{"id":6783,"date":"2023-11-14T08:53:47","date_gmt":"2023-11-14T13:53:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=6783"},"modified":"2023-11-14T08:53:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T13:53:51","slug":"retribution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2023\/11\/14\/retribution\/","title":{"rendered":"Retribution"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Toss Up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jim VanDeHei is a founder of the news gathering organization, Axios.  He has a long career in the press with the Washington Post, <\/em>the Wall Street Journal, <\/em>and Politico.  <\/em>So when VandeHei speaks, journalists listen.  Yesterday, he was on MSNBC <\/em>shouting from the \u201chilltop\u201d.  Donald Trump, ex-President, twice-impeached, currently under indictment in four jurisdictions facing ninety-one felony charges; is, as VanDeHei sees it, a \u201ctoss-up\u201d to be the next President of the United States.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion revolved around the clear trend in \u201cTrump World\u201d towards vengeance.  Not only has the once and possible future President threatened to \u201cround-up and incarcerate\u201d all illegal migrants, but he is also threatening to \u201cscrub\u201d the executive branch for \u201cdisloyal\u201d members.  It echoes McCarthyism of the 1950\u2019s, when Senator Joseph McCarthy challenged Americans with a \u201cfake list\u201d of hundreds of \u201cknown Communists\u201d in the government.  Trump threatens: \u201c\u201cWe pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections\u2026They\u2019ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream.\u201d <\/em>(I guess this means me, too!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trumpian View<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trump (and his \u201cradical brain\u201d, Steve Bannon), have coined the term in a sentence:  \u201cI am your warrior. I am your justice, and for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your Retribution<\/strong><\/em>,” (ABC<\/a>).  Who are the \u201cYous\u201d he\u2019s referring to?   They are the aggrieved followers of Trumpism, who are convinced the 2020 election was stolen.  Every institution, from the Courts to the local boards of elections and education, to even the US Military (check Senator Tuberville); is undermined. There will be nothing left standing except the \u201cRetributioner\u201d.  It sounds like a bad Marvel Comic script \u2013 let\u2019s hope there\u2019s a Captain America somewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every part of our government is somehow subverted by the \u201cDeep State\u201d (another Bannon term), even the most conservative sections like the military, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security.   And then there\u2019s the \u201cusual suspects\u201d:  the mainstream media, and the \u201cRINOs\u201d who dared stand against MAGAism.  They will be \u201cscrubbed\u201d from the government, from governing and from influence.  It makes Nixon\u2019s  IRS \u201chit list\u201d look like Mickey Mouse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doomed to Repeat<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

And for those who cry that Trump sounds like a 20th<\/sup> Century European dictator, Steven Cheung the MAGA spokesman responded: \u201c\u2026their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House\u201d (couldn\u2019t make that up, NYT<\/a>).   Retribution:  paybacks for all of the insults, all of the \u201cstolen\u201d results, (even this last week in Ohio, Virginia and Kentucky) and all of the terrible, awful new freedoms for women, the LGBTQ, and those Americans who aren\u2019t white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retribution is a term with a long history in authoritarian movements.\u00a0\u00a0Make the \u201ccommoners\u201d the victims, and then claim the authority to gain vengeance for them.\u00a0\u00a0The European dictators of the mid-twentieth century all claimed to be getting \u201cretribution\u201d for the common man.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s Biblical:\u00a0\u00a0an eye for an eye.\u00a0\u00a0But it\u2019s also American.\u00a0\u00a0The code name for the Confederate Secret Service plot to assassinate Lincoln:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cCome Retribution<\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0This is not a coincidence, but\u00a0it\u2019s not about the assassination of a President this time. It\u2019s the destruction of the American Democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does Donald Trump still have voter support, much less, remain the definitive leader for the Republican nomination in 2024?\u00a0\u00a0How can someone who advocates so many Un-American views, still claim 40% of the American voter as his personal property?\u00a0\u00a0Part of it is the seduction of \u201cvictimhood\u201d, of blaming someone else for personal ills.\u00a0\u00a0It is the lesson taught in high school; when we all learned about 1920\u2019s Germany.\u00a0\u00a0A democratic people turned to an authoritarian to \u201csolve\u201d their problems.\u00a0\u00a0That leader too talked of \u201cvermin\u201d, eating away at the core of the nation.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Common Ground<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

But more importantly, our Nation has lost a singular sense truth.  And we\u2019ve done so, because there no longer remains a \u201ccommon ground\u201d of information.  There is a world of \u201cfact\u201d, and a world of \u201calternate fact\u201d.  The 40% believe what they\u2019re told, over and over again.  And the \u201calternate fact\u201d world constantly undermines the whole fabric of our National institutions.  Some of the headlines leading the Fox News website today (11\/14\/23):<\/p>\n\n\n\n