Focus

Sometimes fiction gets something so very right that you wish it was real life.  That is the case with a scene from the HBO drama The Newsroom. You have probably seen it posted and re-posted, but I want you to watch it again with a little bit of the lead up, watch as a man is caught in the middle of two arguing idealogues, watch as he tries to flippantly avoid stepping out on the limb of speaking the truth, then listen as he finally voices his frustration (it's an HBO show so it's got some profanity, you have been warned): 

 

Several of the points that fly by in that little rant are worth noting.  First, why do liberals lose? They do you know.  I think we saw that in this past election, as the Obama era encouraged us to "go high" we all sort of expected that there was no way a sideshow like Donald Trump could derail the Clinton machine.  We failed to notice that his populist formula had already stopped the Bush dynasty and the various and sundry other nominees that the GOP had trotted out against him. It was precisely the sort of clueless arrogance that the right uses to convince large voting blocks that they are better off without the mamby-pamby nattering of the elites, even if they are the ones who represent things like health care, labor unions, education, social services and all sorts of things that decidedly benefit the poor and working classes.
I think it's a correlative reality to Lyndon Johnson's observation that, "If you can convince the lowest white man that he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him some one to look down on and he'll empty his pockets for you."  If you can convince enough people that Hillary and the Democrats look down their noses at the "forgotten Americans" they will vote for and support a man who clearly and truly represents the very class of robber barons that used to run the world.
The thing is, I don't know if any of how this has played out was deliberately following a script or a plan.  After all, this is not a fictional story, no matter how much it seems that way, and how much I wish it was. This article considers the possibility that perhaps Steve Bannon and Trump's people have a little more up their sleeve than we might imagine. I'm not one for conspiracy theories, but the brief history of democracy has shown us that the sort of machinations described in that article are, in actual fact, a rather real threat.  Populism has proven to be a gateway to the rise of dictators.  The framers of our Constitution understood this fairly well, and in their landed, elitist mindset they built in checks and balances to prevent the undue accumulation of power in one set of hands.
We allow ourselves to get distracted by Trump's greed: his tax returns (or lack thereof), his refusal to divest of his business interests, the way that everything he does seems to be part and parcel of his deal making.
We allow ourselves to get distracted by emotional issues like abortion, immigration, health care, and any number of other issues that can really raise our blood pressure (on both sides of the argument).
We may be blind to the reality that Trump is really after power, maybe even more power than he has already won.
DJT is a walking, talking, tweeting distraction, and if there's one thing I know from all those years of watching MacGyver, it's that a distraction is really powerful tool.  Also, divide and conquer is a pretty successful strategy.
Right now, we are divided, we are distracted. The rest of the world is terrified of what might happen if an empire as powerful as ours actually comes crumbling down.  Beware of pleas for unity that call for acceptance of tyranny. Beware of dog-whistle issues that are designed to play you like a harp from hell.  Keep your eyes open and remember always that we are at our best when we set our sights on lofty and high-minded goals: like peace, equality, justice and liberty.  Don't give up so easily on those things for selfish reasons or in despair, that is the two pronged attack of the despot and the tyrant: convince people that you're going to save them and convince them that they are doomed if they don't take your help.  Honestly isn't that what you've heard coming from Trump recently?
Don't get distracted, focus, keep your eyes open.