If we want to beat the great pretender in November, we first need to clean out our jumbled language-closet, starting with the unhelpful term “autocrat” to define the angry bully.
Appropriate for political science classes no doubt, it widely misses the mark. It conveys a tone that we can live with, rhyming as it does with “diplomat.” In December, the Republican presidential candidate was asked whether he would be a “dictator.” Without questioning the title- with all its violent connotations- instead he quickly declared that he would be so “on day one”.
Now that intentionally vague response could mean either only, or from. In any case, friends, Inauguration Day would reign down variations of January 6, for the ensuing 1,459.
If history teaches us anything about tyrants, it is their penchant for violence on every level: first crushing (literally if need be), in-house opposition; shutting down that “enemy of the people,” the free press; rounding up critical opinion-makers and clergy persons (They were the first to be imprisoned in the infamous proto-concentration camp, Dachau); and summarily ordering massive deportations, especially of Muslims, regardless of their loyalty.
Given this limitlessly bleak prospect, it is up to Democrats aligned with Independents and the Green Party, to find their spine, naming him for what he is: a maliciously minded, would-be president-for-life, as he has stated outright.
Just like backing President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to do what is winnable, we must summon the chutzpah to unite before it’s too late. The stakes are way too high to risk the angry return of Attila in a red baseball cap.
The Rev. Peter Kakos
Northampton