On the Battlefield Bloody and Alone

Oh my God! I did not want to do another post about Donald Trump but a story came to my attention last week that I have to comment on.

Donald Trump is a stupid and incompetent man who literally stumbled into power when he won the 2016 election. It made some sense that Republicans would feel some compulsion to suck up to him. "Yes, he's a stupid and incompetent man but damn it, he's our man!" You know, something along those lines.

I had thought when he lost in 2020, there might be some relief among the Republican Party.  "Oh for fuck's sake, he's a stupid and incompetent man and we don't have to put with this shit any more!"  Kind of a "Ding dong! The witch is dead!" kind of vibe. 

Instead, the Republican Party seems even more devoted to the cult of Trump even more than before, sustaining Li'l Donnie's big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

(Go back and read my post on Friday, May 14th for more of my thoughts on that.) 

Will no one among his erstwhile followers in the light of day actually call out Donald Trump for who and what he really is?

And that's where our attention turns to Ethan Nordean. 

A self-described Proud Boys sergeant-at-arms, Ethan Nordean took part in the January 6th insurrection and now has offered up this commentary:  “Alright I’m gonna say it. FUCK TRUMP! Fuck him more than Biden. I’ve followed this guy for 4 years and given everything and lost it all."  

“Yes he woke us up, but he led us to believe some great justice was upon us ... and it never happened. Now I’ve got some of my good friends and myself facing jail time cuz we followed this guy's lead and never questioned it.”

“We are now and always have been on our own. So glad he was able to pardon a bunch of degenerates as his last move and shit on us on the way out.”

“Fuck you Trump! You left us on the battlefield bloody and alone."

Even as Republican lawmakers attempt to rewrite history, falsely claiming this week that the insurrectionists are the true Jan. 6 victims, Nordean’s own lawyer, public defender Corey Endothe, has put the blame on Trump for inciting the riot. 

“Thousands of people descended on Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 to protest the result of the 2020 presidential election. Egged on by Donald Trump, other politicians, his legal advocates, and the news media these people believed the election had been stolen. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people entered the Capitol building as Mr. Nordean is alleged to have done.”

This post is not meant as any exaltation of Ethan Nordean. As part of the Proud Boys, Nordean was part of a violent white supremacist movement and he was in deep for Trump right up to January 6th when he wrote:  “Let them remember the day they decided to make war with us. Fight we will.”

And Nordean was there, participating in the assault on the Capitol. 

If Ethan Nordean thought Donald Trump was going to lead them in some grand revolution to remake America in their image, well, it's on his dumb ass for not seeing Trump for the feckless, manipulating asshole he has always been. 

Nordean's repudiation of Trump should not be seen as a repudiation of the Proud Boys and their racist agenda.

But Ethan Nordean, in the aftermath of his devotion to Donald Trump, has seen the reality of who Donald Trump is and did what Ted Cruz, Kevin McCarthy and other alleged political leaders refuse to do and called him out on it. 

I don't know Ethan Nordean. For all I know, while cooling his heels in jail for his role in the attack on the Capitol, maybe he's had a come to Jesus moment of clarity and realizes the foolishness of the racism in his hardened heart. Or maybe being behind bars is just giving him more time to stoke the hot rage of hate towards anyone who doesn't look like him. I don't know. 

But Ethan Nordean looked at Donald Trump in the aftermath of his foolhardy pledge of devotion to Trump, left on the battlefield bloody and alone and realized that Donald Trump is not on his side. Not now and perhaps not ever. 

And he said so.