Herman Kahn was a physicist, game theorist, and futurist with the Rand Corporation in the late 1950\u2019s and early 60\u2019s. Kahn\u2019s specialty was theorizing about possible outcomes of nuclear warfare. He shocked the academic and government world by explaining a \u201cwinnable\u201d nuclear war, at a time when academic thought ended at \u201cjust\u201d overwhelming atomic destruction. It was the gallows humor joke: \u201cMoscow in flames, bombs on the way, film at eleven\u201d (as if there would be anyone left to film or watch the eleven o\u2019clock news). Kahn posited that there could be \u201cacceptable losses\u201d of civilian life (“just” 20 million), and that the survival of American government and culture could be considered a \u201cwin\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called it \u201cthinking about the unthinkable\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For almost half of American voters, they are facing the \u201cunthinkable\u201d 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 \u201c\u2026be a wild time\u201d in Washington on January 6th<\/sup>. There is no threat to the Presidential Inauguration. Like it or not, Democrats know how to lose. We know what\u2019s expected by the American experiment: we must now be the \u201cloyal\u201d opposition. It\u2019s Trump\u2019s Presidency until 2029. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sure, we\u2019ve had more than a month to \u201cdigest\u201d the \u201cindigestible\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And I\u2019m sure many Democrats have searched for a way out. Go off the grid, go to Canada (not going to be the 51st<\/sup>\u00a0state), or put on our \u201cfoil hats\u201d of conspiracy.\u00a0\u00a0Was the election really stolen?\u00a0\u00a0Did MAGA-world do what it always does:\u00a0\u00a0blame Democrats for what they themselves do?\u00a0\u00a0Should we really be considering a \u201cwild time\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0Is Democracy at stake, and if it is, do we need to do more than just be \u201cloyal\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of that leads to a kind of madness, the \u201creal\u201d version of \u201cTrump Derangement Syndrome\u201d, 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way to look at Trump\u2019s actions is to learn the way he learned. Trump\u2019s biggest success wasn\u2019t in real estate, or steak, wine and Bible sales, or in casino management. In fact, he failed at most of those endeavors. No, Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump isn\u2019t stupid. He\u2019s just not very successful in business. He learned from the TV experience, as well as his own personal connections to Joe McCarthy\u2019s lawyer Roy Cohn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cohn\u2019s rules were: \u201cAttack, attack, attack; admit nothing, deny everything; always claim victory\u201d. Trump added his own; \u201cBad publicity is better than no publicity\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From reality TV, Trump learned that it was important to always have a \u201cplot twist\u201d, and to leave the audience hanging to wait for more. He also learned the art of distraction; focus the audience away from the \u201creal\u201d crisis with some inconsequential event, then back to the main show. And most importantly, always be the \u201cstar\u201d, the ultimate \u201cwinner\u201d of every show and season, even if someone else actually became \u201cThe Apprentice\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s already happening.\u00a0\u00a0Trump\u2019s thirty-four posts on\u00a0Truth Social\u00a0<\/em>on Christmas Day (someone didn\u2019t get what he wanted from Santa) are a great example of his \u201crules\u201d, and guaranteed to drive us Democrats to foil hat madness!!.\u00a0\u00a0He talked about buying Greenland, making Canada the 51st<\/sup>\u00a0state (sorry \u201cGovernor\u201d Trudeau), retaking the Panama Canal and driving non-existent Chinese armed forces out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n He did manage to wish Merry Christmas to us \u201cRadical Left Lunatics\u201d (we all need Biden pardons) but only had \u201ccoal\u201d for the 37 Federal inmates whose death penalties were commuted to life in prison \u2013 \u201cthey can go to Hell!!\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n My fellow Democrats, are we getting ready to invade Greenland, or Panama (again), or even Canada (that didn\u2019t 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\u2019ll actually go and get them. But Trump won’t. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What he is doing is distracting, from the fact that he cannot achieve his main campaign goal of \u201cfixing high prices\u201d (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). <\/p>\n\n\n\nA TV Show<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Tweets<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What He Does<\/h3>\n\n\n\n