By Sid Schwab / Herald columnist
Rather than writing my usual tome,
I’ll end twenty-twen with a post-Christmas poem.
There’s no point pretending it’s been a good year,
As several things became perfectly clear:
No longer a nation that’s in it together,
We won’t be till Trumpists can face up to whether,
They’ll re-value truth and can end their reliance,
On people who’ve told them that such things as science,
Are kidnapping, cannibal, liberals’ lies.
So it’s perfectly fine to go out for supplies,
With a face that’s defiantly, proudly unmasked.
For Americans’ “freedom” means not being asked,
To consider your neighbors and act within reason,
Not now and not ever, not even this season,
In which we’re reminded that sacrifice still,
Is a virtue worth holding. But few of them will.
To those who are willing to follow the rules,
We’re glad you consider masks worthwhile tools.
But unlike that reindeer’s whose schnozz they say glows,
Your mask won’t do harm if it covers your nose.
And maybe those saying they’ll not take the vax,
Will go to a care place and help fill the sacks,
That hold victims’ bodies. So sure they’d be fine,
They could sub in for someone out on the front line.
But not just a virus has cleaved the divide;
It’s the concept of letting the people decide,
Who their leaders will be by a time-honored vote,
Then accepting results, not some schemes so remote,
That believing them marks one impossibly dim,
Too easily hoodwinked by flam and by flim.
To claim your vote somehow the Democrats stole,
Just doesn’t hold water, because of a hole,
The size of a Trump-approved garish gold roof:
Despite all their claims they’ve presented no proof.
The reason, of course – and for some it’s too quaint:
Any documentation there simply just ain’t.
Attacking elections for several weeks past,
It’s obvious Trump saved his worst for the last.
He’s gone on TV; he’s petitioned the court,
To ridiculous Rudy he has had to resort.
When judges rejected his lying deceit,
His diehards made clear they would never retreat;
Which bodes very poorly for us who consider,
Our laws more compelling than Trump’s latest Twitter.
To believe in our system you must be all in,
And accept that your candidates won’t always win.
Patriotism can’t be only partial.
Presidents who lose and consider law martial,*
Discredit their party and everyone who,
Thinks it’s what any poor loser should do.
This calls to mind something we’ve known for too long:
We no more agree on what’s right and what’s wrong.
Trump’s lies just don’t matter, nor how much he steals;**
Turns donors to suckers whose silence reveals,
Preferring a despot is now what prevails,
In Trumpists, and that’s how democracy fails.
For proof, look to Congress, where plans are in place,
To attempt overturning results of the race.
There’s astoundingly more but we hardly have time,
To list all corruption in one meager rhyme.
Did anyone think we’d be witnessing such a,
“President” clearly beholden to Russia?
Who, with his enablers, have all turned their backs,
On Putin’s malicious and dangerous hacks,
Which accessed our secrets including our nukes.
But Trump has just said it’s a meaningless fluke.
So now it is more than a little suspicious,
That Trump will abscond with his ill-gotten riches,
And head back to Putin whom he can rely on,
To sell him a dacha and promised asylum.***
If it means he escapes from the justice he’s due,
We’d accept it because it would also be true,
That enablers might finally be forced to agreeing,
Trump’s crookedness always was there for the seeing.
Like the power of pardon, right there on the books,
By which he just freed more despicable crooks,
Than any exec who had gone on before:
Committers of murder and pols by the score.
To the occasion Trump’s cultists will never arise.
Let’s hope that some others will open their eyes,
To the damage his four years have already done,
And be glad it was Biden who finally won.
Since, like Billy Barr, he’s incurred Donald’s wrath,
By walking in brief on a truth-telling path,
Perhaps after Trump, Mitch will turn back the clock,
To when he and his Senate did more than just block.
So now it is time, with no need for Zoom meetings,
To wish Merry Christmas and warm brumal greetings.
The year ends with hope that if rightists pitch in,
We can remake America great once again.
Notwithstanding how badly Trump’s tenure has sucked,
It looks like we might not be totally … out of options.
* CNN Business: tinyurl.com/troops-come-4u
** Business Insider: tinyurl.com/jareds-shell
*** Daily Beast: tinyurl.com/dacha-gotcha
Email Sid Schwab at columnsid@gmail.com.
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