FREE FALLING — The Weekly Opine

Last week’s firestorm in the Oval Office was an ominous sign. (Photo credit The Weekly Opine, Microsoft PPT)

How low will we go?

Thinking back on it, America struck an iceberg on November 5, 2024. Election Day was tantamount to the Titanic colliding with arguably the most destructive iceberg in maritime history. Whereas Titanic’s chief designer, Thomas Andrews, was aboard the ship and knew it would soon sink, the architects of American democracy are not with us to forecast the outcome of our current 5-alarm emergency.

If George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were with us today, I guess they would recommend all-out resistance against the attack on our democracy. Because, same as when the Founding Fathers fought against tyranny, our lives depend on it.

Upon retrospection, the gash in America’s starboard side was caused by several key factors.

Too many in the media, including usually trusted legacy media, failed miserably by soft-shoeing Trump’s depravity and unfitness. Maddeningly, the media adheres to a double-standard when covering Trump, compared to prior presidents. Like a car wreck, Trump attracts looky-loos. The media desperately needs eyeballs, so Trump is granted much leeway. Comparatively, the Biden presidency, despite resounding success, lacked panache. So, Biden’s gaffes were negatively spotlighted as a reflection of severely diminished mental capacity while Trump’s gaffes are treated gently.

Also, consider the Wild West nature of social media. Barely existent fact-checking mixed in with enough rogue actors to fill a hundred Titanic’s, and what you get is a dizzying array of scarcely challenged fake news. Stir in well-placed propaganda and the result is Americans get suckered into the same trap Germans fell for in the 1930s.

Propaganda machine

America has a susceptible-to-propaganda problem. We’ve seen this before, in Nazi Germany nearly a century ago. The earmarks are in plain view, with much of our citizenry lacking tools to discern light from dark as we tumble toward a disastrous future. Trump, like Hitler, has perfected propaganda techniques used to exploit impressionable, rudderless people.

Turns out Marco Rubio is a little man. (Photo credit Newsweek)

As detailed by The Great Courses (an online learning tool) some of the telltale propaganda techniques include name-calling, and testimonials from celebrities supporting the authoritarian agenda. Trump also falsely associates his movement with purity and American tradition, portraying himself as an everyman, patriotic symbol. He claims to protect American interests (e.g., instituting tariffs, wrangling money from NATO allies, deporting migrants) even as the opposite is true as Trump enthusiastically does Putin’s bidding. The influence of social media makes it easier for Trump to fill his bandwagon with “average Joes” willing to fight – literally, if needed – for the cause (January 6 rioters are an example).

Trump’s rallies are reminiscent of Hitler’s rallies. Renown German videographer Leni Riefenstahl signed on with Hitler and produced propaganda films including the infamous “Triumph of the Will.” Trump doesn’t need a Leni Riefenstahl because of myriad videos produced by influencers on Tik Tok, Instagram, X/Twitter, etc. Compared to Ms. Riefenstahl’s era, Trump benefits from propaganda videos on steroids, available 24-7.

Propaganda works best when turncoats like Marco Rubio are loyal subterfuge subscribers. A former hyper-critic of Trump and Putin, “Little Marco,” as nicknamed by Trump, traded in self-respect in exchange for a pair of kneepads to more comfortably kneel before Trump.

At last week’s Oval Office train wreck, featuring treasonous Americans Trump and JD Vance ambushing President Vladimir Zelenskyy of Ukraine, Rubio sat silently on the couch. Before our very eyes he shrank in stature from United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, turning into an itty-bitty, teeny-tiny man. Little Marco. Afterwards, hiding behind social media, the Petite One spouted Trump’s propaganda talking points.

Out of sense of journalistic duty, I sat down to watch Trump’s State of the Union Tuesday night. I lasted two sentences. Trump opened saying “America’s back” followed by something about the “dawn of the golden age of America.” Recognizing propaganda when I hear it, I promptly changed the channel to watch a college basketball game.

Mount Rushmore of enablers

This was, of course, avoidable. There were many with the authority and opportunity to stop Trump but they fell spectacularly short. A special ire is reserved for these folks:

Unsalvageable legacies. (Photos credit The Press Democrat, WBUR, MSNBC, X, The Weekly Opine)

Mitch McConnell, trying as he may, will never repair his reputation. If he’d acted honorably and convicted the impeached Trump in the Senate, McConnell would have saved America from Trump Part 2. Now, McConnell’s legacy lays ruined, in perpetuity. No amount of whitewashing can fix it. Not a portrait in the U.S. Capitol, not a monument in the Kentucky statehouse, not even a passionate eulogy at his funeral will dissipate the shameful stench emanating from the weak, faux patriot McConnell. You are unforgiveable, Mitch.

I’ve had Merrick Garland on blast for some time now. He is the definition of a cowardly man. If Garland fulfilled his attorney general duty, Trump would be in prison. And violent January 6 convicts, like seditionists Stuart Rhodes and Enrique Tarrio, would not be roaming free in America. Merrick Garland, your table will never be ready.

Don’t forget Fani Willis. The Fulton County, Georgia, district attorney had the best chance to convict Trump. Willis’ prosecution was out of reach from interference by Florida federal Judge Eileen Cannon and the Supreme Court. But Willis’ decision to romance her lead prosecutor derailed a near air-tight case. Willis’ poor judgment might find its place in “Do and Don’t” chapters in law school textbooks. Consequently, the magnitude of Willis’ failure cannot be overstated; by now Trump would be in, or on his way to, a Georgia prison and America would still be rooted in democracy.

Voters. A growing swath of the U.S. electorate are susceptible to propaganda. They cannot discern fiction from facts. How else do you explain a 34x felon occupying the White House? This applies to full-time MAGAs and independents beguiled by Trump’s propaganda. People who did not cast a vote for either Trump or Kamala Harris are accountable, too. Firmly planted on the dark side of history, many voters regret their role in igniting the Musk-Trump fire that’s trying to destroy democracy.

I find it amusing to see red state MAGAs furious at what is happening. Project 2025 foreshadowed what was coming, yet they still voted for Trump. It’s as if they believed they were immune from losing entitlement benefits such as Social Security and Medicaid.

Now, just six weeks into the second Trump administration, the walls close in around us. The only way out of this mess is to imitate the Founding Father’s resolve versus the British.

Resist. Protest loudly. Fight. Do not give in.