Trump Neurosis Thread

[putnam6]

I think it both is and isn't Kabuki theater. It's like if you're sawing down a tree, there's one set of muscles pushing the saw forward, and another holding it back. The system is real, and it has integrity, for what it is. It's not fake. One side pushes as much as it can, politically, the other pushes back as much as it can, politically. The courts are one part of the system that keeps those forces regulated, reconciling actions with past consistencies and legal obligation. Industry also is a part of that system, that's why Lockheed gives money to both sides, for example.

But it is Kabuki, in that I think both sides know that this is how the system works, and agree to the field it will play out in. They frame their actions in partisan opposition, often or usually in entirely fake ways, but they both have individual recognition of the larger context. That context is rarely admitted, in any public way that can be pinned down, because it would break the spell. And we are in a post-truth era of Democracy, where those worldview bubbles have become largely irreconcilable, and in fact as "real" as anything.

Anyway Trump certainly is breaking Presidental norms, in that he often lets the mask slip, in a way that many Democrats find incredibly vulgar. The same tendency also thrills much of his base who are sick of what they see as the obvious kayfabe of the left, so much so that they ignore or don't think too much about where his policies lead and what they represent.

Anyway you can see this "push too far then incorporate the pushback" philosophy, for example, in what Musk did at Twitter. It seems to be effective, even if you don't agree with the direct it goes.

I mean, does the Social Security Administration really need 57 thousand employees? It did at one time, but does it still today?

Well you need that many when you hand out Social Security cards to over 4 million immigrants 

https://x.com/townhallcom/status/1909631033881821185

ASTONISHING NUMBERS
 NON-CITIZEN Social Security numbers issued over the past four years: 270,425 in 2021. 590,193 in 2022. 964,163 in 2023. 2,095,247 in 2024.  “DOGE found that immigration gave a work authorization document to illegals just five months after they filed for asylum. That document allowed them to work while they waited to hear whether their asylum requests were being accepted or denied. So, they could work as an illegal, knowing it would take YEARS before their case was heard. The immigration department mailed them a social security number. No interview. No proof of identity, just put it in the mail… …DOGE also discovered that 1.3 million aliens are now receiving Medicaid. MILLIONS received drivers licenses, some registered to vote and DOGE said some actually did vote.”