The “grace period” of the new administration’s proverbial first 100 days in office is far from over, but there is no relenting in the controversy, acrimony and political turmoil. Events are unfolding fast, and some observations might be in order.
Let’s cut to the chase and repeat an important axiom – not necessarily original here, but often overlooked: Trump is not the problem, but merely the symptom of a (deeper) problem. Sure (and apart from the obvious reality-show antics) – there are plenty of easy targets: the ridiculous wall proposal, dismantling Obamacare safety net provisions, ineffective passport profiling, sundry “alternative facts”… But US immigration policy – along with trade and foreign policies it stems from – have long been broken. American health care even under ACA remains the most inefficient among developed nations, and lack of both government transparency and honesty has been an American staple even long before Wikileaks or the infamous Clinton perjury. Put another way – in a society where (no pun intended) the adjective “social” is just as likely to be completed with the noun “media” as with “justice”, where collective amnesia all too often obscures the connection between nouveau constructs like “fake news” and traditional brain-washing propaganda, and where infatuation with quasi-artificial intelligence comes at the expense of the natural – it is rather easy for elites to manufacture consent or…