Chariots of Dire

by spinoza | Politics | 1697 Views

A mile is four times around the track. Each lap can be seen as a year, with a full presidental term of office being a mile.

This administration, after four weeks out of the blocks, has covered a bit more than 100 ft. of that mile.  Pace wins races.

So far stiff headwinds, skipping lanes, some doping, and stalking horses doing their thing. Still holding rallies yet not out of the first turn (which seems weird, kind of like stretching after the race has started).

Any early indications or predictions of how this ends? 

Comments | 14

  • Submitted by Lise on February 17, 2017 at 7:04 am

    Removal from office

    I’m not the greatest predictor of unpredictable events, but my gut feeling is that the Establishment and the Democrats and maybe a few Republicans too will find a way to remove Trump from office before he reaches the half mile mark….

  • Submitted by Vidda on February 17, 2017 at 8:07 am

    Flatus

    With this lead horse at the finish line expelling flatus in the faces of the horses coming from behind.

  • Submitted by cgrotke on February 17, 2017 at 8:18 am

    This isn't a very good

    This isn’t a very good question. Where are you from? iBrattleboro? Your ratings aren’t that good. You should do something different.

    ….

    This is actually a very good question, and dovetails with “what do we actually want?”

    Races at this track have been carefully managed (rigged?) until now. Everyone gets dressed up, puts on silly hats, assembles at the proper spots, and follows the grand tradition of a day at the races. Horses owned by millionaires always win.

    The new racetrack no longer utilizes gravity. There’s still a dress code, and people are at the track, but horses are not required to run in any specific direction. They can storm the infield, or go sit in the stands.

    …

    Getting out of metaphor, this administration is really weird to me. To some degree I don’t think they expected to win, and have been caught off guard, compounded by lack of serious preparation. Clinton was likely making plans last August for taking over; I don’t think Trump really gave it much thought until he was elected.

    I see Trump as wanting to do a good job, and wanting to be liked. I think his business background doesn’t translate well to running a country. It’s a bit like the difference between a for-profits and non-profits. A CEO wants to act quickly; a non-profit carefully vets each action in boards and committees. Trump has expressed his frustration that he can’t just do things – that other issues get in the way.

    I think the people around him in the administration have their own agenda, and know how to manipulate Trump to a degree. Also, that he’ll fire them once he realizes he’s been had, but after damage has been done.

    His administration needs him to remain if they are to get their way, and they need to not be fired. Not easy! They will need to find a way for him to feel good and in charge, while others do the work.

    Of course, everyone is out to get him. Intelligence agencies, Democrats, late night comics, media… it seems quite unusual to have this many foes, but he’s done a fair amount to annoy.

    Can our spies bring down a duly-elected President? Probably. Is this a thing we should cheer? Not so sure. What if the agencies dislike my candidate next time?

    What I see as likely as a prolonged battle – those trying to bring him down, and it all making him dig in that much more. And no one is playing by the rules anymore. Trump is already calling intelligence leaks a ruse; Schumer said agencies have ways to take you out.

    So, a prediction: I’ll say he stumbles out of the gate then hits a pace at about 3/4 of lap one. His racist henchmen will continue to distract, but he personally will get behind some jobs program or something, go on some speaking tours, and figure out how his new President Show works.

    He’s watching his own ratings, and will make changes to improve them.

    • Submitted by rootrunner on February 18, 2017 at 6:09 am

      Horses of a different color (mainly orange)

      The crazed pedigree horse is pompously trotting along on display as if a white stallion but drifting from lane to lane cross legged from side stepping with startled footing without any hope of of finding a believable rhythm forward.

      The lead continues stepping on those hooves of experience before that had tried to toe the line and make some solid tracks. The lead will dominate the race now that the starting gate has been opened released with nothing to stop the current path but a checkered flag at the end. Possibly the lead veers off course bucking up to jump the rails taking the Russian Jockey along for the ride equipped a giant polo mallet or over sized gavel chasing down those on foot who work the land and care for the grounds in a new event ringside.

      The lead horse with the orange mane is still a horse of a different color ever changing to stand out from the background depending on what suites it’s fancy for any given situation. Any stability is lost as if spun on a vexing carousal axis pole that has become unscrewed and whose patriotic stripes rotate as if a barber pole warning of blood letting that drains color without bandages warping the rotation and balance of our globe. (Save the Mary Poppins Imagery)

  • Submitted by spinoza on February 17, 2017 at 1:52 pm

    Solo Events

    My hunch is that the whole stretch, the full term, will not be covered. When I think of recent responses to Oroville, Dakota Access Pipeline, ICE actions, fostering fractious relations everywhere, or factoring in either natural disaster, false flag, or genuine attacks…this will very likely be a broken mile.

    I don’t want to see chaos, it just feels too raw for comfort. Will spectators storm the track to block progress, will our runner pull up lame, or get DQed for interference? Who knows? But it just feels to me like something’s going to keep this one from going in the book without an asterisk.

    • Submitted by Vidda on February 17, 2017 at 4:34 pm

      Starter pistol shooting blanks

      To the losers this election is unsettling. It’s different this time because a real loose cannon is pushing the buttons. Every day is a countdown.

      The 2018 midterm elections will be the first test of the Republicans in power (not the Republican President). The primary question is whether the Democrats will regain any of the branches. But if the Republicans do well in 2018 and keep the branches of power in their hands then the finish line belongs to them and these “unpleasant times” will continue.

      On the other hand, an indictment of a president in office (the impeachment process) can only be done by the House of Representatives and sent to the Senate for a 2/3 majority vote for conviction of “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors” committed before or after taking office.

      The Republicans, however, control all the branches of government. Go figure.

      Nevertheless, whether or not Trump was or will be so stupid as to get caught with indictable actions remains to be seen.

      • Submitted by tomaidh on February 18, 2017 at 11:03 am

        Impeachment

        I feel sure that Trump has already committed impeachable offenses which he may not be able to keep from revelation.
        High probability he will be impeached.
        The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate for conviction.
        Highly unlikely he will be convicted.
        Should he be convicted, he will be replaced by Pence, who is a total unknown.
        The repugs will still control both houses, and probably the Court.
        They will do a lot of damage in the next four years, no matter what happens with Trump.

    • Submitted by cgrotke on February 21, 2017 at 9:44 am

      the asterisk

      I do think there will be quite a few footnotes, at the very least.

      I doubt Dems can get rid of him. They haven’t been capitalizing on recent flops as much as they could.

      I doubt the GOP will get rid of him.

      If anyone pushes him out, it is likely the intelligence agencies. Schumer already warned Trump on this. If that happens, what have we left of democracy? Is it okay for unelected hidden spy-folk to make these decisions on our behalf? (Would we applaud them if they took out a President Obama, Clinton or Sanders?)

      If he feels pushed or manipulated, how might Trump react? What happens when FoxNews tells him the deep state is out to get him?

      I hope people work to stop his administration’s bad polices, put forth better alternatives, and build an argument and platform for re-establishing a majority in the near future.

      • Submitted by tomaidh on February 21, 2017 at 10:07 am

        Out of the frying pan…

        Should somehow Trump cease to be President, we are left with Pence and very little is widely known about him.
        After Pence, comes a long array of Republicans, some of whom hold extremist views
        We have to be careful about what we wish for.

        The United States presidential line of succession is the set order of United States federal government officials who may become or act as President of the United States if the incumbent president becomes incapacitated, dies, resigns, or is removed from office (by impeachment and subsequent conviction).
        The line of succession is delineated by the United States Constitution and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947 as subsequently amended to include newly created cabinet offices. The succession follows the order of Vice President, Speaker of the House, President pro tempore of the Senate, and the cabinet, which currently has fifteen members, beginning with the Secretary of State.

        Office — Current office holder
        Vice President Mike Pence (R)
        Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan (R)
        President pro tempore of the Senate Orrin Hatch (R)
        Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (R)
        Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin (R)
        Secretary of Defense James Mattis
        Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R)
        Secretary of the Interior Kevin Haugrud
        Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse (D)
        Secretary of Commerce Kenneth E. Hyatt
        Secretary of Labor Ed Hugler (I)
        Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price (R)
        Secretary of Housing & Urban Development Craig Clemmensen
        Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao (R)
        Secretary of Energy Grace Bochenek
        Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos (R)
        Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin
        Secretary of Homeland Security John F. Kelly

        Cabinet officers are in line according to the chronological order of their department’s creation, or the department of which their department is the successor (the Department of Defense being successor to the Department of War and the Department of Health and Human Services being successor to the Department of Health, Education and Welfare).

        Food for thought: Did you ever dream you’d get up in the morning and miss Bush?

      • Submitted by spinoza on February 21, 2017 at 11:02 am

        unfinished terms..we've been there, done this..

        In this case at least, if the diverse IC’s have stone-hard-evidence, it wouldn’t so much be forcing him out as them doing their jobs. And I’d imagine there are some career staff that have strong notions of their Constitutional mission.

        The succession of office shows how deep down in the turtle poop we really are. One can be outraged, but to be surprised is runaway naiveté.

        As we saw with Milo, there’s a switch-on of mob mind, however shifty the fulcrum of that lever. Once the teeter-totter triggers, stubbornness buckles, haughtiness folds, sycophantic opportunism is somewhat halted…and a new phase is launched.

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