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Donald Trump

The Trump Doctrine versus the Truman (Jim Carrey) Doctrine Update

September 24, 2020
by Peter Feinman
How will THE DONALD adjust to the real world? https://www.imdb.com

Time to update the situation of the Trump state of mind versus the Truman state of mind.  When last I looked (The Trump Doctrine versus the Truman Doctrine June 14, 2018), Truman was faring better in living in the real world. How are things now?

TRUMAN AND THE REAL WORLD

In case you have forgotten, Truman Burbank was a TV reality star. The difference is that Truman didn’t know he was a celebrity reality star. He thought the world in which he lived was the real world. The suspense and drama were in the moment of truth when the reality show star came face to face with the fact that he was living in a no longer sustainable artificial reality. What would he do then? Could he succeed in banishing the real world and in continuing to live a lie in the fake world or would he seek for better or for worse to live in the world as it actually existed?

We know what happened to Truman.  SPOILER ALERT! Through a series of events, the adult Truman seized the initiative and took control over his life. He set sail onto the open sea that had always frightened him only to bump into the sky and learn that someone had built a wall. He pierced it and entered the real world. In Truman’s case, the truth sets him free. He left the fake world that had governed his entire life, took a chance on real emotions, and went forth to live a better life.

Over two years ago in that blog, I wrote: “Nothing like the Truman Doctrine will occur in the TRUMP FIRST, TRUMP ALONE reality.” Let’s see what happened.

TRUMP AND THE REAL WORLD

What is there to say about America’s greatest president?

Nobel Peace Prize for getting his North Korean lover to denuclearize.

Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace to the Middle East.

The greatest conservation President since Mount Rushmore President Teddy Roosevelt.

Did more for black people than any President since Mount Rushmore President Abraham Lincoln.

Greatest economy in American history.

Victim of more hoaxes than any President in American history.

Victim of the greatest act of political corruption in American history in the rigged 2016 election.

Victim of the new greatest act of political corruption in American history in the rigged 2020 election.

Wouldn’t change anything in his handling of the coronavirus.

Grades himself a 10 in his handling of the coronavirus.

Grades himself an A in his handling of the coronavirus.

Grades himself an A+ in his handling of the coronavirus.

All things considered, he truly is our Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name. We are indeed lucky to share the same space-time continuum. Think how many more Americans from Democratic states would have died without his leadership.

HOCUS-POCUS and FRISBY: Where Are the Martians When You Need Them?

Twilight Zone Season 3 Episode 30 Original air date April 13, 1962

The only person who can match the very stable genius is Somerset Frisby. He is a teller of tall tales. He spins his experiences, from his heroism in war despite his bone spurs to his drug cures because of his super-genius uncle to his unsolicited advice via tweets to presidents and captains of industry, all of which he fabricates. His friends gather in the general store to hear him spin his stories, which they find very entertaining, and he never tells the truth except by chance. But he means no harm, is not a horrid, nasty, cutie pie, but no one would vote for him for President.

However, remember this is The Twilight Zone. His reputation transcends the planet Earth and even the solar system. Really illegal aliens have been monitoring human communications especially from Fox. They have heard all his stories. They accept his tales at face value. They have heard him claim eight doctoral degrees despite paying someone to take his SATs. They have heard his being the greatest baseball player in New York City because he doesn’t have a heart. They have observed that he is the smartest person in the room. When he said “person, woman, man, camera, tv,” they practically swooned in ecstasy to have witnessed such a dazzling display of mental brilliance. Naturally, they wanted to take him back to their planet as the outstanding example of the human race.

Faced with this prospect, Frisby has his “Truman” moment. He wants to live in the real world. Frisby pleads that he is simply a shameless liar, but the aliens have no concept of lying. He manages to escape from them before they take him away. When he tries to tell his friends what happened, they enjoy a laugh at what they of course take to be another of Frisby’s tall tales. This is after all, The Twilight Zone.

WILL TRUMP HAVE HIS TRUMAN FRISBY MOMENT?

The Donald is now in the eighth decade of his life. He has been an immature child in the body of an adult with the emotional maturity of a three-year old longer than most people have been alive. The chances of him changing before he dies are between zero and non-existent. He did get to be President as a successful businessman despite squandering $413 million dollars. He did con suckers, losers, deplorable and disgusting people with bozo religious customs to worship him. So give credit where credit is due. He could even win the election fairly.

Nonetheless, there are some moments that might force him to live in the real world for the first time in his life.

1. Leaving the White House January 20

Suppose despite Putin, Biden wins both the popular vote and the Electoral College. Suppose the loser contests the results through the courts. Suppose that process drags on because there are so many disputes and challenges and there is no judicial resolution despite his control of the Supreme Court, then Nancy Pelosi becomes President and he has to leave the White House.

Suppose to forestall that contingency, the Commander in-Chief orders the military to seize ballots so he can steal the election, will the military obey him?

Suppose to forestall that contingency he orders the National Guard to seize ballots so he can steal the election, are there enough of the right states governed by Trumpicans so that would work?

Suppose to forestall that contingency, the Mafia Boss of Bosses unleashes the Attorney General. But he is only one person. Suppose the attorneys he commands rebel and refuse to help him steal the election (or take away health care from their fellow Americans)?

Suppose Trumpican states select alternate electors who will provide the margin of victory if accepted? Who will make the decision if there are two claims of victory? Will Nancy Pelosi become President?

Suppose there is no Electoral College resolution by the time the new Congress is installed and a Contingent Election by the House is required? Trumpicans control 26 state delegations in the House today. What will the number be in January? How many Congressional seats also will be contested? Will Pelosi convene the House to hold a Contingent Election if Biden has won the contested Electoral College?

Suppose despite all of the above, come January 20, 2021, Joe Biden becomes the President of the United States? If that happens, that action will be a moment of truth for the would-be four-term President. There will be no peaceful transition in the government to the new President. There will be no peaceful transition to the new President in the mind of the outgoing President. He will be fighting tooth and nail to the very last moment. How will he respond to then having to leave the White House? Given his disconnect, the abrupt change to the real world will be impossible for him to accept.

2. Investigations

Previously, I asked suppose Hannity write a tell-all book (Will Sean Hannity Be Howard Baker?: Suppose He Wrote a Tell-All Book?) Suppose instead after January 20, Hannity and Fox simply cutoff his oxygen? No more commandeering the talk shows. No more interviews. No more arena rallies – who is going to pay for them? When Truman finally leaves the alternate reality for the real world, the faithful viewers seeing that the show is over simply ask, “What else is on?” Of course, the loser will declare his candidacy for 2024 making all the wannabees who sold their soul very unhappy, but what can they do? Push him off the stage? He will become the new Lost Cause for tens of millions of Trumpicans sucking all the oxygen from the room leaving them trapped in the past as Democrats expand the Supreme Court to counteract the recent appointments.

Being investigated will mark a major change in the life of THE DONALD. It will be hard to keep track of all the House committees, Senate committees, federal attorney generals, state civil and criminal courts that want a piece of him. No immunity. Restricted to home. Ankle monitor. Rikers. Welcome to the real world.

No wonder America’s greatest President who wants a four-term presidency and who deserves to be on Mount Rushmore will do everything he can to preserve the alternate reality he has lived in all his life. He has nothing to look forward to after the presidency except a painful reality; no wonder he stop at nothing to remain in the White House.

When Experts Are Wrong, Criticize the People: The Unmovable 42%

September 17, 2020
by Peter Feinman
The Warning Democrats Ignored

Imagine a hypothetical where the experts are wrong. Yes, I know how difficult that must be to grasp, but try. Suppose there is a disconnect between what actual people in the real world do and what the experts say the people should do. Naturally, the difference can’t be due to an error by the experts so it must be due to the people. They are too stupid to know what is in their own best interests. If only they would be guided by the wisdom of their betters, everything would be alright.

STRANDED ON THE MOON

I first became aware of the shortcomings of the experts at some corporate retreats/training programs. There we were, a group of strangers gathered together to learn from the experts.  As part of the training in one exercise we were divided into smaller groups of probably ten people each. The problem posed to us was that we were stranded on the moon (pre-Matt Damon on Mars) or at another training session in the desert. We were never stranded on an island after a three hour cruise.

The instructors then gave each group a list of 20 items. They asked us to rank the items based on their potential contribution to our survival. After a short time, each group presented its rankings to the collective group. Then the instructors compared our rankings to those of the experts.

One of the 20 items was a gun. I always ranked it last. I always was outvoted.  The experts also ranked it higher. On the moon, the gun’s recoil could propel someone across a crevice. In the desert, the sound of the gunshot might attract the attention of the search party.

At this point, I suspect some of you have realized the absurdity of the expert opinion in the real world. Even Hollywood knows such expertise flunks the reality test. In the real world, the gun represents power. Assuming the existence of alpha males in the group or mean girls/queen bees, the gun meant there would be a battle to control it and therefore the group. It would not be used to propel someone across a crevice or to attract searchers, it would be used to kill or threaten to kill someone. Maybe at some point there would be a struggle for the gun, the good guy would prevail, fire the last bullet to get the attention of the searchers just before they disappeared over the horizon, and get the girl but that was not what the experts had in mind. Interestingly, I never proposed giving one person the gun and another person the bullets but as I recall the exercise did not allow for such creativity. Anyway, the lesson learned was that people may be experts in the lab without knowing squat in the real world.

WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS (2004)

The book What’s the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank was another exercise in false expertise. The thrust of the book was to resolve the dilemma of why so many Americans vote against their economic and social interests. There had to be something wrong with these people since culture war issues trumped their economic and social concerns. It would be like supporting candidates who consistently favored tax cuts for the rich while giving you nothing. How could people be so dumb as to be shafted again and again while cheering the very people who exploited them? What’s the matter with these people?

The publication date of 2004 is most revealing. That election year was the last time and only time in the Baby Boomer Era a Republican presidential candidate won a majority vote. If it was written say a year before the publication date, then it was five years before Sarah Palin called for taking back the country and 13 years before the then long-time Democrat and Clinton supporter conned Republicans into thinking he cared about the little people the elitists fly over. To put those years in perspective, it means the Democrats had 13-year notice on the 2016 election and learned nothing during the interim except to pour more oil on the fire. Still it is questionable whether or not the Democrats have learned that there is nothing wrong with the people of Kansas except the way they have been treated by the elitists.

THE WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION

With Civil War, the smug superiority of the condescending arrogant self-righteous elitists really shines through. Everyone knows the war was really about slavery. Everyone knows the claim abut state’s rights was just a smokescreen for the real cause of maintaining slavery. Everyone knows that the proponents of the Lost Cause are really backwards subhuman racists who should not be welcomed in polite society.

Now try listening. Confederates call the war the “War of Northern Aggression.” Why? Maybe they assigned that name to the conflict because it genuinely expresses how they felt.  Just as we know from feminists that rape is about power and not sex, so we should consider that for the Confederates, the war also was about the violation of their home. In the Union, the exploits of Sherman and Grant are heroic, to the people who lived on the lands ravaged and devastated, the view was different. “Damn Yankees” is not a slavery-based approbation. It is a response to the mentally and morally superior people who are the elect of God (or the goddess) who never tire of telling Southerners that they are inferior people. Today there are two peoples it is still acceptable to demean and insult: Nazis and Southerners. And then the mentally and morally superior people wonder why such degenerates vote for Trump. Obviously it’s because they are racists who want to bring back slavery. Then the superior people pat themselves on the back and bask in their moral superiority.

THE POLITICALLY CORRECT AND 2016

By now there is no excuse for not knowing that Politically Corrected People (PCP) were more of a determinant than Putin in deciding the 2016 election. I am not going to repeat here example after example from previous blogs or from the ones I have been saving, where Trumpicans express their revulsion at the PCPs. If anything, that revulsion has intensified. Snowflakes in schools and colleges cringing at the mere sight of murals or sound of words! The toppling of statues! The declaration of superiority with the capitalized B in black! Truly the American world is coming to an end. Democrats have expressed no desire to celebrate America…such declarations would only antagonize the Woke who want to replace July 4th with 1619.

Trumpicans may not know anyone who died from Covid-19, but they all have stories to tell about another action against America taken by the PCPs, they seen them on Fox.

As it turns out, Trumpicans are voting for their self-interests but no one until the candidate who thinks with his gut actually listened and understood what those interests were. If people are voting against their economic and social interests perhaps something else is more important to them. Perhaps telling people over and over again they are backward, inferior, and consigned to the demographic dump heap of history isn’t an inspiring message. Perhaps telling people they have nothing to look forward to isn’t an inspiring message. Perhaps elevating people here illegally to the same level as those who are here legally isn’t an inspiring message.

If this country is to remain a single country, a big “if’, then it will become necessary for people to talk to each other. That is not possible now. Neither party is attempting to transcend the differences that divide us. Centrifugal forces rule the day. Thomas Friedman suggested Joe Biden should go on listening tours to Trumpican areas. Not preaching tours, nor haranguing tours, nor lecturing tours, but listening tours. Even Donald Trump tried a town hall with people who are not loyalists. Never again. It didn’t go well. He will never expand his base. Can Biden do better? Does his empathy and sympathy skills extend to people who oppose him? If he expects to govern then he will need to listen to the Trumpicans as well as to the Woke.

What Will Never-Trump Republicans Do After the Elections?

September 15, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Lincoln Has Fallen: What Will Never-Trump Republicans Do?

Over four years ago, on March 2016, I wrote a blog entitled R.I.P. Party of Lincoln (1856-2016). At that time, I did not know the Republican Party would become the Trumpican Party. I did know that the Republican Party was no longer the party of Lincoln. His name was rarely invoked. Even today it rarely is by the President of Malice except when he favorably compares himself to America’s greatest President.

Still, the legacy of Lincoln lives on among the few Republicans left who have not succumbed to becoming Trumpicans. Within the Party, their resistance is futile. They have made themselves known through ads which effectively exposes the shortcomings and dangers of the current President. However those ads will not reclaim the Republicans who have become Trumpicans. Any deprogramming efforts will require substantially more resources, time, and effort than a mere commercial provides…including the desire of the Trumpican in the first place to become a Republican once again.

Ironically, the showcase for the Never-Trump Republicans was the Democratic National Convention. On that virtual stage, these Republicans were welcomed. However in a time when all the Republican presidential nominees in the 21st century are persona non grata in the Trumpican Party, it is difficult to know where these Never-Trump Republicans will align themselves after the elections. Will they continue to support Joe Biden and the Democrats for the next four years? Will they start a third party?

Back on February 29, 2020, I wrote

Rick Wilson, Richard Conway, John Kasich, and Bill Weld can struggle all they want to regain control of the Republican Party but it is not going to happen. At present Lincoln Republicans have no political party. Neither do admirers of Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, or even the Bushes. So how will they vote? What will they do now that the Republican Party despises them? (The Socialist versus the Trumpican Smackdown: What Are Democrats and Republicans to Do?)

Now we know how they will vote. Bu we don’t know what the plans are for the future.

In a well-meaning op-ed column, David Brooks wrote:

My guess is that if Trump gets crushed in the election, millions of Republicans will decide they never liked that loser and jerk anyway. He’ll get relegated to whatever bargain basement they are using to hold Sarah Palin (Where Do Republicans Go From Here?, August 9, print).

There is a lot of wishful thinking in those guesses. Think of what has happened in the short interval since those words were first printed. Now think of the impact all those events have had on his popularity. Try “unchanged” since last year at this time.

The one possible glimmer of hope for Brooks is the idea of “loser.” If, and it is an “if,” Trumpicans lose the White House and the Senate and fail to retake the House and if there isn’t a national melt down and Joe Biden does become President, then Trumpicans will be faced with the prospects of Democratic control. Will Trumpicans be content to remain loyal to the loser through 2024 even while he is being prosecuted and perhaps jailed? In my last blog, I asked the question of what Sean Hannity will do if confronted with a Democratic sweep and only a loser to oppose them. At that point will Hannity’s desire to stop the Democrats trump his loyalty to a loser? No one knows now but it is possible to support some Trumpican ideas without supporting the person who has no power future political future.

If, and only if, he is pushed off the stage or is confined to OAN broadcasting from Rikers, who, then, will fill the leadership void? Will the Never-Trump Republicans then be able to regain the support of the former Republicans? Such a prospect seems unlikely. More wishful thinking. One should keep in the mind that none of the multitude of Republican candidates in 2016 assuaged the angst the Republicans felt. All those candidates fell by the wayside. Nothing that has happened in the last four years indicates that Never-Trump Republicans can wrest the leadership position from the defeated and criminal loser or that the party members will follow them.  Everyone now is jockeying for position to be the successor who will save the party from ruin< Meanwhile he is not leaving the stage and still could win.  You don’t hear much talk about 350 Electoral College votes for Biden now do you?

To return to the Brooks column, in it he dutifully identifies four possible prospects for the future leadership of the Republican Party:

The post-2020, post-Trump Republican future is … is embodied by a small group of Republican senators in their 40s, including Marco Rubio, Josh Hawley, Tom Cotton and Ben Sasse. They all came of age when Reaganism was already in the rearview mirror. Though populist, three of them have advanced degrees from Harvard or Yale. They are not particularly close to one another. They may be joined by a common experience, but they are divided by ambition.

Brooks then proceeds to examine the strengths and weaknesses of each of them. This analysis would be perfectly legitimate in normal times, but the one critical lesson of the last four years is that these are not normal times. It is not possible to develop a modified Trumpism to reach out to a larger share of the electorate when the main actor still hogs all the attention. No Trumpican can stand up to him. Besides, one should keep in mind that the Republican presidential popular vote electoral record in the baby-boom era is abysmal. If the boomer candidates leave the stage, there is no inherent reason to believe that next generation will do any better. Remember THEY ALL WILL CARRY TRUMP TAINT. They will have to explain their support as even more and even corruption and criminality is revealed in the ongoing investigations.

Strange at it may seem, there are some Republicans left in the White House. Consider the following excerpts from the acceptance speech at the Trumpican National Convention.

Because we understand that America is NOT a land cloaked in darkness, America is the torch that enlightens the entire world.

 Gathered here at our beautiful and majestic White House – known all over the world as the People’s House – we cannot help but marvel at the miracle that is our Great American Story. This has been the home of larger-than-life figures like Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson who rallied Americans to bold visions of a bigger and brighter future. Within these walls lived tenacious generals like Presidents Grant and Eisenhower who led our soldiers in the cause of freedom. From these grounds, Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark on a daring expedition to cross a wild and uncharted continent. In the depths of a bloody Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln looked out these very windows upon a half-completed Washington Monument – and asked God, in His Providence, to save our union. Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt welcomed Winston Churchill, and just inside, they set our people on a course to victory in the Second World War.

 What united generations past was an unshakable confidence in America’s destiny, and an unbreakable faith in the American People. They knew that our country is blessed by God, and has a special purpose in this world. It is that conviction that inspired the formation of our union, our westward expansion, the abolition of slavery, the passage of civil rights, the space program, and the overthrow of fascism, tyranny and communism.

 In the left’s backward view, they do not see America as the most free, just, and exceptional nation on earth. Instead, they see a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins.

 We must reclaim our independence from the left’s repressive mandates. Americans are exhausted trying to keep up with the latest list of approved words and phrases, and the ever-more restrictive political decrees. Many things have a different name now, and the rules are constantly changing. The goal of cancel culture is to make decent Americans live in fear of being fired, expelled, shamed, humiliated, and driven from society as we know it. The far-left wants to coerce you into saying what you know to be FALSE, and scare you out of saying what you know to be TRUE.

 Our country wasn’t built by cancel culture, speech codes, and soul-crushing conformity. We are NOT a nation of timid spirits. We are a nation of fierce, proud, and independent American Patriots.

 We are a nation of pilgrims, pioneers, adventurers, explorers and trailblazers who refused to be tied down, held back, or reined in. Americans have steel in their spines, grit in their souls, and fire in their hearts. There is no one like us on earth.

 I want every child in America to know that you are part of the most exciting and incredible adventure in human history. No matter where your family comes from, no matter your background, in America, ANYONE CAN RISE. With hard work, devotion, and drive, you can reach any goal and achieve every ambition.

 Our American Ancestors sailed across the perilous ocean to build a new life on a new continent. They braved the freezing winters, crossed the raging rivers, scaled the rocky peaks, trekked the dangerous forests, and worked from dawn till dusk. These pioneers didn’t have money, they didn’t have fame– but they had each other. They loved their families, they loved their country, and they loved their God!

 When opportunity beckoned, they picked up their Bibles, packed up their belongings, climbed into covered wagons, and set out West for the next adventure. Ranchers and miners, cowboys and sheriffs, farmers and settlers – they pressed on past the Mississippi to stake a claim in the Wild Frontier.

 Legends were born – Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley, Davy Crockett, and Buffalo Bill.

 Americans built their beautiful homesteads on the Open Range. Soon they had churches and communities, then towns, and with time, great centers of industry and commerce. That is who they were. Americans build the future, we don’t tear down the past!

 We are the nation that won a revolution, toppled tyranny and fascism, and delivered millions into freedom. We laid down the railroads, built the great ships, raised up the skyscrapers, revolutionized industry, and sparked a new age of scientific discovery. We set the trends in art and music, radio and film, sport and literature – and we did it all with style, confidence and flair. Because THAT is who we are.

 Whenever our way of life was threatened, our heroes answered the call.

 From Yorktown to Gettysburg, from Normandy to Iwo Jima, American Patriots raced into cannon blasts, bullets and bayonets to rescue American Liberty.

These are not the words of a Trumpican, they are the words of an anonymous Republican in the White House. That writer shows Never-Trump Republicans a way forward. It is not possible to regain leadership in the Republican Party by replacing Trumpicans. It is not possible to expand the electoral reach by being Trump-lite. It is not possible to be a positive force for America’s future simply by stopping the malice. To regain control of the Republican following an electoral ruin, a Lincoln for the 21st century is needed or else the country will remain divided into two houses that can’t live together.

Will Sean Hannity Be Howard Baker?: Suppose He Wrote a Tell-All Book

September 8, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Who Will Be Howard Baker? (www.123rf.com)

Tis the season of tell-all books. We have heard from the niece, the fixer, the national security director and will hear from the Watergate reporter again. There have been disclosures from the sister and about the military. Even the former BFF of the trophy-wife First Lady has weighed in with tales of corruption. All these testimonials to President Swampbuilder are impressive. None have made any political difference.

But suppose Sean Hannity wrote a book about his experiences with THE DONALD. Hannity has had extensive contact up close and personal, enough to see the truth. Certainly he has had as much opportunity as Putin, the European leaders, and various people who have worked in the White House and who all know the truth about THE DONALD. According to some reports, Hannity knows that he is dealing with a “battrump” bozo. So why not write a book about it and make a fortune?

One reason why he can’t write such a book now is precisely because that book could make a difference. Millions of people via radio and TV rely on Hannity for the truth. His blessing counts. If he withdrew that blessing now during a presidential election, the odds are it would negatively impact the vote for the wrong side. The beneficiary would be Sleepy Creepy Joe Biden, the corrupt one-step-from-death lackey of the younger Socialists really running the Democratic Party. Hannity opposes that victory regardless of whether the opposition is from a Republican or a Trumpican. Under no circumstances would he do any anything to aid and abet the enemy.

But what about after the election? Suppose come January 20, 2021, Hannity is faced with the trifecta of Democratic power: the House, the White House, and the Senate. Then what? Hannity has faced this situation before. He would stand ready to oppose the Democrats just as he did during the Obama years. The question he would ask himself is what is the best way to do so after the vaunted Red Wave sweeps the Trumpican Party from power? What is the best way to resist the Democrats going forward given the likely changes due to the 2020 census? What is the best way to resist the Democrats in upcoming elections in 2022, 2024, and beyond?

Previously I have suggested that even Senator Ron Johnson might return to the real world after the 2020 elections [Mitch McConnell: Howard Baker (Time to Go) vs Stay the Course (Go Down with the Ship), June 8, 2020]. If Wisconsin votes Biden, the champion of it was really the Ukraine who meddled in the election might want to reconsider that position if he intends to run for reelection in 2022. Similarly his sidekick in stupidity, Senator John Kennedy also might want to express in a folksy way that he had been a blithering idiot when reciting Putin talking points.

By contrast, one person would remain as unchanged as his hair (unless he is caught in the wind and rain). THE DONALD will keep ranting and raving that he was defeated in a rigged election, the greatest and most corrupt political scandal since the one perpetrated against him in the 2016 election. He immediately will begin campaigning for his comeback in 2024. In between all his court appearances in the civil and criminal courts in New York and who knows how many federal districts (Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Washington?), he also will appear before various Senate and House committees that now will be unleashed against him. Yet somehow, he will find the time to launch his 2024 campaign.

Similarly Sean Hannity might face a moment of truth after the election as well. He may have no choice but to tell the truth about his meetings and conversations with the President of the United States. After all, he is not a lawyer so they are not privileged. There is no freedom of press issue since these conversations were as an advisor and not a reporter. Subpoenas will be issued against him to compel testimony about his participation in the Ukrainian extortion, abuses of power, and whatever strikes the interest of the Congressional investigation committees. If Hannity chooses to defy the subpoenas, Attorney General Adam Schiff with great glee and satisfaction will add criminal charges to the list and throw him in jail.

Therefore at some point fairly soon after the election, it may be in Hannity’s best interests both personally and politically to tell the truth about his contacts with THE DONALD. Whether he likes the political results or not, there is a part of Hannity that has enough sense and expertise to be aware of the lay of the land in the real world come January 20, 2021. Even if the masses of Trumpicans profess loyalty to their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, Hannity will realize the necessity of charting a new path. He will recognize the futility of having a serially indicted/convicted/incarcerated criminal as the leader of a successful comeback against the Democrats.

At that point, Sean Hannity might become Howard Baker. To do so, he will have to do what no Trumpican has been able to do or is likely to do. No elected Trumpican, no formerly elected Trumpican, and no appointed Trumpican, is going to tell THE DONALD enough is enough. Hannity might. He would inform the Trumpicans that if they want to oppose the Democrats, that it will be in their best interests to become Republicans again. He will inform them that they need to put THE DONALD behind them and move on or else the Trumpicans will become as irrelevant nationally as the Republican Party now is in California or New York. He will thank THE DONALD for what he achieved but assert that for the good of the country – not that THE DONALD would ever sacrifice his own personal interest for the country. What’s in it for him – it is time for him to leave the stage and let others carry on the battle against AOC, Biden, and Pelosi. And that means all the Trumps!

I am not saying that Hannity will pursue this course of action in the event of a 2020 Democratic trifecta and Red Wave drowning Trumpicans. I am saying that Hannity will have arrived at the proverbial fork in the road. One should not doubt the heady experience it was for him to have the President of the United States at his beck and call. On a strictly psychological level, these four years had to have been a rush, a constant high. Now it will be over. He will feel the disappointment. He will feel the Trumpican pain. He may even decide to wallow in it on a show that nobody in power cares about. Or he may chose not to retire from relevance but to fight on in the real world by becoming Howard Baker and announcing to the world that it is time for THE DONALD to go. Depending on the election results, we will know soon enough what choice Hannity makes.

Lafayette Square War Hero Mocks Losers Spartacus and 300 Spartans

September 6, 2020
by Peter Feinman
Loser. Sucker. What's in it for him? (The Crucifixion by Leon Bonnat)

Bonespur Boy is the greatest warrior President in American history. Who can forget his triumphalist victory at the Battle of Lafayette Square? There he stood alone amidst thousands of heavily armed terrorists, anarchists, and criminals here illegally. Despite his precarious situation he remained resolute bolstered by his faith in God and in the sanctity of his mission. At last after a long and brutal struggle, he emerged from this predicament triumphant. He then thrust his powerful arms towards the heavens brandishing an upside-down Bible, the fiercest weapon in his arsenal. Another square had been secured in the fight against demonic chaos that threatened the land.

The alpha-male-wannabee was not done. He knew there were more battles to be fought throughout America. He admonished his governors to dominate their cities, not to be weak. He warned them if that if they lacked the requisite strength to dominate, that he would unleash the fearsome forces at his disposal to do what they could not. He would prevail. Victory would be attained. The forces of evil would be defeated.

Macho Macho Boy He-Wants-to-Be-a–Macho-Man, was following up on his earlier triumphs as a warrior. Back in 2007 before 85,000 screaming professional wrestling fans, THE DONALD against all odds took down WWE’s Vince McMahon. After this battle for the ages, THE DONALD then shaved the head of his vanquished foe. So in-between grabbing women, THE DONALD demonstrated his prowess as a warrior in this battle of the “billionaire” executives.

So Many Victories, You’ll Get Tired of all the Victories (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

As we can see, our Commander in-chief brings a long history of victories to the present situation. Time and time again, Little Donnee Waney has shown the world that he has the right stuff to go into the arena and emerge triumphant. It is important to recognize that he is the greatest warrior President in American history before casting aspersion on him.

On repeated occasions, I have noted Tubby Wubby’s love for his action figures (= male dolls). He loves to show off the people who are “my generals.” Aren’t they right out of Hollywood casting. Hear them say, “Yes, sir. Mr. President.” And “Whatever you say Mr. President.” “You are the smartest person in the room, Mr. President. A Very stable genius, Mr. President.” “We would be happy to parade for you, Mr. President.” And in case anyone forgot his lines, there was Vice President “Please Choose Me in 2024” Pence to instruct them in the proper protocol for showing subservience to the immature child in the body of an adult with the emotional maturity of a three-year old.

Only last month, we had another demonstration of the warrior ethos that pervades the life-force of our President. This time instead of standing in a professional wrestling arena, he transformed the White House itself into a political professional wrestling arena. The law was no match for a man of his stature.

There he stood there proudly maskless because real men don’t wear masks. He stood before his adoring fans who also were maskless because real Americans don’t get Covid-19 and therefore can’t transmit it to weak non-Americans. He thereupon uttered words of a champion warrior destined to be remembered for all time as exemplifying the warrior spirit of America’s greatest warrior President ever:

“I’m fighting for you.”

To thunderous applause from the real Americans basking in his strength, his vigor, his prowess, he declared:

“From the moment I left my former life behind, and a good life it was, I have done nothing but fight for you.”

America’s Greatest Warrior President at the Wall of Losers and Suckers (January 21, 2017)

The true test of his courage was shown on his first full day in office as President. He traveled to the Central Intelligence Agency with no threat of rain and wind to muss his hair and expose the truth. Then he was forced to stand on hallowed ground at the Langley headquarters, in front of the wall of stars carved into marble for each of the 117 CIA agents who had died in service to the country. Nathan Hale. Good Grief! One can scarcely imagine the intestinal fortitude it required for him not to lose his cool before so many losers and suckers who couldn’t make a living in the private world. And this was on his first full day. He must have wondered how many more of these travesties would he have to experience during his four terms.

And what did he get in return? HOAXES. AND MORE HOAXES. No president in American history has endured more hoaxes than he has. No accusations against him have been valid. There is never any truth to the horrible horrible mean and nasty things people say about him. Thank God he had over $50 million in campaign donations to fend off these false charges.

After all, no one has sacrificed more than he has in becoming our President. He has lost countless billions of dollars since he rode down the escalator under his own power over four years ago. We don’t appreciate how much he has sacrificed for the good of others to save our country. He didn’t undertake this sacrifice for narcissistic reasons. He didn’t undertake this sacrifice to make money. He didn’t undertake this sacrifice for ulterior motives. No, quite the contrary. He made this sacrifice for others. He never once thought of himself. He never once placed his own need first. He never once acted for selfish reasons. Indeed we should all be grateful that his was willing to become America’s greatest President strictly out of a sense of duty. There was nothing transactional in it.

Fortunately his supporters know better than to recognize such people at Langley and military cemeteries as heroes.

White Evangelicals won’t support someone who was captured by the enemy. What a loser!

White Evangelicals won’t support someone who was tortured by the enemy. What a loser!

White Evangelicals won’t support someone who was executed by the enemy. What a loser!

White Evangelicals won’t support someone who claims he is sacrificing himself for the good of others. They are not suckers. After all, what’s in it for the sacrificial lamb?

White Evangelicals want a mean nasty bully with no conscience, no ethics, and no morality to lead them. They will remain loyal to him through thick and thin no matter how many supposedly die from the Covid-19 flu. They don’t care if he responds to the request to lay hands on him with “Can you believe that bulltrump?…Can you believe people believe that bulltrump?” After all, he is their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his name” and sometimes God works in very very very mysterious ways. He will always have their vote no matter what.

If ISIS Attacked NYC Would Rick Scott Care?

September 3, 2020
by Peter Feinman
This time, will Robert E. Lee win and destroy the Union?

With about one week to go before the 19th anniversary of the Al-Qaeda assault on the United States, it is worth pondering what has happened in America since then. At that time, despite the turmoil of presidential politics with impeachment and Florida, when the nation was attacked it was possible for Democrats and Republicans to stand together on the steps of the Capitol and sing God Bless America. No such unity is possible today between Democrats and Trumpicans. America consists of two peoples still bound in a single political entity but no longer functioning as one. Whether we separate into separate political entities or remain as one is what the current war is all about.

The coronavirus is different than Pearl Harbor or 9/11. The earlier two events were recognized as attacks on America, all America, the entire nation. The country responded as one. By contrast, the coronavirus never was perceived as a national threat. Health officials understood that the virus represented a national threat. Sometimes they even said so especially if they did not work for the Federal government. Those employees were often muzzled and/or undermined.

From the onset, the White House including an assortment of Trumpicans in various positions, viewed the coronavirus as a Democratic problem and not an American one. In the beginning, this was an easy decision for the scientifically-challenged to make. The virus hit hard in New York. Day after day, Americans watched a city under assault in painful gut-wrenching scenes. No other location in America was experiencing that horror. But for Trumpicans it was as if the Germans were bombing London alone so why should the entire country care.

This scenario played out for weeks if not longer. The disease infected cities, especially cities governed by Democratic mayors in states governed by Democratic governors. And the people dying weren’t even people the Trumpicans cared about anyway. But the economic decline was hurting Trumpicans. So did stock market decline. But now the stock market has recovered. The President dedicated to making rich people richer gleefully noted when it had returned to its former heights. The coronavirus problem was over, it had been solved.

Since the problem was a Democratic one, no national leadership was required. Trumpican governors in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, and Texas had everything under control. There would be no repeat of what had happened in New York City. Even though under Article 2, a non-Democratic President had the powers of a king, the world’s worst manager and career business failure knew better than to put himself in charge of the response to the virus. Let others carry the ball and bear the blame while he took the credit.

In the months to come, nothing altered this perception of the coronavirus as a Democratic problem. That view remains prevalent with Trumpicans. One thousand deaths per day over an entire country of 330 million is barely noticeable compared to one thousand per day in Queens or New York City as a whole. Despite all the talk about superspreader events, Trumpicans attending those events at an Arkansas Memorial Day pool party, Tulsa political rally, or South Dakota motorcycle gathering have not died in droves or barely at all. Maybe if it had been Tom Brady and not Tom Seaver who had died with Covid-19, Trumpicans would get the message that the virus is a threat to the country. So far it hasn’t happened. It’s not going to happen. The only news that might affect the vote is the coming announcement of a vaccine…not that Trumpicans would be vaccinated anyway. In the meantime, Trumpicans have discounted the virus as a threat to them beyond the flu and remain loyal to the person who kept real Americans outside the cities safe.

This attitude carried over into the aid packages. Once relief had been passed to help rich people get richer or at least maintain their wealth, the enthusiasm for aid relief dissipated. If people received $600 instead of $300, what would be their incentive to work? If Democratic states were bailed out, that would be rewarding states for being expensive, ineffective, and overstaffed. Why should people in Florida bail out those loser states like New York? It’s not like anything had been done to help New York during the past three years anyway. That will teach that other Queens boy who is really the boss.

Now the antipathy has been openly expressed. The war has been declared. The line in the sand has been drawn. President of the United States has said to the Governor of New York: DROP DEAD! There is no need here to repeat the vituperative exchanges which followed between the two Queens combatants. Suffice, it to say, it was a no holds-barred clash involving even relatives of the fighters.

Two points stand out so far.

1. The Governor has yet to call for the defunding of the Confederacy for the over $20 billion surplus in tax monies the state sends annually to the federal government.

2. The contrasting images of the one person are really remarkable to behold. Based on his real estate years in New York City, Little Donnee Waney is pond-scum slime. He was a successful clown but a failed businessman and human being. He never was accepted by the New York elite try as he might to be accepted. Even after being a long-time Democrat and Clinton supporter, he realized that he had no future in politics or business in the city and would always be a pariah. He was cruel, mean, nasty, and incapable of telling the truth besides being a simpleminded, ignorant, narcissistic bigot.

On the other hand, as THE DONALD, he is God’s gift to America. America should be thanking him for the sacrifices he made of his own free will to help his country by becoming America’s greatest president ever and at great personal cost. He is America’s Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name and he will lead America to victory over the new ISIS, the socialist Democrats who aren’t even real Americans anyway.

The battlelines have been drawn and the war is underway. In the next two months, Americans will scarcely know the world outside America exists. All attention will be on America’s Third Civil War. Even before Election Day, the hostilities are underway. Cuomo may be called back to television frontlines to give daily updates on the ongoing war with the Trumpicans. In fact, maybe even two Cuomos will be speaking daily on the war just as they did when one was infected and the other struggled to stop the spread…unless, of course, Chris becomes a casualty of this war.

In a way, the open declaration to defund Democratic cities does America a favor. Perhaps now we will stop pretending that it is politics as usual or just another presidential election. The coronavirus is not the existential threat to the continued existence of the United States as a single political entity. The current salvo against the Democrats is just one example of the scorched earth war that will only get worse. Tom Friedman, the longtime reporter on Lebanese civil war politics, wrote back on August 19 (print):

Here is a sentence I never in a million years thought that I would ever write or read: This November, for the first time in our history, the United States of America may not be able to conduct a free and fair election…[T]hat would not result in just a disputed election…that would be the end of American democracy as we know it. It also isn’t hyperbole to say it could sow the seeds of another Civil War.

The threat is real.

Yes, it is. The battle is engaged. Militias will be on the march when called. This president genuinely could succeed in accomplishing what Benedict Arnold and Robert E. Lee could not. Is Joe Biden up for the fight of his country’s life?

Will the Militias March on Washington November 4?

September 2, 2020
by Peter Feinman
This American President knows how to get things done.

Right now even as I write this blog, people are gaming out various scenarios as to what will happen after Election Day. I am using the term “Election Day” in a generic sense since it is quite possible people won’t know yet whether or not to be upset. Indeed, they may not know for several days whether or not the world has come to an end and they must do something to save it.

As has been said on numerous occasions over the past four years, “I never thought I would say this in America, but…” Now the exceptional and unthinkable is the new normal, so much so that we don’t even flinch when it occurs. It’s more “OMG, what else is possible.” Some people still haven’t gotten over the revelations of the Trump sister and niece. Now we have the former BFF of the First Lady dishing dirt, the Fixer about to detail more criminal activity, another Woodward book…and meanwhile the only V economy is China and Covid is still running wild in America. Why hasn’t the miracle happened yet? Do we have to wait for Halloween for the announcement of the miracle vaccine?  We are on notice now.

What we should have expected to occur is now occurring. We have witnessed the Woke taking the law into their own hands and toppling statues. It should be no surprise that such actions would lead to a counter effort to defend those very same statues, violently if necessary. We have witnessed marches in the wake of more deaths by the police. Now a line has been crossed. An armed teenager crossed state lines to defend the property that had been “abandoned” by the local and state governments. The new Bernie Goetz has struck as if he were Michael Douglas in Falling Down or Charles Bronson in the five Death Wish movies. Look what real Americans have to do to get justice.

Are the private militias ready for the big one? Are they ready to take the war to the next level? Are they ready to bring it on at the nation’s capital? There is nothing new about marching on Washington. There just was one on the 57th anniversary of the “I Have a Dream” march in 1963. That march at the Lincoln Memorial undoubtedly was the event that cause the teenage-child who became President to think that Lincoln was a Democrat. Imagine what Fred Trump said at the dinner table about it! In a larger sense, it established an image of marches on Washington as something Democrats do and still do. However nothing limits Million Man or Woman marches to Democrats, the Politically Correct, Progressives, or the Woke.

So far the discussions about what would happen after Election Day, have focused on the use of the military to protect the authoritarian leader. This is standard operating procedure in Trump-hole countries. It is reasonable to expect the same weapon to be deployed here. However also so far, the military has resisted such efforts. Its preference appears to be to respect the Constitution and not to be involved in domestic political disputes. We may be the sole country on this planet where the military fidelity to the law trumps all other considerations while the President, Attorney General and Senate operate beyond, outside, or in ignorance of the law.

A lot of the public discussion has been about the legal fight. There are armies of lawyers already pre-positioned for the disputes to come. Since voting by mail has been vouchsafed in Florida, ironically that state may not be the battle ground this time it was last time if the vote is for Biden. The Democratic-governed states of Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin may be the battlegrounds they defend. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, and Texas may the ones the Democrats attack. That’s a lot of potential disputes. There is only a very short time to resolve them before the Electors are required to cast their votes. I am still open to the idea of a Nancy Pelosi presidency if the electoral dispute drags on. That would mean the Princess would not be the first female President!

But, what about the private militias? What will they do while all this legal maneuvering is going on? For months already and for two more to come they will be hear incessantly about a rigged election. They will hear about the end of the world as they know it if their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name, is removed from office. They will hear about the triumph of Deep State Socialism despite the indictments brought by the Attorney General in October. They will see it on Twitter. They will see it on Fox. They will see in on Russian- and American-based websites. Then the moment of truth will arrive. The clarion call of Sarah Palin to take back the country will ring true. Now is the moment. Now is time to act. If not now, when?

Suppose a few hundred armed militia decide to march on Washington. What will the response be?

Suppose a few thousand armed militia decide to march on Washington. What will the response be?

Suppose 250,000 armed militia with motorcycles and trailers packed with provisions pour forth in caravans from around the country and descend on Washington as they did in South Dakota. What will the response be?

Suppose there is a million man march in support of the one person who can save the country. What will the response be?

I have no idea. The previous actions in the Michigan statehouse and now in Wisconsin are small compared to what potentially could occur. I don’t even begin to know how you map out a defense against caravans of heavily armed private militias descending on Washington especially if they are violating no laws in traveling there. Oh, you say, they don’t have a parade permit as if that would stop thousands of people bent on saving their Savior.

At this point, no one knows what will happen. We don’t how many will vote. We don’t know what the impact of the Post Office slow down and coronavirus will be on the voting. We don’t know how effective voter suppression will be. We don’t know how effective the Russians will be? We don’t know how the people will vote and when the votes will be counted. There is a lot of uncertainty with two months to go. It’s hard to imagine the situation not getting meaner, uglier, and deadlier.

His Party’s Platform: It’s Always about Him

August 26, 2020
by Peter Feinman
He is the party platform. It's always about him. (Evan Vucci AP)

Presidential conventions normally are a time of party platforms. Naturally, nothing is normal this time around. In this regard I am not referring to such obvious promises not kept as building a wall, having Mexico pay for it, or bringing back coal, steel, and other manly jobs. Instead, I mean various other promises made. I began listing them at the conclusion of some blogs on May 4 and added a few as time went on. Below is the status on each one rearranged by topic with some recent convention-related addiions.

CORVID-19: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

We have prevailed!!!!

4/6   There is “light at the end of the tunnel” [the father]
8/24 There is more work to do, but there is light at the end of the tunnel. [the junior son]

In the May blog, I asked when we would see the light at the end of the tunnel. Now the end is in sight. The pandemic is over at Fox. The pandemic is in the past tense per Larry Kudlow. The heroic bold leadership of the incumbent President has ended the crisis. Trumpicans believe the virus is under control even without a vaccine. In fact Trumpicans know that the so-called crisis always had been overblown by the media.

These claims are true in the real world in which the Trumpicans live. It is not an alternate reality or parallel universe as elitists dismissively claim, it is their real world. How many of the deceased are Trumpicans? If you tracked the dead by county using 2016 election results, what would the results be? Do individual Trumpicans even know anyone personally who was infected and died?  If Secret Service agents, White House staff and athletes who are infected recover, doesn’t that prove Corvid-19 is like the flu? My position has been all along that unless Trumpicans are dying in droves, they will not wear masks or accept the virus as a crisis. After six months it hasn’t happened. Nothing different should have been done. Mission accomplished.

5/17 “After November 3rd, coronavirus will magically, all of the sudden, go away and disappear and everybody will be able to reopen. They think they’re taking away Donald Trump’s greatest tool, which is to go into an arena and fill it with 50,000 people every time. They will milk it every single day between now and November 3rd.” [the other son]
8/23 Democratic governors only imposed shutdowns to hurt his political chances in November: “I guarantee it on Nov. 4, it will all open up.” [the father]

Like father, like son. So not only will November 4 be the beginning of legal filings on the most rigged and corrupt election in American history, it will be the day when all Covid-19 restrictions will cease according to the father and the other son.

October 2020: announce vaccine cure in Election Day surprise – still on target
January 1, 2021: begin distribution of miracle vaccine – still on target

HEALTHCARE

How many times have we heard about the beautiful beautiful new healthcare program that will replace the worst healthcare program in American history? I first wrote about it on June 19, 2019 in Iran Does Not Watch Fox: The Real World and the 2020 Elections.

“You’ll see that in a month when we introduce it. We’re going to have a plan. That’s subject to winning the House, Senate, and presidency, which hopefully we’ll win all three. We’ll have phenomenal health care.”

Now we have the target as surely as they did for William Miller on October 22, 1844 with the Great Disappointment. We know the date. July 16.

July 16, 2019 has come and gone. So has July 16, 2020. Still no health care proposal. In fact, on July 19, 2020, he was back at in an interview with Chris Wallace.

TRUMP: Pre-existing conditions will always be taken care of by me and Republicans, 100%.
WALLACE: But you’ve been in office three and a half years, you don’t have a plan.
TRUMP: Well, we haven’t had. Excuse me. You heard me yesterday. We’re signing a health care plan within two weeks, a full and complete health care plan that the Supreme Court decision on DACA gave me the right to do.
So we’re going to solve — we’re going to sign an immigration plan, a health care plan and various other plans. And nobody will have done what I’m doing in the next four weeks.
The Supreme Court gave the President of the United States powers that nobody thought the President had, by approving, by doing what they did — their decision on DACA. And DACA’s going to be taken care of also.
But we’re getting rid of it because we’re going to replace it with something much better. What we got rid of already, which was most of Obamacare, the individual mandate. And that I’ve already won on. And we won also on the Supreme Court.

Is it two weeks yet since that interview? Four weeks? Will there ever be a healthcare proposal? Will the Supreme Court strike down the world’s worst healthcare plan before the election? At least we know that the vaunted red wave will win the House, the Senate, and the Presidency.

ECONOMY

May 8 2020: “Those jobs will all be back, and they’ll be back very soon.”
June 2020: Back to Normal economy
July 2020: We’re rockin’ now: “We will transition into greatness. That’s a phrase you’re going to hear a lot, because that’s what’s going to happen.”
August 20: “We are doing well. We’re doing well. We got hit by this China plague. But other than that. I mean, we were rocking. And now we’re going to be rocking again very, very soon.”
Fourth Quarter 2020: economy will be tremendous – still on target.

If he had confined his predictions to the stock market instead of to the economy he would have been right.

OBAMA CORRUPTION 2016 and 2020

April 2011: Birtherism – reveal Hawaii findings on Obama soon: STILL WAITING
Fall 2020: Deep State Indicted: still on target

According to Kayleigh McEnany, Obama’s spying on Trump was “the greatest political scandal and crime in U.S. history.” The same view was expressed once again on the first day of the Republican convention.  “We caught them doing really bad thing. Let’s see what happens. They’re trying it again.” If there is damaging information about Obama which was discovered in Hawaii, wouldn’t now be a good time to release it? At least with his loyal Attorney General, there is a guarantee of Election Day surprise indictments that won’t be a surprise. Expect an all-out blitz by Fox, vindicated at last!

ELECTION RESULTS

November 3 2020: Deploy army of real Americans to suppress vote of…you know…those people – Vote Suppressors to become a TV reality show: still on target (some details have emerged on how my prediction will be fulfilled and by whom)
November 3 2020: CLAIM VICTORY NO MATTER THE RESULTS: still on target
January 20 2021: Nancy Pelosi becomes President – still on target

2024 ELECTION PREDICTIONS

1. Biden will abolish the suburbs.
2. Biden is good for Iran, ISIS, and great for Communist China – Nikki “Please choose me” Haley.

OTHER PREDICTIONS

October 2016: sue all his women accusers after the campaign: STILL WAITING

Despite all the time spent in court in New York and Washington, no action has been taken. So far there has been one judgement to pay over $40,000 in legal fees for one woman and a second woman’s lawsuit is proceeding through the court system slowly but surely.

January 20 2021: Arrested by New York, spends night at Rikers – still on target but the suggestion of ankle monitors and confinement to Trump Palace also has been mentioned

The key to the predictions is not what you believe to be true but what Trumpicans believe to be true. Second, what will happen with the economy and Corvid-19 between now and Election Day? If the pandemic is in the past and the economy is improving, the 42% vote for the incumbent will increase. It’s still too early to measure the drapes.

SHEAR CHAOS: A Culture Wars Train Wreck for a History Organization

August 19, 2020
by Peter Feinman
SHEAR Conference 2020 (New Mexico Central Railroad train wreck, ca. 1912 reddit.com)

When a history organization makes the front page of the Arts Section of The New York Times, that is big news (“Clash of the Historians Over Andrew Jackson,” July 27, 2020, print). It wasn’t because of some exciting new archival discovery. It wasn’t because of some exciting new archaeological discovery. It wasn’t because of some exciting new book or article that provided new insight into an historical puzzle. Instead it was because of a good old-fashioned knock-down culture wars encounter. As the NYT put it:

[I]t set off a firestorm that led within 72 hours, to set off the ouster of the group’s president, as well as the publication of open letters denouncing the talk and counterletters protesting the ouster. It also caused debate over whether the distinguished academics society was experiencing an overdue reckoning with racism or abandoning its commitment to robust scholarly debate in the face of a Twitter mob.

When the history of the culture wars is written, this incident is likely to be an episode in it.

SHEAR

SHEAR is the Society for Historians of the Early Republic. It was formed in 1977 to provide a focused venue or scholars concentrating on the Early Republic. As the name suggests, the starting point for the time period was the aftermath of the American Revolution. The period that comes to mind is the First Party System, the time of Federalists and Republicans, of presidents from Virginia and Massachusetts. Gradually it became a society of the Second Party System as well, the time of the Whigs and the Democrats. There was no real fixed endpoint. SHEAR drifted into the Jacksonian years and the ante bellum period but not the Civil War. It really ended wherever the roughly 600 members decided their interests took them and that no other history organization claimed.

I am not a member of SHEAR. I have attended some of the annual conferences and written about them.

The General Public and the Early Republic Historians (SHEAR Conference) August 23, 2016

“The Year without Summer” (1816): When Republicans Recognized Climate Change Existed (SHEAR CONFERENCE) August 24, 2016

Teaching Slavery: A SHEAR Perspective September 12, 2016

Universities and the Legacy of Slavery (SHEAR Session) September 22, 2016

The American Revolution: An Academic Perspective October 31, 2019.

I very well might have attended this year’s conference in geographically accessible Philadelphia if it had been held. Obviously, it too was a victim of the coronavirus.

SHEAR ONLINE CONFERENCE

With the cancellation of the in-person conference, SHEAR then had some decisions to make.

1. One Online Session

The first decision was to have one and only one online session. This decision can be questioned. Other conferences have been cancelled and/or rescheduled as virtual events without such a drastic reduction. Conferences can be held over multiple days and involve multiple sessions. SHEAR originally preferred to have multiple sessions. The now-former president of SHEAR expressed this hope:

When the 2020 program was postponed until July 2021, we wished to sponsor a few events to demonstrate that we remain a vital and important organization, even in this troubled time.

How did “a few events,” became one? The new president who normally takes office when the in-person conference concludes added some information.

At the time, we brainstormed about offering a few virtual events over the conference weekend, including the much-loved Second-Book Writers’ Workshop, and a graduate student meet-and-greet (both of which were, thanks to their organizers, great successes). We also asked the chairs of the 2020 Program Committee to recommend panels accepted for the conference that might not feel fresh a year from now. President Egerton approached the organizers of several such panels, but among them, only Professor Daniel Feller agreed to present his panel virtually.

So it was not the original intention to have one and only session. In effect, it was the SHEAR membership (panel organizers) that drove the decision. Given only one positive response, another option would have been to have no online sessions at all.

2. Which One?

At this point if SHEAR wanted to have an online session, it had only one possibility. That one topic seemed most appropriate. The now-former president of SHEAR explained:

The accepted panel on Donald Trump’s efforts to identify with Andrew Jackson struck some members of the program committee as a most timely panel, and one which may not be as relevant after the November elections. This was a stand-alone panel, and not the opening plenary, which remains scheduled for July 2021.

The new president added some information.

Although I was not privy to the specifics of this or any other proposed panel, I endorsed the plan to present it to the membership because I thought it was a timely topic and something that you, the membership, would appreciate. This was a mistake.

Exactly why is was a mistake in the mind of the new president is not clarified. Was it a mistake to have only one session? Was it a mistake to have this session? Was it a mistake to have this session with this presenter? Was it a mistake to have this session in this format? Should this person resign s one person suggested? It would help to know what the new president thinks the mistake in deciding to have this session was.

THE SESSION: JACKSON IN THE AGE OF TRUMP

The abstract for the session was:

Daniel Feller, Professor of History, Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, and Editor/Director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson at the University of Tennessee will present his [pre-circulated] paper, “Jackson in the Age of Trump,” which focuses on Donald Trump’s embrace of Andrew Jackson as his presidential model and how this has made Jackson a centerpiece for debate. Jackson has become, on both sides of the current political divide, in effect a stand-in for the American historical legacy. One side celebrates him as the progenitor of full-throated nationalism and insurgent populism, while the other condemns him as the archetype of American xenophobia, bigotry, and racism.

Neither of these portraits has much connection to the real presidential Jackson. Both reduce him to caricature not only by stripping off subtlety and nuance, but often by propagation of naked error. While Trump celebrates Jackson for purportedly raising tariffs and rattling sabers, critics decry him for originating Indian genocide, conducting public policy as personal vendetta in the Bank and nullification controversies, and propounding a uniquely vicious and virulent racism.

In short, we are now waging a public debate about Jackson—and, through him, about American history and character at large—premised upon a set of facts that are drastically oversimplified and even demonstrably untrue. Politicians and pundits have taken the lead in this distortion of the record, but historians have been acquiescent and sometimes directly complicit. Yet if we believe that the manipulation of history for presentist ends—even ones we agree with—is misguided and potentially dangerous, we should make it our business to speak out in defense of the integrity of our discipline, regardless of our present political sympathies.

This description does not match the words of the former president noted above: “The accepted panel on Donald Trump’s efforts to identify with Andrew Jackson.” Quite the contrary, the abstract posits a double dosage of Jackson misinterpretations by both sides of the culture wars.

The scope of the abstract is fairly ambitious…especially for one paper! Given the range of topics within the overall abstract, it would have made more sense to divide it into manageable parts. Each individual would have addressed one aspect of how Jackson has been used and abused by both sides of the culture war and what SHEAR should do about it. That is not what happened.

The initial portion of Feller’s presentation was on a book on Jackson by Walter Mead. Through Steve Bannon, this two-dimensional book portrait of Jackson was conveyed to Trump. At this point I thought about writing a blog on Jackson and Hamilton, Mead and Chernow, Bannon and Manuel-Miranda, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Hamilton, Trump and Obama. That probably would have made for a better session than the food fight that followed.

But the presentation didn’t stop there. My favorite response to the presentation is by the person who three times insistently asked online about Jackson and slavery. What are the odds that the president who thinks Canada burned the White House during the War of 1812, the flu pandemic in 1917 ended World War II, and who only recently learned that Lincoln was a Republican, was familiar with Jackson’s position on slavery? This question is an example of how the session spun out of control. Instead of being descriptive about what happened in last decade it became a fight over Jackson himself. I really didn’t tune in to hear people go on and on about his use of the word “pet.”

As reported by the NYT, a firestorm erupted after the session. A president stepped down. The new one apologized. The plenary speaker retired. His replacement intends to start a diverse advisory committee for people of multiple races, ethnicities, genders, and sexual preferences who share an antipathy towards Jackson perhaps with a token admirer. [I admit I could be wrong on this.] The organization that provides the free internet communication for SHEAR now is requesting a name change from H-SHEAR to something else. The notice of the change stressed the importance of moderated messages with identification of the message sender. This advisory may have contributed to the decision for the name change:

The Society for Historians of the Early American Republic’s virtual plenary was the most exciting thing to happen on Academic Zoom since COVID. Read about the controversy.

As for SHEAR, it intends to have “a second, follow-up virtual panel in the coming weeks” to salvage the situation though “salvage” is not the word used. Here are some thoughts for sessions.

1. Andrews Jackson and the Culture Wars (2000-2020)

This topic apparently was the basis for the session in the first place.

1. How have people used Jackson positively in support of their current political agendas?
2. How have people used Jackson negatively in support of their current political agendas?
3. How can SHEAR contribute to a full understanding of Jackson beyond caricature and cliché?

2. Trail of Tears: What Should Jackson Have Done?

This topic generates a great deal of passionate reaction. One of the comments in the plenary was:

As a historian of Indian removal, I can assure Feller that we know it wasn’t all Jackson’s fault; historians have for over a century traced the roots of removal policy to Jefferson’s administration, or even further, to the nation’s founding documents. More recent historiography on removal has amply demonstrated how a host of other actors – from territorial governors to missionaries to land speculators – helped build the policy that Feller seems to want us to reconstruct from Jackson’s papers alone.

Here we have the possibility of an excellent session that would be of value to the American public during these culture wars by going beyond the simple-minded vituperation he receives today.

1. What was the historical context in which the Trail of Tears occurred?
2. What could have been done instead? [No kumbaya suggestions, please, real world only.]
3. What does the recent Supreme Court decision mean for understanding the Trail of Tears?

3. The Scotch-Irish and the English Weren’t Both Just Whites Then

Our racist classification system obscures the reality of life two centuries ago. Today the Scotch-Irish and the English are just white people. That combination would have made no sense in Great Britain. These two folkways brought their tensions with them to America. Jackson’s victory at New Orleans wasn’t only as an American versus Great Britain but as a Scotch-Irishman versus the English. This topic wasn’t addressed in the session. One comment alluded to it.

Is there a danger among historians — most of us liberals when it comes to racial and gender issues — of underestimating AJ’s appeal to the “working man”: just as Americans today underestimate Trump’s appeal to a similar demographic? Thereby driving that demographic into the arms of the radical right?

English elites then loved to put down the Scotch-Irish as backwards and inferior much as elites-bicoastal elites-politically-correct-people love to mock them and their kin today. As it turns out people don’t like to be relentlessly denigrated. A session on how America’s first flyover people gained the White House would be beneficial.

4. The Torch Has Been Passed to a New Generation: The Need for Heroes

During the session, Feller mentioned Jackson as a military hero for America, the first one since Washington. People needed heroes. People need larger-than-life people who fulfill that role. It’s not enough to have Hollywood super-duper heroes on the screen. They are needed in real life as we have been reminded during Covid-19 and the nightly banging of pots. Jackson filled that role for many people. Two founding father heroes died simultaneously in 1826 on the fiftieth anniversary of the experiment they had created, the journey they had started. Who would replace them? Would the next generation measure up? Would the journey continue? I don’t recall hearing much of a discussion at the SHEAR session about this topic and Jackson’s role in it.

5. The Jacksonian Age of Art, Geology, Literature, Religion

There should be more to a SHEAR conference than politics, gender, and race. The Jacksonian Age witnessed a new and unique confluence of art, geology, literature, and religion before they became divided into separate “ologies” each with their own organizations, journals, and conferences. At the 2016 conference, I asked Daniel Walker Howe about the absence of the Hudson River School in his book What Hath God Wrought covering 1815 to 1848. There should be a place for culture at SHEAR.

SHEAR has the opportunity to rise to the occasion. True, it is a volunteer organization of people scattered mostly at various colleges throughout the land. It has no particular skill or experience that I am aware of in taking a leadership position in the national conversation during a culture war. That’s not what it was commissioned to do when it was founded in 1977 after the Bicentennial. That is what America needs it to do as we approach our 250th.

America Can Still Win World War IV: Harris Helps

August 12, 2020
by Peter Feinman
It Looks Like the Borg Will Win but in the End the Federation Triumphs

America can still win World War IV.

America was on the winning side in World War I which may have ended due to the flu pandemic of 1917 causing no soldiers being able to fight according to the most ignorant President in American history.

America was on the winning side in World War II which may have ended after the flu pandemic of 1917 according to the most ignorant President in American history and who actually participated in a D-Day commemoration.

America was on the winning side of World War III (the Cold War) although Putin considers that loss to be the worst day in Russian history.

America could win World War III.02 if it had an adult President who was not an alpha male wannabee subordinate to alpha male Putin.

World War IV is different. China may not have the nuclear arsenal of the Soviet Union or Russia but it does have formidable economic power. It is quite focused on becoming the leader of the world befitting its heritage as the Middle Kingdom.

KOBE AND CORONAVIRUS: MEANING FOR WORLD WAR IV (February 4, 2020)

This blog was the first one I wrote this year on this topic. At that time, China seemed to be on a roll in its quest for world leadership…just as it is now. The blog cited various articles written about this quest and noted some problems:

1. demographics
2. world reaction to its treatment of Moslem Uighurs
3. Hong Kong’s desire to be free
4. the coronavirus.

China also was aided by the United States. It had wreak havoc with its alliances, abandoned being the City on a Hill and had no interest in being the last best hope of humanity.

The one positive note from an American point of view was soft power. The global reaction to the unexpected death of Kobe Bryant was a dramatic if tragic example that the eyes of the world still were on the United States.  The world pays attention to what is happening in America more so than it does in China.

What has happened since then?

HONG KONG

Last August, I wrote a blog, When Will the Borg Assimilate Hong Kong?: Is Resistance Futile? At that point in time, the situation seemed fluid and it was possible to imagine a positive outcome. By this year, that optimism was silly.  Instead, the new circumstances were Borg to Hong Kong: Resistance Is Futile (Not in America), June 2, 2020. The situation now is more bleak. China is rounding up dissidents in Hong Kong the way the American authoritarian leader would love to be able to do in the United States.

CORONAVIRUS

What can you say about the Chinese and American handling of the coronavirus? Despite the horrid start back in February, China successfully has controlled the spread of the virus. The example of the United States is an embarrassment by contrast. America has shown the world that it is led by a simple-minded incompetent person who is out of his league in coping with the disease. For the first time in American history, other countries pity us. Yet 41% of the American public still accept the American President as their Lord and Savior, the Chosen One, Blessed Be his Name. After all, there is no coronavirus on Fox. Problem solved. Meanwhile, the world laughs at us as it quarantines us.

GEORGE FLOYD

At first glance, one might think the murder of George Floyd and the subsequent demonstrations reflect poorly on America in the global arena. There is no doubt that Floyd and Corvid-19 have exposed an ugly underbelly of the American Dream and way of life. Nothing is hidden. Everything is revealed. The shortcomings and problems of the country are there for all the world to see.

That is exactly the point. This ugly America is also an example of America’s soft power. The ugliness is not hidden now but shown on American media and the internet which has no government firewall to prohibit it. It has sparked events in other countries as well. People in other countries would like the opportunity to protest freely. People in other countries also have issues with statues, monuments, memorials, and race. So while China is busy showing the world that it is just another authoritarian thug (with a lot of power), America has shown the world the right of the people to express themselves, rights which people in many countries do not have. America does not only mean the President of the United States, it also means the people throughout the country.

KAMALA HARRIS   

 Joe Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris to be his Vice Presidential candidate and possible successor as President is another example of America’s soft power. There is more to the country than the white racist in the White House. This is not to deny his strong support for being a bigot, but to point out for all the world to see that he does not dominate the country as if it was limited to Lafayette Square. Harris immediately connects the presidential election to two other countries: India and Jamaica. Those ancestral ties link America to the world in a way that could never happen in China. She shows that immigrants to the United States really can live the American dream. From this point forward, her very existence becomes a continually shining soft power symbol of America that China cannot match.

AUTHORITARIAN LEADERS

There is one final example of soft power that can propel the United States into a position of world leadership if the country wants it. We have the opportunity to remove our authoritarian leader. We can do what China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela and others cannot do. Furthermore we have the opportunity to do so comparatively peacefully through the democratic process. It is a shock that the United States actually has an authoritarian leader in the first place. There is no doubt that American democracy has taken a beating in the last 3+ years. There also is no doubt that the American authoritarian leader will do everything he can like any dictator in a Trumphole country to preserve his power. He may even be successful. I have written before about my doubts on whether or not the United States will celebrate its 250th birthday and with the same political boundaries it has today. Regardless of what the current polls say, it’s not over until the fat lady counts every contested ballot.

Even Steven Calabresi, co-founder of the Federalist Society, has written that the American authoritarian leader’s tweet on postponing the election “is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again by the House of Representatives and his removal by the Senate” (“Trump Wants to Postpone the Election. He Can’t,” NYT, August 1, 2020, print).  The day the Flying Monkey Attorney General indicts the Deep State should be the same day the Democrats begin the second impeachment and the removal of the Attorney General. This is not a time for the weak.

Wicked Witch of the White House Dispatching His Flying Monkeys to Secure the Election

So what does all this mean for World War IV? Right now this is the sweet spot for China just as it is for Russia. True the United States is fighting back against China but it has made no effort to regain its position as world leader. It has made no effort to mend its relationship with its nominal allies as it continues to do Putin’s bidding. All that can change in a few months. Vice Presidents are known for traveling the world although generally for funerals. Look for this one to travel the world to help Make American Great Again and regain for the United States the Number #1 position in the world.