Two very different TV shows I watched over the recent long weekend connected a couple of dots for me.
First, WSJ’s Gerald Seib on “Charlie Rose” (PBS), talking about his recent interview with Donald Trump, repeatedly used the word “transactional” to describe the president-elect’s world view, insisting that Trump is not ideological, instead believing that mutual self-interest makes deals for a better world.
Second, a line in one of my surprisingly favorite shows, “Madam Secretary” (CBS): “Idealism kills mutual interest to save lives,” said one character. Another responded: “For starters, mutual interests aren’t always the same as equal ones, so that statement is just an ideal used to justify self interest.”
This line of thought can yield different conclusions (and disagreements), but for me it suggests that Trump’s thinking is simply about justifying selfishness. Ideals should matter.
hah, at 1st glance thought your “transactional” was “transcendental” as in transcendental meditation and a call to confront all that happens from Friday forward by chilling out with a mantra. muttering “damn, damn, damn” for 20 minutes daily might indeed help… but then that’s just another form of selfish transaction isn’t it?
boss, very profound connecting dots. along the same epiphany I had hearing fbi agt beeman say in “the americans” when asked how he was able to survive and turn the supremacists he embedded. he said something on the order of “tell them what they want to hear… over and over….they never get tired of hearing what they believe”
maybe off the thread subject. maybe not. but interesting interaction and transaction.
https://youtu.be/hMRX_21Le6I
It depends on whether you are discussing your self interest/ideals vs the other person’s. Self Centered in the manner of Donald is very destructive. Appealing to someones’ self interest to attain a goal can be very productive.
patd,
Senator Franken is an excellent inclusion. Ideals do matter. FDR & The New Deal, LBJ & The Great Society, for example: these programs not only helped the individual, they enriched society through better living standards & education. Senator Franken represents the best of the traditionally Democratic ideals. Ideals worth remembering & fighting for. He does his homework & uses his talents for the good. Gee, everything that should define who makes up our government. 😉
two americas what can I do to make things better or what can I get for myself
Katherine Graham Cracker,
To quote the great Daffy Duck: “Mine! Mine! Mine!”
“I have a head for business and a bod for sin.”
Trump? No. That’s a line from “Working Girl” with Melanie Griffith.
It’s as though Trump views this Presidency as a hostile takeover; he’s won, at any cost, and he owns the country. (He does have creditors and stock owners nipping at his heels, however. Those who oppose him are “disgruntled former employees” not worth a toss. Those who support him can work for him, on his terms, but don’t expect health insurance.
Unsure he has a head for good business.
Watching for the new Democratic Leadership to rise out of the first months of the next administration. Someone from the Midwest or having Midwest roots/sensibilities. Being smart & idealistic is not a bad thing. It’s all in the messaging & getting what that means to the broadest base.
I just went to Wikipedia and looked up self-dealing and then went to insider trading. I couldn’t believe it Mike Price’s picture was in both of those articles and he was listed as modern example of each. Imagine that.
Much too late I came to the realization that my late mother-in-law was transactional. Everything to her was a deal, goal, quid pro quo. Little emotion or empathy. Many in the family viewed her as extremely selfish. When I first met her she was a recently retired low-level bureaucrat. She considered herself much, much more. My first impression of her was of a steel filing cabinet: hard edges and stuffed with data to be used later. That impression only solidified over time.
Yet she had many friends, and many viewed her as warm. She could pull off charm when she wanted, and often did. But if you didn’t have anything she wanted you received scorn. Absolutely no sense of humor; “endured” the humor of others. She was the center of her own universe. Carried grudges to the grave and beyond (codified them in her will).
It was only after reading Craig’s post that I recognized my MIL’s similarity to Trump. (Oh, she lied a lot, too, to support her reality.) How did I deal with her and her bullying to get her deals? The only way an FDR lover could: I challenged her. Politely, of course. Wouldn’t buy into it.
I resisted.
That’s method I’m using for Trump, the signature Olbermann line at the end of his videos: “Resist. Peace.”
Human filing cabinets do not change. They merely fade away. But when you’re around one, keep your distance in case it wants to fall on you. I suspect the same warning can be applied to Orange Tweety Birds.
“We The People … ” aren’t the minority of persons casting votes.
Transactional values serve one well in a kleptocracy.
Flatus, yes. And in this case, the winner guy got less than even a plurality of the votes that we the people who bothered cast.
Mr. Doodle, thanks for sharing. A trait more prevalent than we might think.
Speaking of transactional self-interest as an ideal, doesn’t that make a drug deal between criminals a good thing?
another rigged study?
USA TODAY: “The planet sizzled to its third straight record warm year in 2016, and human activity is to blame, federal scientists announced Wednesday.”
sadly, this wasn’t in the Onion:
NBC News: “President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary told lawmakers at her confirmation hearing that guns might have a place in schools due to the threat from grizzly bears.”
Poobah, I forgot to mention that I agree with you (and with the view of the second character in the Madam Secretary exchange). While the self interest of two individuals or entities may coincide to a degree, the interest each has is its own. For instance, Mrs. P and I both had an interest in replacing the roof on our house (real life example BTW). For her, it avoided having water leak and leave a stain and popped drywall seam in our bedroom. For me, I had the same interest, but I had the additional interest of only having to redo the seam and repaint the ceiling once (to say nothing of not having to hear Mrs. P talk about “us” fixing the seam and repainting the ceiling). In the end we both got what we wanted – a new ceiling and new roof – but I got the better end of the deal by far.
Just wait. Every conservative dick you know will be handing you a copy of “the Fountainhead”, insisting you “just have to” read it- not that they have.
Those roofing salspeople could sell ice to an eskimo.
Classic repug thinking. They are experts on war although most of them never served. In her case she’s an expert at defending against grizzly bears in schools – and grizzly bears’ range and habitat do not include Michigan. In the US there have been 200 shootings in school since 2013. There have been no grizzly bear shootings in schools since 2013. There were some”students” in a National Outdoor Leadership School class who were attacked by a grizzly in 2011 – of course they were in Alaska’s Talkeetna Mountains at the time. Not exactly a school in the sense of oversight by the USDOE.
Bink, yep, kinda like siding salesmen. Actually, we put off the roof replacement for what appears to be about a year too long. Well, the ceiling probably needed to be painted anyway after 13 years and I can always use the drywall seam practice – although there’s nothing quite like overhead drywall seam work.
My concern about DeVos – beyond the stupid justification for not opposing guns in schools – is that her fortune came from the biggest and most well known pyramid scheme ever perpetrated on unsuspecting US folks looking to get ahead in life. Made Mary Kay look like a quaint little business.
From WaPo today:
U.S. scientists officially declare 2016 the hottest year on record. That makes three in a row.
Think that could mean anything? Here in WBGV we are looking at the second week in a row with no daily highs below freezing and only one day with a low below freezing (maybe 2, but barely). I’ve had to scrape windshields twice so far since Christmas. This week is one day in the 60s (68) five in the 50s and one in the 40s. One night time low is below 32. Last week there were 2 days in the 30s, one day in the 60s and the rest were 40s & 50s. In January, except for the traditional 3-4 days of warm weather fondly referred to as the January thaw, high temps are typically in the teens, 20s and 30s and we have snow on the ground until the thaw. This year it’s been rain. Forecat through 1/27 includes 1 day with a high of 40, all others are 45-66, and one night with a low of 29, all others are 36-48. Feels more like Virginia than WBGV. I realize I’m talking weather, not climate, but dayum.
and Bink, anytime someone throws Ayn Rand at you, worth noting she ended up on welfare and in public housing
and Craig…. she was Russian….
hmmmmm…. what a coinky dinky…
Whenever anybody throws anything at me and I’m unwilling to play along, I use Thurber’s tried-and-true:
Well, you have me there.
I recall back in the early 70s, we were trained in Transactional Analysis. It was generally viewed as being a way of making the person on the other side of a conversation crazy. At a minimum, it was viewed as being manipulative. It didn’t gain much traction.
All of the above brings me as always back to the often quoted “invisible hand” of Adam Smith since that seems to be the only sentence most people quoting him know. Without ethics Capitalism fails society as a whole particularly once you get beyond the stage of small businesses and limited partnerships. When it comes to Corporations & Monopolies, the “invisible hand” can’t be seen for the simple reason that it isn’t there.
When faced with The Fountainhead, quote Dorothy Parker immediately:
This Is Not a Novel To Be Tossed Aside Lightly. It Should Be Thrown with Great Force
https://youtu.be/WNQGgDp7AVY
Flatus , I studied TA a little in grad school, never thought too much of it. Kinda Freud lite as I recall.
I didn’t know that about Ayn Rand. I tried to take a read at Atlas Shrugged once upon a time a couple decades ago and couldn’t get into it.
In an interview with POLITICO, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama will use his final news conference to highlight his concerns about the restrictions on the media that the president-elect put in place during his campaign and transition, and what it might mean for his administration.
“The media environment is challenging, and the news media and the journalists who cover the White House will be challenged to rise to the occasion and adapt to the changing environment,” said Earnest, in an interview ahead of Wednesday. “I know the president is interested in showing his support for their efforts to do that.”
Even the location, aides say, is meant to send a message: Rather than heading to the State Dining Room, where many of his larger news conferences have been held, Obama will hold his last public event as president in the White House press briefing room, which Trump aides have said they may abandon in favor of a larger space to accommodate the heightened media interest.
sounds like the prez will have quite a presser today. be sure to watch the fireworks at 2:15
I hope President Pussy Grabber gets a better hair whatever. When I look at him I see used car salesman and not in a good way
Given our discussion of Presidents yesterday, there is news today. President Bush is now in ICU with Pneumonia and has had surgical procedure (trach?) to assist with breathing. Barbara Bush admitted to hospital as a precaution. I sincerely hope even at 91 that he won’t be copying President Johnson.
I wonder if Shrub and Mrs Shrub will change their minds about going to Trumpistand
Ayn Rand’s husband’s name was Frank O’Connor–no, not the renown short story author of the same name.
By coincidence, one of the distinguished author’s kids, Liaidin O’Donovan, was a HS classmate of mine in Pa. I recall reading her poetry. Golly, that was a long time ago.
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