Special Opinion to the Mirror by Charles Landis
In A History of the American People historian Paul Johnson (awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006) writes of the Salem Witch Trials as … “an example of the propensity of the American people to be convulsed by spasms of self-righteous rage against enemies real or imagined.” He also believes that there are parallels with the Salem Witch Trials, the Red Scare of 1917-20, McCarthyism of the 1950’s, and, yes, Watergate and Iran Contra.
Today, one could as well add the Democrat party paroxysm, distemper, and hysteria over the election of President Trump.
In 1692, hysteria raged in Salem, Massachusetts (and other parts of what today is known as Northeast coastal blue areas) over the belief the Devil had possessed many in the community; a special court (ie. special prosecutor) was established to determine who was possessed and guilty of witchcraft. Confession (leading to the indictment of others) could spare execution by hanging but denial would not. Between February 1692- May 1693 twenty people had been indicted, tried, and executed; an additional 5, including 2 infants, died in jail.
Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister, was the most prominent leader of the New England intellectual and religious community and played the definitive role in the trials and in exciting hysteria among the people about the Devil and witchcraft. (At age 12, he was the youngest person ever admitted to Harvard). His father, Increase Mather, who had been President of Harvard, upon returning from England and learning of what was happening, argued that those who engaged in the witch-hunting were doing the Devil’s work, and the trials were stopped. Those responsible for this sad chapter in our history were not, as we say today, held accountable.
Today, the Democrat party is convulsed by the election of Donald Trump and posits the theosophical conflict as between good and evil and associate Trump and Republicans with the devil and devil worship. How could Trump be elected? Armageddon is upon us. The Devil (Trump) and his vast army of satanic deplorable (Republicans) are going to destroy America and the progress over recent decades toward the utopian socialist dream. The markets will collapse and we are all doomed.
The Malleus Maleficarum (witch-hunting manual which instructs how to identify) is provided by generic progressive organizations such as Occupy.com, Moveon.org, and main street media ( CNN, MSNBC, NYT, Wash. Post….ad infinitum)
About the Author
All very good points, indeed. However, the present-day investigation on Donald Trump and the 2016 election is not a witch hunt. Witch hunting involves sorcery, religious matters and a possessed or wronged individual or two. No, the present Muller investigation involves casting a wide net over the proceedings and conduct of multiple individuals linked to the Trump organization and ultimately, the Trump Campaign itself. Talley so far…5 guilty pleas and 17 indictments.
I believe what Mr. Muller and the FBI are digging for (and finding in droves) are evidences of money laundering and nefarious business dealings between the Trump organization and the Putin administration that have been going on for years, that culminated in a “scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” scenario that played out during the final six months of the 2016 presidential campaign. It involved manipulation and distribution of the Democratic National Committee’s e-mails, along with the private e-mails of Hillary Clinton and her correspondence. If you have followed anything related to Trump and his real-estate dealings of the past thirty years, you will clearly know that he could make a used car salesman blush. He makes Oil Can Harry appear contrite. Clearly, Putin has enough information on Trump, to hold over him and guide policy in Russia’s favor. He just knows what every other banker knows, but is withholding from the American public.
I am afraid if you can’t realize that Russia could and truly did hack into the system (i.e. social media, news reports-both fake and real, manipulation of e-mails, release of said e-mails) to militate the American public and present Trump in the best possible light and Hillary in the worst, then you are better off looking for witches and spooks under every rock. If this investigation goes no-where and shows nothing but Cohen, Manafort, Gates, Flynn, Zwaan and Papadopulos as potential scape-goats, then we will all have settled for a shiny new America, one spelt with a k. One where Trump walks in carrying both the flag and the cross.