To Whom Will We Flip The Finger After Trump Goes Away?

It's gonna happen: at some point, President Toxic Shiteforbrains will no longer be Chief Executive. Somewhere between leaving with subdued, quiet dignity to reflect and begin work on his memoirs and Presidential Library (0.1% chance), or fleeing on a hijacked Air Force One to Russia to set up a Government-in-Exile, he will have entered into the ash heap of history.

Yep, the Mad King will be gone. It could be in 84 days, Inauguration Day! And then what? How will we fill our time? El Stupido is such a central fixture in our lives that his absence will be a bit jarring, even in a good way.  

Of course, most Americans don't spend much time at all contemplating the state or course of the nation. And a significant portion that do are members of the GOP Zombie Party that is hooked into Fox/State News and Rush Limbaugh Hate Radio. That's a big part of the reason why we are in the pickle we are in. These folk are willing participants in the Trump/GOP death cult experiment. You can't reason with a zombie.

So when The Trump Administration is nothing more than a deeply horrible memory that triggers PTSD for up to 60% of Americans, who will fill the Awfulness Vacuum?

And when The Trump Administration is nothing more than a golden memory for up to 40% of Americans, who will fill the gaping hole of public conversation when Resentment based on Racism, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Bigotry, Willful Ignorance, Delusion and Dunning-Kruger thinking isn't being foisted on us by a President?

For the Trumpanzees, the question of who will manage the Fountain of Alternate Facts is easy to answer: whoever is best able to deliver the Middle Finger towards the majority of Americans. 

It might continue to be Trump. Once out of office, he will need to distract himself from the coming barrage of indictments, fines, penalties, collapsing businesses and a wife filing for a divorce. He'll pull together some investors/suckers and start up his long-rumored Trump Media, complete with a cable channel, radio syndication, podcasts and, of course, non-stop Twitter, all featuring him! No doubt he will continue to broadcast his inimitable brand of BS 24/7, and his base will be there for him. Unless he's sent to prison, in which case it all goes into re-runs.

Speaking of prison, there are other Administration officials who won't be taking up the Mantle of Hate Rhetoric. I expect Jared Kushner will be spending most of his foreseeable time with lawyers, seeking to stay out of prison. His wife will probably end up leaving him and settling with the kids into a comfortable existence in a place like Montenegro, where there is no extradition treaty with the USA. From there, she'll cast a wide net and come up with a Dodi Fayed type of new rich husband to support her lifestyle whims.

For Tweedledum and Tweedledee, well... Don Jr. will be spending his time disengaging from his crazy soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend, and then will vanish from public view for a while. I see a big future in multiple 28-day rehab programs. Maybe he'll come out of it all as a Recovered Addict who goes on the self-help speaking circuit, addressing church groups and recovering QAnon gatherings.

Eric "Gums" Trump can't speak for 10 seconds without saying something ridiculous, so he's a good bet to be the next Voice of the Idiocracy. But he's also the titular head of the Trump Organization. I expect he'll have his hands full over the next several years, staving off one bankruptcy after another while trying to avoid criminal and civil charges. 

Outside of the family, there aren't many figures poised to secure the demagogue's berth. Batshit media figures like Mark Levin and Dinesh D'Souza will benefit when Rush Limbaugh finally passes away to a worse place. The Force of Crazy is strong with these two. On the other hand, they present as extremely unlikable dour scumbags, so there's that. 

Over at Fox, we have the always reliable array of meatheads that will tote whatever aligns with their owner's positions. There will some scrambling for who will hold the scepter of The White Power Hour - Laura? Tucker? Hannity? Why not everyone? This three-headed monster works pretty well right now, so it could just roll on... Unless Sean Hannity is caught up in the investigative web of his pal Trump's criminal investigations. Then it will be a two-headed monster.

From the fetid swamp world of GOP Politics, there are some real contenders. 

It won't be Mitch McConnell, who probably will still be around, but won't be selected by his Republican Senator peers to lead them as Senate MINORITY leader. 

The new leader of the GOP will spring forth from the batch of 2024 Presidential Hopefuls. Some will stumble early and possibly be indicted (Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell). Some will be perceived as not having enough projectable strength for a Macho party (Senators Marco Rubio, Ben Sasse and Rick Scott). Some will not be white enough (Senator Tim Scott). You'll even see Mitt Romney try to position himself, but he's too smarmy, is perceived as a loser, and doesn't enunciate Hate strongly enough. 

But from this crop of hopefuls, there emerge a few real gems. Former governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. And South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. Any of these folk are capable of flinging a hefty bag of bile at a convenient target. And some are pretty good at framing their hate, evangelical fervor, and displays of willful ignorance in somewhat diplomatic language. They are all well-versed at presenting themselves for friendly media coverage.

That their ideology and partisanship are endemic causes of the disaster we are in will keep them in good stead with the 38%-ers. So until we get closer to 2024 and a front-runner emerges, expect a lot of media coverage on all of this cruddy crew.

Yes, there will be plenty of competitors ready to take over the Trumpian helm once he's gone. His followers will seek out a proper substitute. But he's a Sui Generis, a one-of-a-kind. When he's out, no one will be able to replace him for what he does with his base. 

Instead, we'll see a fall-back while the voices of this contending class struggle to be heard above the rest. It will take a while for a single person to personify and manage the rank vitriol that animates Trump's base. Until then, we will witness the ongoing "try-outs" and get to flip our own middle fingers at them all while Biden and a Democratic Congress attempt to fix the enormous damage done over these last four years.

It won't be easy. But over time we'll get the country on a better course. And as the GOP continues to slide into irrelevance over the next ten years, the ideals of Progressivism will become the accepted and celebrated core values of our country. It's gonna happen.

Where Will The Hard Core MAGA Go?

 

November 4, 2020. Or December 15, 2020. Or January 21, 2021. The days after Election Day, or the Electoral College vote, or Inauguration Day. One of these dates will reveal who will lead the country for the next four years. 

Much has been said about Never Trumpers packing up and leaving the country if President Hot Mess is the victor. This would be very difficult. Most of the countries in the world are not accepting any U.S. citizens from entering for any reason because of our amazing, miraculous response to COVID-19. The ones that do accept Americans have significant caveats, including quarantines and advance testing proof. 

It's tough enough today to travel internationally as a tourist. To emigrate to another country is like leaping through a series of flaming hoops while being attacked by ravenous tigers and landing in a pit of quicksand. But if The Orange One wins, there would be those who'd be up for such a gauntlet.

But what happens if Biden wins? How will the hard-core Trumpanzees react? Will they be drawing up their own travel escape plans? Or simply use their vast stocks of guns and ammo to make their unhappiness well known? Exercise some Second Amendment solutions? Perhaps kidnap a few Democratic governors? 

Well, let's imagine where MAGA refugees might wish to flee from a USA governed by Democrats. Wherever could such a place be? Not just any old place! It would need to align with certain strong MAGA values. Not somewhere effete like Canada or France, for cry-yi. 

No, it would have to be somewhere that has no abortion rights. No public healthcare insurance either, uh-uh. A big Negatory to wearing anti-COVID masks. A solid Nope to regulations on Business. No Sir to Environmental Regulations. Noppity-noppity to Immigration seekers like themselves. 

Major Nuh-Uh to "Socialistic" government programs. Forget about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Federal agencies like Federal Housing Administration, Food and Drug Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Trade Administration, Occupational Health and Safety Administration, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Environmental Protection Agency, (so many to list), public works programs/infrastructure improvement, subsidies to businesses and farmers, unemployment insurance, these products of "Socialism" go on and on... And, naturally, No No NO to taxes (which is theft!).

Yep, the smaller the government, the better. As anti-tax heart-throb Grover Norquist once famously said, reduce government to the size where it can be fit into a bathtub, and then drown it.

Is all this too negative? OK, how about a resounding "yes" to EZ access to guns? Yes to tearing down the wall between Church and State. Affirmative to providing support to private and religious schools. Yepperoo to allowing Politically Incorrect Hate Speech terms back into the common vernacular.

And a Great Big Yes to having a gargantuan military that doesn't back down to anyone! Yes Sir!!

OK, that's enough of a MAGA wish-list to search the database of nations and create a reasonable array of potential destinations for far-right refugees. Let's see here...

No Abortion: A select few nations are represented here - El Salvador, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Malta and Vatican City. There are plenty of countries that don't allow abortions on demand, but nearly all allow abortions for cases like "saving the life or health of the mother," "rape or incest," or "fetal impairment."

No Public Healthcare: Aside from the good ol' USA, countries that lack any sort of universal public or private health care system are Bangladesh, Burundi, the Congo, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Nigeria, Paraguay, United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Uganda and Yemen. You know, "shithole countries."

No COVID masks: Most developed countries require or strongly urge wearing masks. One exception is Sweden, which had a real problem with COVID earlier in the summer. But they've stayed steadfast with their No Mask attitude while stabilizing their number of cases and deaths. It's because they've introduced massive amounts of testing! So MAGA folk can circle Sweden as a possible exit site, if they can get past the Cradle to Grave social policies in that hellhole there.

No Business Regulations: Maybe the best way to look at this is to list the World Bank's 2015 Top Ten Nations for Business Friendly Regulations - Singapore, New Zealand, Denmark, South Korea, Hong Kong, United Kingdom, UNITED STATES, Sweden, Norway, Finland. Maybe things aren't so bad in the USA?

No Environmental Regulations: Currently, the US is #7 for countries doing the most to protect the environment. Well, that won't do. So how about the bottom-seekers? Environmental regulations are a luxury for desperately poor nations like Guinea-Bissau, Uganda, Rwanda, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Djibouti, Eritrea, Lesotho, Haiti and Burundi. They'll roll out the red carpet for MAGA folk, I'm sure.

No Immigrants: It's a problem when you're seeking to enter and live in a country that doesn't welcome immigrants. Here are the Top Ten Nations that are Immigrant Unfriendly: Croatia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Israel (!!), Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, Montenegro and Macedonia. Huh. Heavy on the Balkans and former Soviet-controlled states.

No Taxes: MAGA-heads have some no/low tax interesting choices here for their Top Ten Destinations - United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara, Bermuda, Somalia, Bahamas, Monaco, Andorra, Belize, Brunei, Cayman Islands. Set up on a hot fancy beach with your oil or crime money, or live in a failed state.

Yes Guns: Understanding that to leave the US means leaving the Easiest Place On Earth To Get A Gun, here are the other runner-up nations for MAGAs: Honduras, Finland, Serbia, Sweden, Canada, Norway, Panama, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Of course, illegal guns are awash in plenty of poor and failed states. But these are the nations with the easiest gun ownership laws on the books.

No Church and State Separation: OK, this is problematic for our MAGA buddies. The countries that have no such separation may not make it to the top of their go-to list. That's because such nations are predominantly Muslim. There are three nations that have a Christian requirement for its leader - Andorra, Lebanon and Vatican City.

Mammoth Military: It kinda goes without saying that a country needs deep tax pockets to finance a large military. If a migrating MAGA seeks the security of a big army, concessions will need to be made. Most of the top militaries belong to nations with "socialistic" governance, such as China, India, Russia, France, Germany and other developed countries.

So what does all this tell us? When the GOP loses the Presidency and Congress, its fanatics won't be going anywhere, even if they could. They will be staying right here, working to create a campaign of governmental intransigence designed to bog down any progress sought by the Biden Administration. 

They will fight the Democrats with their media weapons. They will fight with their parliamentary maneuvers. They will fight them in the courts. They will fight them on the beaches, they will fight them in the fields, they will fight them on the streets. They will never surrender.

But they will still lose and become, by their appalling amoral behavior, a permanent minority party in search of lost power and meaning. Our children are witnesses to what is happening and will not allow this debacle to ever happen again. So it is written.