Sunday, March 20, 2016

j reacts to the potential in co-opting trump's movement for the left

those of us on the left have a lot of experience with these people at alter-globalization events. they're cops.

trump runs an election about overturning free trade. the same agents show up.

there's no mystery about what's happening. it's absolutely consistent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agent_provocateur

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should the left re-evaluate it's approach to trump?

again: i'll never endorse him. i'll endorse non-voting. which is passive, but equivalent.

but, the reality is that trump is no less of a potential ally than clinton. it just depends on the issue. maybe. i don't actually believe that clinton is an advocate of anybody: not gay people, not black people - nobody. she works for the banks, and that's it. but, you could make the argument that clinton is better on those kinds of things [you should expect similar supreme court nominees as the ones you got from obama], but trump is better on trade.

the truth is that trump is drawing attention to trade issues on the left in ways that sanders or stein never could. he's raising awareness. call him a useful idiot [even if you have to abuse the language], but if he can mainline opposition to free trade then he's doing the left a massive favour.

so, instead of falling into these divide and conquer lines and kneejerking in conflict? go to the trump rallies. talk to people. empathize on trade. but, then maybe talk a little about health care. a little about taxes. start from that point of agreement and try and build on it.

the smart approach is to try to co-opt this, not to try and shut it down.