Understanding Trump Fans

On Saturday, about 7 million people came out on the 1st "No Kings Day" (perhaps the first of many) to protest the policies of Donald Trump, who is acting like both a king and a dictator. The New York Police Department estimated that 100,000 people came into the City to demonstrate.

Trump and his surrogates -- in the Administration, in Congress, in the media, and elsewhere -- called them "radicals," "Marxists," and other words that they either don't understand or do and were lying about it, and said there would be violence.

There was no violence. The NYPD announced that the total number of arrests they made in connection with the demonstrations in the 5 Boroughs was zero. Exactly none.

How did Trump respond to 7 million people telling him they didn't want him acting like a king or a dictator like he's been doing? He posted an artificial-intelligence video of him, piloting a fighter jet, wearing a crown, and dropping poop bombs on the demonstrators.

Trump has the mind of a 14-year-old, until you tell him he can't have something, then his reaction is that of a 2-year-old.

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And how many counter-protestors were there? I wasn't able to attend any of the demonstrations, for reasons I won't get into here, although I wanted to. But I heard from someone who attended one in Central Jersey, where 200 showed up to protest. She said there were maybe a dozen counter-protestors, and they didn't last very long, and left quickly.

There are people on my side of the political divide who say they don't understand the appeal of Trump.

I understand it. He's the first politician in their memories -- unless they're Southern and really old -- who has come out and told them that it's okay to be bigots, okay to hate people for being women, or nonwhite, or not your religion, or gay, etc. He has validated their core principle.

No other politician has done that. Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Congressional leaders like Newt Gingrich and Mitch McConnell? They all danced around it, kind of hinted that it was okay to be a bigot. But they never basically said, "It's okay. Look at me. I'm one of you! I hate them, too! So vote for me, and I'll give you policies that will hurt them!" And they were too damned stupid to know that the same policies would hurt them.

My first thought was that it's like a drug to them. But a better analogy is that they're like compulsive gamblers. Even degenerate gamblers, We almost never hear the word "degenerate" these days, unless we're referring to pathetic, ever-losing gamblers who can't stop. Compulsive gamblers sometimes win, often enough to keep the idea going; degenerate gamblers hardly ever do, and cling incredibly tightly to the few that they actually get.

And, like degenerate gamblers, Trump fans -- a better word for them than "supporters" -- never get it through their thick skulls that the occasional wins that they treasure come with dozens of losses. And as long as they keep Trump as their "bookie," they're never going to break even.

And yet, they don't care: As long as they see the feminists, the blacks, the Hispanics, the Muslims, the LGBTs, etc. lose, they'll be like, "Well, I can't afford to pay my bills, I can't afford to keep my house, and I can't afford my family's medication, but at least those (whatever slur they want to use)s aren't getting ahead of me!"

As they used to say on Match Game, Dumb Donald is so dumb. But he will survive in politics as long as he has enough fans who are even dumber than he is. Because that's his one talent: Selling himself to the gullible, to people who are dumber than he is.

Donald, Jackie, Colin, Bill and Me

Donald Trump doesn't really care about the specifics of what he calls "The One Big, Beautiful Bill." He just wanted a win, something he could sign on the 4th of July, as a show.

I'm reminded of the 1st Rocky movie, where Duke Evers (Tony Burton) tells his fighter, Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), of Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), "He doesn't know it's a damn show! He thinks it's a damn fight!"

It's all a show to Trump. As long as he can keep the show going, he can stay in power.

He doesn't care about the specifics, but he also doesn't care about how many people in the "United States of America" -- including those who voted for him, but in this case especially in rural areas -- will be hurt, and even die, as a result of the Big Ugly Bill's Medicaid cuts, all so he and his fellow filthy rich guys can have the biggest tax cut of all time.

He never cared about the people who bought his MAGA lies. As James Carville says of Republicans in general, Trump only wanted one thing from them: Their votes, to put him in power, and then to keep him in power.

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In his autobiography, which he titled I Never Had It Made, and didn't have published until after his death, Jackie Robinson, the 1st black player in modern baseball, brought to the Brooklyn Dodgers by team president Branch Rickey, looked back on what he considered the highlight of his career: Standing on the foul line with his teammates, hearing the National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," at Yankee Stadium before Game 1 of the 1947 World Series. They had made it, and they had done it together.

But there's a big difference between having made it, and having it made. He compared that moment to his thoughts at his present time, 20 years later, after events showed him that America had not yet become the country his 1947 efforts suggested it could become, and after he had come to accept that the Republican Party, to which he belonged, no longer seemed to want him:

There I was, the black grandson of a slave, the son of a black sharecropper, part of a historic occasion, a symbolic hero to my people. The air was sparkling. The sunlight was warm. The band struck up the National Anthem. The flag billowed in the wind. It should have been a glorious moment for me as the stirring words of the national anthem poured from the stands.

Perhaps, it was, but then again, perhaps, the anthem could be called the theme song for a drama called The Noble Experiment. Today, as I look back on that opening game of my first World Series, I must tell you that it was Mr. Rickey's drama and that I was only a principal actor.

As I write this twenty years later, I cannot stand and sing the Anthem. I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world. In 1972, in 1947, at my birth in 1919, I know that I never had it made.

After the 2016 backlash against his kneeling during the Anthem before games, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, soon to be blacklisted (though never officially banned) from the NFL,  shared a similar sentiment:

I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street, and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry wrote of a parallel world for the episode "The Omega Glory," one in which a planet developed the same way Earth did, until a nuclear war. According to Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the evidence shows that "the Asiatics won." But, in a world rendered primitive again, these "Koms," descendants of Communists, had finally, perhaps over 1,000 years later, had the tables turned, and the "Yangs," descendants of Americans or "Yankees," had won.

The Yangs had a Stars-and-Stripes, what Johnny Cash would have called a "ragged old flag," and a copy of the Constitution of the United States. But time had dulled their words: "We the People" had become "E pleb nista," and they no longer knew what "the holy words" meant. Captain James T. Kirk, played by William Shatner, a Jewish man from Canada, showed them.

Bill Shatner (left) as Kirk, and Roy Jenson as Cloud William.

Jenson was also Canadian.

On this Independence Day, let us recall that our "best words" were written for everyone, and both their protections and their responsibilities must apply to everyone, or they mean nothing. If Bill Shatner, a Jewish Canadian actor of the 20th Century, playing a 23rd Century starship captain from Iowa, can figure it out, then nearly all of us can.

But can we? Trump has divided us. Indeed, "E pleb nista" doesn't sound like "We the People," but it is reminiscent of "E pluribus unum," one of the nation's mottos. Translated from Latin, it means, "Out of many, one." Trump has turned us into a nation of about 340 million unums (unii?), with precious little pluribus.

For the last few years, the tradition in our family is to go from our hometown of East Brunswick, New Jersey to see the 4th of July Parade in neighboring Milltown in the morning, and then return to Milltown in the evening for the fireworks.

I won't be doing that this time. As of this writing, I have already "missed" the Parade. I will not be attending the fireworks. I cannot stand and sing the Anthem. And I have not recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag since the Summer of 1988, when a previous Republican demagogue, George H.W. Bush, made it a club to use over the head of his Presidential election opponent, Michael Dukakis.

Through his efforts to end birthright citizenship, through his denunciations of anybody who doesn't support him, Donald Trump has divided America into patriots and MAGAs. And you cannot be both. You either love America, or you love Trump.

Three things have kept America free, and Trump has perverted all of them:

* The right to vote. If not for voter suppression in 2016 and 2024 -- and an attempt in 2020, which failed -- Trump would not have come out on top.

* Civilian control of the military: Trump has forced out the Generals who have told him what he cannot do, and he is giving unconstitutional orders.

* Separation of church and state: Trump has seen to it that there is one god, and he is it, and if you worship anyone or anything other than him, then this god will not have mercy on your soul.

News flash, one you won't see in any major American media outlet: Trump is no god. And he is President in name only. He holds the office and its powers, but he does not represent America.

In 2026, the year of the 250th Anniversary of our independence, we must elect a Congress that will hold him accountable. In 2028, we must elect a President and a Congress that will undo the damage he has done.

Until then, I can only echo what Jackie Robinson said. I know that I am a patriot in a MAGA-ruled country. In 2025, in 1988, at my birth in 1969, I know that I never had it made.

Those words in the Constitution: "They must apply to everyone! Or they mean nothing! Do you understand?"

Donald Trump does not understand, and he would not if he could.

Do you?

I can't answer that question for you.

Top 5 Reasons Why Elvis Might Have Been a MAGA (And 5 Why He Would Have Left)

January 8, 1935, 90 years ago: Elvis Aaron Presley is born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and grows up in Memphis, Tennessee. He became the King of Rock and Roll, and the world was never the same.

Much has done to make him a heroic figure. Much has also been done to make him a figure of ridicule. Much like Donald Trump, whose ego far exceeded Elvis', and who never had any talent besides fraud.

Top 5 Reasons Why Elvis Might Have Been a MAGA (And 5 Why He Would Have Left)

10. Would Have Been: Elvis Supported Richard Nixon. If he supported one criminal Republican President, surely, supporting another wouldn't have been hard.

9. Would Have Left: Elvis Supported Law and Order. The famous meeting between the Memphis Flash and Tricky Dick happened on December 21, 1970, before we knew Nixon was involved in anything criminal, much less had totally, as would Trump all those years later, betrayed his commitment to "law and order." Elvis believed in law and justice. That's why he wanted to see Nixon: He wanted to be made a federal agent, even if it only meant getting a symbolic badge.

8. Would Have Been: Show of Strength. Elvis loved comic book heroes and movie heroes. At first, he would have seen Trump as one.

7. Would Have Left: Reality of Weakness. The reality would have sunk in during COVID. Elvis would have seen that Trump was afraid to do what would have helped people, because it would have made him look weak. Elvis would have hated that: He knew that helping people makes you look stronger. He didn't talk about that, he actually did it. (UPDATE: He absolutely would have loved the 2025 Superman movie: "People were going to die!" "I'm human! That's my greatest strength!")

After seeing Trump mishandle COVID, other things might have sunk in, like how submissive Trump acted before the Russians and the Saudis, and how easily Trump was moved by the flattery of North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un. Elvis would have realized: This guy is not a strong man. He is weak.

6. Would Have Been: Trump's Macho Appeal. It's easy to imagine Elvis voting for Trump because of the image the right wing created of Hillary Clinton: The privileged Yankee outsider who turned a true poor son of the South into the same kind of left-wing extremist that she is. Elvis would have been pleased to see that "real men" were back in charge.

5. Would Have Left: Trump's Bigotry Appeals. Joe Biden said that the spark of his deciding to run for President in 2020 was the far-right demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 12, 2017. Elvis would have been disgusted by that.

And other things would have sunk in. He would have seen that Mexicans were not the people Trump was describing. He would have seen that immigrants in general were people who tended to believe in America, and, once here, obeyed the law better than did Trump himself. He would have seen that Trump believes that black lives don't matter. That use of the Army to clear the streets so Trump could do that photo-op with an upside-down Bible? That really would have chafed Elvis' chaps.

Elvis had his flaws -- including one he shared with Trump, liking women a little too young for present-day tastes -- but he was no bigot. He might not have been "woke," but he was definitely inclusive.

4. Would Have Been: Trump's Pandering to the Military. Elvis would have dug that.

3. Would Have Left: Trump's Actual Treatment of the Men and Women In Uniform -- and Veterans. Elvis was a veteran, and would not have put up with Trump calling him, or anyone else who served, "losers" and "suckers."

2. Would Have Been: The Words Themselves. Of course, Elvis would have wanted to "make America great again."

1. Would Have Left: The Words Rendered Meaningless. Elvis would have been sickened by the Insurrection of January 6, 2021. If he had still supported Trump up until that moment, that would have ended it. And no price of gas or eggs would have swayed him. (Why would it? He was rich.) And he certainly wouldn't have been dumb enough to be persuaded by, "They're eating the dogs! They're eating the cats!" That would not have turned him back to Trump.

You see, it's bad enough that Trump did the opposite of what he promised: He made America no longer great, because he rendered America no longer good.

 

But now, he wants to remake America in his image: The image of a bully who does whatever he wants, and gets away with all of it, but is really a coward at heart. And Elvis would not have put up with that.

Elvis was satisfied with being a King in nickname only. Trump wants to be King of America. And, thanks to a Supreme Court hand-picked by the Heritage Foundation and Mitch McConnell, he essentially is. Even though he is on his knees before Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman.

In many ways -- some beautiful, some excessive, and some not so good -- Elvis Presley was about as American as you can get. He wasn't brilliant, but he was smart enough to have eventually seen that Donald Trump is about as un-American as you can get.

Lucy Van Pelt, MAGA Stooge

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving premiered on CBS on November 20, 1973. Again, Lucy Van Pelt, the resident fussbudget of Peanuts, the comic strip written by Charles M. Schulz from 1950 until his death in 2000, is shown pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, as she had been doing in the strip since 1952.

In 2021, having watched the special for around the 20th time, I noticed something for the 1st time. When Peppermint Patty suggests that the kids have their own separate Thanksgiving meal at Charlie Brown's house, Lucy doesn't get invited. Her brother Linus does, and, in the spirit of the holiday, helps Charlie Brown with the "cooking." But Lucy isn't invited. Serves her right. (She doesn't crash the dinner, either.)

I guarantee you, despite once claiming to have been a "New Feminist," Lucy is a MAGA. She's mean. She hits (as she puts it, "slugs") anybody who dares to disagree with her. She bullies her little brother, and mocks his emotional-support object (his security blanket).

She commits fraud, both with her excuses for why she won't pull the football away from Charlie Brown this time, even though she always does, and with her psychiatric practice. She hates dogs, including Snoopy. She has body-shamed Charlie Brown for being bald and Pigpen for his hygiene issue.

And she's just arrogant enough to not only sell out her fellow women, but to believe that being white will protect her from the harm that Trump's policies cause.

In her defense, she does charge only 5 cents for a therapy session. And, unlike Trump, she has never been racist toward Franklin, and has never been homophobic toward Peppermint Patty and Marcie (who, once they got old enough to understand desire, would have been much likelier to be a gay couple than Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie).

It Was About the Hat, Not the Message

The NFL has fined Nick Bosa of the San Francisco 49ers $11,225 for wearing a MAGA hat on the sideline.

The fine wasn't for the message on the hat. I suspect that most of the owners of the 32 NFL teams would be fine with it.

But the NFL has this fetish about conformity. The league will fine you for wearing your socks wrong. When Johnny Unitas of the Baltimore Colts, possibly the greatest quarterback of all time, died in 2002, Peyton Manning, then playing for the Indianapolis version of the Colts, wanted to pay tribute by wearing Unitas' signature item, black high-top cleats, in his next game. The NFL said no, and you'll be fined if you do.

When Pat Tillman, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals, died in combat in Afghanistan in 2004, every player wore a #40 sticker on his helmet for their next game. But when Jake Plummer, his quarterback in college (Arizona State) and the NFL, wanted to continue to wear the sticker for the rest of the season, the NFL refused to allow it.

So much for supporting our troops.

Bosa has a history of garbage: Racist and homophobic tweets, praising Trump's call for violence against protesters; multiple tweets that purport that illegal immigrants and refugees cause crime; and multiple Instagram posts with hashtags that included "the N-word," pro-rape language, and a homophobic slur. He is a bad person.

In the leadup to the 2019 NFL Draft, the outgoing Ohio State defensive end took to Twitter and called former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick a "clown" for his protests against police brutality and racial inequality. (They were never teammates.) He said he had to delete that tweet, because "There is a chance I might end up in San Francisco" -- a team based in the American city most identified with liberalism, even more so than New York and Boston. After being drafted by the 49ers in 2019, Bosa apologized for the posts in a press conference.

The NFL had a problem with the hat itself, regardless of message. It had no problem with the specific message of the hat. They should have. It was indicative of a larger problem.

And all this has been relatively early in Bosa's career, so we would be on shaky ground if we blamed CTE.

Not Good, Not Great

"America will be great if America is good. If not, her greatness will vanish away like a morning cloud."
-- A Narrative of the Visit to the American Churches, by Andrew Reed and James Matheson, British ministers, 1835, often misattributed to Alexis de Tocqueville, whose book Democracy in America was published the same year.

In other words, by regaining the Presidency through the most disgusting campaign in the country's history, Donald Trump has done the exact opposite of what he has spent 10 years claiming he would do: He did not, and he cannot, "Make America Great Again"; he made America no longer great, because he made the country no longer good.

This cartoon, as you might guess, was first published after the assassination of a real President, John F. Kennedy, in 1963.