The Patron Saint of the Third String

Put Me in Coach

"I'm Smart, And I Want Respect!"

“I'm your older brother Mike and I was stepped over.”

On a recent podcast with John Heilemann, Atlantic writer Tom Nichols stated:

“…you have to understand that Donald T***p is the patron saint of the third string. The people that felt themselves, even if they were successful, felt themselves somehow deprived of the brass ring, deprived of the respect, you know, that's very much the Fredo and the Godfather thing.”

How do you build an oligarchic kleptocracy? You start by having multiple phone conversations with the world’s foremost expert on fleecing his population. Get your financier to have multiple phone conversations with a brutal dictator? Maybe invite a corrupt ‘world leader’ to your gaudy hotel/mansion in Florida for a little tete-a-tete?

These “men” actively train you in how to choose the most unqualified toadies to fill positions in your “government” and then direct them to do your bidding so that you can perform a sleight of hand with all the cash. Promise the “third string” losers that they will get their beaks wet and Viola, you are on your way to fat pockets while your public starves on their $7.25 per hour minimum wage and three jobs.

These are the people that were stuffed into lockers. Never mind that they are monumentally inexperienced and ill-equipped to handle their appointments, they have one objective and that is to answer “Yes, sir.” They don’t bring expertise, they don’t enhance the departments, they are there to eff things up. When the wheels are falling off, it is much easier to fleece the nation, as the public and the remaining shards of a broken media system try to follow the flood of insanity.

If everything goes as planned, it’s always raining:

“Chipping around, kick my brains 'round the floor
These are the days, it never rains, but it pours”
--David Bowie & Queen: Under Pressure

The magic trick occurs in broad daylight. The citizens are none the wiser until the pain gets worse. By that time, it is too late because they have removed your power to choose a different path.

The ‘Magic’ Word is Perfidious

Linda McMahon slaps her daughter as she prepares for Season Two of the Trumptanic

Perfidious

“If someone accuses you of being perfidious, you should probably be offended — it means underhanded, treacherous, deceitful — even evil.”

Years ago, I saw David Copperfield in Las Vegas, and he picked me as the one of audience members in which to demonstrate one of his ‘tricks.’ Copperfield was standing a foot and a half away from me, staring straight into my eyes as he “floated,” in mid-air, a paper rose that he had crafted from tissue. I am guessing eye contact was part of the trick as it caused me not to pay such close attention to his hands. In a flash, the paper rose disappeared in flames. One second it was there, the next, gone. Poof. He just shot me a smile and a wink and went on to his next trick.

I was astounded. And that was just a warm-up act. Just wait until you see the out-in-the-open double-dealing. Your tax dollars at work! Your tax dollars going Poof!

How will it look when the ‘government’ announces it is buying 50,000 EVs and the company providing those new vehicles is Tesla? Musk already has numerous government contracts and yet somehow retains a security clearance, even as he is known to have had phone sex with Vladimir Putin.

We have already seen Oklahoma School Superintendent Ryan Walters place an order for 55,000 Bibles for OK schools. A book that can be purchased for $2.00, yet Christian Nationalist, Walters is asking for over $3 million to purchase T***p bibles at $60 a crack. Again, for schools? Talk about magic tricks.

Will we see Matt Gaetz doing commercials for Venmo? Or Kristi Noem selling Purina dog food? How about Dr. Oz recommending magic coffee beans for seniors? Or Linda McMahon doing a traveling WWE road show to America’s schools? Speaking of education, maybe Tulsi Gabbard can offer online classes teaching Russian? RFK Jr. selling toothbrushes? The possibilities are endless.

Insatiable Opulence

For the past forty-five years, since the birth of Reaganomics, we have been told that “Supply Side Economics” would benefit all the people in the country. Four and half decades of “Trickle Down Economics” and the fat-cats can never get enough.

“Inequality is skyrocketing even within the Forbes 400 list of America’s richest. As of May 2023, the net worth of the richest member of this group was 38 times larger than the net worth of the richest member in 1982 (in today’s dollars).” –Inequality.org

In 1982, the minimum wage was $3.35 per hour. Today, it is $7.25 per hour and has been at this level since 2009. In inflation-adjusted dollars, that comes out to around $4.00 per hour, an increase of $0.65 per hour since 1982.

During this same time, as Neoliberalist Economics (market centered) took hold across the West, corporate income taxes have dropped by over half as deficits have exploded. The money NEVER trickled down to anyone, the middle class was fleeced and basically decimated while the rich got fabulously richer. Meanwhile, some 37 to 44 million Americans live in poverty.

The monied class used to pay taxes and they also contributed to the society at large. Now, they do jack shit for society while buying mega yachts and rocket ships. America remains the only Western nation to not have universal health care, despite being the richest nation on earth.

Corporations own the US government. In 2023, there were a total of 12,928 lobbyists and they collectively spent $4.27 billion greasing the politicians. That is over a 24 to 1 ratio of lobbyists to congress members. The highest per capita income is Washington, D.C.

Do you see this situation improving with the King of all grifters heading to D.C.? The guy who is now selling guitars for $10,000. The Guitar Grifter.

Red Team, Blue Team

Do we really have a “Divided nation?” Is there an entrenched culture war?

Ask yourself this. What are the differences between Cletus living in his trailer in Kentucky and Travis eating his avocado toast and sipping a latte in San Francisco?

Neither man has any agency over the current plutocracy. None. Zip, zed, nada, zilch, zero.

So does Cletus hate the gays, the trans, the ‘pronouns’ and the feminists? Does Travis hate the Holier-than-Thou Talibangelicals?

Or have both people been rat-fucked by plutocrats who can never get enough treasure, can never be satiated?

“When powerful and wealthy elites are at the crux of so many of humanity's biggest problems, targeting the oligarchs—and the conditions that create and sustain them—must be at the crux of our efforts to solve those problems.” —Bernie Sanders Understands How Oligarchy Stands in the Way of Human Progress

Do you think Elmo Musk cares about your well-being? Would Space Karen think twice about stepping on you on his way to more tax cuts or deregulation?

They need you broken and hurting. They need you ‘chipping around and kicking your brains 'round the floor.’ They need you Under Pressure. One medical event can destroy your family, even if you have a higher position than your neighbor. A sick pet can be a catastrophe. New tires for the car?

37% of the country is unable to cover a $400 expense.

We need to get real here. Immigrants working farm fields in 108-degree heat or working in a meat packing plant for $7.25 an hour are NOT the problem in this country. If you are a fantastic racist? Maybe. You must be incredibly ignorant to not understand the economic power of immigrant labor.

“The jump in jobs, along with immigrants’ consumption of goods and services in the United States, also bolsters GDP growth.” –Dallas Fed

As Professor Scott Galloway said recently on Pivot, “America is a platform for two things, defending its citizens and its shores, and creating atmospheres to get more money.”

The plutocracy is not fulfilling its end of the bargain on that second thing. We need to change that. This is our last dance.

The original Serenity Prayer says: “The courage to change the things I can.” Desmond Tutu’s version says: “The courage to change the things that must be changed.” We need to step up our game. This is assuming we WANT change?