If anything can be said about President Trump it’s he is a master of pushing peoples buttons.  He is so in their heads that there is little room for anything else as they continually prove.  Like a kid with a new toy, his use of twitter grates on democrats and like minded republicans much like the recorders supplied to second grade students by our schools to destroy the peaceful homes across America.  Unlike loving parental tolerance however,  the intolerant Democrat Party explodes into violent convulsions and the only thing stopping them from shoving Twitter down his throat is a few hundred Secret Service agents.

His use of Twitter has never really bothered me because much like the neighbor of that second grader practicing the recorder it is only background noise.  Being forced to think about it by the extreme reactions of the media and the residents of The Swamp there are several thoughts that have surfaced on why he is able to reduce the democrats to crying children throwing a temper tantrum in the candy aisle after being told no by a parent.

The Anointed One

Most of the problems that President Trump has with the Democrat Party and their comrades in the “main stream” media stem from the fact that he had the temerity to beat Clinton who was designated by them to be the first female President.  They should have known she was not going to win just from the fact that the DNC had to rig the Democrat primaries for her victory but such is their hubris.  The Clinton Mafia ran the show so Bernie and his supporters got “berned” and his silence was easily bought with another nice vacation home and his multitude of supporters stayed home.  She ran a lazy, stupid campaign which was proof enough that she was totally unqualified to be President and the American people rejected her.  Trump ran a very good campaign and won the States he had to win.  That election was a classic illustration of one candidate running as if it was in the bag and one running to win.

I believe that Trump erred in his reaction to being elected.  I think that he was naïve in the sense that he believed that as victor there would be some acceptance by the Democrats.  However, the Clinton machine was not finished.  Along with Republicans who were in dismay (remember that Trump had destroyed their anointed one – Jeb Bush was even more unceremoniously beaten during their primaries) created the “Russian Collusion” narrative that has been proven to show that it was a Clinton operation from the start.   Two years wasted along with millions of dollars spent and to what end?  The Swamp does not care about that anymore than they care about you and I.  We are here to serve them.  The Swamp felt and still feels threatened by Trump as he initially wanted to bring accountability back to Washington D.C.  but as much as Trump erred in his thinking; the Democrats and other Swamp creatures made even a greater error. 

Donald Trump is a Democrat in heart and mind.  He is what is known as a “Kennedy” democrat; liberal but not a leftist.  Yes folks, he is a liberal.  He is, like John Kennedy was, a very patriotic American.   Popular with voters and even with his wealth he relates to the middle class.  Had not the Democrat Party been so corrupted by the Clinton mafioso and driven to the far left by the Obamites they would have had a President that would have worked with them quite willingly.  That is water under the bridge however as Trump is also a New Yorker who pushes back.  To their dismay it is one of the more endearing factors that makes him so appreciated by the middle class that has been taking it on the chin and up their arse by the Washington elite.  By being the guy who pointed out that their Empress had no clothes he will never gain the respect he deserves from his fellow democrats and their media.

The Obama Gift

What has been ignored by the media is that their “leader who could do no wrong”; the one who they touted as being so far sighted in his use of social media, politized social media.  The news media proclaimed as often as they could that Obama brought politics into the 21st century.  I wonder if any of them thought that he actually opened a Pandora Box.  Trumps effectiveness with the use of social media has had them scrambling from the beginning of his run and while it is fun to watch it has reached a point of fatigue as most sideshows eventually attain.  Of course Obama supporters claim that Trump is misusing the media and Obama never used it to cause divisiveness and that is why they are so upset over Trumps Twitter.

Is there such a thing as a misuse of a means of communication?  No.  What they are saying in a dishonest way is that they don’t like what he is saying.   The fact that Trump is using a media that their boss was the first to utilize and help establish as a political tool; more effectively and has taken it to a new and different level is a burr in the seat of their pants. Thanks to Obama’s politicization of social media which may or may not have happened eventually, Trump is able to bypass the press.  The news media which is recognized as an organ of the DNC was always able to define a story.  Trump has trumped that democrat held card and has for the most part neutralized the news media and has kept his base intact.  By co-opting an Obama tool he has deepened the enmity of the left.  How dare he!

And then to top it off he has reversed many of Obama’s and the left’s policies that were harmful to American workers and population.  The economy that was resembling Jimmy Carters economy was reawakened and many of the shackles placed on it by the intrusive left were removed.  And personalities?  You could say they were as different as black and white.  On one hand you had a soft spoken Chicagoan whose manner of speech was such that each word spoken was weighed as to it’s political effect and on the other you have a brash New Yorker who speaks like he knows what is on his mind and doesn’t care who knows it.  Obama and his handlers cultivated a persona which belied his true nature whereas Trump has no handlers, period.  And his audacious and effective use of Twitter has proven it.  If he had handlers they would have taken it away from him to his detriment.  It has been his ability to respond and communicate immediately to attacks or just to make announcements that has kept his administration afloat despite the attempted coup by the Democrat Party and their supporters.  And it must kill them to know that he is using a tool that they believed was theirs.

Trumps Follies

There are several aspects of President Trump that could be fatal to him and his Presidency.  It all starts with his hubris.  I believe that most of it is contrived in order to distract his opponents and as a rallying point for his supporters but there is a danger that the more you say and act in a manner you will begin to believe it.

The Economy

He has continued to point out how robust the economy is and how it is due to him being President.  To deny that is being ignorant of the facts but to tie your entire Presidency on the Stock Market and the Unemployment rate is short sighted and dangerous.  It has been the only thing that the DNC has not openly messed with to damage Trump because I think that they even understand that economies are cyclical and our Stock Market has had eleven straight years of positive growth; it is long overdue for a market correction and while the Stock Market is not the economy it is a psychological metric.  If and when the business cycle turns Trump will be blamed to the extent he brags that he is responsible for it’s robust performance.  Some of the blame may not be wrong either.  His tariff wars with various countries while in the long term may work out for the better; they do place an anchor around the waists of the consumers in the way of higher prices and loss of jobs as countries retaliate.  Many people wrongly believe that the stock market crash of 1929 caused the Great Depression.  There were a few factors in that disaster and one of the leading causes was a very harsh tariff that was put into effect by the Republican controlled House and Senate.  Aimed at protecting jobs tariffs have the opposite effect in reality especially in a global economy.  When boiled down to the nut tariffs are basically a tax increase on the consumers as it drives the cost of the protected product higher.  And taxes are only a means of taking the wealth of the population and transferring it to the political sector.  And Trump embraces this as did his predecessors from both political parties.

Trump is using tariffs as a means of correcting very bad trade agreements that our country has negotiated the past twenty years by members of the political class who negotiated deals out of their own ideological bend and/or their own personal financial gain.  Several leading members of both parties have had family members made millionaires from trade deals with China, Russia and the Ukraine.  These scandals are primarily kept out of the public eye by a complicit news media.  In the long run if tariffs bring better trade deals as the result, it may work out.  But sometimes when you fight a forest fire by starting a back-fire all you accomplish is a bigger more devastating fire.  I believe Trump is planting the seeds for his own downfall and if he was the only person affected it would not matter but it will drag this country to dark places.

Deficit Spending

This is one area where Trump and the Democrats and the swamp Republicans agree and we never hear any criticism except from the 3 or 4 Senators who are economically rational.  Our national debt has skyrocketed with the Trump Presidency and the fact that it would have done so under a Hillary Clinton Presidency at the same pace at the minimum is no small comfort.  The weight of the national debt will sink us as a Nation.  The only thing that is keeping us afloat now is the mercy of China and the productivity of the American worker.  China’s mercy will dry up when they are no longer in need of the American consumer who has funded their build up of one of the worlds most advanced militaries or when the American consumers wealth is so decimated by taxes that we can no longer afford spending which is the death knell for a consumer based economy.  That point is coming and Trump, like the rest of the swamp, are only concerned with maintaining or increasing present spending to the detriment of our Nation.

Foreign Policy

I include this not because it endangers Trumps Presidency but as an example of Trumps hubris.  On one hand he is to be commended for the restraint shown in committing our troops to further action.  He does seem to be holding North Korea’s feet to the fire but I am not convinced of his sincerity.  What he say’s and what he does are two different animals.  We still have thousands of troops all over the globe draining our resources and he talks about bring troops home but so far it is all talk.  I expect that should his poll numbers drop due to the previous two items he will react as Presidents from both parties have done; turn to military action overseas at some threat to rally the base.

These represent three of the potentially dangerous downfalls of Trumps Presidency.  The rest like “Russian collusion” and the DNC’s insane drive to impeach Trump is only background noise.  Rational people understand what it is all about and disregard it for what it is and see the danger in constant Trump bashing.  Instead of saying where there is smoke there is fire; all that is seen are Democrats blowing smoke and should there ever be reason it will be harder to believe.  Perhaps that is what the political parties desire; to develop a hard scab of cynicism on the voters so they can get away with their graft.  In that respect Trump is as guilty as the rest of the swamp inhabitants that he vowed to fight.

The American Caesar

If America is the new Rome, then Donald Trump it could be argued is it’s Julius Caesar.  George Washington may also be likened to Caesar because of his military leadership and he was so esteemed by most Americans that he could have proclaimed himself King or Emperor but did not and stepped down after guiding the new Nation.  Donald Trump however has many of the traits that Caesar possessed.  Caesar was a fastidious dresser and his hair style was talked about, usually in a derogatory manner, in both the public and private sectors.  His enemies would use his style as a weapon against him and even his supporters among the masses would joke about it openly.  He was a womanizer to a fault which is a common trait with people in power but Caesars womanizing was used against him politically.  The difference between then and now however is Caesar would double and triple down by seducing and having numerous affairs with the wives of Senators and other rich Romans whereas our national moral standards retard the passion somewhat though some still slip through the cracks.  JFK was a notorious womanizer who had multiple affairs and Bill Clinton of course found himself impeached due to his perjury about his tryst with an intern.  Both of the aforementioned Presidents had a compliant news media that covered for them which allowed for that poor behavior.  Is it surprising that Trump (before his Presidency) had affairs?  Of course not but I would be surprised if he pursued that behavior while in office if only because of the watchdog press.  The fashion and sexual prowess are personal traits but there are political traits that are eerily similar.

Julius Caesar was a populist.  As a Senator he proposed reform measures that would allow more access to wealth to the ordinary Roman citizen that were defeated and earmarked him as a dangerous man to the ruling elite of Rome.  Does that sound familiar?  Trumps “deplorables” propelled him into office because he pointed out that the growing gap is not so much between the wealthy and poor as much as it is between the government class and the rest of America.  His empowerment to the shrinking middle class is perceived (correctly) as a direct threat to the power elite much like Caesar’s measures were to the Roman Senators and their rich backers.

Our country’s founders used the Roman Republic as a model when developing our Nation.  They intentionally did not use the Greek model of democracy as they knew that form of government is flawed in it’s character;  democracies turn into mob rule.  That does not stop would be demagogues from advocating for it and by falsely claiming we are a democracy.

Rome developed as a Republic around 510 BC which brought to the people freedom, wealth and stability.  It was based on law and honor.  It was said that you could have one Roman watch over a chest of gold at the beginning of a voyage and not one piece would be missing at the end but if you could have 40 Greeks watching the same chest of gold and the chest would be emptied before it left port.  Such was the honor of a Roman and their society based on law reflected that honor.  It had a constitution that was unwritten but was maintained by a system that balanced three opposing principles; democracy, monarchy and oligarchy.  Our founders wrote our Constitution in order to secure it and established their own three opposing branches; Congress (democracy), Presidency (monarchy) and Judicial (oligarchy).  The thought was that having three equal branches would ensure the peoples freedoms from an overbearing government.  Throughout our short history it has worked and the only time we had/have problems was when one of the branches would grab more power than was proscribed.  Or as at present the government elite class controls all three branches and no matter which political party is in power the elite are in control.

By our modern standards the fact that the Roman Republic lasted  500 years is astounding.  Our Republic is collapsing in less then half that time.  Are we as a society that much worse or were the Romans that much better?  Neither really.  The corruption that destroyed Rome is the same corruption that is destroying our Republic. Communication is what has changed and our society lives in an era of instant communication.  Things happen exponentially quicker for better and worse.

Omnia in gloriam Dei facite