Decency’s Last Stand
Everyday Heroes vs. The Bully Squad
In the American collective conscience, there’s the lone person who heroically stands up and puts a halt to the tyranny of the Malevolent Scheming Bully and their bully squads. Typically, the American hero doesn’t seek out trouble. They don’t want to fight. Indeed, they do everything they possibly can to stay out of it, until the last straw pushes them to make a final stand against the Malevolent Scheming Bully.
Spotting the Malevolent Scheming Bully in Movies and in Life
Malevolent Scheming Bullies typically possess cunning, vengefulness, lack of empathy, and have money or power on their side in varying degrees. You can always spot the Malevolent Scheming Bully because they want what they want, regardless of the cost, the people harmed, or the lives lost. This is a theme that carries through from the earliest Westerns to every James Bond adventure, to “Norma Rae,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Avatar,” and more today.
Beyond the movies, we have political moments that live within our collective consciousness of the American hero versus the Malevolent Scheming Bully. The McCarthy hearings immediately come to mind. My recollection from high school history class is that the belligerent Senator McCarthy bullied his way into the national spotlight through a demagogic campaign of anti-communism, destroying many lives in the process. Anti-communism spread like a fever across America. Eventually, one man stood up to him over his attempt to smear a law associate, and the fever broke. This account is mirrored in the Senate.gov’s description of Mr. Welch as well. For some reason, the Senate.gov site does not include an entirely accurate quote. What Mr. Welch actually said was:
It makes for riveting watching on video even now. Another statement by Mr. Welch is equally powerful and also resonates today:
Ever since Trump’s escalator ride speech, there have been ample warnings of the escalating dangers. We’ve seen these events unfold:
- Bragging about sexually abusing women followed by a jury verdict of sexual abuse
- Giving cover to white supremacists following Charlottesville
- Strong arming Ukraine to create political dirt and then being impeached
- Separating immigrant parents from their children
- Incompetently downplaying covid in the early months of the pandemic
- Falsely and habitually claiming election fraud in the 2020 election
- Using his bully squad to engage in election terrorism, for example, against Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss
- Descending into Insurrection followed by the J6 Hearings, another impeachment and an indictment
- Elected representatives failing to applaud democratic values
- Elected officials fearing for their families’ safety — whether Democratic or Republican party members
- Declaring he would only be a dictator on ‘Day One’
- and more, more and more.
When Defendant Trump in a civil fraud trial attacked the judge’s law clerk, I saw the parallel to the McCarthy hearing and thought:
This is it. This is the moment. Someone will say, “Do you have any sense of decency left?” and the fever will at long last break.
No one apparently did in a clear and effective way.
At least the judge tried to curb the conduct by issuing a gag order to protect the law clerk and the judicial staff of the courthouse. The court security captain reported that the law clerk “received enough harassing voicemails to fill a transcript with 275 single-spaced pages, and that about half the harassing and disparaging messages to her were antisemitic.”
Most defendants would have accepted the initial gag order, yet Trump appealed, only to see it quickly upheld. Where many would be humbled, Trump escalated, targeting the judge’s wife for the same bully squad treatment as his law clerk. This ever escalating conduct embodies the very archetype of the ‘Malevolent Scheming Bully’ who pursues their desires at any cost.
Standing up for decency and democratic principles
So, where does this lead? One recent commentator opined that: “Trump will not be contained by the courts or the rule of law.” If that is true, the role of the protagonist falls on the shoulders of the electorate. Every voter now carries the potential to become the American hero of this unfolding story, to firmly state, our collective values of human decency and democratic principles. In the upcoming caucuses and primaries, we have the opportunity to send the message to Trump and his bully squad: “You’ve done enough.”
Even before then, we can start by stating these values out loud. When you gather this holiday season, I recommend not talking about hot-button political issues. Do, though, share your concerns about basic human decency and the need for each of us to be able to participate equally in this great American experiment.
What concerns me are attacks on folks who make our society function like election workers and volunteers, judges, law clerks, librarians, and school teachers. I am also concerned about the rising level of hate crimes against marginalized people such as the homeless, immigrants, LGBTQ+ community members, Muslims, Jews, Black people, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, and Hispanics.
Is there anyone who hasn’t liked or respected someone belonging to one of these professions or groups? Remind your friends and family of those individuals.
Refuse to tolerate or ignore reckless cruelty; seize your moment to declare with conviction: “This violates my sense of decency.” Take action — speak up when your chance comes, write your elected representatives, register to vote, and cast your ballot. Together, we can ensure that we have indeed done enough.
