Who’s Laughing at America [And Why]

When T$$$p says people are laughing at America, it’s because he thinks he is America. Here are some ways this is wrong, beyond the obvious.

1. Read some of the King Arthur literature, stories of royalty and shit. The king is the land. The land is the king. The divine right of kings. Maximum arrogance. I don’t recall whatever led him to say, “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore. And they won’t be.” 195 countries signed onto the Paris climate deal. Which other countries and leaders were laughing at America, Syria and Nicaragua? And that laughing caused him to pull out of the deal? It’s more like the royal we. When he says we and us, he means simply “me.” Now it gets a little easier…
2. Projection.
3. Germany breaks up with him as a reliable boyfriend. Emasculation.
4. Some other world leader steps in front of him, so he must literally push him aside to step back in front of him. Then he puffs out his chest, completely free of irony.
5. Biggest inferiority complex of maybe the last 80 years?
6. The constant need for spectacle, suspense and applause.
7. Being a core outsider, disruptor and contrarian requires breaking with the pack, just because.
8. Faith-based policy-making rejects data/evidence-based policy-making, just because. So there.
9. Short-term costs to move to the post-carbon energy infrastructure are cheaper than trillions in long-term security costs: “The US shouldn’t have to pay billions for a climate change deal when it can pay trillions in sea defenses for no climate change deal.”

And there’s no reason why athletes shouldn’t weigh in on political issues, but when someone like Jonathan Toews [Canadian] shows stunningly more leadership, intellect and gravitas than T$$$p, we know the world is teetering. See below.

So as we pivot to a new world of facts, decisiveness, empathy, relationship and vision, we need to understand what makes dangerous people tick. And we need to envision a new world both to inoculate ourselves against current toxicity, and to ensure we have the structures, people and vision to take action when we get those precious moments.

BC’s new GreeNDP minority government may demonstrate how to do that in a legislature with the dirty political tactics of the BC Liberal Party in cynical opposition. We must rise up and take our place as people who are committed to tomorrow!

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