So, you want to impeach Trump. I so get that.
The litany of Trump’s seemingly diagnosable psychological disorders is astounding, and frankly, when in the public eye, in the leader of our nation, quite embarrassing.
It’s also frightening. I get that too.
The blatant hooliganary going on in the White House and the Senate right now is shameful, and threatens to undermine our long efforts to create a world that embraces both opportunity and compassion. We haven’t seen even the pretense of politicians trying to work across party lines in years now. Brute force and bald-faced lies have become the tactic of choice, and while I criticize the right, I have no doubt that the left will follow the same path, when next they have the opportunity. No matter what happens next, we will live with the consequences of this folly, already inflicted, for a long time to come.
Recognizing the danger this administration and the GOP in general pose to the well-being of this nation, I still have to ask, have you thought about what would come next?
For all the discussion of impeachment, you need to understand that it is nowhere near viable at this point. Until Trump finds himself in an undeniably convict-able situation, impeachment will never pass the house. The alt-right is having it’s heyday, and will gladly tolerate Trump to ensure it’s continuance. Right now, talk of impeachment, is indeed an empty gesture, a liberal’s wet dream, an impossibility.
Yet in further exploration, toward the future possibility of impeachment or even the possibility of Trump vacating the position…what would that mean for America? Firstly, it won’t fix a fucking thing. The media will have less fodder, the left will be temporarily appeased and will bask in the specter of success, and Trump supporters will turn him into a political martyr furthering the myth that he’s an ‘outsider’, persecuted by both parties. Then, unless Pence is unquestionably tied to Trump’s offense, Pence will become president. This is not an desirable alternative. While Pence may be less of a clown, and somewhat more capable of conducting himself in a relatively restrained fashion, he is arguably fanatical toward the ‘alt-right’ objectives. The party will simply have lost it’s scapegoat, and will formulate another diversionary tactic to keep people distracted while they seek to set their ideals into law. War has always been a most effective diversionary tactic, but really, I’d rather we not.
After the hubbub subsides, things will start to seem ‘normal’ again, it’ll just seem like political business as usual without the Trump drama. Thought the grumbling will continue, passions will settle, and the American people will continue to lose the very things they value most: freedom and independence, safety and security, jobs and recognizable futures.
We, all of us, need to think beyond the distraction that is Trump.
Already, laws and regulations meant to protect us and this one precious planet are being up-ended without reservation. Officials who dare to question the ethical and legal ramifications of the party’s actions are dismissed without ceremony. White nationalism has emerged, emboldened, from behind the thin veil of civility. Decades of scientific research are denied because they are inconvenient and not conducive to profit or the desired shaping of the party’s public perception. History is ignored, misrepresented, and even falsified. Even truth has become suspect in the public mind.
None of this will stop in the absence of Trump. It has become a part of our culture. The current sociopolitical climate is a symptom of the fear and uncertainty that has been eating away at the American culture for the last 40 years or more.
The ideologues who have shaped the narrative of the alt-right knew exactly what they were doing when they tapped into racial insecurity and fear, when they tapped into the ongoing struggle of job and cultural identity loss, when they began questioning factual and historical perspectives, when they began normalizing the name-caller culture. Trump and his zealous supporters are the result of those efforts, and while he may not have been their chosen candidate, they are certainly capitalizing on the reality of it.
Then there’s us. The political left. It seems people are priming for for their day of retaliation. We’ve devolved to the same emotionally charged, name calling behavior we mocked in the right. In two years or four, or gods forbid six years, when the left is firmly in control of the game again, I predict they will behave in precisely the same manner conservatives are behaving now. They will defiantly exercise their recovered right to plunder and burn the remnants of the last regime. They will strive to put their own disenfranchised souls above all others and show no empathy toward naysayers and agitators. They will show the same arrogance. They will get their day, and when they do, they will seek their vengeance…
…and frankly, I don’t see that particular behavior benefiting the millions of us out here, across this vast, multi-cultural nation, just trying to get by every day, in whatever particular fashion we manage to get by in the world.
We need to find a new way. We need to mend fences, so to speak. We need to compromise a little here, and empathize a little there. We need to seek out the things that can unite us. Maybe we need to break the system, but this wildly swinging sociopolitical pendulum serves only the few, while creating chaos and violence and fear for those dragged along in it’s wake…and, it fucking sucks.
Empty Gestures 