The Witness Chronicles, May 5, 2024

The emptiness of the Trump mythology

Photo by Alireza Jalilian on Unsplash

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Vengeance and Victimhood: the Trump Policy Platform

He has no interest in actually governing

Political parties historically have put out policy platforms during election years that outline the party’s position on all the important issues facing America. These served as guidelines for what a candidate stood for, their vision, and the actions they believe will improve the country.

During the Trump administration, starting in 2015, the Republican Party made the decision to run without a platform or any policy positions they stood for. In hindsight the reasons for this are clear. Trump has no interest in government or running the country to make it a better place. His only policies were those that directly benefited himself.

As a result, we had four years of an administration that made many grandiose proclamations, like his infamous infrastructure plans that we never saw, and a border wall that can be measured in single digit miles and stopped no one from crossing.

Promises that he would later talk about as success stories, despite the reality that they never existed. His one accomplishment was a tax break that targeted huge businesses and the ultra wealthy at the expense of all the rest of us. These tax breaks added an estimated seven trillion dollars to the national debt.

Of course he claimed to have actually reduced the deficit, but why would he when he knows the cost will never affect him personally? But the pattern was established: make up accomplishments, but never act on those plans and later claim them as significant things he got done during his time in office.

That was then. Today he could care less about even claiming to have done good things for the country. Instead his speeches and social media posts consist entirely of rants about victimhood and vengeance and how he will get revenge on those who disagree with him.

It took eight years for him to devolve into this fantasyland after repeatedly ignoring legal reality until it caught up with him and he was indicted for multiple federal and state felonies. He now faces months of trials and possible convictions.

This is where the victimhood comes in. Nothing could possibly be his fault and everything was done to him by his enemies. His language these days, when it can even be interpreted, is filled with accusations, threats, incessant lying, hate speech, and constant complaining about virtually everything.

It’s quite a spectacle and it attracts the same crowd that gets thrills out of watching terrible things happen to other people, not unlike the mobs at medieval hangings. It also attracts those who never take responsibility for their actions and blame everything on invisible others.

The sad thing about this is how many of these people exist in our country, the selfish, the haters, those who fear anything different than their limited worldview.

We hear nothing from Republicans these days about policy, fixing the problems the country faces, or any forward looking plans to make the country a better place for everyone. It has become a Party consumed with the obsessions of a severely disturbed man.

In contrast we look at his opponent and the bogeyman of his every problem, Joe Biden, the current President who has committed the sin of working across party lines to rebuild infrastructure, reinvigorate American manufacturing, bring advanced semiconductor manufacturing back to the US, rebuild the NATO alliance, and fight the rising price gouging that hits everyday Americans right where it hurts.

Those are actual accomplishments but in Trump’s world they never happened, or he pretends that they are bad things that he will miraculously fix when re-elected. We never get details of how that will happen because Donald Trump has never paid any attention to details.

He never had to. He came into an estimated $400 million dollar inheritance in his twenties and squandered it on being a celebrity, women, toys, and his ego. Most of his followers cannot be bothered with the fact that anyone who had that kind of money fifty years ago would almost inevitably be far more wealthy than even he claims to be.

This year we have seen the reality of his claims to wealth as he has proven to be cash poor when faced with huge civil lawsuit losses and immense fines that must be paid. His assets are so highly leveraged with loans and mortgages that insurance bond companies and banks will not accept them as collateral.

This is the literal house of cards and with these court cases we have seen it collapse over and over again. And of course all of that is other people’s fault. At the moment the blame goes to arch villain Biden but if anyone else was running against him it would land on them.

The really disturbing thing about this election is that this guy is actually a contender and that his followers are perfectly willing to accept criminal acts, lies, treason, and mental illness in a political candidate. It reveals an extremely ugly side of the American Dream, the belief that we deserve things we have done nothing to achieve.

Trump tapped into that view of victimhood and when he caught up to him he reverted to endless threats to destroy the fabric of society to protect himself from the law, and to take revenge on those he sees as enemies. It’s a long list and includes many in his own Party.

This should sadden and frustrate the majority, to see us devolve into that medieval mob, salivating at the prospect of a deranged man falling to pieces in public, yet finding something about him admirable.

It’s nothing but narcissism run amok and if we learn anything, and I’m not sure we will, it is that this is how democracies end and dictatorships take power.

~ I write The Grasshopper, a letter for creatives, The Witness Chronicles, a place for my articles on politics and climate, and The Remarkable, a recovery letter, about my addiction and reentry experience. All are weekly and free, however this is how I live and I strongly believe all writers and creatives should get paid, if we provide value. Your upgrade to a paid subscription helps make that happen.

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