{"id":27083,"date":"2026-02-27T17:33:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T01:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=27083"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T00:46:29","slug":"fearmongering-and-gratuitous-cruelty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/02\/27\/fearmongering-and-gratuitous-cruelty\/","title":{"rendered":"Fearmongering and Gratuitous Cruelty"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>E.J. Dionne Jr. on Trump&#8217;s fearmongering;<\/li>\n<li>Gratuitous cruelty in Kansas: canceling the driver&#8217;s licenses of transgender people, immediately and without notice;<\/li>\n<li>Florida cuts off HIV meds access; White House edits video of US hockey star;<\/li>\n<li>Thoughtful piece by Ryan Burge about the &#8220;God gap&#8221; in American politics, and the decline of mainline churches;<\/li>\n<li>And a sample of Philip Glass&#8217;s opera Orph\u00e9e.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p>Another take on the SOTU.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/02\/27\/opinion\/27dionne\/27dionne-jumbo.png?quality=75&amp;auto=webp\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>NY Times, opinion by E.J. Dionne Jr., 27 Feb 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/27\/opinion\/trump-state-of-the-union-fear.html?unlocked_article_code=1.PlA.C5fg.lnSP41Eolqca&amp;smid=url-share\">Why Trump\u2019s Fearmongering Is Falling Flat With Voters<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>President Trump did the nation a big favor in his State of the Union message: He brought home the dark secret behind his success. His one and true genius is hating on other people \u2014 Democrats always, immigrants and racial minorities (Mexicans one day, then Somalis), trans people, mythical election fraudsters, street criminals, drug dealers, foreign enemies and anyone else he finds it convenient to hurl a brick at.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The next paragraph makes an interesting point:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>His speech was thus an unhappy marriage of bloody images designed to scare people and borrowed glory as he <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/02\/25\/us\/politics\/trump-presidential-medal-freedom-slover.html\">handed out medals<\/a> to those who earned the honors by accomplishment and bravery, not flimflam. Mr. Trump demonstrated something too often overlooked: He can win when he\u2019s not the incumbent and can go on the attack (2016, 2024), but he leads his party to defeat when he has to govern and fails to deliver (2018, 2020).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Going on with advice about what Democrats should do. And concluding:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If there\u2019s one thing Democrats in the center and on the left agree on, it\u2019s that the party has to reverse its declines among working-class voters. Mr. Trump is making their job a lot easier. The president used to be quite good at hiding his solicitude toward the very wealthy who contribute to his political and personal coffers. Not anymore. How many clips and photos have you seen of Mr. Trump happily hobnobbing with the superrich? And how many with men and women toiling on assembly lines or in warehouses? His alignment with billionaires is so obvious that even his loyal white working-class supporters are <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/show\/tamara-keith-and-amy-walter-on-trumps-low-approval-ratings\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">beginning<\/a> to break away.<\/p>\n<p>The left\u2019s anti-oligarchy messaging is often <a class=\"css-yywogo\" title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/03\/22\/nx-s1-5334488\/bernie-sanders-fight-oligarchy-tour-trump-musk-doge-democrats#_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">seen as conflicting<\/a> with the anti-authoritarian, pro-institution messaging of more moderate Democrats. But Mr. Trump is leading an increasingly authoritarian government dedicated, above all, to his own narrow interests and to those of very wealthy people who help him achieve his ends. By definition, opposing his authoritarianism requires opposing the forms of oligarchy on which his power depends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-ac37hb evys1bk0\">To distract attention from this battle, Mr. Trump regularly tries to provoke hostility toward the groups he hates. Maybe he could pull it off if Americans were happier about the economy. But since so many feel let down, the message of his diatribes is that the only thing he can deliver after 13 months in office is fear itself. It\u2019s a tired act. A presidency built on reruns is rapidly losing its audience.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Will Trump fans ever get tired of his wretched behavior and rote performative hate?<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>The latest example of gratuitous cruelty. Following up on an item noted yesterday.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/compote.slate.com\/images\/f0ff517c-7dc3-4a45-b06b-d8d038509d28.jpeg?crop=1560%2C1040%2Cx0%2Cy0&amp;width=1280\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Slate, Christina Cauterucci, 27 Feb 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/news-and-politics\/2026\/02\/kansas-anti-trans-drivers-license-law.html\">Kansas\u2019 Anti-Trans Driver\u2019s License Law Was Cruel Enough. This Detail Makes It So Much Worse.<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;What\u2019s the matter with Kansas? Its lawmakers are bigots. That\u2019s the matter with Kansas.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The article&#8217;s subtitle echoes this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Whats-Matter-Kansas-Conservatives-America\/dp\/080507774X\/\">21-year-old book<\/a> (which I have not read). Beginning with just-the-facts:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>On Thursday morning, the state of Kansas invalidated the personal identification documents of more than 1,000 residents. A new law that went into effect requires state-issued IDs to reflect each person\u2019s gender assigned at birth, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cjonline.com\/story\/news\/politics\/government\/2026\/02\/26\/kansas-invalidates-ids-and-birth-certificates-of-transgender-people\/88849422007\/\">instantly nullifying all driver\u2019s licenses<\/a> held by trans Kansans who\u2019d gone through the process of changing the gender marker to reflect their identities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"slate-paragraph slate-graf\" data-word-count=\"58\" data-uri=\"slate.com\/_components\/slate-paragraph\/instances\/cmm4yzodc001p3b7dtq9plgwo@published\">Affected Kansans were informed that their licenses would become meaningless pieces of plastic with letters that went out from the Kansas Division of Vehicles this week. \u201cPlease note that the legislature did not include a grace period for updating credentials,\u201d it read. \u201cThis means that once the law is officially enacted, your current credential will be invalid immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This strikes me as another example of how Republicans\/conservatives think that by passing a law they can make people they don&#8217;t like simply disappear, at least from public life.<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s the &#8216;detail&#8217;? That it goes into effect immediately.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The swiftness of the law\u2019s rollout adds an additional layer of cruelty to a measure that was already set to destabilize trans people\u2019s lives. With credentials that do not match their gender identities, many trans people will be outed when their IDs contradict the gender a cashier, bouncer, police officer, or other ID taker expects based on their appearance. In the best-case scenarios, this will be merely time-consuming or annoying. In other cases, it will cause public humiliation. In still others, it could put a trans person\u2019s safety at risk.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Not to mention, as noted later in the article, &#8220;Kansan taxpayers will be on the hook for all the money it will take for the state to defend this law in court.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Why can&#8217;t conservatives just leave well-enough alone? Why does the mere existence of trans people so threaten them? Some conservatives, I gather, are Libertarians, and presumably are fine with letting people live their chosen lives without government interference. But most conservatives are religious scolds, intent on instilling their simplex black-and-white view of the world upon everyone.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Two items from <strong>JMG.<\/strong> Why would the current administration do these things??<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/JosephLapato2021-660x330.png\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>(From <strong>South Florida Sun-Sentinel<\/strong>): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2026\/02\/florida-cuts-off-affordable-access-to-hiv-medications\/\">Florida Cuts Off \u201cAffordable Access\u201d To HIV Medications<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Well, because conservatives don&#8217;t like gay people, and anyone with HIV\/AIDS is presumed to be gay. Also, as Joe notes: &#8220;Florida Surgeon General Joseph Lapado is a raging anti-vax QAnon nutbag.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>(From <strong>Associated Press<\/strong>): <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2026\/02\/us-hockey-star-condemns-white-house-over-its-ai-video-depicting-him-lobbing-f-bomb-at-canadians\/\">US Hockey Star Condemns White House Over Its AI Video Depicting Him Lobbing F-Bomb At Canadians<\/a><\/li>\n<li>&#8220;American hockey player Brady Tkachuk said Thursday that he did not appreciate a doctored TikTok video shared by the White House that made it look like he was disparaging Canadians after winning Olympic gold, calling it fake and something he would never say.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Again, why would the White House do this?? Do disparage Canadians?? I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s quite it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>A couple more thoughtful pieces.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-apps\/imrs.php?src=https:\/\/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com\/wapo\/4LS4DVMAGNF3HFK2KUOXNMVZKM.JPG&amp;w=1440&amp;impolicy=high_res\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Washington Post, Ryan Burge<\/strong> (a professor of practice at the John C. Danforth Center at Washington University in St. Louis), <strong>27 Feb 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2026\/02\/27\/polarization-protestant-churches-republicans-democrats\/\">The \u2018God Gap\u2019 in politics is a symptom of a deeper problem<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;The decline of mainline churches has left us more polarized.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is partly about the writer&#8217;s experience as a part-time pastor in an American Baptist Church, and how its attendance shrunk over the years, and how it finally closed. Stepping out to the larger picture:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>One of the defining features of American religion and politics is the \u201cGod Gap.\u201d This is the idea that Republicans depend on the votes of Christians (particularly White Christians), while Democrats rely on the growing share of Americans who claim no religious affiliation. The data from the 2024 presidential election makes the difference clear.<\/p>\n<p>Among Trump voters, 71 percent were Christians and about 60 percent were White Christians. Meanwhile, supporters of Kamala Harris were almost evenly split between Christians and the nonreligious (42 percent versus 45 percent). When the average American thinks about the political leanings of the average Christian, it\u2019s more than likely that they conjure up a Trump supporter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Comment: For years now, I&#8217;ve naively assumed that the compassionate messages of Jesus were better aligned with Democratic values of progress and inclusion, rather that Republican values of racism and advantaging the wealthy. I&#8217;ve been wrong.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But as someone who has studied American religion and politics through hundreds of surveys and thousands of data visualizations over the past decade, I must remind people of a simple fact: It hasn\u2019t always been this way.<\/p>\n<p>In the early 1970s, a majority of White evangelicals identified as Democrats, and even through the early 1990s, an attendee of a White evangelical church was just as likely to be a Democrat as a Republican. Though about two-thirds of White Catholics were Republican voters in the 2024 presidential election, they were a core part of John F. Kennedy\u2019s election in 1960.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What&#8217;s changed? Polarization.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>But in an America that always wants to code institutions and individuals as \u201cleft\u201d or \u201cright,\u201d the mainline refusal to be pushed into one political corner may have led to its ultimate demise. In 1975, 30 percent of all American adults were mainliners. Today that figure stands at <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ryanburge\/status\/2013685980134346949\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">just 8.5 percent<\/a> and will quickly slide to 5 percent as the baby boomers in the pews depart.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There are several graphs throughout this piece&#8230; The writer concludes, without speculating why this polarization has occurred (I would look to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2021\/01\/17\/notes-and-quotes-ezra-kleins-why-were-polarized-2020\/\">Ezra Klein<\/a>), thus:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>In a political climate that shuns compromise, we need the mainline more than ever. But unfortunately, this once-proud tradition is a shadow of its former self. And now we are left with right-wing evangelicals and left-wing atheists yelling at each other from the edges of the American religious landscape with little left between. The decline of moderate congregations is not only hurting American religion; it\u2019s also hurting American democracy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p>Still working my way through Philip Glass, up to his opera Orph\u00e9e (1991). Here&#8217;s a sample.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ensemble Parall\u00e8le - Philip Glass&amp;apos; Orph\u00e9e\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KF3qgegUz9I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>E.J. Dionne Jr. on Trump&#8217;s fearmongering; Gratuitous cruelty in Kansas: canceling the driver&#8217;s licenses of transgender people, immediately and without notice; Florida cuts off HIV meds access; White House edits video of US hockey star; Thoughtful piece by Ryan Burge &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/02\/27\/fearmongering-and-gratuitous-cruelty\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,90,17,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative-resistance","category-conservatives","category-music","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27083"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27157,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27083\/revisions\/27157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}