Dear America,
There is a feeling rampant among members of the electorate that this election cannot be over soon enough. Among the Harris supporters there is a residual sense of dread over the prospect of a second Trump administration, but better to get on with it so that if such eventuates, we can start getting it behind us as soon as possible. And both that weariness with the pejorative pettiness of the dialectic and the fear of the outcome probably pervade the election related sentiments of the Trumpers too, accompanied by excitement over what Trump has promised them. Unfortunately, they remember the first Trump administration for what he promised rather than what he actually did, but that is to be expected from what Eric Hoffer called "true believers." If there has ever been a book perfectly suited for a political era, it is Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements," which he published in 1951. It was the middle of the "red scare" precipitated by the success of communism in Russia and China and was led by a demagogue named Joe McCarthy who was a U.S. Senator elected in the mid-forties. McCarthy's paranoid, hyper-religious sway lasted for about a decade, just like Trumpism, I hope. The True Believer was a book for its time, and if people started reading it again, they would see the past decade as just as apposite a historical reference point.
Unfortunately, the people who could most stand to be enlightened by Hoffer's work would be the last to read it, and if they ever did they would see it as nothing more than derision directed toward themselves and their leader. Given that frame of mind, it is useless to hope that they will ever realize that Trump is promising the same things in principle this time as he did in 2016, and he is no more likely to deliver on them than he was the first time. He promised to build "a big, beautiful wall" on the Mexican border and that Mexico would pay for it, "believe me," he added. Neither eventuated except for about 52 miles of new wall along a 2,000 mile border with Mexico...and Mexico paid not a single cent of the cost. And it is notable that he took money from the defense budget to fund that 52 mile addition to the extant few hundred miles of renovated wall on the border because he couldn't get any new money from congress to dedicate to the project. Then there's "Obamacare."
One of Trump's campaign promises in 2016 was the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare. He promised to create a better form of insurance coverage for the millions of Americans without health insurance, and he had a Republican controlled House of Representatives with which to keep that promise. But even with his brow beating of his own party members and their leader in The House, Speaker Paul Ryan, he could never get over the hump that his own party represented, and he isn't more likely to be able to change the law now than he was then, though I haven't heard him mention the ACA in 2024. Maybe he had a flash of intelligence and recognized that if he did bring it up he would be doing nothing more than pointing out one of his past failures, which by the same token would constitute another failed promise for his next administration.
Then there's immigration and inflation. I raise them together because they are integrally related. My wife and I spend vacation time on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, a primarily resort area of the state. You can't go into a restaurant and order without hearing a foreign accent from the wait staff. Then there's the meat packing industry, which relies on not just foreign labor but minors as well, foreign and domestic. American adults have no interest in those jobs at the wage being paid. And there are many other aspects of Trump policy promises--tariffs against foreign goods, Chinese goods in particular, tax cuts (presumably favoring his rich friends like the last round he precipitated, and deregulation to name a few--that will allow inflation to rear its ugly head again despite Trump's promise to eliminate it, but Trump true believers will never foresee any of that even if their noses are rubbed in it.
So the die is actually cast as far as the election is concerned. Trump's sophomoric, pejorative rants will continue to fuel the fervor of his supporters, but I doubt that anyone other than his acolytes will be drawn to the cause. I believe we could vote today and get the same result that we will get next Tuesday. But unfortunately, the law won't let us just get it all over with today. I voted already, so I'm going to pretend that it is all over. Maybe I can get some sleep tonight.
Your friend,
Mike
There is a feeling rampant among members of the electorate that this election cannot be over soon enough. Among the Harris supporters there is a residual sense of dread over the prospect of a second Trump administration, but better to get on with it so that if such eventuates, we can start getting it behind us as soon as possible. And both that weariness with the pejorative pettiness of the dialectic and the fear of the outcome probably pervade the election related sentiments of the Trumpers too, accompanied by excitement over what Trump has promised them. Unfortunately, they remember the first Trump administration for what he promised rather than what he actually did, but that is to be expected from what Eric Hoffer called "true believers." If there has ever been a book perfectly suited for a political era, it is Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements," which he published in 1951. It was the middle of the "red scare" precipitated by the success of communism in Russia and China and was led by a demagogue named Joe McCarthy who was a U.S. Senator elected in the mid-forties. McCarthy's paranoid, hyper-religious sway lasted for about a decade, just like Trumpism, I hope. The True Believer was a book for its time, and if people started reading it again, they would see the past decade as just as apposite a historical reference point.
Unfortunately, the people who could most stand to be enlightened by Hoffer's work would be the last to read it, and if they ever did they would see it as nothing more than derision directed toward themselves and their leader. Given that frame of mind, it is useless to hope that they will ever realize that Trump is promising the same things in principle this time as he did in 2016, and he is no more likely to deliver on them than he was the first time. He promised to build "a big, beautiful wall" on the Mexican border and that Mexico would pay for it, "believe me," he added. Neither eventuated except for about 52 miles of new wall along a 2,000 mile border with Mexico...and Mexico paid not a single cent of the cost. And it is notable that he took money from the defense budget to fund that 52 mile addition to the extant few hundred miles of renovated wall on the border because he couldn't get any new money from congress to dedicate to the project. Then there's "Obamacare."
One of Trump's campaign promises in 2016 was the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare. He promised to create a better form of insurance coverage for the millions of Americans without health insurance, and he had a Republican controlled House of Representatives with which to keep that promise. But even with his brow beating of his own party members and their leader in The House, Speaker Paul Ryan, he could never get over the hump that his own party represented, and he isn't more likely to be able to change the law now than he was then, though I haven't heard him mention the ACA in 2024. Maybe he had a flash of intelligence and recognized that if he did bring it up he would be doing nothing more than pointing out one of his past failures, which by the same token would constitute another failed promise for his next administration.
Then there's immigration and inflation. I raise them together because they are integrally related. My wife and I spend vacation time on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, a primarily resort area of the state. You can't go into a restaurant and order without hearing a foreign accent from the wait staff. Then there's the meat packing industry, which relies on not just foreign labor but minors as well, foreign and domestic. American adults have no interest in those jobs at the wage being paid. And there are many other aspects of Trump policy promises--tariffs against foreign goods, Chinese goods in particular, tax cuts (presumably favoring his rich friends like the last round he precipitated, and deregulation to name a few--that will allow inflation to rear its ugly head again despite Trump's promise to eliminate it, but Trump true believers will never foresee any of that even if their noses are rubbed in it.
So the die is actually cast as far as the election is concerned. Trump's sophomoric, pejorative rants will continue to fuel the fervor of his supporters, but I doubt that anyone other than his acolytes will be drawn to the cause. I believe we could vote today and get the same result that we will get next Tuesday. But unfortunately, the law won't let us just get it all over with today. I voted already, so I'm going to pretend that it is all over. Maybe I can get some sleep tonight.
Your friend,
Mike
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