While the focus is on the midterms, I’m more concerned with January, when it’s possible that Trump and MAGA will attempt another coup d’état. Last month, Trump urged his cult to “cheat like hell” to win the election. This adds to the daily incoherent ramblings both at his rallies and on his Truth Social site, where one falls into disbelief as to what they had heard. Whether it’s renaming the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean to “Trump Ocean,” expressing affection for the body parts of male Republican candidates, or inviting Iran to obliterate two American cities; all are proof that Trump is, to put it bluntly, insane.
If anyone reading this had a family member expressing such extreme rage, delusions and pathological narcissism, they would initiate an intervention resulting in medication or placement in a mental health facility. Any friends exhibiting such aberrations would be avoided and isolated. To have the leader of the most powerful and influential nation on Earth degenerated into such conditions is dangerous, especially if he has 7,000 nuclear warheads at his disposal. Trump recently has proven that he might be more of a Russian asset than previously imagined.
We have seen over the past two years the moral cowardice of the Republican-led Congress and the perfidy of the Supreme Court. We have seen the billionaire “Tech Bros” doing their best to cripple our government and media for the sole purpose of becoming trillionaires. As far as the hardcore MAGA cult members go, like the Nazis huddled in Hitler’s 1945 Berlin bunker, they’ll go down with him. Their children and grandchildren will judge, and perhaps despise them for their slavish allegiance to a corrupt, racist sexual predator.
So now, it is up to us, the American people, to set things right. One might think that Trump and MAGA have damaged the United States beyond repair. I don’t believe that. After their authoritarian nightmares died in 1945, both Germany and Japan rebuilt to become thriving and prosperous democracies, as can we. The cancer of Trumpism will linger but if it has nothing to offer besides hatred and fear, it will eventually die out.
This gives the Democrats a golden opportunity for making change, but I find it ironic that, considering their distaste for guns, they sometimes shoot themselves in the feet. In the past, once gaining power, they’ve led off with divisive issues. Clinton began his presidency with gays in the military and Obama with the Affordable Care Act. While both laudable, they didn’t appeal to everyday Americans and resulted with disastrous midterm congressional losses.
Assuming they win a congressional majority, it would be tempting for the Democrats to begin 2027 by hauling Trump and his criminal gang (Hegseth, Patel and Miller, among others) before Congress on charges of treason and corruption. While they heartily deserve it, doing so would be a mistake. The American people don’t want tit-for-tat revenge and, as a whole, are not concerned about climate change or Israel/Gaza. What they do care about is the rising cost of living and affordability. Neither are abstract notions, but immediate. Therefore, the first thing Congress should do is end this unnecessary war with Iran, open the Strait of Hormuz and bring prices down. Whether we like it or not, at this present moment, the global economy runs on oil. When diesel fuel lowers in price, so will everything we buy transported by trucks.
Progressives often get trapped by their own purity, so it would be a good time to evaluate what they did wrong in 2024 to have Trump reelected. They can begin by shucking their fatal attraction to identity politics and their need to loftily lecture everyone on what correct words and phrases we’re allowed to use. That isn’t “honoring diversity;” it’s power-tripping, which most Americans, including myself, resent. Their focus should be bringing about the greatest amount of harmony by promoting issues that appeal to the most Americans. Yes, there will always be extremists on both ends of the political spectrum but Americans desperately need a time of peace and the end of daily chaos. A good motto should be “Make America Boring Again.”
The big issues must, and will, be dealt with, but proceeding slowly and gradually is more productive than immediately alienating half the nation. Lowering the cost of living has the widest appeal and although the greedy and selfish billionaire class will fight it tooth and nail, we outnumber them and in the end, all their hoarded wealth and influence will be for nothing.
Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and has written a monthly My Turn column for over two decades. He lives outside of Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife, Lisa and dog, Cody.