Who would have ever thought that a significant part of the American electorate was just waiting for some charismatic figure to become leader of a counter-culture political cult? I would not have guessed that was possible in a million years but what else are we looking at if not exactly that? The evangelicals deify this immortal criminal, he’s got a painter who paints portraits of him as Jesus on the cross, and now here’s a sculptor, likewise totally enthralled. What do they see that I don’t? Or maybe the better question is, what do I see that they can’t? And why?
A Texas sculptor has created a model to scale-up so Trump can be added to Mt. Rushmore. “The guy is a billionaire, but he’s got a blue collar on him. He actually gets out there with the construction people building his buildings, and he knows them.” pic.twitter.com/owec1v7hqV
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 2, 2021
Trump projects accessibility, which is an incredible attribute for a politician to have. Hillary, while many lightyears beyond Trump in ability, never projected much accessibility, unfortunately.
People connect with Trump. At least a certain kind of people do, and admittedly, Trump can be charming when he wants to. I saw an amazing documentary about a man whose son died from an opioids overdose and he met Trump personally. Trump, at that time, was talking the talk about ending the opioids crisis. And what did he do? He put his wife in charge of it, then his son-in-law, then Kellyanne Conway for a brief time, and then a 24-year-old former golf caddy whose largest drug addiction credential was that his brother had ODed. This same man later became totally disillusioned with Trump. Why there is anybody in America who voted for Trump who is still not disillusioned is a wonder to me, but he gives them something they crave, some connection, or perceived connection to powerful places. The perception is what he sells, because what he’s able to deliver in actual terms is bupkis.
Here’s the video I’m talking about. The man’s name is Kraig Moss and he was “Trump’s Troubadour” for a while, literally singing his praises. This is ten minutes long, but I can’t recommend watching it highly enough. It shows Trump connecting with this man and then the man subsequently waking up to who Trump really is.
Trump is an American phenomenon. People project onto celebrities all the time. People projected onto Trump and continue to do so. While part of me watches the phenomenon and wants to go downstairs and smash my head on the cement, another part of me seeks o understand the Trump charisma so that I can understand the culture war.
Trump is the Pied Piper. Just look at January 6 and the fallout from it that is still going on and won’t resolve in the foreseeable future. And the true tragedy is that while the narcissist won’t last forever, the GOP can’t wait to cobble together another one exactly like him. They dream of nothing else.
The comment that he gets out there with the construction crews astounds me. I have never seen a photo of him with construction crews working on his buildings. He loathes un-wealthy common people. And how can they overlook all the bankruptcies, failed businesses and theft from his own charity and still think he’s a good businessman? I just don’t get it.
The only photo I’ve seen of Vanky on a construction site, she was dressed for her office, but with a hard hat added. Which is what the former guy would probably do, if he could be dragged out of his building.
‘People connect with Trump. At least a certain kind of people do’
Not the sort of people I like to meet.
That model distorts the monument something fierce, as well as getting the four existing faces wrong. (There’s no room for anything between Roosevelt and Lincoln.)
https://www.nps.gov/common/uploads/banner_image/mwr/homepage/DD09C69A-1DD8-B71B-0B5622E7F5F09638.jpg?width=2400&height=700&mode=crop&quality=90
I noticed that right away, if, indeed they started to cut Trump’s face in there, by necessity to get enough rock to cut his huge face, they would have to push his face back behind those other two faces making Trump into the shadow of the devil behind Presidents that actually new stuff …
A fix might be to pack huge amounts of plaster-of-Paris into that gap, having his face melt out in a month or two … of course, because the majority of these men were slavers or attacked the local Indians in horrible ways, they are not fit to be there in the first place …
Lincoln was the first to attack the slave treatment, Trump has no redeeming qualities at all, making any work for his face moot …
Maybe the sculptor could make a special model with a target for BB guns on Trump’s face, a sure way to transmit his importance to the younger generation …
I Buried My Heart At Wounded Knee should be required reading. Most Americans have no idea what the US government did time & again in their conquest of land & resources. Over 350 treaties were made & broken, when all they were to begin with was an effort to legitimize the genocide of native americans. I’ve been to mt rushmore. In reality it’s a monument to the racist government & it’s leaders. Everything in america has been stolen from the land to the slaves. Hard to head in a good direction when there is no honesty & repentance. The black hills were given to the Lakota when it was thought to be worthless. Once gold was discovered, so much for legal paperwork. Once again, the law, & the monument represent lies & might making right. No surprise we have become a nation of self righteous, ignorant, greedy hypocrites.
In fairness, on that “The Black Hills were given to the Lakota” point, the Native Americans’ TRADITIONAL belief was that NO ONE could “own” the land–not even the Native Americans. So, to condemn the government for breaking a “land” treaty suggests that the Native Americans truly owned the land they were promised.
Now, I don’t deny that the government didn’t behave badly in its dealings but it was literally a clash of cultures: A culture that had been raised with the idea that land was as much an asset that could be owned versus a culture that believed the land was owned by all and by none. (Of course, Native Americans did have a limited concept of “land ownership” since they formed relatively permanent settlements in specific areas but the land as a whole was intended to be for everyone’s use. But Europeans held a definite concept of “land ownership,” complete with titles and deeds issued by some authority, usually “the State.”)
Mt. Rushmore itself is a racist slap in the face to the Lacota Sioux (let’s deface a sacred mountain by carving the faces of four white men into it). Adding the Mango Moron cheapens it even further.
well I’m a thinkin it’ll look real nifty up there on the mantle right beside my Trumpybear!!!! I’ll be a layin there nekid on my My Pillow, a watchin Donald Trump American. Can life get any better? Oh wait today is sentencin day fer the QAnon Guru. Horns and all such, better git my My Gun