Not being in the United States, what information I gather about the country comes from looking at various online journals, newspapers, YouTube and any number of other bits of media information from friends and relatives. I do not know anyone who favours Donald Trump, so any information garnered from such friends and relatives is quite one-sided.
I must admit I am predisposed to a one-sided view of Mr Trump. From the outset of his campaign to become President of the United States he has displayed every element of crass and crude behaviour, as well as a narcissism that can only be described as psychotic. He is the epitome of the schoolyard bully having been allowed to grow up into adulthood without ever having been checked or disciplined. His ego is so advanced that having inherited a great deal of wealth, he has somehow translated that fact, into his personal belief that he did it all by himself as a great deal maker. He did not make his fortune nor is he a deal maker. He has however, managed, by constant repetition of the falsehood, made a great many people believe he did. He has convinced the ignorant and the gullible that his fantasies are real. He does not let go of an idea that has become fixed in his head and he repeats it ad nauseum until people around him begin to believe it. He has so convinced himself of such a lie that his apparent sincerity in repeating it somehow enthralls those around him into his orbit. His supporters are therefore not your normal average citizen who may take issue with some things but generally stand by their man. His supporters have become acolytes so spell-bound that they have forgotten what independent thought might be, or else he has something on them so horrendous that they give into him regardless, or he has paid them. It is impossible to tell.
Why has Ted Cruz, who spoke in the most derogatory terms about Trump when running against him in 2016, become such a stalwart supporter? Why is Lindsay Graham, who at one time claimed ‘enough is enough’ now so devoutly behind him? Why has Kevin McCarthy, who initially was prepared to disown him after the January 6th debacle, become so strong a defender? Why have so many who initially spoke out against him, come to revere him? Is it fear of his ‘base’? That number of surprisingly young people, maga supremacists and various conspiracy theorist like Q Anon and The Proud Boys? Whatever and whoever they may be, they are clearly armed and dangerous.
That the House of Representatives would seek to expunge the impeachments of Donald Trump is again astounding. What doublethink is this? That anyone criticising Mr Trump, for his previous affiliation with Russian hackers, or for any criticism, should be censured is a continuation of the nightmare that the House has become; yet, we have Marjorie Taylor Greene loudly proclaiming the Constitutional rights upholding freedom of speech? How does that make sense? It is a house divided. It is a house divided against itself. If nothing else, the evangelists amongst the representatives should be well acquainted with Mathew 12:22-28 and Mark 3:25.
Any attempt by Democratic representatives to speak reason, reality and truth goes nowhere. The forensic examination of the idiotic unsubstantiated statements of the likes of Boebert, Taylor Greene, Gaetz, McCarthy together with Senators Hawley, Graham and their ilk, leads to nothing. If anything, it increases their stubborn and stupid entrenchment in supporting dishonour, deceit and criminality, else why do they protect the likes of George Santos?
I see the YouTube packages put up by TYT, Meidas Touch, Brian Tyler Cohen, David Packman and others. I see CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC broadcasts all referring to Trump’s big lie. I see articles in the Los Angeles Times online, Puck news, The New Yorker and others. I occasionally listen to KPFK in Los Angeles. They are all denouncing the lies and deceptions promoted by Donald Trump and the Republican Party members of Congress. All that stuff represents quite a substantial number of media which added together must reach a significant number of American citizens; however, it seems to have no effect. I see the results of polls taken with regard to support for Trump. Even if convicted of all the charges contained in current indictments, an equally significant number of American citizens would still vote for and support him. His Republican Party ‘colleagues’ in Congress are even now doing the same in spite of the plethora of facts exposing the rather revolting character of this man.
There are clearly two Americas with very different views, but both claiming adherence to the Constitution. One is committed to a free and caring society, with all the social requirements that are essential to allowing freedom of worship, universal and unfettered education, guaranteed rights and access to health and necessary welfare, security and safety in the home and on the street, equitable relations between employer and employees, all under the protection of the bill of rights contained in the Constitution and the rule of law and duty of care. That includes dominion over one’s own body. So long as one does not cause harm or distress to another, the individual’s right to choose their own path with respect and dignity is paramount.
Then there are the committed closed-minded nationalists who refuse to hear or listen to anyone who might make them doubt their certainty. They are loud and determined to run roughshod over any opposition, and by any opposition I mean anyone who does not approve of unfettered gun ownership, does not follow their form of worship, does not seek to interfere with a comprehensive liberal education, anyone who believes in diversity and real freedom of expression, anyone with an open mind. We saw an example of this during the 2020 election when a BBC reporter attempted to interview Taylor Greene, she walked away declaiming him a foreigner with no right to ‘interfere’ in American politics. It is the refusal to open the mind and not with fixed ideas of what they think is ‘American’. They claim to want to make America great. At what or how? Do they have any idea just what makes America great. It is not isolationism, it is not bigotry, it is not waving a flag or carrying a gun, and shouting USA, USA, USA…It is not egocentric and narcissistic. It is not I AM.
What made America great was its open heart, its 'normal heart'. It is written into the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. It is written into the Gettysburg address with the blood of those it was spoken to commemorate. It is written on the beaches of Normandy and the Sands of Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal. It is written on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.
What the maga people are doing is making a mockery of America. They are creating a cartoon fantasy world completely at odds with its history. They do not know its history, but have swallowed some sort of myth that misinterprets everything about the past and can speak only in slogans They have no substance of any kind. They are all mouth and no trousers.
I do not know how these americans will go about dividing the nation. A realignment of States? A return to the Mason Dixon line? Allow a division down the Mississippi with one group on the left bank and the other the right? Or just let the Magas have the middle keeping the east and west coasts for civilisation.?
If America is going to survive as America it had better get its act together pretty soon, you have but 16 months left. The issues of 160 years ago have grown in complexity, but are still very much the same. Will that government of the people, by the people, for the people perish from the earth?
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