You Can’t Resist Trump by Closing Your Eyes

I have serious concerns about a Trump Presidency. I’ve laid these out repeatedly in the past, but to summarize, they center around his authoritarian nature, a disregard for civil liberties, and lastly the fact that many of the people he has surrounded himself with posses an ideology which runs completely counter to the populist message he espouses. As I warned back on November 9th, in the post Americans Roll the Dice With President Donald Trump:

Trump will be a failure unless he brings the right people into his inner circle. This is of the utmost importance. Indeed, I knew for certain Obama was a total fraud the moment he appointed Larry Summers and Timothy Geithner to key positions within his administration. This is the area I think Trump is most vulnerable to making some very big mistakes.

Irrespective of my serious concerns, I desperately want Trump to succeed. America needs him to succeed. I’m confident that Trump will never read a single word of this, but it’s also possible someone with access to him will. If so, please consider my observations. The Republic depends on him unifying the people and helping to foster an environment in which every American has a opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I’ve been very disappointed with a large number of Trump’s cabinet picks, and I think the people he has surrounded himself with in general will be a hindrance to populist polices that can help the American public. That said, I acknowledge he hasn’t actually done anything yet as President, so I’ll reserve further judgment for now.

Going forward, I will applaud Trump when he takes action I believe to be in the best interests of the people, and I will critique him when he does the opposite. This is what every thinking American should do, but I’m not delusional enough to expect it. I understand the inherent human desire to be tribal, attach yourself to a group and cheerlead your team. Unfortunate as that may be, it’s still very much a part of the world we live in.

Another reality of the world we inhabit at this time is that we’re in the midst of a very powerful populist political wave in then Western world. I fully welcome this reality, as I explained in the recent post, In Defense of Populism:

 Populism is not a bug, but is a key feature in any democratic society. It functions as a sort of pressure relief valve for free societies. Indeed, it allows for an adjustment and recalibration of the existing order at the exact point in the cycle when it is needed most. In our current corrupt, unethical and depraved oligarchy, populism is exactly what is needed to restore some balance to society. Irrespective of what you think of Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders, both political movements were undoubtably populist in nature. This doesn’t mean that Trump will govern as populist once he is sworn into power, but there’s little doubt that the energy which propelled him to the Presidency was part of a populist wave.

We need more populism in society from all sides, not less. Any resistance to Trump becomes unproductive, unhinged and dangerous without a countervailing message. As I expressed on Twitter earlier today in a series of tweets:

I hope many populist movements unaligned with Trump get going in the years ahead. We need competing populism now, and a total end to elitism

— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) January 20, 2017

If those who disagree with Trump continue to embrace hysteria, Russia paranoia and overall illogical insanity, they’ll get what they deserve

— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) January 20, 2017

This is an age of populism. We need populism. If you don’t embrace it and form your own popular movements, you will be a casualty of history

— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) January 20, 2017

The most dangerous types of people are actually those who hate Trump, but think the current path the country is on is just fine.

— Michael Krieger (@LibertyBlitz) January 20, 2017

Journalist Nafeez Ahmed expressed a similar sentiment in his piece, Donald Trump Is Not the Problem – He’s the Symptom:

New ties of solidarity are emerging across the left and right of the political spectrum. Constitutional conservatives and anti-Trump Republicans are finding themselves on the same side as progressives.

There is a powerful lesson here. In the wake of Trump’s victory, many of my American friends and colleagues who lamented Clinton’s failure see the future as essentially one-track: we need to get the Democratic Party back in power in another four or eight years.

Yet this utter banality in our political imagination is precisely what allowed the Trumpian moment to arise in the first-place – the abject deference to the inevitability of working within a broken two-party structure, regardless of its subservience to narrow vested interests, regardless of its accelerating distance from the American people.

The solution is not to react to Trump as if he, too, is the Other, but to recognise him as little more than the Great Orange Face of regressive social forces that we all enabled, forces tied to a global system that is no longer sustainable. That means raising the stakes, and shooting to build something bigger, better and brighter than merely an ‘anti-Trump’ movement.

In the Trumpian moment, we must be neither Republicans, nor Democrats, left nor right, conservative nor liberal. We are humans, together, not merely resisting a broken system that is beyond fixing, but planting the seeds to build a new system as we travel deeper into the post-carbon century. Yes, Trump is a psychotic blip in this great transition. But he is also the culmination of a state of political psychosis which began long before him, and which we’ve all been part of.

So the question is no longer what we’re against. The question is this: what are you really standing for? And what are you going to do to build it?

Although the above mentality is the only possible route to a better world, so much anti-Trump “resistance” is little more than an whiny, petulant, unmitigated joke. Here’s just one recent example, courtesy of Variety.

The Directors Guild of America is investigating a threat in an anonymous email targeting guild members who opt to work on TV coverage of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The email, first reported by TMZ, called  Trump “the monster we all fear” and said, “It is not an overstatement that he is about to destroy this country if we don’t do something about it.”

The email said, “There is no need of naming names when the Inaugural credits will tell us enough about the people who truly care about this country and those who don’t share the same ideals.”

In response, the DGA issued a statement Thursday afternoon: “This is a DGA-covered project, staffed with DGA-represented employees. We have been in communication with our members, and let them know we support their right to work on this project, and intend to protect them fully. We have, and will continue to, investigate the source of this anonymous email.”

TMZ said at least 66 DGA members received the email, sent between Jan. 6 and 10 and written by someone who did not disclose their name. The site said it had spoken with recipients who believed that the author is a DGA member in a position to hire other members and that a DGA executive received the email on Jan. 7.

Think about how insane this is. These so-called anonymous “resisters” are threatening people for simply covering the inauguration. Unfortunately, this mindset is far more pervasive than you might recognize. For example, look at what liberal stalwart Robert Reich recommended doing on Twitter earlier today:

Just about now, Trump is being sworn in. Don’t watch. Don’t listen. Don’t legitimize. Here’s a countdown timer… https://t.co/EBZx18Ojpc

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) January 20, 2017

Take a look at how many people “liked” this tweet. As if anyone in history successfully challenged a powerful adversary by covering their ears and saying lalalalalala. But that’s what people such as Robert Reich seem to be suggesting. It’s the height of idiocy.

In conclusion, we need popular movements, we don’t need stupidity. If you don’t like Trump’s vision, you better have competing vision and be willing and able to articulate it. The status quo is dead. We are in a populist age, with tremendous opportunity to make the world a better place if we can take the moment and run with it. As it stands, the Democratic Party remains business as usual, and if it stays that way, will continue to lose election after election and become a increasingly irrelevant factor in American political life.

If you don’t want to be an irrelevant victim of history, the time is now to become involved in powerful political movements. This doesn’t include covering your ears, smashing windows and complaining about the Russians.

For more on this topic, see:

Video of the Day – The ‘Fake Left’ Has Lost Its Mind

The Election Never Ended

There’s a Smart Way to Resist Trump and a Very Stupid Way (Democrats Chose the Latter)

Daily Kos Founder Tells Readers – ‘Be Happy for Coal Miners Losing Their Health Insurance’

Here’s a Great Way to Increase Trump’s Popularity – Harass His Children in Public

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In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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