When I was in grade school there was a show on television, “That Was The Week That Was.” It was very controversial for its time (mid-60’s). It satirized news and politics in a day and age when that sort of thing was limited to an occasional outre comment by Johnny Carson. People didn’t talk about such things, and certainly not in prime time (the “Not Ready For Prime Time Players” were not to appear for another half dozen years). Dan Rather commented on his Facebook page today about this week that just was and he said that he’s never seen one like it. Coming from a man whose weeks included a presidential assassination and being airlifted by helicopter out of a war zone during Viet Nam, that’s saying quite a lot. Dan Rather is 85 years young. Here’s what the newsman, anchor and author said:
I have lived through nearly 4,500 weeks in my life, and I have never seen a week like the one we just had.
I have seen weeks of far greater darkness, of war, and death, and economic despair. I have seen weeks of more confusion and uncertainty. But I have never seen a week where a president of our nation has behaved with such a cavalier disregard for the norms and institutions of our democracy. And it now seems like the investigation is expanding into Trump's business dealings. The comparisons with Richard Nixon are plentiful these days, but even he did not seem so untethered from our basic governance. And I have never seen so many members of a political party rally around incompetence, intemperance, and inanity.
The threats, the lies, the willful disregard for the rule of law should be limited to the world of Hollywood caricature. To see this played out each night on the news, to read about ramblings and inconsistencies in justifications for actions that should never have been taken, is to see a moment of great peril for our nation.
I remain, however, an optimist. I see the swellings of civic engagement and action. I hear the voices of those who demand that this subversion of our national ideals shall not stand. I have covered social movement of the past, and never have seen one where so much power and numbers lie on the side of the opposition. This is a clash for the values of our nation. Our destiny is in our hands.
“The comparisons with Richard Nixon are plentiful...even he did not seem so untethered from our basic governance.” Donald Trump is untethered from our basic reality, let alone our basic governance. Richard Nixon was a realist, par excellence. He never nattered on about “ratings” and silly show business metaphors that had no place in public discourse, certainly not in the normal discourse of the Oval Office, which was still a respectable venue in Nixon’s day. It was never a place where journalists of a hostile foreign power were admitted to do business, while American journalists were barred and denied access.
“The threats, the lies, the willful disregard for the rule of law should be limited to the world of Hollywood caricature.” Donald Trump is, unfortunately, a Hollywood caricature himself, nothing more, nothing less. Again to compare him with Nixon, Trump fails in the comparison, miserably. Nixon was an intelligent man. Trump is unintelligent. Nixon’s high crimes and misdemeanors were not perpetrated against his own country. Trump’s were and are.
Trump takes all negative titles held by previous presidents, in a walk. If Nixon previously was the most crooked, and George W. Bush the least intelligent, here comes Donald Trump to take both titles, handily, in a mere three months into his term of office. It was said that George Washington could not tell a lie, and Nixon, once again, could not tell the truth; here comes Donald Trump who can’t tell the difference.
“I have never seen so many members of a political party rally around incompetence, intemperance, and inanity.” Incompetence, intemperance and inanity, thy name is GOP. Partisanship left the building a while back, and extremism, bombast, and puerility took the stage.
“This is a clash for the values of our nation.” There are two Americas now. One is fearful and embittered, low to no information, acting out of impulse and emotion rather than reason and logic. The other is idealistic and hopeful, concerned and discerning, embracing inclusivity above division, tolerance against prejudice. Can these factions meet, let alone embrace? I don't know. Until we do, however, they will be standing on one bank of the river and we will be standing on the other, looking at them. This was literally the case at Standing Rock and it is metaphorically the case for everywhere in the country.
Because, you see, Dan Rather is absolutely right: “Our destiny is in our hands.”