I have often said that someone like Donald Trump would not rise high in the TDG system of governance. I have asked my critics to spend three hours with my work, then tell me how someone like Donald Trump can game the TDG. So far, no takers.
No, Donald Trump would not rise high. Why? Because all top level TDG representatives have to start at the bottom. They have to first get elected in their neighborhood. If they do not have the trust and respect from their neighbors, they won’t find a neighborhood position to launch a “political career” in the TDG.
From what I can glean from the media, Mr. Trump’s neighbors in Mar-a-Lago do not like him. So they would not vote for him to be their TDG representative.
Maybe the tenants of Trump Tower in New York might feel obligated to vote for him. He can make their lives worse if they give someone else the job. So he gets the neighborhood representative job for the people in his tower.
Mr. Trump’s neighborhood would be joined with adjacent neighborhoods in Manhattan. Maybe 5 to 15 neighborhoods would constitute a “TDG district.” Mr. Trump would be working alongside other neighborhood representatives in this district. They would be solving issues like whether or not to repaint the crosswalk on 5th Avenue or replacing an aging sewer line that runs underneath them. Methinks Mr. Trump would not find those political tasks that interesting.
When the TDG assumes governance, it will have developed a culture of collaboration, consultation, and consensus. Because he is elected to represent Trump Tower, he has the legitimacy to sit in the district meetings. Unfortunately, the other neighborhood representatives will have to put up with his blowhard attitude. But one blowhard against six or more collaborative people should mean the blowhard can be deflected. Mr. Trump will likely not have much influence here.
Once a year, the district representatives vote, among themselves, to send one of them to next highest tier. In this election, only the neighborhood representatives get to vote. Because they have worked alongside Mr. Trump for some time, they know his character. So, their votes will likely go towards someone with a collaborative, consultative, and consensual attitude. There might be two or three contenders for the district representative job, but Mr. Trump won’t be one of them.
If Mr. Trump does somehow game this election, he did it with a different strategy than the way he won the neighborhood election. Let me say this in a different way: Mr. Trump may be able to bully his way to getting his neighbors in Trump Tower to vote for him. But these techniques will not help him much at the district election.
But even if he does “deal-make” his way to be the district representative, he will have a whole new set of representatives to “deal-make” to reach the next highest level.
There might be 10 tiers between the Trump Tower neighborhood and the top tier of the USA. Can Mr. Trump manage to win all these tiers with his current attitude? Especially when the higher tiers have a higher level of skills for collaboration, consultation, and consensus?
Did I mention that all these elections are annual? Eventually the motive of "personal gain" trumping "service to the community" will become known. A small political rise could be derailed rather easily, and without much drama.
If you don’t like people like Mr. Trump in high places, you should spend three hours to investigate my system.
If you don’t investigate, then you should expect the next decade to be like the last decade. And it’s looking to be worse.
Published on Medium 2024
