The Neo-Feudal Review just finished an excellent three-part pocket history of the Trump rise and fall between 2015 and now. It's quite good. See parts one, two, and three. This essay is in response, though it isn't meant to be an analysis, or counterfactual, but rather a quick classification. The challenge with Trump is figuring out what he is. His words and deeds, and the discrepancy between them, make this difficult. His enemies have classified him as Hitler, some friends as a messiah. So what is he?
Trump is the Titular Republican Ultimate Managed Penultimate.
A mouthful yes, but no more than Trump deserves as the premier big talker of our time. Let us briefly explore each piece of the acronym.
Titular
How about a game of 4-D Chess? Trump isn't playing 4-D Chess. He's a piece on the chessboard, not the player; he's being played, and so are we. He was the titular head of the executive branch; meaning, he had the title but not the power. This was a point of constant confusion for his followers, who had to figure out how he could have all that power but get so little done. It wasn't Trump's fault; the US President has been titular for some time, we just haven't been able to see it this clearly, because never before has the President's words and his hands been so out of sync.
The President is the brain, the bureaucrats are the hands. He doesn't do things directly, his hands do them. When the brain and the hands are in sync, great things happen. With Trump, the brain and hands were completely out of sync. He'd say, "Here I am building the wall" but his hands would be grabbing his ass. So out of sync, we noticed that perhaps they weren't even the President's hands at all...
Our best way of explaining this schizophrenic herky-jerky and psychotic self-harm was to call it 4-D chess. But again, like most recent Presidents he had very little real power without his bureaucrat’s cooperation. He was not in control, thus he was controlled, and so he was being played, not the player.
Republican
We should all remember that Trump had barely affixed the Republican button to his lapel before he became the representative of the party. He had to become a Republican so he could run as a Republican. A party of such morals and standards, isn't it? The Republican Party leadership hated him, and still does. But he brings in the votes, and that's all that matters. The party platform is irrelevant. The Republican leadership hates its own base, and the base hates them right back. Trump talks as if he hates the Republican leadership also, and so the base votes for him, because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. A party led by people that hate their own constituents, who hate them right back, who vote for a leader because he talks as if he hates his fellow leaders. We shouldn't be shocked when this party accomplishes nothing. They don't believe in what they're doing. In that sense Trump fits right in.
Ultimate
Trump was the very best at what he did. Trump brought a whole new life to the haggard histrionics of American politics. Like Trump, we have no practical power at the Federal level. What we want is irrelevant. As 2020 showed, we barely need to vote anymore. We’re spectators. The two parties shout at each other on various media platforms, then blue-hairs shove ballots by the ream into ballot boxes (Or a certain totally unnamed corporate conglomerate with access to most of the voting machines COMPLETELY RESPECTS THE RULE OF LAW AND DOES NOT USE THEIR UNTRACEABLE POWER), then we breathlessly await the results. It's great. The American election fight is big entertainment. But like pro wrestling, over the years its become less a fight and more entertainment.
It's become the America Show.
Like any show, The America Show needs viewers. They need people engaged enough to watch and Follow and argue and maybe even vote, though how they vote doesn't matter because the options are carefully selected. What's most important is that they choose a side. The Consent of the Governed is crucial to the whole liberal democracy shtick. Despite how totalitarian Their Democracy has become, they still need that ephemeral consent. They need it so that they can repackage it as justification to us for everything they do.
However, the America Show hasn't being doing well these last couple decades. After 2009 and the Tea Party / Occupy movements, the political parties realized people weren't really buying it anymore. The process was getting old - They'd make false promises to us, then shout at each other about who had the best false promises, then guilt us into voting, then wouldn't keep any of the false promises. The show was getting predictable.
More importantly, the Republicans weren't cutting it as the show's villain anymore. The villain had been defeated a few too many times, so they suffered from Villain Decay. A guy like Mitt Romney doesn't induce any pearl-clutching or fear. The Republicans never did anything when they got power, and everyone, Democrats and Republicans alike, knew it. Viewership was down. A fresh new Big Bad was needed, for the sake of both parties. So they needed to amp it up. Crank it to 11. Everything the old show did, this one did it more. In the old iteration, the Big Bad was gonna steal your abortion rights. In this one, he was gonna abort YOU.
Enter Trump.
Trump has dominated the last ten years. He was the professed cause or justification of most political machinations. Everyone said he was the reason for everything. And in our modern age, so seduced by words and so bereft of action, that made him the universal faux First Cause. Any good villain is the first mover of the plot. Luke Skywalker exists because Darth Vader first existed. Had Darth Vader not been evil, Luke wouldn’t have been good. Likewise, Trump became the excuse everyone needed, for everything.
Some villains are so perfect they persist for decades. Like the Undertaker of WWE fame, who showed up as the villain for near twenty years, Trump’s shelf life seems to be unchanged by his exposure. He is the ultimate villain, the anti-hero, and enigmatic outlier all in one. It’s difficult to imagine the America Show without him.
Managed
Every show has a star, and every star has a manager. Trump's words made us think he was his own man, but he was managed like all the rest. The American system of consent is like a Rube Goldberg machine. Remember all the movies that had these? (Chitti-Chitti Bang Bang, Peewee Herman, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, etc) The mad scientist or eccentric inventor always had one. He'd have this convoluted apparatus of gears, beach umbrellas, whisks, and conveyor belts; he’d pull a crank, the machine would whir and whiz, and after a bit, out the other end would come a poached egg for breakfast.1
We have two parties, each organized by state, which are then divided into various districts. All of these have local party representatives, elections, and district chairs. They have primaries, party conventions, and so forth. All of it seems like a deeply republican institution. A system that gets down to the roots of the American society to find the very best representative of the people. It's a complicated system, yes, but a system that works; unfortunately, who it works for is a bit nebulous. In fact, of late it seems as if it only works for them.
Our input could be someone like Ron Paul, but the output would always be a quibbling do-nothing like Romney, Bush, or Reagan (Them’s fightin’ words for some, I know). The Democrat input could be someone like Tulsi Gabbard or RFK Jr., but the output would always be some garden-variety rapist like Clinton or Biden. For years we watched the machine churn out lies and lucre so many times we could perfectly predict the motions. We were no longer captivated. The machine's complexity didn’t convince us of the scientist's genius anymore.
So a whole new TRUMP section was added to the Rube Goldberg machine. It was spectacular. In fact, for a minute there we thought the machine would make some whole new thing. Unlike earlier Republicans, this Republican said F bombs, said stuff like "grab em' by the pussy", and called the news media liars. To their face! Amazing! But after all the extravagant convolutions out drops... A poached egg. Oh, he quibbled wonderfully, with great zeal, and no one did nothing with zest like Trump did, but ultimately, with a Republican Presidency, House, and Senate, we got.... nothing. He seemed to be the representative of populist anger, and in words perhaps he was. But in action? He in no way accomplished what populist's wanted.2
Penultimate
Why was this so? How could a man say so much yet do so little?
We need to remember that there is a third party in this two party system. That third party is the Deep State. Moldbug calls it the Cathedral. John Carter calls it the Regime. Codevilla called it the Ruling Class. All describe a coalition of bureaucrats, non-profits, universities, and media companies that exercise *real* power in the USA. Turns out the President's hands belong to another brain entirely; they belong to a ruling class hive-mind that hates you and I. But they're clever about that hatred. At least until recently, that hatred was never overt. Oh, they wanted you dead, but quietly, slowly and without a lot of fuss.
For this reason our enemy veils all their evil actions with good intentions and goodwill. In fact, they are the hero of the American story. Who got America out of the great depression? FDR and the nascent Deep State, of course! Who defeated the evil terrorists who knocked down three buildings with two planes? Again, the Deep State. Who handled COVID with such wisdom and decisiveness? The Deep State.
And who resisted the Second Coming of Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump? The Deep State. They are the heroes of their own story, and whatever power the hero gains is for the greater good, right? The Democrats are the official party of the Deep State, but Democrats aren’t the only one tool the Deep State has on hand. The Deep State doesn't need Democrats in power to gain power. It's very useful, no doubt; for example, the messianic presidency of Obama was used as a cover for all sorts of new gains. But with Republicans in power the Deep State had, and gained, more power than ever before. Trump as the villain did more for them than Obama ever did as the hero.
In fact, I'd say not since FDR has the Cathedral gained and used more power during a single Presidency. Disagree? During Trump they (Maybe accidentally) deployed an illegal superweapon that killed millions, covered it up, banned effective treatment so mega-pharma could make billions, ruined careers, broke up marriages, closed churches, shuttered unapproved businesses, and now, after their guilt is assumed by all parties, will suffer NO consequences. That's sheer, raw power right there.3
And that's just one example.
The same system that has each time managed to select a presidential tool for the Regime selected Trump, so he could be played as the second fiddle during his entire Presidency. On every side some bureaucrat was running circles around him. For example, Fauci, a Deep State ghoul, was entirely handling the COVID response, not Trump. Trump wasn't the ultimate power, he was the penultimate power; his power as penultimate wasn't even real though, he had titular power; as a Republican, he played his part as the controlled opposition with gusto, losing and doing nothing with more verve than ever seen - The ultimate Republican penultimate.
So there you have it, the Titular Republican Ultimate Managed Penultimate.
In short, Trump can’t be second place, but he can’t win, so he’s settled for being the best, most beautiful loser in history.
Whatever hand the people has, Trump is the Deep State's TRUMP card. He will divide our strength, confuse our counsels, and diffuse our attention. It's highly unlikely voting for Trump will bring meaningful change. That's not to say you shouldn't vote. Vote Hard. If that doesn't do it for you, check out the sequel, Vote Hard 2: Vote Harderer. For dedicated fans, the latest entry in the series is Vote Hard 4: Live Free or Vote Hard; wherein we could actually do something effective to seize power, or we can Vote Hard.
And who knows, something other than a poached egg could come out. Hope springs eternal.
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In Conclusion
A prediction - Trump is going to win this fall. Despite the lawfare. Despite the political imprisonments. He’s going to win. For Republicans, the Rube Goldberg machine has an entirely new "convicted felon" section, complete with laser lights and a 100 decibel, poop-note inducing subwoofer system. You will NOT be able to turn away. This machine will make the biggest, bestest, most winningest promises you've ever seen.
For Democrats, Trump will become the final boss of all bosses. He's gonna have every troon, tranny, and tramp in a FEMA box by the end of fall. He's gonna start WWIII. He's gonna literally clone Hitler. And for the final act, Trump will attempt a real live coup of Their Democracy, which will require extraordinary intervention on their part. For freedom, of course. Sounds alot like the first Trump term, I know, but these guys aren't exactly creative. Like any good sequel, it's the same but bigger.
Or for a twist ending, Trump and the Three Parties could unite to fight the new ultimate villain. Trump has been experiencing his own kind of villain decay, hasn't he? He can't quite get his Hitler up like he used to. But what could be bigger than Trump? The CCP, perhaps? Or the entire country of Russia? Aliens? Domestic enemies? Whoever the new villain will be, you can be sure it'll take a lot of power to take it down…
And then after that? Like any good Shakespearean play, we must reach Act V, in which the action diminishes to a melancholy end. The players are exhausted. The crowd is tired. After all this excitement, it might be good to be done with these elections for awhile. We all might be a bit relieved. Time for one last encore in 2024, and then, perhaps, the curtain call.
What’s your prediction for 2024? Was Trump the player or the played? I’d love to talk about it; shoot me an email. If you have friend or family that might enjoy this essay, please feel free to forward it. If you’re on the app, give it a Like. Your support is everything. Thanks for reading.
The Rube Goldberg machine always made breakfast. Why?
My apologies to the MAGA folks. It breaks my heart, truly, that Trump did so little. We had such high hopes.
The actions of the Deep State under Biden concerning vaccine mandates were merely an extension of those already underway under Trump.