I admire New York Times columnist Charles Blow because he is an unflinching teller of truths, whether discussing his upbringing in his excellent memoir Fire Shut Up in My Bones or coming out as bisexual in 2014, Mr. Blow is not one to temporize or modify his opinions to avoid confronting those who disagree with him, but speaks with boldness and clarity so that none will be able to misunderstand.
His description of Trump and Trumpism remains one of my favorites on that stomach turning subject:
“Trump’s America is not America: not today’s or tomorrow’s, but yesterday’s.
Trump’s America is brutal, perverse, regressive, insular and afraid. There is no hope in it; there is no light in it. It is a vast expanse of darkness and desolation.
And that is a vision of America that most of the people in this country cannot and will not abide.”
Unfortunately what “most of the people in this country cannot and will not abide” is not always the deciding factor in what our country must actually endure – we have the Electoral College and a corrupt Supreme Court to thank for that.
In his most recent column Blow reflects on the cornucopia of charges and indictments disturbing Trump’s sleep, and while recognizing that there is some chance that justice will prevail, he has experience enough American “justice” that he has some major doubts.
“It looks as though Donald Trump will be indicted — again.
Federal prosecutors have informed him that he’s a target of their investigation into the Jan. 6 riot and efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
This would be Trump’s third criminal indictment and counting. Prosecutors in Georgia are still considering charges.
It should feel like the fulfillment of America’s commitment to justice that Trump is finally facing some accountability for his recklessness and ruthlessness, for his disavowal of constitutional concerns and apparent contempt for the law.
So why does it feel so anticlimactic? Why does the feeling of foreboding remain? Why is there no sense of finality in the air?“
I share Blow’s “foreboding”.
In a country where Trump is just now facing charges after a 40 year career of fraud and theft of public resources, where Kyle Rittenhouse freely walks the streets as a right wing folk hero after murdering three people with a rifle he transported over state lines, where lies are fashioned into party platforms and Nazi scum march through our streets protected by police how can we just naively expect that justice will prevail?
We cannot, as Blow clearly writes:
“There are the chronic optimists who hold to the hubristic view that America can defy history and not be subject to the well-recorded and almost universal rise and fall of empires. Not me: I recognize America’s precariousness. I see the soft, fleshy spots where a shiv could be plunged and do the most damage. And I’m not alone.”
Blow goes on to discuss Trump and his backers like the Heritage Foundation’s bullet pointed plan to dismantle American Democracy in the event that the Orange Menace is re-elected.
And given their success in burying our campaign finance laws, getting a miscreant like Trump elected in the first place, purchasing and stealing a SCOTUS majority and compromising millions of citizens right to vote, who can be sanguine about their odds of success?
Not Charles Blow:
“They failed to recognize that Trump has infected his followers’ faith. They believe in nothing more than they believe in him. They wanted their biases confirmed rather than challenged, and Trump filled the need. He’s become a symbol, an inspiration and an aspiration. He’s become an idea, which is far more dangerous than an individual.”
In the coming trials Trump’s fate is not the only thing that hangs in the balance, but also America’s experiment with self governance and democracy.
And it is far from a sure thing that the scales will tip in America’s favor.
Mr. Blow is correct. There is no done deal. America is a giant boil that Trump just popped and a great amount of pus is just running out from sea to shining sea. All of the pus must be gotten out of the boil and cleaned up before America can heal.
His view sounds a lot like my view of our illustrious /sn attorney general here in Texas. So far, our republican led legislature has voted to impeach him, but whether he will be found guilty is a thing that I will believe when I see it.
Hopefully the fast looming inflection point is sufficient to effectively deal with Trump (who will eventually expire) and Trumpism (that worryingly will continue to breathe). Again, hopefully all the instigators will be punished for January 6. Hopefully, the rule of law will hold, and hopefully democratic institutions guard rails will hold. Hopefully, and lastly, there is a light at the end of this torturous tunnel both for those that have been traumatised, and for those that have been mislead.