Frank's Musings

Donald Trump’s Greenland Episode isn’t only the latest demonstration of his total detachment from reality; it shows how vulnerable our republic has become to the talents of a determined, wealthy, and deluded carnival barker.  We ought to have expected  him to act within his own twisted concept of reality, in which nothing of any importance exists other than himself.  However, we must recognize that he has been able to manipulate our democratic system of government to respond to insistent declaration of falsehoods instead of to our own critical analysis.

Oh, how we have fallen prey to our reliance on professionally designed media presentations for trusted commercial information and highly esteemed entertainment!  It may not require a real security threat for so vulnerable an electorate willingly to abdicate responsibility for protecting its self-interest if it allows civil society to be “run” by a single person.  Certainly, its elected representatives have already shown themselves to be much less inclined to protect the electorate’s welfare than their own.  Indeed, that is probably the main reason for the ambivalence that twice put Mr. Trump in office.

Both national political parties have decayed into mere career paths for glad handers.  The public apparently has wizened up to this, as evidenced by the growing number of independents.  Therefore, to serve the public’s true welfare and avoid the chaos of fashion, congressional Democrats and Republicans both need to remove or, at least, confine the rambunctiousness of our 47^th President.  It’s hard to believe that so unfocused and ignorant a leader could restructure our government; but his administration could seriously harm our liberal democracy, even only before the end of his current term in office.  That damage must be limited to give his successor a chance to restore America’s pride.

Most of the public believe what they are told entertainingly instead of what they have figured out for themselves.  They feel they are alive only by accident with no purpose but to minimize their and their loved ones’ pain of existence.  The messages that most effectively motivate them are those that help them achieve that goal.  Entertainment is a relief from their daily drudgery and therefore adds an incentive to paying attention to the message’s content.

The entertainment goal of most religions has been to convince people that there is a more important world that exists, either supernaturally or intellectually, that everyone enters spiritually upon death and that rewards them for conducting themselves according to certain tenets of faith.  Those principles of life are usually intended to facilitate the mutually beneficial coexistence of society, although how that society is defined often determines how peaceful it is. 

A smaller portion of the public have concluded that they are individually capable of satisfying their craving for relief from life’s vicissitudes.  This can result in mindful domination of others or in the search for mutually beneficial solutions to existential problems.  Ironically, some of those solutions are also mutually contradictory.  For example, the democratic organization of society usually results in a government that favors the desires of those most influenced by information presented in an entertaining and appealing way.  It is challenging for liberal democratic leaders to advocate for the general welfare when it involves personal sacrifice.  The Ancient Roman answer to this quandary—bread and circuses—is not obsolete; rather, it has been updated—debt and distraction.

This model cannot last.  But to avoid an inevitable collapse, critical Democratic thinkers must master modern communications techniques.  They must make a compelling as well as entertaining presentation of how a reformed government will guild the future of the lower and middle classes and stop funneling the fruits of their labor into the pockets of the wealthy.  More to the point, the Democrats must commit their own futures to the public’s response to their arguments beyond large donors’ gratuities.

The U.S. government “Army Talk” pamphlet for March 24, 1945, titled “Fascism!” clearly describes its sociopathic features.

President Trump and his Svengali, Stephen Miller, seem to think the Danes will shrink from sovereignty over Greenland just in response to threatening language. In fact, the White House is trying to do the same thing in Venezuela, Iran, Mexico, Cuba, and Nigeria. All without congressional approval.

How revealing were Vice President Vance’s words on Jan. 8 that the deceased Renee Nicole Good was “part of a broader left-wing network…to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.” Indeed, he is admitting that the job of Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement thugs is to terrorize immigrants from certain foreign regions and cultures so that they will not come or even seek admittance to the U.S.

In the Newspeak of this world, the job of federal law enforcement is to prevent dilution of the familiar character of life in America with new non-conforming residents. Trump and Vance don’t want it to be harder to maintain the illusion that they and their wealthy friends are inexorably in control of the country’s future. On the contrary, it is only by the continual revitalization of America’s roots through immigration that it will continue to lead world economic and technological development.

President Trump thought he had a deal with Maduro: The US pardons the former Honduran President Hernandez and Venezuela stops Venezuelan drug trafficking. Conforming with The Art of the Deal, now that Maduro can't or won't deliver, he and his wife get abducted.

The real deal was that electing Trump was tantamount to appointing an autonomous autocrat. In Trump’s mind, that meant global power—World politics is just a game, and he creates its rules.

The MAGA Crowd really didn’t think it was handing Trump unrestrained power; and they will shift their allegiance to any reformer, no matter how dominating, who presumes to replace him. They only want a leader who isn’t afraid to act resolutely and responsibly.

It is as much in Putin’s interest as in Trump’s to keep up the illusion that serious negotiations about ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are underway, even if a conclusion satisfactory to Zelenskyy and his nation will never be attained. Even unproductive talks keep US troops out of combat at the mere cost of Ukrainian disappointment; and it preserves an ineffective US leader for Russia’s adversary.

Neither American nor Russian true long-term national interests are bring served by this stalemate; but it prevents domestic opposition respectively to both Trump and Putin from reaching critical mass. Russian and American citizens are both victims of their own acquiescence to autocratic rule. Each nation is led by an autocrat who symbiotically depends on the other’s real or supposed aggressiveness to justify his own rule.