Bombs on the Way
Herman Kahn was a physicist, game theorist, and futurist with the Rand Corporation in the late 1950’s and early 60’s. Kahn’s specialty was theorizing about possible outcomes of nuclear warfare. He shocked the academic and government world by explaining a “winnable” nuclear war, at a time when academic thought ended at “just” overwhelming atomic destruction. It was the gallows humor joke: “Moscow in flames, bombs on the way, film at eleven” (as if there would be anyone left to film or watch the eleven o’clock news). Kahn posited that there could be “acceptable losses” of civilian life (“just” 20 million), and that the survival of American government and culture could be considered a “win”.
He called it “thinking about the unthinkable”.
Trump Derangement Syndrome
For almost half of American voters, they are facing the “unthinkable” right now. Donald Trump will again be the President of the United States in less than a month. And, unlike Trump four years ago, there will not “…be a wild time” in Washington on January 6th. There is no threat to the Presidential Inauguration. Like it or not, Democrats know how to lose. We know what’s expected by the American experiment: we must now be the “loyal” opposition. It’s Trump’s Presidency until 2029.
Sure, we’ve had more than a month to “digest” the “indigestible”. And I’m sure many Democrats have searched for a way out. Go off the grid, go to Canada (not going to be the 51st state), or put on our “foil hats” of conspiracy. Was the election really stolen? Did MAGA-world do what it always does: blame Democrats for what they themselves do? Should we really be considering a “wild time”? Is Democracy at stake, and if it is, do we need to do more than just by “loyal”?
All of that leads to a kind of madness, the “real” version of “Trump Derangement Syndrome”, as my MAGA friends would say. So here are a few rules to survive the second Trump Administration, and, hopefully to allow the American experiment in Democracy to survive as well.
A TV Show
One way to look at Trump’s actions is to learn the way he learned. Trump’s biggest success wasn’t in real estate, or steak, wine and Bible sales, or in casino management. In fact, he failed at most of those endeavors. No, Trump’s biggest success was as a reality TV show star. It was that success which put him in the national eye, and allowed him to parlay his way through a weak 2016 Republican field into the Presidential nomination. The rest, as they say, is history.
Trump isn’t stupid. He’s just not very successful in business. He learned from the TV experience, as well as his own personal connections to Joe McCarthy’s lawyer Roy Cohn.
Cohn’s rules were: “Attack, attack, attack; admit nothing, deny everything; always claim victory”. Trump added his own; “Bad publicity is better than no publicity”.
From reality TV, Trump learned that it was important to always have a “plot twist”, and to leave the audience hanging to wait for more. He also learned the art of distraction; focus the audience away from the “real” crisis with some inconsequential event, then back to the main show. And most importantly, always be the “star”, the ultimate “winner” of every show and season, even if someone else actually became “The Apprentice”.
Tweets
It’s already happening. Trump’s thirty-four posts on Truth Social on Christmas Day (someone didn’t get what he wanted from Santa) are a great example of his “rules”, and guaranteed to drives us Democrats to foil hat madness!!. He talked about buying Greenland, making Canada the 51st state (sorry “Governor” Trudeau), retaking the Panama Canal and driving non-existent Chinese armed forces out.
He did manage to wish Merry Christmas to us “Radical Left Lunatics” (we all need Biden pardons) but only had “coal” for the 37 Federal inmates whose death penalties were commuted to life in prison – “they can go to Hell!!”.
My fellow Democrats, are we getting ready to invade Greenland, or Panama (again), or even Canada (that didn’t work out so well in 1778 and 1812)? After all, we Democrats have an expectation that the President-elect of the United States is serious. If he wants Greenland, or Canada, or Panama, he’ll actually go and get them. But Trump won’t.
What He Does
What he is doing is distracting, from the fact that he cannot achieve his main campaign goal of “fixing high prices” (he already told us that). And he wants to make sure he has all of your attention. President Biden continues to serve the country (he signed 57 bills into law on Christmas Day). And, of course, “President” Musk suffered a huge defeat in Congress last week (that makes Musk a “loser”, not Trump).
It’s what’s to come. Plot twist (Greenland), distraction (Panama), insult (Radical Left Lunatic). MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow put it simply when she said; “Watch what he does, not what he says”. That might be the number one rule to follow in the next four years. It’s the way to try to endure the “unthinkable”.
