A friend has suggested I not mention Donald Trump’s name in her company unless I have breaking news he is either dead or in prison. I understand the loathing, a visceral disgust which comes from just thinking about Trump. Seeing Trump. Hearing Trump. Trump says this. Trump says that. Undoubtedly, he is a creature dedicated to money and crime, a Jabba the Hutt cartoonish figure. It’s wearisome to see his face in every newspaper and screen. How many times each day must we visit his complaints, anger and misogyny? Poor dear is as repulsive as the late Uganda dictator Idi Amin, who allegedly munched the flesh of his political rivals during cannibalistic conquests. “Everybody knows” (a phrase Trump often uses) the former president admires those who rule with an iron fist. Come one, come all, he loves to fight, get even, be the winner no matter the contest. He treats women as objects, “pieces of ass,” in his words. That said, he unquestionably would praise the Ugandan cannibal strongman for his command of his people and for his reputation as a world-class despot. Besides being as gross as Amin, Trump has been and still is as divisive as the Berlin Wall. Aside from his reputation as a rapist (let’s not split hairs between sexual assault and rape) and a racist, he's a swindler and a braggart, not to mention his roles as a traitor and draft dodger. Daily he attacks and blusters. Blithely, he cares only about himself, lacking empathy, his conscience incapable of functioning. Benedict Arnold’s vita curriculum looks better than Trump’s because Arnold was far more high-minded until he decided to switch sides during the Revolutionary War, though I’m sure our former President Bone-Spurs would gin up his resume to fabricate everything in it before judgments became final.
So how does such a flawed person command the respect and following of all those red state MAGA voters? Recent polls suggest Trump may be more electable than Biden. A friendless man married to a stony woman, Trump has cheated on all three of his wives and is unashamed of his dalliances. Given Trump’s character, or lack thereof, and his stunning list of legal liabilities, how is it possible he stands a chance to become president once again? How can he inspire voters to anything but contempt and the immediate use of an airline airsickness bag?
Fear and anger, that’s how.
Fear is Trump’s superpower. Fear is the weapon all would-be dictators use. He stages fear. He invents fears. He taps into the fears of voters. His inherent lack of self-worth invites a grandiose cover up, so he claims to be a winner, a genius, a messianic figure, a powerful voice fighting the sources of the threats which surround us. He will battle those who threaten America. He cozies up to voters by claiming to understand what they fear. Fear of those contaminating our country. Fear of Mexicans pouring over our borders. Fear of sexual topics being discussed in schools and in public squares. Fear of ethnic and racial populations gaining political power. Fear of LGBTQ people living large in America. Fear of losing Mayberry RFD to BIPOC folks who may use weed but don’t use weed & feed on their lawns. Fear of science. Fear of books. Fear of intellectuals. Fear of dark conspiracies by Jews and globalists who allegedly aim to control the world. Fear of those who kneel rather than sing with gusto “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Fear of ceding power and social standing to people who don’t own guns and want to put restrictions on them. Fear of elitists, meaning anyone who has earned more than a high school diploma or GED. Fear of city folks. Fear of BLM. Fear of RINOS. Fear of Wokeness. Simply, Make America Great Again, you know, by emphasizing what we all should fear.
It works too. Former President McLiarface appeals to an underclass which has been held down and subsequently pushed around for centuries, even though he, also known as The Man Who Would Be King, deplores the very voters to whom he curries favor. He is not of their element. He wants dominance, his victory dance, and his people don’t mind being told what to do because they have been exploited and want to end the cycle of being ignored. He tells his core followers they are victims of a culture excluding them from what America is and should be. Trump will rescue them from victimhood, and so they will follow his flag all the way to the point of storming the Capitol and will even entertain the idea of hanging Mike Pence or executing a general who implies bad things about their Generalissimo.
But anger is Trump’s other trump card. His rage goes off as often as Old Faithful’s eruptions. Case in point, he spewed his 2023 Christmas message as follows:
“Merry Christmas to all, including Crooked Joe Biden’s ONLY HOPE, Deranged Jack Smith…THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, LIED TO CONGRESS, CHEATED ON FISA, RIGGED A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, ALLOWED MILLIONS OF PEOPLE, MANY FROM PRISONS & MENTAL INSTITUTIONS, TO INVADE OUR COUNTRY, SCREWED UP IN AFGHANISTAN, & JOE BIDEN’S MISFITS & THUGS, LIKE DERANGED JACK SMITH, ARE COMING AFTER ME, AT LEVELS OF PERSECUTION NEVER SEEN BEFORE IN OUR COUNTRY??? IT’S CALLED ELECTION INTERFERENCE. MERRY CHRISTMAS!...Included also are World Leaders, both good and bad, but none of which are as evil and ‘sick’ as the THUGS we have inside our Country who, with their Open Borders, INFLATION, Afghanistan Surrender, Green New Scam, High Taxes, No Energy Independence, Woke Military, Russia/Ukraine, Israel/Iran, All Electric Car Lunacy, and so much more, are looking to destroy our once great USA. MAY THEY ROT IN HELL. AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
Atta boy, former President Bone Spurs, great message of love and hope to promote the Christmas season.
A sliver of truth comes from this would-be dictator’s fear message. Government bureaucrats and American oligarchs have been telling the powerless what to do and how to do it for as long as folks found themselves in the same church but sitting in different pews. Even though Trump is emphatically a despicable person, many voters conclude he can be a good president because he promises to represent their interests, their victimhood. Trump favors dictators and billionaires and has no affinity for those left behind and struggling to catch up. Those people for the most part are losers, and Trump only likes winners. Exclusively. But Trump plays his anger to their anger of being left behind. And it works.
As immoral as Trump has proven to be, many voters find equally strong objections to Uncle Joe. Biden has his own list of liabilities, though not as many Deadly Sins as Trump. So we are all in for an anxiety-ridden election year. Who should we choose—a nice gentleman who has observable flaws, or a corrupt swindler who speaks only lies?
That said, I plead guilty in doing the same thing Trump does: name-calling, belittling, taunting. Shouldn’t I strive to be better than Trump? Easy answer, yes. Every day I’m trying. But I keep thinking—what if he wins again! How can one horrid person destroy America and its place in the world? Anything might happen.
What if he keeps sticking his finger in women he barely knows?