Un-Ringing the Bell

Donald Trump is winning, or at least it feels that way. With every page of the daily calendar ripped away I have found myself with a new issue to share on this blog. Yet before I even start to collect my thoughts another horrendous or confounding event is revealed, perpetrated by Trump or one of his minions or the Republican Party as a whole.

I imagine myself standing in political surf. Each Trumpian wave that hits me is unique, but because one follows the other relentlessly my overall experience is just one of saturation…each wave just leveling out on the shore to undermine another sandcastle. I can’t keep track.

How many blog posts have I failed to write due to the flood of incompetent, offensive, and neurotic behavior displayed by the leader of my Country? How do I reconcile the Republican members of Congress who so willingly debase themselves in some self-serving quest to retain power?

Here are some topics I have forgone (among many):

• The ignorant weakening of free trade.
• The abandonment of Science generally and Climate Change specifically.
• The further gross concentration of wealth and its negative impact.
• The forced bleeding of Obamacare with nothing to improve or replace it.
• The commercialization of public lands and waters.
• The embarrassingly public demonstration of racism in the White House
• The abandonment of Puerto Rican US citizens.
• The ludicrous assumption that Trump has impacted the US Economy.
• The politicizing of charitable contributions.
• The winks and nods to misogyny.
• The use of people’s lives (such as with DACA and CHIP) for political gain.
• The criminal disregard of foreign cyber attacks.
• The debasement of both the US Judiciary and Dept of Justice.
• The fostering of White Supremacy by manufactured fears.
• The authoritarian manipulation of Truth.
• The reckless and juvenile use of American military power.
• The sins of omission by Republican Congressmen.
• The harmful spin by Fox News and Talk Radio.
• The neglect and forsaking of the US Foreign Service.
• The US going from admired (under Obama) to reviled by the rest of the world.
• The unaddressed reality that Donald Trump has a Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

When Trump described Haiti and African countries as “shitholes” I heard in both public and private venues tryingly familiar responses; “this is it”, “this will do him in”, “he can’t dodge this”, “he won’t get away with it”, “this proves what he is”, “Republicans will have to abandon him”, and so on and so on. I no longer pay attention.

Again and again each horrific behavior or pronouncement has rung like the Liberty Bell on steroids. Yet each time the impossible seems to occur; the ring is stuffed back into the bell. “I swear I heard it”, I might say to myself. But no matter, before I can lament the loss, the bell is rung again.

The media (other than Trump TV and the conspiracy profiteers) has yet to figure out how to deal with the pounding waves.  They are hopelessly bogged down trying to analyze Trump's behavior like it had rational political purpose, even as they decry his behavior and personality.  They happily wallow in sensationalism at the expense of the big picture.

For example, the huge focus on his recent use of profanity allowed the underlying divisive attack on immigration to pass with little notice.  Ultimately, it will be his use of language that the anger will devolve to, just as his use of the word “pussy” overshadowed his overt acceptance of sexual assault (regardless whether he engaged in it or not).

Nothing’s changed. Less than six months ago Trump applied his Haiti style broad brush to New Hampshire, describing it publically as a “drug-infested den”. You can bet in private he likely called it a drug-infested cesspool.  That particular ring was quickly stuffed back in the bell.

I don’t want to listen any more. I’m hearing bells even before I put on the news in the evening. I think about Robert Muller like Sleeping Beauty must have reflected on Prince Charming, and I wonder if it’s just another fairy tale.

I am resigning myself to three more years of Trump, but not without hope. The only sure thing that can possibly neutralize the damage that Trump is doing to our Nation (and my psyche) is only ten months away.  If the Democrats win both the House and the Senate we will be able to take a collective sigh of relief. This would be something Democrats, Independents, and Republicans should want to see happen. It is worth working toward.

The only thing left will be to control his use of the military and strategic weapons. That would be one ring we can’t undo.