More Reactions After Trump's Guilty Verdict

This is a picture of a magnet that was being sold at Strand's Book Store in New York City a few years ago. No, I did not buy it, but I liked it and took a picture, which I am sharing here now. 

"The first thing a cult does is tell you everyone else is lying."

~ Attributed to James Randi

 

Having come from a generally conservative community in northwestern New Jersey, which at the time was still making the transition from being a rural town to a suburb, I can hardly claim surprise that many of my former classmates have become Trump fans. That town now is regarded as unique by New Jersey standards, and is regarded by some almost as a bastion of extreme conservatism, even though the Garden State itself is generally a blue state. Now that said, I was talking with a friend who described New Jersey as more union blue than socially progressive across the board, which is likely the case in other places, like New York and perhaps the West Coast.

That said, a number of my former high school classmates have become Facebook friends. Thus, I am privy to seeing some of their largely pro-MAGA responses and reactions to all of the big stories and controversies following Trump being found guilty on all 34 counts in the recent New York trial. Many of the people actually have remained muted, which surprised me. But that certainly was not the case across the board.

In fact, a few of them have not been shy, and rather have proven to be quite vocal in their responses. Already, I posted about one of those reactions last week. Today, I thought another of those responses would be worth talking about, because it kind of blew me away, what this guy posted publicly on Facebook.

Now in fairness, I should make clear that he and I were never particularly close. We got along when we were together in high school, and sometimes spoke (I cannot recall any specific conversations with him) but we were not exactly friends, either. So I cannot claim to know what is on his mind, or his line of political thinking more generally. That said, I think that it would be embarrassing to most to make the claim that he so quickly and easily made.

Here's what it was: a political cartoon which depicted Lady Justice being muffled (and presumably attacked and raped) by someone in a suit. On the corner of the sleeve of the shirt was the Democratic party symbol. Clearly, it suggests that this entire trial was a farce orchestrated by the Democrats, confirming Trump's own claims that this was a "political witch hunt," and that there is no factual basis to the charges against him, let alone the guilty verdict. This guy commented that this was the most powerful piece of art that he had ever seen.

My first reaction was, admittedly, to scoff. In my mind, I kind of said, "Well then, you need to get out more, frankly."

Yet, it bothered me that, even now, some people just cannot seem to see through this guy. I mean, he is a con artist unlike any other. A trickster, a huckster on a grand scale. By now, there are mountains of evidence to serve as proof of this. And for someone - anyone, really - with any kind of intellectual ability and objectivity not to see it feels...well, intellectually dishonest. Either that or, quite frankly, it feels like the results of brainwashing in full effect. 

You know, kind of like what you might see in a cult?