Twas Biden & slithy Trump did gyre & gimble

Political events are like poetry.

You may like them or dislike them. But they are sometimes hard to understand. You should never take them literally. They have to be interpreted. Think of them as metaphors for things happening in the wabe,er, real world.

Love

The thing comes
of itself

         (Look up
to see
         the cat & the squirrel, (Robert Creeley)

I used to teach critical thinking— and to test it I would give my students short poems and asked them to analyze them and interpret them. There are good interpretations which makes sense and bad interpretations which are just stupid.

In interpreting political events —the greatest mistake you can make is to look at the event with preconceived assumptions that generate absurdities. We end up missing what really went on. And are the poorer for it.

Recently, we had the Trump Biden debate.

What exactly happened? What did it mean?

The media of course missed all the important points— responding emotionally. Like taking a poem and tearing it up because it doesn't say what you wanted to say, the actual meaning of the event ended up in the waste basket.

For the media, this was all about Biden's obvious senility. What? Overwhelmingly shocking! Beyond comprehension! How could it happen!

Suddenly there was no explaining away Joe’s mental deficits—which have been apparent for a long time – since before he took office! No surprise there! Does Biden suffer from dementia? Or does the media?

Biden must go they said . They didn't even accept the excuse that the president had had a cold as relevant!

To older people in a state of cognitive decline a simple respiratory infection can produce a mental fog, confusion, and forgetfulness—all of which we saw in the debate. So, yeah, when he recovers, he might do the the second debate a little better —with the help of some Adderall, of course.

But again this really misses the point. Which is?

It doesn't matter who is President .

Joe Biden. Trump. Obama. George III .

Presidents don't really make policy.

They are spokespersons for long-standing programs created by the invisible government of the United States-- faceless, powerful, omnipresent cliques within the State Department, the military, and the intelligence services—not to mention political donors like AIPAC. A hydra.

Presidents like to think they are in control-- but really they are not. They are just one head of the monster. The only one that you can see. You never get to see the body either.

Democrat or Republican, the policies of the Executive Office rarely differ from administration to administration.

As I said emotional interpretations lead to missing significant content. The media paid little attention to what Trump said during the debate, for example.

Now obviously Trump will win as long as Biden runs. So what he said is really important .

Since Biden won all the primaries and has all the delegates only he can make the decision to drop out. And that's not going to happen. Certainly, Dr. Jill won’t let him.

One presidential policy that never changes is doubling down on irrational decisions. The more irrational policy is, the more it is doubled down on. But there is a certain logic to Biden running despite his unfitness. If he steps down, he loses absolutely. He will likely lose in the election— but it is not absolute certainty. Trump could self-destruct in the meantime.

Not that it matters.

Trump made clear during the debate— if anyone was listening— which they weren't— that his policies would be no different from Biden's. His solutions for the Ukraine war — stated before the debate— are risible non-solutions to which the Russians would never agree . He would have to double down on the previous policies of Obama and Biden – and the war would go on as it is now until the final Russian victory.

In the case of Gaza, Trump made clear that he was even more genocidal than Biden!

Israel is the one (that wants to keep going), and you should let them go and let them finish the job.

Biden was Trump 2.0 in 2020.

In 2024 Trump will be Biden 2.0-- or is that 3.0? Kind of like Windows versions – the numbers change-- but nothing else—same bugs, same problems as before— plus new ones from not fixing core programming mistakes.

Moon of Alabama quoted Obama on Biden:

Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know. But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself. Between someone who tells the truth; who knows right from wrong and will give it to the American people straight — and someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit. Last night didn’t change that, and it’s why so much is at stake in November. Barack Obama @BarackObama - 18:36 UTC · Jun 28, 2024

A few corrections. Politics is all about irony— just like poetry.

Biden never fought for ordinary folks anymore than Obama did. He only cared about his career— like Obama. Look at their records.

Nor did he tell the truth any more than Obama did. Look at Joe’s pronouncements on the Ukraine and Israel— and Obama’ on Russia and Libya.

Nor could Joe tell the difference between right and wrong anymore than Obama could. Obama had Libya. Biden has genocide in Gaza.

Of course Trump is no better.

That's my point.

As I said, presidents are just one head of a hydra— the one without the brain.

Ichi

Ichi was a very cute kitten.

But then all kittens are cute. They get adopted fast.

That's one reason why I'm tending towards adopting the older Kin, who is 13.

If I don't adopt her, it's very unlikely she will remain in the shelter of the rest of her life. That's not necessarily a bad thing — it's a good shelter the people they are very nice and she has lots of cat friends.

But what she really wants is a family. Me too.

Thank you to all those who sent messages and comments to me about this. It made a big difference. Along with the coffees of course, which you can buy here or by clicking on the picture.

Yes the special article is coming. I I had just finished one draft when I read a new article by Michael Hudson on war and debt. I need to add the concepts in that to my analysis.

It's going to be a long article but hopefully provide you with some real answers and a new perspective.