The Clowns At the Gates of Sanity - Pt 1

I’m surrounded by political news everywhere I go. I can’t avoid hearing about it; I’m at ground zero for this stuff, being in the nation’s capitol metro area. I’ve heard a lot of crap from the right and the left, but the conservatives have really become something unrecognizable from the conservatives of yesteryear. There are no more moderates. Instead, you have extremists and manipulators of fringe elements.

The biggest manipulator and biggest joke in all of this has been Donald Trump. He is the biggest, narcissistic clown concerning the recent birther issue and about China. First, let’s start with China, shall we? All I’ve heard from him, in his “thinking about running” for the GOP presidential nominee is his constant whining about and vilifying of China.

Trump has accused China of “stealing” manufacturing jobs from the US. Okay, so that has nothing to do with the big corporations moving jobs overseas? Oh, and of interest as well, is that while he demagogues against the Chinese, a lot of the Trump brand names bear the label of “Made In China”. His excuse? "The answer is very simple: Because of the fact that China so manipulates their currency it makes it almost impossible for American companies to compete," Trump told ABC News. "You see it with all of the items you are talking about. You also see it with building products. If it continues this way, America won't have any jobs, except for taking care of the elderly." He also said, "You try doing business in China it’s impossible ... and yet they come over here and they make everything... the problem is that we don't make things anymore... we make it in China and other countries and we really have problem," Trump told Fox News in October last year. And then he goes on to say that China is “raping us”. Is this guy quite possibly the dumbest demagogue? Donald, why don’t you try learning history, oh say, read up on the Rape of Nanking and then maybe you’ll see what real rape of a country is.

While it’s true that China has kept their currency artificially low, or devalued, Trump ignores the that this is the free market, the driving force behind the near religious zeal of conservatives. The US and other industrialized western economies have held sway over other newly industrialized countries as well in global competition. So it’s only good when it benefits us and bad when it benefits someone else? Hey, that’s the free market, right? Trump talks tough and says that as the Republican nominee, he’d have a much better plan than anyone else in the field to solve the trade imbalances and create more jobs. How about Trump putting up or shutting up? Manufacture your merchandise here in the US. But no, he instead manufactures his goods in China because the wages are much lower. And not just China---but also in Mexico. All so he can profit greatly himself. He doesn’t care one bit about the American worker. But it’s the Chinese that are to blame.

He acknowledges that the Chinese are financing our national debt. Funny, I didn’t hear him complain one bit when the Bush administration sought out the Chinese to help finance two wars. So his simplistic solution is to start a trade war with the Chinese. Currency valuation is just one of several important factors figuring into trade imbalances. The Economist Magazine even points out that there are internal dynamics within both countries that help prevent steps from being taken to create an improved trade balance. Instead of creating anti-Asian sentiment and a scapegoat for the failures of the American economy, how about he understands that the Chinese have to keep their currency artificially depressed to avoid a rapid spike in inflationary pressures?

Oh, but you see, he does understand all of this. He’s not a dumb as we’d like to think he is. No, his problem is his massive ego and narcissism and his need for attention. And that's what makes him so dangerous. He's legitimizing these awful thoughts and providing justification. He’s shrewdly manipulating those who are on the lunatic fringe or those who aren’t capable of sorting through complex factors and so only go for the soundbite:

“China is raping us!” “We’re being ripped off and they’re laughing at us” “China thinks we are dumb SOB’s.”

The Yellow Peril, mocking the grand old USA. And what do you think happens with that kind of incendiary talk? Who do you think the potential targets for people’s anger are when the economy is bad and jobs are non-existent? Look what happened to Vincent Chin back in 1982. Two unemployed auto workers bludgeoned Chin with a baseball bat.