Comment
Rising threat
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
Donald Trump is becoming dangerous. The early months of his presidency were mostly a clown show of incompetence and bluster. But something more sinister is at work in recent weeks. He is, increasingly and more self-assuredly, throwing off the shackles that previously tempered his baser, uglier impulses. The Republican party that once tried to shape a president out of this buffoon is now facing a terrible choice: whether to be in—or out—of the Cult of Trump. Sadly, it seems, the vast majority are falling into lockstep. And Trump can feel his will bending these so-called leaders. He is feeding off their weakness and he is becoming more emboldened by the day.
Many who voted for Trump sought to smash a political system they felt didn’t share their frustration, fears and grievances. They wanted to bring down a political edifice they believed only looked after its own. They hired Trump to wreck it. They are thrilled to see the bull smashing all the china in Washington.
According to a weekend poll, a full 90 per cent of Republicans approve of the job Donald Trump is doing.
Unconstrained, Trump risks toppling liberal democracy around the globe. And with it a shared sense of decency. Of right and wrong. Of truth and honour. Of good and evil.
Around the world voters in democratic nations are handing the reins of power to strongmen. Italy. Hungary. Brazil. Philippines. America. They have been persuaded that democratic institutions don’t share their interests.
But if ever history is to remind us of our short-sightedness, it must surely be now.
When we consider the 20th century, we continue to ask ourselves, with some bewilderment, how the good and educated people of Europe found themselves being swept up by Fascists and strongmen in the 1930s. This is how.
On this day in Trump’s America, children are being wrenched from their family’s arms and locked away into detention centres awaiting a frightening and unknowable fate. Their crime: attempting to enter the United States illegally with their moms and dads.
So far in the past six weeks, more than 2,000 children have been separated from their parents and placed in detention centres. A converted Wal-Mart near Brownsville, Texas serves as one of the largest child detention centres. It is called Casa Padre.
It is enough to send a shudder of horror through George Orwell. It is a disgrace and an unjustifiable horror.
Trump says it is the Democrats’ fault. And as absurd as this facile deflection is, we have become worryingly numbed by the frequency with which truth is drained of meaning during Trump’s presidency.
In fact, what is going on here is that Trump is frustrated by Congress’s unwillingness to give him the money he wants to build a wall along the Mexican border. He wants the Democrats and other Congressional leaders to give him more money for his wall. And he is holding thousands of children hostage to get his way. It is extortion in the crudest and most vile form.
This is a different and more dangerous Donald Trump at work.
Last week he praised North Korea’s brutal despot leader Kim Jong Un—telling reporters: “He speaks and his people sit up at attention,” the President added. “I want my people to do the same.”
He said later he was joking. But no one should be confused by now, that at the core of Donald Trump is a despot screaming to be unleashed.
Worryingly, the Republican party and a great many other Americans are either supportive of America’s would-be tyrant or fearful of his growing might. Congress has become a spectator to the rise of Trump’s power— unwilling to contradict him, fearful that to do so will cost them their career.
Meanwhile, children are cowering in cages in Brownsville, Texas. They do not know when, or if, they will see their parents again.
To be clear, the problem isn’t Trump. He wears his his racism, his white supremacy, his misogyny, and his ignorance as a badge. The worrying bit is that many millions of people in that country agree with their president.
We must hope, however, that many more millions abhor everything he represents. It is time for them to rise up against Trump.
If they will not act in the face of concentration camps filled with innocent children, then brace yourself—we are headed toward much darker times.
Thank you for writing this column Rick. I am old enough to remember the debates about whether the Germans knew what the Nazis were doing.
well, who is it that is taking these children away from their parents? Americans. Are people too afraid of Trump’s supporters to speak up? I plan to send your article to everyone I know in the States.