Mr. Gripes tends to take the long view on things. Yes, I do read the newspapers every day, muttering and cursing along the way. But one day’s hysterical headlines don’t by themselves mean much to me – I’d rather look back over a month or six months, and then react accordingly.
But that’s not how Americans perceive events any more – it’s a much shorter span of attention and much less reflection these days. In this era of Twitter and instantaneous news coverage, the convergence of Mr. Trump’s monumental ignorance, his exceptional instincts in creating news, fake or real, and his congenital inability to concentrate on policy matters of any import, dovetails very closely with the collective mindset of many Americans.
On a macro scale, Americans categorically seem dumber than years ago. A couple of factors have contributed to this depressing trend: for one, public school educational standards have slipped precipitously in the last 30 or 40 years – let’s look, for instance, at American History as taught in school: do you honestly think your children have as firm a grasp of our country’s history as you do? Probably not, by a considerable margin. As a nation, we’re simply less informed and ergo less capable of making rational, not emotional, decisions. And this national collective ignorance, certainly, serves Mr. Trump very well; after all, he may have a knowledge deficit exceeding your 13-year-old’s.
Television has made us stupider, too. Sixty years ago, John Kennedy’s FCC chairman, Newton Minnow, caused quite a stir when he declared television a ‘vast wasteland.’ If only Mr. Minnow were alive today: he’d have a massive stroke.
Mr. Gripes, occasionally, like all of us, will take the remote and ‘surf’ the seemingly 10,000 channels to get a sense of program offerings. That experience is mind-blowing. Last week, I happened to watch for 10 minutes of a reality show called ‘Naked and Afraid’. The premise? A man and woman, both naked, are deposited into a very hostile outdoor environment – sometimes a jungle, it’s equatorially hot; the couple must fend for food and shelter alone, usually as bare as newborns. When I, mouth agape, viewed this, as the contestants’ derrieres were chewed upon by a thousand mosquitoes, I realized the Grand American Experiment was over – we’ve reached a nadir. The Trump Presidency and television shows like this one run on parallel paths – we’ve become a nation of yahoos.
Nov 4, 2020…Hold on to Your Hats...
Talk about a ‘test’ of our democracy. Americans may be facing the ultimate existential threat the day after the Presidential election next November.
Because Donald Trump, if he has lost the Presidency the day before, may not concede at all – and fight to a bitter end to hold on to his job. The Constitution be damned.
Mr. Gripes isn’t just throwing this theory out there and hope it sticks. In fact, I’d say it’s probable that Mr. Trump will not relent – he’s not going to leave gently. He’ll fight like a cornered cat.
Evidence? Let’s glance at some of Mr. Trump’s statements over the past six months:
The President has maintained in recent comments that since the Mueller investigation took two years from start to conclusion, and did finally exonerate him, he ‘was robbed of two years’ of his Presidency, and he ‘should get those two years back.’ Yes, his comments about the missing years were delivered in a jocular fashion, but to Mr. Gripes his words are very ominous.
It’s obvious to even his supporters that Mr. Trump is no zealous advocate of our system of checks and balances, or a fan of democratic principles as a basis for government. Mr. Trump’s instincts, in fact, are totalitarian, i.e., a belief in one-man, strong-man rule. His achievements actually prove he is a transactional President, fundamentally only interested in his own aggrandizement, i.e., the accumulation of money and power. The concept of cooperative decision- making within a democratic framework is totally foreign to him.
Moving on from Mueller for a moment, I believe Mr. Trump is absolutely convinced his voters will not stand for a losing election. With his supporters as a cacophonous and angry backdrop, consisting of a loyal 45% of the electorate, he knows – he’s right about this, I think – they’ll never abandon him. He’ll cry bloody murder that he was ‘robbed’ by ‘deep-state’ election officials; or, the election was ‘fixed’ by corrupt Democrats, so he’s staying put. Perhaps with words along these lines: ‘To protect the legitimacy of American elections, I will not surrender, and will not concede.’
And, guess what? The ‘coup d’etat’ may work.
I’ll end with a couple of other points: first, Mr. Trump is President regardless until Jan 20, 2021. In the meantime, he’ll still function as President, living at the White House and negotiating treaties, for example. Let’s not forget this, too: he will remain Commander- in -Chief, the top boss of US military forces. Can he order the Army, say, to protect him from being removed from office? Will the military follow his orders? Whatever the answers to those questions are, the country is going to thrown into chaos for months regardless.
Congress? This I’m sure of: the Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives will back Mr. Trump to the hilt, whatever he decides to do. Without a President Trump, their power is eviscerated. Will they adhere to the Constitution? Not a snowball’s chance in Hell, if their supremacy in the executive branch is threatened. They’ll sink or swim with Trump.
So, where does the country turn to if the President holds on at all costs? The Supreme Court? The Court has become over the past couple of decades much more of a political branch of government, not really an impartial I panel any longer, so it’s anyone’s guess as to how the nine Justices will rule.
It’s all very scary. We’re in for one hell of a ride in 18 months.
By Jim Israel ‘Mr. Gripes’ July 1, 2019
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