Disgusted

My revulsion and disgust at what is happening in our country have acted to induce a kind of writer’s block. A lot of people say that there is no such thing as writer’s block. Or, as one authority put it, “just write the damn thing.”

In my case, I feel a little like Oskar in Guenther Grass’s “The Tin Drum.” Oskar does not speak but drums to communicate. The drum and Oskar’s provocative drumming accumulate meaning as the novel’s themes develop.

Off this blog, I drum big time. In my thinking and in my conversations with friends and colleagues, I express profound disgust with all that is happening in this country, starting with the orange man at the top. My disgust is accompanied by my frustration that nothing can happen until November 2026 when, IMHO, elections will result in Democratic control of the House and perhaps the Senate.

The president’s outrageous behavior squarely placing the United States as an outlier among the western democracies that have been our allies for decades, is the leading evil. But I count his adherents as villains for spineless support of Trump.

Although there appear to be some cracks in the wall of solid support, they are not enough. The four House republicans who announced their support for extension of ACA enhanced subsidies are to be commended for their independence and willingness to be primaried even though the hack Speaker would not permit a vote on the floor.

And republican senators questioning attacks on boats in the Caribbean, supposed carriers of drugs destined for the United States, attacks undertaken without evidence and in violation of international law, are showing some spine.

But these are exceptions, not the rule.

In fact, every public display of appointed or elected republicans is an exercise in bowing and scraping to the Leader, sometimes with comic effect. The so-called Cabinet meetings, televised from beginning to end, are no more than each cabinet secretary affirming obeisance to the Leader and employing florid compliments on his brilliance and magnificence. How do these people survive when they go off the reservation and are back home?

The Supreme Court majority has also played lackey to DJ. They wouldn’t let the military do law enforcement in Chicago because the 1908 statute the president used as authority does not apply, a slight give in their support. The Insurrection Act next?

The Susie Wiles eleven interview sessions with Chris Whipple, all recorded and on the record, look to me like a road to her exit. Wiles and DJ expressed mutual support after the publication of the interviews in Vanity Fair, but I don’t buy it. Another bow and scrape!

I remain disgusted.