Transition

 

"I strongly support LGBTQ rights and equality. No one should be discriminated against. I have friends and family that identify as LGBTQ. Understanding how they feel and how they’ve been treated is important. Having been around gay, lesbian, and transgender people has informed my opinion over my lifetime.”

That was two years ago, spoken by opportunistic, values-bereft Congressperson Nancy Mace, R-SC, before the Trump campaign spent more money on anti-trans ads than anything else. Before, in other words, concluding that to retain one’s MAGA credentials, one must join the attack on vulnerable Americans; especially trans people.

So when Sarah McBride, D-Delaware, the first trans person to be elected to Congress, showed up, Ms. Mace took it upon herself to protect female users of Capital bathrooms from whatever threat she imagines happening by allowing Sarah McBride in. She was, of course, joined by Marjorie Taylor Greene, who never misses an opportunity to screech for Fox “news.” After which Speaker Mike Johnson, who’d previously informed us that God Himself had spoken to him and anointed him the Republican Party’s modern-day Moses, declared that his (or His?) gendered bathrooms may be used only according to one’s birth gender. For a look-at-me Christian, he sure is uncharitable.

Without going into the science, gender dysphoria is real. People who transition do so out of a deep, inborn need. It’s freeing. The number who regret doing so is tiny. As is the number of trans people in general, the attacks on whom for political gain is hugely disproportionate, and is based on the ease with which Trumpists’ fears and ignorance can be manipulated. To spend time worrying about bathroom occupants is to be distracted from the real and dangerous Project 2025 agenda.

What will happen if Sarah McBride uses a women’s restroom? She’ll walk in, go into a stall, close the door, attend to necessities, exit the stall, wash her hands (one assumes) and leave. Unless Mace and Greene like to parade around naked in bathrooms, and who can say they don’t, no one will see anything. They know this. They also know that that kind of nastiness works on their voters; that it does is indescribably sad. But it’s a preview of what can be expected from Trump and the people with whom he’s surrounding himself.

Ms. McBride, admirably, has handled this performative nastiness with uncommon grace. If you were to pass her in a hall, you’d see she feels like a natural woman. Or not notice her at all. Nevertheless, trans people across the country are on notice: under the Trump administration, you’re targeted. And it’s no more about bathrooms than it was about drinking fountains in the pre-civil rights South.

But Trumpists will tell us it’s all allowed, because, according to them, he won an overwhelming victory, achieving an unprecedented mandate. In fact, his margin in the popular vote was among the most narrow in history; in fact, 51% of voters voted against him. Nevertheless, when neo-Nazis marched in Ohio after the election, condemned strongly by President Biden and Ohio’s Governor DeWine, Trump felt “mandated” to remain silent. They, after all, are his people.

And their sort of bullying will be baseline for Trump’s administration. It’s reported that a member of Team Trump warned Senate Republicans who’d consider voting against his horrifying nominees, "If you are on the wrong side of the vote, you’re buying yourself a primary. That is all. And there’s a guy named Elon Musk who is going to finance it." In the phrase “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” substitute “Trump’s billionaires” for “the people.” They represent the vast majority of his proposed appointees, many of whom in the most powerful positions are the architects of that Project of which he lied he knew nothing. In whose interest will they be acting? Not yours.

Nor will Pam Bondi, second-string but equally corrupt replacement for Matt Gaetz as Attorney General. In addition to protecting Trump from prosecution for his fraudulent “foundation,” she has promised that when she’s in charge, “prosecutors will be prosecuted... the investigators will be investigated.” People like Special Counsel Jack Smith, doing his job. It’s classic authoritarian suppression of opposition, step one on the march to dictatorship.

Which explains the delight coming from the Kremlin after Trump’s victory. It’s why they’ve been supporting him since that downward-heading escalator ride: As Gorbachev adopted western governance and brought down the Soviet Union, Trump embraces Russian governance and will bring down the US.

Qualifications

 

It was predictable that Trump would select unquestioning loyalists for his cabinet and other impactful positions. People who’d carry out his demands, no matter how damaging to the republic. People who applaud and will facilitate his need for revenge against all who’ve criticized him, who’ll bend to his desire to dismantle parts of government that he can’t use to his advantage.

Their other lodestar, after submissive prostration, will be “sticking it to the libs.” Because that, above all else, is what maintains support from the base, undisturbed if their own interests are betrayed as long as they can imagine liberals shedding tears. Assuming they considered their own interests, which, it appears, they haven’t. Not the sub-millionaires, anyway.

More surprising is the level of disqualifying incompetence of most of his choices. Surely there were adequately sycophantic yes-people with at least a minimum of experience in the fields over which they’d have control. Instead, we get Matt Gaetz, universally hated in Congress, with reason, as Attorney General; weekend Fox couch-dweller Pete Hegseth, who left the National Guard after being barred from protecting the capital during President Biden’s inauguration because he was deemed a possible “insider threat”; Tulsi Gabbard, zeroly experienced in intelligence matters, referred to in Russia as “our girlfriend” for her enthusiastic support of Putin (and Syria’s murderous Assad), as Director of National Intelligence. 

As obvious as their incompetence is, they must have been chosen because of it. Knowing nothing about their prospective institutions will make it easier to tear them down; ignorance allowing unconcern for the consequences to our country. The exception could be Gabbard: until proven otherwise, she was chosen by Putin.

Presumably having alternatives within the outer confines of credibility, Trump chose deep-space outliers. It’s the final showdown, to nail closed the Constitutional coffin. Figuring they won’t, because they never have, he’s daring Republican senators to cross him; seeing their invertebrate behavior since his golden de-escalation, he’s betting none will have the courage, let alone integrity, to reject his appointees.

And he’s betting those senators’ Trumpist voters will pressure them to acquiesce. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, by all measures the Senate’s dumbest member, has stated that he’d see to it (how, he didn’t say) that any who vote no will be punished. It’s the OK Corral.

Godly Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, holiest of his holy Republican Housemates, has urged that the Ethics Committee’s report on Matt Gaetz’s unholy sexual proclivities not be made public. His reasons are made of SCOTUS-quality whole cloth. He says he looks forward to seeing Trump’s cabinet “shake up the status quo,” but there’s more than one way to do that. January 6 un-statused the quo to the good of no one. For example.

This isn’t about reforming government; it’s about burning it down. It’s not, as Trumpists were lied into believing, to help average Americans. It’s about getting it out of the way of Trump’s vengeance and his oligarchical string-pullers’ greed.

Is this confrontation with Congress a gutsy move? Since that would have required layered thought and wise counsel, it’s unlikely. Reportedly, Gaetz became his choice on the spur of an airplane moment without consulting Susie Wiles, his to-be Chief of Staff, or anyone on his transition team. Blindsided, she’s been struggling ever since to polish that thing that can’t be polished. None of his selectees, it appears, were vetted. But three (plus Elon Musk) have in common Trump’s history of sexual predation. Maybe that’s it.

If Tulsi Gabbard becomes DNI, our allies, worried that she’d reveal their secrets to Putin and other adversaries, might refuse to share intelligence, leaving us isolated. After Trump’s private meeting with Russian officials following his first inauguration, remember, a top-level US agent was extracted from Russia for fear of discovery. Later, Trump tweeted satellite images that revealed secret US spy capabilities. It’s a pattern, forward to more of which our adversaries are surely looking.

And if worm-brained conspiracist RFK, Jr becomes head of HHS, for lack of vaccination children will die. Good researchers will leave. Dr. Oz managing Medicare and Medicaid? Don’t get sick.

(Mid-article update: Well, well, well. Gaetz dropped out. Convenient: now Trump doesn't have to admit a mistake. Next???)

Between now and inauguration, senators will be subjected to nonstop pressure to approve them all; from Trump, from voters eager for authoritarianism, from round-the-clock hectoring by every member of rightwing media. Odds are, they’ll cave like Fred and Wilma. If not, his rumored fallback is an untested Constitutional way to recess Congress on his own, and appoint at will. 

Pusillanimous behavior from Congressional Republicans is a given. But if, like MSNBC’s Scarborough and Brzezinski, mainstream media roll over for Trump, there’s nothing left. After their glowing report of their meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Joe and Mika got mocked by Trump. Pay attention, media. Got guts?

Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the world’s richest and most socially awkward man, is everywhere; in on Trump’s call to Zelensky, talking to Iran’s leaders, pressuring him on policy. If memory serves, Trump campaigned with a vice presidential pick. Anyone heard of him lately?

Gloatfest

 

Since the election, I’ve received gloating emails from dislikers of my columns. They’re entitled to it, but they should acknowledge who their gloatmates are. Like anti-everyone Nick Fuentes, Trump’s honored dinner guest at Mar-a-Lago, who immediately posted “To Women”: “Your body, my choice, forever.” They must also find it gloatworthy that racist emails were sent to Black students across the country, and that neo-Nazis are rejoicing. And looking to intimidate.

They must love that Trump named white-supremacist, anti-ALL immigration, Stephen Miller as Deputy Chief of Staff, in charge of policy. (Susie Wiles, his Chief of Staff choice, previewed the extent to which she’ll keep him within the law. When Trump showed her his stolen classified documents, she stayed mum about the crime.) Okay with suspected Russian asset Tulsi Gabbard as DNI? Matt Gaetz as Attorney General???

We presume my emailers find those choices, to whom the word "deplorable" really does apply, gloatastic. Like Fox’s Jesse Waters, they must think it’s “hysterical” to imagine parents and their terrified children held in detention camps, awaiting deportation. As yet unanswered: will the people doing the rounding-up be provided jackboots or will they have to purchase them?

Gloatiizers will have about two gloatable years. If Trump imposes tariffs and deportations as promised, they might do some retrodegloatation when prices of imports skyrocket; when various imported goods become unavailable; when crops die in fields for lack of harvesters, grocery shelves offering only dust. As deficits soar and interest rates rise, they’ll either have multiple gloatasms or help liberals return Congress to Democrats. Assuming they haven’t all been arrested, as Trump has threatened about the Clintons, Obamas, Bidens, Cheneys, and Pelosis.

Based on past performance, it’s unlikely Trump will fulfill all of his campaign promises. We can hope. He’s blown past one already, namely ending the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of being elected. He did, however, call Ukraine’s President Zelensky. For unfathomably ominous reasons, he shared that call with uber-oligarch Elon Musk; tacit acknowledgment of a shadow presidency to be. Trump said he also spoke to Putin, telling him not to escalate the war. The Kremlin denies the call. Showing him how ignorable they consider him, Putin escalated immediately. Making their disrespect of Trump even clearer, Russian TV then ran nude and semi-nude photos of Melania. (NSFW)

Rather than promised millions, maybe Trump will only deport migrants who committed serious crimes. That’d be okay. Maybe he’ll never get around to those living here for years, raising families including their US-born, citizen children, working, paying taxes, going to church. It’s doubtful Jesus would find it hysterical. Nevertheless, several gloatists cited their faith as a reason for choosing Trump. That’s professional-level compartmentalization. Tested to reject cruel, oligarchical autocracy, over half of America failed. Will there be, as there were during the Holocaust, citizens brave enough to shield their migrant neighbors?

As in 2016, Trump will inherit a booming economy. It’s a pattern repeated for decades: Republicans inheriting then ruining thriving economies, Democrats revitalizing them, and Republicans, when they regain power, taking pre-ruination credit. Since Trump will be busy dictatoring on Day One, expect him to wait a while before taking credit for President Biden’s economy, as he did with Obama’s. And to blame anyone but himself when his policies ruin it, yet again.

I’m neither the betting nor conspiratorial type, but I’ll put a nickel down that, soon as Trump’s installed, big agra will lower egg prices on which the election seems to have turned, giving not just a “win” for Trump, but themselves, too, having purchased deregulation that will allow making it all back by avoiding costly consumer protection measures. Eat safe, America.

No matter how unqualified, Trump will get every appointment he wants, based on a single criterion: unquestioning, prostrate loyalty. Not to Constitution or country. To Trump, exclusively. And election denial. As Senate Republicans have pre-caved on recess appointments, he might not seek confirmation. If he does, he’ll get it. Even for Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, a Fox “news” host with no managerial experience who’s clearly unfit. He and Trump will purge generals who’ve stood for the Constitution. If he turns our military, as demanded, on Trump’s enumerated domestic enemies, gloaters will acquiesce. Throughout history, it’s what such people do.

For now, nothing and no one can stop Trump, my words least of all. But, despite its insignificance, were I to stop writing now, I’d feel like a coward. To withdraw in silence at the dawn of dictatorship would be to abandon duty that democracy demands. So, ineffectual as it is, I’ll keep it up. You, too, gloatophiliacs. In a couple of years, maybe less, we’ll learn who’s right. If it’s me, I won’t gloat. I’ll ponder how America can keep it from happening again. If it’s you, you’ll have time to apologize to your progeny.

America Has Chosen

 

Well, that was disappointing.

Since I’ve been wrong about the essential goodness of the American people, I can only hope I’m also wrong about the consequences of a Trump presidency with all guardrails removed. Blank checks, negative balances. Elon Musk. Stephen Miller. RFK, Jr. J.D. Vance in a couple of years. Tucker Carlson. A cabinet of unqualified yes-people. Mass deportation (if your roof needs replacing, better get it done right away). Tariffs. The Department of Justice turned into a vehicle of vengeance; the military turned against protestors. America stepping away from Ukraine and, likely, Gaza and the West Bank. Handing Europe to Russia. Pulling out of NATO? The UN, too? Outlawing vaccines, or just banning mandates? Eliminating FEMA and the National Weather Service? We’ll see. If so, it won’t be only blue states that will be on their own when disasters strike. 

Pregnant women will die. So will the free press. Science and education will succumb to calculated ignorance. Kids will get cavities. Measles. And, maybe, polio. Pollution will sully the land, which will warm even faster. These things the voters want, and we must accept that.

I’d like to think it was an “in spite of” election, but I’d be wrong about that, too. It was a “because of” election. The uglier Trump’s rhetoric became, the more they cheered. Whatever happens, however dictatorial, it’s what the voting majority wants, and I’ll have to live with that. At my age, it won’t be for long. But my sweet, innocent, loving, empathetic grandchildren? I can’t think about them without wanting to cry. At least, like the rest of us, they live in the Pacific Northwest, where good-hearted people are still and so far in the majority.

Does the Democratic Party need to search its soul? Do they need to bend the arc of their message toward Trumpism? No. They need to keep standing for what’s right. Maybe, after four years of Trump, people will see and hear, and remember for what America once stood. Assuming they’re not in camps and voting is still a thing.

That's it. That's all I have to say. It can, it DID happen here. Lawrence Ferlinghetti said it best:

Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.”

Or maybe it's gonna be great.