Corrupt is a word much used nowadays to describe Trump and his administration. I even heard it in Louisa in an establishment that I would say is part of MAGA country. A few weeks ago, when my wife and I were in a store in the Louisa and Mineral area, the owner standing behind the counter, went on a tirade about Trump and his corruption. Stating that Trump and his family pocketed over $1.4 billion.
I have been to this store several times and there has been, on occasion, anti-liberal, anti-progressive, anti-democratic party bantering and comments made by folks in the store and behind the counter. For instance, if something was free, it was a “democratic discount.” I stopped going to the store, but sometimes they were the only game in town.
That said, when I heard the owner dis Trump recently, I got a grin on my face as wide as the Grand Canyon, said nothing, paid for my stuff, and left. “Damn,” I said to my wife in the truck, adding, “holy shit that was interesting.”
Whether that anger translates at the polls to a dem vote, is to be seen. It may turn into low republican turnout, which will benefit the democrats. But who knows. Who knows whether a corrupt White House will try and cancel the November election by declaring a national emergency, or, if there is an election, whether Trump will nullify democratic wins by claiming fraud and seize ballots. That is the $1.4 billion dollar question.
Corrupt, however, is more expansive than simple bribery, self-dealing, insider trading, and all unethical things Trump is doing to enrich himself, his family, and those loyal to him. It has a much richer and broader meaning. Corruption is plush in adjectives and verbs dating back to the 14th century.
Like many words in English, it has a Latin origin. It’s root meaning corrumpere, simply means to destroy to spoil. In the English language starting in the 1300s it took on the modern sense of how we understand corruption, both physically and spiritually. Most folks nowadays think just bribery, but it has many meanings. Sadly, I think you can put a check mark by each of the words below and say, “yep, that’s Trump.”
Debased in character, unhealthy, uncouth, bribe, to break, decrepit, putrid, putrefy, spoiled, depraved morally, pervert, contaminate, impair the purity of, seduce or violate (woman or child), render impure, and finally, influence by bribe or other motive.
Not only is Trump using the office of the Presidency to corruptly enrich himself and his family, but the list of his other corrupt acts is deep, and America decays and putrefies every day he remains in power:
he demolishes the rule of law in America every opportunity he has.
he routinely perverts the course of justice;
he broke America’s social contract;
he debases America and its allies daily with wildly crazy midnight social media posts;
he orders extrajudicial killings on the high seas and starts unjust wars without cause and without the people’s consent.
he violated a woman in a department store dressing room, a civil jury found;
he was accused by a woman of raping her when she was 13, per FBI documents;
he was a longtime friend with child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein;
he posts images of himself as Jesus.
And finally, he is personally uncouth, not worthy of the highest office in our great land.
So, what to do. The first order is to vote in November, make pleas to friends and family to get out and vote. That’s the easy party. If Trump cancels the election or nullifies the election or tells congress not to seat the new congress, what then? What’s the response? I think, and I believe this, it will be the beginning of the end of the union. I don’t think disenfranchised states will wait for the courts.
Civil War? I hope not, and most Americans do not want this. It would be fratricidal. Problem is Trump is an insane, corrupt nihilist who likes to play the madman, when he is in effect really a madman, surrounded by sycophantic child like nihilists like Vance, Miller, and Hegseth. The question is, what will a depraved Trump do when massive demonstrations erupt across the country and in Washington DC should he cancel or nullify the elections?
