The "Super Tuesday" primaries take place tomorrow. The polls tells us we will see the Anointing of Hillary on the one side, and the Triumph of Trump on the other. It is more and more likely that those will be our choices in November.
Boiled down, our choices are 1) corrupt Business as Usual (Hillary); or 2) unrepentant barbarism (The Donald).
This clearly poses a problem for thoughtful Americans. We've already got a nascent move to Canada movement. There will be a lot more stuff like that after tomorrow. The standard joke will be we need Trump's Wall to keep Americans in, not Mexicans out.
Now, on the one hand, it is easy and satisfying in a perverse way to write on a blog called "Decline of the Empire" that we are witnessing another final (and perhaps terminal) step in the decline of the empire.
On the other hand, almost all Americans, including me, will have to live here in the United States after the results are in. Speaking only for myself here—no doubt this applies to others as well—my ability to flee the chaos is limited. If I had the ability to leave the country, I would have done so long ago.
There is always a tension between Grand Pronouncements like the ones I tend to make and Life As It Is Actually Lived. The satisfaction of being right about this demented country is more than offset by the misery of actually having to live in it. Saying "I told you so" has very limited utility when you're taking it up the ass.
So exchanges like this one don't make me happy.
Christian Schulzke said...
We are going to be looking at that face for 8 yrs.
Call me crazy, but I think Trump can beat her.
Christian-
Doesn't look like it-
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html
-but I'm praying yr rt. I may even come north to work on his campaign.mb
Berman's cynical bullshit has no associated costs because he's living in Mexico. Apparently he had the means and ability to emigrate. It's not so easy to spout such bullshit when you're living in Pittsburgh and have little choice in the matter.
The easy solution for some will be to hold your nose and vote for Hillary in the general election, especially if you live in a "swing state" like Ohio. At least we would have a president who believes climate change is real and human-caused. That won't make any practical difference in the long run, but it is certainly easier to live with if you don't live in a cave.
Once again, I regret that these are my only choices on Planet Stupid. As I've said many times before, and speaking in evolutionary terms, a terrible mistake has been made.
Not that the vast majority of Americans care what I think.
Watch this video. As Matt Taibbi knows, the moment you start arguing with The Donald, you've already lost the game.
Trump isn't the first rich guy to run for office. But he is the first to realize the weakness in the system, which is that the watchdogs in the political media can't resist a car wreck. The more he insults the press, the more they cover him: he's pulling 33 times as much coverage on the major networks as his next-closest GOP competitor, and twice as much as Hillary.
Trump found the flaw in the American Death Star. It doesn't know how to turn the cameras off, even when it's filming its own demise.
If laughter is the best medicine, maybe America should vote for Trump. We shall get what we deserve.
Posted by: Ken Barrows | 02/29/2016 at 10:01 AM