A Coup of the Soul
Donald Trump ends not with a bang… actually, with a bang
What a day. Just when we think we’ve cleared the latest hurdle after a year of hurdles, one more appears. This time, a brand new and particularly high one. One that would have seemed unimaginable save for maybe a couple hundred years ago. When people rode in carriages and went to war with muskets. An angry mob storming the U.S. Capitol Building. In 2021.
I would say it’s surreal, but 2020 gave a new definition to surreal. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic which has us mainly locked in our homes. It’s more exhausting than anything else at this point, to be honest. It’s another moment that feels like we’re living in some shitty B-movie, not living life.
Yet this latest insanity also isn’t all that surprising if you’ve been paying attention. I’d say “I hate to say I told you so” but I don’t hate saying it, I just hate that you didn’t listen. I used to write down my thoughts about Donald Trump more often, but it got too depressing because it was clear the path we were going down. Which is: the path of learning the hard way.
The only thing I got wrong was not recognizing that “the hard way” would be established and redefined a half dozen times in one term. And I want to say that today is the cherry on top — but we still have 13 days to go.
To call Donald Trump a con artist is an insult to artists. He’s a con man, who has spent his entire life conning many men and women into believing he’s a winner when he’s the ultimate loser. He’s a hyena preying on the weak and downtrodden while others in stronger positions think they’re preying on him, but the joke is on them. Because who wants to eat a hyena?
He’s the ultimate narcissist with absolutely no shame, no taste, and no tact. And today ensures that he will go down as the worst President in American history. And that several people who aligned with him for political reasons will go down in flames, in the long run.
At the same time, he’s really just a personification of a problem. The problem is less about Trump, who is but one man, but rather the 70+ million people who voted for him. I spoke of a lesson we were going to have to learn. We had four years to learn it, and did not — in fact, many learned the opposite lesson. And while I want to believe that today will be different, the reality is that it will also likely push the two sides farther apart.
We have a lot of Republicans in positions of power finally saying the right things about Trump tonight, but that doesn’t really matter. They were all the camp that was attempting to use him for their means, from Mitch McConnell on down. And now that McConnell got what he wanted — three Supreme Court justices (!), not to mention countless other judges and appointments — he’s happy to break back to reality, of course. As are most others who tried to get something from Trump and either did or got played by the con man. They all sold their souls. History will collect the debt, but they’ll all be dead when it does.
And again, they don’t even really matter. It’s those 70+ million people who are not in on the con. They’ll say they are because they think they are, but they’re not. And the sad — honestly sad — thing is that they won’t realize the reality until it’s far too late. Until their lives never improve. As they’re lying on their deathbeds wondering why things never got better.
This is harsh. But it is reality. Reality is harsh. And the other reality is that I’m not sure how much Trump, the person, matters to many of these people. Again, he’s the personification of something. A symbol at best. An excuse at worst. Lonely? Sick? Tired? Bored? Join the movement.
And some of them will think, “yeah, but it’s not like it would have gotten better with the other guys” and they won’t be wrong. But society as a whole would have been better without Trump. Fewer people would have died in our pandemic with actual leadership. Etc. Etc. Etc. But that is a very hard argument to make, I recognize. It’s a plea for the greater good when the burden of failure in our era is on an individual level.
And so those of us in a relative position of luxury learn the hard lessons from Trump. While others learn the wrong lessons. The lesson that nothing is true if you just refuse to acknowledge it. That lies are true if repeated enough. That you too can con your way to the top. But you can’t. And that’s a good thing. Because it means you’re not as immoral and narcissistic as Donald Trump. The ultimate con man. Who became President.
A President who incited insurrection today. Who should be thrown out of the White House. But won’t be because it’s far easier to run out the clock. Yet another insanely dangerous precedent set in a Presidency of dangerous precedents. And because everyone must quote Abraham Lincoln:
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
Of course, he may not have actually said this. We’ll ignore that.
Written by
