Political election is all about competition.  It shouldn’t therefore surprise any one of us that what I call “debating tactics” are used on the floor of government to win the cause.  And make no mistake, the cause is winning.  Election represents not only a job but also a pension (if you’re there long enough for entitlement) and privilege (influential acquaintances, spectacular dining rooms on Parliament Hill or Capitol Hill, club membership and generally a cozy state of being). Election instantly puts the winner in a cage from which variation is lethal. This too is manifestly clear as it should be within the context of debate.  You cannot argue against your own side’s interpretation of the resolution, whether government or opposition.

While the appearance of government twists and winds about the house floor, as the resolution before the house is tossed about by either competing side, the business of mollifying the public for the same self-evident purposes continues as an aside. The government, in its indisputable interest to perpetuate its dominance, knows the easiest way to win an argument is to distract interest.  Trump’s latest manifestations of this ploy are acquisition of Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal and the Gaza Strip.

So enthused has Trump become by these latest irrelevant forays – none of which by the way has anything to do with improving  American health care, education, infrastructure or cost of living, much less removing America from devotion to world domination and isolation – that he has unwittingly lapsed into his lifetime vernacular as a real estate developer to the extent of proposing to translate the war torn Gaza Strip into a riviera reminiscent of his failed project for a gaming house entertainment facility in the United States.  The absurdity is further enhanced by the complete disregard for the Palestinians who are being shuffled and herded about as cattle from their homeland. What however persists – and this is where Trump’s innate poison and acquaintance prevails – is distraction. He has succeeded to remove the arguments from substance in the house to drivel on the steps; and, with him he has drawn those who otherwise may have directed arguments more meaningfully upon what matters to the government of the American people.

The only useful corollary from this theme of continuing entertainment is that its plain nonsense has vitalized an increasing majority of Americans.  There is no question that the world view of Americans has vastly diminished since “their” election of Trump.  His patent criminality (or at the very least snapping his fingers at the American legal system), endorsement of insurrectionists, lasciviousness and psychiatric illnesses have caused the world – and a very large portion of the American public – to fall back in alarm and dismay. Disguising ignorance and stupidity by claiming to “Make America Great Again” is nothing but a diversion of the same order.  The masses willingly have acquiesced and voted accordingly (which obviously satisfies the political objective).

If the majority of Americans presume that occupying themselves with the irrelevance of pronouns and bathrooms is meaningful, it then speaks to their intellectual weakness and limitation. As I said at the beginning, it’s all about debating tactics and distraction. Feed them what is palatable though indigestible! If, as I suspect, Trump’s narcissism is so boundless that he imagines posthumous celebrity for having overtaken Greenland, Canada, the Panama Canal and the Gaza Strip, then of course the distractions are comprehensible. Otherwise they represent little more than a television distraction, something to entertain the public, his audience. But there are many other politicians who have had an audience without it being cause for celebration. Apart from the Hollywood aspect of memorability, its substantive value is unremarkable.

I foresee a growing movement from that slim minority of Americans to remove themselves from Trump’s controversial conventionality and entertainment.  The entire Republican party is at risk of replacement by a new right-minded voice. Tradition is one thing; backsliding is another. There are too many immigrants to the United States; there are too many who recall the horrors of the Holocaust; there are too many mature enough to acknowledge the reality of spiritual and sexual diversity; and, in short, there are too many Americans with brains, brains that they will use to win the argument.  And not by distraction.

Let’s face it, if you were among the rich and famous, you would want a government and populace to bend to conformity, to stabilize activity and to permit advancement of your particular financial interests.  Categorical to that success would be to have a candidate (“puppet”) to do one’s bidding.  These so-called back room boys have no interest in public acclamation; they stay in the background and pull the strings.  Small wonder Trump bops up and down from one thesis to another as he attempts to respond to the independent pulls of the  strings. The shame of it all is that the oligarchs have succeeded to create a puppet who not only fulfills their bidding but also entices the majority of Americans like Howdy Doody. For the oligarchs it is a win-win situation and you can bet they haven’t any enticement to modify the performance. Meanwhile the majority of Americans have convinced themselves that these petty irrelevancies are both understandable (which of course they are) and paramount (which of course they are not). It is sad too that the well-being of so many of the Republicans has distanced them from the more acute needs of society.  The princess who recognized the pea under her mattress! A good story but a small compliment; a pretty vase, but an empty one.