[ExI] GOV _ TRUMP

[John Clark]

On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 2:50 PM, Dave Sill <sparge at gmail.com> wrote:

​> ​
> Like most thinking Americans, I've been struggling to understand the Trump
> phenomenon. I don't think it's got anything to do with entertainment value:
>

​I strongly disagree. The Apprentice was a entertainment show, millions of
people enjoyed the show and they inferred from that that they'd enjoy a
Trump presidency too. They certainly didn't reach that conclusion through
reason.


> ​> ​
> I think he's tapped into a large pool of frustrated and angry people by
> echoing their concerns and saying he'll fix them.
>

​The gargantuan gap between rich and poor that is growing and accelerating
would make anybody on the poor side of that canyon angry, and it's easy to
see why they'd think setting loos a bull in a china shop would be
entertaining, until they realize the china that is being broken is their
own. Unlike many liberals Trump at least realized that the wealth gap is
the defining political issue of our age, and he managed to sell millions of
bottles of snake oil as a cure for this problem consisting of equal parts
anti-free trade, anti free markets, anti-immigrants, higher military
spending, lower taxes on the rich, and less health care for the poor. Yes
Doctor Trump's patented cure is pure triple distilled extra virgin crap,
but it sold.  However Trump will never be stopped if his opponents pretend
that the wealth gap isn't a problem.

  John K Clark
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