Don’t Turn Your Back on Trump
Never Underestimate the Devil
My stomach churns and the sour taste of bile builds to even mention that trump held a rally in Ohio on Saturday before several thousand supporters and I totally understand why there are many in the media and the general public who believe that the ex-president’s actions should not be covered in the press, that he is bad, old news, that he is toast, done as a national figure and that his sway over millions of believers is ebbing. Those who want to ignore trump do so out of their own and our peril because they are plain wrong and just remember it is important to keep your friends close but more important to keep your enemies closer.
A sign outside a crazy neighbor’s home reads “Biden popularity falling; Trump popularity growing,” without any basis in reality and fact. Another neighbor has not taken down his Trump 2020 banner, as if he hasn’t heard that trump lost the election or more likely that this neighbor, like many others, believe that the election was stolen; a tattered and torn but not fallen trump flag continues to flutter from another flag pole; a sign on one home announces proudly, “Don’t blame me I voted for Trump; a pickup truck roared past me yesterday, adorned with oversized trump and U.S. flags; and a lone woman held her Trump banner high at the intersection of Route 202 and the road that leads to trump’s golf course, and it is all a microcosm of the support that trump has never lost in the far right, conspiratorial fringes.
If you need further proof of the popularity of the crazies, Trump was the main event but one of the rally headliners was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., the far-right Republican who has promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory. And the fans waved their “Save America” signs and wore their MAGA hats and cheered and prostrated to their still, unbowed former leader. The trump line that got practically the loudest applause came when he asked, “Do you miss me?” Dead, defeated, wasted, think again, this disease is festering and the cancer is growing.
Trump, a third rate television personality who promoted an insurrection at the Capitol, has been out of office for just six months. Many thought the career of another third rate artist, paperhanger and insurrectionist was over when he was jailed in 1924 for treason after trying to stage a coup d’etat. Those who underestimated the artist, Adolf Hitler, were proven historically and tragically wrong as although in jail, Hitler was far from done as he gradually, persistently became more and more powerful over a span of 15 years before he started World War II. Many believed that Hitler’s arrest spelled the end of the man and the Nazi Party and he was viewed by many as just an inconsequential loud-mouthed, far right extremist. They also underestimated his magnetism and his skills to draw support and his willingness to do anything to hold on to power, including one of his favorite tactics to eliminate political opponents was to eliminate political opponents, literally.
If nothing else, trump is persistent and vindictive and feeds on anger and rage and settling scores to eliminate political opponents and he has weathered storms that have come his way, while somehow remaining afloat despite attacks that would have long ago destroyed most any other man. He is a survivor but more, he believes that he is above all others and that it is written that he will return like the Phoenix with a vengeance, similar to that German paperhanger. Don’t underestimate trump, yet again, because he is a master at fomenting and mobilizing anger and in using anger to maintain political pressure and terrorize opponents.
We are not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination and more to the point, we have been given at least a brief reprieve from the insanity but don’t think for a second that the insanity has gone, it is only gaining strength and waiting for the opportune time to strike and never forget the opponents’ deadly venom. The challenge of our time is to somehow educate the public about the fact that our form of government is nowhere near a guarantee, that other governments have toppled at many times in history and that the only way to strengthen our system is to be constantly aware of those who would tear it down and the tactics they use and then to fight them with any means possible. We may not have a second chance if trump and his legions return to power and that is not overstatement but rather, a horrifying fact.
Throughout history, there have been resurgences of leaders who faced much more criticism than trump. Richard Nixon was elected after losing the race for president and losing a bid for California governor when he famously announced “You won’t have Richard Nixon to kick around anymore.” But like magic, Nixon was elected president, resigned and later reemerged from ignominity to become an elder statesman.
Winston Churchill declared he was finished at 40, but then he came back. During World War I, Churchill was named the First Lord of the Admiralty but when the Gallipoli Campaign failed in 1915,Churchill was forced to resign only to return in later years to win two terms as British prime minister.
Napoleon returned from exile to rule the French empire for 100 more days. Grover Cleveland lost a bid for a second term but four years later became the only President to serve non-consecutive terms.
But take heed because history is littered with famous politicians, actors, singers and many others who crashed and never returned, people like Harvey Weinstein, Al Franken, Garrison Keillor, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose and many, many more.