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Home Front: Politix
VDH: 'Trumpism, Then, Now‐and in the Future?'
2020-10-26
[American Greatness] Like it or not, Trump hit on a great truth that no country can write off its vast industrial interior, destroy its borders, or prefer managed decline over renewal, and meanwhile call itself moral.

What was, is, and will be the Trump agenda?

Against all odds, what elected Trump in 2016 was a recalibration of American foreign and domestic policy—and the art of politicking itself.

DOCTRINE AND POLICY
In foreign affairs, the United States would no longer adhere to every aspect of the 75-year-old postwar order it created—given the world now bore little resemblance to the world of 1945.

Prior bipartisan foreign policy had often ossified to the point of enhancing the power of our enemies, weakening our complacent friends, and terribly damaging our own power. When Trump entered office, ISIS was proving that it was hardly a "JV" organization. North Korea was recklessly testing missiles and bragging of its nuclear-tipped rockets pointed at our West Coast.

Israel and the moderate Arab regimes were ostracized as part of the insane Obama empowerment of theocratic Iran and its quest for a radical crescent encompassing Syria, Lebanon, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

Russian reset was an utter failure. Unhinged, we were hectoring Vladimir Putin on human rights while agreeing to dismantle missile defense in Europe, if he would just please behave for a bit, and give Obama space during his 2012 reelection bid. The Asian pivot was laughable. Our friendly and hostile trading partners praised the Obama Administration in direct proportion to their manipulation of it.

In the 1950s, it was understandable that the United States would spend blood and treasure abroad to resurrect the destroyed economies after World War II and contain Soviet Communism. Its policy of allowing recovering allies to run up huge trade deficits to reenter the world community was seen both as desirable and affordable, as was putting down Communist insurrections the world over to contain the Soviet Union.

Western Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea became powerhouses, often with wide open, one-sided access to U.S. markets. China would never have achieved its 40-year stunning ascendence had America applied to Chinese trade the same mercantilism that China applied to the United States.

A compendium of VDH articles found at this link.
Posted by:Besoeker

#18  NOW is the time to start hoarding canned goods, etc. We are in the eye of the political/climatic hurricane.
Posted by: Clem   2020-10-26 23:57  

#17  When the next civil war comes, the cities will NOT have the food. Ah farmers.
Posted by: Woodrow   2020-10-26 23:25  

#16  When the next civil war comes, the cities will have power, food, water and other supplies cut. Their highways mined and trucks turned back from delivering supplies. In 8-12 weeks, the war will be over aside from cleaning out the last few hideouts from the now dead mega cities of the Left.

All their 'tech' power dies the moment the power sub stations get shot to hell.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2020-10-26 22:26  

#15  RJ all I meant, multiparty system usually goes with proportional representation (I was going to say "must have", but then I remembered UK).
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-10-26 17:00  

#14  Grom, we have proportional representation in the House of Representatives, that is where it would begin. Currently most states have winner take all in the electoral college but that could be changed easily enough if the idea catches on.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2020-10-26 16:45  

#13  who said anything about 'wishing'? sounds like Zebulon is describing reality, not what he wishes
Posted by: Thriling Squank4439   2020-10-26 14:48  

#12  The country isn't dissolving, and don't be one of the clowns who wishes it was.
Posted by: Rob Crawford   2020-10-26 14:17  

#11   We will gradually split into two cultures that loathe each other and fight each other using endless lawfare.

Zebulon Panda1352, have you read this essay by Benjamin Studebaker? Very insightful in the description portion, but since he is a creature of the academic left, he fails completely at the prescription portion.
Posted by: trailing wife   2020-10-26 13:32  

#10  We will gradually split into two cultures that loathe each other and fight each other using endless lawfare.

For the most part this has already happened. The preventative and the cure are identical: a dramatically smaller and less domestically powerful federal government. If it could do little, few would care much about it.
Posted by: Sninemp Unusoting4866   2020-10-26 12:51  

#9  "television"? What's that?
Posted by: Unaving Clunk1718   2020-10-26 12:38  

#8  ^ So turn off the damn television.
Posted by: Abu Uluque   2020-10-26 12:04  

#7  I think we are seeing the end of the two party system.

We're seeing the end of a unified nation under law. We will gradually split into two cultures that loathe each other and fight each other using endless lawfare. One is anti-Woke and nationalist, and thinks America fundamentally decent and worth preserving; the other is Woke and anti-nationalist, and believes the story of America is merely another, "woke" version of South African-style white supremacy.

The Nationalist group will try to retreat culturally into its own communities and schools, but it will not be able to escape the anti-nationalist Wokers' constant stream of identity-politics lies and nonsense, which dominates American corporate culture. When even the head of Christian fundamentalist family-led corporations such as Chuck-Fil-A must kowtow and "wash the sneakers," however that's done, of BLM extortionists and thugs, the culture battle has been lost. The war may not be over, but resistance to Wokery has scattered and retreated to the hills and the hinterland.

Specifically the Wokers have an iron grip on a power nexus defined as the dominant media platforms, the universities and the administrative state. They have now extended this to a large share of the upper reaches of major American corporations.

This nexus of power will be used to police speech and thought above all. The Woke media are already censoring the news that Americans read and watch as well as what they say on these dominant platforms. The justice system is already being used to selectively enforce the law in ways designed to punish enemies and reward friends.

As with their control of the universities, the anti-nationalist Woke power nexus in its corporate hiring practices and its HR policies is now seeking to achieve the 10:1 or 50:1 ratio that is typically seen in colleges' liberal arts departments. A furious effort to roll back anti-racist, anti-affirmative action protections has begun.

This is a cultural and legal civil war. Largely bloodless -- for now

Posted by: Zebulon Panda1352   2020-10-26 11:13  

#6  I’m happy about that.
Posted by: Cluper and Company4908   2020-10-26 10:18  

#5  I think we are seeing the end of the two party system

No you're not - without proportional representation you're stuck with two-party system
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2020-10-26 10:04  

#4  @Procopius2K

Rinos and Dinos
Posted by: JFM   2020-10-26 09:58  

#3  RINOs and old Donks can rationally form a 'Liberal Party' but where's the fun in that realizing you can't appease the Left without surrendering to them and having to move to your agenda to the right on any compromises with the other party. They prefer scorched earth like the Left they've been sock puppets to for decades.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2020-10-26 09:49  

#2  I don't think Trump will create a new party. The Country Club Republicans are out and will have to find a home elsewhere.

Still, I think we are seeing the end of the two party system.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2020-10-26 09:34  

#1  Should Trump lose this election, which is unlikely, beginning next year he will lead the creation of a new political party which will end phase one of the recalibration.
Posted by: b   2020-10-26 08:09  

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