There is a worrisome hint of an idea that seems to be pervading the news and commentary since Michael Cohen delivered his public testimony last week. That testimony, as damning as it was to Trump and those closest to him, natually never moved the needle of public opinion, or, more specifically, the opinions of Trump supporters. They simply don’t care what Trump says or does, and they never will. They are the very definition of blind loyalists.
But it was not so much the testimony, or the reaction to it, that is worrisome. In the selfsame time frame, the meme that appeared was the suggestion that Mueller’s report was imminent. This was especially troublesome, coming as it did one week after Barr was sworn in as Attorney General. The timing was suspicious at best; it seemed unlikely that Mueller was coincidentally ready to wrap everything up. And especially in light of the flurry of legal activity surrounding Roger Stone. I am personally amazed that there seems to be no movement whatsoever toward indicting or accusing Don Jr., nor Jared, both of whom have been associated with flagrantly illegal activity. Nevertheless, Mueller’s subpoena pump seems to have run dry, with no indication that any more subpoenas are forthcoming.
This all seems to indeed point toward the strong possibility of an imminent Mueller report. Now, when we learn what’s in that report, I’m certain Democrats and progressives will feel vindicated in their expectancy: this horrible excuse for a President will not fare well in this report. There’s too much publically known that already shows that, and Mueller undoubtedly has much more to fill out the picture. But here is the worrisome hint of an idea that is making its presence felt: there will probably be no incontrovertible, obvious to everyone, clearly understood THING that anyone and everyone would immediately recognize as TRUMP IS GUILTY.
The Nixon tapes were straight-forwardly incriminating: there was Nixon’s voice, saying things that were illegal. But even then, the nature of those crimes were not clearly evident to the average Joe and Joan. To understand the legal ramifications, they had to see and hear the Congress and legal experts react, and that reaction informed them of the seriousness of the situation. There will be no such clear reaction to this report. Unless Mueller has evidence of a dead body somewhere, or videos of Trump doing dirty deeds, his followers will never admit that anything is wrong. And his GOP backers in Congress will never convict him. There will undoubtedly be undeniable grounds for impeachment in Mueller’s report. Hell, Trump provides undeniable grounds for impeachment on a daily basis. Clinton was impeached for a sex act in the Oval Office and a lie, and they impeached Andrew Johnson for how he addressed Congress. The litany of impeachable offenses committed by Donald Trump is too exhausting to even ennumerate.
And that is the most important point to be made. The sheer, overwhelming amount of damage Donald Trump has done to the Republic and to the office of the Presidency has exhausted us to the point of being (almost) comfortably numb. The 9000 lies, the kowtowing to Putin, the attacks on law enforcement, on the press, on the judiciary, on his enemies, on and on and on. It is so oeverwhelming that even the professionals in the media whose job it is sort all this out, even they cannot keep up with the constant barrage of outrageous corruption and criminality and indecency that floods us from this White House.
The greatest threat, in my opinion, is that we have been Robert McNamara’d into submission. (Those who do not recognize the phrase need to bone up on their Paul Simon). And by that, I mean that we are that close to accepting all this as “the new normal”. That having an immoral, vain, stupid, indecent, crass liar, criminal and cheating con man for our President is somehow “okay”, and what we should no longer feel shame and outrage for all his inhumane and selfish actions.
Because it’s just too tiresome to keep fighting. And because powerful men (and it is almost wholly men) in his party have completely abrogated their responsibility to the nation, and to the Constitution, and even to common decency in their decision to continue supporting and defending him.
Well, Donald Trump is NOT the new normal. And even a momentary lapse in rejecting him, his crudeness, his greed and his stupidity is a moment too long. We can never permit ourselves the luxury of fatigue, even in the face of this unrelenting onslaught of the nightmare he has unleashed on our nation. The stakes are too high, the risks are too great, the result of allowing Trumpian “politics” to be the new status quo are too horrific. Our children deserve better.
And so, stay alert. Stay informed. Stay outraged. Stay on track.
Growing up during the 60’s and 70’s, I never claimed to be, nor wanted to be, “normal.” I aimed for beyond normal, for Truth will a capital “T”, for enlightenment. That is still my goal. I will never accept an America defined by Donald Trump’s behavior as normal, new or otherwise.
© 2019 Chuck Puckett