One of the most disturbing things about Donald Trump’s now decade-long domination of American politics is how he is turning so many people into copies of himself. I’ll grant you that a good percentage of the population was already morbidly obese, had a terrible diet, spent way too much time on social media, were ignorant of American history, suffered from myriad physical ailments, were slipping into early-stage dementia, and knew nothing about foreign countries or cultures. But now, Trump is masterfully convincing Americans of all political bents to abandon their long-held beliefs and think only “how does this benefit me?”
It has been dumbfounding watching people twist themselves into logic pretzels, especially during Trump’s second term, to defend or attack the President’s decisions and actions. What it means to be a Republican and a Democrat has been completely flipped on its head from what those parties stood for as recently as the Obama administration. And the driving factor has been “MAGA all the way!!” or “Orange man bad!!” mindsets.
In just this term alone, Trump has caused liberals to ally themselves with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and the Islamic Republic of Iran–groups and a nation that do not uphold any of what liberals would consider to be their “values” (like women’s rights, same-sex marriage, free-speech, and separation of church and state)–but because Trump opposes the idea of replacing Israel with Palestine, it’s the only allies they have. Heck, he even got LGBTQA+ people to support those hardcore Islamic groups that would kill them if they ever actually met face-to-face!
Meanwhile, Republicans that spent decades of their lives warning of Russian aggression everywhere in the world–especially in Europe–must be met with full opposition are now insisting that Ukraine happily hand over its sovereign territory to Vladimir Putin’s invading forces just because Trump supports that idea, and includes it in every “peace plan” the US tries to force Volodymyr Zelinsky accept. Meanwhile, America’s previous biggest Russia lover–Senator Bernie Sanders–is 100% opposed to letting Putin secure any additional land.
Trump again put liberals in a tough spot by giving the go-ahead to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro–whom the Biden administration labeled a “narco-terrorist” and had a 25-million dollar bounty on his head–making them look like they were upset that a dictator that was destroying his country was removed from power. But that came after Trump had pardoned former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez–who had been convicted of also running cartels trafficking drugs to the United States–leaving Republicans to look like hypocrites for defending that move, but then cheering lustily for the Maduro arrest, claiming “Trump was being tough on drugs”. Then when Trump announced that “we will be running Venezuela for awhile”, Republicans that used to support “nation building in the interest of United States security” before Trump’s first term, but then did a 180 on that stance when he announced that the US was getting out of that business in Afghanistan, were first to get back on-board with the idea.
Hardcore opponents of international trade agreements who argued that it destroyed American manufacturing have completely flipped and now vehemently oppose tariffs on imported products because it’s Trump’s idea. And free-trade supporters who promised it would lower costs for all consumers are supporting Trump’s effort to sink international free enterprise and jack up prices.
Most befuddling is how stances on Constitutional rights have been completely thrown out the window in just the past few weeks. Pre-Donald Trump, how many Republicans would be cool with masked federal agents grabbing people off the streets, entering homes without judicial warrants, and openly stating that people should be prepared to show proof of citizenship upon demand at any time? Remember the outrage from those folks when they were told they would need to present proof of Covid vaccination or a negative Covid test to go certain places? Now “let me see your papers” is okee-dokee? I sure hope the companies that make “Come back with a warrant” doormats don’t go out of business this year–or can at least find enough Democrats to become new customers to keep open the production lines.
Trump has even managed to turn the debate over gun rights on its head. The discussion about Alex Pretti being armed at the time of his shooting death by ICE agents has me wondering if I have somehow been transported into the Bizarro World of the Superman comics. People who have been Second Amendment absolutists for decades are suddenly carving out “exceptions” to that which they never would have accepted before. There has been no outcry from them over the agents taking the gun away–and still shooting Pretti. When President Trump said “You can’t have a gun at a protest” even the Heritage Foundation agreed with him. However, there were no such claims when multiple photos and videos showed January 6th rioters packing heat while beating the hell out of Capitol Police.
Of course, liberals that decried the arming of the Jan 6 crew are suddenly defending Pretti’s decision to arm himself while confronting federal agents. People whom I never thought I would hear supporting gun rights are now clearly stating “Alex Pretti had every right to have a gun”. Again, it looks like the companies that make the “We only have a First Amendment because of the Second Amendment” t-shirts and wall posters are going to have to find a way to get into the social media feeds of liberals from now on to sell their wares.
This unmooring of the American electorate from deeply-held beliefs is concerning. Alexander Hamilton warned early Americans that if they believe in nothing, they will fall for anything. Donald Trump believes in nothing except satisfying his own whims–and we are falling into the trap of letting those whims determine what we believe in, even if it changes every other day.
