This post (below, by Heather Cox Richardson) really hit me in a couple of ways. First, the rant by Rep. Doug Collins, the ranking (Republican) member of the Judiciary Committee and his apparently non-ironic use of the "Big Lie" theory of Adolf Hitler. I quote from Cox's article:
In Mein Kampf, his autobiography, Hitler talked about the power of what he called “the big lie.” He wrote that people were more likely to believe a giant lie than a little one, because they were willing to tell small lies in their own lives, but they “would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. Since they could not conceive of telling “colossal untruths, they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously.” He went on: “Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation.”
The US Office of Strategic Services picked up on this when it described Hitler’s psychological profile. It said “His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one, and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.
Hmm, sound familiar? I took the (painful) time to watch Trump speak at Hearsey PA yesterday. Not a pleasant experience, but instructive in the way that seeing someone whom you know to be a preditor (and I don't mean just sexual) acts and speaks when he feels at home in his domain.
The other issue is the statement by Rep. Jim Jordan(R) that "they hate us." Who's is "they" (reference quote above) and who are "us?" Note the vagueness of the language, most useful in demagoguery, advertising, and hypnosis. It creates an Other to hate. It promotes scapegoating. Rene Girard persuasively argues that the heart of the message of the Cruxification--the heart of the Christian message--was to de-legitimate scapegoating, the sacrifice of an innocent to alleviate social conflict. Yet Trump and his minions thrive on scapegoating. Is the Gospel message too antiquated? Certainly scapegoating continued long after the Gospel message destroyed its legitimacy, and we see it even today in anti-Semitism and racism and other forms of blaming and disparaging others. But its continued use by Trump and his ilk here and abroad doesn't make it right.
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| Rene Girard (1923-2015) |
Trump referenced Lincoln in his rally yesterday. Perhaps Trump should visit the Lincoln Memorial and read the words inscribed there from Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address about, in the midst of the Civil War, Lincoln called for "malice toward none & charity for all." For Trump to reference Lincoln in his speech struck me as a form of blasphemy.
At a more personal level, Jordan's accusation strikes at me as one who (by conventional standards) would be labeled a "liberal" (now coastal, no less). But neither I nor any liberals I know "hate" Jordan's "us." I can't claim to pray for Trump as does Nacy Pelosi (someone who apparently takes her Christianity seriously), but I don't wish Trump or any of his minions ill. I see Trump as a lonely, fundamentally empty figure, really quite pathetic. And while I "hate" or "deplore" his sins, many as they are, I "love" the sinner--or at least I hope for his redemption and the alleviation of his suffering and ours. I also know that many who voted for him did so out of a genuine sense of grievance and loss. And I agree that both Democrats and Republicans have acquiesced (Democrats) and promoted (Republicans) the policies that have hit middle Americans very hard. This has been continuing since the late 1970s and has led to stagnation and even decline in the quality of life for too many Americans. I appreciate the frustration with the status quo, the feeling of being cheated and ill-treated that led many to vote for Trump, even after having previously voted for Obama (in Iowa, for example). But voting for Trump was seeking a cure from a snake-oil salesman. The standard diagnosis and treatment offered by our doctor-politicians have ignored the seriousness of the symptoms and proved ineffectual, but there certainly are more legitimate and thoughtful ways to address our collective woes rather than trashing our republic. Trump is the fever, the sense of loss and fears of far too many in our nation (and around the world) constitute the disease. But as we now see in many places around the globe. demagogues-turned-despots are abounding and the common people are being sold out.
So enough of Jim Jordan's appalling demagoguery and calumny against me, my friends, and the American people.
