The Witness Chronicles, 1/31/25

Heartlessness

Spring is coming. Photo by Redd Francisco on Unsplash

Irresponsibility Personified: the Trump Blame Game

He knew nothing about the crash but immediately saw it as a media opp

We are seeing a sickening pattern emerging in the new administration. They see tragedy as opportunity. We saw it with the LA fires and now we are seeing and hearing statements from the President and his Defense secretary speculating about causes of this week’s horrific plane/helicopter collision that took 67 lives.

Trump claimed that because of DEI the FAA had hired disabled and mentally unstable people, insinuating that all people with disabilities are incapable of doing difficult jobs. His views were echoed by Pete Hegseth who emphatically declared DEI was gone from the military after just days of him becoming Defense Secretary. A miracle of efficiency.

Trump, during the same press conference, mused about how Biden somehow was a cause, something the right claimed about the LA fires. And he implied that former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg somehow might be responsible. I just watched an NTSB news conference today, January 30, and they essentially know nothing, have not retrieved the black boxes, are focusing on recovering bodies of the dead, and will not speculate about anything at this point, out of respect for everyone involved including the families.

This is the only decent response to what is a tragedy affecting hundreds of people only hours after it occurred. But decency among Republicans is in short supply and we are not seeing any of it. Instead we get the blame game and in their world everything comes back to the Democrats and the right’s favorite buzzwords.

A lot of people died in the freezing waters of the Potomac. They had families and friends and futures. In LA thousands of people lost everything and at least 29 people died. In only the first ten days of the second Trump term we are clearly seeing the reality behind these guys and it is despicable. If this continues they may find themselves more and more unpopular as the depth of their inhumanity is constantly on display.

As part of the resistance we need voices to constantly highlight this heartlessness until the country turns on them. Joyce Vance reminds us that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Truth is light and their activities cannot stand the harsh light of day. But we must shine it.

This is going to be a long road. A long hard road, but isn’t that the story of history, especially here? On my father’s side the Eddigs (their original name) came here around 1620, German immigrants escaping religious persecution and settled in the woods just north of what is now Utica, NY. My dad grew up in Utica and I have roots there that I am no longer connected to but that I value.

They came here for freedom and I am certain the price they paid was higher than what we will experience in the next years. We’re not quite at life and death levels, yet. They likely lived with it daily. That’s the root of my passion for freedom and truth. They’re lacking lately, in our time.

I thought the Vietnam war was our nadir. It took friends of mine, in multiple ways. Soldiers, too young, drug addicts suffering from PTSD. Familiar story with more enlightened terms.

I do not know how our country will take the stuff they are throwing at us. The danger we face is something different, it’s mental illness on a scale not seen here for a while. The terms are being thrown around by me and a lot of people. Narcissist. Sociopath. Psychopath. President.

Remind people they need to think about those three things if it comes up. It won’t because denial is the national disease these days. But the news is our friend only when they take this seriously because these guys are pushing the envelope of cruelty and today was another example. A whole lot of young figure skaters died in that plane. And three experienced soldiers. And what do we get from our leader?

Politics and blame. Go somewhere and throw up. Because that is the level of disrespect they deserve.

Trump may have Project 2025 as an outline for his executive orders but it is increasingly obvious that he is winging it on everything from tariffs to oil production, while pretending climate change doesn’t exist and green energy is somehow dangerous.

The fossil fuels industry is and has been extremely profitable for years. Expanding oil production is not really in their own interests because they are commodity businesses whose profits go up when supplies are limited. And several of the major oil companies are investing in sustainable energy as a future strategy for maintaining their grip on energy markets.

They knew the extent of global warming long before anyone else, stalled research to maximize profits, and now that alternative energy is becoming profitable, are embracing it to some degree. This is incomprehensible to Donald Trump because it would require him to change his entire worldview, something he is incapable of doing.

We are seeing the exact same thing with tariffs. He sees them as the economic equivelant of weapons and pretends they will somehow help the average consumer when they will increase prices across the board for everything.

It goes on and on. Immigration is bad, goes the mantra, when in fact immigrants, legal and illegal, are an essential part of our workforce across major business sectors, sectors where Trump himself has major financial interests.

All of this comes from reducing complex scenarios to simplistic messages that he correctly thought would resonate with uninformed voters. It is literally a black and white version of the world, but it is also a version where those around him have the opportunity to profit from the chaos he leaves in his wake. That’s why he is surrounded by billionaires.

If my writing seems to jump from one crisis to another it’s because that confusing landscape is where Donald Trump has always thrived. And we are in the storm right now. The blame game, the lies, the disdain for those he sees as beneath him, and the pitiful need to be a member of the big boys club, are the drivers behind what we are witnessing everyday.

I believe that this will settle down as all this crazy starts to affect his image negatively and Congress wakes up and realizes they must tamp down the fires he is lighting all over the country. At least I hope so. That’s what I tell myself every day and for now I have to believe there is still decency and sense in the world.

Hang in there, spring is coming.

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Martin Edic