Longacre: What you can’t dominate, you destroy

At some point, Donald Trump has decided that he is unlikely to win a fair election. He has way too much baggage. So, he has decided to do what malignant narcissists do best: project their despised worldview onto their opponent and have him destroyed. This is essentially what we see happening now. Trump is seeking the destruction of Joe Biden, not through legal means (a free and fair election) but through extralegal means, by painting him with the very colors he knows he is guilty of, namely the colors of an out-of-control dictator, hoping that his followers will finish him off with lies, disinformation or worse.

This is an old tactic, commonly connected to mob bosses but made famous by a quote attributed to Henry II in 1170: “Will someone please rid me of this turbulent priest?” words that sealed the fate of Thomas Becket.

Hence, we have the following statements, more indirect than the above but with the same intent: “What Joe Biden has done at our border is a crime against humanity and the people of this nation, for which he will never be forgiven”; “Joe Biden and the fascists that control him are really the true threat to democracy”; or my favorite, “(When the FBI searched my home,) they were authorized to shoot me — I nearly escaped death. Joe Biden was locked and loaded and ready to take me out.”

Trump and his gang of thugs are about to learn that it takes more than lies and exaggerations to take down a good and decent man like Joe Biden, let alone our entire democracy.

Frederick Longacre

Hockessin

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