It was common knowledge in Kennebunk that Grampa Gilpatric (1883-1964) was a “Chrysler man,” which meant little to his 10-year-old grandson in 1951. My grandfather was a stoic man who said little and never talked about politics. However, another hint came with a comment about his displeasure that our government would subsidize farmers who may have deserved no assistance if they were unable to make it on their own.
As the years slipped by, I never had much interest in politics. Somehow I assumed that Grampa was a Republican and belonged to a party that was a little mean and lean, much like what I began to learn was the way of the natural world that clearly rewarded all creatures according to a simple maxim – the survival of the fittest.
It wasn’t until 1980, at the age of 39, that my curiosity seemed to focus more on government. I decided to run for the state of Maine Senate as an independent. Although I did not win, the experience led me to join a party in order to become more politically involved than I had been. I sure understood the conservative thinking of the day when it came to economics, and Grampa’s memory left me no other choice than the Republican Party.
Time passed. I began to hear of a TV character who wanted to run for president of the United States as a Republican, and I started listening daily to what Donald Trump was saying; words from his own mouth, not fake news.
Much like Hitler, Trump seemed to have the natural gift of a charismatic con artist, not much different from Jim Jones, the cult leader who led his followers to a fatal end in Guyana. Germany was a democracy in 1933, and although Hitler is long gone, he lives on in the minds of some to this date, including Americans.
There are those who sincerely believe that politics has become the new religion, based on the Trump party, and Mr. Trump has even been referred to as the “Orange Jesus.” Even after his passing, Trump will also remain in the minds of some who were disciples of his and witnessed that someone with enough money and the desire to upend a democracy can take us very close to the end of that democracy.
Unlike in Grampa’s day, the Trump party has become more cruel, stingier and seems to live by the motto lie-deny-blame. It has worked for Trump, because even the brightest in the Republican Party have enabled him to get the power and control that they would be willing to make a deal with the devil to secure.
Without question, the steady, daily drumbeat of conservative outrage from the voices of men like Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones and others greased the skids and allowed a clever and gifted con artist like Trump to slide into office. Trump recognized the number of voters who had become mesmerized by some of the conservative talking heads, no matter how bizarre their comments had become, and he took full advantage. Those numbers far exceeded anything some of us ever thought possible, but he did it.
Just as it is virtually impossible to convert a human mind from whatever belief they are locked into in the spiritual world, the same is apparently true for those who have a political belief different than others. An invisible God has been with us for a long time, and we all choose how to believe or worship that God. It is only when others focus on a living being such as Trump that we become fearful of a cult mentality. My own humble, unscientific explanation for all this is a case of cerebral-cognitive constipation, of which there so far has been no suitable laxative found.
Trump will go down in history as one of the greatest charismatic con artists to ever live. Who would ever want to admit that they had been conned? The closest we may ever come to undoing the con is education to the Nth degree, and that will always be a hard pill for many to swallow. Recall factual history. Think democracy, liberty and freedom. And then vote.
Copy the Story Link
Source link : http://www.bing.com/news/apiclick.aspx?ref=FexRss&aid=&tid=670a6126ac714ffca6410e329642951d&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pressherald.com%2F2024%2F10%2F12%2Fopinion-will-america-ever-admit-to-being-conned-by-trump%2F&c=7801928298602968625&mkt=en-us
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-11 21:35:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.