By now, you’re probably aware of the stomach-churning, rage-inducing Atlantic article detailing Trump’s attitudes toward military service. If not, click the link; it’s more important that you read that than just about anything else on this site, especially this post. I’ll wait.
Back? Okay.
The White House spin machine is in full damage control mode, as are its propaganda outlets...but this time, I’m seeing a few cracks in the Republican Noise Machine; a few half-hearted attempts to spin but an acknowledgement that, if true, Trump deserves all the heat that should be coming his way.
It was unimaginable that any POTUS, sitting or former, would ever utter those words, much less think them...but for Trump, there’s no ‘that can’t be true’ line of reasoning, because deep down, even the staunchest Republican knows that Trump is more than capable of these words and these thoughts.
Now I’m going to ask, so what?
Why does this really matter? Is it going to make a difference when nothing else does?
Because this time, Trump has finally crossed some moral or ethical boundary? How is this any more outrageous than putting separating families, putting kids in cages, encouraging followers to commit acts of racism-driven violence, colluding with a foreign government to rig an election or doing nothing when the same foreign government put bounties on the heads of American soldiers? Saying “it is what it is” to hundreds of thousands of American deaths? Trump has no limits, no boundaries, and has demonstrated there is no line he will not cross in order to feed the bottomless pit of his ego.
So what?
Because this time, the lack of empathy or simple decency demonstrated by Trump will sway some Republican voters in November? Doesn’t really matter if we don’t have legitimate elections in the first place. Or win enough of the electoral college like in 2016.
So what?
Because this time, public outrage will cause defections within the GOP caucus? It doesn’t seem to be swaying many/any in Congress yet, even among those who served in the military. They all pretty much sold their souls to Trump in order to keep their seats in Congress anyway; those with a smidgen of conscience got out, got put out, or is getting out.
So what?
A too-large portion of my fellow Americans are morally challenged-cretins who put up with all of the heinous bullshit because Trump’s Their Guy Who Sticks It To the Commie Libs And That Feels Good so ultimately even this won’t matter to them. They’ll believe the spin like they always do and stay in denial that when Trump names any particular group of people ‘losers’, ‘suckers’, or ‘inhuman’ that he’s not talking about them and whatever is going on, it doesn’t affect them so they don’t care.
I’d go so far to argue that Trump is less concerned about getting re-elected than with just maintaining his grip on power because even he has to know that once he leaves the White House, his tower of bullshit comes tumbling down and he ends up in jail or at the end of a rope...and he’s desperate to avoid that fate for him and his family. We’ve already heard Trump and his sycophants making noise about a rigged election and invalid voting and whatever — projection, sure, but enough of a reason to give to not accept the results and declare a state of emergency. Then the really bad shit starts happening, Superman is MIA, and this great American experiment is over.
But to do something like that...not only would you need the support of a chunk of the US population, you would have to have the support of your military.
And unfortunately, that’s ultimately why this matters. Not for reasons of morality or law or fairness or common human decency or truth or fact, which should be more than enough.
So what?
Because without the support of the military, without the support of law enforcement, dictators can’t dictate. The fact that this is the point we are at...that the leadership of our nation is driven not by compassion and justice but by gross lawlessness, self interest, and brutishness — we’re at low that I haven’t seen in my lifetime.
I don’t have any more words. Just anger and sadness and two months to get to work.
