While the U.S. and the world suffer multiple traumas, Trump again makes clear what matters most: himself
At some point each of us must look inward and ask what life in America should be, now, and at least for our children’s sakes, in the future
First some important news: Expert historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote on May 22 that Trump is becoming ever more extreme in his rhetoric, including references to fascism and Nazi Germany’s Third Reich. She quoted from two of his recent speeches. (The first quote clearly seems to be a veiled message to white Christians):
“No matter how hateful and corrupt the communists and criminals we are fighting against may be, you must never forget this is not a nation that belongs to them. This is a nation that totally belongs to you… It belongs to you. This is your home. This is your heritage."
Richardson says another Trump statement “floated the idea that he could throw out the constitutional amendment limiting a president to two terms.” The quote: “You know, FDR 16 years—almost 16 years—he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” he asked the crowd. Some yelled, “Three!”
You may already know about a third Trump shocker, a video on Trump’s Instagram account showing a potential news headline if MAGAs win in 2024. “WHAT’S NEXT FOR AMERICA? INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED DRIVEN BY THE CREATION OF A UNIFIED REICH.” Richardson and others including the White House saw its reference to fascism and to Hitler’s Third Reich. The post was eventually removed.
Richardson listed recent examples of Trump’s “increasingly outrageous lies” including his saying he won a state by “a landslide” that he’d clearly lost. She wrote that as Trump and MAGAs become more extreme— most still insisting he won the last election and that they won’t promise to accept the results of the next one—they don’t even try to court swing voters, but rather double down and seem to signal they will use violence to win.
In a stunning statement, Richardson sounded an alarm: “It is not clear to me how anyone can any longer deny that Trump is promising to destroy our democracy and usher in authoritarianism.”
The next day Trump twisted some language in a letter (language that’s used all the time) in such a way that he and then his flunkies could use it to say publicly that President Biden threatened to kill him (a lie).
Last bit of news: The Washington Post’s Max Boot warned that China and Russia are actively influencing the election and sowing discord among Americans. Their use of AI makes knowing the truth trickier. Be especially aware if you’re often on X or TikTok. (A few reliable news sources I can suggest: The Washington Post, Reuters, AP, NPR, CNN/CNN.com, and Heather Cox Richardson.)
I’d already started this post before the “Unified Reich” remark appeared, because like many people I’ve been feeling more and more concerned about a possible Trump win. I know Biden’s not perfect but he’s so much the better man—and president —than Trump. I believe election violence is definitely in Trump’s plans, and that most of his other plans will cause despair and suffering for Americans, and in some ways for much of the world. Biden cares about people, equality, and the planet. Trump cares about Trump.
Anyway for this post, I framed my concerns as questions I hope you might be able to use if you knew anyone imagining voting for Trump or RFK, or not voting at all. Or maybe you feel that way yourself. I’ve heard some voters interviewed who sounded as if they might not vote. I think that’s partly because they don’t understand or believe what Trump says he plans to do if he wins: lots of retribution, cancelling climate change protections, hunting throughout the country for immigrants, and many more dictator-like actions. So please consider sharing this post if you know someone who doesn’t know these things, or share it anywhere else it might do some good, and thanks.
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Should Americans worry about those who use power only for power's sake, forgetting the Founders' hard-won escape from tyranny? Should we care about what’s good for everyone, and not just white “Christians?” Or about those who come here in desperation, asking only to work and live a peaceful life? Should we worry about the flooding and burning earth, or accept the leadership of those who out of ignorance or greed deny what's happening before their eyes?
Should we accept as lawmakers the bigoted extremists hellbent on turning the country into a white theocracy in which only they can win elections? Or accept their often cruel words and behavior, and their lies, greed, and inability to govern? Do we respect the way they spend so much time on partisan investigations, and on finding loopholes in laws and other ways to cheat to stay in power? Do we want lawmakers who use that power to make more money, often in ways that don’t seem quite honorable?
Do we want a president who’s a chronic liar who devalues women, who’s built a fortune and great power in what appear to be pretty shady circumstances, and who admires brutal dictators and scoffs at the Constitution while pretending he's a great patriot?
Speaking of “Reich,” can we accept what CNN.com reporters describe will likely happen, if Trump wins, to our immigrant population (many of whom he’s called “not human”)? This includes “mass arrests, detention, and deportation…the National Guard would be deployed and, if necessary, US troops.” Semafor’s Gina Chon told CNN Tuesday that imprisoned ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro gave her the impression that this plan is sweeping and that many of our millions of immigrants may be rounded up. (My mind fills with images of Nazi troops barging into homes to capture Jewish people, and stuffing them into cattle cars.)
What’s cruel about this is that so many immigrants risk their lives and even die trying to get here, because they so treasure our freedom to work and live in the greatest democracy on earth (if, as Ben Franklin said, we can keep it).
Trump compares himself with great presidents, yet is willing to allow even more climate disasters to wreck our lives by scrapping Biden’s critically important efforts to stop global warming. You’ve probably now heard about his deals with a group of major oil companies: for a billion dollars each, he'll reward them. Politico’s Ben Lefebvre wrote that the long list of actions the oil execs want includes “dismantling parts of…Biden’s green agenda and rolling back pollution regulations that threaten to crimp their profits.”
Can we accept that Trump’s okay with states following every woman's pregnancy from the beginning, invading her private health records, and—who knows?--forcing every birth to occur under the watchful eye of pregnancy police? Imagine the fury women would feel if this happened. Given how my delivery went, if an officer had arrived for that purpose I would have ranted and raged and asked for heavy objects to throw at his/her head.
I recommend that Trump and MAGAs stay out of our medical files, and, really— don’t go anywhere near the delivery room.
It’s shocking to see how often Trump models his penchant for cruelty, and I believe it encourages others to act similarly. Do we want a leader who doesn’t care about the ever-increasing displaced, wounded, and dead in Ukraine, and continuing attacks on their already bombed-out cities? To MAGAs and Trump, it’s just a matter of money. Ukrainians’ suffering doesn’t matter to them. Then there’s his personal cruelty, such as his mocking Senator John Tester (D-Montana) about looking pregnant. (The Maga audience laughed, because they too have become stunningly cruel.) As it happens there's a condition even men in good shape can have that women may have after giving birth, in which a tendon is stretched so badly that they continue to look pregnant. The condition (“Diastasis Recti”) can also simply be a result of doing planks or certain other weightlifting exercises.
Trump seems to enjoy his meanness, and attracts others who are so mean they murder puppies and elderly goats. He admires other cruelty experts such as gangsters and lately even cannibal Hannibal Lechter (who Trump’s referred to more than once recently, with some pretty weird statements).
Is this the person we want in the White House?
I believe a major way we can help save democracy is to understand and help others to see that staying home out of protest, or voting for RFK, is a vote for Trump. As a Democratic strategist said in The Washington Post, “If we lose this election, we might not have another one.” With a Trump-Maga win (or coup), our being a beacon to the world will disappear if Trump carries out his frightening and already entrenched plans. We possess a wondrous national treasure, and we need to work with all our might to save it—now.
NOTES:
Heather Cox Richardson, Letters to an American, on Substack, May 22
Phil Mattingly and Andrew Seger, https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/19/politics/donald-trump-immigration-agenda/index.html
Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/09/trump-asks-oil-executives-campaign-finance-00157131
Max Boot, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/20/china-disinformation-american-elections/?utm_campaign=wp_follow_max_boot&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl-maxboot