Enemies of the People: Trump Gate

Gregory Peck (a great actor), Carol Channing (Hello Dolly), and Joe Namath (“Broadway Joe”) along with about 200 others were “enemies” of the Republican president. “Anyone who opposes us, we’ll destroy. As a matter of fact, anyone who doesn’t support us, we’ll destroy.”

This quote came out of the White House. And Charles Colson prepared the list of enemies that you can find here by clicking and then finding the master list.

I have spent much of this year reading remarkable works about the Spanish-Civil War, the Occupation of Paris by the Nazis, Holocaust (both historical and fictionalized), and the Vietnam War. This quote is part of the very worst that has been demonstrated during all those human conflicts, conflicts inspired by one form or another of hate. The conflict now is the danger to our democracy

Schindler had his list to save lives and here was a list to destroy people. In this case, the following were singled out: leftists, liberals, and other adversaries of the War in Vietnam. The White House aide quoted must have picked up the venom from the president himself.

Paul Newman, Barbra Streisand, Tony Randall, Steve McQueen, John Lennon, and Jane Fonda (of course). Bill Cosby and Dick Gregory were on the list. Labor and business leaders as well as college presidents and reporters learned that they were on the list.
Not much has changed from those Watergate days (the Democratic National Committee headquarters was targeted) and the leaking of the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsworth which led to the list. A team led by E. Howard Hunt broke into the home of Ellsberg’s psychiatrist and they were eventually found guilty of that.

You may recall how Trump’s men went to his doctor and took back Trump’s medical records without providing a letter and nothing has happened. The parallels are there. And what about Wikileaks right now?

Those things were bad, but there was much more that helped divide our nation. Spiro Agnew was not calling people Pocahontas and lots of other things, but this is what he said and did. He attacked “liberals.” The media was cautious, fearing that it could lose their station licenses (keep in mind what the White House has been trying to do with Jim Acosta).

Here is one quote that was typical of how things were presented by the White House. And things have not changed much as the White House is telling Americans that if the Democrats win we will become just like Venezuela instead of Norway or Denmark where people are quite wealthy.

“Confronted with a choice, the American people would choose the policeman’s truncheon over the anarchist’s bomb.” Yes there is lawlessness, but come on do we want to get hit over the head or shot by police? Here are many of Spiro Agnew’s quotes. There are two pages to click.

Today I met a man from El Salvador who told me things about El Salvador. He lost 70 percent of his family due to the civil war there and he watched a leader of the opposition forces kill his family and that man is now president of El Salvador.

He also told me that people still earn only four dollars a day in his country and that is several years after the FMLN took power. And people keep coming here to make a better life and to escape the problems.

We should remember the horrors of other wars. The “fragging” of American officers by their own men (our men). The South Vietnamese officer blowing the brains out of a man, perhaps only a supporter or suspected supporter, and making headlines around the world. And the soldiers that slaughtered innocent people on both sides and the My Lai Massacre.

Blog/ Lessons From the Spanish Civil War: A Higher Loyalty Is Badly Needed

Turning to Spain and the Spanish Civil War, it is noted that two Spanish prime ministers were killed by anarchists decades before the war, one was killed as he looked into a bookstore window in Madrid.

When the war started, the anarchists were ready “to burn MUCH, in order to terrify everything.” There were mass Nationalist rapes and killings that sparked retaliations by Republicans.

Hitler’s fighter plane and bombing attacks provoked the opposition to commit atrocities against right-wing prisoners who were shot. Seven thousand clergy were killed and the Nationalists killed 150,000 people and then 20,000 more after the war.
In the Vietnam War there were huge casualties due to US B-52 bombers and the presidents knew that the bombings weren’t bringing the Vietcong to their knees.

Frankly Generalissimo Franco wanted to destroy Madrid if need be and his base included Spanish Fascists, several Catholic and right-wing parties, and two monarchist factions that supported rival members of the royal family, merging them into one movement.

We can see the same movement along party lines throughout the twentieth century in different “theaters” of war and revolution around the world. And these are only brief summations.

In addressing the struggle in Spain and in other countries where Catholicism reigned, Pope Pius XII chose to make serving Catholics his duty instead of serving humanity which led to enormous atrocities. And favoring Nazis was harmful.

Here is an example that took place in Paris. A man, an innocent man, was watching the victorious allied troops from the roof top using a telescope. Someone shouted that the man was shooting and there was a rush to the roof. They found him, but no weapon. The young men brought him down and treated him as an “enemy” whereupon they lifted him up and tossed him under a Sherman tank. Sure people were revolted by seeing the “smear of his carcass” and they walked away in disgust.

Young hoodlums, looters, and pro-fascists suddenly became “freedom fighters” and very often to hide their past. The police were among the first to “purify” themselves by “accusation, quick judgments, and executions” and more.

Being on the wrong side of the Communist Party in Paris or on the wrong side within the Communist Party was equally dangerous. Everybody was affected by sinister behavior.

The “enemy of the people” theme may be dying out soon as the current leader of the United States appears to be in huge trouble. Bruce Springsteen feels that the Democrats do not have a candidate that can overtake Trump and he may be right, but we know that there are other factors right now.

At that very same time, there are reports that Trump’s own allies are worried now. His inner circle of friends, it has been reported, are confident about him as the Mueller Investigation winds down, but it was reported that some “allies” seem optimistic. But only some?

Giuliani and Stone were interviewed, but what about the others? In peace and in war, there are enemies of the people. And it is time for more people to see that for themselves.