WE HAVE SEEN BETTER DAYS ('As You Like It', II.7.121)

Many in the United States have been walking into Trump's trap. His round-the- clock strategy is one of media occupation, connection and creating an alternative truth. Observers of  the political scene are out of breath commenting, feeling hurt, being repulsed--but by verbalizing frustration one only ends up adding another layer to the "all about Trump" narrative. The president doesn't fear crosswinds, he enjoys them.  He loathes to be "ignored". 

It is going to be difficult to measure one's animus given that the looming "tax break", the Mueller investigation and many major bumps in the road will ignite tensions that will be difficult to ignore. Self-discipline is a craft which does not come easy but the media should not become the unwilling accessories to their own compulsion and to a nefarious strategy, waged against constitutional rights, freedoms and democracy as a whole.

It is nevertheless certain that major events will create one or more political storms of an unforeseeable magnitude. The Republicans got their "contradictory" tax cut and will cling to that like the shipwrecked cling to their lifebelt. Contrary to what happened during Watergate, one should not expect a resurgent principled revolt from that side. The Democrats have to address an unavoidable future existential crisis in terms of constitutional righteous claims which transcend the usual narrow political interests.

It is becoming clear that Trump is getting closer to the authoritarian mindset of some and that he rejects what he perceives as the inglorious workings of the EU. He sees glammor in hard-power and, being non-cultured himself, prefers to ignore the added value in soft-power. The US is already losing its edge in what was its former strength. China is remapping the lanes of information and is rebooting its own "dream machine". That Trump is seen as playing in some right-wing Yalta with Putin, Erdogan and Co. tells a lot about this administration's Zeitgeist. To make a parallel between what is happening now in America and former events in Europe in the late '30s is no longer taboo.  President Obama warned lately that the democratic rollback in the US could well lead to the rise of a form of Nazism. The former is already present in the "alt right" and in the words of the pseudo-Bannon intellectuals. Fortunately the vast majority of Americans are not buying into the autocratic models which are scaring off most (as could be seen in the Alabama senatorial race).

At the end of the day, the choice is between a breakdown of shared priorities, intelligence, democracy and an ugly level playing field wherein opportunism goes hand-in-hand with any convenient alternative reality wrapped in a tweet.

The noise will continue unabated. Earplugs are recommended!  Commentary will not be discontinued, albeit in a more user-friendly tempo.