Ask Bucko

In 1920 H.L. Mencken wrote,

“As democracy is perfected, the office [of president] represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move towards a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” (July 26, 1920)

Donald Trump has won a thumping majority in the recent presidential election, which included almost everything he could have wanted.

He won the electoral college vote, he won the popular vote, his party won the vote for the Senate, and the vote for the House of Representatives. He will assume almost unlimited power, with limited opposition. It is a stunning result.

Trump appeared at times during the campaign as if he was out of puff. His mind wandered, he made intemperate remarks which would almost certainly have disqualified him if he was a stock-standard political candidate.

But Trump is special. He is famous for being famous, and his rise just happens to coincide with the inevitable decline in American educational standards, the explosion of right wing media, both mainstream and fringe, and the availability of misinformation.

The education system’s decline was inevitable since Ronald Reagan’s time in office. He derided the very idea of ‘government’ as a force for good, and public education has been starved of funds ever since.

Watching Trump during his rallies reminded me of the apocryphal uncle in so many of our Christmas memories – you must remember him, let’s call him Uncle Maurice, the racist, xenophobic old duffer, who could be relied on to send at least one younger member of the family running from the room in tears.

He would have slandered aborigines, or gays, or conservationists, or any other group which had recently provoked the ire of the Murdoch media.

Most of us look away, so as to not provoke old Uncle Maurice, and hope he goes home soon. Watching Trump’s crowds was a similar experience.

No matter how deranged, or incoherent his statements, one often got the idea he was just ‘shooting the breeze’ around a dinner table, where he was amongst friends, and where nobody was actually measuring his performance.

Trump’s secret power is to be so unintelligent and so incurious that his is a comforting voice, droning on, but NEVER talking down to his audience, and never demanding anything from them but applause.

He makes promises, like cutting prices, or ending overseas wars, or ignoring climate change, which his audience believe, because it is comforting for them.

When he speaks, no matter how confusingly, about cutting prices and introducing tariffs, nobody sees the internal contradictions. Again, because educational standards have fallen so low that his crowds do not have the curiosity to investigate his claims.

Kamala Harris was the embodiment of “the elites”

Kamala Harris was an appealing candidate for a certain sector of the American population. She was black, an immigrant, a woman, and highly educated. She had never sexually harassed anybody, she was not dishonest, she had worked hard to get to where she was.

She was the perfect candidate for educated, affluent, broad-minded professionals. The problem was that such people are a privileged minority, and they annoy the hell out of most Americans.

Trump is a deeply resentful man

Considering his wealth and his fame, it is a surprise that he still feels slighted, especially by those at the top of the social order. Apparently shunned by New York’s glitterati, he strives for acceptance.

Political power is his way of validating himself, because having buckets of money has not allowed him entry; a shining intellect or patrician manners are outside his capabilities. Philanthropy is not possible, because he doesn’t give money away.

The goal of leaving America in a better position than it was has never occurred to him. He has no policies, except personal aggrandisement, and revenge.

But, pure political power allows him to insert himself at the big table. He has no plan for America. All he wants is to be accepted, and if nothing else will work for him, then tax cuts for the super rich, and the trashing of a century of health and safety regulations will possibly help.

Even the toffs at the top of New York society will appreciate his ‘work’ on their behalf, as will the billionaires and assorted tech titans.

The only group that will suffer will be the poor. As in his last time in the White House, his promises of a resurgence will never eventuate. He wants to abolish the Education Department, so where will the masses go to school?

His promise of a global trade war will impoverish the already poor even more, as will his threat to abolish Obamacare. Medicaid is on his list, and social security. One must wonder how long the Trumpians will tolerate their lives becoming harder, before revolution.

It is almost unthinkable to believe that a majority of American voters actually voted for a person who has no idea on how to govern successfully.

They will see the rich get richer, they will see American debt spiral, they will watch as Trump pursues his ‘enemies’, and they will possibly watch a global depression because the modern Uncle Maurice just loves the word “tariff”.

If you were wondering about whether this sort of craziness could arrive on our shores, consider Dutton’s attempt to drive the moderates out of the Liberal Party, and to concentrate his efforts on the regions and the outer suburbs.

Those are places which can be eerily reminiscent of Trump’s demographic. Starved of resources, lacking adequate educational opportunities, neglected when it comes to health care, there is a sense of frustration at best, and anger at the self-serving political class. Dutton can look like the perfect anti-politician.

Mencken was never a great fan of democracy, but to those who decry the election of Donald Trump, he had another almost perfect quote; “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”