Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of Trumpism is the fact that his followers think that our loathing of him is based purely on policy disagreements.
Yeah, quite a few of his policies -- the Muslim ban, abortion, taxes, etc. -- stink like Yeti pooh. But much of the time, he has no fixed policies. Policy is whatever benefits him at any given moment. He changes policy more often then he changes his underwear, and his cultists just don't care. His cultists love him no matter which way he goes -- left, right, north, south, up, down, and off into the fourth and fifth dimensions.
They would love him if he withdrew all troops from Afghanistan. They would love him if he nuked Afghanistan. They would love him if he shouted "Screw the deficit!" They would love him if he suddenly made the deficit Issue #1.
They love him. Policy doesn't matter.
President Trump on Tuesday evening blasted Congress over the already-passed COVID-19 relief package and called on both chambers to send him a new bill increasing stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000.God knows we can use the money in this household. Our furnace broke last year, and space heaters overwhelm the ancient wiring in this place. But:
“A few months ago, Congress started negotiations on a new package to get urgently needed help to the American people. It’s taken forever. However, the bill they are now planning to send back to my desk is much different than anticipated. It really is a disgrace,” Trump said in a video posted to Twitter.
"Much different"? "MUCH DIFFERENT"?
Here's the headline from December 9. Not two weeks ago.
New White House COVID-19 relief proposal includes $600 stimulus check but no unemployment boost
Mnuchin's offer scraps boosted unemployment benefits but includes $600 stimulus check
The Trump administration offered a $916 billion coronavirus relief package to Democrats this week, the latest salvo in a nearly half-year long battle on Capitol Hill to pass another round of emergency aid.
See? It's on the record. Not two weeks ago, the Trump administration wanted a $900 billion effort. They wanted $600 stim checks to go out. Those numbers were Trump's numbers.
The cultists applauded him then.
And his cultists are applauding him now, as he pretends that $600 checks are far too meager, that this hideously insufficient number was foisted upon him by those dastardly Dems, that the $900 billion plan always someone else's idea, and that his administration has always fought for something far, far more generous.
His cultists don't care when Trump contradicts Trump.
They'd support him if he reduced the stim check to $300, or even to $3. They'd support him if he raised it to $30,000. They'd support him if, instead of a stim check, he sent out messages reading: "You owe me $600. You are hereby required to send $600 to Donald Trump personally. He needs your stimulus money now."
They don't care about consistency, ideology or reality. If Donald Trump's current version of reality conflicts with their memories of last week, they will happily rewire memory.
All they care about is him, glorious HIM.
You've read these words before, but read them again. Orwell:
Whatever was true now was true from everlasting to everlasting. It was quite simple. All that was needed was an unending series of victories over your own memory. 'Reality control', they called it: in Newspeak, 'doublethink'.
12 comments:
Every point you bring up is valid. I agree. As someone appalled by most our politicians however, I would veto that bill as well if I was in such a position. Half the country is out of work, we are spending ourselves into oblivion, and refuse to have a reasonable tax strategy, yet are sending hundreds of million overseas and putting big money into various American entities that make little sense. It’s quite rare, but on this veto I am actually aligned with the Orange Man. That bill stinks! The worst of DC’s habits are expressed within it. Roast me...
It costs LESS MONEY to PAY 15 live-in Caregivers for a full year so 15 Seniors can continue to live in their own homes than it costs to medically treat ONE premature birth to an undocumented couple. Nothing else matters once the truth gets out over how selfish Democrat Politicians have been to the very people who have paid taxes for decades. Democrat Politicians would rather marshal resources towards providing INSTANT ENTITLEMENTS to the Undocumented in exchange for their vote than do the right and honorable thing towards, um, people like you.
Anon 12:19 AM....I guess you missed the part where the bill is the White House's bill. It's Trump's bill, created by Trump and his team and passed by congress. Now he wants to veto his own bill that he created. He's grandstanding and doesn't give a shit about the American people, because if he veto's it, he delays the paltry $600 yet again, and congress will just override the veto. So he's the reason for the shitty bill, and now he's the reason that even THAT shitty bill will be delayed further. That's the problem here.
Um, no, it doesn't. You're confusing the inflated "list price" costs assigned by hospitals to the uninsured -- which are either paid fractionally by government funds or written off as bad debt -- with the Medicare-negotiated cost of providing home healthcare workers.
I noticed a mistake in your article …
"he changes policy more often then he changes his underwear"
Should have read …
he changes policy more often than he changes his diaper,
Funny, Casbott.
Maz, no point in responding to Alessandro. What he wrote has nothing to do with this post. Something weird has happened to that guy.
"Something weird has happened to (Machi)".
Maybe someone left a pod in his house? ;)
Yes He has been sounding very paranoid and a bit Trumpy lately.
The condescending, public arrogance of way too many of you outspoken anti-Trumpers, stoked indeed by his own nauseating arrogance AND mendacious, malevolent incompetence over the past four years, has so fanned the flames of defensive loyalty to the "dear leader" that this closed-minded and blinded syndrome you so precisely describe above has now hardened into a quasi-religious belief system many of the pro-Trumpers will likely take to their graves.
IF our nation, and Enlightenment-born civilization itself survives, dispassionate academics of the future may someday bring forth a cogent analysis of all the unmended rips in the fabric of American society that allowed this dark chapter in our history to transpire.
Yes, there's much blame to go around, and part of it, I believe, is the unmitigated arrogance of the liberals' refusal to show any real sympathy to the plight of the stagnant-waged, under-educated, debt-ridden and desperate, mostly-white working class.
Anon, I agree with most of what you have to say. Liberals cannot understand why fascism is on the rise, but I sure do. Fascism is on the march because the Democratic party has, to a large degree, stopped being a working class party.
Fortunately, Joe Biden is, at heart, a pro-working class guy, but the progressive wing hates the average American workers it pretends to champion.
Even though gender dysphorics are only .06 percent of the population, progressives care WAY more about a guy in West Hollywood who likes to sashay down Santa Monica Blvd in women's clothing than they care about a straight white guy in West Virginia working two jobs in order make rent. Most of the time, the progs treat that guy in West Virginia with undisguised contempt.
And then the progs wonder why they are hated!
Science and democracy are under attack by both the right AND the left. Both the postmodernist and the fascist have equal disdain for Enlightenment values.
The far right and the far left are alike in their embrace of Identity politics. Hitler was the ultimate exponent of Identity politics.
Don't forget, Joseph, that a number of purists on the Left were howling about how cool Trump was for screaming that he now wanted $2000 checks...and they also decided to go on the attack on Pelosi while forgetting the Democrats have been pushing for (and passing bills in the House for) higher amounts. Those bills went to McConnell's desk to die and the purists have said NOTHING, not one God-forsaken thing.
They sure love crapping on Dems, though.
Thank God that Biden won and that he's going to be sworn in as President in a few weeks. You are right--he is, at heart, a pro-working class guy, more salt of the earth than Bernie. He is a good man with a heart-breaking history.
Science and democracy are under attack by both the right AND the left. Both the postmodernist and the fascist have equal disdain for Enlightenment values. ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. Years ago I would never have believed this, but over the past few years--especially since 2009 and even more so since 2016--I've also come to realize just how horrifyingly true this is.
Looking forward to 2021. Yes, going to be some hard times ahead, but thankfully we'll have a President and VP who will see us through.
Politicians and preachers are never to be trusted. One wants power through concenses and the other through fear. Both are highly susceptible to fraud and lies. I am a Democrat and glad Biden got elected, but I sleep no better than I did before. I wish I could. I wish I could believe in America and the goodness in people. I wish I could erase Trump and the last 4 years or the last 40 years, but I can't. I worry and fret and practice optimism and everyday I fall short at every milestone. Yet, I
keep going because the alternative is too bleak. I am looking forward to a new year because it cannot possibly be worse than this year, or can it?
Post a Comment