Though it’s unlikely that many of my readers need to be reminded of this fact, I feel compelled to say at the outset that I think Donald Trump is working a political con. The con is aimed at grassroots voters, deeply angered and disaffected by the elitist faction’s self-enthroning betrayals of the sovereignty of the American people. Of course, instead of conning people out of money or real estate, he is conning them out of their votes, which are the tokens of that sovereignty. If his con is successful enough to put him in the White House, he will use the power that results to consolidate the complete destruction of their sovereignty, restoring the age-old elitist tyranny the United States was founded to overturn.
From the moment he jumped into the GOP’s presidential nominating process, I saw Donald Trump for what he was. I did so because I was forewarned by America’s preeminent Founders, like George Washington, and its preeminent statesmen, like Abraham Lincoln, to be on the lookout for someone like him. He is one of the demagogues, who “have overturned the liberties of republics,” of whom “the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.” He is one of those whom Abraham Lincoln ascribed to “the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle.”
Just now Trump himself gave proof that Lincoln accurately foresaw his character when he (Trump) affirmed his admiration for a sentiment ascribed to the Italian tyrant, Benito Mussolini: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” Challenged with the assertion that he was quoting one of the tyrants responsible for unleashing WWII, Trump burbled approvingly: “It’s a very good quote. It’s a very interesting quote. But what difference does it make whether it’s Mussolini or somebody else?” Mr. Trump said.
I pray God that most Americans still shrink from identifying themselves with the overweening and tyrannical ambition that was the proximate cause of the worldwide 20th century conflict that devastated both ancient and modern civilizations, and claimed the lives of millions. I pray that they still shrink from approving the beastlike passion that yearns to prove its strength by killing, with contempt, those who do not share its lust for innocent blood.
Mussolini made himself a strutting reminder of the murderous depredations that were the first foundations of the ancient Roman grandeur he pathetically sought to imitate. He and the Nazi imitator who outdid him, roused the self-idolizing elitist appetite for power that led their nations to accept the yoke under which they would eventually be driven to commit, or be complicit in, unspeakable crimes.
Trump’s casual identification with Mussolini’s contemptuous elitist attitude is further evidence of his true identity as a member of the elitist faction now seeking to consolidate its overthrow of the constitutional sovereignty of the American people. It came at about the same time as what appears to be another indication of his true character — the report that, in an off the record session with the New York Times editorial board Mr. Trump allegedly admitted that his boisterous stand against illegal immigration is campaign rhetoric, aimed at exploiting voter anger against the GOP leadership’s collaboration with the Obama Democrats. When it comes down to it, once he’s in the White House, everything’s negotiable.
When questioned about this report, Mr. Trump appeared to object to the fact that the newspaper leaked what was said “off the record.” But his response also seems to confirm the notion that he may not firmly defend the stances he has so offensively articulated. I’m sure the people who have been gulled into supporting his deceitful con will insist that this makes no difference. But the truth is, his everything’s negotiable stance is not that different from the actions of Senator Rubio and the whole gaggle of GOP quislings Mr. Trump pretends to oppose so strenuously. But the deeply corrupting nature of the elitist faction electoral sham forces voters to commit their foolish and mostly uninformed pride to the support of a candidate, while leaving the candidate free to do whatever he or she pleases once in office.
On every important issue, Mr. Trump has combined vociferous populist rhetoric with other statements that make clear his continued commitment to the Clinton-style left wing politics he has supported throughout his life. He has belied his professions of Christian faith with statements of moral self-sufficiency that leave God out of the picture. And he has framed his strident anti-Muslim proposals with other statements, like the one about his neutrality with respect to Israel, that pander to Muslim extremists in a way calculated to encourage the anti-Israeli animus that is a prime source of recruitment into the ranks of the Jihadist practitioners of terror.
Pat Buchanan may see reason to believe this portends the emergence of a new GOP, no longer in the grip of elitists bent on betraying the Party’s grassroots voters. But mounting evidence suggests that Mr. Trump’s victory will, in fact, be the crowning glory of the elitist faction’s assault on the sovereign role the Constitution ultimately assigns to the people. But those voters are so blinded by anger and frustration with the GOP quislings that they have proven to be easy marks for Mr. Trump’s elitist con game. Buchanan’s affinity with Trump comes as no surprise, however to people who can remember his enthusiastic embrace of so-called “Big Tent” Republicanism during the 1996 election cycle.
That was a year in which the “Big Tent” Republicans sought to remove the pro-life plank from the GOP platform. Donald Trump’s speech after his Super Tuesday triumph was replete with phrases reminiscent of that “Big Tent” philosophy. But, as the whole tenor of his life, business career, and record as a citizen suggests, Mr. Trump’s “Big Tent” has no place in it for Americans who put fidelity to the God-revering principles of the Declaration of Independence above partisanship; or those who put faithful adherence to the provisions of the U.S. Constitution above personal profit and factional ambition. The political Party fit to be their political home is gone. And if Donald Trump wins the presidency, the nation fit to sustain republican self-government will shortly follow it.
The only real hope for true renewal now lies in a strenuous effort to mount an authentic grassroots challenge to the elitist faction’s choiceless election, following a strategy that respects the Constitution’s provisions and for the selection of the President and Vice-President of the United States. The fateful question is, are enough Americans left with the imagination, courage and trust in the Creator God the task requires, to keep faith with our exceptional vocation as a free people?
