Cult 45, Part 4: Victimhood Again – an ongoing threat

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election by a healthy seven million votes, but the 74 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump are not going away, nor do some of them want to be a part of our civil society.

Some portion of those 74 million people carried such an irrational identification with their Dear Leader and his words that they believed the 30,000 lies he told over his tenure. They genuinely believed in the fraud that he won the election, that the election was “stolen,” that their vote was denied. They were whole-heartedly invested in a savior complex that Donald Trump could not be wrong, that he would prevail against all enemies and pull off a second term of office. Believing their false prophets, they believed their Dear Leader when he said to “Come to Washington” and stop the certification of his election loss – an overtly illegal act.

A portion of those people obeyed his command to go with him to the Capital building to try to stop our constitutionally mandated election process. Some had weapons, body armor, zip ties, and they erected a gallows. Hundreds of them engaged in varying degrees of violent actions against boundaries, property, and police – killing one. They trespassed, destroyed, and stole government property, hunted after legislators, chanting murderous chants – and their Dear Leader said he loved them and then told them to go home – after having incited his failed coup/insurrection/sedition. Some of these criminals believed in their hearts they were following their leader’s legitimate commands and felt betrayed when they did not receive pardons. Their hope was broken after having been fed the lies of their leader, various senators, legislators, and propaganda machines. This, combined with the tacit complicity of nearly all republicans and their baseless legal challenges (supported by our own Tom Emmer), their anger and manufactured victimization had nowhere else to go but, for the moment, to turn on one another.

But the cabal of pseudo-conservatives that have no respect for the Constitution are regrouping out of their devotion to a delusional leader, to unhinged conspiracy fantasies, and with the hope of regaining power at any cost.

As I noted in previous Cult 45 posts, they have been groomed for this, and a large part of that grooming has been a real or imagined victimization that they now use to justify their violation of laws, along with social and democratic norms in their efforts to extract “justice,” if not revenge. Thus, they have been twice victims – first the victim of their Dear Leader’s grooming, and now the victim of their political loss and illegal actions. What’s more, some felt like victims prior to all this, feeling their country was being invaded by foreign, non-white, non-Christian aliens. Some were victims of economic forces that were the direct result of their representatives’ policies. Most of them have been victims of an inadequate education in civil constitutional government, and a lack of critical thinking. Many have been victims of religious institutions that taught them hatred, judgmentalism, an imagined right of dominion, and a fantasied conceit of superiority.

Under the grandeur, inspiration, normality of patriotic displays, and the civil ritual of the inauguration hides pockets of fear, hatred, self-justification, false religiosity, propaganda mills, and a corrupt lobbying system that brought us to this place of violent division. These malcontents have not gone away, nor has their most visible leader.

Some portion of those 74 million Americans do not want anything to do with a civil transfer of power. They want justification, victory, and domination. The cult remains. It may appear to be headless at the moment, but this gives other demagogic wannabe leaders the opportunity to have their day in the sun and to continue serving the swamp they claim to oppose. It also allows Donald Trump to manipulate from the sidelines those who believe they can share in his power and influence. They will become another class of victims.

The danger we face is not just from the violent rabble seeking civil war or trying to overthrow an elected government, but in the legislators who fed the propaganda and lie machines, who are willing to continue doing so, and who want to exonerate their Dear Leader of his crimes and insurrection. The American people have expressed their disapproval of Trump’s regime, but we now need to expose the propaganda machines and financial backers that these anti-constitutional power-greedy civilians and legislators depend on.

There has been big money behind this insurrection. Some of the seditious rioters had the means to travel long distances – even on private planes – to be a part of their Dear Leader’s call to action. Many large businesses have been major contributors to those legislators who spread the lies and fomented doubt in the election process. To their credit, some of these usually amoral corporations are reconsidering their support for seditious lawmakers.

This new administration has but two years to show good faith and improve the lives of everyone – not just the majority who voted for them. Perhaps most important of all, we have no time to lose in attempting to restore the norms of a civil society: respect for one another, a devotion to truth, a relentless investment in reality, and bold action to address the profoundly serious climatic, economic, and social problems facing us. Meanwhile, those who lost must be heard and engaged with, even while their criminal behaviors are contained and prosecuted. All legitimate grievances should be addressed, and false ones exposed for what they are lest we all become victims of delusional chaos.