The thing is, Trump looks so catastrophic to those of us on the left that running a black flag op could never be worth it in terms of long-term goals. The anti-democratic sentiment that is being stirred up, along with the racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual tensions are not a thing that will go away easily. In retrospect, I think I would have preferred 4-8 years under Romney than having Trump as a candidate for president. The other half of the statement assumes they'll value long-term goals above short-term goals, but really we're talking about Hillary and Obama here.
There is some vague talk that Steve Bannon would rather purify the Republican party than win, and maybe that's true. But at this point, I think everything is just unfolding on its own. No one is in control on the GOP side, least of all Trump who can't even control himself.
I have been predicting a political realignment in the US for quite some time -- since about 2004, but it looks like it's really happening this time. I'm starting to wonder if what we're going to be left with is an urban party and a rural party, with suburbia being the swing vote. That's kind of what Japan is like, and it's definitely what California has looked like post-Governator. Even O.C. is expected to go Democratic this year. But if the urban-rural split is true, this is the most terrible strategy ever for the GOP, because the demographics are moving strongly towards urban growth and rural decline.
Maybe rural decline is the other big story of this election. Trade protectionism is not going to bring the manufacturing jobs back. Nothing will bring the manufacturing jobs back. Manufacturing is coming back, but most of the old jobs are getting taken by robots. Even more jobs will be taken by robots in the next decade, particularly in the transportation sector. The only solution is to come up with new jobs, because the old ones are not coming back.
Anyway, the news today is that both Clinton and Trump gave a comedy monologue at the Al Smith dinner. This is a real upper-crust fundraiser with a Roman Catholic audience in white tie. So a pretty conservative bunch, right? But pretty much exactly what you'd expect would happen if you gave a microphone to a boor who is way out of his social class in fact happened -- the oafishness rises to the top. The good jokes came up front, but eventually we got the Trump sense of humor -- meanspirited, bully humor. It was not received well. While Hillary Clinton is no comedian, she is funny, and it showed through.
If you want to look into tinfoil hat territory, look at Evan McMullin's candidacy. OK, so he's Mormon and a Congressional staffer who saw Trump in the race and decided, rightfully so, that even he was a better candidate than that thing. But McMuffin was also a CIA agent. And there's an outside chance of him winning the whole thing, a much greater chance than Gary Johnson has. With a CIA White House, at least we'd be better able to confront the KGB Kremlin.
-- ∇×V
There is some vague talk that Steve Bannon would rather purify the Republican party than win, and maybe that's true. But at this point, I think everything is just unfolding on its own. No one is in control on the GOP side, least of all Trump who can't even control himself.
I have been predicting a political realignment in the US for quite some time -- since about 2004, but it looks like it's really happening this time. I'm starting to wonder if what we're going to be left with is an urban party and a rural party, with suburbia being the swing vote. That's kind of what Japan is like, and it's definitely what California has looked like post-Governator. Even O.C. is expected to go Democratic this year. But if the urban-rural split is true, this is the most terrible strategy ever for the GOP, because the demographics are moving strongly towards urban growth and rural decline.
Maybe rural decline is the other big story of this election. Trade protectionism is not going to bring the manufacturing jobs back. Nothing will bring the manufacturing jobs back. Manufacturing is coming back, but most of the old jobs are getting taken by robots. Even more jobs will be taken by robots in the next decade, particularly in the transportation sector. The only solution is to come up with new jobs, because the old ones are not coming back.
Anyway, the news today is that both Clinton and Trump gave a comedy monologue at the Al Smith dinner. This is a real upper-crust fundraiser with a Roman Catholic audience in white tie. So a pretty conservative bunch, right? But pretty much exactly what you'd expect would happen if you gave a microphone to a boor who is way out of his social class in fact happened -- the oafishness rises to the top. The good jokes came up front, but eventually we got the Trump sense of humor -- meanspirited, bully humor. It was not received well. While Hillary Clinton is no comedian, she is funny, and it showed through.
If you want to look into tinfoil hat territory, look at Evan McMullin's candidacy. OK, so he's Mormon and a Congressional staffer who saw Trump in the race and decided, rightfully so, that even he was a better candidate than that thing. But McMuffin was also a CIA agent. And there's an outside chance of him winning the whole thing, a much greater chance than Gary Johnson has. With a CIA White House, at least we'd be better able to confront the KGB Kremlin.
-- ∇×V