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I am retired from government, law enforcement, politics and all other pointless endeavors. I eat when I am hungry and sleep when I am tired.

Friday, June 2, 2017

TRUMP'S ARMY OF IAGOS


I commented on today's VDARE.COM Radio essay and it went a bit long. So, I'm expanding it a some and posting it here.  She was saying that President Trump is permitting establishment hacks to exclude Trump loyalists from administration jobs.  She suspects that it is the business people, with non-ideological mentalities who are responsible.  To a degree this is true but ......
  
http://www.vdare.com/kirkpatrick/vdare-radio-personnel-is-policy

'From experience I can say that politicians AND businessmen are exactly the same with regard to staffing a new administration. This is because coming to power is a two step process with the election as the first step.  The second and most brutal step is the internal civil war between factions after the election. Think of a Latin-American revolution. First the revolutionaries get together to overthrow the dictator. Then, they kill each other off until the new revolutionary dictator emerges.  Just so, in business the inventor or entrepreneur creates the business. After a while, he/she must give way to the professional managers. In politics that process of fratricide within the administration-in-waiting begins on election night and proceeds in a frenzy thereafter.  Cliques form around people who can claim access to the candidate and the cliques begin to banish the undesirables immediately. It's all about access to the elected official and appointing people who will support the access-holder. That's why the post of Chief of Staff is so important.  As per the radio show, "Personnel is Policy."  The kind of people to be found on the rolodex's of those anxious to control the agenda are not going to be barn burning political visionaries. Visionaries may run for office but they have no home within the bureaucracy.  

Politicians rarely want the people who got them elected to stick around to govern. They will tell you that it's just a matter of different skillsets. To some degree this is also true.  But it is also irritating to have people around who remember your promises and who have seen you stumble. Everybody stumbles at some point during a campaign. Much better to hire someone about whom there is good word of mouth and some sort of resume. That pretty much means GOP hacks.  Trump has little idea what to do. So, he leans on people like Reince Priebus who look like professional mangers to him. He also leans on an inner circle of weak reeds like his son in law. I think we all know this will end in tears but there is no way of stopping him. 

The overarching problem here is that there is little or no patriotic paleoconservative establishment for Trump to draw on for personnel. The Neocons have comprehensively corrupted the GOP bench. The Neo's control the think tanks and have the resumes. Only the creation of a respectable patriotic shadow government filled with persons of stature and experience will solve our problem.  This will never happen until wealthy paleo's start creating and supporting institutions dedicated to keeping the country and their fortunes intact.  I see no evidence of this happening. 

4 comments:

  1. I have to agree with you. It's very disconcerting to see that the King is also the Court Jester. He needs faithful workers to keep the business of government going.

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    1. At least Mad King Ludwig didn't destroy Bavaria. I don't think President Trump will destroy the Republic. He must have some sort of learning curve.

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  2. Are you souring on Trump? I thought you said you wouldn't do that.

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    1. Not sure I said that. Can you point out where? Who can claim unflagging loyalty in perpetuity to any political figure?

      I voted for Trump for two reasons at least, and stated so.

      1st. Hillary was committed to war in Syria and very probably with Russia. This was/is madness. She is a psychopath in my view and a bungling one at that. Not a good combination. Tump is a narcissistic character with little impulse control. Still, that beats the Hilary alternative. Trump was the superior choice due to his success in the real world of business. It's possible to fail upward in politics and even government. Not so in commercial real estate. He can and does make rational decisions where things are art stake.

      2nd. I hoped that he, Bannon and the populist nationalists would collapse the dysfunctional GOP establishment. If the GOP could become an engine of traditional patriotic Americans rather than a plaything of the donor class that would be enough for me. Doesn't look like this is happening but given the chaotic nature of the administration due to Trump's own spastic style anything may yet happen.

      I always thought and said that Trump was a singularly bizarre character. Bad choices make for hard results. Perhaps the GOP has met its end and this will lead to a new, focused party able to put forward reliable leaders?

      Better Trump than Hilary.

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