Trump, Tribes and Torquemada
Last edited Tue Mar 15, 2016, 08:23 PM - Edit history (1)
Whatever it is that Donald Trump does in his public appearances, it’s not “politics”, except in the most grunting, fundamental sense imaginable.
It’s a band of hunter-gatherers huddled around the fire, as the alpha male declaims on the dangers posed by the Tribe From Across The River. It’s a parliament of peasants gathered in the village church, scratching their fleabites as the local priest fingers traveling merchants for the latest outbreak of plague. It’s Joe McCarthy leaning into the big silver microphone to intone his latest findings about The Red Menace to the hushed congregation of the radio. It is St. Anthony’s Fire and Salem, it is the Place de la Revolution and the Plaza Mayor, it is Nuremberg.
Welcome, brethren! We are here and we are one! We stand and bellow as one, we chant and pledge, we are white and angry and we are victims. We know that we are not at fault, but those who are will pay and we know who they are. Our shared pain, our free-floating fear, our need to blame – all these things can be set aside, at least for now, in the sweaty embrace of the hive of Us-ness. We await the healing touch of the hands of The Great One.
Behold, The Great One comes! He is tall, and rich. He has a jet and a model wife. He is famous. He is from television, and has visited our living rooms. He is from talk shows, and his voice soothes our morning commute. He is New York concrete, and Florida palm trees. He is steaks and wine and higher education. He is shiny cars, and servants and top shelf cocktails. He is a winner, unlike the losers who take our jobs and demand “justice”. He will make us strong, cure our back pain and bunions, and forever free us from the terrible burden of thinking.
But some do not belong – they stand up, they speak their ant-words, they wave their gay signs, they reveal their hateful t-shirts and are not at all polite. But be not afraid, for behold! The Great One points, and shouts, and they are taken away. The Great One points and shouts again, and more are removed from the Pure Body, and are perhaps beaten for their temerity. With each awesome gesture, We are made stronger, and They diminish in number.
So will it be for America.
= new reply since forum marked as read
It just kind of fell out of my brain over lunch, and, well, here we are.
