Stephan: I am sure you all saw those weird, perhaps pathetically psychotic would be the correct description, bubble gum cards portraying Trump in a variety of superhero roles. It tells you a lot about Trump's sense of his own manhood that he would do such a thing for money, but what stood out for me was not that he did this embarrassing grift but that the cards sold out at $99 a pack in 24 hours. That told me that there are still millions of overwhelmingly White Americans who, in spite of the endless unraveling of Trump's endless criminality, still live in the MAGAt fantasy world. As this article describes Trump is a symptom, like a plague pustule, not the actual disease that afflicts American society.
Supporters wait for the arrival of former U.S. President Donald Trump during an event at his Mar-a-Lago home on November 15, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty
The American people — or a great many of them, at least — believe they can finally see the end of the fascist fever dream they have been lost in for these last seven years. It’s a cruel illusion; escape from the waking dream-nightmare is much farther away than it appears.
It is true that large numbers of Americans tried to reorient and steady themselves by voting in favor of “democracy” in the midterm elections. But most people in this country remain punch-drunk, confused by the trauma and abuse they’ve been bombarded with during the Age of Trump.
As for Trump himself and the neofascist movement and larger white right, they are largely undeterred by that electoral setback. Their existential threat to American democracy and society has by no means ended, and if anything they are amplifying their attacks. We cannot return to “normal” through a state of denial or […]
It appears, from what I have ben reading, that Trump may well end up in jail after all; and I thank God if that happens.