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Why is this man smiling. Does he think winning is a good thing?
As I try to imagine what’s likely to befall us in the coming months, there’s a group I’m increasingly concerned about — a group in addition to the sick, the uninsured, the unemployed, the homeless, the bankrupt ( If you have unsecured debt like medical bills, you can consult an attorney to help with filing your chapter 7), all of whom will surely suffer greatly. I’m worried about the Democrats.
I think they’re going to win the election, and for weeks and months afterward will be on a terrific high — the Prince of Darkness gone, decency and competence restored to the White House, our country no longer the laughingstock of the world. What I worry about is what happens when it dawns on them that it hasn’t made any difference.
The president doesn’t run the country. When Donald Trump talks about “the economy I created,” he’s delusional, a man in his seventies who still believes in Santa Claus. But all the politicians have been acting as if the president is in charge of everything for so long, I fear the Democrats are delusional in their own way, believing in their own fairy tale, expecting Biden to fix everything.
He can’t. Not because he’s Biden, or a Democrat, but because no president could. Presidents can lead, they can propose, they can advocate, they can influence, but they don’t and can’t run the country.
Take for example the pandemic. The federal government has been like a fire department trying to deal with multiple blazes with no water in their hoses, not much to do but stand around and watch ‘em burn. One thing the feds could have done but didn’t is mandate a lockdown comprehensive enough and long enough to slow the rate of infections and give the doctors the upper hand.
That’s not an option for Biden. If he tries it he will face armed resistance from a significant proportion of the population for whom the whole subject has been politicized and weaponized. It shouldn’t have happened, but it did. And that resistance, armed or not, will doom the effort. So no matter who’s president, the pandemic is going to have to burn itself out, with incalculable harm yet to be done to millions of people. That’s going to be a bitter pill for Democrats, even if swallowed with champagne left over from the inaugural festivities.
As with the pandemic, so with the depression. All politicians like to say that if you elect them, they will create jobs, but they never have. Neither has any president. When ordinary people have money to spend, jobs get created by people intent on taking their money. Only then. Biden will have no power to create jobs. The Congress might keep the zombie economy shuffling along with a few more stimulus shots, but there is actually a limit to the amount of money that can be imagined into existence. We don’t know what the limit is, but we know we’re getting damned close to it.
Global climate change will continue with ever increasing intensity, because it is way past the time anybody, president, king or emperor, could do anything significant about it. The endless wars will continue, hell, Biden voted for them. His old boss, Barack Obama, professed to be against them, and for eight years struggled to take just the first small step against them by closing down Guantanamo prison. He could not do it. Tell me again how the president runs the country.
I do not mean to say that the upcoming elections do not matter. In my view, it is the sacred duty of every eligible American to vote in November, and vote to remove the stain from our history. But I worry about those who imagine the vote can possibly remove the trials and tribulations from our future.
Good reminder, but I’m sorry to also have to remind you of this one, … a Biden victory is by no means assured.
I’m not an American, but being working class gives you the imponderable insights into what made Trump possible. And those ingredients have done nothing but ferment and gain potency.
The pathetic inquiry into whether or not an intellectual midget conspired with Russians to gain votes or whatever the hell the drama story was; it was probably the stupidest way to go about addressing the real problem was the fact that the electoral system did not filter out obvious ineptitude in the form of an overtly crassly ignorant, bigoted, pathological liar.
The democratic candidates are weak, real effin’ weak. The overly manicured speeches so designed to not offend anyone as to be devoid of any substance, no longer cut it.
Failure to grasp that dishonesty and inauthenticity has a stench that no amount of “elite” brilliance can override is what does the democrats in.
They have no concrete vision to propose, nothing to rally the country into.
I understand the sheer numbers of potential voters favor the democrats, but that the electoral college system attenuates this greatly.
The appeal to throw a wrench in the machine’s gearbox did not go away, especially now that all have seen that it can be done. The appeal to shake the whole goddamn pinball machine has not gone away.
Yep, I’m not at all convinced that Biden can win this thing. Once again, the Democrats get behind the lowest common denominator.
Spot on, UnhingedBecauseLucid. See also: https://blog.usejournal.com/why-trump-is-likely-to-win-again-23e56ccff95b
Still, excellent post, Tom. I am surrounded by liberals who think a Biden win will put us on the right track. Good luck with that, I say, for all the reasons you mentioned and more. (If he even wins.)
Yep, great well written article you linked there.
The guy’s description of his “alternate self”‘s living and working conditions so eerily fits my own that the emotions it stirred startled me, … so I’ll grant him my “authenticity” seal of approval.
Wasn’t that long ago that premature schadenfreude was evident among liberals, as a consolation for Hillary losing. They thought that at least Trump/Rupublicans would be holding the bag when the economy cratered.
Well, the timeline for collapse is longer and more circuitous than most believe, so Biden (if he wins)may well be the one holding ( at least partially) the bag.
I fully agree, collapse is inevitable, who is “in charge” may just vary the details a bit.
Too little stress weakens a system; atrophy sets in and it loses its ability to respond robustly when challenges present themselves. Perhaps the affluence of post-war America led my generation to believe that the good life was a given. It was not so much a question of IF we would live well, but of HOW, I.E., what lifestyle would we choose to adopt. (I remember when ‘lifestyle’ was two words.)
A weakened system invites attack from both without and within, often simultaneously.* Effective, reasoned leadership becomes near impossible in a fracturing social order, and the easily manipulated and corrupt rise to the top. This, I believe, is where we stand today.
Anyway, despite Kunstler’s eloquent polemic on his current post supporting the Trump position, and my own deep misgivings regarding the pale shadow of what was once a true Democratic Party, I will be holding my nose and voting for Biden this November.
* The Corona Virus is an extraordinarily apt metaphor for what’s happening to our country in general. It attacks the body from without, then ignites an immune system storm that reeks as much havoc as the initial infection itself…”Ya’ can’t fool Mother Nature.”
re: Barrack Obama and Guantanamo
Obama could have shut down Guantanamo -at any time of his choosing- with an executive order. That he chose not to, showed typical Obama savvy, as Guantanamo turned out to be an excellent political football to toss back and forth.
Hell, what really happened was Obama got to throw tight-ass spirals at his opponents for more than four years, and watch them drop em! He had weak kneed Republicans openly admitting they were trembling in their booties at the mere thought of “terrorists” doing maximum security hole time on US soil. What if one of them escapes barefoot into the countryside!
My fellow Americans, if the Guantanamo plan is adopted we may all be forced to run for our lives!
What a ruthless genius Obama was. Still is, as a matter of fact. Right Bernie?
As for voting for the fascists to kick the Nazi’s out of power, I’m not down with it. It’s a tactical solution, in my opinion. A fascist victory will only embolden the fascists to become more fascistic, while the Nazi’s will use their time out of power to become more ardent goose steppers.
Thinking strategically, I think it would be better to let the Nazi’s absorb all the blame for what’s coming, then there might be a one in five million chance of turning this “thing” around at the other end.
But a Biden/Harris victory, as unlikely as that may be, will create conditions where there will be no chance to turn anything around. The collapse, or best case scenario, endless of series of calamities, will occur on their watch, and next Nazi rollin’ into the Oval Office 4 years hence might not be a twitter happy simpleton, in fact he might be as cool and ruthless a cucumber as Obama, and his coattails might be dragging along not only amateur militiamen but some properly trained Death Squads.
Obama could have gone to Guantanamo. He could have shut it down. The truth is Obama is a silver tongued player who is out for himself. That is why they lie. In America only sociopaths can rise to the top and Obama is one with a smile. He was no game changer. A real leader would have changed the game but the first black president was not selected to change the game. but to keep it going.
I was suspicious of Obama from the start and it came as no surprise that he was no action.
American presidents drone people every day. Trump does it and Obama did it. Trump should have broken Obama’s record by now. He was on track two years ago. I wish I could say for sure, Obama’s number is several hundred, and current info is suppressed. Suppressed in the land of the free and the easily played, otherwise known as America.
Re: “I think they’re going to win the election.” Not a chance in hell.