Illustration by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
As a people, Americans are pretty good at ignoring things. Typically, if we see a couple creating a scene on the street, we’ll ignore it. If we see a child having a major tantrum in the store, we’ll ignore it. If we see someone peeing on the subway, we’ll turn away (and probably get off at the next stop). If we see a homeless guy in the street ranting at the air, we’ll keep walking without making eye contact. If we see a purse snatcher getting away, most of us would let it go—and maybe, just maybe call the cops. The truth is we don’t like to get involved. Getting involved means trouble. Who wants that?
Nobody wants trouble–especially the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate who have been ignoring the progressively demented rants of their party leader—President Donald J. Trump.
In our age of rancorous political discourse, calling the president nuts or demented or unhinged might seem to be just another example of partisanship, but this is no hyperbole. This is reality. The president’s grip on reality is slipping, and—like so many seniors—his filters (faulty at best) have gone completely south.
Last week, an extremely racist AI video of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, portraying Jeffries wearing a sombrero and sporting a turned-up mustache standing in the White House driveway—which looks like it came from the mind of a twelve-year-old—emerged on social media. Assuming Trump is behind it, he has lost whatever modicums of decency and decorum he might have had. When I saw it, I could almost see Trump and his cronies Steven Miller, Russel Vought, and Pete Hegseth huddled together and snickering like a bunch of naughty seventh-graders as it posted.
There has been some headshaking and tongue-clucking from the media and democrats, but the incident will be forgotten in three or four days, exactly like the way we choose to ignore the misbehaving child or the ranting homeless guy.
The president further embarrassed the American people last week during his visit to the United Nations. When the escalator on which he was riding stopped suddenly (caused by one of his people triggering an emergency stop), he immediately brought up the accusation of sabotage. When the teleprompter (operated by the White House) didn’t work, he once again blamed someone else, saying someone was going to be in big trouble. He eventually even threatened to sue or jail those responsible. As if this childish tirade wasn’t bad enough, he went ahead and delivered one of the most demeaning and insulting speeches imaginable (PBS).
He claimed to have “ended seven years” even though several of them are still going on. He stated that some countries were “going to hell” because of their immigration policies. He berated countries like the U.K. and France who support the formation of a Palestinian state. He described climate change as “the greatest hoax in the world” (PBS). Never mind truth, science, or common human decency. And what did we do to address this insanity? We turned a blind eye.
Then, over the weekend, another AI post, supposedly from Fox News, appeared in which President Trump endorsed the “medbed”, based on a QAnon fringe theory belief that magical beds that can cure any disease and even grow back missing limbs, cure disease, and even reverse the aging process not only exist, but would soon be available to every American. Whether or not the president was responsible for this post is unclear. He did, however, amplify his support the medbed on Truth Social. And we’re letting it go.
This was on the heels of a news conference in which the president warned pregnant women not to take acetaminophen (əˌsiːtəˈmɪnəfən), or Tylenol, without the benefit of any scientific evidence to support his claim. This tirade was characterized by a renowned pediatrician researcher as “…the most dangerously irresponsible press conference in the realm of public health in American history.” (PBS).
Of course, this was Mr. Trump’s first foray into medical advice. During the Covid epidemic, this was the man who recommended injecting people with bleach and shining light into the body to kill the coronavirus.
So, we’ve been listening to this nonsense—this dangerous and deadly nonsense—for years. And, like the subway riders or the shoppers turning away from the screaming child, we’ve been turning a blind eye toward the irrational, confused, and increasingly unhinged behaviors of arguably the most powerful man in the world. And we’ve done nothing. We turn away. Out of sight, out of mind.
His recent behavior seems to be worsening. The medbed incident and the UN debacles are only the tip of iceberg. When asked about how the Alligator Alcatraz detention center was going to a time frame for detainees, the president went into a long diatribe about how much he loved living in Florida.
During the 2024 campaign, he spent one town hall not talking policy (as if he ever does) or fielding questions, but instead did his odd swaying dance to piped-in music. At another event, he spent twelve minutes talking about golfer Arnold Palmer’s genitalia.
As USA Today’s Rex Hupple stated, “that’s the sort of thing you hear before having to make a difficult decision about grandpa’s future.”
The lies, the corruption, the attack on government institutions, the mass firings, the attacks on universities and law firms, January 6th, the flaunting of the rule of law, the bullying, the abuse of the National Guard, the appointment of simpletons and charlatans like Robert Kennedy, Jr., Kristi Noem, and Pete Hegseth are not the indications of a sane and orderly mind. We all know it. We can see it. Why aren’t we doing anything about it?
As Americans, we haven’t faced any serious threats to our democracy since the Civil War. Sure, there has been civil unrest, but that’s actually a sign of a healthy democracy. We had Watergate, another instance of a president’s abuse of power, but in that case, our system of checks and balances actually worked. Our democracy has been strong and resilient enough to ward off all former threats. Until now.
Why aren’t we reacting now? Has our two-party system become so mired in the tar pit of unbridled corporate funding that they would rather keep their positions than serve their constituents? Are they simply waiting for Trump’s term to run out? The people have at least been out in the street, protesting and advocating for their rights and convening town halls, but the majority isn’t listening. They are turning a blind eye.
As Americans who have been so well-insulated by the checks and balances of our Constitution, we might be finding ourselves ill-equipped to handle this attack. Maybe we’ve gotten soft and complacent. Maybe we’re thinking, “This can’t be happening in America. This could never happen in America—because we’re Americans, where at least we know we’re free.”
We are once again turning a blind eye to not only an inconvenient truth, but to a clear and present danger. At what point do we react? When the bum in the subway pisses on our shoes or when the kid throwing the tantrum starts kicking us in the legs? When our media is blacked out and replaced by one government station? When dozens more “detention centers” are built? When the new police force drags away protestors who never come back? When mass graves are found? What’s it going to take?
Seems a lot like the creeping fascism of 1935 Germany doesn’t it? The average German or American wants to believe that it can’t possibly get “that bad”. Perhaps we have the hope that our cult leader is a dottering old fool, unlike Hitler who was a fairly vigorous monster. You focus Geoff on domestic matters, but foreign adventurism is also rampant, generally cloaked through plausible deniability when it is channeled through proxy regimes and covert actions. These actions come home to roost also (imperial boomerang).
Yeah, it’s amazing to me how complacent people are being, doing their everyday stuff like everything is normal. I think it’s going to have to bite them in the ass before some take it seriously.