The piece entitled, Trump’s Volk und Vaterland, explains and denounces the mocking, racist call for nationalism, more walls, prisons, police, military against the dark enemies within and without our glorious borders.
Cohen's use of the German words Volk and Vatherland refers to mythical and virtuous German people, the Volk, propagandized as beset by foreign, Jewish, Communist and other unclean agents of evil despoiling the fatherland, Vaterland.
Writes Cohen:
President Trump declared in his State of the Union speech. 'There has never been a better time to start living the American Dream.'
But which American Dream? Trump portrayed a dark and menacing world in which immigrants, who stand at the heart of the American idea, were equated with gangs, murderous criminals and 'horrible people.'
In his 80-minute speech, the word 'woman' did not come up once. Other words or phrases never mentioned included 'peace,' 'human rights,' 'equality,' 'Europe,' 'multilateral,' 'civil rights' and 'alliance.' The Constitution flitted onto Trump’s radar chiefly in the context of appointing his kind of judges.
If there was a theme, it was the demonization of immigrants and of the rest of the world, combined with an exaltation of American might. ...
He spoke of building a 'Great Wall' on the Mexican border, but it may as well have been against the rest of humanity. Trump once again put the world on notice that the rules-based, post-1945 world order founded on alliances like NATO and American-backed multilateral organizations is one he would rather shred than bolster. ...
Trump spoke of American grit, of 'total American resolve,' of American heart and American hands, whipping his audience into chants of 'USA! USA! USA!' Trump’s America is, in the end, a reflection of himself: male, militaristic, white, mean and macho. ...
This was 'Volk und Vaterland' in American guise, stamped with his speechwriter’s clunky and cliché-ridden prose. ...
In the place of hope, Trump needs fear, a lot of it, to build the cult of his personality. His so-called American Dream is made up of the nightmares he imagines and that now hang over the world.
Like all dictators, Trump remains a frightened, immature child, not capable of perceiving humanity in other people.
Classical liberal values were never learned, so Trump concluded his address with his partisan slogan:
[I]t is the people who are making America great again.
As long as we are proud of who we are, and what we are fighting for, there is nothing we cannot achieve.
As long as we have confidence in our values, faith in our citizens, and trust in our God, we will not fail.
Our families will thrive.
Our people will prosper.
And our Nation will forever be safe and strong and proud and mighty and free.
Thank you, and God bless America.
Fuck Trump, this white supremacist human garbage is an continuing assault.
Any member of Congress who legitimized this crap by attendance owes his or her constituency a long list of explanations why.
Only 12 members of Congress boycotted the State of the Union.
None were from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.
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