1.
As clear as day one continues to notice that when you own and
control media, you pretty much determine the narratives you create and
propagate to your captive viewers/readers for your own ends. And this, not only in your home country but
everywhere else where you have enviable presence and reach. Such stupendous powers!
2.
Except that at times your detestable opposition
steers away from the reservation with its own unacceptable narratives. Thus like it or not, you as potent media is
forced to address and dismiss those wayward narratives, and this upends your
well-planned and regular programming.
3.
Under
the current US election, the media readily jumped the gun (as to whether they
had good premonition or they already foreknew the results, who knows?) by
proclaiming its choice and demanding everybody else accept and move on, this
even before the end of counting was in sight.
BTW, one could refute that this is such unexplained or willful shortsightedness of what happened
exactly 20 years ago.
4. Expectedly , the other side balked, and worse, challenged not just the premature
coronation, but it also boldly declared massive voter fraud, not in one
isolated area but in several states, mostly hotly-contested battleground
states. Thus, legal challenges were
filed and the process is churning as we speak.
5.
The
neatly-massaged scenario depicted by media had some easy ride not only locally
but even globally (quite a heavy dose of early congratulatory messages from eclectic
sources), and thus the celebratory and
transition moves common in presidential elections continued on. And we surmise comforted in the assured hope that pushing it deep into the process of installing a new president any drastic change to the presumptive outcome later would be not only be one gargantuan task,
but would be expected to elicit great
howls of protest from those who orchestrated the whole promotion.
6.
In a
concerted scheme to demonize Trump and his side, media is in full blitz making
sure that any move Trump and his allies make or even hint is condemned with haste and dispatch as the
work of utter evil and subterfuge. Thus,
like the 4 years of the Trump administration, the report will be that the only thing
consistent with Trump is that everything he does is bad and evil, not a shred
of decency or goodness in them. For all
intents and purposes and more, he is the devil incarnate.
7.
It
must appear to be so because it seems that everybody in media is on the same
page and echoes the same dreary sentiments.
8.
The
only obstructing monkey wrench to all this is this discernible observation. How come many of the Christian religious
groups, even lay Catholic organizations, are one in support of amoral Trump and
not the other candidate who wastes no opportunity to declare himself as a devout
Catholic? And these groups truly and
really are praying and pleading that a miracle be forthcoming from the Almighty
so Trump can continue with his accustomed tasks? And mind you, not loudly protesting, rioting,
or worse, looting, or hurting law enforcement and those who represent law and order,
just peaceably gathering and praying. First, why a miracle? Because they proclaim Trump is facing
formidable dark forces gathered with the sinister intent to end good moral virtues
and liberties that the practice of religion has enjoyed in the country.
9.
Second,
why a miracle? That on his own Trump,
the flawed and weak human being, cannot prevail against the formidable forces
of the enemy. A Jericho would have to be
repeated. Let the walls come crumbling
down!
10.But silently waiting in the wings, my puny
and inconsequential existence, like that of a lowly fly on the wall, waits with bated
breath.
11.And as if these were not enough, the world
is still reeling having to contend with the pandemic scourge that continues to
wreak untold havoc. Surely, the world
must be paying for what it has done.
Scores of uncertainties for these indeterminate times!
12.Read about an avid conservative who
declared that people want Trumpism but without Trump in it. Therefore, a caricature of the flawed and unwanted hero. The shadowy gunslinger of the movies, who is
grudgingly engaged to clean a dirty town.
But once done, is summarily pushed out of the way to ride into the
sunset.
13.Some call for Trump to indeed ride into the
sunset, resting comfortably in the thought that he produced the best ever first
administration of a US president, arguably better than any of recent
memory. A singular feat with no
comparison!
14.However it ends, people have already
written a virtual epitaph, or whatever, of Trump. I penned a longish one a bit earlier.
In Memoriam: Donald J. Trump
Written: October 2, 2020,
Friday (The day Trump tested positive with Covid19)
Big print media outlets are
noted for their unacknowledged practice of preparing before-hand for all
possible results in important contests, elections, games, to assure speedy
publication of their copies once results are in. Getting a leg up over the
competition, in a manner of speaking.
Thus, for example, headline banners are printed before-hand to document
all possible results. An illustration of very recent vintage was the one where
certain news-magazines already had their intended covers for next issues timed
right after election for the expected assured win of Hillary in 2016. Another more classical instance was the Dewey
Beats Truman headline, that was actually leaked and released to the public. A victorious Truman had been shown in
pictures holding up that false headline after his win, with a big grin on his
face.
Anyway you get the
point. This is no prophesy by any
stretch, just trying to cover all bases.
My purpose in a macabre sort
of way is similar. Because however
things spin, one is confident that it could be either this, or Trump Wins
Re-election For 2020. Why this kind of
weird dichotomy? In a morose sort of way
one could imagine that a good number on the other side are aching for the above
headline to be the reality they wake up to one morning from a night of restless
tossing and turning. (Not envisioning any more, since we have heard/read
similar voices already.)
There was never been in
memory, and maybe even in US history books, where a president has been so
criticized, reviled, investigated, derided and ridiculed, and condemned for
practically everything that he has ever done or imagined in his
administration. Forcing the labored
conclusion that there is a creeping sense that he had not done a single good
thing in his entire administration.
Thus, in that scorched-earth campaign of destruction nothing is off
limits, including his hair and style, and the expenses associated with it. So
overwhelmingly fettered with negative criticism that one also could sense that
the entire country was going to the dogs.
Many measures however point to the contrary.
But people either consciously
or unconsciously are missing or omitting the sterling peaks that he has allowed
the country to reach in his short stint.
True, the many lows in his life, mostly prior to his presidency, could
fill a small room. The many elite
institutions in the country have been making sure that those low points are
always front and center in any media discussion. One cannot name any elite
sector of society that is on his side, from academe, to media, to all the
political classes, the big-tech companies, the bigwigs of Wall Street, not even
the affluent society that he is considered belonging to. That combined enmity could possibly be the
reason for his mystique and power derived from popular support, and a rendering
of his rise to political power could be the key to understanding him and his
administration.
No question Trump comes from
the very affluent, and in many circles, reviled, class in US society. The One Percenters! All his life he knew no other kind of life,
so we can say, he was one born with a silver spoon. A profligate and hedonistic kind of life came
and mingled seamlessly with his lifestyle and business dealings. Multiple marriages, many girlfriends, uncouth
manners, bully-like in some respects, etc. He continually spoke of things political though such exposition came solicited because of who he was and what he did as a public persona; but he never engaged in it, simply dropping hints about making a run. All of his life he had straddled political
lines showing moral and financial support on both sides, and more. You get the picture.
All of a sudden and out of
nowhere, he decides to enter politics under the Republican Party, known
traditionally as the rich man’s party.
He could not have entered in an inopportune time as any God-fearing
pollster would have advised, wading into a very crowded field of heavy-hitters
and in the mire of very chaotic politics overall. But he did.
Though no serious-thinking “pundit” or intellectual gave him a spitting
chance of winning. He won both the
primaries and the actual election and handily, if we may add to it. So, why?
Now in hindsight most everybody
prognosticates that it was because of his populist stance and programs. Make America Great Again! So he was lifted up by the unlikely support
of those who were not even of his own kind and class. It is bruited about that
he was able to tap into their collective angst as the forgotten Americans, the
middle class and those in the fly-over states.
For whatever currency one may
assign to that, we have to confess and admit that he had in his winning
accomplished a tremendous feat not realized in recent US history. He made fools of all the experts and pundits
who mocked, ridiculed, and laughed at him as one completely not having an iota
of chance of winning. That alone in the books
of many would have made him short of being a cult hero, able to magnetize and
energize great followings. But the truth
is that the ugly reverse of all of that would be all he ever got.
Unfazed, he started his work
of governance, not minding the magpie-like noises from the chattering classes
that were not only relentless, but incessant and unyielding. More than making noises, the gathered
opposition threw everything at him, including the kitchen sink and then
some. And a committed opposition one could
not imagine could happen had galvanized – from the unappeased Democratic losers,
to the unrequited media, to the suddenly out of the closet Deep State
operatives that we now learn were given free rein to rain havoc on the
incumbent administration.
First, let us count in
summary some of the high peaks in his fledgling administration.
He was able to bring down
unemployment in a very dramatic fashion, pushed by the quick actions on
deregulating the economy from past restrictions that hobbled it all these
years. And the unemployment improvements
crossed all boundaries, affecting all sectors of the labor force. Nothing like it had been seen before in US
economic history.
For the first time in decades
he made the US energy independent, releasing it from its dependency on foreign
oil. The country’s economic engine was
going full bore and markets were soaring.
MAGA was on its way to fulfillment.
In the world, Trump sought
quickly to upset the status quo, which encrusted condition had put unfair and
unnecessary burdens to the homeland. The
spoiler rose to action, with his detractors projecting a world of chaos and
division because of such just demands.
But no such thing happened, at least nothing that could not be massaged
and placated. Thus, on many occasions he
brought China to the table to level the playing field on trade. Another historic first with China, in tandem
with the North Korean side issue. And with regional trade agreements, he was
able to negotiate better terms with other nations, like Canada, and
Mexico. And with regard to NATO member
nations, he got them to pay their fair shares for the maintenance of the
organization in which traditionally the bigger burden had been shouldered by
the US. Yes, he also got out of the
Paris Climate Change accord for good reasons and in favor of US interests. Iran learned that this was a no-nonsense
president as walked out of the accord inked by the previous
administration. And more.
What about the stances and
actions he had advocated and executed in other areas like sovereignty and the
border, morality and health, law and order, the military, etc.?
Based on his stances, he is
one who is Pro-Police, thus pro-law and order, and not for riots and
anarchy. Pro-Life, taking positions for
limiting the runaway abortion rights legislated additionally after Roe Vs Wade.
In short, pro-country, pro-America, as it has stood all these years from its
founding.
All these he accomplished
early in his first term. But why so
early? Did he use a magic wand (as the previous president joked about) to
accomplish them? I doubt that. The simple answer is that he was the only
president who had the political will to do all these unpalatable things that
past Admins avoided. He simply
deregulated, so the means used were always there but none used them as he did. Ergo, nothing extraordinary and out of thin
air, just the will to do them. And that
he did, with ease and dispatch.
That is the secret of his
successes, and probably the reason why he is so derided and loathed. He showed current politicians and those in
the past how easy it was to move the country forward.
No doubt, the MAGA juggernaut was
underway. But China had to get in the
way to mess things up. For the pandemic like afternoon fog suddenly came and
wiped out many of those hard-earned gains.
Imagine if those gains had not been garnered prior, where would the US
be during this pandemic? No doubt worse.
But in spite of that and as
the pandemic raged, his workload never slackened nor diminished. And he fought hard and fierce like the way he
had lived his life, with dogged determination and passion. And to a certain extent, with abandon. And in
the end it was the Chinese scourge that felled him.
And for that it was China who
could possibly claim him for the kill, as well as for the almost a million
people in the globe who perished because of China’s neglect. And his enemies in the end who no doubt
relished the thought of eradicating him from his position never got the chance
and enjoyment for that. And I use the
word, enemies, with full intent and purpose for they were truly not just
detractors but enemies in every sense of the word. In a real way then, they
never got the chance or pleasure to “break any bone in him”.
Godspeed, for you fought the
fight and at 74 years lived a life as full and fruitful as any man could wish,
and more, attaining the highest public position in the land while also
garnering temporal success in the business world.
We must all die so regrets
have no place here, maybe just pining for reckoning of those who had willfully
and unfairly maligned your person, name, and the things you did for your
country.
Lastly, not to worry you left
the country on the rightful path, for surely VP Mike Pence and the millions who
followed you will honor your passing by continuing your work for you in your
self-same manner and diligence.
Go and enjoy the fruits of
the things you did for God and country!
DISCLAIMER: Reality typically being unmindful of people's wishes, this sick
foretelling was not to be. And it is a
big relief.
