With enough spin and a command of the English language, we end up in the place where we are—constant shouting matches, verbal gymnastics, a constant stand-off, where the only rules involve who can conceive of the best words, who can create mythic reality and “truth” merely by repeating something over and over again.
Still, I and many others know in our collective gut that something is seriously off about Donald Trump and JD Vance and Elon Musk, Curtis Yarvin, Kevin Roberts, Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller, Peter Thiel, Russell Vought, and the Freedom Caucus, among others.
Trump and his machine convinced enough voters that he was going to fix the economy, secure our borders from the imaginary hordes of hoodlums and lowlifes, and make America Old Testament Christian(?) again… The only things missing have been the magic wand and ruby slippers.
The “Republican” machine dulled peoples’ Spidey sense, bludgeoned them with repeated assertions that they alone knew how to conjure greatness for America, when all that’s actually happened is that they’ve elevated lying and deception to art forms, and fascism and authoritarianism have once again reared their ugly heads under the auspices of trimming fat and saving money.
America is and probably always will be a target, because at its core it is an experiment in trust—trust in leaders, trust in the electorate, trust in institutions established to respond and to maintain balance. America is an attempt at flying in the face of human nature, ambitious and honorable. Some people hate honorable.
What Trump and the rest want is for us to trust in and obey them, which is, of course, a fool’s errand. They deserve no such compliance. At a minimum, they deserve a derisive laugh and a boot out of town.
3 Cents' 