Never Trump — not for any of us

In 2002 when Jean-Marie Le Pen— then the head of the extremist French Front National— shockingly made it to the runoff for the French Presidential election, French voters knew what to do: Repudiate him, and everything he stood for.

Le Pen is, not to mince words, a racist, a bigot, a bully, and a misogynist. In other words, he is a man exactly like Donald Trump. In fact, Le Pen endorsed Trump during this year’s Republican primaries— an endorsement that Trump never repudiated, not even in the half-hearted way he eventually did with that of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke.

Prior to being trounced in the runoff, Le Pen, like Trump, was something of a “miraculous” candidate. Among 16 candidates (just one short of the 17-person Republican scrum from which Trump has emerged), Le Pen was able to secure 16.86% of votes in the first round of voting on April 21, 2002, placing him ahead of then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin (16.18%), and second only to then-President Jacques Chirac (19.88%). The top two candidates went on to compete in a runoff election two weeks later. After major demonstrations against Le Pen, Chirac received 82% of the vote.

This November, Trump must not only lose. Like Le Pen, he must be shamed. American voters must send a message to him— and everyone who would be like him, here and around the world— that whatever shortcomings we may have as a country, Trump will not and cannot be our leader.

Elections, above all else, are moral choices. And we must be clear about what Trump represents: the abyss. As David Brooks described in his article “No, Not Trump, Not Ever”, men like Trump have cravenly sought power since time immemorial. In the words of Psalm 73: “pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence… They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance…”

To be clear, many of the problems that Trump’s rise has helped expose— rising inequality, stagnating wages, a widespread distrust in government— are very real indeed. But his purported “solutions”— as best they can be defined— would only make these problems worst. Whatever legitimate grievances his supporters may have, his campaign has amounted to little more than a narcissist spewing a kaleidoscope of hate– against Hispanics, Muslims, women, veterans, the disabled, and indeed the American ideal itself.

In this, it is true that Trump represents, in many senses, not a break from the worst aspects of Republican ideology and tactics— with its dog-whistle racism and authoritarianism— so much as its apogee. Ronald Reagan kicked off his 1980 general election campaign with a rally near Philadelphia, Mississippi, where civil rights workers were James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were martyred for their work to ensure that all Americans had the right to vote.

Yet Trump is something far scarier: a man of unbridled ambition and aggression sitting in the Oval Office. A man without any understanding of policy, without capacity for empathy or sense of restraint, without shame or morality– in control of the nuclear codes. He is exactly the type of man our Founders’ feared, and that our Constitution was created to prevent. And yet, we still have difficulty believing the true threat that Trump represents: He is a buffoon, we assure ourselves; He doesn’t mean what he says; He’s an entertainer; We laugh it off.

Dictators are always petty. They are always buffoons. The always deliver circuses with their promises of bread. That is their nature. Laughter does not deter them; real or imagined, it motivates them.

As Adolf Hitler said in his speech to the Reichstag on September 30 1942, “Once the Germans Jews laughed at my prophecy. I do not know whether they are still laughing, or whether they are laughing on the other side of their faces. I can simply repeat— they will stop laughing altogether, and I will fulfill my prophecy in this field too.”

No, Melania, Trump is not Hitler. He is more Mussolini circa 1921– or Putin or Erdoğan circa 2016. The resentment and pretension, the forked-tongued appeal to that which is most base and inhuman in our characters, the false prophecy of redemption to make us “great again”– they are all the same. He is our proof incarnate that “it can happen here”.  And if we don’t act, it will.

In years before the Second World War, there arose something called the Popular Front— an alliance of those on the left, the center, and the reasonable against the tide of fascism. It was initially defeated not only by the fascists but by its own internal divisions.

We now need a modern version of the Popular Front— and we need to be united: Bernie supporters, Hillary supporters, disaffected Republicans… everyone from the Black Lives Matters movement to the Neocons… everyone who recognizes what this man represents. We must keep our eyes on the prize: the defeat of a man who would destroy us all to soothe the demons in his soul. 

Previous generations of Americans– those who stormed the beaches at Normandy and stood their ground against Pickett’s Charge in Gettysburg– paid the ultimate price for freedom. Previous generations of Americans– those faced down the fire houses in Birmingham and the Billy Clubs of Selma, those who stood up so that their voice could be heard in Seneca Falls and Stonewall– endured oppression, and scorn, and hatred for their rights, and for ours.

Because of their sacrifices, this November we can express our choice through the ballot box.

Every vote cast must be a statement: Never Trump, not for any of us.