Michael Commane
The US far-right Patriot Radio played excerpts of a speech President Trump gave in Pennsylvania on Tuesday December 10.
The following morning, I found the talk on Trump’s Twitter account. It was over 70 minutes long and I have managed to listen to most of it over the last few days.
I have written columns in criticism of Trump on previous occasions but this talk in the Giant Center at Hershey, Pennsylvania is frightening from a number of perspectives.
Watching the behaviour and antics of the packed stadium was scary. Trump could do no wrong. The more he screamed, the more shouts and insults that came from the man’s mouth, the more the crowd roared in adulation.
When the President of the United States of America calls someone scum, it’s time to get worried. He insulted and belittled many of his political opponents. At one stage he screamed ‘get her out of here’.
Obviously someone in the crowd was objecting to something he said. The way he screamed and how he demeaned the person was frightening beyond belief. Indeed, maybe it was all planned and choreographed. But one way or other, the crowd was ecstatic. The man is the total demagogue.
What is it about the human psyche that seems to enjoy people roaring and screaming, condemning and belittling other people? But whatever it is, this man’s rally in Pennsylvania on December 10 reminded me of many of the Hitler rallies that I have seen on television over the years.
While Trump rambled on for over 70 minutes, apart from telling the people about the state of the economy he continually repeated himself about keeping America great.
From start to finish the people were loving it.
It set me thinking about the sermons of old, when some priests preached hellfire and damnation. Was that akin to the screaming and roaring of Trump? Is it that the mob mentality simply loves blood and guts and it really does not matter what form it takes? Interesting.
Trump is clever. His audience are always the patriots, the great people, the people who are making America great again. And he always manages to praise the military, assuring the crowd that he has rebuilt the army, air force and navy. The enemy is ‘the other’, the peddlers of fake news, the Democrats, the whistle blowers, ‘the elite’. Has no one spotted just how ‘elite’ Trump is? With the priests of old, who preached fire and brimstone, their audiences were the vile ones.
I am also scared when I hear of how many Irish people who are now ardent Trump supporters.
A friend, who is in the United States many years, keeps talking about all that Trump has done for America but he never specifically explains to me how America has improved or how his life has improved.
In the past he voted for the Democrats and played a leading role in the trade-union movement.
He talks these days about how America has reclaimed its sense of pride in the world. True, unemployment has fallen. Maybe that’s Trump’s secret: ‘the economy, stupid’.
US Catholic bishops are no great friends of Trump. And no doubt they are playing a clever game with him. I’m wondering has any US bishop objected to Trump calling a person ‘scum’?
And then the so-called patriotic music that is played at his rallies.
That too reminds me of the music that was played at Hitler rallies.
And guess what, Trump will win next November’s US presidential election.
1 comment:
Is God hiding in the bushes?
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