I suspect most thinking Americans know that Donald Trump’s relationship with God is, um, non-existent. He avoids questions on the topic by talking around them. At one point, he refused to name even a single favorite Bible verse because, he claimed, it was “too personal.” What horse-hockey. I’m a freaking atheist and I have a favorite Bible verse! But MAGA lapped it up like a kitten at a cream bowl, just like they always do.

Oh, MY favorite verse? It’s Matthew, Chapter 7, Verse 5. You know the one. It’s the one where Jesus tells his followers not to be hypocrites. You’re not going to look it up, are you? Okay, it goes, “Thou hypocrite,” – I like the King James Version for fiery rhetoric – “first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”

After his Felony criminal conviction, he was asked on a softball ‘Fox and Fiends’ Interview, “What’s your relationship with God like, and how do you pray?”
“OK, so I think it is good,” Trump replied. “I do very well with the evangelicals. I love the evangelicals. And I have more people saying they pray for me ― I can’t even believe it. They are so committed, and they are so believing…”
He thinks he has a good relationship with God because he does well with evangelicals? I’m not sure that’s how it works. He’s the living embodiment of the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Avarice, Wrath, and Sloth. I suspect those aspects of his reality would go FAR further in God’s thinking – along with the actual acts of stealing, lying, sexually molesting, adultery, and even having a God before God (himself, of course) – than whether evangelicals vote for him…

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You know those movies about high school where there’s some pampered bully who runs roughshod over everything and everyone in sight, often by instigating others to do his evil bidding? He usually stands opposite of the star, who eventually overcomes the abuses of the bully. I have no doubt in my mind that Trump was that bully in high school, just like he’s that bully now. Where, I wonder, is the hero who eventually overcomes the abuses of this bully?

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Today, June 6th, is the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Europe that was the beginning of the end for the Nazis in Europe. As the United States hurtles toward our own Authoritarian Fascist destruction at the hands of those “so believing” MAGA, I’m reminded of the 80 year rule. History repeats in roughly 80 year cycles. (No, it’s not perfect. It’s an average, but it’s a solid average, one you can trust.)

My own thinking for why the 80 year cycle is, that’s how long it takes us, collectively, to forget. Those of us who are interested have seen the film of the destruction of Germany and Japan. We’ve read the books and learned a lot about that war. But we had to make an effort. It didn’t just come to us. And since so many people do not pursue that kind of history, they never really understand it, hence, they forget – and then humanity has to do it all over again.

The Nazis were not good for Germany. MAGA is not good for America. In the 1930’s, thinking Germans found themselves overrun by foolhardy followers. In the same way, in the 2020’s, America finds itself overrun by the same crowd. People in Germany couldn’t stop Hitler from coming to power. If we’re not very careful, Americans are not going to be able to stop Trump from coming back, either. Germany was decimated. ALL of it, whether one supported the Nazis or not. If America continues to follow the same path, America will be decimated, too. ALL of it, weather one supported MAGA or not.

The people who COULD have stopped Hitler in Germany, the wealthy and powerful, decided, instead, to try to use him to their advantage. Other people, the day-to-day workers, weren’t concerned enough about Hitler, thinking yes, he’s a demonstrable buffoon, but he can’t do much damage due to the structure of the government.

I used to try to imagine and understand their shock as the realized they couldn’t control him and he didn’t give two figs about the structure of government. He just dismantled said government and did what he wanted to do. Sadly, I no longer have to try to imagine how the thinking people in Germany felt. I’m feeling the very same way, most days, as far too many Americans embrace the once-unimaginable in ‘Hitler 2, Donald Trump.’

I’ll tell you this: It’s really ironic as hell. This is the anniversary of the day Americans fought and died to put a stop to Fascist Authoritarians, occurring at a time that the US is falling into the clutches of Fascist Authoritarians…