As much as we complain about the former president, there’s no kidding the kidster. Without a compliant Republican party, he’d probably lose by anywhere from 10 to 15 points. Without a voting public who would rather look the other way until the last possible moment, we’d either have beaten back the politics of saying the quiet things out loud or just going along with it. It’s easy to forget that if the other guys win, it’s democracy at work.
What seems like centuries ago, there was an NBC political series called the West Wing that pretended to chronicle a mostly liberal Democratic administration. Every x years I would embed myself in the Bartlett White House, where the good guys would unrealistically win a few more than they would lose. Whatever you thought of the issues, peccadilloes, and motives, there was always the sense that goodness would creep ever so timidly into the plot. Navigating the 7 or so seasons would take a few months of washing reality out of the way, followed by the time it took to forget the plots and favorite episodes. Unfortunately, the Trump years have crushed the time intervals to the point that I have to look elsewhere for relief. All along the watchtower… can’t get no relief.
Today I’m waiting for the judge to come back with his ruling on whether Fanni Willis can continue on the Georgia case against Trump trying to overthrow the election one state at a time. On the West Wing, this would not be tough to navigate. And for a brief moment last week, the Fulton County District Attorney grabbed the nattering nabobs of the media by the balls and spoke truth. It really doesn’t matter whether the case is disrupted by this side show, but for a brief shining moment a little bit of hope crept back into the ongoing struggle we face. She was blunt, fit to be tied, and somehow the antidote for these years of chaos. My wife glanced over and noticed some tears. Are you crying she asked. Of course I am.
As we discussed some of this on the current episode, Facebook injected itself into the conversation, warning a viewer to stop writing comments about a book, the Ugly American or face temporary removal from the chat. Type “Ugly American” into the transcript in Web view to unravel this future we’re now living. There must be some kind of way out of here. Are you sure?
Are You Sure