In Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner the young Afghani boy, Amir, is haunted by his cowardice as he encounters and ignores the savage beating and rape of his friend (spoiler alert: and half-brother) Hassan. In the book, Amir attributes his inaction to his need to be recognized by his father, Baba. The novel explores the lifelong effect of this act of cowardice on a boy who viewed his own behavior as being both a disappointment and an indictment of his inability to live up to his own image of Baba. Returning to his homeland to rescue Hassan’s son from an orphanage. In a self-revelatory moment, Amir reminds himself that this act of heroism was playing against type:
“This isnt you Amir part of me said. You're gutless. It's how you were made. And that's not such a bad thing because your saving grace is that you've never lied to yourself about it. Not about that. Nothing wrong with cowardice as long as it comes with prudence. But when a coward stops remembering who he is... God help him.”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
It is a wonder that today we are witnessing a tsunami of cowardice from followers of Donald Trump—not to mention the father issues this president bears. Hosseini’s protagonist spends a lifetime first justifying, then trying to expiate the guilt his personal nightmare created. It had colored his existence from that time on. One wonders whether the sycophantic behavior of any of the Republican cowards produces a like response upon later reflection.
Their fear of the presidential tweet or a Facebook smear is truly gutless and reduces these cowards to a level beneath that of a young afghani fictional character. The powerful message that lies within Amir’s self-loathing is an entirely believable human reaction given the circumstances. For example, how does Ted Cruz manage his fawning support of Trump while living with the knowledge that this same man had defamed his own father and wife? How do Republican functionaries holding state positions maintain any level of dignity as they sign on to overturning a free and fair election fearing reprisal from the loser? As they confront the fear to which their personal esteem is held hostage, are they at all bothered by their spineless and servile devotion to a madman? It is a question that will haunt them to their end. Their Faustian bargain has been made with a con man.
There are indications that the current stance being adopted by Republicans has little to do with an affection for real support of Donald Trump. Behind the scenes, in hushed tones, they admit that Trump lost the election “bigly” providing evidence of their inner conflict---evidence of their gutlessness. Remorse generally follows quickly upon the commission of a crime, especially when there is a certainty of retribution. Like a cook who touches a hot stove, no one had to tell them not to—they knew better. Such is the nature of guilt—it scars. Perhaps they believe that they are different from the man they fear so much. After all, he is worse than they are. Their sins are committed on his behalf. Hosseini has a phrase that may bear them out:
“A man who has no conscience, no goodness, does not suffer.”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
--”Oh,” they comfort themselves, “we all must suffer through.”
Trump’s band of frightened followers surely believe that they are suffering for their sins, and therefore, they hope, there will surely be time to redeem themselves. Isn’t that what differentiates them from him? “He is the one who took those kids from their families, not me,” they console themselves. “He’s the one responsible for botching the pandemic crisis with his ‘it’s all a hoax’ Bullshit. His “...it'll be gone by summer’ lies—not me.” After all, he admitted as much to Woodward.
It is the self-talk that sustains them as they whistle their way past the graveyard. Rudy, Miller, and all those press secretaries were the first line enablers. That unctuous Pence covers his lies with smarm. Mitch McConnell, the leader of the “guilty but I had to do it” crowd in the Senate, surely he is worse. His excuse, as far as it goes, is that his job is to protect a Republican majority in the Senate—he is protecting something dearer than the republic, he was guarding Republican power and the wealthy clients who willingly donate for a price. This, for the soulless like McConnell, serves as God’s work. He even allows lobbyists to help write his legislation if it would help them get richer. Anyway, for Mitch, there is no coastline in Kentucky that invites Hurricanes, and wildfires are a Blue State phenomenon. So screw the lefties worried about climate change, fire up the rigs, and haul that coal!
The truth is they comfort themselves believing that there is enough guilt and shame to go around and—there is safety in numbers. There is a caveat, however, that cannot be denied, can’t be put off for later, that demands our attention. The crises we are facing—the pandemic, the natural disasters, the flow of immigrants from areas of poverty and desolation— are mostly unnatural. They are abetted by our own actions and behaviors. Those who think that because man has helped create the problem, there will be time to control it, are lost in their arrogance. This is perhaps their greatest sin. It is the arrogance, the self-conceit, that young Amir mistook for cowardice. It is the narcissism of thinking that as long as it is happening to them, it is unlikely to happen to me. It is the misapprehension of our interconnectedness—with each other, with nature, with our own conscience.
My grandfather was an immigrant who arrived in America just before the Great Depression. He was lured here by the promise of America as a place where he could find work, raise his family, escape the devastation of his own homeland after the first World War. At that time, immigrants were needed to mine the deep veins of anthracite coal, he worked until he had earned enough to bring his wife and two small children to join him. The coal barons were a greedy lot and immigrant lives were cheap. My grandfather was killed in a mine after he was directed to take the columns of coal that were required by law to remain in order to maintain the integrity of the mine shaft. While he was finishing his work that day, with a foreman watching and urging him on, the roof of the shaft caved in on him, killing him instantly.
Somehow, it seems as though not much has changed. To those like the Republican Party of Donald Trump, other lives really don’t matter much in the pursuit of wealth and power. Yesterday another young black man was shot at his front door. Shot in the back attempting to get home. Yesterday, more than 3000 Americans died of the coronavirus, hoping to get home for the holidays. Children have been sacrificed at the altar of the gun lobby from Columbine, to Sandy Hook, to Parkland. To the Mitch McConnel Senate majority, kids are collateral damage offset by their thirst for power and wealth. Their response is to feign grief and offer thoughts and prayers. In each case, value is measured in Benjamins and influence, not lives.
The Republican Party faithful are kidding themselves. They are no better than Trump, in fact, they may be worse. They live in a gerrymandered “Neverland” protected by an echo chamber of racists and fools. They wrap themselves in the soiled finery of their religion— faith without conviction. They are incapable of the introspection of young Amir, who looked in the mirror and decided he was a coward—gutless, then dedicated his life to redemption. No, they are gutless because they are thieves who dare to steal the future, and as Hosseini writes, this is truly the greatest sin:
“there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. When you kill a man, you steal a life... you steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness... there is no act more wretched than stealing.”
― Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner
They have stolen hope, and for that, there is no forgiveness.