The “mything” link wrestles with truth, while GOP pinned to their seats for ninety-two minutes…
The bullet that whizzed past Donald Trump striking his ear may just have pierced the nation’s heart. The Trump narrative now includes a harrowing event (no doubt) whose fortuitous outcome could be spun as the intervention of the Hand of God. Great narrative, fit for his purposes of presenting Donald Trump as a mythic hero.
History turns on events like this — wars begin and end, democracies rise and fall. As much as we think we are in control of our destiny, it inevitably control us. Trump’s narrative whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, contains more myth than reality. He is famously a fabulist whose birther lies, fake news deception, and criminal behavior while in office have been rendered moot by recent events. It reminds us of a “real” mythological character- one whose narrative better fits those of us who cherish our freedoms. America is so much like an imperfect warrior the Greek tragic hero, Achilles, whose fate was to die because of his one imperfection. At our birth the founders weaved what they believed was a safety net of checks and balances to protect their experiment- they dipped their constitution in sacred waters by its heel. They didn’t account for the likes of a philistine movement like Trump’s MAGA ruse that could uncheck and unbalance their concept of a nation they believed would be served by the graces and the consciences of honorable men. The bullet that brushed past Trump may, if he wins, be the stray that destroys the beating heart of democracy in the modern world.
In his speech last night, the former president reiterated his mythology of a decaying America, torn apart by non-existent immigrant invasions, poor economics, and incompetent leadership. They are all myths. To recall the Trump presidency as it was- rife with polemics, incompetence, deadly inaction in the face of a pandemic, and at its end, an attack on democracy itself- should be enough to disqualify a second term. But it is as if a great portion of us are under the spell of another mythological spirit. The MAGA underworld has drunk from the river Lethe whose waters brought on forgetfulness and the oblivion that erased memories of the ancients:
According to myth, those who drank from the river Lethe would forget their memories and sufferings from their previous life and be reborn without any recollection of their past. In some versions of the myth, it is also said that the shades, or spirits, of the underworld drink from the river Lethe to forget the suffering and hardships they endured while alive.
— study.com, “Lethe in Greek Mythology”
If his myth persists, America enters an afterworld inhabited by all the fallen empires of history. In a mixed-gender analogy, the “gift” Zeus unleashed upon the world after Prometheus stole the fire of the gods is akin to the Trump/Vance vision of the world. Like the ancients, the first woman can be blamed for most of the problems in the world and the resultant loss of hope:
One of the other gifts the Gods gave Pandora was a jar full of all the evils and diseases that existed in the world.
With the jar in hand, Pandora was given in marriage to Epimetheus, Prometheus’ brother, who accepted the gift from the Gods despite his brother’s warnings to never take a gift from Zeus.
One day — out of curiosity — Pandora lifted the lid of the jar and instantly released all the evils and diseases into the world. Shocked by what had happened, she quickly tried to put the lid back, managing to merely trap “Hope” inside it.
And so the Republican Convention ended on a note that places the fate of the world in the hands of those most likely to curse it. Hulk Hogan- the faux wrestler — stands in as avatar of dear leader’s faux virility and brainless violence. The gathered Republicans would prefer to pander to Vladimir Putin’s approval while bullying women, abandoning Ukraine, and threatening to deport defenseless immigrants. Our moment in time embodies the dangers that myths were made to warn us of.
I am drawn to the wisdom of George Orwell whose prose written over a century before seems so prescient. In his satiric fable Animal Farm, he laid bare the betrayal of socialism by the likes of Josef Stalin. “All animals are created equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” words that could have shaped the theme of J.D. Vance’s acceptance speech this week. And his study of the effects of autocracies in 1984, the totalitarianism that relies on propaganda and brainwashing, could be heard as coda for Trump’s rant as the RNC finale. Orwell’s convention of “doublethink” as a contortion by which contradictory thoughts somehow converge characterizes GOP acceptance and MAGA intransigence. Trump’s meandering ninety-plus minute speech given in his passionless monotone is reminiscent of another Orwellian warning:
Myths which are believed in tend to become true.
Dispelling the myth is the work of our lifetime.
Originally published at https://vincerizzo.substack.com.
