Holding Out for a Hero, or Not
It's been a while since I've posted anything here. I'm full speed ahead on my books, and the rest of my life has taken up everything else. But today seems like a good time to make a point or two.
The Mueller Report is out, and I think the moral of the story is that we should never have been expecting a superhero to swoop in and rescue us from the Trumpocalypse. I understand the temptation. I've felt it myself. With each new national embarrassment and each new attack on our democracy, it's been tempting to think that Robert Mueller had uncovered something so devastating that when he released it, the whole Trump empire would collapse. But that turned out to be magical thinking. Perhaps it always was.
And perhaps it's just as well. The FOX propaganda machine had already done a good job of numbing its followers to the whole Russia situation. Mueller could have turned up video of Trump and Putin sneaking into a polling place together and tampering with voting machines, and the Republican base probably would have thanked Putin for saving them from Hillary Clinton.
Fortunately, Trump World is a target-rich environment, and there are plenty of law enforcement agencies still working on it. Unfortunately, though, at this point none of them are going to bring our national nightmare to an end. It's pretty clear now that the only way out runs through November 2020. We got ourselves into this mess, and we have to get ourselves out of it. The way we get rid of Trump is by voting him out.
Two thoughts on how we do that. First, the Democrats can't just run against Trump. They must give people something to vote for. That was the key to winning the mid-terms. People didn't vote Democratic because of Trump's antics. They voted Democratic because they were upset about health care and economic inequality. Second, people need to get behind whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee. This is not the time for purity tests or protest votes or staying home because your first choice isn't the nominee. The Democratic nominee, whoever it is, will not be a perfect superhero who can save us all, any more than Mueller is. The Democratic nominee will be a human being, presumably well-qualified but still human, and needing all our support.
My personal support may not have much of an online presence, though. At least for a while, until the Republican victory laps are over.
The Mueller Report is out, and I think the moral of the story is that we should never have been expecting a superhero to swoop in and rescue us from the Trumpocalypse. I understand the temptation. I've felt it myself. With each new national embarrassment and each new attack on our democracy, it's been tempting to think that Robert Mueller had uncovered something so devastating that when he released it, the whole Trump empire would collapse. But that turned out to be magical thinking. Perhaps it always was.
And perhaps it's just as well. The FOX propaganda machine had already done a good job of numbing its followers to the whole Russia situation. Mueller could have turned up video of Trump and Putin sneaking into a polling place together and tampering with voting machines, and the Republican base probably would have thanked Putin for saving them from Hillary Clinton.
Fortunately, Trump World is a target-rich environment, and there are plenty of law enforcement agencies still working on it. Unfortunately, though, at this point none of them are going to bring our national nightmare to an end. It's pretty clear now that the only way out runs through November 2020. We got ourselves into this mess, and we have to get ourselves out of it. The way we get rid of Trump is by voting him out.
Two thoughts on how we do that. First, the Democrats can't just run against Trump. They must give people something to vote for. That was the key to winning the mid-terms. People didn't vote Democratic because of Trump's antics. They voted Democratic because they were upset about health care and economic inequality. Second, people need to get behind whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee. This is not the time for purity tests or protest votes or staying home because your first choice isn't the nominee. The Democratic nominee, whoever it is, will not be a perfect superhero who can save us all, any more than Mueller is. The Democratic nominee will be a human being, presumably well-qualified but still human, and needing all our support.
My personal support may not have much of an online presence, though. At least for a while, until the Republican victory laps are over.
Comments