Ecce Tyrannus!
by Lex Talionis
Published: 26 September 2016
I am relishing the irony of it all, even though the consequences might be devastating.
Since January 20, 2009, there's been a constant, noxious stream from the mouths of right-wingers and Republican congressmen that President Obama acts like a tyrant. That he's lawless with pretensions of being a king. No less a bright light of the GOP establishment, former member of Congress Michele Bachmann, warned us not only of Obama's tyranny, but also of his anti-Christ credentials and the fast approach of the End Times. (Which actually keep receding but that's another story.)
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan loves to pepper his speeches about the Obama Administration as always being "lawless" with no regard for the Constitution. Right wing radio still invokes the "Fast and Furious" program as an example of such lawlessness, although investigations have found no such thing at all. Same thing with Benghazi, eight times over. Doesn't matter: all tiers of the Republican Party have declared Obama to be a tyrant, taking away our freedoms, shredding the Constitution to his satanic delight, and plunging the country into darkness.
Well, at least there seems to be WiFi in the FEMA camps.
Now, I should not have to remind anyone that absolutely none of the myriad prophecies of doom and destruction have come true. There is no $6 gallon of gas. There is no economic re-collapse about to occur. Gun sales continue to soar and not a single jack-booted thug of the federal government has managed to nab them from god-fearing Americans. Since the military's Jade Helm exercise was never intended to invade and occupy a state that already is part of the United States, Texas remains just as free as it did before. And Agenda 21, the UN's dastardly plan to enslave America, seems to be failing spectacularly, no doubt because Obama hasn't lulled the country to sleep.
Enter Donald J. Trump.
There's no particular need to rehash everything guy has ever said that in ordinary times, would be rejected out of hand. Suffice to say that here is a guy who actually promises to be the dictator that the GOP claims Obama is. Only a dictator would say he was going to build a wall to keep Mexicans out while making Mexico (a sovereign foreign country, not a vassal kingdom) pay for it. Only someone thinking he's a king declares he is going to keep all Muslims out, or at least ban them coming from nations "where problems are." No legal review, no legal basis for such a statement, just a blanket edict. You know, like tyrants do.
How about suggesting that U.S. soldiers commit war crimes? Or about shirking our obligations to our NATO allies if they fail to pony up the dough? Oh, let's not forget not one, but *two* suggestions that Hillary Clinton be assassinated?
Another thing that tyrants do? They like to praise other tyrants. The love between the Trump campaign and Russian leader Vladimir Putin pretty much run at odds with the traditional enemy role that Russia has played in the GOP. But we've long gone from Ronald Reagan's "evil empire" to open admiration of a dictator and his brutality. Putin's Russia likes to quell dissent, invade and annex other countries, and have a hand in murdering journalists, which Trump denied has ever happened. Although the questionable ties between his campaign and Russia are under investigation, this is shrugged off by Trump supporters who also think Putin is super awesome, and are quick to insist that Obama and the Muslim Brotherhood are in cahoots.
Again, a weird position for a conservative presidential candidate to have. I guess the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It especially helps when you live in a post-fact democracy.
Trump also speaks like a dictator: staccato sentences that don't add up to anything measurable, lots of talk about greatness and such, but nothing really in the way of having meat on the bone. Demagogues love to talk about restoring their's country's former greatness, along with pointing out the enemy within everyone's midst. With Trump, it's rapist Mexican immigrants and Muslims, Syrian refugees or not. The whole lot of them! Much to the delight of white power and white nationalist groups, they can now be more forward and direct with their racism because their preferred tyrant does the same thing and with absolutely no consequences. Just like other supporters of dictators, Trump's energized base thinks he's only "telling the truth" and is fighting whatever cabal of special interests is "keeping us down." It gets to such a point that as Trump once remarked, he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and wouldn't lose any voters.
The Grand Old Party is no longer about fiscal conservatism or smaller government. Throughout the seven years of Obama's presidency, it's devolved into a bitter, obstructionist, and racist shell of its former self. White supremacy and white nationalism have become mainstreamed, thanks in part to fostering a deep abhorrence for America's first black president who just "isn't one of us," and like Mitt Romney once said, "doesn't really understand America." And it's all gelled into the persona of a reality television program character named Donald Trump.
Behold the man, your deplorable tyrant!