Trump is a sinking ship, but he seems intent on taking as many people down with him as possible. I suspect that he believed that many of his supporters would be willing to go to war for him. That still is not impossible, although I believe that it is unlikely. Armed militant groups playing the part of tough guy, patriotic soldiers, but who really look more like clowns, like boys playing war games of their imagination, might realize how little chance they actually would have if they stood up to the government. No matter how many guns they have, it will be nothing compared to the massive arsenal of weapons that the government obviously has. And that is largely thanks to the overblown military spending of politicians that the right reveres, particularly from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush and now Donald Trump.
Of course, that is not quite how they would see it. But their perception is so skewed on so many matters, that their interpretation of things is hardly to be trusted, much less believed uncritically. Seeing these idiots - the most militant, and militantly stupid - among Trump supporters is a reminder of just how blind and dangerous this mindset has become. They got their own president, regardless of how briefly he served. It already happened once, and we should not collectively fall into the trap of assuming that it could never happen again. It can. In fact, it most likely will. I figured someone as polarizing and hateful as Trump would reach the White House at some point, even if, admittedly, the fact that it was Trump, of all people, kind of came as a shock to me. How a slick, sleazy New York billionaire with an obvious false sense of entitlement and a history of scams could become the most trusted and revered leader for Evangelical Christians will likely always remain a mystery to me, frankly.
Yet, on a positive side, it was still one more reminder (as if any more were needed) of how glad I am to be free of that cult-like fixation that so many tens of millions of Americans have with King Con Don. Some people have disparagingly referred to it as Cult 45, and that seems apropos. This man is so completely unworthy of such adulation, and it just feeds into his own shallow narcissism. But he is a sinking ship. Like the Titanic, he had huge billing and seemed attractive to many people. Maybe some wealthy people in particular are attracted to his actual policies, but there are plenty of not so rich people who are down on the lower decks. They all seem to enjoy the glitz and gold leaf flashiness, and they they all believe the billing, that this is the unsinkable ship. But it is already sinking, having predictably tried to break speeding records and hit an iceberg.
Perhaps it is not just the Trump campaign, or the Trump political machine, that is the flashy, now sinking ship. Perhaps it is the United States itself, which was a seemingly untouchable superpower not so long ago, and which now feels like a country in an almost advanced and largely irreversible state of decline.
Trump himself has refused to concede, but that matters little. He lost, and it is clear to all but those who identify with the cult. He is sinking, and he never wants to fail alone, always opting to blame others and bring as many people down with him as possible. Predictably, that is what he is doing now, classless cultist that he is.
Some people are trapped now, with no escape that they can see. This whole Trump cult phenomenon, seeing it from the outside as something that I really do not understand, serves as a warning to us, and to future generations, of what can happen, and how dangerous things can get, and quickly. I am glad that he is gone (or almost), but I fear the return to another cultish leader in America. Next time, we might not get so lucky with someone as clownish as Trump. Next time, we might get stuck with somebody who is far more capable and competent, and that is the scary thought that prevents me from celebrating Trump's demise, even though it was likely a good thing for the country.
Good analysis
ReplyDeleteThank you
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