The Aftermath - Elon Musk and the "Dark MAGA" Meme, etc. (continuously updated and revised)

Harris and the Huckster

(Election results as of Nov. 16, 2024)

Harris: 73,755,129 votes            Huckster: 76,453,640 votes

"It's a reality that needs to be examined with eyes wide open. The path on which Trump, strengthened for his second term by his party's success in the Senate, will take his country diverges fundamentally from the one charted by the United States since the end of the Second World War. It marks the end of an American era, that of an open superpower committed to the world, eager to set itself up as a democratic model. It's the famous "shining city on a hill," extolled by President Ronald Reagan. The model had been challenged over the past two decades. Now, Trump's return is putting a nail in its coffin."

 - Via Le Monde's post-election editorial: The end of an American world. Also see: 'The nightmare': Germany's media react to Trump's victory.

"'Trump promised voters that 'I alone can fix it' Ben-Ghiat recalled.

'This is reassuring to some people,' she continued, calling it 'very sad' because, throughout history, people have all eventually discovered 'that this brought disaster upon the country.'

'The illusion of competency is very important,” she added. 'That’s why they’re going to put their trust in him to solve their problems because they think he’s competent. And that’s one of the biggest scams of all.'"

- Via the Huffington Post article: Authoritarianism Expert Shatters A Trump ‘Illusion’: ‘One Of The Biggest Scams Of All’

"Based solely on precedent, the near future appears to be grim. The 2016 Trump presidency was disastrous for arts funding, diversity, and education. He issued a travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries that blocked entry for artists and arts professionals, to the outrage of the museum and university sector. Trump repeatedly attempted to defund federal arts funding; his 2018 and 2021 proposed budgets included the outright elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts (its budget in 2021 was $167.5 million, markedly low for a federal agency). The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which partially funds PBS and NPR, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services were also targets. The cultural sector, already battling for crumbs with the Trump agency, took a blow during the Covid-19 pandemic and has yet to fully recover."

- Via the Art News article: The Art World Reacts to a Second Trump Presidency

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(November 16, 2024)

As much as I hate mixing politics with art - political discourse mars the aesthetic of this blog - every now and then I realize that it is necessary to interject personal and current events within its content to give my trips down the rabbit hole an official-world context.

As it happened, for one manic moment in time (in early October), I almost thought "reality" - a relative term used to designate what is allegedly real (although, ultimately, it fails) - was about to shift in some way... creating a brighter and more bearable zeitgeist than that which America has been experiencing for the past 9 years. This isn't to say I had "hope" (in itself, an emotional, often delusional response) but I was open to it... I could conceive of having hope. Honestly, I was beginning to envision a new cultural Renaissance... even a new World Renaissance.

My first thought on November 6th was to tie on a black armband. Surely, something had died. Snow actually fell in NM the day after the election - way too soon for the Southwest - bringing with it a bitter winter chill... and a number of power outages... i.e. the stage was set. Apparently, when given the choice between the proposal of a tentatively harmonic nation with a new figurehead and the overblown delusions of grandeur presented to us by a known criminal, at least one half the population of this country would choose the latter. And why? Because the criminal in question is, first and foremost, of the male gender... historically, the gender of choice for personal political positions of power and influence, no? Could be. Misogynism and gynophobia have always been present in the American political system. Representation of "the people," however, for which our administrative positions were originally intended, took a back seat in American politics a long time ago. And, while more women are seemingly in positions of political power, the throne seems to be firmly reserved for a king.

Sadly, Donald Trump is no king. His worshippers would have you believe he is the Second Coming of Christ, somehow overlooking the fact that their savior has no grace, no diplomacy, no compassion, no integrity, no dignity and little respect for his flock. Delusions abound in Donnyland... and, so, once again, Dr. Snake Oil and his band of merry terrorists have slithered into town with threats of violence, deportation, financial ruin and a whole bag of leftover Halloween tricks to deaden our hearts (& brains).

Never straying far from the obvious, political analysts have built their arguments around the short-comings of a select individual or group. But, no, in my analysis, Kamala Harris was not at fault for her loss. She had less than a few months to pull together a campaign while her opponent had been poisoning the political well for nine years. The Democrats, while not representing the working class as much as it had done earlier in the previous century is still the party of choice for many blue-collar workers, if merely by default. White women have also also cited as a meaningful factor; we will assume the analysts are referring to MAGA women and surely NOT white feminists, who champion all women. No one seems to want to address the racist aspects inferred here, but one doesn't have to dig too deeply to find them; nor is it mysterious in which camp they are most likely to be found.

What few seem inclined to admit is that Trump enacted his greatest coup in 2024, while announcing at the proverbial last hour that Elon Musk was now onboard. Elon Musk, the Tech Wizard whom I once admired, was revealed to be a Trump cheerleader... and/or Trump's personal court jester, jumping up and down on his invisible leash. Musk, who could not possibly denounce science aligned himself with a party for whom science and culture are among the words they can't pronounce. Intellectuals frighten them. Musk most likely also frightens them. But Trump, clever as he is, knew that drawing even a portion of Musk's millions of followers and political allies into the Republican camp would ultimately break the bank via the ballot box. And, so, it did.

So, how long do you give this bromance now that Musk has served his major purpose?*

* Correction (11/17): Wrong. I forgot, there's bitcoin. The bromance has a ways to go. And there may be more; admittedly, I have minimal tech savvy. Lastly, Musk's dearest mission is to go to Mars.  

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The "October Surprise"... Elon Musk

Tech Futurist or James Bond Villain of the Future?

"Other folks have reportedly received calls complaining about Musk’s presence, including tech access journalist Kara Swisher. Swisher told CNN, “He definitely inserts himself all the time, that’s his style. I’ve heard from Trump people, calling me saying, ‘Oh, wow. This is odd’. And it is.”

"Swisher, who has famously never been wrong about Musk in the past, reportedly isn’t worried that Trump and Musk will last long as a team. “They’re both narcissists, and there can be only one narcissist as head of the country, and that’s Donald Trump. Trump goes through people like tissues, essentially. And even if it’s Musk, they’re going to clash at some point.”

- Via ‘Guest Who Wouldn’t Leave’ Elon Musk Is Reportedly Already Too Annoying For Trump Team

(More below the jump...)

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Anti-Trump Protests Erupt Across US From New York City To Seattle

Also see:

• Warren: Trump transition ‘already breaking the law’
• 'Women Are Property' Sign on Texas Campus Goes Viral After Trump Win