It's time for a Trump re-set, a cultural and societal look into the mirror. Let's begin with the givens. Trump is a puffed-up, bloviating, crass and brash media whore, billionaire asshole who has turned our national politics into a Barnumesque showpiece that expresses the kind of honesty that the political elite sneer at as disgustingly déclassé. I say honesty, because the rest of our so-called choices to be the voice of our so-called democratic "experiment" are prima facie liars (Cruz, even before Trump gave him the appellation) or very practiced and very stealthy dissemblers (Hillary Clinton, all the time everywhere).
And why do so many people like Trump? He is true-blue American, as much and more than Jeremiah Dickson (more so especially than Delmore Schwartz could possibly have imagined). In fact Trump embodies the very chest pounding, can-do attitude that we most admire. And his lofty self-aggrandizing position in our society represents what many among us—perhaps most—aspire to.
Remember: We're looking in the mirror, all by ourselves, honesty time.
Did I say "asshole?" Can we seriously elect an asshole for our president. Why not? We've done it in the past. Did it twice in the 1920s—Harding and Coolidge. And we should all be relieved (but we won't be, because we don't know enough about him) that Andrew Jackson, not only an asshole but a philandering, murderous asshole, will be off the $20 bill. And of course, Tyler and Buchanan fit the mold, as well as many more. In some sense I think asshole is almost a prerequisite.
As for Trump's spurious ways to wealth and the ethics implicit in his "art" of the deal, think of other wealthy people, who awe so many of us. The names Walton, Broad, Gates, Adelson, Koch and so on represent the pantheon of what we hold most dear. In fact, if it were not for these people we most likely would not have this kind of two-party faux electoral process. And that is just exactly the way we seem to want it. If we don't—remember the mirror here—then why is it so much a part of our societal DNA? If we don't think the money machine is the best/better way, then why do we so eagerly support it?
I truly don't think we need to be headed for the same old lesser-of-two-evils elections. As I'm suggesting, I don't think Trump represents the worst parts of us. I think he simply, well perhaps, vaingloriously, represents us. From his bleached, duck-tailed, plastered hair to his overly long necktie, from his reality TV personality to his pretentious policy vamps, he is the image of what, I think, Crevecoeur foresaw of how the American democrat, the new world person would evolve, rough-edged and what-you-see-is-what-you-get.
Perhaps all of this is too much for us to accept. Perhaps we feel we have evolved to a better sort of community. But I look around, and I read and listen, and so much of what happens is what Trump is and what he promises. Please, remember the mirror.
And why do so many people like Trump? He is true-blue American, as much and more than Jeremiah Dickson (more so especially than Delmore Schwartz could possibly have imagined). In fact Trump embodies the very chest pounding, can-do attitude that we most admire. And his lofty self-aggrandizing position in our society represents what many among us—perhaps most—aspire to.
Remember: We're looking in the mirror, all by ourselves, honesty time.
Did I say "asshole?" Can we seriously elect an asshole for our president. Why not? We've done it in the past. Did it twice in the 1920s—Harding and Coolidge. And we should all be relieved (but we won't be, because we don't know enough about him) that Andrew Jackson, not only an asshole but a philandering, murderous asshole, will be off the $20 bill. And of course, Tyler and Buchanan fit the mold, as well as many more. In some sense I think asshole is almost a prerequisite.
As for Trump's spurious ways to wealth and the ethics implicit in his "art" of the deal, think of other wealthy people, who awe so many of us. The names Walton, Broad, Gates, Adelson, Koch and so on represent the pantheon of what we hold most dear. In fact, if it were not for these people we most likely would not have this kind of two-party faux electoral process. And that is just exactly the way we seem to want it. If we don't—remember the mirror here—then why is it so much a part of our societal DNA? If we don't think the money machine is the best/better way, then why do we so eagerly support it?
I truly don't think we need to be headed for the same old lesser-of-two-evils elections. As I'm suggesting, I don't think Trump represents the worst parts of us. I think he simply, well perhaps, vaingloriously, represents us. From his bleached, duck-tailed, plastered hair to his overly long necktie, from his reality TV personality to his pretentious policy vamps, he is the image of what, I think, Crevecoeur foresaw of how the American democrat, the new world person would evolve, rough-edged and what-you-see-is-what-you-get.
Perhaps all of this is too much for us to accept. Perhaps we feel we have evolved to a better sort of community. But I look around, and I read and listen, and so much of what happens is what Trump is and what he promises. Please, remember the mirror.
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