Fighting Communism and the First Amendment
I have a painful confession. Donald Trump and I are buddies. He tells me so repeatedly. In fact he says he loves me. Really LOVES me. (I should explain that in some of my communications with Donald I have used the name of my alter ego, Dimbald Bolwing.) Here’s what he told me right after he won the 2024 election.
“Dimbald, from the very beginning of OUR journey together, I felt your love for me! I want you to know something very important: I LOVE YOU TOO. I couldn’t have won this election without your help!”
Out of curiosity, I looked up the credit card charges and discovered my total Trump contributions totaled, I’m pretty sure, three dollars. That was the least I could pay to gain access to his online campaign materials. I also bought two campaign artifacts to illustrate a “selling the presidency” story I still haven’t written. I believe the “gold and silver” commemorative Trump coin and the “Trump 45,” a faux .45 caliber bullet commemorating the 45th presidency, might have cost a total of 23 additional dollars.
But despite the virtually invisible level of my financial support, Trump (or his digital wordsmiths) continues to lavish praise on me. “The greatest comeback in history wouldn’t be possible without you,” he said in one email, and then generously added, “as just a small way to show my great appreciation, I would love for you to have this signed victory photo! It even comes with a nice frame folder – FREE OF CHARGE!”
Of course, as with all Trump schwag, there’s a catch. The frame – cheap paperboard – is free, but for the photo itself, you have to make a minimum contribution of $35. I didn’t.
Of course, if the photo didn’t ring my bell, I could have gone shopping at the online TrumpStore.com and picked out a “Trump 2028” ball cap for $50, or a nice Trump pickleball paddle for $180. I didn’t do that either.
Trying to make sense of the MAGA movement’s affection for my miniscule financial footprint, I wondered what algorithm singled me out. And then I realized it was probably two simple numbers – 707 and 95442 – my Area and ZIP codes, which put me in the middle of the uber-liberal San Francisco Bay Area where they might consider me a rare and valuable MAGA asset.
Then, just recently, the gushing expressions of deep-felt love and gratitude transitioned into a message that sounded more like a challenging command than an invitation. It went like this:
“Dimbald, Donald Trump Jr. is an ANTI-COMMUNIST, Vice President JD Vance is an ANTI-COMMUNIST, your favorite President (ME!) is an ANTI-COMMUNIST. BUT NOW I NEED TO KNOW: Is Dimbald bold enough to go on record as an ANTI-COMMUNIST? YES or NO? JOIN MY CLUB!”
Wow! Talk about pressure. Donald was announcing his “brand new club for top MAGA Patriots,” and it wasn’t a gold-plated membership to Mar a Lago. It was, in fact, the just unveiled “Anti-Communist Club.” Trump explained it this way:
“After careful consideration, I want to present you with the ANTI-COMMUNIST CLUB Membership! It’s the highest honor I can bestow upon such an important supporter who DESPISES the radical left! This membership is not just for anyone; YOU qualified because your profile showed you HEAVILY DESPISE known Communists like Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and AOC! But before you accept, I just need you to answer a few questions to PROVE you’re a diehard MAGA Patriot. I think I know where you stand, but now is your moment to prove it. Let everyone see you will never bow to the radical left or their failed communist ideas! Join me, and together we will ERADICATE COMMUNISM from our great country and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
The questions that followed asked me whether communism is “evil and un-American,” whether Trump should ban “Marxist indoctrination” in schools and universities; whether anyone caught burning the American flag should be punished; whether Trump should declare a “National Anti-Communist Day,” and whether I agreed that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris “pushed a soft communist agenda on our country.”
He also wanted to know which slogan fits me: “God. Guns. Freedom.” Or, “Communism, Chaos, Control.”
I filled out the questionnaire more or less honestly, but when I tried to submit it I encountered the requirement that I donate at least $25 to the Trump National Committee. Just couldn’t do it.
Trump, whose knowledge of history appears limited to the fragments whispered in his ear by Steve Bannon, Stephen Miller and other MAGA mentors, seems to know nothing about America’s two previous Red Scares (1919-1920 and Cold War McCarthyism in the 1940s and 1950s), when the country was battered by loyalty oaths, blacklisting and Congressional hearings that stifled dissent.
If I ever get another chance I’m going to suggest to Donald that he memorize these 45 words: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.“
His most likely reply? “It says Congress shall not. It doesn’t say the President can’t. And I’m the president. The Greatest President of All Time. I’ve got the power.”
Trump and his minions know all about previous Red scare tactics. They know they can destroy everyone who opposes them just as was done before. Only this time they control the entire national government, including the supreme court. This time they think they can make is stick. This time they think they will create the authoritarian, discriminatory Heaven of their dreams. They think we can not stand up as others have done before us. But, I think we can. We can not give up.
The overwhelming impression from the materials you mentioned is the impression of stupidity – the wording, the thought processes, the very perception of the world. It is Sad to see how low the political process has actually gone…
I don’t live in the San Francisco Bay Area but I agree with about everything that I’ve read of what you have written. I have two brothers who live in San Francisco. I don’t because 1. I don’t like cluttered urban environments and 2. I’m a lot poorer than they are.
Our maternal grandparents were communists and we believe in a much evener distribution of wealth than currently exists in America. I personally believe in Jesus and know that the Trump Administration is likely the prophesied Antichrist.