Archie Bunker in the White House

The New York City borough of Queens has two residents more famous than the rest-- Donald Trump and Archie Bunker. Donald Trump is real and Archie Bunker is a fictional character. Normal Lear, the groundbreaking television producer, named the show All in the Family and cast Carroll O'Connor as Archie.

Trump and Bunker resemble each other in many ways. Archie sits on his throne, a comfortable chair in the middle of his living room. He hurls insults and says the things others are thinking but are afraid to say. Archie has problems with racial diversity, homosexuality, longhairs, war protesters, etc. etc.. Each show ended with a positive message about healing and crossing barriers.

Tump's speeches do not end with that kind of uplifting message.  Trump has his throne to the Oval Office. He shoots from the hip just like Archie. Neither man shrinks from controversy.

All in the Family (AITF)  ran from 1971-1979 and helped heal some of the lingering pain of the Vietnam era. The show confronted American society's prejudices through the voice of a bigoted, white working-class guy. r

Archie's blunt language reminds us of Donald Trump. Both men have a natural, colorful speaking style. Their hate-filled rants have another thing in common, they attract a loyal following of fans. Both Archie Bunker and Donald Trump speak like guys not afraid to offend. Agree or disagree-- you cannot get Archie Bunker or Donald Trump out of your head. Both are born entertainers.

Trump and Bunker are colorful. They speak in the cadences of the man in the street. Trump has a wealthy background but does not feel elite. Archie comes from humbler stock. Archie feels fear about the future. He doesn't like change.

Trump also seems to want to long for the past. He's done everything possible to rollback the Obama year changes. He constantly inflames liberals and reporters from CNN and MSNBC.

Trump may be non-fictional but like Archie he is product of the media. Trump calls the media "the enemy of the people" but media is Trump's biggest friend. A true con man, Trump convinces us that the most outlandish ideas have validity. And foolishly the media underestimates Trump and calls him a fool. One of the conman's greatest gifts is to convince the other guy, the mark, that he is smarter than you.

The TV camera is Trump's real mistress, a gal more loyal than porn star Stormy Daniels and all the other female accusers. The media speak about Trump constantly, from both left and right, from Fox News to the The New York Times and Washington Post.

New Yorkers are famously abrasive. Usually that New York attitude does not play well in the flyover states. The American Heartland has affection for modest people, the "Aw shucks" attitude of a Gary Cooper, who rides into town on a white horse and takes care of problems like it was easy as pie.

Trump builds his own importance with the fever of a narcissist looking in the mirror. He loves to hear his name repeated. The Trump name resonates across the airwaves and social media with metronome regularity. The crude, colorful language

Despite all the odds against them, the two Queens products have hypnotized America to their way of thinking. Archie has bunked us and Trump has trumped us. And we like it!

Electronic World: electrocutes instantly

The social network is lately full of scandal. Scandal production rises to meet the speed of communication. Is there more scandal-- or just more reporting? Trump's adultery, Michael Cohen's payoffs, Stormy Daniels making a media splash-- has been happening since Adam and Eve or, at least, since Luci and Dezi took over the television airwaves.

So, what has changed?

Transparency. The incredible transparency that allows us to get the dirty details on everybody. Think of the big names that disappeared from the scene almost instantly-- Charlie Rose, Louis CK, Russell Simmons, Matt Lauer, Harvey Weinstein, Al Franken, Elliot Spitzer, Bill O'Reilly.  Those bights ignited, burned quickly and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The speed of collapse has changed. Decades of stardom gone in a few days.

We learn too much sometimes--  the sexual behaviors of Dustin Hoffman, bothered me. I liked his movies... including Midnight Cowboy and The Graduate most of all. Now I have to push Dustin Hoffman's rumored sexual behaviors out of my mind when I watch those films.

Ronan Farrow turns out to be the Sherlock Holmes of our era. Ronan did what The New York Times, Washington Post, etc could not do without him-- got the #metoo movement going.

Ronan got published in The New Yorker to get those Harvey Weinstein stories out. Ronan entered the annals of American history with his reporting on Harvey Weinstein. Ronan began his public career on shaky ground He failed as a MSNBC TV personality starting at too young. But he came back as a muckraking journalist and has changed society. Maybe Ronan has a political future?

Woody Allen is Ronan Farrow's father. Ronan stuck tightly to his sister's accounts of Woody having abused her sexually as a child. We have no proof of what actually happened but does that matter? Once the rumor takes hold, publish the rumor. Suddenly Woody seems guilty in the court of public opinion. Nobody cares to hear Woody's side of the story.

Woody has a wonderful sense of humor. Now I gotta consider Ronan's sister when watching a Woody Allen film. This places Ronan's sister on equal footing with Woody Allen-- one of the great comic geniuses.

Donald Trump has eluded the rapid fire dangers of the social network. Trump has brilliantly exploited the technology to great advantage.

Interesting the Donald Trump figured out Twitter at 70 years of age. Donald showed a preternatural ability to recognize Twitter as such an effective tool. He revolutionized American politics with the Twitter method for communicating with the electorate, at least his portion of it. This has nothing to do with morality. Twitter is available to us all.

Just remember... the electronic world electrocutes instantly.

Amazon Empties Storefronts Around America

Just read todays New York Times article on the disappearance of stores around New York City. Neighborhoods are built around people living, socializing and shopping locally. New Yorkers love to chat in stores and restaurants, sharing small talk with fellow shoppers, fellow diners, waiters, employees. We all love being recognized and a neighborhood store gives you a feeling of belonging. And especially if they know your name—that’s the best!

Just like the theme song to the “Cheers” show said in the song lyrics:

Sometimes you want to go 

Where everybody knows your name, 

And they're always glad you came; 

You want to be where you can see, 

Our troubles are all the same; 

You want to be where everybody knows your name. 

The Internet, of course, has been the great disruptor. Record stores were one of the first to go. The computer geniuses invented Napster and the file-sharing applications. No need to buy CDs.  Just burn the digital files. And iTunes made it all legit. You could now buy the songs you wanted from the comfort of your home—and use iTunes in a totally secure, legal environment. But the record stores disappeared.

Next the newspapers started to disappear. Why pay for a paper copy of the news when you can read 10-15 papers from around the country and never have to pay a dime. But then the newspapers disappeared—and even the strongest among them, New York Times. Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, etc. have to struggle to keep readers and stay relevant. They all became online newspapers in the process.

Jeff Bezos, the mastermind behind Amazon, bought the Washington Post, a somewhat counter-intuitive business decision since his online company Amazon.com is the king of all disruptors of the status quo. Why did Bezos want a print newspaper? Not only that—the Washington Post has become a relentless pursuer of the liberal-point-of-view. Bezos and his newspaper have been dogged in exposing the Donald Trump shenanigans and Trump doesn’t like it. By this point in his career, Bezos could have bought Nantucket Island. Maybe he felt some guilt for the decimation of print media?

Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, the three wealthiest Americans, have as much wealth as 50% of the population. These three men have a net worth equal to entire lower half of the American economy. That’s a lot of people in a country with a population of 323 million.

Bezos and Gates obviously have their vast fortunes closely tied to the rise of digital technology. The eco-system of our economy has been shaken and overwhelmed by the changes imposed by technology. Much like an environmental eco-system, our infrastructure is losing diversity at a rapid rate. Our climate is being reduced to less variety—temperatures almost always seem too warm. The flora and fauna, overwhelmed by climatic changes, and reduces its variety as we lose species. A simpler eco-system always spells disaster and we race headlong towards over-simplification of climate, environment and societal structures.

Bezos boldly expanded Amazon.com with a confidence that shocked the business world. Carpe diem. He seized the day. He virtually stole the day, and the economy along with it. Bezos realized Americans would love shopping on their computer, getting lower prices than the brick and mortar stores, and delivering groovy packages right to your doorstep..

The downside, of course, the stores are disappearing—part of the social network that existed long before the online networks. The people who acknowledged our existence at the local supermarket or bookstore—make us feel alive. If the stores disappear, the city streets lack their usual vibrancy.

Let’s call it a case of too much disruption.

The Talented Mr. Trump….according to Scott Adams

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2016/03/21/donald-trump-will-win-in-a-landslide-the-mind-behind-dilbert-explains-why/?utm_term=.3518dc00b78c

                                                                                                            

The 800 pound gorilla on the TV screen… we cannot get the name Trump off her lips Recently I read a Washington Post article on Scott Adams, the Dilbert cartoonist, from March 21, 2016, way before before Election Day. Adams brilliantly outlined the reasons for his prediction that Donald Trump would win the presidency.

Much of this blog comes directly from the Washington Post article by Michael Cavna. See the link above. The ideas come from Scott Adams, almost verbatim.

(I apologize in advance for any failure to include quotation marks. Scott Adams’ insights make the entire basis for this blog entry.)

We should all be listening to Scott Adams. Adams predicted Trump beating Clinton easily, playing Hillary like a fiddle much as he had with his primary competitors. Adams must know something none of the rest of us knew, including Nate Silver. We should be beating down Scott Adams door to learn the reasons behind Trumps victory…to learn the lessons of modern presidential politics in the electronic age!

Adams states that Trump, a master of psychology, understands a basic fact of human behavior—we are all irrational beings. We like to think of ourselves as fact-based. We are not. We are emotion-based. Trump realized this, created his own facts if necessary but mainly avoided facts altogether. Trump found the hot-button issues, immigration being a big one, and began to fill stadiums with enthusiastic crowds.

Scott Adams, thankfully, has taken the time to figure out the rhetorical style of Donald Trump. Behind Trump’s rhetoric lays a campaign strategy and an understanding of human psychology.

• Trump loves to win and crush the competition.

• Trump has a great mastery of human psychology. Adams believes this skill—psychology-- is the most important and only skill needed to win the presidency.

• Trump knows that human beings are ruled by emotion, not the facts.

• Trump has amazing powers of persuasion.

Adams likens Trump’s mastery of persuasion to the power a hypnotist maintains over a subject. Humans are irrational beings. Adams himself had to gain an awareness of human irrationality to become a successful cartoonist. Bill Keane of Family Circus instructed Adams to stop writing for himself. Adams changed his subject to the workplace, and the demands and inhumanity of the corporate work environment. Trump connected to a similar sort of invisible "suffering" and connected to people "on an emotional level."

Trump became the most interesting by a fearless approach. Adams said Trump “can always be the most interesting story if he has nothing to fear and nothing to lose.” Bolstered by a no-fear, nothing-to-lose perspective Trump could employ language in a way never seen before on the political stage. The audiences loved Trump’s rhetorical style. He spoke directly to them, like a comedian. The fans felt Trump sounded “like one of us”—. Trump became that microphone. He painted word pictures—Low Energy Jeb, Lyin’ Ted, Little Marco, Lyin’ Ted and Crooked Hillary—insulting nicknames that knocked down his adversaries one-by-one.

Adams did and said whatever was necessary to strengthen his ties to conservatives. Adams believes Trump, if he so desired, had the ability to run as a Democrat, and could have found the hot-button issues to appeal to liberal-minded voters.

Adams compares Trump’s ability to warp reality to his own needs to Steve Jobs, the Apple creator, and his reputation for inventing new realities through force of will. Trump’s new reality, I am one of you heartland Americans… based on emotion, grew from a brilliant campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” From this cornerstone he went all out with his sales pitch to the conservative voter.

Trump’s manufactured reality led the building of a new identity—the onetime New York City socialite, braggart, multi-bankrupted billionaire became a friend to the truck driver, factory worker, flyover state mom, and unemployed coal miner. Adams explains it best, before Election Day:

“Trump is well on his way to owning the identities of American, Alpha Males, and Women Who Like Alpha Males. Clinton is well on her way to owning the identities of angry women, beta males, immigrants, and disenfranchised minorities.

“If this were poker, which hand looks stronger to you for a national election?”

Cut to post-election. Donald Trump is President. His critics seethe with anger at the ineptitude of the Trump administration. Meanwhile, Scott Adams has become a big Trump supporter. I disagree with his position. I wish Donald had stuck to building golf courses.

Meanwhile, about a week ago CNN promoted an upcoming program “How Trump Won”… produced by Fareed Zakaria. I’m not sure the show has aired or pulled from the schedule. If the CNN special does not include air time with Scott Adams… I remain a skeptic. Adams may be the one man in America who can tell us—What Happened. *

*Apologies to Hillary Clinton. Her similarly titled book on the election— What Happened – is due out any day. I’m not sure she knows.