Friday, January 20, 2017

Swearing (In) Day

Happy Inauguration Day. Or, as the wags inform us, welcome to the Worst Day in Infamy Since Pearl Harbor.  Swear your hearts out at the Swearing-In as Teflon Don desecrates Honest Abe's Bible with his short nuclear-itchy fingers.

That swearing is good for you has long been one of the indispensable truths of folk wisdom. And according to yet another earth-shattering study, dropping the F-bomb on a regular basis also proves that you are an honest butthead as well as a damned healthy one.

Despite all the elite angst over
Donald Trump's lack of respect for "norms," and his propensity to loosen his tongue and uncontrollably tap out his tweets, one group of scientists shockingly concludes that at least he is way more honest than your average slimy politician speaking with glib forked tongue.

Then again, say another group of scientists, his habitual use of foul language is also an indication of the "dark triad of personality traits" --  psychopathy,  narcissism and Machiavellianism.

Therefore, he has the best of both theories: he is an honest, healthy and dangerous sonuvabitch all wrapped up into one package. It's the winning political triad in this age of terminal capitalism and societal collapse.

Trump exhibits two specific levels of danger: one is directed toward the ruling class, and the other is directed toward the rest of us. His danger to the ruling class is healthy for the rest of us, and his danger to the rest of us is healthy for the ruling class. This has proven to be very successful political strategy for him,  as he effectively cancels out his two constituencies and rewards himself and his family empire with what promises to be a record windfall.

Here's just one recent example of the extreme danger that Honest Don presents to the ruling class. From his pre-inaugural speech to a group of Washington bigwigs this week:
"Rex Tillerson—and these lights are bright, but he’s around here someplace. Where’s our Rex? Wow. What a job. And, Renda, thank you very much. Thanks, Rex. I think it’s tougher than he thought. Again, he’s led this charmed life. He goes into a country, takes the oil, goes into another country. It’s tough dealing with these politicians, right? He’s going to be so incredible, and I’m very proud of him."
Trump is brutally honest in publicly admitting that the Secretary of State-designate is a rich asshole and unabashed plunderer who invades other countries and steals their natural resources by bribing corrupt leaders. In one fell swoop, Honest Don has let the cat out of the bag about the true purpose of American diplomacy. And that purpose is greasing the skids for multinational corporations. Rather than do the usual presidential theater of praising American exceptionalism for bringing peace and joy and democracy to the rest of the suffering world, Trump only brays that greed is good. He has just exposed the oligarchy in all its pathological greediness and ignominy. He has sent a warning to the rest of the world at the same time that he has made a full and honest confession to all the victims of the world. Sleepers awake, and let the protests begin!

And then there's the flip side, the danger that Donald Trump presents to the rest of us. This danger is not so much exhibited in his words, but in his deeds. And his only deeds thus far have been the cabinet appointments of people who can only be described as economic terrorists. Through the nominations of such miscreants as Tom Price, Betsy DeVos and Steve Mnuchin, Trump telegraphs his utter disdain for the health and welfare and education of the public and the environment and the world at large. He symbolically rubs our noses in the biggest steaming pile of oligarchic shit ever excreted in American history. (Writing that feels so beneficial to my health!)

And so for as long as he lasts in office, he will continue just being his own honest, psychopathic self. We'll cheer in spite of ourselves whenever he embarrasses and exposes his own rich cohort, and we'll hate him when his rich cohort inevitably robs all of us.

But now that millions of people are finally taking to the streets in unified protests, Honest Don might end up being a gift to democracy in spite of his own spiteful self. Stay tuned. And don't forget to swear up a storm as you try to maintain both your physical and mental health!

8 comments:

Jay–Ottawa said...

I'll take a rain check on that swearing part. Today, is for celebrating, right? At least today let's think positively.

Did I hear some Lincoln and Kennedy lines in that speech? Also, surprisingly, some lousy diction along with it. How about some jobs for able speech writers, Mr President? But wait, we've had eight years of eloquent double talk. I'll gladly trade that in for rougher talk that brings on real jobs with decent paychecks for millions of blue and white collars down the line. Looks like the populist side of Trump intends to fix up the infrastructure with American hands. Who doesn't want that? I'm with ya, Donny!

Karen Garcia said...

Jay,

I thought it was the best national socialism speech I have ever heard delivered by an American president. America First, raised fist, God Bless. Shades of Father Coughlin, and not a little George Wallace, what with all the "carnage" he is no longer gonna put up with in our inner cities!

As I said in my post, Trump is a master at engendering mixed emotions. As scary as I found his speech (populist rhetoric with that awful anti-child billionaire Betsy DeVos sitting behind him with her death's head grin)I have to admit that I enjoyed his scathing takedown of Washington.

Jay–Ottawa said...

I sure hope nobody reads Harper's January 17 Weekly Review, which is so totally negative about our leader and not in the spirit of togetherness.
http://harpers.org/blog/weekly-review-cat/

Here's a question that's sure to be on the test: How many interest groups did Senator Schumer stroke during his remarks preceding the swearing in?

Another: True or False -- Paul Ryan also smiles like that through endodontistry?

Finally, is there any chance of passing a constitutional amendment barring cardinals, ministers and rabbis from laying their prayers upon us at such events? Surely, Trump's twice-spoken "God Bless America" at the end of his speech would have sufficed to implicate God as a collaborator in the proceedings.

Zee said...

Let's see now--

On the one hand, Donald Trump's foul mouth indicates that "that at least he is way more honest than your average slimy politician speaking with glib forked tongue." It may also indicate that he is more intelligent and has a better vocabulary than most:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/09/27/swear-words-intelligence_n_12213206.html

But on the other hand,

"his habitual use of foul language is also an indication of the "dark triad of personality traits" -- psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism."

From this we might conclude that The Donald offers the best of all possible worlds,

"[Trump] is an honest, healthy and dangerous sonuvabitch all wrapped up into one package."

But on the other hand, we might reach the same conclusion as Harry Truman, that the social "sciences," including economics, are just a load of so much questionable bull:

"“GIVE me a one-handed economist [or social scientist],” demanded a frustrated American president. “All my economists [or social scientists] say, ‘on the one hand...on the other'”.

http://www.economist.com/node/2208841

Just a thought...

Zee said...

Gotta give HillBillary credit for showing some class and "showing up" for the inauguration, unlike some of her Democratic brethren & sisteren (sp?) in the House. No matter how crabby she may have looked.

Jamie said...

Americans always ring their hands ... over the simple act of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

annenigma said...

I'm swearing at Obama. If he hadn't tried to hand-pick and groom his successor by naming unqualified, stinky baggage Hillary Clinton to be his SoS, we wouldn't have Trump right now. Obama personally qualified her than publicly proclaimed her The Most Qualified Candidate Ever to Run for President, insulting GHW Bush. And he did Bernie absolutely no favors "in fairness" - my ass.

Genius Barack was playing the long game of ten dimensional chess, pinning all his *Hope* on The Queen of Chaos, while Trump played the simpler game of electoral tiddlywinks. Politics isn't rocket science, no matter how many people make a lucrative living trying to make it so.

Genius Obama used Hillary's personal server, emailing her using pseudonyms as we learned from Wikileaks. Was the server his bright idea? He does like his secrets and we know now that he didn't stop her from using it. Like so much in his admin, including spying on everyone, that was supposed to stay a secret - until a FOIA lawsuit busted it.

It's still "the economy, stupid" but even worse. As Occupy helped show, it's even more of a RIGGED economy now, years after Carville boiled it all down to that. No matter how many times Obama told people that the economy is great and ladders of opportunity were waiting for their bootstraps, they didn't feel it and didn't believe it. They believed and got excited by the one(s) who dared admit it was rigged and needed a complete overhaul.

"There is nothing so powerful as truth, and often nothing so strange" - Daniel Webster

Obama once-upon-a-time hinted at the truth, but then threw his whole movement under the limousine. Occupy openly told the truth and Obama crushed it. Bernie told the truth and Obama belatedly acknowledged the obvious income inequality theme, but not too much lest he help Bernie and threaten the rigged system. Strangely enough, Trump captured it, put his brand on it by telling enough truths to get people excited, and rode the rigged system message to victory, likely because they had seen exactly how the system handled Bernie which Trump dared point out. "Nothing so strange" indeed.

Why is it that Democrats so unable or unwilling to read the signs of the times, the zeitgeist? Because they're invested in the corruption just as the Republicans are. They don't want an overhaul either, but the people sure do. Trump took on the whole crooked establishment, at least in talk, but that's what campaigns are based on. Action comes later, or not. We saw from Obama's 8 years that they don't necessarily match. So I'll wait for Trump's actions in office to condemn or praise him, likely both I hope. Many people want him to shake things up, and I'm one of them. The people are definitely shook up.

I'd bet anything Michelle warned genius Barack in no uncertain terms NOT to put Hillary in his administration. Lay down with dogs, get up with fleas. Poor Michelle, the only one in D.C. who seems to have real integrity. And to think, she'll never be able to admit that publicly. I feel sorry for her, and us.

Obama legacy, meet toilet. I swear IT'S YOUR OWN DAMNED FAULT, Barack!

Zee said...

annenigma--

Terrific point-by-point "takedown" of Barack Obama and his "legacy!"

As I have tried to emphasize, I didn't vote for Trump--or Hillary. Both disgusting excuses for human beings.

But like you "...I'll wait for Trump's actions in office to condemn or praise him, likely both I hope [Expect?]. Many people want him to shake things up, and I'm one of them. The people are definitely shook up."