Dec 19, 2021
Donald Trump is Dead (Pt 2)
Trump is dead. You must listen to the times to see this. This is not about the death of his physical body, nor about the death of Trumpish ways. It is about the fact that he is dead in a cultural sense. Think of the historical parallels to Hilter and Mussolini. Be like me, a student of history, knowing that the winds of change are more honest than any ideology. Parties live, while their figureheads die. It is the way of the world.
Do not trust my assertions, dear reader. Be alert. Be analytical of yourselves.
Take these three “vital signs” in society at large.
I base these assertions on the press, evidence now in the courts, in the financial records before the public. What else is there that matters in a democracy? If you open your eyes, and look like at what follows like a good moderate Republican or a sensible non — partisan citizen, you will see these vital signs like a doctor at a deathbed:
- Trump has no social media following of consequence left.
- Trump has no ability to influence State campaigns, all endorsed candidates taking on conventional moderate Republicans have failed to date of late.
- That is why Mitch McConnell still reigns, despite Trump’s failed attempt to de-seat a reliable vote counting mastermind of lasting political staying power.
- Trump has nothing but legal fees, as the so-called billionaire takes this week 1.6 million in legal bills paid by the GOP’s National bank accounts. Let me assert this more clearly: Trump can not pay his legal fees, he has the “faithful” do it for them in personal donations. What a waste of good money!
- Finally, even the Trump family and friends and major donors have left evidence of this “losing faith.” Look closely at the public record in this great Democracy of ours. Look at what happened to each of his Cabinet members.
THE FOOLISH MAY STILL WASTE MONEY AND BETS ON THIS CADAVER
One of my Republican elected friends told me this last week:
“Trump is dead, but we can not announce the funeral. He can not pay his own legal fees. The National Republican Party has agreed to pay 1.6 million of his legal fees in the case of his private tax matters because so many in the party are implicated. This is a calculated and nuanced matter involving public liability to our party as well as private liability to The Donald.”
Do not expect such subsidies after the midterms. Parties live, figureheads die.
After a few more articulate but minced words my Republican colleague concluded: “You can not let a wild dog into the public pens, without getting up with fleas. We all expected in nominating him in 2016 that we would have to mop up some blood and bad events afterwards. We wanted that wild dog in the pen of Washington and the world stage, for a bit. The man as a man is a loser; we knew that, but he was such a showman, the kind we needed at the time. Who else would be dumb enought to take on the verteran service of a Joe Biden? We now need to prop Trump up through the midterm elections, before all the disclosures of what a loser he actually was from day one come out. After that, who knows. The big funders are gone. There is no future for Trump. But we need to keep for a while a feel of Trumpism, with a small t.”
As a once bi-partisan Federal type, I found that Monday night footballing fascinating. Trump is a small “t.” Hilarious.
The game is over.
They lost, but they now need to explain not how they lost the popular election, but how to make amends with the wounded and the bloody from the aftermath. Politics is the most robust social game; it has always been this way if you watch the careers of Andrew Jackson or other presidents of the deeper past. This is pure power politics at work. Trump is dead to it.
Those that can not accept defeat engage in excuse making and the best excuses bridge time to heal the wounds. That explains why 13 Republicans voted in favor of the Infrastructure bill, while many still keep their heads down regarding Trump. But that all changes after the midterm elections!
I remember in sports this was a common weeklong set of gestures the coaches allowed us “defeated” guys to compete again next weekend.
You can not win them all, all mature competitors know that.
The once great Republican party will be great again. But for now: This is a form of cowardice to save face, but the shame is real, and the stench around the corpse is spreading. Witness the losses of Trump’s last three state endorsements, all down without any significant yardage in the game.
THE POPULAR PLATFORM IS DEAD, TOO
It is even more embarrassing for the family of Trump when you look at the show time numbers. This is a pattern similar to when the owners kicked him out of “The Apprentice.” After a while, the same face gets old, and you move on. All coaches and team sports executives watch the seats. That is where the gold is not the players.
Politico is being sued right now for revealing the failure of recent attempts to build back audiences. In one venue, where The Donald was hedging his popular bets with another of serious fame figure (Bill O’Reilly was his sex offending mate for the platform!), only 5,406 tickets were sold of the 17,000 stadium. Think this true; would you like a concert with only a third there; or even a supermarket with only a third the feast available? He does not get enough back from this deal to begin to pay his mounting legal fees.
Trump is dead, and his handlers know it.
“They” had to make it look like Covid closed down the top floors, so all the cheap seats were given at no additional charge to access to the lower better seats — so you had the less well dressed sitting with the still dumb shiny Trump supporters. Search the media for December 18 coverage on TV and Radio and in the mainstream newspapers if you want more evidence of this event; it was reported, but quietly, except by Rachel Maddow.
That means that two thirds of that “SHOW TIME” was empty, no show.
- We all know that a show goes on up to a point, but at a certain point you need to make money, and all executives turn from losers. Trump is now the loser, not Bill O’Reilly.
- Trump is no Mick Jagger. He is not even the retired Van Morrison, who came back for wonderful Alto Sax players on the new film “Belfast!” Trump has no platform left, not TV, not open stadiums, nothing.
Trump is dead. His name is not selling seats.
If I was an investigative journalist, I’d now look into what is going down in Dallas and Houston soon. You need to examine who are those 5400 persons that spent good money on a dead thing; do they have any connection to the Insurrection? Or are they rich idlers living a similar fantasy? Innocent or stupidity is not guilt. We can see more coming up soon when Trump tries to take his platform to Dallas and Houston in the days ahead, where a full army of mega-heads have gathered for other reasons; perhaps they will show for the thrill of it.
CONCLUSION FOR NOW
Of course, what is beautiful about a democracy is that persistence can prevail. But I assure you Trump is no longer a viable living Presidential candidate. He died when he allowed the January 6 insurrection; it is simply that the virus took time to bring him down in public. But the general public now knows.
Modern Republicans, and observers of human nature, change your calculus of risk and benefit of a President candidate, when so many big things get known, like the details coming out on the insurrection attempt. And these same observers see a big pivot that will occur in all minds at the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. Voters can live with a sexist Trump, a bigot Trump, a mad dog Trump, a mean spirited little minded voice box for a time, perhaps two or three years in fact. Think here again about the career of Andrew Jackson in Tennessee and then in Washington.
But you need to remember that a Democracy is like a Bank Account.
That’s right, my fellow Americans. Democracy is like a Bank Account, that I heard back forty years during my federal training as a lobbyist.
After January 6, 2022, when most voters who even care to vote realize what I am declaring early here, you all will hear it on the popular newscasters: “Save your money, your political chips, in the bank. It is in the savings you will feel like you have a chance to win again.”
Nothing Trump the man can do, after this anniversary, matters now. The platforms have oil on them. The messages run stale. The hatred is not felt.
Trump mania is dead.
His once bold “tone-setting” physicality on the stump is gone. Even Arnold Schwarzenegger has more muscle after all those years out as Governor of California compared to Trump’s numbers.
A final warning to friends, in order to survive another fight you will need to save your pennies to build yourself back up gain. Just don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years.
A little bit about me:
I am not a politician. I am a social historian, and owner of a modern S corporation, which I founded in 1981 when I left Federal Affairs, and I am the author of 19 books of popular social history.
