The LuLac Edition 5, 091, April 9th, 2024

 

MAYBE I’M AMAZED

Our “Maybe I’m Amazed” logo.

Our Trump and Jones Parallels Edition

MAYBE I’M AMAZED………but not really that Donald Trump and Jim Jones that late cult leader in Guyana have the same dangerous leadership traits that are in Trump’s tiresome phrase “a disaster”

MAYBE I’ M AMAZED….that both Trump and Jones share a grievance complex. They hold themselves up to be strong men but have the biggest case of victim ever seen in public. Everybody is always out to get them but  they cry yet it is they themselves who have aided their downfalls.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that because of his actions Jim Jones killed 900 of his sainted followers by urging them to commit suicide. Trump on the other hand is responsible for thousands of deaths during CO VID because of his lack of recognition of the disease and then never following up on its severity. Even after he himself got the disease he did not execute the vaccines until AFTER the election. Had Trump been more of a leader, this would not be a viable comparison. Jones led his people to death by encouraging them, Trump led his people to death with his neglect, laziness and ignorance.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..Jones pitted his followers against one another that lead to deep divisions in his cult. Trump did the very same thing when he pitted immigrants against home grown citizens. Both created fear and loathing among their faithful and convinced them that only THEY could lead them while others would ruin what was their well being.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that both Trump and Jones were the biggest snowflakes of all time when it came to dissent and truth telling. God forbid if anyone called them out on their behaviors. Jones punished and shamed the most loyal of his allies. His paranoia grew worse with each passing day. Trump attacked even his most loyal supporter, Vice President Pence who only once defied him. Trump was willing to let the guy be hung by a mob of insurrectionists that stormed the capitol. The two brooked no questioning of their authority and bizarre behavior.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that both created a cult by first targeting people who were aggrieved and felt like no one cared about them. Their leader molded their dissatisfaction with the common traditions and their own failed aspirations into believing that this man understood them. They felt validated to see someone stronger than they can be accepted as a follower. Both sets of devotees ignored the obvious flaws in Trump and Jones because if it did recognize those negatives, they could no longer justify their support  spiritually or rationally.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED……..both Trump and Jones gave tacit permission to their followers to act out by their own outrageous examples. By mocking the disadvantaged and marginalized the men showed their cult members that polite whispering about their grievances and prejudices was passe and now could be shouted from the mountaintops. What was discreet now could be bodacious, what was silent bigotry and hatred could now be front and center and normalized. By no means were these aspirational examples but rather behaviors that thrived on ignorance and degradation.

 MAYBE I’M AMAZED…..that both Jones and Trump charismatically convinced their supporters to ignore their own interests and put their lot in with this duo. Both made their followers believe that what they did as leaders improved their lives. By leaving America and going to Guyana was there a personal plus in that for Jones’ people? Did the Trump tax cuts for the rich and nonchalance on the only true crisis he had in his Presidency (COVID)  make the Trumpanzees’ lives better? Voting in America has always been one of self interest or “what have you done for ME lately?” In both cases these “leaders” have turned those assumptions upside down. 

MAYBE I’M AMAZED….that not many media members have not yet made these comparisons.  Maybe they haven’t because there seems to be no bottom with Trump’s cult members and the mere comparison to Jones might foment a self-destructive killing craze. But already Trump has instigated violence with the January 6^th treasonous insurrection and has even opined that he would pardon the 1350 people convicted and charged.  The final denouement might be the death by suicide of our democracy influenced by Trump and his Jones like cult coupled with the passivity of an uninterested public.