Cromwell

The end of the chaos is here.

An orgy of hatred and fear.

If you don’t like the drama

Then you’ll miss Obama.

I wish he could serve four more years.

          The Chaos in Cleveland

The chaos in Cleveland is done.

The fallout has barely begun.

If you don’t own a truck and a gun

I doubt that you had lots of fun.

 

If you think Clinton should go to jail,

If you like men who blow up a gale,

If it’s OK that Trump tells tall tales,

Then he probably finished the sale.

The werewolf has arrived.  Dirty Harry takes on the world. Savonarola for the 21st Century.  These are a few of the ideas in my head after watching Trump’s speech last night.

There was absolutely nothing uplifting about the speech.  Reagan’s “shining city on a hill” was in ashes.  Even his efforts to reach out to groups that are usually anathema to Republicans were fueled by anger and fear of The Other.

I have watched film of Mussolini strutting and ranting and wondered why the Italian people didn’t just laugh and walk away.  Now I know the answer; angry, forceful shouting can make for compelling theater.

Understand that if things are truly as bad as he said, Trump was making the case to be our dictator, not our President.  The question now is, when people get up this morning and walk into a world in which the unemployment rate is less than 5 percent, the market is at record highs, violent crime has diminished, and illegal immigrants are not stalking us in our streets, will they believe their eyes or what Trump told them last night?

We’ll find out in November.

I’ve represented hundreds of developers in my time.  In spite of their dubious public image, the vast majority of them are extremely decent, rule-following, pragmatic people who do their best to avoid conflict with the government and the community in order to protect their bottom line.  They are some of the best people I know.  It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work for them.

The caricature of a developer is something completely different:  a middle-aged white man who wears flashy jewelry; drives expensive cars; boasts about his political connections (and uses them constantly); repeatedly makes unreasonable demands on his representatives and the government;  and sues everyone in sight when he doesn’t get his way.  I’ve known a few of those, too, although I’ve never actually worked for one.

Trump meets the caricature in every possible way.  I never would have agreed to work for him, no matter how much money he offered me.  I’m sure as hell not voting for him.

1.  Regardless of the wisdom of his decision, Cruz had the right to say what he did, because:  (1) Trump attacked his family in a disgusting way during the campaign; (2) the convention is for all Republicans, not just Trump supporters; and (3) Trump saw his speech in advance.
2.  I’ve seen too much of Cruz to think that he is capable of doing anything based solely on principle.  He is clearly expecting (and hoping) that Trump will not just lose, but lose by a catastrophic margin, and that he will be able to pin some of the blame for the disaster on Trump’s enablers (e.g., Rubio; Walker) in 2020.
3.  That said, it would have been easy for him to make a pitch for his views while tepidly endorsing Trump, but he had the nerve to force a confrontation, instead. I have to admit that I’m a bit more impressed with the guy than I was at this time yesterday, but I think that his gamble will ultimately fail, because he will never regain the trust of the Trump wing of the party.
4.  The Mike Pence speech was an island of superego in a vast sea of id.  His bland competence would have fit well in 2012.  Here, it sounded downright weird.
5.  Pence tried to convince us that Trump is a standard fare Republican with a few rough edges.  He isn’t, as evidenced by his interview with the NYT today.
6.  Pence predictably framed the ultimate issue in the campaign as whether we want a third Obama term, or change.  I would reframe it by asking whether we would prefer chaos to a current condition of relative peace and prosperity.

Republican meeting, day three.

A great fear stalks the land of the free.

The bomb dropped by Cruz.

He’d best hope that they lose.

But Pence sounded OK to me.

There is no getting around it:  the overriding theme of the first two days of the convention has been that Hillary Clinton belongs in jail.  The most vivid speeches, and the strongest response from the delegates, have revolved around this point.

I don’t think we can safely dismiss this as “truthful hyperbole” anymore.  The GOP is creating an expectation among its supporters that President Trump will send his political opponents to prison.  When you add “Lock her up” to Trump’s promises to violate international law and bring back torture, his unconditional support for the police, his interest in libel law “reform,” and his overall strong man act, you have to take seriously the possibility that he intends to use all of the powers of the Presidency to stifle and even jail his opponents.

That, my friends, is the road to fascism.  Every Republican who stands on the stage in Cleveland and supports this platform is saying, in essence, that he would rather live in a fascist state than one run by Hillary Clinton.  Sad!

Ted Cruz and other losing GOP candidates blame the MSM for their defeat, which they attribute to the amount of free air time given to Trump (Cruz sees this as a liberal conspiracy).  Trump, for his part, complains endlessly about the quality of the coverage he gets, and regularly incites crowds at campaign rallies by attacking reporters.  The MSM have defended the amount and tenor of the Trump coverage by admitting that he makes for good ratings, but pointing to their obligation to check facts.

Who’s right here?  Actually, all of them are, at least to some extent.

There is no doubt that Trump, due to his celebrity and his gift for outrageousness, received far more free air time than his rivals;  without it, his campaign would have been toast.  The coverage of Trump was more critical than the coverage of his rivals, but he brought that on himself by being a blowhard and a liar.  Finally, the MSM are operating in a universe dominated by the internet in which they can no longer serve the public interest gatekeeper function to the same extent that they did 25 years ago.  They’re all just businesses chasing ratings now, so it is hardly surprising that they paid more attention to Trump than to his rivals.

There once was a Donald named Trump.

The MSM made him a grump.

His gaffes and his lies

Cannot be a surprise.

They’ll help Hill get over the hump.

The Trump coronation drags on.

They finally anointed the Don.

Ben Carson was weird;

Chris Christie was cheered;

All Cleveland can’t wait till they’re gone.

The convention has rolled through day two.

The Melania gaffe’s in the news.

Some love from the kids

But the show’s hit the skids

With conservatives singing the blues.

Paul Simon’s “The Werewolf” would make a perfect soundtrack for yesterday’s events at the Republican Convention.  Listen to it and try to tell me I’m wrong.

The GOP delegates know

How to put on an angry white show.

For strength is the answer.

They’ll cut out the cancers

And tell the whole world where to go.

Day one of the Cleveland convention.

The mood is of pure apprehension.

The speakers talk tough

But it isn’t enough

We also require comprehension.

I will leave the irony of her plagiarism to other commentators.  My question is simple:  would an average American woman listen to a speech from a glamorous and absurdly wealthy ex-model with a Slovenian accent and say to herself, “That’s me up there!  She understands me and my struggles!  She feels my pain!”

I have my doubts.