The use of the word “establishment” no longer has any rhyme or reason to it.
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While many complaints against former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg have been valid, sometimes it feels like people take that for granted and think any criticism of him is valid. Want evidence of this? Just look at this tweet from Gab’s Twitter account:
“Reminder this election season that the Democratic establishment is paying tens of millions of dollars to gaslight social networks and combat the authentic support of Trump and Sanders online.”
Bloomberg is part of the Democratic establishment? Well that’s new to me, especially considering that of the twelve years he spent as New York City Mayor, he did not spent a single day as a Democrat. He was a Republican for six years, and an Independent for another six. What establishment was he a part of when he was an Independent? The establishment of people without an established organization?
The term “the establishment” has become more and more meaningless over time. In 1992, 1996, and 2000, Pat Buchanan ran for President as an anti-establishment figure. Yet, he was a top aid to both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and a commentator for the most popular show on CNN.
In 2000, George W. Bush ran as an outsider. Yet, his father was a congressman, ambassador, chair of the RNC, CIA Director, Vice President, and President. While George H.W. Bush was president, his son even bragged about having such easy access to him. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a Senator from Connecticut.
Enough rants about history, now to tie this to the modern day.
Senator Romney was recently declared part of the establishment for voting in favor of Trump being removed. Mind you, I have no idea how the 52 senators who voted in favor of Trump aren’t part of the establishment. Especially figures like Senator Shelby who has been in Washington since 1987, Roberts who has been in Washington since 1997, McConnell who has been in Washington sine 1985, Inhofe who has been in Washington since 1994, and Grassley who has been in the Senate since 1981!
The same thing happened when Rep. Amash turned on the President. He was declared part of the establishment when he switched from Republican to Independent. This is despite him being one of three Independents in Congress and the only one to be a consistent libertarian.
Why is Trump not considered part of the establishment? According to Google, establishment is defined as “a group in a society exercising power and influence over matters of policy or taste, and seen as resisting change.” I would say that fits this administration perfectly. After all, who is in charge of the executive branch?
This came up again recently with Roger Stone being sentenced to nine years in prison for the minor mistake of breaking the law. Now, I’m not here to debate rather he should be thrown in jail, that’s not the topic of this article. I will say the Trump supporters who treat Stone as an anti-establishment hero are speaking nonsense. Stone was an aid to Nixon, a worker for Reagan, and created a lobbying firm that represented third-world dictators, Rupert Murdoch, the Tobacco Institute, and, you guessed it, Donald Trump.
According to radio host Mark Levin, former EPA director Scott Pruitt, who was known for spending the night in buildings bought by lobbyists, was being targeted for not being corrupt enough.
The fact is, the term “establishment” does not have a meaning anymore. It is only ever said when the person talking has an extreme dislike for a politician they can’t quite explain. Either the term must be removed from all use as soon as possible except for a very specific context, or it will become nothing more than another political buzzword.
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Ephrom Josine is a libertarian political blogger/commentator, and a frequent contributor to The Liberty Hawk. In 2019, he published his first book Ramblings Of A Mad Man: Life As An Anarchist. You can find him on Twitter @EphromJosine1, writing near-daily on Medium @ephromjosine or weekly on Freedom First Blog.
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