The Greek word
"chaos" means "yawning" or "gap.” Chaos was
also a place, far away, underground and "gloomy.” For the Roman poet, Ovid, Chaos was an ‘unformed
mass,’ where all the elements were jumbled up together in a "shapeless heap."
“Synonyms
include: disorder, disarray,
disorganization, confusion, mayhem, bedlam, pandemonium, havoc, turmoil,
tumult, upheaval, maelstrom, muddle, mess, shambles, anarchy, lawlessness,
train wreck and “all hell broken loose…”
To be fair, it may not be as bad as all that
yet in the Trump administration, but give it some time! It’s all going to happen. And just why do I say that? Because Trump strives on it – he creates
it. He wallows in it. He uses chaos like he uses everything else –
to advance his opportunities for more profit; more wealth. Remember that time way back before the
campaign when he referred to chaos in the housing market as a good thing for
him?
“Two years
before the housing market collapsed in 2008 and millions of Americans lost
their homes, Donald Trump said he was hoping for a crash.
"I sort
of hope that happens because then people like me would go in and buy,"
Trump said in a 2006 audiobook from Trump University, answering a question
about "gloomy predictions that the real estate market is heading for a
spectacular crash."
Trump, who
has staked his candidacy on his wealth and business acumen, has also been
unabashed about prioritizing his business interests above all else -- even when
it has involved helping politicians with policy positions antithetical to his
own.”
Well, guess
what? I wrote a piece about Trump and
Chaos back on 6/1/2016, and want to re-present some of what I said then to what
is going on now.
“The common belief is that people with a business
background are apt to be effective managers in governments. However, it is my contention that business
men or women are at a disadvantage in government. They are used to operating a business by
Executive order, expecting underlings to carry out their every wish. If managers or workers don’t perform their
duties as ordered, they can be fired. In
business, that usually works without a problem (given the facts of lower union
membership and loss of collective bargaining rights in some states). In a government - especially federal
government – firing anybody is not an easy process.
More important, perhaps, is the tendency of departments,
offices, commissions, agencies of all kinds to have their own loyalties, their
own rules, their own norms and standards, and their own milieu. Often there is a perceived need to ‘protect’
or ‘enhance’ their unit, which leads to resistance and delay in implementing
orders from POTUS. It is the nature of
the beast and is not necessarily confined to public agencies. A business background (rather than experience
with politics) can often be a disadvantage in such a situation that is loaded
with political and other-than-business-like operational issues, like having to
represent others fairly. “
Comment: Rather
interesting that certain members of the Intelligence community, of the National
Forest Service, of the EPA, of other departments of the Trump administration (like the interim Attorney General’s Office), and even some Republicans, mainly
in the Senate, have begun to show some of this attitude toward Trump. It is likely to increase.
“Of course, there is that labor union thing that the
Donald does not take to with great enjoyment.
He doesn’t like bargaining with underlings. Unfortunately for the Donald (and other big
businessmen who have worked in the White House or in the federal bureaucracy)
powerful unions exist, in addition to Civil Service rules and laws which also
lay down a good number of job protections for all to obey. One large union is the National Federation of Federal
Employees considered "a key player in backing collective bargaining and
appeal rights of [federal] employees." As of 2007, NFFE represented about
100,000 federal workers (Wikipedia). But other unions exist on the federal
level meaning that different unions represent workers in different
departments. The American Federation of
Government, the International Association of Machinists, the National Treasury Employees Union and the National Association of Government
Employees (a division of the Service Employees International Union)
also represent federal employees.
Trump’s modus operandi is related to his particular
business background. In some circles, it
would be described as a ‘cutthroat’ approach, where allies are used and enemies
are abused and often obliterated. In
real estate and development, it is important to operate in such a manner – to
rise to the top of the heap – because the one who grabs power gets the deals,
controls circumstances and produces profit.
The latter operating principles are not necessarily the most helpful in
the implementation of non-profit programs, policies and guidelines. Nor are they helpful in terms of
relationships to other countries and peoples – often described as ‘diplomacy’
which for a developer, is useful only so long as the person being ‘wooed’ is
not aware of the sham and is not resistant to ‘charm.’ Otherwise, they are written off as
undesirables and are abandoned by the wayside.
Trump’s background in the real estate business, and his
political campaign so far, provide us with clues as to what it will be like to
have him in the Oval Office. Moreover,
the experience of him so far provides clues as to what he will be doing (or NOT
doing) for YOU, the voter-citizen.
Trump says that CHAOS will happen
under a Clinton administration, but that is a stretch when Clinton has political
savvy, legislative experience, diplomacy and executive functioning in her
background while Trump has only the dictatorial model of business
administration in his. Where will that
chaos show itself under Trump?
1) Conflict with… Democrats
in the Senate. Trump will alienate and
abuse this group if they don’t act as he directs. If any moderate non-Trump-supporter
Republicans remain in the Senate, they may give him some trouble as well. If the Speaker of the House remains a
non-supporter of Trump, expect some delay on most Trump proposals in that
House.
RESULTS for YOU: continued deadlock and delay in any major legislation that
affects your life, among these items: minimum wage, public transportation,
infrastructure, public education, healthcare coverage including Medicare &
Medicaid.
All of this is going to catch up with your daily life,
and you will have losses and increased costs that you did not expect, mostly
resulting from inattention to your needs.
However, there will be some actions and changes that become law, and
thus make it into your supposedly isolated life.
One example: Trump wants all states
to be able to pass gun carry laws that apply to all public places. How safe will your children be in school once
the Donald signs legislation for a countrywide carry bill? Whether teachers carry or children carry or
both, your children will be in danger of being shot in their classrooms and
school environs.
Example #2: watch out for Trump
trying to please Evangelicals by signing legislation that allows religious
objections to health care provisions – birth control specifically – you won’t
be covered in many cases. Or, if you are
a member of the LGBT community, watch out for new laws that allow discrimination
against you by using religious exemptions. That ploy could become rather
routine, so watch out for religion becoming a pawn in the attempt to
curb certain actions that are now legal (like abortion) but won’t last for
longer than 50 days in a new Trump administration.
Example 3: Do you like the stability of Social Security, Medicare and
Medicaid? Well forget it. No matter what you have heard, none of these
systems is in serious funding trouble now, but the chaotic approach of Republicans will reduce
each of them to a state of total vulnerability by means of SS personal
accounts, Medicare vouchers and contraction of benefits when Medicaid is
administered by states that can’t afford current administrative support
levels. Add to that the repeal of Obamacare
and you are in the worst bind ever in terms of healthcare coverage. You won’t be able to afford anything but the
very basic coverage replete with co-pays, limits to overall coverage, no
coverage for your young adult children, and lots of minimums and maximums that
will have you in limbo financially before you know it.”
Comment: We
still have not heard anything about replacement parts for “Obamacare.” And it doesn’t matter to Republicans because
they have enough Chaos with which to deal right in their own districts where
they are getting ‘heat’ at local public meetings because of Trump Executive
Orders that already point the way to complete Chaos in healthcare,
immigration, and conflict of interests that serve only to affect negatively our
national security and our finances.
2) “Trump for
President means even more Chaos in our lives. How
about war? Don’t care much for it?
But those in the appropriate age group will for certain end up in the Middle
East or Asia and Africa fighting people that Donald Trump decides need a lesson
in American greatness and might. Given
what he has said already about Muslims, eliminating radical Islamist groups,
threatening to use atomic weapons, and standing up to China and Iran and Syria
and the Caliphate, we will be at war within a year of Trump assuming control.
Many will not only be asked to volunteer to risk their young lives, but I
believe a draft will be restored to show that America means business because it
is so great. Then recall that war
spreads its chaos at home as well as overseas. Prices rise, shortages occur, families lose
members, over-spending becomes a necessity and as a nation we become more
vulnerable to the hate and disgust of other nations. Given the belligerent attitude of Donald
Trump, the chaos of War is inevitable.”
Comment: What has happened so far is not encouraging. A botched
raid in Libya has brought taunts and jibes from the Al Qaeda leader who was targeted,
but absent, from that raid. Such sarcastic
barbs aimed at this narcissist president do not make for peaceable relations. Iran has been put “on notice” for what we
don’t know. Netanyahu has been given at
least a greenish-yellow light to proceed to build more settlements in Gaza and
the two-state solution toward peace in the Middle East seems to be in jeopardy
sooner than later. And now, we have a notice sent to our NATO allies that their
payments better increase or that whole enterprise could be in jeopardy. Need I mention the rotten phone call between
Trump and our very close ally, Australia?
Chaos in
international relations like this has always been a precursor of WAR.
3) “Another inevitable proposition: Donald Trump, if elected
President, will savor the moment(s) he gets to nominate a Supreme Court
Justice! He has already indicated that he will be looking for someone
opposed to abortion, in favor of protecting our borders, and pro-business. Need we say more? His first appointment will restore the
conservative majority on the Court and from that base will emanate the chaos of decision
after decision that will undo civil rights, long-term voter and consumer
protections, equal justice for rich and poor alike, and the separation between
church and state. Trump’s first
appointment would come right after his inauguration (assuming that President
Obama’s nomination is never considered), and then we would experience a series
of decisions unseen in the history of the Court.
4) Let us be sure to mention the chaos that will be created when this man of the Big Deal
makes decisions based first on what he considers convenient, next on what is
provocative, and finally on what is powerful.
In other words, Trump changes his mind on policy, principles and
actions based on what is right for his image and status at the moment. He can change from pro-life back again to
pro-choice, back again to pro-life; or from punishing mothers who have
abortions to punishing only doctors who perform them, back to punishing mothers
again. And, just to remind you one more
time -- one more chaotic action based on a false premise of religious freedom:
Abortion will be made illegal, and many people will suffer because of that, not
just doctors.
5) But finally, let us not forget the CHAOS that inevitably results from the misuse of power
by those who hold government offices, especially the Presidency. Recall, if you will, the enormous chaos
caused by Nixon’s use of staff, his Attorney General, White House lawyers, his
Watergate “plumbers,” surveillance by government agents, and the accusations of
use of the FBI to embarrass and perhaps charge enemies with crimes. Nixon misused the powers of his office to
protect himself and to damage his enemies.
This is what we shall face if a pathological liar, a narcissist, a man who
prefers to obliterate and destroy enemies, and a media-hater who favors muzzling
of the press when they seek accountability from him. If Trump gets elected this year, look out for
the all-encompassing CHAOS just waiting to
devour us.”
Comment: Yes, he was elected, and Yes,
we are being devoured by Chaos. But,
alongside that chaos is something some call disorder, and which some call
reform or re-order. The Resistance
Movement in our largest cities and all over this country is active, is
enervative, and is bringing people out to get involved, bringing forth their
grievances as guaranteed by the Constitution.
This is real democracy in action: voters
expressing their displeasure with the dismantling, the destruction, the
disorder, the utter baseness and callousness of a lack of caring for our People,
and the utter havoc and turmoil being created for society by the “swamp”
characters appointed by Trump and approved by a cowardly and uncaring
Republican majority in the Congress.
These men and women are ill-prepared, ill-suited and ill-usionary in
their quest to destroy and abandon values that have been at the core of this
government for centuries. They have
abandoned the will of the People and favored ideology over the welfare of the
People. They have abandoned integrity
and fairness; dignity and veracity for a systematic attack on much that is
fundamental and foundational in our form of government.
The authoritarian aspect of Trump’s behavior is
reason enough to resist his every move lest we end up with a right-wing dictatorship
bent on domination instead of good will, liberty and justice for all. We must resist Executive orders and actions
that do not conform to our values or our laws; we must resist policies that
discriminate, that punish, that coerce people because they are a certain class
or category. We must oppose the
destruction of programs that benefit those in poverty or in special
circumstances just because someone says it makes people “dependent.”
If that concept holds for all, we must remove
every government support for the rich.
Raise their taxes, and put them in jail when they disobey any law. We must remove every privilege that they take
from the rest of us – like free medical care for Congress in army or navy
hospitals; like tax breaks and tax loopholes that they only can access out of
our paid tax money, but we can’t do the same; like being exempt from certain
laws; like not having to pay Medicare taxes or Social Security tax beyond a
certain level; like being able to buy votes by hefty contributions to
individual candidates and special PACs – bribery made legal by the SCOTUS.
It is past time to rid ourselves of the real Chaos –
special privilege, inside information, control of elections, inaction on the
People’s need for jobs and health care, and lower taxes, infrastructure repair,
but more importantly our need for jobs that benefit society not the wealthy,
schools that train and educate all for citizenship, not just the privileged and
the successful for more greed more privilege and more exploitive success.
We must act to reform, revolutionize, and make
relevant the structures of government, so that they can be the channels of
equal support, equal pay, equal schooling, equal justice, equal opportunity,
equal rights with equal consequences for wrong-doing. Government is not the problem. Ideology-first
politicians and bought representatives of special interests are the
problem. Non-voters are the
problem. Lack of an adequate education
is the problem. Uninvolved citizens are
the problem. And, finally, the CHAOS of this administration is a problem of
deadly significance.
Chaos is not an
effective strategy or operational paradigm.
Chaos costs money, chaos affects lives adversely and chaos takes stability and tears it to shreds.
WE MUST SPREAD the WORD: It will not be to our
benefit or honor, as a just and generous People who constitute and revere this
freedom-loving Nation, to have it ravaged by the likes of one man placed in an
office for which he is eminently unqualified.
Remind everyone you know that "Power tends to corrupt, and
absolute power corrupts (men like Trump) absolutely" (with
apologies to Lord Acton).”
