When Rallygoers Cheer Trump’s Venomous Attacks on Women, Military Heroes, Dedicated Government Professionals, and Even the Deceased.
Why do rally supporters – including young women, men and even children brought by their parents – laugh and clap for the slander he spews? Don’t they realize that their faces are now permanently engraved in televised clips of such acts? Cheering for Trump’s policies, plans – and his successes – is their incontestible right. Laughing at hatred is a tragedy. Putting future college acceptances, scholarships, jobs and relationships at risk, to what end?
When I see women at Trump rallies cheering for his cruel and profane attacks on others, I just shake my head in wonder. These same women love their children, whether they are gay or straight, able bodied or disabled. They teach their children to love, to be respectful and law abiding. How they can cheer for a man who admits to abusing women, encourages violence, breaks the law in word and deed, and is so beneath the dignity of his office boggles my mind. It’s truly a sad sight.” – NYT Comment on Republican Women Are in Crisis, 12/31/2019
Evangelical Christianity Today Magazine & poet Charles Baudelaire provide thoughtful perspective. [Over seventy-six percent of White Evangelical Christians allegedly support Donald Trump. But how/when was such research conducted? Do samples include younger Evangelicals who feel betrayed by the President’s environmental policies and/or his constant attacks on women?]
“None of the president’s positives can balance the moral and political danger we face under a leader of such grossly immoral character…His Twitter feed alone — with its habitual string of mischaracterizations, lies, and slanders–is a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused…
“To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come?” – Christianity Today Magazine Editorial by Editor-in-Chief Mark Galli, 12/19/2019
And Baudelaire:
He trifles with the winds and with the clouds that glide,
About the way unto the Cross, he loves to sing,
The spirit on his pilgrimage ; that faithful guide,
Oft weeps to see him joyful like a bird of Spring.All those that he would cherish shrink from him with fear,
And some that waxen bold by his tranquility,
Endeavour hard some grievance from his heart to tear,
And make on him the trial of their ferocity.– Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867), “The Flowers of Evil” – A collection of poems published in 1857.
FYI = 1/09/2020 – Justice Dept. winds down Hillary Clinton-related inquiry once championed by Trump. It found nothing of consequence – on the very day that Trump rally supporters again chant “Lock Her Up.” (“Lock her up!” the crowd at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday night chanted. “You should lock her up, I’ll tell you,” Trump agreed. https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/politics/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-justice-department/)