Mine and Yours and Theirs

I have pledged here in the past not to make these essays purely political, and I think I’ve achieved that. I mean, an essay about saying words backwards could hardly be said to possess a political point of view. But my sense is that the growing menace that is the former President and his supporters- inside and outside of Congress- is at the threshold of no return. If you are one who does not need or want any more political opinion in your life, I invite you to skip this entry. But if you do, please understand that this is a part of our problem.

Donald Trump took aim last week at my kids. He said with regard to people of color coming to the U.S., “It’s poisoning the blood of our country..” He looked at my friends’ grandchildren as he said it. He pointed at any immigrants, legal or not, and spouted his hatred. He denigrated the roughly 200 students of color at Luther College. He vilified the roughly 133 million non-whites of this nation’s population. He included mine, perhaps yours, and potentially everyone else, theirs.

There it is, the Trump view of non-white people as clearly stated as it can be. He no longer takes broad, veiled swipes at non-white people, he now states it as directly as that other infamous white nationalist of history, Adolph Hitler. In fact, Trump now simply uses the same words and much of the same platform as Hitler.

It’s a comparison I have made previously here over the past eight years or so. Some readers have accused me of being over-reactive, that Trump isn’t really that deranged, that the Trump phenomenon will blow over. Eight years on, I’m frightened to say that he has not just gone away, but has attracted even more like-minded nationalists to his fold, with increasing political power. Witness the unhinged, undemocratic rhetoric of Trump devotees like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, and the utter chaos they have brought to The U.S. House of Representatives.

Like Hitler during his rise to power, Trump pieces together fabricated lies for his electorate looking for an easy solution to society’s ills. His strategy is simple: repeat the lies often enough and vehemently enough until the populace either believes them or chooses to ignore them. Those drawn to him see a path to power and influence that democratic free speech could never provide for them, just like the Hitler cadre of Goebbels, Hess, Himmler and the others.

Lest anyone believe that there is a greater safety and security in a Trump world, you’d be wrong. Supporters enjoy no such thing as a safe or protected zone. Trump has demonstrated limitless betrayal of even those closest to him, like Michael Cohen his “fixer,” Allen Weisselberg his accountant, and even Mike Pence his Vice President. Trump always acts solely on Trump’s behalf. It’s not a very encouraging characteristic for someone purporting to advance the best interests of the United States as a whole.

A Trump spokesperson immediately attempted to de-fuse the incendiary “poisoning the blood” comments made by this demagogue by stating, “That’s a normal phrase that is used in everyday life – in books, television, movies, and in news articles. For anyone to think that is racist or xenophobic is living in an alternate reality consumed with non-sensical outrage.” I must correct Steven Cheung by stating that there is no chance that this phrase is found in everyday life, unless it is the life of Trump or Hitler. And the only places it appears in books, television or movies is in stories portraying the lives and exploits of deviants. And the only alternate reality that I inhabit is the one wherein such words are considered purely evil. It is a response worthy of Joseph Goebbels‘ discounting Nazi intent to eradicate Jews in The Final Solution. Mr Cheung is officially complicit in the deceit of Donald Trump.

Unfortunately, complicity is an indictment that might apply to many of us if the current apathy toward this man’s destruction of U.S democratic governance continues. The rise of Adolph Hitler was fueled by good German citizens’ unwillingness to take an overt stand against the tyrant Hitler. It cost many of them their lives when it was eventually too late to stop him. The trajectory of Donald Trump continues to follow the playbook of Hitler closely. Scoff if you must, but I invite you to read about the Hitler playbook against the assault that is Donald Trump.

Last week he singled out my kids and my grandkids and I’m looking for even the smallest news coverage of his venomous threat. I’ve seen or heard little, only a short reference to it on NPR. If this thinking by the leading Republican candidate in the upcoming U.S. election is simply accepted as an alternative political view, then my kids are indeed unsafe. How about yours….?

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