A Few Words on Trump

From the inside, support for Trump looks far different to any politics we've seen before.

Those of you only swimming in the left might be surprised by the quality and tenor of the conversations that happen in a lot of New Right/MAGA spaces. I've heard many people on the left mention how the Meta Crisis feels like the Elephant in the Room of these times. On the right it doesn't feel like an elephant in the room, it feels like the primary active ongoing topic. Although the meta crisis framing is not always the default framing,

I think it's important to separate the Neocon/Fundamentalist aspect of the Old Right from where I would expect anyone I know, and where any friends you have might be coming from in support of the burgeoning Trump/MAGA/MAHA/RFK/Musk/Tulsi/Unity alignment.

As an example, a profound separation took place for me when Trump went on stage at the RNC in 2016 and said:

"I will protect OUR Gay Americans! (from terrorists)."

To a standing ovation.

That's when MAGA stopped being a slogan and became a movement distinct from the old left/right paradigm, at least to a lot of people.

If you remember that era, the right was absolutely gearing up to battle it out on gay marriage post the Supreme Court Decision. But now? After Trump? Despite the collapse down the slippery slope into trans hysteria and open promotion of pedophilia in certain "left adjacent" circles? (I won't blame that on anyone beyond those involved. But to appearances...)

Gay people have an open and ongoing embrace from the entirety of the right I'm familiar with, an embrace that did not exist at scale before Trump.

That version of Trump is a genuinely brave and compassionate, beautiful human being who put his moment in the spotlight on the line to dramatically change American culture for the better.

Walking out of that moment he had the opportunity to become the most impactful and beloved political leader of our lifetime, a fulfillment of the promise of Hope and Change that Obama failed to achieve. A progressive change agent in the guise of a rightwing populist demagogue. A true hero of American Democracy in the highest form of that tradition.

Instead, much like Obama, he became embattled, embroiled and partly captured by the dysfunctional power politics of our duopolistic establishment system. He had a lot of bad people around him -- guiding him while in that onslaught, overwhelm and crisis of incentive pressure. It was a clusterfuck, and he was not a straight arrow.

But! He didn't start any new wars. He got both halves of Korea to shake hands in the DMZ. (Which, yes, was terrifying while in process. And a lot of people worked magic behind the scenes to enable that to deescalate.) He got the Abraham Accords signed, a major advance for the middle east. On actual foreign policy outcomes he's the only progressive president we've had in my lifetime.

Unlike Obama, Trump did not kowtow to the establishment system. Again, an incredibly brave move, which I and many others expect will cost him his life.

I don't like Trump, I mean, personally. His mannerisms and expertise at bullshit artistry kind of horrify me. But I'm not really terrified of Trump. What I am is deeply concerned by how people react and respond to him, but that concern resonates from BOTH SIDES. The reaction to Trump has enabled a spectacular power grab emboldened by an oppressive and willful blindness on the left, disenfranchising the wisest parts of the progressive left for a cheap charade that serves only the interests of money, power, violence, and extraction, not humanity.

Therefore, despite my concern over parts of what has surfaced to support Trump, (and to use Trump for its own ends from the far right) I have a but. And this is a big BUT!

I still see in him the potential of that beautiful version of Trump, the leader who like RFK Jr., MLK, JFK and many others, is willing to put it all on the line to serve the higher interest of the American people.

That's what I want to vote for, always. But rarely do I see a viable candidate with anything approaching that level and depth of character. Most candidates feel flimsy, fake, informed by cowardice and compliance. Its rarer still that I see the impact of such a person on issues I care about.

My hope, and the hope of many is that this time Trump has had the space to step away from the malstrom he was in while in the oval office to reflect on and learn from his mistakes.

This time around he obviously has better people around him. People who've stood in the fire and earned trust. Trump is open to them. Hopefully more will come with time. This time around Trump has faced bullets and his first thought was a concern for other people, of the effect on the world of that moment, and of the catastrophe that could emerge in that roiling crowd. This time around the positive potential is much more than the half-hopeful Meme it was the first time he ran.

Do I think Trump is deeply with it? I'm not so sure, perhaps he's simply open to anyone who wants to work with him... but the forces of corruption are decidedly unwilling, therefore only honest actors are left. Then again, he refused to read Project 2025, outright publicly rejecting it as un-MAGA. Perhaps he has some good taste in him after all.

Its a hard read.

But what does seem clear is the system that exists doesn't serve us, it doesn't serve humanity, it doesn't serve the better angels of our nature. It serves itself and only itself.

What it says and what it does are two very different games. It has had the clear chance many times and utterly failed to enact the effective positive changes it pretends to advocate.

I struggle with this decision still, but I see the possibility of greatness, to turn a phrase, if not the certainty of it, down one path. While I see a fundamental submission to the powers-that-be down the other path. Vote for the puppet, vote for the machine, vote for that which sees you and all others as pointless chattel except to serve its ends.

That is much the way it felt with Clinton in 2016.

I think, in some ways the late, great Norm McDonald summed that moment up best.

"I Think people hated Hillary so bad, they voted for someone they hated even worse, just to piss her off."

I feel the same way about the system at this point. Except I'm not sure I hate Trump. At least, I don't think I hate the version of Trump I hope will get elected this time round.

The deeper question might be this: do you think between the nuclear clock, environmental degradation, AI, social media distraction, the sensemaking crisis, cultural degeneration, systemic propaganda, pollution, the health crisis, soil depletion, the ongoing darkage in science, disoriented education, disenfranchisement of democracy, society wide despair and the unraveling of the post-cold-war global order that we have the: time, energy, capacity, momentum, coordination, resources and a Goliath on his back foot as will be necessary to take a second shot at this?

Put another way, do you trust the CEOs of Blackwater, Halliburton, Nestlé, Pfizer, Blackrock, Monsanto and *Insert Favorite Evil Megacorporation Here* who sat up in those supervillain-esque VIP lairs presiding above the floor of the Democratic National Convention? Do you believe it is true that they simply lack the power, resources, network access, government cooperation and specific leverage necessary to solve the problems they are personally, directly responsible for causing? That they are willing, but unable? That what is truly needed is more power in those hands and suddenly there will be a tipping point where it all comes together, and like Zarathustra from the Mountain they will come down and save the world, to the detriment of all that they exist for and represent?

Because, from my humble perspective, that's the scale and measure of this moment, that is the form and substance of the decisions we are all weighing.

That's the choice, folks. The two difficult choices which we have been forced to choose between.

I don't like it. I would prefer it another way. I can't say, even, that there is a clear or good choice this time around. But, we as a nation have been forced to make a decision. I will make my decision with my damn eyes open as best as I can manage. I can only ask that all of us, each of you, makes a thoughtful best effort to do so as well.

I hope, whatever the outcome, that We the People can find a path to a better world, to the shining city on a hill.