{"id":1103,"date":"2020-08-28T12:36:52","date_gmt":"2020-08-28T12:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1103"},"modified":"2020-08-28T12:36:52","modified_gmt":"2020-08-28T12:36:52","slug":"august-28-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bikingwithmike.com\/?p=1103","title":{"rendered":"August 28, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I wrote this last night and this morning I read the latest post from Heather Cox-Richardson.\u00a0 I would, once again, strongly recommend that you read her regularly.\u00a0 She is much more eloquent and knowledgeable than I, but it seems that we both view the world through a very similar lens.\u00a0 The link to her blog is at the end of this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tonight will go down in American history as the first, and hopefully the last, time a candidate for the office of President of the United States will use the White House as a political backdrop to accept a party nomination.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a dark day in American history.\u00a0 The words of all of Trump\u2019s supporters and enablers, when they talk about how much Trump loves America and will stand up for the Constitution, ring hollow with hypocrisy.\u00a0 Certainly, any discussion of Law and Order is a joke given that Trump\u2019s actions put every Federal employee who participated in this White House extravaganza in violation of the Hatch Act.\u00a0 Then again, we all know that laws don\u2019t mean anything to Trump.\u00a0 We are officially well on our way to becoming just another despotic regime rather than a beacon of democracy around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just for a little thought exercise, imagine what the country would have been like had Trump been the president during the Civil Rights era of the sixties, or during the Vietnam protests?\u00a0 \u00a0I shudder to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am currently reading, The Captive Mind, by Czeslaw Milosz, a Polish writer and Nobel prize winner, who wrote this book in the early 1950\u2019s as Eastern Europe was in the grips of Stalinism.\u00a0 I read a passage today that struck me: \u201cIf the world is divided between Fascism and Communism, obviously Fascism must lose since it is the last, desperate refuge of the bourgeoisie.\u00a0 The bourgeoisie rules through demagoguery, which in practice means that prominent positions are filled by irresponsible people who commit follies in moments of decision.\u00a0 Just as follies were Hitler\u2019s ruthless policy toward the Eastern peoples, or Mussolini\u2019s involvement of Italy in the war.\u201d^{1<\/sup><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n}

If one uses the term \u2018bourgeoisie\u2019 in the Marxist context to mean \u2018the capitalist class who owns most of society\u2019s wealth and means of production,\u2019 it seems strikingly appropriate for the situation we find ourselves in today.\u00a0 Trump and his wealthy and primarily white supporters find themselves in a changing America and they are in a desperate effort to stop the demographic and societal changes that are occurring.\u00a0 It\u2019s a futile effort.\u00a0 As I stated in a previous post, biology and demographics will ultimately win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what is even more ironic and tragic, is that so many of the people who so fervently support Trump will be some of those hurt the most by his policies and those espoused by his wealthy enablers.\u00a0 Trump and his wealthy enablers don\u2019t need Social Security \u2013 many of his supporters do.\u00a0 Trump and his wealthy supporters don\u2019t need Medicare \u2013 many of his supporters do.\u00a0 Trump and his wealthy supporters don\u2019t need a good public education system \u2013 they can send their kids to pricey private schools.\u00a0 The ballooning national debt and Trump\u2019s plan to cut taxes even further will ensure support to these programs will all be on the chopping block if he is reelected.\u00a0 If he says differently, it is just another lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump cares about Trump.\u00a0 Trump cares about money.\u00a0 Trump cares about TV ratings.\u00a0\u00a0 And sadly, Trump only cares about those American people who can help bolster those things.\u00a0 And when they are no longer needed, they will be tossed to the side.\u00a0 Loyalty for Trump is a one-way street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Constitution, the White House, words like \u2018democracy\u2019, \u2018law and order\u2019 are just props for Trump.\u00a0 They are just staging for his reality TV show that we are all unwitting cast members of.\u00a0 We are just all \u2018extras\u2019 and will be cast aside and booted off the set when we are no longer needed.\u00a0 Some sooner than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a reality TV persona, Trump knows very well that perception is everything.\u00a0 In TV, reality is what you create it to be.\u00a0 And Trump is a master of creating his own reality, as are those around him.\u00a0 Gaslighting in the Trump administration has been honed to a fine art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Republican convention was a gaslighting extravaganza!\u00a0 The country, with over 180,000 American lives lost to the pandemic, is one of the worst performing nations in the world.\u00a0 Unemployment is a disaster.\u00a0 Racial unrest is a major issue.\u00a0\u00a0 And multiple regions in the country are being hugely impacted by natural disasters.\u00a0 The speakers, in general, at the Republican convention barely touched on any of those issues.\u00a0 Instead they tended to rewrite history and convince the American people that Trump did a fantastic job managing all of these crises.\u00a0 If that isn\u2019t major league gaslighting I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The really sad thing is, people will buy it.\u00a0 That\u2019s the thing that concerns me the most.\u00a0 I am scared to death that Trump will once again lose the popular vote and litigate his way to a \u2018win\u2019 via the electoral college, possibly the House of Representatives and whatever foreign help he can solicit.\u00a0 \u00a0Of course, that is exactly the kind of dramatic, made for TV, ending a reality persona like Trump would like.\u00a0 I can only hope that sufficient numbers of Americans are tired of the \u2018Trump show,\u2019 and will vote to ensure it is not renewed for another presidential term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n