"Look how things have turned around on The Criminal Deep State . . . " posted our grammatically challenged Tweeter-in-Chief today. He is referring to the FBI investigation of his campaign for foreign interference, what he calls "Spygate." It was, of course, the FBI doing its job. But consider his language. "Deep state" is one of those scare word phrases that certain politicians like to use. It refers to a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy. In our little tyrant's mind, these people are the Democrats. But anyone who's paying any attention at all would know that the "criminal deep state" is made up of the current administration's cabinet and staff. Projection is definitely one of tRump's skills.
"Bad hombres." "Pizzagate." "Muslim ban." The Liar has stated that violent crime is at an all-time high, even when the truth says that violent crime is near a 20-year low. Fear-mongering is not new to politics. In fact, it works. Imagine a politician who coddles us with rainbows and unicorns and everything is beautiful promises? That politician will lose the election.
As a child of the Fifties, I grew up on "duck and cover" and fallout shelters. I remember feeling more excitement than fear when we huddled under the yellow oilskin Safety Patrol raincoats hanging in the stairwell. And our makeshift basement fallout shelter at home seemed more like an adventure than a safe space. Lots of canned fruit and board games there just waiting for us to camp out by candlelight. In contrast, I cannot even imagine the fear experienced by today's children who live in a country where school shootings occur regularly.
There's fear in entertainment. (Zombie Apocalypse?) There's fear in advertising. ("Hurry! Protect yourself from the Dark Web with our software!") There's fear in weather. (Hurricanes, tsunamis, tornados, floods, earthquakes . . . ) There's fear in everyday living. ("Don't eat romaine lettuce! Get your flu shot! Watch out for ticks! Wash your hands - preferably with antibacterial soap! Women should only have one glass of wine a day!)
Oh, that last one hurt.
Yes, there's a lot to be afraid of. And we cannot forget FDR's famous line, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." And he was kind of right on that one. There have been reports of large groups of people becoming ill based on something they feared that wasn't even there, like a gas leak or an ebola outbreak. It's referred to as "mass psychogenic illness," a condition in which the fear of infection spreads just as virulently as the disease itself. Certainly the nation's fear of terrorists and rapists from other countries is far greater than the actual number of terrorists and rapists who have perpetrated crimes in this country.
But fear of those tiny orange fingers on the big red nuclear button? Call me Scared Shitless.
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