The Multiverse of 2017

As we move toward the end of 2017, it's pretty hard to argue that in the United States, at least, the big story was the reaction to the presidency Donald Trump. Daniel Henninger provides an abstract of the man and his office:

... Needless to say, one presidency wasn’t going to be enough for Donald Trump. In true Trumpian style, the New York developer has produced two presidencies in one year.

The two Trump presidencies exist as parallel universes. One is inhabited by Trump of Twitter, a character out of Rabelais’s novel “The Very Horrific Life of Great Gargantua.” Much of the American population is appalled by Trump of Twitter, who lives in a dark and deeply personal pool of feuds and fulminations. His first-year approval rating floated below 40%, while voters in Virginia and Alabama rejected his candidates, and him.

Existing alongside is a universe of solid, tangible economic success. Reporting on the season’s strong holiday retail sales, this newspaper noted that consumer confidence is at a 17-year high, with unemployment at a 17-year low—a time-frame that turns the Obama presidency into a forgotten memory.

There's actually a multiverse that exists alongside the two Trump universes Henninger discusses. It consists of the mass hysteria exhibited by his many opponents in the four constituencies that oppose him. Let's consider the reaction of each of the four constituencies in turn.

The Democrats. The Democrats have created a fantasy belief system in which a duly-elected president of the United States is a monster of Hitlerian proportions—a white supremacist, a racist, a misogynist, a criminal, blah, blah, and blah. The fantasy claims of #Resistance all reside in the fever swamp of "impeachment"—an all-consuming goal that democrats believe will be achieved once they recapture the Congress in 2018. To achieve this dream, the Dems must prove either "Russian collusion" or "obstruction of Justice" or some other "crime"—a task made rather difficult because there is no evidence whatsoever that these things exist. Then again, fervid belief always trumps evidence in the the Democrat's through-the-looking-glass universe.

The Media. A recent study indicates that only 5 percent of main stream media stories have been positive regarding Donald Trump. This, of course, should come as no surprise when you consider the fact that the media are the Democrat's trained hamsters. But it's more than that. The media has chosen not to report this administration's many accomplishments for fear of boosting a president they hate. There has been a virtual blackout on the a booming economy, on very low unemployment, on a level of consumer confidence that has not been seen in two decades, on the many, many benefits for the middle class of the tax reform package (the first in 30 years), on a race toward energy independence that just might change the global landscape for the better, on the destruction of ISIS in the Levant. In the fake news universe of the main stream media, some things are better omitted,* particularly if they reflect well on a president they despise.

The Deep State. Donald Trump has quite appropriately characterized the denizens of the federal bureaucracy, along with the lobbyists who shape legislation to their clients' needs, and the thousands of federal contractors who suck off the teat of taxpayers as "the deep state." When this president suggests that it's time to "drain the swamp," he might be idealistic, but he is not wrong. But that threat has mobilized the deep state against him. Leaks, passive-aggressive behavior, bureaucratic blocking, and lawfare are only of few of the weapons wielded by the denizens of the deep state. In their universe, Trump must be destroyed because he is a threat, however small, to Big Intrusive Government.

The GOP Elites. Some in the GOP #Nevertrump movement have backed off as Trump's many legitimate accomplishments have piled up, but their contempt for a brash outsider remains.

Wikipedia defines the multiverse as: "... a hypothetical set of various possible universes including the universe which we live in."

Considering that, the really big story for 2017 isn't Donald Trump but the varied reaction to Donald Trump. In the United States in 2017, different groups are perfectly willing to live in different universes. To use a Star Wars metaphor, there has been "a disturbance in the force" and as a consequence, there is no longer a coherent world view or a cohesive national politics.

As a consequence, each of the four constituencies lives in their own hate-Trump universe, allowing that hatred to warp their thinking and dominate their actions. Yet somehow, remarkably, all of that negative energy hasn't stopped a coarse, "unpresidential" president from actually achieving a relatively long list of meaningful accomplishments on both the domestic and foreign policy areas. At the end of the year, that may be the truly big story of 2017.

FOOTNOTE:
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* In what can only be characterized as an laughable indication of Trump Derangement Syndrome exhibited in the media, CNN has been conducting a full-on investigation of a white truck that was parked in a way that blocked their intrepid photographers from photographing Donald Trump on his golf course. OMG! A "scandal" of epic proportions!! In the meantime, more information about the Obama-Hezballah scandal slowly leaks out, but not at CNN.

Some numbers:

23. The number of times yesterday that CNN talked about the white truck and the golf course.

0. The number of times yesterday that CNN talked about the Obama-Hezballah scandal.

After all, the president's golf swing is definitely, positively, unquestionably national news, particularly when it can be spun into a negative. Whereas a past president allowing narcoterrorists to operate with impunity in our hemisphere isn't worthy of even a single mention. CNN --> Fake News all the way down. As one wag at Instapundit put it: the only way to stop CNN from covering the mystery of the white truck is to place a couple of Hezballah narco-terrorists behind it.

UPDATE:
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Conservative firebrand Kurt Schlichter provides us with his usual pull-no-punches take of this past year:

... President Donald Trump finished the year by signing a tax reform bill that punished conservatives’ enemies and rewarded their friends. The Democrats get to go tell their base of blue state coastal swells, “Uh, sorry about losing those state tax deductions cuz we were too busy resisting to actually negotiate and thereby get a seat at the table.” Cue the Sad Trombone. Trump plays for keeps, unlike the squish-cons who play for media hugs and invitations to the kool kidz’ parties.

He was supposed to lose the primary, but he didn’t. He was supposed to lose the general, but he didn’t. He was supposed to fall victim to the covert schemes of leftist bureaucrats and the overt obstruction of The Resistance, but he didn’t. Instead, Donald Trump has prospered as the most conservative president since Ronald Reagan. And it’s breaking the souls of his enemies. Deliciously.

The elite keeps losing to the guy they tell us is dumb. The elite keeps losing to the guy they tell us is a clown. The elite keeps losing to the guy who doesn’t meet their bottom line standard to be worthy of governing – being one of the elite. So, what’s that make the elite?

He just refuses to lose. He just refuses to submit. He just refuses to give a damn about what they say or what they think. And that infuriates them. He won’t take a knee, but he will offer them a finger ...

And Trump rolls on, not seeking their [the elites'] approval, not conforming to their demands, ignoring them when he isn’t mocking them on Twitter. He refuses to acknowledge their superiority, their right to rule over us Normals. Because while Trump makes a wonderful avatar, he is really only that – a symbol, a representation of something more terrifying to the elite than any one man. Trump represents Normal Americans, the ones the elite on both the right and the left look down upon with contempt and fear. They don’t really hate Donald Trump. They hate who he represents. They hate us. And they hate that they can’t do a damn thing about it.

And all of that (and more) is why we live in a multiverse.