I have written a bit about the dangerous rhetoric we are hearing from the mouthpiece, Donald Trump. Now there is evidence that Trump-world has two factions and they are turning on each other.
This may sound like a good thing for the rest of us. It may keep some bad things from happening, of course. The resulting chaos may slow both factions down.
Here is the problem— this is who is running our government now. With these people in power we have no functioning government and that is a very bad thing in itself. Government exists for a reason. It should be stable. It should work for the health, safety, welfare, and common good of all citizens. A government run by these people will NEVER do any of that, regardless of which faction prevails.
Both the MAGA and the oligarchs are bad for the rest of us, in different ways. Having them fight for control over the Trump administration like birds over a worm has implications that go beyond the battle itself. Neither one has any desirable policies so the outcome, though of interest, won’t affect us that strongly.
Meanwhile, nobody is minding the store. While the two sides wrestle for control, Trump is likely to veer in one direction than the other, jerking the whole country around with each change of direction. If one or the other prevails we will get the particular evil associated with the faction. If the “populist” MAGA win, we get Christo-Fascism. If the oligarchs win, we get Standard Fascism.
The one thing they likely agree on is the disastrous folly of pulling out of NATO, but for very different reasons. The MAGA are isolationists and the oligarchs want to help Russia take Europe.
I still believe the oligarchs will prevail, because they are better equipped. But the military rank and file is manned by the MAGA riff-raff so the this faction does have that advantage.
Either way, the rest of us are pretty much screwed.
Solidarity, the union led movement that began in the shipyards of Gdansk, Poland, eventually led to the falling dominoes that ended the Soviet empire and Communism in Eastern Europe. If a union movement could destroy a militarized, nuclear-armed empire, what challenge is a handful of crybaby billionaires like Xlon Xusk and Kvetchek Ramaswamy? None.
Annabel Ascher: As one who has a particular love of Ancient Rome's long, long civil war period (Sulla and Marius through Pompey and Caesar through Octavian and Mark Anthony), the picture you so accurately paint, with the daunting picture of two attacking dogs, is dismal, indeed.
To think our electoral system brought us to this!
I cannot believe how low we as Americans have sunk.
Our solace is blue state governments.
Annabel Ascher: As Professor Joyce Vance says, We are in this together.
You and I are with others who will continue to stand up.
We will be heard.
We will be seen.
We will oppose.
We will endure together.