Well, now we’ve done it. We opened the doors and windows for evil to take over. No way around the harm the 2024 presidential election will have on our communities and the world. Metaphorically, Trump and his nest of rat snakes have slithered up the tree trunk and are about to consume the fledglings and nest eggs. The predators will devour whatever they can get away with. But, hey, we let our guard down. Yes, Trump is evil in the same way El Duce Mussolini and Generalissimo Franco were evil. Fascism, loosely defined, proposes an extreme nationalism as opposed to liberal democracy which encourages individual rights and political dissent. Fascists, sad to admit, are now in control and about to run (ruin) our country.
Many pundits, podcasters, and peacemakers assert we should embrace Trump as our leader (he won, didn’t he?) and politely oppose him, if we must, in the spirit of loyal opposition. Or they claim Biden and Harris got about what they merited because inflation and blah, blah, blah. Political commentators enjoy analyzing the electorate’s will and motivation. They pluck at the trends and outcomes like baboons grooming cohorts’ parasites.
Dang, they say, Harris lost but we all must refresh America together. Let’s shake hands across the aisle. Make America Great Again!
Nonsense! Should we consort with evil?
Nope. Trump is and always will be a sex abuser, racist, swindler, liar, womanizer, felon, braggart, draft dodger, and narcissist. In short: unbefitting to lead our country or even the local Kiwanis Club. So far his choices for cabinet offices and advisors are predominantly sycophants and scoundrels of their own making. In voting against the elites, sadly we elected uber elites: Musk, Ramaswamy, Burgum, Lutnick, Bessent, McMahon, as well as those (Zuckerberg, Bezos, Altman) who have been donating millions on bended knee to get the blessings from the self-centered buffoon whom we elected as our leader. Why would anyone want to consort with scoundrels? We should be cautious about the company we keep because, as the adage goes, “If you lie down with the dogs, you’ll get up with fleas.” No, I won’t cooperate with the enemies of our country, which happen to be the leaders of our country.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren summed up Trump’s cadre of sottocapo and consiglieri recently to the Washington Post, “He’s nominating his ‘rich-as-hell’ buddies to run every facet of our economy, corrupting our government at the expense of ordinary Americans.”
But here we are.
Which recalls the modern martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Lutheran pastor, anti-Nazi dictatorship writer, and vocal critic of Hitler’s “Final Solution” project to eliminate Jews, Gypsies, people with disabilities, gay men, lesbians, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and other undesirables, all of whom kept the “master race” from dominating the world. You might think of it as a “Make the Third Reich Great Once and for All.” As you may know, Bonhoeffer’s ethical obligation restrained him from condoning evil. He believed the mandate from his faith compelled him to act. Though he recognized different religious and political claims, he decided he could not live in the “shadow of Cain.” To be a responsible Christian, he claimed, one must not comply with evil.
Well said, Dietrich, we should not conform to evil even though we gave it license. True, Trump and his posse are not as extreme as Hitler and Mussolini, not yet, but they are heading toward fascist rule as they mount a campaign to consolidate power.