Love to Learn, Learn to Love.

The Juice on Donald Duck Trump

The most recent poll among registered GOP’ers conducted by CNN shows that 52% of Republicans are of the conviction that Trump should stay in the race. A small minority – around 15% – believe that he should drop out completely while the remainder – more than 30% feel that he should drop out but that he should run as an Independent.

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There are two questions that pop to mind given these poll results just announced on Sunday, 26 July – so they are fresh – the first question being why the “infatuation” with ‘the Donald’ – I purposely did not capitalize the ‘t’ because I don’t want to make that self-important jerk any more significant (I feel badly that I am giving him this much attention at all) – and the second query concerns what the American voters’ engagement with Trump says about the political culture down there.
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First things first, friends. We must make a point to begin our quest to answer the question pertaining to why Americans in general are so taken with Trump. An articulate older woman was asked on her way in to some Trump speech why she was going to attend and she answered that she found what Donny-boy had to say interesting and provocative and that she liked some of his ideas. But on being queried as to whether she believed that Trump would make a good President, her unequivocal and quick response was a resounding “No”!

I found that to be a heartening statement and I sincerely hope, although I don’t rightly know if I truly believe that many of the people who are going to hear Trump foam at the mouth, feel the same way as that above-mentioned interview-ee, that much of what he says is resonant but that they don’t think of Trump as credibly Presidential.
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What fascinates people is that Trump says what is on his mind. He says that he is “militaristic” which he definitely is although he doesn’t know it because he mis-used the term in the first place. What he meant to say was that he supported the military; what he in fact stated by using the word “militaristic” is that he is a fascist (cutting directly to the bottom line here) which is true.

While we’re on the subject of Trump mis-speechifying, he, at one point, asked an audience which man -he or Jeb Bush- would it like to see negotiating against China. Enough said. Almost. Suffice to end with this: his use of the word “against” describes too accurately Trump’s mind set regarding his “enemies” – personal, political and international. Unsatisfactory Presidential material but compare this story with the ones about Hilary Clinton which have re-surfaced. Once more.

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ABOVE: The man is all mouth. Note that I was not able to find the most recent Aislin cartoon on Trump which illustrates that fact.

With Hilary these days, according to the media jackals, it’s about the alleged use of a private mobile device to send emails and some related crap that I don’t completely get. But anyway. What would you rather read about – Clinton’s emails or Trump’s outrageousness? Which is more interesting? If I had wanted to ensure that you would not take more than a cursory look-see at this JuicyLesson – if even that – I would have written about Hilary’s email issues – boring.

But I chose Trump. And many Americans will too; this brings us to our second question which asks what all the interest in Trump on the part of the United States says about America’s political culture?
How can a guy like Trump be leading any polls at all? I think it speaks to the basic alienation and desperation felt by many in the U.S. who are unemployed or under-employed and who live in abject poverty and feel so hopeless.

Sad situation that, contributing in very large part is the totally inequitable distribution of wealth in the the United States where the rich still rail and fight against Obamacare and why? Because the wealthier have to pay one way or another as well as due to the fact that insurance corporations and other special interest groups may see a decline in revenues for a while, just until they find new and increasingly crass and inhuman ways to rip off their clientele.

Trump is a populist and like other populists before him, he appeals to our basest instincts. Immigrants are rapists. Immigrants are crooks. War heroes are those who serve without getting caught, which leaves out John McCain, as far as Trump is concerned anyway.

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(Huey Long, formerly populist Governor of Louisiana, based his Depression-era appeal on the idea of “share the wealth”.
Unfortunately he also bit off his brother’s finger during a fight.)

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ABOVE: Pictured is Huey Pierce Long, Jr. (August 30, 1893 – September 10, 1935), nicknamed The Kingfish, was an American politician who served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a member of the United States Senate from 1932 until his assassination in 1935.

Let’s look at McCain, though. He has done nothing for veterans as head of the very fucked up U.S. Veterans Administration as Trump has publicly stated, as well as having opened up Trump’s name calling his own self by labelling people attending a Trump event in Arizona, the State from which Mc Cain hails and which he represents in the American Senate in D.C. – Senator McCain called those people “crazies”. So Trump calls him out and gets scolded by Bush and his ilk, the rich and powerful, but ends up standing on his own two feet in the eyes of the common man.

So in summary: Many Americans are infatuated with the Trump phenomenon because he interests them. They never know what he’s going to say next and people seem to get off on that. He is also frank and to the point and people like that.

The infatuation is the function of one phenomenon and one phenomenon only, simple yet complex and that is the unequal distribution of wealth down there. And up here too but not as bad. What that says about American political culture is, with apologies to John, George, Ringo and Paul – “I”. “Me me me”. “MINE. All of it. Each and every morsel”.

Peace. Out.

2 Comments

  • Loren Lann says:

    Trump is a genius in that he fully understands that even bad press is good press.
    He also has a ‘mouth’. You may or may not agree with his views, but he is putting issues in front of the American people that may resonate with a great many people. Heck, there are plenty of politicians around the world – Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, to name a few, who’s leaders get elected or remain in power by having very radical or even racist points of view. They resonate with their population for one stupid reason or other.
    If he was elected, he would probably reverse all trade deals with China, create several major trade wars, and possibly armed conflicts. America did sell out a good portion of their economy to China.
    Reversing it may cause more harm then good(at least short term).
    Personally, I think the Donald is a hack. The other candidates seem to be tip-toeing their way to the election. So, in an arena where nobody else is coming up with strong sensible ideas, he may be the last (or only) man standing. No one has yet snapped Trump back into his Ivory tower.

    • Jerry Cohen says:

      It seems appropriate to add at this time a word on Michael Huckabee, formerly Governor of Arkansas. Huckabee is looking to push Trump off the front page and succeeded in doing so by stating that Obama’s deal with Iran will be like marching Israelis to the “oven doors”. Come on. WTF.

      Then, rather than apologizing and withdrawing from a race which he has no chance of winning, he actually had the nerve to “double down”. Come off it. Asshole.

      It seems that politics in the Excited States is evolving into a battle to see who can say the most outrageous thing or present the most reactionary message possible. And Americans and Canadians just buy into that kind of shit which doesn’t say much about us, does it?

      The only good that comes out of this whole quagmire is the further decline in the popularity of the Republican Party, the GOP. Sixty percent of Americans surveyed had an unfavourable view of the so-called a Grand Old Party.

      So whoever wins the Democratic nomination will win the Presidency.

      Peace.

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