If politics is always about resolving the conflicts within and between groups in society so that they can co-exist, even if one is favoured over another, why is it that Trump seems intent on stoking animosity and conflict? Is he even doing politics?
This is the audio version:
This is the transcript:
Why is Donald Trump stoking animosity?
I ask the question because, in my opinion, politics is all about reconciling the conflicting interests between the various groups in society in a way that guarantees that those groups can live alongside each other reasonably peaceably.
Now, I'm not pretending that that doesn't mean there won't be bias in the way in which those conflicts are resolved. We all know, for example, that there have been parties in most democracies which have been biased towards those people who work and other parties that have been biased most towards those who have wealth. And that is part of the political process. But at the end of the day. Politics has been about working out how those groups can coexist by easing, to sufficient degree, the conflicts that might arise between them so that they can live in some state of harmony.
But that is not what Donald Trump is doing. Donald Trump is clearly going out of his way to stoke animosity.
He's removing people's human rights by now saying that an Act of 1798, which he has already used to deport people to Venezuela, even though it only applies in wartime, might also be used, for example, to allow state officials to walk into anybody's house without a warrant. That is an act of animosity.
He's threatening people's education.
He's threatening many people's healthcare.
He's threatening to withdraw social security from people because the courts are questioning whether Musk is entitled to all the details on every social security claimant in the country.
He is weaponising the people of the USA into a conflict between the various interested parties in the country, of whom we can suggest Elon Musk and his billionaire cohort are one party and pretty much everyone else in the USA as another.
This is not a way to try to find a solution to living in harmony.
This is a way to create strife and disorder and disunity and chaos.
So, is this deliberate on Trump's part? Or is it an accident of what he happens to think he should do because he believes government is too big?
Or is there something else going on here? Is he not even trying to do politics?
I asked that question quite deliberately because it's occurred to me. In a discussion I had recently, we actually talked about the fact that Trump might, in this sense, be a post-politician politician because he isn't trying to do what every other politician who's got the White House has done, which is to some degree hold America together. He's actually trying to blow it apart. And in that sense, he is a fundamentally different character from all who have gone before.
Now, I can't answer the question as yet, because we are watching this play out in real time. Trump has only been in office for a couple of months. There is a long way to go as yet, even before the midterm elections when the first chance to clip his wings does electorally arise. But it is clear that we are on the path to something completely unknown, and that is a country which is being set up by its president to be at war with itself.
I am, frankly, incredibly worried about that, and I don't see why I shouldn't be. I don't see why anybody watching this video shouldn't be. We can't live in such a state for very long.
We are temperamentally not suited to living in conflict.
We are naturally peacemakers. Sure, we can all handle a bit of aggression every now and again, and sure, we will have to resolve our disputes sometimes, very hopefully peacefully. But the point I'm making is we will always try to resolve conflicts, and the vast majority of us will feel very much better when we have. But there is no indication that there is some stable situation to which Trump is headed, where he will say, we've achieved our goals, we have got the outcomes we want.
He appears to simply want to punish the American people for being, and having in the past wanted a government. And in that situation where conflict is at the very core of his governing method in this second term as president that he's now enjoying, I can't see how his government ever reaches a point of stability where it can succeed in delivering anything for the benefit of people instead of delivering destruction for the harm of people.
We are living in dangerous times as a result, and we have to hold our breath and just hope that somehow or other something might change and we might see an end to Trump's animosity and a restoration of some sort of peace.
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Particularly interesting experiment in a population that is armed to the teeth.
Trump has been filmed denying he signed the proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act. He said “others” took care of that. It maybe due to the fact that an, as yet, unknown number of those sent to the El Salvador concentration camp were not gang members (who still had a right to due process) but people who had every right to be in the USA. As expected, he will throw others under a bus.
Regarding Congress, there are expected to be at least five special elections to the House of Representatives this year. Three of the seats had been, or are, held by Republicans and two by Democrats.
Both of the Democratic Reps died this month. One of the two elections will be held in September, the other on a date to be decided.
The earliest House elections are both in Florida and will be held on 1 April. One is to replace dodgy (an understatement) Gaetz and the other to replace Michael Waltz who became Trump’s National Security Adviser. Both very red districts.
The fifth election will take place in New York when incumbent Republican Elise Stefanik resigns to become USA Ambassador to the United Nations. She’s not expected to be confirmed until after the two vacant Florida seats have Republican bums on them.
It is expected that the Democratic Governor of New York will delay calling a special election to replace Stefanik. It might not take place until 90 to 100 days after Stefanik vacates it.
It will be interesting to see how Florida views King Don and the Republicans now.
In the two months since his election Trump has been using the executive powers his has as President to implement Project 2025. Quickly.
Regime change?
This sort of politics is just a symptom of how it is funded.
The funding could be changed if we were allowed to do that.
The other thing is that we must remember that people like Trump prosper when the people perceive politics to not be working. We talk a lot here about how Neo-liberalism has stunted government, incapacitated it by narrowing its options. Farage will gain like this. It is a late symptom of a Neo-liberalism that has been around too long.
However, there is also another reason that fuels Trump’s demeanour – it’s the fact that he may indeed be kompromat – in Putin’s pocket, and that he has may also have used Putin’s money.
And we also must remember that despite his ostentatiousness, he is likely to be a highly indebted individual rather than the successful businessman he portrays himself as. As we begin to think more about those things, we begin to narrow down and dig into the marrow of what it means to be Trump.
And what we are dealing with is just yet another reckless opportunist (see Aeron Davis 2018) who cannot believe his luck in being able to set his own level tax (if any) and even expand his empire into the very structures of U.S. government he is destroying. Thus he has actually saved himself. It’s simple you see. Being president will help Donald’s debts. I bet his bankers are really happy for sure.
Over here, we have words for people like Donald:
Bull-shitter.
Piss-taker.
But its not just about him either – there is an ‘estate’ working with him – not just the well known’s like Roger Stone either – other shady characters who are now so embroiled and implicated that there might be no going back.
This is what drives the extremism because really, Donald and his entourage could lose everything if they are rumbled and the stakes are high. They have no choice but to dig in at everyone else’s expense and double down on Canada, Panama, Mexicans – the list of victims is endless, because it has to be.
But they are only here because of society’s lack of principle in the first place. If society was to unravel and look at how Trump has got to where he has go to, a lot of people would be implicated, and the whole system’s rottenness would be seen.
That would be hard and very embarrassing and I tell you, some people would just not want to know, it would be that bad. It would be a shameful story I tell you.
Your definition of politics is exactly right. (I sometimes simplify it to “the art of getting on with each other”, but yours avoids my ambiguity.) But Trump isn’t a politician by our definition.
Good morning Richard,
The USA has often been described as a meritocracy, a myth which has persisted. The huge gaping flaw is that wealth and privilege, once acquired, is perpetrated through bias that is only afforded to a few people. Trump gives out powerful positions in government and important agencies to unqualified family members and those who support him. I suggest that part of his agenda is based on hereditary aristocracy principals supported by the likes of Plato and like all autocrats, he’s trying to create a dynasty.
Long live the King.
Trump is not just breaking the US apart, he’s trying the same tactics in Europe. An unfettered Russia could do as much damage as a civil war in America.
It’s almost impossible to understand the motivation of a mind so different from most of us who follow this blog. I suspect he has no game plan beyond ‘stay popular with my fellow rich bastards’. But that then leads to the question of the mindset of those who thought carefully enough to produce the scarily detailed 900 page Project 2025 plan. Are they so out of touch that they don’t know what forces they are unleashing, and what the consequences will be? Or have they simply judged that they can ‘win’? Surely it couldn’t be that they genuinely want to bring about the Rapture… or could it?
I forgot to mention the obvious answer… greed.
Trump is trying to goad the student population into taking protest action by launching attacks on both students and the establishments themselves.
He is also antagonising the black community, with his latest weakening of the prohibition of segregation being potentially inflamatory.
Add to that the LGBTQ+ community, women, enivronmentalist, migrants, and anyone else he can rile until public disorder breaks out – which he will then inflame as hard as he can – and then it’s the army and his armed supporters on the streets, maybe by summer, or maybe sooner.
“Trump has been filmed denying he signed the proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act. He said “others” took care of that.”
I sometimes wonder if it’s possible that he’s actually (bear with me here!) telling the truth here.
Is it possible that he either doesn’t understand or doesn’t even read what he signs? Do the real movers just say “Sign this Donald. It’ll Make America Great Again and you’ll be known as the Greatest President of All Time.”
Having watched him at a few press conferences, he seems to be at least semi-coherent while he’s reading from the paper in front of him but waffles meaninglessly as soon as he looks up.
If this is the case I think we all may be in even deeper doody than we think…
“Is it possible that he either doesn’t understand or doesn’t even read what he signs?”
Prior to signing the proclamation, he was filmed talking about invoking the Alien Enemies Act on Air Force One. He said “This is a time of war because Biden allowed millions of people – many of them criminals, many of them at the highest level…other nations emptied their jails into the United States. It’s an invasion.”
He knows what he’s doing. He is a rat, amongst other things too numerous to mention, in his words “at the highest level”.
I think there is a fundamental paradox to what he is doing. A lot of his use of executive power is fundamentally weakening the executive.
The smaller the federal government the less impact he can have.
The less the rule of law and the constitution apply the less legitimate his power.
The less allies he has internationally the smaller his influence.
For someone who craves power to reduce it so dramatically is very odd.
Interesting
the people who wrote Project 2025 want to starve the beast that is the state. See Richard’s recent video.
I wonder if the donors and backers will keep him if he fails, or feel they have no choice but to keep him going.
I have spent time musing on this today
Maybe I should not have done, but the world is moving too fast not to do so
This will be out soon
I see two things going on here.
Trump himself is no politician, so is not doing politics. He is nothing more than a narcissistic gangster psychopath, who craves total power, an echo of Al Capone from a century ago. He was schooled by his equally appalling father that people are either winners or losers, and the most important thing is never to be a loser. So he cheats at golf to be always declared the “winner”, and cheats at elections to be president – the biggest “win”. He divides people into those that support him – fellow winners, and those that don’t – losers for whom he has nothing but contempt. He’s not remotely interested in bridging divides, but will use them to enrich himself.
The second thing is the people controlling Trump. He thinks he’s where he is because he’s brilliant, but being both a narcissist and not actually very bright, is easily manipulated. Putin is expert at it, but the people in the shadows are the Heritage Foundation, authors of Project 2025. They have been working on their dream of a Christo-fascist “nirvana” for years, and their agenda is to tear apart the egalitarian democracy on which the USA was founded, which they seem to find offensive, and replace it with a “Christian” theocratic authoritarian state, ruled with an iron fist. In Trump they’ve found someone who has no scruples about preserving anything of value, and will happily destroy everything and install Project 2025, simply because he was easily persuaded that it was right (and in his personal interest).
It’s all totally incomprehensible through the lens of normal politics, but the consequences are alarming and very dangerous.
These are the questions I ask myself:-
How will Trump and Musk benefit personally from what is happening?
Who are Trump and Musk etc working for?
How does what is happening actually benefit the American people?
What is the timescale of the events that are unfolding?
If you are near the end of a sequence, it is usually possible to see the final stages, but as all is as clear as mud, we have to assume that there is a lot more to come. BUT, we do know there should be the mid-term elections and, I suggest, it is highly likely that Democrats will end up with a majority in both Houses. Then surely, some control would be exerted?
So, this signifies a timescale by which all should become clearer, unless in some way those elections are stopped from taking place in Nov 2026.
And there is one bit of evidence available
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of9OP_a6MNg
from the Rachel Maddow Show; “Rachel Maddow rounds up instances in which Donald Trump not only assures his supporters that if he is elected they won’t have to vote in the future” (from the Youtube page).
Now, I would be kite-flying to deduce anything at all, other than I suspect that, if this is to happen, it will have to be before the run-up starts. So we may have to wait a year or so, but it could be before.
And, I suggest, nothing in all this is happening by accident.
Re-reading this, I think I would prefer to be mad…
Thanks
I am working around this theme
When the next elections comes around right? – it’s going to be interesting.
But don’t expect any biting analysis, reflection or anything like that.
Could there be a simple explanation of Trump’s behaviour? His admiration for Putin, his clear inability to work collaboratively, his inability to cope with the details of democratic government, his well documented severely limited intellectual ability, and his equally well documented psychological problems all make clear that his aspirations are for dictatorship. That can only mean a very dangerous time ahead for the US and the rest of the world
It’s clear that Trump wants to be an absolute ruler, ideally for the rest of his life. To do this he has to demolish the traditional checks and balances, both legal and customary. Since becoming president this time he has flouted the former and ignored the latter.
But the courts could stop him at many points so he needs a wave of support from the GOP and the MAGA mob. He stokes hate to.motivate the mob and to give leverage on any remaining sane people in the GOP. It’s scapegoating. It’s deliberate.
But it’s also his nature. Here the character, the strategy and the money have created a perfect storm that has already done great harm and may turn the USA into a fascist state.
To stop this the courts, the Democrats and honest public officials must show judgement and courage. If he’s not stopped in six months I think the juggernaut of destruction may be unstoppable.
Absolutely David. I’m worried that none of those groups will have the courage or power to stand up against him. He is showing himself to be a first-rate tyrant who will be ruthless with opponents. I suspect his juggernaught war on democracy is already too powerful to be stopped