Fear and Loathing in North Carolina

The last time I attended a rally, I was in high school.  I have always been under the impression most rallies involved sports teams.  After all, the purpose of a rally was to unite everyone behind your team, get them so excited and self-confident that their endorphins alone would convince them they could beat anyone.  Then you send them off to the slaughter against a far superior team for at least one quarter of competitive football.

That was what rallies were for.  Sports teams need rallies.  They're fun.  They get people excited.  They fill stands in stadiums. 

I suppose causes need rallies too.  Civil rights, gay rights, unions have rallies, although usually while striking.

In my memory banks, and I admit they are becoming more porous by the year, politicians gave speeches.  They didn't attend nor hold 'rallies.'  They fired up their base by telling them how the problems we faced could be overcome, and what they were going to do to fix it.  Sure, they spoke about their competition, but generally about why the policies in place or being suggested would fail or were failing.

The only politicians I can ever remember calling their events rallies?  Fascists. Dictators.  Hitler held massive rallies.  Mussolini.  Franco.



The intent behind rallies of this nature were not to fire up the base.  They were to convince people outside of your base of your power and that that power was warranted.  They were meant to make it clear that no other way was possible.  For people who spoke, out against the leader, the intent was to smear them as traitors or outcasts against the common good.  Chants were invoked and repeated over and over, and sometimes, in the case of Hitler, people swore their loyalty to the leader.



Last night, in North Carolina, President Donald Trump held a rally.  Yes, it was a rally.(watch low lights here)  Let's be clear that the President has been holding these 'rallies' since he came into office, despite the fact his power was all but guaranteed for four years.  If he did a solid job, he was likely to have eight years.  Yet, this leader felt the need to hold rallies during his entire term.

This was a rally, meeting every single criteria of the efforts of past rallies.  Those who disagree are labeled a disgrace.  Specific political foes, not of any threat to the President directly, were called extremists and haters of our country.  The blind mice that followed chanted in response "send her back, send her back," as all of these particular foes were minority women. 

It hearkened back to those exact times when thousands gathered to watch a regally dressed Adolf Hitler, his hair swept back and parted on the right, his toothbrush mustache trimmed, resting perfectly on his upper lip, his military outfit complemented by newly shined leather boots, declare that his country needed more room, needed to expand.  That Germany was the greatest country once and could be again, only if they had the audacity and courage to defeat the parties of hatred and arrogance, mostly led by the Jews.  The response was an overwhelming, seig hiel (which means basically, "hail victory").

In seeing the rally that was held in one of our oldest states, I can only wonder where on earth the values of the members of Greenville's community are.  It's easy for a leader to use a pulpit of access to slander whomever he or she wants.  In fact, it is the most simple form of bullying. It's the reason why the FCC created the Equal Time Rule, so that people in opposing parties get as much chance to respond as the candidate who spoke first.  When one person has a pulpit larger than all others, it doesn't take courage to shout from it.

It's a sign of insecurity, of weakness.

The leader secure and determined in his or her mission uses their pulpit not for retaliation or the stepping up of personal rhetoric, but instead to inspire, invigorate and raise up those he/she leads.  Americans, of all people, know this.



What I saw in North Carolina was the pinnacle of the most frightening version of this man so far; a man who once feared his Presidency was ending due to his own missteps and an investigation into dubious choices, now stands arrogantly dismissing the fact articles of impeachment were given ONLY 95 approval votes.  So proud he is of that victory, it doesn't dawn on him that 95 votes in the House were cast for impeachment is a reflection of a President who has completely lost over one-quarter (1/4) of the representatives in the House.  They are willing to send him packing.  That is not their misjudgment.  That is a cause-and-effect from a President, and a party, unwilling to speak up against the rhetoric of hate and divisiveness.

For his followers, it appears they are only listening for what they want to hear, while eliciting chants of support tantamount to a frightful seig heil.  And for those that will now argue all rallies have chants in them, when was the last time a political rally in America used a chant that wasn't meant to uplift something, as in "U-S-A or U-S-A", or "Four More Years" but instead fell back on chants meant to vilify a specific person or people such as "Lock Her Up"--- "Send Her Back"?  You need only look at now.

Should this particular leader turn that arrogance and rhetoric toward violence, encouraging his followers to take action (he already has talked about wanting to punch people, etc.) what would make him different than any other extremist in the Middle East?

Nothing.

We are just a few steps away.