Florida Noise Pollution and Illegal Vehicle Modifications

The State of Florida is one of fifteen or so states with laws that prohibit the use of mufflers that emit “excessive or unusual” noise AND prohibits modification if it causes the muffler to emit more noise than the original factory-installed muffler.  [Florida Statutes 316.293, Motor vehicle noise.]

Fla. Stat. § 316.272 (2013) § 316.272.  Exhaust systems, prevention of noise  (1) Every motor vehicle shall at all times be equipped with an exhaust system in good working order and in constant operation, including muffler, manifold pipe, and tailpiping to prevent excessive or unusual noise. In no event shall an exhaust system allow noise at a level which exceeds a maximum decibel level to be established by regulation of the Department of Environmental Protection as provided in s. 403.061(11) in cooperation with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. No person shall use a muffler cutout, bypass or similar device upon a vehicle on a highway.(2) The engine and power mechanism of every motor vehicle shall be so equipped and adjusted as to prevent the escape of excessive fumes or smoke.(3) A violation of this section is a noncriminal traffic infraction, punishable as a nonmoving violation as provided in chapter 318. Fla. Stat. § 316.293 (2013) § 316.293.  Motor vehicle noise  ***(5)  Noise abatement equipment modifications.(a) No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle or any other noise-abatement device of a motor vehicle operated or to be operated upon the highways of this state in such a manner that the noise emitted by the motor vehicle is above that emitted by the vehicle as originally manufactured.(b) No person shall operate a motor vehicle upon the highways of the state with an exhaust system or noise-abatement device so modified.

Like many Floridians, I live within earshot of a major roadway.  A certain level of road noise was to be expected from the cars and trucks traveling that major thoroughfare.  During a recent expansion of the Florida Turnpike, they built a so-called noise barrier wall to help control the noise.  By most accounts and from my own experience, these walls are mostly ineffectual for their intended purpose and perhaps not worth the great expense (by some estimates over $3 million per mile).

In recent years the popularity of muffler and tailpipe modifications that greatly enhance the noise levels of motorcycles and automobiles, has brought the frequency of ear-splitting noise events to the point where peaceful enjoyment of any property near a major roadway is impossible.  I recently went outside to enjoy my patio area and, even though the turnpike is over 100 yards away, no fewer than eight different modified vehicles roared up/down the turnpike in the course of one hour.  You don’t need a sophisticated decibel meter to know these vehicles have been modified to be noisier than intended by the vehicle manufacturer.

I'm sure many of you have pulled up next to one of these people.  Many are in smaller underpowered cars that want to sound BIG.  They will rev up their engines when stopped to make more racket and then accelerate to the next traffic light in an aggressive fashion.

"Loud but not raspy" - by Trevor
Put it on my 2007 Dodge Ram 1500 with the hemi. Sounds awesome as soon as you fire it up, takes a few hundred miles to break in and will eventually have a little different sound than what was initially there. About 3/4 of the way into breaking it in it gets quiet and doesn't really sound that great but eventually it gets loud again and sounds awesome.  Would recommend to anyone looking for a nice deep sound. [from an Amazon review of the Flowmaster Super 10 Muffler with Agressive Sound]

At night, even when cooler weather would permit the opening of your windows, it would be impossible to get a good night’s sleep due to these muffler modified vehicles.  Even with lower traffic levels at night, it doesn’t take but one or two of these modified vehicles to make an ear-splitting trip down the Florida Turnpike in the early hours to disrupt the sleep of literally hundreds of Floridians who live nearby.

Designed to be LOUD

Is it too much to ask the Florida Highway Patrol and local police to enforce the law?  If I read the Florida Statutes correctly, even the sale of such products in Florida is illegal.  I recently went on Amazon, who now has a physical presence in Florida, and found an entire page dedicated to “Loud Exhaust Tips” where they feature products designed to make vehicles louder.  These “loud bullet type resonators,” “Loud Mouth Axle Back Exhaust Kits,” and “Super 10 Mufflers with Aggressive Sound,” are advertised and positively reviewed for the extra noise they create.

Amazon page featuring several loud exhaust products

Enforcement of existing laws against the owners of these devices and cracking down on sellers of this equipment would go a long way to restoring the peace and tranquility of all those neighborhoods who happen to be within earshot of major roadways.

The New Morality

If you Google “new morality,” you will undoubtedly find references to religion and various decades where there were major morality shifts, like the 20’s and 60’s.  These shifts gain more or less significance in the related articles depending on the point of reference.  A church or religion might take a hard stance on abortion or homosexuality, where another group might deem racial equality or promiscuity to be of more significance.  Priorities are based on the goals or mindset of the group.

In the decade of the 1920’s, women got the right to vote, sexual mores were relaxed, and alcohol was declared illegal.  All of these things are perceived to have affected the moral code of our nation.  Prohibition initially lowered alcohol consumption but had the adverse effect of a rise in crime.

The 60’s were another matter.  The end of segregation, the improved equality for women, higher levels of social tolerance for homosexuality, environmental awareness, and a heightened respect for other cultures were seen as advancements.  They were all examples of milestone changes of the preexisting moral precepts.

In all of this analysis of morality, without regard to specifics, the underlying factor is the moral code of right vs. wrong.  All of us have an innate perception of what is right and what is wrong even if we can’t seem to find a strict definition.  Common decency comes to mind here where the word “common” is key.  Common connotes acceptance.  This acceptance can come from peer groups, social observations, education, parental guidance, or the like.

If we view the first nineteen years of this century and look further back to the last century we find a trend that would indicate a major overall shift in what is acceptable when viewed through the lens of common decency.  This shift does not look specifically at individual measures but at what we deem to be acceptable behavior.

We have come to accept that our politicians lie with alacrity.  When caught in the lie they will try to “spin the story” to lessen the impact of the lie or distract from its importance.  What we used to swallow with a “grain of salt” we now must smother in a gravy made of “who cares” and Chinese-five-spice.

We have also changed the entire political landscape whereby bribery is no longer illegal but condoned.  We can’t call it a bribe as it is now referred to as a “campaign finance donation.”  What’s the difference?  A bribe is money paid to a politician for favors that benefit the payor.  A campaign finance donation, on the other hand, is money paid to a politician for favors that benefit the payor.  If you fail to see the difference between a bribe and a campaign finance donation, join the club.  The legalization of bribery was made possible through the efforts of a right-leaning Supreme Court with its Citizens United decision.

The reference here is Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, 558 U.S. 310, which is a landmark U.S. constitutional law, campaign finance, and corporate law case dealing with regulation of political campaign spending by organizations.  Citizens United’s David Bossie has been its president since 2000.  In 2016, he took a leave of absence to be deputy campaign manager of Donald Trump's campaign for President of the United States.

Things like election fraud, gerrymandering of voting districts, restrictive voter ID laws, voter suppression, and deceptive campaign ads are all business as usual for modern campaigns and are brazen attempts to override the will of the people with the will of the wealthy.  A recent case in North Carolina involves Bladen County where mail-in ballots were collected by GOP employees and altered to assure a win for their candidate.  When we hear of such shenanigans, we barely raise an eyebrow.  We have come to accept the new morality.

Our business leaders seem content to bend or break the law as long as it benefits their shareholders.  To quote Harry Logan from the movie, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, “Rules?  In a knife fight?  No rules.”  If you remember the movie, Butch then throws dirt in Harry’s eyes and kicks him in the groin.  It seems that businessmen and politicians have adopted the knife fight mentality and play by the adage, No Rules.

“Getting into politics,” is no longer about a quest for the common good with lofty goals, it is today more about personal finance.  When analyzed with the benefit of history, I think we will find that our current president will have advanced his financial position beyond our wildest suspicions.  If he hasn’t, he isn’t the “deal maker” extraordinaire he told us he was.  His use of his presidential office for financial gain is perhaps the most egregious example of political greed we have seen in recent memory.

Worse than the sins of Trump are the sins of the 40% of Americans who blindly support the president even when confronted, on a daily basis, with the man’s nefarious deeds.  Trump’s moral turpitude, even when it is found to be depraved, is acceptable behavior as long as he supports my narrow position on [insert your cause here].

Our morality as a nation has slipped into a morass whereby our very survival may be seriously challenged.  We have come to too quickly accept immoral behavior as commonplace.  Lying, cheating, and stealing are seen as the way you get ahead in the modern world.  I am almost to the point where I say if you can’t beat them, join them.  Maybe it is time to get a bit dirty and play hardball if only to really “drain the swamp.” The last effort, if you can call it an effort, only added more swamp water and more alligators.  While the current GOP leader is the culprit du jour, Democrats are not without fault here.

The new moral code in America is one of limited accountability and a "what's in it for me" attitude.  JFK's admonition to "ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" is but an echo from a forgotten time.

The Donald Trump Presidency; A Greek Tragedy

Character is destiny.  Heraclitus, Greek philosopher*

In the world that revolves around Donald Trump, we find a Greek Tragedy, not dissimilar to that of Sophocles’ Antigone.  In this modern tragedy, Trump plays King Creon who foretold the failure of the Greek political culture.  In Antigone, Creon is the victor in a civil war that results in the death of Polynices.  By decree, Creon orders that Polynices’ body lay unburied, in violation of Greek custom.  Antigone is Polynices’ sister who challenges the decree and is imprisoned.  The Chorus (public sentiment) rises up against Creon.  As with all good Greek tragedies, many people die and Creon ends up alone due to his excessive pride.  Antigone, Creon’s wife, and son, all commit suicide.  The German philosopher Hegel summarized the play’s lesson as, “A state that finds itself in a position of internal contradiction cannot survive.”

King Trump Greek Tragedy

While King Trump has ascended to the American throne 2,460 years after Creon, there are certain parallels here.  President Trump’s clash with Comey, and now Mueller, represents a contradiction between the rule of law and the will of the elected president.  The checks and balances built into our system of government provide conflict and stress between executive power and the laws and norms of American democracy.

In the national obsession that is Donald J. Trump, we have all learned things that we may have suspected were true but now know to be fact.  Many wealthy individuals have a different rulebook, a different set of morals, and a different set of standards by which they live.  I know that is a generalization and that there are certainly members of the “Community of One Percenters” that are decent human beings who respect the rule of law, common morality, and fair play.  Donald Trump and others in his orbit all seem to march to the beat of a different drummer and take direction from a different moral compa$$.

Money Compass

If ever you need to read about the special rules that seem to apply only to wealthy people, try this link to a recent Miami Herald investigation.  The article outlines the case of Jeffrey Epstein who repeatedly engaged in sexual activity with underage girls (as many as 80 were identified) at his waterfront Palm Beach mansion.  He got off with a comparative slap on the wrist.  

Served 13 months instead of life.
The 13 months was with work release, he only slept at the prison at night.

Epstein's wealth got him a sweetheart deal and provided his unnamed friends a free pass with no prosecution.  All of this was thanks to then-State Attorney Barry Krischer's and U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta's handling of the case with kid-gloves.  Before you ask, yes that is the same Alexander Acosta who is President Trump's Secretary of Labor and, until November 29, 2018, a possible replacement to Jeff Sessions as the Attorney General.  Also in this circus is Kenneth Starr, who led the investigation into the Clintons and Whitewater and the Monica Lewinsky scandal, who just happens to be the child molester Epstein's attorney.  

Just a few of Epstein's victims

The article also mentions Donald Trump who is accused of having sex with a thirteen-year-old girl at Epstein's mansion in Palm Beach.  The cast of characters in Epstein's world included his friends former President Bill Clinton, former national security adviser Sandy Berger, former Colombian President Andrés Pastrana, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew, Kevin Spacey, and lawyer Alan Dershowitz.  Just another example of the "finest people" and their little peccadillos.

Donald Trump and the Clintons were not always enemies.

Politics makes strange bedfellows

When it comes to Donald Trump, money is at the heart of all his decisions.  He is not concerned with the U.S. economy except as it benefits him.  The Trump Tower he has sought for almost 30 years in Russia is at the center of his soft and preferential treatment of Putin and all things Russian.  When you delve into the backgrounds of Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, Roger Stone, etc., you find people who think lying, cheating, and deception are all just part of doing business and how the game is played in their rarefied world.

All 5 of the "Finest People" Guilty

The almost daily attacks by President Trump on Mueller, his legitimate investigation, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and virtually anyone not seen as supportive of his executive-centric rule, certainly should set off alarms.  His blatant obstruction of due process should result in universal outrage.

Cries of “Witch Hunt” are an attempt by a desperate man to delegitimize any eventual findings that wend their way into the public domain.  Have we as a nation come to the point where we idolize a draft dodging self-absorbed billionaire and demonize a man who volunteered for the Marines and won a Bronze Star with “V” distinction for valor?  Mueller's medal was earned rescuing a fellow fallen soldier during a firefight that saw half of his platoon become casualties.

Donald Trump has regularly stated that he surrounds himself with the finest people.  As we now look at those “finest people”, we find that Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Samuel Patten, have all pleaded guilty to crimes.  All of these indictments are products of the Mueller investigation into Trump's "finest people."  The one key individual still standing without indictment is Roger Stone who pulls all of this presidential collusion speculation together and even provides links back to President Nixon's departure from office.  The dominos are falling and Roger Stone could be the linchpin.

The Greek tragedy that is the Trump presidency, continues to be told.  The circle is ever widening and perhaps only history will be able to pull all of this together in meaningful fashion.  The fact that this story even has ties back to Watergate and includes a cast of international characters tells me, this tragic tale will be studied for years to come.  The current witch-hunt has found its fair share of witches.  I think Mueller’s broom closet will need to be enlarged.

Mueller Will Need A Bigger Broom Closet

* “Character is destiny,” is a quote attributed to the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus. This quote implies that destiny, or fate, is not a predetermined outside force, but that one's future, or destiny, is determined by his own inner character.

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The majority of people have no understanding of the things with which they daily meet, nor, when instructed, do they have any right knowledge of them, although to themselves they seem to have.  Heraclitus

A Nation Divided Shall Not Stand

We have been here before and we survived.  Not without painful consequences, but we survived.  In 1850’s America, slavery divided our nation.  Much of the south could not foresee their economic survival without the cheap labor provided by slavery.  The Missouri Compromise of 1820 admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.  Prior to this legislation, we were a nation divided 11 states to 11 states, split between slave and free.  With the exception of Missouri, all states north of the 36°30′ latitude would be free.  With Maine admitted free, the balance of free and slave states remained.  We were a nation divided, but equally divided.

A Nation Divided

By 1861, we were a nation of 34 U.S. states.  In February of that year, seven Southern slave states seceded from the union and formed the Confederate States of America.  Four more slave states would eventually join the Confederacy.  We were now truly, a nation divided.  The end result of that division was the American Civil War where over 700,000 Americans were killed.  This loss of life exceeds the U.S. military deaths in all other wars combined.  Our nation paid a terrible price for this division.

There were an estimated 700,000 people killed in our Civil War

While the issue of slavery was not the only factor that divided our nation in the 1800’s, it was a major component.  White southerners believe that the emancipation of slaves would destroy the South’s economy.  Some even feared a repeat of the 1804 slave revolt in Haiti where all whites were killed.

Note the graphics on this Confederate 100 dollar bill

Now, in 2018 we are again a nation divided.  While it is not slavery that divides us, the lingering racism that is a holdover from that period is still with us.  Political leaders still use fear to motivate people to action.  We are a literate nation but not one steeped in our own history.  The average American knows little of our history and younger generations get their information from social media, not history books.  Politicians are but border collies herding their flocks in one direction or another with the barking of lies that provide them with the power of persuasion.

Border Collie herding his sheep

President Trump, using his bully pulpit, has used that pulpit to bully.  In its original implementation under Teddy Roosevelt, the term bully was an adjective more in line with the British usage to indicate superb or wonderful.  Today it is used as a noun as in a person who uses power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.  Trump works his crowds like a tent revival preacher, whipping up their fury with chants of “lock her up.”  His relationship with this sea of red hat zombies is a symbiotic one where they chant and he soaks up as much of the crowd’s energy as he can.  He waves, pumps his fist, points out individuals in the crowd, and applauds along with his supporters.  His crowds thrive on his political incorrectness, showmanship, and jovial nastiness.  They rightfully saw an ineffectual Congress in need of change.  They know that Trump is a bully, but he is their bully.

Trump the Bully

While it is clear to even the casual observer of Donald Trump, the man is full of himself.  Some use the more clinical terms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder or Sociopath.  I’ll just say that the man is one good enema away from looking like Woody Allen.

Woody Allen

Instead of using his office to heal a divided nation, Trump, always the businessman looking for a bargain, has chosen to use this divisiveness to distract his constituents while he is lining his own pockets.  He has used fear of immigrants as the bogeyman responsible for all the nation’s ills while he and his Congressional partners in crime pushed through tax cuts that primarily benefitted large corporations and wealthy individuals.  Trump already conducts his real estate business in a favorable portion of the tax code but now stands to really make some big bucks.  A divided nation suits him just fine.

I realize that his followers couldn’t read this article and come to any realization that would change their minds.  You can’t use facts or logic with the faithful.  We are once again a nation divided and, just like the 1850’s, we seem to be equally divided.

The ballot box is where our trust and hope must be placed.  We can only hope that future generations can look up from their misnamed “Smartphones” long enough to see what is happening all around them.  A year ago I wouldn’t have held out much hope for our youth but after the February 14^thStoneman Douglas shooting, I heard some of the students speak.  They gave me hope for the future.  This was written on Election Day, November 6, 2018, before the polls closed.  I'll have to wait the day out to see if these midterms will be a starting point to Make America Whole Again.

Trump Gives Reason For No Schedule Change After Synagogue Massacre

While trying to explain why he didn’t change his schedule after 11 people were massacred and six others were wounded in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Trump had an explanation.  He remembered that after the 9/11 attacks, the New York Stock Exchange was open the next day.  He even mentioned a supportive anecdote.  First at his address to the Future Farmers of America On Oct. 27, 2018, in Indianapolis he said,

"I remember when we had the attack in Manhattan. We opened that stock exchange the next day; people were shocked. A great group of people — the head of the New York Stock Exchange is just a fantastic guy — Dick (Grasso).,  And he opened it up."

Trump in Murphysboro rally Oct. 27, 2018
Note the teleprompters

He repeated the statement and his anecdote a second time in Murphysboro, Illinois later that same day when he said,

"With what happened early today, that horrible, horrible attack in Pittsburgh, I was saying maybe I should cancel both this and that (the speech in Indianapolis). And then I said to myself, I remember Dick Grasso, a friend of mine, great guy. He headed up the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 11. And the New York Stock Exchange was open the following day.,— and what they had to do to open it, you wouldn't believe. We won't even talk to you about it, but he got that exchange open.”

Chairman Grasso opens NYSE on Sept. 17, 2001

The only problem here is that the New York Stock Exchange was closed for a week after the World Trade Center bombings of September 11, 2001.  They didn’t open until September 17, 2001.  Both statements were lies Trump made up to support his point.  He probably realizes that his supporters won’t fact check his statements.  The accompanying picture shows the first NYSE opening after 9/11 showing Chairman Richard Grasso in the center and who is that second from the right?  Maybe she better remembers that day.  Perhaps Trump should hire her to fact check his speeches.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I grew up in a time when we all respected the person occupying the highest office in the land, our president.  We might have differing political opinions but we all respected the man in the office.  We referred to him as Mr. President.  Civility and proper comportment demanded that respect and, during my lifetime, our presidents were generally worthy.  All that ended on January 20, 2017.

While anyone can challenge his (Trump’s) stance on immigration, implementation of tariffs, commitment to a border wall, his tax cut for the wealthy, his repeals of “anything Obama,” these can all be matters for debate.  What is beyond debate is his child-like behavior and calls for violence against his perceived enemies.

Cowardly Lyin'

In the Trumpian Land of Oz, the Cowardly Lyin’ can’t put two coherent sentences together without resorting to either his bucket of clichés and campaign rhetoric or by reading a script from a teleprompter written by a staffer with some semblance of a brain; the Scarecrow, no doubt.  When left to his own devices the man is the embodiment of hate and racial prejudice. 

Trump Script Writer

He has called for violence against reporters.  He supported Rep. Greg Gianforte’s* 2017 attack on a reporter saying, “any guy who can do a body slam, he is my type!”  When Trump was in school, he claims to have given a teacher a black eye because he felt the teacher didn’t know anything about music, [reference Art of the Deal, 1987].  This last reference seems contrary to his normal cowardly persona, [dodged the draft with bone spurs that showed up as soon as he was draft eligible].  Most of his bravado comes from encouraging others to act.

Trump in Montana praising Gianforte* 

During the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1, 2016, he encouraged the crowd to “knock the crap out of them” referring to protestors, and he promised to pay their legal fees.  Later that month at a rally in Las Vegas, security guards were being “too gentle” with a protestor so Trump said. "I'd like to punch him in the face, I'll tell you."  Many of the Trump rallies have been the scene of fights and fisticuffs.  There are numerous other instances when Trump has encouraged violence against his enemies at his rallies; he does this because he gets applause from his fans.  Trump’s ego needs this sort of affirmation in order to survive.

Violence at Trump Rally in Berkely

Violence at Trump Rally in Arizona

Most recently, one of Trump’s fans took the calls to action literally and mailed over a dozen pipe bombs to the hit list literally dictated by Trump.  Initially, the Trump Media Network, aka Fox News, touted wild conspiracy theories where “the Dems” were mailing the bombs to themselves to distract from Trump’s fight with the caravan of Hondurans who “were bringing crime and strange lethal diseases” to America.  When the perpetrator was revealed as one of their own, they claimed he was paid by George Soros.  There are literally no bounds to how far afield these folks will go to lie to their radical base and provide nourishment for their hatred.

Trump Supporter and Pipe Bomb Suspect and His Van

I guess I never really expected our president to take any responsibility for the fact that his calls for violence would actually boil over into real violence.  I’ve come to expect very little from Captain Cheez Whiz so he rarely disappoints.  The man lives in a self-made delusional world where he can do no wrong.  I like to joke that I’ve never made a mistake; this man-toddler actually believes he is infallible.

I'M DONALD J. TRUMP
THE "J" STANDS FOR GENIUS

Today, another violent hate crime was perpetrated against a synagogue in Pittsburgh.  An assault rifle and three handguns were used to kill at least 11 people.  While hate crimes have been with us for years, recent incidents seem to have been perpetrated by people emboldened by an atmosphere of acceptance promoted by certain individuals on the Right, including the Immigrant-Bashing Carnival Barker.  Trump was asked to comment and he stated that the Synagogue should have had better security.

*Note:  Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and paid a $385 fine, completed 40 hours of community service, 20 hours of anger management training, wrote an apology letter and donated $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists, according to the Associated Press. Perhaps the president would like to join Mr. Gianforte.

Trump Explained, Well, Almost

For almost two years, I have tried to understand the enigma, which is Trump.  At first, it was easy to assume he was elected by the racist backlash from people who “suffered” under the rule of our first Black president.  While I truly believe some of his support can be traced directly to racism, I had difficulty believing that there could be that many racists still left in America.  It becomes clearer when you hear some of his supporters interviewed and find that racism has many levels.  Not all his supporters wave the Nazi or Confederate flags or wear Klan sheets while shouting their hatred for all things they perceive to not be pure white.  There are more subtle forms.

Trump waiting for his adulation

Racism still doesn’t fully explain Trump’s numbers.  I recently watched an interview with some West Virginia Democrats who voted for Trump.  While there was some possible hint of racism among them, I got the feeling that there was more to the phenomena that explain Trump.  I heard fear.  There was fear of losing jobs, fear of the unknown, fear of economic uncertainty, fear of crime, fear of a rising drug problem, and certainly, some fear in the loss of what was once an America dominated in numbers by “white people.”  These West Virginians somehow found a glimmer of hope in Trump’s message.

Adore me more

Trump is not a stupid man.  He may be a narcissistic sociopath, but he is not stupid.  He has studied his peers.  People like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Kim Jong-un, Hugo Chávez, Nicolás Maduro, and other dictators from the past, and he is in awe and envies the power they wielded.  He has managed to ignore the trappings of our democracy and has learned that he can approximate dictatorial control so long as he has strong support from his base.  Can a democratically elected dictator survive?

Trump and his idols

Trump is a musician.  He plays the base.  He plays his base just as if it were a musical instrument.  He feeds on their cheers.  He relishes their accolades.  He needs this reassurance as certainly as a vampire needs blood to survive.  He also avoids the truth just like a vampire avoids the sun.  Trump knows just what to say to fire up the crowd to prompt their cheers.  He has memorized the banter that works.  Delegate blame, to steal a term I first heard from Lou Grant of Mary Tyler Moore fame.  He points the finger of blame in all directions, any direction that doesn’t include His Holiness.  Blame the media, blame the Fake News, blame the Clintons, blame Obama, blame immigrants, blame Democrats, and blame our allies.  Any and all of these are the sources of all the ills in our society.  Stir up the fear, point the finger of blame, and promise a “Great America.”

I blame.....(media, fake news, Hillary, Clintons, Obama, 
our allies, immigrants), pick all that apply

I don’t think Trump is clever enough to be playing “rope-a-dope” by using simple phraseology and stumbling over the meaning of words.  I really think he is not smart in the traditional sense.  His limited vocabulary, however, serves his intended purpose well.  Much of his base overlooks his purported billionaire status and considers him one of them.  He certainly talks like them.

Democrats point to the hypocrisy of a “Christian-values” philanderer.  They obviously haven’t listened to much country music.  Cheating, drinking, flag waving, and dog loving are the staples of most country songs.  Trump checks two of the four boxes.  Think of how dangerous he would be if he could drink a beer and tolerate man’s best friend.  I don’t know that all Trump fans like country music but I would venture that, if at any of his rallies, he played some Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Johnny Cash, Shania Twain, or George Strait, he would have the entire crowd on their feet and dancing in the aisles.  Democrats just don’t get the mindset of his supporters.

While non-college-educated white people from the “fly-over” states comprise a significant portion of his thirty to forty percent base, they don’t account for the totality of that base.  There are other factions that fill in the remainder of Trump’s posse.  You just won’t see them at his rallies.

Some of these are the college-educated folks who rank money over civility.  Some of these people reside in the rarified atmosphere of the upper one percent who really benefitted from the recent tax cuts.  These people cherish short-term profits over long-term stability or have convinced themselves that the current bull market has no end.  While the people who go to Trump rallies haven’t figured out that they were screwed in the recent tax-cut legislation, this latter group will take the money and run.

This group worships at the altar of the lord-god, MONEY.  All things in life run a distant second to wealth.  You can never be too wealthy.  Do anything; make any sacrifice, as long as it increases your net worth.  Just as a gambler needs to gamble and an alcoholic needs to drink, there are those addicted to wealth above all else.  There are a great many Trump fans among this group, as he seems to share their single-mindedness.

Another portion of the Trump support group, identify themselves as white evangelicals.  They will overlook Trump’s infidelity, his callous attitude regarding the poor, his lack of respect for the environment and God’s green earth, his misogynistic disrespect of women, and his loathing of non-white immigrants, so long as he supports their stance on abortion.  I doubt that Trump has ever performed an abortion but I would have no surprise if I found out he financed a few.

Trump with Evangelicals, Kool-Aid not shown

Trump understands how to be a bully.  Webster defines a bully as a person who uses strength or power to harm or intimidate those who are weaker.  We have all seen Trump shout down female reporters.  We have watched him disrespect world leaders by turning the conversation into something about him that has nothing to do with the other leader or leaders in the room.  Since Trump regularly blames the press and “foreigners” for our problems, his base identifies with his attitude.

Until such time as the Democrats understand the appeal of a “Donald Trump,” they will be destined to submit to his will.  He, and others like him, will prevail in upcoming elections until such time as the Democrats can find some common ground with at least a portion of his base.  I would say abandon the racists, they are a lost cause.  You might, however, find some support among the blue-collar folks that used to be the bedrock of the Democratic Party.  We need to find a way of really putting people back to work at meaningful jobs with a living wage.  Address the fears of this nation in a manner that provides real solutions and not the political feel-good rhetoric so common during campaign time.  Job training and massive infrastructure projects would be one possible direction, I'm sure there are others.