The media continues to give virtually 24-hour coverage of Donald Trump, with commentators wringing their hands over his latest cruelty or bizarre behavior. But none of that bewailing is likely to change anything. If 10,000 lies and counting have not had any impact on his popular base or congressional sycophant accomplices, further revelations, even of insanity, are not likely to move the needle either.
Trump is Trump by virtue of his personality--many have said pathologies. But his sycophants are supporting him by choice. That's why the focus should not be on Trump but on his sycophant enablers. If they had been true to their early insights into his dangerous flaws Trump would have been gone long ago. Sycophants beware: You will be held responsible.
How to wake them up?
They must be persuaded to realize that when the Trump regime ends they will be excoriated forever, especially if Trump brings on a colossal disaster, which is always an imminent possibility with his mental state deteriorating as affirmed by former Harvard Medical School psychiatrist Lance Dodes on the Lawrence O'Donnell show on August 21, 2019. But the fate of the sycophants must be illustrated in specific graphic depictions not just vague statements such as "history will be harsh on you." This approach might be effective in giving some a wake-up call that could move the needle.
Hitler proclaimed that the Third Reich--Nazi Germany--would last a thousand years. When the United States entered World War II against Germany on December 11, 1941, that prophesy shrank to less than four years; Germany surrendered unconditionally to Allied forces on May 7, 1945.
Hitler's supporters, intoxicated by his power, believed the thousand-year prediction. And that belief freed them from worrying that they might someday be condemned and put on trial for their atrocities.
Donald Trump's regime may last just four years if he is defeated in 2020. But don't tell that to his sycophants in Congress and his administration. They too are so intoxicated with the aphrodisiac of power that they are blind to the consequences of their actions, which are likely to haunt them.
There will be no Nuremberg trials after the end of Trump's term. But there will be the court of worldwide public opinion-and its judgments will be brutal when the floodgates open.
We have seen a glimpse of what might happen, with leaks and revelations from those who have been in the administration and from a British ambassador who was appalled at Trump's incompetence and "uniquely dysfunctional White House." Most people--especially diplomats and world leaders--who hold back their honest assessments of Trump are restrained by decorum while he remains president.
When Trump's reign ends the sycophants will be reviled because it's no secret that they always knew exactly who Trump is. They painted an accurate picture of him before he became the Republican candidate for president, but did an abrupt about-face when he won the Republican nomination and then the presidency.
Many of the leading Republican politicians denounced Trump and sounded an alarm several years before psychiatrists warned the public about him in the bestselling Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. The Republicans' vitriolic condemnations went far beyond politics-as-usual. For anyone observing Trump on the stump, their words rang true.
SenatorTed Cruz: "[Donald Trump] is a pathological liar... he doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth. The man is utterly amoral. You know, morality does not exist for him."
Senator Lindsay Graham: "I think he's a kook, I think he's crazy. He would be a terrible commander-in-chief. Donald Trump is not fit to be president."
Senator Rand Paul: "[Donald Trump] is a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag. A speck of dirt is way more qualified to be president. If the dirt doesn't go away, it will keep scratching your cornea until eventually, it blinds you with all its filth."
With these frightening assessments, how could the Republicans hand Trump access to the nuclear codes? How could these prominent political figures and others endorse Trump and later willingly rubberstamp his erratic and destructive policies and actions? In fact, that's precisely what happened. How can we explain this phenomenon?
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