After Trump, the Deluge? New Media; New Moment of Risk to Democracy; What Comes Next?

On bad days, I don't think it matters who wins the general election. The Trump phenomenon has gone too far; it is a groundswell of vile, belligerent, violent anger stirred up not only by the right wing media, but all corporate media's pandering to Trump.

"Get him out of here. Get him out of here," Trump bellows at anyone in his audience who disagrees with him. A woman protester was pulled out by her heels, according to one radio or TV news report I heard. Trump is the person so many people want to be president.

I lived in Spain toward the end of the regime of Generalissmo Franco, the last fascist dictator. There was a Guardia Civile in the classroom of all law classes, a student told us.

If the Guardia thought a discussion had become too licentious, he took the barrel of his rifle and pounded it once on the floor. It signaled all discussion must stop. So there was this uneducated civil servant, equipped with a gun and the power of arrest, deciding what could be discussed by the law professor.

Are we headed in this direction, as a society, where the ignorant and narrow-minded dictate what others may think and say?

I have read arguments that Trump is not a fascist, because he does not have an ideology of fascism -- because he has no ideology at all. No one thought Hitler was making much sense either, yet his rambling diatribes energized people, as Trump seems to do.

Trump is a clown to me, but others seemed hypnotized. He works the media, he works people's emotions, and he does it well.

It really doesn't matter whether authoritarianism comes from the left or the right or out of an undefined political nowhere full of slogans and meaningless promises: I'll be the best president. I can promise you that."

Three political lions emerged in the immediate aftermath of the popularization of radio -- Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. All were charismatic speakers. A devastating world war occurred.

Kennedy rode the crest of the relatively new medium of television with cool good looks, while people who heard his debate with Nixon thought Nixon had won. We lived through a Cold War then.

 Note: The expression, Apres moi, le deluge, is attributed to the Sun King, Louis XIV, whose spending excesses led France down a slippery slope to the revolution of 1789. The quotation also has been attributed to Mme. du Pompadour. 

McCain Squirms as Debate Approaches

Sen. John McCain is trying to squirm out of Friday’s presidential debate with a claim to doing the public’s business.

I don’t doubt that the country is in serious economic trouble. I’m very uncomfortable with socialism for the wealthy and bailouts for the Wall Street high rollers. It’s strange how these are the same folks who reject all plans to provide socialized medicine for we who need. Nor do I see any relief coming down the pike for those of us who have lost half the values of our homes but can afford to pay our mortgages. I tried negotiating with my mortgage holder on the basis that they hired the appraiser, so half the mistake is theirs. Nopesy. The debt is all mine.

Questions are being asked in Congress about why the trouble escalated to the point that Congress is being asked to rush a $7 billion bailout through in one week. As Stephen Colbert pointed out on The Colbert Report last night, Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson, who has asked to administer this unprecedented governmental slush fund without oversight, is a former employee of Goldman Sachs himself. This is a lot like Wiley Coyote says only he can protect the henhouse; just trust him.

Until today, The Idiot In Chief said he wouldn’t sign the bill – the bill he is so adamant must be passed – if limits were placed on executive salaries.

The whole thing stinks.

Like his Republican Party counterparts who are exploiting the economic downturn for personal gain, McCain is exploiting the so-called crisis to avoid debating a contender who is smarter and better prepared to deal with complex economic situation than he is.

Let the housing market crash. People will find apartments to rent. People with savings will buy the homes at reasonable prices. At last. No bailouts for the wealthy.

FLORIDA PRIMARY DATE WAS ANOTHER REPUBLICAN DIRTY TRICK

One thing I do not hear Hillary Clinton or any commentator saying is that REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE IN FLORIDA is responsible for disenfranchising us Democrats in our primary.

It was the REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE that set the primary date so that it broke Democratic Party rules. This is just another dirty trick by Republicans. It is making my blood boil that no one -- NO ONE -- has noticed this.