With Trump, US Conservatism Metamorphosing Into Shameful Schism By Ben Tanosborn Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, December 18, 2017

Homeless Americans living in Los Angeles street tents, June 2017

For some of us who had an upbringing in traditional, conservative homes, and who first registered to vote as members of the Republican Party, conservatism is a sad memory of old: arcane economic-sociopolitical liturgy, just like that of the Latin Mass.
 
An alchemic brand of economic conservatism, represented by trickledown economics, and its sibling twins, evangelicals and bigopats (new version of jingoes), have together found and taken over a frat house, Tau-Rho-Pi (the Republican Party), in their quest to change the entire American fraternity row into their reality show.
 
Now that the Republican frat house has pledged and inducted Campus-Jokester Donald Trump into its ranks, the old Greek structure formerly known as “The House of Mean” is fast acquiring a new name: “The Palace of Narcissus Trump,” where GOP’s alumni come to pay homage and legislative courtesans concoct new mislabeled elixirs.  And although the official language in the palace continues to be English, Narcissus demands that his entourage makes constant use of his preferred dialect, Superlative Fibbenese.
 
In this eleven-month miscarriage (midway in this elephant’s gestation period) since he took office, this emulator of Baron Munchausen has proven to be an even greater liar than the fictional German character.  And most everyone in his entourage displays the attributes of a possum, starting with his stand-in, Mike Pence.  One would guess that the magnet of power attracts the worst in all of us, and Satan operates his enterprise knowing that all (…well, most) humans have been branded with a price tag.
 
One can, or could, make allowances for those who suck on the udder of political power; if not condoning it, at least trying to understand the unvirtuous behavior when falling to temptation.  What’s more difficult to understand, however, is the behavior of those in the moral arena of religion who come and pay tribute to Donald Trump in a shameful and extraordinarily degrading fashion.  I have watched in spasmodic incredulity how Jerry Falwell Jr (Liberty University), televangelist Pat Robertson, and minister-politician Mike Huckabee demean themselves while wearing the vestments of Christianity.  Pseudo-Christianity one would think… except that these folks are supposedly in a much higher plane than those charlatans preaching the “prosperity gospel,” such as Joel Osteen.  These three personages can be described as mainstream evangelicals.  Well, at least now I can deduce how Trump’s White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, received her fibbing-moxie… from none other than her Dad.
 
And sane Americans watch with stupefaction how the nation is being stolen from them.    
 
President Trump is turning America upside down from his twitter’s crow’s nest at the White House, or golf course du jour, in his mission “to make America great again” with idiotic gut-level decisions that do not bode well for the nation.   And in the process, he is helping metamorphose conservatism from a belief into a heretic schism.  
 
During these eleven months our vengeful president has been destructively engaged in a deregulatory spray to kill off all brambles that his predecessor had planted designed to protect America’s and Americans’ welfare: Trump’s desperate attempt to tell us how diminutive Obama is (or was), and how superlative he is turning out to be.  Eaten by envy of a true head of state who stood twice as tall in lofty aspirations for America and possessed several times the brain-power (as well as the knowledge) that we see in Donald Trump.  As for heart: Obama evidenced to have one while in office while our current tenant in the White House proves time and again with his bullying and insulting ways to be disposed of one.
 
There is only a minuscule chance, hoping there’s such thing as GOP Christmassy angels, that the proposed tax legislation won’t reach Trump’s desk for signature before year end.  It would truly be a miracle… for our predatory conservatism of almost four decades keeps widening the distance between haves and have-nots.  And Trump’s goals for “greater” could easily be realized by this economics-flawed and uncharitable legislation.  We haven’t asked Trump what his goal is for homeless population… likely to go from the current 0.18 percent (about 600,000) to perhaps as much as 0.5 percent (1,600,000) in 3 years with the enactment of the proposed legislation by conservatives-without-conscience.
 
Has globalization hardened Americans’ hearts as the standard of living diminishes [if properly measured] for well over half of the population?  Isn’t this the principal cause of an America divided, broken or fractured?
 
Back to my journalist friend in India who a year ago casually passed sentence on us by saying at the aftermath of Trump’s election: “Americans got their just deserts.”

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