What If We Threw a Rally and Nobody Came? Realism and Cynicism in Charlottesville

Joy cometh in the morning....

Yesterday was horrible.  As we examine the aftermath of what happened in Charlottesville we are seeing some pretty simple things that can be pieced together only in the light of the morning.  Three people are now dead in the wake of this event and many more injured.  This did not start on Thursday.  It started years ago of course.  It started before Donald Trump was even born.

We cannot regale you with the history of racism in America nor can we hope to disentangle who did what and when and why back then.

This whole thing started the moment someone thought of the idea to have a rally.  The rub comes in the difference between what was said and what is intended.  These are the things that no one is talking about.

What was said was "Let's have a rally where we express our views because we are fast becoming a minority in our own country and we are disenfranchised white people!"  What was actually being said either in their own head or aloud in meetings or on social media was:
We are going to have this rally and stoke up hatred and anger until a fight breaks out.  That way, once we enrage people so much that they throw the first punch, we can say that we did not start it but we will be justified in fighting, and possibly even shooting and killing them.

Then a supposed liberal "Anti-Fa" heard about the rally and immediately began to make plans to go.  This person went out and bought all the gear; helmets, baseball bats for "self defense" even though their mere presence would incite anger.  They were going to fight.  They bought mace.

Then came the screaming match leading up to the event.  People on both sides were saying they were going to be there and the message on both sides said:
I dare anyone to touch me as I scream in their face and call them names! Although I know they will!

The voices began to meld, left and right.
I'm gonna start a fight!
I'm gonna start a fight!
I'm gonna start a fight!

I will start a fight! I will be on TV.  I will be on Youtube!

What about the issue?  Who cares!  This is a chance for me to be popular.  How many "likes" will I get for being there!  This is the new party.  This is new rave!

James Alex Fields Jr. planned to drive his car into a crowd of people.  When exactly he had the idea, who knows.  His lawyers will tell him when it will sound best to say he had the idea.  Did he plan it weeks in advance or was he so irritated at the actual rally that he just went back to his car and decided then?  Temporary insanity or premeditation?   A lot of things will be said, but who knows.

We knew it was going to happen.  Everyone could see it coming from a mile away.  We all made it happen.  There were no unintended consequences.  We have made the payoff too enticing.  Fame.

People were posting about the event all day and night, waiting to get a glimpse of some violence.  People saw other people and got closer and closer and those who could not get on tv broke out the cell phones and selfie sticks and said "Look at me!  I am here! I am doing something!"

Peace and understanding were the last thing that we wanted at this thing and the moment Fields Jr., turned the ignition on the car that drove through the crowd was the moment everyone got what they wanted.  Someone was going to get hit.  Someone was going to the hospital.  The chances were more slim that someone was going to die, but there was still a chance.  It was more likely than not and became more so as he pressed down on the accelerator.

Then when it happened, did people drop their cameras and help? Nope.  Many people kept filming. The first video to hit showed a man angling for position when the car struck the crowd.  He was holding his phone in his hand screaming for someone to call 911 as he worked to get a better angle.  He yelled at the cops for not being there as they came to see what had happened.  Take a moment to let that sink in.

Anyone watching as it happened saw that there was a rush to be the first.  The same article posted on numerous sites over and over without any in depth analysis, just "I was there." or "I am so sad."

The messages then evolved and the topics migrated.  The simple message of being anti-white supremacist turned into discussions of how gays and women and even white people are affected by these events and it became "Ooooh a thing is happening to someone else and is trending, how can I apply it to me and the thing I want to talk about?"  It was amazing how quickly the memes showed up.   People read or watched it and said, "This is sad.  I have to capture it in picture form making sure to put my watermark on it in case it starts trending."

Politicians and celebrities spoke up.  It is a relatively safe position.  "Hating minorities is bad and aligning yourself with a movement that hundreds of thousands of people gave their lives to defeat, is not American." The governor called for them to get out.

The President, of course, could not do that, causing the issue and the message once again to morph into simple condemnation of his lack of spine.  We asked if he is trying not to alienate his base?  David Duke was kind enough to remind him that he was essentially elected by those Nazis.

But what if no one showed up?  What if we just let them walk around in circles, shouting?  What if we saved the gas money that was spent for some driving hundreds of miles and put it towards funding another cause we believed in?  What if we threw a rally and nobody came?  That was not an option.  Everyone there was looking for a fight, either to get in one or see one.

The only good thing is that lightning rarely strikes twice.  For all of the bluster, there were a relative few people there.  The numbers are not in yet but only a few thousand people showed up.  Given the results of this event two things will likely happen.  First, zealous people will attempt to duplicate the event in numerous places and dilute the numbers and the same goes for people on the other side.  Rather than have numerous groups getting past their desires to lead the event and forming one large group, what will likely happen will be numerous small events events and people's attention spans and willingness to engage will wane exponentially each day.

In a week or two, no one will remember and we will be on to the next thing.  Selfies will get fewer likes and a new atrocity will appear.  Trayvon who?  Can you believe it's been three years since Michael Brown was shot?

Confessions of a recovering Anger Porn Addict

I am a recovering anger porn addict...

The first step is admitting there is a problem.
This morning I got a notice about an incident in Atlanta where a server at a local restaurant treated the guest badly and was not tipped.  The guests were black women and the server was a homosexual male.  It is funny to look at the different versions of what played out.  It turns out that the women did not tip the server and he in turn gave his partner the receipt who went on to track down the women and send them a series of harassing messages as well as post their slight on social media.  The day after the incident that happened three weeks ago, the owner of the restaurant came in on his day off to personally fire the server, ban him from the restaurant, and issue the guest a gift certificate.  Problem solved?  Well yes, but I just heard about this incident this morning so what does that mean?  That means that people are still trying to push this narrative and are still very mad about an issue that was addressed and remedied.  People are still calling for the boycott of this particular restaurant...three weeks after the incident.

John McCain made a scarred return to the floor of the Senate to vote to move the Republican Health Care Bill forward.  He delivered a stirring speech about the responsibilities of the Senate and the imperative that we move forward,  Cue the anger.

Many people were angry that he was even able to speak about these issues.  People brought up the fact that he would not be there making that speech but for having great health care himself.  McCain's speech was largely self effacing and looked at the fact that he was guilty of engaging in purely partisan hackery himself, but above all it was time to get on to doing what the people sent them there to do.   And then he went and voted for the bill to move forward.

Regardless of what happened next, the speech was rousing and spoke to a lot of the issues that are holding up so many issues in our country.  Aside from that, there was really nothing in the speech that contradicted him then going to vote to put the Republican's bill or lack thereof to a vote and amendment.  He even said he would not vote for the bill as it was and later, he didn't (he voted no in spectacular fashion, but...) The backlash from the left was swift.

What we are seeing is a need or want to be outraged and angry.  Looking at the things that have happened in the last week could give you an anger overdose.  Trump is trying to ban transgender people from the military.  He is trying to fire the Attorney General or maybe not.  He is trying to fire the independent counsel or maybe not.  More young black people are getting shot and or harassed by the police (even as I am writing this, a notice appeared in my feed telling me that Trump endorsed police brutality in a speech).  Women are getting discriminated against and on and on and on.

I wonder about the things that are showing up in my Facebook feed along with a message that says essentially "like" this if this  post makes you angry. Are these the things that I bring on myself based on what I look for and at?

More than that, what are we supposed to do with all of this anger?  Let's take a moment to look at what we are seeing even from the White House and the new communications director.  Anthony Scaramucci apparently called Ryan Lizza at the New Yorker just to complain about how hard his new job is and how everyone is out to get him... Oh and how everyone ELSE is paranoid.

Apparently, he hates Reince Priebus.  Reince hates him. They both hate Steve Bannon and he hates them both.

Are we not playing into his hands?  Note in his recent speeches he is talking a great deal about what the media will say when he makes a comment, signaling that he knows that what is about to come out of his mouth is going to be divisive.  During one of his recent speeches, he said "he could be on Mt. Rushmore."  I doubt it will ever happen but what was most telling was what he said before that.  He made it a point to say that the media would skew his words.  He is at times leaving his language intentionally vague and annoying so that people will pick it apart and find something to get mad about.

He will say something angry and hateful and immediately his army of surrogates go out to tell liberals that we did not hear what we heard so not to get up in arms about it and that same army of surrogates will go out to tell conservatives that they heard EXACTLY what he said and that we liberals just don't get it.

Hate is starting to be profitable, too.  As soon as Trump banned transgender people from serving, there was a race to get to Youtube.  Tomi Lahren could not even wait to get to any kind of studio so she appears to have posted a video from her car about how the military is not a social experiment.  I might note how she posted this from the safety of her car while transgender people are knee deep in sand and dodging bullets and IED's wondering if their country even wants them there as we speak.  How do I know she posted this video?  Rest assured it is not because I am a Tomi Lahren fan, but because someone I know posted a video from someone who posted a video rebuttal to her.

And then comes the posts and reposts.  "So and so shuts down so and so on Twitter" or "So and so just responded to so and so and the the response was epic!"

Over and over and over and over again.  I find myself in a constant state of anger over something but I also find myself wondering what we are going to do about it for the next three years.  Impeachment may be coming, but not for some time.  We have some victories coming but when all is said and done, what good is all this anger doing?  Do I have the energy and the adrenaline?

Oh, and by the way... Reince Priebus just resigned...was fired...at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday... *sigh*

And Anthony Scaramucci's wife filed for divorce....*sigh*

The Trump Bandwidth Test...Trumpwidth?

As of this writing, the senate is scrambling to wrangle votes for the repeal of the ACA but yesterday, he made a speech at the Boy Scouts Jamboree in Virginia and it was truly what we thought it would be.

Trump made a series of comments about how he won the election.  He talked about President Obama not attending a jamboree in person, but not the fact that President Obama was himself a Boy Scout.  He talked about fake news, loyalty, and draining the swamp or rather the "sewer".
It is really very odd that he would make such a speech the day before voting to begin debate on the bill to repeal Obamacare and this lends itself to a bigger question; do we have the bandwidth to deal with all of this?
Kellyanne Conway debated Reliable Sources anchor Brian Stelter a few days ago and each of them looked at a graphic that said that only 6 percent of people in the U.S. were interested in the Russia story.  Conway pointed out that there was a disproportionate amount of coverage for something so few people were interested in.  Stelter replied with something that I have often thought but rarely is presented; can't we care about more than one thing at one time?

The motion to bring the repeal vote forward has been passed with a 50 to 50 vote pushed forward by Vice President Pence.

I am still outraged by Trump's self serving and petty speech made in front of a 40,000 boys at the Jamboree but I can also think about what we are facing as this bill moves forward to the debate phase. I am also very still very interested in Russia, Trump's tax returns, the fact that he claims millions of people voted illegally and so on and so on. The bill is moving forward, but can we learn about it?  Can we talk about what it means as it becomes public?

Rest assured Donald Trump is going to say or do something in the next week or more.  New revelations will come out about Russia.  Jeff Sessions is getting roasted in the media by his boss.  Jason Chaffetz is even engaging in a war with Hillary Clinton AND Chelsea Clinton about, of all things, Benghazi for goodness sake.  Are we so attracted to or distracted by shiny objects?

Is this part of a larger strategy?  Are we seeing that the goal is to so overload our liberal outrage to make it nearly impossible to focus our outrage?

Trump: Strength in the Negative

A couple of weeks ago, Donald Trump told The Christian Broadcasting Network that Vladimir Putin wanted Hillary Clinton to win.  I have to say that I agree with him.  Rather, it is not so much that Putin wanted her to win, but that he did not anticipate her loss.  In that respect, he is a lot like me, the rest of the world, and most of all, Donald Trump himself.


To understand this we have to look at the world the way that Donald Trump and Putin see the world; in the negative.  Their power comes from two places.  First there is what they say has happened.  Appending reasons and explanations to things that have happened that either are not true or could not be proven is the source of their influence.  In this respect, time is their friend.  President Obama is a secret Muslim?  He was not born in this country?  No, he is not and yes he was.  Still enough time has passed that he can say that he never said that or that Hillary Clinton started the rumors or whatever without ever taking responsibility for what part he has had in it.  As a function of time if he waits long enough or talks long enough, whatever he says is true or at least cannot be proven wrong especially to anyone who does not want to believe he is wrong.

Second, there is the more powerful aspect of what he says will happen.  Here, their power is in the ability to say things could have happened or would have happened if they were in charge.  This is the more powerful aspect of their influence yet it is the finest line they can walk.  During the campaign, Trump painted a picture of chaos and the apocalypse if Hillary Clinton won and people were willing to believe it.  He walked a fine line of having people scared enough to believe these things would happen yet not so much that they would actually elect him to solve those problems if he was actually elected.

Vladimir Putin did have a hand in hacking the election and was going to try harder.  I have a theory and this is just a theory, that this was to be a dry run.  The 2016 election was supposed to just be a pass at hacking to find weaknesses in the system and harrow Hillary Clinton on her way to a narrow victory.  I think the real "attack" would have come in 2020 when Hillary Clinton, fresh off of three years of a hard first term would run for re-election against a more qualified Republican candidate than Trump.  Then would be the hardest hack plans aided by an internal ally, Donald Trump.

Somewhere, in an alternate universe, Donald Trump lost that election.  In that alternate universe he is happy as can be because he lives in the negative.  Imagine an existence where Donald Trump is doing what he has always wanted to do; be in the public eye and catering to a demographic that is his base now; the "deplorables" without the responsibility of having to actually do anything.

If Trump had lost right about now he would likely still be on a whirlwind tour throughout the U.S. speaking to packed stadiums full of hardcore right wingers who swear he DID win and that Hillary Clinton stole the election somehow.  "Rigged" would be on t-shirts all over the country.  Every thing that Hillary Clinton did as president would be parsed and debated through his twitter account and his emerging television station and that old standby, Fox News.  He could rant daily and talk about how she should be arrested and how she is an embarrassment to the U.S.  all day, every day, from the safety and comfort of one of his ever packed properties.

Trump has even been tweeting on a regular basis lately that Jeff Sessions should be investigating Hillary Clinton and that she has gotten away with something.

If anyone said anything about his shady business dealings, he could chalk it up to political retaliation and somehow it would be Hillary Clinton abusing her power.  He and Putin could hang out as much as they wanted and plan for 2020 with Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, or whomever by the poolside.

In the alternate time line, Donald Trump is suing Hillary Clinton and the Clinton campaign, railing on President Obama and more, all because he can and it would build his ratings and his empire.

Instead, he won.  He is in an awkward position because now he has to make good on all the promises and we are seeing that he simply cannot do it.  He promised a better health plan that is not happening.  He promised a huge wall and while a wall is forthcoming, it is nowhere near what he promised.  He promised that ISIS would be ended in 30 days... nope.  He has been nothing but an embarrassment since day one and now he cannot work in the negative.  He can say that it is the media.  He can say it is the obstructionist Democrats, but it is not.  At a certain point, he is no longer going to be allowed to work in the negative and is going to have to own what says.

The irony is that now Hillary Clinton can now work in the negative.  That is not to say that she should "go low" but she, based on this relatively new way of looking at things, can make a good case for how things would be totally different if she had won.  There are debates about whether or not she made the right decisions while running and how those decisions led to her loss, but soon, those too will go away.  She is free to make speeches or not.  She is free to attack the Trump administration (goodness knows he is presenting a large enough target) and go hiking in the woods on the weekends.  She owes no one, anything.  The same is true for President Obama.  It must all be so liberating for them.  For Trump though?  Not so much.

In this time line Trump and Putin are under tremendous scrutiny.  They are the ones being watched and investigated, as well as their family and their businesses.  Rachel Maddow and MSNBC now have higher ratings than FOX.

I am going to keep writing about this phenomenon in hopes of gaining a deeper understanding of it and what is happening to our country.  We are seeing that people are leaving things at the water's edge when maybe we should be taking a deeper dive.

Follow on Twitter at @writlargepdcst

Donald Trump has successfully sparked the economy in many ways

Remember a little more than a year ago when everyone thought Trump was a joke.  There was even a rumor going around that he was a Hillary Clinton plant and that he and Hillary were working together to ensure her victory by making a mockery of the right.  Looking back, this may not be far from the truth if not from intent.

The bottom line is that Donald Trump is sparking a lot by being a focus of irritation.  This past week Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate agreement citing the notion that the U.S. doesn't get anything out of the deal and that China and India will not have to do much.  Forget the notion that we all need breathable air and that the climate is changing rapidly.  The fallout has been amazing and boon for the left.

Trump means big business, both for his family and the left. After pulling the U.S, out of the deal, businesses stepped up to talk about how they oppose it and how many of them will continue doing the things the agreement required without actually being a part of the agreement.  Elon Musk has been criticized for being a Trump adviser but now says that he will no longer work with Trump because of this.

California governor, Jerry Brown, was quick to step up and say that California will go along with the agreement and plans to go to China to talk with them directly about things the U.S. can do.  As of this writing, 61 mayors and counting are "adopting" the Paris Agreement.  Michael Bloomberg offered $15 million to the U.N. to support the movement.

For many it is simply good branding to hate Trump now.  Opposition and resistance organizations have seen spikes in sign ups.  People are subscribing more to news and podcasts. I am willing to wager there has been a spike in t-shirt and bumper sticker sales.

It is interesting to look at the impact Trump has had on the economy.  When he first took office, we saw that he would threaten a business via twitter or at one of his rallies.  Soon, as his popularity flagged so too did his ability to make good on his threats.  Now we are beginning to see the other side of that equation where those threats are almost an endorsement.

Trump hating is driving tv ratings. Trump is the start of many monologues, comedy routines, and skits.

Prior to last week, I personally, only knew of Kathy Griffin as the annoying woman standing next to a drunk Anderson Cooper on New Years Eve.  Then she posed in a picture holding a mock up of Donald Trump's severed bloody head and people got upset.  Let's just say she misread the market.  The boon comes after the issue though.  The initial waves are seen in the memes that surface.  She apparently lost that job at CNN.  Then comes the discussion.  There are articles and commentaries where people applaud or denounce her and then the rare combination of people both applauding THEN denouncing her.  She got everyone talking though and ratings went up for everyone.  My guess is that in a year or so she will have her own talk show.

So, when all is said and done, Trump is keeping his promise to boost the economy.  There is no way to really know how much hating him will pay off, but it looks like business is good.

For the Trump haters in the world it presents an awkward problem. With all the liberal good in the world, will the spin win?  Tell me you cannot imagine a day in the future where Donald Trump is standing at a podium speaking from prepared statements about how many great things were done under his administration; how people stepped up and did amazing things while leaving out that they did those things in spite of not because of his administration.  Trump has successfully privatized and monetized liberalism.  He has decimated if not destroyed our faith in the government, led by the president, to solve social ills.

Tom Cruise Called Up As Prosecutor In Trump Scandal

Noted actor Tom Cruise has been asked to get ready for a reprise of his role in 1992's A Few Good

Men.  Cruise was reportedly surprised at the request saying, "I am just an actor and while I will indeed jump at the chance to serve my country in whatever way asked, I merely played a lawyer and am in no way qualified."  Officials close to the investigation told Cruise that did not matter and the final cross examination speech that he made famous in the award winning movie and play of 1992 fits very closely with how they plan to approach Donald Trump when and if he ever has to take the witness stand.

Jack Nicholson has also been asked to be a stand in for Trump during mock trials.  Nicholson was reportedly surprised at the request saying, "I am just an actor".

Sources are saying that President Trump may himself be looking at the movie as a way to build his defense.  Trump has reportedly said, "Col. Jessup [Nicholson's character] doesn't seem like a bad guy.  Let's see if we can hire him." The President had to be informed that Col. Jessup is a fictional character.  Staffers are, however, busy modifying the final monologue, changing key sections in little ways like altering the phrase "You want me on that wall.  You need me on that wall!" to "You want me to build that wall.  You need me to build that wall!!!"

Trump staffers are saying that the movie is a treasure trove of information for the fake news media.  Trump liked the strategy laid out by his defense team and tweeted a cut and pasted line from the movie to Robert Mueller and his investigating team.

  I run my unit how I run my unit. You want to investigate me, roll the dice and take your chances. I eat breakfast 300 yards from 4000 Cubans who are trained to kill me, so don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash a badge, and make me nervous.

Sources say he toyed with the 4000 Cubans line, wanting to change it to "6 million illegals who voted against me...illegally.)

In a closed meeting on investigatory staff member is reported to have said, much like Cruise's character in the movie, " I think he wants to admit he made a command decision and be done with it."

Both Cruise and Nicholson have said they are ready, if needed but each actor noted that they are just actors and this real life case is a lot less believable than the movie.

Trump Fires Yet Another Obama Era Appointee

The president is under scrutiny again for firing yet another Obama era appointee.  Lawrence Lipscomb, the famous "fist bump janitor",  was let go by the Trump administration this week.

It appears that prior to being let go, he had asked for additional funds stating, that, "the sheer number of documents being shredded lately caused him to have to work extra hours."  He has also said that he has had to take additional time off due to back problems from having to lift trash outside of the Oval Office.  "As soon as people come out of meetings with Trump, they load down the garbage cans with printouts of electoral maps and unsigned loyalty oaths."

Elijah Cummings and the Senate select committee are said to be in talks with Lipscomb over what he may have seen while working for the Executive.  When asked if he was the source of the recent leaks, Lipscomb said that he had no desire to be involved but recent reports show that Trump would often pull Lipscomb aside and tell him about his electoral victory and his dealings with Russia after which, Lipscomb would write his own memos of the experience.
We have some exclusive excerpts

November 8th 2017
President Trump seems like a very nice guy and I think I am going to enjoy working for him."

November 11th, 2017
President continues to call me "Lippy" and often will not let me leave the Oval Office.  I am very scared.  Met a nice guy named Michael Flynn today, apparently he really likes turkey, won't shut up about it.  I am a big fan of deli meats myself but come on!

January 26, 2017
Met a lovely woman named Sally Yates today.  She apologized profusely when she exited the Oval Office and kicked the trash can across the room.  She looked at me and said, "can you believe this?" gesturing to the Oval Office.  I suspect she told the president something interesting.

February 14
President Trump said he wants to meet with me after his meeting with FBI Director Comey.  He has told me to wait for Comey to leave and then come in so we can "shoot the shit."  I think he is lonely without his wife.

Comey left, shaking his head for some reason.  Looked at me and said, "can you believe this?" gesturing to the Oval Office.

President Trump told me to come in and locks hands with mine. His hands are clammy and he wants me to look at the electoral map.  Hits button at desk for coke.  The steward comes in and does not offer me a Coke.  We both look down.  Trump tips him with signed electoral map.  He exits.

As of this writing, Lipscomb is unemployed but has received a six figure book deal.  He has been subpoenaed to testify before Congress at some point in June though he has been quoted as saying that he really cannot tell them anything more about Flynn.  He says what he knows, EVERYONE knows and encouraged the panel to simply get Trump in a room for five minutes, give him a Coke, and let him talk.