STARS, STRIPES AND BULLSHIT – Reclaiming Our Country’s Venerated Symbols

Fascist governments are about control, often brutal control. But one of their slightly subtler grabs is always that of their country’s venerated symbols. 

The wannabe dictator of the United States of America, Donald Trump, wasted no time in checking this theft off of his to-screw list.

BLEEDING COLORS
Our flag, the good ol’ Stars and Stripes, was already well on its way into the grubby hands of the folks on whose grievances Trump rode to the presidency. Think the Boogaloo Bois, the Christian Nationalist Crusade or just good ol’ Billy Bob freelancin’ in his flag-bedecked, gun-racked pickup. 

IMAGE: Eric Gay / AP

Everyone with a beef—or who feared others might steal their beef—wanted us all to think their hissy-fit “patriotism” was somehow sanctioned by their flag-waving.

Trump, their self-declared gift from God, has done nothing but solidify that hold on the flag. The image of Old Glory waving, alongside the Confederate flag, as a battle standard of the January 6 Insurrection will sicken truly patriotic Americans for generations.

IMAGE: Brent Stirton / Getty Images

        The draft-dodger president thinks he can suddenly grow 
        a pair by slapping his name all over U.S. military assets.

ROAR AND PEACE
Speaking of battle, this draft-dodger president thinks he can suddenly grow a pair by slapping his name all over U.S. military assets, many of them having long evincing our nation’s proud military supremacy.

In one of the most absurd ironies of Trump’s absurd reign, at the same time he’s been obsessed with begging, borrowing or stealing the Nobel Peace Prize, he’s also hijacked the Department of Defense and renamed it his very own “Department of War.” And now he's branded a whole class of U.S. Navy battleships as—you guessed it—the Trump Class.

HOLY CRAP
Then there’s the Bible—a book somewhere between ten and twenty percent of Americans truly abide by—and which holds no special place in our church/state-separated Democracy. Yet most of Trump’s MAGA base claim it as their license to hate. 

Trump has them believing he lives and breathes the Bible, that somewhere in those pages he’s actually discovered a mandate for his egomania, cruelty and rage. This even as he refuses to put his hand on the volume in his last inauguration; even as he hawks his own Trump-branded version of the Good Book at 60 bucks a pop.

PHOTO: Patrick Semansky / AP

             The Oval Office now sports an aesthetic better suited 
             to the tastes of the Real Housewives of Las Vegas.

A ROCOCO HELLSCAPE
Next, it was the White House—the People’s House—which this egomaniac has deemed less than representative of his grandeur. So he’s demolished the venerable East Wing to make room for his ghastly 90,000-square-foot, $400,000,000-plus ballroom, an eyesore that will dwarf what remains of the White House.

PHOTO: POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Trump has turned the Oval Office, long the epitome of elegance, exuding quiet confidence to visiting heads 
of state from every corner of the world, into a space better suited to the tastes of the Real Housewives of Las Vegas. As if afraid of blank wall space—or, God forbid, paintings of America’s true greats—Trump has slapped on gaudy gold flourishes some describe as “polyurethane onlays you could buy online” and a "gilded Rococo hellscape.”

And the Kenne…oops, did I almost mention that loser, John F. Kennedy?…Trump Center for the Performing Arts. He’s installed himself as board chair and foisted 
a multi-million-dollar re-make to his own insipid specs. It’s such a monumental affront to cultured Americans that the only acts likely to stoop that low will be Lee Greenwood and Kid Rock.

       We’re not just fighting against something; we’re fighting 
       for a vision of our country’s Post-Trump Renaissance.

A LUMINOUS VISION
As we witness the Trump shit show unraveling—and there are encouraging signs it’s happening—we must not let up on our defiance of this charlatan and his outlaw regime. Let’s be disciplined. Watch our language. Reject Dear Leader’s desperate distractions from his crimes—especially those whose exposure he fears most. Among them the ones laid bare in the unredacted Epstein files. 

We aim for nothing less than a blue tsunami come the midterm elections in November. 

As we work to turn the tide, we must also keep in mind that we’re not just fighting against something; we’re fighting for a vision of our country’s Post-Trump Renaissance. The return of decency, kindness, intelligence, honor, respect for truth, courageous leadership…and a renewed quest not for fools-gold illusions of greatness, but the true, gold-standard greatness that has defined the United States of America since our singular experiment in Democracy began 250 years ago.  

One vital aspect of that renewal must be to reclaim our once-revered national symbols from their debasement at the hands of this vulgar reality star. It will take at least a generation and billions of dollars—money that could have been invested in better lives for all Americans, not corporations and the filthy rich—to strip those icons’ of their spray-paint veneers and "Trump" epithets, and restore them to their accustomed roles representing both America’s celebrated history and our glorious, big-hearted, evolving future.

Let us all vow to nurture and to share that luminous vision.

PHOTO: Nigel Francis 

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

WELL, YOU NEVER ASKED – Trump’s Shameful Failure of Expectation

One would be perfectly justified in blaming Donald Trump for the outrageous things he does—or the tremendous amount of good he could do but won’t. But these are, for Trump and his ilk, just the bright shiny objects they dangle to lure the attention of an undisciplined media and of gullible folks with lots of rage and short attention spans.

The least-appreciated failing of this near-total failure of a president is not his behavior, his policies—more like childish impulses—his corruption, his pathological lying, his lack of civility, nor even his outrageous immorality. Everyone knows these faults.

No, Donald Trump’s most under-condemned failure as a leader is how little he’s expected—of himself, of others, of us, the citizens of this great and good nation.

   

LIVING DOWN TO EXPECTATION
Healthy, functioning social entities, be they nations, communities, businesses or families, ask something of their constituents. Sometimes a lot.

They ask folks to balance their personal freedoms and wants with the welfare of the group. They needn’t see eye to eye on everything, but they do agree on a constructive, civil process for resolving those differences.

In a democracy it’s just assumed that citizens make small sacrifices for the common good. We pay taxes; we share our time, talents and resources; we abide by laws ensuring no one causes harm or takes more than their share of common resources; we look after our less-fortunate fellow citizens. 

          

And during periods of extreme challenge or crisis— like wars, natural disasters, economic collapse or a super-ambitious national initiative like our War on Poverty or the Space Race, great nations—the ones that come through the crisis stronger and wiser—are those which ask their citizens to rise to, and grow with, the challenge.

On the other hand, failed nations, from Angola to Russia to Venezuela, and their paranoid, iron-fisted dictators—for many of which Donald Trump can barely conceal his admiration— expect nothing approaching a higher order of thinking from their subjects. Just hard labor to feed the insatiable corruption. And, of course, often on pain of humiliation, ruin or death, their loyalty. Sound familiar?

    Go ahead and show your utter contempt for
    common decency by coughing and sneezing
    on anyone you damn well please.

INDULGING FOLKS’ WORST INSTINCTS
So here we are. It’s 2020 and the United States of America is facing an unprecedented “perfect storm” of catastrophe: a global pandemic; a firestorm of rage and grief over long-smoldering racial injustice; the looming cataclysm of global warming; and a chilling, brazen assault by oligarchs and disciples of chaos on the bedrock of our democracy.

And what of any virtue at all has Donald S. Trump asked of the American people? Absolutely nothing, especially from his base. Nothing more, that is, than what he sees as the status quo. Just keep doing your own thing. Don’t listen to—hell, just go ahead and beat the shit out of—those crying out for justice. 

    

Don’t give an inch on your, or your employer’s, “right” to continue fouling the air, water and soil. Don’t worry if people’s constitutional rights are the price we have to pay for "law and order." Don’t even pretend to stifle your meanest, basest instincts to demonize those you deem a threat to your perceived entitlement.

And, for God’s sake, don’t listen to the scientists or public health experts about this COVID-19 “hoax.” In fact, go right ahead and show your utter contempt for common decency by coughing and sneezing on anyone you damn well please. Those few (hundred thousand) frail old folks were dying soon anyway; small price to pay so Billy Bob can go party hearty in Sturgis.

Do whatever you want…oh, unless you disagree with me or refuse to kiss my ass, says Donald Trump. If you fail that, well then, you’re yesterday’s news. You’re fired.

    Instead of an expectation, Trump has given
    his base what Barak Obama wouldn’t give
    them: permission.

BORN TO BE BOORISH
It’s not simply failing to expect the best of Americans; it’s insisting on their worst. And, sure enough, hundreds of thousands of folks this charlatan has somehow managed to hypnotize dutifully line up, sporting their "Don't tread on me!" flags and MAGA caps, eager to comply. After all, this is what they love about the man.

Instead of an expectation, Trump’s given them something they’d been praying for during the entire unbearable eight-year “reign” of Barak Obama. Something that college-boy, holier-than-thou, liberal elite (oh, and uppity black man) with the impudence to expect Americans to act like adults wouldn’t give them: permission.

         

The reality-show president is playing to folks who are already so aggrieved, so afraid of evolving, that many literally see him as a gift from God. Trump's one rude, ignorant, corrupt, self-obsessed little man who’s finally given them his okay to be as shallow and hostile as they really are.

He’s legitimized their fantasy that it’s their God-given right not to grow intellectually, socially or spiritually. And to distrust anyone who does.

      I don’t know which came first, Trump’s
      inability to ask for anything resembling
      higher-order thinking from his followers,
      or their inability to give it.

LOYALTY TRUMPS ALL 
Say what you will about Donald Trump and his disastrous personal shortcomings. The man could have, despite those considerable handicaps, been a decent president—could, indeed, have helped make America at least not worse again.

He could have, as the nearly-as-dull-witted ex-pro wrestler Jesse Venture once did when he found himself governor of Minnesota, at least surrounded himself with smart, capable people. But for Trump, too threatened by anyone’s pretending to know anything he doesn’t, there’s simply no help.

Nope, he doesn’t dare expect intelligence, competence, aspiration, creativity, challenge, sacrifice. None of those positive, constructive qualities. Not from those who support him politically, and certainly not from anyone who works for him. He doesn’t even expect basic human decency.

All Donald expects is what every petty tyrant expects: blind allegiance— not even to the country, but to him. I don’t know which came first, his inability to ask for anything resembling higher-order thinking from his followers, or their inability to give it.

   

Their portrayal of their enemy as a bunch of pretentious, snot-nosed, holier-than-though little brats is ironic, for it’s exactly those traits that have been exposed in them during their little MAGA tantrum these past few years.

And, for folks who so vehemently reject expectation of any kind, it begs the question, “How’s that goin’ for ya?” With the economy? With our country’s standing in the world? With crime rates? With the condition of our air, water and land? With natural disasters? The list is long and the answers chillingly mass-delusional.

        

TO ASK OR TO ASK NOT
Throughout this whole moral, constitutional crisis—it feels like a street fight between the sordid underbelly of America and its noble soul—I keep hearing echoes of John F. Kennedy’s famous entreaty: Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

And I’m wishing, praying, for a couple of great leaders who, come January, 2021, might articulate that kind of aspiration. Might rekindle the spark of kindness, generosity and hope I’m convinced still smolders deep inside every true American.