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Our Exhausted American Mediocracy

Doc91478

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Our Exhausted American Mediocracy


https://www.amgreatness.com/2018/12/30/our-exhausted-american-mediocracy/
The unlikely 2016 election of Donald Trump—the first president without either prior political or military office—was a repudiation of the American “aristocracy.” By “rule of the best” I mean the ancien régime was no longer understood to suggest wealth and birth (alone), but instead envisioned itself as a supposed national meritocracy of those with proper degrees, and long service in the top hierarchies of government, media, blue-chip law firms, Wall Street, high tech, and academia.... The 2016 election and refutation of the ruling class did not signal that those without such educations and qualifications were de facto better suited to direct the country. Instead, the lesson was that the past record of governance and the current stature of our assumed best and brightest certainly did not justify their reputations or authority, much less their outsized self-regard. In short, instead of being a meritocracy, they amount to a mediocracy, neither great nor awful, but mostly mediocre.... Remember the “new normal”? Our economic czars had simply decided anemic economic growth was the best Americans could expect and that 3 percent annualized GDP growth was out of the realm of possibility. Big government incompetence combined with Wall Street buccaneerism had almost melted down the economy in 2008. Recent presidents had doubled the debt—twice.... Few could explain how recent agreements such as the Paris Climate Accord or Iran deal could ever have achieved their stated aims, much less were in America’s interest. War planners had not translated interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya into strategic advantage—much less lasting victory—and never offered reasons to be in such places that appealed to half the country.... Most elites had assumed the deindustrialized red-state interior was doomed to a sort of preordained and irreversible decline, much of it supposedly self-induced. In more candid moments, elites jested that red-state losers might be better replaced by new immigrants, both legal and illegal.... The point of this tour of our elite is not to excuse Trump’s often retaliatory crassness or bombast, but to remind us that our self-righteous anti- and pre-Trump aristocracy was so often a mediocracy. It had assumed status and privilege largely on suspect criteria. Its record abroad and at home inspired little confidence. Doing mostly the opposite of what elite conventional wisdom advocated since January 2017 has made the nation stronger, not weaker.... Strangest of all, the elite’s furious venom directed at Trump, couched in ethical pretense, has had the odd effect to remind the American people how unethical and incompetent these people were, are, and likely will continue to be.


~~~~~~
The abused criticism of Donald Trump is that he is a narcissist. Well, as Dizzy Dean used to say, "If you can do it, it ain't bragging". Much of the distaste for Trump is that "he isn't one of us". This is an attitude stemming from the assumption of credit for the accomplishments of others, those accomplishments often being self proclaimed. It is the narcissism of poseurs. They are, in two words, elitist snobs.
In their frenetic pursuit of President Trump, the biased Media, Hollywood, and the “Ruling Elites” have exposed themselves far more than they have exposed anything to do with him.
'The blood of rage runs from their eyes'... to borrow a phrase. They scream about “White Privilege” yet most all the author refers to, are white. A self-appointed “Privilegedtocracy” who see us “Deplorables” as little more than human livestock... disobedient livestock... to be replaced with a more obedient foreign livestock, to be kept ignorant and dependent. Their virulent insane Trump hatred has shown us once again hate is indeed a form of fear. All could be lost if the “Deplorables” are not contained. So any and all “weapons” race, sex, economic status, religion will be used to attempt to divide America.
It’s hard to find any politicians on the Democrat side and awful few on the Republican side that one might consider to have even an average ability.
Really, what would you think after meeting a Pelosi, Occasional Cortex, Flake, Bloomberg on the street?
Elites for the most part tried to hide their failures and indiscretions in past eras. Not in ours. Much is going on in the background that doesn't make it into the newspapers. The fact that nobody knew meant that elites could think well of themselves without contradiction. Idiots, all. Why are they continually elected?
 
Our Exhausted American Mediocracy


https://www.amgreatness.com/2018/12/30/our-exhausted-american-mediocracy/
The unlikely 2016 election of Donald Trump—the first president without either prior political or military office—was a repudiation of the American “aristocracy.” By “rule of the best” I mean the ancien régime was no longer understood to suggest wealth and birth (alone),

Stop right there. Trump got where he is today largely through birth and wealth. So your premise dies a hard death just feet out of the gate.
 
Stop right there. Trump got where he is today largely through birth and wealth. So your premise dies a hard death just feet out of the gate.
But his pimping grandfather worked hard
 
Stop right there. Trump got where he is today largely through birth and wealth. So your premise dies a hard death just feet out of the gate.

So does that automatically exclude him? Think of people like JFK, RFK, EFK, John Francois Kerry, Musk, Bloomberg, and other American Oligarchs'.... Some suggested reading for you.

Elitism Is for Real - The American Prospect
https://prospect.org/article/elitism-real
Mar 28, 2011 · Representatives of the economic elite, on the other hand, most definitely work to serve the interests of the economic elite when they get the chance -- and the rest of us end up paying for it. That's the difference between the elitism of the left and the elitism of the right: It's not about who's in charge; it's about what they do.

~~~~~~
Theories of Power: Pluralist, Elitist and Marxist Perspectives
Theories of Power: Pluralist, Elitist and Marxist Perspectives | John Barry - Academia.edu
Summary: Elitist Pluralist Marxist Source of power elite grouping societal interests capitalist mode of production Nature of power concentrated dispersed concentrated Analysis of neutral positive critical power Ultimate verdict accept the system engage with the overthrow the system- system Conclusion 1. pluralist, in which power is diffused widely amongst groups between which there is competition for …
 
So does that automatically exclude him? the overthrow the system- system Conclusion 1. pluralist, in which power is diffused widely amongst groups between which there is competition for …

The fact of his birth, his upbringing and his wealth disproves your premise.
 
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Huh, wanna flesh that out for us, make sense of that abortable mess you just dropped?

Read post 2 which demonstrates how this thread is based on a false premise.

Donald Trump is the ELITE that the OP rails against.
 
Read post 2 which demonstrates how this thread is based on a false premise.

Donald Trump is the ELITE that the OP rails against.
I read the entire thread, it's not a long thread at this point. He countered you on the point in post #4 which gave you at least an hour to digest before you spit out your lazy tripe again.

At least chew on it a bit, give it a taste before you randomly spit. Which of the elite classes aligns with Trump, please?

Remind us and enumerate while at it.

Certainly not the elite from the left and right establishments, not the elite in our bureaucracies, not the elites elected to government, none on the left, few on the right, not the elites in the vast majority of our main lamestream media, not the elites in Hollywood, not the elites in academia...its mainly the normal folks of the base on the right, the left-outs/forgotten workers of former democratic stripe and any of other fair-minded and even handed among us.

Just like being born poor does not exclude one from greatness, being born rich doesn't either.
 
I read the entire thread, it's not a long thread at this point. He countered you on the point in post #4 which gave you at least an hour to digest before you spit out your lazy tripe again.

At least chew on it a bit, give it a taste before you randomly spit. Which of the elite classes aligns with Trump, please?

Remind us and enumerate while at it.

Certainly not the elite from the left and right establishments, not the elite in our bureaucracies, not the elites elected to government, none on the left, few on the right, not the elites in the vast majority of our main lamestream media, not the elites in Hollywood, not the elites in academia...its mainly the normal folks of the base on the right, the left-outs/forgotten workers of former democratic stripe and any of other fair-minded and even handed among us.

Just like being born poor does not exclude one from greatness, being born rich doesn't either.

He countered NOTHING as Trump is a member of the ELITE and always has been his entire life.

The very tax cuts Trump promoted benefit him and his class the most. It is just what the OP accused others of doing - the elite pushing policies which benefit the elite class. That is Trump his whole life and that is Trump in office pushing policies which benefit the elite class.
 
He countered NOTHING as Trump is a member of the ELITE and always has been his entire life.

The very tax cuts Trump promoted benefit him and his class the most. It is just what the OP accused others of doing - the elite pushing policies which benefit the elite class. That is Trump his whole life and that is Trump in office pushing policies which benefit the elite class.
Show me his elite membership card, then.

After that go bark up some other tree, preferably a lefty tree, the ones that have all the nuts hanging, ready to drop in such overwhelming abundance. Then flush when finished, courtesy flush before that.
 
Show me his elite membership card, then.

After that go bark up some other tree, preferably a lefty tree, the ones that have all the nuts hanging, ready to drop in such overwhelming abundance. Then flush when finished, courtesy flush before that.

Trump has been an elitist his entire life. Had he not been born into it - he would be parking cars at a hotel instead of owning them. Just look at his one big piece of legislation - tax cuts for the rich and corporations. An elite taking care of the elites. He is not there to drain any swamp - but only to expand his area of the swamp. He is the personification of what the OP pretends to rail against.

Read this

https://www.vox.com/2017/6/23/15791432/donald-trump-populism-latin-america-republican-party

Now that he’s in office, Trump is governing like conventional right-wing Republican. The policies he’s promoted would lead to more privatization, more tax breaks for the rich, more spending cuts for welfare programs like Social Security and Medicaid. He’s also studded his administration with bankers and billionaires and industry lobbyists.

This is not the stuff of populism.



Trump ran as a populist but governs as an elitist for the elites.

His attitude is that of an elitist and he is unapologetic about it even in his business and leisure activities.

Donald Trump: Let golf stay for the rich elites | Fortune

Golf should be something beautiful, elegant, something people aspire to play eventually.

It may be elitist, and perhaps that’s what golf needs. Let golf be elitist. When I say “aspire,” that’s a positive word. Let people work hard and aspire to some day be able to play golf. To afford to play it. They’re trying to teach golf to people who will never be able to really play it. They’re trying too hard. Because of the expense of playing, and the land needed, golf is never going to be basketball, where all you need is a court.
He thinks like an elitist. His activities are those of an elitist. He defends being an elitist.

Trump is the personification of what it means to be an elitist.

Confused about his brand of populism, Trump wants to be 'the elite' | MSNBC

Since launching his political career three years ago, Trump has laughably presented himself as a “man of the people,” but now he wants more. The president also sees himself as more elite than the elite, and he expects to be appreciated as such.

The New Republic had a good item along these lines, arguing, “Unpacking Trump’s statement, it turns out he’s not, as populist heroes traditionally have been, the avatar or even the tribune of the common man. Rather, Trump is the true elite, a caste of one, the ubermensch who is smart, rich and able to become president. His followers, meanwhile, are ‘the deplorables’ who are, pointedly, not elite in Trump’s manner but have their own form of greatness and smartness which is displayed in their willingness to subsume themselves (‘the most loyal people on earth’) to Trump. This is not the creed of populism but rather of the strong man with an army of loyal followers.”

Go ahead and call Trump an “elitist.” Evidently, he considers it a compliment.

Trump is an elitist through and through. He simply uses the great unwashed to empower his brand of elitism while railing against the elites like the better educated and the more experienced in government.
 
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Trump has been an elitist his entire life. Had he not been born into it - he would be parking cars at a hotel instead of owning them. Just look at his one big piece of legislation - tax cuts for the rich and corporations. An elite taking care of the elites. He is not there to drain any swamp - but only to expand his area of the swamp. He is the personification of what the OP pretends to rail against.

Read this

https://www.vox.com/2017/6/23/15791432/donald-trump-populism-latin-america-republican-party





Trump ran as a populist but governs as an elitist for the elites.

His attitude is that of an elitist and he is unapologetic about it even in his business and leisure activities.

Donald Trump: Let golf stay for the rich elites | Fortune


He thinks like an elitist. His activities are those of an elitist. He defends being an elitist.

Trump is the personification of what it means to be an elitist.

Confused about his brand of populism, Trump wants to be 'the elite' | MSNBC
What would you consider your reading comprehension level is? High, middle or low?

Along those same lines, do you understand the difference between a correctly, coherently premised article and bull****?

Do you have an understanding of what an elite is? Yes, let's start there. What is your definition of an elite? Is it just being rich? So everyone who wins the lottery is numbered among the elite are they? Slenderfella and Michelle first time proud are elites, life long elites you say? John long faced Kerry, Al the end is coming Gore, HillBillary, Occasionally-connects-to-her-Cortex, all of the elite class are they?

Is it those merely catering to the rich? A Rolex watch factory worker, a yacht maker wood craftsman, a Lamborgini salesman, each is an elite then in your world? A golf club developer?

Or is it only in the case of if their name happens to be Trump?

In a related area, since you bring up tax cuts for only the rich. Could Trump have cut the lower bracket 49% taxes any more than they already are? Do you know, have any idea, how much of our national personal income taxes are paid by the rich? The percentages, the total amounts? Are you familiar with the concept of the poor not investing in businesses, hiring folks for jobs since some don't even have one, or much of one, themselves?

When does reality kick in for you folks? Sometimes, occasionally... ever? Never?
 
What would you consider your reading comprehension level is?

High enough to understand what you asked of me and apparently higher than yours since you failed to understand all the evidence I supplied to you supporting my statement that Trumps was an elitist.
 
Stop right there. Trump got where he is today largely through birth and wealth. So your premise dies a hard death just feet out of the gate.

In addition, the fact that more people voted against him than for him hardly serves as a repudiation of anything other than Trump
 
The fact of his birth, his upbringing and his wealth disproves your premise.

Of course it does not. One can have the qualifications for being one of the elite without being elitist. Moreover Trump's base, from which he derives his support, and thence his power, is most clearly anti-elitist.
 
Of course it does not. One can have the qualifications for being one of the elite without being elitist. Moreover Trump's base, from which he derives his support, and thence his power, is most clearly anti-elitist.

Using toilet tissue to assist you in a task does not make you Charmin.
 
Just like Newt Gingrich ranting on about suburban, book writing, snobbish, 'pointy-head' limousine liberals, when that

was exactly what he had become after leaving office...as a right wing partisan.

Trump is the very essence of the American entitled elitist. Entitled to inherit $400 million, entitled for that to be tax free,

entitled to loans to build two competing casinos within 2 miles of each other and then entitled not to pay his contractors

then further entitled to suck million$ off their creation yet walk away in bankruptcy upon the inevitable failure.

Trump according the the christian right's vote is entitled to cheat on his wives being a serial adulterer, phillander with

porn stars, pay them hush money and still be so virtuous to get their vote. He entitled to grab ******s and discrinminate

in his housing projects.

Your link and its rant is a contradiction and full of partisan assumptions.

As POTUS, trump unwittingly of course, is the deep state's, the elitist's most useful of complete idiots and is taking the heat

for their shared rent-seeking, conflicts of interest and all around corruption.
 
Stop right there. Trump got where he is today largely through birth and wealth. So your premise dies a hard death just feet out of the gate.

The writer of that piece, Victor Davis Hanson, is being disingenuous. For starters he's a blue-blood academic neocon. Trump is an ahole, but policy-wise he carries water for the same old Repub elites like the Koch network and the religious right crazies.
 
Just like Newt Gingrich ranting on about suburban, book writing, snobbish, 'pointy-head' limousine liberals, when that

was exactly what he had become after leaving office...as a right wing partisan.

Trump is the very essence of the American entitled elitist. Entitled to inherit $400 million, entitled for that to be tax free,

entitled to loans to build two competing casinos within 2 miles of each other and then entitled not to pay his contractors

then further entitled to suck million$ off their creation yet walk away in bankruptcy upon the inevitable failure.

Trump according the the christian right's vote is entitled to cheat on his wives being a serial adulterer, phillander with

porn stars, pay them hush money and still be so virtuous to get their vote. He entitled to grab ******s and discrinminate

in his housing projects.

Your link and its rant is a contradiction and full of partisan assumptions.

As POTUS, trump unwittingly of course, is the deep state's, the elitist's most useful of complete idiots and is taking the heat

for their shared rent-seeking, conflicts of interest and all around corruption.

Look up Victor Davis Hanson. That piece is such a pantload, I don't even know where to start.
 
High enough to understand what you asked of me and apparently higher than yours since you failed to understand all the evidence I supplied to you supporting my statement that Trumps was an elitist.
Are you joking or lost?

You start with a Vox flub piece wherein they talk about others more than Trump, never once mention that he is not an Imperial president, cannot just do anything he wants or promised... certainly does not mention the things he has done.

Does it? NOPE.

Has he deregulated like he said? Did he employ the right strategy to put the caliphate to rest in peace, pretty much destroy ISIS, got in and is getting us the hell out, as he said? The list goes on, I have said it TO YOU INDIVIDUALLY, so many times its starting to make me angry now that you would ask for PROOF AGAIN, this already after the again and again and again and... god**** it all. Did he get us out of the ****ed up Paris Accords and Iran Debacle like he said he would? Are there more jobs, everybody that wants to work pretty much can, right? Just like he said. Did loads of investement come back to the US? Has he put conservative Justices on the bench [2 count 'em 2, nearing 3, next will most likely be a nice strong conservative woman with RBG just not able to hang on to the seat'd be my guess].

I could go on, I have before... but you folks don't want to actually know... you want to waste our time and then ignore everything all over again.

Now, answer MY QUESTIONS. Or go blow your wad elsewhere.

Oh, and as to that reading comp thing, need to READ, READ AGAIN, READ A THIRD OR 4TH TIME AS NECESSARY. TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD AROUND YOU for godsakes.

This is a debate site, btw, not a we all have to listen incessantly, continuously, repetitively to bloviated blather from lost leftists site.

Yano?
 



~~~~~~
The abused criticism of Donald Trump is that he is a narcissist. Well, as Dizzy Dean used to say, "If you can do it, it ain't bragging". Much of the distaste for Trump is that "he isn't one of us". This is an attitude stemming from the assumption of credit for the accomplishments of others, those accomplishments often being self proclaimed. It is the narcissism of poseurs. They are, in two words, elitist snobs.
In their frenetic pursuit of President Trump, the biased Media, Hollywood, and the “Ruling Elites” have exposed themselves far more than they have exposed anything to do with him.
'The blood of rage runs from their eyes'... to borrow a phrase. They scream about “White Privilege” yet most all the author refers to, are white. A self-appointed “Privilegedtocracy” who see us “Deplorables” as little more than human livestock... disobedient livestock... to be replaced with a more obedient foreign livestock, to be kept ignorant and dependent. Their virulent insane Trump hatred has shown us once again hate is indeed a form of fear. All could be lost if the “Deplorables” are not contained. So any and all “weapons” race, sex, economic status, religion will be used to attempt to divide America.
It’s hard to find any politicians on the Democrat side and awful few on the Republican side that one might consider to have even an average ability.
Really, what would you think after meeting a Pelosi, Occasional Cortex, Flake, Bloomberg on the street?
Elites for the most part tried to hide their failures and indiscretions in past eras. Not in ours. Much is going on in the background that doesn't make it into the newspapers. The fact that nobody knew meant that elites could think well of themselves without contradiction. Idiots, all. Why are they continually elected?


Nah. The distaste for Trump is because he's essentially a lifelong mobbed-up conman who's using the presidency to enrich himself and destroy the institutions that maintain our democracy. It's got absolutly nothing to do with snobs or elitism.

I suggest starting off the new year by eschewing magical thinking.
 
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