Thursday, July 7, 2016

Trump: A Strategy

Trump: A Strategy
It finally dawned on me. The Hillary hearings: they are the main Republican strategy for winning the presidency in 2016.  They know that they cannot beat Hillary in a fair fight. Leaving it to the electorate simply won’t do. The electorate will elect a Democrat. In Hillary’s case, it’s a far-gone conclusion.

Thinking about elections. Republicans apparently decided a while ago that they really cannot win in open contests. So, at the State level, they are gerrymandering the districts such that they disable the vote. North Carolina is but one of many ways the republicans have chosen to win at all costs. Make it as difficult as possible for likely democratic voters to become registered to vote, and, if that fails, then screw with the voting districts such that republicans will gain a majority, despite the will of the people.  Again, here in North Carolina, they have succeeded admirably. The Governor and the State House are safely in Republican hands, where they are free to discriminate against Gays, eliminate public schooling, and provide tax breaks for the very wealthy (owners of the party faithful).  They appear to have few principles worthy of the name, but they are faithful to a fault in following the wishes of their wealthy owners.

In state after state, republicans follow much the same playbook:
1. Rig the election game to advantage republicans, and disenfranchise likely democrats

2.  Disable/reduce the public school system (educated voters who actually think tend not to vote for them) 

3. Batter Gays and Lesbians

4. Eliminate access to health care

5. Provide tax breaks to their owners
6. Ignore the crumbling infrastructure throughout their state (see Michigan, Ohio)

But then there is this little nasty game of Presidential politics. Not satisfied with their winning strategy at the State level, Republicans are yearning for the Trifecta—gaining the Presidency so that they can control all three elements of government.

And then Hillary decided to run. Oh, bad news Republicans. Well, first they had to face their own primary season, and it was not looking good.  Oh, they had candidates galore –16 was the count. Crazy people, ordinary nobodies, fascists. And even another Bushie. Oh Jeb, what were you thinking man?? And so they let their games begin. 

But then one of the crazies put his mouth in gear and Fox News (The Fake News Channel) was watching. The Trumpmouth provided fodder for their nightly fake news shows day in and day out. Even when he took on one of their darlings, Fox still prospered, and the Trumpmouth continued to spew forth its daily and nightly dose of garbage—how does one know when Donald Trump is lying? Well, when his mouth opens, and words begin tumbling out, he is lying.

But the illiterati in the land love it.  James Meek, writing in the London Review of Books[1] about the disaster that was Brexit, said, “We also have confirmation that people don’t object to being lied to, as long as they like the lie.  That sums up the Trump support nicely.

But, Then, a Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Trump stumbled, and bumbled, and coughed and sputtered, and the angry folks out there ate it up. He said, at one point, as though astonished at what was going on, “I could walk out on Fifth Avenue, take up a gun and shoot someone . . . and my support would increase.” See, he had no idea what the hell was happening. How could that be?

But, since the Republicans had no Plan B (Plan A remember was to take out Hillary by continuing to run investigations against her such that the public would finally sour on her, or she would be forced to drop out of the race) they elected to just let the game play on, assuming that, sooner or later one of the unholy 16 would finally assert himself (or herself . . . remember Carly Fiorina). And one by one, they dropped out.  Sort of like Ten Little Indians . . . and then there was one.

So, now the Republicans are totally fucked. Plan A is still in play—knock Hillary out of the game. Their last gambit was the FBI investigation.  But Comer failed to cooperate fully. They are still trying, seeing as Comer announced they could not/would not indict Hillary, just accuse her of bad judgment. The problem is that “bad judgment” is unlikely to derail her, so they are now forced to require him to testify, and they are shrieking about how all her e-mails and the entire FBI testimony and report must be made public (i.e., given to Fox News so they could create a story-line that would sway the public to drop her). 

But, what happens if Plan A actually succeeds and Hillary decides she’s had enough? They have no Plan C, i.e., some plan that gets the Trumpster to abandon ship.  It seems at least plausible that the Drumpf got into the race simply to boost his own stock. He would run for a while, get a lot of publicity, then find some way to drop out of the race, while he was still a “winner”, dropping out because he had more important and interesting things to do with his valuable time than run the United States of America.

But, as it turns out, everyone else got fed up first, and the folks who don’t mind being lied to, kept voting for him, thereby disabling his own plan to drop out.  

Now, a real Plan C would have included s scenario whereby the GOP would convince the Drumpf to leave the race in favor of someone else (Paul Ryan??). But Plan C never was developed--Republicans have never been big on actual planning—with them, shit just happens—see the invasion of Iraq.

So, now what happens? Suppose:

A.     Hillary drops out: well their worst nightmare would be that Hillary drops out and endorses someone like Elizabeth Warren. She may be to the Left, but she can out-argue almost anyone left in campaign-land. She would take the Drumpf apart even more effectively than he dismantles himself by opening his mouth.

B.    Hillary Stays in because Plan A fails to connect with anyone: Again, they are totally screwed, because then Hillary would not only take the Drumpf apart, but she would now expose Plan A for what it is, a cynical GOP plot to foil the will of the Nation. They might lose not only the Presidency, but state houses as well. Bummer.

C.    The Drumpf not only stays in the race, but wins it all, despite himself: perhaps this is a nightmare with the same force as A & B above. Perhaps this is the ultimate nightmare. Donald Trump becomes President of the United States. I imagine, even Rupert Murdoch and the Cock brothers would shudder, and slink off into their spiderholes somewhere. Who knows, Rupert might even give up entirely and move back to Oz, except that they hate him down under even more than we hate him here, or the Brits hate him there.

Yes, we all face our own Brexit outcome. What happens if all the republican gerrymandering and pandering to their rich owners produce this ultimate nightmare?  Who knows, maybe he would allow Texit to occur and his wall would be built somewhere just North and East of the former Texas. (One can hope).

Stay tuned folks.



[1] London Review of Books, Vol. 38 No. 14, July 2016, “Where Are We Now?”

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