Many apologies to my regular readers for my temporary absence from blogging, but I have been mentally laid up with a tremendous case of Trump Fatigue. The recent episode of Donald Trump vs the Media, pitting His Nibs against Fox News (and particularly Megan Kelly) was just a stunt too far for me to go on trying to write about this as politics, and it isn't even exactly media criticism--the only way to discuss this is as a television review for a reality show.
I had long wondered what debates mean to people who don't follow policy minutia. I no longer do. They are a talent contest for political spokesmodels. Who delivered cleverer lines? Who looked poised? Did one candidate or the other seem nervous or badly prepared for some ambush question? It's superficial--and backing out of the tiresome thing makes sense for a frontrunner who considers himself far enough in the lead to get no benefit out of it whatsoever--and already anticipates he won't get slammed for it. So Trump created his own counter-event. It even drew two of the undercard debate performers, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, who seek attention like blind snakes seeking warmth. Did they realize they were practically signaling an endorsement? (Who knows what people with this little likelihood of winning the nomination, who still claim to be in the running, actually are aware of?)
Without Trump, the debate went on, arguably with more discussion of the issues. Sen. Ted Cruz took his shots at the absent frontrunner--but it looks like none of the other stiffs on the stage felt like that was their cue to take advantage of the opportunity to bury Trump while he was offstage. I found it a source of disappointment, but not surprise. They could have said he "cut and run" and challenged his seriousness, but no. Jeb Bush tussled with Marco Rubio. Rubio tussled with Cruz. Boring.
So Trump gambled that he wouldn't get painted as unserious for ditching the debate to have a rally for disabled vets--and was proven absolutely right. He flatfooted the competition, who simply did not know how to respond. And he won the media cycle, because once again, he was all the news could talk about.
I don't know when everyone else will be as exhausted by this sort of thing as I am, but I feel like the media should catch on that they are being played for publicity, and maybe his nasty little habit of turning on journalists who displease him only stops when they do what his GOP rivals refused to.
2 comments:
My dear Vixen, I've been worried about you, and I'm glad to see that you are OK. I realize our political views are different, but I have come to realize that you and I have a sort of “connection.” Though if I told you about it you would not believe me.
So I went over to your poetry blog to see if I could find a clue. I was once again reminded of how talented you are. The problem is that your poetry always evokes a 1940s image of a woman in a spacious 15th-story upper East Side apartment laying aside her fountain pen next to the inkwell and then stepping out onto the balcony and taking a step off the ledge. In other words, your poem was written at the time of the San Bernardino shootings, but it was hardly encouraging to restore my confidence that you were still on this level of reality. I looked at Rubber Hose and saw that some entries had been made recently, but I am not certain if you post there or do so regularly. As best I was able to tell from my own investigations in another way, you were still in the body. (My wife and I occasionally have disembodied visitors who just want to check in, say hi, and see how we're doing.)
I completely agree – I'm not only bored with Trump; I'm bored with the entire political process and would like to move to Fiji until after the election and return after the whole thing was over and settled.
In terms of politics and world events, here are a couple of things that have interested me. The Bank of Japan has moved to negative interest rates. Some other countries have as well, and that means those countries are absolutely desperate for economic stimulus. No good for savers, however. If interest rates are negative one point and you buy a $100 CD for a year, when you take the CD out, you will receive $98. Japan has never really recovered from the collapse of Japanese, Inc., and it's a fascinating piece of economic history. The keiretsus found themselves flailing away when the real estate market collapsed, and the Bank of Japan found it was collateralized by a portfolio containing nothing but junk.
A million people hit the streets in Italy objecting to civil unions for gay couples. It will be much harder in Italy to establish some legal arrangement for them. I imagine you are interested in that.
There's the whole abysmal social breakdown in Germany and Scandinavian countries because of the migrant crisis. If the governments there don't wake up to reality and get their feet under them, it could come to the collapse of the EU. Major General Anders Brännström in Sweden has told his army that they will probably be at war with other European countries in a few years. Some say sooner than that. Why these societies want to commit suicide is beyond me.
Lastly, I will remind you that in the Qaballah as soon as you move from Assiah to Yetzirah you are dealing with forces that move the events you see in Assiah. This is a bit like coming on some patterns in the desert sand that have been moved by the winds. You see the patterns, but the wind is invisible. In Yetzirah you can see the forces moving behind the scenes. However, you will not understand the reasons for these intentions until you can monitor Briah where the causes are identified. Right now the invisible wind is propelling a lot of forces that can change our world beyond what is generally imaginable.
I took a look, a few days ago, at a lot of blogs that I have bookmarked that I don't look at every day, and I noticed that many of them (including my own) have not been posting that much lately. So, you are hardly alone. It's hard to keep repeating remarks about the grotesque distortions of the mainstream press over and over again, without eventually starting to feel that there isn't much point to it. In a country where voices a thousand times louder than ours keep telling people that a loudmouthed racist carnival barker is the same as a liberal Senator with a lifetime of public service and well thought out positions that a great majority of Americans agree with, and that a puerile empty suit from Florida is the same as a woman with the greatest political experience of any candidate in decades, it can get pretty frustrating to carry on.
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