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Saturday, August 19, 2017

Contagation

This feels to The Omnivore like an inflection point in the Trump presidency--a point at which things have "actually changed" to some degree. This comes on today's (and it's only 7 AM) announcement that POTUS/FLOTUS (and the VP will not be attending the Kennedy Awards so as to "avoid political distractions."

Of course this isn't happening in a vacuum:

And, well, you know:


It's Not ALL About Charlottesville

Bannon, at least according to some, gave his resignation up on August 7th. That may or may not be bullshit--but if it's true that was before Trump fumbled the ball on denouncing racists. A couple of tech-leaders had already quit because of his Paris Accord pull-out. Ichan also bailed yesterday because of conflicts of interest--nothing else.

So what's going on?

The answer is Contagion. When you are tagged as undesirable people who closely associate with you also get classed as undesirable. The closer the association, the more people get "on them." Like a disease, so long as the behavior stops or at least subsides, it goes away.

Like a disease, there are probably people who can associate with you--but survive if they have sufficient counter-cred (an "immunity"). So, yeah--it's like a disease.

Trump seems to have hit a point where he is marked badly enough to make people unwilling to take on the risk of being contaminated with him.

This was, we should note, already happening with his appointments. Trump had to choose an FBI director who would be passable--but we also know he really wants one whose loyal. Every choice he now makes will be questioned: what was the required pledge? Was there one? Would we know?

Additionally, of course, Trump hires people, uses them up, and fires them. It seems unlikely that, for example, Kellyanne Conway is going to come out of this with her reputation intact. She'll be recognized as a person who was willing to jettison her integrity to lie for the team. Same with Spicer.


What Comes Next?

It's not impeachment. What The Omnivore thinks comes next is the attempt of the tainted to inoculate themselves from further damage. That means: Tell-Alls.

Bannon has said he's going to war (he says against Trump's enemies--but we know that means His (Bannon's) enemies in the administration--like Kelly, Kushner, and McMaster). The Omnivore would expect other people expelled from the admin to see this inflection point as a chance to tell their side without looking like a complete traitor.

The net effect of this, is, of course, going to be churn, drama, and stasis. We're about to come up on the Debt Ceiling and if we blow it, we're facing the probability of a serious recession. What are the odds that this administration can right the ship and brush off the sleights and do what's necessary to keep the country going?

Well done, Trump-voters. Well done.

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