Readers: this blog is set in the future (sometime after the year 2020). Each entry assumes there has been a 5th revolution in the US — the Revenge Revolution. More about the Revenge Revolution and author, Entry #1. List and general description of entries to date.
Note: most entries are formatted as conversations. Characters appear in a number of entries, with many entries building on previous conversations. Profile of characters (see link at top of page). You’ll catch on quickly. Thanks for your time and interest…and comments.
Scene: Jordan’s office in Washington, DC. Conversation begins Entry #279
Board Member: “Mr. Trump, during the break did you think about your managers’ concerns? What about their concerns was so unreasonable that you allowed the company to effectively shut down?”
Trump: “You guys seem to exaggerate everything. The company only closed for a few days. You know, like a long holiday weekend. What’s your problem?”
Board Member: “Have the concerns of the managers been addressed properly? Or is the company going to limp along from one shut-down crisis to another?”
Trump: “You keep pointing the finger at me. I haven’t done anything.”
Board Member: “That’s the point…you haven’t done anything meaningful. Might the Board remind you yet again, the CEO is in charge…”
Trump: “…But I want…”
Board Member: “…Excuse me but I wasn’t finished speaking. Let’s see if you understand this. ‘Little Donnie, quit whining like a brat, and be quiet until the adults in the room tell you it’s ok to speak. Understand?’”
Trump: “I feel like I’m in grammar school again.”
Board Member: “The Board thinks you act as if you’re in grammar school. As I was about to say, are you familiar with the sign President Truman kept on his desk?”
Trump: “You mean ‘The Buck Stops Here’ sign?”
Board Member: “Well, well, he does know some history. Yes, that’s the sign. And since you’re CEO, the buck stops where in this company?”
Trump: “With me…I guess. Is that what you want me to say?”
Board Member: “Brilliant analysis on your part. You’re a genius.”
Trump: “Glad you think so. I know a lot of other people think I’m a genius. Now tell me where this conversation is headed.”
Board Member: “Another insightful question from the genius. What the Board wants to know is your plan to take the company forward.”
Trump: “But I told you before about the plan to make the company great again. Step #1 is to change the compensation structure. The 1.0% management team needs more money. The peons who work for the company don’t really deserve any more money but we can throw them a few crumbs for a while…then gradually take it back. They’re too stupid to understand what’s really going on. Step #2 is…”
Board Member: “Hold on, Mr. Trump. How will the company pay for all the extra money you’re going to give to the 1.0% management team? And how much extra cash are you planning to take home?”
Trump: “Don’t worry about my compensation. I deserve every penny. In fact, I deserve much more. To pay for the well-deserved extra compensation for the 1.0% team, the company is going to borrow the money.”
Board Member: “Really? Borrow all that money? Who will lend the company that much money?”
Trump: “You forget, I’m the world’s best negotiator. I’ll get my friends at Deutsche Bank to lend the money. They’ve laundered money for me…I mean lent money to me before.”
Board Member: “But what about their connections to shady Russian oligarchs, let alone Putin? Associating with the Russians will compromise the company.”
Trump: “You keep worrying about the wrong things. The Russians are here to help. Besides all the extra money paid to the 1.0% group will allow the 1.0%er’s to spend even more on luxury goods, yachts, country clubs…you know stuff that really matters. And eventually, some of that money will find its way to those people…you know, the workers. At that point the company will sell more product and we will pay back the loan. See a perfect plan…pure genius.”
Board Member: “The approach sounds like trickle-down economics.”
Trump: “Same concept. Did you know that Arthur Laffer and Ronald Reagan stole the idea of trickle-down economics from me? Aren’t I a genius?”
Board Member: “Mr. Trump, the trickle-down approach, which president George H.W. Bush called voodoo economics, has never worked. He was right. Trickle down has never worked in the US or anyplace in the world. The trickle-down approach slows economic growth, not accelerate it. You know that don’t you?”
Trump: “Fake news. I know it works. Trust me.”
Board Member: “And what if it doesn’t work?”
Trump: “We’ll cut the worker bees’ compensation. We can reduce their medical benefits and cut their retirement benefits. Those peons aren’t entitled to those benefits anyway.”
Board Member: “You realize, of course, the workers contributed to their medical plan and their retirement plan. And they’ve done so for a long time. Your plan will basically screw them.”
Trump: “Not my problem. They didn’t contribute enough. I deserve the money and they don’t.”
Board Member: “Workers contributed what the company asked them to contribute. You set the amount that was to be withheld from their paycheck.”
Trump: “I don’t care. They should have paid more.”
Board Member: “So you want to harm the workers for your inept management of the medical and retirement programs?”
Trump: “Don’t blame me. You need to blame the guys that came before me.”
Board Member: “One more time. What did the sign on President Truman’s desk say?”
Trump: “’The Buck Stops here.’”
Board Member: “So, let’s talk in more detail about your performance this past year and how you’re going to lead the 
company going forward.”
Trump: “Why is the Board questioning me? Seems like a witch hunt. The biggest one in history. You want to find something wrong so you can get me out of office. I haven’t done anything wrong. Trust me. I’ve accomplished more than any CEO of this company…ever.”
(Continued)
Gelly: “Jordan, I was cleaning out some files. Found an article you wrote at the end of Trump’s first year in office.”
one could have done it better. Now let’s adjourn and play some golf.”
Trump: “Why? I told you my performance was fantastic. Let’s go play golf.”
Board Member: “Just to be clear, the majority of the Board did not support you to be CEO. Only because we have an odd way of counting votes that were you elected.”
Trump: “There’s so many I don’t know where to begin. No other CEO has ever accomplished so much in such little time.”
: “The only thing I need to be more effective is total loyalty from everyone in the organization.”
Trump: “Experience running large companies doesn’t matter. I don’t need to know…in fact, I pride myself not knowing about lots of things you consider important. Remember, I’m a genius. Why waste my time learning anything new? I’d rather watch TV and play golf. What’s knowledge worth anyway? I go with my gut…and I’m always right.”
Trump: “In my way of thinking, all deals are zero-sum games. And I have to win. The other party in the deal needs to cave in to my demands.”
Matt: “While getting a coffee refill, I was thinking about what you just said.”
Jordan: “Keep in mind the time frame. I didn’t compare Trump’s first year to Hitler’s entire time as Chancellor. Just one year to one year.”
popular with his base, which made up about 25% of the population. While his overall approval rating was somewhat higher, his rating was lousy by historical standards for presidents after their first year. And as time went on his approval rating kept dropping…and the disapproval rating kept increasing.”
obfuscation and cover-up that was similar in many ways to Nixon and Watergate.”
Matt: “You mean the meeting with the infamous ‘why do we want to let in people from those ‘shithole’ countries?’…or something like that. I know the shithole countries part is right, and Trump’s shithole-countries included Haiti and parts of Africa.”
Jordan: “What about religion?”
Jordan: “So now we have the president openly expressing distaste for anyone other than white, western European Aryan-like immigrants. Except, the US population was full of all kinds of immigrants who didn’t fit Trump’s profile.”
Jordan: “As were our allies, which were doing a lot of head scratching trying to figure out what was really going on. In a normal administration, the allies would turn to the Secretary of State for some guidance. Where was Trump’s esteemed Secretary of State during this period…Mr. ExxonMobil himself? I think he was MIA.”
Matt: “You mean senators Perdue and Cotton? Purdue went so far as to wait a few days and then claim his colleague in the senate Dick Durbin was lying. As if someone would hold a press conference and claim the president would use the term ‘shithole countries.’ I mean Purdue seemed to be the one lying. Besides, how stupid did Purdue think the public was?”
Jordan: “No. But, I’m also saying Republicans in Congress did nothing to stop Trump. As we talked about earlier, look how senate Republicans, including Graham, acted like Trump’s puppets, trying to block the Mueller investigation. Republicans in Congress were complicit. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Trump got so out of control he was taken out…but no thanks to Republicans in Congress.”
Jordan: “And so, we had the Revenge Revolution…and after the revolution the beginning of a return to normalcy. Thanks goodness.”
Jordan: “And that is?”
Jordan: “The Republicans in Congress and some alleged grown-ups in the Trump Administration who put party loyalty over protecting the country. Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham were two perfect examples of party-loyal senators falling on their hands and knees in front of King Donald. Nikky Haley, then ambassador to the UN, was an example of an alleged grown-up in the administration who was acting like a child, claiming no one in the White House considered Trump a loose cannon. What were they all thinking?”
Jordan: “Support the president, support the Republican Party but endanger the country? The last time I looked, the oath of office for those in Congress and those in the administration is to uphold and defend the Constitution, not uphold and defend some idiot in the White House, even if a member of your party.”
Jordan: “Let’s start with Republicans ignoring and protecting Trump’s behavior. Despite the Donald’s repeated claims that he was a genius and mentally stable, he was neither. How much more obvious could it have been that the guy was thinking and acting like a whiny 3rd grader? How many presidents throw a tantrum every time they don’t get what they want? As far as being a genius. That’s laughable. Matt, you went to that other school in Cambridge. Do you think he could have held a candle to any of your classmates at Harvard?”
Jordan: “Incendiary by design. At the time the head-in-the-sand…maybe head up someplace else…senators Gassy, I mean Grassley and Graham were making every effort to divert attention away from Mueller’s investigation and possible collusion with the Russians. The two of them made a claim that some statements to some committee about the dossier could have, maybe, or in southern terms, might could have been just a bit misleading. No evidence to support their claim, just conjecture. All this noise while ignoring a legitimate investigation of actions by Trump, family and some in the administration that could have been treasonous. So why the diversion? What was in it for Grassley and Graham?”
Jordan: “Go back and think about when the article was published. Trump’s one year into office and hell-bent on destroying institutions that are the bedrock of America’s democracy and hell-bent on destroying America’s relationship with key allies. Remember all of what happened in just one year. On top of all that the guy is clearly mentally unstable.”
Jordan: “Just as Germany’s situation grew worse and worse. I haven’t done a line-by-line comparison but I’ll bet in the first 12 months in office King Donald did as much damage to America…if not more damage…than Hitler did to Germany within his first 12 months in office.”
Greenie: “Let me add something. Before the Revenge Revolution, I think many elected representatives were brainwashed.”
JC: “Like during the Obama Administration, the Republican-led House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act what 50-60 times? It was some ridiculous number I remember that.”
Jordan: “You’re right and so was George Bush senior. It really is voodoo economics. Read my lips, there is no, zero, nada empirical evidence supporting the trickle-down theory. In fact, the empirical evidence indicates what actually happens when trickle-down plans are implemented is exactly the opposite of what the Republicans claimed.
JC: “You know who did understand…and more than 100 years ago? Henry Ford. One of America’s greatest industrialists and a one-tenth of one percenter if there ever were one. He understood more about what creates demand than the Republican clowns in Congress who passed the give-to-the-wealthy act disguised as a tax reform. Ford increased wages to $5/day for two reasons: (i) stabilize the work force; (ii) increase worker take-home pay so they could afford to buy his cars. Did he benefit? Yep. He made even more money. I agree with you Greenie, what is so hard to understand about basic economics?”
Greenie: “Technically, yes, some taxes for individuals were scheduled to go down for a couple of years. But then lower-wage earners got the finger. Cuts for individuals were temporary…unlike the cuts for corporations which were permanent. You want me to continue with the list of lies? It’s a very long list.”
Greenie: “The claim that the tax revenue associated with the additional growth in GDP would offset the deficit caused by the wealthy welfare program. Another big, fat horse-pucky lie.”
Greenie: “I do expect people, and especially those in the Senate, to at least have some moral character. The biggest pants-on-fire lie was the intent to not offset the added deficit…even the Tooth Fairy knew the deficit was going to happen…to not offset the deficits with reductions to Social Security and Medicare.”
Greenie: “You mean, if you’re going to steal from the masses, make sure the peon’s bellies are full before you start stealing? Otherwise they get pissed. And they did get pissed.”
Jordan: “And then these same a-hole Senators claimed to be members of the party of Lincoln. Party of Lincoln, my ass. Lincoln Republicans were a whole lot more ethical than McConnell’s crop of Republican bandits.”
Greenie: “Well, Jordan, you have two friends…maybe more…who pledged loyalty to Trump regardless of the situation. They stuck with him even after he was taken out. Are these two the norm or outliers?”
“Evangelicals. Moore was a pedophile and…”
Greenie: “Because they pledged the Trump-is-king fraternity/sorority. Do whatever Trump wanted. And, with Moore, Trump wanted a sure vote for his tax cut for the rich…and more importantly, a tax gift for himself. The tax proposal failed in the end but so did a lot of Trump’s programs.”
Greenie: “Here’s the flaw in that argument. The decision in Roe v. Wade has never forced any woman to get an abortion, period. If you cut through all the phony arguments about Roe v. Wade, the only conclusion is that evangelicals want to cram their religious beliefs down everyone’s throat. The same is true for most of their other constitutional claims.”
Jordan: “You mean supporting him despite all the facts about lying, cheating and the abuse of women.”
JC: “Greenie, now, now. To be a good evangelical you must believe in alternative facts. What you read in the New York Times and Washington Post – all lies. You must believe in the only righteous network – Fox News…and believe, of course, in Breitbart.”
Greenie: “Jordan, with all due respect, I think you’re wrong and we are on track. For example, the personal behavior of Trump and Moore was the polar opposite of evangelical values. It’s as if evangelicals did a U-turn. Yet the vast majority of evangelicals appeared to continue to support Trump.”
Jordan: “And what do you think the differences would be?”
JC: “The crab-barrel effect?”
Jordan: “Political party leaders seem to understand that party members are subject to…in the most polite terms…brainwashing. And the leaders exploit that opportunity.”
JC: “Fun not being around you.”
Jordan: “Give me an example, please.”
Greenie: “People like to belong to a group or groups because it helps them with their identity. By joining you can be ‘this’ or ‘that’ rather than just some individual. Plus, belonging to a group and just talking to other group members can make life easier to understand…at least some of the members think it can. Group think can take away much of the pressure to think as an individual.”
Greenie: “The conclusion seems logical but this idea was birthed last night after a couple of glasses of wine. We’ve done no research.”
Greenie: “Go Back to Trump’s proposals. His hard-core supporters were going to get screwed if the Affordable Care Act was cancelled. They were going to get screwed even more under the proposed so-called plan to reform taxes.”
JC: “One issue we have to address…and it shouldn’t be that difficult to determine…is whether the rank-order of affiliations has changed over time.”
Jordan: “The phenomenon might apply to more than just ethnic groups. People seem to crave some type of affiliation. I still shake my head over a college fraternity brother. At some point in life he pledged another fraternity…the Trump-is-king fraternity. Once he joined, he supported his fraternity brother no matter how bizarre King Trump’s behavior or decision. He stuck with Trump when Trump denied campaign cooperation with the Russians; when he denied any hanky-panky with beauty contestants; and when he denied illegal financial transactions. Whatever King Donald claimed or did he supported.”
Greenie: “OK, in the meantime, I’ve got a culture we might want to explore…or at least I think it qualifies as a culture.”
JC: “You mean how much should regional cultures sorta blend in versus how much should these regional cultures should stay specific to the geographic area?”
Jordan: “I’m hardly an expert. My take is there are marked differences in cultures among East, Midwest and West and even differences within a region – the Northeast is a good example. As for Hawaii and Alaska…different still. But to me these differences seem more cosmetic than substantive. Yes, some areas are more liberal or more conservative than others but the differences don’t seem to alter the fundamental principles in how the region or the country should be governed.”
Jordan: “The South is a different animal.”
Jordan: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn what you think. Actually, the resentment is probably much greater and deeper than any of us can understand.”
Jordan: “Spot on, Greenie. His election and his rhetoric as president made perfectly acceptable any type of public display of resentment or even hatred of ‘non-true Southerners’. Look back at Trump’s public support of hate groups in Charlottesville.”
Greenie: “You know what I find ironic about ironic about the hard-core Southerners supporting the Donald? Many in the South still blame the North for lots of problems…and they really dislike people from New York. So who do they support? The Donald who was born and raised in NY. The Donald who dodged the draft, claiming bone spurs. The Donald who proposed policies as president that hurt rather than helped his supporters. The guy should have been despised by the people in the south. But no, they adored him.”
JC: “To the hard-core Southerner, he must have been considered a born-again Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee rolled into one. His supporters believed he was going to overthrow the very establishment that the hard-core blamed for destroying the Old South.”
JC: “Lincoln tried to set the stage for the country to heal. He might have been too accommodating. The hard-core Southerners still don’t understand and still can’t get out of the blame stage.”
Gelly: “JC, I’ll get you some coffee, then I need to get back and work on a project.”
JC: “Greenie, is this info for your articles about the causes of the Revenge Revolution?”
Greenie: “Mmm, you thinking the military culture is that much different?
Greenie: “What still gnaws at me is the behavior of John Kelly when he was chief of staff for Trump.”
Greenie: “What galls me even more is Trump’s press secretary Ms. Congeniality Susan Huckabee told the press they should not challenge a 4-star Marine general. BS Sarah.”
Jordan: “OK, we’re even. I think the military culture started to change with the elimination of the draft.”
Jordan: “With the draft there was a reasonably good cross-section of ethnic groups, backgrounds and education. Yes, some wealthier guys chickened out of the draft and bought off doctors to get an exemption…”
Greenie: “I’ll go with 13 years…finished one year college.”
Jordan: “Nope. Just regular guys like me. I don’t recall many of us being really gung-ho, rah-rah types. We were in the Army doing our time.”
Greenie: “What about the SEALS and those Special Forces guys? Aren’t they really professional?”
Greenie: “Yikes. Not good. Know anyone else?”
Greenie: “Your pal? Well, your something or other. But let’s be fair. You know some other guys in the military, right? I mean your top-gun buddy and some other guys in the group that designed those jet fighters.”
Greenie: “So the quality of recruits is so-so. Let’s go back and talk about the big-dog generals…specifically General John Kelly. When chief of staff for Trump, Kelly claimed that military personnel were superior and the general population should, in effect, bow down to them.”
Greenie: “So do you think to make the culture of the military more like the US population as a whole, we should reinstitute conscription?”
Wolf Man: “Met Gelly. Chatted with Greenie but never met her.”
Greenie: “One of the first steps is trying to understand how much of a particular culture has melted into the US melting pot…and also understand how much should not have melted. We’d like your perspective on how much culture of Native Americans has melted into the US melting pot.”
Gelly: “And what different about the white man’s perspective?”
Wolf Man: “Simple. The white man took the best land from the natives and then created reservations for natives on crappy land. The reservations had few resources, lots of bad water and created an environment of marginal subsistence.”
Jordan: “So we, societal we, basically turned the tribes from being self-sustaining to being a welfare state, save a few tribes with highly profitable casinos. That analysis seems like such an exaggeration.”
Jordan: “I’m shaking my head. Wow, what a problem. Is there anything that can be done to change this attitude?”
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