There is a good reason presidents before Mr. Trump did not directly attack the political parties of their opposing side in public comments.
Unlike our representatives, the president is one person who represents the entire U.S. And so, when speaking to the people, past presidents have felt it was their duty and obligation to attempt to act as a unifying influence, following the Biblical motto, “If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”
They might openly oppose policies promoted by the opposition but they would present that opposition in a way that explained why those laws and proposals were what was best for all Americans.
But Mr. Trump has no use for that formality. He constantly engages in unapologetic and full throated partisan attacks that intentionally work to divide, and thus weaken, this nation, much of it pure trolling. And in proclaiming this seething hatred of half this nation’s citizens, he may be paving the way toward the worst possible outcome.
For our Mr. Trump, dividing and trolling this nation has been a key part of his playbook since the beginning. In many of his first speeches you could literally hear him parroting the commentaries of radical conservative talking heads like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and those found on AM talk radio — sometimes word for word.
And as anyone who has read or listened to that kind of commentary knows, followers are being exposed to depictions of Democrats as an evil and radical “enemy within.” (If you want to understand one of the ways someone like Trump could become president just consider what it would be like to be one of those millions of Americans who have used that kind of propaganda as their only source of “news” for most of their adult lives.)
Examples: During his Memorial Day message to Americans in May 2025, he stated, “Happy Memorial Day to all, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country.” And on our last July 4th: “They (Democrats) hate Trump. But I hate them, too. You know that? I really do, I hate them. I cannot stand them, because I really believe they hate our country.” And a few weeks ago: “Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly Incompetent, Dumocrat Party!”
Now, with our 250th celebration upon us, instead of one unified nonpartisan event we have to choose between “freedom 250,” a Donald Trump event offering “entertainment” attempting to spread awareness of his genius-like accomplishments along with the evils of the Democratic party and his own political version of what makes our country great and …America250, a celebration created for all of us to enjoy, irrespective of our party and beliefs.
To launch the 250th celebration, the president just gave an address at Mount Rushmore. In it he claimed there is a “resurgence of the communist menace in our land.”
He continued: “Communism is the exact opposite of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It’s death, tyranny and the pursuit of evil. The godless communist morality states that anything is justified to bring about inhuman visions … they don’t want good. They don’t love God and they don’t want God … But we’re not gonna let them take too long or too much of our time as they play their games … and send them into exile … we will send them quickly away … and if we terminate the filibuster as we should do and immediately vote for the Save America Act then we will not lose an election for a hundred years.”
Here Trump is echoing what radical conservatives have done since the 1950s, smearing and insulting Democrats by dishonestly calling them communists. FYI: There has been no serious presence of communists in the USA since they were banished during the Red Scare as well as the McCarthyism and black listings of the 1940s and 50s. This attack is a hateful lie.
That “inhuman” comment led me to a book by MAGA supporter Jack Posobiec called Unhumans. It has a forward by Trump confidant Steve Bannon and an endorsement from vice president J.D. Vance.
In it, Posobiec claims Democrats want to eliminate all the God-given liberties and rights we enjoy as American citizens and replace that with a communist dictatorship!? According to the book, we are so evil, so “inhuman,” that we, as a group, should be denied all of the civil rights all American citizens enjoy.
It concludes by saying, “Democracy has never worked to protect innocents from the unhumans.” And if that’s not scary enough, get this: the architects of Trump’s plan for his second term, Project 2025, many of whom are also members of his cabinet, not only openly endorse the exact same sentiments expressed in Unhumans but are now talking about a post constitutional USA!
Consider the language our president has been using to characterize Democrats, and the hateful, un-American and dishonest beliefs that you can see underpin these messages. This is the exact same strategy that has presaged authoritarian’s rise to power throughout history: A nation with a large population under the spell of a very powerful leader to whom they have a religious-like faith and devotion … that leader painting a picture of a dire and immediate threat from “an enemy within,” a group that is so evil, so contemptible as to be inhuman … that extreme measures are needed to protect the people from that threat, and only that leader can save them.
This is where we are now. But if we were to follow that parallel to the final next step we would be hearing them use that threat as justification (a national emergency) for suspending our civil rights. This is exactly what happened to the Jews under Nazi Germany and a main factor in how that nation slipped from being the democratic Weimar Republic into fascism.
I am not making this stuff up or using “left wing sources” in this comment. This is mostly from listening to the president as well as reading the words and actions of individuals like Project 2025’s author and Trump cabinet member Russel Vought, John Eastman, the architect of Trump’s plan to illegally overturn the 2020 election and a pro-MAGA book openly endorsed by our own vice president.
I have tried to not engage in what many people accurately call “doom scrolling.” But this is serious stuff. These ultra radical viewpoints are from the very people who are now in control of the levers of power in Washington.
And many of them are the exact same people who were part of the conspiracy to illegally attempt to overturn the 2020 election; and faced no consequences for that treachery.
Can it be our federal leadership honestly believes democrats are inhuman? Our democracy is not enough to protect us from authoritarianism? What does that even mean? They want to suspend the constitution?
We won’t need to vote any more … so they are going to rig and/or end our democracy? The president wants to send us away? Where? Why? We deserve to be denied the liberties we are guaranteed under our constitution?
All Americans, including Democrats, are hard wired to love the freedoms and liberty we all enjoy and are the very ideals this great nation was founded on. And yet according to these people, the left wants to get rid of all that and replace it with a dictatorship.
How can they have such dishonest and disrespectful opinions of so many of their fellow Americans, their families, friends and neighbors? Do they know even a single Democrat? Could all of this be any more vile, more insulting, more radical, more scary or more un-American to all patriotic Americans, especially those who consider themselves a Democrat?
These aren’t random crackpots screaming this fanatical stuff from the sidelines I am talking about; it’s very smart and serious people who are not only in the highest levels of power within our government but are in league with the president.
Our nation is under siege. Radicals have infiltrated and taken over much of our federal government. What we are witnessing is no less than a radical conservative/MAGA bloodless coup.
It appears that the goal of many of those at the top is to establish one party rule — a silencing of one half of “we the people.” You may believe that we are safe because the checks and balances put in place by our founders will protect us. I hope that is true.
But know that our radicalized Supreme Court has already issued several rulings that have given the president almost unlimited power. This includes the elimination of one of our most important checks making it so there is no longer any agency within the federal government with the power or authority to investigate a rogue president.
Research to verify what I say is truthful. Contact representatives and confront them with questions you have regarding all of this. Get out and protest! Act now before it’s too late. May God help us.
Richard Huffaker is a resident of Mariposa.
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