Charismatic Repulsivity
CBS News reports that 76% of viewers of Trump's speech to Congress "approved." They stressed that most viewers were Republicans, and that he lied throughout the speech. The Independent had the speech's approval rating at 44%, but lukewarm. The Daily Beast says many tuned out, of the 99 minute-long speech, and that it was his lowest-rated speech to Congress he has given, at 36.6 million masochists.
This is the strangest time in my entire life, which includes many strange times. The Vietnam War. Three years in the U.S. Army during that debacle. Nixon. Reagan. Bush I. Bush II. Genocide Joe. I even lived through the McCarthy era, though I was too young to have any idea what was going on. The atomic bombing of Japan happened when I was in my infancy.
The Trump presidency is a criminal operation, enabled by the U.S. Senate, which failed to convict him in two impeachments, the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted him impunity, and Genocide Joe, who never should have run for president even once, but, hack that he is, ran a second time when he was clearly unfit to hold office. He dropped out too late, paving the way for Trump.
I didn't think Trump would live through his second candidacy. I thought the accumulation of mental decline, bad health habits, age and his ill-temper would do him in. Instead, he now is able to speak before Congress and the American people for 99 minutes, lying, fear-mongering and hate-mongering the entire time. It is almost beyond belief.
I still believe he will fail, for a number of reasons. Trump, deranged and malevolent criminal sociopath, is still in decline. That is the way time works. We all get older every day. Even sociopaths. Mental decline does not improve as a time variable.
Most importantly, life will become increasingly difficult for Trump as time advances. He has set his criminal regime in motion, and now has to follow-through on all his bonkers orders, firings, bullying and corruption of government functions. He has to get up every day and try to make it all work. It takes energy. The world is lining up against him. He will be frustrated, enraged, confused, exhausted, weakened and defeated. He is not a bright guy. He does have talent - as an entertainer, demagogue, liar and mob-inciter. If bullying is a talent, he is a master. As I wrote recently, he has charismatic repulsivity. He is pretty good at getting away with crime, though it is through enabling by toadies in the justice and political system. He is good at bluffing.
This is not an exercise in Pollyannaism or happy days are here again. Climate change is still with us, and will be an increasing presence for the rest of our lives, and we may be facing extinction as a species. The days of infinite growth of economic output are drawing to a close. But the time of the criminal Trump regime and its equally criminal Project 2025 will not be with us for much longer, though it seems all-powerful to many.
_______________________________Here's a song. Here's another, a rare time Bill Wyman sang. Something pending for the Drumpf. Maybe today. Even The Ramones believed Time Has Come Today. Maybe they were on to something. Time waits for no one, not even the Drumpf. He may be gone soon, though he might steal your face right off your head before he's done. His empire will fall, similar to others throughout history. Once again, the times they are a-changin'. Here's what will happen when Trump is gone. The sun will continue to rise. Alternate version. Another alternate version. For a while, at least, it will be time to jump in the line. Here's a song for the MAGA crowd. Studio version. Another song for the MAGA crowd. A song of guidance. This song if you have the U.S. blues.
posted by John Hamilton | 5:32 PM
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