2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThis presidential election has crystallized my view on the nature of evil.
I believe in evil. Not the metaphysical variety being driven by a demonic spirit, but the more tangible variety. One might say that I believe in evil as the adjective and not the noun. Donald Trump and the strain of society he represents through his most ardent supporters are evil. I will not apologize for saying so.
Before you think I am being unduly harsh to people you know who are grudgingly supporting him, I do excuse them as simply being accomplices who are driven to vote Republican by inertia. Your typical Republican is not evil, but rather simply seduced by convenience and routine.
Trump and his most ardent followers are a different breed. They represent that strain of humanity that has brought us all of our greatest tragedies. Yes, it is fair to compare them to the Nazis or Stalinist Communism. That is not hyperbole. These are people who have so cultivated hatred and resentment that they have turned their souls over to malice and retribution. They want to stick it to somebody, or worse.
Trump himself is the worst of deceivers. How much of what he says he actually believes is not important. It's that he doesn't care if he believes it or not that is disturbing. He is willing to sink to any depths imaginable to further his own advancement. You can see this in things as mundane and provincial as his business dealings. He negotiates payments to vendors and then doesn't honor them, hoping that he can take advantage of their future desperation to pay them something less than they are owed. You can also see it in his behavior yesterday where he spread lies about voter fraud to encourage potentially dangerous voter intimidation. His behavior spreads regional and racial antipathy that could potentially result in violence on election day between his thugs and the decent people seeking to vote in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. He doesn't care. He doesn't even care if some of his people get killed in the process. In fact, I'm sure he would like that because it would be chaos he could cultivate. In the end, it's all about what benefits him personally. Other larger considerations are irrelevant.
However, he does go one step further. While he cultivates malice and hatred in his supporters, he also seems to give into it himself. Look at how he discusses torture. He gets a certain glee out of discussing that most vile of human endeavors. The same applies to his general discussions of the application of military force. That should be a solemn discussion since war always and everywhere brings untold suffering to the countless nameless victims it catches in its wake. Instead, he brags at how he think he'd be good at it. He even said, "I love war, in a certain way, but only when we win." He treats death and destruction like a track meet and it's ultimately all about his own glory.
His ardent supporters are sometimes even worse than him, openly indulging genocidal ideas, engaging in explicit threats (sometimes even violence), relishing the idea of revenge against...whoever they think it is who has wronged them, etc. Roger Stone, that malevolent dung pile, has encouraged the spread of lies about the election being rigged to justify post-election protests and violence. This isn't speculation. He said it explicitly. He isn't alone, either. Trump has a particularly awful cadre of hangers-on ranging from Jeffrey Lord to Carl Paladino, all of who are as vile as any I've ever seen. The morality of their actions matters not at all to them. Any deception or malevolent action is fine so long as it achieves their personal ends. Hell, they even think it's kind of clever when they stoop to depths that would frighten ordinary people.
Were these people to govern, we would live through a period that would be looked back upon as one of the darkest hours in this nation's history, not unlike when myopic and manipulative politicians in the Deep South whipped up a frenzy in their region that made secession and war unavoidable all because they wanted to protect slavery. Trump and his ilk stoke every fear, appeal to every prejudice, and indulge every dark desire of the human heart. They are vulgar. They are contemptible. They are evil.
Theologians and philosophers long debated the concept of evil in order to explain why it would be that people would engage in the sort of malevolent actions that we see out of Trump and Trump-like organisms. It baffled decent souls to consider why people would succumb to such urges. In more superstitious times, we blamed evil spirits who corrupted and poisoned our virtues. The truth of evil is something less than that. It happens when we indulge those base, self-serving, and cruel desires that we all know are wrong, but sometimes it just feels good to give in. What we see in the Trump phenomenon is what happens when people give themselves over fully to those impulses.
For the good of the country and for the good of humanity, this wave of deception, malice, and greed must be turned back. For America and the world, evil must be defeated.
"Trump and his ilk stroke every fear, appeal to every prejudice, and indulge every dark desire..."
You make many great points.
Zynx
(21,328 posts)Wounded Bear
(58,706 posts)Zynx
(21,328 posts)Excellent. A snapshot into the dark heart of trump and his supporters, I didn't want to stop reading.
Zynx
(21,328 posts)ms liberty
(8,597 posts)IamTheNoodle
(98 posts)From day one I've viewed the Trump experience as a circus. I've seen it as entertaining, not serious, and not a threat. It's been a great delight that the RNC nominated a clown who has weaken their party and has exposed the hateful party members they pretend don't exist. Your words remove the entertainment factor. Powerful post, well done.
Zynx
(21,328 posts)Stonepounder
(4,033 posts)Send it as a guest column to Huffington and post it to Kos. Send it to major newspapers like the Washington Post, the New York Times and other majors.
One of the best examinations of Trump and his followers I have seen.
Zynx
(21,328 posts)However, if you want to spread it, you have my explicit permission. Claim credit if you want.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)They're not evil. You're adding evil to your experiences.
Dem2
(8,168 posts)I think I will share this with your permission given above.
Zynx
(21,328 posts)stupidicus
(2,570 posts)long ago.
And "convenience and routine" shoulda lost all value as a "get outta hell free card" when they voted for Bush a second time and validated his actions and vindicated him.
and don't even get me started on the role all of this "looking forward" stuff has had on enabling and cultivating that type...
bbgrunt
(5,281 posts)ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)I can see you put a helluva lot of thought into this. It must have been most cathartic to you-- it was for me.
Zynx
(21,328 posts)ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)Thank you for the post
shadowmayor
(1,325 posts)Possibly the saddest words that can be uttered by a human being. Those who say this without ever having been on a battlefield, or having seen the ravages of bombs and bullets and fires haven't a clue what they are talking about. Any general or soldier who says this after having been in war is devoid of compassion. What the hell does a squawking yam know about war?
And what in the hell did the people of Iraq ever do to the people of the United States?
Zynx
(21,328 posts)Oh that's beautiful. Thank you for that.
shadowmayor
(1,325 posts)Charles Pierce calls tRump a vulgar talking yam regularly.
Chemisse
(30,817 posts)ladym55
(2,577 posts)I have been scared by this election and the hatred it has stirred up.
And I am beyond frustrated that M$M has given all this a free pass.
h2ebits
(645 posts)I have posted your essay giving credit to anonymous and on my Facebook page. Thank you for sharing!!
Zynx
(21,328 posts)Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)There was a far right strain that wanted to the US to support Hitler during the 30's.
His most ardent supporters are worse than he. I know of a few personally. They are insane.
They are far more evil that some hedge fund manager. These bastards are the real deal. They are Nazis. They hate minorities of all stripes. They want America run by strong armed tyrant who will preserve their culture.
Zynx
(21,328 posts)That was the thing about Nazi culture. It was the worst parody of German culture imaginable. So garish, brutish, and overbearing (aesthetically and otherwise). Everything was a tacky representation of power. There was no beauty.
StrictlyRockers
(3,855 posts)"Roger Stone, that malevolent dung pile"
Perfect description of this man. He is vile.
Thanks for posting this!