Strange Fruit

Posted on Updated on by Geoff CarterCategories:Michael DiMilo, Politics

Artwork by Michael DiMilo

By Geoff Carter

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

–Thomas Jefferson

Politics is a strange business everywhere but has become especially peculiar in America. Thomas Jefferson’s Tree of Liberty has been bearing strange fruit. 

In the past, our democracy has produced great and visionary leaders like Abe Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and Thomas Jefferson, but has also enabled the likes of Huey Long, Joe McCarthy, and Richard Nixon into seats of power. In short, the whims and appetites of the American people are unpredictable and sometimes brilliant—or lucky—at best, but short-sighted, selfish, and even moronic at their worst. 

American politics is part idealism, part benevolence, part vision, and part courage, but it is also part mendacity, part egotism, part huckstering, part pandering, part power brokering, and part—a big part—profiteering. There was a time when Americans looked to their leaders for hope and guidance. There was a time when they were trusted. That time might well have passed.

During World War II, Franklin Roosevelt led America out of the Great Depression and guide them to victory over the Axis Powers. Abraham Lincoln almost single-handedly held the Union together during the Civil War, was instrumental in forcing through the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, and insisted on implementing a fair and just Reconstruction. 

Although Lincoln was a beloved figure at the beginning of his second term, had it not been for last-minute Union victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, he might very well not have been re-elected. George McClellan might have been elected, and slavery would have existed for at least fifty more years in America. But such are the vagaries of politics, subject to the will of a fickle, short-sighted, and often scatterbrained electorate. 

Sometimes the American electorate chooses leaders for less than logical reasons. JFK was an able president and gifted politician, but part—a good part—of the reason he was elected was because he was good-looking and charismatic. Ronald Reagan was a former movie star whose appeal was rooted in the same pretty-boy sensibility. Arnold Schwarzenegger, because of his notoriety as a popular action star, served as governor (and a pretty good one) of California. It seems as if the voters like those larger-than-life heroic figures (never mind their qualifications). Even professional wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura was elected as the governor of Minnesota on the strength of his celebrity. Luckily, Ventura, Reagan, Arnold, and JFK were good and decent men—maybe the voters recognized that, maybe not, but we haven’t always been so lucky (especially recently) with our celebrity politicians.

Politicians like Senator Joe McCarthy, and Governors George Wallace and Orval Faubus came to power by sowing fear, distrust, and racism amongst the American people, and they did it well. Wallace and Faubus were staunch supporters of segregation in the South, resisting the integration of public schools and universities in their states to the point where the federal government had to intercede to implement integration.

Senator Joe McCarthy stoked fears of communism in 1950s America with his Un-American Activities Committee, which was in actuality no more than an inquisition. His red-baiting and Senate Committee hearings resulted in the devastation of dozens of careers for writers, actors, career politicians, and more. 

McCarthy left office in disgrace after being censured by the Senate for his actions in 1954. While Wallace and Faubus’s were still popular their home states, and Wallace emerged into the national spotlight after being humiliated by the Kennedy Administration at the University of Alabama, they had been checked by the institutions that they served—McCarthy by the U.S. Senate and the governors by the federal government in defense of the Constitution.

As pointed out by Rachel Maddow in her podcast Ultra, Catholic priest and Nazi sympathizer Father Coughlin, who professed antisemitic sentiments on his radio show, was ultimately disciplined and in the end, defrocked. While it took its sweet time doing it, the Church finally took it upon itself to muzzle and finally expel the rabble rouser. The Senatefinally censured McCarthy for his unfounded accusations of Communist collusion against American citizens. Institutional discipline of teachers, police officers, doctors, or lawyers is common. School boards, fire and police commissions, the AMA, or Bar Association will—as they should—police their members. 

All of this begs the question of who will discipline an ex-president indicted of ninety-one felony counts, constantly violates court-orders gag rules, and continues to impart the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Despite—or perhaps because of—his legal problems. Donald Trump holds a considerable lead in the polls for the Republican nominee for president. Politics is indeed a strange business.

Since his indictments, Trump has been spewing vile and threats all over social media. The courts have tried some half-measures to muzzle him, issuing fines for the violations, but these are in amounts that are no more than chump change for Trump. He has, for all intents and purposes, ignored these orders, even though there is a possibility his actions could result in the revocation of his bail. 

Trump has already declared that if he is re-elected in 2024, his first actions will be to appoint his own people into the Justice Department for the express purpose of going after his political enemies and revamping the “deep state” (APNews). 

Immediately after the 2020 election, he called to “suspend the Constitution” (APNews), an action for which he was roundly rebuked at the time. There doesn’t seem to be any reason to think he wouldn’t try to do so again.

The reason for Trump’s popularity and status as the dominant frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination is—to say the least—puzzling. Here is a man who has been indicted for ninety-one felonies, who has consistently lied to the electorate, who has been accused of sexual assault, who has bullied and demeaned anyone who gets in his way, who has encouraged the white supremacist groups The Proud Boys and Oathkeepers to commit acts of violence, and who has used the office of the presidency for his own personal profit. 

Donald Trump has also been indicted for deliberately inciting a riot at the Capitol Building to prevent the certification of the 2020 election. He tried to stage a coup by overturning a legal election. There is probably no one in the country less fit to be president than Donald Trump, yet he leads all other contenders in the polls. There it is. 

As is the case with Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Franken, and other celebrity politicians, Trump’s brand has paved the way for his political success. But, unlike those listed above, Trump is neither committed to the public welfare nor concerned with the rule of law. He has no vision, no policy, no leadership qualities. He has spoken (in similar rhetoric to Mussolini and Hitler) of eliminating the “vermin” in our country. 

If the American people do not recognize the danger of reelecting this man—and a surprisingly large number of Republicans don’t, what safeguards do we as a country have? The obvious answer is the Republican Party, who is supporting Trump as its nominee. If they would refuse his nomination, and God knows they have ample grounds, he would have to run as an independent, and his chances of gaining the White House would be greatly diminished. There have been isolated voices calling for Republicans to disavow the maverick Trump, but his draw with the conservative voting base is too powerful. Taking a stand against him, as Liz Cheney courageously did, proved to be political suicide. 

Maybe it could be said that if we reelect Donald Trump, we deserve what we get—but no one deserves that. The voters have been hoodwinked before, and it could very well happen again. It’s up to our institutions to police themselves, to purge those unworthy to be in their ranks. It may cost the Republicans elections and jobs in the short term, but it might save our country in the long term. And after all, that’s why they’re in Washington—not to make a career, but to protect our country. If they allow things to go on as they have, the tree of liberty will be providing some very strange fruit indeed.

Notes

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