Red
Well-Known Member
The Trump Wars.
Nothing brings on a Right/Left hate fest like the Trump Wars. This is really the focal point of Right/Left discord at the moment, and as such, the front line in the civil war being waged for the mind and purpose of America. Around this one person, all the vitriol each side has mustered against the other is reaching a climax of sorts. The immovable base, which I see a percentage of consisting of something akin to a cult of personality, a component that is to be expected will be found in the sphere of control/influence displayed by any good demagogue, but, in any event, that base overall will see the Left as exactly as Trump describes them, and it will be felt as natural in most cases anyway, given that the two sides are basically responding to life itself in a manner that is completely inexplicable each to the other. It becomes harder to compromise and stop drifting further apart on either side of the Left/Right chasm when it's basically become a case of to each the other is so inexplicable, they may as well be from a different planet. With two sets of partisan media driven narratives supporting the anger and alarm of each side toward and for the other side. That's how extreme the two interpretations are, by Trump's base, on the one hand, and the Left on the other.
And nowhere is that radical divide, the ongoing social/political civil war, more strained then in the defense of, on one hand, and attack upon, on the other hand, the person of Donald J. Trump. (And it's only natural that Rural America favors Trump and Urban America disfavors him, as the divisiveness of the social fabric has always had a rural/urban modality. It's only a generalization, but the split represented by conservative/liberal world views is to a degree mirrored by and part of what makes rural America different from urban America. There must be many reasons we could explore, but, in simplistic terms urban is where social diversity, cultural diversity, and freedom from traditional constraints are likely to be concentrated. They'll be more liberal.)
When Trump tweets, he is speaking to his base. His base sees those tweets as speaking truth to liberals out to destroy the President. To those far removed from the base, the tweets are seen as a strategy to keep the base, but also as evidence of the President's inability to stop self inflicting wounds, since his tweets and public comments have only raised the prospects of political damage to his administration, and ever more likely himself. Smelling blood, the attack from liberal media is non stop. And unable to dwell on anything but his self perception, Trump becomes more obsessed and hence more ensnared. One pundant put it this way: "If this is a witch hunt, it's a witch hunt where the President is saying 'Hello. I'm a witch. Hunt me' "
So, the Trump Wars are both a symptom of the split in the American psyche at this moment in time, and a front line in the social/political civil war playing itself out.
It's only natural for the losers of a battle to feel anger in the aftermath more then the winners. It's also natural for winning candidates to reach out to his defeated fellow citizens with equanimity and strong statements embracing inclusion. Partly perhaps because he did not run on social/political inclusiveness of all elements of American society, partly perhaps because of his self absorbed personality, his long stated dislike of anything he can label "loser", and maybe for reasons only he will ever know, that never really happened. As recently as last week, he was taking about his electoral college victory. There's a level of self absorption and probably insecurity therein that has not proven helpful for the man. And is reflected daily in his tweets, and in his inability to stop blustering himself into corners. I can indeed feel sorry for him, since, to me he seems most like a classic tragic personality.
There is no easy way out of this. Had Trump actually reached out to those who did not vote for him, if he did not demonstrate he was an enemy of science in the 21st century, if he simply had not tweeted and commented himself into a Special Council, there might not be a feeding frenzy from the Left in the Trump Wars to this point.
And the present investigation began during the election and has led to date to a better understanding of how deep the interference by Rusdia actually was. It's difficult not to take this degree of interference by Russia with alarm:
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/...h-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections
Calling this a hoax is easy for the cult of personality level Trump supporter. Some simply parrot Trump, or don't have strong minds of their own. And many simply hate liberalism and liberals, the truth of it all simply is not relevant. But to many non Trump supporters, it's irritating to the extreme that another nation state can use psyops like fake news to influence the minds of American citizens, and more direct cyber attacks on election software. The Russians favor what they call active measures to achieve their ends without resorting to traditional warfare. This President does not seem to care a wit about that. We've been here as a nation since 1789. We don't have to accept or treat this level of attack on national sovereignty lightly. I do not know why Trump expresses no curiosity or concern for a cyber attack on our system of election. But his treatment of it as a ruse to come after him has only poured accelerant on the Trump Wars. He continues to wound himself by focusing on the investigation.
As the Trump Wars go, so goes the civil war of which it is both symptom and leading edge.
Nothing brings on a Right/Left hate fest like the Trump Wars. This is really the focal point of Right/Left discord at the moment, and as such, the front line in the civil war being waged for the mind and purpose of America. Around this one person, all the vitriol each side has mustered against the other is reaching a climax of sorts. The immovable base, which I see a percentage of consisting of something akin to a cult of personality, a component that is to be expected will be found in the sphere of control/influence displayed by any good demagogue, but, in any event, that base overall will see the Left as exactly as Trump describes them, and it will be felt as natural in most cases anyway, given that the two sides are basically responding to life itself in a manner that is completely inexplicable each to the other. It becomes harder to compromise and stop drifting further apart on either side of the Left/Right chasm when it's basically become a case of to each the other is so inexplicable, they may as well be from a different planet. With two sets of partisan media driven narratives supporting the anger and alarm of each side toward and for the other side. That's how extreme the two interpretations are, by Trump's base, on the one hand, and the Left on the other.
And nowhere is that radical divide, the ongoing social/political civil war, more strained then in the defense of, on one hand, and attack upon, on the other hand, the person of Donald J. Trump. (And it's only natural that Rural America favors Trump and Urban America disfavors him, as the divisiveness of the social fabric has always had a rural/urban modality. It's only a generalization, but the split represented by conservative/liberal world views is to a degree mirrored by and part of what makes rural America different from urban America. There must be many reasons we could explore, but, in simplistic terms urban is where social diversity, cultural diversity, and freedom from traditional constraints are likely to be concentrated. They'll be more liberal.)
When Trump tweets, he is speaking to his base. His base sees those tweets as speaking truth to liberals out to destroy the President. To those far removed from the base, the tweets are seen as a strategy to keep the base, but also as evidence of the President's inability to stop self inflicting wounds, since his tweets and public comments have only raised the prospects of political damage to his administration, and ever more likely himself. Smelling blood, the attack from liberal media is non stop. And unable to dwell on anything but his self perception, Trump becomes more obsessed and hence more ensnared. One pundant put it this way: "If this is a witch hunt, it's a witch hunt where the President is saying 'Hello. I'm a witch. Hunt me' "
So, the Trump Wars are both a symptom of the split in the American psyche at this moment in time, and a front line in the social/political civil war playing itself out.
It's only natural for the losers of a battle to feel anger in the aftermath more then the winners. It's also natural for winning candidates to reach out to his defeated fellow citizens with equanimity and strong statements embracing inclusion. Partly perhaps because he did not run on social/political inclusiveness of all elements of American society, partly perhaps because of his self absorbed personality, his long stated dislike of anything he can label "loser", and maybe for reasons only he will ever know, that never really happened. As recently as last week, he was taking about his electoral college victory. There's a level of self absorption and probably insecurity therein that has not proven helpful for the man. And is reflected daily in his tweets, and in his inability to stop blustering himself into corners. I can indeed feel sorry for him, since, to me he seems most like a classic tragic personality.
There is no easy way out of this. Had Trump actually reached out to those who did not vote for him, if he did not demonstrate he was an enemy of science in the 21st century, if he simply had not tweeted and commented himself into a Special Council, there might not be a feeding frenzy from the Left in the Trump Wars to this point.
And the present investigation began during the election and has led to date to a better understanding of how deep the interference by Rusdia actually was. It's difficult not to take this degree of interference by Russia with alarm:
https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/...h-of-39-states-threatens-future-u-s-elections
Calling this a hoax is easy for the cult of personality level Trump supporter. Some simply parrot Trump, or don't have strong minds of their own. And many simply hate liberalism and liberals, the truth of it all simply is not relevant. But to many non Trump supporters, it's irritating to the extreme that another nation state can use psyops like fake news to influence the minds of American citizens, and more direct cyber attacks on election software. The Russians favor what they call active measures to achieve their ends without resorting to traditional warfare. This President does not seem to care a wit about that. We've been here as a nation since 1789. We don't have to accept or treat this level of attack on national sovereignty lightly. I do not know why Trump expresses no curiosity or concern for a cyber attack on our system of election. But his treatment of it as a ruse to come after him has only poured accelerant on the Trump Wars. He continues to wound himself by focusing on the investigation.
As the Trump Wars go, so goes the civil war of which it is both symptom and leading edge.
