Every American who has even the slightest interest in our political and electoral system should watch the 1964 classic film Seven Days In May. Director John Frankenheimer, along with screenwriter Rod Serling ( he of The Twilight Zone fame) , captured the essence of the novel by Knebel & Bailey. The plot is the secretive plan for a Coup de tat ( the illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership) after the US president and his administration sign a treaty with the Soviets to ban nuclear weapons. The front man of this coup is Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General James Matoon Scott, played by ( super liberal, by the way) Burt Lancaster. It takes General Scott’s aide, Col. ‘ Jiggs’ Grayson, played by ( super liberal, once again) Kirk Douglas, to whistle blow the deadly plan to the US president , played by another liberal actor, Frederic March.
As the days move closer to the date set for the coup, this writer, viewing the film for the umpteenth time, can only imagine the great ‘ What If’. What if Trump wins on November 5th and is installed along with his far right wing minions into the seat of ultimate power? When he recently made the remark about needing to ‘ Take out Enemies from within’, one must analogize the fascistic atmosphere of the late 1940s and early 1950s that dominated the headlines. Senator Joseph McCarthy, a stumblebum much like Trump, carried the mantle for so many far right wing ideologues and average citizens so similar to this current MAGA crowd. Sad sad sad. Recent polls have shown that one in five of those who label themselves Republicans have stated that if Trump loses this election he should do ‘ Whatever it takes to get back into power’. If that isn’t a forecast for violence I don’t know what is.
To a person like yours truly, who is a Socialist and far away politically from the current Democratic Party, the possibilities become too urgent to gloss over. However lacking, in so many ways, the Democrats have been, the alternative is horrifying. If there was ever a case for voting ‘The lesser of two evils’ it is now. Revered historian Noam Chomsky expressed it best: ‘ You hold your nose and vote for the Democrats’. Believe you me, it is not only about the ‘ Off the far right wing radar’ flame carrier Donald Trump. It is really all about the legions of greedy corporate businesspeople and absentee landlords, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Medicare Advantage vipers, Christian Fascists ( you know, the ones who have held Jesus hostage for too long), ‘ Anti any kind of gay lifestyle zealots’ and the millions of angry white males who will think that violence pays when settling divisions.
Please take the time to get a hold of Seven Days in May. Watch it. Share it with anyone over the age of ten and be ready for the ‘circus of evil’ after November 5th.
PA Farruggio
Two Weeks to Go 2024