The Trumpectomy
Our body politic survived Trumpectomy Phase I. Hallelujah! I’d like to say we had a heart transplant, but I don’t think the previous prez had a heart. It can’t be a brain transplant, because obviously that guy had a brain, though addled, arrogant and amoral.
Last year, my least favorite candidate in the Democratic primaries was Joe Biden. Instead of that old fart, we had young young guys! Women! Non-WASPs! But somehow it came down to Old Joe toe-to-toe with the old Republican-Q-anon-racist-misogynist nut case, and our guy got in there. In spite of his age, he appears to be doing alright, so far.
I enjoyed hours on January 20 watching the festivities of the Biden-Harris Inaugural—glorious Sousa marches from the U.S. Marine Band, patriotic anthems delivered in soaring voice, the brilliant poetry of a young woman in brilliant attire, a stirring benediction delivered in the holy cause of unity and progress, and of course the new president’s sincere and eloquent inaugural address.
The past five years I spent many hours hunched over my computer, reading or watching the shenanigans boiling out of the White House and golf courses, in a measure of astonished disbelief pretzeled with credible fact. January 20 was a sunny 4th of July or a pony under the Christmas tree, culminating in fireworks all over Washington, DC, and Grandpa Joe dancing with a baby in his arms.
A person survives the removal of a malignant tumor only to undergo chemotherapy, radiation, special nutrition, physical therapy, counseling, and may even learn how to speak or walk again. Our country survived the Trumpectomy, but now we must endure various painful therapies to heal our disorientation and depression.
Obviously, we must hunt down and prosecute the leaders of the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6, which may include persons who were on duty that day as senators, congressmen, capitol police or others who work there. The Pentagon, police forces and veterans’ groups nationwide are rooting out extremists who called for that insurrection or participated in the riot. Their words and actions must have consequences before we work for their rehabilitation.
The Senate already scheduled Trump’s impeachment trial, Trumpectomy Phase II. My intuition is that he will not be convicted, but I was wrong about the Georgia Senatorial elections, so maybe my skepticism is unfounded. In any case, we can only hope that Trump fades away, that Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and others have ruined their ambitious careers rather than set themselves as heirs to Trumpocracy.
Trumpectomy Phase III will take place in state courts and civil cases. Even if he goes unpunished, he will be tarnished and absolutely revealed as the con man he has always been. The business world abandons him as damaged goods. If we’re lucky, Don Jr., Eric, Ivanka and Jared will also disappear.
And then comes the healing. It’s important that people listen to one another, to understand the perspectives of others rather than slot them into prejudged factions to be ridiculed, mistrusted or hated. Where I live, we hear gunshots daily; two of our neighbors collect guns and use them for target practice and hunting. They are working men who like guns, not naive crazies who would attack the seat of government.
I’ve known women who’ve had abortions, some of whom later birthed children. They are not baby killers, they made personal decisions about each pregnancy. I’ve befriended Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Muslims, evangelicals, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, and discussed philosophy, theology, ethics—life. My friends have included radical leftists, hard-wired conservatives, veterans, pacifists, and some folks totally apathetic about political or economic issues. If you like people, you meet them with an open mind, regardless of gender, color, age, size or shape, education level, geography or any other factors that determine how they live and what they believe.
I want to understand how people bought into the bizarre theories of Q-anon and white supremacy—because, honestly, these don’t make sense. Respect, humor, common interests—such as believing in “This Land is Your Land/This Land is Oour Land” are so far superior as “I am better than you are.”