CSotD: The Only Thing We Have To Fear
Skip to comments
First, some context: Roosevelt was elected in the midst of the Great Depression, and, in the opening paragraph of his first inaugural speech, he laid out the nation’s real challenge:
This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
That nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror is thriving in the country today, and, Ohman says, is being deliberately exploited and employed to keep a tight grip on the nation, in contrast to Roosevelt’s policy of expanding opportunities.
Zyglis offers another historic parallel, and it’s important again to add some context. McCarthy demonized socialism, not only condemning actual members of the Communist Party but sweeping in all sorts of people, many of them people who had belonged to groups that were socialist, though not in the sense of loyalty to Moscow, plus others who had no connection to communism or socialism.
There is a similar movement by the Trump administration to claim that all who speak out against the war in Gaza are in sympathy with Hamas. As with McCarthy, he’s not entirely wrong, because some people may be, but, as with McCarthy, he’s casting too wide a net and sweeping in people who don’t sympathize with Hamas in the least, but do sympathize with civilians in Gaza, particularly children, and with aid workers and journalists killed by the IDF.
The two historic parallels tie together because fear of terrorists is being exploited to raise the level of unquestioning loyalty to the Trump administration as it defies the judiciary and bullies Congress into submission.
FDR warned against fear because it can impede good government and undermine democracy. Today, we see dictatorial claims of danger in letting young people debate politics, and deliberate exaggeration of the small number of migrants who commit crimes.
Hands points out that Kilmar Abrego Garcia has not been found guilty of anything. He’s correct that Trump is a convicted felon, and he stops short of saying that Trump deserves to be deported.
That would be a step too far. It is sufficient to point out the hypocrisy of a felon working to demonize someone who, having not been proven guilty of anything, is presumed innocent.
Varvel joins in the effort to demonize not only migrants but those who insist on proof and on the due process of law guaranteed in the Constitution. They are apparently also terrorists and criminals for having demanded that the law be followed.
Luckovich goes for dark humor, exploiting Trump’s claim that Abrego Garcia had gang affiliation tattooed on his knuckles, and his bizarre, emphatic defense of that claim in his interview with ABC.
Someone apparently provided the president with a photo of Abrego Garcia’s hand, with M, S, 1 and 3 typed over small tattoos theoretically indicating those letters.
However, Trump believed that those typeset letters were actual tattoos, despite how sharp they appeared compared to tattoos, and — as Dan Froomkin and Mehdi Hassan have written — he insisted on defending his mistake to the extent of disrupting the interview.
Politifact explains the error and quotes gang experts in saying that, even without the Photoshopped letters over them, the actual tattoos are nothing that indicate gang membership.
The whole thing would be laughable if it were just your Thanksgiving Uncle being ridiculously off-base, but it’s not funny for Abrega Garcia, and the fact that Trump is in charge of the nation should make everyone take his prideful errors seriously.
Telnaes paints Trump as a con man, and I can’t disagree. Having spent several years reporting on real-estate developers, I’ve met my share of BS artists, and Trump seems awfully familiar.
But the tone of his insistence in the televised interview more than suggests that he honestly believes that Abrego Garcia had those letters tattooed on his hand, and no amount of evidence shakes a true believer. You might as well argue that Armstrong actually stepped on the Moon or that Elvis is well and truly dead.
Meanwhile, Trump has surrounded himself with loyalists who do not correct his errors, including, as Bagley points out, a press secretary who cheerfully passes on whatever he says, regardless of how illogical, inconsistent or nonsensical it may seem.
And just as any criticism of Benyamin Netanyahu is antisemitic and proof of sympathy for Hamas, criticism of Trump’s loyalists is more proof of anti-Christian bias, such that the president has set up a group to preserve endangered Christian culture in America.
Stahler suggests that Trump’s falling poll numbers are due at least in part to his process of appointing unserious loyalists to his cabinet instead of experienced experts.
This impression is not aided by the televising of cabinet meetings in which his secretaries fawn over him and express their devotion, which increases a suspicion that nobody dares to warn him when he is mistaken.
Perhaps if their loyalty included frank opinions, he wouldn’t have to keep backing off from various pledges he couldn’t fulfill and bogus claims about things like egg and gas prices.
You may want to come back to this topic later, because here’s quite an extensive list of things that just ain’t so.
The latest twist is that Trump and Bondi are ordering the arrest of judges who displease Dear Leader, and his administration has gone from ignoring the courts to openly declaring that they have no intention of letting the law and Constitution get in the way of their policies.
Secretary of State Mark Rubio has even said “(T)he conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge.”
Our former allies no longer trust us. The question is, do we trust ourselves anymore?
How many promises have we broken to each other?
How much is America being damaged by nameless, unreasoning, unjustified fear?
Comments 14
Comments are closed.