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The Best Chance for Reform in Decades?
In his column in the Wall Street Journal today, Holman Jenkins argues, to quote the headline, that “Trump Wins Even if He Loses.” Although the GOP standard bearer wouldn’t object to winning the election, he’s savoring the media exposure for its own sake. The candidate, Jenkins says, is smart enough to see the campaign for exactly what it is: “a giant gift of free capital, tens of billions of dollars in free media exposure that can pay off under many different scenarios.”
Disconcerted? Even depressed? Me too.
But Jenkins ends his column with this cryptic paragraph:
And yet Republicans should lift their chins up. An element of chaos was always going to be necessary. Before us is the best chance for American reform in decades.
Lift our chins? The best chance for reform in decades?
What can Holman Jenkins mean? Seriously. I’m asking you. What can he mean?
Published in General
You know how you have to jiggle the handle a little after you flush? Well, that’s really not how it’s supposed to work but since you know how to jiggle it along you just ignore it for now and eventually you get used to it and don’t really even notice.
Now to get that thing fixed it’ll just have to break completely.
I think he means something like that.
I’ve long thought the Trump campaign was more about making Trump great again than making America great again.
I have mentally walked that back somewhat because he has said so many outrageous things that it is hard to imagine him coming out of this with an enhanced reputation. However, Trump is probably a big believer in the idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity and he can always find a way to monetize his publicity, or notoriety, later.
You know what, Casey? I think you’re right.
We’ve all heard “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” To do something new, you have to stop doing things the way you’ve always done them, and we’ve been doing government the same way for decades. Governing the country has become synonymous with engaging in an ongoing media war with the other party.
If anything was ever going to change, the political/media routine had to change. Someone was going to have to break that Democrat-New York Times-network TV synchronicity. Which means that someone was gong to have to come along who didn’t play by the media’s rules.
We were hoping for a new candidate who could break that model. Of course, we were also hoping he wasn’t such a Trump, but hey, it’s a start I guess.
Well that thing is definitely broke. If it was broken you could fix it, but it’s broke, and there’s nothing you can do. Not in the remaining 75 days.
The GOP has Mr. Magoo driving a parts car in a race for the presidency.
As for hope for reform, I’m keeping my chin down and my whole head on a swivel. I don’t see the rebuild getting off to a good start.
It would take a world class fractal mathematician to diagram the complex web of blame and recriminations that needs to be sussed out before some viable electoral coalition reemerges. That’s a dog’s breakfast that no one wants to eat.
I think Mr. Jenkins is thinking along the similar lines as this quote from Dashiell Hammett:
“Plans are all right sometimes … And sometimes just stirring things up is all right – if you’re tough enough to survive, and keep your eyes open so you’ll see what you want when it comes to the top.” –Red Harvest
In other words, start a dust-up and be prepared to be the last guy standing when the dust settles down again.
Time for some cluster TDS.
Methinks Mr Jenkins is engaged in wishful thinking.
I don’t think he was trying to be cryptic. He’s basically summing up his points in the preceding paragraphs, to wit, that both parties will be making adjustments based on the realignments that Trump has brought about.
‘the Republican party should be beaten with Jeb Bush a leader, rather than win with any other man.’ …. Trump’s skimpy resume caused a Philadelphian to ask Bush rhetorically: ‘What are the acquirements of Mr. Trump? Is he a man of varied accomplishments and long tried public experience? Is he what the President of the United States should be without exception—a pure, upright, firm, learned, classical, accomplished, dignified, and respected man? …. Scornfully, he predicted: ‘If we descend to nominate such men as Trump, we will have before long 5000 upstarts claiming the nomination.’ From the West a friend wrote Bush: ‘When I got the news, I felt as if I didn’t have anything more to do with white man’s politics, and about ready to go out and live among the Potawattomies’.”
from 1860, substitute Seward for Bush and Lincoln for Trump.
http://amgreatness.com/2016/07/22/lincolns-party-and-trumps-too/
I subscribe to the WSJ, Peter, and am starting to doubt the wisdom of giving them $$. The news portion of the paper is frighteningly similar to WaPo, etc. The editorial and opinion pages are flagrantly supporting the bi-party ruling class. The only saving grace is that their features on the weekend edition are very good, especially Dan Neill’s Rumble Seat.
If you really want to do something for conservatism, you can tell people to vote against John McCain in his primary on August 30. If you live in Arizona, you can vote against him yourself.
Two vectors intersect:
the total complete and blatant corruption of the Clinton Administration that not even the lap dog media can excuse
and
the complete implosion of the our debt bomb.
Between the two even the most committed progressive will need to acknowledge that “things ain’t going well”. And the most uninformed low information Facebook bound voter will need to pay attention.
The question is, what is our plan?
Lots of wishful thinking happening this week. It’s possible that Trump supporters are trying to move the goal post, now a Trump win is their win. Not an electoral win, that’s appearing less and less likely, but any Trump win. So if he uses this election to launch his next “great” business than that shows how smart he is, and how smart his supporters are for choosing him early. Never mind that our country is left to the likes of Hillary.
I think this is what has bothered me the last year, none of this has been about my republic, it has been about a small petty man.
One further thought: we may be having a big realignment on the right and lots of self reflection, that doesn’t mean the left is doing the same. They are not, they are winning. The self reflection of 08 and 12 did little to prepare us for 16. So things are realigning, yippee ki yay yeah.
The debt bomb is not going to go off. Japan has a way bigger debt problem than the US. The Fed pumped 4 trillion in liquidity into the monetary system and it caused nary a blip of inflation. Look for another decade or two of deflationary stagnation.