As I have stated before, here and elsewhere, I have long expected the political rise of someone dangerous to democracy and simple decency in the United States. That said, it took me very much by surprise that the actual person who rose up and became that threat wound up being Donald Trump. He has been very famous since back in the 1980's, but it was one of those things where it seemed clear (at least to me, and most people I know) that he was simply a spoiled rich brat who never had to struggle in his life. Like ever. And he acted in such a ridiculous manner that I thought most people saw and understood that this was not a serious person.
Looking back now, it was obvious that not only was my assumption wrong, but it probably was part of the problem. Like many other people in 2016, I kept assuming that Trump's campaign - which I mostly also viewed as a joke or some kind of gimmick or scam to get his name out there even more in order to sell people more of his crap - would surely derail. As bad as things had gotten politically in this country, surely we were not going to make this man the President of the United States? People may have gotten quite dumb over the years and decades, but surely not quite that dumb? I mean, there are still standards, right? Right?
Wrong.
So I worried and even despaired a bit during the first four years of Trump's presidency. Each time that he did something which even Trump fans would have a difficult time defending (or so I had assumed), his support only wavered temporarily, but was not broken. I had hoped that people would wake up once they realized that this guy really was too much of a clown to uphold what remained of the dignity of the White House, and the presidency itself.
Once again, however, I was wrong.
Then came January 6th. It was obvious that Trump had lost the election. He had lost by over seven million in the popular votes. His requests for recounts and court cases were not denied. And in those court cases, his legal team bent over backwards to make the argument that they were, in fact, NOT arguing for massive voter fraud, instead focusing on some minor voting irregularities in individual states, none of which would have overturned a single result in any state. So when he directed a hostile crowd to intervene with the democratic process so that he could stay in power, surely that would discredit him once and for all, right? Right?
Yet again, I was wrong. Nothing happened. Trump really did not get into any serious trouble. Worse, I remember him having one of his damn political rallies within the first few days of the new Biden administration. And that was the moment when I began to dread something: Trump would run again, and probably win this time around. Despite everything, all of the nonsense and sheer chaos that this man had ushered in, he was still very much a viable force politically in this country. Maybe I had overestimated the intellect or the morals of Americans. But right then, seeing him with one of those ridiculous, farce political rallies, I began to get a gut feeling that this man was virtually unstoppable. Many were sure he would go to prison, but I was just as sure that he would not. My dread turned into a dire certainty that this man would be in the Oval Office once again.
Still, I hoped that I was wrong. Especially since so many like-minded people around me were just as certain that he was done, politically. That once defeated, he and his MAGA movement would never rise again. So I wanted to believe, and hoped for signs that my dreaded gut feeling was unfounded.
Unfortunately, we all know what happened. No, he was not in any serious trouble for anything. Not for his role on January 6th. Not for his election interference, most obviously in Georgia, where he was recorded as saying all he needed was 11,000 plus more votes weeks after the 2020 election had ended (I mean, come on, how blatant and obvious does his corruption need to be for people to understand the reality of it?). Not for any of his other ridiculous bad behavior while in the Oval Office, including the two times he had been impeached. If anything, all of that added to his own personal mythology that, yes, he was indeed being politically persecuted. Democrats seemed to fall right into that trap. And once the 2024 election came, his win felt like a virtual certainty.
All three of the presidential elections where Trump was the GOP nominee were depressing to me. I was outraged at how the Democrats were reacting, and it felt to me that despite their names, they were not believers in the democratic process. Still, I hoped for the Democrats to win each time. If 2016 was more shocking than depressing, than 2024 was far more depressing than shocking. After all, there could be an argument that Trump was some kind of an aberration if he only won once, and never got in again. But the country had ample warning about who this man was, and they voted him into office for a second time. Tens of millions of people voted for him three times, surely. On the night of the election, and the morning after, I heard some locals in upstate New York (I was visiting family at that time) set off fireworks in celebration of Trump's victory. People just refused to believe that this man really was as bad and dangerous as so many, many people had warned.
So here we are again. By now, I have resigned myself to some realities. No people are not outraged at his outrageous behavior. Where I see clear and blatantly obvious signs of a decay in morals and values, far too many Americans see a good man of action taking a strong stand to defend his country. To bring it back to the good old days. That sure seems to include a return to old school styled prejudice and racism and sexism, but it seems that an alarming number of my fellow Americans are okay with that, too. The worst excesses of his bluster and inability to contain his frankly childish rants and ravings are instead seen somehow as unimportant, or even as a positive by some people. Quite frankly, there is literally nothing that this man can do which his supporters will not bend over backwards to try and find justifications for. Indeed, if Trump was honest about one thing through all of his staggering number of lies, it was that he could indeed shoot somebody in broad daylight in downtown Manhattan and not lose a single supporter. That sure does appear to be the case.
Now, we are barely a month and a half or so into this new, second Trump presidency. And already, it is feeling like it has been much, much longer. Longer even than his first four years have been. Once again, I dread to see the headlines or watch the news, to find out what ridiculous and depressing nonsense came out of the Oval Office. The worst to me so far was what just happened in the White House late last week, when Trump and Vance and some others clearly set up a trap for visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. By any measure, that whole episode was a failure. It achieved nothing, except for delighting Putin and his Russian supporters. A clear message was sent to former allies, this time beyond any uncertainties, that Trump is not someone whom they can rely upon. Even Americans who support this man should have seen this as lacking decorum and basic decency.
Unfortunately, however, not enough Americans are outraged. Somehow, his supporters are finding ways to convert even this ridiculous failure into some huge success. I saw some posts where they expressed pride in this American president and how this was just the latest proof that he is defending his country, and doing them proud.
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