Many progressives hope Trump somehow dies, though I’m not among them. The only path to redemption for this country, if it exists at all, is for the common citizen to realize that everything Trump stands for is distinctly unAmerican. This includes racism, cruelty, injustice, ignorance, and above all, criminality.
What 20th Century French philosopher, historian, and political activist Michel Foucault (no relation to the 19th Century physicist Léon Foucault of pendulum fame) said here is entirely correct, and it’s what has made life in America so jarring over the past decade.
Since the origin of democracy in ancient Greece, and certainly since the founding of the United States 250 years ago, there have always been rival political parties with their competing philosophies on important matters like the proper role of government in our lives. Until recently, however, we lived within certain norms and boundaries that made America generally worthy of praise.
Yet today, we have somehow arrived at a point of pure insanity in the form of presidential criminality and the near complete absence of rule of law, as supported by almost half of U.S. voters.
For the first time in our lives, tens of millions of decent people are waking up to find that our “dominant cultural settings” are not what we believed them to be; in fact, they no longer exist at all.
I don’t know how much scientific validity there is in the claim at left re: chemical addictions, but it’s at least partially true. That is, Trump’s behavior gives people of low moral character permission to behave poorly with respect to others, and at some level, this makes them feel good.
Re: the forecast at the bottom, I think there is a limited shelf-life to all this ignorance and hate, and that this is reflected in Trump’s abysmal polling numbers. Every day, more American’s are saying, “I’ve seen enough.”
It’s easy to get angry about stupidity like this, but it’s part of the reality we are all living in the United States right now.
Almost every day, Trump does something that is abhorrent to the world’s people, whether it pertains to cruel and self-defeating treatment of immigrants, violations of the rule of law, the destruction of the environment, the annexations of other countries, global economics, and, most often, using his position as U.S. president to enrich himself illegally. For all this and more, he is hated around the globe.
But does that bother him? I’d have to guess no.
He’s proven that he can act illegally and unethically, and that he can do it with impunity, and it seems like that’s the only thing of importance in his sickening life.
He can only be stopped if the U.S. congress would simply hold him accountable for his crimes, but sadly, fruit flies have more backbone.
So what about the American people? We detest him, to be sure, but under our Constitution, we’re only as strong as the people we elect to represent us.
To the reader who sent the meme here:
Seems like a bizarre comment, given the horrors of January 6th, where thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, resulting in more than 140 officers injured and five dead.
At left, Bill Madden checks in from Boise, Idaho.
He makes an excellent point: until recently, Idaho loved Trump.
This is all terrific news. It’s nice to know that, at a certain point, American draws the line against hatred and stupidity.
Like the fellow pictured at left, my father fought in WW2. Dad didn’t live to see the Trump administrations, and I wish I could have gotten his take on what’s happening now, vis-a-vis what he risked his life for, bombing well-protected German oil refineries.
Dad was a conservative Republican, though he wasn’t a stupid or mean person. This makes me suspect that he’d have a viewpoint similar to the guy with the sign here.
It’s good to see that the Catholic Church leadership is so rooted in humanitarianism, continuing along the path of Pope Francis.
Apparently, the woman here is a “95-year-old mother, Mavis, in Redding, California. She didn’t like Hitler and she doesn’t like Trump!”
Great to see.
