In The Neighborhood

Trump’s rally tonight in Washington Township, Michigan, a town on the outskirts of Detroit that nonetheless is 95% White, should provide a vivid display of the specter that will be our routine until November.

After his manic meltdown with the Fox and Friends crew the other day, it’s a pretty good bet that White House staff – actually, is there anybody left who advises him? Kelly perhaps, if he hasn’t completely thrown in the towel – are imploring L’Enfant Terrible to relax and stay closer to Planet Earth. The odds of him following such entreaties resemble the chances of Promises Fulfilled winning the Derby next Saturday.

Our POTUS has a lot he wants to tell us; unfortunately it’s the same five or six things over and over, and nothing has much to do with anything other than his rabid paranoia and disconnection. The impossible path to 270, the witch hunt, who should go to jail, Mexican rapists, his bestest enemy Rocket Man, and our historic Trumpian economic revival should form the base of the evening’s rant. Throw in a sprinkle of slander against John Tester for his role in getting Jackson pulled as VA Chief, the usual ugliness toward the 4th estate, and some frothing about how ungrateful our allies are, and there you have it…a two-hour fact-free fiasco, that will have even his most ardent denizens wishing they were at church, or watching paint dry somewhere quiet.

We all need some degree of validation about our answers to the questions that confront us. I suppose whether you’re a stable, decent sort depends on how much validation you need and what are the answers you need assurance about. Leaders possess more confidence and require less validation. The less secure need more reinforcement, often seeking to reduce others in the bargain. M. Scott Peck, the psychologist, who authored the seminal work “The Road Less Traveled” notes that the evil among us protect their status any way possible, often lying and projecting their shortcomings on others – scapegoating.

Trump rallies are a mutual coping mechanism for the POTUS and his wretched core. The mob needs someone to keep telling them things are not their fault. Their lives and families are victims of social and economic progress, which never had to happen, but for all the agitators, who saw problems where none existed. Trump, like the Fox/AM personalities they love and trust, is proof positive their parents were right about who to blame. And now he’s brave enough to yell it from the rafters, a true hero, who they empowered to work for them. He’s going to get us back to when life was still good, when the answers weren’t important because the questions didn’t matter.

For his part, Trump gets two hours of adulation that assures him the only thing that counts is being well liked, just like Willie Loman. After all, isn’t that what all of his enemies are attacking him for? They hate me because I’m popular! They’ve always been jealous; that’s why the fake media is against me…look at all these people… with signs!! And lines outside that can’t get in… the fire Marshall says so. They love my straight talk. I’m so brave! Look at all I’ve sacrificed!

Perhaps there is a silver lining we can take out of these grotesque affairs. Even if we don’t need validation to know Trump is not normal and his supporters are whack, we can take an inventory on truths we once took for granted and make certain to defend and promote them. And moving forward we can walk the walk and not tolerate the notion that questions about basic social justice and decency are still open for debate just because Tucker Carlson says so.

Trump rallies are shocking proof that simply ignoring morons can be disasterous to the republic. There’s the guy running around naked squawking like a chicken, and there’s the guy running around, squawking like a chicken in my backyard. The first doesn’t matter, the second you have to deal with. Washington Township IS our backyard! BC