Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Bog Standard Republican

Facebook has become a political website as my friends from across the country and a few across the globe have taken to it to express their dismay over what is happening in the early days of Trumpistan.  There are a few voices in support, but they tend to be issue specific.

There is a lot of energy devoted to Trump personally.  That's understandable, I think, especially for women who were appalled by his campaign and personality.  Trump represents "that guy" who makes their skin crawl, that boss, that uncle-in-law, that neighbor.  Trump's unique brand of transgressive politics make him an easy lightning rod.

However, please, please, please keep in mind that much of what you loath about the Trump Administration would be true of just about any Republican presidency.

The Gag Rule on abortion?  President Pence would certainly sign that.

Reinvigorating the Keystone and Dakota Access pipeline?  Jeb Bush would push that through.

Federal hiring and regulation freeze? President Cruz would be behind that.

Attacking the Affordable Care Act?  Mitt Romney would (ironically) be all over that.

If you care about women's reproductive rights; the environment, racial, religious and ethnic tolerance; universal health care; public education; and of course financial equity, then it really doesn't matter that it's Donald Trump in the White House.  Literally any of those guys would be working with a GOP Congress to rewrite the last 8 years.

Trump's uniquely odious personality and clear compulsive behavior makes him a target of scorn on the left and a subject of concern on the right.  But focusing on Trump as a person means that you might very well win a wave election in 2020, if he continues to be the odious fuck up that we've seen so far.  And then four years later, we will have a Democratic party that is fighting with itself over how much to embrace transgender rights, while the GOP resurrects itself from the wreckage of Trumpistan and commences to undermine the goals of a progressive coalition.

It's NOT JUST TRUMP.

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