Hi Neighbor,
OK, I’m beating that poor dead horse again . . . but is anyone out there listening to this man? His rallies, rants and social media posts are getting more bizarre by the day.
Of course, we speak of Donald J. Trump, the guy who probably will be the next president. Again.
Last week, we wondered how anyone who calls themselves a Law-&-Order Staten Islander could support Trump after he called the January 6 rioters “hostages.”
Steven, a neighbor I spar with from time to time, had an answer.
“Everyone arrested at the Capitol was charged with only trespassing . . . a minor matter,” Steven emailed. “The truth is not one trespasser was found to have a weapon and does not warrant such long incarceration. . . When Trump regains the WH again, they’ll be freed from their underserved shackles.”
That’s the Tucker Carlson version of reality, Steven.
The actual reality?
Charges ranged from trespassing, to assaulting police officers, to seditious conspiracy, to carrying a weapon in the Capitol. Weapons, incidentally, that included guns, knives, bats, bear spray and other objects the lunatics picked up along the way, like flag poles.
If there’s any doubt, a guy from Missouri, 37-year-old Jerod Thomas Bargar, was sentenced in January to five years’ probation, six months of home confinement, and was slapped with a $4,000 fine. This after he pleaded guilty to breaking into the Capitol with a deadly weapon.
Note well, Trumpers: Bargar pleaded guilty.
But labeling them “hostages” wasn’t enough for Donald. He took a giant leap at an Ohio rally last weekend.
“Unbelievable patriots,” he calls them now – saluting the idiots who tried to subvert our government, as Ohio rally-goers were asked to “rise for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6 hostages” and sing the Star Bangled Banner.
Trump stood erect, wearing a silly red MAGA hat, right arm raised in a triangular salute.
“You see the spirit of the hostages,” Trump told the crowd.
Seems no one whispered to him that men are expected to remove their hats when the National Anthem is performed.
And if that wasn’t enough, he harkened back to the January 6 riot, this time suggesting a civil war is in the offing if he’s not elected.
“If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” he ranted.
Realizing the danger of saying such a thing, his campaign people tried to convince us the line was taken out of context. He meant it would be a “bloodbath” for the auto industry, they insist, because he had promised a 100 percent tariff on any foreign-made vehicle.
Sorry. But no.
Former VP Mike Pence said after Trump’s unhinged rant that he would not endorse his former boss.
Really, Mike . . . who cares? Trump supporters, and there are legions, think you’re an American traitor.
Many of us spend an awful lot of time fretting over Donald Trump and what will happen if -- or when -- he gets back to the White House.
Donald Trump really isn’t the problem.
We are.
The 74 million of us who voted for him in 2020.
The 74 million – today, there are probably more – who think Donald J. Trump is America’s savior.
Better to start fretting over what America has become and take a good look at ourselves.
Trump is just a symbol of today’s America – or what America has always been but kept hidden until Trump made it OK to say or do anything, no matter how vile.
How we have changed.
There was a time when many thought Americans would never elect John Kennedy because he was Catholic.
There was a time when many thought Ronald Reagan would never be elected because he was divorced.
There was a time when Gary Hart was knocked out of the presidential race after a photo surfaced of him and a woman not his wife on a boat called “Monkey Business.”
Today, no one cares. We don’t care about divorce – Trump’s been divorced twice and found liable of sexual abuse – and we don’t talk about religion, unless it deals with keeping it out of our schools.
Today, we don’t care if a candidate spews hatred, mocks anyone from the disabled, judges he appears before, or his challengers.
“Birdbrain Nikki Hayley.” “Gov. NewScum Gavin Newsome.” “Pencil Neck Adam Shiff.” “Horseface Stormy Daniels.”
Appropriate talk from the leader of the free world, the most powerful nation on the planet?
We don’t care if a candidate for the presidency of the United States sidles up to Russia’s Putin or Hungary’s Orban.
Donald J. Trump would not be a blip on the political radar if legions of Americans didn’t think exactly as he does.
As sad as that is, it’s just as scary. Because Trump might be right about the “bloodbath” if he loses.
All we need do is look back to January 6.
Brian
Oh by the way: Neighbor Frank posed an interesting scenario in his email: “I just hope that when the various PBA’s have a press conference to support Ms. Malliotakis for Congress that at least one reporter covering the event would have the . . . chutzpah to ask the PBA rep: “How can you endorse/support Ms. Malliotakis, who in turn supports Mr. Trump, who calls persons that have assaulted cops and have been convicted of such crimes and sent to jail -- Hostages! -- and plans to pardon all of them?” You’re right, Frank. It’s a question that needs to be asked. And a question that every candidate running for office who supports Trump must answer, too.
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