Trump vs. Knowledge

Trump like all would be authoritarian rulers likes his subjects ignorant.  An educated populace is much less controllable.

It is a problematic effect of democracy that the vote of the uninformed is counted equivalent to the vote of the knowledgeable.  Actually due to the inequality of the electoral college, places with lower education levels have more voting power than those with higher education. 

The upcoming Scientists' March should finally highlight that ignorance should not be celebrated.  It has always baffled me how  Democrats run some of the most intelligent candidates and still manage to be beaten by the moronic puppets Republicans run. 

I am not working as a scientist, but I love science.  I'm going to be supporting this march in any way I can. 

Is Trump Insane and Why Do People Still Follow Him?

Donald Trump lies, and they are not even very good lies.  He even lies to his own detriment to stroke his ego.  Three to five million illegal voters in the 2016 election.  What proof does he offer?  All I have heard of is a study done in 2012 estimating the number of voters still on the roles after dying or moving. 

Now if what Trump says is true, He has no way of knowing who these illegal voters voted for.  If they mostly voted for him, then he not just lost the popular vote he lost the electoral college vote as well.  Now of course every sane person knows this is just a bunch of bullshit, so does Donald really believe this?  If so he is obviously delusional an therefore not fit to run the country.  It really looks like this is the case and we have a dangerous situation that must be remedied soon.

In other news Trump signed an executive order halting funding for any clinic that even mentions abortion. This of course does absolutely nothing to limit the number of abortions, but it does make abortions much more dangerous for the women who seek them in unsafe places. The way to reduce the amount of abortions is obviously through access to health care, education and birth control.  Healthy, informed and financially sound women have fewer unplanned pregnancies, and they are more likely to be able to care for a child if they do become pregnant. 

Trump also worked to ease the way for the dakota pipeline.  This reprehensible act shows how little regard Trump has for the environment.  He also attempted to place a gag order on any agency working on climate science, although some brave soul at the parks department defied the order and continued to tweet climate information.  Trump's attempt to silence science to advance his capitalist agenda does a disservice to the country and the world.

There is more but I can save that for another post.  Now as the the questions in the title of my post, I lean toward paranoid delusional with sociopathic tendencies, but I'm not a psychologist.  As to why people still follow him, I think they just can't admit they were fooled this bad.  Of course a good amount are asshole racists, and really feel empowered by his election.  Whatever the reason is he will probably have to be removed from office long before four years is up.  Although that would leave us with the religious extremist Pence, and that never does anyone any good, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Speculating About Their Plan

The Trump propaganda machine has jumped off the tracks.  With lies about inauguration attendance that are so obvious even they can't expect more than their most ignorant supporters to believe.  So what is the plan?  Is Trump's goal to crash the country so spectacularly he goes down in history?  Are they giving up any pretence of actually allowing democracy to exist four years from now?

The most likely is an attempt to grab headlines from the record number of people protesting everything he stands for.  His approval ratings have to have nearly bottomed out.  Most of his most fervent supporters chose to be that because of his ability to put on a show.  Like professional wrestling Trump is a spectacle and they really don't assign any more importance than that to it. 

But what does Donald have planned for the future?  He almost certainly plans to cash in on his presidency so he needs to make a big splash.  Also it's a lot easier to be a terrible president than a great one, so screwing things up bad seems like the best path to a big pay day.  Being impeached wouldn't really be a negative to his goals, with constant headlines, and then he gets out of the job without having to do a whole four years. 

Now what are his handlers goals, and who exactly are they?  The Republicans have a history of running a somewhat dimwitted candidate for president, leaving the real power behind the scenes.  Putin got Trump elected, but was it in collusion with Trump, or on behalf of others in American government, or possibly just for Putin's own ends.  Trumps actions seem so illogical at times you wonder if anyone is still holding the reigns, or did he just get set loose to upend the country making it ripe for molding in some new image.

The left can interfere with these plans by continuing the activism that stood out so brilliantly with the Women's Marches.  Headlines must be grabbed, and the conversation must be directed to things that really matter in real peoples lives. 

Womens March

Well we just got home from Lincoln, Nebraska participated in the march and rally.  Haven't heard what the turnout was but it looked bigger than they anticipated. It was great to see so many people ready to battle the fascists threatening our way of life.  Interesting that there was almost no counter protest. I got to hope a lot of the people are rethinking their defence of the indefensible.

A Lot To Say

Well America here we go four years without a legitimately  elected president.  Threats to our liberties will start coming quickly. You can bet the first amendment will be battered just like in the Bush regime.  Advances in providing healthcare to all, education opportunities and protecting the environment will be negated.  People who aren't white Christian males will lose ground.  The oligarchy is pushing its agenda of paying poverty wages to a populace that will have to work until they die, which of course will be before they reach an age where they are no longer able, without healthcare.

Looks pretty bleak doesn't it?  Seeing the fervent protests gives me hope for the future.  People need to stay involved and stay angry.  Remember only a small percentage of Americans support the fascist government we now find ourselves with.  They only took power through the interference of a foreign government. Not even actually receiving the majority of the popular vote.  We only need to convince a small amount of formerly uninvolved people to participate in removing this dangerous element from our government.

Now they would probably want to tell you my views are from some rich liberal elite who doesn't understand the working class but that is not the case.  I work in the agriculture industry, usually 50 or more hours a week, often outside in any weather condition. I also have a small farm raising corn, soybeans and some livestock.  I am right in the middle of Trump's base.

We can survive this attack on our country, but we need to stay involved.