By Butch Freedman
I wish I didn’t have to write about Trump. Wish I didn’t have to call him out and call him names and declare his radical incompetence, his ever-increasing insanity. I’d so much prefer to write about peaceful things, family remembrances, days out on the surf, community values. But, dammit, that’s all been upended. Now when I sit down to write each morning, the thoughts that consume my limited brain power are the latest insults from the mob squad of the right. This is not the time to sit back and reflect on the past or write complicated short stories, or work on my next novel. There’s no fiction that can seduce and inflame the consciousness like the outrages filling the streets of our country, the grift of the assholes in charge, the insults of the “justice” department. I want to let go. I truly do. But I can’t. We can’t.
The situation has become, to my mind, even more fraught lately. I’m no longer certain that we (Democrats, Independents, all decent citizens with a moral conscience) can stop it. Yes, I’m frustrated, frightened, constantly worried about what might come next. And the monsters always deliver—give ’em that. This morning two stories stuck out. The first, less serious—and maybe even a win—Trump announces that he will shut down the Kennedy Center for two years to do renovations i.e.—tons of gold paint and marble, and many millions of dollars. But everybody with half a brain knows that he’s doing it because, like everything else he touches, the once-glorious tribute to the arts has become a shell of its former self, with almost all the credible performers and decent audience members cancelling their associations with his tainted ego-trip theater, the one he disgraced with his attached evil name and corrupt board members. Yes, the emperor has no clothes. Please, republicans, admit it.
The second headline was much more serious, truly a warning that the horrors will not cease any time soon. Trump is now asserting to his followers that the republicans, as they are now in power, should move to nationalize the elections. In other words that the federal government should run all the upcoming elections (the mid-terms in particular), essentially guaranteeing that the present crew of criminals and billionaires (one in the same) will continue to stay in power and continue to assault all democratic norms and ideals. It’s straight out of the autocratic playbook, and would be a huge step in creating a Putin-esque landscape in America. It’s already happening. And, I have no confidence at this point that we can reclaim our democratic rights. All evidence points against it. We’ve all seen it.
Sorry for being a downer. Sorry that I can’t be more encouraging in what I write here today. Just not feeling it. I guess I could list all of the righteous attempts to protest against this criminal regime. I do celebrate and join the ranks of those who fight with all their hearts and minds against the oppressors. I am a resister and always will be. But I don’t think Trump and Miller and Homan and all the congressional go-along republicans give two good goddams about the country’s thoughts and feelings. And I understand why so many good people are trying to figure out escape routes to other countries. Though I don’t believe that is the answer either. But I don’t know what is.