Ramblings of a Philly Fictionista: The United Sates of Donald Trump

In the United States, political campaigns are about as clean and civil as a mud fight.

The political campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as well as the two controlling political parties –the Democrats and the Republicans-sunk to new lows which in this country that’s really saying a lot.

It was no longer a mud fight, but more like an artillery attack.

Instead of putting the focus on policies and how the potential candidate would benefit the country, it became more about a candidates’ family, the infidelity of a spouse, attacking the appearance of women, referring to a candidate as a sexist and a racist, and even the penis size when compared to the size of their hands.

In the end, as we all know, Donald Trump won the battle and on January 20, 2017 he was sworn in as the 45 President of the United States. It has yet to be determined if he will actually win the war.

A lot of people wondered, and are still wondering, how something like this could have happened.

The answer is relatively easy actually.

Donald Trump is a businessman and any person in business knows that’s important to know your target audience. The second thing is to know your product and what is the best way of marketing that product.

Like it or not, Trump knew and excelled at both of these where career ~~criminals~~ politicians couldn’t have cared less because they were confident that all the sheeples (aka American voters) would do what they were told to do or manipulated into doing it as they had in the past.

Trump essentially knew that he had two different types of audience.

The first one was pretty easy to spot because they had been around for awhile and most people have had personal interactions with this particular group at one time or another in their life.

This group is defined and easily spotted due to their outspoken convictions about racism and sexism. They wear these beliefs like some kind of badge of honor.

Most of its members were raised in a culture of hate while a select few decided, at some point in their lives, that everything that has happened to them that was bad was because of women and minorities.

As individuals, they seem to have the belief that women and minorities are beneath them; that they are the superior race.

The second group that Trump targeted seemed to surprise people especially elected officials because this particular pocket of society were the ones that politicians disregarded; the working middle class.

Over the years this group saw their taxes (income, property and sales) increase as their home values either went down or the homes themselves went into foreclosure, their incomes either shrink or become nonexistent where they found themselves working two and three jobs just to barely keep food on the table, the public education system where they were forced to send their kids to was nonfunctioning as well as violent, and finally realizing that they had no voice in the government which was loyally supported by their tax dollars and blind devotion for years.

This blind devotion made them believe that if they rallied against one of the two major political parties in order to get what was needed, that they would be rewarded after election time.

As the United States became more and more a Banana Republic, thanks in part to both parties –Republicans as well as corporate Democrats- the members of this isolated group became submerged in feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness which fueled deep anger and hostility that silently raged within them.

A Banana Republic is a country in which corporate interests take precedence over the interests of the individuals.

It is due to these interests that create an ever-growing income imbalance between the rich and the poor while practically eradicating the middle class.

Taxes are constantly raised to besiege the middle class, who can’t even be considered as a class of people anymore, while taxes for the rich are less due to loop holes in the tax laws that only benefit taxpayers in upper income brackets.

Suddenly, for these downtrodden taxpayers, it seemed like the heavens opened up and lowered them a lifeline. That lifeline’s name was Donald Trump.

And like a true used car salesman, he told them exactly what they wanted to hear convincing them that he truly connected to their plight. They drank it up like an alcoholic who had just fell off the wagon.

Donald Trump, with all his megalomaniacal narcissistic rants, was on to something and whatever that something was, it would get him to the White House. That, in his mind, he would not be President but he would be God Emperor.

In his campaign speeches he started to talk about NAFTA.

NAFTA, North American Free Trade Agreement, was introduced and signed into law by then- President George H. W. Bush in 1994. The agreement was signed by Bush, Canada’s Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexico’s President Carlos Salinas.

The agreement was made to create a trade bloc between the three countries which entitled certain tariff barriers to be eliminated or just reduced.

A tariff is a tax on imported or exported goods.

It wasn’t the actual agreement that was the problem, but the loopholes that were contained within that agreement.

It certainly didn’t take companies long to discover these loopholes. It was almost as if someone in office told the CEO’s where to find them, but that would be paranoid to think something like that, right?

The nation’s automakers were one of the first companies to take advantage of NAFTA.

Companies that produced electronics parts and computers soon followed as did companies that specialized in food production such as Kraft who was bought out by Mondelez International in 2012.

In 2014, representatives from Mondelez announced that they were closing several Kraft/Nabisco production plants and would be moving these operations over to other plants on the East Coast.

On the day they closed the historical plant in Philadelphia, the company announced that all productions would be moving to a factory they just built in Monterey, Mexico for a paltry $600 million.

At the Philadelphia plant as well as other plants in Illinois, California and Maryland people protested and not one politician stood up to fight for these jobs. Not one.

Now the company ships in their ingredients from the United States, makes the product in Mexico and then ships the product back all without paying any tariffs.

While Kraft was still in this country, they made over $1 billion per year in sales. Now that they have employees who make $3 an hour and get no benefits, their profits have undoubtedly increased.

Since NAFTA was put into law, over 682,000 jobs were lost as companies took advantage of the agreement.

Many of the jobs were in small rural towns where the factory or production plant employed almost everyone in that town. The closing of the plants devastated these towns. It devastated families whose only income came from these plants.

This is what Donald Trump doesn’t like, but too often he considers doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons. This is what everyone should be upset about as well besides those who lost their livelihood due to NAFTA.

Despite NAFTA bringing more jobs and money into Mexico, the country or its citizens aren't doing any better as it's still being run by cartels and the lousy hourly wage that these American companies are paying them hasn't slowed down the numbers of people illegally coming across the border nor has it improved their quality of life.

Since his inauguration, Trump has become like a mad scientist, signing one proclamation or bill after another.

The reality as to whether or not he will succeed at any of these is uncertain and is even less likely.

Apparently, politicians are a stickler for details and they don’t necessarily embrace change.

They also don’t like chaotic disorder which is how Donald Trump operates.

The things he wants to do (NAFTA, voter fraud, health care, immigration bans, CIA black sites, Mexico’s wall) aren’t going to happen just because he wants them to.

Trump may be starting to realize (probably not) that running a business where you make all the decisions and running the country where you have to include others in that decision making process are two vastly different things.

Perhaps if he had considered how difficult people in Washington can be and how long they hold grudges while he was campaigning things might go easier for him, but that’s not his way.

Trump likes to make enemies rather than friends.

That’s not to say that some of his orders won’t make it through, but not in the rapid amount of time he believes they should and most likely not exactly how he wants them to be. Trump has to be willing to thoroughly learn about all the complicated ins and outs of every policy before he can decide how to proceed. Once again, not one of his strong suits.

He may also not be as thoroughly invested in all of these orders as he’s making it seem. It’s a good bet that he’s trying to pacify those who voted for him and if he fails, he has someone to blame; to place himself in the role of victim. Something Donald Trump is very good at.

Every day is a new bill to sign or a new outrageously crazy thought that’s aimed at dehumanizing this country.

Since taking office, employees from state agencies are finding that their jobs are not so simple.

At the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), employees have discovered that, per the new administration, the entire agency is under lockdown with reports, grants, permits, findings, studies, and contracts being frozen.

They are also unable to serve the public due to the shutdown of the website and inability to use social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. The last tweets that were made were sent out one day prior to Trump being sworn in.

These staffers are being told that all this is being done in order to update things to the new administration’s policies.

Trump seems determined to control every aspect of American society because perhaps he believes that is what required in order to make America great again; to bring this country back to the way it was in the 40s and 50s; an era where politicians were revered, consequences by the government were feared and where only Caucasian men had rights. Somewhere in Trump’s bat-shit-crazy man cave is a huge picture of J. Edgar Hoover made out of velvet.

Currently, Mr. Trump appears to be freewheeling out of control. He has mocked every protester or anyone who he believes is out to get him who is most likely everyone.

Shortly after being sworn in, he decided to make the area around the White House a police state by having journalists arrested for reporting the truth. Trump mistakenly believes that he can run the country like that.

Trump abhors journalists because there are very few of them who will report only what he wants them to. If he could, he would obliterate the fourth estate and any rights that are afforded to them by the constitution.

On Thursday, January 26, 2016 he made a trip to Philadelphia and was greeted by hundreds of thousands of protesters as well as several members of the fourth estate.

As Trump’s motorcade made it down the streets of Philadelphia towards his destination (City Hall) he must have loved to see all the people lining the streets if it weren’t for many of them sticking their middle fingers up at him while even more of them held up protest signs.

There really isn’t any reasoning behind why Trump would choose to have a GOP (Grand Old Party aka the Republicans) conference in this city. The same city he avoided like the plague when he was campaigning.

Philly is a Democratic city of major proportions. The mayor is one. Out of 17 city council members only three are Republicans.

In Pennsylvania there are over 4 million Democrats and over 776,000 of them live in a city with a population of 1.5 million people.

On the bright side, Trump couldn’t possibly be unhappy that people came out to greet him. As he reached City Hall, thousands of demonstrators swelled around the building.

You couldn’t throw a wet corn flake without hitting a cop. They were everywhere.

To make Trump feel more special, people followed his motorcade from City Hall to his next destination, the Loews Hotel, where his conference was being held just as the walkers followed Rick Grimes and his group in the season 5 episode of The Walking Dead titled, Them.

Donald Trump, probably for the first time since he announced his bid, had no control over his environment. Being who he is, Trump did what he normally does: he spouted lies and falsified facts about Philadelphia.

What he didn’t do is say it to the Democratic politicians who met him in City Hall or to the protesters outside.

It is hard to expect people to respect you if you’re not honest with them.

Despite his lie that crime is increasing in the city, not one protester was arrested and there were no acts of vandalism or theft. The demonstration was a peaceful one and people let their signs do the talking for them.

Hopefully, every city Trump travels to will he be greeted in the same way. Perhaps that may have an effect.

The people in this city wisely did not call it a protest, but a resistance. Resisting something makes a bigger statement as to your objectives than protesting does.

The new president, whether people agree with it or not, is a very good representation as to what this country has become; bitter, angry and compassionless.

So how did this country, which some people once believed was the greatest country in the world, fall so deep down the rabbit hole of hell?

Simply put, Americans took their eye off the ball by trusting that who they voted into office would do what’s best for the country and then leaving alone to do it without keeping their eye on them.

Elected politicians are like children. You can’t leave them up to their own devices.

Once a politician gets into office, they are supposed to work for the citizens of this country. They do not work for the corporations, for their wealthy friends or for themselves.

Even if a politician doesn’t do their job, they still seem to get reelected. Many states also do not have any term limits for their senators, council members, congress people, sheriffs, or commissioners.

Term limits for council members in Philadelphia do not exist even though people want them to. City Councilman Brian O’Neill has been in office for 37 years, Jannie Blackwell for 26 years and current Council President Darrell Clarke for 18.

Cleveland’s Councilman Mike Polensek has been keeping his seat warm for 39 years.

Voters need to be able to decide on term limits, but most elected officials make that decision for them.

Just remember that when you decide not to be proactive towards the very people who are defining your life- you are voting to lose your job, you are voting to have your children barely educated in an environment of violence, you are voting to have your house foreclosed upon and you are voting away your rights.

You are also deciding that the only parties who should be in the White House are Democrats or Republicans.

Another way to change the climate of this country is to become aware of what’s going on in your own backyard. Every city and state has a website with detailed information about what they’re up to (more or less) as does the White House.

People need to stay on their toes about bills that are being discussed and being passed. You need to think about how that’s going to impact you.

Keep a running tally on how a politician votes and remember them at election time.

Stop letting the elected officials goad you into an us versus them mentality. The us versus them that they are referring to are opposite political parties or the political parties and their rich constituents and everyone else.

America shouldn’t be about the politicians or their corporate terrorist friends. It should be about the people; all the people who work and contribute to this country in whatever way they can.

These politicians enjoy watching Americans emotionally, verbally and even physically pummel one another over circumstances that the elected as well as the elite created because that means no one’s watching them.

When Bernie Sanders was running he spoke about a political revolution and that certainly needs to take place.

A political revolution is when the government is replaced or changed.

While protests/resistances are a good start they are only effective for so long.

The American people have to be willing to start have community meetings with each other and blacklist any politician who wants to take part in it unless they’re willing to be a member of the general audience who’s willing to participate as a citizen and not a politician.

These conversations need to be held without people attacking each other and where plans can actually be formulated on how to bring this country back to the people who keep it going.

It’s important for Americans to get involved and take this country back from the people who have stolen it; the politicians and the corporate lobbyists.

Don’t let the elected officials, the so-called pundits on news stations like FOX or CNN, or even the yellow journalists convince you what is best for you or scare you into thinking things are one way or another.