IGNORANCE, JUDGEMENT AND THE MAGA BASE’S NUCLEAR OPTION

PHOTO: Change.org

Thoughtful Americans have been trying for a decade 
or more to understand the mindset of those of our compatriots responsible for bringing this noble nation—admired by the world for nearly two-and-a-half centuries for its vision, values and leadership—to its knees. 

I’m still baffled at how such betrayal is possible, but I’ve come up with new angle to consider.

VENGEANCE AT ANY PRICE
Oh I know, we’ve heard this song and dance about Donald Trump’s poor base feeling unheard and un-
appreciated by us conceited “liberal elites.” About their fear of immigrants’ and the poor’s snatching what they see as their entitlement to the American Dream. And about how their perceived suffering merits as much credibility as our own aspirations.

PHOTO: Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call

I don’t buy it. It gives way too much credit to people who somehow managed to turn off both 
their brains and hearts and hire the con man of our age to avenge their grievances for them. 
A charlatan who figures they won’t notice that he’s destroying their country in their name—while not just impoverishing them, but enriching himself and his family to the tune of more than $1,000,000,000—and that's in just the past year.* 

GRAPHIC: AmericanProgress.org

For me, a better answer—perhaps the easiest one—would be that these Trump groupies are simply thoughtless, self-obsessed, philistine, chest-beating assholes. Idiots who’ll pay any price to stick it to people not like them. But the more I think about it, the more certain I am that that’s not the whole story either. 

     Trump literally tells them what they know and don’t know.

COUNTER-INTELLIGENCE
What makes more sense is that these Trump groupies are just so ashamed of their own ignorance that they're in denial, demonizing anyone honest enough to hold their noses to it. How dare you judge, they feel. Judge not just us, but anything at all! Beauty, kindness, sophistication, style, merit. It's all "woke," not because those attributes are invalid, but because they provide a reflection of their own soullessness. 

Judgment—the process of weighing and comparing the truth of stuff—lies at the very heart of intelligence. Along with curiosity and creativity, critical judgment is a key component of acquiring and applying knowledge. And that, to folks with little education and short attention spans, poses a huge threat, because all it does is remind them just how stupid they really are.

This is why their Dear Leader’s tack has been to systematically discredit judgement—and along with it truth. Because he knows his MAGAts not only can’t judge what’s true or not, but wouldn’t buy the truth anyway if it challenged their simplistic, fear- and anger-stoked beliefs.

Playing on those beliefs, their anger, their fears—and their latent shame in their ignorance—Trump literally tells them what they know and don’t know. (Listen for those slick little inter-
jections in his unhinged ravings: “Everyone’s saying…,” “Everybody agrees…,” “People know…” and “You know that, right?” )

ALTERNATE TRUTH
The response Trump has incited in his MAGA cult is the cultural equivalent of the nuclear option: I don’t get it…so I’ll be damned if anyone’s going to get it. Instead of elevating our own aspirations, we'll drag down yours. So, yes, let’s yank the U.S. government’s investment from any program, any institution, that stands, even remotely, for intelligence, refinement…or even basic human kindness. 

PHOTO: Dave Killen/the Oregonian

Add to the bogeymen hit list anyone purporting to honor the truth. Hey, after being forced to stomach these pompous educators,' researchers,’ scientists,’ doctors’ and journalists’ fancy-pants proclamations all these years, Dear Leader has finally given me permission to claim my own, “alternative” truth…about everything.

The blindness to reality is so complete that these suckers can look right at this master manipu-
lator, this draft-dodging sexual predator who espouses not one of Jesus Christ’s teachings, and believe he’s their model of patriotism, their personal gift from God. 

    A charismatic leader steps up and shows Americans…that 
    there’s a better, healthier vision for our country than Trump’s 
    deeply negative one.

A HEALTHIER VISION
So, that’s my half-assed theory. What of it? What’s to be done? Is there hope for our faltering “shining city upon a hill” Democracy?

I still believe a spark of love and kindness glows at the core of every human being. Like so many of our best qualities, though, it’s gotten buried under layer after layer of concerns and emotions that are very good at pretending to be important. Like fear, anger, conceit…and, yes, shame.

One answer might be for an extraordinarily charismatic leader to step up and show Americans—even those of us who’ve been exploited by Trump—that there’s a better, healthier vision for our country than his deeply negative one. (I think most folks yearn deeply to reclaim hope and joy from the hate fest Tiny Hands has promoted.)

And this figurehead must do more than out-Trump Trump with charisma; she/he must, with guidance from the Democratic National Committee, craft a message that’s more appealing to folks than the simple, disciplined—and highly effective—one of grievance and vengeance that’s driven the MAGA movement. 

SNEEZIN’ ON THE HOUSE OF CARDS
Another possibility is that Trump eventually miscalculates himself right off the precipice. Takes just one too many liberties with his power. Makes one too many assumptions about his supporters’ depravity. 

We’ve already seen a few Congressional Republicans dare risk their careers for integrity. With cause, more might join. Some editorial boards in the mainstream media will draw the line. The trickle builds to a tide, and then to a tsunami of love, generosity and hope that inundates even the most willful ignorance.

And Donald Trump's fools-gold empire, wobbling on its foundation of hubris, collapses, swept away by a smarter, nobler, more joyous vision.

IMAGE: Adobe Stock

But none of this will happen without ever-more-massive public displays of defiance. We must continue to assert our hopes, raise our voices and apply our talents to The Resistance. 

We must continue to live our truth, honor our values. Call and write our representatives in Congress. Write opinion pieces. Support thoughtful, principled candidates. Stick our necks out on social media. And, finally, we must display our sheer numbers, joining with other true patriots to take our resolve to the streets.

Don’t lose sight of the vision of a kinder, gentler, renewed America. Do not lose hope.

* Trumps Take-Counter, AmericanProgress.org

FEET TO THE FIRE – A Trump-Tells-All Fantasy

The great thing about fantasy is that it doesn’t have to be realistic. If it were, one wouldn’t have to dream about it; one could act on it.

Here’s a fantasy about the most incompetent, most divisive, most deceitful, hateful president the USA has ever had to endure. Someone’s got to hold this pathological liar’s plump little feet to the fire. But that’s not going to happen… at least not in the real world. But it can and it does in my fantasy.

LAY OF THE LAND
Donald Trump was born and raised to “win” at all costs. He has succeeded—as long as you define success as the illusion of wealth, and never, ever, having to be responsible for your words or actions. The man has achieved nothing without cheating, lying or suing. He’s an absolute master of every tool in the irresponsibility toolbox: obfuscation, scapegoating, denial…even temper tantrums.

So picture this: a trial of Trump; the charges: multiple amoral, unethical and criminal acts—from adultery to bribery, swindle to treason. The judges, both a trusted panel and (admittedly something that might only happen in a fantasy) the entire population of planet earth—anyone, that is, with access to the Internet or cell phone service.

First off, all those people who normally shield Trump from responsibility—spokespersons, lawyers, Secret Service, and all those political apologists—are given a much needed vacation. Then he’s arrested and brought by force into a huge bomb-proof vault, where seats are neatly arranged to accommodate a large audience. (There’s no COVID 19 in this fantasy.)

     It becomes the most widely-viewed event
     in history, surpassing World Cup soccer, 
     coronations and even 9/11.

The defendant’s strapped into a hard, straight-back chair at the front of the room, his shoes and socks removed, and electrodes taped to of the soles of his feet.

Then the reporters come in. There are hundreds, from every corner of the world. From legitimate, even-handed news organizations like Reuters and NPR, as well as a few from Trump’s virtually state-run media outlets like Fox News, the National Inquirer and Breitbart.

The person grilling the pretend president is not Lester Holt, Judy Woodruff, nor even a reincarnated Walter Cronkite. It’s the brilliant, acerbic comedian and former talk-show host, Jon Stewart.

On the table just in front of Stewart sits a small black console topped with a big red button.

The event is broadcast live, worldwide, on radio, TV and every imaginable streaming outlet. It is extremely well publicized; it becomes the most widely-viewed event in history, surpassing World Cup soccer, coronations and even 9/11. Everyone, anywhere with access to any media is watching or at least listening. Viewers are asked to call, text or enter their verdicts online—free of charge. Guilty or not guilty.

There are no talking heads commenting on or interpreting the proceedings; Stewart’s questions and Trump’s answers are left to speak for themselves.

       Flecks of spittle fly from his kissy-lips
       mouth and settle on the polished table
       in bubbly little spots.

A panel of nine journalists, again representing the gamut of political persuasions, is there to consider and rule on the veracity of Trump’s answers. All have taken a sworn oath to prepare, not by parroting rumors or unsubstantiated claims to feed ratings, but by delving deeply into both the witness’s tweeted and recorded comments and publicly available records. They’ve also interviewed hundreds of people who have actually known and interacted with the defendant at various stages of his life.

(This background work has been carried out in secret, denying Trump and his people—and the reporters' own employers—any opportunity to influence, intimidate or buy them off.)

Working with the journalists panel is a team of three psychologists, specialists, respectively, in paranoia, pseudologia fantastica (pathological lying) and narcissistic personality disorder, to help steer panelists in their prodding.

Finally, there’s the panel of 17 judges. Not jurists from the government’s politically-tainted judiciary, but women and men from throughout world history who've proven themselves to be, above all, genuine, thinking, feeling, fair-minded human beings. Folks celebrated for their integrity, representing a range of fields including both liberal- and conservative-leaning politicians, many from eras before politics became the toxically divisive, win-at-all-costs culture that spawned a creature like Trump.

They are: Marcus Aurelius, Cincinnatus, Mahatma Ghandi, Marie Curie, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Václav Havel, Rosalyn Carter, Pope Francis, Michelle Obama, David Attenborough, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, the Dalai Lama, Malala Yousafzai,Yo-Yo Ma and Greta Thunberg.

The judges panel’s vote will account for one-half of the verdict, the other half to be decided by the worldwide popular vote.

THE TRUTH WILL OUT
Before Stewart can even begin his questioning, Trump launches the expected tirade of threats. His airbrushed-orange face turns a color quite close to purple. The veins in his neck swell, and flecks of spittle fly from his kissy-lips mouth and settle on the polished table in bubbly little spots.

Calmly, Stewart reaches out and taps the big red button for the first time, sending a jolt of excruciating pain into the witness’s feet. The president grimaces, but continues his hissy fit. “That’s fine,” cautions Stewart, “we have all day,” as he now presses and holds the button down.

Once the witness quiets down, Stewart tries again. Now, he knows not to ask the questions in ways Trump can evade or answer vaguely. So they’re well crafted, very specific:

• Mr. Trump, how many women have you sexually abused?
• What did you or your father have to do to “facilitate” your admission to the New York Military Academy, Fordham and Penn/Wharton?
• What were your approximate grade point averages at each of those schools?
• What percentage is your real net worth of the $10 billion you claim?
• What are you hiding in your tax returns? (Follow-up: No, not just how financially unsuccessful you’ve been, but the bribes and hush money you’ve paid, and the payments you’ve received from foreign governments. And the actual amounts you’ve donated to legitimate charitable organizations.)
• What novels have you read in the past few months? Ever?
• Who are your heroes?
• Which do you hate more: Immigrants, Blacks or Jews?
• Name any three countries in Africa.
• What would you consider just punishment for someone who, by his willful ignorance, poor judgement, reckless behavior and utter incompetence has cost—or will end up costing—millions and millions of human beings their lives?
• What is the root cause of your sexual inadequacy?

Just for fun, there are also a few trick questions, designed to utterly baffle the buffoon, like “Have you cancelled the contract stipulating that Melania remain with you and keep silent?”

   The judges agree on a merciful punishment...
   just denial of the tools and weapons the 
   defendant employed in his commission of 
   the crimes.

EXCRUCIATING MERCY
During the interrogation, it’s assumed Trump will lie. So, after each of his initial replies, Steward just automatically zaps his feet for a second. The questions are repeated. This time, after each reply, the answer is quickly reviewed by the reporters panel, which then rules on its truthfulness.

Each answer deemed false, even partially, is met with a three-second shock to the butterball’s tender feet. The question’s repeated, and if not truthfully answered, triggers another shock, this time for five seconds. Then ten, fifteen, and so on until the truth—the real truth as determined by the panel—comes out.

The grilling continues for nearly two hours. When it’s over Trump is confined to a small room with no windows, and no electronic devices, denying him the opportunity to see or react in any way to the worldwide airing of his answers and the deluge of votes coming in from around the world.

The verdict by both the in-house panel and the people of the world is decisive: guilty on all charges. The news travels in seconds, and celebrations break out in cities, towns and villages around the globe. Even the print media makes the outcome their lead stories, topped with banner headlines: Trump Guilty!, Trump Shamed, Trump’s Lies Catch Up to Him.

Finally, there’s the sentencing. As with any criminal, it’s not enough to simply extract the truth and convict. There’s also the matter of an appropriate penalty.

In the case of Donald S. Trump versus humanity, the panel of judges agrees on a merciful punishment. No jail time. No fine. No public shaming—beyond the global celebrations of his exposure. Just denial of the tools and weapons the defendant employed in his commission of the crimes. No iPhone, no laptop, no microphone, not even pen and paper. For the rest of his miserable little life.

Oh, and the permanent attachment of an ankle device, with camera, to monitor his every activity 24/7 and ensure his adherence to the communications ban.

Ah-h-h fantasy. How sweet it is!

#LeverageYourVote  #VoteFwd

DENYING DENIAL – Fighting the False with the Hypothetical

Have you ever tried describing something quite obvious to a person who’s in denial about its very existence? It’s like talking sense to an addict.

This is what’s happening on a massive scale with the Trump debacle. To be fair, part of his base will admit to a few of the reality-show president’s glaring flaws of personality, character, intellect, comportment and leadership.

But they like what he says he’s doing for them, so the flaws don’t matter. At least they’re honest enough to acknowledge some of what’s right there in front of them, manifest in the man’s very words and actions.

  If you don’t like what credible journalists—or 
  even scientists—say, just claim they’re all lying.

The rest of Trump’s base is not so honest. They manage to salve what’s left of their consciences by simply refusing to admit the man is what he has proven himself to be. None of the Twit’s behavior, they insist, rises even to the level of mildly objectionable…because it doesn’t exist.

Not his sexual depravity or abuse; not the business improprieties; not his admiration for—nor collusion with—sworn enemies of American democracy; not his emoluments; not his obstruction of justice; not the corruption; not the nepotism… Not a thing.

Oh my God! These folks would grant carte blanche to Mao Zedong or Josef Stalin if he promised to beat back all the bogeymen Trump’s convinced them are swarming at their door.

Reasoning with these poor suckers is useless. You lay out the proof; you point to examples; you support your contentions with credible sourcing. And their response? Denial. One of two classic devices pathological liars have used since Adam and Eve blurted “What apple?”

Or the other: fake news. If you don’t like what credible journalists—or even scientists—say, just claim they’re all lying.

  What specific actions by some fictional
  president would make Putin and other enemies
  of democracy wring their hands in delight?
 
WHAT IF?
The more truth you lay out for these cretins, the more threatened they are by the prospect of being exposed for their ignorance—or, worse, their true motives. So I’m exploring another approach: instead of trying to fight lies and deception with facts, fight them with something sure to utterly disarm them: hypotheticals.

Here’s how it works:
They say Donald Trump is not immoral. I respond, “Okay, let’s assume for a moment that that’s true. Tell me, please, what would it look like if some future U.S. president were immoral? Exactly what behaviors would be extreme enough to make you uncomfortable?”

They maintain the Twit is not a puppet of Vladimir Putin, methodically undermining democratic institutions, alienating time-honored allies and dividing Americans into warring factions. “I hear you, but if that were happening, what would that look like? What specific actions by some fictional president would make Putin and other enemies of democracy wring their hands in delight?”

They insist their guy knows what he’s doing and is a capable leader? “That’s a good one, but let’s just say he is. List for me some behaviors that might convince you otherwise.”

TAKING THE BAIT
Get the idea? Okay, now those of you for whom facts still mean more than beliefs, let’s get out there and kick some disingenuous butt. Lull your Trumpie friends, relatives or co-workers, by your apparent acknowledgment, into a sense of victory, of smug superiority.

Then totally destroy them using their own propensity for the make-believe against them. Can’t you just picture how they’ll squirm? If they fall for the ruse they’ll be tricked into describing their hero as the incompetent, immoral traitor he is. If not, they’ll just be left speechless, betraying their own ignorance.

Either way, you win. Right?

STOLEN CONSCIOUSNESS – The Trump Disaster Goes Deep

Intelligent, caring Americans are fighting to save our country from the massive indiscre…oh, hell, let’s call them what they are: crimes of the most incompetent, corrupt, unstable president in its history.

Somehow, while we were shrouded in the fog of our political complacency, this reality show imbecile and his handlers—both here and abroad—have managed, methodically and rather quickly, to take over and hobble our democracy. This has backed the majority of Americans—those of us who reject the junta’s ignorance and fear mongering—into a corner, evoking a massive, national fight-or-flight response.

Flush with adrenaline, we naturally focus on what appears to be the most egregious, in-your-face threat of the day—insults to allies, collusion with enemies, sabotage of democratic institutions, betrayal of environmental responsibility, stifling a free press, condoning of racism…it goes on and on.

But while we’ve been so intent on fighting off the assault on our country’s hard-won freedoms and values, there’s been another, deeper, much less obvious victim of the abuse.

         The worse he proves to be, the better
         they like him...and he feeds on their
         utter lack of self-respect.

DOWN FOR THE COUNT
Like a filthy old HVAC system run amok, Donald Trump has sucked the air out of the room. After a year and a half of gasping for breath in this vacuum, anyone who remembers what truth and decency are is, in a slight twist of the word, losing unconsciousness.

The media—shame on them—have been unable to resist ennobling his every vile or vacuous word. Social media’s gotten so saturated with both his foolishness and legitimate resistance to it, that folks can no longer get a word in edgewise about their kids, pets, travels or personal epiphanies.

Nope, just as this sniveling bully-brat has somehow always managed to do, he’s made it all about him. Apparently, as P.T. Barnum said, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. In fact, for his rabid base, the worse a leader—not to mention human being—he proves to be, the better they like him. And he feeds on their utter lack of self-respect.

The toll this great nation will endure for a generation or more will involve more than our freedom, our respected standing in the world, the livability of the planet or our humanity toward one another. It will—already has—involve the loss of our higher consciousness as a nation, our sense of who we are and of the essential interconnectedness of all Creation.

I dare say, for inciting a degree of polarization and lack of civility unknown in my lifetime, it will also affect the health of the millions of people around the world who feel assaulted, abased by this bully. Ironically, as decent people fight for a sane, healthy future for our offspring, chronic stress shrinks our own life expectancy.

  Truth doesn’t play nice with their fear-mongers.

OBAMA CARED
Say what they will about Barack Obama or his policies as president, he was without doubt a real, thinking, caring human being. An evolved person—curious, aware of both himself and others, able to adapt to changing circumstances, whether they required he be fully present in the moment or articulating a grand vision. 

There used to be many other such evolved and evolving leaders, of both political parties. But Donald Trump and many of his henchmen are sworn enemies of any kind of evolution. In fact, they’re systematically weeding out anyone, at any level of government, who pretends allegiance to demonstrable truth over blind loyalty to their visionless, self-serving doctrine.

Truth doesn’t play nice with their fear-mongers. It makes the fear real...but just for them.

EYE ON THE BALL 
So, one moment I’m thinking the very best thing we could do to resist this unprecedented assault on our personal and national values is to simply out-think, out-create, out-care Trump and those working his strings. To avoid falling for the distraction and continue living, despite the aggression, as evolved and evolving human beings.

The next moment, I’m back in that fight-or-flight response. Who cares if the man who’d replace him is even more frightening than he is. Just get this robber of all that’s honest and decent out of my house.

I’m disappointed in myself for this vacillation. That I ever allow my best  instincts to be sapped by the impulse to defend myself against the violation of my life and that of my country.

So, do you experience this same dilemma? How do you deal with it? Are you any better able than I to keep your eye on the ball and remain true to yourself? If not, how do you cope?

P.S.
Assuming that the wheels of justice turn too slowly to squash this swarm of bugs before this fall’s midterm elections, I’m able to find some hope that decent people who still recognize what it is that has made America great will turn out en masse to vote.

We need political candidates, at every level, who’ll articulate a renewed vision of a world that runs not on people’s basest instincts, not at the whim of a ruthless oligarchy, but once again on hope, mindfulness, love and generosity. One that answers to an authority higher than aberrant interpretations of patriotism and and Christianity, or a sniveling bully and his self-loathing, suicidal following.

So find out who are some of the congressional candidates whose races could go either way. Not just in your own state, though that's a good start. Pick a few from other parts of the country. And pitch in...whatever you can afford. A good place to start is the DCCC. (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) Locally, you might consider volunteering to knock on doors or make phone calls, which experts keep saying is quite effective.