Random Thoughts on Trump

The Overview Watching people react to Trump is an exercise in people watching. Sometimes it’s instructive to be in alien observation mode…

The Overview
Watching people react to Trump is an exercise in people watching. Sometimes it’s instructive to be in alien observation mode. Mostly it reminds the grown up in me exactly how petty people can be with their complaints. In other words, follow a complaint about Trump and you’ll find a worldview of fear and distrust. I simply see it as remarkable how difficult it is for the general public comments I’ve see to be specific. IE here is an individual that I cannot understand or relate to, maybe he’s a witch.

The Mordor of New York
Suddenly I thought of Leona Helmsley, because I’m reminded in all the hatred of Trump how blase he must be about it considering how much New Yorkers loved to hate him. New Yorkers love to hate everybody. In fact, if you try to Google ‘Most loved New Yorkers’ you won’t find anyone other than Derek Jeter. But most hated New Yorkers.. as they say.. do you want the whole list or just the top 50? New Yorkers are over-caffienated and over-opinionated, which was one of the reasons I loved the place. Never boring. I still think it’s stunning how survivable Trump is going to be amidst the flack and drubbing he gets.

The Fuck You Money
Trump is military academy man. Construction boss man. Scrap with the NY Press man. Reality TV man. Divorce man. Billionaire man.

I still think he’s the walking personification of fuck you money, that thing that so many Americans wish they had.

But the real question is why Americans feel that they need fuck you money. I think that has everything to do with an actual lack of highbrow culture in America’s upper class. And when I bring that context in, I think of exactly what it is that new money brings to American culture, and the answer is ‘snapchat’.

In other words, the issue misdiagnosed as ‘income inequality’ is more accurately ‘cultural distance’. And in my book, cultural distance is all about the death of jazz, literature, fine art and all the edifying oats of Western Civ in favor of ‘degenerate art’ and relativism that has young people screaming about the ‘cultural appropriation’ of their ethnic charms.

It would be instructive to me to understand how the wealthy tribes of NYC decide whom to invite to their soirees and the agendas of such. Do they really all just talk about money and movies and their pleasure craft? Is that all their is? In other words what is, in fact, the difference between Hillary Clinton and Liddy Dole? Or am I just too far out of social proximity to properly interpret the social pecking order of the ruling class? Or, are they all , as some folks prefer to say, just rich white people? Or as consumers of the conspiratorial press say, all gangsters and bullshit artists who get away with it?

Bushisms Again
OK this one is actually somewhat political. One of the things I didn’t like about Obama was his inability to create heroes. There was no example in his administration of somebody more worthy of attention because of an opportunity that Obama gave them to shine in service to their country. Concurrently, there was no issue beneath the attention of that President. He injected his personality into what I considered to be small-minded matters. So the connection that I make is that his eloquence and specificity served to be, well, self-serving. Somebody that delegates responsibility doesn’t need to be so very specific. When I tell you to clean up your room, son, it is implied that I mean for you to make the bed, and that means to put the pillows in the right place. Trump has been called, literally, on mispronouncing the city of his ancestor’s birth in Europe over the weekend ‘controversy’ about Sweden’s problems with immigration.

Trump, like Bush, is having the experience of mincing people parse his verbiage, and seeking rhetorical patronage in their own tweedy dialects. That’s not going to happen. He’s not going to be an actor up there like Reagan. His proclamations are not going to be eloquent. He’ll leave that to others. Like Bush, Trump has appointed some heavyweights, who will articulate details.

Si Se Puede
Can America find, round up and deport millions of illegal immigrants, breaking up and splintering their families and livelihoods? Well, yes. But will they? Well, probably. What is criminal? I think we’re going to find out. If it were me, I’d start with the convicts. Here’s the thing. It’s easier to burn an American flag than to burn your citizenship papers, except we don’t have citizenship papers. If it were me, we would. A national ID that preserves anonymity is doable.

What I Wish Trump Would Say
“The American people remain incapable of sustaining a national independent third party without the requisites of today which are billion dollar campaigns funded by cabals of millionaires, ancient think tanks, crafty lobbyists and giant corporations. There is no such thing as grass roots, there are only Democrats and Republicans. All I need to care about are 538 powerful Americans.”

Originally published at cobb.typepad.com on February 22, 2017.