I planned to write this essay about January 6 as an anniversary piece. Because I am a public speech teacher, it has felt particularly cruel for conservatives to deny what happened on that dark day. When Donald Trump Jr. sarcastically invited people to celebrate the third anniversary of the “fake insurrection,” I determined an anniversary piece would be too mild.
I have become convinced that January 6 was not a “sideshow” of Trump politics as usual. The Trump insurrection turns out not to be a “one and done” moment. Every morning, Trump is the lead actor in his own version of Groundhog Day.
Rodney Kennedy
He is still running to win the 2020 election. He is still inciting an insurrection. He keeps repeating the threatening parts of his January 6 speech at every rally.
Trump’s January 6 speech offended and disregarded every presidential norm, tradition and integrity. He might as well set fire to our flag and trample on it.
Ben Blanchet’s article, “Trump Calls on Supporters to Stop ‘Bags of Crap’ Who Enter Polling Places,” convinced me that Jan. 6, 2024, was not an anniversary as much as a continuation. Trump said at a rally in Mason City, Iowa: “We will fight for America like no one has ever fought before.”
Trump repeated his false claims that the 2020 election had been stolen from him and said, “We’re not going to let it happen again.” The key here is that Trump repeats his January 6 insurrection speech. He added: “You should all stay in those voting booths. You should stay there and watch it. If you see bags of crap coming into the voting areas, you’ve got to stop it. You can’t let it happen, because these guys are crooked as hell. They know how to cheat.”
Trump’s “bags of crap” metaphor brings to mind social critic Kenneth Burke: “Today I am all gaspo, gulpo, gaggo.”
In defense of the bathroom humor and awful language found here, I also point the reader to Leviticus, where issues of uncleanness dominate chapter 15. Moses holds back nothing: “When any man has a discharge from his member, his discharge makes him unclean.”
Listening to Trump, I, like Burke, have “a horrified sense of being gagged (To think that our children’s destiny is in the hands of so dingy a priesthood!)” There is a pungent odor, sometimes so strong as to become stifling. Our troubles are spreading from sources such as these. The overpowering stench of Trump’s rhetoric mingles with the overpowering “crookedness” of the political, arresting the usual smooth, unconscious process of breathing in and breathing out.
“This would be hilarious if it were part of a comedy routine. But this is a serious speech from the man favored to win the Republican nomination for president.”
Donald Trump has rallied Republican voters to go to the polls on election day, stake out all the local precincts and be on the lookout for “bags of crap.” This would be hilarious if it were part of a comedy routine. But this is a serious speech from the man favored to win the Republican nomination for president.
Trump is not using hyperbole. He is not “telling it like it is.” He is not just “Trump being Trump.” And he is not telling the truth. This is delusional, crazy, stupid stuff.
Holding my nose, trying to breathe normally, I too am all “gaspo, gulpo, gaggo” in the attempt to analyze Trump’s smelly rhetoric.
Questions multiply. Since when did a candidate for the White House refer to fellow Americans as a “bag of crap”? Presidential speeches riddled with hyperbole, misinformation, lies and incoherent claims are not the norm. Using negative rhetorical strategies to whip huge crowds into a frenzy is not in the job description of a reasonable president.
How to define a bag of crap? Dog owners take their dogs for early morning walks. They carry little bags with them with a pooper scooper. They pick up the dog’s crap and put it in the bag. That is a bag of crap. How do you ID a person as a “bag of crap?” Will it be the smell? The kind of clothes? Will it be the color of the skin? Will it be a sneaky look on the face? More than 80 million people voted for President Biden. How will Trump supporters know who is a “bag of crap?”
“How will Trump supporters know who is a ‘bag of crap?’”
I’m serious. If poll watchers are going to identify “bags of crap,” they need an artist’s sketch, a list of characteristics, a description of the suspects. And what if the poll watchers, and this is a real possibility, identify a fellow MAGAdonian as a “bag of crap”?
A brief review of Trump’s January 6 speech provides more than enough evidence for this being a continuation of insurrection. Trump said then: “We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved. … Our country has had enough. We will not take it any more and that’s what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with: We will stop the steal.”
A major theme of Trump’s speech: “Fight for Trump!”
There are lines of the speech that seem to suggest a call for the crowd to takes matters into their own hands to correct this injustice through a more active or violent approach:
- “We will not let them silence your voices. We’re not going to let it happen. Not going to let it happen.”
- “Our country has had enough. We will not take it any more and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal.”
- “That’s what they’ve done and what they’re doing. We will never give up. We will never concede, it doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.”
- “When you catch somebody in a fraud, you’re allowed to go by very different rules.”
- “This is a time for strength. … It’s all part of the comprehensive assault on our democracy and the American people to finally standing up and saying, ‘No.’ This crowd is again a testament to it.”
- “We will not be intimidated into accepting the hoaxes and the lies that we’ve been forced to believe over the past several weeks. We’ve amassed overwhelming evidence about a fake election.”
- “We’re going to see whether or not we have great and courageous leaders or whether or not we have leaders that should be ashamed of themselves throughout history, throughout eternity, they’ll be ashamed. And you know what? If they do the wrong thing, we should never ever forget that they did. Never forget. We should never ever forget.”
In Iowa, just days before the third anniversary of January 6, Trump shouted, “We’re not going to let it happen again.” But here’s the deal: It is happening again.
In full January 6 rhetorical battle gear, Trump said to his supporters in Mason City: “We will fight for America like no one has ever fought before.” Trump then said, “2024 is our final battle.”
In Donald Trump’s world, every day is January 6.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer in New York state. He is the author of 10 books, including his latest, Good and Evil in the Garden of Democracy.