Relax.
Wish what you want.
None of us are that important.
People of good conscience have shared with me a "guilty thought." They say they think Trump is crashing and burning the economy. And they admit that they welcome this. Maybe that will stop Trump.
Yes. Maybe it will.
I have written that the worst and most consequential things Trump is doing to the U.S. are likely not the things that would cause him to lose popularity, get impeached, or keep a Trump-like successor from getting elected in 2028. I am disappointed to say it, but a significant number of Americans like -- or don't much mind -- some of the things Trump is doing that destroy the economic and moral basis for American democracy.
*** The open pay-to-play grift, now performed in denominations of hundreds of millions of dollars, with Trump cryptocurrency serving as direct-deposit bribery.
*** Centralization of power in the executive, with departments staffed on the basis of personal loyalty to the president.
*** Breaking 80-year alliances with Western democracies to realign the U.S. with autocracies bent on territorial expansion.
*** Reversing the inclusionary civil rights movements that expanded rights as regards race, women, gender preference, and gender expression.
*** Destroying the U.S. "brand" as the stable, reliable, trading partner and seat of the world's reserve currency -- a country that operated under the rule of law created and enforced by predictable, accountable process.
I think those are important. It turns out that most Americans -- including well-educated, upper-middle class Republicans -- don't care about them enough to intervene to stop Trump. They find something they like in Trump's bold action. They want what they want, including lower taxes for themselves. They want "immigrant-interlopers" out of the country. They want to re-establish a social order in which White men are the "normal" default leaders of the country, and Christianity is honored as the "normal" default religion. Trump speaks to a sentimental longing for the good old days, when America was great, at least for some people.
Trump revealed the power of shamelessness in political messaging. You can change every element of civics-lesson, good-government, pledge-of-allegiance patriotism if you do it openly, without the slightest hint of guilt. Just do it. Disobey courts and say that of course you are doing it, because they are dangerous traitors and you are saving America. If one announces a Trump-branded crypto currency proudly, as Trump did, the mass of people will accept it as an investment, not a bribe. Billionaires will see it as a bribe opportunity, and be happy for the transparency of the transaction.
What will stop Trump's assault on democracy is hard times. Hard times will refocus Americans on the down side of Trump's histrionics and chaos. Just in time, Trump is likely tipping us into a recession.
Nothing any reader of this blog does will hasten or prevent that recession, so relax. Adam Smith's invisible hand -- the anonymous actions of each person pursuing one's own self-interest -- will bring recession, or not. I recently bought an electric Chevy Blazer, not a Tesla. I bought it when it was produced at pre-tariff-disruption prices. I thought I was being clever and prudent. It was a tiny market signal to GM to build more cars like it, and a tiny market signal to Elon Musk that he damaged the Tesla brand. Meanwhile, somewhere someone chose not to buy a car, fearing an economic slowdown. We are all part of the invisible-hand mix.
Wishing the economy crashes and burns won't make it happen. Trump's on-again, off-again tariff bullying will have caused it. He purposely disrupted manufacturing and trade, and he spooked producers, consumers, and the transportation links between them.
Trump did it. That is factually true, simple to express, and a strategically sound message to share -- a powerful combination. Don't make it complicated and don't suffer from liberal guilt for having welcomed the mess. Yes, people will suffer in a recession, which is bad, but it isn't your fault for having welcomed it. Live your life. Think your thoughts. If there is a recession, it is on Trump. Not Biden. Not the Fed. Not Hillary's emails. And most certainly not on you and your guilty conscience.
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6 comments:
Thanks Peter, it was less guilt for me and more cognitive dissonance in that I want my money to stay intact while I want MAGA to suffer.
I don’t disagree with most of this except “….including well-educated, upper-middle class Republicans -- don't care about it enough to intervene to stop Trump”.
I believe most are too frightened to say anything lest they too become a target. So they appear complicit while they wring their hands wondering what to do to survive the madness.
Common sense...however not a reason to not protest. The damage to the economy will recover, but the rule of law, institutions and the Constitution need to be defended, in the streets now, and the voting booth next November.
You have exposed my guilty thoughts. Like Jimmy Carter, I have lusted in my heart.
“Don’t suffer from liberal guilt“ is always good advice. If the Democrats had followed it over the past 10 years, they would be in a better position at this point in time.
No liberal guilt here. Let’s hear it for that woke liberal ideology that gets MAGA’s knickers in such a twist.
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