THE TRUMP YEARS: AN OVERVIEW (2/3) - LOOKING BACK TO 2016's PREDICTIONS IN PREPARATION TO DROP BOMBS IN 2021

GREEK CHORUS:      ("THINGS FELL APART AS ANTICIPATED ... to the base, you got what you bought: the pandemic, economic distress, 'royal' negligence, drama, grift, treason, lying, pandemic! The only missing element is the 'Oxy' - but wait! Hark! More's to come, Anon and Alas.  Cometh Majestic Biden with Seneschal Warrior Maid Harris accompanied by Warrior Chatelain-Seer Pelosi, Knights Schiff and stalwart companions, with ever in the wings the eyes of the 'Hall of Sir Roberts' and his fellow monks including the baneful orbs of Thomas and Alito with the darting glances from Gorsuch and Kavanaugh."). 

Note:  Perched Eye's Sept 28, 2016, operatic view of the coming Trump disaster: 

Election 2016: Trump as Performance: Operas Buffa and Tragedy ... Starring Villains and Buffoons, and Wolves and Lambs, and Despots and Martyrs.....

---------------------------

It's now February 2021, and for twelve years (since 2009's Obama election), 'PerchedEye' has posted about American life, society, and politics.  

And now, in the midst of Trump's second impeachment trial (after a second House impeachment), ... for what appears to be many impeachable acts and precipitated events, it seems appropriate to repost our November 9, 2016, warning of dire consequences from Trump's presidency ( (Trump #2: Post Election Reaction - Recap, Views, and Predictions On A Trump Presidency).  

A Reminder:  PerchedEye's blog began with the 2009 first term of President Barack Obama who was followed in 2016 by Donald Trump ((single term, two popular vote losses, and two impeachments.) In 2020, Joseph Biden, Obama's Vice President,  defeated Trump by a broad popular vote margin of more than seven million and an electoral college win by 306-232.  Right after Trump's 2016 election win, PerchedEye started out trying to be unbiased but with the 'warning' to Trump's supporters that they bore the weight of a possible disaster that could harm themselves (Election 2016: Trump #1, A "COMMON GOOD" Plan - A Proposed Domestic Priority Plan for Trump's Presidency, November 9, 2016 ).  

Note addendum:   Including Hillary Clinton's 2016 popular vote 'win' over Trump, Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections since 1992 ... but by electoral college count wound up President in only 6. In other words, Republicans LOST the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 elections since 1992! (Get it?)

GREEK CHORUS:      "THINGS FELL APART AS ANTICIPATED ... to the base, you got what you bought: the pandemic, economic distress, 'royal' negligence, drama, grift, treason, lying, pandemic! The only missing element is the 'Oxy' - but wait! Hark! More's to come, Anon and Alas)"

-----    PERCHED EYE'S  NOVEMBER 9, 2016 WARNING ABOUT TRUMP DISASTER ---

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Trump #2: Post Election Reaction - Recap, Views and Predictions On A Trump Presidency

"A FUTURE SOMETIME: America will eventually cross the thresh hold and become a post-racial, economic egalitarian democracy upholding the original theme of the Common Good. Maybe not for a generation but eventually.

This Blog, "The Perched Eye", was begun in 2009 when President Barack Obama was about to be inaugurated. With apologies, 2009 was the first time this author paid close attention to the intricacies of American national politics... although in the 70's and 80's and 90's, it was impossible not to be swept into the political dramas around Vietnam, Watergate, the Reagen-Air Controller battle, and the opening of the Mid-East conflicts in Iran and Iraq.

Now, America's political arena has opened with a new production, the Trump presidency. 

Here are some views from 'The Perched Eye' about last night's election of Donald Trump to be the 45th president of the United States (and may God bless us all):

1. THE NEXT 4 YEARS?. ??? Who knows. Let's hope something is done for the COMMON GOOD.

2. 'CODED LANGUAGE' - appears to work (the Base seems to have arisen by sub-liminal code words and images).

3. ENERGY will draw tears. The Base's kids will drown in petro-pollution and suffer generations of genetic damage.

4. CLIMATE CHANGE. Ignored by both candidates and will continue to be swept under the rug by the petro lobby.

5. IT'S ALL A SHOW, so grab a large supply of popcorn, buy a wide-screen and settle in for 4 years of TV carnival.

6. REMORSE. Coulda', mighta', O-me-o-mya'. Move on!  

7. HILLARY DID WIN, goals were largely met...except the other side, unexpectedly even by them, met theirs more.

8. TRUMP BOUGHT A RIDE ON A WILD BRONCO - he did not sweep the election', more the truth he was 'swept in' by a rogue tidal wave. Big difference - 'to do' or 'be done to'...who's in control?

9. MIGHTA'S. 'Bernie and Warren', or 'Warren and Biden' or any pairing not including Hillary mighta' won, maybe.

10. "BEWARE THE TIDAL WAVE EBBING" should be posted as a banner over President Trump's Oval Office desk.      'What goes around, comes around'.

11. TRUMP WAS (IS) A TOOL (the 'Trumpet') - of grass roots disaffection, disappointment, with the status quo in DC.

12. A TOOL OF HIS BASE, Trump should be careful to watch his step - he's in a cage full of 'angry'.

13. POSITIVES - several of his prior negatives: 

Nobody's 'Boy'. Nobody's, Base;

'Cowboy', 'Gunslinger': his actions may be erratic, impromptu, "off-script". You bought it, Base;

Internationally (Russia, China) - now America has a despot just like them. Good or bad, who knows, Putin?

14. PREDICTIONS. 

SURPRISES!!;

DISAPPOINTMENTS (Roll-backs - Roe, HealthCare, Education, Social Security, Energy, climate change...lot's of stuff the Base didn't understand...);

'RUSTY NAIL'- not good for anyone, it scrapes and infects;

COMMON GOOD - if he follows this path, he doesn't have to favor any group, race, nationality or religion - he might be enough of a maverick to carry this off;

'TRUMP THE OPERA'. (Seriously), comedy or tragedy, or both (my bet) give it 10-18 months.

15. AMERICA WILL GO ONWARD...but it will not be smooth.  

A FUTURE SOMETIME: America will eventually cross the thresh hold of post-racial, economic egality, and the Common Good. Maybe not for a generation but eventually.

--------------- --------- -----------------     FINIS ACT 1!   (departing Chorus chants over shoulders)-----                                                                                   

"THINGS FELL APART AS FORESEEN! ... to the base, you got what you bought: the pandemic, economic distress, 'royal' negligence, drama, grift, treason, lying, pandemic! The only missing element is the 'Oxy' - but wait! Hark! More's to come, Anon and Alas.  Cometh the purge, the scourge, ...the bailiff?"

----------------------------------------      MORE TO COME.    -------

CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE WITH THE POLITICS THING? KELLY, THE COCKATOO KNOWS HOW YOU FEEL ... OH YES!

 Kelly the Cockatoo really gets what a lot of us are feeling about post-election Trump antics. Why won't the f..r go away nicely? Speak to us, Kelly, in the way you do! We get ya!

THE TRUMP YEARS - AN OVERVIEW (1/3)

This blog will be twelve (12) years old this Spring 2021 ... it began with the 2009 first term of President Barack Obama. President Obama was followed in 2016 by Donald Trump (a single term). Trump lost a try at a second term in the 2020 election to Joseph Biden, Obama's Vice President. (Sigh of relief ... Trump is gone!) 

NOTE: Democrats have won the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections since 1992!

Perhaps the most significant aspect of those twelve years was the opportunity to compare two presidents of historical significance and of radically contrasting executive styles. Obama is the first president of color (Africa-American) and Trump is a businessman elected in hopes of applying business management and economics to solve some of America's challenges in the face of the global economy and domestic needs. (Trump failed in both respects.)

To this blogger, the best summary of the past 3 terms of American presidencies is the great exhale of held breath since Donald Trump became President. The last four years have been a day-to-day test of one's sanity in the face of Trump's seemingly ever-full bag of chaos and confusion which he threw widely and at any target that struck his fancy.

Now, under the Biden presidency, America can go forward under experienced, competent, and stable leadership.

This is this blogger's summary of what was actually going on under Trump. The details will be revealed in time. 

First, was Trump a traitor or, somewhat naively, just a Russian intelligence asset-in-place? (This blogger wrote in May 2016, before the following November election, that Trump had already committed "treason" with Russia.) 

Second, was/is Trump wealthy or simply agile with shady accounting, gangster accomplices, faked financial forms, complicit bank executives ... i.e.,  actually a con-artist? (This blogger has consistently favored 'con artist'.)

Third, was/is Trump a racist, misogynist wreck of a man.  We saw evidently that Trump has always been both.

In any case, Trump's policy decisions seemed guided by two consistent themes - what was good for Putin, Russia's leader, and what was good for lining the personal pockets of Trump and his family. Two simple and straightforward guides that seemed always accurate interpreters of Trump's actions and thoughts while President. He really was just a simple guy, after all. But a businessman he was and is not. Trump is more of an out-of-his-depth, 'Mom-and-Pop' corner grocery store single proprietor who can barely find his way o get his next fast-food burger (to which he is addicted). This is not intended to be funny, it is the truth about Trumps as far as we know or can politely speak on.

However, again, here we are this day relieved with the 'Fact' that Trump was voted out of office and America is free to go forward. and recover its sanity.

WHAT LIES AHEAD FROM THE TRUMP DEBACLE?

Today, Pericles21 wrote a comment on John Amato’s Nov 27, 2020, ‘Crooks and Liars’ article on the future political effect of the 2020 election and was drawn back in memory to the honor of sitting in a small group college seminar listening to Hannah Arendt’s impromptu explorations on human vulnerability to authoritarianism manipulations and specifically on the rise and inhuman atrocities of 1930s-40s totalitarian Nazism (The Origins of Talitarianism, H. Arendt, 1951).  (The remarkable thing about Hannah Arendt is that her explorations, though not satisfying to everyone, were in my opinion 100 percent sincere ... one could tell by her visible pain in attempting, again, after no doubt many such presentations, to express ‘The Answer’, and we still haven’t figured this out.) Although Arendt’s thoughts, explorations and writings did not ‘close the book’ on authoritarianism, Arendt did leave vital ‘thought equipment’ outlining a path to frame, ‘see’ and describe how the human conditions leading to ‘modern’ authoritarian leadership and excesses (such as Trumpism’?). 

One feels that Hannah Arendt would be saddened but perhaps in a resigned yet ever hopeful way not shocked, that her musings and writings on authoritarianism continue to be sought out and critically pertinent after nearly a century ... and raise the same questions in current times! 

In his article referred to above, John Am@to asks ‘what did we learn from the rise, four years of the atrump ‘presidency’ and  the recent election details?  And, ‘can we prevent a future Trump?’ 

One answer, if not the most at-fault agent, is the pernicious effect of deliberate misinformation spread by profit-focused media outlets such as Fox News and similar right-wing outlets. But, in this blogger’s view, is this a too simple jand too quick jump to hand out ‘blame’ ... no matter how satisfying that might feel?  Does such an ‘easy’ labeling actually help create an opposite atmosphere of fear of expressing opinions, i.e., an equivalent misdeed?  

And an important corollary question is, ‘who will be the judge of media boundaries?’ 

Here is Pericles21’s comment on the John Amato article:

“Newsmax CEO Admits Airing Conspiracy Theories As News”  (John Amato, Crooks and Liars, Nov 27, 2020):

Pericles21: “We must be careful of capricious and dangerous censorship, I.e., ‘What is, or is not, News?’ And ‘who or what entity shall judge on that question?’  Why can’t we simply rely on the robustness of American ‘freedom of the press’? Hmmm ... but that ‘freedom’ got us Fox ‘News’, and Trump, didn’t it!!”  

 There is no doubt, in the minds of the majority of American voters (an excess of 7 million votes over Trump voters in 2020) that Trump and Trumpism was a bullet that America blessedly dodged ... and actually dodged back in 2016 when Hillary Clinton won the majority vote. How Hillary won but still ‘lost’ her election must be answered and preventive, but equitable, measures designed and implemented ... such as finally removing or neutralizing the Electoral College.

 

 

ARE WE SEEING AN ‘AMY CONEY BARRETT SCOTUS REGRESSIVE EFFECT’ ON THE LGBTQ COMMUNITY?

Is this a sign of movement toward a conservative regression?

BACKGROUND: 

A November 20, 2020, article cites a Boca Raton, Florida (of course) federal appeals court repeal (2-1) of a ban on gay conversion therapy as a “violation of First Amendment right to free speech”. Both majority judges are Trump appointees.  This repeal struck this blogger as a not-just-coincidental indication that the recent addition of ‘originalist’, Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court might encourage lower court conservative judges to begin to dismantle the gains made by the LGBTQ community. It is very pertinent that the arguments for recognizing gay conversion therapy were robed in religious costume: 

The therapists said their clients typically had "sincerely held religious beliefs conflicting with homosexuality," and sought counseling to conform their identities and behaviors with those beliefs.

TO THE POINT:

This blogger references back the warning of October 19, 2020, (AMY CONEY BARRETT ‘S ‘ORIGINALISM’ WILL PUSH AMERICA BACK TO 1800s VICTORIANISM) noting the potential dangers to social balance and gains made by the American LGBTQ community, from her views expressed in the US Senate hearings on her nomination to the US Supreme Court, the now SCOTUS Associate Justice, Amy Coney Barrett, described the LGBTQ community as essentially a lifestyle of “sexual preference”, a statement which this blogger challenged as being “scientifically invalid”, harmful to members of that community and potentially opening the door to re-activate the  false notions and marketing of so-called “conversion” therapies. This is supported by a brief look at the following excerpts from the Wikipedia article on conversion therapy:

the advancement of conversion therapy may cause social harm by disseminating unscientific views about sexual orientation.^[10] 

And, 

In 2001, United States Surgeon General David Satcher issued a report stating that "there is no valid scientific evidence that sexual orientation can be changed".^[15]”

Further, the same article gives examples of some of the torturing, so-called conversion ‘therapies’:

Techniques used in conversion therapy in the United States and Western Europe have included ice-pick lobotomies;^{[3][4][16][17][18][19]} chemical castration with hormonal treatment;^[20] aversive treatments, such as "the application of electric shock to the hands and/or genitals"; "nausea-inducing drugs ...

Currently, the invalid concept of sexuality as a preference or choice ... or at least a reparable state of mind has created a new type of charlatan, the spiritual interventionist and psychoanalytic ‘reconditionist’ - both are newer faces of the same old ‘snake oil’ industry, and still owe their existence to the false description of sexuality as a “preference” (ala Amy Coney Barrett): 

The point being made here is that ‘sexuality as a choice or preference’ is scientifically debunked and harmful.  

But we shall see if Judge Barrett can evolve in breadth and wisdom under her new, national, diversity accountability to a nation of real and broadly diverse  peoples.

IS THIS A TIME TO SUMMON THE PRAETORIANS?

 ”Praetorians”? From the shadows of the halls, from behind the curtain folds, metal-on-metal unsheathed? No, we must not slide further into that dark play. But there's no ethic owned by DT that prevents him from acting as an emperor from long ago....with a sycophant Senate and split America veering, maybe the current impasse awaits the his declaration he ’will’ serve a second term, at least, ...and ”then, we'll see”. That would be a perfect final exam for our Republic... to see ’how that cookie crumbles’.  Though, today's  Praetorian's carry people out on cushions and crossed arms and all else remains safely sheathed.

AN OVERVIEW AFTER THE 2020 ELECTION - BIDEN WON AND TRUMP LOST! AMERICA HOPEFULLY HAS LEARNED

 Yes, America escaped a dark, dark hole that could have made us a short footnote in some history book a century from now written about failed states.