The most bigoted, misogynist, dishonest, hateful, narcissistic, egomaniac man that’s ever run for president has just been installed into that position of the most powerful man in the world. His whipping up of the worst emotions in human beings (in mostly white people, that is) yielded this victory and now the other half of the nation who he has attacked and threatened throughout his campaign is dazed in disbelief that they are at the mercy of this mentally unstable man for the next 4 years of their life.
To those who think they’re being reasonable by saying, “You’ve got to give him a chance, he’s all of our President now and we should want him to succeed,” I say “Duck!” because I just threw a Trump Steak at your head. I won’t be like the nasty Repubs who insisted that Pres. Obama wasn’t their president, it is an indisputable fact that as an American, Trump will indeed be my President. But that doesn’t mean that I click and drag all that I know about what a monster he is into the trash. He has told us all what kind of self-serving, vindictive strongman he intended to become if he became President. As Maya Angelou is often quoted, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
Trump is who he is and all the pandering, obscuring blather he reads off of teleprompters (including his contrived and mechanical acceptance speech) that is actually not written by him but by deceptive people not named Trump, is just Trump being a performer. It’s not him, we’ve seen the real Trump in his horrible attacks, admissions of sexual abuse and tweets. We know who he is and he’s a threat to our society and democracy as my president.
We’re in store for a 4 year long shitstorm and wandering off into wishful thinking right now about how Trump may not be so bad as President isn’t going to help anyone’s future other than Trump’s.
There were a variety of factors that led to Trump’s victory. Preying on fear, hatred, racism and spite is pretty effective to motivate struggling, uneducated white voters to the polls. What is also inescapable is that, as the numbers now show her underperforming Obama’s numbers while Trump only achieved Romney’s numbers, Hillary Clinton was too uninspiring and too loaded with baggage to bring out the amount of voters needed to defeat Trump. There was also the Russian hacking, Wikileaks leaking and James Comey/FBI suppressing the vote for Hillary while whipping up the vote for Trump but they merely exploited the heavy baggage we all knew Hillary was carrying. In the end, despite it’s probably being made illegal soon, this election was an abortion.
But here we are, looking down the barrel of a Trump presidency that will make George Bush look like Abraham Lincoln. So much of our society and democracy is poised to be dismantled, from the ACA to Dodd-Frank, from voting rights protections to press freedoms, from the EPA to Planned Parenhood and the right to abortion, from a non-nuclear Iran to a restrained Russia, from non-privatized Social Security you can claim in full at 67 to non-block-granted Medicare that pays for seniors’ medical necessities. Taxes for the wealthy will be slashed while taxes go up on the middle class, federal revenues will tank and social programs will be stripped down to pay for them. The wealthy will be free of estate tax and their wealth will skyrocket while the 99% have minimum wage reduced or eliminated and Wall Street and big banks prey on them unrestrained.
The disasters brought by George W. Bush brought about the election of Barack Obama. The catastrophes unleashed on the country and world by a President Donald Trump with a Republican Congress could bring about a desperate need for another remarkable Democratic candidate for the Presidency in 2020…and that person’s name might be Elizabeth Warren.
I agreed with Warren’s decision not to run against Hillary this time around (though I would have voted for her in a heartbeat). It would have gotten very ugly (as it did with Bernie) and in the end, since a Dem primary is playing in the DNC playground, she too probably would have been deflected and defeated by Hillary and the Dem machine. However, when one looks at the devastation that Trump and the GOP have in store for the people and institutions of this nation, Warren sure seems to be the ideal antidote to it all.
Elizabeth Warren is everything Hillary needed to be but couldn’t be to win this election. She is authentic, inspirational, one of the people, sympathetic, has an enthusiastic following in the Dem base and is a powerful and energizing speaker. She also knows how to get things done. She is a fighter for the regular American worker who feels left behind or neglected by their government/society, the very voters Trump used to win election because they felt they had nowhere else to go. She is principled and tough…we all saw how unafraid she is to go toe-to-toe with Trump, one can imagine her doing so in a presidential campaign against him in 2020.
The Five Stages of Grief are listed as:
1. Denial & Isolation
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance
Now, I’ve got no problem with hitting the cycle but it is annoying to take up all that time to finally get to Acceptance, which is the stage when you can really start doing something about the thing causing you grief. So I propose multitasking, let the programs of the first four stages run simultaneously to work themselves out as we jump to Acceptance so we can do something about what we accept to be the case.
Focusing energy on a solution to the next 4 years of hell would at least be a productive use of emotion and energy…as opposed to weeping or eating a gallon of cookie dough ice cream. It could also help block the DNC from once again anointing another establishment type who they choose as entitled to the nomination. We can’t undo Trump’s win but we can resolve ourselves to end the damage he’ll be doing as soon as we can, supporting and building up a candidate who can take away Trump’s base voters as well as energize Democrats and independents. Someone who not only would make a great candidate but a great President who would be dedicated to repairing the damage Trump and Repubs will inflict on the country and going much farther.
This is not to say that there aren’t other good potential candidates that could take on Trump in 2020, the next Dem primary should be open and competitive (and free from the meddling and manipulation of the DNC and establishment Dems). I do think though that Warren is the kind of fearless Dem superstar who will have crossover appeal to Trump voters too. Now that we’ve seen the way things are with the electorate, a candidate who could not only inspire big Dem turnout but pull white rural voters as well could have a real recipe for victory and the potential for big coattails in 2020.
I think the action plan for those sickened at the thought of a Trump presidency is to both do whatever can be done along the way to fight against him and the Repubs while supporting and drafting Elizabeth Warren to begin preparing to toss Trump out of the White House in 2020.
This election is over but in this country, that also means that the next election has begun. Drafting Elizabeth Warren for resident in 2020 could be the short term focus that helps Dems get through their current stages of grief quicker and channels those feelings into really doing something meaningful to remove Trump from the White House as soon as possible.
I think it’s only natural to sooth with a surrogate like Warren but instead of thinking of the corpus of the DNC or a 2020 candidate we need to monitor the snot out of this administration. The best candidate will come out of the process. This person will have to understand the patterns of behavior and thought processes of a person like DJT.
DJT won because he employed classical tactics of the narcissist to gaslight, stump, and free-associate into tangential reality to mesmerize and disorient . He used menacing tactics and probably won in no small way due to the internalized misogyny of women.
Whatever entity enters into a watch-dog dialogue will need to include at least a good part of that chorus of disenfranchised whites.
Trump is susceptible because he is very insecure, his identity is an amalgam of defense mechanisms. He can be played just as easily as he seems to play people. What is important here is to remain conscious, vigilant, and in reality by not being intimidated into a dissociative trance of dreams and self-soothing false optimism.
Trump is a direct product of what some of us were told to expect in the years following the trauma of 9/11. In order to navigate the present one must prognosticate the future. Cap’n Trump may appear to be a black box but he shouldn’t be something upon which to project our fears. Rather, he is a shallow and simple conjurer with a limited repertoire of tricks.
Questinia, such a brilliant analysis!
We are going to have a lot more trouble monitoring Trump though, he’s made clear that he views the 1st Amendment and the role of the press as nothing but a threat to him and what he wants to do.
It may seem impossible to have a more secretive and devious admin than Bush/Cheney but it seems likely that’s what we’ll see.
I do think we need one or more leaders of the Dem party to stand up directly to Trump, leaderless movements like OWS become too unfocused, divisive and then dissipate. We can’t afford that to happen with Trump in the WH.
Your points are well taken (of course) that with Trump’s fragile ego, a growing uprising of the majority of Americans against him and what he does will back him into an emotional corner, hopefully making him needier for the public to like him and act in the way he thinks that will bring that about.
I do believe that it is a big mistake to ever give into fear and allow it to influence one’s mindset and choices. So I do agree that we shouldn’t be just gasping in horror at what Trump could do. At the same time, we should be prepared.
This is a horrific and surreal situation that is a bit much to grasp quickly. I think people will be trying for a while to process their fear, shock and disorientation at what has happened to the country we used to think we knew.
At the same time, with Obama leaving the Presidency and Dems having no control in the federal government, the Dems have no real leader right now to rally behind. It sure seems constructive to try and support those who we would like to see as publicly and aggressively taking on Trump and uniting Americans against him.
In light of the Dem Elite helping to unintentionally put Trump in office and ready to do it all over again, to unintentionally help him win re-election, Dems need to step up and choose their own and more representative and reflective leadership that can confront Trump and defeat him in 2020.
As to your point about Trump being the inevitable result of the trauma from 9/11, sure makes a lot of sense. Though this proves how destructive it is to allow fear to make one’s decisions, I do have a big concern in the coming year that I think we should be preparing for.
There will be a terrorist attack next year after Trump becomes President. There have been attacks of one kind or another every year and next year will be no exception.
I can only imagine that to ISIS, Trump’s presidency looks like a big fat gift to them from America. He will be an unwitting but willing collaborator with them, helping them to re-energize themselves at a time when they’re being chased out of Iraq. They need to portray a religious war as being underway against Islam to recruit martyrs and regain momentum and Trump is happy to cooperate on that.
I would bet that ISIS has made their top priority now, a terrorist act in the US. It could be another mentally disturbed individual planting bombs or shooting innocent people as we’ve seen repeatedly this year…or something more spectacular like Paris.
The bottom line is that in the aftermath of a terrorist attack, it seems obvious what Trump would likely do. He would condemn Islam, portray Muslims as enemies of America and possibly bomb indiscriminately in Iraq or Syria just to show he’s strong. Then there are the questions about how far past that he might go. Like Bush, might he use it as a tool to lock down the press and declare that anyone opposing him are allies of ISIS and just as much America’s enemies? Might he pull out his promise to register Muslims? Try to force them into detention camps? Build up a deportation army to go into homes to deport undocumented immigrants? These are extremes but when it comes to Trump, dismissing anything as too extreme to envision, such as his becoming President, has proven to be a mistake.
A terrorist attack, whether smaller or larger, could be exactly the excuse he would use to become the dictator he yearns to be.
This isn’t fear mongering, it’s meant to alert folks to be prepared for this and ready to stand up to him after the next terrorist attack. We shouldn’t sit around being scared, we should be ahead of the curve though on what dangers to our country Trump could inflict so we can respond swiftly, strongly and united.
This is so true, especially with the giddy-for-power Giuliani, Mr. 9/11, as AG. Obama led with the power of influence, this group believes in the power of control which is ultimately weaker and more polarizing. Ultimately, dangerous.
America has been sucker punched. We need to shake it off before we fracture.
(You are so fluent and thoughtful, Adlib, have you ever considered going into politics?)
Thanks so much, Q. If you knew what was on my private email server, you’d know why I could never run for office.
As you say, Obama used his position as President to influence and inspire support of his positions, Trump and his cronies have made clear that they see government power as a cudgel with which to beat those they see as “the enemy” unrelentingly into submission.
They don’t seek to influence, they seek to intimidate. As President, Obama is the guy in the bar who buys you a beer so he can sit down with you and try to convince you why you should agree with him. Trump is a drunken bully at the bar who pulls out a switchblade and brandishes it to terrify and dominate you to get what he wants (and he might grab women by the putty tat at the same time).
This is the calm before the tsunami, the tide is receding abnormally now and the ignorant are assuring the public that this disquieting calm is nothing to be concerned about, in fact, it could foreshadow good things coming our way. Those who are experienced know better, they are taking the high ground now and preparing for the inevitable onslaught that will inundate the country after January 20th.
I’m not predicting an apocalyptic future, it seems clear though that over half this country will be under attack socially (and in some cases, in physical ways by maniac Trump supporters) by the Trump administration and the GOP.
We have no choice but to prepare for a political and social war against the majority of Americans.
And prepare we should, emotionally and psychologically. This is going to be pretty bad and will require us to be The Resistance. That doesn’t mean though that this period will be any more permanent than when we had to do the same against Bush.
We have to end the Trump regime in 4 years and in the meantime, as Churchill said, give ’em hell!
Tulsi Gabbard is our best bet, in my opinion. She was a part of the DNC and saw what was happening within the DNC and she quit to support Bernie. She is a veteran and has the same ideology as Bernie and Elizabeth. She is a true progressive.
Nirek, I liked her at first but have some issues with her. Here are some of them:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/07/25/the-bernie-endorsing-congresswoman-who-trump-fans-can-love.html
Another magnum opus…with the same observation as the last one…..an invitation to publish at Yabberz.
Several observations: Warren will be 71 in 4 years. I know the Clinton was 69 and Trump is 70. Both are also too old to hold the office of President….given its wear and tear.
And she is attached to this campaign.
I don’t see it. She could be a leader of the opposition but that will only be good for noise making.
Thanks Murph!
John McCain will be 92 after his new term is over. So if we’re talking about people who are too old to do the job, I’d look over that way.
No one sweated Hillary, Trump or Bernie being around 70 so why would it be any different with Warren? Age is a number, some folks who are 70 are not as physically able to take a lot of stress and exhaustion, others are. I’d say Warren sure looks like someone who would be just as strong as Hillary, Trump or Sanders when she’s that age.
I’m not sure I understand what you mean, that she is attached to the campaign? Everyone knows she was the last Senator to support Hillary and wasn’t enthusiastic about her until the GE came and she had to be out of loyalty to the party. I don’t see it having any impact on her candidacy, do you?
Warren has the Bernie Sanders Dem core that would support her and they nearly won the primary against one of the most powerful candidates there’s been in a Dem primary. In 2020, after 4 years of Trump, they will be enormously energized. I think she is perfectly positioned to beat Trump in 2020.
Who do you think would be a better prospect for 2020?
I think that trend to older leadership is not a good one.
My experience with older people is the source of that hesitation.
I am 66 but do a lot of work with those in the mid 70’s and up.
As a group it is a population with lessened resources in energy, focus, and endurance.
So, as a matter of principle, I look to those in their 50’s for the kind of leadership I am looking for. Warren might be just fine but I have my concerns.
I have no idea who would be better than Warren- someone I like very much and admire even more….and, yes, she has a lot of presence with the Sanders wing and perhaps those who decided to either sit it out will more fully engage.
Ad, I remain the voice of doom in regard to the fundamental problem within the entire system….an increasingly stupid citizenry…left, right, and center. Easily manipulated, emotionally facile, and terribly short sighted and egocentric.
The unwillingness of critics on this night after to grapple with that (and one affect of this, a low Democratic turnout especially among blacks, but also among those are white and have aligned with the democratic party for so many years but now do not.”
It all worries me.
Murph, I think it makes the most sense to select someone for the nom because of who they are, not because of what their age is.
Warren is the only Democrat, outside of Obama and Bernie, who excites the base and can rally them. A Dem who is in their 50s, whoever they are, can’t do that (at least none that I know of).
So if the goal is to energize the base and win an election, you go with the nominee who can do that, whatever their age.
As for your concern, I do share it. However, I don’t know that American voters have ever really been that educated in their voting. The voters that swing elections seem to operate primarily on emotions, not knowledge and reason. Obama was elected originally in an emotional reaction to the trauma Bush caused. That is, the swing voters helped elect them for that reason. Trump was elected for emotional reasons. Reagan won over Carter because of emotional reasons, on and on.
There are a lot of stupid people in this country, a lot who revel in their ignorance and compensate for their stupidity by having spite for facts and educated people. Morons are as American as Frito chili pie.
It seems to me that elections are really about finding the right emotional button to press on American Idiots to manipulate them into voting in their best interests along with Dems.
And don’t forget, Trump didn’t outperform Romney’s vote total in 2012, this election was lost because of a lack of Dem voter turnout for Hillary, plain and simple.
Again, it’s about emotion. Having a nom like Obama who can get excite voters is critical. A nom like Hillary who lacks that aspect is at a handicap against an emotional manipulator like Trump.
In 2020, we need a nom who has that trait. Warren has it. I’m open to someone else if they can be as strong or stronger than Warren when it comes to exciting the base and being able to reach out to working class voters. Until someone else comes along, I think she’s the best bet.
Hey, Adlib, great writing. Been gone, now I’m back. Spent most of my energy on the twitter, tweeting my case about how good Hillary would be for our country what a disaster Trump would be. It seems like our American brethren never learn anything from politics. You would think people would have learned from George W. Bush not to elect disasters. And Trump’s character and record virtually screams “not presidential material”. You would think, but you would be wrong. I’m even more disappointed than I was in 2014 when the GOP got their solid majority in the legislative branch. The country is slipping away from us and I fear we might never get it back. I thought Dubya wouldn’t make it past 4 years and was wrong there too. But I agree with your suggestion about Elizabeth Warren. I think what we need most — what we’ve needed all along — is to unify the Democratic Party. No more infighting, even during primary elections. Save the third-party crap the right wing and present a solid brand.
Have fun watching the four-year train wreck.
Thanks jj, nice to see you back!
I think we give way too much credit to the uneducated voters who vote Republican. They clearly are so easily fooled by con men like Trump, they don’t vote with their brains, they vote with their spleens. If they were capable of learning, they wouldn’t have kept voting Republican after doing so has led them right into the unhappy predicaments they’re in.
Trump pandered to their hatred, fears and foolishness, they lapped up all of his lies like they were manna from heaven and voted for him no matter what he did or said.
We are cursed as a country to have this segment of America so poorly educated and informed. It’s not all their fault, rural areas are neglected but more by state and local government than by federal government. And they are very religious about their political beliefs, committing blind faith to being a Republican no matter what throughout their lives and seeing Democrats as evil.
All we can do in the short term is have Dem candidates who energize turnout to overcome the unwavering turnout by these people for Repubs. That’s how Obama won both times and that’s how Hillary lost this time.
We’re in for a pretty awful time for the next 4 years. With the ACA gone, 20 million people will have health insurance ripped away from them and rates will skyrocket as they used to, those with pre-existing conditions will be kicked off their insurance and allowing companies to escape state oversight, the corruption in insurance will become rampant. And that’s just health insurance!
We need to focus our energies productively and I think getting behind Warren for a 2020 run would be ideal.
I don’t think anyone on the planet will escape the impact of Trump being President so we’re all in for the same awful 4 year ride but we can end it there.