Perhaps the Democratic Party needs to become a personality cult to win. If so they will need the perfect leader. By Hal M. Brown

I was struck by one sentence in the excellent conversation Chauncey DeVega had with M. Steven Fish,  professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. His new book is “Comeback: Routing Trumpism, Reclaiming the Nationand Restoring Democracy's Edge.”

Here's the entire Salon column:

The path forward for progressives is a return to PR basics: Put personality before policy

This was in answer to the question "If you were to build a Democrat or other pro-democracy candidate in a laboratory who could defeat Trump and the MAGA movement and his successors, what attributes would he or she have?"

I've highlighted the sentence that prompted me to write this blog below:

Above all, she or he would own the flag and be very confident and bold in how they present themselves and live. They would project sincerity and confidence in their beliefs and values. Everything grows from there. If you can’t even offer straight answers to straightforward questions — and Harris, as it turned out, refused to do so — many voters will perceive you as a poll-driven, craven, conniving politician who isn’t up to the job of protecting them and their interests. And most people also gravitate toward leaders who seem to love the country best and associate themselves with its exceptional attributes and boundless promise.

Democrats should also embrace charisma and search for a leader who’s got it. Liberals dislike personalism, preferring to place policies before personalities. To some extent, that’s healthy. But we’ve got to recognize that Obama had a lot more to do with Obama’s election and reelection than Obamacare did.

In fact, even liberals like having a main man or woman — most people naturally seek the person in charge. His or her personal appeal and mode of messaging has an enormous bearing on the morale of the party and shapes how the party and its causes are perceived by the electorate. That decidedly does not mean turning the party into a personality cult. That’s what the Republicans have done with Trump and what India’s Hindu-chauvinist BJP party has done with Narendra Modi. Nor does it mean that the leader has to be intolerant of differences within the party. FDR, JFK and Bill Clinton had enormous authority in the party and in America as a whole, but they didn’t seek to monopolize power and glory and their party wouldn’t have stood for it if they did. The same is true for Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, as it was for Margaret Thatcher in the UK in the 1980s and Jawaharlal Nehru in India during the 1940s-1960s.

What, I pondered, would happen if the Democrats could find their own version of Donald Trump? What if they had more charisma than any of the other leaders referred to above? What if they turned the party into a personality cult?

What if they found a leader who exuded charisma through their pores? What if they walked and talked as if they had the glow of charisma surrounding them the way Christ is depicted in drawings and paintings, only in addition to appearing compassionate they would have rippling muscles?

I am not saying they should personally distribute trading cards the way Trump did with his face on muscle bound bodies, but perhaps people would use images like the one I used AI to create to make fantasy images with the face of the new Democratic leader as a superman or Rambo. These wouldn't be official but they could make their way into public consciousness through social media.

Assuming we even have an election in four years there may be only two ways for the Democrats to beat the presumed Republican/MAGA candidate J.D. Vance. Vance of course has the charisma of a cockroach. But the only way we can be assured of a Democratic win for both the presidency and Congress is for Trump to have turned the country into such hellhole that the gullible people who bought his lies and voted for him see their everyday lives turn to crap. They would have to be convinced this was Trump and the Republicans fault to the point that they vote for a Democratic Homer Simpson to be president.

The other way is for the Democrats to have their own cult leader who comes across like Christ with muscles. This probably means that they will be a man, probably but not necessarily White. Somebody like Denzel Washington could fit the bill:

Consider the actors on this list 30 Manly Actors With Dazzling Charisma That Turned Our Hearts to Mush. Are there any Democrats qualifed to be president who could convey the masculine charisma that these actors do in their movies?

If the overweight fat faced Trump could do it it seems that a Democrat that was actually handsome, physically fit, and 20 years younger could easily accomplish this.

Yesterday's blog (here) is related to this.

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The penises on the Potomac: the country has enthroned phallocentric rule, by Hal M. Brown, MSW

 

HuffPost described four men in their main story today: Trump Is Filling His White House With Men Accused Of Sexual Misconduct. They didn't bother to mention that the fifth man not only accused but convicted of sexual misconduct has already assured his place in the White House because everyone knows this.

They did decide to show photos of Elon Musk, RFK Jr., Matt Gaetz, and Peter Hegseth which depicted them tightlipped and as looking particularly smug. In my illustration I added a DonkeyHotey caricature which perhaps presciently was used to illustrate this 2018 Salon article: Removing Trump from office would come at a steep price.

It may be that Trump's law breaking and law bending contributed to his losing the election to Joe Biden. If it did, we'll never know how much. The election was close and left the man whose Mario mushroom manliness was mocked by Stormy Daniels feeling enraged. Between losing the election and Stormy there was no way someone with the rigid psychological defenses of Trump could let feelings of emasculation percolate into conscious awareness. For Trump every element of his self concept is connected to his feeling hyper-masculine.

Trump's loss in the election and what he feels was his persecution by his enemies set him up to begin his to run again and win. He had four years to plan his winning strategy and revenge. 

There's noone more dangerous than a man who feels his manhood was mocked who then has a chance to rule not just the manosphere, which he already ruled, but the entire country, man, woman, and child.

At 555 ft. tall the Washington Monument dwarfs the second tallest building, the Old Post Office, which is 315 ft. tall. Yes, that's the building a Trump company leased and turned into the Trump International Hotel where people curried favor with Trump by staying there. It was sold in 2022 and the Trump signage was removed.

The National Park Service, which is part of the Department of the Interior, manages the Washington Momument. Trump has selected big oil, gas, and coal advocate North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to head the Department of Interior.

I wonder if he'd have time as he implements Trump's fossil fuel promises to have the Washington Momument made over to honor Trump. If a likeness of Trump's was added to the top of the monument think of the thrill his supporters would have seeing Washington from inside of his head.

Update: 

'Out here running toilet scams': Spectators dump on Trump's newest administration pick

 Excerpts: 

 

Trump picks Matthew Whitaker for NATO ambassador," the news outlet Tennessee Holler told readers Wednesday. "You may remember him as the acting attorney general who was on the board of a company that boasted toilets for 'well-endowed men.'"

"Whitaker was also a cartoonish, grifting dope who shilled for a company that hawked time-travel cryptocurrencies, Bigfoot dolls, and toilets specially designed for men with big d----," GQ reported at the time. "[It] was shut down for good and paid a $26 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission earlier this year for its alleged wrongdoing." 

Afterthought: The reason why so many women are attracted to men like Trump and his ilk is the subject for another blog.

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The trials and tribulations of Trump assured his triumph, add to this the coining of the term Trump derangement syndrome, by Hal M. Brown, MSW

The two illustrations above on top best describe the primary reasons which assured that Trump would win the election. Add to this a third reason, the coining of the term "Trump derangement syndrome" which has a Wikipedia page here. Trump and his supporters would say George Conway had a serious case of this. With these three added together there was no way he was going to loose. 

All the of the legal cases against him, but especially the E. Jean Carroll trial, and then the bullet whizzing by him and somehow causing a bloody ear, enabling him to raising his fist for what was, pun intended, the triumphant money shot, which made him a shoo-in to win.

The first assassination attempt made him out to be the hero he claimed to be. The raised fist and defiant look was a genius move. After that the time someone was caught supposedly wanted to assassinate him second was only icing on the cake. 

Before this the scowling mugshot taken during his arrest prior to the E. Jean Carroll set him up to be seen as a victim of the deep state, of all that was wrong with the country. It was soon on t-shirts and pro-Trump posters. Any publicity about his criminal activity proved to his supporters that he was being victimized by his enemies in the so-called deep state.

His snoozing through part of the trial only added to the image he wanted to convey that it was all too ridiculous to bother him. As if this wasn't enough, even if there were people in the country that thought he was a misogynistic moral reprobate, there were many men who admired him for treating women as mere objects for their sexual gratification and some women who'd welcome his sexual advances.

Not enough people cared about all the other laws Trump was credibly charged with breaking and the pending cases against him.

These elements alone would have assured that he'd win the election. However, add to that the coining of the psuedo-psychiatric diagnosis of "Trump derangement syndrome" to describe anyone who used negative hyperbole to describe Trump. The most well known exemplar for someone who has this so-called mental disease is George Conway who started the Anti-Psychopath PAC and used his own money plus donations to set up billboards and have trucks at Trump events (see Newsweek article and image on top of this page).

According to Trumpers, as someone who signed George Conway's full page New York Times ad, I am also suffering from a bad case of Trump derangement syndrome. (See HUFFPOST article). I suppose in a way I do have a mental disease of a kind caused by Trump since I woke up with the idea for this blog at 2:00 AM, couldn't fall asleep so I got up, and as I finished writing this it was already past 4:00 AM.

Trump and his defenders used the Trump derangement syndrome comeback the way kids use "I'm rubber, you're glue, anything bad you say about me bounces off me and sticks to you" as an all purpose comeback when someone hits them with an unpleasant truth about themselves.

We see that Trump managed to do the rope-a-dope and come back with stinging one-two punches as well in the ring he was fighting in as well as Muhammad Ali did in his ring. 

"The rope-a-dope is a boxing fighting technique in which one contender leans against the ropes of the boxing ring to draw non-injuring offensive punches in an effort to tire their opponent out and, while they are on the ropes, try to execute devastating offensive punches." Wikipedia

Add to all of this the fact that he had a fan club - some call it a cult - that the Democrats could never come close to putting together for Biden or Harris. These people didn't care that he was putting on a calculated show for them from his perfomances in a literal ring at WWE (below) to his last rally featuring the likes of Kid Rock and Hulk Hogan as well as a comedian who made a joke about Puerto Rico that only offended anti-Trumpers and people from Puerto Rico.

His final rally before Election Day, which was held at Madison Square Garden, was mocked by many but it thrilled his fans. He gave all his critics the finger by returning there a few weeks later with none other then Kid Rock and Elon Musk to watch an Ultimate Fighter event.

Here's a telling excerpt from the article (shown above) After controversial rally, Trump returns to Madison Square Garden for UFC event.

Trump is a longtime UFC enthusiast and frequent attendee of major fights. He made promoting hypermasculine tones a signature of his campaign — as he looked to further widen the gap among male voters between himself and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.Trump and his top supporters embraced alpha-male terms and often accentuated them with vulgar and demeaning language.

Trump knows that he discovered a way persuade people and communicate effectively his message of lies and gross distortions of the truth to low, or virtually no, information people who are among the aproximately 65% of people eligible to vote who will actually bother to vote. 

Trump may not know the actual statistics of literacy in the United States, but 54% of adults have a literacy below a 6th-grade level (20% are below 5th-grade level). Of all countries the United States ranks at 36. (Reference) Nobody knows what Trump's reading level is although people like former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly have their own opinions. (See article in Politico) This doesn't matter. In fact it may work in Trump's favor because his low-level literacy supporters may like this about him.

Reporters have stopped counting Trump's lies because they realized that it didn't matter once the number hit the tens of thousands. What they could have been counting is his major missteps, the ones that lost him a significant number of votes. That would have been far easier. This number would have been zero.

Addendum:

Excerpts:

When he takes the oath of office in January, Donald J. Trump will make history as the first court-adjudicated sexual abuser to assume the presidency. But if he gets the team of his choice, he will not be the only one in the room whose conduct has been called into question.

Mr. Trump, who was found liable in a civil trial last year of sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll, has selected a defense secretary, an attorney general, a secretary of health and human services and an efficiency czar, all of whom have been accused of variations of sexual misconduct and, like the president-elect, deny them.

The rise of the accused to positions of power raises new questions about the future of the #MeToo movement that swept through the country and upended societal expectations in recent years. The kind of accusations that took down titans of Hollywood, Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Washington, the news media, sports and state capitals have proved no obstacle in Mr. Trump’s selection process.

..

Mr. Trump’s ascension comes at a delicate moment for the movement against sexual harassment amid a backlash from those who argue that it has gone too far in tarring some men without sufficient due process. Mr. Trump ran a campaign aimed at tapping into male grievance, punctuated by expressions of machismo and disdain for “woke” sensitivity. Hulk Hogan roared and ripped off his shirt at the Republican National Convention while other surrogates mocked Democrats for not being able to define what a woman is in an era of transgender rights. 

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I can take a break from writing a blog this morning since there's a long quote of mine in Chauncey DeVega's Salon column today, by Hal M. Brown, MSW

 

Instead of writing a blog today I am posting a link to 

Why MAGA won: Anger, resentment and "a sense of betrayal" by Chauncey DeVega

It is well worth reading and I recommend doing this not merely because I am quoted as length.

The article begins:

President-elect Donald Trump and his MAGA regime have promised revenge and retribution against a range of targeted groups such as the Democrats, “the deep state” and “the globalists,” “the Left,” “liberals,” “Woke,” the news media, i.e. “the enemy of the people,” nonwhite “illegal aliens," the LGBTQ community (specifically transgender people) and a range of other groups. Trump’s selections for his Cabinet are distinguished both by their personal loyalty to him as well as ferocity in pursuing his personal and political “enemies.” Trump has repeatedly threatened to remove these “enemies within” from society by using the Alien Enemies Act, the Insurrection Act and other means including prison. All indications suggest that Trump’s dictatorial presidency will begin by targeting those groups and individuals who are “the enemy” on day one.

It includes excerpts from  a must-read article at The New Republic by Nina Burleigh and  a Washington Post article by 

Isaac Stanley - Becker

 and 

Ellen Nakashima. Then there are quotes from 

Randolph Hohle a professor of Sociology at SUNY Fredonia and author of "Racism in the Neoliberal Era" and "American Housing Question: Racism, Urban Citizenship, and the Privilege of Mobility," Jason Van Tatenhove who served as the national media director for the Oath Keepers. He documented his experiences with the Oath Keepers in his book "The Perils of Extremism: How I Left the Oath Keepers and Why We Should be Concerned about a Future Civil War," Peter McLaren who is Emeritus Professor of Education at University of California, Los Angeles. He is one of the architects of critical pedagogy and the recipient of numerous international awards for this work in education. He is the author of over forty books and his writings have been translated into twenty-five languages, and your's truly.

Since you can read the article there's no reason to summarize it.

About Salon (from Wikipedia)

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website is halbrown.org (if you are reading this anywhere else any additions or corrections will be at this address)

To stop Trump and his equally bloodthirsty henchmen from turning the country into a tyranny Biden could (but won't) do what Trump would do in his place. By Hal M.Brown

Democracy loving Americans, don't deceive yourselves with delusions and denial, Trump and his goons are out for your blood. 

Note that I wasn't the only one to think of monkeys when I envisioned the group of people who will be advising Trump (click here).

 The cartoon refers to this:

Monkey mayhem in South Carolina after 43 primates escape research facility

If Trump intends to, as it so far appears he does plan to do, run his goverment with a group of henchmen (and hench women) as a ruthless dictatorship as soon as possible by making sure Congress goes into recess and making appointments then there's nothing the Democrats or even Republicans can do to stop him except complain.

Once he puts his people in place we will see a vicious juggernaut to upend democracy and make America into a fascist state where only people loyal to Trump will have positions in federal agencies. Congress will become like The Federal Assembly of Russia if Trump decides he even needs a Congress. Congress be damned. He can decide to rule by decree. 

The only way he can be stopped is for Biden to do something now right out of a dictator's playbook. Of course he won't do it, but years from now democracy loving people may look back and wish he had.

If Trump turns the country into a dictatorship he will have to ignore the Constitution. He may have put his hand on some historic Bible and uttered an oath on Jan. 20th but this would have been just for show. 

Every president has taken this oath:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The oath is worded and administered in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution, which requires that “Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:”

Under the Constitution, the old president continues to hold full power through 11:59:59, and then power shifts at noon.  Article II, Section 1 requires that the new president, before executing any duties, take a prescribed oath or affirmation. 

Trump can mouth the words. He' doesn't have to mean them. He won't mean them. 

According to law on Jan. 20th, his day one, he will have the power of the president. That is, if he is actually sworn in to be president. The only way for this not to happen is for President Biden, or possibly President Harris, to have used the power of the presidency that Trump may wish he had used before he left office when Biden was sworn in. I am sure Trump wonders what would have happened if he refused to leave office by using the Insurrection Act. 

Biden possibly could, but won't, say that for the good of the country he isn't leaving office. 

He possibly could, but won't, declare the election null and void because Trump cheated by claiming he was running to be a democratic president loyal to the Constitution, but has shown he plans to be a dictator loyal only to himself.

Biden possibly could, but won't, declare a national emergency of some sort, I don't know what it might be, and suspend the transfer of power. He could effectively become dictator himself. He could order Trump arrested for sedition (or something) and placed in custody where he'd be deprived of the ability to communicate with the outside world. No matter what the Supreme Court ruled about this being illegal he could ignore them. After all, this is what Trump would do, or have attempted to do, in his place.

Of course none of this will happen. I am not even sure any of it is possible. Biden will dutifully attend the inauguration even though Trump didn't attend his. He will put on his show of supporting the peaceful transfer of power as if he is handing over the presidency to someone who intends to be a president and not a bloodthirsty dictator bent on revenge against anyone who opposed him in the past and to bleed dry anyone who dares to oppose him in the present and future. 

Before World War II, World War I was known as The Great War or, with grim retrospection, The War to End All Wars. If Biden attempted a coup the Civil War could end up being called the First Civil War because we might have a second one. Right now I say it is better to live under a tyranny than have a war which turned Americans against Americans. Ask me again in four years if I feel the same way.

We have to live as best we can with what those who bought into Trump's lies have wrought. These are the people who laughed off his saying he'd be a dictator only on day one as just a snide remark which he didn't mean. We now know there is evidence that voters who relied on family and trusted friends instead of traditional media for information voted for Trump rather than for Harris (article).

Now that he's won Trump it has become clear through his Cabinet and other top level nominees that he has always wanted to be a dictator not necessarily for four year but for as long as he damn well wants to.

There is no legal mechanism that can stop this. The only possibilty to stop him would be the hitcherto unthinkable military coup.

Trump enjoys being the center of attention, he enjoys people kowtowing to him, he enjoys women fawning over him, he enjoys playing golf, he can't wait to enjoy flying on Air Force One again, but most of all he enjoys making people suffer and fear him. This is what will earn him the title of bloodthirsty tyrant. 

As Trump implements his version of Project 2025 some members of the public may not even see what is happening. Some will learn about it because they are one of the estimate 50,000 civil service employees fired because they don't pass a loyalty test, others may see goon squads kicking their neighbor's door down, those who live in states like Oklahoma may hear from their children that they had to watch a video announcing a new religious studies department. 

Those who depend of MSNBC for news and opinion may turn on their TV one morning and see a "no signal" message on their screen.

Trump could end up on lists like 

The 10 Cruelest And Most Bloodthirsty Rulers Of All Time

This list begins with Vlad the Impaler:

"Vlad III Dracula, most commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, was the ruthless ruler of Wallachia (in present-day Romania) during the 15th century. And yes, he is the inspiration for the vampire stories we’re so fond today—that’s how bloodthirsty he was. While he was fond of mass murdering, disemboweling, and boiling his enemies alive, his preferred method of torture was impaling his victims (hence the nickname). Stories about his cruelty were spread by friends and rivals alike, so it’s pretty safe to say he earned his reputation."

The list includes Ivan IV of Russia (aka Ivan the Terrible), Hitler, and Stalin. Of course there are longer lists like this one of the 25 deadliest dictators. I chose the shorter list since it has bloodthirsty in the title.

For more about what I think Trump has planned for his presidency read my blog: Trump can make "it" happen here? "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. (LINK)"

Previous list of blogs here.

Primary Hal Brown's Blog website (if you are reading this anywhere else any addtions or corrections will be at this address)

Recommended reading related to this blog if you subscribe to The New York Times.

Masha Gessen begins their essay with:

For those bewildered by why so many Americans apparently voted against the values of liberal democracy, Balint Magyar has a useful formulation. “Liberal democracy,” he says, “offers moral constraints without problem-solving” — a lot of rules, not a lot of change — while “populism offers problem-solving without moral constraints.” Magyar, a scholar of autocracy, isn’t interested in calling Donald Trump a fascist. He sees the president-elect’s appeal in terms of something more primal: “Trump promises that you don’t have to think about other people.”

Here's how they conclude:

As for the specifics, we know less than we may think we know. Had Trump been elected to a second term in 2020, Magyar says he would have expected him to try to repeal the 22nd Amendment, which established a two-term limit for presidents. I think he may still try to do it, clearing the way to run again at the age of 82. Much has been written about Project 2025 as a sort of legislative blueprint for the second Trump presidency. The historian Rick Perlstein, in a series of articles in The American Prospect, has argued that some of this coverage is misleading. Project 2025 is a vast, complicated document full of contradictory recommendations apparently made by people with different beliefs and agendas. Consistent with Magyar’s theory of autocracy, the document is more a reflection of the clan of people who empower Trump and are empowered by him than an ideological document. It is not a blueprint for coherent legislative change, but it is a blueprint still: a blueprint for trampling the system of government as it is currently constituted, a blueprint of destruction.