Yes, yes – we all know that the MAGA movement’s ethos entails a need to “drain the swamp” and destroy “the deep state.” That is a given, though what remains confused is to what degree the mission had been accomplished in 2016. Was it a little? A lot? Either answer is problematic. If a lot got done, what is the need now? Regardless, whatever the goal once was, it has evolved into a more encompassing, less linear, indeed – even less logical, primal hunger to just tear, claw, and burn it all down, all of it, destroy it all. One hears very little about creating anything. Only destruction.
You might ask, destroy what? All of it? All of what? But you likely won’t even get around to the better question – “Why?” Good thing. Because many of President-elect Trump’s foot soldiers not know what exactly it is they’re destroying, they sure cannot articular why. It appears that MAGA has yet to fully embrace its own underlying rationale, let alone purpose.
Case study in Steve Bannon. There cannot possibly be anyone better positioned to know the Trump administration’s agenda with a point to point specificity. He can tell us what all is planned – sort of. He cannot tell us exactly why it’s needed, not at all. Here is Bannon from this morning’s show: Per transcripts from JoeMyGod:
“Donald Trump and his revolution is in charge now. And that revolution is going to make its way from Mar-a-Lago and from every part of the country, like Andrew Jackson, it’s going to converge on the imperial capitol in late January.
Presumably the imperial capital can be translated into “the Capitol.” But notice there is no warmth or charm in this satisfied pronouncement. It is cold, it is dark, it is impersonal – “imperial,” and there is no joy or optimism to be found. And he hasn’t made it to the second sentence, below:
“And yes, we’re going to burn some of these institutions down to the ground. Because you know why? They need to be burned down to the ground. Metaphorically. As the process of creative destruction. The process of the structure of revolutions, the paradigm shift has impact.
Bannon is not stupid – not at all, an Ivy League MBA and former partner at Goldman Sachs, he is smart enough to know that he never answered his own question. He says burn it all to the ground, and then asks himself “Why?” But his only answer – at least it is honest – is “because.” Saying that each institution, whether the Justice Department, or the FBI, or Health and Human Services, “needs to be burned down” is not answering the question as to why. Talking about a paradigm shift only “shifts” the matter back to why there was ever a paradigm. He never does answer. It leaves us to believe they’re only doing it because they can. Political graffiti artists, government arsonists, taking delight in destruction, “We get to be evil.”
As if destruction is what they want to “create.” Bannon goes on, sounding like he’s begging someone to tell him he’s wrong or they can’t do it – except no one has:
“We’re not going to cave. We’re not going to give up on Gaetz. We’re not going to give up on Tulsi Gabbard. We’re not going to give up on Pete Hegseth. We’re not going to give up on RFK Jr. We’re not going to give up on anybody.
“And you know why? If President-elect Donald J. Trump wants them, he’s going to get them.”
Yeah, I guess. Has anyone asked him to cave? Other than fellow Republicans, has anyone said, “You really should cave over that Gabbard pick… ” No – Democrats have thrown their hands up and walked away (For now), the only people still standing around watching are the fellow Republicans who didn’t necessarily sign up for this.
Democrats are surprised. In all fairness to Donald Trump – he did say exactly what he wanted to do. Nearly every Democrat listened. It would seem that the only ones who might have been fooled were some of the light-weight Republicans who thought that Trump would stay relatively restrained. Not so.
People are outraged that such obviously unqualified people have been nominated but that is almost beside the point, given that they are there to do nothing but burn the place to the ground – per Steve Bannon. Does it sound like any of these people, including President-elect Trump, really wants the Department of Health and Human Services to succeed and promote health? Or does it sound like RFK Jr. is appointed to tear HHS down and only after it is well-torn down and left without a pulse does RFK Jr. maybe get a shot at building something?
It is the latter. Now take that model and walk it over to DOJ, walk it through the Defense Department, walk it through our intelligence community (With Putin watching), take it through every cabinet position – the first objective is to set it all on fire and burn its very existence to the ground. Why? Because they can and because they can. That’s why. They get to be evil now, they won, they get to destroy what was here. It is what they signed up for, and damn it, don’t you dare don’t ask why.
Oh, and the nominations are just the beginning. The bosses are likely only there to fire the underlings and replace people with those who have already been vetted through Project 2025 and are in place to take the job and actually do the torch work. And perhaps stick around long enough to build something up from the ashes. Something in Donald Trump’s image.
All of this is weird. Usually there is far more joy and optimism in people who are about to take office. Usually there is a love for the nation that finally had the good sense to elect them. Generally speaking, this would be a time for excitement, a time to make amends with old enemies in order to go forward, a time to be humble as the weight of responsibility sets in. But mostly, a time to be happy, to smile, to feel warm regard for other Americans, a time to reach out.
It isn’t happening.
It is weird. It is almost like they’re merely awaiting the “Go” signal to tear it all down. Even worse, it almost doesn’t sound like they even know why they’re destroying it in the first place. Other than “We get to do it” – Your guess is as good as any.
Certainly not joyful. Read the Bannon quote again. He sounds like someone who… He sounds evil and yet, why?
God Bless: I can be reached at [email protected] and @JasonMiciak
burn it all down because they can is all there is to it. there is no plan to replace it with something else. just like infrastructure week and better health care than Obama care there isn’t actually anything to replace it with.
And that is what it might take for some maga’s to wake up. Maybe. When they are impacted directly by some decision 47 and his ilk make – whether it be higher interest rates, higher food costs (because doncha know immigrants harvest our food! and some are illegal.) higher costs for anything due to tariffs. Plus….a hurricane hits and there is massive destruction. Will 47’s folks be able to help if they dismantle FEMA?
But…….by then it’ll be way to effing late for those maga’s and all of us. The destruction of government agencies are part of the obligation 47 has to Putin.
Patrushev said: “To achieve success in the elections, Donald Trump relied on certain forces to which he has corresponding obligations. And as a responsible person, he will be obliged to fulfill them.
Come and get it. Burn baby burn. Starting with mold infested Slob-O-LoonO.
FAFO fothermuckes!
Bannon thought he was headed for a career in the Navy that would lead to flag (admiral) rank, even CNO. He was even a staffer in that office out on the E-Ring. The promotion board recognized something back then and despite what would seem a natural choice for advancement to the next rank he stalled. His boss and the other bigwigs didn’t intervene on his behalf with quiet pressure. Whether it was because they too sensed what a promotion board did or were simply being typical “tony” Navy types and following protocol to stay well out of the process so that there’d be no hint of taint in the process… who knows? It might have been a bit of both.
But I will always say from that time forward Bannon has carried a massive grudge against the Navy, the Armed Forces and the United States in general. How DARE his “greatness” not be recognized? As you say he’s a smart guy and he made himself rich. More importantly he developed connections that he might one day employ to extract retribution on the country he believes betrayed him. He is at heart an anarchist. He’s got the resources to live out his miserable life on a comfy little island somewhere as the U.S. and the world burns. And he has worked furiously towards that end.
That my friend is your “why.” Bannon suffers from the world’s biggest case of butt-hurt and is determined to make every other living person pay because once upon a time his dream was thwarted. But as I wrote earlier this week he’s got a problem. He’s going to be in court in NY state facing STATE felony charges and Trump can’t stop it. Even if Trump wants to. Trump after all doesn’t actually need Bannon anymore. And Bannon can’t do anything for Trump that other’s can’t do or have been doing. As we know Trump is purely transactional and I don’t think Bannon has enough to “trade” (including dirt on Trump he could reveal) to give Trump a moment’s pause to wonder whether to help beyond a few “witch hunt!”/’unfair!” statements.
If convicted which is likely Bannon’s going to a STATE prison in NY and it’s going to be rather less easy a time behind bars than his four months in a federal pen. Bannon is old himself and a heart attack waiting to happen. Sure, he will have MAGA types in prison who love him but he’s going to have plenty of others who’d stick a shiv in his gut and break it off without a moment’s hesitation.
He’s talking “bigly” right now but he’s scared. Remember, he’s got two convictions that would be taken into consideration during sentencing. Just because he was pardoned on one set of crimes doesn’t mean it doesn’t count in sentencing in court. There is precedent going back a couple hundred years establishing that accepting a pardon equals accepting guilt for committing the crime(s) for which one accepts a pardon. And there’s the conviction for which he’s served the four months. If convicted Bannon is going to prison in NY state for at least six or seven years. Maybe more. Parole? One thing parole boards require is contrition and who thinks Bannon would even try to convince them he’s sorry for what he’s done, much less succeed in fooling them?
Hopefully sometime next spring he’ll be led out of a courtroom and turned over to the NY state Dept. of Corrections. And if there’s a god he’ll die in prison.
Did I hear BLOW THE VAULT!!!!?
I think it’s pretty obvious they hate. people, or at least those people,: non-millionaires. If they can cancel.all the areas that actually help.people who aren’t rich, they’ll be happy. I don’t think they realize that big pot of Social Security and Medicare money may be cancelled because there are a lot of angry Boomers (like me) who.will lobby non-stop in.D.C. for what we paid into. Those lobbying for protecting Social.Security and Medicare need to.make it clear that recipients vote in large numbers, and they will.not vote for their Congress critters who take away what we’ be earned.It will.be a hard sell