5 ms·

The President of the United States wields real power, full stop. He is not an absolute monarch, and other powerful forces may have their own designs, but it's

The President of the United States wields real power, full stop. He is not an absolute monarch, and other powerful forces may have their own designs, but it's disingenuous to suggest the head of government in the world's largest economy and biggest military power is purely a sideshow to "real power" carrying on elsewhere.

claudiawerner 8y ago
The fact of wielding real power means very little in the face of impersonal structures and systems beyond anyone's (and this includes the president's) control. These systems often appear natural and wield powerful ideologies. This was discussed since the early 50s and continued into the studies of Althusser, Marcuse, Debord (Society of the Spectacle) and the like. They allege no sinister concrete plot, only awareness of the very real motions of a system abstracted away from any individual or group, and that includes any and every politician, CEO, etc.
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > The fact of wielding real power means very little in the face of impersonal structures and systems beyond anyone's (and this includes the president's) control. No, it doesn't. It means a lot, as is evident in the effect of Presidents on the actual behavior of government. Yes, there are legal, bureaucraticd traditional constraints on Presidential power (but the Presidential power also extends to altering all of those things, though not arbitrarily and instantly.)
gedy 8y ago
Sure, but point is maybe the tweets and trolling the media are the sideshow?
- twtw 8y ago
  Does Trump do anything that he doesn't tweet about? It seems like as soon as he does anything, he has to pat himself on the back by yelling about it on Twitter. So, genuine question - has this administration done anything that hasn't been widely publicized or discussed in the media?
TheOtherHobbes 8y ago
Why is it disingenuous? Trump can barely make plans minute to minute, never mind day to day or year to year. If he wasn't insulated by his inherited wealth he'd either be a homeless bum or in jail. When has Trump ever contributed to a detailed industrial or economic strategy for the US? That's never been his job. His job has always been to be the dummy in the window display, while the shop behind him is sold off and looted.
- Hoasi 8y ago
  > Why is it disingenuous? Trump can barely make plans minute to minute, never mind day to day or year to year. If he wasn't insulated by his inherited wealth he'd either be a homeless bum or in jail. Quite the contrary, he has a unique talent for naming things and people for example that will get people to talk about for months or years. Think about his liberal use of expressions like fake news for instance. That seems to come to him naturally, not to mention his particular brand of original taglines and scornful epithets. Many of these words had an impact, in his election, in the first place, but also in the shaping of American politics. The failure to recognize his talent is actually what hinders his opposition the most. You may not like his unique form of marketing genius, but it's a creative force to be reckoned with. After all, this is a man who dubbed himself a stable genius, no less. Then you could say marketing BS is not a talent, or rather talk about creative destruction and fraud—but that wouldn't be very effective against it. Believe it or not, naming is a field that supports added value. Some companies would pay good money for some of the gems he produced over the years. If Trump wasn't insulated by his inherited wealth he would probably do very well as a copywriter (short copy).
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    > Quite the contrary, he has a unique talent for naming things and people for example that will get people to talk about for months or years. Think about his liberal use of expressions like fake news for instance. But he didn't introduce that term into wide discussion, his critics did to label the phenomenon closely resembling the m.o. of Russian state propaganda that was deployed in favor of Trump (which it is increasingly obvious resembled that because it largely was a Russian state propaganda effort.) The practice of adopting and widely using such a term that has been deployed by critics to neutralize the criticism is not unique to Trump, it's a fairly standard, well-established reaction in politics. While it's true the front business that is used to justify his wealth has been more about brand marketing than real estate, that doesn't mean he's a marketing genius. His real secret of success has been willingness to corruptly funnel money while cultivating a playboy image with a superficially plausible business front.

claudiawerner 8y ago

The fact of wielding real power means very little in the face of impersonal structures and systems beyond anyone's (and this includes the president's) control. These systems often appear natural and wield powerful ideologies. This was discussed since the early 50s and continued into the studies of Althusser, Marcuse, Debord (Society of the Spectacle) and the like. They allege no sinister concrete plot, only awareness of the very real motions of a system abstracted away from any individual or group, and that includes any and every politician, CEO, etc.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> The fact of wielding real power means very little in the face of impersonal structures and systems beyond anyone's (and this includes the president's) control. No, it doesn't. It means a lot, as is evident in the effect of Presidents on the actual behavior of government. Yes, there are legal, bureaucraticd traditional constraints on Presidential power (but the Presidential power also extends to altering all of those things, though not arbitrarily and instantly.)

gedy 8y ago

Sure, but point is maybe the tweets and trolling the media are the sideshow?

twtw 8y ago
Does Trump do anything that he doesn't tweet about? It seems like as soon as he does anything, he has to pat himself on the back by yelling about it on Twitter. So, genuine question - has this administration done anything that hasn't been widely publicized or discussed in the media?

TheOtherHobbes 8y ago

Why is it disingenuous? Trump can barely make plans minute to minute, never mind day to day or year to year. If he wasn't insulated by his inherited wealth he'd either be a homeless bum or in jail. When has Trump ever contributed to a detailed industrial or economic strategy for the US? That's never been his job. His job has always been to be the dummy in the window display, while the shop behind him is sold off and looted.

Hoasi 8y ago
> Why is it disingenuous? Trump can barely make plans minute to minute, never mind day to day or year to year. If he wasn't insulated by his inherited wealth he'd either be a homeless bum or in jail. Quite the contrary, he has a unique talent for naming things and people for example that will get people to talk about for months or years. Think about his liberal use of expressions like fake news for instance. That seems to come to him naturally, not to mention his particular brand of original taglines and scornful epithets. Many of these words had an impact, in his election, in the first place, but also in the shaping of American politics. The failure to recognize his talent is actually what hinders his opposition the most. You may not like his unique form of marketing genius, but it's a creative force to be reckoned with. After all, this is a man who dubbed himself a stable genius, no less. Then you could say marketing BS is not a talent, or rather talk about creative destruction and fraud—but that wouldn't be very effective against it. Believe it or not, naming is a field that supports added value. Some companies would pay good money for some of the gems he produced over the years. If Trump wasn't insulated by his inherited wealth he would probably do very well as a copywriter (short copy).
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Quite the contrary, he has a unique talent for naming things and people for example that will get people to talk about for months or years. Think about his liberal use of expressions like fake news for instance. But he didn't introduce that term into wide discussion, his critics did to label the phenomenon closely resembling the m.o. of Russian state propaganda that was deployed in favor of Trump (which it is increasingly obvious resembled that because it largely was a Russian state propaganda effort.) The practice of adopting and widely using such a term that has been deployed by critics to neutralize the criticism is not unique to Trump, it's a fairly standard, well-established reaction in politics. While it's true the front business that is used to justify his wealth has been more about brand marketing than real estate, that doesn't mean he's a marketing genius. His real secret of success has been willingness to corruptly funnel money while cultivating a playboy image with a superficially plausible business front.