At the end of the 1983 science fiction thriller, The Dead Zone, a demagogue presidential candidate grabs a baby and holds the child up in front of him as a human shield.
A reporter photographs the incident, which then appears as a cover story in a major news magazine, preventing the election of a man who would have authored a nuclear holocaust. Looking back at the film now--a young Christopher Walken playing someone who can see the future and hopes to kill a Hitler before the man assumes office--I see the similarity to Trump rallies, to the whipping up of a base dangerously infused with rage and misinformation. But there's no visionary Walken around to get Trump to make that fatal mistake that would lose him his base.
It's easy to imagine Trump grabbing a baby and holding the child up as a human shield. But he'd probably have to do that ten or more times before the meaning of such an act dawned on his base. The man can seemingly do no wrong, even for folks who say "he's not perfect" but they like him anyway. They like that he's not perfect. Or they see him as a father figure. Or they find him sexy. Or manly. Or delightfully capable of getting away with cheating, assault, murder. They love his shamelessness. They adore his lies. They feel empowered when he speaks. I think Trump could get away with the moment that ends the career of the fictional President Stillson, chillingly played by a very young Martin Sheen.
A very old man whom I knew saw Hitler speak. Several times. Commenting that the "guy sounded like an idiot," the old man--who'd been a young lawyer in Vienna at the time--said he realized the guy "wasn't an idiot" after all. Hitler altered his accent and behavior for each crowd. Any politician can do that. But not every politician feels the absolute self-confidence of the true narcissist or the lust for destruction that marked Hitler's, and Trump's, reigns.
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