Discouragingly, Congresswoman Liz Cheney was stripped of her number 3 position in the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday for having the audacity to tell the obvious truth that Trump lost the election and it was not stolen by Biden. But Trump says the election is stolen, and the Reps in the House were forced to agree with him. So, Trump won. Initially. A couple of thoughts.
First, we are being given real time lessons in authoritarian rule. On March 2, 2016, after Trump won the Super Tuesday primary elections on the way to his nomination by the Republican Party I wrote that America had been lucky and had not lost its innocence, i.e. had never been under authoritarian rule.
"America has been very, very lucky so far. We have not been guilty of electing monsters to be our leaders. There have been many presidents that have engendered a lot of opposition, but none have been actual monsters.
Other countries have to live with a past that includes monsters. Italy had Mussolini (whom Trump consciously or unconsciously mimics in his face and body language); Italy also had Caesar; Russia had Stalin, (and Lenin, and Peter the Great, and now Putin), China had Mao Tse Tung (and a few thousand years of brutal rulers); Japan had crazed generals; and of course Germany had Hitler. These countries all lost their innocence long ago. They were seduced by authoritarian leaders who became monstrous despots..."
Well, America lost its innocence when it elected Trump, and empowered the monstrous Trump Cult, especially the White Supremacist and conspiracy mongers who are violent and dangerous. And, even though the Former Guy never got above 46% of the popular vote he holds Republican elected officials firmly in his power via fear.
So, we see how the tyrant establishes his tyranny. At least 95% of the elected Republicans in the House of Representatives know the obvious truth that the election was not stolen and that all that happened was that the Former Guy lost. But, they are forced to lie. The tyrant destroys the will and the spirit of his subjects by forcing them to say and do things against their own consciences - by forcing them to say things that they know are not true - by forcing them to lie. Once they go along with the Big Stupid Lie they have lost their willpower, lost their integrity, lost their Spirit, and have bent their knee to kiss the ring of their Master. For the ELECTED Republicans, Trump is their Master. (By the way, I believe the same can be said of the Former Guy himself as he has a long history of bending the knee and kissing the ring of his Master, Putin)
Secondly, one of the biggest losers in the history of American politics has managed to buffalo his party into following him without question. Where is he leading them? I still believe his is leading them off the cliff into oblivion, just as the white supremacist slave owners led the Whig Party into oblivion in the mid 1800s.
It's not pretty to watch. And a lot is being destroyed as he and his lemmings charge so bravely and at such full speed toward the cliff of irrelevance. But, I think more and more actual Republicans will follow my path and just leave the Republican Party, and leave that party to the white supremacist, white grievance folks like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, and Marjory Taylor Green and Lauren Boebert. Just ugliness, whining, and threats - not exactly a dream of a positive future for America.
