The OLD Philosopher – John M. Miller
Last week I took the occasion to watch an entire Donald Trump campaign appearance on the Fox News channel. I thought my eyes had previously been opened innumerable times in innumerable ways to reveal who Donald Trump truly is, but his speech in Louisiana gave me a whole new appreciation for why the immovable Trump base is so rock-solid.
As everyone with even the smallest amount of honest objectivity knows, Donald Trump has frequently and in an utterly cavalier fashion strayed from telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. From the beginning of his presidency, The Washington Post has kept track of his easily verified prevarications. They have now chronicled over 13,000 lies.
Watching the Trump rally in Louisiana, I was both fascinated and stupefied at how readily and shamelessly he lied, misrepresented, misstated, distorted, deceived, defrauded, and deliberately falsified things he said to his enthralled audience of delirious enthusiasts. They loved every minute of it. Many were clearly emotionally transported. The continuous din was deafening. We can observe Trumpian untruths every night on news clips, but listening to a forty-minute harangue fully illustrates how truly capable a snake-oil salesman he is.
Comparisons have been made between Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump, but it is evident that Donald Trump is no Adolf Hitler. Hitler was mesmerizing; Trump is merely captivating. Hitler was an ideological grand master; Trump is simply a great showman. Hitler sold the German people the dream of a Third Reich; Trump shamelessly sells only himself, warts and all.
Trump is a very engaging personality for a certain type of easily-engaged person. Any serious people who believe that Mr. Trump is a serious politician and national leader are seriously deluded. But until you watch the man in action for the entirety of a campaign rally, you cannot appreciate how effective he is at stirring the emotions of emotionally-suggestible voters. He has his audience eating out of his hand, even if what he is feeding them is undoubtedly lethal.
Hitler was truly diabolical. Trump is dangerous, but not really devilish. Nonetheless, Donald Trump is surely a clear and present danger to the United States of America. If everyone in his base votes for him (which all of them shall), and enough who oppose him do not vote at all, he very well may win again.
Hitler understood history in a severely distorted fashion. Trump seems neither to know nor to care about history. But Trump is in power, and he has become a one-man wrecking crew for the best values this country has represented from its origins.
There are, however, two features shared in common by both Hitler and Trump. Neither man was ever insane. Psychopathic, but not insane. Further, from the early stages of their rise to power, both were very careful to surround themselves only with sycophants. If their inner circle did not remain fanatically loyal to them, intuitively they knew they would be in deep trouble.
The House of Representatives has initiated an impeachment inquiry, whatever that term might mean. Sycophants who surrounded Trump from the beginning, most of whom have now jumped ship or have been forced to walk the plank, will be subpoenaed to appear. Unlike their leader, if they tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, Donald Trump may become impeachable toast in the House of Representatives. However, it is only the Senate which can remove him from office, and at present that seems very unlikely.
Watch an entire Trump campaign rally on Fox News, and you may finally realize what we are really up against. You owe it to yourself, but much more so, you owe it to your country, to do that. You can see him only on Fox. A diligent electorate is the primary hope for every democracy.
John Miller is Pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC. More of his writings may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.