“The truth will set you free but first, it will make you miserable.” John A. Garfield
“To abandon facts is to abandon freedom.” Timothy Snyder
Political pundits, professional politicians, the media and 75 percent of the voting public have been dead wrong about Donald Trump. With every gaffe spoken, every insult dished out, every ridiculous promise made, every lousy staff selection, every lie told, every threat made …we/they were sure it would be the end of Trump. And had the assaults on civility and reason not come so often, perhaps that would have happened. But it’s difficult to fully process and respond to today’s events when the next day, your attention is drawn to something else he did or said that’s even worse. Pause and repeat.
While the rest of us are mortified and angered, nothing he does seems to matter to his most avid supporters. They know his knowledge is as deep and thoughtful as the latest nugget gleaned from the brilliant thinkers on Fox and Friends. They know he’s unable to learn anything requiring more concentration than that of a flea. They know he’s made poor choices for advisors and staff who lack the expertise to make up for his deficiencies (“I only hire the best people” but has fired 8 of them since inauguration) and they know he has exhibited an incredible lack of judgment in terms of decision making. They know he lies, they know he preaches to others what he doesn’t do himself in terms of hiring and buying American…hypocrisy doesn’t bother them; they know he’s making big bucks off the presidency; they know he’s destroying America’s reputation overseas, they know he has a special place in his heart for Putin and they don’t care why, they know he has emboldened domestic terrorists by his hateful rhetoric and unwillingness to call out behavior that’s antithetical to everything this country stands for (“There are very fine people on both sides.” Nazis and those who march with them are not fine people). They know he spends more time watching the news and playing golf than he does governing – which, all things considered, is probably a good thing. They know he’s made outrageous statements scapegoating members of the press – “those people are responsible for your problems,” they are “enemies of the people,” “scum” and “they don’t love this country.”
It seems there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t do or say something that is an embarrassment to the office and this nation. And his supporters don’t care. Imagine that. But if you’re still a Trump supporter, you don’t have to imagine; you already know that. You don’t care. It simply doesn’t matter. Blame it all on ‘fake news.’
You don’t care about these or dozens of other actions or statements that you would find intolerable had they been uttered or acted on by anyone else in that role. It doesn’t matter that his actions are tearing the nation apart. His supporters don’t care. Imagine that. But if you’re still a Trump supporter, you already know that. You don’t care. It simply doesn’t matter.
On August 22, General James Clapper, who has worked for every President from Kennedy to Obama and is the former Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, former National Security Director, and former Director of National Intelligence, said in reference to Trump’s rally in Phoenix,
“I don’t know when I’ve watched and listened to something like this from a President that I found more disturbing. …Having some understanding of the levers of power that are available to a president if he chooses to exercise them, I find this downright scary and disturbing. I really question his ability, his fitness to be in this office. This behavior and divisiveness and the complete intellectual, moral and ethical void that the president of the United States exhibits…and how much longer does this country have to, to borrow a phase, endure this nightmare?” And “I worry about Trump’s access to the nuclear codes.”
That statement would keep most people awake at night…but probably not you. Instead you will attempt to discredit Clapper and thereby discredit his statement. That’s what Trump does; he attacks the messenger to divert attention away from the message. But what may be beginning to keep you awake at night is cognitive dissidence. It’s tough work to maintain that façade in the face of ever increasing and obvious facts.
Consider this. Based on all the things he’s done and somehow gotten away with, it appears Trump was right about this one thing: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot someone and I wouldn’t lose voters.” Think about that. He believes he could shoot a weapon in front of a crowd, wound or kill someone and you would continue to support him. Is he right?
Before you answer, consider this. What does Trump’s statement say about what he thinks of you, his most ardent supporters? He must believe you’re not terribly bright – that you lack critical thinking skills and judgment, knowledge of right and wrong, and are devoid of any sense of morality or ethics. Given all that he’s said and done over the past two years, until now, he’s lost little of his base, so perhaps – in this one instance – he’s finally right. So the answer to the question, ‘what will it take’ for supporters to finally say enough is enough, is still unknown. Even shooting someone isn’t a deal breaker. And yet…
Trump’s base of support is gradually eroding. Ever so slowly, you are beginning to see that his behavior is way outside the range of normal – that he’s erratic and lacking consistency; a bully with no core beliefs. His attempts at being presidential fall apart the next day – he reads, haltingly, someone else’s words on a teleprompter (sounding like someone reading a hostage statement for the first time), but those words are often in direct conflict with his own, sans teleprompter. Members of his own party are slowly beginning to distance themselves. It’s a beginning. And you. Those of you who support him even now … what will it take for you to say enough is enough? Seriously. What will it take?
Marsha Shearer is a resident of The Villages.
