Call Me Vermin, But…..

By Cheryl Cook, As published in The Union

It used to be that our Congress was composed of silver- tongued orators in marble halls that echoed inspiring anthems of national pride. In the Trump era, political rhetoric has deteriorated from the opening scenes of belittling name-calling and nods to physical violence during rallies, to the final act of a violent crusade on the Capitol to overturn an election. Under Trump’s influence, the GOP has stooped to in-fighting, misinformation campaigns, and the occasional elbow to the kidneys instead of dealing with the real crises before the American people.

It is as if the power of rational thought, negotiation, and unifying compromise to pass legislation has become too difficult for Trump era politicians. When you need to defend your actions in supporting a would be dictator for president, it is so much easier to throw an elbow than answer for your actions.

Real leaders, not political exhibitionists, move the country in a positve direction by speaking the language of unity, compromise, and progress. Any leader who turns American against American, threatens purges of anyone who voted against him, and attacks the institutions that bind this country together.......is not a leader. He is a threat to our Democracy.

Any political party that sits quietly and allows a leader to refer to members of another American political party as “vermin”, is destined to go the way of Mussolini and Hitler supporters. Because when you give that kind of power to a despot, you seal your own fate.

That fate is being played out with every embarrassing Republican against Republican verbal attack, slam to the kidneys, and plea deal by co-defendants in the courts. The party of Lincoln is disintegrating under the party of Donald Trump.

Aren’t there enough wars out there started by madmen for us to be fighting against each other in our own country? Civil unrest and division only serve to weaken us from within. Who would attempt to turn American against American but someone intent on a nation so weak that he builds a platform for obliteration of democracy usurped by his complete control? And if necessary, call in the military to keep that control.

If re-elected, Trump promises vengeance against his political enemies including former members of his own Cabinet like Attorney General Bill Barr, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Chief of Staff John Kelly, and General Mark Miley. His delusions of grandeur and inabiity to admit any flaw in himself has always spurred him to live by the rule of threats against others, especially others who appear to have more competence than himself.

Rather than inspire national unity on Veterans Day this year, the day we celebrate veterans who died fighting dictators who espoused un-American ideas, Trump used the fear strategy of former dictators by dehumanizing Americans.

In Mein Kampf, Adolph HItler wrote about “contamination of the blood” or “blood poisoning” of the people from imigants, Jews, and interracial ocuples. As early as 1920, he wrote about Jews being the “race tuberculosis of the people”

100 years later, Donald Trump stated, “We will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like “vermin” within the confines of our country.” He went on to claim that immigrants were from insane aslyums, mental insititutions, and prisons.

He then said, “It is poisoning the blood of our country.”

As the court cases proceed, as the insiders begin falling to plea agreements and provide evidence against him, the desperation grows more evident. Not only has he discredited our legal system, poltical system and electoral system, but as a defendant, he presents himself as the sole defender of a disenfranchised sector of society that sees its cultural values and and way of life under attack.

“I am your justice. I am your retribution!” Trump told supporters earlier this year in an attempt to falsely equivacate the prosecution of his 91 felony counts into a distorted view of supporter persecution.

Call me “Vermin,” but I see the real persecution coming from the MAGA Far Right against those standing up for our Democracy.

Liz Cheney was torn from her seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for refusing to support Trump’s attempts to overturn an election. Her Republican colleagues chose enabling of election lies instead of censorship of Trump. So, Wyoming chose Trump over Cheney.

Liz Cheney has been silenced in Congress, but she speaks truth to power in her new book, “Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning”.

If you listen carefully, you can still hear one eloquent and inspiring voice echoing from those hallowed halls.......