Twilight's Last Gleaming

[Michael Deneen]

As I write this, we are less than 21 hours until the Trump Regime takes over in Washington.
As I posted on November 9, I fear that there will be dark and troubled times.

In recent weeks it has occurred to me that Lakewood is a preview of Trump's Administration.
There are many parallels between Team Trump and Team Summers.
So perhaps we shouldn't be too alarmed by Trump....we have already seen many of his tactics locally. As the Bible says, "There is nothing new under the Sun".

Here are some of the parallels I've noticed.

*Both Summers and Trump are members of the "Lucky Sperm Club", comprised of heirs that inherited the family business from their parents.
*Despite acquiring their wealth via family, both have convinced voters that they are "smart businessmen".
*Both ran campaigns touting themselves as "successful businessmen" running against "career politicians".

*Trump has feuded with the media, especially Meghan Kelly. Team Summers sued Jim OBryan in an effort to put the Observer out of business. They also pulled the Observer from City Hall until public outcry became too strong. Trump has pondered banning the media from the White House altogether. God help us after he is sworn in.

*Trump famously refuses to release his tax returns. Team Summers has fought release of information on the Hospital deal at every turn. There is much they still haven't released. Both Trump and Summers loathe transparency. (Rich guys don't like to be questioned)

*Team Summers sent the police to harass a critic. Just wait until Trump gets control of the FBI.

*Both Summers and Trump love simple, empty slogans, such as "The Future of Health Care" and "Make America Great Again". This sloganeering is a byproduct of their expensive MBA educations.

*Both Trump and Summers have hijacked a political party for political expediency. Lifelong Republican Summers pretends to be a Democrat. Longtime Democrat Trump joined the GOP Circus. In both cases, officials of those parties cynically enabled these men. That's because many leaders in both parties are Corporatists -- big business rules...social issues are "just for show". Party leaders also crave power. Ryan and McConnell overcame their initial rejections and eventually embraced Trump. Marx, O'Leary, and Anderson did the same with Summers.

*Both offer no specifics on their big plans. We still don't know what Summers plans to do with the hospital site. Just like we have no idea who will pay for Trump's Wall, or what the GOP will use to replace the ACA.

*Both are corporatists that place the importance of business over citizens. Team Summers advocated eminent domain abuse for Issue 47. Trump has personally benefitted from eminent domain abuse in his businesses.

*Both Trump and Summers are happy to divide the population for their own benefit. Team Summers has created Lakewood's Civil War, which dates back to Issue 47. Trump joyously divides the nation by race, religion, gender, etc.

I'm sure that many so-called "Lakewood Democrats" will take offense to this comparison. They will say "Summers is a nice guy, Donald is a pig!".
It's true that their styles are different. For example, Team Trump loves to be openly and loudly racist. Team Summers prefers softer "dog whistle bigotry" on issues such as pit bulls and basketball hoops. However, once you peel back the stylistic differences, there isn't that much difference between the two.

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear for our future.


photo by Brian Foox

[Bridget Conant]

This post.

This post.

[Stan Austin]

Interesting parallels with the only difference that in Lakewood this has been going on for several years whereas the Trump phenomenon has about a 16 month life.

[Kate McCarthy]

Mike, I completely agree. I also see parallels to the run up to the Iraq war, where people I respected bought the ever-changing rationales and dubious evidence used to support a war that many of us knew was a disaster in the making. And, as with hospital issue, anyone who was not on the war bandwagon, was marginalized or remained silent out of fear.

I hope many in our community will step back and read this with an open mind.

[cmager]

Interesting parallels with the only difference that in Lakewood this has been going on for several years whereas the Trump phenomenon has about a 16 month life.

Mr. Austin, I would peg the first known sighting of the current "GOP War on America" as the Powell Memorandum of 1971. This gave rise to a number of the right-wing reactionary think tanks (Heritage Foundation, ALEC, American Enterprise Institute, and so many more), bad actors such as the Koch Bros, and the problematic presidency that was Ronnie Reagan. Read more...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._ ... Memorandum
On August 23, 1971, prior to accepting Nixon's nomination to the Supreme Court, Powell was commissioned by his neighbor, Eugene B. Sydnor Jr., a close friend and education director of the US Chamber of Commerce, to write a confidential memorandum titled "Attack on the American Free Enterprise System," an anti-Communist, anti-New Deal blueprint for conservative business interests to retake America for the chamber.

[Stan Austin]

I can only reply that hold on to your shorts. Lots of this crap goes way back to the 1930s.

[Jim O'Bryan]

Amazing post Mike.

.

[Tim Liston]

*Both have tiny hands?

[Bridget Conant]

More similarities:

Neither Trump nor Summers seem to have any clue that what they are doing is wrong or unethical.

[cmager]

More similarities:Neither Trump nor Summers seem to have any clue that what they are doing is wrong or unethical.

Does Summers pass as a body double for Mike Pence? Send Summers to Washington!

[Michael Deneen]

As Mr. Tiny Hands settles into the job, more parallels with the Summers Regime come into focus.

I especially enjoy KellyAnne Conway's introduction of the term "alternative facts".
"Alternative facts" is what City Hall has been spewing for a few years now.

[Brian Essi]

"Alternative facts" is what City Hall has been spewing for a few years now.

The implications of Nazis and totalitarianism is tempting. Summers has a track record of bad governing, but Trump not so much yet after 3 days.

If we ignore reference to Orwell's 1943 definition, may I suggest that we here on the Deck have presented "facts" that are "alternative" to City Hall's re-writing of history and denying things that actually happened. But a Fact will still be a Fact, even though someone tacks on the adjective "alternative", unless of course it in not a Fact in the first place.

George Orwell comments on the concept of historical fact.

From Looking Back on the Spanish War, (1943)
I know it is the fashion to say that most of recorded history is lies anyway. I am willing to believe that history is for the most part inaccurate and biased, but what is peculiar to our own age is the abandonment of the idea that history could be truthfully written. In the past, people deliberately lied, or they unconsciously colored what they wrote, or they struggled after the truth, well knowing that they must make many mistakes; but in each case they believed that "the facts" existed and were more or less discoverable. And in practice there was always a considerable body of fact which would have been agreed to by almost anyone. If you look up the history of the last war in, for instance, the Encyclopedia Britannica, you will find that a respectable amount of the material is drawn from German sources. A British and a German historian would disagree deeply on many things, even on fundamentals, but there would still be a body of, as it were, neutral fact on which neither would seriously challenge the other. It is just this common basis of agreement with its implication that human beings are all one species of animal, that totalitarianism destroys. Nazi theory indeed specifically denies that such a thing as "the truth" exists. There is, for instance, no such thing as "Science". There is only "German Science," "Jewish Science," etc. The implied objective of this line of thought is a nightmare world in which the Leader, or some ruling clique, controls not only the future but the past. If the Leader says of such and such an event, "It never happened" -- well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five -- well two and two are five. This prospect frightens me much more than bombs -- and after our experiences of the last few years that is not such a frivolous statement.

-- George Orwell
Looking Back on the Spanish War, (1943)

Example: Summers denied a Metro proposal existed. I for one, proved that Metro presented two proposals. Someone could say that I presented "Alternative Facts."

[Michael Deneen]

Trump set to appear on Hannity tonight (Thursday).

Yet another Trump/Summers parallel.
Trump has Hannity......Summers has "Lakewood Citizen".

To be fair, this comparison may be unfair to Trump.....he has never given Hannity a housing inspector job.

[Michael Deneen]

The parallels between millionaire Summers and (alleged) billionaire Trump continue to manifest.
Today the White House dismissed the nationwide protests of the Muslim Ban as being "Hysterical Voices".

This page is right out of the "Team Summers" playbook.......they constantly depicted SLH as overly emotional.
Marginalization of the opposition is critical for corrupt regimes to flourish.

Donny isn't doing too well at his new gig......he should call Jim Kenny and Jen Pae to help with the PR spin.