Frank's Musings

The wonder of Trump’s appeal to his followers and associates, like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, is their willingness to indulge his narcissistic urges.  The same careless appeasement was found by the judge who sentenced the parents of the convicted shooter, Ethan Crumbley, of Michigan school children in 2021. 

Perhaps it’s more accurate to label Trump’s advisors as rapacious seekers of political advantage owing to their recognition that his petulance strikes a chord with many U.S. voters.   These voters share his refusal to accept that living in a democratic society requires most citizens to acquiesce to the authority and rule of the common welfare.  Bannon and his ilk are certainly not tempted to give Trump credit for creating the MAGA movement.  But since Trump stumbled onto the crest of that wave of middle-class resentment, Trump’s advisors have been anxious to take advantage of the ensuing government chaos that could favor their personal goals.

It is a simple analogy to liken the movement’s adoption of Trump to the advantage that a gun supplier took of the Crumbleys’ parenting failure; on the other hand, the consequence of that unintentionally tragic commercial transaction, the murder of four innocent youngsters, was more immediately and personally devastating then even the re-election to the presidency of an incompetent would-be dictator.  Nevertheless, both circumstances bear witness to a major weakness in the American psyche.  The serendipity of America’s physical wealth and of its freedom from ancient human traditions has allowed Americans to ignore some of the norms that have contributed to the flourishing of humanity in the rest of the world.

People in most of the world never cease to be amazed by what Americans think they can get away with and to search for any sign that, in the end, their more conventional style of life produces desirable results without the typical American risks of near disaster.   Americans take those risks.   Many of them believe that you only live once and that even though history repeats itself, that’s someone else’s problem.  In answer is the lesson from the CSNY song, “Teach Your Children Well.”