“Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing wrong but, one morning, he was arrested.”
- Franz Kafka, “The Trial.”
In Franz Kafka’s early 20th-century novel, a reputable bank clerk is caught up in a prosecutorial nightmare. The story of Joseph K. begins when court authorities suddenly arrive at his residence to tell him he’s to be indicted, but they can’t or won’t explain the exact nature of the charges against him.
Joseph K.’s accusers leave him with feelings of apprehension and anxiety. Throughout the novel, he struggles to defend himself within a hostile and complex legal process. At the end of the story, he’s led away to a summary execution. During the entire ordeal, the accused never really understands the reasons behind his mysterious prosecution.
This dark story about the destruction of an innocent man led to the term “Kafkaesque” entering the English language as a way to describe situations in which honorable people are threatened by unfounded allegations. Kafka had a special talent for identifying the convergence between reality and absurdity.
Bizarre Allegations About an American President
A hundred years after “The Trial” was first published, the West has descended into an era in which absurd allegations are the new normal.
In the Rainbow Reichs of the Woke, witch hunting has become the order of the day.
One of the most notorious Kafkaesque events in modern history developed around the unforeseen political success of Donald J. Trump.
Over recent years, the man Americans elected as the 45th president—and his team members—has been subjected to more bizarre allegations, secret investigations, partisan impeachments, preposterous indictments, and prejudiced legal proceedings than even Franz Kafka could have imagined.
President Trump has endured some of the most savage and desperate partisan assaults in U.S. history. Despite it all, he has retained the loyalty of legions of ordinary citizens and is the leading candidate for reelection in 2024. Individuals throughout North America are praying that President Trump’s landslide win in Iowa will lead to a decisive victory for the “Make America Great Again Movement.”
Brutal Assaults on a Defenceless School Trustee
At the national level in the United States and Canada, opinion polls are predicting a return to center-right common sense leadership.
But, at the level of civic, cultural, and educational governance, enraged neo-Marxists will hold on to their power by any means necessary.
The brutality of North America’s left was on display last year when a painful Kafkaesque episode occurred in the prairie city of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Early in June, news outlets reported that Francine Champagne, an elected trustee of the Louis Riel School Division, was suspended for taking “inappropriate actions” relative to the “Trustee Code of Conduct.”
School Division authorities asserted that Ms. Champagne had breached a progressive code of conduct by expressing opposition to the hyper-sexualization of children in public schools. A complete account of the battering inflicted on Ms. Champagne can be found in my June 23, 2023, Epoch Times column and a Nov. 29 update from Lee Harding.
Essentially, Ms. Champagne’s accusers focused on memes she had shared on a restricted-access Facebook page. One of them read: “Make men masculine again. Make women feminine again. Make children innocent again.” Louis Riel School Division trustees voted to suspend Ms. Champagne without pay for three months. They said she threatened the school board’s commitment to “human sexual diversity.”
Parents who supported Ms. Champagne asserted that her objections to the ideological grooming of children are shared by millions of North American families. The dissident trustee believes she was elected in Ward 1 of the Louis Riel School Division to make a case for quality education and traditional values—actual literacy, not political literacy.
The case against Francine Champagne gained enormous momentum. In October, she received another 30-day suspension for declining to sign a so-called “code of conduct” agreement that would make it impossible for her to question the radical educational agenda she had challenged during her successful election campaign.
When another progressive investigator-in-search-of-a-crime discovered a casual online conversation in which Ms. Champagne had mentioned the stereotypical description of a familiar item on an Asian restaurant menu she was instantly charged with “racism.” Ms. Champagne was suspended for another three months and vilified by media organizations for demonstrating “abusive behavior.”
Late in November, Ms. Champagne reluctantly decided that she could no longer perform her duties as a school trustee for the Louis Riel School Division because her working environment had become unbearable.
As a result of the board’s allegations, she also lost her teaching contract at St. Boniface University. In a public letter, she finally concluded that “a school trustee who holds traditional views will not be tolerated.”
Kafkaesque Persecutions Must Be Challenged
Few drag queen story hours feature in the novels of Franz Kafka, but the author’s insights remain valuable.
Kafka understood that corrupt authorities have the capacity to ruin almost anyone they disapprove of. “The Trial” shows how Orwellian legal institutions can isolate individuals, make them appear guilty, and render them helpless.
So far, President Trump has overcome the moral failures of the American judicial system, and he has an excellent chance of winning back the White House in 2024.
Donald T. isn’t likely to suffer the same fate as Kafka’s Joseph K.
Francine C.’s future is considerably less certain.
Without political support, financial resources, and professional help, challenges to the left by intrepid citizens are unlikely to continue.
That’s why the suffocating nature of our Kafkaesque culture must be forthrightly resisted by honorable men and women.
