The Lunatic State of America

I was one of those who 4 years ago thought it unimaginable that Donald Trump could be elected president. He was so obviously a liar, a fool, and an irresponsible narcissist that I couldn’t imagine there would be enough Americans to fall for him, despite the arguable lack of good alternatives (personally, I thought Hillary Clinton was a decent candidate who would've made a fine president, but I understand how and why others could reasonably disagree). But it's what's happened since Trump's ascent that is truly disturbing. The party that originally put him forward with some uncertainty has now practically deified him. Some go so far as to proclaim that he is Heaven-sent.

I have remained baffled these 4 years, that even as his approval ratings have never reached 50 percent of the American people, they have only rarely dipped below 40 percent. And one of the things that baffles me most is that White, God-fearing, Christian Evangelicals make up the solid core of his base. And that this core overlaps with working-class, minimally-educated White men. On the surface, these are groups I would’ve thought least likely to embrace an arrogant, wealthy, New York City celebrity. I stumbled across a podcast that has helped to shed some light on this phenomenon. “Straight White American Jesus” by “two ex-evangelical ministers-turned-religion professors” is worth a listen. (https://straightwhiteamericanjesus.podomatic.com/)

Trump has managed to whittle away belief in science, in the press, the judiciary, the military, and of course the Federal government, which he has rendered almost deserving of dismissal through his gross mis-management. The Deep State conspiracy theory has been fueled, and up to 40% of Americans believe that the only trustworthy sources of information are the Bible and the Tweets of IMPOTUS - despite the fact that both are riddled with inconsistencies. 

My nightmare throughout the Trump presidency has been that he would lead the country into civil war, or even global war. I confess deep relief that neither has happened, yet. However, his recent tweets to “liberate” states from Corona virus measures, explicitly citing 2^nd amendment rights, and in support of fully armed protesters, affirms the reasonableness of my concerns.

For years I’ve heard Islamophobes insist that a fundamental difference between Islam and Christianity is that the latter is “too mature a religion” to promote the levels of intolerance and violence spawned by Islam. But sadly, that maturity is nowhere in evidence in MAGA-land these days. And bringing young children together with automatic weapons to street protests strikes me as a few steps beyond anti-social, and beyond sanity.

One of the big problems with Christianity is that its call for “true faith” dares the believer not only to reject negative proof, but also to reject the need for any positive proof. Reliance on proof or scientific evidence only demonstrates that one has little faith. The more illogical and absurd Trump’s actions and statements, the more he piles lie upon deflection, and blame upon lie, the more urgent becomes the call to faith, and the more blessed is he or she who remains true.

Though I’ve lived in Canada for over twenty-five years now, and even since becoming a dual citizen, I’m still much more American than I’ll ever be Canadian. I would cite as evidence that I watch mostly American news, follow the NFL and not the CFL, and I’m hardly aware of Canadian films or television shows, but those things are all true of lots of Canadians. One thing that marks me as “still a Yankee” for sure – to myself, anyway – is my lunatic way of looking at politics. 

As Americans, we cling more tenaciously to philosophical and political ideals than do Canadians. We’re more dogmatic, and quicker to stake everything on our dogma. Canadians too, boast of being the greatest country on Earth, but more in the way that most of us will say that our parents are the greatest – though we mean it, we won’t feel offended, or that we’ve been betrayed when we hear our best friend say the same thing. Canadians are just as fallible, just as error-prone as Americans. We had Rob Ford as major of our largest city, after all. And he was almost as shamelessly outrageous, arrogant and ignorant as Trump. I sometimes wonder how much of Ford's playbook Trump stole. Maybe it's just that Canadians have more humility, and don't stake quite so much on being RIGHT all the time, so don't put so much fervor into making the other WRONG. In any case, it is clear to me that sanity prevails to a substantially greater degree here, North of the border.

The current political divide in America really scares me. Trump has been campaigning for a second term since the first week of his first term. And I don’t think he’s above using the Corona crisis as cause to make voting in November as burdensome as possible where this will help him. And I don’t doubt that there are groups of zealots out there now, armed to the teeth and impatient for the Second Coming, who will be all too happy to usher in a Holy War when a humiliated Trump claims that a “fake”, rigged, witch-hunt of an election forced him from power.

I pray it ain’t so, but in the current Lunatic State of America, it seems that anything is possible.