The Witness Chronicles, May 31, 2024

A call to action for all Americans who care about democracy

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“It Won’t Make Any Difference”

The test now is with the American voters. Will we stand up?

Waking up to the reality that Donald Trump is a convicted felon should be momentous, but it doesn’t feel that way. Despite his ranting to the contrary, justice prevailed yesterday, as a jury of his peers convicted him on all 34 felony counts of trying to cover up paying a porn star to remain silent about their affair, so he could win the 2016 election.

Sounds pretty damning, right? But the reaction is largely ho-hum across the country, excepting those on both fringes who will predictably go nuts with conspiracy theories, etc. But basically I think most of us expected this on some level. Even his supporters know he is a crook, they just tend to see it as a Robin Hood story of a bad guy who is really looking out for their interests.

Unfortunately that says a lot about the state of our democracy and the apathy that has descended on our country. The man will be sentenced on July 11th and four days later will be chosen as the Republican Party candidate for a second term as President.

I woke up this morning thinking about the words that now accurately and legally describe this man. Slanderer. Rapist. Convicted felon. And those that likely apply: Insurrectionist. Treasonous. Serial liar. Petty grifter. Adulterer.

A laundry list of pure scumbag activities, yet he will be a major presidential candidate in just a few weeks, representing a once respectable party in our democracy. With polling showing this man is a serious contender despite his clear statements that he intends to end the democracy that made him what he is.

So the man is a bum. We know that. But who are the real bums, those who have left behind every value we once found sacrosanct in American society? Respect and civility for others even when we disagree. Living in a melting pot where the downtrodden can come and begin a new life and contribute to a free society. The rule of law that says no man is above it and all men are created equal.

Those who continue to support Trump have thrown those values into the gutter and replaced them with bigotry, hatred, fear, paranoia, and always blaming others for whatever befalls them.

What ever happened to pulling yourself up by the bootstraps?

Early in his life Trump claimed to have done just that. After his father gifted him a small (Trump’s words) stake of one million dollars, as a young man, he set out to make his fortune. The American Dream, if it includes starting with a million bucks.

Except that was all a lie and the start of his personal mythology. His dad didn’t just give him a start, he gifted him his entire $400 million fortune in a scheme to avoid inheritance taxes, a grift. And Donald squandered it on his image and all the trappings. Planes, golf courses, girls, and schemes to make money that inevitably failed.

Today, forty years later, he has little to show for a life that started out with unimaginable riches. His properties are leveraged to the hilt, banks won’t touch him, his wife avoids him like the plague, and he is pitching golden sneakers and bibles. And now we add Convicted Felon to his list of achievements.

And no one appears to really care.

I can write about this stuff ad nauseum and I have my supporters (thank you more than you can know). Pundits are going crazy with speculation. The country faces crises on every front from the strangling of women’s reproductive rights, immigration, price gouging by big oil and corporations raking in huge profits, the rise of powerful dictators in Russia and China, and their wars, to climate change, an existential threat to our very existence as a species.

None of this concerns Donald Trump or his supporters. They want a world that does not exist and if it did would discard them as quickly as possible. Yet they have bought into a dream. That’s understandable especially if you think your life sucks and it’s all someone else’s fault. I get that, sorta.

But what about the rest of us? Why aren’t we outraged? We’ve witnessed event after event since this man took power that we should have stopped for good and we did not. The Supreme Court, that once highly respected check against these kind of crimes against democracy, is corrupt and that corruption is blatant and out in the open.

And no one seems to really care.

So does the trial and the guilty counts make a difference? I’d still like to think so, but a lot of us are going to have to stand up on November 5th and say so. Then we must be prepared to once again defend that vote against lies and violence generated by one man, who is a slave to his massive ego. Again.

Hell of a thing.

~ I write The Grasshopper, a letter for creatives, The Witness Chronicles, a place for my articles on politics and climate, and The Remarkable, a recovery letter, about my addiction and reentry experience. All are weekly and free, however this is how I live and I strongly believe all writers and creatives should get paid, if we provide value. Your support with a paid subscription helps make that happen. 

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Believe me, it makes my day. M