The Democrats Need a Goliath

Without a champion and the will to win, Trump’s opponents will not fare well in November, and our democracy will suffer

(Image by Shutterstock and the author)

I binge watched the Ken Burns’ 1996 documentary, The West, this past weekend and came away with such a depression. That depression has not left me. It’s not that I wasn’t aware of the tragedy, travesty, and inhumanity of how Americans, in the name of manifest destiny, so horribly, ruthlessly, and arrogantly displaced and/or murdered Native Americans…it’s that the stark realization that we have among our leaders today men who would just as easily do the same to Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, Gays, Blacks, Liberals, and journalists (like me) if they had the chance.

The Trail of Tears extends to the 21st century

What Jackson did to the Cherokee, what Sheridan did to the people of the plains, what the government writ large did to all the innocents who stood in the way of national “progress” and personal fortune, is exactly what this administration would do if but given half a chance. The Hitlerian, Mussolini-esque posturing and bullying that has become accepted behavior in the eyes of MAGA and other conservative followers is frightening. It is made more so by the accelerating pace of Republicans’ craven fealty and soulless…