Has Donald Trump Become a Pied Piper?

 

You may remember the Pied Piper as a scary fairy tale in which the protagonist, thwarted by community leaders, casts a spell over the town’s children and leads them into oblivion.

Does the lame-duck President fancy himself in this role?  It certainly appears that he and his chief supporters are leading a majority of Republicans in a direction that is not in their – or the nation’s - best interests.

Was the election rigged?  Over 70% of Trump voters say yes.  That’s not surprising since their candidate claims it was.  But was it?

Extremely unlikely.

Put yourselves in the shoes of Biden operatives.  If you had the capability of changing results in Biden’s favor, you would do so in such a manner to have the Democrats regain control of the nation and government.  It would not make sense to “elect” Biden while leaving Republicans in charge of the Senate (the likely result of the November vote).  That would thwart full control by Democrats.  Thus you would, as part of the voter fraud conspiracy, have made sure not only that Biden won but that enough Democrats running for Senate won, too.

So either the conspirators were incompetent… or the existence of a conspiracy is a myth.

Donald Trump doesn’t acknowledge that he might actually have lost the election regardless of the presence of some voter fraud (which is likely present in every election).  His ego and personal insecurities won’t permit it.  [Remember, he boasted before the election that he could lose only if the outcome was rigged.]

But, as a Pied Piper, he can take solace in the multitudes who share his views (because they take his word for it)!

What a sorry and sad situation the President has created.  He is misleading his millions of fans [I voted for him but I am not one].  They are now being urged to distrust the results of our elections, just like many liberals do when their electoral choices are defeated.

If both sides lose faith in the fairness of the vote, how is our democracy to survive?  Will Americans become receptive to other forms of government?

If so, our Pied Piper of present will bear some responsibility.  What a legacy that will be.

 

 

John Bolton, former National Security advisor to President Trump, has been making the media rounds in recent months promoting his highly critical book on his time in the White House.

For Bolton, his most damning indictment of Trump is that the President viewed every foreign policy decision from a political perspective:  how would it affect his re-election prospects?

John Bolton is displaying naivete about the history of presidential politics.  Donald Trump is unusual in many ways, both good and bad, but was rather common in his concern about re-election.

Consider the following observation from famous political observer Alexis de Tocqueville, published in Democracy in America in1835 (Knopf Edition,1945, page 137).

It is impossible to consider the ordinary course of affairs in the United State, without perceiving that the desire to be re-elected is the chief aim of the President; that the whole policy of his administration, and even his most indifferent measures, tend to this object[;...]                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

The Growing Disenchantment with American Democracy

 

When Donald Trump claims he won despite the reported vote in favor of Joe Biden, he does so because, he says, the election was stolen from him and that nearly half of the electorate backed him.

This is reminiscent of the position of Hillary Clinton in  2016 and Al Gore in 2000 (when the Supreme Court narrowly upheld George W. Bush’s margin in Florida).

In each case, the losing side thought it had been cheated out of a deserved victory.

That attitude is unhealthy for our democracy.  This is not to suggest that corruption and fraud are non-existent in elections.  Historically, they always have been.

New York’s Tammany Hall, Chicago’s Daley machine and Lyndon Johnson’s Texas are only examples.  But the legitimacy of our elections has in the past been largely accepted by the American populace.

No more.

A majority of Republicans question the accuracy of the November vote.  On what basis?  The President refuses to accept the outcome, citing ballot irregularities in various states.  Obviously, Trump’s post-election comments have fed GOP skepticism.  The effect of the President’s words are heightened by his pre-election warnings that he could lose the forthcoming vote only if the election were stolen.

Four years ago, a substantial portion of Hillary Clinton’s supporters viewed Trump’s victory as illegitimate because she won the popular vote but not the Electoral College.  She has reminded us of that ever since.

In times seemingly long ago, Americans viewed themselves as united in common beliefs.  Sure there were differences but those focused on alternative means to shared ends.  We didn’t question the “other side’s” commitment to wanting the best for our nation and its people.  We didn’t talk politics in catastrophe terms about the pending election “existential” (survival of our virtues was dependent upon our victory).  We didn’t treat or castigate fellow Americans with the opposing views as being enemies, vile or deplorable.

[Note:  The 1850s are a clear exception to this fond recollection of political tolerance.  And we know where the internecine hostility led.]

Are the current politics sentiments a worry?  Absolutely.  I don’t intend to sound like the old Testament’s Jeremiah by warning of God’s wrath to come, but it does seem obvious that if people in a democracy lose faith in the system’s ability to produce fair outcomes, they will pursue other avenues to obtain their objectives.

Perceptions matter.  What doesn’t are fair elections not recognized as such.

The Donald Trumps and Hillary Clintons of American politics are undermining faith in our Democracy.

STOP IT!

 

Some Post-Election Thoughts

 

The results were good for the country.  As disclosed in the last blog, The Sensible Conservative voted for Donald Trump.  That decision was motivated not by affection for the President but alarm over what a Biden win might mean for America – a decided move to the Left.  So it is a great relief to note that the GOP has probably retained control of the Senate and thus will be able to thwart the harmful designs of the incoming Democratic Administration whether led initially by Joe Biden or, as is distinctly possible, Kamila Harris.  (No court packing, etc.)

The exit of Donald Trump isn’t good for him but is a blessing for the country.  With the Senate in GOP hands, his continued occupancy of the White House is no longer necessary to thwart the Left’s agenda.  Although the President is not solely responsible for the antagonism which plagues American politics, his absence from the scene should lessen its intensity.  Further, with Trump gone, there will be no strong incentive for Democrats to flood the off-year vote.  So Republicans will be likely to add to their election successes as then and will be well-positioned to oust Biden/Harris in 2024.

                             *                           *                           *

Some pundits on the Right are echoing the sentiments of many on the Left who question the intentions of those on the other side.  Conservatives have long been accustomed to being on the receiving end of slurs from the liberals who claim that opposition to their position can only result from malevolence. 

Thus, for instance, Tucker Carlson of Fox News and Mollie Hemingway of the Federalist website claim that the wildly inaccurate pre-election polls were designed to be such.  Why?  To lull conservatives into thinking that the campaign was hopeless and thus should give up.  Ok.  But “lulling” works in other ways, too.  The candidates whose numbers are inflated would think that campaign efforts can be reduced since the results are “in the bag”.  Manufacturing phony polling numbers would indeed be a doubled-edged sword. 

[Of course, a follower of conspiracy theories could claim that the liberal pollsters let the favored campaigns in on the secret while keeping the other side in the dark.  Really? Anyway a pollster is in business – they make most of their money from private companies.  Intentionally skewing results would damage their reputation for reliability and undoubtedly affect their financial success.]

Sometimes people, both those on the Left and Right – simply have genuine differences of opinion and make mistakes.  Ill will may not be involved at all in what is said and done on either side.

                             *                           *                           *

The liberal media is very disappointed that its desire for Donald Trump and Republican candidates to receive a thrashing (blue wave) has been thwarted by voters.  But they apparently take little solace in the narrow defeat of their nemesis.  So the blatant bias in their coverage continues.

An example:  The President and other prominent supporters suggest that some election results may have been tainted by fraud.  The New York Times and the Washington Post report the allegations but append the terms “baseless” or “invented” to them.

How do they know?  The absence of any proof presented thus far hardly means there isn’t any.  And such evidence may or may not be forthcoming.  But for “respectable” news outlets to term the suggestion of fraud as being baseless is opinion, not straight, unbiased reporting.

For Whom to Vote?

 

The Sensible Conservative will admit that I have struggled with the answer to that question for a long time.

That may seem odd given my political perspective, but the thought of voting for Trump’s re-election makes me blanch on a personal, emotional level.  Our President is so self-centered, so uninterested in observing social mores which a conservative views as essential to a healthy democratic society: politeness, courtesy, respect for those with opinion differing from one’s own, and displaying good character as one lives his life.

Whether Donald Trump’s disagreeable conduct is the result of a flawed  upbringing and or is calculated to be an assault on such mores matters not.  I don’t like him.

A candidate’s likeability is reputed to be more important for electability than the popularity of his political positions. That is true.

Think of Ronald Reagan.  His warm personality allowed him to win despite being on the “wrong side” of many issues.

 [The Trump’s campaign’s effort to have voters focus on policies                                    and not personality will fail accordingly.]

Trump’s many deficiencies have persuaded some on the so-called Moderate Right to disown the President and pledge their support to Joe Biden.  Their announcements highlight their belief that the Democratic nominee will be a soothing, unifying chief executive unlike the divisive incumbent.

But such former GOP stalwarts do not note is that Joe Biden only won his party’s nomination after promising fidelity to its far left faction, and his lengthy political history shows a close attention to the direction of the weather vane.

Policies do matter.  The leftwing push will dominate a Biden Administration (and will become even more forceful if Kamila Harris assumes the presidency).

So who will be getting the vote of The Sensible Conservative?

An easy choice is, for instance, a third party or a pass.  But a long-time friend recently pointed out that hard choices call for courage.  I will not disappoint him by choosing, although the choice certainly will.

The morning after the election has finally been decided, I will be sorely disappointed in myself if my vote added to the totals of a candidate whose policies will ill-serve the nation I so dearly love.

I cast my vote for Donald Trump.

I confess that this decision , too, involves wishful thinking of the sort for which I have criticized disaffected Republicans backing Biden.  But I am confident that Biden and crew will do the unintended harm to America they have promised.  And the damage will likely be largely irreparable.  Will Trump improve his conduct?  (I may be hopeful but I am not a fool.)  Of course not.  So I hope with considerable trepidation that the USA will survive the next four years without too much more “wear and tear”.

The feeling of having made a choice between the lesser of two evils is not a pleasant one.