Insufficient Charisma
Dec. 19th, 2019 06:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
degringolade
Friday is always a welcome friend. I don't even have anything planned for tonight, but I am still looking forward. I am trying to figure out if I can work up enough dedication to come in on Saturday morning to catch up. Going over the the 'Tucky this weekend to hang out with the young men. Sunday is currently unplanned. Since January is coming, I might even restart my ancient Netflix DVD account and hang out in the cave during January.
Screed:
I guess that I just can't work up enough bile to be appalled or excited about the circus coming up. I do feel the need to stock up on some bread, but for now, the need is vestigial.
As always, Michael has responded in a manner that shows the parts of the spectrum of venality of this circus that I did not shine the lamp over. I can't say that his comments are incorrect, they are just part of the overall scene. One cannot see the whole sweep of the issues at stake with a glance, it takes time and it takes an extended scan to tease out the details.
I guess that while I am somewhat worried about this show, I still try to figure out what the hell is going on over on the east coast in the New York/DC corridor where the power lies. What Mike and I both seem to miss is that we are at the end of a long road between here and there and the effects are going to be delayed in getting here. But truthfully, the delay might just allow the consequences to build up a head of steam and really plow into us.
I am starting to think of Trump as an example of insufficient charisma. Had he been a touch better, had he been a little less (or for that matter a little more) of a con man, he might have had the ability to do what he said he wanted to do. Remember his disdain for the forever war and how he was going to pull us back? Remember the idea of draining the swamp and reducing the nonsense of an out of control government? Remember the concept of fiscal probity? Nope, he didn't deliver and while I am disappointed, I am not surprised.
Whether you like it or not, the folks that are leaders in times of crisis and change who are successful are charismatic. Trump is charismatic to a point, but by being charismatic to the "wrong" crowd (e.g. the 47% or the Deplorables), he got elected by the powerless.
Nope, what we are seeing here is the pushback against the change that is a coming. Trump was elected by the folks who have gotten screwed in the process of Reagan and his followers dismantling of the New Deal. Now that the New Deal is finally dead and our worship of the decaying corpse is in full swing, the powerless were looking for someone to revive the corpse. Trump claimed he could do so and the little folks figured that the other side was just more of the same.
We are in a time of change, what is happening in Washington now is a way for the Democrats to cripple the beast in the hope that they can pull a candidate/platform out of their ass to beat him in 319 days. I don't think that any of the Democrats have the sang froid needed. Maybe they can find someone else.
So, my advice to Michael is to stand back from the schoolyard banter that passes for Stentorian speech in the District of Columbia. Right now the articles of impeachment are a threadbare political ploy to cripple a president in hopes that there will be someone of sufficient charisma and foresight to take down the beast.
I don't see anything on the horizon, I am not hopeful.
Sometimes in life, the wisdom of the ages boils down to "well, it looks like we are well and truly screwed".
Who Told Vindman?
Date: 2019-12-20 08:13 pm (UTC)What cuts through everything from politics to emotions - from petty hatred to pure adulation, is the fact that there is no rational defense. What substitutes for a defense, is a proclamation that the suspect should be let go because so many people hate him.
Why not conduct a real trial? The answer given is that a trial is unnecessary(?) and it would tear the country apart. So? This is precisely what authentic Trump supporters (and many others) want right now, and precisely why most voted for Trump - something must be torn down to allow something else to be built up.
So in reality the situation now is perfect for a move forward - exactly what would help to progress the mission envisioned by Trump supporters and may others. The situation would be perfect - if Trump were not a mentally ill fool - one who told Col. Vindman about an extortion plot using taxpayer money that the good Colonel hoped would go to Ukraine as dictated by congress.
What is it about a trial that might allow it to tear a country or community apart? Such a result is possible as demonstrated by the OJ and Rodney King trials, and many others involving cases of police violence.
The obvious answer is that a trial can fail to deliver what is considered to be a just result. A trial might be viewed as rigged - as the Republicans charged about the pre-trial run by the Dems in the House.
But here and now, the Republicans get to run the trial - they can do whatever they want.
It must be that a real Trump supporter would relish a trial covering everything from start to finish - because they have become utterly convinced that the prosecution will be forced to show themselves as the real guilty party. They are positive about this.
So, everything should be perfect for the big showdown - Trump vs. the deep state, liberal enemy. But, as you note, the Republicans running the show have nothing in common with the Trump base, and they have no rational, or even irrational, defense for the foolish acts of Trump. What they are doing right now, is USING the Trump base, by telling them that people like me hate them.
The reason why a trial might tear the country apart, is because the plan is to set the guilty rich man free.
Who went and told Vinman?
Date: 2019-12-20 09:55 pm (UTC)The Republican side I am describing has the more difficult task of defending a man who unarguably did it. Unfortunately for all concerned but them, they are pointing at me and telling millions of people that I hate them. I am just trying to use the vast readership of your blog to get the message out to any Trump supporters out there - if any of you are reading: I DONT hate you - at all.
If the goal is to bring down the Dems in power, best not to give them the easy task of pointing out that the suspect is obviously guilty as charged. Pointing a finger at the Dems is fine, but it does not in any way explain why the plan to set the guilty rich guy free should be accepted without rioting and mayhem in Portlandia and beyond.
I agree with you about the requirement for charisma in a political leader in these times, but for the next leader of the deplorables, they need to find someone who is sane and smart enough not to tell Vindman.