Politicians and Hucksters
I think most politicians are 80% administration and organization, and 20% sales and marketing (getting elected, and rallying the vote)
What Trump is is ALL marketing and sales. Very little ability to deliver (note all the business failures). What he saw was a Republican party desperate for a leader who could defeat a swelling demographic tide, and Future Shock on multiple levels as we evolve as a nation. He stepped into a vacuum, and desperate people injected this human virus into the brainstem of the body public. The group who believe business leaders would make good political leaders greased the chute for him, as he’d had decades to build up his image as “the world’s greatest businessman”: a television reality show construct.
If he’d run for DOGCATCHER first, let alone mayor, we’d have had the opportunity to compare his results and his rhetoric. The nation’s “immune system” would have had the chance to adjust. I believe that “immune system” is awakening now, which is why responsible Republicans and former Trump officials are coming out to state specifically that he is unfit for office.
There are those who believe him. To do that, you have to believe that most of America’s institutions are broken, and their neighbors are a threat. I believe they are sleeping, and having a nightmare.
There are those who DON’T believe him, but believe IN him. That if they can get him in, he will bring their various agendas with him. This is not too extreme a distortion of the “hold your nose and vote” “lesser of two evils” attitude a LOT of voters have fallen into, cynically believing ethics and values do not matter.
Whichever they are, I will not apologize for believing him an active threat to our nation. But I will also not hate those who fall into these or other categories — they are IMO driven by fear, especially that of tribal extinction, and he was able to exploit those fears to gain power.
He must be defeated — this isn’t about politics, it is about a philosophy of being. Asking what humans are. Or what the world is. And all my life, I’ve seen people acting with hatred and violence motivated by fear. Watched people panic as the simple lies they told themselves about racial differences broke down under the light of actual experience.
This is one of those amazing moments in human history when we have the potential to evolve to our next level of social organization along multiple axis, especially race and gender. There will ALWAYS be people terrified by this, as it violates assumptions and requires the dispelling of illusions.
We’ll make it through this. Most of our political opponents are merely citizens who see things differently, and have different priorities.
But some are “sleepers” who ignore the truth right in front of them. Or “snakes” who KNOW this is lying, but want to cuddle up to power.
But make no mistake: there is one sick, dangerous human being in the mix, and HE must be defeated so that we can get back to the normal push-and-pull between those attempting to hold on to the best of our past, and those committed to new and amazing futures. That “inchworm” progress of humanity is the story of our existence on this planet.
But what we have right now is an actual aberration, one that happens every couple of generations in nations around the world, an opportunist masquerading as a populist. Be strong. Stay safe. And from those positions, be as compassionate as possible.
Never consider yourself, or your “team”, immune to these human issues. That is the fastest way to create an attractive vacuum. And predators are always sniffing for weaknesses.
Namaste
Steve