As is said, if might be right, love has no place in the world.
Carelessly last November, vast numbers of U.S. citizens inveigled to believe that a failed 2016 to 2020 presidency would somehow turn out better this time, improve their economic prospects, and that the country would be rid of some worrisome immigrants, helped Trump regain office.
He’d already attempted a violent coup in order to illegitimately remain in office, filed 68 failed lawsuits critical of 2020 election results, and admitted that the extreme right Heritage Foundation’s radical list of intentions would be his own. We could see that freight train coming.
There would be tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, scattered crumbs for others, increased drilling for oil, an end to global warming concerns, and heavy tariffs on countries that cheat us. His generous fundraiser, Elon Musk, would volunteer to ruthlessly cut government jobs. The Department of Education would be closed down. Money to schools that allowed support for rainbow views would be cut off. Trump would immediately end all wars.
Come January, reality set in, and with daily shocking surprises. He really did want military conquest of Greenland and absorption of Canada as a 51st state. He selected for department heads in his cabinet the most notorious set of losers in the history of choice. The worst three were Kash Patel to end the independence of the FBI, unqualified ex-soldier Pete Hegseth to manage the largest organization in the world, the Department of Defense, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who dishonors his famed father’s memory with every word he utters. Named to head Health and Human Services, this vaccine denier who claims the Covid vaccine killed more people than the disease, has allowed measles to become reestablished. He rid his department of both experts and science, leaving the country ill prepared for future health emergencies. Like Trump, he is a consummate liar.
At hand are 20 acts dictators Francisco Franco, Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini carried out during the 1930s.
Accused democratic elements of betraying the country.
Drew together loyal legislators.
Developed and spread propaganda.
Threatened rivals.
Dismissed disloyal military officers.
Controlled speech.
Appointed judges who support chosen actions.
Removed from office all suspected of disloyalty.
Employed lies to create an enthusiastic following.
Promised economic prosperity.
Banned books.
Imposed authority in education.
Dismantled numerous parts of government.
Attempted to boost national pride
Promoted devotion to the man in power
Practiced racism in policies.
Selected individuals to be prosecuted.
Ordered the military into the streets.
Chose groups to be persecuted.
Created concentration camps.
Each has been replicated in the U.S. by Donald Trump. Thus has he remade our country.
With its discussion of “how bad slavery was,” Trump considers the Smithsonian museum’s telling of our history “out of control.” In a demand to alter their exhibits, he’s trying to rewrite the history of an industry that put a curse on the U.S. that can never be erased. He’ll demand exhibits that reflect his fraudulent account.
Evident in raging fires and storms, our altered experience of seasons, and conclusively proven by a melting arctic, observation and science, the climate change that threatens our very survival is denied by Trump as a hoax. To deal with it would erode corporate profits.
There has been acknowledgment the Zionist war on Hamas has been waged by starvation of Palestinians. While Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has now bombed a fifth country, Trump does not employ the available leverage to stop it. He’s too busy with his attempt to control democratically controlled cities with federal troops.
Consider in the case of now occupied Washington, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 2008, the Supreme Court legitimized possession of guns there. Make no mistake, the end game is to block Indivisibles’ massive May Day type protests with military force. Stealing elections can be accomplished through redistricting and more cutting of voters from the roles.
Ridding the country of the few criminal immigrants conceals a racist assault on Hispanic looking or talking persons, rounded up by masked men for Trump’s concentration camps.
Reflecting on Abraham Lincoln’s Lyceum address, I came back to this sage 28-year-old constitutional lawyer’s observation on the threats to this country. “At what point shall we expect the approach of danger?” From afar, he asks rhetorically, and answers, “Never!”
He says, “If it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us … we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”
Charlemont resident Carl Doerner is an investigative journalist and historian preparing for publication his recently completed U.S. history, “Breaking the Silence: Revisioning the American Narrative.”