Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” explores the twisted and complicated psychological incongruities coming from her cracked bond with her father, whom she loved/hated in tandem. She had conflicting feelings for her father who purportedly was cold and distant, someone hard to love but nevertheless her father. She wrote:
“Every woman adores a Fascist,
The boot in the face, the brute
Brute heart of a brute like you.”
Use Donald Trump as a stand-in for Plath’s father, and a convoluted conclusion appears as to how America authored its own disaster of politics and governance. Nearly half of our electorate adored Trump, most still do. They won, and now we pay for that misjudgment.
No matter if you’re a MAGA enlistee, or even a Trump chum, we all privately agree our president is a liar, a cheat, a swindler, an upstager, a windbag, a draft dodger, a bully, a womanizer, a convicted sex abuser, a racist, a felon 34 times over, a man with little compassion, charm, or empathy. Apparently lots of American voters enjoy, even encourage, the behavior of a bad boy/strong man for psychological motives, for the sense of dominance and adventure these stinkers exhibit, as well as for a vicarious thrill of aligning oneself with a risktaker who pushes back at every real or inferred affront.
Trump has never seen a lawsuit he did not like. Admit it, he has been a party to over 4000 legal battles during his career and continues to sue anybody who crosses his path. Throughout his litigious past, he has maintained and continues to declare he is a victim or champion of justice in every dispute, thousands of them. Always innocent. Others always wrong. He will punish those who cross him. He weaponizes the courts to satisfy his need for vengeance and for his private brand of justice, which means if he loses in court he will appeal. Legal cases will never end until he wins, and if he doesn’t win, he will continue appealing Ad Infinitum. He claims he is merely taking advantage of a system which allows him to do as he wants. Anyone can do what he does, he argues. However, only the uber-wealthy can use the courts as their personal remonstration laboratory. Since the mid 1970s, Trump’s name has appeared on thousands of lawsuits, jam-packing court dockets. Fault lies not only with Trump for monopolizing courtrooms but also with a judicial system that allows big money to write its itineraries. Lately, it seems every time Trump gets irked by the “lunatic left,” he sends an emergency request to the Supreme Court. In the process, he has corrupted our legal system, which was already deeply flawed. More, he has bent Congress to his will. In effect, Congress does not do the peoples’ business. Congress now does Trump’s business.
Trump’s preeminent pride and narcissism distinguish him as a backer of fascist values in the style of Benito Mussolini, El Duce. Come to think, Trump has less honor and much less grace than Mussolini. Accordingly, our president plans to sponsor a UFC cage fight on the White House Lawn. He wears a red baseball cap to compliment his blue suit and red tie. He rarely smiles except when used as a weapon of braggadocio or about being a winner when he inflicts harm on people who are down and out. His dominant thoughts are for money and for himself, not necessarily in that order. His theme “America First” translates to the richest Americans may move to the front of the line. He shows little mercy or kindness toward “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine,” as Jesus referred to the vulnerable and marginalized people whom he treated as the first order of duty. He builds walls and locks doors. Trump treats these “lowlifes” and refugees from “shithole countries” as primary opponents to kick while they are down and then to throw in prison if they still breathe. After showing him the respect he demands, even his immediate family must be discomfited by him. He’s easy to dislike. His loyal followers must find him to be a disgusting piece of work. Polling be damned—he is not an honest person, and Republicans know that. We all know that.
His supporters cheer when they find their man leading the charge against debauched leftists and a deep state regime, not to mention “woke ideology” which they claim has infested our culture. After all, one feels at ease when someone else makes the tough decisions, right? Trump will do that and more! Sure, they may reason, he has some faults writ large, say what you may, but the old man has energy to do ten things at once. Patterned after Rommel’s’ blitzkrieg strategy in northern Africa during the Second World War, Trump has let out all the stops as he signs over one hundred executive orders designed to punish all his perceived enemies and overrun whatever policies Biden and Obama might have put forward. He is busy firing people and closing offices at a record pace to satisfy the whims of his ultra-wealthy right-wing advice-givers.
The chaos and gravity of his punishing and cruel programs will ultimately catch up with him. Having pleased the 1% richest Americans can only serve his ends for a time before 99% of us fully understand the damage he has done and is doing. The other day he threatened to “take over” New York City and Washington D.C., citing the fear of a communist takeover. Sound familiar? The spirit of Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare comes to mind. Then just yesterday he suggested that the Washington Commadores changed their name back to the Washington Redskins. What’s next? He may soon bring back some form of slavery to amuse the former Confederate states and the really rich white men who have had enough of pandering to racial minorities and freeloaders.
Trump and his army of lawyers have won the day, but they will not win the war because Americans are better people than what we have recently demonstrated. Finally, we will understand what we already know. As I vividly recall from our schoolyard chant after a game of kickball, “We win. Cheaters lose.”