When Did We Get So Stupid?

When Did We Get So Stupid?

Today’s top New York Times story is about China and its efforts to bolster the Trump presidential campaign, joining Russia in its clear preference for the United States to choose the stupider path for the future of a MAGA resurgence. The Times suggests that there are two reasons for China’s support, first that China, like Russia, wants the U.S. to butt-out of global politics. Russia wants to inflict its influence on its neighbors as it sees fit, including annexing any country that borders on the behemoth. Not so strangely enough, China feels the same way except that their relatively stronger and considerably larger economy allows them to define their sphere of influence as the world. They are not satisfied coveting Taiwan, Korea and Vietnam, they want to be allowed to covet most of sub-Saharan Africa as well as most of Latin America. The latter more or less overlaps with America’s sphere and as for Africa, I suspect Saudi Arabia might have a thing or two to say about that. The second reason China wants to pile on with Russia to influence our political landscape is that they have figured out, quite correctly, that a vote for Trump is a vote for chaos, and what’s not to like about one’s biggest enemy being in chaos.

I’m curious how exactly Republicans, especially those of the MAGA variety, can not see the handwriting on that wall. Does the thought that the friend of our enemy is nothing but our enemy not occur to these supposedly patriotic Americans on the right? When exactly did we as a nation get so stupid as to think that we could insulate ourselves from the ills of the world by isolating ourselves within the confines of our own shores? Did the Twentieth Century just pass by unnoticed with these people? I am reminded of the recent docudrama about Sarah Palin when it dawns of Steve Schmidt as he is prepping Palin for her public appearances that he needed to educate her about the history of WWII so that she could have a clue about how the world is configured. What about China and Russia has missed the attention of the MAGA world? Do they not understand that our fortunes are directly linked with the rest of the free world and that most of our companies cannot prosper within the confines of these shores, whether for demand or supply purposes? Furthermore, is it the presumption that we can remain competitive with our trading partners if they think we are not watching their backs and that we are prepared to just let China and Russia have their way with them while we stay safely in our cocoon?

It is amazing to me that otherwise intelligent and very pragmatic people do not see the political tactics of the right for what they are. I see that Trump has even found it politically expedient to reverse course on his support for Benjamin Netanyahu, the latest darling of the right (given how much they like strongmen). He has said to two Israeli journalists who came for a visit to Mar-a-Lago that it is time for Netanyahu to bring the Gaza hostilities to an end since Israel is losing its support for its actions. This was a shocking reversal both to the journalists and the general right wing MAGA ranks. They were busy backing Israel to the hilt with Representative Tim Walberg, Republican of Michigan, going so far as to suggest that not only was humanitarian aid to Gaza an unwarranted expenditure for Congress to approve, but that Israel should just nuke the bastards like we did to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As strong and objectionable as that statement was, at least it comported with the fervent pro-Israeli stance of the MAGA coalition. Meanwhile Trump was going in the other direction only to have his campaign aides attempt to walk back his comments. Does it never occur to the Trump audience that perhaps he is just about saying whatever he thinks will help him politically as opposed to adhering to any semblance of policy idealism?

What I am suggesting is that it is one thing to have differing ideological or policy standards, but it is altogether another thing to continuously contradict yourself and suggest that you are being misinterpreted or being misquoted when you make a very clear statement and then pretend that you meant something else. This used to be a death-knell to a politician, but no one seems to want to tag Trump or MAGA rhetoric to any kind of consistency. Lying and flip-flopping in plain sight is simply not a good look and is impossible to support at some level without looking or sounding, well, stupid. Any political strategist I’ve heard from is torn between thinking Trump is a brilliant political tactician and that he is a political disaster. Criminal and civil litigation lawyers have a similar reaction to his legal tactics. We have just seen that he has managed to take a $5 million civil adjudication and turn it into an $83.3 million judgement against him just by running his mouth off after the end of the first trial. But then again, his intense jawboning allowed him to get a $454 million bond requirement against his New York State judgement reduced to $175 million. So is he crazy like a fox or dumb as a stump?

I can sort of understand the Trump tactic of acting crazy, because no one wants crazy in their lives and he is playing a big game on a grand stage that might require extreme tactics like he is deploying. But the rest of us are just trying to live our best lives and are not keen to pay more of Trump’s legal bills for his outrageous tactics nor suffer the economic hits of his outrageous and ill-advised global political and economic flailings. I fail to see what exactly the MAGA world thinks it gains in the long run by teaming up with this craziness. I understand that winning and laughing about winning is high on the MAGA hit parade, but these people are not completely stupid about where this all leads. Again, I get it that some people are not educated enough to think through the impact of some of the trump policies, but at most I count that as 10% of the electorate. The other 15% of his base must be wondering occasionally what they are signing up for. Whenever I challenge my red friends about some Trump policy that makes no sense, they either deflect or they ignore. They are not blind. They get it, but they just won’t admit it.

In 2016, it can be claimed that some thought Trump’s campaign rhetoric would adjust to reality as circumstances would demand. To be clear, there was some of that that went on, but mostly, Trump continued to play to his base since policy implications were far less difficult for him to stomach than losing the admiration of his base. It was clear that by 2020, some of those who expected him to moderate were done and voted for Biden. It seems even more clear that in 2024 it gets harder and harder for even parts of his loyalist base to stay the course and suggest that Trump won’t be as bad as we expect or as his rhetoric would have us believe. It remains my belief that we may be wising up as a nation. But then again, the RFK Jr. campaign and the “uncommitted” vote from the Progressive Left makes me wonder once again, when did we get so stupid?