US class, economic, political, religious, ideological, and military wars internally and externally have been quieter in recent years under a charming, deceptive, ineffective President Obama and a sullen, anti-social, do-nothing Repub Congress. Now that Trump is about to take over, things are heating up.
The US is like a recently quieter volcano that is once again emitting larger plumes of smoke and ash at its summit. All hell could break loose.
The Repubs are already on the move trying to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, in short order, and there’s rumors they are about to attack Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in a serious way. The Demos are attacking Trump in more vicious ways. Trump is fighting back with his Tweets.
As John Chuckman cogently points out in his article below, “Of Wizards and Washington and the Dreary, Unrelenting Reality of American Politics,” Trump has been hardened and toughened in a long career of wheeling, dealing, and intrigue, which might be a good thing when he gets into the heat of battle in Washington. How much heat he can take and how much backbone and conscience he has for doing the right thing and not doing the wrong thing remains to be seen.
Read an excerpt from Chuckman’s article below and click on the full article in the Intrepid Report for an erudite comprehensive overview of what is going on and what might happen.
Of wizards and Washington and the dreary, unrelenting reality of American politics
A raw and sometimes darkly comic survey of America’s treacherous political terrain
By John Chuckman
Posted on January 13, 2017 by John Chuckman in the Intrepid Report.
The books aboutThe Wizard of Oz were written as satire on American politics, but Hollywood, in its inimitable way, turned them into a song-and-dance picture for children. Still, one scene in the film has a sense of the author’s intent. That scene is when Dorothy, in Emerald City, approaches a closet-like structure, which, as it happens, is the Wizard’s control booth for sounds and smoke and lights, his special effects for intimidating visitors and impressing them with non-existent power.
The entrance curtain happens to be open, so Dorothy sees a modest man busily pulling levers and pushing buttons and speaking into a microphone which alters his voice into a great booming one, echoing like a great organ in a cathedral. When the man realizes that he is being watched, he makes a last effort and booms out words along the lines of “Pay no attention to the man in the booth.” Of course, the jig is up, and we all understand there is no wizard.
What better allegory for events in Washington today could there be? We have booming noises and smoke and glaring lights, and it all comes from a rather sad little–little in the sense of failed–man with about two weeks left to sit at his big desk and pretend that he is a great and powerful wizard. Except, when you are president, as this man is, you can never be observed in your control booth and you have your stunts and booming claims seconded by a chorus of flacks, hangers-on, and political appointees, presumably lending a semblance of authenticity and substance.
What the controversy engendered by “the Russians did it” has achieved is almost the opposite of what was intended. Dubious claims and pretend evidence have caused lights to shine brightly over what is a blanketing fabric of dishonesty in America’s establishment. The fabric covers everything from foreign affairs and the military to the details of domestic affairs. It is an immense, complex, and carefully constructed covering, and those who created it have very little tolerance for any of it being scrutinized under spotlights. Achieving this scrutiny may be regarded as Obama’s final act of failure.
Whether it is “the Russians hacked the DNC” or “America has been bombing ISIS in Syria” or “the Russians threaten Eastern Europe” or “the Russians committed atrocities in Aleppo” or “Russia shot down Flight MH-17,” the same tiresome actors making the same unsupported claims have for eight years expected that just their inflated job titles should intimidate us into believing them. Proof? Who needs that? Would I lie to you about such matters? Once you start something foolish as Obama has done, and it is widely understood as being foolish, you only weaken your authority over all the other less-obviously dubious claims you have been making. The fabric of lies becomes weakened, and that is one of Obama’s small, but unintended, achievements now.
Read the article in full in the Intrepid Report by clicking here,