Like pretty much everyone by this point, after three (not even fully three) long years with a pathetic excuse for a man and even worse excuse for a "leader" at the helm in the Oval Office, I have observed the whole Ukrainian interference in the 2020 election and the investigation into the son of former Vice-President Joe Biden with a mixture of reactions.
First of all, there is horror at the level of hubris and invulnerability that top White House officials, particularly on the part of President Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. They really seem to believe that they are above the law, and cannot be brought down by anything.
Next, of course, is outrage at the lies and inconsistencies with their version of the story. Again, I should make clear that there is anger, but not surprise or shock anymore. Anyone who has been paying attention to Trump for at least these three plus years since he became the official Republican Presidential nominee in 2016 can hardly be surprised anymore that this man, or his top lawyer, are caught with their pants down, lying again.
There is disgust with how blatant this kind of corruption is. It has run rampant in Washington, and has been that way for years. Yet paradoxically, and I should add in typical Trump fashion, the most obviously corrupt politician of them all always accuses his political opponents of that which, in fact, he is far more guilty. If Joe Biden, and the entire Biden family, is as guilty of corruption as Trump claims, then so be it, and let them fall. Hell, let's see them behind bars, for all I care. But even if Biden and his son really are that corrupt, they still can never hold a candle to the astonishing levels of blatant and transparent corruption that we have seen from Donald Trump, and those individuals whom he picked to surround himself with. The more I see and hear from Trump, the harder it is to ignore the history of Rome in the decline, when they, too, were tangled with corrupt leaders, trying to get their peace of the pie, even as their country slides ever deeper into a hole that it is digging for itself.
Finally, my reaction is similar to a growing number of people out there in another regard, because if this man and his entire administration truly are as corrupt and not just prone, but addicted to breaking the law as they are, then the obvious question that follows is obvious, is it not? When is he going to be held accountable for those crimes? When are the Democrats, particularly the mainstream Democrats in Congress like Nancy Pelosi, going to how some spine and force accountability? After all that he has done over the course of three years now, if they fail to move on impeachment proceedings with this, then they will simply never impeach him. Which, again, while infuriating, is also something that can hardly be expressed as even mildly surprising, let alone shocking.
What a state of affairs in Washington these days. No wonder so many people are disgusted beyond words at the state of our country. All of this, and so much more, is happening in front of the entire world, for all to see. Think of all the paradoxes between what Trump supporters claim, and the reality. We Americans have the most climate change deniers, despite having contributed far and away more than any other nation in history towards those greenhouse gases that have raised temperatures globally. We are also the only industrialized country that fails to provide it's citizens with universal, affordable healthcare, even while it is also well-known that many in big pharma and private health insurance companies are raking in enormous, even often record, profits. We have the most lax gun laws while the NRA exerts enormous influence over politicians on the issue of gun control, or the obvious lack thereof. We have more people behind prison bars in this "land of the free" than any other nation in the world. We have the lowest minimum wage of any industrialized nation in the world, and the least amount of benefits, to boot. And we have a man in the Oval Office who "won" the 2016 election while failing to win the popular vote, and who brags about the supposedly historically dominant election win, even when it is demonstrably not true. And that is basically the least of his lies, as he is so well-known for lying, that even his political allies on Fox News admit that he plays fast and loose with the truth. He keeps committing crimes and lying about his own greatness, and rarely is he even held accountable for any of this.
Yet, some Americans - particularly his rabid supporters - enthusiastically let him get away with all of this, and with his generally proudly immature, man-child behavior. They stomp their feet and are loud and rowdy at every single one of his ridiculous rallies. They believed him when he said that the entire world was laughing at us, but under him, the world would respect the United States and take it seriously. That under him, we would just win and win and win, to the point that we would get so tired of winning, that we would need to ask him to stop winning, but he would refuse.
Since Trump has taken office, we have basically added four trillion dollars in debt. Obama added trillions to the national debt, but remember, he was trying to fix a broken economy that his predecessor had run to the ground. Yet, when Obama did it, he was relentlessly blasted for the increased debt by the Tea Party crowd. Now that it is Trump doing it, and without the country being in crisis mode, as it was when Obama took over, are they outraged? Nope. Crickets. And he keeps getting away with what no one else seems to be able to get away with. Can you imagine the reaction by the Tea Party/Trump supporter crowd if, as the anniversary of the September 11th attacks neared, Obama had mentioned, almost in passing, that he had cancelled talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the way that Trump just did earlier this month? There would surely have been cries for his impeachment, and perhaps a few armed nuts who physically appear at the White House to try and take matters into their own hands. But when Trump does it, what happens? Absolutely nothing. No negative reaction from Fox News or Breitbart, and no significant dip from his obviously loyal supporters. Indeed, no wonder this man thinks he is invincible. He said so himself, remember? He claimed that he could shoot someone in Manhattan in broad daylight, and his supporters would not waver. Of all the times that he lied and/or said misleading things, he was telling the absolute truth that time. No matter what he does, no matter how many crimes he commits, his supporters will never waver.
Again, the whole world is watching.
Should we Americans expect respect and admiration through all of this? Should the world envy what Americans have today? It is debatable that the whole world was laughing at us before, but it sure seems that they are laughing now. Who wouldn't, when you have the closest thing to an actual clown representing the country with the highest office in the land? Either they are laughing, or crying, or perhaps, both. But they are clearly not happy with what is going on. Again, the symbolic moment of all of this ridiculous nonsense, to me, was when Trump began to toot his own horn in a major speech in front of the United Nations, only to get literally laughed at in front of the entire world. He apparently mistook the occasion as yet another version of his Trump rallies, except the world is not interested in him relentlessly praising himself, like the Trump supporting crowd is during those insipid rallies of his.
What a circus! What a theater of the absurd!
This country used to produce leaders who truly inspired the rest of the world. Washington. Lincoln. The Roosevelts. Eisenhower. John F. Kennedy. These were leaders who were not perfect, who had flaws, yet who in some way or another, revealed a certain greatness appropriate to the times, and the great country they were trying to help build. They helped the image of the United States before the entire world, to the point that they are remembered and admired by much of the world still to this day.
Look at us now, though. What the hell happened?
Now, we have a joke at the helm, a vulture capitalist trying to get rich by feathering his own nest at the expense of the American nation. His supporters empower him by never criticizing a damn thing that he does, and by proclaiming him the greatest of leaders, with absolutely no merit to these boisterous claims.
Earlier today, I ran into this video of Seth Meyers, who took "A Closer Look" at the whole Trump-Ukrainian controversy, and helped to put things in perspective. He is a late night comedian with his own talk show, of course, and so this is quite humorous. Yet, it is also informative, and does reveal the paradoxes and contradictions of the biggest players involved, particularly Giuliani and Trump. I recommend taking a look, and asking ourselves when enough is enough, and when this man and his ridiculous excuse for a presidency will, once and for all, be held accountable for his criminal behavior? When will enough be enough?
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