Our Toxic Culture: The Church of Trump and Other Ill-Tidings
I’m publishing this series of articles to share and discuss my ruminations on coping with a troubled and messy world. You can “follow” me to never miss an article.
A front-page article in The New York Times reports in destressing detail how Trump has become a God-like candidate whose authority can’t be questioned without questioning God Itself[i].
The words of Marjorie Taylor Greene are stark testimony as to how far we’ve deteriorated as a culture:
“Last year, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and a close Trump ally, said that both the former president and Jesus had been arrested by ‘radical corrupt governments.’ On Saturday, Mr. Trump shared an article on social media with the headline ‘The Crucifixion of Donald Trump.’”
Indeed, as one of his followers put it:
“’They crucified him worse than Jesus,’ said Andriana Howard 67, who works as a restaurant food runner in Conway, S.C.”
Again, it cannot be emphasized enough that the authority of a God-like candidate can’t be questioned without questioning God Itself.
In the same issue of The Times, there’s an Op-Ed by Paul Krugman who rightly raises legitimate fears that MAGA Republicans will block the funds necessary for the rebuilding of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge.
In Krugman’s words:
“…if America were still the same country that enacted the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 — passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress and signed into law by a Republican president — which gave rise to our Interstate System, there would be little question that Congress would approve funding soon after it returns after it returns from Easter recess,“But we aren’t that country anymore. Biden will probably be able to get funds for rebuilding, but it’s by no means a sure thing.”
In the end, Krugman would like to dismiss the all-too-real likelihood that Partisanship and Conspiracy Theories will get in the way of rebuilding of the Bridge, but he can’t.
The stories couldn’t paint any two very different pictures of America. In the one, Trump is literally a God who is beyond questioning. In the other, his same followers are unlikely to come to the aid of their once fellow Americans.
Yes, I know that I’ve more than earned the title of Dr. Gloom and Doom. Everyday, I feel it more than ever.
[i] Michael C. Bender, “Trump Rallies Are Evolving Into a Church,” The New York Times, Tuesday, April2, 2024, PP A1 and A14.
Ian I. Mitroff is credited as being one of the principal founders of the modern field of Crisis Management. He has a BS, MS, and a PhD in Engineering and the Philosophy of Social Systems Science from UC Berkeley. He Is Professor Emeritus from the Marshall School of Business and the Annenberg School of Communication at USC. Currently, he is a Senior Research Affiliate in the Center for Catastrophic Risk Management, UC Berkeley. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Management. He has published 41 books. His latest is: The Socially Responsible Organization: Lessons from Covid, Springer, New York, 2022.
Image by ErikaWittlieb from Pixabay
