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 and Matt (reporter) run into each other at coffee shop near Jordan’s office in Washington, DC. Conversation begins Entry #277.
Matt: “While getting a coffee refill, I was thinking about what you just said.”
Jordan: “You mean, ‘…in the first 12 months in office King Donald did as much damage to America…if not more damage…than Hitler did to Germany in his first 12 months in office.’”
Matt: “You really think that’s possible? I mean look how bad Hitler was.”
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.”
Matt: “Just to make sure I understand your point — Trump was dragging down American faster in the first year than Hitler was dragging down Germany in his first year. Right?”
Jordan: “Yes. And still during the first years in office there were lots of people supporting actions by Hitler and lots of people supporting actions by Trump. Trump still was very 
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.”
Matt: “Somehow the high disapproval rating didn’t seem to ring alarm bells for most people. Frustrated, yes but no alarm bells. However, alarm bells did go off for those who understood history. Historians are good at looking at patterns…and what they saw and talked about was the Trump Administration demonstrating a pattern of 
obfuscation and cover-up that was similar in many ways to Nixon and Watergate.”
Jordan: “I’ll tell you another pattern of the Trump Administration that paralleled Nixon’s…discrimination and anti-Semitism.”
Matt: “OK, I’ll buy Trump and discrimination. But anti-Semitism? Trump’s son-in-law was Jewish…and Ivanka converted.”
Jordan: “I look at actions over time, not appearances. Trump’s father was an anti-Semite, refusing to rent his New York apartments to Jews. King Donald’s major confidant…at least during the campaign and the early part of the administration…was Steve Bannon. Bannon and Breitbart were no friends of Jews.”
Matt: “What about Trump’s attitude toward immigration? He didn’t specifically cite limiting the number of Jews…did he?”
Jordan: “Like I said, I look at actions. Remember the meeting at the White House in early 2018 to discuss a proposed bi-partisan senate deal on immigration reform and DACA?”
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 does that comment tell you?”
Matt: “The most obvious was Trump preferred white to people of color.”
Jordan: “What else?”
Matt: “He thought immigrants should already be educated…and he didn’t think people in shithole countries weren’t educated. Some lived in huts.”
Jordan: “What about religion?”
Matt: “We know he disliked Muslims. Hated Muslims might be a better word choice but leave it at ‘disliked.’”
Jordan: “What kind of people did he like?”
Matt: “As I recall he wanted more people from Norway to immigrate.”
Jordan: “Yes, white, Cristian-focused people were Trump’s ideal immigrants. But, guess what? Trump’s perfect Aryan people had no reason to immigrate.”
Matt: “So Trump was OK if immigrants had a background like his but not interested in anybody else. But he was from a fairly recent immigrant family. I think his grandfather immigrated sometime in the late 1800’s. Wasn’t his family name Drumpf, which is German.”
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.”
Matt: “Except the hard-core Trumpsters, who thought they fit his profile and loved his shithole comment. But most of the rest of America was mortified with the comment.”
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: “Come to think of it, I can’t recall seeing him in any meetings on immigration. Also, no comment about Trump’s remarks.”
Jordan: “What I thought was even worse than the Secretary of State seeming to hide was the sudden amnesia that overcame two Republican senators in the meeting…not Lindsey Graham. Who were those other guys?”
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: “Perdue apparently thought he could lie to the public with no consequences. He was concerned about appealing to Trump’s base in Georgia, which put Perdue in office. Well, at least Graham supposedly scolded Trump in private. Why Graham didn’t do so publicly, I don’t know. Probably didn’t want to offend Trump and his fellow kahuna-less Republicans. I still cannot understand behavior of those Republican senators.”
Matt: “On a broader note, do you think Trump’s shithole comments contributed to the Revenge Revolution?”
Jordan: “Shithole did contribute, but as part of a trend. The longer Trump was in office, the more he acted like a dictator. He played more and more to his white-racist Republican base.”
Matt: “You’re not implying all Republicans are racists, are you?”
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.”
Matt: “When Trump got taken out, the country seemed to start to return to normal…but never quite made it. The damage was too great to the structure of government and to the public’s confidence in Congress.”
Jordan: “And so, we had the Revenge Revolution…and after the revolution the beginning of a return to normalcy. Thanks goodness.”
Matt: “And unless I get out of here and back to the office I’ll be overthrown in a revolution. Jordan, nice to see you. Enjoyed the chat. And thanks for buying.”
Jordan: “Matt, nice to see you. Let’s do this again soon…and you buy.”
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.”
Gelly: “Good morning, Jordan. Have a nice 
Gelly: “Because, for the first time…and I don’t know why now rather than when I heard it years ago…for the first time I could picture my relatives on the boat coming to America.”
Gelly: “That’s too bad. What really bothers me is how the US went from a country where people wanted to come to a country where it was nearly impossible to immigrate unless you had a bunch of money or some special high-tech skill. My father had no money and no special skill. He worked his whole life as a laborer. My mother could barely speak English. Yet look at the family now.”
Jordan: “You know why. King Trump.”
JC: “So we all agree…as did most of the public except the one percenters and Republicans inside the Beltway…that the Trump so-called tax reform act was not tax reform. It was a giveaway to the rich. The tax bill also gave extra special help, of course, to the downtrodden Trump family. Bless their little hearts.”
Greenie: “Alright, alright, let’s ratchet back to why we started this conversation. And what I’m trying to write about.”
Greenie: “Interesting question — to what extent was assimilation forced? We know from Wolf Man Native Americans were forced to give up native culture. What’s worse is even though much of the culture is gone today, many native tribes never assimilated. The culture disappeared and the Indians have nothing to show for it. Not a good combination.”
Jordan: “I’d say yes, the parties did force assimilation. Let’s start with recent history. The fourth US Revolution, aka Cultural Revolution, took place in 1960’s, early 1970’s. During that period Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and some other anti-discrimination laws. Plus, the courts started to force compliance with Brown vs. Board of Education. The question for Greenie’s articles, ‘did those laws somehow force assimilation’?”
Jordan: “Correct. The legislation had strong support among Republicans and Democrats…but only Republicans and Democrats from northern and western states. Southern Democrats and the then rare Southern Republicans were nearly unanimously opposed.”
Jordan: “Parallel with the migration of southern Democrats to Republicans was creation of new a new definition for the word ‘conservative’. So-called conservative Republicans were not really conservatives, either by the dictionary definition or by the traditional political definition.”
rights, except of course, the right for even the mentally ill to own a 50-calibre assault weapon, and disregarded fiscal conservatism. Reagan, Bush 43 and Trump all proposed legislation that resulted in huge deficits.”
Jordan: “We can go through the details if you want. I think one of the best indicators why I labeled Republicans radical is debt as a percent of GDP. I carry this chart around to remind my Republican colleagues that Reagan and Bush were not really fiscal conservatives.”
Greenie: “Don’t you think just as important was how Republicans behaved? During the Obama Administration, Republicans bragged about blocking every effort by Obama to govern, no matter what the issue. The net effect of Republicans was a negative effect on growing societal wealth, not positive.”
Greenie: “Maybe the baby got thrown out with the bath water because Republicans either didn’t understand what they were doing…gee, that seems rhetorical…or had no kahunas to stand up to King Donald…or both. But how did actions by Trump and the kahuna-less Republicans affect assimilation? Was assimilation affected positively or negatively?”
welfare queen driving a new Cadillac…unproven, of course…and his constant harping that government was the problem and not the solution. Dear Ronnie’s rhetoric caused an uptick in discrimination. Discrimination seemed to bounce along until Trump opened the floodgates. I still shake my head over his remarks about Charlottesville.”
Greenie: “If the elections were fair, then why were there states, including Jordan’s home state of NC, where somehow the total number of votes favored Democrats…and sometimes overwhelmingly…yet the Republicans managed to control the state House and Senate, occasionally with veto-proof margins. That math doesn’t work, unless of course, districts are gerrymandered.”
JC: “You mean outside on who really got the tax breaks. Outside when Trump stated that voters in Alabama should support a pedophile so Trump could be assured of a majority in the Senate? You mean outside when they realized Republicans in Congress were going to pay for the tax giveaway to the wealthy by cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits of everyone else? You mean when Trump supporters realized Trump gave oil-and-gas companies and mining companies carte blanche approval to basically destroy public land and keep all the profits? You want me to keep going?”
Jordan: “I’m hopeful that the Revenge Revolution ends the Trump vision and encourages members of ethnic groups to…what would you call that…dis-assimilate. Whatever the right term, I hope ethnic groups begin clustering again. Remember places that used to be known by their cultural heritage – Little Italy, Chinatown, Greektown? Somehow we’ve got to keep working to reduce discrimination and to encourage people to display their cultural heritage. Am I crazy to suggest that?”
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.”
JC: “Jordan, what about your buddy…I think he was a former high-school history teacher…who called you a liar for asking for data to support some outlandish claim he made. At some point he pledged the Trump fraternity. Some friend.”
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?”
Greenie: “Your question might be the answer?”
Gelly: “The tribes experienced more than just moving. If I understood Wolf Man correctly, he said the tribes on the reservations…apparently for many years…were prohibited from practicing many of the customs and ceremonies central to the respective tribes.”
Gelly: “If they built a new culture, would they still have a tribe?”
Jordan: “And you have an example?”
Jordan: “But why didn’t Indians keep their traditions…the glue…that held them together.”
Greenie: “Yes, independency is a real word. And your point is well taken. Have we…the victors in the Indian Wars…so restricted the tribes that the original culture has been lost? By our own actions, have we destroyed one culture and replaced it with a culture of dependency? That’s a depressing thought.”
Greenie: “Not finding the right balance between what part of a culture should melt in the US melting pot and what part of a culture should not melt might have larger impact on the cause of the Revenge Revolution than I first thought.”
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