Deaf Ears

Verdict In

Yesterday,  a civil jury of nine citizens (six men, three women) unanimously found that Donald Trump, the defeated and twice impeached former President of the United States, sexually attacked E Jean Carroll. That jury awarded almost $5 million in damages to Ms. Carroll for a 1996 assault in a department store dressing room in New York City. 

Don’t worry though – the leading Republican candidate for the 2024 nomination already has an answer.  He doesn’t even know who Carroll was or is. And, of course, it’s all just a part of the “Witch Hunt”.  Besides, as the trial reminded us, Trump thinks; “if you’re a star you can do anything…you can grab them by…(you know the rest)”. 

Really – no one is surprised that Trump is a sexual predator.  Even his supporters swallowed that fact whole, way back in 2016.  In our era of polarization, saying the “truth out loud” doesn’t change much.  Either you see the “Emperor” naked – or you don’t.   And the MAGA world will dress him in victim’s robes.  According to them, the New York verdict is just another in the long line of unfair attacks, another spear in the side of their martyr. 

Only Stronger

There’s more to come.  He’s criminally indicted for corrupt business practices in the same Manhattan Court House. And then there’s the Atlanta election interference cases, and the looming flurry of Federal cases. Two different groups are already convicted of conspiracy to commit insurrection on January 6^th. It’s not a “bridge too far” to see Trump as the top of that conspiracy.

But in the end, the MAGA world will continue to support Donald Trump.  The charges, the trials, and the ultimate convictions will, to abuse a Star Wars quote, “Only make Him stronger” in the eyes of his followers.  If this sounds more like a cult than a political movement, well there we are.  Our Nation is so divided, that even the Courts no longer have validity.  And that’s not just on the MAGA side of the ledger.  Ask “my friends” how they feel about the Supreme Court, and particularly the Thomas-Gorsuch-Kavanaugh triumvirate of potential corruption.  It’s both sides now.

2024

What does all of this say about the 2024 election?  It’s very possible that the Republican Party will ride the “Trump Train” to its ultimate doom.  Almost no one currently in power in the Party, will stand against him.  Sure Mitt Romney, John Kasich, Liz Cheney, Larry Hogan and a few others are standing “for good”, waiting for their Party to come to its senses.  But that’s not likely to happen, and so far, they remain in painful isolation.

Standing against this existential threat to our Democracy, is eighty-one year old Joe Biden.  He’s achieved a lot as President, but failed at the most important goal. That goal is the one he established as the measurement of his Presidency.  He has been unable to return our Nation to “normalcy”.  While the “old men” of the current administration, Biden and Merrick Garland, try to make things like “they should be”, like they were two decades ago; it isn’t working.  And many fear that their commitment to “normalcy” is dooming us to more MAGA cult craziness.  

And for those of us on the Democratic side who see less MAGA-ism; fewer Trump flags on the porches or Trump craziness on the internet:  MAGA isn’t gone.  It’s simply moved out of your “information space”.  Just because it no longer is in your face, isn’t proof that it’s “over”. 

Two Friends

That’s been made very clear to me in the past couple of weeks.  Here’s a story of two friends.  One friend was at the height of his career, a coach in a powerful track program.  Inexplicably, he quit and went to work at a much lower level.  I ran into him and he told me the story.  There were several reasons, but the real answer was, he couldn’t stand the “politics” of his fellow coaches.  He’d rather leave than be exposed to their rhetoric.  It doesn’t even matter which “side” he was on, he symbolizes what’s happening in America.  The political rhetoric is so toxic, that it poisons the atmosphere of things that have nothing to do with Trump or Biden, like coaching track in high school.

Another friend works in a world where Trump is rationalized.  His coworkers accept the “imperfect vessel” theory of Trumpism.  Biden is the “existential threat” to them; not because of his age, but because of the policies he advocates.  They view Biden’s plans as so dangerous, they are willing to accept a known liar, cheater, sexual predator, and incompetent as President.  It’s not that they are “fooled” by Trump, they just consider him a “reasonable alternative”.   And my friend is concerned that those “rationalists” will win the day in 2024, electing a man who cares little for Democracy, or the Constitution, or American traditions. 

Bottom Line

What’s at stake in 2024 seems clear:  the very survival of the American experiment.  We “stressed tested” it from 2016 to 2020, and ultimately, millions of Americans paid the price with their lives for Donald Trump’s incompetence.  That Covid became a political litmus test instead of a national health crisis marks the true definition of America’s political insanity.  And that’s not even “over”.  More than 1000 Americans are still dying a week (CDC).  But our politics are so much more important, we don’t even talk about that now.  The testing kits are stored on the bathroom shelves, the masks dusty on the top of the grandfather clock.  

Our Supreme Court Justices are corrupt, Congressmen are on trial, kids are being shot in schools and at the Mall, and a failed President still supports those who attacked the Capitol and the Constitution.  

The words “existential threat” are extreme,  and reality.  What happens in the next year, in the battle between two “imperfect vessels” of Biden and Trump, will determine the course of America.  We thought it was over in 2020, when all the cars pulled into the Drive-In and Biden gave his victory speech to flashing lights and beeping horns.  But MAGA-ism is still “strong among us”.  We have to do it all over again.   To quote Ben Bradlee from the movie “All the President’s Men”:

“Rest up, fifteen minutes, then get you asses back in gear.  Nothing’s riding on this except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and perhaps the future of the country”. 

It’s the future of the country that should worry us all.