Get Off the Stage
What follows is not much in terms of political analysis. I just feel the need to scathe for a moment.
I actually winced this morning, while reading about Trump's coming address to the World Economic Forum.
I have stage fright. I don't like to speak or perform for crowds in nearly any capacity. Just the thought sends chills up my spine. But the second-hand embarrassment of listening to Trump give what he surely feels is an important and well-crafted speech is nearly unmatched. Of course, there is first-hand embarrassment as well. The guy represents me on the world stage and that fact is almost unthinkable.
We, Americans, allowed this to happen. Those of us who didn't vote for Trump didn't do enough to offset those that did. You might argue whether it was leftist thinking (y'all, do we really think Kamala is a leftist? Come on.) or centrist pandering, or corporate influence that really did us in, this time. But as a whole, we let it come to that moment. We let the candidates be Trump and Kamala. We let Trump continue in politics after he attempted a coupe. We let him enter politics in the first place! None of us individually had the power to change any of that. But we've either ignored our collective power, or discarded it at so many important junctions.
The path that we, as a nation, have traveled over decades has led us right to this moment. I don't think our trajectory was so suddenly changed by Trump in 2015 as many think. Surely, some changes to our politics have been jarring. But by not engaging in politics for long before the age of Trump, we failed to prevent the inevitable. Maybe it wasn't always going to be Trump. But it was always going to be someone. Fascism is more American than we've been led to believe. By thinking that it could never be us, we've let it fester and grow. Today a fascist will deliver another speech on a world stage in the name of every American, whether we like it or not.
I wish we could take him off of the world stage. Vance isn't much better, and in some ways he's likely much worse. But good lord, do I dread the discovery of what gobbledygook this man spouts as he addresses this forum today. It's disappointing that the power the US wields in the world allows us this platform, even as we display the worst of intentions.
Fascism should have no place on any world stage.