The Party of Delusion

It's not as if Democrats don't delude themselves plenty, but delusion is not the central feature of that party and its principal policies as it is of the Republicans.  And as usual, Chaos has amped it up so far that he is pushing the entire world into crazy territory.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released new and revised figures that showed a weakening job market, harbinger of a weakening economy.  The downward revision of new hires was particularly steep. Chaos responded by firing the chief statistician, claiming political bias in the numbers.

I've seen several different analyses for the meaning of those numbers--a couple of the more credible suggest that the uncertainty brought about by the capricious on again/off again Chaos tariffs is discouraging employers from investing for the future.  (One story also suggested that the numbers had to be revised so sharply because the Bureau was shorthanded, thanks to the Chaotic cuts of 20% of its employees, so gathering the statistics in the first place was troubled.)

Analysts suggest other contributing factors to these weak numbers, such as immigration chaos affecting entire sectors, and the effects of withdrawn federal funds on employment in education. The only growth was seen in the health care sector, which seems unlikely to last, as hospitals and medical providers disappear thanks to major Medicaid cuts.

But the Chaotic response to these numbers by firing the chief statistician and casting doubt on the integrity of her permanent successor may prove most costly.  By firing a impartial professional for political reasons (or ego, which for Chaos amount to the same thing), the integrity of future numbers is now in doubt, and everyone sees this already--judging from the quoted comments of business executives and conservative politicians. Global capitalism depends to a large extent on a set of numbers that rightly or wrongly, corporations depend on in making their decisions.  Whatever their rhetorical support for anti-government politics, they also depend on basic stability, on confident consumers and stable costs that suppliers can depend on.  Especially now that the real or imagined tariffs are coming into effect, Chaos is coming to the world economy.

(Business also, by the way, depends on the rule of law to keep a level playing field, as well as government support for common services, like highways.  Not that some capitalists can't exist in a lawless world of corruption and force, but maybe not in an economy like the one we depend on now.)

Chaos has governed by means of lies and intimidation, but also with heavy emphasis on delusion.  Things are what he and his minions say they are, and whether he really believes what he says or not, those who accept his words are accepting delusion.  What he says about South Park or even Jeffrey Epstein may not matter much, but when he cast doubt on the reality represented by honest (if flawed) numbers, it's a different disorder of things. 

But the Republican Party has been trading on delusions for decades.  In the 48 years between 1932 and 1980, Republicans held the White House for all of 16 years.  FDR was first elected in 1932 and saved the country and the western world, twice.  He did so by effectively confronting the Great Depression, and then the fascist threat in World War II.  His policies were embattled but popular, because they worked.  He simultaneously created jobs that supported families in real time, and by creating that employment through building to meet current and anticipated need and opportunity, he built the infrastructure for a larger, modern future. 

In some ways, Republican President Eisenhower continued that work, for example with the Federal Highway program.  Even President Nixon, while expanding a ruinous war, did not substantially undermine the role of the federal government in the FDR consensus domestically.

But in 1980, Ronald Reagan won the White House on the basis of a few feel- good delusions, like government was evil and cutting taxes for the wealthy would still result in higher revenues to finance the remaining government functions .  After eight years of those tax cuts plus privatization and cuts to services for the poor and middle class, the federal budget deficit ballooned.  

So the economy George Bush the First inherited was weakened and eventually resulted in recession. Despite the demonstrable fact that cutting taxes for the rich did not increase tax revenue but helped cause big deficits and economic downturns, every Republican since Reagan insisted it would work. With the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, a pattern emerged so simple that it calls into question the cognitive abilities of the voting public.  After Republican administrations increased deficits and debt and trashed the economy, a Democrat would be elected and would spend 8 years or (in Biden's case) 4 years fixing the mess he inherited. And then voters would fall for it again and elect a Republican. (Although in the case of George Bush II in 2000, there needs to be an asterisk called the Supreme Court.)

Meanwhile all those tax cuts did was fuel a disreputable trend: from 1981 to 2021, over fifty trillion dollars moved from the bottom 90% of the American public to the top 1%.

Now Chaos has taken this to a new level with the latest tax giveaway to the 1%, accompanied by deeper cuts to programs supporting not only the 90% but the entire American economy.  As well as the slash and burn to the foundations of the federal government, the rule of law.  

What's next?  Well, democracy. Another delusion that has a long Republican history is that Democrats are cheating at the ballot box (as Heather Cox Richardson recently pointed out.)  There has been zero evidence that any but a few individuals have cheated--and often enough they were Republicans, including officeholders-- but that hasn't deterred the selling of this delusion either.  And the selling of that delusion is about to get worse, as will the actions to control those elections.  It's going to be a major focus for Chaos as the 2026 congressional elections get closer.

Chaos brings sinister new delusions to this process, but in fact Republicans have been very focused for years on obtaining and institutionalizing electoral supremacy, regardless of the popular will. They've been working at it especially at the state level, controlling the gerrymandering of congressional districts to increase their advantage.  That also continues again, with threats of mid-decade redistricting.

And part of the intended effect of the whole anti-D.E.I. campaign (aimed especially at blacks) and the terrorizing of brown people by ICE is political: to discourage and actually get rid of minorities that traditionally vote Democratic.  It's also a factor behind getting rid of the Education Department and firing a huge proportion of federal government workers .  Fewer jobs in education and in government means fewer members of the big teachers' unions and government workers unions that usually support Democrats, both with money for campaigns and with actual votes.  It worked very well in the Reagan era--when deindustrialization plus active anti-union policies greatly diminished the labor unions that had supported Democrats since FDR.

Delusions are at the heart of Republican policy--and that's even before we get to policies on the environment, energy and the Climate Crisis.  But in Chaos they've created a monster that might be going way too far--like the vacuum-cleaner monster in The Yellow Submarine that vacuumed up the entire world and then itself.  The novelty of the moment is that it's the capitalist business sector that normally supports Republicans now fearing chaos, and Chaos.

Chaos is the king of delusion--living and breathing it relentlessly every moment of every day. His enthusiastic support for cryptocurrency and especially AI is perfectly understandable because the first is the delusion of money and the second could well become the greatest and most pervasive purveyor of delusion the world has ever seen.  When an increasing proportion of what's on the Internet is phony and delusional, what else is AI going to organize, express and provide?