In 1935, Sinclair Lewis wrote It Can’t Happen Here, about a politician who defeats Franklin Roosevelt and gains the presidency by promising to restore the economy and bring about a return to traditional values. Instead, in the book, President Berzelius “Buzz” Windrip imposes totalitarian rule enforced by a paramilitary force in the style of Hitler’s Schutzstaffe (SS).
In 2018, President Donald John Trump took another step towards demonstrating that it can happen here, and very likely will if we don’t act quickly. This is, after all, the president who, after a group of white supremacists — screaming racial, ethnic and misogynistic epithets — rallied in Charlottesville, Va., leading to one death and 19 injuries, said, “”We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence, on many sides. On many sides. It’s been going on for a long time in our country.” President Trump found the neo-Nazis and white supremacists to be the moral equivalent of those who opposed bigotry, and would not back down from this opinion.
On July 16, President Trump held a private meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. After the meeting, President Trump was asked about allegations that Russia had meddled in the election of 2016 with the goal of defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and electing President Trump. The United States intelligence agencies which have blamed Russia for meddling include the Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, FBI, National Security Agency, Justice Department and the Senate Intelligence Committee. While Richard M. Burr, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said, “There is no doubt that Russia undertook an unprecedented effort to interfere with our 2016 elections,” President Trump said, “They said they think it’s Russia; I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.” Maybe they just like you, Donnie.”
While there is clear evidence that Russia placed large numbers of advertisements aimed at encouraging votes for President Trump or turning voters away from Secretary Clinton, there is no clear evidence that they were successful in altering the vote count in the individual states, which is not to say that they didn’t try.
Whatever the reason, Ms. Clinton, who had served effectively as a US senator and Secretary of State, who was probably the most qualified candidate for president with the possible exception of George Washington, lost to a morally bankrupt television huckster. Right after the election Foreign Policy magazine published an article, “Trump Won Because Voters are Ignorant, Literally.” Note the word “ignorant,” which means “uninstructed, uninformed” (Merriam-Webster). It does not imply any lack of intelligence, just an absence of training.
By contrast, Dana Milbank’s column in the July 17 Washington Post (and TPP page 23 ) is headed: “We are a deeply stupid country.” It begins, “My fellow Americans, we are a deeply stupid nation. I know this must be the case because President Trump has repeatedly informed us that we are a ‘stupid country’ — he offered this opinion on at least nine occasions since he launched his campaign for the presidency — and he should know. As he reminded us after his NATO meeting last week, he is a ‘very stable genius.’”
“Stupid” is defined as “slow of mind” which is very different.
A similar resource is Tom Nichols’ The Death of Expertise: the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters. Professor Nichols warns that our society has lost its regard for expertise gained by education and experience, so that when Candidate Trump described a nation in a state of crisis and said, “I alone can fix it.” Many of the uninformed had no reason to doubt him or think that, perhaps, some experience in politics, diplomacy, or any level of public service might be useful preparation. The man whom Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., calls “Cadet Bone Spurs” could say “ I know more about offense and defense than they (the generals) will ever understand, believe me. Believe me.”
The challenge, for now, is survival as a nation. President Trump and his enablers in Congress seem determined to continue destroying our international relationships and economic ties – but if they can be held in check the demographics of the United States are improving. According to the Pew Research Center, the Democrats are gaining ground among college-educated voters, women and millennials. The issue is that people vote Republican because they don’t know any better. The United States can still be saved – by education.
Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living in New York. Email sdu01@outlook.com.
From The Progressive Populist, August 15, 2018
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