Venal tap

+So, clasping our hands and praying for a miracle didn’t work. Clearly God had already chosen the winner. Maybe that was because God really wants to see the infamous wall finished and China (a godless country) punished. These are of course just the sorts of things Trump’s God is preoccupied with, never mind the rest of the universe. To better understand the Resurrection of Trump, I spent some time yesterday watching the 2017 Netflix documentary Get Me Roger Stone which examines the role of this Republican Rasputin in aiding and abetting Trump’s first rise to power. It’s a grisly, venal affair. Stone is a genuinely unpleasant character, but he would see that appellation as a badge of honour. He says he likes it when people hate him since he thinks that is a mark of his success—Machiavelli style. American democracy cuts people like Stone a lot of slack. He first came to attention as a bit player in the Watergate scandal and has never looked back except to glory in his notoriety—a perfect companion for Trump.
 
+I also read a good part of Naomi Klein’s latest book, Doppleganger (Penguin, 2024), which I highly recommend. Klein’s doppelganger is Naomi Wolf, who morphed from a somewhat liberal feminist into an anti-vaxxer conspiracist and big chum of Steve Bannon, appearing on his podcast touting all sorts of pseudo-science. Much of the book is a consideration of the Covid pandemic and its cultural aftermath and how it boosted the left-behind mentality of Trump’s base. It makes me want to suggest that schools should devote more time teaching how to develop critical, analytical thinking. But it is too late for that in the current circumstances. In the current circumstances it is to be hoped that Trump’s effective presidency is curtailed in 2026 when the midterm elections take place. He has just two years to show results before some of his 2024 support fades away. He will have a better chance of success if as well as winning the Senate the House of Representatives is currently going to retain its Republican majority (not all the results are in yet). Even so, if the Democrats have learnt anything at all from the Republicans in Congress they should use their powers as a minority to stymie every Trump initiative they can, taking a leaf out of Newt Gingrich’s book. No more pussy footing ‘triangulation!’ The ‘centre’ in US politics has for the time being evaporated.
 
I was amused—or bemused—by the praise for Klein’s book on the back cover, coming from the Guardian. The blurb says ‘A book of surprising insights, unexpected connections and great subtlety. . Klein’s ultimate message is log off and get on to the streets.’ Sounds like good advice—except when it comes to electing a government that could have acted on some of Klein’s insights back in 2017.
 
+I am taking great pleasure in reading updates on the clickbait Daily Telegraph about the continuing fallout from the collapse of the Barclay brothers’ empire. The Telegraph of course was owned by the Barclays and perhaps the latest headline ‘Barclay family funnels millions of pounds to offshore company amid debt crisis.’ is giving somebody some vicarious pleasure. How are the mighty fallen. My pleasure derives largely from the fact that this debt crisis so envelops the Torygraph in the failures of capitalism.