From the insurrection to his enemy from within claims, from felony charges to abandoning NATO, from racist tropes to antisemitic hate speech, former President Donald Trump truly is as Jon Stewart claimed, “a corruption Mr. Magoo.”
In this fever dream of an election year, America’s choice between a candidate who is incoherent, out-of-touch, and outright dangerous or a sane candidate has never been so clear. While Vice President Kamala Harris was not my first pick for the Democratic nomination, in a selection between a Harris-Waltz ticket or a Trump-Vance ticket, it is eerie how close the polls are.
In this Trumpian Era, where up is down and left is right, the 45th President has become a mastermind in the Information Age art of utilizing weapons of mass distraction (WMD). By incorporating whataboutism and misinformation into the lifeblood of American politics, Trump has co-opted the grounded Republican Party faithful and hollowed out its core, since his nomination in 2016. By railroading party staples as well as principled members, and replacing them with MAGA followers and family members, Trump has made absolute control his top priority. With Trump’s infatuation with fascist tyrants, including Adolf Hitler, and his falsities of political unfairness and voter fraud, electing the corrupt Mr. Magoo would be a calamitous mistake for Americans to make in 2024.
In any other election, a candidate with this level of systemic corruption would not have made it through the party bosses or the primary system. Americans must reject Trump’s modern-day usage of WMD as well as his fascist and ignorant ideology again on November 5th.
I am a student at Gettysburg College, double majoring in IDS Emerging Threats in National Security and Political Science, as well as double minoring in History and Peace & Justice Studies. In addition to my academic studies am also an intern with the Potomac Institute for Public Studies, working under the International Center for Terrorism Studies division. All work published by me does not reflect the beliefs and opinions of Gettysburg College or the Potomac Institute, instead, the thoughts expressed are done so freely, representing my own accord.
I am glad to see someone from your generation can easily see what is happening. I know I’ve seen polls that show a lot of your generation shares your insight. I pray they get out and vote, not just in the swing states, but everywhere they live. It matters everywhere. The fact that the polls are even close has many around the world puzzled – I’ve traveled, and talked with people personally. “How is it that so many are easily duped?” I follow far right news sources. Rather than being fair and balanced they only tell one side – and… Read more »
Bravo! Nice essay and it is always great to see links to references. The one thing I would also mention is the immense grifting operation going on, sadly taking money from those marks who can least afford it, duped to enrich Trump and his cronies, which is a tradition among the right-wingers going back decades as detailed in the book “The Longest Con”. From the Trump Inauguration Committee to We Build the Wall to the RNC now run by Lara Trump, these folks only care about one thing- exercising their freedom to lie and take your money. And if they… Read more »