What Is A Demagogue?

Donald Trump is commonly called a demagogue.  I have been trying to find a good definition of a demagogue that fits Donald Trump.  H.L. Mencken provided me with the definition that describes The Donald exceptionally well:

"The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots."

Mencken's definition fits The Donald to perfection.  He preaches salvation to his supporters, and he feeds them a few meaningless bones, while he systematically reorganizes the government to enrich himself and his billionaire friends.  He has also worked hard to delegitimize news sources that provide the information his supporters need to understand his policy proposals.  They will remain misinformed as long as they get most of their information from Fox News, talk radio and fake news that is flooding the social media.  Our best hope may be that he continues to demonstrate his inability to govern and self destructs.  His clown show is making him the object of comedy across the globe. He can't stand personal humiliation.  He is likely to react in ways that show everyone his true colors.

European Comics Love Mocking The Donald

Donald Trump has provided the late night TV shows with a vast amount of content for satiric comedy.  European comics don't want American comics to keep all of the clown show to themselves.  For those who enjoy satire they can watch these videos that are very popular in Europe.  The Donald wants to increase American exports to Europe.  It was really simple; he and his team of clowns have revived exporting in America.  They provide an almost infinite supply of satiric content to Europe. They don't even have to try hard at this job.  They just have to be themselves.

How Donald Trump Could Undermine Democracy In America

I had referred to an article in The Atlantic by a conservative writer who had worked in the Bush Administration.  A lot of people have read the article and it raised their concerns about how Donald Trump could establish an autocracy in the US.  Many may not have used the link that I had posted which was buried in the article I posted.  Consequently' I have posted a direct link to the article.  I strongly recommend this article because it shows how easy it would be for any president who is unconstrained by morality or by Congress to produce an autocratic form of government in America.
All of the ingredients are present.  Trump is amoral and primarily cares  only about himself.  The Republican Congress has an opportunity to take advantage of the Trump presidency to achieve many objectives that it could not obtain with Obama in the White House.  We can't expect Congress to act as a check on an out of control president.  The only real protection that we have is resistance from ordinary citizens.  In order to properly resist the decay of our democracy it is important to understand how to resist.  This article provides a good introduction for those who want to understand the enemy in our midst.

Trump Begins Effort To Deregulate Wall Street

The Tea Party was formed, in part, by outrage over the government's decision to bail out Wall Street banks.  Donald Trump took up the Tea Party's banner during his campaign.  He campaigned as a reformer who would punish the Wall Street banks for creating the financial crisis that spawned the Great Recession.  Congress was also angered by the financial crisis and it did several things that were designed to prevent a recurrence of the financial crisis.  The Dodd-Frank bill made it more difficult for Wall Street banks to take the risks that forced the government to rescue them from bankruptcy.  The Consumer Financial Protection agency was formed to make it more difficult for banks to harm their customers.  Financial advisers were also required to place their customers interests above their own.  For example, financial advisers could not recommend an investment that paid a higher commission than a similar investment.

Donald Trump now claims that the regulations that were put in place in response to the financial crisis have been harmful.  He said that many of his friends are having a difficult time getting loans because of Dodd-Frank and other regulations.  This article describes that actions that Trump has taken to reverse key components of Dodd-Frank and the requirement that financial advisers place their client's interests above their own.  He was cheered by the CEO's of the Wall Street banks that he had attacked during his election campaign.  His cabinet has also been staffed with executives from Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street banks.  He had portrayed Hillary Clinton as a protector of the Wall Street banks during his election campaign.  Apparently, he hopes to replace Clinton in that role.

How Will Trump Divert Attention From His Incompetence?

Donald Trump won the general election by promising that he would expand the economy and create jobs for many American's who have been left behind.  Paul Krugman is a Nobel Laureate who realizes that Trump's policies will not achieve what he has promised to his base.  What will he give them in exchange for his failed promise?  Krugman argues that Trump will rely upon the last refuge of tyrants.  He will shift his focus to foreign policies which place the US military at the forefront.  His base will "rally around the flag" and forget about his economic promises. 

Paul Krugman is an economist who understands why Trump's economic policies will fail.  It will take time for the public to realize that he not done what he promised.  They are not well versed in economics and they don't really dig into the details of economic policies.  It may be time for Krugman to join forces with his colleague David Brooks who describes the deeper concerns that we should be debating about Trump and his Svengali Steven Bannon.  Brooks' article has been posted below.

America's War Of National Identity

David Brooks has been thinking a lot about what is really happening in America since we elected Donald Trump.  We have always had political contests between political parties that share a common myth about America but argue about some of the fringe issues.  That has changed with the advent of Donald Trump and Steven Bannon who have a radical vision of how to "Make America Great Again".  They have started a war about what America stands for.  Bannon has been the architect and the propagandist for the new American identity.  It is a nationalist vision that is based upon fear of foreigners and a retreat from the spirit of democracy that had inspired domestic and foreign policy for most of our history.  America would join forces with nationalists in Europe who would capitalize on fear and economic hardship by retreating to autocracy and isolationism.  Trump and Bannon would make America great again by shattering the myth of America and our national identity that has guided our nation for much of our history.  They have the power of the presidency behind them to fight their war.  If they win, America will have lost its soul and no longer be the "light on the hill" that has inspired hope in other nations. 

This was not an easy article for David Brooks to write.  He has traditionally supported a Republican Party that shared the same vision of American identity as the Democratic Party with a slightly different emphasis on how to achieve it.  The risk to America, and to his favorite political party, is that it will join Trump and Bannon in establishing a new identity for America in exchange for political supremacy.  Trump and Bannon may win that war unless the American public comes to understand what is really at issue.  It is a war for our national identity.  

Dire Consequences For A World With A Liar In The White House

The Financial Times is one of the most respected news sources in a world that has very few of them.  It makes no bones about the fact that Donal Trump is a serial liar.  Reputable media do not call a president a liar very easily.  Donald Trump has left our reputable media with no alternative.  For Trump everything that is true is false and every lie that he tells is true.

Trump's core supporters believe his lies but the rest of the world does not.  That creates a real problem for the US and the rest of the world.  Trump will continue to lie to his base because that is the source of his power.  The rest of the world will no longer trust the US government, and nations that have viewed the US as a beacon of hope will have lost their shining example of good government.  The US may no longer count on its allies, who no longer trust its president,  to work together on foreign policies.  Even worse, nations that live under autocratic regimes will lose their faith in democracy.  The era of positive American exceptionalism may be over.  Donald Trump has even turned his Supreme Court nomination into a version of his reality TV show.