Before 2016, I would never have imagined seeing so many people in our communities, our region, clinging so firmly to such clear lies and false assertions as the Make America Great Again rhetoric of Donald John Trump and his merry band of misfits. I thought we were more logical, more intelligent. We aren’t and it tears my heart, because it so clearly shows the ignorance and fears so many of our neighbors cling to.
They shout righteous hate and religious indignation, and by their words and insecurity, their fear.
Instead of defending their assertions with fact and logic, they attack ad hominem and conjure conspiracies ever more idiotic, ever more bizarre.
“We are oppressed!” they scream. “Jews won’t replace us!” “We won’t be replaced!” “We will protect ourselves from, RINOS, Democrats, socialists, Antifa and all who don’t think righteously, like we do!”
Without evidence or verifiable fact, they declare themselves patriots on the basis of theories in search of facts, eschewing all who differ or disagree, rising up to ban books, to impose upon others their mores, their beliefs, their ideals, their religion … who declare RINOS, Democrats, the media and all who differ “enemies of state,” when all they think important is to establish a “redoubt,” a last line of defense, a place to protect them amid a community that welcomed and helped them for years.
We in North Idaho have elected several of their candidates to positions of trust to which they promise to serve causes based on lies, conspiracy and conjecture rather than truth, service and public good. I give them credit and congratulations; they did what they set out to do.
I weep, for by ennui, we let them get away with it.