The Death of the American Empire
The question of the week is.....
Why and how did Donald Trump rise to power and do you think his tenure can help the world if you ignore the obvious negatives?
This week we dive into something a little more mellow and non controversial. Haha! Donald Trump is that guy most of the world loves to hate. He's like Emperor Palpatine or Lord Voldemort. Or maybe Ursula the Sea Witch. The never ending circus of his administration is somehow simultaneously terrifying, infuriating, and amusing. He's either an incredibly brilliant psychopath or too stupid to realize he's stupid, and it is genuinely difficult to figure which it is, despite the fact that the media talks about him constantly and he barrages the world with his musings via my least favorite social media platform.
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Let me just clear up a few things right from the start. I am originally from the US, but I now live in Belize. I did not move here because Trump was elected. In fact I had been here a year and a half before the election. You have probably already deduced I'm not a Trump fan. I call him Darth Cheeto. I'm also not a Hillary or Obama fan, so come at me with your Trump love if you must, but please do it without mentioning those two. I recently saw an Obama meme that said something to the effect of Boy, Obama's intelligence, eloquence, and charm sure did make all those deportations and drone bombings go down smooth. That is essentially how I feel about that. That said, it was sort of nice when the US President could speak coherent, complete sentences. Also, I patently disagree that they are just as bad as Trump. They're all disgusting, but as the mother of a gay child and someone with a degree in environmental science, I beg to differ. Nearly all my POC friends also beg to differ as both nazis and police have been further emboldened.
Alright. Enough of that. Back to the question at hand. There are actually three questions here. Why did it happen? How did it happen? And do you think anything good will come of this shit show? Here we go.
Dear Lord, why??
What did we do to deserve this??! Just kidding I'm not gonna go the southern baptist direction and tell you how we are being punished for our sins. I do think there are a couple of ways to look at this.
Practically speaking the US is in terrible death throes. The power of the mighty Babylon has been dwindling for some time now. Most manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas. While there has been some growth, particularly in IT and tech, the US has largely been shown up by other countries in these areas as well. The US education system is an utter and complete disaster which ultimately results in fewer entrepreneurs and creative growth solutions. So, more or less, people who once made $25 an hour in a union job at a manufacturing plant are now stuck with $8-$12 an hour at Wal-mart or in the service or retail industries. So people have taken a financial hit, and that rarely results in happy campers. Now this crap has been going on for far too long, so when someone came along and promised he wasn't like the other guys, people fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
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There is an additional piece to this as well. Capitalism works like this. There's a plate of 10 cookies. The bosses take 9 of them and tell the workers to watch out for other workers that will steal that one cookie from you. This is the racism piece. As long as poor white people continue to blame poor black and brown people, no one notices who's eating all the damn cookies. There are other psychological reasons for this, but that's a big one. The corporate masters have people fighting each other while they laugh all the way to the bank.
We can also look at this from a spiritual perspective, and that can go a number of directions as well. We are clearly in a transitional time, and sometimes there is a need to purge the old way before moving on. It is also quite possibly a time to explore our shadow side and root out some of our own dark corners. We are currently having our shadow mirrored back to us very effectively. Sometimes we seem to need to see what the dark bottom of the barrel looks like before moving up. I believe one of the biggest spiritual whys is that it is motivating, but I'll cover that more at the end.
How in all of God's green goodness did this happen?
Let me just tell you up front, some of these how's are dark. In the late 70's some hardcore right wing evangelical preachers decided to have a go at influencing politics. They just had to pick a topic to motivate their sometimes apolitical base. Initially they chose race, and it got them some traction, but they needed to go bigger and move to the mainstream. Well, as I'm sure you know, they went with abortion. They rallied their holy warriors and got people into politics with a sports team kind of mentality. Rabid, irrational devotion to party.
{Enter stage right} the dark hounds of hell: tv and radio personalities
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I was 17 the first time I heard Rush Limbaugh speak. We were on the way home from a trip to a beach in southern Georgia. We stopped at a diner about an hour from the island. You know, one of those places where you can get a heap of home cooked, greasy food for almost no money. I'm not the most observant person on earth, but the guy caught my ear. I looked up and asked my dad, "Are you hearing this? Who the fuck is this asshole?" He was surprised I hadn't heard him yet. I was appalled that someone would be allowed to say such hateful things on the radio in the middle of the day. He was shockingly mean. They multiplied like demonic rabbits, and then Fox News was born and they were given their own 24 hour shit show of hate mongering on the television. I'm not sure if crap like this exists in other places, but if you don't have your own version of this hell in your home country, it is a God awful nightmare, far worse than you would think a tv station could be. Rupert Murdoch may very well be the antichrist. I watched countless reasonable people turn from normal humans to poison-filled, venomous monsters. Ridicule, open aggression, spitefulness, mocking, abuse, and blatant racism and sexism were normalized on daytime tv under everyone's nose. They play on the darkest shadowy corners of people's minds. They exploit people's deepest fears, and they minimize and dismiss all debate, much less criticism. I once watched Bill O'Reilly bring a young man whose father was killed in the twin towers to tears by making fun of and shaming him for being opposed to the war. These guys and ladies have no moral compass. They have no qualms. They have no compassion - that is unless it serves their dark agenda, and that's not really compassion. It's sociopathic manipulation. Now the rest of the mainstream media has its own nefariousness, but Fox is a special kind of evil, and their brand directly relates to this question. When I was a child I would have been in really deep shit for ridiculing or shaming someone who had just lost a parent. I would never have been allowed to speak in an openly hateful way about others, regardless of how we may have disagreed. Much less could a grown ass adult get away with such behavior. And on national tv?! Can you imagine Walter Cronkite talking like Tomi Lahren? Civil political debate used to be a thing. It's honestly embarrassing, but that's hardly our most profound embarrassment these days, is it?
This normalization of venomous speech has had numerous consequences from violence in our society (it really isn't the video games, y'all) to the election of Donald Trump. Because the road had already been paved and the evangelicals had already been prepped to suck up their differences for the greater cause of total decimation of the judicial system, Trump was able to swagger his orange, sexist, racist, capitalist, hateful ass right on into the White House.
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There are some other how's as well. The right is very good at mobilizing their base and getting them out to vote. They use racism and sexism and xenophobia as a part of their strategy while reeling in the evangelicals with anti abortion and homophobic rhetoric. It's dark, but it's effective. The hijacking of the left by the neoliberal, corporate, soulless Democratic Party has resulted in a large chunk of the left totally at a loss for what to do. We've been stranded. They've also managed to lose the poor white working class by totally refusing to address their key issues. Of course they've done jack for poor POC either, but it's now become dangerous for them to move to an increasingly openly racist Republican Party.
The spiritual how seems simple. I think we manifested this shit. I think we have also succumbed to the division and we want to prove once and for all what a train wreck going this direction would be. Unfortunately the people who support him refuse to see it, and they always will. We are spinning our wheels, but that's another post. Almost everyone I know who supported him initially is still following right along. The spin masters find a way for the masses to swallow each and every ridiculous and/or disgusting thing he does. It's sort of amazing really.
Please tell me there's a silver lining.
I really believe there is. I remember the day the Shrub got elected. I had a good little conversation with God before the results came through. "Lord, please tell me we don't have to go to the dark depths of hell in order to rise up." Isn't that cute? Trump makes the Shrub look like fucking Gandhi. And it's entirely possible there's a lower low than this.
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Anyway, people are radicalizing, and people are mobilizing. Black Lives Matter, the United Front, Antifa, prison strikes, for the love of God the IWW is back. People are standing up and speaking out. They are fighting to protect each other. There are attempts to reach out, to unify, to resist. People are looking to various forms of anarchy and educating themselves on political theory. And while the opposition is loud, many people are reaching out and trying to understand privilege and systems of oppression, racism, the foundations of patriarchy and its destructive force. Yes, the racists and the anti feminists and the nationalists and the fascists are loud, but there's a sense the rest of us are slowly coming together. We are seeking to support one another and create something new. I went to college in rural Indiana, a crazy conservative school, and I have always said, "Nothing like being surrounded by fascists to turn you from a liberal to a radical." I really hope we can hold on and keep this momentum when we are no longer having to live under the rule of the orange menace. I'll leave you with two quotes this brought to mind.
Rumi
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~Hunter S. Thompson
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As always, I look forward to your comments.
Much love, y’all!
As always, all pics are mine or pixabay unless otherwise noted.
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wow POWERFUl post! nicely done @solarsupermamma,.. im going to save my response for my post! ;-))
Nobody is better qualified than Trump to represent what the rest of the world thinks of the US anyway. 😘
Precisely. So depressing. I won't ever move back there. They are so crazy pants. Even just with my parents in town, I'm being exposed to more CNN and all that. It is completely overwhelming.
Well written, snarky sharp and spot on! I enjoyed this- you hit the nail on the head! I agree that it’s the shadowy aspects magnified and manifested par excellent and that these had to get out of the corners into the limelight somehow to get purged! Also Rush Limbaugh! My dad would listen to that when my sis and I were little girls and we’d complain it was hurting our ears until we forced him to turn it off- the making of a radical in 7 easy steps...
Thank you!! We really did have to get all that out in the open, but it's so awfully ugly. I'm so glad my parents were never into Rush. Any time people complain about kids being rude or violent, I point right at Rush, Fox, and never ending war being broadcast on the nightly news.
To be fair, and I know you didn't want to mention him but that's how it was when Obama was president, he was going to manage the decline, things are much better now, unemployment is historically low and wages are rising. Americas best days are yet to come.
For the most part Trump has done exactly what he said he was going to do and all the disastrous predictions from the media and progressives have turned out to be utter fearmongering bullshit. Remember when Paul Krugman said the economy would collapse when he was elected? Remember when calling Kim rocketman was supposed to cause WW3? Remember when both Hillary and Obama were vehemently anti- gay marriage? It really wasn't that long ago.
Record low unemployment for minorities and the uneducated is not a good thing?
An end in sight to the longest running war in American history is not a good thing?
"This is the racism piece. As long as poor white people continue to blame poor black and brown people, no one notices who's eating all the damn cookies."
Yes, progressives like to divide people by race, Donald Trump knows that the solution to what you describe is to get all the poor people jobs and then they won't be poor and angry and looking for scapegoats, employment is the solution to racism as you describe.
The abortion thing came up in the 70s not due to evangelicals but as a concerted effort by the Catholic Church to be relevant. I am sure evangelicals were into it but it was organized and promoted by the Catholic Church to create a political wedge issue.
What exactly did Rush say that was so upsetting?
You seem really concerned about Trump's skin color, but that is not racist?
What is the worst thing Trump has done as president in your opinion?
Ok, well, there's a lot here. Actually enough to keep me off Steemit for a couple days to contemplate how to respond, though I doubt you will hear any of it.
As I said - and you pointed out - I don't care to talk about Obama or Hillary. I feel like I was pretty clear that I don't like either of them. I did like Obama until he was an incredible disappointment. That is the difference. Trump supporters don't stop. While loyalty is admirable in many cases, following a leader in spite of what he does is dangerous.
The unemployment drop is mostly service industry. Actual wages adjusted for inflation are not going up and haven't for many years. Corporate profits and executive wages are, indeed, going up.
If anything, I believe I underestimated how much damage he would do. I underestimated how much hatred still lies in the hearts of most Americans. I assumed he would make life better for those at the top, and that's how they determine the state of the economy. He's a businessman. Life is not better for the working class.
An end to war would be awesome, and if you think the military machine in Washington will let him end one without starting another, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell. Of course he's spending money we don't have on a space force, so maybe that will satisfy the military industrial complex for the moment. And of course they're taking it in selling to the Sauds who are slaughtering Yemeni people wholesale.
I don't think anything you wrote is more frustrating than saying it is progressives dividing people by race. People refusing to acknowledge much less address the profound personal and systemic racism that still exists in the US is so deeply upsetting to me. Anyone who can look at the circumstances of black and brown people and not acknowledge that the cards are stacked must - because it is the only other option - assume they are incompetent. The racism is so bad in the US that people don't even know they're racist. It's utterly dumbfounding. Have you been in inner city public schools? Have you spent time with poor families to learn about the obstacles they face? Have you seen blatant discrimination in action? Employment is an important solution, but it's not the only one.
The paragraph on abortion is some prime mansplaining. I watched a documentary done by the original evangelical preacher who pushed evangelicals to get into politics. He was very open about it. They used abortion because it was mobilizing their base. If you want to argue with him, feel free.
If you can listen to Rush and with a straight face ask what is upsetting, I'm not sure what to say. I guess we can start with racist, sexist, and openly hateful. He's not discussing ideas rationally. He's inciting hatred and playing on people's darkest impulses. The way he talks about everyone and everything is with violence. I have no clue how anyone misses it. And he gets so mad when things aren't his way, but we are the snowflakes. Alright.
Orange people are not a race, and even if they were, they are not systemically oppressed or marginalized. That is what is required to meet the definition of racism.
Now, the last question has been, by far, the hardest. I actually polled many of my friends to really try to ascertain what the worst thing he has done really is. It is so hard because there are so many choices. After 5 days I still can't choose. Bringing in Stephen Miller is definitely a top 5 for me. He's truly evil and authored both the Muslim ban and the zero tolerance immigration policy that ended with a lot of permanently psychologically damaged children. There's some EPA stuff that crushes my soul too. Of course he is disgustingly sexist, but in that case it more bothers me that people would vote for and continue to support someone with such a horrible history of violence against women. So, I hope you are satisfied with all I've put here because I won't reply again. I'll never change your mind, and a knife to my throat would not make me support him or any of his buddies.
Oh yeah, refusing to speak out against nazis marching in the streets is also top five. I mean geez. Who hires someone like Bannon?! Gross.
refusing to speak out against nazis marching in the streets?
Have you been in inner city public schools?
yup.
Have you spent time with poor families to learn about the obstacles they face?
yup
Have you seen blatant discrimination in action?
Only once as an inner city public school teacher, and that was an organization called "minority achievers" which would make an announcement every week over the PA for all girls and African Americans and Hispanics and Asians and Pacific islanders and native Americans to come on down and join. They would actually list that out every time instead of just saying "Everyone except for white boys is welcome" Do you think the white boys in inner city schools are privileged by their white skin?
It's funny that you can't point to anything specific that Rush said that triggered you. It is funny how some people don't see the systematic racism that still exists in some places, like may issue gun permitting laws, why would they have laws that allow the police to discriminate except to allow discrimination?
LOL, so the "Muslim Ban" was the worst thing? There never was any sort of a Muslim ban so that's pretty funny, you know there was never a Muslim ban at any point right? You know more children were separated prior to so called "zero tolerance" right? Or was it fine when families were separated when Obama did it?
What exactly? It seems like at most Trump has rolled back things to the Obama era, was the environment so bad back then?
Trump has zero history of violence against women. There is another thing you are really upset about, like the Muslim ban, that just does not exist in reality.
I didn't expect to change your mind, you have a pretty obvious case of TDS, I have written about how there is no known cure or treatment for the condition. The Muslim ban made me laugh, I think you really believe that there was one.
Employment is an important solution, but it's not the only one.
What a circus, for real! Still a bit shocked that Trump was elected, well shocked that it was him on the ballot for this current regime... I'm not surprised of this specific regime, but he was always someone to make fun of, a bit of a clown personality really. Like Biff from Back to the Future!
In the end, I think you're right, a lot of people are now uniting and fighting for the human organization system they believe in.
I like both of the quotes you picked, very fitting! I stand with you on the matter of Obama, Hillary and The Orange Emperor. I do like that people are waking up, however we must watch out for the extrem left's aganda as well as the extrem right's. But that is a whoke different conversation.
Thanks for a good read!
It is shocking. It's shocking to me that he's still there. I can only guess the true powers still have some use for him, and he's still making them money.
So, tell me what you mean by extreme left. I am pretty much ancom, and in my mind that is about as left as it gets, but I'm definitely suspicious of democratic socialism simply because state sponsored socialism goes so wrong so fast. So, basically I believe in something like voluntary socialism if that makes sense.
Yea for sure it makes sense... I guess the extreme left would be the involontary socialism but the kind that would use violence onto anyone straying away from it, a little like a dictatorship.
It's difficult to put it into words.. it's still a vague concept in my head, but I do know that any form of extremism can be dangerous.
1984?
State sponsored socialism is definitely a nightmare, and it gets so ugly so quickly. People just can't handle power, even really really good people I think. It just gets dark.
Yeah I always thought that too about power... even the good ones get their hearts eaten up by something dark! Some friends think I'm crazy for saying this, thanks for the support on that!
I think it was maybe Ben Franklin that said absolute power corrupts absolutely. There are tons of examples. Castro was once a good man Haile Selassie was a good man before getting greedy and power hungry. We just can't handle power, and that's why most good people don't want to even give it a go.
I am somewhere with you on this- not universally, and perhaps not even emotionally- but the questions within your post are ones I have grappled with for a long time as well.
Unfortunately, I believe the "why" component of why this has all happened is because people meant for it to. If you look at the social divisions within America, those that are most potent stem from racism and religion.
Those who carry prejudice against Black people, or Mexicans, or Muslims (the list, unfortunately goes on and on) are instrumental in cutting vital social programs, like public education. Public goods, like schools, use tax money to benefit all citizens equally- something that is deeply objectionable to those who believe that racial outgroups are either incapable or undeserving of benefiting from them. They in turn, prove useful to the country's richest class, many of whom unfortunately feel no social obligation to support social programs through taxation. Those who choose to hoard their wealth use the racial animus of (usually) uneducated Americans to negatively influence attitudes toward public education.
The same is true for those who are religiously dogmatic. Modern public education teaches realities that are incongruent to the teachings of fundamentalist belief. They too, oppose public education because it is in conflict with their beliefs, and their ability to control.
Further to all of this, a modern party has emerged (I'll leave you to guess which one) that not only welcomes the resultant ignorance of these groups-- it encourages it. One half of the American political spectrum survives almost entirely on the promotion of ignorance, the deepening of racial divides, and the propagation of fear. Western society has a philosophical fault in its pathological willingness to consider all perspectives with equal weight, that all issues have "two sides". We are now seeing the cows come home on this failure of analysis. In order to move past this, we have to determine a way to once again illuminate what is true, rather than seeking out a non-existent "middle ground".
I understand that for many (maybe you!) the political process seems to be a lost cause. I would urge you to not think this way-- cynicism aids only those who would seek to undermine our democratic way of life. Thanks for your post and your thoughts!
This is such a beautiful and thoughtful response. You and I agree about so many things here, particularly that racism and religion are powerful forces of division. Without doubt their hatred fuels their never ending slashing of social programs. However, I think we get so focused on that we fail to realize those programs are mere band aids. Our education system, for example, does not even remotely act as an equalizer since preschool backgrounds, home and family life, and economic status all have profound effects. Add to this that schools receive wildly varied amounts of funding. Then add to all that that much of what is taught is whitewashed and absolutely focused in the completely wrong direction of memorization instead of the critical thinking and creative problem solving skills we desperately need.
I'm right there with you on the bs of the "two sides" idea. First, there's at least a dozen sides, but some of them are just freaking wrong. Hatred is wrong. Marginalizing people is wrong.
I wouldn't say I've given up on political process - just on our current system. That said, I don't see non participation in what we have as an effective way to change it to what I want. One day at a time, right?
So articulate and well done. I agree with it all. I took a slightly different approach my interviewing my husband which is a little bit silly. But I can also see what he's saying to and if we think of silver linings perhaps if Trump hadn't got into power then all of this mobilisation may not have occurred. Remember the the influence and reach of America extended passed it's borders and now that it is collapsing in on itself perhaps something wonderful will rise from the ashes. It seems we have to enter darkness for that to happen.
Thank you! And I totally agree! I thought Bush was the bottom. I sure hope Trump is. I hope the bottom isn't deeper than this!