Pieces

Such drama surrounding the Trump verdict. I guess the jury started deliberating yesterday. Plenty of speculation and filling of airtime on all the networks, including MSNBC. Well, that’s the only one we watch. Maybe CNN clips every now and then. And PBS Newshour. Anyway, a guilty verdict won’t move the needle much, though it would still be significant.

Sounds like the Biden camp is worried, and maybe they should be. As much of a recovery as has been touted since Covid, there are apparently many people who are unhappy with their economic circumstances, along with Biden’s policy toward Israel. And his age. And of course the southern border, which is more of an issue than it needs to be. It’s still 6 months out, and a lot can happen between now and November 5.

It’s sad that people seem so willing to compromise their values and good sense in trade for some vacuous Trump promise of economic relief. It’s difficult to believe that people trust Trump to deliver on anything, including economic issues, but polling suggests this to be the case.

I think Yuval Harari may be on to something when he talks about the importance of myth making for humans. Since it’s basically all myth—the United States, capitalism, even religion, all historically agreed upon principles that enough people abide by– all it takes is for someone like Trump to come along. He starts questioning the principles and acting like they don’t matter, and the whole thing starts looking like a house of cards.

Pundits go apoplectic, run around with their hair on fire, and people tune in and start acting the same way. There’s so much noise on TV and online that we need to take a step back, tune out, and let the network talking heads cackle and talk to themselves for a while. Opinions are a dime a dozen, flying off the shelves, embraced and repeated, for better or worse.