September 24, 2023
Dear editor;
This Reader’s Voice is to commend the commitment of Charles Coddington and Wayne E. Johnson to exposing the prolific, often unnoticed transgressions of “T. rump” and “Donny Dum Dum” as described in The Voice. Being adept at seeing beyond the carefully-scripted, false persona concealing a self-aggrandizing, amoral, prima-donna, conman is an admirable and necessary attribute utilized by both writers in tandem with their well-honed humor, essential to both writers and their readers alike. “Satire isn’t just entertainment”, writes Matthew Swayne in U.S. News. Com, “It’s a vital function of democratic society and a way to broach taboo subjects, especially in times of crisis. It’s as American as apple pie.”
Yet, there are many not so adept at seeing beyond the façade and consequently, they are susceptible to believing, for whatever personal reasons, the myriad lies Trump, and his allies expound. Following Trump’s CNN townhall performance, Jake Tapper, CNN anchorman commented, “Trump declared war on the truth: and I’m not sure he didn’t win.”
To the uninitiated, Trump’s MAGA rallies appear to be fun events: loud music, balloons, lots of flags—like Bozo’s Circus—however, with the speeches come the lies; the disinformation goes into over-drive and the vengeful rhetoric abounds; interspersed with all the hoopla comes the “I am your retribution!” guise, transforming Mr. Trump into cult status and his allies, ever close to his coattails, into apostles—and his naive supporters love him…
Do they? Conservative Christian Peter Wehner who served in the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and the George W. Bush administrations, writes in the Atlantic.com: “It’s a challenge for people of faith”, or anyone else I contend, “who claim to value – integrity, honor, truthfulness, decency, compassion—to reconcile the fact that they support a misogynist who has cheated on his wives and sexually assaulted women; threatened judges, prosecutors, and election officials; and paraphrasing, catalyzed a violent insurrection, engaged in a conspiracy to overturn a lawful election, dines with white-supremacists and anti-Semites, routinely uses cruel and dehumanizing rhetoric, and idolizes war criminals and political murderers… A challenge indeed!!
Trump promises and sells what his supporters want—freedom from fear—fear of economic collapse, fear of the political left, fear of anti-white discrimination, etc., etc.—and Trump is a world-class snake-oil salesman! MAGA leaders, through right-wing media outlets, promulgate the misinformation or “alternative facts” necessary to generate mistrust and stoke the ever-increasing irrational fears to the highest levels. In one’s own mind, a conflict arises between what one knows to be moral or just i.e., family values and “Trump the Redeemer’s” questionable behaviors, especially when Trump morphs into one of the Killer Klowns from Outer Space. Truth then takes a back seat: Facts are denied, jury verdicts are now unfair, investigations are witch-hunts; Trump’s lies cease to be character flaws but become justifiable “weapons of war”.
As the opposing forces wrestle within the minds of the MAGA supporters described by Wehner, the forces of democracy similarly oppose the forces of autocracy in the United States. As Matthew Swaine described earlier, the ground is fertile for political satire: the revelations of T.rump and Donny Dum Dum will help to sharpen our collective senses enabling each of us to shake the numbing affect of Trump and his lackeys’ perpetual lying machine. I thank Mr. Coddington and Mr. Johnson again and look forward to any future revelations. Please go in peace.
Dave Hoehne, Aurora