The Stab in the Back Just got Infected

Part of me wants to let it go. Just let Trump, and his kind of crazy, fade into the background. Let the displays of stupid devolve into just the ramblings of a bunch of lunatics who can’t accept defeat.

Actually, I need to move on with life, and pretend that DOTUS (Dotard of the US) actually accepted his loss, and defying all the odds, chose to follow tradition and remove himself for a while from our political white noise.

But I can’t — we can’t. He can’t.

The nation is broken more so today than at any time in our history, excluding the end of the Civil War. It might have then even been easier to move forward because the treasonous states representing the rebellion had been so soundly defeated. There was no chorus of “voter fraud” then, and no one was doubting whether the South had actually been beaten. Victory by the Union was complete, and it was final. When the last gun was laid down, they all knew who had conquered whom.

Even though the last votes were counted in favor of Joe Biden, and despite the fact that all the objections of unfairness were overturned by the courts, the then-sitting president rejected the results. The election of 2020 still has not ended for a substantial minority of our nation, and CPAC reignited their energy, returning to them the will to resist.

Sitting vanquished, not from our lives, not from politics — thank you, senate Republicans — but from social media at least, the delicious silence we have enjoyed for what seems a lifetime, has been broken.

He’s back, people.

Like Jack Nicholson’s character in the classic, psychological thriller The Shining, cleaving open the door and shouting “Honey, I’m home,” Trump really is back. It seems the perfect time to load the kids into the family truckster and head off to Greenland.

To be fair, I didn’t watch even one second of the CPAC — I couldn’t. I am too emotional these days. I did, however, see that an obese Black man was wheeled out onto center stage. He told the CPAC audience that the January-6th “patriots” had actually been infiltrated by Antifa and BLM “terrorists.” The otherwise law-abiding crackers, who had come to the nation’s capital to support their president on January 6th, were led astray by bad Black men — sounds like an episode of The Wire. Whatever lunatic produced the CPAC, surely knew that the visual of a Black man throwing other Black men under the bus would add some legitimacy to the toss— “see, even THEY saw the Antifa people.” Utterly vomitous, the whole spectacle.

The Big Lie Festers

The “Dolchstoss im Rucken” (the stab in the back) was the big lie ultimately adopted by Adolf Hitler to justify his ouster of the “criminal government” of the Weimar Republic (1918–1933). Take a look at this following excerpt from Britannica. The words in bold can be replaced with any of our anti-heroes or events from our current narrative.

The fact that Matthias Erzberger, who was a civilian politician rather than a soldier, headed the German armistice delegation became an integral part of the legend of the “stab in the back” (Dolchstoss im Rücken). This legend’s theme was that the German Army was “undefeated in the field” (unbesiegt im Felde) and had been “stabbed in the back” — i.e., had been denied support at the crucial moment by a weary and defeatist civilian population and their leaders. This theme was adopted soon after the war’s end by Ludendorff (here we can put in the Republican Party) himself and by other German generals who were unwilling to admit the hopelessness of Germany’s military situation in November 1918 and who wanted to vindicate the honour of German arms.

Adolf Hitler, still a corporal on the front when the myth of the stab in the back took shape, was, like many Germans soldiers of the day, devastated by the news of the surrender. The myth, however, did contain a small sliver of truth, which was effectively transformed into a powerful mantra for the the veterans of the “great war.” The words “undefeated in the field”, were, in theory, true. The Germans, while having lost battles, had not been defeated overall. Their prospects for victory were slim, of course, especially after millions of fresh US troops began to arrive in 1918. This new infusion of soldiers was too much for Germany, and with the writing on the wall, they surrendered.

Erzberger’s myth about the stab in the back suggested that capitulation was orchestrated by Jewish bankers, and an assortment of other well-heeled Germans, seeking to protect their fortunes. This conspiracy would fuel the lunacy for the next fifteen years resulting in the 1923 failed “beerhall putsch;” and, finally ending in the take over, by Adolf Hitler in 1933, of the government. If anyone doubts that Hitler, and many in his generation weren’t motivated by the white-hot hatred of the so-called “stab,” then let’s recall Hitler’s first act upon conquering France in May 1940.

Weeks after the French surrender in the field, Hitler insisted their leaders go to the very same train wagon, by then a museum, in which the German generals had signed the peace treaty in 1919. There, Hitler received the head of the French state and made them sign a document officially requesting an armistice from Germany.

Hitler had avenged the greatest dishonor of the unified German nation. The “stab in the back” had been healed; and, the time had arrived to make all who participated in that blow to pay. Europe, and the world, fell under the dark cloud of World War II.

Are we at such a moment, on the brink of a world war? I honestly doubt it. I do, however, believe, as I have written many times before, that the Big Lie concerning the 2020 election is far from being over. I also don’t believe we have seen the last of the violence. Regardless of how many Americans might find some comfort in that fact that Joe Biden is our president, there is an army of very dumb, and in many parts of the country, influential people who believe passionately in this Big Lie.

These people are not the vanquished. In their world, they are the cheated, the victims. In addition, when a bunch of their fellow-lunatics attacked the Capitol Building on January 6th, the initial reaction was to pull back in shame — I think it is time for me to reassess my devotion to this president, to this cause, many began to whisper.

The whispering has stopped. The history has been rewritten, and they are no longer ashamed, or shocked. The new truth of that day has left them refreshed, invigorated: it was all a big hoax. The violent protestors weren’t of their tribe, yeah. January 6th has become just another part of the Big Lie. As the years pass, more and more will be rewritten; more and more pieces of the Big Lie puzzle will be uncovered.

I did go online and look at some of the photos of the attendees, though. This might be a harsh thing to say — and I don’t really care — but the look in the eyes of these people did not inspire much confidence in their ability to think rationally.

They looked bizarre, dazed even. These are the kind of people who don’t blink when they meet you; they just stare, slightly nodding their heads while shaking your hand, right, right, oh wow, that’s interesting. God Bless. These are people who don’t understand humor if it doesn’t involve some kind of bird crossing a road. The very same people who make poor Jesus cringe at the degree of hypocrisy which crowns their every waking moment.

I was also surprised at the number of Hispanics in attendance but this is something I have been warning Democrats about for a while. Dems think Hispanics are inherently liberal. Not the case at all, many are oriented toward traditional families, and Catholic. The next generation of their offspring, the kids coming of age in the era of Trumpism, will be mega-dumb-conservative.

These young conservatives, white, Black and Hispanic, will recall the emotions of the day when their god was denied his “rightful” place. Only the really naive, or the historically ignorant of us liberals can find comfort in the notion that this will all just pass. It won’t — it never does. History is there is for a reason. It could pass, however, if we are more vigilant; if we are uncompromising in our belief in the truth.

One of the greatest ironies at the CPAC weekend was the slogan that summed up all of their genius, all of the intimidating thinking taking place: Uncancelled was a big banner that hung from the back of the stage.

The Republican Party is the most boisterous advocate for curtailing 1st Amendment rights of pretty much any major political party in the industrialized world, with the exception of maybe United Russia and the Chinese Communist Party. One small example: what did the GOP do to those senators and representatives who voted for impeachment?

Donald Trump Put an End to the Republican Party

And just like nothing ever happened, there he was acting like it was November 2nd. Attacking Biden for ruining the country — in one month — and raging on about the Big Lie, the crowd ate it up. He told them “I am the leader of this party.” The one thing — really the millions of things — most choose to overlook, however, is that Trump is not a leader. He had the opportunity to lead, and he failed miserably. He is a loser. His father would have been ashamed. At the moment when his not-so-bright followers needed him the most, he threw each and every one of them under the bus.

Nevertheless, there are a lot of really disgusting people, young and ambitious enough, and still in positions of substantial influence, to harness the energy of his following. To ensure that nothing in our country goes back to normal anytime soon — if ever. I know this sounds pessimistic, but let me tell you — I am one of the most optimistic people I have ever met. It’s just that I know history too well to see this ending any other way.

Take for instance the things that never seemed possible just five years ago. They happened, and most of America just took them in stride; sure, it was a stride propelled on by anger, and even rage, but we kept on going about our lives, waiting for things to auto-correct.

Many say now, well we voted him out and so things are now right again— well, sorry to say, we didn’t. He lost it for himself. If Trump has just altered his behavior a wee bit beginning in the summer, when he went all in for the racists losers, he very well might have pulled off another victory. We knew he would make up lies about voter fraud if he lost, and so we needed to bury him in a landslide. Instead, we got a nail-biter.

Maybe, everything I have written here will be proven wrong. I really do hope so. I don’t get anything out of being right, but pretty much when it comes to how Republican policies sooner or later screw up America, I am batting about .970 (in baseball, a lifetime average of .300 pretty much gets you into the Hall of Fame, all other things being equal).

There is one historical fact, however, that I hug to my chest like a worn stuffed animal, because it holds out hope that Trumpism will never reach the grotesque heights of Hilterism. Hitler had been a brave soldier, and never once did he throw his followers under the bus. Hitler believed in the words he spoke. Donald Trump believes in nothing but himself. Everything he does is to make him look better and others smaller and weaker. Sooner or later, even the myth of the Donald will lose its power, right?

Donald Trump is also returning to the center stage to get those suckers to pay for his upcoming legal bills. His business empire has been severely wounded and the way Donnie figures it — he needs to spend other people’s money for at least ten more years and then, hopefully, he will be no more.