The New York Times is on a roll. They refused to be intimidated by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s threats of a lawsuit after they published an article about the two women who claim he sexually assaulted them. Their pursuit of Donald Trump’s efforts to hide his tax returns, was not only relentless, it was successful. And just today, in the least prosaic way imaginable, they managed to capture the essence of the whole sorry state of U.S. politics.
While Rome Burns
Pulitzer Prize winning writer Timothy Egan’s piece, ‘Burning down the House’ deserves to be read.
It deserves to be read because the clarity of his prose helps us to understand what these last days of Trump actually mean. He sees the GOP’s great orange hope, not only for what he is and what he stands for, but also, for how the campaign itself has changed him. Egan manages to convey, concisely, what we have all begun to fear, that:
“A wounded bear is a dangerous thing. Detested and defeated, Donald Trump is now in a tear-the-country-down rage. Day after day, he rips at the last remaining threads of decency holding this nation together. His opponent is the devil, he says — hate her with all your heart. Forget about the rule of law. Lock her up!”
What’s more, his firm grasp on the effect that Trump has had on the country is as chilling as it is difficult to confront. The increasingly inevitable defeat the Republican party is facing, will not put an end to any of this. The damage Trump is doing is real, pernicious and sadly, lasting.
“He’s made America vile. He’s got angel-voiced children yelling “bitch” and flipping the bird at rallies. He’s got young athletes chanting “build a wall” at Latino kids on the other side. He’s made it O.K. to bully and fat-shame. He’s normalized perversion, bragging about how an aging man with his sense of entitlement can walk in on naked women.”
Love’s Lesson’s Lost
Egan also seems to recognize that lessons are being learned.He knows that young minds are paying attention, that would-be demagogues are noting that the race is close, despite everything Trump has said and done. He sees that the legitimate outrage of decent people is being countered by the endlessly ablative denials and justifications of the right. Trump’s legacy, is an open wound that if left to fester, will seep into and poison an already hopelessly divided political consciousness. These are the lessons, that according to Egan, are best left unlearned:
“If you’re rich and boorish enough, you can get away with anything. Get away with sexual assault. Get away with not paying taxes. Get away with never telling the truth. Get away flirting with treason. Get away with stiffing people who work for you, while you take yours. Get away with mocking the disabled, veterans and families of war heroes.
Read more
http://www.liberalamerica.org/2016/10/14/burning-house-trumps-rage-goes-viral/
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