At the start of their December 22 interview, KellyAnne Conway asked Rachel Maddow “Do you agree he’s your president too?”
It was whispered in that creepy and vaguely menacing tone of hers, as if she would walk out of the interview if Rachel did not give the loyalist answer.
Similar questions may be in all of our futures.
I have already decided what I will say when asked.
There is technical authority that is conferred by rules and laws. In that sense DJT will become “the” President on January 20, 2017. (Some of the poorly-educated, in true “Get Out of Cheney’s House” fashion, apparently think he is president now.)
At noon on that day DJT will receive all the legal authority that comes with being the duly-elected occupant of the Oval Office.
However, there is a moral legitimacy that is only granted to certain leaders by the heart of the people.
In that sense he is not and never will be “my” president.
Republicons know exactly what the difference is, because they did it to Obama.
DJ and the Deplorables (good band name LOL) are pissed off now to discover that technical authority cannot command devotion. When the consent of the governed is not given freely, it smells illegitimate, regardless of any certified electoral outcome. You can coerce and punish the people and frighten them into obedience, but you cannot make the people respect, admire or love you.
Dictators and similar autocrats hate this. They rant and rave at the slightest suggestion their legitimacy is being questioned. They demand loyalty oaths and throw people into prison for refusing to sign them. After ham-handed attempts at seduction they turn on the reluctant victim with “You think you’re too good for me? Fine, (insert your favorite gendered insult here)—I don't want you anyway.”
Then they console themselves with the claim that it is better to be feared than loved.
But no matter how psychopathic they are, no matter how much they say it doesn’t bother them, it bothers them. Otherwise they would not go to so much trouble to keep commenting on the size of their... victory. Otherwise he would not keep saying “I won! I won! You lost, you loser! Say it! SAY I WON!” as if the person he is really trying to persuade is himself.
Mere reluctant obedience is not enough for them. They want the legitimacy that is only granted by devotion. They are ridiculously grateful for anyone who will give them that, or pretend to give them that. Look at how many Rcons have paid obeisance to DJT in the last few weeks. He eats it up with a spoon. Even though there is a place deep inside him that has to know a lot of it is fake, he needs adoration so badly he will take it any way he can get it.
What really enrages such men is when someone will not even bother to pretend.
My favorite literary analogy for this would be Crassus and Varinia in the photo above, from John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s favorite movie.
Crassus owned her, by law. He paid for her. He had a signed contract saying she belonged to him completely. He could force her to live with him. Shower her with expensive gifts. Force her to wear revealing clothing, or nothing at all. He could, if he chose, force her to have sex with him.
But he wanted her to give herself freely, and she would not, because she loved Spartacus.
She loved Spartacus, even though she thought he was dead.
That was her victory.
It infuriated Crassus.
It ate him up inside to the point that he could not bring himself to rape her, because making her submit to him by force would only be the ultimate proof that she was not and never would be his.
When asked, she enjoyed rubbing it in:
Right after this scene, we switch to Antoninus and Spartacus, who are chained together outside, talking in the dark. They do not know that Crassus, frustrated at being rebuffed by Varinia, is about to try to assuage his jealousy by making the two dear friends fight each other to the death, and the loser will be crucified, a much slower and more agonizing way to die (from it we get the expression “excruciating pain”).
In the final moments before Crassus appears, Antoninus asks “Could we have won, Spartacus? Could we ever have won?” and Spartacus responds:
Just by fighting them we won something.
When just one man says “No. I won’t.” Rome begins to fear.
And we were tens of thousands who said no.
That was the wonder of it.”
Therefore, in addition to wearing the black star, I am also proposing that people take/use the name Varinia as a symbol of The Resistance.
He may have a great deal of power over me, but he will not get my willing cooperation. Not now, not ever.
Even if he forces me to do what he wants on the outside, he and his minions will do so knowing that on the inside, where they cannot touch me, I am despising everything they stand for: the policies they promote, the greed that motivates them, the lies they tell, the white supremacists who cheer them, and everything about the way they won. (I expect to edit and lengthen this section as time goes on.)
Not my President. Not on December 23, 2016 and not on January 20, 2017.
Not now. Not ever. #Never.
I am #Varinia.