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Divided we Fall: Trump's Balkanization of America and the World—Part 2

1/30/2017

 
​Does Trump appear to be an incredibly clever politician or a moron? If the former, who among his camorra is the Grey Eminence?
 
Trump has already issued more Executive Orders (XO) than the previous president did in the same amount of time. It seems likely that Trump will set records for XOs (and judicial injunctions against them) for some time to come.
 
It is likely that two things are in play, creating a depraved synergy. 
 
First, he really is a loose cannon with a disregard for the canons of law and custom. He’s operating from narcissism, anger, and hubris.
 
Second, he knows that he will be overturned in the courts and demonized by the popular press and the demonstrative public. However, he issues XOs (such as the ones on immigration and border control) to win support among Trump’s Chumps and fire them up against the courts and the progressive protestors.
 
Whether his actions are deliberate and clever, or simply thoughtless, he is Balkanizing America.
 
Is this fragmentation of America necessarily a bad thing? Not in Communist orthodoxy. Please recall that dialectical materialism (diamat), based on the writings of Karl Marx and Fredrich Engles, is a theory that political and historical events result from the conflict of social forces and can be viewed as a series of contradictions and their solutions. Diamat is the foundation of Marxism, and was officially adopted as a fundamental part of Russian communism. That doesn’t mean that the basic theory is flawed.
 
I’ll put it this way: if two people (or two centers of political power) have different opinions about something and they can solve the apparent contradiction, then they may reach a solution that works.
 
I think, however, that people often are too polarized and too attracted to single-issue politics for diamat to apply. For example, it would be difficult for the “Pro-Life” and “Pro-Choice” factions to speak to one another civilly since they have a deeply-rooted, fundamental disagreement. It appears from the demonstrations and donations to the American Civil Liberties Union these past few days, that there are very strong feelings on progressive side of the issue. It appears from Trump’s statements (and lies) and the statements (and lies) of his staff and sycophants in Congress to the press, that there are very strong feelings on the “conservative” side of the issue. Can dialogue, diamat, be applied to resolve this issue?
 
I am afraid that Trump will continue to create polarization that may become too great to allow a civil conversation, much less resolution. He is creating dissension; more, he is creating dissensus.
 
The XO on immigration, something in which the State Department is heavily vested, brought a thought about Trump and his nominee for Secretary of State, Tillerson. Their links to Russia and Putin reminded me of Richard Condon’s, “The Manchurian Candidate.” That raised the question: Is Trump a sleeper agent, a Raymond Shaw? If so, which of the congeries with which he has surrounded himself is the Queen of Diamonds? Which one is his KGB handler?
 
An armadillo is a stupid animal, the moron of the animal world. But even one armadillo can do an amazing amount of damage to a lawn. They blunder along, searching for grubs and digging cone-shaped holes to retrieve them.
 
In the words of H. L. Mencken, “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
 
I will side with progressives against an armadillo.
 
Lani Clancy
1/30/2017 01:06:19 pm

Wow! I hope lots of people read your blogs! Of course, it will not be the people who NEED to read them!


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