Author: hamilton1788

In the pre-Elon days, Twitter was a sandbox for the woke left. The right scoured it for absurd positions, publicized them, and unfairly tarred the entire blue team political class with them. Today, of course, the far right, including Musk himself, dominates X. As a result, the left has the opportunity to tie extremist opinions to Donald Trump and the mainstream of the GOP.

Trump provides us with plenty of unfiltered material on his own, but every bit helps. The blue team needs to take full advantage of this situation while it lasts.

Fifty percent of American voters despise Donald Trump, and always have. Roughly forty percent would follow him off a cliff. That leaves the ten percent that decide elections; their votes are dictated by their perceptions of the state of the nation. What should the Democrats do about them in 2026 and 2028?

They are currently leaning against Trump. Just don’t do anything to convince them that Trump, for all of his chaos, is still the lesser evil. That means keeping the wokeness and weakness to a minimum.

America has been ethnically and religiously diverse since the middle of the 18th century. How can we make a single nation out of such a wide range of cultures?

The MAGA answer to that is simple; WASPs made America great, so they get to run the place, and everyone else should just shut up and accept their subordinate status. But what is the blue team’s response?

America is united by freedom, the rule of law, and limited government, of course. The American dream is a collection of hundreds of millions of individual dreams.

Following a tour of the Capitol, President Trump announced that it would be demolished in the coming year. Trump explained that the existing building was too old, had too few working bathrooms, was too small, and lacked gold. As a monument to him, it was an embarrassment.

House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed his support for the project, as Trump was, as everyone knew, the greatest developer in the history of mankind. “Congress just gets in the way. We’re an obstacle to his greatness. Anyway, if he needs us for any reason, we can always meet in the new ballroom.”

Preliminary plans show the Capitol being replaced by a massive golden pyramid, to be a foot taller than the Washington Monument. Trump will be buried there with a few prized possessions and will continue to govern the country in perpetuity after his reincarnation.

Just as the cornerstone of the GOP is a bargain between the Reactionaries and the PBPs, the basis of government in Iran is a deal between the security forces, which get money and privileges, and the mullahs, who get protection from an angry public. Many commentators think the current theocracy has run its course and will be replaced at some point by a nationalist dictatorship run by the Revolutionary Guards. Is that inevitable?

No, because the theocracy provides a rationale for the Guards’ power and privileges. If they don’t come from either God or the public, why should they exist?

As many people noted during Trump 1.0, the cruelty was the point; the administration concluded that extreme measures were necessary to broadcast to the world that illegal immigrants were not welcome here. Is the same message being sent this time around?

No. the point of sending masked thugs to blue cities is to prove to the residents, whether citizens or not, that Trump is in charge, and that dissent will only be tolerated within strict limits. It is about authority, not deterrence.

It is even more obnoxious than before.

Trump has sent what he calls an “armada” to threaten Iran. Since the demonstrations have ended and our Arab friends are opposed to new attacks, what is the point?

Either Trump intends to use widespread disaffection with the regime for leverage in talks about Iranian weapons or he needs a distraction from his domestic problems. I can’t see any other reasons.

When asked about the Amritsar Massacre, General Dyer essentially said that it was necessary to send the message that the British were in charge. An element of racist, pro-imperialist public opinion supported him, but most of the nation was appalled. It was another step towards independence for India.

In the same vein, MAGA supports brutal behavior by ICE, but America as a whole finds it sickening. Trump will have to listen to that voice as long as we remain a liberal democracy. How long will that last? TBD.

Kevin Warsh is Trump’s choice for the Fed.

Independence is key, it is said.

He wants to cut rates

But inflation’s not great

And his colleagues aren’t easily led.

My wife and I went to a free musical event last night. The first song on the band’s set list was CSNY’s “Ohio.”

The band didn’t say why they played it, but no explanation was necessary. I knew what they meant, and so do you.

Here is the list, in order of importance:

1. Chinese economic and military might;
2. Russian nukes;
3. The markets;
4. The opinions of the base;
5. Opinion polls; and
6. Whatever lingering respect he has for law and the Constitution.

I can see it now. The nominee stands by smiling while Trump demands lower interest rates. The chosen one then confirms that he believes in radically lower interest rates while insisting that he won’t take direction from the president. He is, he will say, his own man, and he believes in an independent Fed.

Sure.

We have finally reached Trump 2.0. In just a year, Trump has demanded Greenland, attacked Venezuela, threatened Canada and Mexico, bailed out Argentina, imposed absurdly high tariffs on Brazil, and used El Salvador as a black jail. The Good Neighbor Policy, it isn’t.

The new approach to imperialism combines TR’s aggressive pursuit of short-term material interests with Trump’s signature emotional neediness. Can it work in the long run? History over the last century says no.

To him, the only meaningful political question was who/whom? Were you the subject or the object? The hammer or the nail? Could you work your will on the other or not?

Is it Trump or Lenin? Actually, in spite of their ideological differences, it is both.

FDR was reflexively anti-imperialist; in any event, he was too busy fighting the Great Depression and fascism to spend much time with Latin America. He opted for the Good Neighbor Policy, and the nature of our relationship with the rest of the hemisphere changed for good, at least until now.

Most of our actions that smacked of imperialism during the Cold War were done purely in the name of fighting communism; in other words, they were motivated by ideology, not material self-interest. Jimmy Carter even gave back the Panama Canal. After an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the regime in Cuba, we promised not to invade, and we kept our promise. We cemented our relationship with our immediate neighbors by signing the NAFTA agreement. A new era had begun.