King Trump

The fantasy sweeping the left

When I learned there would be a “No Kings” rally here in Arlington, I decided I had to go downtown and experience it for myself. I parked a few blocks away, and when I stepped onto the street where the demonstrators were gathered it was like entering an insane asylum where Trump Derangement Syndrome was the only malady. One woman, carrying a sign that assured me she was an evangelical Christian, said she thought Trump was “the devil incarnate.” Yikes!

I know a lot of these demonstrations in other cities are organized and driven by large, well-funded organizations prone to violence and inspired by the desire to destroy America. But I didn’t see evidence of that in Arlington. There were no professionally printed signs, no black clad figures with bull horns leading chants, and Arlington’s demonstrators did not block the street or burn or throw things. It was a peaceful demonstration.

I expected to see only a handful of people there, but the crowd was fairly large — probably more than 1,000 people lining the street on both sides for three blocks or so. That made me kind of disappointed that so many of my neighbors suffer TDS.

And their opposition to all things Trump was passionate. Many were carrying signs that denounced the oligarchy they believe Trump has created. When I asked one such demonstrator what an oligarchy is, they replied “rule by one man.” “That would be a monarchy, wouldn’t it?” I said. I got a puzzled look. But the consensus seemed to be that an oligarchy is rule by a gang of billionaires. “No,” I assured a couple of them, “we’ve had an oligarchy for a long time — it’s the unelected bureaucrats, think-tanks and NGOs who run Washington together with a few of the career politicians.”

Of course, there was no reasoning with any of them, but I just couldn’t resist asking questions. “Who was the only President elected to four consecutive terms,” I asked a couple of demonstrators. They knew the answer — Franklin Roosevelt. “Did that make him a king?” I continued. No answer. “Who was the only President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus?” I asked. No one knew that it was Abraham Lincoln who ruled under what amounted to martial law during his entire four-year presidency, and shutdown newspapers that opposed him when he began drafting men into the Union Army, something that had never been done before.

The point of my questions, of course, was that we have had much more serious assaults on our freedoms and the Constitution by Presidents who are the most widely admired in history. And yet, when they passed from the scene, things got back to normal. Our system is quite robust, so no need to go crazy even if what they believe Trump is doing is true.

Another big issue for the demonstrators, of course, was deportation of illegal aliens. When I pointed out that Trump has said repeatedly that ICE is primarily going after the criminals and gang members, they simply didn’t believe it.

There is some basis for skepticism because of reports of ICE arresting workers with no criminal records, but again, Trump has said he understands that we are largely dependent on illegal immigrant workers in many industries and is taking steps to make sure good and essential workers are not swept up in the deportation effort. I shouldn’t be surprised that TDS sufferers would have zero trust that this will actually happen.

The illegal alien issue is multifaceted. I don’t know any illegal aliens, but someone close to me does. She and her husband have an electrical contracting business and their primary employee is an illegal from Honduras. This guy works extremely hard, learned to do electrical work quickly, does a great job, saves his money, has a nice family, and owns a home that has no mortgage. This is the kind of immigrant we need and want here.

She tells me that although this fellow and many of his associates can’t vote, they were praying for a Trump win last November. His family is very religious and have faith that God will provide a path for them to stay in the U.S. They follow the law meticulously, carry all the necessary insurance on their automobiles, and pay their taxes. They trust Trump.

The reason they support Trump is they don’t want criminals and gangs infesting their communities, threatening them and their children. That’s why they left Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, and other countries, where crime, cartels and corruption are endemic. They are also socially conservative. They don’t want their children taught that they can change gender if they so choose, or that homosexuality is a perfectly fine alternative life style choice. They believe abortion is a sin. They want no part of a socialist economic system — they work hard, save their money and don’t want to give the government any more of it in taxes than necessary. Further, if they could vote, which they can’t and don’t, they would vote Republican today.

They don’t believe Trump intends to deport all the illegal workers in the U.S., especially the ones we really need like themselves. But they are prepared if that should happen — they have money to hire lawyers, they own property back in their home countries, and they believe they can find a way to become American citizens eventually.

In contrast to this, the No Kings demonstrators were certain the Trump is going to deport everyone he can get his hands on just because of antipathy toward brown or black people — racism, in other words. No matter what Trump says, they believe only the worst of intentions and motives.

One gentleman I talked to mentioned that Trump has commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, a notorious Chicago gangster and murderer who has been in the federal supermax prison in Colorado for almost 30 years. This man was sure Hoover was still running his criminal enterprises from inside the prison, and that he had paid off Trump in some way to commute his life sentence.

The truth is that Hoover is 75 years old and seems to have changed markedly during his prison stay. He has reportedly found religion and wants to become a positive voice in the black community. You can read about him HERE. The point is, this TDS sufferer had no doubts — Trump had been bribed into releasing a dangerous criminal. He never seemed to have asked himself why, if Trump is such a racist, would he ever release a convicted black criminal from prison. This demonstrator is utterly incapable of believing Trump might be capable of acting out of mercy and even love for another human being.

The bottom line here is that I found a whole bunch of good people who have opted for the blue pill and decided to live in a wold of delusion. I was reminded of a great book I read some years ago by Jonathan Haidt, “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion.” One of the principal takeaways from the book is that our moral and political decisions are NOT driven by reason — intuition and emotion rule. Reason is only employed after the fact to justify the decisions we have already made. This why our reasoning is often so faulty — we grasp at any insignificant fact or silly shred of reason that might justify what we’re going to believe no matter what. Haidt identifies five “moral foundations” and observes that the Left, instinctively, only utilizes two. Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to acknowledge and utilize all five.

I recommend this book highly if you haven’t already read it. It explains a lot of what we see in today’s sharply divided political struggles. While I strongly disagree with almost every issue the No Kings demonstrators were protesting, I can understand why they might feel as they do. And because they were honest, sincere and peaceful, I defend their right to make their views known, even if they are wrongheaded.