“What you are seeing and what you are reading is not happening.”

Donald J. Trump at a rally in July, 2018

“The party that told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and your ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

From the novel “1984” by George Orwell

America, some say, has become a divided nation, split into two political tribes: red vs blue, Fox News vs MSNBC, Republican vs Democrat, middle America vs the two coasts. That analysis, in my view, falls short. What we’re really seeing is a pro-trump vs anti-Trump divide; no middle ground.  The Republican party has become the Trump party; Republicans in Congress have become Trump toadies, drunk on Trump Kool-Aid. It’s time to stand up to the tyrant who is bringing America down, time to put country over party.

Those who come down on the side of Trump, are in bed with a man who: bullied and conned his way into winning the election (electoral vote, not popular vote) and had a sketchy, to put it mildly, business career, laced with lawsuits, tax dodges, contractor stiffing, shady enterprises (Trump University) and bankruptcies.

Trump supporters back a guy who refuses to stand up to Russia, a country which interfered with our elections, or punish a dictator (Saudi Arabia) who had an journalist (from Saudi Arabia but working for an American paper) killed and dismembered in Turkey.

Millions of Americans still seem fine with a man who’s been caught on tape bragging about grabbing women by the (expletive deleted), a predator who’s been accused by 17 women of inappropriate, or worse, sexual behavior? That same man, not surprisingly, called the accusations by women against Judge Kavanaugh, a “hoax.” At a recent rally, Trump gleefully mocked Dr. Christine Braley Ford, his accuser, much to the delight of his rabid fans. Trump has also accused Democrats — and anyone who doesn’t agree with him on the Kavanaugh matter or anything else — of being part of a “mob,” “wacko,” “unhinged.” That man can not unify this country.

Thomas Nichols, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, wrote, “The Kavanaugh confirmation fight revealed the GOP to be the party of situational ethics and moral relativism in the name of winning at all costs.”

During Hurricane Michael, one of the worst in Florida history, Trump (a climate change denier) led the crowd at a Pennsylvania rally in cheers of “Lock her up!” referring to Diane Feinstein (or maybe it was Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi; it’s hard to keep track of all the women he demeans).

Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe noted, “Trump last night called Democrats ‘the party of crime, too dangerous to govern.’ That’s the way future dictators talk about opposition parties on the way to suspending elections or outlawing their political opponents. The crowd roared… This is dangerous.”

Many leading Republicans have jumped ship. Conservative commentator George Will states, “This is not my party.” Republican strategist Steve Schmidt says, “I renounce my membership in the Republican Party. It is fully the party of Trump.” Republican Colin Powell says, “Trump has changed the Constitution from ‘We the People’ to ‘Me the President.’”

Andrew Sullivan, the conservative writer, dismisses today’s Republican Party as, “the party of corruption, propaganda, vote suppression and barely masked bigotry. I despise it because I am conservative.”

Conservative columnist Max Boot wrote,  “I join George Will and other principled conservatives in rooting for a takeover of both houses in December. Like postwar Germany and Japan, the Republican Party must be destroyed before it can be rebuilt.”

Eliot Cohen, Professor of Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University, minces no words, calling Trump a tyrant destined to fall. “A tyrant is unloved, and although the laws and institutions of the United States have proven a brake on Trump, his spirit remains tyrannical — that is, utterly self-absorbed and self-concerned, indifferent to the suffering of others, knowing no moral restraint. He expects fealty and gives none. Such people can exert power for a long time, by playing on the fear and cupidity, the gullibility and hatreds of those around them. Ideological fervor can substitute for personal affection and attachment for a time, and so too can blind terror and sheer stupidity, but in the end, these fall away as well.”

America vs Trump. Where do you stand?

David Treadwell a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns. dtreadw575@aol.com.