"I wanted the fastest trains for Americans, highest-speed rail. They said, 'Sir, we need to create a new speed category for this project because it's faster than anything we've seen.'
I said 'do it,' and they did it and it's done."
But seriously, a Trump Train (or whatever silly name he gave HSR) could happen. Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power is a hugely important book for people interested in persuasion. Three that stand out for something like getting Trump to push high-speed rail:
44. Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect.
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of the Mirror Effect.
7. Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.
21. Play a sucker to catch a sucker - seem dumber than your mark. (e.g. "I don't understand why we have so many government regulations to slow down high-speed rail")
No one likes feeling stupider than the next person. The trick, then, is to make your victims feel smart—and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.
Here's a link the France's high speed train called TGV that was started in 1966 and runs across all of France and into adjoining countries at speeds around 220 mph. It carried around 140 million passengers a year and makes a profit of around $1.8 billion a year for the owners, the French government.
It also has the high speed record of 357mph using a lightened standard train on a stretch of the normal TGV rail line.
Worth reading the link to help understand what is possible. Note that France only has a population of 70 million and 6 major cities, compared to America's 360 million and many more cities, provided much greater opportunities.
Thanks for the concise post on the state of high-speed rail! Agree that there are promising developments. Let’s hope those will keep progressing, despite the election.
Actually I remember hearing Trump, during the 2016 campaign, lamenting that the US has no HSR, compared to most developed countries he visits (and less developed ones too like Indonesia, Russia and India, Morocco). The objection over CAHSR is the ridiculousness of the cost and continuing cost explosion for no apparent reason. Trump is hardly alone in that. And like that $60k funeral he refused to sanction, he may be one of the few politicians to be able to do anything about it. Of course that is if he concentrated on one issue for long enough to achieve something (unlikely).
I think he has said similar things more recently, too. America being behind other countries on high-speed rail plays into his complexes and ego. On the other hand, most of the people around him are pushing for government to be as small and incapable as possible. High-speed rail in the Trump era will live or die based on whether billionaires and big business show an interest in investing.
Trump & Musk agreed in their Aug 2024 convo on X that the US needs HSR. That's huge. I mean it's their own words, they didn't have to say anything positive about trains. They could've been like "electric cars are the only sensible solution" but they didn't. Trump was like "bullet trains are comfortable and beautiful."
It's silly for us pro-transit types to ignore the boondoggle issues in California. The bloat and regulatory shenanigans on that project have been well-documented.
I've been thinking a lot about this lately:
https://substack.com/@speakeasy/note/c-76573484?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=b7z2u
You can hear Trump now:
"I wanted the fastest trains for Americans, highest-speed rail. They said, 'Sir, we need to create a new speed category for this project because it's faster than anything we've seen.'
I said 'do it,' and they did it and it's done."
But seriously, a Trump Train (or whatever silly name he gave HSR) could happen. Robert Greene's 48 Laws of Power is a hugely important book for people interested in persuasion. Three that stand out for something like getting Trump to push high-speed rail:
44. Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect.
The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of the Mirror Effect.
7. Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit.
Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.
21. Play a sucker to catch a sucker - seem dumber than your mark. (e.g. "I don't understand why we have so many government regulations to slow down high-speed rail")
No one likes feeling stupider than the next person. The trick, then, is to make your victims feel smart—and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.
Here's a link the France's high speed train called TGV that was started in 1966 and runs across all of France and into adjoining countries at speeds around 220 mph. It carried around 140 million passengers a year and makes a profit of around $1.8 billion a year for the owners, the French government.
It also has the high speed record of 357mph using a lightened standard train on a stretch of the normal TGV rail line.
Worth reading the link to help understand what is possible. Note that France only has a population of 70 million and 6 major cities, compared to America's 360 million and many more cities, provided much greater opportunities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV
Thanks for the concise post on the state of high-speed rail! Agree that there are promising developments. Let’s hope those will keep progressing, despite the election.
Actually I remember hearing Trump, during the 2016 campaign, lamenting that the US has no HSR, compared to most developed countries he visits (and less developed ones too like Indonesia, Russia and India, Morocco). The objection over CAHSR is the ridiculousness of the cost and continuing cost explosion for no apparent reason. Trump is hardly alone in that. And like that $60k funeral he refused to sanction, he may be one of the few politicians to be able to do anything about it. Of course that is if he concentrated on one issue for long enough to achieve something (unlikely).
I think he has said similar things more recently, too. America being behind other countries on high-speed rail plays into his complexes and ego. On the other hand, most of the people around him are pushing for government to be as small and incapable as possible. High-speed rail in the Trump era will live or die based on whether billionaires and big business show an interest in investing.
Trump & Musk agreed in their Aug 2024 convo on X that the US needs HSR. That's huge. I mean it's their own words, they didn't have to say anything positive about trains. They could've been like "electric cars are the only sensible solution" but they didn't. Trump was like "bullet trains are comfortable and beautiful."
It's silly for us pro-transit types to ignore the boondoggle issues in California. The bloat and regulatory shenanigans on that project have been well-documented.