Zombies on 5th Avenue

Our Great Leader of the Zombies Is Tilting at Windmills Again
A few days after he was impeached by the House, King Donald admitted to a group of young conservatives attending a Turning Point USA annual summit in Florida he never has understood wind, but “You know, I know windmills very much. I’ve studied it better than anybody I know (His genius streak revealed again!).” But then our national nutcase went off the rails again. Scientific research (which the Trump administration never accepts and often calls “fake news!”) reveals that wind energy has among the smallest carbon footprints of any source of electricity generation, and, once in place, studies have found that wind turbines significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

But then came the ignorant verbal vomit for which King Donald has gained international renown: “It’s (turbines) very expensive. They’re made in China and Germany mostly (There are 500 U.S. companies involved in the manufacture of wind turbines!)---very few made here, almost none. But they’re manufactured tremendously—if you’re into this—tremendous fumes. Gases are spewing into the atmosphere.” Then he continued to spew his vomit into the atmosphere: “You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk about the carbon footprint—fumes are spewing into the air. Right? Spewing. Whether it’s in China, Germany, it's going into the air. It’s our air, their air, everything—right?” Well? Wrong again!

As our Great Leader does not read except when tweeting, I’m assuming he has not read about that other famous nutcase who tilted against many windmills in 17th Century Spain. The Spanish novel “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha” by Miguel de Cervantes is considered to be one of the finest literary works. The plot revolves around the ‘quixotic” adventures of a noble called Alonso Quixano who goes nuts from reading too many romantic novels so decides to become a knight-errant to serve chivalry and Spain. He recruits poor peasant Sancha Panza to serve as his squire. Quixote rides around on an old sway-backed nag named Rocinante while Sancha is the burden of an old spavined donkey.

The phrase often used in societies “tilting at windmills,” comes from a scene in the comic novel where Don Quixote sees windmills as huge giants he must attack to save Spain. He is thrown from his old crippled horse when he charges a windmill with his lance. He barely survived the encounter. The novel was considered comic, but later during the French Revolution it was used as social commentary to proclaim that individuals are often right when society is wrong. Later, many literary critics agreed that it was a tragedy because, although nuts, Quixote’s idealism and nobility are viewed as only insane in a post-chivalric world.

Which Person Do Evangelical Christians Worship—Jesus Christ or Pontius Pilate?
The good book cites that Jesus Christ believed that all men are created equal, that we are responsible for everyone in society, and that we should share our food, clothing, shelter, and love with the poor. I have not heard any Biblical scholars who have said Christ was opposed to abortion. Certainly a man in his thirties would have heard about miscarriages and abortions, particularly a man who spent a lot of time with women. No one can find a single reference by Christ saying homosexuality was an abomination and that gays should all be stoned to death. In fact, statistics tell us that most likely one of the apostles was gay. His attitude about the rich was well known: “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” There are over 2,000 references to the poor and justice in the Bible. Evidently he did throw a bunch of greedy people out of a temple for conning people and charging exorbitant interest rates.

It was fascinating to read the responses to the Fargo Forum’s editorial “How Can Christians Be Trump Supporters?” The letters make clear political propaganda has replaced religious gospels in evangelical and fundamentalist Christian minds and churches. If most of those Forum contributors had lived during Christ’s trial in front of Pontius Pilate’s court, they would have supported the prosecution. The Emperor Tiberius appointed Pontius Pilate as prefect of Judea. As prefect, Pilate had the power of supreme judge, the supreme power to levy and collect taxes, and was charged with managing all construction projects within the prefect—among many other duties. Now here’s an authoritarian man like “Chosen One” Trump they could support, not a man with so many liberal ideas like Jesus Christ.

Who Really Makes Up Trump’s Base?
Yes, there are many working class whites. But most of his support comes from “Christian” evangelicals, fundamentalists, and conservative Catholic working class whites who are staying with him despite the growing evidence he is a pathological nutcase who suffers from truth decay and malignant narcissism. Here is some specific evidence from a “Trumpstock” festival held by supporters in Golden Valley, Arizona as reported by New York Times reporters.

1. Guy Taibo Decker, a right wing protester who has previously been arrested for making terrorist threats, told a reporter: “They label us white nationalists or white supremacists. There’s no such thing as a white supremacist, just like there’s no such thing as a unicorn. We’re patriots.”
2. Evan Sayer, a conservative speaker at the festival: “There is no difference between the democratic socialists (Sanders and the Quads) and the Nationalist Socialists of Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler.”
3. Angus Smith of Arizona: “I don’t have a problem with Muslims, but can they take the rag off their head out of respect for our country?” (At his rallies King Donald always refers to President Obama as Barack Hussein Obama, always bringing up his “birther” scam to pass Obama off as a foreign-born Muslim.)
4. Stacey Goodman, a retired cop from New York, said of Mr. Obama: “If you’re Muslim, just tell us you’re Muslim. I don’t trust his birth certificate.”
5. Brian Talbert, the founder of Deplorable Pride who is banned from all LBGTQ activities, spoke at Trumpstock and attacked Hillary: “I think she should be hanging at the end of a rope for treason.”

To Evangelicals and Fundamentalists: How Is Your Prefrontal Cortex Today?
Neurological and brain researchers have determined that religious fundamentalism “involves strict adherence to a rigid set of beliefs.” Tests reveal that increases in religious fundamentalism are caused by a reduction in cognitive flexibility and openness resulting from damage to the prefrontal cortex of the brain. The impaired functioning of that part of the brain can be caused by brain trauma, psychological disorders, drug or alcohol addiction, or genetic makeup. Such damage can make an individual very susceptible to religious fundamentalism.

Researchers report that many supernatural events and entities in Biblical texts and sermons are often assumed to be real. But the real world is filled with different interpretations, new ideas, and the development of all sciences. But religious beliefs, often fixed and rigid, are rarely changed or updated from new evidence or scientific explanations. The researchers summarize their findings: “Religious fundamentalism refers to an ideology that emphasizes religious texts and rituals and discourages progressive thinking about religion and social issues. (Think of same-sex marriage, LBGTQ groups, and the development of many identity genders!) Fundamentalist groups generally oppose anything that questions or challenges their beliefs or way of life. For this reason, they are often aggressive towards anyone who does not share their specific set of supernatural beliefs, and towards science, as these things are seen as existential threats to their entire worldview.” Remember that the Chosen One believes that almost everything related to science, like climate change, is a gigantic hoax. All sciences are presently under vicious attack by King Donald and his deniers. There goes the prefrontal cortex. Sometime during his term perhaps he will produce a tweet with his head transposed to Jesus Christ’s body to maintain power over his cult.

Religion, Cults, Guns---and Zombies
When the Orange Menace said he could shoot someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and get away with it, he wasn’t kidding. He is Golden Boy. Like many cult leaders in the past King Donald really believes he is “the only one who can do it”—whatever that is. He is a genius who knows more than his generals and admirals and knows his gut is actually his prefrontal cortex that is all-knowing. He is like David Koresh of Branch Davidian fame who assumed he was King David, Cyrus the Great, and Jesus Christ in one body. He took 12-year-old girls away from their parents and made them his “spiritual” wives while also screwing their mothers. I’m sure you remember what happened to the Davidian compound at Waco on April 19, 1993. Timothy McVeigh of the Christian Identity Church blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City two years later on the same date in memory of the Waco deaths.

It appears that several evangelical religious leaders such as Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell, Jr., in their support of King Dav—err Donald, have “Drunk the Kool-Aid” prepared by another religious leader named Jim Jones of the People’s Temple cult in Jonestown, Guyana on November 18, 1978. “Drinking the Kool-Aid” is an expression often used today to describe a person who believes in a possibly doomed or very dangerous decision based on the possibility of tremendous future rewards. In their attempt to climb to Heaven, over 900 adults and children died by drinking Kool-Aid laced with cyanide while other members of the People’s Temple who tried to escape the Kool-Aid were killed by firearms.

There are King Donald voters who are ready to take up their AR-15s and AK-47s if he loses the 2020 election. It’s a paramilitary far-right group known as Three Percenters who support firearms for everybody and a very limited government. They and their evangelical, fundamentalist, and Catholic brothers and sisters will support their cult leader the Orange Menace who has never asked for forgiveness from any God—except himself.

They remind me of the zombies in the movie “Night of the Living Dead” as they stumble through the forest on their way to murder more innocents in a barricaded farmhouse. They have climbed out of their moldering graves to fatally bite local survivors. With vacant stares and big eye teeth they march in tattered clothing through the trees to fulfill their strange goal of murdering innocents---or voting for King Donald.

Cult expert Steve Hassan, a survivor of the Moonies cult of Sun Myung Moon, has written a book called “The Cult of Trump.” He analyzes King Donald’s overwhelming need for grandiosity, to be the center of attention, and to control others. Like David Koresh and Jim Jones, he has no empathy for others and has a pathological need to lie constantly. Every cult leader in history has had a “God Complex” and believed he—or she—is above the law.