The idea suggested at left is most closely associated with 18th Century French writer Voltaire.
It’s of particular relevance today, as our right-wing government is aggressively muzzling anti-Trump comedians like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel.
Since the origins of humankind, we have known what late 20th Century American philosopher Terrence McKenna said at left to be true. With great consistency, we somehow select the worst people to lead us.
What many have realized, perhaps starting with Plato and Aristotle, is that good leaders do not want power; conversely, it’s our species’ cruelest and stupidest, one could say the “Donald Trumps of Earth,” whose lust for power drive them to the top.
I like this, though there is nothing “imaginary” about the vast wealth controlled by the fossil fuel industry. The top echelon of Big Oil has more money than the GDP of some of Earth’s countries.
As Mr. Spock says here, the whole practice is “illogical,” not to mention despicable.
Having said that, there is very little pushback. People who care about the wellbeing of Earth’s ecosystem and its people are derided as “woke anti-capitalists.”
At left is another example of a trend within American society that will either:
1) Remain indefinitely, and expand to become an even more vicious force on our society than it already is, or
2) Retreat to a point that it has practically no bearing on our lives.
I’m betting on #2; I think the dissolution of Trumpism will, by definition, mean a return to sanity and reason.
Re: the second Trump presidency, one of two things is going to happen; it’s hard to imagine any real middle-ground:
1) Trump will ultimately fail in his bid to take over the United States government, and to rewrite its history. Tidbits of what we now call “Trumpism” may remain, e.g., the White Nationalism, but they lay just beneath the surface anyway, even before Trump came on the political scene in 2015. In any case, the vast majority of Americans will remember the horrific events of January 6th, how Trump watched them as they unfolded from a television in the White House for more than three hours, before he realized that his insurrectionists were not going to succeed, and finally made a move to stop them.
2) Trump will ultimately succeed in transforming the United States into a post-truth, autocratic nation.
I’m betting #1. Even as disgusting as our current events may be, it’s still hard to believe that one sociopathic criminal can bring down something as vast as the United States of America.
Many of Trump’s supporters, whether they’re in farming or some sort of small business, are realizing to their bitter disappoint that the economic policies that their leader has put into place are driving them into bankruptcy.
I’m not a political advisor, but I don’t think this bodes well for the president.
Here’s a woman dancing for joy that RFK Jr. is owning the libs.
It’s true that some people, myself included, would rather take health instructions from scientists rather than a recovering heroin addict whose brains have been eaten by worms, and we’re chagrinned that our country’s citizens are under the medical care of a total crackpot.
The problem for our nation’s morons is that owning the libs means degrading our nation and the safety and well-being of its people across the board, regardless of their political persuasion. Here, that means ignoring health science that has virtually eliminated dozens of dread diseases. In other scientific arenas, it means baking our planet, and all the accompanying dangers: floods, droughts, wildfires, loss of land mass, etc.
We are all on the same planet, dealing with the same contagious diseases, and the same catastrophic storms. “Owning” those who think differently seems a bit childish, doesn’t it?
I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve written, “Americans may be stupid, but we’re not that stupid. There’s limit here.” Having been so clearly wrong many dozens of times, I know how dull-witted I sound when I say that I agree with Dr. Tribe here and his assertion that there are finite number of “last straws” before the United States expels Donald Trump from political life.
From a reader: Chicago had one of its biggest protests ever, with thousands hitting the streets to stand up against the regime, DHS, ICE & Trump’s war on the American people. History is being made in the streets.
During Trump’s first term, the top echelon of the U.S. military–dozens of our highest-ranking generals and admirals–saw through Trump and realized that represented a huge threat to American democracy; most of them made their thoughts completely clear to the American public.
All this set the stage for a showdown. If Trump is to remain in power, he’ll need the backing of our troops to make it happen.
Many people think that Trump’s war on Democrat-controlled cities is just a warm-up for what is to come.
Answer to the question posed here: High concentration of undocumented people. Rounding them up is like shooting fish in a barrel.
Of course, virtually none are criminals, and all are (or at least were) paying taxes and contributing to the economy.
