As I turn 70 this month, I’m reflecting that I was born at the height of Sen. Joe McCarthy’s anti-Communist witch-hunt. Using lies, distortion and manipulation, McCarthy held the nation in a state of terror and, ironically, mimicked Communist tactics by having Americans spy on and denounce each other, many to save their own skins. As members of Congress cowered in fear, many innocent lives were destroyed. In the end, enough Americans in power reclaimed their personal integrity to censure McCarthy, including Maine Republican Margaret Chase Smith, who knew that a bully never “learns a lesson” until he’s brought down.
Having lived through the Vietnam War, Watergate, 9/11 and the endless wars of the Middle East based on our lust for oil, you would have thought I’d seen it all. That said, I can safely say, beyond the usual political rhetoric, that Donald Trump is not only vulgar, bigoted and corrupt, but dangerous as well. To give the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, a proud racist hate-monger, while firing Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a decorated combat veteran, is an act of moral depravity that knows no bounds.
His behavior after the impeachment hearing presents several distinct warnings; his need for vengeance and more alarmingly, his boasting that he should be made president for life.
After the trial, Trump tweeted images displaying campaign signs showing him running for office well past 2024. One poster emboldened with “TRUMP 4EVA” ominously sums it up. This is no idle threat that should be dismissed as harmless bloviating by a narcissistic egomaniac. I don’t put it past him. The man has always demonstrated a totalitarian streak and we have recently seen former stable democracies fall to strongmen. Trump wants to model the United States on Vladimir Putin’s Russia; a kleptocracy that stifles dissent, the free press and anyone who dares challenge his lies and corruption.
His base is fine with this. If Trump abolished the Constitution and established a right-wing dictatorship, they would cheer him along. The supine subjugation of the Republican Party to Trump demonstrates that they care more about winning that preserving the 244 years of American democracy. What line does Trump have to cross before they rediscover their courage?
I do, however, have a warning for my progressive friends: Ditch the “Purity Test.” Candidate Pete Buttigieg offered this phrase to counter Elizabeth Warren’s accusation that he received money from billionaires. I’m sure he did, but so what? Whether we like it or not, no one can campaign for president without money and if a conscious billionaire wants to defeat Donald Trump, I’m all for it. Huge contributions do not automatically guarantee electoral success.
This purity test is based on the progressives’ fatal attraction to identity politics which assumes that one category is more pure than the other. It also ignores the fact that the United States government isn’t the Gandhi Peace Center. A president has to deal with the world as it is, not how one wishes it to be. Our country and most of the world, including those democratic-socialist Scandinavian nations, runs on capitalism and if anyone dreams about a purely socialist paradise, I suggest they visit Venezuela. The issue is human fear and greed, not any particular economic ideology.
That said, I would caution those who fiercely support Bernie Sanders. As much as I admire him for his passion and calling out the inequalities of our society, I question if it’s a good idea to re-place a divisive right-wing extremist with a divisive left-wing extremist. And while the expression “white privilege” has been misused and overused lately, I believe it applies to the “Bernie or Busters.” These people have threatened to sit out the election, where every vote will count, if their man is not the candidate. In doing so, they will ensure Trump’s re-election. It won’t be smug, white liberals who suffer as a result but people of color, not to mention the poor and the struggling, who will be condemned to even more oppression, poverty and abuse.
If Donald Trump is re-elected in November, I truly believe that the United States as an open, enlightened democracy will come to an end. If so, we can thank the voter-suppression and gerrymandering strategies of the GOP, Trump’s treasonous invitation for foreign adversaries to meddle in our elections, the abysmal cowardice of elected Republicans and the self-righteous purity of those progressives who still can’t figure out that there is, in fact, a major difference between the Democratic and Republican parties.
Daniel A. Brown lived in Franklin County for 44 years and was a frequent contributor to the Recorder. He currently lives in Taos, NM.