I’m haunted by the mystery of a lifetime that has gradually overtaken my consciousness as these last four years have unfolded. I’ve watched Trump transform the Republican Party into a cult of followers rather than simply forming a base of loyal supporters, for his hold on them goes far beyond that. It’s a cult of personality replete with all the pejorative connotations, all the negative freight the word implies. It’s a cult that’s set a course toward self-destruction, as well as destruction of our governing institutions which help maintain order within our society. And what’s really alarming to me is that the more I watch this man’s behavior as he goes through the motions of leading our country, I can’t shake the feeling that we’ve seen this before in past decades, in different countries and with other leaders and we know how the story ends.
This need his supporters have to follow him over the cliff’s edge into oblivion puts me very much in mind of the once charismatic leader, Jim Jones and his People’s Temple Commune he established in Guyana, aptly named Jones Town, which led to over 900 deaths, some murdered, some by suicide in late November, 1978.
Back then, it was world news, the unthinkable, that so many could be influenced by one man, to the point where they would sacrifice their lives and those of their families in the name of anything on this earth. How was this even possible, we all wondered?
But here we are once again. And I look into the faces of those who love him and I can see in their eyes they believe he will deliver them to paradise and a better world than our country’s known in its first two and one-half centuries… they truly do.
They are the folks from my graduating class in high school, and they post their protestations and entreaties on my time-line, hoping that I will at last see the truth in Trump’s promises to make America great again, but I read their messages, partially Trump messaging filled with empty claims of wondrous deeds he’ll never fulfill, and rife with the symbols of faith, God, and patriotism to camouflage the anemic vision he has for our country that he is yet to demonstrate any tangible evidence of. It just reads like a pathetic fraud to me and I wonder why they too, cannot see through this?
I’ve seen this too in attorneys I’ve trusted and relied upon for family legal matters, who’ve studied the law, first as students and now as career attorneys who make their living through exercising their knowledge of the law in benefit of their clients, the very laws that Trump ignores in his quest for re-election. I wonder why the rule of law suddenly doesn’t matter to them when Trump breaks them?
And I wonder why my friends in my conservation club would support a candidate who in the first four years in office, has rescinded every piece of environmental legislation enacted over the last forty years, safe-guarding our forests and lakes, streams and rivers, and the atmosphere from which we draw each breath? If destroying Nature, even very slowly, by ever gradually increasing degrees over many decades isn’t the very definition of self-destruction, nothing is.
And in the midst of a pandemic that is in full devastation in every country on the planet, but especially in our country… in the midst of Trump, busy “making America great again”, why would he be so adamant to have parents rush their children back into schools again, and the parents to defy state health warnings and return to their jobs once again, paying no heed to personal protective equipment, or distancing or anything else the Center for Disease or World Health Organizations are warning against?
Why would Trump do any of this if it jeopardized the public health of American families and workers? And why would you, Trump supporters, so eagerly throng to his indoor rallies, ignoring all that the best medical minds in the country have warned us against, why would you do this? Do we really see the world so differently?
Maya Angelou, a Nobel laurate, taught us that, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” And last week, with the publication of Bob Woodward’s book and the interview tapes with Trump, the curtain was raised fully to expose the truth of who this man really is, and what’s important to him. It’s not his family, God or country, it’s not the American people or making anything great again, it’s his own survival and his re-election that matter most. It’s why he’s dismantling the systems within the post office and why the White House is now editing any news releases coming out of the Center for Disease Control… all messaging reaching the American public must be positive, down-playing the pandemic and emphasizing any stock market gains, no matter how meager they may be.
The stock market. What on earth does this have to do with anything concerning the average American worker, or his family, or whether we can pay our rent this month or put food on our table? It’s meaningless to all but those in the upper one percent of wealthy investors, Trump’s cronies!
Marching orders in the White House is that everything must sound just as wonderful as Trump tells you it is, and that’s why we no longer have daily pandemic briefings to keep us informed of the great progress we’re making each week.
Because we’re not.
Instead we’re dying by the thousands each day. America has lost 198,068 souls as of 9/15/2020, the date of this writing. I don’t know about your family, but this isn’t the least comforting to mine.
Oh… and I’ll take a pass on the Kool-Aid and MAGA hat… I hear lots of promises, but have witnessed absolutely nothing that makes me feel that our country is better off now than it was before this guy took office. And based on these disastrous first four years, why anyone would feel this indolent, incredibly embarrassing performance is worthy of another term in office, is simply appalling.