Charles Dickens didn't count on Trump

[Cyrano]

In writing "A Christmas Carol," Dickens made Scrooge a person who was greedy, grumpy, and uncaring of the fate of all the other human beings with whom he shared this planet.

After visits from the three ghosts, Scrooge is redeemed and tries to make right all the evils he visited upon others. He found his conscience and learned the meaning of human decency.

But, it seems that Dickens didn't foresee a Donald Trump. I suppose this can be interpreted as Trump being a man who is beyond redemption; a person who has ignored, or is unaware of, acceptable human decency; a being who has no concept of the damage he has done to the civilized world; a strange alien-like creature who has no conscience, and no wish to set right all that he damaged and destroyed.

Dickens, in his writings, believed that even the worst among us has some redeeming quality. It seems he didn't foresee a Donald Trump or those of his ilk. Then again, perhaps he saw them, but couldn't grasp the nature of their existence, or describe the pure evil they embodied.

[raging moderate]

1. Charles Dickens did not count on TX Gov. Abbott.

Sending a bunch of people in shirtsleeves on long bus rides in the middle of the night into icy below-freezing 15-degree weather! The pictures of those brave people in that awful ordeal broke my heart! Perhaps Governor Abbott needs to experience a few hours out in icy weather in his shirtsleeves in order to attain true repentance! And maybe the same is true for those who helped him achieve this depth of cruelty. And in the wee hours of Christmas Morning!

[Cyrano]

4. This cruelty is beyond comprehension

Abbott, DeSantis and all like them are a disease. Most of us believe that there is some goodness, deep in most people. Abbott, et. al. seem to defy our beliefs. So, I guess that describing them as "pure evil" is a fair assessment.

Seems there is a race between our evolving out of our adolescence, and our total self destruction.

[OMGWTF]

17. Abbott needs to be arrested for kidnapping and human trafficking.

What a douche move dumping those poor people at Kamala Harris' doorstep on Xmas Eve. Just what is the message here? Methinks that it's that Greg Abbott is an irredeemable sociopath who thinks he can get away with murder because the fidiot h8ers in Texassistan just elected him to another four-year reign of assholery. Fuck you Texas. Next time you want to secede, I'll do what I can to help you leave. We'll add Puerto Rico and then we won't have to change the number of stars on the flag.

[Ocelot II]

2. Scrooge was a bitter old man but he wasn't a sociopath,

and therefore was capable of introspection and redemption. TFG and his acolyte, Abbott, not so much. If the Antichrist were real, those assholes would be candidates, or at least antichrists, since they are the exact opposite of this:

'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ (Matthew 25)

Jesus' basic statement of altruism and compassion is accepted by decent people of all cultures, religions, philosophies and beliefs, Christian or otherwise, and TFG and the likes of Abbott and DeSantis embody the opposite. People who are poor, hungry, unclothed, sick, imprisoned, or otherwise suffering or powerless are losers whom they denigrate, mock and punish. Some people think they'll go to Hell for it; I think they've made their own Hells.

[wnylib]

8. +1,000,000

[betsuni]

26. Yes. Scrooge would be a Trump supporter, not Trump.

[FuzzyRabbit]

3. Good description of TFG

a strange alien-like creature who has no conscience, and no wish to set right all that he damaged and destroyed.

[Cyrano]

13. Hope that will be the opening line of every biography written about him

[OMGWTF]

18. "It was miraculous...

It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

[Silent3]

5. Christmas ghosts are all radical Democrats, doncha know?

These spiritual visitations are rigged!

[Cyrano]

7. One can only hope that "The Ghost of Christmas Future" would

visit all, and show the future of Republican/Fascist rule. I believe it would result in a "Great Awakening."

(Politicizing Xmas sucks. But we are only responding to those who did it.)

[CatWoman]

24. no, no, no

that would be the Ghost of Griftmas Past

[ewagner]

12. Yeah! Right!

...and to top it off...they were probably "woke" too!!!

[Kittycatkat]

6. Perhaps it was Scrooge's business partner Jacob Marley who was beyond redemption, as is Trump.

[Cyrano]

9. Although I am the Original Poster of this thread,

my apologies to all those who are trying to celebrate and enjoy this day. I only hope that on some day yet to come, that all humanity can enjoy this day, and every day, with no wars, poverty, hunger, ...

Celebrate this holiday season in your own beliefs and traditions. And my good wishes to all.

[wnylib]

10. This could be the basis for a modernized version

of A Christmas Carol, featuring the evil twins, Don and Ron, and their evil elves. The Anti Christmas Carol.

In the end, when they don't regret their actions and reform, a Christmas miracle transforms them into their victims to have the same experiences, while the victims are warmly embraced by everyone else.

Some possible lines:

"Are there no children's cages? No kidnappers to sell them to high bidders?"

[Cyrano]

16. Yep. This would make a great "Twilight Zone" script

Unfortunately, Rod Sterling, and his idealism are long gone.

It appears we're living in a reality in which the "bad guys" have the upper hand, and in which we are always fighting back as best we can. And the outcome seems to be that, on a good day, we break even.

It seems that American fascism is marching toward victory and, as usual, those of us who understand what's going on are the underdogs.

I look forward to the day that the vast majority of Americans understand the deadly danger to us all that is represented by today's Republican Party. If we don't stop them, America is over.

Rod Sterling would have fought this with every word he wrote and every show he produced. All we have are our votes, and I don't have confidence that our votes will be enough. We are really in need of a Plan B.

[IcyPeas]

21. Carol for Another Christmas (1964) - Rod Serling's retelling of A Christmas Carol

Have you seen this?

[wnylib]

22. The midterms kept me from believing that

the fascists are winning. They have definitely gained some power and a foothold, but have not won the war, only a few battles.

This is not the first time that they have had power in this country. In the 1920s and 1930s they had people in power who supported Hitler. Watch Rachel Maddow's Ultra if you have not seen it yet. We have defeated them at home and abroad before. We will do it again.

[TeamProg]

14. A TRUMP would not make a very good Christmas Carol, right? Trump-types existed but were

not / did not / could not contribute one iota to a good story.

It's not a matter of Dickens not counting on a Trump, it's that Dickens wanted to write a good moral story.

That could not include a Trump type.

You have to look to other Dickens' stories to find almost Trump-ish types: Bleack House, Little Dorrit, Gradgrind perhaps.

[bucolic_frolic]

15. Dickens wrote in a God-fearing narcissist-light era

Today is different

[Joinfortmill]

19. Lack of empathy may be the root of evil. Those with a total lack of empathy are beyond redemption

[vanlassie]

23. Exactly. The sooner we face it, the better.

[Justice matters.]

20. The only ghost who visited Hair Furhair is the ghost of Herr Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler.

Inside his mother's womb before birth, and he entered his brain cells.

[Pete Ross Junior]

25. Harks back to a general leftist criticism of Dickens going back to George Orwell in the 1930s.

And possibly not original with him.

Paraphrasing of course, and sorry no footnote.

All of Dickens' novels where poor people come out OK in the end, the hero is the "good rich man" and the outcome something of a one off. The moral is always no more than a call for rich people to be nicer.

[betsuni]

27. 19th century.