The predictability of the GOP is cemented in the stupidity of its members. In 2016 we saw it. And now as we approach 2024, anyone with half a brain can see what is coming.
Table of Contents
The Obvious Stupidity of the MAGA, Most Christians, & All Republicans
If Christians, the primary constituents of the GOP were not complete morons who actually believe their God, who will not stop famine, war, murder, or any other atrocity, requires them to end abortion and enforce proper penis and vagina use through discriminatory laws made by Republicans, they might see Trump as the devil, not their savior.
Trump's 2016 election proved predictable just like his presidency that served only to divide America, damage foreign relations, and ultimately failed to build the important things his voters sought,: build a wall, lower the deficit, bring jobs back to America, etc.
Just as predictably, his reign of dumb won't end because the stupid Christian voters who believed his ridiculous promises, wholeheartedly believe his claims of election fraud. Why?
Because they are stupid!
In 2020 Trump Would Not Give Up Power
We could all see it coming and like a terrible storm, there wasn’t much we could do but be ready!
It’s become increasingly clear now that Donald Trump (who had how many bankruptcies?) will not voluntarily walk away after any election defeat. He didn’t in 2020 and he won’t in 2024. He will use every loophole in the law to avoid giving up power.
He has always used the law and justice systems in bad faith, always > And his supporters, have already accepted fully the “constitutional” jury-rigging of the electoral college with their ubiquitous, “America is NOT a democracy. We are a Republic. Just read the constitution.” They are more than willing to accept and use any cherry-picked detail of the constitution in defense of whatever Trump/GOP need to do to stay in power.
Trump had been dismissing mail-in ballots day after day, week after week, over and over again, calling them illegitimate despite the constant pushback that there is no evidence that there is any serious problem with such ballots. Now approaching 2024, he’s all for mail-in that help him.
The acceptance, for the first time in American history, of an assertion of total illegitimacy of a national Presidential election and the rejection of a peaceful transfer of power will be accepted by Trump/GOP supporters because they cannot and will not accept losing power.
I may be wrong.
I hope I am wrong.
But I am far from the first person to suggest that this outcome is not only possible, but probable.
Trump has been showing us his cards, laying them face up on the table, all along and increasingly so as his cards look worse and worse.
He has only one option, to accuse the game of being rigged against him and to find or invent evidence to support this accusation.
If he loses the electoral college vote gain in 2024 and thus the election and thus the presidency, he has nothing left to lose by suing and forcing the issue into the Supreme Court where his 6–3 majority may well decide in his favor.
How can anyone with even the slightest thread of fairness and honesty, doubt that this is a very real scenario? Why else did the vast majority of Americans believe that the next SCOTUS judge should be appointed AFTER the election and not allowed Trump to pack the court with right- wing zealots?
HRC beat Trump by 3M votes, Biden by close to 8M. but Trumps GOP/MAGA supporters contended then and will still contend that America is not meant to be a democracy. They will argue that a republic isn’t primarily a mechanism for providing democracy. They will separate the concept of a “republic” from that of a “democracy” as though there is not, nor has there ever been, the slightest overlap of philosophical intentions between the concepts/ideas.
They will assert this as though they are some kind of constitutional experts, despite never having read the constitution or having any idea what it says beyond the parts of it that they are using to justify their positions. 2024 will be history repeating its ugly self.
The constitution, like the Holy Bible, has lots of room for supporting whatever cherry-picked view of the world and documents you prefer.
Just read Leviticus or Revelations.
Just read the 2nd amendment or the 3rd amendment, or the 12th amendment where the rules for the electoral college are enshrined (an amendment written before blacks, women, 18 year-olds could even vote and before poll-taxes had been outlawed in the 24th amendment, a century later.)
Donald Trump has been involved in more than 4K lawsuits. He has used the courts and the rules of justice for unjust purposes all his life.
He is a lair, a cheat, and a mentally damaged malignant narcissist, as most people who have ever been close to him attest to and as his supporters always manage to find some way to ignore or justify.
This election, as many have said before me and far more eloquently than I am saying it here, will test whether enough Americans believe in fairness and justice and in the spirit of the laws and constitution to prevail — or whether only those who care about maintaining power at all costs shall have their way again.
It really is going to be this simple:
Can our system of governance survive a power-driven, power-obsessed madman and his minions in their needs to win at all costs, or not?
We will have our answer in Nov. 2024 if things continue to unfold as they are now, and in the days and weeks that follow the election.
Will we continue to have, as we do now, a lot of ugly truths to face about ourselves.
Scapegoat? Martyr? Fascist Ass-hat?
Why not all of the above?
When he road down that Golden escalator in Trump Tower and announced that Mexican immigrants were the cause of all “our” problems because all Mexico “sent” us were “rapists, and murderers,” too many ‘Mericans quietly nodded their heads in full agreement. He promised to make America great again just like Reagan had promised in Philadelphia Mississippi, just like Hitler had promised the German people in 1932.
Trump mocked people with disabilities. He insulted John McCane. On tape he bragged about “grabbing” women by their “pussies,” and essentially lied about it and lied about the scores of other accusations of sexual misconduct. He lied about anything and everything. And everyone, supporters and horrified enemies of his madness, ALL knew he was lying. He showed us exactly who he was, and we believed him.
He was a kind of bold, big-mouthed, entertaining, truth-telling big brother to millions of Americans. Nothing he did leading up to the Jan. 6th Insurrection, during the riot and violence, nor since then could have been a surprise to anyone, supporter or enemy. He showed who he was and far more disastrously, he showed too many of US who we are — hateful, scared, angry, racist, idiots and fools.
But he sure owned them damned Libs, huh?
So now we blame him for opening this terrible window into the darkest sides of our American character. The powers that be, in order to save our society from looking at ourselves, tell us and show us in absolute, undeniably clear and stark image after image and fact after fact, how bad a bad man Trump was and is. It’s not about us, you see, it’s ALL about him.
Find me any Germans who liked and loved Adolf Hitler in 1946, 47 and beyond.
Find me American “patriots” who still cherish their memories of Joe McCarthy after his fall.
Adolf who?
Joe who?
The greatest problem with the Jan 6th approach to Trump and his responsibility for the violent insurrection, is that it shifts the spotlight to him singularly, individually and reassures us that we’re all just fine: nothing wrong with us. Trump was great but he took it too far. Such a shame. Oh well. Nothing to see here.
Avoiding acceptance of responsibility for our fuck-up’s has the consequence of leading to more and more of the same kind of fuck-up’s. In other words, welcome to 2024.
That bears repeating: Avoiding acceptance of responsibility for our fuck-up’s has the consequence of leading to more and more of the same kind of fuck-up’s. We all know this. We all have done this.
Only by looking honestly and clearly at the role our conduct played in a problem, can we learn from our mistakes and not make them over and over again.
It’s ALL Trump’s fault. Whatever happens to him is what we need to restore our great nation, so be it. It’s not my fault. All I ever wanted to do is make America great again.
Donald who? Sorry, doesn’t ring a bell. This is not to say that I don’t believe Trump deserves every bit of shame, punishment, and consequences coming his way. I am delighted with that. And unless we face the truth of our own fucked-up-ness in this, we’re doomed to go through it again and again.
Hey, I don’t make the rules, I just see them from time to time and hope it helps to spell them out.
Now, in Trump's aftermath, a presidency riddled with hate and scandal, ending in an insurrection, what do those Christian voters believe?
Clarifying My TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome)
This is going to be short and bitter.
If you STILL plan to vote for Trump in 2024, if you STILL, after all the revelations into his character, actions, and Malignant Narcissism, can rationalize supporting him, if you think that anything he has done that you like is more important and valuable than the harm he has done and is doing, please don’t read my postings, or follow me, or in any way expect me to forgive or understand you.
Just to be sure there is no confusion, allow me to reiterate in Trumpian CAPS and bold print, I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU, NOW, OR EVER AGAIN UNTIL YOU SEE THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP’S & YOUR OWN FASCISM.
Like the KinderCare Guard at Auschwitz, I have no forgiveness for you.
Like the grinning serial murderer strapped to the gurney with a lethal injection needle already in his arm, sure that he is going to heaven because God has forgiven him, NO, HE IS NOT GOING TO HEAVEN AND HE ISN’T FORGIVEN AND HIS IGNOMINY WILL FOLLOW HIM UNTIL TIME ALLOWS US TO FORGET THAT HE EVER EXISTED.
Your punishment will be far less severe but don’t think for a moment that I will forget and forgive you. I won’t and I won’t.
Certain family members and ancient friends I will find some way to put up with when this all is over, and I will do my best to not discuss these matters. But in truth, I will not forgive or forget them either, I will simply figure out how to live with a loved one who has committed an unforgivable sin, just as they would figure out how to do the same with and for me.
As a writer/poet and American, I can live with myself for most of the political mistakes I’ve made — will you, Trump followers be able to say the same a year, two years, ten years from now? Your only hope is to realize that, no, you have made a terrible and tragic mistake.
Apology and contrition are only the first steps to making amends.
Best of luck with the rest of your journey back into humanity, decency, kindness, fairness, and justice — you have a long road ahead of you.
The Hate Game
Trump, the GOP, & Fascism
James Mattis was quoted as saying (this is paraphrasing), that no other President in his memory has chosen to so willfully and constantly divide Americans. He suggests that Trump made absolutely ZERO effort to unite us. Trump has always and still does encourage us to hate one another. How can anyone not see this?
Any observer must see that the Trumpian GOP represents ONLY those voters, states, and citizens who have supported him and them. If you support him, you can tell yourself that he cares about you, but you surely can’t believe that he cares very much about anyone who opposes him.
I don’t see how any Trump supporter, whether the deepest Trump cult devotee or someone generally not paying much attention but historically GOP and therefore planning to vote for GOP Trump, can deny or ignore how much Trump relies on dividing us.
As an Antifa, lifelong (almost anyway) leftist, I have voted in every election of my life for the Democratic candidate for POTUS (except in 1980 when I knew Reagan had won already by the time I cast my vote so I voted for the Communist Party candidates — but I digress).
I voted for the Democrats not because I agreed with all or even most of what he/she was saying, but because the GOP represents nothing I support.
But lately, I’ve been looking at the degree of HATE I feel toward Trump and his GOP and Followers.
If you’ve read me here, you’ve seen it over and over. In my book (WHO KNEW?!, Latah Books, 2020) there are many anti-Trump poems including this one:
Trump Supporters
If you like a stupid,
Cruel, loud-mouthed bully
Without a shred
Of kindness, empathy
Or decency —
You’ve got your boy.
A difference in this poem from my other anti-Trump writings is that this one is focused on and directed at his supporters and followers. My disdain for Trump is obvious, of course, but lately, I’ve noticed my hate spread to those I see in his grip.
I’ve always believed Trump tries to appeal to the worst feelings and instincts, and his followers fell for his schtick.
I’ve long felt, and often read, that much of Trump’s support comes from people liking the way he “owns the libtards.” He speaks into his supporters hatred for over-educated, know-it-all, politically-correct, phony, arrogant elitists.
I was unaware until recently how deeply my capacity for hatred has been triggered and let loose against these fellow Americans of mine.
That they hate me, a proud Antifascist, Atheist, fairly financially secure 75-year-old white man, living quite comfortably in my relatively secure retirement, makes sense to me, especially given the suffering I’m seeing in their lives right now.
However, my hating them, including friends and family I’ve loved and enjoyed over so many decades, has surprised me, shocked me even.
It takes two people to love one another, each making that choice and stepping into the emotional risks inherent in loving, for love to really work. It takes mutual loathing and victory by division to succeed at breaking us apart.
I will not stop disliking, distrusting Trump and working whole-heartedly for his defeat in the upcoming election. I will never see him as anything but the malignant narcissist I know he is.
But to end Trump’s power we have to stop letting ourselves be divided from people we know are making a mistake.
“One nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all…” How many times have we Americans, hands over our hearts, uttered these words and this sentiment?
As corny as this sounds, we have to make love defeat hate. We have to find it in our hearts, minds and souls to love our fellow citizens, despite their disagreements with our views.
This is the only way we will be able to stop Trump’s victory by division, his winning via the Hate Game.
The Treasure of Trump Memes
Because with any luck at all, he’ll be gone forever/for Good someday soon, and because we are hopefully running out of time to use these, I picked, pretty much randomly a selection of memes/pics from my huge (at least 500) memes and mocking pics of this madman and mad era we are hopefully watching come to an end...
All of these were lifted from the online pages of Twitter. Thank goodness, I still have my own trouble-making sites.
If The Proud Boys, QAnon (sp? sic?) the Chinese Communist Party or the regular old just plain Chinese/Russian/American Oligarchies are coming to stop me so be it, but just in case they are/aren’t, here’s a few laughs.
Once again, all images from my personal collection of Anti-Trump memes and pics from Twitter...if you’re pro-Trump, WTF are you doing here anyway?
Let’s hope that 2024 will see the end of Trump and leave his MAGA cult followers out to dry in shame and ignominy.
All memes and graphics lifted from Twitter
Copyright Vincent Triola & Terry Trueman
