I see a tiny bit of hope for the future. Donald Trump is making all kinds of wild appointments right now, giving us a peek at the United States government for the next four years.
- Tulsi Gabbard, director of intelligence
- Matt Gaetz, attorney general
- Pete Hegseth, defense secretary
- No one, Department of Education (it will be dissolved)
- RFK Jr, health secretary
- Ramaswamy & Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”, ha ha, Musk’s adolescence never ended)
It’s an odd thing in which to find solace, but it’s obvious that Trump is packing the highest levels of government with the worst, most incompetent, most inappropriate people he can find. There is a method to this madness. His purposes are 1) to spite the people who opposed him with appointments that will enrage his critics, 2) to reward the loons who supported him, and 3) to support the long-held Republican dream of dissolving government altogether. It’s a policy of chaos and destruction.
The saving grace is that Trump is not Lawful Evil. He isn’t making a well-planned, disciplined assault on our government with a cunning long-term goal. He’s Chaotic Evil. He’s in this for vengeance, wanton destruction, and self-aggrandizement, and he’s not subtle about it. And he’s not building a legacy that will last.
He’s following his hero’s, Hitler’s, pattern. Hitler was also a wild card who lashed out with the resources of a strong nation to achieve striking initial successes, which were then undermined by his own ego and incompetence (invading Russia? That’s insane). In the final analysis he left Germany a smoking ruin, shattered and divided, with about 80 million dead. That’s what the USA has to look forward to, I fear.
You may wonder what’s hopeful about that. Consider the alternative: what if Hitler had been a careful, disciplined genius, who succeeded in establishing the Thousand Year Reich? That would have been far worse. No one is going to regard Trump as a genius.
OK, here’s an even more optimistic take. The USA is about to embark on a 4 year long bender, we’re going to leave a swathe of destruction behind us, and eventually end up broke, stinking, and puking in a ditch, and we’re not going to be funny-drunk, we’re going to be bitter-angry-drunk. Sorry, world.
If you’re not convinced yet, he wants to put Herschel Walker in charge of an imaginary missile defense shield. Madness.
That’s not good enough. You need to keep your ideological war on your own soil and not let it spill over and harm anyone else. Where do you think you are? Vietnam?
Matt Gaetz resigns ahead of key Ethics Committee meeting
This could turn out to be a lucky break. If he’s already out of Congress, then fails to get confirmed to a cabinet position, maybe he will go away.
Did anyone really think there would be any grown-ups in the room in a second Former/Next Guy administration? He’s learned his lesson, the adults would take away his toys, even if they couldn’t stop his temper tantrums. No more Mr. Nice Guy. He’s gonna show us.
Even if it will be possible to elect a different party to power after the next four years, it will take them longer than one term to repair the damage that this bunch of toddlers will inflict on the system that keeps the US running. Or whatever tendrils it has to influence things outside of its borders.
Buckle up, people, it’s going to be a rough ride. And the suspension is fucked.
The rest of the world is about to find out just what all those decades of effusive, sycophantic admiration and endless support for the Indispensable Country were good for. Sadly, not unlike a battered spouse realising, too late, that there’s simply no changing some people.
I had this conversation with a friend in 2020. Trump isn’t chaotic. Chaos is unpredictable, and Trump is entirely predictable. Given any option Trump will inevitably pick the stupidest one.
He’s not Chaotic Evil; he’s Stupid Evil.
Trump and the kleptocapitalists who support him believe:
Bad government is good government.
Good government is bad government.
That is what works for them.
My wishful thought is that perhaps his “team” is so incompetent that they can’t get anything done. They will be so obsessed with their main ambition, getting richer, that they will mainly focus on how to move money out of the government and into their bank accounts. As the infighting over the spoils unfolds, their program of destruction will dissolve into disarray.
That’s my wishful thought, my fantasy.
Of course, even under the best of circumstances it will be a disaster for people around the world, including American people. I wish I knew what to do about it.
That is an oxymoron.
I’ve never noticed that Tulsi Gabbard is all that intelligent.
She might be the best of Trump’s picks so far, so clueless that she can’t even figure out how to destroy our 18 alphabet spy and information gathering agencies.
The terminus technicus for all this is, I believe, kakistocracy. Breaking up a state by making its institutions a laughingstock.
@6
This sounds familiar.
George Orwell has it right again.
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
Bad government is good government.
Good government is bad government.
I did not want to live my last years living in 1984 in 2024.
Shrug.
This is what the majority of the voters of the USA voted for.
Old saying.
Be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it.
The goal here is to destroy as much of the USA and the US government as they can in 4 years.
No surprise.
This of course, shows a deep seated hatred of the USA and what it supposedly stands for, “Truth, Justice, and the American way.”
Even Superman gave up.
His new slogan, changed in 2021, is “Truth, Justice, and a Better Tomorrow”.
As I wrote before, this might not be as easy as the GOP christofascists think.
The USA is a huge country of 345 million people with the world’s largest economy.
We’ve got a lot of momentum here.
We also have powerful ultra rich oligarchies that dominate our government and politics. If wrecking the USA threatens their income and power, they are going to oppose it and probably at least somewhat effectively.
I’ll wait and see, watch from a distance, and really, I’m past caring all that much.
I cared deeply for 50 years, fighting against the Vietnam war while still in high school, and look where it got us.
Hitler destroyed Germany and Trump is about to do the same to America. Trump needs to be admired beyond any known standard. PZ said, “He’s in this for vengeance, wanton destruction, and self-aggrandizement, and he’s not subtle about it.” His vengeance and wanton destruction purpose is to eliminate anyone who does not worship him. This does two things, it exiles those who don’t/won’t yes him, he is never wrong and when you suggest something different, you at telling him he is wrong. See what he’s done to Nikki Hale and Pomeo. It also makes those who do worship him want to endear themselves even more. They see him as (all) powerful but what they really fear is being shunned. This creates a cycle of elevating Trump even further. His self-aggrandizement drives everything. This parallels Christian beliefs in God. The Christians believe Trump is here as a catalyst to bring about their Christian Prophies, what they don’t get is he is here to replace their god.