I saw it so you don’t have to. Actually, that’s not quite true. I watched the first 7 or so minutes then I started to fast forward 5 minutes at a time. But no matter where I landed, it sounded like the same section of the narrative in the script played over and over again as if the audience didn’t get the important plot devices, symbolism and foreshadowing the first several times and so needed reinforcement at regular intervals. So I skipped to the predictable ending. Sure, even bigger and more terrifying but not very original.
I think that’s a danger for the sane. It just looks like Trump being Trump, trying to outdo himself but still reinforcing the same themes of prodigal son, ne’erdowell, Peer Gint with a soupçon of Atilla the Hun. Think Woody Allen with his latest incarnation of Hannah and her Sisters. The neurosis and sense of alienation is tiresome. In this case, We may be witnessing Trump’s plot turn where we watch him visibly melting, melting, suffering the cruel injustices of the world, what a world. Or he may be getting ready to nuke Atlanta. So hard to tell.
Phillip Bump at WaPo critiques the nuances:
Again, there wasn’t anything new to it. It was a pastiche of so much that we’ve heard so often. It presented no coherent case for the existence of fraud, instead substituting a volume of accusations for an abundance of proof. Having hundreds of people make unfounded allegations isn’t proof of wrongdoing, as any review of those sheaves of affidavits collected by Trump’s campaign from various supporters makes clear. Having one person make hundreds of unfounded allegations isn’t proof either — but Trump’s goal isn’t proving each point. It’s getting Americans to accept maybe just one or two, so that they’re receptive to his broader point: Something Must Be Done.
That something isn’t clear. At first it was to block the counting of ballots which were showing he lost key states such as Pennsylvania. Then it was to block the certification of votes in states such as Michigan. Then it was to try to get state legislatures to appoint new, Trump-friendly electors to the electoral college. Then it was to get a case to the Supreme Court where something magical would slice through the Gordian knot tied by American voters.
In the speech, Trump made vague demand that someone — anyone — intervene.
Golly, who does he have left? Barr has pissed him off, Wray is still hanging onto his job, presumably with enough information to lock him up for a good long time. I guess he could always turn to his new Secretary of Defense. But good luck getting the military rank and file to do his dirty work. This definitely merits some thought about where this story is going next.
One thing is for sure though. Trump’s tragic flaw is he is unable to see others as more than extensions of himself. What’s going on right now must be very frustrating because he’s not getting his way like he usually does. He probably didn’t see that coming so decisively.
He also doesn’t realize that there are a lot of other characters, 80 million of them, who are just as angry, maybe more angry, who aren’t going to let his minions roll over them.
I’d say pass the popcorn but I’m tired of this movie already. I’m just going to go pack my bug out bag so I’m prepared for anything.
*****************
This part is indicative of where he’s going with it:
“This election was rigged. Everybody knows it,” he said. “I don’t mind if I lose an election, but I want to lose an election fair and square. What I don’t want to do is have it stolen from the American people. That’s what we’re fighting for, and we have no choice to be doing that.”
Here’s the nub. Or rub.
Overturning the certifications and appointing electors for Trump to the electoral college that negates the actual will of the voters would be very bad in most cases. But in this case, those votes for Biden were cast by very UN-American people so wresting control of the process for the real Americans is totally ok.
And who are the real Americans?
The 73 million people who are extensions of himself, of course.
Where have we seen stripping the rights from certain citizens and not others before? Don’t you first have to make them enemies and somehow alien? And then when you’ve reduced those aliens to less than human, it’s much easier to get the real citizens to commit acts of violence against them, right?
I’m sure I’ve seen this movie before. No, no, don’t tell me.
Filed under: General |
The Confluence 
Philip Bump misused the concept of “tragic flaw,” which usually applies to a protagonist in a work of fiction who has some good qualities, but one great flaw which destroys him or his regime. Often, it is hubris, or perhaps, like Oedipus, both a rashness and temper, and then the absolute determination to uncover the truth, despite being warned to stop. Trump does not have a tragic flaw, he is a thoroughly evil person, a would-be Hitler, who read “Mein Kampf” many times, maybe the only book he ever read. He has cheated and lied and tried to destroy people for his entire life. He managed to make some deal with Russian oligarchs, who covered his debts, in exchange for his absolute loyalty to them, as they pushed him to run for president. He ignored the virus, because it interfered with his own goals, and thus caused his horrible crisis we have faced.
If this country turns to civil war, or has a number of far right terrorists shooting people or blowing up buildings, Trump would be happy. Trump has no quality of being able to accept defeat, or even an iota of graciousness; he will burn down every system, rather than accept its results. He probably still wants to declare martial law, as the traitorous Michael Flynn has urged. If that is unfeasible, he will do everything he can to disparage the Biden regime, claim it is illegitimate, just as he did with Obama. I would suggest that the media cut off his access to the airwaves, but they will never do that, because they are inextricably wedded. Watching a worthwhile interview with Dr. Fauci conducted by Andrea Mitchell today (the only reason I turned the show on), what I mostly think about is her relentless haranguing of Hillary Clinton regarding emails, which was the biggest red herring in the history of American politics, and which inexorably led to the installation of Trump, and the loss of almost a million lives which is now being predicted. Can we go back in our minds to the absolute insanity of the media spending 24 hours a day harping on emails, which were about nothing meaningful at all? And they still won’t admit what they did, which was actually to be the enablers of a vicious fascist and his ultimate regime.
Trump cannot shut up, his entire existence is predicated upon proving that he is right about everything. There are reportedly millions of Americans who still do not believe that the virus is real or that they need to wear a mask, all because of Trump’s lies and totalitarian grandiosity. There are tens of millions of people who will believe that the election was rigged, because he keeps claiming it, with zero facts to support it. These people will not support anything that Biden does; and the Republicans will spend all of their time planning to take over again, rather than try to do some good for the country. So we know that he will go on and on with this, telling the Big Lies, over and over. And yes, your reference to Hitler and Goebbels is completely accurate. For decades, people looked back and could not comprehend how the Holocaust could have happened. Now they have a better idea.
My reply somehow landed in moderation, and perhaps you can fish it out at some point? Thanks!
Spammy was cranky with me two days ago (IIRC).
Make that three days ago. 😛
How does one know that something is in moderation? Does it tell you, or is it just that it never shows up?
For commenters, the comment just never shows up. I can see which ones are in moderation in the wordpress app. But I don’t always know what triggers it. Over the years, I’ve added a variety of key words, usernames, email addresses and IP addresses and I can tell what’s setting it off. But recently, I haven’t been able to figure out why it’s moderating.
Some things to keep in mind are the length of the comment and whether or not there are any hyperlinks in it. Occasionally, spammy doesn’t like that.
There is a little note in italics telling you. Thank you, RD, for rescuing so many.
Off topic: I was a young adult (roughly 20?) when I watched many episodes of this Canadian kids’ show on Nickelodeon. I found it actually funnier, smarter, and more entertaining than many of the shows actually aimed at people of my age group. 😆
Also off topic: Happy Out Of Touch Thursday!
Also also off topic: I went to my dentist’s office today; they found no problems.
So it wasn’t nearly as bad as this. 😆