Trump spent the last two years making an awful lot of promises. He’s gunna instantly end every war on the planet. He’s gunna fire half the public service. He’s gunna eliminate any spending he doesn’t like. He’s gunna fire half the FBI. He’s gunna jail selected journalists. He’s gunna increase America’s oil production. He’s gunna make trans people disappear. He’s gunna make gays invisible. He’s gunna make abortion illegal. He’s gunna lower prices, increase wages, eliminate Unions, make women safer, build a wall, put Police back in charge, and be a boon for the stock market. He’s gunna end mask mandates, save women’s sport, free the oppressed firearms, pass uniform electoral laws and prove he actually won the election before last.
He’s gunna give everyone a tax cut, fix the national debt, eliminate inflation, slap tariffs on trading partners and bring back a Happy Christmas. He’s gunna make Greenland and Panama an offer they can’t refuse. He’s gunna end climate change (by ignoring climate change). He’s gunna force corporations to make stuff in the USA, undo Obamacare, deport millions of people, end the green new scam, scrap all electric vehicles, end the tax on tips, prevent World War III, and eliminate woke and wokeness once and for all.
In short, Trump has promised that as soon as he is elected, ice cream will taste sweeter, everyone will be younger, sexier, and richer, and America will at once be transformed into a great white godly nation (once again).
That was then: this is now. Two weeks after Trumps crowning as King of America, the American Revolution 2.0 has been a bit of a flop. The main problem – apparently – is that Trump is not actually a god. It seems that he can only do much the same things as every other President before him. Who could have guessed?
So, while Trump has signed more than three hundred executive orders, the planned ‘shock and awe’ campaign has turned into a bit of a farce. The MAGA movement has hit a brick wall called ‘reality’.
All of the fondest MAGA fantasies are instantly dissipating upon contact with the court system. Trump can say anything he wants in an executive order but if it is illegal then it simply won’t happen. As a result, more than half the orders that Trump has issued so far have already been nullified. The Democrats and deep state Judges just won’t let Trump be Trump. It is – according to at least half of the press outlets in the USA – positively treasonous. It seems that even though he won an election, Trump still has to obey the law. The damn Democrats and courts won’t just let him do anything he wants.
First a court declared that the administration can’t stop the government from spending money that has already been authorized in a budget. Then another opined that Trump can’t just unilaterally fire public servants. Then a third advised that removing Attorney’s General without demonstrating cause to Congress is actually illegal. Who could have possibly foreseen that this would be the case? Moreover, it seems that another deep state Judge is about to issue an injunction declaring that Trump is not allowed to inflict revenge upon the many FBI agents who have investigated him over the years.
The right-wing media in the US have spent the last four years rewriting history. They have been informing everyone who will listen that Trump did not fail the first time around but rather was thwarted by the deep state, covid, the devil, and the Democrats. Then legal warfare was launched against him in an effort to continue the dark lies and malfeasance of those who are ripping off the working man by imposing equity, equality and diversity. Fox and Friends (esp. friends named Murdoch) have been busily explaining how blacks, the disabled, minorities, feminists, civil rights campaigners, university students, Marxists, socialists, communists, liberals, and the mentally challenged have all united to steal the American dream. Blah blah blah blah.
It was bullshit. Trump and his close minions know it is all bullshit. But it got him elected and that was all that mattered. However, Trump has only managed to postpone his many pending problems for just a little while. He is still in deep doodoo.
The clock is ticking. Trump can never run again. So, as soon as the GOP preselection process begins the knives will be out. A lot of readers will protest that this is wishful thinking, but the advent of the Trump era did not mean that political gravity was suddenly abolished and that everyone in the GOP were now friends forever. Trump’s most dedicated enemies are Republicans, not Democrats. In this term, as soon as the president’s approval ratings fall below that of any one of his GOP opponents, he is toast. And Trump’s approval ratings have been in freefall. They have been declining by one percentage point per day for the last ten days. The lies are catching up. It seems Trump hit the high point of his presidency on the day he took office. Anyways, this show is a long way from finished.
I am going to sit back, order lots of popcorn, and continue to watch the progress of American Revolution 2.0 on my tele. Oddly, I find I am not at all despairing. In fact, I am just beginning to enjoy the show. I think this is because Trump has at last turned into a caricature of himself who is surrounded by a cast of evil villains that are direct from central casting, and I have seen this show plenty of times before. It is a quintessentially American plot. Moreover, I am pretty sure I know how it ends.
Also by Dr Moylan: Election 2025: Who let the dogs out?
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A delightful read, James.
So good to read this. It’s as I suspected, but somehow had come to think that since chaos rules now, and international law is ignored, police are feral and they jail 10 year olds and climate activists, that perhaps it’s possible that Trump really can do all those things. Thanks for bringing me back to reality, James.
Thanks James, a great read.
It makes me a bit more optomistic about the future, both for my friends in the US, and over here in Oz – given that mutton Dutton is using Trump’s playbook before the election.
Thank God our political system is different to theirs – it gives me some hope.
Didn’t this happen in Germany a century ago? Will it have the same outcome? The USA will learn that you can vote the fascists in, but you cannot vote them out.
Given some recent events, I wouldn’t be so sure. Have you been keeping up with what Lone Skum has been doing?
As I am sliding into dotage I am finding that I tend to take the long view of things. Trump is a big wind and already appears to be yesterday’s man.
But all this could have very positive effects on the upcoming Aussie election.
As the events of the first few weeks of the Trump administration seep into the Australian press – via back channels such as this one – people will start to weigh up the problems associated with putting a fantasist into a position of power.
Trump is not going to do Dutton and co any favours. Also, the Aus etc will soon begin to take the coming election seriously. Dutton can’t win. 18 plus seats is simply out of reach. So the currently triumpalist tone of the Murdoch press will likely soon calm down a bit.
The two party preferred measure is simply inapplicable to a first term government that is sitting on a thumping big majority. The equation has always been how many seats. From my fantage I can see labour losing four and another five changing from ALP or LNP hands to independents.
All to the good as far as I can see. Labour and Liberal camps are on track to record their lowest individual core vote tally (as a proportion of votes) ever. No wonder the writers at the Aus are living in la la land…
I might write about all this soon, maybe, or I may write some commentary about something completely different.
thanks fr readin my stuff y’all..
Dr JiMM
NOTES:
Thanks fr the compliment MT. I lap it up.
And yes, I almost live inside the US media for days at a time as I am (academically and personally) fascinated by the modern multi media environment and the partitioning of the news environment into narrowcast channels servicing very particular audiences (and weird shit). So I watch an awful lot of YouTube and read lots and lots of US press.
And no, the parallels with Germany post WWII are all ill-informed and facile. The difference between a slim mandate provided to a political party in an incredibly rich and prosperous first world nation with a long history of the democratic process not being subverted by individuals and groups even when they manage to gain a foothold, and the situation in post WWI Germany where actual physical and economic hardship was widespread and where there was little or no history of democratic process….
Also – please do not be optimistic based on any of my prognostications. I believe in the kindness of strangers and many other fond mythologies for the good of my health only. IT is not based on any observational or historical data at all. So it goes.
And here in Australia Deadeyes Dutton is mimicking Mob Boss Donnie thinking he is on a winning vibe. What a tool!
Trump has great potential for further damage to the US and its people permanently via machinations of Koch & Tanton Networks eg. Project2025, former inc. Musk & Tech Bros
Not helped by passivity of Democrats and lacking structures or ways to counter e.g. using ‘shadows’ as in the Commonwealth system.
If most Democrat leaning citizens voted, the GOP and Trump wouldn’t get a look in, but another bulwark (also name of ‘never Trump’ podcast too) is how decentralised the US is; maybe passive populace politically, but like ‘herding cats’….
Meanwhile in the Middle East Netanyahu has suspended talks in Qatar, has flown to the US as a guest of Trump, to celebrate his victory over the Palestinian people – Netanyahu wants Trump’s support to encourage the ethnic cleansing of Gaza with large numbers of Palestinians being transmigrated to Jordan and Egypt – Trump believes he has the economic muscle to force this transmigration on the Jordanians and Egyptians and many Israelis would enjoy the irony of this modern day Exodus (in reverse) and, of course it frees up a lot of beachside real estate which Trump would see as a win-win !
Incidentally, by travelling to Washington both Trump and Netanyahu have effectively thumbed their respective noses at the international rule of law by challenging the International Criminal Court to follow through with their arrest warrant on Netanyahu but, of course, the ICC has no jurisdiction in the USA who are not a signatory to the Rome statute.
Comments on “International law” are virtually about a filleted scrotum, ineffective. Today, we had Cash the nematodal nitwit calling Trump a “man of action”, which is quite silly; he might be more accurately called a man of friction, or of attrition, or of defaecation, but…action, when he is pushed by greedy backers, mad profiteers and insane ideas posing as policy. Let us all tariff away, all the while shrivelling and snivelling. USA greedites sold out all others with offshoreing and outsourcing, and with complex tax evasion schemes and policies. Ordinary septics are in for a thrashing. How has the world become so awful lately? We all think we know…
You’re closing your eyes to too much of what is actually happening.
This isn’t about Trump – he’s a figurehead, a pupet for people like Peter Thiel and Musk. He’s there to keep the cultists happy while they go ahead with Project 2025, which IS being implemented. Actual qualified, capable people are being fired or pressured to resign and being relaced by MAGA loyalists.
You’re doing exactly what so many people did in germany in the ’30s, with their
“Oh, it won’t get that bad” and “it won’t affect me” blindness. It will get worse and it will affect the whole world.
The US has Dictator Donald the First and his horde of Quislings wreaking havoc, and what do we have here? A bloated haemorrhoid hanging from the arse of Australia who is slavishly copying his hero. Original (he thinks that the word is about ore and Gina and which part he should kiss) thought is anathema. He is a parrot, sadly not a Norwegian Blue, for the big end of town and a right wing thug who plays to the common lowest denominators of the public. If he gets in it will be Welcome to Claytons America.
Dutton is trying the Trump game plan here, and talking with a few men here, it seems there re a few bitter men around who will follow, the Diversity thing in employment, the blatant racism, the misogyny is all there. The tough white man’s man is threatened.
I hope the crystal ball you are gazing into James proves to be accurate.
A minority government with teals, greens and left leaning independents would be a good outcome.
Bert, a minority government with teals, greens and left leaning independents might be a vast improvement.
With Labor afraid to talk too loud, afraid to energise us with a positive vision, some of those loud voices from the left might at the very least, liven things up a bit.
Labor is like a small scuttling mouse, “Pardon me, excuse me, I’m just passing by. Just ignore me, I’m harmless.”
Dutton will be insisting in the parliament this week that the government apply mandatory minimum sentencing for what they call acts of ‘antisemitism’.
Let’s not forget that what they are calling for is the withdrawal of judicial discretion in sentencing. In other words politicians usurping the role of judges, a fundamental breach of the convention of the separation of powers.
“a fundamental breach of the convention of the separation of powers.”
And Terence, a distinctive feature of fascism.
I can’t remember the details, but I seem to recall Campbell Newman going head to head with the judiciary.
1348 views with nine ‘likes’ works out to an approval rating of 0.09%. Sounds about right.
i think everyone has read Donny wrong.
Why Trump is a conniving AH.
The tariffs was a ploy to drop the market. He allowed his billionaire friends to short the market. Today, the tariffs are gone and the market rebounds.
While the rest of us are terrorized by his apparent lunacy, his friends just got a hell of a lot richer. It was a scam all along.
H.L. Mencken was a journalist who had many quotes about politics, democracy, and religion. Here are some of his quotes:
Democracy: “Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance”.
Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.
Elections: “Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods”.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard
Government: “Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under”.
Politics: “For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong”.
On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the white house will be adorned by a downright moron
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety ) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
I tell you folks, this guy nailed it in 1913 ( well about that era )
Steve, I agree with you. The concept of parliamentary democracy is that voters elect a person to the parliament to represent them, not some political party or other power hungry group or organisation propped up by vested interests.
Bert, with the Coalition being increasingly seen as not representing the Centre, we might be lucky enough in Australia to avoid the global trend to the Right.
The Coalition’s shortsighted policies on such issues as climate change and energy have been around for so long now that many voters have woken up and so we see the rise of the teals, not the rise of the Right. Those are centrist issues that they’ve completely misread. People know already what they will get if they move Right.
The return of Trump will not give the Coalition an advantage.
Possibly quite the opposite.
The next election will be fascinating.
Yes indeed the next election will be fascinating.
To me, even more fascinating will be the lead-in period of political jiggery-pokery.
In the last few days I watched interviews with Sarah Hansen-Young (Greens) and Allegra Spender (Independent (‘teals’) ex-Liberal). They were fascinating, like cats on a hot tin roof. SH-Y ducking and weaving through a ‘Greens’ narrative primarily focused on getting votes off Labor. Tiptoeing around political realities, whilst thin on the ground with the virtues of voting ‘Green’, all whilst their (wannabe fearless) leader Adam Bandt seems missing in action probably trying to put the ‘Greens’ pieces back together. Meanwhile AS seemed to sound stronger using management speak (McKinsey & Co style – now there’s a dark force), blithely conceding she’d work with a Dutton govt in the interest of her electorate – I’ll bet.
There’s no question in my mind that both are in the thrall of the twin Oz oligarchs, Rinehart and Murdoch and their spin-offs. Both like jellyfish, no guts to call the Oz and world economic and political situation as it is – a sewer of FRWNJ and politically criminal extractionism – as practiced by the LNP over the last decade+. Fully captured by the Atlas, Newscorpse, LNP lines of Labor’s economic incompetence and Albo’s weakness – both abject bullshit.
In the face of the massive global geopolitical changes afoot, the American wrecking ball, and the unimaginative, greedy, evil-antediluvian-fart regressive narratives and omissions of Atlas, Newscorpse and the LNP, Labor has done an excellent job so far, in what ought reasonably be seen as a requiring at least a decade of continual strategic reform. There’s no magic in the reality of reformist govt, as opposed to the neoliberal / neocon prevalence of prestidigitation by the pretenders and their shadowy oligarchs.
Albo has managed to maintain open lines of communication at home and globally. Even with those leaders and magnates he would undoubtedly have substantial differences of principle with. And he has successfully managed to keep his govt tight. With the mainstream media, dragged by Newscorpse from schoolyard stupidity into a mindless riotous gutter brawl, there’s nothing they will stop at to bruise and lacerate to form scabs to pick at and manufacture infection to spread across the hapless voters. Like those of their kind worldwide they will only intensify their malignancy as elections near.
I hopefully look forward to Albo’s Labor springing decisive cut-throughs in the lead-up so as to blow the screeching pretenders and the jellyfish out of the water to enable a continuation of its reform and obtain a more functional cross-bench.
Well, I didn’t think the Don’s idea would fly but I’m hearing that Mar-a-Lago is featuring as a favourite for a future Palestine with Greenland a distant second.