Political Pattern Recognition
The predominant pattern right now is fear and confusion
Humans find patterns in everything, even where there isn’t a pattern. It’s our nature. Adam Grant posted a Note here that had a quote I wish I grabbed because now I can’t find it. But the gist of it was when information is widely available we need to develop our pattern recognition skills to understand what is really going on.
That hit me because I think it’s what I’m trying to do here with the Witness Chronicles. That’s why my tag line is ‘politics decoded’. What we are seeing coming out of the White House on a daily basis is confusion designed to keep us in the dark or simply unable to understand what is happening at any given moment.
I believe the rationale behind this, if there is one, is to get people to give up on trying to figure it out, so Trump and his cronies can take over the government without facing public anger. I’m happy to report that these people are such bunglers that they are failing in this and they know it. As a result they have started the inevitable infighting and petty power struggles.
It doesn’t help that both Trump and Musk thrive in that kind of environment and actually take pleasure in it. Playing people off against each other is in their game book. The most recent example is Trump pitting Musk against Secretary of State Marco Rubio which reportedly broke out into accusations and yelling as Trump looked on.
The exact same scenario took place with the despicable bullying of Vlodomir Zylenskyy last week by Trump and Vance, which intentionally took place in front of the media and on camera. This is not the end of it, it is likely the beginning of more chaos and that is a big problem.
Trump truly believes that he can run everything better than anyone else, which is going to be a big problem when we face a major conflict or terror event. Because his confidence is actually insecurity, he has surrounded himself with incompetence across the government leadership he has installed in recent weeks.
He cannot have people more competent than himself around him, which is why all the competent people in his first administration left or got fired. It’s only a matter of time before we see the axe falling this time around.
It is important to remember that all the members of his Party in Congress with very few exceptions, confirmed or remained silent as he peopled his cabinet with nutcases and more incompetents. The inexplicable presence of Elon Musk, an unelected and unconfirmed leader of the government downsizing efforts, adds to the general sense of the inmates running the asylum.
This week, after Trump’s one hundred minute brag fest, cracks began appearing in the red wall of Trump support in the Republican Congress. Musk’s random and vicious firings are hitting red states hard and Senators and House members are hearing a lot from their constituents and they are not happy.
The Capitol has been flooded with calls and emails, Congress members are begging for their favorite programs to be exempted, and members are balancing fear of physical threats against themselves and their families against speaking to serve their voters.
They might have considered this when they confirmed Trump picks with barely a murmur, but he was always clear what was coming and they not only did nothing, they cheered him on. Now they are paying the piper. I’m not crying any tears for them, though I will if our democracy fails, because that is what they are playing with.
There are two words that I keep circling back to. The first is consequences, which I have written about at length this week. The second is decency, a word that never rolls off a MAGA tongue from the President on down. I believe they fear that concept because it is so easily thrown back at them.
Decency is how humans get along, even when we disagree. When you disavow being a decent human, you are no longer a human being, you are something lost in the darkness.
So, these are the patterns I’m recognizing this week and for many before this. It’s been a long gradual decline, and like gradual declines they tend to take place slowly and then all at once, to paraphrase. We are in the ‘all at once’ stage and it seems to be dawning on a few Republicans what they have done, possibly too late, though I do not believe it is too late.
At least I’m sticking with that belief that some will recover their sense of decency and fight back. Trump is certainly giving them enough reasons to fight back and do their jobs running the government. We need them to hold back this tsunami of rage, vengeance, fear, and hate emanating from the White House, not to mention entitlement and arrogance on an unbelievable scale.
The challenge Trump and Musk face is that the chaos they are unleashing is uncontrollable and is already fatiguing to the American public. It’s just too much, but they are incapable of understanding that. Both have been insulated for life from dealing with the day to day challenges most of us face. Ask yourself, has Donald Trump ever cooked an egg?
That sounds like a silly question, but the answer tells us everything we need to know about the man and his dislocation from the reality the rest of us live in. We cannot expect ‘normal’ behavior from a man whose normal bears no resemblance to our own, and never has.
This week, despite the Republican adulation during his speech to Congress, the house of cards began falling. It will get worse, a lot worse. The issue this coming week is going to be passing some kind of resolution in the House to keep the government open and there is no sign the bumbling Mike Johnson can pull off anything the Dems will go along with, nor will he risk alienating a President he adores.
He is a pitiful weak character in this play, but this will likely be his swan song. A lot of Republicans may be opening their eyes to where they really are and how bad it is. Recessions cause revolutions and we are on the verge of the Trumpcession, so watch and wait.
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Martin Edic
"Trumpcession" - I like it!
Don't like what it would mean for us all, though ...
In my opinion, we are dealing with a Narcissist who as a projectionist, identifies MAGA or America as himself. HIs actions follow the psychopathy or sociopathy personality. He lacks empathy especially to those who oppose him. including race, sex, nationality, and religions that are not part of his underdeveloped self. There appears to have some unstated identified relationship with Putin the dictator.