14 min to read
What Next?
Q: What Next?
Duh! Reader:
Predicting the future is often more than a little bit difficult!
However, as we all know from answering it for ourselves and in turn our children, employees, spouses, friends and anyone who sees their future at stake, in terms of what they believe Donald Trump will do to “pay off” the gamble voters make in the form of their vote for a given candidate.
Donald Trump: Addicted to Attention & Greed
Insofar as some of us think Trump is the “best bet” in this election, it can only be considered prudent and indeed “conservative”, to at least carefully consider the fact that Donald Trump is quite literally an addict. Addicts can be dangerous, as some of us know all too well. This addict is hopelessly and forever addicted being the center of attention, and he abuses his office and violets laws (such as the Hatch Act) in ways no President has ever been before, all in order to get more of his particular D.O.C. (drug of choice)
Even power is secondary to his personal agenda, for he sees it as primarily the means whereby he can demand and receive the attention he craves, and again for him, attention is a fundamental need, comparable to the basic needs most of us have, such as food, shelter and caring for our families. Have amassed enough wealth to put those needs out of the way, he has become free to focus on certain psychological needs.
President Trump’s needs have been categorically determined by hundreds of professional psychologists, to be rooted in pathological narcissism, which is a well-documented mental illness, and one that cannot be hidden or “paused” by the person suffering from it.
We can all his addiction is real, and quite severe. Indeed, only the knowing betrayal of our own eyes, ears and cognitive function and better judgment can possibly say otherwise.
The question must be, how does this fact potential affect us, the American people?
First, we must be mindful of the fact that just like any serious addict, Trump’s addiction comes in the form of (“getting a high”) the unwavering, almost entirely unquestioning, and exaggerated enthusiasm of his supporters. In this important respect, his supporters function more as classic Enablers, both feeding his addiction for attention, and providing him with the support necessary to allow him to continue to rape and pillage in service to Greed.
It’s probably fair to say that he sees these Enablers as “his subjects”, after all, just this week he told us that “God talked to him” (about the budget), and he has been told by the highest levels of Christian leadership that he is “the chosen one”. In his mind, and theirs, we are all tremendously fortunate to have his presence and his ostensibly sincere and humble leadership at this challenging time.
Quote:
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis writes. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.” —James Mattis, former Secretary of Defense
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
The First Question We Must Ask
Therefore, the only question is who among us is prepared to admit this both to ourselves, and to one another, doing so not as Red vs. Blue or conservative or progressive, but simply as fellow human beings, and critically, as United States citizens with a shared responsibility according to the Constitution, to play an active, vigilant role in the care and custodianship of the world’s great democracy.
The Second, Solemn Question
Once you have answered that question I think, the only one that matters now is whether Trump’s profound insecurity and bottomless narcissism, gross vanity, and his perfect record for making statements and choosing to act or not, all in support of the world’s worst dictators, in addition to the fact that he has happily pardoned people who have lied to congress, collaborated with foreign powers and performed illegal acts in their duty and strange loyalty to Trump, —is this and everything else we have seen and taken together, still insufficient evidence in your mind, to instead compel you to stop his advance and take full responsibility for helping to stand vigilant and =erring on the side of caution=, to protect and defend the core ideals and guiding principles contained in the Constitution of the United States of America, by far the world’s most powerful and great democracy.
We must consider whether loyalty and service to him is for whatever reason paramount to considering the chance that we are in effect, whether knowingly or as a result of What Comes Next, betraying our country and fellow citizens, and placing both yourself and The Rest of Us™ at risk of this becoming an impossible to reverse, turn toward a Trump family dynasty and literal dictatorship.
Trump is addicted to being the center of attention.
Donald Trump is deeply addicted to getting “great ratings”.
However, like many addicts, his suffering and all of the destruction his addiction causes, depends upon the continuing presence of the many enablers who surround him. These enablers obviously include Fox News, and all of their highly paid personalities who =must= show total reverence for him, and especially people like the uniquely horrible Sean Hannity.
But Trump’s worst enablers are those who do it for free, and in spite of listening to now over 20,000 lies as president, horrifically ugly behavior and statements, gross mismanagement of the Covid-19 health crisis, as well as the many broken promises, starting with his Tax Returns, which he continues to fight tooth and nail for some reason most of us can easily imagine, and some of the most absurd pledges he made to you, such as “Mexico will pay for the wall”. Not only will they not pay, but those of you who did contribute have had your money embezzled for the lavish lifestyle of Trump’s ally and confidant, Steve Bannon, and the veteran who started the fraudulent GoFundMe project, which took millions of dollars from all of you, in total.
Trump Supporters are like the worst, most complicit and ineffective Support Group one can possibly imagine, for an addict like Donald Trump. But, they aren’t entirely responsible for their existence as a malevolent force in his life, because he works very hard to keep you “right there”, making certain that his enablers will never say a word to get in the way of his addiction to power, and attention.
Like an addict approaching the “bottom”, he is hell-bent on servicing his disease, and he will let literally nothing stand in the way of making sure he can get the substance, the attention, he craves. This now includes, as is plainly obvious, the literal destruction of this democracy, and an intention to turn it into a dictatorship whereby he has total power, total attention on demand, and that he can be in this position for as long as he alone decides is necessary.
Speaking now to the Trump Supporter, I can only beg you to face up to the role you play in his life, and the complicit nature of your relationship. In light of all that has happened that The Rest of Us™ see as traitorous, criminal corruption, each of you will be seen forever as partly responsible not just for everything truly terrible that he has already done, but more importantly for everything that will happen should he successfully rig and win this election. Keep in mind, after election day, you lose all control over what he does next, and there will be absolutely no way for you to reverse your decision.
When you consider the indisputable fact that the stakes may be this high, and that likewise there is a very real chance he will move to create a “Trump dynasty”, you have no choice but to see voting for him as a gamble. We can argue what the odds are and what the stakes are, but the point is that there is a significant chance and one that is undeniable, that he will become much, much worse, and that this election will mark the point of no return.
I am not saying this because I think so or wish it, but rather because “of course” it’s true, and so plainly so. Your insistence that Trump is the best person to lead our country for the next 4 years (or god-forbid, 12 years, as he stated in his opening comments just two days ago, a “joke” which he has told countless times and is not funny, for what it suggests and portends is nothing less than overthrowing the world’s greatest democracy, and turning it into a dictatorship.
As one looks at the speakers chosen for this year’s RNC, it shouldn’t be hard to see that he intends to create a Trump dynasty that will go on indefinitely. Perhaps this is why he has said so many times that he “is in love with” Kim Jong Il, and has shared over a dozen of what he calls “love letters” with him. Those letters are being returned in-kind, which ought to tell us something. The North Korean dictator is not a stupid man, and if thought Trump was merely playing him you can bet he would not allow himself to be seen exchanging “love letters” with the guy. We need to wake up the possibility that Trump’s obvious predilection to cover up for and support the world’s most terrible dictators, who rule for decades at a time, points to something terrible in terms of his vision for what comes next.
People are hurting, some of them are protesting and putting themselves in precarious, even dangerous situations to try and communicate that in a manner that will force people to listen. It’s not easy to go out on the street and get face to face with what they largely and rightly see as members of Trump’s personal Gestopo.
Quote:
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
So, for all of the bullshit being thrown at them by the right, and the absurd claims that they are destroying cities and creating chaos for no other reason than to cause mayhem, that’s easy to say when you don’t want to hear their message, and when you don’t stop to consider what it takes to get out there and do what they are doing. The Trump Dynasty and subservient GOP desperately wants you to dismiss the protests as nothing but a bunch of criminal looters who are destroying valuable property for no good reason. It’s up to you to see beyond that, and consider the alternative possibility that these are Americans who believe that American values are being greatly compromised or disregarded entirely, by this Administration. Just thinking that, or making that accusation is not enough for almost any individual to go out and put themselves at risk by protesting. It takes careful consideration and enough compelling evidence that they begin to feel they have no choice but to do so, or else compromise everything they believe in.
After all, you so generously provide this stranger, with a reputation for exploiting his workers and who is loathed by his own family members, with your truly boundless understanding and endless excuses to get beyond every unforgivable statement and act he makes. You forgive him effectively “in advance” for anything and everything he does or may do. You provide him with the attention he needs, and the support that amounts to an “unconditional love”. In fact, in some cases you have given over to the type of emotional loss-of-control in terms of fanatic adoration known only to histories worst authoritarians and dictators.
YOU, and your support of him regardless “all”, has become precisely part of what he is addicted to, and you are only hurting him, yourself, and the rest of us, and literally everyone else in the world, by refusing to consider whether there should be some limits to how far you will go with your love and support.
He is about to take us beyond the point of no return, and you have a choice as to whether you play a part in taking us all into that abyss. You must either act now, or forever be known as responsible for the end of American democracy. This is what I believe, and this is what YOU KNOW there is a chance of becoming. The only question now is how much you like to gamble, and against what odds, given the enormous stakes. Only a crazy person would make such a bet, when the only thing you stand to gain in return is more of the same, only much, much worse than ever, and darker and more destructive than I believe most of you have dared to imagine.
It is indeed up to you what happens next. The Rest of Us™ are pleading with you to listen to that part of your conscience that =must= be telling you the future stands a chance of becoming dire if you elect this man yet again, after knowing all you know, and seeing with your own eyes all you have seen.
We can only pray that you find there is in fact a limit to how far you will go for this man, and that you might see how little he actually cares about you beyond the essential nature of your unconditional support, and outright adoration.
Sincerely, and Like Our Lives Depend On It,
Duh! Magazine
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