Frankenstein's Monster Revisited 5/31/24

 “You submit to tyranny when you renounce

the difference between what you want to hear

and what is actually the case.”

- Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny

May 31st, 2024

Two things happened yesterday that were noteworthy.

The first, former President Donald J. Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican party, was convicted on 34 felony charges. 

A jury of ordinary American citizens in Manhattan found Trump guilty of falsifying business records and concealing a sex scandal, in order to illegally influence the 2016 election.

These criminal charges come on top of Trump already being found liable for both sexual assault and financial fraud in civil courts. 

It should be obvious to anyone paying attention that this man is a criminal and not fit for office.

It should be obvious...

But let's talk about the second noteworthy event from yesterday.

The results of a poll conducted earlier in May, were coincidentally released on the same day as Trump's conviction.

An NPR/PBS/Marist Poll (May 21-23, 2024) asked how a conviction, specifically in the criminal "Hush Money Trial," would impact their decision of whether to vote for Trump or not. 

Here are some of the findings of that poll:

Republican voters, in the event of a Trump conviction

• 52% said they are more likely to vote for him
• 10% said they are less likely to vote for him
• 64% said it will make no difference in how they vote

Let's look at that number again, and really just let it rattle around in our skulls.

The poll found that 52% of Republicans say they are more likely to vote for Donald Trump if he is convicted. Most of the rest of them said it wouldn't make any difference at all in how they voted.

That means, that if you know two Republicans, chances are that one of them is more likely to vote for a convicted felon (don't forget civilly liable rapist and fraudster) because he was convicted. And the other one is just as likely to vote for him. 

The lions share of the Republican party is more devoted to this one man than the rule of law, or let's face it, any rules of decency, or morality.

Doesn't make any sense, does it?

Unless you remember the lesson of Frankenstein's Monster from Ch. 8

Because Trump isn't the cause of this devotion. He is a symptom. A natural expression of something much deeper. He's a con man who fell ass backwards into a giant crowd of groomed and conditioned devotees, just waiting for a "Strongman" to follow. 

Consider...

If you teach your children that profit and power are more important than fairness, equality, basic human rights or the environment, it's a recipe for sociopathy. But what I just described is simply Milton Friedman's Theory of Shareholder Supremacy that we talked about in Ch. 13 (The History and Philosophy of Economic Extractionism). 

If you teach your children that it is right and even preferable to be subject to an authority greater than yourself, that should never be questioned and always obeyed, it's a recipe for blind obedience. But what I just described is simply a patriarchal household in a patriarchal society. 

If you teach your children to believe in authority without question. To believe on bad evidence, in the absence of evidence, or in spite of evidence to the contrary... it's a recipe for magical, delusional thinking. An end, or at least a slowing of critical thinking. But what I just described is simply the indoctrination that happens in religious organizations. 

Most of these people have never read Milton Friedman. For that matter, most of them have probably never read the Bible. But they don't need to.

They have been groomed and conditioned from birth, every day at home, at work and at church. Steeped for decades in patriarchal and religious ideologies that teach them that some people are inherently better than others, that might is right. Immersed in a neoliberal capitalist culture that teaches them that profit and power is more important than, well, anything. 

None of this is accidental.

Patriarchy has been kept alive in order to ensure that the men who have always had power, keep that power. The magical thinking and blind obedience of religious ideologies has been kept alive to ensure that these people (also mostly men) and organizations are kept in wealth and power. Neoliberal capitalism has been kept alive so that the people with money get more money/power at the expense of our communities and our environment. 

But we can no longer ignore the danger that is baked into these ideologies. 

The danger of a Frankenstein's Monster is that it is composed of millions of people who have collectively been conditioned to sociopathy, delusional thinking, and unquestioning obedience. Millions of people that have been primed to blindly follow the first "Strongman" that comes along. 

To be clear, most of these people, viewed individually are just normal red-blooded American.

But together, under the flag of Trumpism, there is the potential for truly dangerous mass delusion and violence. 

To Substack readers, this may seem like a hyperbolic rant. But I really don't think it is. There is plenty of evidence to support each of my assertions. If anyone wants to have a good faith conversation in the comments section, I am happy to provide citations and talk further. 

Regular content will start up tomorrow. Thanks for reading. This is something I felt needed to be said. And a better world absolutely depends upon our ability to address this madness and have conversations based on reality and not delusion.