I live in Northern CA and just heard this morning (from a local station) about an earthquake that had me running for cover: California gave tRump $11 million in campaign contributions.
I immediately questioned "which state?” California is so big and so diverse that it could be divided into several states, each with its own economy and culture. Some profess to secede from the republic, with “State of Jefferson” signs on ranches and bumper stickers on tractors and cars. (‘American Graffiti’ notwithstanding, this is a car-loving state with many, many cars). But I digress…
I thought about Silicon Valley, since many giant tech companies are profiting from tRumps loopholes and tax cuts. Then I thought about Southern CA and those very wealthy counties that, until Katie Porter, kept Rusky-lovin’ Dana Rohrabacher and overlooked Duncan Hunters malfeasance and crimes against vets. Then I thought about Devin Nunes and his Republican supporters in Fresno and the rural mindset of conservative farmers/ranchers. Turns out it was all of the above, with a bulk of the monies coming from LA county (Hollywood idolizes Reagan and Eastwood). Yet what shook me up was the tremor coming from urban counties. Earthquake!
No surprise about rural counties, as I live in one full of FAUX watchers and 45th lovers, but urban voters? Why is that, since the rest of the nation seems to have urban voters donating in the opposite direction. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me: we cannot take voters for granted, like in the Rustbelt.
All Putin puppet strings aside, tRump gained by default; whomever mapped the Clinton campaign map, not showing up was a tacit red flag of “not caring," giving the Orange Menace credence to his con, as if showing up showed he cared. There is no rest for the weary. I hope the DNC felt the quake and employs the tenacity that it took to unseat Rohrabacher. California should have more representation than say, North Dakota, because of the immense disparity of votes per capita, but we don’t; with only two representatives representing 40 million people (and one a candidate for president), we cannot take anything, or anyone, for granted.
Fingers crossed, tRump will be a one-termer but the cabal that surrounds him will not go quietly into the night- I worry more about men like Barr and Pompeo who are career professionals and know how to manipulate the system, where tRumps hubris and narcissism will be his downfall. Those who kiss the ring of the Don do so to get what they want, not because they like him, but because of what they gain by using a fool like that. In recent days, both Barr and Pompeo have made cringe-worthy speeches in defiance of the First Amendment to propagate their religious ideologies. If money is the root of all evil, how evil can campaign contributions be?
The San Andreas Fault forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific plate and the North American plate and in one great shift, could cause California’s “Big One.” When, not if, that happens, ensures nationwide aftershocks. We are all connected both politically and geographically, so to speak metaphorically: “As goes California, so goes the nation.”