No one stood for anything except their desire for power

The second debate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.  Like most political debates, it was rich on talking points, and poor on any real substance.  

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During the first debate, only two candidates would say that they considered Trump unfit to serve as president.  It was fitting that there is no venom as strong as that from a politician who feels as if he was previously denied his place as #2 on the presidential ticket.  Chris Christie was that man.  Everyone else that made it to the second debate was willing to kiss the ass of Trump so that they could be his VP choice for the 2024 nomination.  

Why is this important?

The GOP no longer has any leaders who can steer the party away from the cult of Trump.  The only hope for the GOP would be for Trump to eat a prescribed diet from the Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, and pass away like its former spokesman.  Virtually all the candidates are afraid of Trump's followers, as many have used violence (or the threat of violence) to intimidate GOP leaders who believe in real law and order.  So, they avoid taking positions against him, even though they wish hed go away and give the GOP a better chance of winning next November.

90 years ago, another democracy was under threat from a cult leader (and his followers) who believed that his will would triumph over all.  Heck, a movie (Triumph of the Will) was made at one of his rallies won the a gold medal at the 1935 Venice Biennale, and the Grand Prix at the 1937 World Exhibition in Paris.  His nation was under great social stress as ours is today, and like Trump, he promised redemption.  True redemption never came, as this leader led his country into war and its distruction 6 years later.  Established politicians thought they could control this monster, as they once thought they could control Trump.  But the cult got out of control, and the evil leader ended up ruling everyone by fear - as is the threat if we let Trump get back into power.

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One problem with cults is that no one likes to admit that what they are part of is a cult.  The cult has its own myths that must be accepted to be a believer, and has its own reinforcement mechanisms to prevent its followers from questioning the cults beliefs or leaving the cult.  Some cults are benign, only affecting the lives of their followers.  Heaven's Gate was one of those groups, even though everything ended in a mass suicide.  Jim Jones' People's Temple cult was more malignant, as a congressman investigating the cult and 4 members who wanted to leave were murdered before the mass suicide in Jonestown.  (This is from where we get the expression "Drinking the Kool-Aid.")  But worst of all so far, is the cult of Trump.  At least 6 outsiders died as a result of the January 6th insurrection.  And yet, 35% of GOP members believe that the rioters were defending their country.  What flavor of Kool-Aid did they drink?

On January 7, 2021, most GOP legislators were willing to speak the objective truth about the soon to be former president.  Yet, within 2 weeks, they became afraid of their base and decided against impeaching him a second time (and finally convicting him for a threat against their lives.)  The leaders are afraid of the cult, and its leader is still spewing venom.  Trump has no respect for the rule of law, as it has never been effectively used to stop him from achieving his goals.  His followers have no respect for the rule of law, as they only want it applied to people who are not members of his cult.

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As I write this, one of the extremist members of Trump's cult is calling for the removal of the Speaker of the House for cutting a deal with the opposition party to keep the government running.  These extremists do not care how many people in their districts will be hurt by a government shutdown.  They only care about serving their cult's leader.  And he wants to destroy the government, so that it can not destroy him.

The year coming up will likely be a very interesting year.  But I yearn for the relative peace of my youth.  Things were much better when the two political parties would work out deals with other and both take credit for doing good things.  We need that spirit to return, and we need to develop mechanisms to keep the lunatics from gaining control of the asylum....

The looming threat

Our former president's mug shot.  

No matter what they say about Trump, things could be worse.  The man was totally incompetant and not able to change the nature of our political system, but he came close to doing so.  He normalized being openly hateful of vulnerable minorities, and unleashed a movement of malcontents which will likely survive his potential incarceration. 

So why do I say that there is a looming threat?

Several things have happened as a result of this man's time in office.  First, this man has said that if he regains the office of president, he will attempt to consolidate political power in the executive branch.  This is dangerous, as our system was designed to work (or, not work, as of late) with the powers of each branch of government being checked and balanced by the other two.  Second, this man has only anger to propel him.  He has never forgiven the public, nor the honest officials that some may have elected, for not putting him in office for a second term.  What revenge would he try to take at the expense of his perceived enemies?  Most elected leaders in his party are afraid of his cult, and are following his mob to stay in office.

But what happens if this man is not nominated to be his party's presidential nominee?  Will the followers of his cult believe that the elections weren't rigged?  On 01/06/21, we saw the violence that his cult was capable of.  Could it happen again?  What if the man were convicted in one of the courts? Even worse would be the chaos that might happen if the election were close.  For years, Americans have been self-selecting into like-minded communities.  People live in communication bubbles where they select news from sources that reinforce their views, and find it hard to imagine how others could have different views when "the truth" should be self apparent.  If you lived in Rural America, watched Fox "News" on a regular basis, and have been trained by your church to see the world in binary terms, would you be able to challenge the orthodoxy that you've been fed for years?  Wouldn't you want to defend your country from "criminals" from the left?

Years ago, Senator John McClain held a campaign rally where one of his loyal GOP constituents started labeling then Senator Barack Obama as a communist traitor.  Senator McClain interrupted this woman, saying that Senator Obama was a good man with whom he had political differences.  Could anyone see this happening today, where radicals from the far right are calling for President Biden's impeachment? The leaders of one political party have enough "sober" people to govern, while the other's leaders are afraid of the mob who elected our former president.

In 2016, our former president ran for office with the campaign slogan:  

Make America Great Again

Did any of his constituents ever ask: 

When did America stop being great?  

Why is America not great anymore?  

What needs to be done to make America great again?

I never heard any of these questions answered to my satisfaction.  Instead, MAGA anger comes from people who have lost their place in society.  They see our former president as someone who would (at least) give lip service to their feelings, if not restore their former positions in the larger society.

The next year, the former president held a campaign rally in Charlottesville, where he effectively said that there were good people in the neo-Nazi movement :

“You had some very bad people in that group,

 but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”

Once a person implies that there some good neo-Nazis, where does permission to act on one's hatred end?  I can still remember chants of:

"Jews will not replace us!"

As if any self respecting Jew would want for his/her children to grow up with skills so limited that they could not earn a good living.  What successful person of any ethnic group would want for their child to become a bagger at the local Piggly Wiggly?  Many of the MAGAloons are poorly educated, resistant to change, and follow bombastic leaders without bothering to ask: "Does what they are saying make sense?"  They gravitate to "strongmen" who say things that validate their feelings, and not to people who understand the nuances of objective truths.

So, what is the looming threat?

In short, the threat is that our ex-president has unleashed a monster that can not be sent back to its cave before it causes a lot of destruction.  As I started writing this, Jacksonville, FL is dealing with the aftermath of a white nationalist killing 3 black people at a local supermarket.  What will it take to stop this?  I don't know.  But if the ex-president again comes anywhere near the levers of power, god help us.

Is the enemy of my enemy really my friend?

Recently, an open letter signed by 50 Republican national security experts has warned that nominee Donald Trump "would be the most reckless president" in US history. Trump dismissed the GOP "experts" as they were part of a "failed Washington elite" looking to hold on to power

The big question is: What should Hillary Clinton do with this GOP "gift"?

All of the people on this document were associated with Bush #43's Iraq war and the resulting destabilization of the Middle East.  Should Hillary be grateful to them, when they made some of the biggest mistakes in history?  They are just as incompetent as Trump is, but from the opposite direction.  Should Hillary use their statement as a weapon?  I doubt it, as Trump could use it against her.

Instead, she should say something that Trump wouldn't expect - agree with him.  They may be part of a failed Washington elite, but no elite should be destroyed without capable people ready to take on the reins of government.   She should be saying that just throwing the bums out isn't enough.  The people who replace the bums should know what to do when in office.  Just saying that we'll "Make America Great Again" isn't enough.  She should note that his so-called plans are mere slogans, and not backed up with thought.

Trump has gotten where he is, by pandering to peoples' baser nature.  He is a bully.  And weak people like bullies, as they can vicariously experience power by supporting a bully from their tribe.  This is dangerous, as this is the existential threat to any democracy or republic - the cult of. of personality.

We've seen this cult of personality many times in history.  We've seen it in the 1930's in Central Europe.  We've seen it in the 1960's with the Chinese Cultural Revolution.  And we can see it in North Korea - the only documented country where a dead person still is in charge of the government.  And now, America has a choice between Trump and Clinton.

Am I afraid?  I'd be a fool not to be a little bit scared. But I still have faith in America.  And given that the GOP seems to be falling apart at the seams, I feel in the end that America will learn to worry about cults of personality - and that is a good thing....