The Witness Chronicles May 1, 2023

Trumplandia, DeSantis the dullard, Joe is coming for you

Photo by mostafa meraji on Unsplash

The response to this collection of my Medium stories has been very gracious. I’m bringing you three more from the past week and they are all guaranteed to get your goat if you are MAGA, which of course you aren’t. 

The first is a genuinely odd take on the Trump party’s appeal and promise of lawlessness, escape from any responsibility and how it may contribute to their downfall.

After I wrote this, I thought, this is pretty weird stuff and I better get away from it to regain perspective and then see if it made any sense, before hitting publish. There’s some wordplay in there that was kind of fun and quite different than my normal approach to political writing. But what exactly is normal these days?

Biden made it official this week with an inspiring video and the GOP promptly dropped a prepared dystopian night ad with images of death and destruction created by AI. That certainly didn't take long. But the contrast in messaging was striking, fear on one side, hope on the other.

The other big political story this week is how poorly Ron DeSantis’ vision of a totalitarian Florida looks once he gets out of the Sunshine State. As dull as dishwater he turns out to be.

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Personality, Politics, and a New State, Trumplandia

The 51st state of mind in America is a small but expensive piece of land surrounded by southern Florida. It has a different set of laws and political structure than the rest of the country. And unlike states defined by the rule of law that rules all other states, Trumplandia believes there are exceptions for the exceptional.

For the wealthy and most powerful in the land, this new caste of those who are above the law, is perhaps the most desirable of assets, one worth spending fortunes and reputations to acquire: Immunity and never having to take responsibility for anything.

For many this sounds like freedom, to be shielded from any shred of decency or honor and yet be worshipped as a kind of god on Earth, a new kind of man.

How important is personality in American politics? This is the question we all should be asking. Because I have come to believe that personality, whether genuine or fabricated, may be the deciding factor in 2024 and beyond. And those whose personality is mostly non-existent, the DeSantises of US politics, never stood a chance.

The fantasy of a Trumplandia is the notion that men like the former President owe nothing to the country they seek to lead and govern. They look to that Florida haven for inspiration and validation that their acts have no repercussions. They can steal highly classified secrets for their own use and use them as they see fit.

They can ignore the wishes of the voters and break laws designed to rein in criminal enterprises. They can even build criminal enterprises. They may even get away with things like rape without facing public outrage.

There’s a great test of our democracy taking place as I write these cynical words. And it is entirely taking place within the Republican Party. They ask themselves, do I have to follow the rules? And why can’t I change the rules for some that are in my favor?

I no longer have to pay the government’s bills, in fact I reject them. Let the economy crash, we’ll pretend it is a victory. Define truth as what you want it to be, not something with true meaning. Lying is perfectly acceptable.

Really, anything is acceptable including shooting children then sending hopes and prayers while cashing checks from gun manufacturers. It’s a beautiful thing if you look at it that way. 

That’s one emerging political reality and it sounds like a dystopian nightmare to most of us. But freedom from any responsibility for your actions is the living dream that the Republican Party under Trump has embraced and seeks to make the new law of the land.

This new reality is based on fear, hatred, anger, and vengeance, and a total belief in the notion of a superior being. He exists a level above the fools who follow the rules, work hard, and still believe in American democracy, that quaint notion.

On the other side is a kind of calm, not unlike that before a storm, a quiet building of righteous rage at the indecency being allowed to creep through our society until it is the new norm.

That calm is the enemy of a man who sees himself as an emperor, waiting to be recognized as such by those he is destined to rule. And like all emperors he has enemies that seek to overthrow him before he even claims his right. 

As horrifying as this vision of a Trumplandia is, there is a powerful force called truth that is in pursuit, and it terrifies many on the right. At night they ask themselves, what if the people catch on to what we are doing? They ask because they know the people are asking more and more questions every day.

Their answer? Ignore them, ignore reality, pass empty laws that will inevitably fail and call it progress. Pretend to worship that emperor while wishing he would drop dead or worse, be found guilty of high crimes.

I’m going to get serious for a minute before closing this strange tale. There are rumblings of a movement within the Republican Party to write off the 2024 election to rid themselves of Trump, once and for all. There’s one problem with this.

The influence of the man has infected the party and will survive without his presence. But the calm will prevail. It must.

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Now That Joe is Officially In It, it’s Going to Get Ugly

The GOP is already firing up the politics of fear

Biden announced his candidacy this morning and the Republican National Committee released a dystopian fear video made with AI that tips their hand. And it’s a weak hand if going negative this early is all they’ve got.

We have a growing ethics problem among Republican appointees of the Supreme Court that is extending beyond Clarence Thomas. Trump’s rape trial has begun jury selection today. The prosecuting attorney investigating 2020 election manipulation in Georgia has all but signaled she is bringing charges this summer with a warning to her law enforcement team that they should be ready for trouble.

She interviewed a lot of prominent Republicans and it is likely that some of them will be charged, potentially with felony crimes.

The mouthpiece of the MAGA Sauron, Tucker Carlson, was abruptly fired at Fox News yesterday in a move that sent shockwaves through the right. Kevin McCarthy’s House is in chaos as he tries to use the debt ceiling to hold the global economy hostage to an extreme right wing agenda.

That alone could bring down the Republican Party long before the election. Biden knows it and he is playing chicken, refusing to dignify their demands with negotiation. Ron DeSantis is foundering and appears wholly unprepared for the national spotlight, his Florida arrogance looking weak and provincial outside of his state.

The litany goes on and on and it is notably all on the GOP side. And I have not even touched on the party’s third rail problem with its anti-abortion actions, which are unpopular even among many Republican voters. White suburban women helped Trump get elected in 2016, but attacks on reproductive rights are sending them to the Democrats.

Even Trump knows that abortion is a topic to stay away from, but his party keeps doubling down.

We already know Biden’s strategy going in. He is going to let the Republicans hang themselves with divisiveness and paranoid fears while he touts accomplishments that have a measurable positive effect on the daily lives of Americans. It will be boring accomplishments against the rabid dogs who have turned on each other in the GOP.

It’s the right strategy, relatively risk free at this point, though if the debt ceiling is not raised, the expected economic calamity is going to hurt all politicians. But Biden will be able to point the finger at his opponents.

Republican polling may show a nice bump among their voters for Trump, but the reality is that he is on the ropes and there is a legal countdown that is relentless. But the GOP has no one to step in if Trump goes down and now they are going to need to have substance to use against Biden, substance they simply don’t have. Instead they waste taxpayer money on investigations of investigations, aka old news. 

Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden, blah, blah, blah.

And that blah is exactly the Republican problem. Take it away and they have nothing. So what do they propose? More tax cuts for the wealthy and huge corporations, the old and disproven trickle down economy theory leftover from the Reagan years. Those ideas date back over forty years yet they still dust them off as their argument for further enriching the rich, knowing they will write big checks to keep the gravy train moving.

Trump doesn’t like policy and can only make up his own versions of problems facing his base by stoking primitive fears, racism, anti-semitism, fear of immigrants and everything alien. Only he can save them.

Teddy Roosevelt advised that one should talk softly but carry a big stick, which looks like Biden’s modus operandi. Yes, there is the age problem, but he seems to think he can power through it by being calm and the voice of reason, while Republicans run around claiming the sky is falling.

It worked last time in 2020. It can work again, especially if we face something cataclysmic like a renewed pandemic, the bankruptcy of the US government, or China invading Taiwan. Any of those things could happen in the next eighteen months. If they do, we’re unlikely to hand the nation over to a raving lunatic.

This might turn out to be a very bad year for the party of fear. It is off to a good start.

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DeSantis Turns to Charm, Finds Out He Has None

People don’t like being told how to think. Tell Republicans

The Florida Governor is on a rampage to censor and remove basic rights. But his attempts to charm his fellow Republicans in DC hit the ground with a dull thud. Meanwhile, Trump unleashed a storm of endorsements from MAGA politicians DeSantis had hoped to woo.

One even walked out of a meeting with DeSantis and announced he was endorsing Trump on his way out. Ouch.

His attempts to undo Disney’s slick end run around his takeover plans designed to punish the entertainment giant for supporting gay rights are backfiring. Despite increasing ridicule and Republican worry about his spat with Disney, he is determined to limit one of the largest employers and tax payers in his state.

His actions always seem to be grounded in vindictiveness, but his pettiness is already wearing on people. Trump’s numbers are up and DeSantis, who has not yet announced his candidacy for President in 2024, is seeing a steep decline.

As a Democrat this is pretty amusing as they show the grip Trump has on the GOP despite his various legal problems. It’s going to be interesting to see what Republicans do if, after the primary, Trump’s indictments start to catch up with him. While he can run while under indictment, as the charges get more serious they are likely to chase away the moderates needed to win.

DeSantis as a fallback position isn’t looking too good for his party and no one else has made any kind of dent in Trump’s base. Trump is a brutal campaigner and has no hesitation to attack fellow party members when they cross him.

Again, DeSantis isn’t turning out to be a great campaigner and he is not even officially in it yet. His censorship, anti-abortion policy, and anti-LGBQT actions may fly with Florida Republicans but they are alarming many in the rest of the country as they alienate huge blocks of voters.

The only route to winning for the Republican Party would be to find a unifier to reunite the split in the Party between the extreme right and moderates. Unfortunately they wouldn’t welcome that person if they existed. They have a problem with politicians who only seek to disrupt and openly say they want to destroy the federal government, regardless of the effect on their fellow citizens.

We’ll be watching them in action with attempts to raise the debt limit in just a few weeks. Several have stated they will do nothing to protect the economy from the armageddon that failing to raise the limit would bring.

If that event takes place, a few far right politicians will have effectively destroyed both the economy and their party’s chances for years to come. DeSantis has notably avoided the subject but someday he is going to have to lay out some kind of a platform plank on the topic.

You can’t negotiate with people who won’t budge from their stance. DeSantis is good at negating rights and limiting education but his senseless fight with Disney isn’t showing his economic acumen. All at a time when we may seriously need a strong hand at the helm.

Trump did his best to clear out competence in government by alienating career officials, gutting regulatory agencies, and appointing judges he believed would protect him legally down the road. So far that strategy has failed, like virtually everything he touches.

So we have an unlikeable curmudgeon trying to unseat an alleged criminal vying for the leadership of a party so divided it is impossible to envision any kind of compromise. Apparently they represent the best hopes of a party incapable of any self-examination. 

Meanwhile Biden just keeps plugging along getting whatever done that he can with a bitterly divided government in DC. And racking up a list of achievements in infrastructure, the environment, and foreign policy. When voters start comparing the actions of both parties they may reluctantly choose sanity over insanity.

I like to think the country as a whole has not gone completely bonkers but the picture right now isn’t very encouraging.

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I don’t necessarily choose which stories to bring over here from Medium based on popularity. I’m choosing the ones that interest me or that have a different angle. 

It’s interesting to me that my last Witness Chronicles got more reads than most of my recent Grasshoppers. I take it as a sign that a lot more of us are concerned about the state of the country right now than those on the right might believe. 

I have to remind myself that this newsletter reaches readers in 54 countries and 46 US states, so I try to mix up my writing on US politics with a more global perspective.

With the addition of the Chronicles my writing schedule is quite dense but manageable, sort of. Last week’s viral experience was quite interesting with the Florida climate article getting 84,000 views on Medium before it petered out. Because most were external views, mostly via search, there wasn’t a big payout though better than normal. But it did generate about fifty new subscribers to The Grasshopper, which is fantastic.

I guess you can tell I like this writing life these days! Did you write today?

Martin

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