He was the charismatic conman who invented himself out of vapor. His special gift was not in convincing followers that he would bring them to the Promised Land. It was in convincing them that he would restore their Promised Land and protect it from the pollution of infidels and lesser human beings. He roiled them into a powerful force, one that was fulfilling the aims of the Almighty. He would safeguard morality and clean out government corruption.
Behind his savior’s mask he was a degenerate. He was not merely louche. He was evil in bespoke suits and fancy cars. He sexually assaulted women at will and whim, and he bent politics and government to his purposes. He charmed and bribed white conservative Protestant clergy and generated much of his mass of support from their congregations. He diverted law and “justice” to his goal of domination. He was the law, he said. He aimed to be the U.S. president.
He sought power not to further America’s promise as imagined by the Founding Fathers, but to profit from it. Continue reading “Trump, Miller, and the Indiana Klan, Part I”
