Before the piece begins, I want to acknowledge the events unfolding in Paramount, California, not far from L.A. The Don calling in the National Guard and the marines, is a definitive step toward autocracy. It is a provacative and unnecessary escalation. It is another instance of The Don flexing his muscle by creating a false narrative about the severity of the situation. I fear this is just the beginning of a much wider offensive on free speech and the right to assemble, two of the most cherished and essential rights afforded to the citizens under the constitution. On June 14th, there will be massive protests occurring across the country on what is being called “No Kings Day; on the same day, The Don is staging his own North Korean style military parade. The country will be witnessing a stark contrast of events: one, a man celebrating his power; the other protesting against it. It’s a frightening juxtaposition unlike anything we’ve seen before.
The title of this piece that is a lyric from a 1969 Woodstock performance by Country Joe and the Fish. This cynical anti-war song came to mind when writing this piece about the cruelty The Don revels in.
We knew it would come to this. The Elon/Don bromance has blown up big time. Amidst the daily chaos and cruelty thrust upon us, we are blessed to bear witness to the greatest reality TV show of all time. Ratings are off the charts. Roll the cameras. Shall we be unimaginative and call this battle royale “The Biggest and Most Beautiful Loser ” or “The Greatest and Most Beautiful Survivor?” Or maybe, in honor of the UFC, we should call it the “UFDS,” The Ultimate Dick Swinging Federation.
We could call it entertaining in the same way we call “Housewives of…” Millions of Americans love to watch other people getting taken down, belittled, and humiliated. It activates our capacity for sadism. When sadism rules, empathy fades. Rather than “how can I help you because you are hurting?”, you get “you deserve that, you little shit”.
It’s not that hate and sadism are new phenomena. If we are honest with ourselves, we can all experience hate and the desire to see someone suffer. It’s part of the experience of being human. It’s not new to devalue and dehumanize others because of our differences. Just look at all the millions of deaths throughout history that were the result of religious beliefs, that my God is the real deal; either you accept that or I will eradicate you. In our country, all we need to do is look at the cruelty and dehumanizing of Blacks to see it in plain view.
Our better instincts: kindness, empathy, and generosity have always been at war with our darker parts: greed, domination, retribution, and capacity for cruelty. There is no remedy for this battle. We are left to the human struggle of managing these destructive and dark impulses. When someone with great power and influence thrives on acting out the dark side, we are confronted with the dilemma of holding on to our ethical and moral center or joining forces with the darkness out of fear of reprisal; or in fact, because there is something that speaks to you about this vision.
In the case of The Don, his attacks and desire for retribution have become normative: judges, universities, law firms, unlawful deportations that deny due process and habeas corpus, and individuals spanning from Chris Krebs to Bruce Springstein, are under siege. The outrage of “can you believe he did that?” turns to “meh.”
There is the venal neutering and dismantling of any agency that mentions or suggests D.E.I. The canceling of funding for U.S.A.I.D.S, which has already claimed many lives and will cause millions of people to die; the draconian budget bill that will result in more than 10 million people losing healthcare, leading to grave consequences for many. The cuts to S.N.A.P will cause an additional 10 million people to confront food insecurity. I could go on, but you get the point.
The Don’s malignant narcissism has unleashed a level of cruelty that is unprecedented in this country. His lack of empathy, ability to play on grievances and lie about everything convinces his supporters to believe and fight for him. The Don’s toxicity has given a green light to many (often white males) to connect to their dark side, justifying their hate, dehumanization, even making empathy a sign of weakness.
If you recall, during the campaign The Don elevated the image of the bad guy into something to aspire to. Remember the famous mugshot where he projected a badass scowl like a badge of honor? That look expressed: “When I get back in power, you will rue the day you ever went after me.
The Don’s world of grievance played beautifully to many who have felt betrayed, who felt their pride was stolen by the tone-deaf elitists of the Democratic party (which has some truth), just as as the election was stolen from him. With his bravado and pomposity, The Don inspired them to believe he would elevate them to their entitled place in the hierarchy. He would rid us of the vermin immigrants; he would put women back in their place; he would eradicate the very existence of the trans community by declaring there are only two sexes; he would take down elite institutions who looked down on them; and he would do it with a with a delicious vengeance that fed their appetite for revenge, justifying their belief that he was the guiding light in the world of darkness they were enveloped in.
The result of this crusade is a depolarization we have not seen in this country for a long while. Many are enthralled to support The Don’s toxicity. They have embraced the idea that anything that makes you feel sympathy or empathy for human beings in distress, or who are not in line with the vision of the administration are weak: empathy is for stooges and actually toxic. Empathy is a feminine characteristic; anything feminine needs to be purged from government and leadership. This pro-virility, pro-masculinity movement has become an anti-women movement (a recent poll showed that 79 percent of Republican men and 67 percent of Republican women say they believe American society has gotten too “soft and feminine,” with 43 percent of the country overall agreeing.)
Even his use of the pardon exemplifies this. By immediately freeing those imprisoned for their involvement in January 6th (including responsibility for the death of police officers,!), The Don is signaling that violence is okay. Pardoning white collar criminals like they are guilty of stealing Kit Kats from a local candy store gives license for graft and fraud the likes of we’ve never seen. This use of pardons gives those around him ,who do his bidding, needn’t worry about imprisonment as The Don will take care of business. In essence, he is giving “the old wink” to would-be criminals, including those who perpetrate violence and sexual assault.
I’ll end with two egregious examples of the dark arts The Don has promoted.
After an initial stab at sympathy for Joe Biden after his cancer diagnosis, the mask came off and we got this: “If you feel sorry for him, don’t feel so sorry, because he’s vicious. “What he did with his political opponent and all of the people that he hurt — he hurt a lot of people, Biden, so I really don’t feel sorry for him.”
In the midst of an exchange over Medicaid cuts in President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” someone in the crowd shouted at Ernst, “People are going to die!” Ernst’s immediate response was bizarre. “Well, we all are going to die,” she said.
Umm, call me crazy, but doesn’t it matter how and why we die? After all, there’s a tremendous difference between dying after living a full life that’s enabled at least in part by access to decent health care, and dying a premature and perhaps needlessly painful death because you can’t afford the care you need.
After some serious blowback to her callousness Ernst, with the backdrop of a cemetery, doing her impersonation of Cruella Deville ap apologized, cynically mocking those concerned about their healthcare.
“I made an incorrect assumption,” she continued, “that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we are all going to perish from this earth.”
She didn’t stop there. “I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well. But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I’d encourage you to embrace my lord and savior, Jesus Christ.”
Jesus, any comments? And one nore thing Jesus: Do know the tooth fairy?
The Grand Offal Party 