Are You Ready for Four More Years of Trump?

W.J. Astore

I had no idea America elected Joe Manchin and the Senate Parliamentarian as the two most powerful people in our country. Senator Manchin has been the convenient obstacle and scapegoat for the corporate Democrats. He’s allegedly blocked tougher action on climate change. He’s helped to defund efforts to make community college free, to extend Medicare, to lower prescription drug prices, and so on. The Senate Parliamentarian, meanwhile, who is in fact unelected and has no real power, ruled that hiking the minimum wage is something that simply can’t be countenanced under budgetary reconciliation rules. I think I got that right, not that it matters. It’s all a smokescreen, it’s all BS. The Democratic Party, like the Republican, answers to the owners and donors. It is doing exactly what it’s been told to do, abandoning all its progressive promises (it never had any principles) in the false name of compromise and bipartisanship.

And this is exactly why Donald Trump will be reelected in 2024.

Not that the corporate-owned Democrats care, mind you. Things are actually easier for them with Trump in office. They can raise more money off their fake “resistance” to Trump, and they can wash their hands of tax cuts for the rich and more and more corporate-friendly deals, blaming them on Trump when of course the Democrats too support all these things. For that matter, so too does the Supreme Court. Justices like Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett weren’t just picked because they lean against abortion: they were picked because of their pro-business sympathies. Joined by Justices Roberts and Thomas and Alito, corporations can count on winning cases in their favor by at least a 6-3 margin. Corporations are people, my friends, and they rule us through the political parties they own and the court they have packed.

If many Americans don’t know this, they certainly sense it. They know politicians like Biden and Harris are phonies. They are so phony that people actually prefer a twice-divorced wife-cheater, con man, and reality TV host like Trump for his authenticity. At least Trump speaks their language and apes their grievances.

Former President Obama, meanwhile, gives speeches blaming the voters for not voting. He says with a straight face that we can’t always get what we want, but that if you don’t despair and keep voting blue no matter who, you may yet get a few crumbs after 2024. Who believes this anymore?

Hillary Clinton and the DNC were so bad in 2016 that America elected a failed casino owner with a fake university named after him. Biden/Harris and the DNC are so bad now that in 2024 America will elect a bloviating dictator wannabe and coup-plotter who threw his own VP under the bus as president. Yup, the same guy again. Maybe this time Ivanka will run the World Bank or possibly the State Department (can she be worse than Mike Pompeo?).

That blurry man is returning — and so too is his daughter. Not so sure about the guy on the right

America has become a very bad joke — worst of all, the joke’s on us.

31 thoughts on “Are You Ready for Four More Years of Trump?”

  1. I correctly predicted T. in 2016, but for 2024 I would stick with my prediction of Pontius Pompeus getting the R. nomination, as even some Republicans will worry about another bout of unpredictable T. As for Ivanka, by all means, head of at least the WB and her husband – that consumate diplomat ! – of Foreign Affairs. T. senior will participate anyway, somehow …

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Pompeo’s missing something. He’s too smarmy and arrogant. Trump, for all his faults, has the con-man charisma that Pompeo lacks.

      Liked by 2 people

  2. If It means the current incarnation of the Democratic Party goes the way of the Whigs, the hardships of the next 8 to 10 years of Republican rule might be bearable. It won’t be good for most citizens or the planet, but that’s the cost that will have to be paid for eliminating the legacies of the Clintons, Obamas, Pelosi, and all the rest. I wish it weren’t this way, but there seems to be no other way forward.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Yes. Pelosi. Schumer. The Clintons. Adam Schiff. And so many others. Ugh.

      Geez, I still remember what a catastrophe Biden was when he ran in 1988. A total joke. And here he is, in 2021, showing signs of cognitive decline as our president. And let’s not forget Harris, who did not earn a single delegate when she ran in 2020. What a dream team! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

    1. I have no miracles to offer, of course.

      First, I wouldn’t contribute to either major party.
      Second, I’d support candidates who are truly committed to fundamental change of whatever political persuasion, e.g. Green Party, People’s Party, Libertarians, and so on.
      Third, use whatever talents you have to alert others to how rigged the game is now, and how we have to come together and change it.

      Write. Protest. Vote. Run for office yourself. Whatever you can do. Thanks!

      Like

      1. Me too. But I disagree with your daughter. Poor people don’t deserve to be exploited. Vulnerable people don’t deserve to be kicked when they’re down.

        We need to believe we deserve better — then act like we do.

        Liked by 2 people

  6. Yep, “a very bad joke” indeed. So many of our elected officials are bought and paid for by corporations and the morbidly wealthy. This is not surprising given the state of our biased campaign finance arrangements. Poll after poll continues to suggest that the majority seldom if ever sees policy outcomes that favor them, especially progressive ones. Both the Democratic and Republican parties have told Americans repeatedly that no other viable alternatives exist but them. Consequently, we shrug and reluctantly vote for what generally turns out to be against our own best interests and those of the nation.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. The Chinese are starting to rein the excesses of Capitalism, seeing the growing Economic Inequality in China, if left unchecked, was a threat to the Nation of 1,400,000,000 People, and really started taxing Chinese Billionaires with their new 5 Year Plan to achieve “Common Prosperity”

      The Democrats always talk about taxing the rich, but it’s all talk with no action, doing nothing to reverse all the Tax Benefits Republicans give the rich.

      Trump’s major Legislative accomplishment was spun as Tax Reform, but it was only more of the same on steroids, so that the richer one was, the less Tax they had to pay.

      Liked by 2 people

  7. You could always storm the Capitol?
    Failing that, and avoiding immediate bloodshed, whilst from here in Britain/Europe (I’m in Spain at the moment) US politics does seem particularly dire, I think you do have to vote, make a choice, run for office and protest, protest, protest. Get rid of the Military, Industrial (and Congressional) Complex. Consider that some democrats and some republicans might be better than others and choose the best available options.
    You could vote for Sanders (as Britain should have voted for Corbyn in 2019) and see what happens? Not Trump again please. At least Biden is in Glasgow, never mind if at 79 he needs a kip now and then!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. I liked what Jerry Garcia said when asked why the Grateful Dead did not support Democratic candidates in the various elections. He said ” Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil”.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. At this point I’m not even sure if it’s “lesser.” Small distinctions, perhaps, but with no real differences to the desperate, the hungry, the poor …

      Liked by 2 people

    2. And I think the quote attributed to Morris Hillquit and Norman Thomas (of the Socialist Party in 1928) completes the thought: the Democrats and Republicans are two wings of the same bird of prey.

      Liked by 3 people

    3. It’s not money, but the love of money that’s the root of all Evil. For the love of money, people lie, cheat, steal, kill, and go to WAR.

      People make God the Scapegoat, but it’s Humans doing all those things for the love of money over the love People made in the Image and Likeness of God.

      Liked by 2 people

  10. My sense is that if voting was so useless then there would be far less effort spent on voter suppression. The fact that so many states are passing laws to deny poor people the right to vote suggests to me that voting does work, especially at local levels.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I’d say that voting works ONLY at local levels. At the national level, we get only the candidates the DNC and RNC decide to field; those candidates are inevitably two sides of the same coin. Sure, there are always fringe parties, such as the Greens, and I’ve voted for them all my life, but we’ve all seen that those outliers don’t have a chance. There are a million, “we need to….” ideas, many of which would be very effective, such as getting the money out of politics. Chances of getting any of them implemented? Not in this lifetime. I think it will need to get a LOT darker before there’s any improvement.

      Liked by 3 people

  11. Pingback: Ready for Four More Years of Trump? - LA Progressive

  13. XXX YYY ZZZ, actual comment follows…

    The nominee has to be Trump. He is the undeniable heart of the movement he heads with his open contempt for any who oppose him, the exact opposite of what a politician in a democracy should show, that brings his fans to ecstasy demonstrating to them that this self-serving guy who will say anything is a real person! He is the perfect icon of resentment though his real motivation is the acquisition of wealth as a symbol of himself. He has no plan but he is a great performer without even working at it or realizing anything more about what he is doing than that it is good for him personally.

    Regarding Trump’s fans, I think of the movie Carrie. Recall how she finally broke under the abuse of others and, blinded with rage to get them, brought down the whole place, including those who felt for her.

    Trump happily leads an army of the resentful ready for their moment. They don’t need no stinking elections, they want to punish. Trump, delighting in himself, thinks nothing of possible consequences. We are witnesses to the attempt of the irrational at victory. That what Trump and his followers do seems crazy is a feature of movement, intended to outrage and show contempt for process. The rest of us are being asked the question of the bully: “what are you going to do about it?” as the bully waits eagerly for anger to prompt his target to respond with force, releasing the bully from all restraint.

    Liked by 3 people

    1. Having dealt with bullies personally on several occasions my experience is that they have no stomach for a fight with someone who is OK with being hurt in order to protect those being bullied.

      I am more concerned with the possibility that Trump’s minions are fueled by a delusion that they have God on their side. People who are delusional in that manner can be quite fanatical and do a lot of damage before they are stopped. Think of the crusaders and jihadis come to mind, or the religious wars that wracked Europe.

      Liked by 3 people

  14. Caitlin Johnstone puts it well here:

    It’s hilarious that people still think the Democratic Party cares about winning elections. That’s not its job, children. That’s not why the Democratic Party exists. The Democratic Party exists to kill leftward progress in the world’s most powerful nation. That’s all it cares about doing.

    The Democratic Party doesn’t care about winning elections. The Democratic Party doesn’t care about promoting popular policies. The Democratic Party doesn’t care about passing legislation. The Democratic Party only cares about doing things like this:

    Democrats’ $1.75 trillion economic and climate bill could end up delivering a tax cut for the richest 5% of Americans, a new analysis finds. https://t.co/gJFCCEUNXZ

    — CNN (@CNN) November 1, 2021

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Democrats are scrambling to justify massive tax increases to pay for their massive spending plans.
      House dems snuck in a massive tax break for the wealthy into their proposed tax-and-spending proposal by lifting the cap on the federal deduction for state and local taxes (SALT), which currently stands at $10,000.
      The new plan would lift the cap to $72,500 through 2031.

      The bottom 35% of US households have a median income under $40,000. Nice deduction for those who have the money.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. And yet….I keep reading comments from supposedly “moderate” Dems, moaning about all the “progressive nonsense” that keeps stalling passage of Build Back Better.

      Incidentally, FWIW, Bernie was warning about this poison pill tax giveaway just the other day.

      Liked by 1 person

  15. Pingback: What They Deserve – Ponderments

  16. Dear Professor Astore,

    I have perused this post entitled “Are You Ready for Four More Years of Trump?” and wanted to comment on the issues broached by the post. Here I am to communicate with you as follows.

    I commend you for your effort in highlighting the various outstanding issues and ramifications surrounding America, not to mention systemic racism, or rather, systemic inequality, systemic discrimination and systemic corruption.

    We can also agree that the ongoing chaos inflicted by the Trump presidency finally culminated in the infamous riot at the Capitol. You and I can be justified for being cynical, snide, snarky and facetious in characterizing Trump as the symbolic messiah who is going to lead his misguided supporters to glory on Earth and the promised land! It is often futile to reason with such misguided folks. Perhaps only when the country truly becomes autocratic or fascist will they wake up, but then it will be too late.

    Needless to say, due to misinformation and disinformation, 2020 had been a difficult year, not to mention having to deal with the pandemic. It was all quite surreal, perhaps in some ways more bizarre than ghosts and the paranormal (not that I believe in such things). One could indeed say that we live in interesting times, but often for the wrong reasons.

    2021 is nearly gone and the GOP is still on trial and has fared no better and seems to be getting (much) worse.

    Consequently, any reasonable person can conclude that the USA has been plagued by ignorance, dogma, falsity, blind faith, spiritual stagnation and epistemological impasse . . . . .

    In any case, it is going to be an arduous task to solve these outstanding issues, because saving and rehabilitating the USA aside, we also need the political economy of saving the planet. Yet the entrenched and insidious issues of plutocracy have loomed even larger, thus continuing to thwart many efforts mounted to save the nation and the planet. Whilst Pluto has been demoted to a dwarf planet, the planet of America, so to speak, has already ascended to plutocracy. Social and economic polarizations can further exacerbate the issues of wealth, and such polarizations are increasing for the following reason: The USA is very much plagued in varying degrees by misinformation, disinformation, post-truth politics, demagoguery, plutocracy, oligarchy, ochlocracy, kleptocracy, kakistocracy, narcissistic leadership, neoliberalism and globalization.

    The underlying opposition is not so much between the Democrats and the Republicans as between the rich plutocrats and the rest of the population. The Democrats need to (re)form their party to unite the 90% of the people living at an entrenched economic and political disadvantage in order to deal with the Plutocrats. In any case, it is going to be a very tall order for Biden (or indeed anyone of any political persuasion) to turn things around. It would have been much easier if some Republican senators had been far more honest and incorruptible, for they have been very greedy, uninspired, cowardly and lack criminal, moral and political accountabilities. It is all quite a big mess in danger of getting bigger still. Even a global pandemic still cannot unite folks in the USA and wake them up. Perhaps it will take an even bigger crisis to do so, such as a series of climate change disasters.

    The best and most dedicated amongst the likes of us are also inveterate teachers of everlasting, transcendental wisdom to save humans from themselves, their self-interests and their destructive ways. I often even have to coin new words to do so. The latest examples are my three neologisms “Misquotation Pandemic“, “Disinformation Polemic” and “Viral Falsity“, as discussed in my extensive and analytical post entitled “💬 Misquotation Pandemic and Disinformation Polemic: 🧠 Mind Pollution by Viral Falsity 🦠“.

    Then there has been worsening inequality, rendered all the more acute and dire by the rich and powerful via various overt and covert impositions. Social and economic polarizations can further exacerbate the issues of education and wealth, and such polarizations are increasing for the following reason: The USA is very much plagued in varying degrees by misinformation, disinformation, post-truth politics, demagoguery, plutocracy, oligarchy, ochlocracy, kleptocracy, kakistocracy, narcissistic leadership, neoliberalism and globalization, as discussed and analyzed in great detail in my said post, which you can easily locate at the Home page of my website.

    I look forward to your visiting the post and reading your thoughts and feedback on the various issues broached there. By the way, whenever you visit my blog, I would like to recommend using a desktop or laptop computer with a large screen to view the rich multimedia contents available for heightening your multisensory enjoyment at my blog, which could be too powerful and feature-rich for iPad, iPhone, tablet or other portable devices to handle properly or adequately.

    The various issues that chuq has highlighted aside, there is a great deal that can be said regarding the vulnerability and fragility of democracy. The final section of this extensive and analytical post, named “Denouement: Democracy, Education, Legislation & Sustainability“, specifically discusses this vulnerability and fragility.

    The age of Anthropocene could indeed be a very short one, as humanity seems to be plunging headlong into creating and facing a ghastly future, as explicated in my said post, which you can easily locate at the Home page of my website, which is best viewed on a desktop or laptop computer with a large screen. I look forward to your much esteemed input.

    Wishing you a productive week doing or enjoying whatever that satisfies you the most!

    Yours sincerely,
    SoundEagle

    Liked by 1 person

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