Fear Is His Game

 

We heard the Episcopal Bishop of Washington ask for mercy on those who are now afraid of what he'll do to them, the most vulnerable sitting ducks (for a tyrant who's never hesitated to kick a cripple).

But no one knows fear like a Republican senator or congressman who thinks Trump is a dumb jerk, but who can't say so or push back or object -- for fear of being primaried and kicked out of office by Trump's cult.

Among his other ExecOrders on Day One, Trump demanded that federal officials overseeing government D.E.I. efforts be put on leave. Diversity/Equality/Inclusion -- programs meant to give the chance for advancement to people whose color or other distinguishing features have kept them down. "Woke!" the enemies of being awake call it. Woke as a verbal weapon is pretty much the equivalent of "commie," for those of us who remember the '50s -- meant to label quickly and efficiently and to instill hatred and fear.

So Donald Jethro Trump yelled "woke!" and revoked an executive order signed in 1965 that prohibited discriminatory hiring and employment practices for private government contractors. "Perhaps most alarming for business leaders was the order’s focus on private corporations, whether they do business with the government or not" (Emma Goldberg).

Whether they do business with the government or not. This right here -- it's Project 25 shit.

But it's also, sadly, the reason why, according to an article in the NYTimes, "nearly a dozen companies did not respond to requests for comment on the future of their D.E.I. programming, and some declined to comment citing fear of attracting attention to their work."

Everybody's afraid of the tyrant. 

Jethro's cult members like to label, as we know, and they label people like me as suffering from "Trump derangement syndrome." Wikipedia: "The term has mainly been used by Trump supporters to discredit criticism of him, as a way of reframing the discussion by suggesting that his opponents are incapable of accurately perceiving the world."

The best way to perceive the world is through demonstrable facts. I will cling to facts as long as there are facts to cling to, until fear among the people who own the newspapers shuts down the reporting of those facts. (Jeff Bezos at the WashPost has shown them the way, hasn't he, and got a front-row seat at Jethro's coronation).