The GOP Is Decadent and Depraved

Trump has stepped in it eyeball-deep again, jeopardizing our efforts against terrorism by handing out classified intelligence to the Russkies.  The resistance is getting excited again; maybe this will be the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Trump’s advisors and flunkies have leapt into damage-control mode again; actually, they just seem to stay in that mode.  And, apart from a few mild remarks by people like John McCain and Adam Kinzinger, the GOP is trying to ignore the whole business again.

     In all this uproar, there is one thing we can be sure of—this will not be the straw that breaks the back of the Trump administration.  What McConnell says in this Washington Post story makes that very clear:

I think we could do with a little less drama from the White House on a lot of things so we could focus on our agenda, which is deregulations, tax reform, repealing and replacing Obamacare.

There you have it; Trump is just too much of a drama queen, not incompetent or treasonous or mentally disordered.  If Trump would just tone it down a bit, the GOP could get on with looting and pillaging the working and middle classes to benefit their corporate constituents.  

     The GOP has been on a downward spiral of corporate stoogery since the election of Ronald Reagan.  And it has exploited racism (and misogyny and homohysteria and xenophobia and every other form of hatefulness) since Nixon’s southern strategy worked so well.  McConnell exhibited the racism of the GOP when he declared, following the election of Barack Obama, that the entire agenda of the Republican Party was to oppose Obama on all things.  And the GOP leadership’s commitment to corporate stoogery is exhibited by their willingness to tolerate anything Trump does, so long as he remains willing to further their corporatist agenda.

     The GOP isn’t going to do anything about Trump until he does something truly catastrophic, and perhaps not even then.  Eviscerating the EPA doesn’t seem to trouble GOP leadership.  Picking fights with dictators, or cuddling up to them, doesn’t either.  Selling out our allies to Putin is a small matter compared to the money to be made by cooperating with the Russian oil industry.  One is hard-pressed to imagine just what might make GOP leadership do something about the jackass they put in the White House.

     One often hears—from progressives and libertarians and people who are just fed up—that there is really no difference between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.  There is certainly some truth to this.  Both are captives of the corporate sector.  Both operate on the principle that they know better than you how you should live your life.  Both are corrupt and dishonest.  

     But there are at least two very important differences.  First, the Democratic Party actually has a conception of the public good, inadequate as it may be; the GOP is committed to nothing but serving the wealthy.  Second, the GOP is fueled by hate; it has welcomed in the racists, the woman-haters, the homohysterics, the anti-science crowd—anyone motivated by hatred for someone or something.  The Democrats may be annoyingly prissy and politically correct.  But they are not determined to put anyone back on the plantation, or back in the kitchen, or back in the closet.  These differences are important.

     Meanwhile, as I get ready to post this, the cycle is starting again.  It seems that Comey kept detailed notes on his dealings with Trump.  The resistance is getting excited again….  While we wait for the cycle to repeat itself, perhaps Jackie Gleason has the final word on the matter.

Is Donald Trump A Quisling?

Trump is taking his own sweet time in putting together the keystone kabinet, but it is already shaping up to be a gang of incompetents, corporate stooges, and war mongers to warm the heart of any Republican.  And there are even a few woman-beaters and Putin groupies in the mix.  (And there are a lot of homohysterics—more on that in another post.)  But all is not well in Trumpland.

     The GOP is already gearing up for an internal battle over Trump’s connections with Putin, Russian interference in the election, and the appointment of people who seem entirely too favorable to Russian interests.  John McCain is way out front on this, but other Republicans are gradually stiffening up their spines to raise questions.  I think this will make Congress rather less tractable than Trump imagines.  Indeed, it may do more than that; it may bring about the end of the GOP as we know it.

     Several years ago, George Will argued in a column that the GOP had to continue its opposition to abortion because that is all it really stood for anymore.  These days, I would argue that the Republican Party stands for many things—racism, woman-hating, homohysteria, anti-science goofery, war, and, the glue that holds it all together, corporate stoogery.  (Will, to his credit, has left the GOP.)  Be that as it may, I think it is safe to say that one theme, at least, has been consistent in the GOP for several decades—staunch opposition to authoritarian communism.  

     Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, for all that one was a crook and the other a confused old man who didn’t know what was going on, were adamant in their opposition to the USSR and the authoritarian regimes it spawned.  Nixon’s consistent anti-communism made it politically possible for him to initiate a change in our relations with China, and now China is the third largest market for US exports.  Reagan is popular in part because he is viewed as bringing the conflict between capitalism and communism to a successful conclusion.  

     But what of the rest of us?  If there really has been a significant Russian effort to influence the election by propaganda, computer intrusions, and other covert means, this surely offsets the pleasure of watching the GOP get what they’ve got coming.  This sort of meddling, even if it was unsuccessful, would constitute an attack on the country just as serious as a missile attack or a naval incursion into US territory.  An unsuccessful attack is still an attack, and the attacker is still our enemy.  As John Locke wisely said, nations can be in a state of war with one another even when they are not actively shooting.

     But suppose that the investigation initiated by President Obama, or the one that Congress is likely to launch soon, uncovers evidence that Trump was (is) complicit in this meddling.  (As I read the situation, this is not merely an idle supposition.)  And what of McConnell’s insistence on suppressing this intelligence?  Is this treason?  High crimes and misdemeanors?  

     The real danger here is in the damage that this is doing to our political culture.  Many Americans (many, many) are primed simply not to recognize the legitimacy of the incoming administration.  This is not simply frustration at losing an election to what they see as an inferior candidate; it is deep conviction that Trump is profoundly unfit to lead and that he did not win the election lawfully.  And every day, Trump speaks and acts to deepen this conviction.

     And now, it seems, some parts of our government—intelligence agencies, some members of Congress—are coming to share this conviction.   Perhaps the winds of constitutional crisis are gathering.

Pay No Attention

Trump’s performance in the weeks since the election should put to rest any doubts about how he will perform as President.  He knows almost nothing about the job of being President and ignores intelligence briefings and other opportunities to learn.  Thus, he blunders into embarrassing situations.  And if anyone calls him on them, he shoots off his mouth with no thought for facts, appearances, or consequences. .

     Sometimes, the consequences are simply to make the US look like a nation of fools because we have elected a fool to lead us.  Other times, there is risk of something more serious—a trade war (or even a shooting war) with China, or complicity with dictators, or simply corruption and conflicts of interest.  And there is no reason to think that Trump’s antics are evidence of some plan to take a new approach to foreign or domestic policy.  It’s just Trump being Trump.  The campaign has become the transition, and is about to become the administration.

     But there is a difference.  During the campaign, Trump’s antics were the strategy.  Trump and his handlers believed, apparently correctly, that overt racism and sexism, vulgarity, and constant belligerent narcissism were a path to the White House.  But I think that Trump’s antics will serve a very different function when his administration takes power.  

     Trump himself will be entirely too busy monetizing the Presidency—using his influence to cut foreign deals, tweaking regulations and appointments to further his business interests, stiffing the taxpayers for the costs of his private life—to bother with governing.   The conflicts of interest created by his failure to separate his political duties and private business activities have already reached epic proportions, and he hasn’t even taken office yet.  The Presidency may prove to be the most financially successful con in Trump’s long career of crap artistry. 

     The task of governing will almost certainly fall to Mike Pence and the rest of the folks that Trump is putting into positions of power.  And what a sorry bunch they are—a gang of racists, homohysterics, war mongers, and corporate stooges to warm the heart of any Republican.  Trump’s antics will serve as a very entertaining distraction from the real business of governing.  

     Trump’s demagoguery invites comparisons to dictators of the past, particularly (in my mind at any rate) to Mussolini.  And they do look a bit alike, especially, appropriately, around the mouth.  But I expect that Trump will be a sort of third-rate Mussolini, occupying the position of leader but wielding little power.  He is simply too disordered and preoccupied with his own affairs to exercise power effectively.  The real action will be behind the curtain.  Pay no attention.