Columnist Bill Newman: The day of decision nears

Bill Newman

Bill Newman

By BILL NEWMAN

Published: 10-11-2024 3:41 PM

Many of Donald Trump’s most adamant supporters acknowledge that he is a disgusting racist and misogynist, an inveterate liar, a grifter, and a fraud. But many don’t care or worse, venerate him for exactly these, what shall we call them — qualities?

Recently, on Talk the Talk, the radio show I co-host on WHMP, we interviewed Steven Hassan, a mental health counselor and expert on cults, whose 2019 book is titled “The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control.”

A dictionary definition of cult is “a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing.” For many, Trump is godlike, and those acolytes will goose-step forward for him, will go to prison, are willing to kill or be killed, for him. Witness January 6.

Reflect on the nefarious skill of Trump and his propagandists. They’ve convinced some 70 to 80 percent of Republicans, many tens of millions of people, of the complete lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

And now they are focused on targeting “the other.” Another guest recently on our show was political strategist Robert Creamer. His new book is titled “Nuts and Bolts: The Formula for Progressive Electoral Success.” Creamer writes that “Trump’s principal talent lies in his skill as a demagogue and (a) showman who focuses voters’ attention on symbolically powerful issues on one hand … while giving tax breaks to the wealthy with the other.”

Trump and the Republican Party now is stoking fear of transgender persons, putting fear and prejudice at the core of their massive advertising campaign. The ad’s tagline: “Kamala is for them. President Trump is for you.”

Republican strategists are all in on these ads. There is no limit to the ugliness and hatred, the prejudice and disinformation.

Trump’s true believers share a cult-like devotion. Someday less devoted Trump voters may leave him, but nothing in the next 30 days will change their minds or votes either.

Another recent guest on the show was Jochen “Jack” Wurfl. As a child, Wurfl was a Jew in Nazi Germany. Unlike almost all the rest of his family he escaped the death camps — by being baptized as a Catholic and enlisting in Hitler’s Youth brigades. His new book is titled “My Two Lives,” his first life in Germany, the second in the United States after World War II.

Wurfl, who is 93 years old, explained to us that he wrote his book to warn of antisemitism and rising ethnic and religious violence. To the it-can’t-happen-here argument he responded, that’s what we thought in Germany. Wurfl’s focus understandably is on antisemitism and indeed, Jews will be victimized, as will Arab-Americans, by Trump’s endorsement of violence, hatred and white Christian nationalism.

Hitler exterminated six million Jews in Europe and also persecuted and murdered gays and lesbians. In his “Letter from the Birmingham Jail,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pointed out that under German law, everything that happened under Hitler was legal. Laws and their interpretation are malleable.

As you know, Donald Trump has promised to become a dictator. He later claimed that was a joke. Did you see anyone laughing?

Trump also has promised to round up millions of undocumented persons in the United States, imprison them in concentration camps, and then deport those who survive. He does not claim that this pronouncement was a joke. Rather, he has reasserted this intention as policy. And hatred spreads.

Trump has been clear that he will not accept the results of the election unless he wins. Lest you harbor any doubt, we need look no further than JD Vance’s refusal to acknowledge that in 2020 Trump lost.

The new court revelations about Trump’s response to the January 6 insurrection are chilling. “Kill Mike Pence, kill Mike Pence” the rioters screamed as they searched for the former vice president. In response, Trump shrugged and said, so what? Trump knew he had lost the election, and he, nonetheless, was committed to seizing power from the elected government.

Not so long ago, you could plausibly assert that the Supreme Court would stand up for the rule of law, would act as a firewall against threats to democracy. No longer.

The Trump-controlled court has endorsed voter suppression and gerrymandering so that Republicans can remain in charge of the government even though their voters are a clear minority.

The court also has created immunity for Trump that previously was unimaginable. For the majority of justices precedent is a mere inconvenience, easily ignored or overruled as their political predilections dictate. They shamelessly invent new legal theories to arrive at their desired results, to genuflect to Trump and Trumpism.

The pen is mightier than the sword. So, we have been told. Voting is our most basic means of political expression. We can hope that in a few weeks, voters clearly and decisively reject Trump. Absent that, it’s anyone guess whether Trump can and will deliver his promised “blood bath.” Oh yes, he later claimed that his words were misunderstood.

The only antidote: all potential anti-Trump voters must cast their ballot. Every vote against Trump and his political party matters.

Bill Newman, a Northampton resident, writes a monthly column.