By Sid Schwab / Herald columnist
Tuesday’s long-awaited, overdue, thoroughly justified indictment and Thursday’s arraignment for Donald Trump’s crimes against the Constitution and all Americans — including conservatives — won’t change minds.
Not convinced? Then you haven’t watched interviews at his rallies. Actual quotes: “He could murder someone on the White House steps and it wouldn’t bother me.” “He loves America. (Except for its form of government.) No president has done as much for us.” (True, if, by “us” is meant people given permission to hate the LGBTQ+ community, Jews, Muslims, immigrants, Democrats, and wokeness (whatever that is). “The election was stolen.” Then why is there no proof? “Because the deep state (whatever that is) covered it up.” “I don’t like Biden’s economic policies.” Which ones? “I can’t think of any right now, but … .” Spoken by a finance-major president of Young Republicans. “I love his Christian values.” No examples given. “He never lies.” Said a parentally groomed pre-teen.
Truth, as they say, is still putting on its pants.
Including discussions of using the military to stay in power (HuffPost: tinyurl.com/military4u), little in the indictment was unknown. People able to discern facts and separate them from 24/7/666 lies recognized long ago that Trump was and remains a danger to democracy. He’s announced it, after all, promising to rid the country of “Marxists, radical leftists and communists,” the definitions of which and distinctions between remain undefined. “Democrats,” is what he means. People who resist him. Rectifying his Jan. 6 failure, consolidating power, he’ll eliminate fraud-free mail-in voting and all dedicated public employees, too.
Like the quoted royalists and millions of MAGAs not interviewed, those who haven’t seen through Trump’s lies never will. The results of the 2024 elections are already carved in stone. Not yet revealed, they’re nevertheless as solid as Mount Rushmore, to which Trump will add his likeness if he wins, after subtracting the liberties of half of our fellow Americans. Which is why the happier half loves him: Their awareness of the implications is as tenuous as 10-pound line reeling in a whale. Example: a recent New York Times-Sienna poll indicates that 74 percent of Republicans and 91 percent of Fox News viewers believe Trump has committed no federal crimes. His validation of their victimhood and hoped-for vengeance eclipses all else, no matter how impactful on their own lives: climate change, wealth and opportunity inequities, educated children, a healthy future for their descendants. Doesn’t matter.
Given the indicated immutability of the inevitable, let’s address other issues. Worried that Trump’s delusionals are outnumbered by Biden’s rationals, House Republicans, despite recurrent rake-stepping, lacking anything else to offer, continue to focus on clearly troubled, never White-Housed (cf: Javanka) Hunter Biden. Their latest witness, an indicted felon and, unrelated, former partner of Hunter Biden, offered testimony that deflated every claim of collusion with and bribery of President Biden. No problem: Republicans simply claimed the opposite. And why not? Amplified by their disinformative media, it works. Grabbing opportunity like Trump does genitalia, they claimed testimony of several phone calls between father and son after the death of son and brother proves perfidy. In the party of family values, family supporting family through tragedy is, evidently, unimaginable (AlterNet: tinyurl.com/noJoeThere).
Remember when, pre-insurrection, Trump wanted to order the U.S. military to attack protesting U.S. citizens, but was thwarted by generals who believed in the Constitution? U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Football, is currently blocking military promotions at the general officer level. Could it be collusion with Trump to allow him to appoint ones who’d agree to command what would amount to a dictator’s private army? Michael Flynn, maybe?
Not unrelated is Trump’s increasing disparagement of Ukraine, attended by his followers’ increasing support for Russia. A quid for another round of Putin’s pro-Trump election quo?
Undaunted by serial investigatory fiascos, House Republicans are still talking impeachment of President Biden. Clueless, impervious to embarrassment as House Democrats meticulously stripped credibility from each of their previous witnesses, they might still realize what will happen if they go through with it. Let’s hope not. Their speculative accusations, still free of credible proof, will be shredded by Democrats and the witnesses they call. Like Rudy Giuliani’s former go-fer, Lev Parnas, who has intimate knowledge of the falsehood of Republican mythology of Burisma, Biden, Biden bribery, and has said so. Oh, please don’t fling Joe into the briar patch! (Axios: tinyurl.com/4lev2u)
Re-speaking of climate change, about the daily record-breaking planetary heat of which leading Republicans have said, “It’s called summer,” here’s what to expect if they take charge: “Project 2025,” likely backed by their flagitious fossil fuel financiers, would “block expansion of the electrical grid …; slash funding for the EPA …; shutter the Energy Department’s renewable energy offices; prevent states from adopting California’s car pollution standards; and delegate more regulation of polluting industries to Republican state officials” (Politico: tinyurl.com/hotenough4u).
It covers undoing limits on presidential power, too. You have to really hate democracy and not care about your children and grandchildren to be OK with that. Which, as we’ve seen, perfectly fits the “MAGA” mentality.
Email Sid Schwab at columnsid@gmail.com.
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