Whither America?
Comments. Considerations. Questions.
by Kenneth Bagnell
Wherever you are, what’s happening elsewhere, near or far, matters more and more as our population grows closer. I’m now in such a situation. I’m in the United States, the home of the brave, a member of which senses he’s one. His name is Donald Trump. He aspires to be the next American President and to do so is running one of the most crude, if not vulgar, political campaigns in democratic history. It’s fueled by profound anger expressed in language sometimes so foul it’s stomach-turning.
Now fights are breaking out at some of his rallies, police are called and he blames it all on one or two bad apples. A recent episode is to enough to illustrate the depth of his dirt flung at Hillary Clinton, accusing her of interrupting the campaign because she was “being schlonged.” The word is unknown to me but CNN quickly revealed it: a Hebrew expression for a man’s penis. When Ms. Clinton took a bathroom break he used that to discredit or maybe disgrace her for some weird reason. Naturally Clinton’s staff felt obligated to say something: “We are not responding to Trump who well understands the humiliation this degrading language inflicts on all women.” Even as I write, at evening, I hear his voice bellowing yet another foul insult so you can be sure I will soon hear another CNN interviewee saying yet again: “This man is far from being an Abraham Lincoln.” You know I think he may be right. Right now I’m going to bed. See below:
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Well, as the saying goes it’s another new day. A day of uncertainty. It’s an unexpected historic morning of sorts, since last night, about 10,000 people gathered in Chicago for a rally in support of “the” Donald Trump, his neo-fascistic goals and his vision of a new day in America. It was, as you well know by now, a tension ridden debacle, with a memorable slugging from one of his supporters as thousands of youthful male backers and a handful of curious adversaries were told to head for the exit. Trump had seen what was about to happen and thought better: cancel it. What do we learn from all this? He has just said we love the police so go home to Mommy.
The most insightful insight on this mess came from the most experienced analyst, a most admirable Republican, David Gergen, advisor to four Presidents. (He spoke at Nancy Reagan’s funeral service.) As he bluntly put it: “The leader has to set the tone.” That’s the key to the whole mess brought about mainly by Trump himself. As to evidence to back up what Gergen implied, consider these five diverse, selected quotations attributed to the man many call simply: The Donald: (1) “Barrack Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud…” (2) “I dealt with Gadafi… I rented him a piece of land. He paid me more for one night than the land was worth for two years. That’s what we should be doing…. I screwed him. That’s what we should be doing,” (4) “You know it doesn’t really matter what the media writes as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ….” That’s enough. So I ask you seriously to imagine any of this (a) obscene or (b) ridiculous or (c) ignorant comment coming from Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Franklyn Roosevelt and many other former Presidents. I’d bet my life that none of them would stoop so low. Is there a psychiatrist in the house? (I do wonder about the man’s mental and emotional health.) The best thing that can be said is that the man’s day-to -day judgment simply disqualifies him for the office he so aggressively and flamboyantly seeks.
What now in the aftermath of Chicago? One oddity I’ve come upon is that a shocking number of conservative Christians still support this man. They are of course often conservative clergy, and for the most part –- I regret saying this — not really and truly well educated. I mean, by that opinion, the practice of “critical thinking.” It was drilled into those of us who attended good universities (I went to Mount Allison) where philosophers in the 1950s — like Mt. A’s Professor Clayton Baxter — taught us, over and over, the acute importance of “critical thinking.” I suggest the majority of Trump supporters –- aside from the diehard right wingers –- are naïve. (I just looked to the screen beside me to see “The Donald” stepping down from his plane and speaking to the crowd.)
By one of those rare coincidences, as I write, Trump has just said, “I have the evangelical vote.” He repeated it three times, then said: “Jerry Falwell is with us” (Am I supposed to be attracted by that? Not on your life!) Trump probably doesn’t even understand theological distinctions and the relevance of each.) The late Jerry Falwell Sr. was enough. He said, repeatedly that “AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals. It is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.” Like father like son, for this is what his son Jerry Jr recently said at a ceremony at the family’s Liberty University: “If more people had ‘concealed-carry’ permits, then we could end these Muslims before they walked in and we’d kill them….” He continued by revealing that at that very moment he was armed with a gun. As he put it: “It will teach them a lesson if they ever show up here…” What a fine Christian gentleman! And Donald Trump is actually proud to have this man and his followers in his camp? Given that The Atlantic carried this bizarre article on Falwell, but it added at the end of the article: “It’s hard to believe that Jesus’ teachings could support his case.” I expect you need no other amplification as to what the problems are. As the US approaches its most important election day in years, it is now divided more than ever. No wonder as noon on the day after the Chicago mess nears, one of the candidates for Presidency, Ted Cruz expressed almost desperate hope that Donald Trump will cease his roguish inclination to incite violence so that when the election is over, we just might see the curtain rise on “Morning in America…”
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A brief note: over recent months several recipients of the blog have asked if they might suggest friends or associates for the distribution list. By all means send their names and email addresses and they’ll be on the list immediately. You may also wish to forward this blog as a sample. Regards from Ken and Barbara in Bonita Springs, Florida. kbagnell@aol.com
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Past blogs are archived on my website: your comments are welcome there: www.kennethbagnell.com.