We Can't Wish It Away

Entering the new year, so much needs saying that it’s been hard to choose where to begin. Serendipitously, help arrived from a reader, who provided the hook on which to hang this, the first column of 2022. Not that she’ll read it. Here, in part, is what she wrote in response to my year-end “predictions” column: 

“… You just dwelled on the negative and made your article downtrodden. Yes, it’s important to tell the facts, but we the people need more optimism and encouragement. To keep our heads high, fight for the good things in life, support each other, keep our faith and maintain a positive outlook to conquer each day… Thus, I am again bypassing and not taking the time in my day to read your articles.”

I sympathize. Plus, it was an order of magnitude better-written than what I typically receive from critics. So I appreciate it. If what I write were actually impactful, though, written my way or less “downtrodden,” reaching enough minds, in all fifty states, to change even a few about the imminent dangers of Trumpofoxification (it isn’t, of course), what she said would be sad. Because it reflects why we are where we are: people in the middle, like her (presumably), who’d rather not think about it, who’d rather hear sweet affirmations that it’s all okay, to justify doing nothing. 

Well, me too. Approaching the limits of tolerance, I’ve tried to turn it off, to stop caring, “to maintain a positive outlook to conquer each day.” (That desire also explains the attraction of mind-numbing drugs, and why, as existential uncertainty mounts, addiction and overdoses are increasing.) But, as I wrote back to her, my concern for the future of country and grandchildren compels me to keep thinking about and facing actuality, rather than ignoring or Pollyanning it.

It’s like witnessing a violent crime: too old and powerless to jump into the fray, at least I’d shout from across the street and call 911. Which would accomplish more than opining into the wind, but writing is about all I can do. That, and donating to people and institutions offering truth and solutions instead lies and obstruction. How nice if that lady, and people who think similarly, did the same. A few dollars, even. America needs commitment, not blinders.

Blinders, in fact, must explain why 68% of Republicans want to reelect Trump. Of all the dangers facing America, he’s the most immediate. In the long run, climate change is worse, but first things go first. Take it from Liz Cheney, a lifelong, hardcore conservative in all things, including Trump, whom no true conservative should ever have supported.

Confirming that he sat in the Situation Room on January 6, watching the insurrection on TV with delight, serially rejecting pleas to call for a stop to it, she stated the obvious: he must not be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office, ever again. His was unprecedented dereliction of presidential duty; anyone who thinks otherwise is no patriot. Nor a believer in democracy.

Proving the point, Trump just endorsed for “reelection” Viktor Orbán, Europe’s most brutal dictator. Anyone denying he’s a sociopath who wants to be like Vik, or Vlad, is delusional. Or, like my pixel pal, deliberately tuning it out.

Even if Trump were to lose, if he becomes the Republican nominee, which is likely, it would cement the permanent descent of that party into madness. And if he were elected, it wouldn’t herald the end of democracy; rather, it’d be because the end had already happened. It’d be because the Republican assault on free and fair elections, federal and state, had succeeded in destroying them. It’d be the beginning of autocratic rule by people whose views are rejected by the majority of Americans; people who barricaded the avenues by which we might return to majority rule.

Because the thing is, horrifying as the insurrection was, it was always part of a larger plan, an ongoing blueprint for overturning and preventing legitimate elections. And an indicator of why Republican leadership is so confident it can get away with undermining every Constitutional safeguard of democracy, while convincing people they’re doing the opposite. This level of brainwash-powered deception and acceptance of it appears irreversible. And 1930s ominous.

People of both parties say the country is heading in the wrong direction. The difference is that, for Republicans, it’s because of believing Trump’s perseverating and rightwing media-enhanced election lies, mandates necessitated by their own selfishness, baseless warnings of communism, and preposterous conspiracy theories. For Democrats, it’s because we’re seeing, clear-eyed, democracy imperiled and faltering. Surely, it’s the wrong time for silence.