Reality sets in

Back in 2016, I attended a talk, perhaps at the Burchfield-Penney Art Gallery in Buffalo. I think it was to hear Micheal Niman, a Buffalo State professor speak.

He gave a perspective on how it was Hillary had lost to MAGA.

It was about emotion, from the branding of Clinton as an evil witch to the embrace of Donald Trump who was falsely branded as a billionaire by Mark Burnett and somehow embraced by Conservatives.

Niman’s explanation back then came from the Democratic primary. Before the primary political signs across rural New York supported Bernie Sanders. When Sanders lost the primary, those signs went down and many of the same people supported Trump.

In Niman’s way of thinking, it wasn’t about policy, or what the President would do but about a desire to “fuck shit up.”

Four awful years of the 45th President resulted in an exploding deficit, mishandling of a pandemic and the United States becoming a joke on the world stage. Everytime it seemed impossible the President could say or do something more stupid he did.

President Biden won in 2020 and set the country back on course. Inflation, soaring after covid, came down. The economy grew. The stock market rolled. Job growth was up. So was employment.

The easiest way to combat that success was misinformation and denial from the Russian propaganda factory. Inflation is through the roof. Look at the cost of eggs. Illegal immigrants are stealing our jobs. In Springfield they are eating our cats and dogs. The black and brown jobs are going to illegals. Violent crime is way up, especially in cities which are run by Demorats. The cost of rent is through the roof. Interest rates are way up. All these freaky people claim gender and orientation civil people can’t accept. Our schools are indoctrinating our children into perversion. No one is perfect so it’s OK to cheat on all 3 wives, bankrupt a casino, hang out with a sex-crazed pal on a Carribean Island, get richer as President and take care of your friends and family while you cheat on your taxes. The Democrats are to blame.

Reality is immigration is a problem everywhere. People are migrating from places in Africa, South and Central America not just to the United States but to every successful economy in the world, whether the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, Italy, France, Spain and Poland.

Inflation there dwarfs what we face. Voters everywhere are still embracing the desire to “fuck shit up.” It’s why incumbents in other countries have been universally dismissed by outsiders.

It also means that a boorish lout feigning persecution could crank up the propaganda machine assisted by the best Russian operatives and earn a return to the White House. Besides, the 2020 election was stolen! The easiest weave is to continue lying about being an outsider who is going to drain the swamp rather than change the alligators and add some serpents.

Those in power can embrace Viktor Orban. But consider Hungary’s economy is 1/17th the size of California. Hungary’s GDP is $223 billion. Heck, Greater Toronto is $431 billion. Who admires Olivia Chow? (I had to look it up. She is Toronto Mayor.)

The tough trick is the next one. Those promised tariffs will function like a national sales tax and disproportionately impact those of limited economic means.

The promised mass deportations will be good for those who invest in the for-profit prison industry but will gut numerous industries. Those illegals are not eating bonbons and collecting welfare. They are hustling, working, doing jobs no one else wants and paying taxes. Rent, and interest rates, are not likely coming down anytime soon.

The Ukrainians and Palestinians are fucked. But hey, at least Elon Musk will get richer because SpaceX is headed to Mars.

I think we are about to find out what Niman meant by “fuck shit up.”