The Final Act

I am writing this post a few days after the United States Congress has confirmed Joe Biden as our next President.  Like many Americans today, I have conflicting emotions coursing through my mind. 

I was a frequent critic of Donald Trump’s behavior during his presidency, both personal and professional.  And like anyone else who may choose to criticize aspects of his term, I readily admit that I am wholly unqualified to judge a man who endured, simultaneously, such honor and abuse, such power and paralysis, such esteem and disdain, such credit and blame, such betrayal and support, and such adoration and hate.  He was an authentically-polarizing individual.  And even though I continue to believe that many, in fact most, of his policies were correct, I was never able to reach a point where I truly respected the man.

One’s possession of my respect is no great prize in this land or world.  Perhaps other than to a small handful of people, it is something that is simply irrelevant and inconsequential.  But the incredible thing about respect is that one does not have to be worthy of it in order to bestow it judiciously.  It is certainly true that to most people, the respect of a respected person is worth more than the respect of a jerk.  However, the hard truth is that respect, regardless of the giver, is an object that must be earned.  Donald Trump was never interested in earning it.

I oftentimes enjoyed his irreverent recognition of social hypocrisy in our culture.  I appreciated his unorthodox approach to many policy questions involving our citizenry.  There were a few times when his rhetoric, particularly about the police and the military, brought me close to viewing him as sincere and empathetic.  Occasionally, he would take a position or make a decision that certainly seemed to require a good deal of bravery and independence.  And there were even moments when his mere presence and stature, cast against the right background, created an impression of the proud leader of a glorious nation.  But in each instance, most times revealed in the moments shortly thereafter, it became clear that all of these episodes were motivated by his personal self-interest and ambition.  He did a fantastic job of continuing the tradition of exceptional narcissism so expertly established by his predecessor, the One.

And even as the 2020 presidential campaign entered into its latter stages and the consequences of its potential outcomes were being thoughtfully discussed, President Trump never once considered that the intrinsic value of his administration’s policies were far more precious than the worth of his reputation as a leader.  Repeatedly ignoring the opportunity to have those policies continue beyond his first term, he refused to subjugate himself to a level of political decorum that might possibly have led his candidacy to a successful conclusion.  To the very and bitter end, Donald Trump was “The Donald” and he went out the very same way he came in; making it all about himself, being loud, and being totally self-unaware.

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My fears of a Democratic takeover of our government grew as the campaign progressed.  I became more and more apprehensive.  I had a terrible sense of dread when I considered the increasingly likely possibility of a liberal sweep in Congress and the White House.  Recalling my intense funk when Obama was elected to a second term, I was troubled by the catastrophic emotional upheaval that would accompany a Biden and Schumer victory.  But strangely, even with the full and terrible understanding of the damage that complete Democratic leadership in our nation’s capitol might entail, I have not personally realized any sense of loss in Donald Trump’s defeat.

Don’t get me wrong; I truly hated to see Joe Biden win.  The thought of placing a walking cadaver in the presidency, along with Chuck and Nancy running the Congressional circus, is enough to keep me awake at night worrying about the futures of my children and grandchildren.  But cry over Donald Trump losing an election?  Not so much.  I do not celebrate his loss; I just feel the silver lining warmth of his personal absence. 

The Donald Trump presidency was a grand experiment in placing a true political outsider in charge of our government.  It is possible that had roles been reversed and the Donald was a Dem, the Republicans might well have marshaled a similar resistance to his efforts.  That premise will no doubt be debated for some time to come; but there is absolutely no debate about what we have returned to.  As if the false promises and delusional aspirations of Hope and Change were not sufficient to jerk our nation back to reality; brace yourselves for the rude awakenings that lay in store when we begin to live the effects of the Past and Pathetic.  Make no mistake about it; the wages of our political negligence at America’s polls will come due and the process of payment will be painful.

The soul and fiber of our country is going to be sorely tried over the coming months.  When surveying the current landscape, it is difficult to imagine any semblance of statesmanship, civility, or bipartisanship in our government or society.  The wounds that have been gouged and raked during the Obama and Trump years are not going to heal quietly.  They will continue to fester, spreading corruption and fever throughout the civic body of our nation.  We have made a hard bargain with the devil in deciding the past election as we did.  Yes, we did rid ourselves of an arrogant and pretentiously-sophisticated lout that somehow seemed to bring out the worst in both his supporters and opponents.  But in doing so, we have allowed…yea, we have invited… into our homes the insidious, sometimes immoral, oftentimes hateful, and always hypocritical essence of the extreme liberal consciousness. 

So while the joy-filled Democrats, along with their Never-Trumper Republican allies and short-sighted Independent friends, celebrate their hard-earned (or smartly-stolen?) election victories; we should all pause for a few moments and consider battening down our familial hatches, padding our savings accounts, tightening up our purse strings, and reflecting on our own personal principles because ready or not, the true test of American constitutional democracy is about to begin. 

It is a sad and tragic thing that we have done to ourselves.  We’ve taken noble ideals of honor and sacrifice and turned them into spitefulness and hate.  The potential of common dreams has morphed into a ménage of terrible nightmares and self-absorption.  The pure and innocent beauty of ambition and achievement has been buried beneath ashen piles of isolation and dependence.  And the twisted, tortured, and mean culture that we so often encounter in our daily lives has numbed the better parts of our soul and diminished our quality as humans.  If we do not somehow find a way to heal ourselves and bridge the ever-widening gaps between poverty and wealth, pure evil and sincere compassion, unvarnished greed and unselfish goodness, and simple, decent respect for each other….then the true test is not just for our democracy.  It is for us as a nation.  May God be with us.