Reactions of Trump’s followers to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago – The Wanderbirds on the Potomac Heritage Trail – Evening statistics
In 1938 J. R. R. Tolkien was in negotiations with Berlin publisher Rütten & Loening about creating a German-language edition of The Hobbit. At one point, however, they asked for proof of Tolkien’s “Aryan descent,” due to Goebbels’ regulations on Jews’ participation in German cultural activities. Tolkien indignantly refused to comply and the deal fell through as a result. Three years later he wrote a letter to his son Michael, in which he said “I have in this war a burning private grudge against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler. Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.” Long before opposition to Hitler became fashionable, Tolkien foresaw, and he unfortunately was quite correct in his prediction, that German culture would be forever tainted by association with Hitler. I mention this episode because I am haunted by fears that we are entering a similar situation at the current time, and that the American heritage will be forever tainted by association with Donald Trump.
Today Senator Rand Paul has called for the repeal of the Espionage Act after the FBI search on Trump’s home in Mar-a-Lago discovered numerous caches of classified documents there. What is disturbing is not the behavior of Trump himself. Mendacious, vicious, unprincipled egomaniacs are to be found in every nation and every generation. What is disturbing is the effect on his followers. I know that I have repeated myself on this point many times, but I must iterate this attitude yet again: what spell has this man woven over his adherents that can induce them to sacrifice the best interests of themselves and their country to suit Trump’s convenience? Paul’s reaction is typical: Donald Trump has broken the country’s laws, and some of its most fundamental ones – therefore, the laws must be repealed. Nothing too heinous or, for that matter, too ridiculous can shake their obsessive devotion to this juggernaut. Paul is far from unique: in Arizona an armed protest was held today against the FBI, with protestors waving signs whose slogans called for the assassination of federal government employees. If Trump were to announce that the gods must be appeased by a ceremony that sacrifices virgins by hurling them into a pool of molten lava, they would immediately scan the ranks of American young women to cull out the likeliest victims.
Trump’s dominant role is all the more surprising for the complete absence of those qualities that ordinarily would appeal to voters. Coarse and unprepossessing in feature, graceless and ungainly in build, infirm in temper, boorish in manner, harsh in voice, clumsy and incoherent in speech – such are his surface characteristics; for the rest, he has had a long history of cheating workmen out of their pay, betraying his business associates, abusing any woman who was unfortunate and incautious enough to get involved with him, turning on his closest friends and associates without warning. What can others see in such a man? It seems to me that I were to be introduced to any man like him, I would afterwards strive to avoid him as I would an infectious disease; and yet by some mysterious means he is able to inspire a fervid devotion among his followers that the most charming and able of political leaders must envy. Doubtless many Germans and Italians in the 1930s experienced stupefaction similar to mine as the Fascists came into power, bewilderedly wondering what appeal Hitler and Mussolini could possibly provide for so many of their compatriots; but that does not make this burden any easier to bear.
Thankfully I’m still able to find refuge in other activities. I went today with the Wanderbirds on the Potomac Heritage Trail from Algonkian to Great Falls. The weather was perfect, warm but not overly hot or humid, and the river scenery contained an abundance of avian wildlife, including a pair of cormorants surveying the river for prey with Trumpian intensity. The bus ride recaptured the past experience of riding with the Wanderbirds in a manner that the previous bus hikes did not: it was somewhat fuller (the numbers are still low, but at any rate the bus was half-full), with a greater number of regulars, and with animated discussions ongoing during the ride among various groups of passengers. I must not despair of the club eventually being restored to its former condition. During a meeting with the Board to discuss measures for recruiting hikers, AD reminded the group that the club had undergone a much more severe crisis in the 1990s, when it was unclear from one week to the next whether it would have sufficient funds for a bus hike and there was a real possibility of the club’s dissolution. Matters may be improving as the weather moderates and as fewer members of the club are on travel for the summer months.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 595,056,244; # of deaths worldwide: 6,454,322; # of cases U.S.: 94,688,168; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,062,343.