Trump Supporters, You Have Become The Very Thing You Swore to Destroy

I love Star Wars. I think its structure as a modern myth, an epic written for today’s world just as the Iliad and Odyssey were for the world of the ancient Greeks, gives it a staying power unique among modern blockbusters, and is at least part of the reason why hype is now so high for the eighth installment, forty years after the release of the original movie.

The third movie, Revenge of the Sith, is by far the darkest, seeing the temptation and fall of Anakin Skywalker to evil, the near-total extermination of the Jedi, and the transformation of the Republic into the Empire. Towards the end of the movie, Anakin (now Darth Vader) confronts his wife Padme and his Jedi teacher, Obi-Wan Kenobi, both of whom try one last time to turn him away from the dark side.

Darth Vader: You turned her against me!

Obi-Wan Kenobi: You have done that yourself.

          Darth Vader: You will not take her from me!

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Your anger and your lust for power have already done that. You have allowed this "Dark Lord" to twist your mind until now... until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy.

Blinded and seduced by anger—at the Jedi for denying him the rank and position on the Jedi Council he believed he deserved; at himself for not being powerful enough to save the life of his mother; at his wife for going behind his back and, he believed, having an affair with Obi-Wan—Anakin took the darker and easier road, joining the Sith, the ancient enemies of the Jedi Order.

And in the real world? The reasons for anger are different, but the anger is still there, still luring people who may once have been friends and allies into supporting a loud, crude New York liberal whose positions change by the day. In both temperament and governing philosophy he embodies virtually everything conservatives have long argued against when coming from those on the Left, but now tolerate in return for a promise to destroy the old order, the Establishment, who have betrayed conservatives time and again.

Is some, even much, of that anger justified? Absolutely. Republican leadership should have listened to conservatives more, just as the Jedi Council maybe should have given Anakin the rank of Master and given him a truly equal seat at the table. But blame also falls on those who give in to their bitterness, and vote for someone even many Trump supporters acknowledge is unfit for the Presidency. The stakes—the future of the country and the survival of the conservative movement—have always been too high.

In everything from their bullying tactics to their enthusiastic acceptance of an anti-Constitutionalist candidate, self-proclaimed conservative followers of Trump have embraced the very attitudes they swore to destroy.