Is this humble spirit the only one who sees the disturbing similarities between Alex Murdaugh and Donald Trump? Never mind their peculiarly similar hair, they’re both frauds, charlatans, and conmen who got away with masquerading behind an impressive facade. Above all they’re narcissists and pathological liars. They’ve lost track of what the truth is, even the notion that it exists. Truth is what they want it to be, what’s best for them if and when it suits them. Maybe we live in a post-truth world—or certainly in a post-truth America—but Trump and Murdaugh are clearly outliers when it comes to spreading “alternative facts,” aka lies.
I’ve often wondered whether Trump’s MAGA followers realize what a total fraud and grifter he is. He was never a successful businessman; he burned through his father’s money, constantly skirted the law, and grabbed women by their you know what whenever he pleased. “The Art of the Deal” was, at best, a work of fiction. He made bad deal after bad deal and, among a long list of failures, drove his Atlantic City casinos to bankruptcy. He tied up the court system with lawsuit after lawsuit, estimated at over 3,500 in total, and that was before his current list of legal troubles.
Won’t it Be Great to Finally See Trump in His Jumpsuit with His Head Shaved?
Alex Murdaugh may be the only person alive who’s told more lies than Donald Trump and gotten away with it for almost as long. Like Trump, he lied and lied and lied, but in his case the MO was praying on vulnerable clients, blatantly stealing money that was rightfully theirs. Born into a prominent and successful family he became a drug-addicted thief who brutally murdered his wife and son (“brutal murder” may be a cliché, but Murdaugh actually blew his son’s brains out of his head). On the witness stand, forced to admit that he had lied to investigators following the crime, he quoted Sir Walter Scott’s famous adage: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave/when first we practice to deceive.” Unpersuaded by his admission (which he blamed on his opiate addiction), the jury found him guilty of both murders. In hindsight the verdict might seem like a foregone conclusion, but when it was announced it seemed a miracle that justice had prevailed, that truth had finally seen the light of day in the saga of Alex Murdaugh.
The big question is whether the truth will finally catch up with Donald Trump and he will go to jail rather than back to the White House. He is presently facing four possible indictments and the pundits take turns predicting which hammer will drop first. The events of last week seemed to favor the Stormy Daniels campaign finance violation case in Manhattan, but things won’t be set right in this country until Trump is tried and convicted for inciting the January 6 Capitol insurrection, the culmination of his “biggest lie” of all. Hundreds of his MAGA minions shouldn’t be in jail while he remains free, running for another term as president and continuing to pollute the country’s psyche with the “alternative facts” he spews on “Truth Social” and wherever he’s given the opportunity.
Some will undoubtedly say it’s wrong to compare Trump to a convicted murderer like Alex Murdaugh, given that Trump didn’t kill anyone. But the truth is—and we all need to believe that some modicum of the “truth” still exists—at least five people died as a direct result of Trump’s desperate attempt to stay in power, and many more surely would have died (“Hang Mike Pence!”) if God and the Capitol Police hadn’t thwarted Trump’s deranged ego. As in the case of Alex Murdaugh, this country needs to breathe a collective sigh of relief if justice can still prevail.