Cry the Beloved Country

The past 24 hours have been tough. 

I thought I would feel vindicated when the MAGA flagbearer became a convicted felon.  I was surprised that the jury found him guilty on all 34 counts; I was sure that they would throw a few out, probably unable to agree on them.  I thought I would feel vindicated when the MAGA flagbearer became a convicted felon, instead I find  I neither rejoicing nor feeling a sense of closure.

And so I have been reading a lot of analysis since the verdict came out, trying to wrap my head around what has happened and pondering its effects.  In my search and attempts to take a more historical perspective, I found a new news source.  I'm not sure how long this particular site has been around, but I find I like the idea of knowing where the biases are, and I find the blindspot reporting to be interesting.  I think I'm going to try subscribing for a bit and see if that helps reduce the feeling that I have that I might be in an echo chamber....

Since DJT declared his candidacy, riding down a golden escalator, my country seems to have plunged into a a dangerous state of fiercely partisan and irrevocably opposed partisan politics.  I was bewildered by the evangelical support for a serial adulterer, a person who would make a statement on tape in public and then deny he said it,  Common ground?  Common norms?  Common good?  There is little agreement on what they are any more and "alternative facts" were presented.  Suddenly white patriarchal Christian Nationalism was thrust upon the rest of us willy-nilly.  Allies were spurned, dictators praised, rich people pandered to, and every year there was another manufactured debt crisis that only was mitigated by the shift in power from the elections of 2018.  That is, I think, when the GOP actually started saying the quiet part out loud - no election that they lost was legitimate.   The 2020 presidential campaign was ugly and the 2022 uglier yet.  

Then the attempted putsch of Jan 6th happened and for the first time in US history, there was not a peaceful transfer of power.  

I watched it unfold on television in real time. Then I watched while Representatives and Senators tried to spin it as nothing much, then as FBI provoked or anti-fa masquerading as MAGA.  I watched revisionist history being written in front of me and there was no accountability...  Impeached twice for clearly illegal activities, and no consequences.

The House held public hearings two years after this happened.  Then in  May 2023, Trump was convicted of sexual abuse and defamation, twice.  Finally, the DOJ and other lawyers started filing indictments, and the constant maneuvering for delay started:

• in DC the federal conspiracy to obstruct the transfer of power case - on hold while a right-wing SCOTUS dithers about granting the President immunity
• the Georgia state election interference case - a racketeering case to overturn the election results on hold because the prosecutor can't stay in her own bed
• the federal classified documents case - a case about mishandling vital government records on hold because the judge is a Trump appointee whos is deliberately slow walking a very obvious case
• the New York state election interference case - sentencing to be the same week as the GOP convention where Trump will be made their candidate 

And so here we are, four years later, facing yet another ugly election with constant threats from rage filled MAGA supporters and elected election deniers in local, state, and federal posts 

I know that American history shows that our politics were often raucous affairs with no hold barred, but public civility seemed to be the overall expectation as I grew up, even if it was not adhered to in private.  To the end of my days, I will never understand why this was not the end of his political career.   

And this is the country my grandchildren will inherit.

I thought I would feel relief.  Instead, I just feel weary and sad

"Cry, the beloved country!

Cry, the beloved land!

The wasted childhood

The wasted youth

The wasted man!"