The Phenomenon of Donald Trump

© Earl Holt III: One of the most poignant scenes in film appeared in “The Bridge Over the River Kwai,” after Colonel Nicholson –- Commanding Officer of the British P.O.W.s in the film –- volunteered his men’s expertise to help his Japanese enemy build a bridge to complete their Bangkok to Rangoon Railway.

In this scene, Nicholson and his officers are sitting down with the brutal Japanese Commandant Saito and his engineers: Midway through the technicalities – one in which Nicholson asks numerous questions of his subordinate officers, and they in turn offer opinions — Col. Nicholson asks Col. Saito if it would be possible to have tea served, so the meeting might continue uninterrupted.

In his imperious command-voice, Saito hollers to the nearest subordinate officer, who in turn hollers to the nearest subordinate, on down the line of command six or seven times. The British officers are clearly bemused by this display of inefficiency.

What Director David Lean illustrated with this scene was nothing less than an essential difference between democracies and all forms of tyranny, whether Feudalism – as in the case of Imperial Japan – or any of the various forms of Marxism we see today.

In the presence of democratic institutions, the flow of information is both up and down the chain of command, while the flow is universally DOWN the chain of command in their absence.

By the end of this meeting, it was evident from his demeanor and posture that Saito recognized Japan could not possibly defeat the hated West, with its superior managerial skills and infinitely more efficient methods of organization.

ENTER DONALD TRUMP

Donald Trump appeals to the Powerless in this country for the simple reason that there is no longer any flow of information up the “chain of command” in America, from the Powerless to the governing and Powerful “Elite” who constitute our “Political Class.”

For 30 years, Middle America and those of us in “fly-over country” have had no effective means of re-dressing grievances, and we have had no champion since Ronald Reagan.

The Powerless are middle-class Americans, primarily white and Christian, whose voices are rarely heeded by the Powerful, although there is no shortage of mandates imposed upon them by the Powerful, including even a perverse definition of marriage and the legal obligation to recognize and accept it.

These Middle Americans have been ignored and impugned by the Powerful, which has ridiculed their faith in the Bible, their support of the Constitution – particularly the Second Amendment — as well as their opposition to the variety of plagues forced upon them by the Political Class of both parties.

The Powerless have also had insult added to injury, because the Powerful Elite have always successfully insulated and immunized themselves against the very plagues they created and then imposed upon the Powerless.

“LET THEM EAT CAKE”

Adopting the latest fashionable notions of leftist Faculty Lounges, the Powerful – much like the Bourbons and Romanovs before them – have made the lives of decent and honest citizens quite hazardous and almost unbearable through their arrogance and incompetence.

In the name of “Equality,” the Powerful have made many public school systems terrible and dangerous places through school desegregation and the dumbed-down curriculum imposed by “Education” Department grifters: Meanwhile, they send their OWN children to Sidwell Friends or some equally prestigious and elite private school.

In pursuit of the illusion of “multiculturalism,” they have turned our large inner cities into dangerous and violent cesspools from which the Powerful flee on a nightly basis to their gated communities or suburban oases, with their security details in tow.

In the name of “Free Trade,” the Powerful have exported much of our manufacturing base to the Pacific Rim, oblivious to what those manufacturing jobs mean to middle-class Americans, but confident that their own offspring will never need such jobs.

Worst of all, in pursuit of “cheap” labor, nannies and gardeners, the Powerful have opened our borders to a Tsunami consisting of tens of millions of unskilled and frequently dangerous Third World immigrants, for whom democratic institutions and an American Ethos is as alien as Integral Calculus.

OUTSIDERS AND UNKNOWN QUANTITIES

Time and again, in an effort to counter the tyranny of the Powerful, the Powerless have spoken their minds through State Referenda, only to see these initiatives overturned by Federal Judges – the henchmen of the Powerful Elite — who brazenly over-reach their enumerated Article III powers in effectuating their Marxist ideology.

Similarly, many times these Powerless Middle Americans have attempted reform through the ballot box, only to see many of their elected champions seduced by the Powerful Elite in Washington, and then become poachers instead of the game-keepers the electorate intended.

In a letter to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson once stated that “…a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing.”

Having been betrayed by the Powerful Elite in both political parties for 30 years, it is patently obvious that Trump supporters were willing to elect almost ANY unknown quantity over the known quantity, whose betrayals are evident on a daily basis. ©