TRUMPISM: AMERICA’S NEWEST RELIGION

Trump’s words have become the new gospel, never to be questioned by his followers who angrily defend his preposterous lies whenever they are exposed by the new “heathens.”  No matter how transparently false his claims, his flock will never question whatever he says, whether it be his lies about how he has saved millions of lives during the COVID-19 disaster, the lies about how he has “saved” the economy, his lies about foreign policy, or anything else.  Like all true believers since the beginning of time, his sheep-like followers applaud everything he says and does and never bother to even listen to dissenting voices.  This us-versus-them attitude is typical of all religious fundamentalism, and this new religion is no different.

This is nothing less than a criminal administration with an authoritarian despot at the helm.  So many people connected with Trump and his campaigns have been convicted of various criminal activities that it staggers the imagination that Republicans continue to turn a blind eye to these crimes.  And they are aided and abetted by an increasingly right-wing media that panders to the Republican party and uncritically reports their criminal activities as “business as usual.”  Criminals like Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone have been convicted of their crimes and sent to prison, but you would never know it from the scant attention given by the so-called “liberal media.”  And of course, these crimes are completely ignored by the Trumpists.

The Republican National Convention of 2020 was the most staged, ridiculous farce of a political event ever foisted upon an increasingly gullible citizenry.  Everything presented was the exact reversal of the truth.  Consider what transpired on the first night alone:

It was claimed that Trump understood the threat of Covid-19 before anyone else did and that his quick response has saved millions of lives.  His own words earlier in the year conclusively disprove this nonsense.  It was also claimed that the pandemic was “courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party.”        One of the most ridiculous statements mad was that Democrats and progressives want to abolish the suburbs.  Of course, no supporting evidence was presented.  Democrats were even blamed for sabotaging the post office when it fact the Republicans have been making every effort to demolish it so they can keep people from casting mail-in ballots and steal the November election.

The misrepresentation and lies about COVID-19 were an insult to the 170,00-plus Americans who have died because of Republican intransigence about the pandemic.  Speaker after speaker gave Trump credit for his allegedly great leadership during this crisis.  One speaker even called him the “savior of Western Civilization.”  Some of the speakers spoke as if the pandemic is a thing of the past: White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow had the unmitigated gall to say: “Hardship and heartbreak were everywhere.  But presidential leadership came swiftly and effectively with an extraordinary rescue for health and safety to successfully fight the COVID virus.”  He said this on the same day that more than 1,100 Americans died because of the virus.  Suffice it to say he didn’t mention this fact.  Again, the followers of America’s newest religion ate up every word—as gospel.

Another low point in the Republican National convention was provided by Iowa Senator Joni Ernst who actually claimed that if Joe Biden were elected president, he would ban farm animals.  This laughably ridiculous claim shows how desperate Republicans are to say anything that will get their imagined “savior” re-elected.  Cable commentators burst out laughing at this nonsense, but the Trumpists had no problem accepting it.

The final night of the convention featured Trump addressing his congregation outside the White House (in defiance of the law, which says the White House cannot be used for political rallies) and spewing lies that are so far removed from reality that only the most devout followers could possibly believe them.  He promised “We will ensure equal justice for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed” even though his administration has emboldened white supremacists around the country; there has been more racial violence during his administration than at any time in half a century.  He said: “we will uphold your religious liberty” even though he has banned Muslims from entering the country and panders to the Christian Nationalists who want to turn the United States into a Christian version of Iran.  He promised that: “we will protect Medicare and Social Security” even though he has publicly stated that his second term will see the end of them both.  He also said: “We will always, and very strongly, protect patients with pre-existing conditions, and that is a pledge from the entire Republican Party,” conveniently forgetting that in 2016 he ran on a platform dedicated to destroying the Affordable Care Act.  It is the Republican party that has repeatedly tried to eliminate protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions and has instigated countless lawsuits to eliminate these protections.  And of course, the record number of judges that have been appointed in the previous three and a half years are all anti-health care dogmatists whose only qualifications are complete devotion to Trump.

A few more lies from Trump: “To save as many lives as possible, we are focusing on the science, the facts, and the data.”  Never mind that he has ignored the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the world’s leading experts on infectious diseases; the Trump administration has in fact been the most anti-science administration in U.S. history, and Fauci has received death threats for daring to tell the truth about the virus—and for daring to disagree with Trump.  “America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere combined.”  If so, why does the United States have the highest fatality rate in the world?  “To protect our nation’s seniors we rushed supplies, testing kits and personnel…to nursing homes, we gave everything you can possibly give”  Suffice it to say, Trump provided no evidence for any of this; in fact, he is doing his best to destroy social security, Medicaid and even the postal service that seniors rely on for their medications.

Trump’s devout followers applauded and cheered these and every other lie that came from his mouth.

On the very night of Trump’s harangue, an enormous hurricane hit Louisiana and Texas; there have never been as many violent storms this early in the season in all American history.  This, coupled with the fires raging across California, are the direct consequence of the climate crisis that threatens every person on the planet, but Trump failed to mention the crisis even once in his speech.  After all, to do so would be to draw attention to the corporate polluters who are largely responsible for this crisis, polluters who are the biggest donors to the Republican party.  And of course, when the major news media reports on these lethal weather conditions, they never mention the climate crisis that is bringing them about.  The media treats Trumpism as they do every other religion—with fear and trepidation.  After all, they don’t want to offend someone’s religion!

The Republican convention of August 2020 clearly proved that Republicans have no platform whatever, other than blindly following Donald Trump and rubber-stamping anything he does.

But the lies don’t stop there.  Trump and his followers know they are in danger of losing the election, so they are doing all they can to prevent people from voting.  To do this, they are spreading lies about the Post Office (Trump: “The Post Office is a joke”), falsely claiming that mail-in ballots are unsafe.  They are trying to intimidate people at the voting sites.  They are instigating lawsuits to keep people from casting their ballots.  Trump has suggested that the election be postponed until voting is “safe.”  He and his colleagues have also hinted that they might not accept the results of the election.  These are the words and (possible) actions of dictators.  All this is being done because Republicans know that their agenda is not popular with the majority of Americans; with these ultra right-wing nationalists, it’s not about democracy.  It’s about getting power and keeping it at all costs.

Lies, fear, repression, and hate—this is the Republican party platform.  Only the most devoutly religious Trumpists could fail to see this.  They are living in their own reality, where facts are what they want them to be and logic and reason are employed only if they are thought to support their new faith.  These people are utterly oblivious to any facts that contradict what they want to believe.  But then, isn’t that true of all religious fanatics? How are things going where you are?  Is everyone basically housebound?