Trump hearts torture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Yes, it's true. \u00a0And in fairness, he's honest about it. \u00a0If nothing else, we don't have to guess what he thinks about things. \u00a0And he has made it clear,\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2017\/01\/trump-hearts-torture.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump hearts torture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Yes, it's true. \u00a0And in fairness, he's honest about it. \u00a0If nothing else, we don't have to guess what he thinks about things. \u00a0And he has made it clear,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2017\/01\/trump-hearts-torture.html\" 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{"id":8463,"date":"2017-01-26T16:44:30","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T20:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?p=8463"},"modified":"2017-01-26T13:48:35","modified_gmt":"2017-01-26T17:48:35","slug":"trump-hearts-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2017\/01\/trump-hearts-torture.html","title":{"rendered":"Trump hearts torture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Yes, it\u2019s true<\/a>. \u00a0And in fairness, he\u2019s honest about it. \u00a0If nothing else, we don\u2019t have to guess what he thinks about things. \u00a0And he has made it clear, torture \u2013 for want of a better word \u2013 is good. \u00a0Torture is right. \u00a0Torture works. \u00a0Even if studies and experience suggest otherwise. \u00a0Trump seldom lets little things like reality get in the way of a good fantasy.<\/p>\n

If his fantasies include imagining\u00a0his reality show was a gift to our cultural identity, that\u2019s fine. \u00a0I have no problem with that. \u00a0But when it comes to more important things, then it\u2019s a problem. \u00a0And when it comes to issues that cut to the heart and soul of our national spirit, I have a big problem.<\/p>\n

This is an issue that gave two big black eyes to America in general, and American conservatism in particular. \u00a0It showed the problems that were already present as the religious right continued to make fealty\u00a0to the political right a non-negotiable. \u00a0 Something I pointed out back in the 90s.<\/p>\n

But rather than break with the expediency, American conservatives, including Christians, jumped on the water board bandwagon. \u00a0And at the end of the day, when it was finally stopped, they\u00a0were the ones standing in the rain with \u2018I support torture\u2019 protest signs. \u00a0A bad imagine to be sure.<\/p>\n

Now Trump has come out and said torture is fine with him. \u00a0And he doesn\u2019t stop there. \u00a0Fight fire with fire!, he says. \u00a0 Jonah Goldberg wrote an interesting piece that I was going to comment on<\/a>, but decided not to. \u00a0I try to keep links to specific writers limited to once a week. \u00a0But he caught something about Trump that has bothered me for some time.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mean the our social values as embodied by Trump that we only suddenly found distasteful. \u00a0I mean his lack of concern for history. \u00a0As a student and teacher of history these forty years, I take history seriously. \u00a0But if I was in a room with Trump, I get the idea that would make one of us.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s a problem. \u00a0Trump seems to approach history the way I do candy stores. I go in, look around, grab what I want here and there. \u00a0I pay and leave. \u00a0He seems to do the same. \u00a0Like a ball of Velcro rolling through a lint warehouse, he picks up this and that as he goes. \u00a0Without context. \u00a0Without a deep knowledge or concern about how this statement or that action fits into the larger scheme of things.<\/p>\n

So fight fire with fire? \u00a0Yeah, we tried that already. \u00a0In late 1941 and early 1942. \u00a0Most know that a fundamental assumption in the Axis strategy was the inherent softness and foppishness of the Western Democracies. \u00a0A few good smacks on the nose, and we\u2019d buckle and negotiate. \u00a0We also know that this blew up in Germany\u2019s face when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

What people sometimes miss is that it also blew up in their face when the US\u2019s entered the war. \u00a0Early on, we realized what the Axis powers were\u00a0up to, and decided we would meet force with force. \u00a0Fight fire with fire you might say. \u00a0They hit, we hit back harder. \u00a0They bomb us, we bomb them. \u00a0Bigger. \u00a0And on it went. And through the decades, it was our excesses that have come to dominate our recollections of our war effort.<\/p>\n

Even by the 1950s, Americans were beginning to question some of our tactics in the war. \u00a0By the 70s, you didn\u2019t mention the brave boys at Normandy without contemplating the mushroom clouds. \u00a0And today, for some, you\u2019d think there was nothing but burning cities, nuclear wastelands, and all courtesy of a nation, apathetic about the suffering of minorities, that only cared about the war for self-serving\u00a0reasons.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happens when you adopt a \u2018do whatever\u2019 strategy. \u00a0Sure, we might win. \u00a0We have the power to overwhelm any opponent if we throw out all principles and morals. \u00a0But at what cost? \u00a0There is a reason the Faith teaches against things like torture. \u00a0There is a reason we have \u2018Just War\u2019 theory, rather than \u2018Just Do Whatever\u2019 theory.<\/p>\n

If the obvious moral problems with torture don\u2019t do it, then look at where adopting a \u2018whatever it takes\u2019 approach has gotten us. \u00a0For those who would change our nation, it is simply one more gun in the arsenal; one more reason why the old ways need thrown down and the new ways adopted. \u00a0If the purpose is to defend\u00a0our nation, then using methods that ultimately cost us our nation \u2013 at least as we understand and love it \u2013 is known as counterproductive.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"