Claw-Back

     The aim of the High is to remain where they are. -- George Orwell

     It is inherent in the nature of things that he who feels what he most values slipping from his grasp will intensify his efforts to retain it. It shouldn’t surprise us, nor does it. That having been said, Americans have expected that in political contests over who shall direct the future of the nation, regardless of the perceived magnitude of the stakes certain boundaries will be observed. So a video clip like the one I embedded in this piece tends to disturb even those who differ with President Trump, whether about substantive matters or notions of personal style. Yet it will not abate.

     The Establishment’s attempt to claw back the power taken from it by Trump’s ascendancy operates mainly through the press. The Legacy Media, which are almost unanimously aligned with the Democrat Party, have been tireless in assailing the president. Stories that would confirm the success of his policies are covered lightly if at all. Any sort of calamity, regardless of its nature or genesis, is tied to him, however fancifully. And as we have seen, opinion-mongers with Legacy Media platforms denounce him in terms and tones seldom directed at a mass murderer.

     And we have a critical election scheduled for the day after tomorrow: an election that will be in large measure a referendum on President Donald Trump.

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     The unbridled slanders and condemnations should disturb both President Trump’s supporters and his opponents. They indict those of us who voted for him of having committed, at minimum, a terrible error in judgment. Several of the president’s high-profile detractors have made that indictment explicit. Apparently, for having elected the candidate they disdained, we’re the Twenty-First Century’s equivalent of Nazis. We deserve to go about in sackcloth and ashes, ritually flagellating ourselves, for the remainder of our lives. Here’s what soi disant “conservative” columnist Jennifer Rubin had to say about one of the president’s employees, Sarah Huckabee Sanders:

     “We’re not going to let these people go through life unscathed. Sarah Huckabee has no right to live a life of no fuss, no muss, after lying to the press – after inciting against the press. These people should be made uncomfortable, and I think that’s a life sentence frankly.”

     What had Sanders done to deserve such a sentence? What? You have to ask? She works for the Trump Administration. She speaks on behalf of the president, and that makes her bad, don’t you see? So according to Jennifer Rubin, she deserves to be sentenced to a life of harassment without parole. And the press has been unanimous, whether openly or covertly, in ratifying Rubin’s proclamation.

     Sanders has maintained her reserve and her aplomb with near-perfect dignity. Only on one occasion has she allowed any of her feelings to show through:

     The catalogue of calumnies and condemnations that Sanders cited in that clip would have enraged a saint to violence. But that doesn’t matter to Jim Acosta. He didn’t get Sanders to kowtow. He didn’t get her to distance herself from her boss. He scored no points for his political masters and enablers. To the Establishment and its lackeys, that’s the only thing that matters.

     Note Acosta’s mealymouthed attempt to distance himself from his trade’s assault on every norm of decency toward an employee of a political opponent:

     “You did not say in the course of those remarks that you just made that the press is not the enemy of the people,” Acosta replied. “Are we to take it from what you just said, we all get put through the wringer, we all get put through the meat grinder in this town and you’re not an exception and I’m sorry that happened to you. I wish that did not happen.”

     “For the sake of this room, for the people in this room, this democracy, this country, all the people around the world are watching what you are saying and the White House for the United States of America, the president of the United States should not refer to us as enemy of the people? His own daughter acknowledges that and all I’m asking is you acknowledge that right here and right now.”

     Sanders replied with a curt dismissal of Acosta’s melodramatic demand: “I’m here to speak on behalf of the president. He’s made his statements clear.” Or in the vernacular of our time, “fuck you and the horse you rode in on.”

     The above are reasons for both anger and hope.

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     While the Trump Administration has known considerable turnover, it appears that it is now populated with persons who are prepared to weather the fusillades of accusation and denunciation the press has poured over their boss. Sarah Sanders is a good example.

     The GOP has taken a lot of heat in recent years for milquetoastedness: the sin of not standing foursquare for its principles and its platform. Republicans have repeatedly sought to mollify their opponents and detractors in the press by qualifying their positions in a fashion displeasing to the Republican base. The late John McCain was particularly notorious for this. Others almost as spineless retain seats on Capitol Hill, though in some cases not for much longer.

     In recent weeks there’s been a dramatic change. Perhaps it was kicked off by Senator Lindsey Graham’s righteous tirade over the pillorying of Brett Kavanaugh with completely unsubstantiated accusations of sexual misconduct. At any rate, Congressional Republicans are doing a lot less mincing lately – and the electorate seems to prefer them that way.

     Tuesday will be the next joust over federal power. The Establishment’s claw-back campaign will receive an important diagnosis then. The Democrats and their press handmaidens have been predicting a “blue wave” that will sweep them back to power. However, recent polls suggest that no such transformation of Congress is likely. How the Democrats, the press, and their street activists will react to having their hopes of such a wave dashed cannot be predicted...but I have an uncanny suspicion that it will be fun to watch. Stay tuned.