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I have been thinking about this post for a while. Given the most recent events, now is as good a time as any.
What to make of Donald Trump? Well, that isn’t really my question, but something like that. More like, now that we have had five months’ experience with Trump 2.0, where do we stand? Are we headed toward an off-ramp, or are we still going full speed toward a head-on collision?
BTW – for purposes of this post, I don’t care if Trump is unwilling or unable or disallowed. It makes no difference to answer the question: off-ramp or head-on collision?
The Good
Let’s talk about the good – none of which would have happened with anyone else as president.
Stopped the border – he seems to have done this effectively
Stopped DEI – yes…and no (more on the “no” in a minute).
MAHA – perhaps the brightest spot so far.
The Bad…or Ugly
Now for the bad / ugly – which is equal to or worse than what anyone else as president would have done.
I will end that war in one day - The only way to have done this – stop the funding, write an order stopping all aid, stopping all involvement by US personnel. Anyone with half a brain knew this was the only way to end the war in a day. So, I guess I assumed Trump had half a brain.
That war would never have started if I were president – you mean like Israel and Iran? Let’s just say it really turned out to be great news that Trump didn’t bring back Bolton and Pompeo.
Reduce spending – Musk was right to call out Trump on this.
Free speech – a new DEI now aimed at protecting the most privileged group in all of the United States.
Conclusion
When Trump 2.0 began, I wrote that we would know which way we would head within 12-18 months (or I wrote something like this). I think it is safe to say, there is no off-ramp.
A couple of months’ ago, I asked some friends: in four years, do you think we will be in worse shape than today because Trump was president? I think the answer is a clear YES.
Whatever comes after Trump, it will be tyranny. Trump has further opened that door for the left, if the left wins; and if the right still doesn’t get what it wants from Trump, and the right wins, they will want an absolute tyrant.
I agree in principle with you, while I am more positive. I'm really glad that Trump pardoned so many political prisoners. He should do more, but still glad.
ReplyDeleteI think war with Iran or some kind of conflict would have taken place with a President Harris. Israel runs our Deep State and federal policy. There is no way around that.
Trump is deporting illegals and closing the border as you noted. This is very needed. As important as economic policy. As a libertarian I see government spending as just as important as ending the racial take over of America. They are actually parts of the same policy. The welfare/warfare state requires more and more population to maintain a tax base to fund it all. I got blocked and insulted for saying this on Twitter by all the "right wing dissidents" and Christian Nationalists. They say they want better economics and money but insult anyone who stands up for actual economic freedom, because "economics is fake and gay you stupid libertarian, the race war is the only important thing we can think about!"
I've heard different things about Trump's spending plan. I've heard it decreases spending, increases spending. I've heard tariffs hurt the economy, I've foreign investment in the US is at an all time high. I think overall the spending will increase and tariffs aren't a good thing, but I don't think it's fully good or bad.
One great thing is energy policy. The Congress is working to end subsidies for wind and solar which are ruining our grid. They are pushing through things that will encourage more nuclear power. They are cutting regulations at a crazy level. All of that is great news.
Like you say, MAHA seems to be positive though plodding.
If Trump can just keep his wits for more than a week or so, he will be okay on war. Remember just a couple of weeks ago he fired Mike Waltz who was pushing war in the Middle East. He is trying to play both sides. JD Vance needs to rediscover his America First persona and get in Trump's face. He has been a squish when it counts so far, but there is hope.
https://thecrosssectionrmb.blogspot.com/
How could I forget the release of the J-6. Also one of the best events.
DeleteYes, perhaps I am too pessimistic. It may come from a place that this is/was a great chance to avoid a coming chaos and collapse, overall a cabinet that we have never seen, and in some of the most important positions - with RFK, Jr., Gabbard, Patel, Bondi, etc.
It seems clear that nothing will avoid this chaos and collapse. Even this shouldn't surprise me - I have read plenty of history to know how empires die.
RMB,
DeletePardoning J6ers and Ross was huge. Worth the punch of the ticket for me.
My optimism comes in yet another Repub failure waking more and more normie conservative Southerners up to the fact that nothing will really change for the better unless we separate from this unholy union.
The California scene: clearly the State government is doing nothing to protect the lives and property of its citizens. But nationalizing the Guard seems at odds with what remains of States' right, and decentralization is an important bulwark against tyranny. Furthermore, the Guard (and the Marines) are not trained to act as police, no more than they were trained to administer vaccines, as they were wont to do in the "Pandemic". Again, the line is being blurred between the military and the police, with the latter becoming militarized in tactics and in equipment. As far as freedom of speech goes, why am I (presently) free to criticize federal and state officials (not so in the German Federal Republic), but not a certain foreign state in the Near East? Speaking of which, the current situation in Iran is fueled to no small extent by American tax dollars and technology subsidizing you-know-who. Responsibility for these executive policies, as Hamilton argued in the Federalist Papers, rests in the President.
ReplyDeleteTo your point about states rights, I agree with this as a concern. Many are pleased that Trump is stretching the boundaries, because they like what he is doing. It's just that every expansion always gets used by the enemy the next time.
DeleteIt was through the states that much of covid nonsense was shut down. I don't forget this.
I think Trump can protect ICE with other federal agencies without disrespecting states rights. But he has to let CA burn. He shouldn't use the guard or military to fight against rioters. I think that action is a win win. He gets done what he wants without encroaching on state's rights and CA suffers for their foolishness.
DeleteYou are correct to be concerned about the Left using whatever powers Trump expands. The right wing dissident, Christian Nationalists answer is to destroy your enemies and never let them back in power. It is a way to ignore the outcome of their misguided policies. It is also delusional to think the Left can be completely destroyed in the next 4 years.
I think with all the fear porn about authoritarianism on the right vs that of the left, we lose sight of the fact that it is big, centralized government in DC that is the problem, hence the push on both sides to be able to grab the levers of all that power. I say, "down with power". It needs to be radically decentralized and redistributed back to the states, counties, and municipalities from whence it sprung so many centuries ago. THAT should be the goal, and it doesn't matter what side of some artificial fence you are on. We all have the same enemy: the state.
DeleteAnon,
DeleteHonestly, everyone should be in favor of decentralization of power. If we went back to the political structure of Antebellum America (sans slavery of course), then every state would have a much easier time getting what they want. When you boil it down, the only real argument for remaining a centralized singular nation-state in DC is the desire to subjugate others (and their money) to your will. It's ideological hubris and the love of empire.
Deacon,
DeleteYou are 100% correct. The "Brazilians" (a la Sam Hyde) have a lot of influence in American politics thanks to the tripartite alliance of the (typically Southern) giant Evangelical Christian voting base, AIPAC political funding, and the Neocon/MIC financial/media apparatus.
Not just that though. Let's not forget that left-wing "Brazilians" are often the strongest advocates for open borders. So right-wing Brazilians start wars in the Mid East causing a flood of refugees to press up against the West, and then left-wing "Brazilians" push the state to let them all in. The result is a weakened, self-hating, left-wing controlled West and a "Brazilian" dominated Mid East.
I don't regret voting for Trump (yet) because of the wins on the domestic culture war front, but I was worried he'd be Israel's puppet. I thought one saving grace might be that him and Netanyahu would get their egos crossed and that Netanyahu would piss off Trump. It seemed like that had happened to some extent, until the latest Iran strikes (and Trump's glowing endorsement and at least pretended complicity).
ReplyDeleteIt is hilarious how often in my life I've seen Republicans champion limited government and cutting government waste and spending when campaigning and then when they get into office, they increase the budget. All that DOGE stuff (consulting Dr. Ron Paul...) was just total smoke up our asses. They got Congress to agree to cut what? like 9 billion dollars? That's a drop in the ocean of Federal spending (a tenth of one percent), which would immediately be swallowed up and surpassed by Trump's Big Beautiful Bill (which delusionally claims to save 1.7 trillion over like 10 years or something, but will likely add a few trillion to the federal debt instead).
Republicans sometimes make good on their promises to cut taxes (apart from Reagan), but they never, ever cut spending, which means they tend to increase the debt faster than the Dems, especially since they get less push-back from the Dems about increasing spending than Dems get from the Repubs when the former is running the show. Repubs love to act like fiscal hawks when they are out of power.
I want a pro-Southern (anti-Lincoln) paleocon party to challenge the Repubs in the South. It should use Trump as a poster child for why real conservatives and reactionaries should abandon the Repub party. I'm convinced the LP is a lost cause. We need a real third party to lead us towards decentralization and independence from DC. Libertarianism has just become too culturally corrosive to get much of a following among normal right-wing people. Also the new Southern Party leadership should be organized like a monarchy with Tom Woods or Dr. Ron Paul as its benevolent king (now I'm dreaming).
ATL, this is why I try to remind myself of the good that has come with Trump. With the dems, we would have seen none of the good and all (or almost all) of the bad.
DeleteEither way (Trump or Kamala), I think we would be walking toward a possible devastating war.
To your other comment above: the hope, and best possibility, that might come out of what we are seeing from Trump (by dumping on Tulsi and Tucker...so far) is that actual MAGA republicans will realize that no one in political power is on their side. But what comes out of that, I don't know.