Are you exhausted?
Are you exhausted?
Yesterday felt like a throwback, with a twist
Yesterday’s 24-7 coverage of TFG appearing in New York to plead not guilty to a 34-felony count arraignment around hush-money paid to a porn actress with whom he had sex…
(Pause to take a breath and reread that sentence, which I cannot imagine typing about any other president, including that rake, Bill Clinton.)
…felt like 2017 all over again.
Remember 2017? We were just getting a taste of what the next four years would be being ruled by a man-baby ruled by his id. In those days, I woke up to see what fresh hell TFG had rained down overnight on our country’s most vulnerable people — immigrants, communities of color, women, people living in poverty and God help people who fell into more than one category. It was chaotic. Here. This is from the Washington Post’s website, yesterday:
Thaaaaat’s what I don’t miss, the chaos, and labeling something “chaotic energy” makes it almost sound fun. It wasn’t and it isn’t. Facebook daily coughs up memories from that time, and nearly all my posts were cheerfully anti-TFG. Do I hate him? No. I nothing him. I’ve passed through hate into nothing, but I retain the right to hate what he did to this country, what he continues to do, and what he — if the past is prologue — will continue to do until the day he dies and goes to hell. But I draw comfort from the fact that he had a brief moment in court, and he’ll have more moments, and that is how it should be. And that is the pleasant twist in all this.
This is behind a paywall, but I wrote about about this for Hearst on Tuesday. Yesterday, a friend was standing on 62nd and Park (minding his own business) and looked up to snap this:
Just look at the lil’ shaver, in his red cap. And the fact that TFG won’t take a plea deal. Glory! You can read the indictment here.
At some point several years ago, I moved from exhaustion to disgust. That he consistently lies and says things to harm people - disgusted! That it took this long to get him to court - disgusted! That he won't be back in court for the next step until December - disgusted! That I heard his voice again as he talked nonsense and spread a string of lies - disgusted! That the media will probably share more of him doing that over the next 8 months and beyond - disgusted! That so far he's gotten away with everything without being held accountable - DISGUSTED! Why or why does it take so many years (maybe a decade before it's over) for all of this to happen and eventually conclude? Meanwhile, the guy was President, instigated an insurrection, is running for President again, and will do who knows what next! I'm disgusted with him, his followers, the spineless Republican senators & representatives who won't speak out against him, the slow moving legal system...the list goes on. Why after falsely denying his election loss and intigating an insurrection is he even permitted to run for President again? He constantly attacks the department of justice and other aspects of our government. I'm disgusted our country doesn't have better protections against authoritaruan wannabes like him!
This morning NYT:
“We cannot and WILL not normalize serious criminal conduct.”
--District Attorney Alvin Bragg
The bedrock of our judicial process is the rule-of-law. I think the founding principle of this is based on John Locke’s version of social contract theory, which says in brief that the only right folk give up so they can live in “civil” societies and all its wealth and comfort is the right (the only one??) to PUNISH OTHERS for violating rights, ONLY the right to be a vigilante!
People do not have the right to be their own judge, influence jurors, well, you get the picture.
Our systems are mostly designed for atomistic politics and policing, seemingly the easiest metaphor to help understand the philosophical underpinnings of our society both micro- and macro- and the casualties of our own limited beliefs and our adaptation towards comfort and plenty.
I’m wearing red, white, and blue (ok, jeans, an old and red Ralph Loren shirt and blue tennis shoes) to privately mock the man who almost dumped all that is good in our lifeworlds we find ourselves knitted and woven together into kinda’ haphazardly!
We must rise to the occasion, rally for our country, and resist authoritarian tyranny in order to preserve the LAND our feet and wheels and our lives (not lifestyle) depend on!
Stepping off my soap box now. Whose next? Hi ho ⚔️