Trump Creates a Subhuman Monster and It Continues To Rage

 

“How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form?”

– Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Today is January 12, 2021. The pandemic rages, and chaos rules the government. Still, President Trump is non-responsive. He has led a deadly insurrection in a coup on the Capitol and on Congress. He continues to resist efforts to make him concede the election. Plus, through all of the unrest and reports of right-wing militias gearing up for further armed confrontation, Trump refuses to address the nation and call for peace and an end to his cult of foolish resistance.

As America suffers the damage led by Trump, most of his backers condemn the violence, but at the same time do not hold the president responsible. Rather, they say they understand the anger behind it, expressing their own outrage with what they believe was a fraudulent election won by Democrat Joe Biden.

Without any evidence, the Trump minions blame the violence perpetrated by the mob in D.C. on January 6, 2021, on left wing protesters. They stubbornly and foolilshly hold on to Trump's ridiculous claims that Antifa was behind the attack. And, instead of condemning Trump's divisive rhetoric, they express little hope that the country will unify anytime soon. For them, the beat goes on and the insurrection continues.

Despite the fact that Trump is a present danger to democracy, few of these Trump supporters are prepared to abandon him. They cannot come to terms with condemning his lies, conspiracies, and dangerous actions. They, instead, claim that dark forces stole the election and now they claim retribution.

Part of this Cult of Trump – heavily armed men sporting Trump regalia, hoisting Confederate and American flags, and bellowing curses and threats of revolt – are expected to continue to rage through the streets of the nation’s capital and other cities in the very near future. There are reports of armed groups planning to gather at all 50 state capitols and in Washington DC in the run-up to his 20 January inauguration.

Some Trump supporters say they are tired of being wrongly labeled as ignorant, violent or racist. They reject largely peaceful Black Lives Matter protests and see the destruction of property in those protests as something Democrats didn’t really condemn. In other words, they view the right-wing mob as a necessary agent of revenge for their anger. They continue calls for White privilege, and this uncomfortable parallel underpins their undying support for Trump.

Trump supporter Anslee Payne, a 34-year-old mother of two in a rural town in northern Georgia says …

“I’m sad for our country and for what it is going to come to, but this is just the doorway into what is going to happen because people don’t understand what is going on and they don’t know what to believe in anymore,”

“None of us believe in the violent aspect of what happened yesterday. Are we all gun owners? Absolutely. Do we all support the N.R.A.? Absolutely. But will we go storm the Capitol with our guns blazing? No.”

In contrast, 22-year-old security guard Lamesa, Avan Daughrity of Lubbock, Texas, said he can only envision more strife ahead after Biden takes office. He says …

“I’m talking about Civil War. Things in the U.S. are going to get pretty intense.”

(Brad Brooks and Nathan Layne. “Trump's fans condemn violence, but they aren't about to blame him.” Reuters. January 08, 2021.)

Many angry Trump Republicans – including members of militia groups and others who say they have “had enough” of whatever they have been told by Trump is wrong – choose to embrace the desperate efforts of their defeated president to stay in office after losing an election that wasn't even that close. They are willing to be dead wrong for Trump as they reject what is right – a peaceful transfer of power.

One midwestern Republican who travelled to Washington by coach with other Trump supporters to demand Biden’s victory be annulled – and who declined to be named for fear of arrest – said Trump had nothing to apologize for and neither did the protesters demanding that Congress “audit the vote” even though the president’s campaign has been unable to produce credible evidence of rigging.

The activist who declined to say if they were among those who broke into the Capitol said …

“The election has been stolen, what else were people supposed to do? We went to court and the courts wouldn’t even look at the evidence. We asked Mitch (McConnell, the Senate majority leader) and Republican leaders to hit pause on declaring Biden the winner and to look at the evidence, and they wouldn’t. So what choice were we left with?”

(Chris McGreal. “Condemnation – and support: Trump's midwest base split by Capitol attack.” The Guardian. January 10, 2021.)

Excuses for the terrible violence, destruction, and death on January 6 are hollow. They are rooted in misguided thinking and outright lies. Trump successfully manipulated his followers and instilled in them a mob mentality that raged out of control. They embraced his wicked creation and gladly did Trump's will.

"I beheld the wretch – the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped and rushed downstairs.

“I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited, where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life."

– Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Chapter 5)

Creating his own Frankenstein monster, Trump must own his responsibility for the indelible damage that occurred during his coup. In Mary Shelley's famous Gothic novel, Victor Frankenstein attempts to surge beyond accepted human limits and access the secret of life. In doing so, his act of creation eventually results in the destruction of everyone dear to him.

Likewise, Trump's political creation of aggressive right-wing supporters threatens to destroy people as it surges beyond the limits of law and order. Eventually, Trump's monster will consume him, his faithful, and, perhaps, the Republican Party.

"The cold stars shone in mockery, and the bare trees waved their branches above me; now and then the sweet voice of a bird burst forth amidst the universal stillness. All, save I, were at rest or in enjoyment; I, like the arch-fiend, bore a hell within me, and finding myself unsympathized with, wished to tear up the trees, spread havoc and destruction around me, and then to have sat down and enjoyed the ruin."

– Victor Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Chapter 16)

The truth is no one knows the extent of the ruin that has been hellishly birthed by Donald Trump. Proud Boys, Evangelicals, Fox pundits, the NRA, plus Las Vegas Sands and even Disney donors are part of the unholy alliance. They raise high their banners of support for Jesus, guns, and revolution. They claim they “own this country” while calling for more walls, power, and money. Like their glorious leader, they vow never to concede. Trump will be banished soon, but it is they – Trump's wicked creation – that we must fear as it stalks our streets in the future.