Frank's Musings

Now that Trump is convicted in New York of felony fraud, let’s say he appeals. During the ensuing delay of Trump’s penalty, he is nominated to run for President by the Republicans and wins several contested states. Those states’ legislatures refuse to accept victory by the Democrat and secede from the Union. They assume control of all military personnel and weaponry within their borders, and civil war takes place. The rebel and loyal states are each supported by guerrilla groups in the territories of the opposing sides.

This scenario resembles the chaos depicted in the Garland film, Civil War.  As a cause for dismantling the Union, would competition between the libertarian ideal of self-reliance and democrats’ reliance on big government be as compelling a justification for civil war as slavery was 150 years ago?  The coupling of the issues of public vs. private healthcare for an aging population with the loss of personal control of personal decisions to AI might trigger just such an interregional conflict.

In any case, Trump’s belief that he can lead a group of disaffected Americans to take control of the government could bring about a very rocky outcome of the 2024 presidential election.  There is no guarantee that small-minded voters won’t support enough political power-seekers to take control of a few isolationist state governments.  Therefore, the threat of authoritarianism that so worries people like Ken Burns must motivate the Biden campaign and subsequent liberal democratic movements in the leading countries all over the world to recharge their efforts to defend enlightened management of our common affairs.

The black community is equally worried about the planet’s survivability in a warmer climate as are all the country’s youth and adults with young families, in particular because they have waited so long for retribution for the discriminatory circumstances under which they and their ancestors were forced to live.

The NCAA agreement to allow payments to college athletes elevates individuals’ athletic skill over their education, which contributes to the nation’s civic order. Booster sponsorship subsidies, whether from individuals or commercial sports organizations, should be directed at whole teams and athletic programs.  They should be advertised as such, in competition with other sponsored colleges. 

That would formally make them recruitment and training farms for professional sports while strengthening the colleges’ primary social mission.

Thomas Edsall reported in the 5/22/2024 NYT that political scientists Arseneaux and Truex have written that “belief in the lie may have buoyed some of Trump supporters’ self-esteem.”  Indeed, the ability to supersede plain reality with “alternative fact” can be as big an ego-builder as discrimination against other human classes. Edsall attributes recognition of this transformational Trump legacy to history professor Brownell.

Ultimately, Trump’s presidential significance is not so much transformational as transactional. He has skillfully “tapped into and mobilized a vast following of discontented people” rather than led them, as argued by Taylor, another history professor quoted by Edsall.

In other words, Trump’s objective is not to resolve the causes of the MAGA crowd’s resentment, but only to use their discontent to drive the accomplishment of his own solipsistic goals.  Indeed, America’s system of government is in danger of chaotic transformation if voters ignore that truth.