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Citizens' Voices—
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Billy Bob's Dispatches
Citizens' Voices—
On a very charitable day, the Trump phenomenon could be seen as a downright bumbling and opportunistic Bonapartist attempt doomed to fail (due to the grotesque ineptitude and inherent chicanery of the principal), to ride the structural crisis facing the US capitalist class to personal power. (No offence to the real Bonaparte, folks!)
Trump was the timely beneficiary of overwhelming disgust with the two party system and its inability to further working class interests. The existing system provides a facade of democracy while promoting capitalist class interests and shielding the actual policy makers from any accountability for their lack of furthering working class interests. If managed properly, the capitalist class can play both sides against each other in perpetuity without having to offer any concessions to the working class.
Instead of engaging in the slippery slope of concession granting, the billionaire-owned mass media stokes racial and cultural divisions resulting in the desired fragmentation of the working class. With the working class bifurcated into two broad groups, the mass media manipulates these groups through the propaganda technique Bernays called “continuous interpretation” in which daily events are explained through the red or blue partisan lens with the intent of rendering public opinion compatible with establishment interests while keeping the electorate divided.
With red and blue falsely depicted as opposite ends of the political spectrum, blue achievement is seen as red loss and vice versa. This tug of war is stage-managed by class conscious establishmentarians whose prime directive is to ensure that neither side “wins” thereby maintaining the system’s viability and perpetuity. Though differences exist between the two parties, they amount to little more than strategic disagreements over how to best consolidate capitalist class power and maintain their system. Their respective platforms are in a continuous state of flux and not adhered to in any event if contradiction and hypocrisy can result in partisan gain.
"Such a system would not exist if not for the overwhelming political ignorance of the American public–an ignorance which is facilitated and encouraged by the ruling capitalist establishment that has every incentive not to develop an informed and politically astute citizenry...".
Such a system would not exist if not for the overwhelming political ignorance of the American public–an ignorance which is facilitated and encouraged by the ruling capitalist establishment that has every incentive not to develop an informed and politically astute citizenry.
While extreme political ignorance was necessary for Trump’s ascendancy, even more so was the crisis of legitimacy which culminated following eight years of Barack Obama’s non-existent “Hope and Change” presidency. Trump exploited this crisis as fully as he possibly could by loudly denouncing the status quo as a swamp which needed to be drained. It was his anti-establishment rhetoric which appealed to voters and which enabled him [to win] victory over his establishment rival.
Trump’s populist demagoguery and his willingness to tarnish the sanctity of ruling class institutions of power and control like the rigged electoral system, or the fake-news mass media, ensured his popularity among a broad segment of the electorate but it also ensured that he would not be tolerated by the class conscious establishment consensus.
For four years they struggled to control and contain the demagogic outsider while they worked to harness his popularity (and unpopularity) in furtherance of their own partisan interests. Team blue took the gloves off and immediately attempted to depict Trump as evil and incompetence personified.
Just nineteen minutes into his term, the Washington Post announced his impeachment was underway: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../the-campaign-to.../] No punches were pulled and no opportunity was missed with which to dishonestly present Trump in the absolutely worst light imaginable.
Team red on the other hand was far more nuanced in their approach as they had much more to gain and much more to lose. While a few on team red opposed Trump outright from the very beginning, most attempted to manage the situation in a way which harnessed Trump’s popularity while engaging in damage control over his destructive rhetoric.
Trump’s greatest supporters and defenders were indeed among the worst right wing sycophants that our society has produced. Folks like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Mark Levin, hitched their wagon to Trump’s popularity in an effort to use their platform to keep Trump’s demagoguery within the velvet ropes of traditional Republican discourse and polite partisan behavior. They defended him from the outrageous and dishonest attacks of team blue and became the voice of reason during the Russiagate, and Ukrainegate hoaxes. Nevertheless, Trump’s minuscule base of establishment support never stood a chance of forcing any significant institutional change. [Nor did they seek any, except things that favored their narrow interest, and by definition of indferent or inmical value to the citizenry at large.]
Trump correctly perceived the crisis of legitimacy that had been growing among the citizenry and he appeared to honestly believe that he could do a better job of running the country and furthering the interests of the American state but he maintained this narcissistic belief despite lacking the most basic understanding of how things work or why things are as they are.
He seemed truly clueless regarding the capitalist class consensus and their view of the working class as a threat that must be pacified through the liberal application of divisive propaganda via the mass media. Trump seemed clueless regarding their need to project global power through perpetual war, sanctions, trade agreements, and the military encirclement of noncompliant states.
He discovered early on [but anti-intellectual that he is, failed to really understand] that the status quo which he railed against resulted from an entrenched perspective of the capitalist class best interest and although “being friends with Russia”, making peace with North Korea, or ending the forever wars in the mid-East or Afghanistan could easily win over [and benefit] a majority of the population, there was no way the ruling class would allow Trump to damage and weaken their imperial grip through the implementation of such policies.
So although Trump was in many ways an instinctive and gifted politician who managed to navigate his way through the political jungle by opportunistically capitalizing on the widespread disgust of the status quo, and despite the fact that [given his narcissism and contempt for professional politicians, wich he knew up close due to his life as a tycoon moving in such circles] he truly believed he could do better for the prosperity of the country (including the working class) than what had been wrought by the status quo, he failed to recognize the basic reality that presidents are figureheads and exist for no other reason than to represent the interest of the ruling capitalist class consensus. He naively and indeed foolishly believed that the ruling class would permit him to pursue an agenda that was even mildly at odds with their own.
Honest intelligent folks can agree to disagree on precisely what Trump’s deeply held convictions were, whether he had any at all, and what changes he would have made had he been allowed a free hand to do as he saw fit. But proclaiming Trump to be principle-less and solely interested in his own political and economic success, fails to satisfactorily explain many of Trump’s actions.
All that can be said with certainty is that Trump had a poor grasp of the Marxian political reality grounded in oppositional *class* interests and the changes which he advocated for and which were rejected by the ruling capitalist class consensus, amounted to little more than a strategic shift away from the existing globalist order and towards a new nationalist order where Trump himself would be the arbiter of what policies and agreements were in the nation’s best interest.
Additionally, honest folks can disagree over the origins of the COVID virus and the extent to which it was exploited in furtherance of ruling class interests. Honest folks can disagree regarding the extent to which the 2020 election was rigged against Trump. Both are open questions and it is misguided to pretend to have certainty regarding either. But neither of these things is that important or relevant with regards to the political reality which we all ought to recognize and embrace. Embracing truth necessitates the rejection and dismissal of the contrived narratives designed to obfuscate reality and benefit capitalist class interests.
Democracy in this country has never existed. It has always been a tyranny of wealth. Free speech, free press, free trade, and other liberal aspirations are truly non-existent in this country. Trump was not hated because he was Hitler reincarnate nor was he hated because of his [mostly imaginary] principled pursuit of working class interests. He was hated because he was not a figurehead that would play the game according to their rules and within the bounds of their democratic facade. He was happy to denounce their corrupt system for his own political benefit but he did so while lacking the knowledge, wisdom, or ability to improve the situation.
Americans ought to be more politically savvy and recognize that the propagandistic tactics being used against right wing demagoguery, will be the exact same tactics used against authentic and principled folks committed to social progress. The four year long dishonest demonization of Trump culminating with the farcically apoplectic response to the protests at the capital will be used to justify the curtailing of civil liberties and a bipartisan assault on the legacy of DJT. His burning effigy will be raised high as an example to all that dare to threaten the status quo.
Billy Bob is married, 45 years old, with two young kids 8 and 6 and a full time job in the medical field that he does not want to lose: "For several years now I have been using my facebook profile to raise awareness and engage with folks regarding the political and economic issues facing our planet".
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
ABOUT THE AUTHOR / SOURCE
Billy Bob is dedicated anti-imperialist activist and blogger. You can reach him at his Facebook page HERE.
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The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.
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This is a pretty good assessment of politcial forces in the US and the Trump phenomenon.
If he would have had a second term, there mght have been definitive changes in the US
PS
The problem for most of the US ‘left’ is that they absorbed whout further thought or critique all the Democratic slander of Trump. It curtails in fact all action for combatting the status quo.
We are livng in the age of anarchy. It seems that nobody follows social rules any longer. The example of the spurious persecution of the ‘yellow monster’ opened the gates for total chaos with no desire on the side of the people to form a chohesive society. This is true decadence.
Damn Uncle Bob that is one hell of a well written thought out piece, love it. All I can say to your insightful analysis is goddamn Yes, that is exactly what is happening and the wave that tRump surfed in on and is still trying to catch another. Dang, and I only got through the first two or so paragraphs, now to savor it all.