TRUMPISM—A
REVERSION TO PAST HORRORS
All it took was Orlando, America’s
worst possible event, to bring out the vile calumny from the scariest man of
our time. A man who would “take us
back,” all right, but not to historical moments that any sane person would
welcome.
One of those times I happen to remember
well.
World
War II was well underway (and I was about 14),
when two elderly Japanese couples
appeared in our Denver
home. I recall how little Mom said about
them, and how they never spoke, and how ghost-like they seemed when they
wandered our house, so quiet we barely felt their presence. I remember being
mesmerized by the way they sat in our kitchen sucking in rice, magically causing
it to rise from rice pot to mouth as though on a conveyor belt. Eventually Mom
got around to explaining that she’d rescued these couples so they’d never have
to go to the nearby internment camps. It was the kind of thing Mom did, with
little or no explanation to anyone, including my brother or me. For this alone
I will always be grateful that she was, at that time, who she was.
For more than half a century America
has felt shame that it imprisoned the Japanese within its borders . . . even
knowing back then that some 62%s were American citizens.
With enough pressure from people like
Trump and yes, Ted Cruz, Americans might be persuaded to “patrol Islamic
neighborhoods.” (Here, the imagination falters). Or worse.
When I first read parts of Trump’s
speech today, and how he not-so-subtly besmirched Obama, it reminded me of another
bygone era, and someone else’s evil words.
Finally it came to me: the early Fifties and Senator Joe McCarthy.
McCarthyism,
defined by Wikipedia, perfectly describes Trump’s behavior: “Demagogic,
reckless, and unsubstantiated accusations, as well as public attacks on the
character or patriotism of political opponents.” With sly hints and innuendo,
this was Trump blaming our president for the events of Orlando. Even suggesting that Obama “knew more than he’s saying,” that he somehow
brought them on.
So Trump wants to take us back to a
different world. To the 1940’s, perhaps, with its internment camps for “public
enemies?” To Joe McCarthy and his libelous, personal accusations? To the investigations of the House
Un-American Activities Committee, with all the careers and lives they destroyed?
Or does he want to establish his own signature,
a personal, “get even” milieu--to inflict on America his distinctive brand of
hate, ignorance, and revenge?
Think about it: Trump isn’t “just
another bad man.” With the millions of
followers he’s generated among Americans, he’s a force to take seriously. Meaning
he’s downright dangerous.
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For more about those days: My memoir, The Tail on my Mother’s Kite, evokes an
era viewed with an equal sense of abandonment, perplexity, and excitement,
overlaid by a child’s determination to become a writer.
