I humbly ask forgiveness, I may have been wrong

By Mike Weland
Reporter Emeritus

I stand before you humbled and penitent. For I have had an epiphany, and I hereby issue my apologies for close to ten years of dire predictions regarding Donald John Trump and the existential threat I said he poses to our nation’s constitution and system of governance. I no longer hold that fear.

Instead of destruction, I now see catharsis. I could be wrong, but I now believe that we truly are on the path toward making America great again. But not in the way you might think.

We’ve seen it right here in Bonners Ferry not all that long ago. A well-known radical with no experience in government but with all the answers was elected precinct committeeman of a lackluster party and from there to chair as no one there cared. A staunch advocate in the principle of less is best, he flooded a spate of unnecessary and picayune rules and regulations that so gummed up the works the organization could do nothing.

It so motivated and reinvigorated those who had been involved, who had a fair grasp of civics as well as institutional knowledge, that they stepped up, cleaned house and got their organizational ducks in a row.

Government is a complicated beast … you pull a hair here, a leg will fall off over yon. You don’t give a monkey a hammer and turn him loose in a watch factory and expect smooth sailing and positive results. Likewise with government.

I still can’t believe we gave Donald Trump his hammer back after his dismal first term performance, but here we are. He may yet surprise me, but his pre-inauguration shows me his second term is going to be even more chaotic than his first and even more ineffective.

With his Keystone Cop cabinet selection and a MAGA base that’s already starting to come apart at the seams, I think the upcoming administration is going to be little more than a clown car full of hammer-wielding monkeys, incapable of accomplishing anything but highly adept at breaking things.

But I’m thinking Trump isn’t to blame, he’s the price we pay for our neglect. The big distasteful gulp of castor oil gramma forced us to hold our nose and swallow down to rid us of whatever’s in us that oughn’t be.

One of the causes that I lay blame on dates back to 1987, when the FCC abolished the fairness doctrine, a policy that required the holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues of public importance and to do so in a manner that fairly reflected differing viewpoints.

Radio, in particular, benefitted, and no one flourished quite as much as did commentator Rush Limbaugh, a mediocre radio talent who found his voice belittling liberals, lauding radical conservatism and coining many of the false and phony anti-liberal mantras heard as clarion calls by the downtrodden and oppressed wealthy white conservative Christian Republican warriors of today.

Rush stirred up that faction of the lunatic fringe and made them believers, and like John the Baptist he prepared them for the coming of he who will answer their prayers.

Call me confused.

I still can’t figure out how those who profess an abiding faith in a deity can equate said deity with a man so bent and twisted as Donald Trump, or how they can believe that such a weak reed is going to fulfill their vision of a nation of righteousness led by the one true God. Theirs, of course.

And then I remember their propensity for believing hucksters such as Joel Osteen, Kenneth Copeland, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ted Haggard and more, and it makes a little more sense.

They expect to be lied to and they’ll overlook any range of sins, just so long as they get to jump up and down and shout hallelujah and amen.

Ah, But it’s all good!

“He might not be Godly, but in God’s hands. he’s doing God’s work!”

And tell me, fellas — from whence did you acquire such a profound revelation? God spake unto thee, working in his mysterious ways? Why, that sounds to me like the same “proof” that’s preceded every debacle ever concocted by men who profess to possess divine guidance and to know what God wants — any god in the pantheon of gods dreamed up in any age and to any people since the dawn of humanity. It’s pure hypocrisy, pure Wizard of Oz stagecraft.

There is no wrong in looking to a higher power, no wrong in faith. But there is grave wrong in those who would pervert spiritual faith to gain earthly riches or secular power, especially to accept the alms of the poorest.

That they put faith in a petulant little 78-year-old-boy who equates dumb luck to strength and wealth to intelligence is a further sign of the weakness of the white Christian nationalist faction of MAGA. That Donald Trump is the only president ever to give his support to such idiocy says all one needs to know about that.

Watching Trump be Trump as his second inauguration approaches, seeing the merry band of misfit sycophants he intends to appoint to high office, reading the “Truths” he posts just as crazily as he posted Tweets the first go around, hearing his plan to claim from Panama its canal, coincidentally while his companies are in court in Panama over millions in taxes he owes and the list goes on and on ad nauseum … it dawns on you, Trump is the quintessential rebel without either a cause or a clue.

We’re 22 days away from inauguration and MAGA is at last starting to implode. Trump’s demand to shut down the government fell on deaf ears and an astonished president-elect experienced rebuke for the first time. Even his zealous followers question if it’s Donald or Elon holding the reins.

Our government is a behemoth no doubt needing a tune-up. But it is a complex entity easily broken. You don’t send 20 monkeys with hammers in to fix the machines in a watch factory, and you certainly ought not send them into government offices with a mandate to wreak havoc. You fix what’s wrong at the ballot box.

Many of the more clear-eyed in the MAGA movement are starting to see that their stable genius isn’t nearly as stable as he lets on. And the lies are at last getting stale.

If you want to understand how vapid and shallow the mindset of our president-elect is, compare the difference in his reaction to the election of 2020 versus to the one just past.

“We had no riots. We had no anything. It was a beautiful thing to watch,” Trump said of the presidential election of 2024 at a rally this week of so-called conservatives in Phoenix. “They just said, ‘We lost.’”

And he was right. He won the 2024 election, his opponent conceded with more grace than he deserved and he is, at present, our president elect.

But of 60 U.S. presidential elections held to date, only one didn’t end that way. It ended not with riot, but in insurrection called by and for the loser, Donald J. Trump.

“I’ve already decisively won many critical states, including massive victories in Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Ohio, to name just a few,” Trump said at 6:48 p.m. EST Tuesday, November 5, 2020.

“We won these and many other victories despite historic election interference from big media, big money, and big tech!”

No, he did not. Every case taken to court was dismissed for lack of evidence. Trump lost, lied and did all in his power to thwart the will of the American people and wrongly undermine his successor’s far superior record for the next four years.

Did he cheat to get elected? Of course he did — misrepresentation is cheating — but he is still president-elect.

In these important days leading up to his historic second inauguration, Trump is not rallying a nation, he is setting the stage for season two of an outrageously awful reality TV show come to life, ” It’s All About Me!”

He is rallying his brand, a poor brand indeed, and filling the director’s seats with sycophants who know different words say to say the same thing … “yes, sir, boss!” (a little soft shoe shuffle) “Oh yassuh, boss! How izzit you al’ays SO right, boss, sir?!” “”Shine yo shoes, boss, stoke yo’ ego?!”

Those who believed he would reduce their food bill are seeing him joust with Canada, Greenland and Panama, more interested in avenging his perceived spites than take interest in the welfare of his constituents.

We’re still waiting for inauguration day to see just how low Trump can go, how low he will drag the last best hope of Earth. We could save our nation the drama by invoking the 14th amendment, but we won’t, and probably for the best.

Maybe after this go-round, we’ll get serious about putting people with integrity, knowledge and ability into our elected offices, people who believe in our constitution. People not afraid of cleaning up the mess Trump and his monkeys will undoubtedly walk away from in January, 2029, proudly patting themselves on the back for the fine job they’d done.