People keep asking each other how their friends are "bearing up" in the face of Trump's fiascofest. My answer is, not so well. I'll tell you what really scares me. Admittedly, they are demonstrating almost as much clownish incompetence already as was typical of the first term. But here's what's different. And worse; way worse.
1. There is no resistance from Congress. Even the Democrats seem to be mostly just in a holding pattern, hoping it will all somehow go away in a couple of years. (We don't have a couple of years). The Republicans, really for the first time in history, seem to have no interest in their own Article I power, or in preserving it. It is a complete surrender to the Mad King. The vaunted checks and balances have failed. And every indication that the courts likely will, by and large, also come to heel. This is not normal. In the past, when presidents have overextended themselves, even members of their own parties in Congress have resisted; have fulfilled their constitutional function of acting as a check on the unbridled power of the executive. Since World War II this has been at best a precarious balance, with too much power in the executive. But now, the reins are dropped, and the Congress is nearly completely ineffective, having abased itself before a demagogue. Maybe this could change, but that's not usually the direction these things go. The complete prostration of the Article I branch does not bode well for the continuity of our Constitution.
2. Trump is even stupider and more deranged than ever, but he's also even angrier. Angry demagogues don't usually play positive roles in history. They tend to readily seize powers the legal system has been set up to deny them.
3. I have (a) every confidence that Trump is ready to do almost anything to stick it to the people he feels have 'wronged' him; and (b) no confidence at all that either the courts or the military will stand up to him when he tries to illegally exercise autocratic power. Which he has already shown a willingness to do, in open defiance of the law. And we've already seen that he cares nothing for the wellbeing of our people or even the stability of our country. He may not actually want the total collapse of our constitutional system, but he seems fully prepared to bring it about, all the while screeching blame of others for what his actions will have wrought. It's his invariable pattern.
I really do believe there's a dangerously high chance that the chaos will just blow up our institutions across the board, as well as the continuity of our democracy, not to mention the fragile peace that has prevailed for the most part in the world since 1945. Could it be worse? Of course, but it's really, really bad, it's just starting so we haven't seen the full extent of the chaos, and it's hard to see any path forward that doesn't involve the worst shitshow in our country in a long, long time, maybe ever. That we have the least qualified and most dangerous man in the presidency, ever, is, to my mind, simply undeniable. Nations do not flourish under such circumstances. If nothing else is clear from history, that is. I suppose things would change quite a bit if he were to die, but that's a slim reed. Violence of any kind, including assassination, would undoubtedly make things worse, and history has never been kind to the courtiers who retreated to the hinterlands and hoped the tyrant king would suffer a fatal mishap. Of course, anything is possible, but that's just not a likely scenario.
Time passes. Things change. But there's no going back (ironic twist on Kamala's slogan), and we will be lucky to see this era pass without a collapse of many many aspects of life in our country that we have hitherto taken for granted. I believe that only a massive nonviolent civil uprising has any chance of keeping the Fall in check, and affording at best a chance of some sort of recovery in our lifetimes. Without it, it's gonna be a dark, dark time for sure. But, I'm sorry to say, I don't see much indication that the people are ready to rise up. Millions marching on Washington? When, in the back of their minds, they think, Johnson and Nixon didn't order soldiers to shoot at the demonstrators (like Diaz Ordaz in Mexico in 1968, at Tlateloco, where something like 400 demonstrators were gunned down, or like Tian An Men in 1989)... but Trump, we all sort of know, would try it, and do we really feel confident the military would not carry out his orders? These are dark times, friends, but they can get worse. And where is the determination to stand up and say no, even at the potential cost of our lives? I honestly don't know, but as an old guy lucky enough to live through a time of relative peace and prosperity, I don't feel sure or resolved. I feel fearful and deeply, deeply pessimistic about our country. It quite literally brings tears to my eyes if I think about it enough.
So, no, not bearing up all that well. Maybe I'm wrong, and there will be a sort of return to norm and we'll bumble along, but somehow I just don't believe it this time. This feels really bad.
Courage.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Gyromantic Informicon. Comments are not moderated. If you encounter a problem, please go to home page and follow directions to send me an e-mail.