Elite Anti-Trump Hysteria is an Act

Recently, my news feed and social media feed have been inundated with story after story about Russia “hacking” the election, the Electoral College going rogue and blocking Trump reaching the requisite 270, “briefing” the Electoral College on the Russian “hack,” holding a new election, etc. If the roles were reversed, the Russian allegation would be denounced as a wild conspiracy theory and those promoting Electoral College sabotage would be accused of hostility to democracy and outright subversion.  

This is all so farfetched and outside the norm for the usually meticulously “serious” and “respectable” voices of the elite consensus that it’s surreal. These same mouthpieces normally tell us that such outlandish tales and schemes are solely the purview of the fringes and mark those who promote them as people/outlets/sources etc. that are not to be taken seriously. In the current climate, the MSM comes off as hysterical and fanatical, and Infowars comes off as rational and sober minded.

For example, here we have a Harvard Law Professor, normally a dependable source of “serious” opinion, offering free legal advice to potential Electoral College defectors and seemingly acting as if this is a serious and desirable possibility. Yeah, whatever Buddy.

One has to ask, “What do the elite forces aligned against Trump really hope to accomplish with all this Russian "hacking," Electoral College defecting foolishness? What is the end game? Do they really think blocking Trump through the EC would work out favorably for them?”

Let’s think about this. If they succeeded in blocking Trump at the Electoral College level and installing Hillary or someone else, at the least there would be massive protests and a large portion of the population, more than just those who voted for Trump, would consider the resulting government illegitimate. At worst, there could be a large scale violent rebellion. And this is assuming that they deprive Trump of the needed 270 votes and that Congress doesn’t then just vote Trump in anyway. Can you imagine being a Republican Congressman returning to your district and trying to explain to your constituents why you didn’t vote for Trump? Good luck with that.

If they succeeded in somehow forcing a new election, do they really think the outcome would work out better for them the second time around? Trump would crush Hillary if they were forced to run again, because his favorability ratings have improved during the transition due to the Carrier deal, his generally serious and well-received appointments, etc. Plus, Trump would gain a lot of votes from voters who didn’t vote for him the first time based on their basic sense of fair play and outrage at the audacity.

Nothing Trump could do in the next 4 years would be as bad for them as their scenario actually coming to fruition. Imagine their electoral wipeout in 2 years if they succeed. I believe this is all, to use professional wrestling terminology, a work. The word has clearly gone out. It’s well coordinated with significant buy-in from the players involved, but all this nonsense is not a legit attempt to report the news. It’s political theater, a grand performance that is not actually intended to deprive Trump of the Presidency, but to maximally stir the pot and delegitimize him in the eyes of many and make it impossible for him to govern.

The elites did not come to be elite by being stupid. I highly suspect that all but the most naïve or fanatical likely understand the consequence of getting what they are “wishing” for, including our aforementioned Harvard professor. We should call them on it. Opening the curtain and revealing what is behind, not outrage, is the correct play here. Outrage at the coordinated effort is warranted, but outrage at their silly scenarios gives them more credit than they deserve.

This essay was also published at The Paleo-Populist.

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Comments

I assume the hacking is real,

I assume the hacking is real, as the FBI has now reached consensus with the CIA on that point. But neither agency has implicated Mr. Trump. So the Electoral College shouldn't use the hacking as an excuse and I don't think any of them will - only in the Washington Post's dreams.

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more hacking

The emails showed how the DNC really screwed over Bernie Sanders, but in terms of hacking media manipulation, I saw plenty before the election against Hillary. My concern would be vote hacking. I also question how Donald Trump made his money beyond his Dad. I cannot imagine anyone making it in NYC real estate, especially queens in the 1950s/60s, without the blessing of the local organized crime bosses. So, they have media manipulation as an end game of the Russian hacking and what a surprise, the entire election is circus. Even the "debates" were so inane there was no real information in them.

I just hope Trump sticks to his guns on trade. If he manages to get somewhere against the multinational corporate interests on those trade deals, that would be an incredible accomplishment. Hillary sure wasn't going to do it.

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Hacking

Frankly, the democratic party hanging its hat on the hacking as the primary excuse for losing the election is getting very tiresome. We all know the realities, Clinton was a lousy and flawed candidate that most people simply didn't trust - and for good reason. Did anyone really believe her flip flopping and non committal on TPP?

It also exposed the disconnect from the people here in flyover country and a woeful lack of a bench for future democratic growth. Democrats spent too much time on national and identity politics rather than the hard work of building for the future - running credible candidates from dog catcher, to school boards, town councils and other local and state levels - which has been a very effective strategy for the right. In my town for example the democrats didn't even bother to put a warm body on the ticket in over half the local races -the republicans were unopposed.

Assuming for a moment the Russians really did hack the DNC, they did us a favor exposing how corrupt and non democratic our election process has become.

I agree with Robert - I will be happy if Trump can pull off half of what he promises on our flawed trade regime

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