Schwab: Our columnist does his best to get in the holiday spirit
Published 1:30 am Friday, December 23, 2022
By Sid Schwab / Herald columnist
It’s common at this time of year,
To spread around holiday cheer.
Recount every reason,
That during the season,
A reader should shed ne’er a tear.
Ordinarily you know that I’d lust,
To report on the ravings of Musk.
But it mustn’t be now,
To be pointing out how,
He’s becoming the elephant’s tusk.
Nor will I opine, though she’s scary,
On the loser whose name starts with Kari.
I’ll not be lent ears,
From my like-minded peers.
I come just to praise her not bury.
If I can’t always say something good,
My mommy said clearly I should,
Speak nothing at all.
So I’m making the call,
To say all the nice things I could.
On the day before night before gifts
I’ll not be promoting more rifts.
I’ll be nice as pie,
My thoughts aiming high
So readers won’t leave feeling miffed.
I won’t take us in the direction
Of Trump’s clear-as-day insurrection.
The holiday spirit,
Demands that I gear it,
Toward ignoring his claim of election.
A landslide he’s calling it still.
His cultists were itching to kill,
The people with guts,
To point out he’s nuts.
And that facts to support him are nil.
But far be it from me now it’s Yule,
To remind us of law and its rule.
Or the party of law,
Dislocating its jaw,
Lest words pass it that prove he’s a fool.
Our stockings I’ll hang by the fire.
And won’t be bogged down in the mire,
Of politics mean,
Nor sully the scene,
Of hope and the dreams we aspire.
So as we approach Christmas eve,
Let us hold in our hearts and believe…
OK, who am I kidding? Watching the final House Jan. 6 committee meeting, as they recounted the catalog of Trump’s crimes and those of his henchflock, I recalled how it all began with the contemptuous lie he pumped well before the election. Because, in his destitute mind, Donald, who knows more about everything than anyone, could only lose by massive fraud. It’s conceivable he actually believed it; it’s inconceivable that anyone still does.
The hearings presented compelling evidence; not from libtard, Trump-hating commies or members of an imaginary deep state, but from his own team, some of whom, unlike their boss, improbably believed in constitutional democracy. One after another, they confirmed that he knew he lost, had been told repeatedly that there was no fraud, that he didn’t care, that he reveled in watching besotted supporters incriminate themselves, on video, as they trashed our nation’s capital, bewitched into thinking they were “stopping the steal.” Ruining their lives for his lies.
The committee’s report is encyclopedic, and includes much more (Vox: tinyurl.com/readJ6). Yet, House Republicans are planning their own “investigation,” aimed at discrediting the current committee’s findings. Findings, we’ve seen, based on irrefutable facts and sworn testimony. Taking millions of Americans along for the ride, they’ll engage in unprecedented, party-wide abetting of criminality and corruption.
Trump lost a fraud-free election. He refused to accept it. He chose lawbreaking on multiple levels in multiple venues to overturn the will of the people, subvert the Constitution, and end what remained of democracy after four years of ignoring it. No American should tolerate it; none who accept the requirements of citizenship in a democratic republic. Which excludes every remaining Trumpist, every rightwing media star, and almost every Republican member of Congress.
Confirming everything we’ve known about what’s become of that party, Liz Cheney, as reliably hardcore, far-right conservative as it gets, lost her job by a huge margin to an election denier. It’s Jonestown, but slower.
But, golly, we hear, it’s unprecedented to indict a former president. It’ll tear the country apart. It’ll be divisive. Really? How can we be more divided, how much aparter torn by defenders of Trump’s crimes? Of course it’s unprecedented, and we’re lucky it is.
Until Trump, no president had conspired to overturn an election, to upend democracy with outrageous lies and deceit. Long term, the consequences for democracy of accepting this egregious “presidential” criminality are far greater than freeze-dried, just-add-water Trumpfoxian outrage over punishing it.
How sad at this holiday time,
To dwell upon obvious crime.
While those in Trump’s thrall,
Are excusing it all.
Their justice is not worth a dime.
A palinode I’ll not out-dole,
Nor mention the secrets Trump stole.
I know it’s the time,
To stop making rhyme,
And to help make our country be whole.
So, no, I will not have us sup,
Or drink from reality’s cup.
I’ll say what the hell,
Everything is just swell.
Trump’s down, but we must let him up.
It’s Christmas, after all.
Email Sid Schwab at columnsid@gmail.com.
