Hermione Luck / Chief Columnist
Donja Vu
I really don’t understand how he does it? Let’s start with the whole Ukraine mess. After Russia invades Ukraine using a sledgehammer to squash a butterfly, and with his eye on creating a network of high-rise Comrade Towers throughout Russia and its network of satellites, Donald Trump immediately locates Putin’s behind, plants a kiss on both cheeks, and calls Putin a genius … which if using the same criteria for calling himself a genius, isn’t exactly a compliment.
On the domestic front, as if there’s never enough to satisfy this spoiled child’s gluttonous appetite for power and attention, Trump declares that when he’s reelected, he will pardon those January 6th insurrectionists we’ve all come to love, and then doubles down by imploring his followers to mass protest if he is accused of any crimes. I wasn’t clear on that last part – was he talking about a mass protest with or without AR 15’s?
No really, how does this clown with an orange dunce cap get away with his parlor trick of making the elephant in the room disappear, the elephant being the G.O.P., the grand old party of Eisenhower, Reagan, and Bush that has evaporated before our very eyes? When will the endless procession of Donja Vu (he’s back!) die of its own top-heavy narcissism?
In spite of all the liberal wishful thinking that Trump was scarred by two impeachments, will the era of The Donald only turn out to be Political Covid where Trump wins in 2024, and we’re all then sentenced to wait ad nauseum for a less toxic political deviant to come along that doesn’t require hospitalization? Is Ron DeSantis really less toxic?
Donald Trump, the salesman who swore he’d never profit from office, the salesman who pledged to build a great wall and make Mexico pay for that wall, the salesman who promised never to take those golfing vacations like Obama … deep down, is Trump afraid of becoming a political Willie Loman, who in Death of a Salesman endures a firing, which leads him to create his own fantasy world to cope with his situation?
Sure, Donald, the election was stolen. And the 2024 election will be stolen as well, unless of course, you’re the one who wins.
Donald Trump, the empty vessel with the hollow soul, a petty man with no real moral compass, the prep school brat acting in defeat like we thought he might – a politically wounded animal instinctively diving Code Red into denial only to continue to be a fallen cartoon led by his armadildo brain who as President of the United States told us
On His Daughter Ivanka – “She has a nice figure, and if she weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her” ** “I’m the one who likes golf, but we both like sex” ** “She’d make a great president … she’d make a great playmate”
On The Environment – “Windmills cause ear cancer” ** “There’s no such thing as climate change – it’s just that there’s a cooling and there’s a heating” ** “The ice caps aren’t melting, they’re spreading out”
On Politics – “I like people who weren’t captured” ** “The big difference between me and other political candidates is my women are more beautiful” ** “So many people love me, they really do, they love me … who can blame them?”
On The Pandemic – “It’s apparently one person coming in from China, it’s under control” ** “Covid will disappear like a miracle” ** “What about disinfectant, what about sunlight?” ** “The flu is worse”
On Himself – “I’m a very stable genius” ** “My primary consultant is myself” ** “My I.Q. is one of the highest – I’m like very bright” ** (on Thanksgiving in 2018) “I guess I’m most thankful for myself.”
There is one more quote, an indelible footprint on American society which might partially explain to those in the future the cancer that passes for politics in the 21st century. “I could shoot someone and not lose any voters.” By any standard, that is the most soulless statement ever uttered in American politics. Unfortunately, he was telling the truth.
Donald Trump is trying to murder elections, yet if he runs again, he’ll get 70,000,000 votes. He’ll urge his flock to rant and rave and arrest someone. He’ll pose on elevated stadium podiums with his Mussolini chin-butting and shameless self-licking as if he’s looking in the mirror.
Who in your neighborhood is willing to say out loud not only does the emperor wear no clothes, but the emperor is delusional, a sick puppy, a human knock-off with a schoolyard score to settle. Am I being too blunt? When will the constant war of vitriolic politics fanned by outsized egos and limitless money finally return to the political dumpster from where it came?
Yes, we are all tired of wars – bullet wars, climate wars, culture wars, wars about territory, wars about children, wars about respect. And we’re all tired of costs – the cost of food, the cost of health, the cost of racism, the cost of ignorance. All of us are so tired of so many things that the list seems endless … until we face the bottom of that list and we come to whether we are tired of ourselves.
This political showdown at the I’m Ok, You’re Not OK Corral is a big one. Are we really too tired to participate in local politics? Are we really too broke to donate to causes that confront our biggest fears, like climate change or the slow-moving coup of a right-wing wet dream? Will we fall in line behind the bully in the schoolyard, or will we face up to him knowing it’s the right thing to do?
I’m not talking about being a worthy Republican or Democrat here. I’m asking are we willing to accept the ultra conservative attempt to redefine Democracy and one of its sacrosanct principles – the right to vote? Are we really willing to accept that good people will be left out and disenfranchised because they’re scared of voting in person, or they don’t have the time or energy to jump through the hoops of prejudice and politics? People who earn a living, raise children, perhaps are elderly, all of whom deserve our respect.
I’m wondering will the Left be able to organize effectively after a Republican sweep of all three branches of government, or will neutered progressives become political flotsam as the coveted ecumenical tent of the Democratic party looks in the mirror and sees itself shrinking?
I’m asking whether a gerrymandered future of an unsuspecting public that once sang ‘this land is your land, this land is my land‘ will produce a cul-de-sac of faith with nowhere to go and blood in the streets?
Understand this – the difficult days aren’t even here yet. If Trump wins in 2024 along with a Republican majority, there will be an unprecedented scorched earth policy. Schools will be told what to teach, votes will be counted behind closed doors, judges will be selected with pre-ordained verdicts.
Actually, let’s face it … the Republicans always accuse their friends the Democrats of the exact same thing. That’s the way both sides roll as we all ride this political clown car to an uncertain future.
Prepare yourself. The future may include taking an inventory of where you live. It’s never too early to make sure your town and state matches your gang color.
Hermione
Vanilla