On January 27, 2017, The New Yorker published an article by Adam Gopnik titled, “Orwell’s 1984 and Trump’s America.”  Gopnik admits he had never been a fan of the 1949 classic about a dystopian future, describing it as “too pat” and rooted in the Brits’ immediate post-WWII dissatisfaction with rationing and general pessimism about a return to normalcy.  However, Gopnik reassesses his position after observing Comrade Trump’s behavior during the first week of his tenure in office.  Referencing the daily claims by Trump and his minions about the size of the inaugural crowed or how he would have won the popular vote except for millions of illegally cast ballots, Gopnik writes:

The blind, blatant disregard for truth is offered without even the sugar-façade of sweetness of temper or equableness or entertainment—offered not with a sheen of condescending consensus but in an ancient tone of rage, vanity, and vengeance. Trump is pure raging authoritarian id.

And so, rereading Orwell, one is reminded of what Orwell got right about this kind of brute authoritarianism—and that was essentially that it rests on lies told so often, and so repeatedly, that fighting the lie becomes not simply more dangerous but more exhausting than repeating it. Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power.

The two words which caught my attention were “ancient tone.”  While Orwell’s chronicle of things to come looks forward in time, by using this phrase, Gopnik suggests we’ve been there before.  After all, Trump’s promise to “Make America Great Again” suggests he too wishes to emulate a past era.  Thus, the title of this blog “1894.”

Flipping from “1984” to “1894” was inspired by the political satire group The Capitol Steps.  At the end of each performance they include a narrative titled “Lirty Dies” in which they reverse the first letters in each phrase.  For example, they refer to the White House occupant as “Tronald Dump.”  But a quick Google search of the term “major events in 1894” suggested interposing the middle digits of these two years was more than just a gimmick.  It was one more example of what Carl Jung called “synchronicity,” the unintentional connection of seemingly unrelated experiences.  Consider the following actual events from 1894 (with commentary in italics).

• On January 9, New England Telephone and Telegraph installs the first battery-operated telephone switch.  Was this just one more milestone toward the creation of the Internet and Twitter?
• March 12, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.  Otherwise there would be no need for Trump to install another red button on the Resolute Desk in the oval office.
• March 25, the first significant American protest march when Ohio business man Jacob Coxey leads an “army” of unemployed workers to Washington, D.C.  The march was triggered by the Panic of 1893 much as the Women’s March and March for Science were inspired by the Panic of 2016.
• May 11, three thousand Pullman Palace Car workers go on strike to protest lowered wages and reduced benefits.  After the strike is crushed, Paul Ryan transports Republican members of Congress to the White House to celebrate what he proudly calls TrumpedCare.
• July 4, Sanford Dole, the son of missionaries, establishes the Republic of Hawaii and is named its first president.  In 2017, the Republic is renamed by Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions “an island in the Pacific Ocean.”
• November 5, West Palm Beach, Florida becomes an incorporated city.  In anticipation of the new municipality becoming the center of the United States government, the first city commission reserves 40 acres of land for the commander-in-chief’s residence which they dub Mar-a-Largess.  Plans include a secured dining room.

Welcome to 1894.  As suggested a few days ago, everything old really is new again.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP