Trump is not the real problem.

[CloudWatcher]

Of course, Trump and his sycophants are horrific.

But Trump is a symptom, not the problem.
Remember why they are in power.
Remember who put them there.

Hint: We should not just blame Trump.

Focus on the cause.

There will always be narcissists and demagogues.
There will always be con artists, grifters and crooks.
There will always be truly evil people willing to do anything for power.

But ... who is to blame for Trump?

Blame income inequality that allows dynasties.
Blame the news media for selling us entertainment instead of news.
Blame the "both sides" and "whatabout" reporters that haven't a clue.
Blame our election system that allows billions of dollars worth of free TV exposure.
Blame TV viewers that can't distinguish a con from a scholar.
Blame our education system that fails to teach critical thinking.
Blame politicians that choose power over country.
Blame religion that teaches faith in autocracy.
Blame everyone that accepts dogma over science.

Hold them all accountable. Make them change.

Make us change.

We'll always have Trumps and Putins and Erdoğans. We need not allow them power.

We must learn from our mistakes and change what is wrong.

Quickly. Because we are running out of time.

It's different this time. It's not just our governments at stake. It's the Earth.

Without real change, disaster is unavoidable. We may have already passed the tipping point.

If we fail, our children's grandchildren will broil. Or drown. Or starve.

The clock is ticking.

Make a difference. Pick something that is most important to you.

Review your skills. Grow them. Join with others.

Get angry. Stay angry. Fight.

Fix the system so that it is robust in the face of intolerance, corruption and science denial.

Fight as if you can hear the childrens' screams.

[guillaumeb]

1. Very well written.

Recommended.

Let me add: never give up the fight. If we give up, they will have won.

[CloudWatcher]

2. Thank you!

There's no quick win here. Even if we had the votes in the Senate to remove him, we've got a long road ahead of us.

[guillaumeb]

3. Agreed.

I was a union representative for over 33 years. I fought the same fight, over the same issues, for those 33 years. There is no such thing as a final victory, or a final defeat, as long as we fight.

[CloudWatcher]

7. Final defeat?

In my darkest of hours, I worry there will be a final defeat. The planet is more fragile than most people comprehend.

I remember my children growing strong enough that they could do serious damage to people/things and needing to understand their power and need for restraint. As a society, I don't know that we've learned that lesson in regard to our stewardship of the planet. We still have the perspective of a smash & grab thief taking what we can.

[guillaumeb]

10. By final defeat I mean giving up.

The struggle continues as long as we continue to struggle. Nothing assures a victory.

[CloudWatcher]

12. Yes ...

Yes, as long as we still have a livable planet to fight for, we must never give up.

But we do not have a stable environment. Our innate trust in the illusion of stability ... that we can fight again tomorrow ... is just not true. It's hard to believe just how quickly unstable systems can flip. And the human-friendly environment of this planet is not stable.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Trump is the tip of the iceberg...

The Repubs have been hiding this shit for decades and it's finally out in the open.

[Butterflylady]

9. I agree

It started with Nixon and now it comes full circle. Yes everything about the Republican party is certainly out in the open.

[OMGWTF]

29. Eisenhower was the last honest Republican. He warned of the "Military-Industrial Complex"

in his farewell speech.

[Whiskeytide]

78. For a long time I saw Тяцмр as just an asshole ...

... who had always been surrounded by like minded assholes, and therefore lacked the “filter” he needed to be accepted in the mainstream.

But over time I have begun to suspect that’s too simple an explanation. He is, after all, just a 3rd rate actor/con man. I now believe most of his shit is a performance for his audience. He acts like an asshole because his base loves it, and he was born for that role.

That’s not to say he isn’t a completely worthless human being. It’s just that I don’t think even he buys into most of his shtick anymore. It’s a con, and his base is his mark.

[kag]

5. Agreed.

The only sure way to lose is to not fight.

[YOHABLO]

6. Behind every demagogue there are billionaires funding them.

[CloudWatcher]

13. Yes, income inequality is absurd.

The idea that we have most major governments working to further enrich the oligarchs is astonishing. Power needs to be taken back.

[Wounded Bear]

79. Hitler went to the German industrialists...

and told them he had nothing to worry from him, Hitler promised to give them more business arming the Wermacht.

[Snackshack]

8. All good points that in the...

long view have contributed. Having said that I blame the GOP....DT was despicable as a candidate so they knew before voting for him what he was. Since he won* he has not changed just became more embolden and the GOP has created new contorted positions to cover for him. All so they can have the power of a majority in the Senate to appoint judges and dismantle the social programs enacted since FDR.

The lengths the GOP has gone too to cover for DT has resulted in them tossing out all of the values they have touted as being the party of for years...Rule of Law, Patriotism, Defense, The Constitution, Faith. Unless we are already in a dictatorship and don’t know it yet and the GOP expects to be a permanent majority and hold the WH permanently I don’t see how they think that when DT is gone (if he leaves) how they will ever be taken seriously by anyone in the world that is not a part of the 30% base they have. They can never be trusted again to put country before party. World leaders will never trust them again. I don’t how they continue to exist short a coup where they get rid of elections and declare DT president for life. That what DT wants because he know once he loses the protection of the office indictments will be coming.

About the *. I think President Carter was right back in summer of 2019 when he said that he thinks a full/comprehensive investigation of the 2016 election and the Russian impact on it in specific states would show DT did not win. He actually lost the popular vote by 3M votes. So speculations about why voters voted trump in office is moot.

[CloudWatcher]

17. GOP

The GOP has been a major part of the problem for a long time. I think it's pretty funny that the Tea Party (super-patriots) may have helped Trump become a dictator for life.

But the factors that allowed the GOP to get and maintain power far exceed the actual members of the party. We have a multiple-front war to win.

[Snackshack]

34. Agreed 100%.

IMO the most important front in that war is ensuring the elections are secure and fair. Between the GOP’s gerrymandering of districts and voter purges it only takes a couple of swing states to be manipulated by a foreign hostile power to hand the presidency back to DT again as we see from 2016.

The only way to overcome this is for voters to come out and vote in historic numbers. Close vote totals of just a couple % points can easily be contested / titled in a specific direction but large differences of 10% or more cannot be.

[Different Drummer]

11. DUReced and bookmarked. Very powerful writing!

DD

[CloudWatcher]

14. Thank you :)

It was therapy to write this, but real change requires knowing what you're fighting for! The list is long and Trump is but a distraction.

[pangaia]

15. To simplify your inclusive statement---

Blame REPUBLICANS !!!!!!!!

[CloudWatcher]

20. Republicans?

The issues are more global. The GOP is certainly deserving of being wiped out (politically speaking), but the US is far from the only culprit in not doing enough to protect the vast majority of people that struggle to survive here.

[pangaia]

22. Yes, republicans. And the whole concept of republicans and what they stand for..

THIS--

"Blame income inequality that allows dynasties.
Blame the news media for selling us entertainment instead of news.
Blame the "both sides" and "whatabout" reporters that haven't a clue.
Blame our election system that allows billions of dollars worth of free TV exposure.
Blame TV viewers that can't distinguish a con from a scholar.
Blame our education system that fails to teach critical thinking.
Blame politicians that choose power over country.
Blame religion that teaches faith in autocracy.
Blame everyone that accepts dogma over science."

Oh, they are not totally alone,, but.. consider a 'wider' definition of 'republicans....'

Of course on the other hand there are the Maos and the Stalins,
BUT at least their underlying principal was, supposedly, to actually help people... 'course, it didn't exactly work out that way.

[CloudWatcher]

40. Putin, Kim Jong-un, Modi, Bolsonaro, Duterte

The list of dictators around the world is long. Sadly this has to be a world-wide fight.

And yes, we can start by wiping out the GOP as a legitimate force in the US.

[pangaia]

41. world wide is right.. and it is the 'right' pretty much that is the greater danger, in my opinion...

[42bambi]

77. Yes, all of us must be in survival mode ... all the time!

[NRaleighLiberal]

16. media for sure, esp right wing hate radio and tv

propaganda works, sadly.

[CloudWatcher]

18. I'm so old ...

I'm so old I remember when use of public tv/radio frequencies required the stations to act in the interests of the public.

Media is a huge part of the problem. If Bloomberg and Steyer wanted to maximize their impact, they'd put their egos aside and join together to buy Fox News and change it to a propaganda-free news source.

[OldBaldy1701E]

71. Yep

Please remember that before the late 1970's, television stations usually had their own news programs. They were there solely because the stations all felt that they should, so that their viewers had the ability to stay informed about local news as well as national/international news. Then came the era of the corporate-owned station, and suddenly those news programs were being held to the same criteria as their regular programming. They had to attract viewers, they had to attract sponsors, etc. With that shift, the news programs became little more than another TV show. They had to compete with those entertainment programs. And they did what any of the other shows have to do to fulfill that new criteria. When you are faced with sensationalistic programming, you have to become just as sensationalistic, if not more so. Well, just 'news' is not entertaining. So, they started becoming that. By the early eighties, I was done with all 'news', as all of it was corrupted by corporate interference. Basically, the 'news' no longer resembles anything like the news of old. It is little more than a nation-wide recreation of a 'Springer' episode.

Do not pay attention to the 'news'. As I have told the students at the school where I used to work, "Anyone with a computer and an art program can create a very realistic looking site with very real sounding news and information. Take everything... everything you read on the internet with a bucket of salt." The goal of mass media today is to entertain and draw sponsorship, not to inform.

[CloudWatcher]

72. And consumers have not kept up.

Part of every high school education should be at least a couple of weeks on how to determine the trustworthiness of their news. It is not intuitive, and Trump being elected has proven that what we have now has failed.

[OldBaldy1701E]

75. You grok well! (n/t)

[bucolic_frolic]

19. You have to get past the symptoms

to get to the real foundational root cause. So far, I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere. So I have my suspicions, but I'm not going to say.

[CloudWatcher]

26. Lol, you're being a tease.

I'd chalk it up to humans being short-sighted, tribalistic Neanderthals at heart. I just hope we can overcome our nature.

[colsohlibgal]

21. Amen

All true and the right wing hate talk machine would not be there had The Fairness Doctrine not been done away with late in Reagan’s 2nd term. Because of that infrastructure, facilitated by the Supreme Court’s Money is Free Speech Ruling, this Evil Orange Clown still is supported by tens of millions who live in an alternate reality.

[CloudWatcher]

24. Hate radio.

The GOP has been excellent in making it ok to hate again. Trump just brought it out into the open and refused to apologize.

[certainot]

60. hate radio. the root cause, doomed by artificial intelligence as soon as dems stop ignoring it

it's the only medium that can do the unchallenged repetition to create the alternate reality. fox is the cartoon cliff notes that gets all the attention, a distraction while RW radio short circuits democracy with made-to-order constituencies that media pretends are bigger and popular and widespread than they really are because liberals never point it out. it doesn't even get polled for.

that's why we get idiots like chris mathews saying this country is 50-50 and the dem candidate has to be conservative/moderate

these are symptoms of ignoring 1500 coordinated single message propaganda monopoly that short circuits the fact-based discussions a democracy would use to fix them:

Blame income inequality that allows dynasties.
Blame the news media for selling us entertainment instead of news.
Blame the "both sides" and "whatabout" reporters that haven't a clue.
Blame our election system that allows billions of dollars worth of free TV exposure.
Blame TV viewers that can't distinguish a con from a scholar.
Blame our education system that fails to teach critical thinking.
Blame politicians that choose power over country.
Blame religion that teaches faith in autocracy.
Blame everyone that accepts dogma over science.

artificial intelligence means talk radio can now be digitized and analyzed on a large scale quickly and cheaply and apparently theres a new effort to do that coming. the dem party and big orgs should be doing it

[malaise]

23. Excellent post

K & R

[CloudWatcher]

28. Thank you!

[DanieRains]

25. Rupert Murdoch The Most Evil Human In History

The cause of most of this.

Remember when they said if Nixon had Fox News he wouldn't have had to resign?

It's about Fox's brainwashing of stupid people living in fear.

[CloudWatcher]

31. Murdoch is a problem, yes. But ....

We should have a society robust enough to keep the Murdoch's of the world from gaining so much power.

There isn't anyone forcing Fox viewers to watch the propaganda media outlets. We should know better!

[erronis]

27. Good list of the evils in this current system.

Now we need to build a list of their networks and hit them at the nodes.

[CloudWatcher]

32. Yes, a multi-front war.

We can't just blame individuals (or the GOP). We've got a broken system that let them come to power.

[Mr.Bill]

30. It is not coincidental that religion relies on a lot of these things.

Historically much of what has gone wrong involved religion. It doesn't have to be that way. Religion is also involved in much that is right and good.

[CloudWatcher]

38. Religion

Sad to say I think religion is central to not teaching people skeptical thinking. How many church leaders want to actually defend their assertion that they speak for God? And the tribalism that organized religion embraces (You are the chosen people!) is just evil.

I should probably add that I'm an angry atheist and excuse me if I've offended you. Nothing personal.

[Mr.Bill]

39. No offense taken. I am also an Atheist.

However, I do think religion and churches are capable of doing good earthly things.

[CloudWatcher]

47. Churches can do good!

Of course. I am reminded that even Hitler treated his dog well (he's one up from Trump on that, I don't think Trump has a single positive quality at all).

But I don't think it's enough to excuse the damage that organized religion encourages/embraces.

I'd be a lot less angry if they didn't work so hard to erase the line between religion and state.

[Thomas Hurt]

33. Too much time has passed since the world wars.

People no longer understand what those wars brought us.

Now the ignorant christofascists here and the right in Europe want us to return to those days.

Trump is the ideologue that they hope will make all the christofascists wet dreams come true.

A return to a time and society that never existed while ignoring the reality of the past.

welfare, abortion, prayer in schools, protestant hegemony, militaristic jingoism, white supremacy, authoritarian control, undemocratizing education, control of the press, so called christian morality....

[Brother Mythos]

35. Thank you for your well written post.

[CloudWatcher]

42. Thank you!

I appreciate it. I sat on this draft for weeks wondering if was worth the electrons to post

[Yeehah]

36. Wealthy people who wish to maintain the status quo

by maintaining a facade of democracy while plutocracy is the reality.

[CloudWatcher]

45. Wealth

But they get their power because people give it to them. We can do better.

[Liberalhammer]

37. Trump is the Avatar

Of the old racist white supremacist male order in this nation.

[BigmanPigman]

43. You don't need to tell me to be angry and stay that way.

I have been angry for most of my life, probably since I am a passionate person, an individualist and very stubborn. I don't care if a MAGAT says something mean and stupid but I do care enough to fight for my country's future through activism.

[CloudWatcher]

44. Yes, I know :)

You and your kind are the exception to the rule though. I think I was writing to myself. I tend to not be an activist and would much rather focus on my daily problems and let others take care of the country.

[BigmanPigman]

46. Give yourself more credit than that!

You obviously have passion and drive, judging from your post. THAT in itself is doing something. Think about it...not many other people in the US would have those clear, thoughtful ideas and know where to write them to inspire others. You do more than you realize. So do most DUers. Pat yourself on the back!

[CloudWatcher]

50. Thank you!

[struggle4progress]

48. The real problems have names. We need to name those names.

[CloudWatcher]

49. How do we start?

There are so many names. So much to fix. I hate that so much of "the debate" are discussions of personalities. I'm not looking for a savior, nor a villain. There is too much to fix to think that a single correction will be enough. And I don't know if we really have the time to play Whac-A-Mole. We need to fix the infrastructure that empowers the villains and disenfranchises the powerless.

[struggle4progress]

52. Don, Ivanka, Jared, Mitch, William, ...

[CloudWatcher]

54. And we need to fix what has left them in power

Naming them just puts them on a list. Even if we removed them from power, if we don't fix the system that let them attain power, they'll just be replaced by the next set of corrupt jerks.

E.g. if we were to somehow remove Trump from office, we'd still be left with Pence as President and a corrupt GOP controlling the Senate.

Of course we can't fix things overnight, but we have to go after what gives them power. Not just the individuals.

[ananda]

51. This so reminds me of Steinbeck's words in Grapes of Wrath.

The great owners, nervous, sensing a change, knowing nothing of the nature of the change. The great owners, striking at the immediate thing, the widening government, the growing labor unity; striking at new taxes, at plans; not knowing these things are results, not causes. Results, not causes; results, not causes.

[CloudWatcher]

53. High praise indeed!

Thank you, that's a wonderful quote! And I'm astonished someone could possibly mention Steinbeck and my writing in the same universe.

[warmfeet]

55. True in some sense.

Also true, if we cannot get rid of the orange asshole the rest is moot.

I am glad to fight.

The orange asshole is first to go.

The larger problems come next.

[Hekate]

56. Was discussing, last night, how widely the infection spreads, how DJT is the tip of the boil...

"Shoot the dictator and prevent the war? But the dictator is merely the tip of the whole festering boil of social pus from which dictators emerge; shoot one, and there’ll be another one along in a minute. Shoot him too? Why not shoot everyone and invade Poland? In fifty years’, thirty years’, ten years’ time the world will be very nearly back on its old course. History always has a great weight of inertia.”
SIR TERRY PRATCHETT, Lords & Ladies

Pratchett just tosses these bits of social commentary in as they occur to him -- in this case into a story about an Elf invasion -- and they stick in my mind like a burr.

Eventually Trump will drop dead, probably of natural causes, but our work will go on and on. This is a life-threatening systemic infection in our country -- but the fight will go on.

[CloudWatcher]

57. President Pence?

Yes, even if we were to somehow remove Trump, we'd still have Pence and the GOP controlled Senate. We have to go after all the things they use to acquire power.

[Hekate]

58. It's huge -- the GOP is rotten to the core & the country is deeply split...

The oligarchs spread money around, the GOP spreads propaganda via broadcast media, and "the base" thinks we're still fighting the fricking Civil War for White Nationalism and Jesus.

I Thought this country was growing up, but apparently not yet.

[live love laugh]

59. BLAME REPUBLICANS who paved the way for Trump. nt

Last edited Mon Feb 3, 2020, 06:13 PM - Edit history (1)

[CloudWatcher]

61. Yes, but ...

Yes it's appropriate to blame the Republicans. But if we had an educated electorate, their message, full of hate, would fall on deaf ears and they would be powerless.

The problem is that we have a culture (education/religion/media) that enables them.

If today, we could somehow eliminate the Republican party, another one would just pop up. And the problem is world-wide. Nationalists, demagogues and dictators are not specific to the US.

[live love laugh]

66. RepubLIEcons created the problems listed

They also created and cover up for Trump. And if you get rid of Trump they have plenty like him or worse to falsely “elect” and replace him.

[CloudWatcher]

67. The GOP didn't create those problems!

They've exploited and magnified them for sure. And used them to maintain power. But most of the points I've made apply world-wide and some for a lot longer than the US has been in existence.

[live love laugh]

69. You are all over the place.

I have witnessed first hand the creation / exacerbation / escalation of the problems that you list by RepubLIEcons. I firmly stand by what I said initially.

You may want to reframe your comments to a global perspective because it makes little sense to write about Trump alone if you are talking about global problems.

Whether the issue is global or not though in America the problems you speak of are directly attributable to RepubLIEcons.

[Rider3]

62. One Word:

McConnell.

He's the reason why we were barred from making any difference, any progress. I blame McConnell.

[CloudWatcher]

64. McConnell

Yes, McConnell is part of the problem. But he's been obviously crooked for years. We should be more robust in the face of evil people like him and not allow them to remain in power. Ask yourself, who voted for him? And why??

[voteearlyvoteoften]

65. Knr

🌎

[cstanleytech]

68. The real problem is as it has always been Republicans in the House, Senate and at

the State level of government.

[Nature Man]

70. Stop looking for heroes

and be one.

Amen.

[kentuck]

73. We had all those problems before Trump came to power...

It just so happened that they all came to a head with him in charge?

[Duppers]

74. The thing that gets me most about koolaid drinking

...wingers is they treat all facts as if they were just opinions.

Name a subject: it's just "your opinion."



Try to prove anything to them, they just become angry.

[Rorey]

76. Excellent!

Thank you!