(REUTERS)

I used to think the backbone of America ran right down the middle -- from the Dakotas to Texas. Sadly, if recent events have taught me anything, it’s that red states are spineless. The obsequious manner in which conservative voters capitulate to an untelegenic mountebank is either cultism, cowardice, or a combination of the two. It’s certainly not the backbone that built our great nation.

It's important to bear in mind these are the same gullible saps who thought the arrival of a Dollar General in their communities would save Main Street rather than eviscerate the local economy entirely. They're notorious for supporting flimflammers who delight in hoodwinking them.

These are likewise the same degenerates who think the prospect of a cage fight on the White House lawn is a fitting means by which to commemorate the semiquincentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The irony doesn't escape the intellectual mind. Juvenal’s “bread and circuses” idiom is obscenely fitting.

I recently happened upon a comment written by a Gravy Seal residing in a Kansas town made famous by right-wing terrorist Timothy McVeigh. The self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist applauded Trump’s “crackdown,” saying “if Martial law is what it takes, so be it.”

“The communist demotards are lying,” he wrote. “I’m glad Trump is gettin rid of the homeless. I’m tired of seein all these stolen Walmart carts all over town.”

For a Christian, the gentleman evidently suffers a lack of altruism.

Of course, when it comes to the question of where exactly transients are being relocated, nobody seems to know, and few “Christians” appear to care.

As for the eradication of the unhoused in the Sunflower State?

The individual could just as well wish in one hand and spit in the other. Though Junction City is a stone’s throw from a military base, Trump’s “crackdown” isn’t likely to occur in ruby-red Kansas.

That doesn’t negate the fact that 15 of the 25 cities with the highest violent crime rates in the U.S. are in red states. As usual, Trump is going after the low hanging fruit to gammon his gullible base.

Though conservatives allege that blue states are havens for inequity, communism, and violence, without the funds paid into the federal revenue by blue states, America’s red states would be crippled.

Referring to the left as communists seems mordacious considering anti-intellectualism is a communist tactic. A vacuous society occupied with gladiator-inspired sports and made-for-television spectacles is more easily controlled. Last time I checked, it wasn’t the Democrats banning books or threatening universities. Perhaps if school systems in red states didn’t consistently fall dead last in national rankings, their voters wouldn't be so inept.

I’m reminded of the adage, “Republican voters will usher in fascism to avoid socialism because they don’t know the definition of either term.”

-- The North Dakota roughneck who decries socialism while his “tradwife” stays home with their children, reaping the benefits of socialist programs like SNAP and WIC.

-- The South Dakota boomer who delights in “owning the libs,” but happily cashes her social security check, a program that incorporates elements of democratic socialism.

-- The Nebraska corn farmer who laments socialists but eagerly accepts a subsidy check, which is literally a form of socialism.

-- The Kansas Christian Nationalist who opposes abortion but supports the death penalty, eradication of the homeless, and the inhumane treatment of migrants.

-- The Oklahoma Superintendent who insists on the presence of a Holy Bible in every classroom while being caught with lewd imagery on a computer screen.

-- The Texas cattle rancher who loathes “the illegals,” but snivels about having his brown-skinned, all-cash, under-the-table workforce taken away.

Their benightedness is only surpassed by their hypocrisy and their pathetic spinelessness.

Donald Trump isn’t draining any swamp. He’s the embodiment of D.C. corruption. His every move is being dictated by K Street. The irony is that most of the chumps who believe he is “draining the swamp” won’t understand that reference and sure as hell won’t look it up – that’s precisely what K Street is counting on. Having said that, if you’re genuinely interested in learning more about “the swamp” rather than merely parroting a campaign slogan, brothers Brody and Luke Mullins have written a phenomenal book entitled “The Wolves of K Street” that was recently released by Simon & Schuster.

The MAGA movement haplessly takes fraudster bait and consistently fails its own litmus test. Just look at who they anointed as “Dear Leader.” There’s a reason he “loves the poorly educated.”

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J. Basil Dannebohm is a writer, speaker, consultant, former Kansas legislator and intelligencer. His website is www.dannebohm.com. Mr. Dannebohm is a member of the Virginia Press Association and the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He writes from the Washington DC metro in the Commonwealth of Virginia.