According to medieval folklore, the Pied Piper (a talented flutist) was hired by his village to rid his town of rats. When his magical tunes lured the rodents out of the city to their doom, and the town elders refused to pay him for his services, the enraged Piper came for the village’s children. His seductive tunes caused the children to follow him out the city gates and they vanished forever.
The term “Pied Piper” has since come to mean: (1) one who offers strong but delusive enticement; (2) a leader who makes irresponsible promises; and (3) a charismatic person who attracts followers.
In other words, Donald Trump.
Yes, the same guy who insisted that Barack Obama was born in Africa, Covid-19 was “just the flu” and “nothing to worry about”, and that Latin American immigrants were “rapists and murderers”. And, also the guy who claimed that he was cheated out of a win in 2016 (before it was announced that he’d won).
It is now one year since the infamous January 6, 2021 Capitol Riot, when a seditious mob, incited by then-President Trump, swarmed the U.S. Capitol and attempted to thwart Congress’ formal declaration of Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 Presidential election. One would think that this shameful spectacle, which we all saw unfold live on television, would have permanently stained the legacy of Donald Trump and his terrorist sympathizers and relegated them to history as a bunch of sore losers who had no respect for the U.S. Constitution or our democracy.
That’s not exactly what has happened.
The Pied Piper has behaved as if the whole sordid episode never happened, has continued to claim that the election was stolen from him (a ten million vote loss without a shred of evidence supporting election fraud), has collected millions of dollars from his deranged followers to pursue “justice”, and has used his influence over his political base to coerce Republican Party elected officials into pretending that his lynch mob was simply a bunch of patriotic tourists enjoying a fine Winter’s day in Washington D.C.
Accordingly, many G.O.P. Congressmen who were in the Capitol that day, and huddled in fear for their lives, now act as if the January 6th events were a fiction of Democratic Party imagination and that the mob was, in fact, a bunch of left-wing thugs dressed as Trump supporters. Elected Republican officials who, on January 6th, called the rioters “terrorists” have since changed their tune, kowtowing to the political influence of Donald Trump.
Such is the seductive power of the Pied Piper: he can make people believe in things that never happened (a “stolen” election) and simultaneously convince people that what they actually witnessed (live, on TV) was an illusion…that their eyes deceived them.
It is now apparent that this megalomaniac who covets power and influence intends to operate behind the scenes as a Republican Party kingmaker in the coming years, similar to the Wizard of Oz conducting his dubious magic from behind a screen. Those prospective candidates who kiss his ring and are willing to pretend that January 6th either never happened or was a patriotic event, will receive Trump’s election endorsement. G.O.P. hopefuls, even sitting Congressmen and Senators, who don’t participate in the charade will find themselves “primaried” by Trumpist candidates.
Amazingly, polls indicate that a majority of registered Republican voters support the Pied Piper’s efforts and his Party’s effort to re-frame the Capitol Riot discussion and simultaneously “Democrat proof” future elections in key swing States.
Maybe I’m tone deaf, but I can’t appreciate the seductive enticement of the Pied Piper’s tunes. This musician always promised more than he could deliver as President, lied when the truth would have served him better, and behaved like a spoiled brat instead of a world leader. His Administration was a laughingstock both domestically and around the world. His only successes were (1) tilting the Supreme Court to the right, and (2) increasing the level of hate in America.
And yet, the Pied Piper continues to captivate his audience. As the 18th century philosopher Voltaire said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities”.
Years from now, under a new Republican Administration populated by Trump sycophants, the spectacle of January 6, 2020 will probably be shrugged off as some innocent pranksterism by patriotic Americans.
In fact, there might be a monument erected in D.C. to commemorate The Stolen Election of 2020…and the Riot That Never Happened.