Just the other day, coming out of church, a friend caught me by the sleeve and asked me: “Ed, why are you still complaining about Donald Trump?” Well, I was silenced, momentarily, still humming the air of the recessional, and with my mind on higher things. Lacking a better response, I borrowed Sir Edmund Hillary’s reply to those who wondered why he had climbed Mount Everest: “Because it’s there.”
“Because he’s there” does sum it up, really. When something as unexpected, so outrageously contrary to all my assumptions about political and diplomatic life comes along, I confess I’m mesmerized by it. I don’t refer to Trump as “it,” but the fact of his presence in the White House deserves, in my opinion, an upper-case “IT.” There have been weird presidents before, but the democratically elected (?) Trump is so undemocratic and so intolerant of democratic institutions that he easily eclipses any earlier contenders. What else is there, to overshadow the presence of Anti-democracy at the head of the Arch-democratic U.S.A.?
I agree, there are other stories in the news.
Related story:
Trump returns from summit with Putin to forceful criticism
Tiger Woods is still making his comeback, Elon Musk is still saying silly things, Alex Trebec still presides over Jeopardy, losing weight Is still a preoccupation for many, and Princess Markle continues to chafe at royal protocols. I see Miley and Liam’s engagement is off, electric motorcycles are cheaper than the gasoline-powered variety (but not so much fun), Warren Buffet is still giving money away, trucks are getting more expensive, and Halle Berry seems to be getting younger every day.
I notice that sharks are still considered dangerous, George Clooney is getting over his accident, some people don’t have enough money to live on, while others have more than they know what to do with, and ice-hockey is still being played in midsummer.
What’s more, DeRozan has left the Raptors, Prince George is too cute for words, there are wildfires everywhere, marijuana is legal but still controversial, and, wouldn’t you know it, Pippa Middleton is pregnant!
Some drivers are still doing dangerous things on the highways and byways, the population of Atlantic salmon continues to decline, and the Kardashians are still proud (quite justifiably, I’m sure) of their buttocks.
So yes, the real world does still exist, and it goes on more or less as it has for generations.
But nowhere do I find news, search as I may, that can challenge the Trump Saga.
Where else can you find so much pathos, tragedy and low comedy, with the constant danger of cataclysm, all in one untidy package? I suggest that the Trump Era will be recorded by future historian as the most comical, but also the most dangerous in the life of the U.S.
I very much doubt that democracy has ever been attacked with such determination, from within.
Threats from the outside are not hard to recognize and defend against, but when the erosion begins inside the self-styled Bastion of Democracy, it’s a good idea to take note, to follow the gradual crumbling of the centuries-old system, and, of course, to hope that somehow, in the final chapter, democracy will be saved.
Ed Healy
Marystown
