America used to be defined by our brightest hopes, but that's all over. We live in the age of Donald Trump now.
Trump likes to brag we are the greatest nation in the world, but in the next breath he contradicts himself and says that in fact the nation is being stolen from us by globalists, immigrants, terrorists and those fake news people.
So it's the best of times and it's the worst of times at the same time, according to Donald. There's a word for a sales pitch that is this bluntly contradictory: a con. We are being conned. It's a bait and switch. It's one of the oldest advertising pitches that there is.
He sees our greatest hopes and deepest fears as almost one and the same and he gives them right back to us. At the same time. He tells us what we want to hear and what we are terrified to hear, in the same breath. That's some real showmanship. No wonder he's never off our TV screens. No wonder his campaign never ends.
Some people like to go to uplifting movies and some prefer horror films. Trump gives you both on an IMAX screen with Dolby surround sound. He asks you to celebrate then he terrorizes you with dystopian images of collapse and imminent chaos.
There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People, must stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly. That will do much to put out the flame...
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2018
He does this because it works. He does this to manipulate you. He doesn't want you to ever actually see where you are. Instead, he plays you like an Irish fiddle.
I mean ask yourself, in two years what has Donald Trump actually done for you?
The answer, if you're being honest, is little to nothing at all. You didn't get a massive pay raise to beat inflation. You didn't get a cut of the historic tax breaks for billionaires, instead, you'll actually pay for it.
Your subway and commuter trains are still delayed, your freeways and bridges are still collapsing, he didn't build his big border wall (remember that?) and he never will.
That was just a big orange carrot he dangled before you as a trainer does in front of a donkey. Only the big orange carrot is Trump himself. So what does that make you?
Trump understands the life long-festering resentment of the white working class who are his base. He knows they've been sold a bill of goods. They work hard, but their Republican elected officials work harder to strip them of basic health care and employment benefits and social security and any kind of meaningful protection from the next gun massacre.
As you know, earlier today there was a horrific shooting targeting and killing Jewish Americans at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The shooter is in custody, and federal authorities have been dispatched to support state and local police... pic.twitter.com/WqO7GfPyMT
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2018
So where is your cut of this fabled American Dream? Trump knows you exhaust yourself trying to feed your family and keep a roof over your head. He also knows that you really want someone to blame for that unrewarding endless struggle. He wants you to throw your rocks at the people who are trying to help you instead of at him. And guess what, you do!
You voted for him so you already believe that billionaires care about the worse off. You have already persuaded yourself he is going to help little guys like you and restore a little order, right?
But who is Trump really working out for? Well, for Wall Street for one. They're making out like literal bandits. Deregulating the markets at a record rate and giving them historic tax cuts has seen the personal compensation of CEO's soar. Our national debt and our budget deficit are also soaring, however, reminding us that the morning after is still far ahead and that its impact on the little guy will be the hardest because he always is.
But it's time someone showed you how the Trump bait and switch works. It comes in threes. First, he says something outrageous, then says something conservative, then he contradicts both statements. So first he triggers the liberals, then he delights the conservatives, and then he contradicts himself.
The message is always the same: I'm your enemy, I'm your friend, I can change my mind about you in a second. He knows people will only hear what the want to hear.
So choose your own adventure. Ask Ted Cruz about it. He's lying Ted and he's beautiful Ted at the same time, as needed. He's your enemy and he's your friend. People fall for this garbage over and over. They're falling for it still.
But what it really proves, at the end of the day, is that Donald Trump is simply out for himself. His one great consistency is his enduring regard for himself and only himself. He has simply learned how to divide others to prosper himself.
Whilst they squabble over his latest insults and compliments he can make a clean getaway, laughing at another successful con.
Happy voting.
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