Like many Americans, I’ve been trying to understand why the current occupant of the Oval Office has so many staunch supporters. Why are they so loyal to someone so obviously guilty of perjury and perfidy? I recently read something that offered compelling and chilling clues. Forgive the long edited excerpt, but trust me, you need to read this:
What happened here was the gradual habituation of the people, little by little, to being governed by surprise; to receiving decisions deliberated in secret; to believing that the situation was so complicated that the government had to act on information which the people could not understand, or so dangerous that, even if the people could understand it, it could not be released because of national security. And their sense of identification with [Trump], their trust in him, made it easier to widen this gap and reassured those who would otherwise have worried about it.
This separation of government from people, this widening of the gap, took place so gradually and so insensibly, each step disguised (perhaps not even intentionally) as a temporary emergency measure or associated with true patriotic allegiance or with real social purpose. And all the crises and reforms (real reforms, too) so occupied the people that they did not see the slow motion underneath, of the whole process of government growing remoter and remoter.
. . . One had no time to think. There was so much going on. The [America First agenda], and the whole process of it coming into being, was above all diverting. It provided an excuse not to think for people who did not want to think anyway . . . . Most did not want to think about fundamental things and never had. There was no need to. [Trump] gave us some dreadful, fundamental things to think about — most were decent people — and [Trump] kept them so busy with continuous changes and “crises” and so fascinated . . . by the machinations of the “national enemies,” without and within, most had no time to think about those dreadful things that were growing, little by little, all around them. Unconsciously, most were grateful. Who wants to think?
[According to one citizen], “Each act, each occasion, is worse than the last, but only a little worse. You wait for the next and the next. You wait for one shocking occasion, thinking that others, when such a shock comes, will join you in resisting somehow. You don’t want to act, or even talk, alone; you don’t want to ‘go out of your way to make trouble.’ Why not? Well, you are not in the habit of doing it. And it is not just fear, fear of standing alone, that restrains you; it is also genuine uncertainty.
“Uncertainty is a very important factor, and, instead of decreasing as time goes on, it grows. Outside, in the streets, in the general community, ‘everyone’ is happy. One hears no protest, and certainly sees none . . . .In your own community, you speak privately to your colleagues, some of whom certainly feel as you do; but what do they say? They say, ‘It’s not so bad’ or ‘You’re seeing things’ or “You’re an alarmist.’
. . . It is clearer all the time that, if you are going to do anything, you must make an occasion to do it, and then you are obviously a troublemaker. You you wait, and you wait. But the one shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes.”
Frightening, no? Now for the real scare . . . this excerpt is from a chapter entitled, “But Then It Was Too Late,” in the prescient book, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 by Milton Mayer, first published in 1955 and republished in 2017. I transposed “Hitler” for “Trump” and “the Nazi Party” for “America First” in the above excerpt. How many more shocking occasions can this democracy sustain from the current occupant of the Oval Office?
From the same chapter — another perspective from the citizen referenced above, a philologist (a scholar who studies the structure, historical development and relationships of a language or languages) and a colleague of author Mayer:
And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible of them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying ‘Jew swine,’ collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely under your nose. The world you live in — your nation, your people — is not the world you were born in at all.
All images are from artwork in the private collection of Sharon J. Anderson.
A new allegation of sexual assault; the perspective that this country doesn’t need to help the Kurds in northern Turkey (many of whom are Syriac Christians) because “they didn’t help us during World War II. They weren’t at Normandy,” and the Whistleblower is a spy for the Democrats because “that phone call was perfect.”
Who wants to think?
Nicolle Wallace, the former communications director for George W. Bush, said this — live on air — during her show, “Dateline White House” yesterday when she heard Trump’s “Kurds-Weren’t-At-Normandy” comment: “How did we get a Commander in Chief who is so stupid?”
In a tweet later, Trump called his Normandy perspective, “a different take.”
Who wants to think?
The parallels are stunning. I am both scared and numb–something akin to being a victim of domestic violence. Good to have your thoughtful blog and your company.
Thanks for your comment, Charlotte. Your comparison of a domestic violence victim is spot on and sad. Remember when the current occupant of the Oval Office said that he could walk down Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and he wouldn’t lose any votes? He is violently abusing the principles of democracy and his Republican patsies are silent. I compare those Republicans to the handlers for Jeffrey Epstein. Or to the German citizens who lived in a village just outside Auschwitz and every morning wiped away the “dust” on their car windshields before they drove to work.
There are many veterans of the Iraq War, like my son, and families, like mine, who are keenly aware that the Kurds are our allies, because they fought and died or lived beside them. Our withdrawal of troops is egregious and indefensible and the proof, if you need any, is that even Liz Cheney (a staunch defender of the POTUS) called the President out on his very poor decision. But now, does she or Congress have the political will to take action? Do we the people? I certainly hope so.
I hope so, too, Beth. Today’s developments with Giuliani’s associates appear to indicate that POTUS — and many in his inner circle — are in even deeper shit.
I am so curious (and pissed) about why Republicans like Liz Cheney and Lindsey Graham have so openly and aggressively criticized POTUS on this egregious withdrawal of troops from Syria, but not about his egregious withdrawal from Constitutional principles. This doesn’t make any damn sense to me.
Mary Oliver, though dead, still speaks to us:
“it is a serious thing
just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world”
Amen.
Beth — thanks for the healing words from Mary Oliver. Here are some from the poet, Dorianne Laux:
EVENING
Moonlight pours down
without mercy, no matter
how many have perished
beneath the trees.
The river rolls on.
There will always be
silence, no matter
how long someone
has wept against
the side of a house,
bare forearms pressed
to the shingles.
Everything ends.
Even pain, even sorrow.
The swans drift on.
Reeds bear the weight
of their feathery heads.
Pebbles grow smaller,
smoother beneath night’s
rough currents. We walk
long distances, carting
our bags, our packages.
Burdens or gifts.
We know the land
is disappearing beneath
the sea, islands swallowed
like prehistoric fish.
We know we are doomed,
done for, damned, and still
the light reaches us, falls
on our shoulders even now,
even here where the moon is
hidden from us, even though
the stars are so far away.
This is truly frightening. The parallels and just so strong. Thank you for “doing something” by posting this. I’ve been very concerned about my/our growing numbness to all that’s going on. But still feel so at a loss about what to do. Wish this could be read more widely. Any way you could post this on FB?
I have to thank Facebook or someone on Facebook who in July posted a passage from this book. I remember feeling my face get hot, so I ordered the book. That one original passage which scared me so is compounded a thousandfold in the book. I wondered why a book first published in 1955, would be republished in 2017. Apparently, a lot of folks saw the damning parallels. I’ll think about posting it on Facebook, but I fear it’s too long for most to take the time to read. Sad, no?
Also, I have enough friends from my high school days who love Trump, and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of their vitriol. There is NO reasoning with them.
Where is God in all of this? Is he punishing us? These are questions I ask myself as I remain consumed with the news of impeachment, the travesty in Syria, and the continuous atrocious behavior of Trump. Why are the Republicans so blind? How can they continue to support a racist, narcissistic, evil zero who spews lies with every breath he takes? I am haunted by today’s post, especially the last paragraph. A baby saying ‘Jew swine.’ My God, the comparison of Trump to Hitler is horribly frightening. Someone who I am very close to predicted that Trump would be assassinated within 10 days. At first I didn’t know how to respond. I paused for a moment and said, “I don’t believe that is what people want. But what I do believe is that we desperately need a President who will respect the Office, respect the Constitution and not bring embarrassment and shame to our country.”
Who wants to think? Whether I want to think or not, I am thinking – so much some days I think my head is going to explode. I wish I knew how to pray about this.
Merrie Lee — your honest and heartfelt questions/comments echo scores of thoughtful citizens and Christians across the country. Thanks for the courage to post them (even after you originally lost them in a computer glitch!).
“Where is God in this?” is a question I ask my pastor friend, Carol, practically every week. She asks the same question. It is the same question that millions of Jews asked decades ago and the same question that the Kurds are asking at this very moment. Like you, I sometimes wonder if America got so powerful and prideful that God decided to humble/punish our country with the ascent of POTUS. But I don’t believe God is that cruel, do you?
One more thing, Merrie Lee — I don’t want POTUS to be assassinated. I don’t want him to become a martyr.