Mounce: What Will History Name Us?

If this national administration does not lead us into war with Iran (with its possible nuclear ramifications), if we survive the gas-lighting and the war-mongering… what will future historians make of this choking point in history?

What would it take? Trump to wear an actual crown in the White House Rose Garden he is paving over? Install an actual golden throne in the flying palace, gifted by the Princes of Qatar? When would “magista” Republicans ever say “enough”? (Svante Myrick, “Republicans Denounce Their King?” The Hill, 16 June 25).

Or, would it take another murder or two of Democratic officials? U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, of San Antonio, was named on the Minnesota murderer’s hit list, along with 45 other Democrats, according to U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar of El Paso (18 Jun 25, San Antonio Chronicle). Some Republicans shamelessly gloated over that murder, mocking those who called for sanity.

Former Vice-President Mike Pence, in an essay in National Affairs, “rips into “Maga” Republicans as “having no moral principles; they are overtaken by a force antithetical to traditional conservatism” (Ailia Zehdra Zehva, 19 Jun 25, Alternet). They are reverting to “the same kind of rhetoric that caused the 2021 Capitol riots,” when a mob invaded the nation’s capitol. 

Yes, who are these people? Who are we? How will history record us? Some of the “magistas” dare to call themselves Christian. Think of a viral video by a North Carolina nurse, Jen Hamilton, She holds a Bible up to Republican ideas and policies – finds them wanting, morally and scripturally. Matthew 25 reveals Jesus saying: “I was hungry and you fed me.” She contrasts that with the administration’s drastic cuts to food for the under-nourished. She finds those who claim to be Christian, yet mistreat immigrants and others, to be brazen hypocrites (Brittany Wong, “MAGA Christianity,” 18 June 25, Huffington Post).  

How will history remember us? Perhaps no one said it better than a Trumper, Kayleigh McEnany, former press secretary, now with Fox News: “A combined fanaticism, no care for self-preservation, and radical religious beliefs – with nuclear weapons – that is the great danger.” She was speaking of Iran but apparently had no idea of the irony, the self-projection; she was, in fact, describing Donald Trump and his Magistas (Ed Mazza, “Getting It,” 18 June 25, Huffington Post). 

Or, put more simply, “this is not what we voted for.” (Florida state Senator Ileana Garcia, Republican, founder of Latinas for Trump). If not, what is the solution”? Vote again, soon as we can, while we can. Meanwhile, answer the call (to quote Pope Leo XIV) “God is reaching out for us.” 

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by writer Dr. Gary Joe Mounce, a professor emeritus (political science) at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He can be reached by email via: gjmounce@gmail.com.

Editor’s Note: Click here to watch a KURV-TV story on Rio Grande Valley artist Alexandro Gregoria’s mural, Love Thy Neighbor.

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