We are seeing the shape of Trumpâs cabinet, and itâs clear that we will soon be working for idiots who used to be in sales. So, itâs time for some definitions: What are Kleptocracy and Kakistocracy?
Kleptocracy is a government where the rulers (kleptocrats) use their power to exploit the people and natural resources of their country in order to extend their personal wealth and power.
Kakistocracy means a state or country run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens. The word comes from the Greek words kakistos (worst) and kratos (rule), with a literal meaning of government by the worst people.
Posted for your reference, in case something happens after January 20th that requires you to know about either term.
Trumpâs commitment to renewable energy was on display in his Boeing tweet:
His cabinet, er, his junta:
Weâve had high-ranking military men serve in high positions in our government since the beginning of the country, starting with George Washington through Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower, through Colin Powell. But Trump is surrounding himself with an awful lot of them, and some of them have had issues with both their temperament and civil liberties. Just like the man hiring them.
Any issue with so many generals? The NYT offers this:
Man of the Year is questioned, but it is real my friends:
Trumpâs EPA will be his undoing in the next election:
Pearl Harbor is hardly remembered:
Itâs another Family of Trump voters having quality time at home. Never have so many known so little about so much.
I’m stepping through the door, and I’m floating in a most peculiar way…and the stars look very different today:
Weâve entered uncharted territory. Trump had a phone call with the president of Taiwan. Why is that such an issue? Presidents speak to other world leaders all the time, but American presidents have not spoken to the president of Taiwan since 1979. This studied form of non-recognition is at the core of the One-China Policy.
That policy states that there is only one state called “China”, despite the existence of two governments claiming to be China. This diplomatic dance works precisely because everybody agrees to abide by rules that don’t make complete sense.
We learned from experience in Korea and Vietnam, where we acted with hostility to both âtwo countryâ standoffs between a communist and a non-communist government. We learned, and then changed the game when it came to the two Chinas. That is, until President-Elect Trump was lured into the Taiwan call by his advisors, John Bolton and Stephen Yates. This from the Guardian: (strike out and brackets by the Wrongologist)
Bolton wrote in the Wall Street Journal in January: âThe new US administration could start with receiving Taiwanese diplomats officially at the State Department; upgrading the status of US representation in Taipei from a private âinstituteâ to an official diplomatic mission; inviting Taiwanâs president to travel officially to America; allowing the most senior US officials to visit Taiwan to transact government business; and ultimately restoring full diplomatic recognition.â
Stephen Yates, a former White House aide to Dick Cheney now advising the Trump transition was in Taiwan at the time of [Trumpâs] the call. âItâs great to have a leader willing to ignore those who say he cannot take a simple call from another democratically elected leader,â Yates tweeted.
China reacted by saying Trump needs to be educated about the world. Scott Adams, Trump butt-boy, puts it in about the most favorable light possible:
Trump is âsetting the tableâ for future negotiations with China. He just subtracted something from Chinaâs brand that they value, and later he will negotiate with them to maybe give it back in some fashion. Probably in return for some trade concessions.
It didnât end there. Trump apparently has invited Philippine President Duterte to the White House. Figuring out how to resolve Duterteâs issues with the US, his embrace of China, and his demonstrated abuse of human rights in the Philippines should be high on the new administrationâs list of issues. It would have been smart to have the outline of an agreed joint solution in place before rewarding Duterte with a state visit.
And there was Trumpâs phone call with the Prime Minister of Pakistan. According to the Pakistani account of the conversation, Trump told Nawaz Sharif that Pakistan is a âfantasticâ country full of âfantasticâ people that he âwould loveâ to visit as president.
Just awesome, except for Trump ignoring that India, our real partner in that part of Asia, is Pakistanâs enemy. Trump risks appearing to reward Pakistan at the expense of our relationship with India. Again, the US has maintained a balancing act between these two countries, who have a history of war and skirmishes over their disputed border.
The jury is out on what Trump is trying to do, and whether it is based on strategy, or ideology. Speaking with Taiwan’s and Pakistanâs leaders are potentially dangerous moves, as is his engagement with Duterte.
They are also potentially revolutionary. Every out-of-the-box move by Trump challenges norms and potentially blows up longstanding ways of doing things. If you are gonna shake things up, it’s all-important that you understand exactly why we have done things the way we have, and what the implications are of change. We know Trump is an instinctive guy, and not a willing student. The danger is his willingness to overturn complex situations where governmental institutions have had very good reasons for the policy they support.
This is the dark underbelly of Trumpâs populism. He was elected to shake things up by voters who dismiss facts, if presented by journalists.
You start by discrediting what came before. You call it elite failure. You shake things up because you can.
Time to wake up, America! Think about Michael Mooreâs calling Trump a human Molotov cocktail on NBCâs âMeet the Pressâ:
Across the Midwest, across the Rustbelt, I understand why a lot of people are angry. And they see Donald Trump as their human Molotov cocktail…I think they love the idea of blowing up the system.
So, letâs wake up today with the Billy Joel song, âWe Didn’t Start the Fireâ. The lyrics to this song catalog both personalities and historic events from 1949 until 1989:
We didnât start Trumpâs fire, but get ready, we may very well have to put it out.
Those who read the Wrongologist in email can view the video here.
Sample lyrics: Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom Brando, The King And I, and The Catcher In The Rye Eisenhower, Vaccine, England’s got a new queen Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye
We didn’t start the fire It was always burning Since the world’s been turning We didn’t start the fire No we didn’t light it But we tried to fight it
Quite the week. Trump makes Cabinet appointments, he tweets about taking citizenship away from US flag burners exercising freedom of speech, he takes a call from the president of Taiwan, and gets a formal protest from China.
That wasnât all. You missed it, but Congress passed HR 5732, the âCaesar Syria Civilian Protection Actâ. The bill sets the stage for the implementation of a no-fly zone (NFZ) over Syria. It requires the administration to submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report:
That assesses the potential effectiveness, risks and operational requirements of the establishment and maintenance of a no-fly zone over part of all of Syria.
These Congressional chicken hawks may not realize that NFZs are a form of limited war. Politicians are usually the first to forget that limited wars only stay limited by mutual agreement. The military will tell you to never declare an NFZ unless you are entirely willing to fight a real air and ground war to enforce it. In the case of Syria, a No-Fly Zone would require the destruction of Syrian aircraft and missile systems from Day 1, probably leading to the death of Russians shortly thereafter. We could have a shooting war with Russia by the end of the first week.
Syria has over 130 air defense systems. A dozen or so are in the Aleppo area. Syria also has over 4,000 air defense artillery pieces and a few thousand portable infrared-guided missile systems. Russia has also located its advanced S-400 anti-aircraft missiles into Syria to protect their bases in Latakia Province. Those missile systems effectively give Russia control over Syriaâs airspace, and for the US to impose a no-fly zone would require an air battle with Russia, which would all but guarantee the loss of a large number of US warplanes.
Over the last 25 years, there has been an evolving political infatuation with two pillars of âpolitical airpowerâ: airstrikes and no-fly zones. Did we get the results our politicians promised?
Onward to cartoons. Trump goes to Indiana, gives Carrier tax breaks:
It was great political theater, but it is a standard âsocialize the lossesâ GOP play: tax breaks for jobs. The taxes earned from keeping the jobs never pay the cost of the tax credits.
Paul Krugman had a good observation:
Fidel Castro dies:
Free speech isnât well understood by the Orange Overlord:
Nancy Pelosi is reelected as Minority Leader. Many are pleased:
Mitt wants work, will say anything:
Trump still has lots of posts to fill. Word is that former vice presidential candidate and Tina Fey impersonator Sarah Palin is on the list of possible Cabinet appointments.
Trump has two towers in Istanbul. In December 2015, his local partner explored legal means to take Trumpâs name off the towers after the Orange Overlord called for a ban on Muslims entering the US. In June, Turkish President Erdogan reportedly called for the removal of the Trump name from the towers.
Mr. Erdogan appears to have changed his mind, both about the towers and about the man whose name appears on them. Although polls show that most Turks would have preferred to see Hillary Clinton as Americaâs new president, Mr. Trumpâs election has been greeted in Ankara with a mix of schadenfreude and hope.
In fact, Erdogan has called US protests against Mr. Trumpâs election âa disrespect to democracyâ. The Economist says that Trump reportedly told Mr. Erdogan over the phone that his daughter, Ivanka, admired him, and flattery works all over the world.
Erdogan thinks that our Orange Overlord may be more amenable to extradite Fethullah Gulen, the Pennsylvania-based preacher whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating the coup attempt in July. Since July, Turkey has pressed the Obama administration to extradite Mr. Gulen. The Turks felt sure that Hillary Clinton would not extradite him, since her campaign accepted donations from his followers.
In November, Trumpâs National Security Advisor, former General Michael Flynn, strongly supported Turkish President Erdogan in an op-ed at The Hill, suggesting that Erdogan is under siege by âradical Islamâ and desperately needs our help. Flynn said:
The forces of radical Islam derive their ideology from radical clerics like GĂźlen, who is running a scam. We should not provide him safe haven. In this crisis, it is imperative that we remember who our real friends are.
Flynn also seemed to dismiss Erdoganâs crackdown on political dissidents and the dubious circumstances of the attempted coup which allowed Erdogan to solidify his power. So letâs review Erdoganâs actions since July:
Turkey now has outstripped China as the worldâs biggest jailer of journalists. In addition, 150 news outlets have been closed, ranging from TV stations to online enterprises.
Erdogan has suspended or fired 110,000 civil servants, judges, teachers, journalists and soldiers. This has gutted the educated middle class of Turkey.
He has restarted an internal war with Kurds in Eastern Turkey, and has arrested the leadership of the Kurdish minority HDP party, which got more than 10% of seats in the last election.
The EU has suspended negotiations for Turkish membership for civil rights backsliding, but not before they gave Turkey âŹ6 billion to stop sending refugees into the EU.
Erdogan has threatened to reopen the flow of refugees if the EU doesnât agree to further Turkeyâs application to join. Opening the refugee flow is an existential threat to the EU, and thus, to NATO.
Trump is holding a tough hand while playing poker with Turkey. As a NATO member with the largest standing army in Europe, Turkey occupies an important place in NATOâs strategy. Trump has to balance Turkeyâs support for the mutual defense of Europe against Turkeyâs intentions to go one-on-one against Syria.
He has to balance the shaky EU refugee deal with Turkey against Erdoganâs effort to engage militarily against the PKK, a Kurdish group in Iraq and Syria who are allied with the US against ISIS.
Erdogan has made an overture towards Russia and China. A link with them would destabilize NATO even further. Erdogan seems to be testing Trump’s resolve and his commitment to NATO at the same time. Perhaps he sees an opportunity to garner some good old American baksheesh, so he’s putting a foot in the water to see if it’s comfortable enough to dive in.
That may be a poor play, since while Trump may be sympathetic to Turkish concerns about Mr. Gulen, the clericâs fate rests with Americaâs courts. Meanwhile, The Economist reports that Trumpâs team wants to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terror group, roll back the nuclear deal with Iran, and continue arming the PKKâs Syrian wing against ISIS.
Erdogan opposes all of these measures vehemently.
Some of Trumpâs new team are not fans of Erdogan. In a tweet, Trumpâs CIA-designate, Mike Pompeo, called Turkey an âIslamist dictatorshipâ.
Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Trump show certain similarities. Both are busy recasting and ruining their countries at the same time.
Broadway attacked Mike Pence, not with sticks and stones, but with words. Mr. Pence went to see âHamiltonâ, but was greeted with boos, and then the cast addressed him after the performance from the stage:
We, sir, we are the diverse Americans who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us…But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values, and to work on behalf of all of us. All of us.
Maybe it would have been appropriate for Mike Pence and Brandon Dixon, the Aaron Burr character who addressed Pence, to just duel out on Broadway after the play. But The Donald stepped in to protect Pence by dueling with the cast of Hamilton instead. As part of a tweet storm, Trump tweeted his demand for an apology. Get used to it, there will be many, many more demands via twitter by your Orange Overlord. This from Trump:
If this got under Trumpâs skin, maybe Hillary was right. Pence was professional in the low-key way in which he responded to the confrontation at the theater. Trump of course, was not. He could have seized the opportunity to assuage the fears of Americans who are afraid of what may be coming after January 20th.
He could have made it clear that his election night promise to be âA President for all Americansâ actually meant something
Trump must know that the theater is a place to be challenged. NO one goes to the theater thinking it is a safe zone where their precious little Fe Feâs will be safe. It is the nature of theater and the arts in general to challenge us, to force us outside of our comfort zone, to make us consider alternate ways of viewing the world. From Bob Lefsetz:
This is what artists do. They speak truth to power. They make people uncomfortable. And when there’s a reaction, they know they’ve done their job.
The negative social media response to Trumpâs tweet went viral. More from Lefsetz:
…we’ve got a President-elect who uses social media to get his message across…Isn’t it funny that a contrary opinion is now being spread through the same platforms? My inbox and Twitter were ablaze last night after the “Hamilton” kerfuffle. Word spreads fast these days, and the last ones on it are the mainstream media, who go to bed at 11 when we live in a 24/7 world.
There were lots of comments supporting DJTâs tweet, that what the Hamilton cast said was âinappropriateâ or was said in the wrong venue. So the Hamilton team has no right to speak up? Hogwash. So where do we go from here?
Have we ever seen this kind of spontaneous pushback right after a presidential election (other than Lincoln’s, which precipitated the Civil War)? There is demonstrable national unrest, people are pissed. And Trump now demands that people just lie down and take it?
Trump isn’t getting an apology.
Trump said that he wants to be president of all Americans. But post-election, he is acting as he did while campaigning. He expects to preside over all, attempting to quell dissent by forcing people who disagree with him to toe the line. If you want to be part of Making America Great Again, you will treat him and his administration with decorum and proper respect. Like this:
Yea, No. Time to be inspired to speak truth to power. Time to perfect your message of dissent. Time to develop a message that wins in 2018 and beyond. Let the Hamilton cast inspire your actions. Inspire others so that it is clear where the Orange Overlord is taking us. The time for revolution is here.
It’s time to wake up if you think that giving Trump a chance to heal America is a good idea. Healing requires a two-way street of thought and communication. But all that we are likely to get from the Orange Overlord are tweets that say get back in line, or here come the cops.
To help with your morning wake up, here is the late Mose Allison, who died last week, with his song, âYour mindâs on vacation but your mouth is working overtimeâ. It was said that Allison was a social critic before Dylan and a musical satirist before Randy Newman. His music has influenced many artists, including Jimi Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Tom Waits, the Yardbirds, John Mayall, JJ Cale, and the Who.
Here is âYour mindâs on vacation but your mouth is working overtimeâ.
Sample Lyrics:
You’re sitting there yakkin’ right in my face
I guess I’m gonna have to put you in your place
Y’know if silence was golden
You couldn’t raise a dime
Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is
Working overtime
You’re quoting figures, you’re dropping names You’re telling stories about the dames You’re always laughin’ when things ain’t funny You try to sound like you’re big money If talk was criminal, you’d lead a life of crime Because your mind is on vacation and your mouth is Working overtime
Does this remind you of a certain orange someone?
For those who read the Wrongologist in email, you can view the video here.
