I have friends that are post-liberal, MAGA folks. It probably goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: I have a hard time agreeing with their assessment of our current President’s performance. As I was pondering why they seem to post defenses of the President so frequently, I think I discovered the reason: They are afraid and defensive because they really do see what we “normal” Republicans see: A deeply flawed man whose vulgarity and narcissism really can’t be defended. Nothing says “I want my money back” more than someone who constantly defends a purchase. It’s the classic marketing ploy. You launch a product that was *supposed* to be vetted and eagerly anticipated by the market, just to discover that your market research was wrong and now you are stuck with a product you have to unload. So you over-sell. Constantly promoting the product as SO much better than what people are saying. It’s “New Coke” all over again. That is why MAGA folks saturate their feeds with how great the President is. They are having “buyers remorse” in spades….
What I also find interesting is that all of the comparisons to previous Presidents and administrations are comparisons to Democrats. That is a rather low bar. If he really is the greatest President that ever lived, why not elevate his standing by comparing him to other Republican Presidents. Surely Nixon was worse (not by much)?
So, my heart goes out to you MAGA folks. You bought a 4 year subscription to economic ruin, the disassembly of democracy and a staff of incompetents that will eventually completely erode whatever version of America you thought you were getting. You get to experience some of the pain that normal Republicans are feeling. It is actually MAGA folks who have the “Trump Derangement Syndrome” so often attributed to us folks who see the man clearly. Welcome to our world….
A possible solution to the Ukrainian and Iranian Wars
As I watched another cringe-worthy news conference at the Whitehouse the other evening, I thought to myself: “What would it be like to go mano-a-mano with Karoline Leavitt?” She has the same knack that Trump does to take any hard question and make the person who asked it look like a schmuck. Her scathing deliveries and blistering rebukes could reduce anyone to a simpering wimp, ready to do her bidding, rather than face another volley of hyperbole and lies. She really is a nasty person with a very prickly personality.
So, why not unleash that talent on Putin in negotiating an end to the war that Russia started with Ukraine? I am pretty sure that after a day or two of facing Karoline, Vladimir would say “Please, I’ll agree to anything, just take that woman away from here”. Problem solved. Using her as a “weapon of argument destruction” would be the best use case for her and her oratory talent.
Look out Iran! If you don’t surrender we’ll send in Karoline Leavitt!
Mean Girls
This has probably been noted before….how could you avoid commenting if you have ever watched a White House press conference, but isn’t Karoline Levitt the perfect press secretary for this Trump administration? She is SO perfect for it that I would suspect she was AI generated. But with the exception that she kinda looks like Lindsey Lohan, she apparently IS real, as indicated by her regular berating of the “fake news” reporters she hosts. An AI generated press secretary and a room filled with AI generated fake news reporters seems a little far fetched, although such a thing is probably not far off in the future. But, it all seems real and I haven’t seen any indication of 6-fingered hands, or three legs or even two heads when she is conducting her usual news-flogging sessions….
So, if all of these news outlets are fakes, why does she bother to even host the news conferences? One could assume she just enjoys the power-move of regularly dressing-down reporters and, there have been some doozies. I still watch with fascination though. It’s like Forrest Gump said: “You never know what you are going to get”. Will Glinda show up or the wicked witch of the west? It’s usually the latter but, you never know, that good “shoulder angel” could show up and convince her that kindness would be the better approach.
Pam Bondi seems to be cut from the same cloth. Just watching her face and listening to her during the recent hearing was both frightening and hilarious. Frightening because it is hard to believe that a professional in a very public and powerful position would speak so coarsely and unkindly to other professionals who represent the American public [kind of applies to most of this administration] but also hilarious because her responses were so ill-informed and inane. A decade ago, OK, maybe more than a decade, treatment like that would get you tossed out. These days the MAGA forces posting on social media say “You go girl!” – It ends up being depressing….
Your public face defines who you are (uh, DUH) and so the hardness and lack of charity that is displayed by this administration, particularly in very visible settings (press conferences, Senate hearings, etc) says everything about character. I wonder if Leavitt and Bondi are that mean in their family settings? I hope not (prison might be more fun). If it’s all an act, Lindsey Lohan has some real competition….
Political Theater vs effective governing
Pondering why the shutdown is hung up on on ACA subsidies? It isn’t the budget. It’s because our friends in Washington now live for social media instead of doing what is right for the American people. Why do I say that? Well, with government spending at $7 trillion and the subsidies costing $35 billion, a .005 change in spending won’t break the bank and it pales in comparison to the $400 billion in annual tax cuts that Republicans handed to their top donors earlier this year.
It used to be “It’s about the economy, stupid”. Now, “it’s about my electability, stupid”. Cowtowing to the folks who fund your election to the House and Senate is de rigeur these days. Doing the right thing is no longer the litmus test for legislating. “Will this get me re-elected?” is the phrase that pays…..
Good to not know you, Charlie Kirk
I barely even heard the name Charlie Kirk before he was shot in Utah. So, I admit, I did not know the man. But after scrolling through so many posts about him in social media, it’s now pretty clear that no one really knew him either. I am not saying that he couldn’t be known. I am quite certain that his family and very close friends knew exactly who he was. I don’t doubt that, behind the social media facade, he might have been a good person. But if the only way you knew Charlie was through social media or cable TV, then you didn’t *know* him. You knew the person that the algorithm presented to you.
That is the issue with social media and cable TV. There is a carefully curated feed of content that is shaped to either incite or excite you. As I watched videos of Charlie he was clearly presented as a saint, or as a villain. Both Charlies were convincing in those roles, and although as sinners we have both sides of us to contend with, social media algorithms will tune in on what keeps you scrolling and reading. You get what you stay for. It’s a pernicious feedback cycle referred to as the “echo chamber” but rather than hearing just yourself, you hear what you want to hear to the exclusion of all other content.
Whether you are MAGA or Antifa, you are brought to the extreme through the magic of psychological manipulation. Social media feeds are really remarkable in the way the algorithms continue to evaluate what draws your attention. Even a slight pause on an item will tune the algorithm to show more of that content. Technically, it’s brilliant, but that brilliance comes at a personal and social cost.
So, I’m glad I didn’t know Charlie because for me that Charlie could only be known through media and I know what is presented through social media and the cable networks is “true” only to whatever the focus demographic is. It takes too much effort in these days of AI and algorithms to fact-check every post. So, on social media, I stick with just friends that I DO know. Trending folks, popular folks, politicians, social media influencers, nope, not gonna “follow” them.
So, where do I get my news, and is it any better than social media? Well, network, over the air local stations, plus PBS, BBC, and a few others, combined with a real, printed newspaper and multiple magazines, give me a fairly balanced view of the world. I suggest that you do the same.
The Danger of “the believable lie”
If I posted every thought I had about politics and lies, this would be a depressing blog indeed. I have to admit that my thoughts and reactions have been evolving over the past 5 years of political churn so although I don’t post very often, I can see where two posts may seem in opposition to each other. On the subject of lying, my view hasn’t changed: The “believable lie” is the most culturally destructive force on the planet.
Anyone who can clearly discern truth and is willing to accept truth, even though it may be an uncomfortable truth, probably feels under assault daily. We focused on the obvious untruths that flowed like water out of the Trump administration, but recent events in Ukraine have reminded me that lying to shift the mindset of a nation isn’t limited to the USA. We see that Russia, the originator of the art misinformation to blind the masses, has one-upped the US.
What I find most interesting is that believable lies often end in violence. Early on in our history it was the lie of the inferiority of black people. That led to subjugation and death, which continues today. More recently it was the lie that the last Presidential election was “stolen” and that led to the insurrection at the Capitol and the death of several. Our penchant for accepting “little white lies” has resulted in us being able to stomach BIG lies; Lies that take on a life of their own, lies that hurt, maim and kill, not only physically, but intellectually and spiritually.
Listen to what Putin says about the Ukraine: That it has a puppet regime supported by the West. That the West is supporting Neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine that suppress democracy. He, and his supporters, say these lies with complete conviction and repeat them often which makes the barefaced lie into a believable lie over time. The same tactics my friends in the Republican Party use to press their lies forward. Say anything with conviction and repetitiously, and it becomes “true”. That makes this Republican grumpy.
I am not sure what will be the way out, both for the US and the nest of lies that drive the culture and for Ukraine and the nest of lies that drives the Russian forces forward. The solution used to be to find the truth and embrace it. But with more information available to us than ever before, our ability to discern truth and then accept it has become more and more diminished.
As a Christian, my hope doesn’t reside in the ability of people to “get it”. Truth resides only in one place: our Triune God. So, if you are a praying person, pray that truth, God’s truth, will take hold in hearts that both broken and corrupted by sin. There is only One Way out.
Where to begin?
I haven’t been able to keep up with all the inane Executive orders rolling in from Pennsylvania avenue. But, let’s start with the ban on refugees from the 7 Muslim countries our “Fearless Leader” recently signed. Apparently, he isn’t too fearless because the reason given for the EO was to ensure our safety (his too, presumably). So, that set me to wondering….of the 85,000 refugees and the subset of 38,000 that were Muslim that came to the US in 2016, how many actually committed a terrorist act? How many are we aware of that actually planned a terrorist act and were caught? And, of course, the condemning statistic that makes this such a joke is how many US citizens committed terrorist acts here without having to worry about an entry visa? This is all “straw man” politics! Raising the specter of nations of Muslims just waiting for a visa so that they can commit terrorist acts here. That dog don’t hunt, as they say here in Texas.
This delivered to us by a self proclaimed genius of a businessman! Well, any businessman worth his salt makes decisions based on hard facts and there aren’t any facts to back him up. Just “alternative facts” can can be neither retrieved or refuted.
The goal is pretty clear: POTUS will sign executive orders that will confirm and support his campaign promises and when they eventually get overturned by congress, the courts or the will of the people, he will blame the Democrats, judges of Mexican heritage, and Liberals in thwarting his efforts. If the White House even dug down a fingernail’s depth, they would find plenty of conservatives like me, grumpy and not so grumpy, that think his approach is all wrong. A little rationality and compassion might even turn the tide. But, as it is, compassion has no place in the White House and rationality, well, let’s just say it appears to have taken a vacation….