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WTF, America?
Nov. 9th, 2016 08:42 pm... look, when we said we wanted you to elect Trump so Brexit!UK would no longer be thought of as the stupidest, most xenophobic nation around, it was a joke.
There are various scenarios around in which Trump being full of shit means it's not as bad as it could be, but they involve him not actually doing anything of importance -- either because he treats the job as a gigantic ego-wank and lets his subordinates do all the actual governing, or because he does something which gives the Republican party the excuse to apply a swift impeachment backstab and install Pence (although it would have to be something spectacularly bad for them to brave the wroth of their base and do that).
And of course even in those best case scenarios, the Republicans still have a triple lock giving them a free hand to do what they want as far as policy goes. I assume it's going to be goodbye Obamacare, hello all sorts of ghastly ideas. Sucks to be American either way, but as for the rest of the world's point of view -- you voted for that, you deal with it, just don't start a fucking nuclear war.
Of course, it offers a yoooge boost to right-wing triumphalism world wide, so the next round of elections in Europe are going to be fun too (if you enjoy seeing just how fucked up things can get). The quote that struck me was from Marine Le Pen’s "most senior strategist, Florian Philippot", who tweeted: "Their world is collapsing. Ours is being built." He might as well have added "Tomorrow belongs to us!", just to get the full vibe.
It's easy to draw comparisons with the 1930s. The problem with that is that it feels like an overreaction, and probably -- hopefully -- is, but presumably in the 1930s it was an overreaction too right up to the point at which it wasn't, and it's hard to tell the difference without the benefit of hindsight. However, if you're looking for analogies ... well, after Brexit, I tried to think of some other case in which a nation had deliberately chosen long-term self-harm for really dumb reasons, but the best I could think of was the cattle-killing movement in the 1850s Cape. As for this ... well, how about the same part of the world a century later, the 1948 South African general election which has a number of wince-inducing parallels? That one worked out well, didn't it?
The older I get, the more I feel like "people are shits" acts as a necessary and sufficient explanation for many things.
My sympathies for my flisters in the US, most of whom I assume had sense enough to vote Clinton.
There are various scenarios around in which Trump being full of shit means it's not as bad as it could be, but they involve him not actually doing anything of importance -- either because he treats the job as a gigantic ego-wank and lets his subordinates do all the actual governing, or because he does something which gives the Republican party the excuse to apply a swift impeachment backstab and install Pence (although it would have to be something spectacularly bad for them to brave the wroth of their base and do that).
And of course even in those best case scenarios, the Republicans still have a triple lock giving them a free hand to do what they want as far as policy goes. I assume it's going to be goodbye Obamacare, hello all sorts of ghastly ideas. Sucks to be American either way, but as for the rest of the world's point of view -- you voted for that, you deal with it, just don't start a fucking nuclear war.
Of course, it offers a yoooge boost to right-wing triumphalism world wide, so the next round of elections in Europe are going to be fun too (if you enjoy seeing just how fucked up things can get). The quote that struck me was from Marine Le Pen’s "most senior strategist, Florian Philippot", who tweeted: "Their world is collapsing. Ours is being built." He might as well have added "Tomorrow belongs to us!", just to get the full vibe.
It's easy to draw comparisons with the 1930s. The problem with that is that it feels like an overreaction, and probably -- hopefully -- is, but presumably in the 1930s it was an overreaction too right up to the point at which it wasn't, and it's hard to tell the difference without the benefit of hindsight. However, if you're looking for analogies ... well, after Brexit, I tried to think of some other case in which a nation had deliberately chosen long-term self-harm for really dumb reasons, but the best I could think of was the cattle-killing movement in the 1850s Cape. As for this ... well, how about the same part of the world a century later, the 1948 South African general election which has a number of wince-inducing parallels? That one worked out well, didn't it?
The older I get, the more I feel like "people are shits" acts as a necessary and sufficient explanation for many things.
My sympathies for my flisters in the US, most of whom I assume had sense enough to vote Clinton.
