The Trump Election	Email me SiteMap
Norm's Soapbox- My corner of Hyde Park

The remarkable Trump election brings many concerns to the fore. Many of those relate to aspects that are ignored while being unconsciously known. We must now become consciously aware of these.

While there has been much talking about politicians being liars, there is little objection to business ignoring the truth in their promotion of their interests (ads, 1, 2). When a politician is caught taking liberties with the truth, there is much uproar and objection to that and calls for prosecution. However when a business does the same, it is rare that any notice is taken. Trump is using that as a basis for his defense in his fraud trial, calling some of the false claims mere advertising fluff. This approach is beginning to appear with Muslims and his wall. As a result, we really do not know what Trump will do or try to do. Colbert's routine points this out with comedy.

In this society money is the most common measure of success, and wealth is frequently considered as a measure of how good someone is. Only when a fortune is lost is an unprincipled endeavor for riches objected to, often with surprisingly many defenders. Trump has used this fact to promote himself as good and brilliant in spite os the fact that his wealth would be greater if he had only invested this inheritance in the S&P. Clinton's lesser wealth was vilified as being a gift from tax payers while Trump refused to pay bills, threatening years of litigation, and used manipulating locals to use eminent domain to further his real estate endeavors and benefiting from bankruptcy law. No objection is made to his using his ghostwritten book as a proof of his brilliance, even when the ghost writer says it is not true, with Trump supporters saying that the writer is not rich so he can not be right that he wrote falsehoods.

America has had an uneasy relationship with the notion that "might makes right", at times buying into it fully, and at other times rooting for the underdog. We root for the American Revolution, but otherwise see ourselves as the rightful power, except for the Confederates. In the past we have seen this with wars, land grabs, railroads, oil, tobacco, industries, and the rich. The winner is right in this paradigm, regardless of the methods used. In this case, Trump's three voter suppression units, and the previous admitted Republican voter suppression efforts, and Gerrymandering have not met the objections that are appropriate in a democracy, while praising Veterans for protecting our right to vote. We claim to oppose bullying. Trump refused to fulfill his contractual obligations of paying for work, and promised eternal expensive court battles for anyone that tried to pursue payments due, or settled with non-disclosure clauses to prevent others from being aware of his business practices.

Much is made of religion, using it as the reason for attempts to force some groups values on all, and denigrating others. The same people do not see when their values are in opposition to their espoused religion. Just as the Daesh Sunni fighters flagrently violate the teaching of Mohammed, fundamentalist Christians bomb Planned Parenthood, violating the teachings of Jesus (Mat 5:38-39, Luke 6:31), unaware Numbers 5:6 calls for abortion. They deride others for not going to church, ignoring Matthew 6:55-8, thereby violating Exodus 20:16, and ignore Trump's adultery and violations of Exodus 20:14,15,16,17. While they claim their religion to be the most important factor of their lives, saying the meek shall inherit the earth, they hold more stock in the powerful and ignore the conflicting factors.

Blame is used to excuse much abhorrent behavior, and to avoid acknowledging mistakes and wrong doing. The Right routinely blames problems on too much government, too much involvment in individual lives, but institute additional layers like HOA's, laws concerning private behavior, and call for additional laws and punishments. As Trump blames China for stealing our manufacturing, he buys his goods from China. Republicans blamed Democrats for immigration (amnesty was under Reagan) while blocking any immigration reform, hiring the illegal workers at lower wages, often below minimum wage. Trump applied for 2000 H1B positions for his hotels paying less than Americans. Republicans enraged many with deadlock in government, but profited from the rage they caused.

Cognitive dissonance is apparant in these areas, holding two mutually exclusive ideas. While praising freedom of religion, the right to vote, honesty, compassion, individual rights and freedom, the same people oppose the same for others. Large numbers of people who registered to vote failed to do so, even while claiming the value of the right to vote, and yet more failed to register. Trumps' claims of a mandate are belied by 53% voting against him, with 47% of the vote, 48% vote for Clinton, and a vote for third parties (5%). The majority of our nation are willfully ignorant of this truth. The root of word says the truth- ignore. This is related to hypocracy, the active version of this. Awareness can bring understanding and a more coherent approach.

This brings forth the question of what can be done to eliminate this psychopathology in our public life. The notion that the powerful can do as they please with impunity has resulted in great injustice. While the wealth is produced by workers, the wealth has been increasingly channeled to the rich at the top, and the blame for the injustice has been blamed on the poor. The one tool of the worker to gain some parity with employers, unions, has been demonized and weakened by Republicans. The tax burden has been shifted from the richest, who gain the most from government, with increasing tax breaks. Big Oil continues to enjoy subsidies while enjoying large profits and it lied about climate change. The rewards must not go to the Machiavellian bully if we are to have a stable, prosperous nation.