Augustus Trumpus
All hail Augustus Trumpus! All hail the American Putin, whom none can criticize! All hail the Great All Knowing One, who reveals "realities" that are not there and finds "facts" that mere mortals cannot detect.
Once again, The Amazing Donald has demonstrated his phantasmagoric power of perception, having a new outcome in November's election that others haven't seen. Trump has been greatly perturbed by the official results, which showed that while he won the electoral college majority, he was not the people's choice. Instead, Hillary Clinton won the popular balloting by a margin of more than two million votes. Growing increasingly furious at this affront to his supernatural sense of self, the master of factual flexibility went on Twitter with an amazing revelation: "I won the popular vote," decreed our incoming tweeter in chief!
"The bitter irony for the working class is that they now see what he meant -- he's literally "taking on" the moneyed powers by taking them onboard his administration."
Wow, how did he turn a two million vote loss into a glorious victory? "I won," he tweeted, "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
Wow again! Millions? You'd think such a massive conspiracy -- with millions of illegal voters in line at thousands of precincts -- would've been noticed by election officials, GOP poll watchers and the media. How did Trump find this truly incredible fact?
It seems he channeled it from the mysterious tweetasphere, specifically from a Texas conspiracy hound who had earlier posted a tweet declaring: "We have verified more than three million votes cast by non-citizens." But this guy turns out to be part of a right-wing fringe group chasing non-existent voter frauds -- exactly none of those three million "illegal" votes have been verified. Stunned that Trump would cite his tweet as proof, he asked sheepishly: "Isn't everything on Twitter fake?"
Get used to it -- fakery is reality for America's next president. Unfortunately for us it is not just fakery that we will have to get used to, because President Trumpus happens to have a real knack for irony as well.
Trump, who campaigned as populist champion of the working-class, promising that -- by golly -- he was going to take on Wall Street and the corporate elites. But the bitter irony for the working class is that they now see what he meant -- he's literally "taking on" the moneyed powers by taking them onboard his administration. For example, he's brought in Wall Street billionaires to fill the three top economic policy positions in his cabinet!
Then there's Betsy DeVos, the billionaire heiress to the scandal-plagued Amway fortune. Her life's work has been trying to defund and privatize the public schools that working-class and middle-class people count on and to eliminate the working-class and middle-class jobs of teachers and support staff. Her new job with Trump? Secretary of Education, where she'll now use our public money to try killing off our public education system. Add to the list Myron Ebell, the honcho of the Competitive Enterprise Institute -- a corporate front group funded by fossil fuel profiteers like Exxon and the Koch brothers -- where he pushed relentlessly to gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Where's he now? Heading Trump's EPA transition team.
Also, more than half those making up The Donald's Department of Defense transition team have been executives or lobbyists for such military contractors as Boeing corporation. Overall, according to watchdog group Public Citizen, three-fourths of Trump's transition teams -- which are organizing, staffing, and shaping his new government -- come from CorporateWorld. Not a single working class populist has been allowed a seat at his power table.
As America's working stiffs know, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And now we know what Augustus Trumpus will be serving. Trump's no populist, he's a full-time corporatist.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
All hail Augustus Trumpus! All hail the American Putin, whom none can criticize! All hail the Great All Knowing One, who reveals "realities" that are not there and finds "facts" that mere mortals cannot detect.
Once again, The Amazing Donald has demonstrated his phantasmagoric power of perception, having a new outcome in November's election that others haven't seen. Trump has been greatly perturbed by the official results, which showed that while he won the electoral college majority, he was not the people's choice. Instead, Hillary Clinton won the popular balloting by a margin of more than two million votes. Growing increasingly furious at this affront to his supernatural sense of self, the master of factual flexibility went on Twitter with an amazing revelation: "I won the popular vote," decreed our incoming tweeter in chief!
"The bitter irony for the working class is that they now see what he meant -- he's literally "taking on" the moneyed powers by taking them onboard his administration."
Wow, how did he turn a two million vote loss into a glorious victory? "I won," he tweeted, "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
Wow again! Millions? You'd think such a massive conspiracy -- with millions of illegal voters in line at thousands of precincts -- would've been noticed by election officials, GOP poll watchers and the media. How did Trump find this truly incredible fact?
It seems he channeled it from the mysterious tweetasphere, specifically from a Texas conspiracy hound who had earlier posted a tweet declaring: "We have verified more than three million votes cast by non-citizens." But this guy turns out to be part of a right-wing fringe group chasing non-existent voter frauds -- exactly none of those three million "illegal" votes have been verified. Stunned that Trump would cite his tweet as proof, he asked sheepishly: "Isn't everything on Twitter fake?"
Get used to it -- fakery is reality for America's next president. Unfortunately for us it is not just fakery that we will have to get used to, because President Trumpus happens to have a real knack for irony as well.
Trump, who campaigned as populist champion of the working-class, promising that -- by golly -- he was going to take on Wall Street and the corporate elites. But the bitter irony for the working class is that they now see what he meant -- he's literally "taking on" the moneyed powers by taking them onboard his administration. For example, he's brought in Wall Street billionaires to fill the three top economic policy positions in his cabinet!
Then there's Betsy DeVos, the billionaire heiress to the scandal-plagued Amway fortune. Her life's work has been trying to defund and privatize the public schools that working-class and middle-class people count on and to eliminate the working-class and middle-class jobs of teachers and support staff. Her new job with Trump? Secretary of Education, where she'll now use our public money to try killing off our public education system. Add to the list Myron Ebell, the honcho of the Competitive Enterprise Institute -- a corporate front group funded by fossil fuel profiteers like Exxon and the Koch brothers -- where he pushed relentlessly to gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Where's he now? Heading Trump's EPA transition team.
Also, more than half those making up The Donald's Department of Defense transition team have been executives or lobbyists for such military contractors as Boeing corporation. Overall, according to watchdog group Public Citizen, three-fourths of Trump's transition teams -- which are organizing, staffing, and shaping his new government -- come from CorporateWorld. Not a single working class populist has been allowed a seat at his power table.
As America's working stiffs know, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And now we know what Augustus Trumpus will be serving. Trump's no populist, he's a full-time corporatist.
All hail Augustus Trumpus! All hail the American Putin, whom none can criticize! All hail the Great All Knowing One, who reveals "realities" that are not there and finds "facts" that mere mortals cannot detect.
Once again, The Amazing Donald has demonstrated his phantasmagoric power of perception, having a new outcome in November's election that others haven't seen. Trump has been greatly perturbed by the official results, which showed that while he won the electoral college majority, he was not the people's choice. Instead, Hillary Clinton won the popular balloting by a margin of more than two million votes. Growing increasingly furious at this affront to his supernatural sense of self, the master of factual flexibility went on Twitter with an amazing revelation: "I won the popular vote," decreed our incoming tweeter in chief!
"The bitter irony for the working class is that they now see what he meant -- he's literally "taking on" the moneyed powers by taking them onboard his administration."
Wow, how did he turn a two million vote loss into a glorious victory? "I won," he tweeted, "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
Wow again! Millions? You'd think such a massive conspiracy -- with millions of illegal voters in line at thousands of precincts -- would've been noticed by election officials, GOP poll watchers and the media. How did Trump find this truly incredible fact?
It seems he channeled it from the mysterious tweetasphere, specifically from a Texas conspiracy hound who had earlier posted a tweet declaring: "We have verified more than three million votes cast by non-citizens." But this guy turns out to be part of a right-wing fringe group chasing non-existent voter frauds -- exactly none of those three million "illegal" votes have been verified. Stunned that Trump would cite his tweet as proof, he asked sheepishly: "Isn't everything on Twitter fake?"
Get used to it -- fakery is reality for America's next president. Unfortunately for us it is not just fakery that we will have to get used to, because President Trumpus happens to have a real knack for irony as well.
Trump, who campaigned as populist champion of the working-class, promising that -- by golly -- he was going to take on Wall Street and the corporate elites. But the bitter irony for the working class is that they now see what he meant -- he's literally "taking on" the moneyed powers by taking them onboard his administration. For example, he's brought in Wall Street billionaires to fill the three top economic policy positions in his cabinet!
Then there's Betsy DeVos, the billionaire heiress to the scandal-plagued Amway fortune. Her life's work has been trying to defund and privatize the public schools that working-class and middle-class people count on and to eliminate the working-class and middle-class jobs of teachers and support staff. Her new job with Trump? Secretary of Education, where she'll now use our public money to try killing off our public education system. Add to the list Myron Ebell, the honcho of the Competitive Enterprise Institute -- a corporate front group funded by fossil fuel profiteers like Exxon and the Koch brothers -- where he pushed relentlessly to gut the Environmental Protection Agency. Where's he now? Heading Trump's EPA transition team.
Also, more than half those making up The Donald's Department of Defense transition team have been executives or lobbyists for such military contractors as Boeing corporation. Overall, according to watchdog group Public Citizen, three-fourths of Trump's transition teams -- which are organizing, staffing, and shaping his new government -- come from CorporateWorld. Not a single working class populist has been allowed a seat at his power table.
As America's working stiffs know, if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. And now we know what Augustus Trumpus will be serving. Trump's no populist, he's a full-time corporatist.