He Made Them Believe His Absurdities

All his absurdities, no matter how absurd, were believed by people who felt only he understood them, only he understood what was wrong, and only he could fix it. 

Those were among the first of the absurdities to surface, to be believed, and nowhere near the last, that had people hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.

The violence, the hate, the racism, the sexism, the five-mile-wide mean streak. The attacks - the relentless attacks, years of attacks - had people hanging on his every word, hanging on to him. 

He's like us, they said. He talks like we do. He's not politically correct, and he doesn't take any crap from anyone. He is just like us, the 'everyman' billionaire, and he had people hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.

He hated losing, he refused to lose, it was not possible for him to lose. He promised winning, so much winning we'd be tired of it, and yet, they never tired, even when the winning was clearly losing, even when the winning was a lie. He had them hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.

Look at me, he said, look at the crowds at my rallies, look at my social media accounts - everybody loves Trump, he said, and I love you, he told them. He basked in their love, they basked in his. Very good people, he called them, the people hanging on his every word, hanging on to him. 

The media is evil, they are enemies of the people, they are fake news, even when there was proof of him saying what he said, doing what he did, telling the lies, the tens of thousands of lies, saying the people who proved he lied were the liars, and he had people hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.

He assailed people of faith, attacked peoples' families, mocked peoples' looks, sneered at their beliefs, made fun of their heritage. He made a mockery of every tradition, every practice, he didn't even bother going through the motions half the time. He said everything he ever did was perfect, everyone said so, it's all been looked at, he has no need to apologize, it was all perfect, so perfect, and he had people hanging on his every word, hanging on to him. 

Nothing was too absurd to be believed. No one could ever get more votes than he got, it was not possible. He got more votes than any other president. He could not lose unless the election was rigged. And it will be rigged, he said, because he knew he would lose when Joe Biden became the nominee. Had it been anyone else, he would have won, but it was Joe Biden, and he knew he couldn't beat him. He needed a story, he made one up, and he told it, over and over and over. And he had people hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.

The Big Lie - the election was rigged - was the absurdity to beat all absurdities. How is it possible that only his line on the ballot was rigged? How is it possible that all those Republican election officials rigged the election against the man they wanted to win? It is, truly, impossible to believe. And still, he had people hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.

They were the patriots, they were the real Americans, they were the ones he was fighting for, he deserved to have them fighting for him. He deserved them and they deserved him. They were eager to fight for him, because he was fighting for them. He had them hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.

All the absurdities, every single one of them, was believed. He was convincing in the telling, in the repetition, in the challenge, in the call to action. He is nothing if not relentless, nothing if not convincing, and they were ready and willing to be convinced, to be led, to obey the call. He had them hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.

He made them believe the absurdities, and when he asked, the atrocities followed. To the end, they were hanging on his every word, hanging on to him.