This is a repeat post from 2018. While the country is a very different place than it was then, there is wisdom here. The turnaround needed today is very different. The 2018 turnaround has been stopped and reversed by the current Democrat executive branch and congress, and sometimes aided by some of the Republicans there too. As we are all aware, our primary tool – the vote – has been corrupted by those in power (or those who seek it), and we must do what we can to right the ship before election day.

Here is the original post from 2018:

Tomorrow (true election day) is the showdown. Whether the turnaround of our country will continue, or be stalled. To paraphrase D. Hawthorne in his article at American Greatness, turnarounds begin when enough people accept something is wrong, and this particular turnaround will only continue if enough voters believe in what has been accomplished since January of 2017, and support its leader.

We have our leader for at least two more years, but he needs help to clean up a mess that took many years to create, to move our country back in a direction that benefits our citizens instead of the bureaucrats who have run Washington for their own benefits.

We all hear the criticism of our President – that he’s crass, has weird hair, that he’s a fat orange man who golfs too much, but as one Facebook friend said today,

And the song, “You can’t always get what you want” is great.

So you hate tweets and an ruddy orange-y complexion and long tie over a patriarchal belly for a President? Tough. You can’t always get what you want but sometimes, if you’re lucky, you get what you damn well need.

As the vast majority of the nation should know very well (had so many not been taught out of a Howard Zinn textbook), an exploitative, corrupt, self-dealing, hard-ass, radical Left, practicing actual Bolshevik tactics, is not the right path for America, just as it has not been for any other nation in the world, to wit—in only the latest disasters—Venezuela (and Nicaragua).

The turnaround executive isn’t very popular in a failing company, so I guess we can’t expect that he will be universally popular in a dysfunctional, self-serving, government either. We the people aren’t part of that government, but we have a say in who runs it, and if we don’t make good decisions, we will lose all of the gains that have been made.

Voting is just about the only way we have – and certainly the best one – to see that the turnaround of our country continues in a positive way, so we had better use that tool – that beautiful tool – to influence the shape of our future, and the futures of our children and grandchildren. We are despised by the elites in this country; we are the deplorables, the red necks, the “uneducated”, the Bible thumpers. But we are something else – a powerful force for good, if enough of us get together and vote for success.

We have our turnaround man, and now we have to help him continue the marvelous turnaround that we have seen in such a short time – less than two years.

As D. Hawthorne says, our ‘turnaround man’ realized three things that needed to be done:

• Blowing up political correctness, because an American turnaround cannot happen if we are unable recover the meaning of words and talk forthrightly about what is really going on.
• Delegitimizing the false narratives of the mainstream media, because a turnaround cannot be sustained if basic communication channels remain corrupted.
• Taking down the administrative state, because a turnaround will fail if unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats continue to override the sovereignty of the American people by controlling our society.

Hawthorne goes on to say,

…displaying an appalling contempt for the American people, the Left and the political ruling class have joined together in a will-to-power push to enforce radical cultural changes and to sustain political control:

. . . the 2016 election clarified new political dividing lines. It is no longer Republican/Democrat or Conservative/Liberal or even Right/Left. Instead, it is a well-formed statist ruling class with five key constituencies [GOP establishment, Democrats, administrative state bureaucracy, mainstream media, cultural Left – including Hollywood, academia] against a dissatisfied, but unorganized, American people who desire to be recognized as equals and part of the sovereign people who are supposed to govern America.

They have contempt for Americans and treat them as subjects, not citizens; they have balkanized our society while weaponizing the federal government to punish and enforce subservience.

What has our turnaround man done to combat this? Hawthorne says point one is:

Successful turnarounds begin with substantive short-term accomplishments that achieve positive results, thus buying precious time to unravel the embedded conventional wisdom that led to the crisis. Rapid wins create an incentive, or at least a willingness, for previous fence-sitters and even doubters to join an expanded guiding coalition.

Trump has had a turnaround executive’s laser-like focus on delivering his campaign promises, attracting the American people with positive results…

Point two:

Put a Spotlight on Issues and People, Relentlessly Driving Change.
Trump’s modus operandi aligns well with a turnaround executive facing resistance after challenging the failed status quo.

Trump destroys his enemies not by silencing them, but by sunlighting them – like vampires. He puts them center-stage, hands them the mic and lets them destroy themselves. He is not trying to make Democrats stop being Democrats, He is making them show who they really are.

Trump also fights, ditching the civility bullshit that was used only to hobble previous Republicans—the failed dignity, collegiality, and propriety of Conservatism, Inc. and the GOP establishment—by recognizing (and persuading others) that such virtue signaling leads to certain defeat in a one-sided war…

Point 3:

Know What Turnaround Success Looks Like
Many turnarounds fail and it is far from clear that the American turnaround can succeed. The 2018 midterm elections have become unusually significant because they will determine if the American people will let a new political alignment paradigm continue to evolve or return us to the previous loop of doom.

If the people do give the turnaround more time, how will that time be used? Here is the twist: Even if Trump serves as President for two full terms, the American turnaround will not be completed by 2024. While a talented turnaround executive like Trump can clarify the problems, drive the initial changes, and then enable a new strategic direction and initial operational actions, a successful turnaround typically requires more time and a broader team effort…

The ultimate success of the turnaround will require forming a broad new governing coalition of Americans who have the will power to carry out the operational execution of the turnaround that can drive the required longer-term cultural and political changes to create a New Americanism

In order to succeed in the long run, we have to put more people in Washington who will support and work with our turnaround man, and continue his work after he is no longer there to push for what our country wants and needs. We love our turnaround man, but he can’t do it alone.

Read all of Hawthorne’s article at American Greatness.