Trump Sheepdogs Both The Right And The Left Into Supporting Status Quo Politics

Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley):

The remarkable thing about Trump is that for all the talk about what a extremist wingnut he is, nobody benefits from his existence more than the two mainstream political parties of the United States. He helps sheepdog both the right and the left into the mainstream so-called “center” of US politics.

It’s clear at a glance that Trump helps ensure that right wing Americans who are dissatisfied with their country’s status quo politics will remain plugged into the Republican Party, which never does anything besides promoting the imperial status quo of oligarchy and militarism. But what takes a little more looking to see is that he plays the same role for the left as well.

In 2015 and early 2016, American progressives were buzzing with the possibility of real change in their country. Bernie Sanders was going to help them take back their nation from the millionaires and billionaires and corporations and banks, and get them fair wages and a normal healthcare system so they won’t have to work excruciatingly hard for excruciatingly little anymore. Then when Hillary secured the nomination and Sanders endorsed her everyone forgot about all that, and the struggle became about stopping the next Adolph Hitler from taking power in their own country.

And that’s the role that Trump has played ever since: keeping the fight about stopping fascism and preventing the end of American democracy so that the fight won’t be about economic justice and ending the abuses of the capitalist class. His political existence ensures that the tug-o-war game begins on the right side of the stage, so that everyone’s always pulling toward the Clintonite “center” of war, capitalism and imperialism instead of toward the left.

And if I were an obscenely rich guy who wanted to make sure the rich get to keep their obscene wealth, that’s probably what I’d do too. I’d openly step as far to the right as I could get away with and take up as much political space as I can, thereby dragging the spectrum of debate as far away from the left as possible so that everyone’s begging to keep the status quo politics which gave me my obscene wealth in the first place. If I were an American plutocrat or warmongering empire manager, I’d be very happy to see Trump doing what he’s doing, and I’d want him to do it more.

It’s only because of Trump that we’re now seeing American progressives pretending to be excited and enthused about Kamala Harris like a bunch of bad actresses in a third-rate porno movie. “Ooh, girlboss! I actually kind of like her now because of those funny memes!” Come on sweetheart, who do you think you’re fooling? At least learn how to properly fake an orgasm for the camera.

If not for Trump, the US political spectrum would be drifting further and further to the left instead of to the right as the possibility of a better future begins to ignite the imaginations of Americans nationwide. Instead you’ve got a depressingly impotent faction of progressive Democrats who’ll occasionally stick their head above the parapet to say something innocuous like “tax the rich” before ducking back down to unequivocally endorse whichever murderous empire goon has been elevated to the top of their party that election cycle, because the only thing that matters right now is stopping Trump.

And what’s funny is that Trump didn’t even wind up governing as some kind of freakish aberration; in terms of real concrete policy and actions his administration was a fairly normal sort of evil in the same way other Republican administrations are evil, not even rising to the level of depravity of George W Bush. Hell, more imperial bloodshed and suffering has been unleashed under Biden than there was under Trump. The empire got all the benefits of setting up a far right demagogue and pulling in public support for the imperial status quo, without the cost of even needing to change its behavior. 

Because of Trump you’ve got right wingers who would otherwise be putting their energy into libertarian factions instead throwing their support into the Republican Party, and you’ve got progressives who would otherwise be pushing toward socialism and communism instead throwing their support into the Democratic Party. All it took was one rich manipulator with some experience in the theatrics of pro wrestling and reality TV.

It’s a brilliant scam, and it’s working perfectly. So perfectly in fact that we may be sure they’re going to keep repeating it with different characters long after Trump’s gone, and will keep it going until people begin to see through the act.

________________

My work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece here are some options where you can toss some money into my tip jar if you want to. Go here to find video versions of my articles. Go here to buy paperback editions of my writings from month to month. All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.

Bitcoin donations: 1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2

Featured image via U.S. Department of State.