They all share a similar contempt for the very civil liberties which make America great. 

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