I spent quite a bit of time with the late Republican Senator Jesse Helms. Remember him?
He was a really charming guy. I'm not kidding.
I shadowed him for a full day once for a Public TV documentary I was doing on the New Right...back in 1984.
Jesse knew every single employee of his Senate office building by their first name and stopped to warmly chat with any one of them he'd encounter. He'd talk about details of their lives that only someone who genuinely cared would even remember.
Ironically, at least 80 percent of these people were black.
For those who don't remember Jesse Helms, he was an unabashed racist and arch-conservative--at least publicly. He was without a doubt the most mean-spirited demagogue of his time and was considered as polarizing a figure as George Wallace.
But Helms was more powerful than Wallace ever was because he was a senior member of the Senate and a powerful committee chair who carried clout. Legislation he disliked rarely got past the upper house of congress.
Flash forward 30 years, and we have Donald Trump. He's right out of Jesse Helms' playbook.
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| If I didn't know better I'd say when this man died, his spirit took over Donald Trump. Hopefully, he'll wind up as a footnote to American history once again.. |
A big daddy type who is charming as hell in private, but has a heart of black publicly. His race baiting and xenophobia is the same as Helms'. Trump's demagoguery is on the same par.
But a couple of things about Donald Trump are far more frightening than anything about Jesse Helms ever was.
Senator Helms was an honorable man and was genuine. Trump is a total fraud. And to him, there is no empirical truth. There is just truthiness.
Whatever he says, is the reality of the moment. He is a complete crazy-maker and has no personal character or love of country. He is completely transactional and always does what is expedient for him. He projects his own character flaws onto his rivals.
Continuing to denigrate the United States and its greatness, and insisting that our election system is rigged, is not befitting of a presidential candidate.
As a poll worker myself, I resent this complete fool's accusation. I can personally testify to how much integrity is built into our election system. But I'm sure Donald Trump has never worked at a polling place, so he really has no clue.
His claims are inciting the most deplorable of his followers to violence if he loses. And don't be surprised when it happens.
Just listen to the vitriol at his rallies and his promises to jail Hillary Clinton if he's--by some fluke-- elected. Trump's even implied that she should be assassinated if he's not.
Why does this old man, who refuses to age gracefully, seem to want an armed revolt? Hasn't he gotten enough fun out of his nihilistic life? Does he have to take the world down with him as he passes from it?
His narcissism tells him yes.
Trump's supporters seem completely blind to him. And though they are in actuality just a loud minority, it's a thoroughly dangerous cohort.
He has them whipped up and believing anything he says. He continues to pee on their leg, tell them it's raining, and they buy it.
Back to '1984'.
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