The Age of Midgets and Little Men

In the past when leaders made bold or revolutionary political moves, they either believed in their cause, or at the very least in themselves. They put it all on the line and risked all in order to grasp the power they coveted. Some were even willing to risk their lives.

Rubicons were crossed and these same men knew that they had followers, men who also were putting themselves at risk because they believed in a Caesar, Bonaparte, Franco, Lenin, Washington, or Cromwell. The idea that these men would give themselves in a half-hearted fashion to the revolutions they represented, and then just slink off and let their followers bear the brunt of the punishments was unthinkable. They would be forever shamed and their followers would never believe in them again.

The names of the men who succeeded (for good or ill) loom large in history. These are giants, men that became the leaders of bestial states, men revered in some cases as gods. Even though they were (from a Christian perspective) evil men, one cannot help but have a sliver of appreciation for them – if anything for their courage and vision. You may not agree with a Bismarck, Bolivar, Garibaldi, or William of Orange, but these were men of action. Regardless of what one thinks of them, men like Hannibal and Alexander generate a degree of awe and a kind of respect.

Today, we are surrounded by midgets – puny, worthless men, who have no bravado, no vision, and evidently no shame. Men like Trump and Bolsonaro are willing to roll the dice and see if their movement can generate enough momentum for them to return to power, but they are unwilling to put themselves at risk – or even get their hands dirty.

They have no vision apart from feeding anger and then they hope that enough can be smashed that they might be able to step back into the corridors of power or that somehow – on the wings of a dream, state actors will call for their return. These are spineless beings.

What continues to amaze me though are the cult followings these men have generated. These people put themselves at risk of bodily harm, incarceration, and even death. But then they don't seem able to realize their fascistic icons and would be führers and caudillos have betrayed them and won't endanger themselves by standing with them. They're even quick to (mildly) denounce them and disassociate themselves from their followers – even when it is evident they did everything they could to whip up these mobs and militias. The start the fire, pour fuel on it, but when it fails to burn the building down, they walk away and pretend that they had nothing to do with it.

Right now, if I was in the Proud Boys, or Three Percenters, I'd be cursing Trump's name. His close circle of people, operatives, and political allies set the events in motion and it was supposed to culminate with his arrival at the Capitol – and a proclamation of emergency powers. It was a coup in the making. But because the Secret Service wouldn't let him travel down Pennsylvania Avenue – he just caved and backed down. He betrayed his own people. They should be outraged. He should (by now) have zero support and yet apparently his people are too stupid to understand this, to grasp that this coward set them up and betrayed them.

We see the same with Bolsonaro. Already hiding in Florida, he's ready to slip off to Italy and retire – and abandon his people to prison terms.

These men are midgets. They're children playing with guns. They're pathetic. The only people more pathetic and pitiable are their cult followers.