Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Interesting Times



Sometimes, life is boring, but that’s ok. There is an English expression "May you live in interesting times," which purports to be a translation of a traditional Chinese curse. Despite being so common in English as the "Chinese curse," the saying is apocryphal, and no actual Chinese source has ever been produced. The most likely connection to Chinese culture may be deduced from analysis of the late-19th-century speeches of the British statesman Joseph Chamberlain, probably erroneously transmitted and revised through his son Austen Chamberlain.

It seems to me that a quarantine during a world-wide pandemic is a bit of both. Being at home more than usual, is in fact often boring. There is only so much Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Star Trek reruns a person can watch. Yet, this pandemic can be considered interesting times. It is most certainly an event of historical proportions, and I suspect, among other things, this pandemic will cause Donald Trump to go down in history as the most self-centered, imbecilic, and ineffectual president in the history of the United States.

Sadly, James Buchanan, who was probably America’s first gay president, will continue to be the worst for his ineptitude in preventing the Civil War, but Donald Trump still has at least eight more months in office to beat Buchanan out of his spotTrump will never make it to the list of best presidents, not even close, but he likes to be the most in everything, so he may just decide he wants to go down as the worst president. Fat chance he’d ever consider himself anything but the best, but he sure does seem to be working hard to be the worst.

I also don’t think any revisionist historian will look back and try to reassess Trump as being better than he was portrayed by contemporary historians, who mostly show their dismay when assessing Trump’s presidency. He will not be like Herbert Hoover, who was reviled and utterly defeated in his quest for re-election, yet in the years since Hoover was president, historians have reassessed his tenure in office. What made Hoover so ineffectual during the Great Depression was that he lost the confidence of the people and could not gain it back. With a few exceptions, Hoover did not want the federal government involved in relief efforts; however, many of his policies were also tried by FDR. Roosevelt was never able to bring the United States out of the Depression without involving the country in World War II. It was the industrial-military complex created during the war effort and the fact that most of the unemployed men were drafted into the military that brought the end of the Great Depression. The war eliminated unemployment and rebuilt the economy on a war footing. FDR was seen as a hero, while Hoover was seen as a failure until recently.

In my opinion, Trump has done nothing redeeming in his presidency, and I don’t believe he can turn it around before the election. Numerous investigations, an impeachment (that he was saved from conviction because the Republicans in the Senate refused to have a real impeachment trial), an adversarial relationship with the press, narcissismthousands of lies, total disregard for the rule of law, etc. will go down in history. Yes, there will be some historians on the right who might try to defend him, but history is supposed to be unbiased. And, I believe history will judge him very harshly and with few if any redeeming qualities. He quite possibly is not only doing damage to his reputation but is also damaging the Republican Party as a whole. Republicans will have to reassess their moral standing and take a long hard look at the depths the party has dragged down the Grand Old Party. Hopefully after the November election, it won’t be so grand anymore.

So yes, sitting at home can be boring, but no one can deny that we are living in historic and interesting times. By the way, the nearest related Chinese expression to the “curse” quoted abovetranslates as "Better to be a dog in times of tranquility than a human in times of chaos." For some of us, our homes are tranquil places, but humanity is definitely in chaos.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It goes both ways, though. Basically the Clinton clique were the abusive boyfriends of politics. What we see among Southern Democrats (not you, you're just white and vote accordingly) is the battered wife attacking a cop for taking her man away.

All you get from centrist Dems is a tenth of what you want, for a 90-day trial period. Oh, and TrUmP'S A NaZi bUt tHe lEfT Is WoRsE. *does "mocking Spongebob chicken dance"*

So what happened? They shifted the Overton window so far right, Clinton ran right of Trump. She lost for that, and we all suffer while she has one of her closest friends in the White House! But my generation was already fighting your wars for Saudi hegemony, suffering under Ayn Rand economics backed by both parties, and only Karen thinks there was no racism pre-2016.

There is no hope along this route. Biden's already sniping at key Dem constituencies.

Anonymous said...

Joe, very interesting, insightful comment. But Trump's place in history is secure: worse by far than Pierce, Buchanan, Johnson, Grant, Harding and the second George Bush. About Hitler it was said that "the gutter had come to power" and the same applies to Trump and his supporters. 2017-2021 has further accelerated the catastrophic decline of the US as a great power. I don't know what the above comment by Anonymous is meant to say save it seems to involve sour grapes, although I don't hold much hope for a Biden presidency beyond the fact that it will remove Trump, Roderick

Joe said...

Roderick, I agree that Trump is at least close, if not actually doin so, to bringing about, if not actually doin so, the decline of the United States. God willing, he will not be reelected, because if he is, then I do not think this country can survive four more years of his presidency. The harm will have bene irreparably done, and I don't think we could come back from it. Canada should just invade and take us over if he wins again, just to preserve some semblance of the freedoms the United States was established for.

As for the anonymous comment, I don't usually talk to commenters this way, but are you just insane, stupid, or part of the Russia's troll army? I can't imagine I rank as enough of a threat for the Russians, so it must be insane or stupid. I don't know why you think that I am not white (I am), and I vote according to my biblical beliefs, which aligns with the Democratic Party. All of the Religious Right needs to read the Sermon on the Mount and rethink their lives, because they are obviously not following the teachings of Jesus. I never liked the Clintons either, but you seem way far beyond just disliking them. The Clintons were in no way conservative, and I don't understand how you can say that Clinton ran right of Trump. That's pure insanity. I think you might need to see a doctor about your delusions, maybe they can give you some sort of antipsychotic. Your comment is just nonsensical. Why don't you quit hiding behind the anonymous label?

naturgesetz said...

As one who was a lifelong Republican until last January, I have no respect (beyond that owed to all humans) for any of the current Republican Senators except Mitt Romney.

It seems to me that what happened is that they, and the GOP congressman, made a calculation that if Donald Trump became angry with them, he would encourage someone to run against them in the primary, and they would lose to their opponent and be out of office. So for the sake of reelection, they had to keep Trump happy. This may well have been a miscalculation, at least in a number of cases. After all, they were known and liked in their States or districts, and Donald Trump was never favored by a majority of Republican primary voters until the field was narrowed to two or three. (BTW, Democrats also do what they think they have to to get reelected.)

It turns out that Trump's coattails aren't the ticket to victory they thought. It should have been clear after the mid-term elections. And now it seems likely that Trump will not only lose the presidency but that he'll also drag enough senators down with him to hand the Senate to the Democrats. A Democrat will be happy about it, but this former-Republican-not-a-Democrat would rather see a GOP Senate capable of stopping the liberal juggernaut.

Anonymous said...

So you’re a brother now, Joe. Welcome to the family. LOL. Well stated post, my man. Donald Trump brings nothing but chaos and disorder wherever he goes.

Anonymous, I can’t stress this enough: shut the fuck up. I bet you’re the same ignorant ass bitch who attacked me for being black and choosing to teach African American Literature as an elective at an 80% black school. If so, I’m not sorry that I’m not sorry. You’re always here to add negativity and chaos to Joe’s excellent and informed posts. As my granny used to tell me: If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. And, as I tell my students: If you can’t say anything smart, don’t say anything at all. Have a good day. I hope you find someone who is able to read this comment to you.

The bitchiest reader of all,
Trevin