Fiction as History as Fiction
The class title for a university seminar from long ago seems timely
Just a quick note for a Sunday as there is so much going on in so many directions at so many times that one needs an Adderal drip (Elon Musk approved?!) just to keep up to date! But it seems that once again we as a nation are being tested, Lincoln’s word may be more relevant that ever: “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” Too dramatic? In both my most pragmatic and emotional sense, not at all!
Back in 2020, I was chatting with one of my book group pals and opined that if Trump got re-elected we might have another civil war. The reply from my friend, “what makes you think the first one ever ended?” Truth can sometimes just leap up at you and clear away some sort of programmed version of truth that you never may have questioned. Not surprisingly, when that happens it becomes a Matrix like moment when you take the right pill and see reality. Most of you reading this likely already have your eyes open, but we all need to help others open their eyes to so much.
President Musk went full bull-in-a-China-shop mode promising to rid the federal bureaucracy of all the waste, fraud, and abuse. (By the way, I am suddenly enamored of the Oxford comma; it seems now to make more sense, so there it is.) He pegged $2 to $3 Trillion is savings. He, along with his cadre of tech-bros, sought to hold Congressionally approved funds, something courts have ruled as being unconstitutional and that Congress prohibited in the 1974 Impoundment Control Act. He has now claimed $350 billion in savings, but most sources peg those savings at closer to $175 billion or less. Overpromise and underdeliver? I mean what better evidence do we have than a violation of Sales 101. Incompetence from top to bottom seems to be the criteria for admission into this inner circle, so what is happening?
One good example can be seen with the Government Accountability Office (“GAO”) that issued a report about how the administration had illegally impounded billions of dollars by suspending approval of any new electric vehicle charging projects (yes, they, too, use the Impoundment Control Act), which says the Executive Branch cannot withhold funds already allocated by Congress. Russell “Project 2025” Vought (this guy may actually be the great Oz, the one controlling what we hear, the guy directing the puppets of the Felon Presidency, including the Felon himself) said that the “government was going to ignore the report and claimed the GAO played a partisan role in the first term impeachment hoax.” Yes, if you don’t like the truth you create a version more suited to your ethos, and devoid of any adherence to facts. Also, the playbook directs them to return to the tropes that became the mantra of the movement, and for your big finish, Hilary’s emails.
Without droning on about the fictions being fact, Ukraine is a prime example. When the administration throws out the billions of dollars being sent to Ukraine, it seems incapable of discussing how the math works because a significant chunk of the money is in humanitarian aid, and the weapons being delivered are being purchased from American companies, so the very least a correct thinking government would say is that the net is not the sort of drain that is being claimed.
When this mob nee government wants an out from any situation it reduces the entire situation to what kind of “deal” is available, in a very fluid sense. In short, imagine a contract between a buyer and a seller; all terms are clear and agreed; halfway through the agreed upon term of the agreement one party say it is changing the deal (not asking to negotiate, but getting very declarative). A court of law says “you cannot unilaterally change the terms of a contract” and the breaching party simple says, in the most juvenile, schoolyard-esque way, “make me.” In short, facts and objective reality, not to mention the rule of law, have no relevance when all the world tells the naked man that his new clothes are spectacular, yugely so!
Finally, with the big beautiful bill meeting with some opposition in the Senate because constituents are suddenly seeing the disruptive and damaging effects of the proposed cuts, among the most depraved of the many outrageous and outlandish behaviors and comments from the MAGA-sphere happened at an Iowa town hall. Senator Joni Ernst was asked about the proposed cuts to Medicaid that many in the audience claimed will kill people, (because it clearly will). Her heartfelt MAGA heart drew upon the empathy of the Republican Party of today and said “we’re all going to die.”
Get up. Stand up.