The Economy?

 

Remember James Carville’s Clinton era campaign slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid”?

Well, as Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as stupid does”. None of us are immune from saying and doing stupid things. But many of us seem to enjoy the liberating feeling of being stupid and not knowing it. Enter the Dunning Kruger Effect, named after David Dunning and Justin Kruger. They described the cognitive bias in which people with limited competence in a given area of expertise overestimate their abilities.

This applies to our politics more than ever. What many voters think they know is far less than what they actually know. Everyone who took Trump at his word unwittingly embraced this effect. But Trump’s true believers aren’t the only ones suffering from this quirk of cognition. Enough swing voters also fell into the effect. They didn’t bother to educate themselves about Trump’s crime spree and propensity to be a pathological liar. They likely spent less time thinking about how to vote as I did while writing this little essay.

I’m going to argue that believing falsehoods and ignorance of vital information affected the election more than anything else. So naturally the economy has become the media punditry’s explanation for Trump’s win over Kamala Harris. After all, there was a serious rise of inflation. The fact that it was brought down didn’t get the same attention.

Pro-Trump and corpo-media did an excellent job of blaming Biden for post-pandemic supply chain issues that aggravated global inflation, while the Democrats did a poor job in messaging its causes. The economy is strong, manufacturing is up, and unemployment is low, but we are still stuck with the higher prices elevated by global inflation and corporate greed. 

Yes, inflation was a factor, but I reject that simple excuse as the most significant influence.

The reality is Republicans are better at propaganda. They have their own mendacious media empire to catapult the propaganda. Hell, they’ve even had Russia in their corner since Trump came along. The most powerful weapon to destabilize the US was dropped into Putin’s lap.

True to the authoritarian playbook, Republicans and the far-Right mastered scapegoating and the blame game. Democrats were weak in both their own defense and offense, as in framing their opposition as a threat to democracy, decency, the rule of law, and the truth.

Democrats should have run footage of J6 and Trump’s praise for his thugs 24/7 throughout all of October. They didn’t. They failed to exploit the far Right’s greatest flaw.

Merrick Garland’s painfully slow initiative in investigating Trump’s crimes took its toll. The final nail in justice’s coffin was hammered in by Trump’s authoritarian and corrupt partisan allies on the Supreme Court.  “Presidential immunity” was never a thing in the history of the republic, until the derelict Court decided to reject our ideal of equal justice under law and openly enable Trump’s criminal behavior. How the hell did these NOT have profound significance in the election?

I suggest there are several more factors that had far more influence than the economy. Apathy, ignorance, emotional manipulation, and the intellectually lazy and incurious low information voters all took a toll.

It’s the disinformation, stupid.

Trump’s endless stream of lies was amplified by both corporate media and his sycophantic propagandists. Mike Flynn’s Q-Anon domestic psy-ops fed his marks massive troves of lies and wacky conspiracy theories like “Pizza-gate”. Youtube pushed this disinformation exponentially. Gullible people fell for it all.

It’s the hate, stupid.

Trump’s rallies were nothing but extended Orwellian “Two Minute Hate” rallies, inciting constant anger, and fueling groundless scapegoating and blame in the minds of his gullible true believers. The free press was called the “enemy of the people” while Democrats and judges holding him accountable were labeled “the enemy within”.

It’s corporate media’s “horse race” normalization and “sanewashing” of a criminal, stupid.

Age was a critical issue with Biden, but magically not for Trump. Trump’s obvious criminal behavior and resulting indictments were basically ignored after his circus of lies and outrageous rhetoric became the next day’s headlines.

It’s social media, stupid.

Twitter, facebook gossip, and Trump’s so-called “Truth Social” became primary sources of disinformation for duped buffoons who “did their own research”.

Exhibit A: “They’re eating the dogs in Springfield!”, howled the man who sent an angry mob to storm and desecrate the Capitol, terrorize Congress, and beat cops bloody to overturn a fair election he lost.

Exhibit B: Many Trump voters didn't understand the consequences of their support for Trump until it was too late. Buyers' remorse is setting in. Many Arab third party and Trump voters are realizing Trump's ambassador to Israel said, "There's really no such thing as a Palestinian". Google searches for "How to change my vote" and "Will tariffs cause inflation" spiked after Trump won. Searches for "Did Joe Biden drop out" popped up on Election Day!

The reality is this: Everyone who voted for Trump is either misinformed, willfully ignorant, believes his lies, or just doesn't care.

In short, “It’s the stupidity, stupid”.

Bamboozled

 

Today is astronomer and astrophysicist Carl Sagan’s birthday (November 9, 1934, > December 20, 1996)

Most Americans do not learn from history. They will ignore, deny, or rewrite it to conform to their ideological bias.

We can’t expect the average American to be knowledgeable or even curious about science. It requires a basic foundation of math, biology, and chemistry with an understanding of the scientific method. An open mind and motivation to pursue a vast and enlightening, but also confusing, area of study isn’t in the nature of most people.

I’ve read some books by Carl Sagan and Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and even “A Brief History of Time” by Stephan Hawking. That was enough to make my head spin, but also gave me a glimpse of our universe and a primitive understanding of astrophysics.

History, on the other hand, is more suited to simpler folks like me. Its lessons can be of equal importance to humanity as what we learn from science.

"Never again" seems to never sink in.

Sagan wrote a book on the evolution of human intelligence titled “Dragons of Eden” that explored human psychology and behavior in our journey from the trees to the savannah and caves, up to our so-called “advanced civilization”.

In his later book from 1995 “Demon-Haunted World” he notes a disturbing trend in America that explains its inevitable fall into Christian Nationalism and Trumpism.

Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness... The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.

This week’s election has revealed the disturbing reality that most American voters have succumbed to negligent, self-serving corporate media dereliction of purpose, and the primitive emotional manipulation by a con man, that resulted in this kind of bamboozled celebration of ignorance. 

American Dream 2024

Crime pays.

Hope

 

What does it tell us that Donald Trump can win a plurality of only white voters? Don't overthink it.

As Americans decide whether we are a nation of paranoid, duped, and authoritarian white people or a multiracial democracy, most of us in the latter group are justifiably anxious about this election. 

If a criminal autocracy prevails, Americans will not see America made great again. We'll see more of the demolition of representative democracy, social order, and the rule of law. 

That darkness of autocracy might be what is necessary to turn the public against the authoritarians. If Democrats have a majority in the House or Senate, the damage may not  be irreparable, I have to believe there will still be hope for a future election when the country can right its course.

As bleak as our next four years would be under a criminal autocrat, there are people who have even more to worry about.

If we think we are in a state of anxiety, just imagine what the Ukrainians are feeling. This is more than freedom or tyranny to them. It is life or death under the brutal tyrant who enjoys the admiration and envy from Donald Trump.

Poland and the Baltic states are no doubt enduring their own sense of dread and foreboding today. They can clearly see Putin's imperialist intentions. The people of Taiwan are in a similar state of dread under the threat of communist China.

The world's dictators are all in for Trump. Their information/cyber warfare is working for Trump. Putin's shill Tucker Carlson is earning his rubles. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the non-credible threats that briefly disrupted voting at two Georgia polling places originated from Russia. “We identified the source; it was from Russia," he said.

This is all because America is still plagued by semi-literate duped voters and paranoid white racists, an industrial level flood of disinformation, and immoral political leadership that benefits from their engendered lies, fear, hate and racism.

It's up to us to reject the lies, fear, hate, racism and criminality of the Party of Trump. The consequences will be dire and lethal if Trump wins or steals this election.

With today's vote, we are the hope of the free world.

"Qualifications"

 

The Wall Street Journal editorial board understands how Mr. Trump is qualified for office. "Mr. Trump was too undisciplined and his attention span too short to stay on one message, much less to stage a coup".

So, no worries there.

In this final weekend before the election, let’s review Trump’s “qualifications” to hold the highest office in the land. Whether he is fairly elected, or successfully steals the election, he will be “qualified” for, and granted, immunity from criminal prosecution by his loyal Supreme Court consiglieres. 

Presenting the List of Trump's "Qualifications" for Reelection to the office of President of the United States of America:

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Felony Convictions:

34 felony counts for Trump’s falsifying business records in the first degree.

Invoices for legal services - Guilty on 11 of 11 charges

Checks paid for legal services - Guilty on 11 of 11 charges

Ledger entries for legal expenses - Guilty on 12 of 12 charges

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2020 Election Interference Charges

Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Conspiracy to Defraud the United States)

Count 2: 18 U.S. C. § 1512(k) (Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding)

Count 3: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c)(2), 2 (Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding)

Count 4: 18 U.S.C. § 241 (Conspiracy Against Rights)

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Mar-A-Lago Documents Charges (Dismissal Pending in Appeals Court)

Counts 1-31: 18 USC 793(e) Willful Retention of National Defense Information

Count 32: 18 U.S. Code § 1512(k) Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice

Count 33: 18 U.S. Code § 1512(b) Withholding a Document or Record

Count 34: 18 U.S. Code § 1512(c) Corruptly Concealing a Document or Record

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State of Georgia Charges:

Violation of the Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act

Conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree (2 counts)

False statements and writings (2 counts)

Conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer

Conspiracy to commit false statements and writings (2 counts)

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As anyone can plainly see, Donald Trump is the most “qualified” presidential candidate in the history of the universe.