Trump and Shakespeare on Presidents’ Day

Monday, February 20, 2017

Guest MINDSETTER™ Geoff Schoos

 

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"Though this be madness, yet there is method in't." Hamlet, Act II, Scene II.  This quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, was spoken by Polonius as an aside to the audience to explain the wild rantings of Hamlet. In essence, he’s saying that while Hamlet sounds like he’s on the train to Crazytown, there’s actually some thoughtful method for getting to his goal – which we remember is to destroy his uncle for killing his father and marrying his mother.

If Shakespeare were alive today, he’d be right at home writing about the madness of the first month of the Trump administration. Evidence of this madness abounds and is so seared into the memory of most of us that we need not require detailing here. Well, there is one thing. Suffice it to say that I never would have thought any president was capable of insulting Australia. Thank goodness for John McCain or we’d be at war with the Aussies. 

Some of what we’ve witnessed over the past month has been silly. No there weren’t millions of illegal aliens voting in the November election, thus denying Trump of his rightful popular vote victory. No, the President did not win the past election by historical margins. And no, while the media sometimes gets a story wrong (and responsibly corrects any error), reporting a story that irritates the President does not qualify as “fake” or “very fake” (in the case of CNN) news. 

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But some of the past month has been more than merely silly or disconcerting. His absolute lack of understanding of the role of the courts in our constitutional system is staggering. His failure to understand the workings of government is dangerous. His lack of any coherent policy objectives, either foreign or domestic, could be calamitous, hurting millions of those he swore to serve.

This past week has been the stuff of legend, and not the good kind. In no particular order, Trump lost his National Security Advisor Mike Flynn because he lied to the Vice President about speaking with the Russians prior to Trump’s inauguration. It’s not that Flynn spoke to the Russians about lifting the Obama sanctions, but that he lied to Pence about the conversation. Bear in mind that Trump knew about the content of Flynn’s conversations for weeks and did nothing to remove him from his position. Only when information was leaked and published by the “fake” news media was any action taken. 

Trump blithely discarded the two state policy that has been a cornerstone of American middle-east policy for decades. And he didn’t do so in an informed and thoughtful way, he did so in an off-handed throw-away line something like, “one state, two states, whatever they want is OK with me.” In short, he treated a cornerstone of American foreign policy the way a baby treats a diaper, only with less regard. 

Add to that his tiresome repetition of his election canards. He attacks his former opponents and former administration with equal disdain. He governs via executive fiat, having set something of a record for the number of Executive Orders in the first month of a presidency! These Orders are for show and are basically meaningless, but they play well to his base.

He has vigorously failed to divorce himself from his business interests, and he went to war a few days ago against a retail store! He has categorically refused to release his tax returns so that we can all see whether or not he labors under any conflicts of interests. Meanwhile, after having run for office as a populist, he has formed a Cabinet of Oligarchs who by and large could give a rip about the average middle class voter and her needs. As President Obama might say, “c’mon man!”

But the tour de force (or farce as it were) occurred at his press conference on February 16. Evidently conceived on the fly, this press conference is more proof than needed that not every idea is a good one. This was seventy-seven minutes of bellicosity, braggadocious rantings, outright lies, defensiveness, uninformed ramblings, topped off which more than a hint of racism, anti-Semitism, and a dash of sexism that will all live in infamy. 

The next day is was off to Boeing to take a bow in front of a project that he had nothing to do with, and then it’s on to Florida for a round of golf and ego assuagement at Trumpfest on February 18.

Anyone with a pulse over the last month, even those who are ardent Trump supporters, have got to be asking, “how the blue blazes does he get away with this stuff?” Yes, there is madness, but is there method?

I assert that there is a method. Remember that Trump always refers to his campaign, pre and post inauguration as a “movement.” He’s not running to lead a party, he’s running against parties. He’s not running to lead governmental institutions, he’s running against those institutions. Contrary to his reputation as a builder, politically he’s a destroyer. His constant use of “America First” and his call for jobs for “Americans,” and his admonition that we let in only those immigrants that love and respect us as Americans exposes the essential truth of Trump’s “movement.” It is not a political movement, but rather a nativist movement. Call it a Pan-American movement. 

History teaches that such movements are antithetical to democratic principles and values. If I’m right, what we’ve seen over the past 30 days is a mere preview of coming attractions unless these movement impulses are put in check. On February 20, the first month is done. Forty seven to go. As we move forward, I’d like to leave off with a quote by Hannah Arendt, written for another time but is perhaps useful in these times:

“While the imperialist leagues set themselves above parties for the sake of identification with the nation-state, the pan-movements attacked these same parties as part and parcel of a general system which included the nation-state; they were not so much ‘above parties’ as ‘above the state’ for the sake of a direct identification with the people. The totalitarian movements eventually were led to discard the people also, whom, however, following closely in the footsteps of the pan-movements they used for propaganda purposes. The ‘totalitarian state’ is a state in appearance only, and the movement no longer truly identifies itself even with the needs of the people. The Movement by now is above state and people; ready to sacrifice both for the sake of its ideology.”

 

Related Slideshow: Trump’s Win - What Does it Mean for Rhode Island?

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Jennifer Duffy

Cook Report

"We don't really know what a Trump presidency means for the nation, never mind the smallest state.  One of the unintended consequences of last night's results is that Sen. Jack Reed won't be chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.  Chalk that up as a loss for RI."

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Pam Gencarella

Head of Ocean State Taxpayers' Association

"Trump’s win means that his signature issue, illegal immigration, could have a big impact on RI, hopefully reversing our course as a sanctuary state and saving the state taxpayer millions of dollars.  While we agree with his 'repeal and replace' Obamacare stance, we have no idea what that means to the RI debacle known as UHIP.  It is not a stretch to believe that federal funding for this kind of system will be off the table so, will RI be stuck with this massively expensive system that still doesn’t work and that is expected to cost another $124 million to fix?  

Trump's belief that there is significant fraud in the Food Stamp program and the policies that may come from that belief could have a negative impact on RI's local economy since there are businesses in certain cities that rely heavily on this program, fraud and all. On the upside, we may be able to ditch the UHIP program if there is significantly less need for processing welfare program requests (ie. Medicaid and food stamps) resulting from fewer illegal immigrants and less fraud.  While we are ambivalent about his touted child care policies, if enacted, it may force our legislators to revisit the ever growing state cost of subsidies in this area and possibly reduce the fraud and abuse in this system." 

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Kay Israel

Professor at Rhode Island College

"With a Republican President and Congress, Rhode Island will probably be excluded from the 'fruits of victory."  

The congressional delegation will be able to vocally make their presence felt, but in the long term it's more symbolic than substantive.  

For Rhode Island it's a matter of holding on and waiting until '18 or '20 and a surge in Democratic influence."

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Jennifer Lawless

Professor at American University

"The RI congressional delegation just became even less powerful than it was. With unified government, Trump doesn’t need to quell Democrats’ concerns or acquiesce because he’s worried about a Democratically-controlled Senate.

His appointments will reflect that. His executive orders will affect that. And the conservative policy agenda he puts forward will affect that."

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Len Lardaro

Professor at University of Rhode Island

"Well there's a few things -- because there's not going to be gridlock, that's a big difference if it had been Hillary and a GOP Congress, in which nothing would got done. We'll at least get a half a billion in infrastructure that's going to pass which will have an impact.

I think you'll see there will be reduced reliance on government nationally -- and that's where we'll stick out like sore thumb. We've relied way too much on government -- and our government is highly inefficient and ineffective.  Maybe, just maybe, in this who cycle of things we might be forced to be small and more efficient for once.

A couple of other things -- interest rates jumped. The one to follow is the ten year government bond rate -- which is tied to mortgages. It went from 1.7% to 2.05% in one day. The point is -- if the ten year stays high, mortgage rates will start going higher -- and in the short time people will run to re-finance. 

That's the short term impact -- but then if rates stay hight, that will make mortgages more out of reach. And we just passed a bond issue to limit open space -- housing has limited upside here.
The next thing -- the Fed Reserve will go ahead with tightening next month. A strong dollar will hurt manufacturing. When the dollar is strong our exports become more expensive overseas. 

Our goods production sector -- manufacturing and construction -- in the near term will do a little better, but as time goes on will be more limited. But something you won't hear, is there are lags in fiscal policy, of six months to year. So we won't really see the effects until the third our fourth quarter of 2017, going into 2018."
 

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Mike Stenhouse

RI Center for Freedon and Prosperity

"As the unbelievable turned into reality this morning, it struck me that the presidential election was not really all about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. It was about a fed-up people, revolting against a corrupt system - the "beast" - that relentlessly favors insiders. Hillary personified the beast, while Donald personified the slayer.

Sadly, based on election results in our state, Rhode Island's version of the beast lives on. I fear our political class has not learned the lessons from the Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump movements - and will continue with their government-centric, anti-family, anti-business status quo."

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Kristina Contreras Fox

VP of Young Democrats of America

"A Trump Presidency means the validation of the ugliest part of America. In RI, as with the rest of the country, the hammer of his hatred will fall hardest on minority communities. Being a blue state doesn't make us immune from this danger.

Trump won over 35% (39.5) of the vote here! We need to look in the mirror, and not lie about what the reflection shows us. No more hiding underneath a blue blanket. I expect those who claim Democratic values to be true to those values. The gulf between words and actions have turned into fertile ground for Trump's message to grow here in RI. If you call yourself a Democrat, if you claim to stand in opposition to Trump, now is the time to prove it. Show up and fight back."
 

 

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