In the conflict between narcissists — does it matter who wins?

© 2017 Peter Free

 

29 July 2017

 

 

The Reality Devil's answer (to the title question) — "probably not"

 

Which explains why American Tumult is so entertaining. Nothing essentially good for people is at stake.

 

What is going on is a battle for power between narcissists that has been disguised by deluded "isms".

 

Whoever wins just means that one group of rapacious moneyed folk has displaced another. The Common People's cross-to-bear will change only at the margins.

 

 

Consider, for example, the following two (partially opposed) political perspectives

 

First, The Globalist's insightful analysis of American politics:

 

 

[T]he U.S. working class stands apart from most working-class voters in other democracies. In the latter, these folks vote their economic interests, while in the United States, they do not.

 

To a large extent, they vote on aspiration (affiliation with the Republicans offers them the lure of feeling to belong to a richer set of voters – even if their own economic circumstances are quite depressed).

 

The other fundamental truth the Democrats miscomprehend is that Trumpism, like most radical right-wing movements, is fueled by resentment, not economics.

 

Under the circumstances, the Democrats are probably forced to play a long game. They should drum into the American public the idea that an authoritarian, undemocratic regime of the type Trump supporters are clamoring for, and which the Republicans are rapidly building, has a tendency to rot.

 

© 2017 Stephan Richter and Alexei Bayer, The US Democrats’ Failing Turnaround Strategy, The Globalist (28 July 2017) (excerpts)

 

 

Contemplate second, conservative Conrad Black's take on President Trump's alleged revolution:

 

 

Everyone who follows American affairs should understand that the country is now in what amounts to a second, but non-violent civil war.

 

[M]ost have never seen such an immediate and no holds-barred battle between the Washington power structure and a new administration, because there has never been one . . . .

 

The arrival of Anthony Scaramucci as White House communications director is a sharp upward ratchet in the Trump game, and demonstrates a couple of his more impressive traits. The president does seek high-quality collaborators . . . . He is highly determined and almost impossible to discourage.

 

[I]f Trump fails . . . it will not bring a return to something good. It would be the return of those who gave America the initial under-reaction to terrorism, the housing bubble and world financial crisis, the elevation of Iran to preeminent influence in Iraq and much of the Middle East, then the North Korean crisis, the migrant humanitarian disaster, a flat-lined American economy hobbled with a back-breaking and under-funded welfare system, and the enthronement of political correctness . . . .

 

© 2017 Conrad Black, Great Again, American Greatness (26 July 2017) (excerpts)

 

 

Objectively speaking

 

There is little that President Trump's immediate predecessors did in power that was good for anyone of ordinary domestic means. And there were loads of malicious "collateral" harm delivered to "brownish" people abroad.

 

No golden age in that past.

 

Nor has President Trump accomplished anything other than trying to put a pointed stick through the Washington Elites' metaphorical forehead. No effort on his part to meaningfully tackle the One Percent's impoverishing control of the planet's wealth and resources.

 

Instead, our Commander in Chief is out to demonstrate the worth of his voluminous ego at all costs. Hence, the random impulsivity of his administration.

 

The President battles not on principle, but on "golden" throneship.

 

 

Ergo

 

Whoever wins doesn't matter. Victory from either side will continue the Average Person's sucky circumstances.

 

Admittedly, those who resent the Establishment (much of which is comprised by the Deep State) will relish President Trump's willingness to punch its camouflaged, autocratic face. Thus, the pertinence of the Globalist's comment about resentment.

 

 

The moral? — The best that we can hope is that these greedy narcissists (on both sides) will so expose their ugliness . . .

 

. . . that the American populace will recognize that the Empowered Elites' promises do not equate to the Common People's just advancement.

 

Hoping for this, of course, is like daydreaming that magical thinking, abysmal ignorance and blank stupidity will be alchemically erased from the United States.

 

The odds of that happening are on the slim side.