One Year In

I have a searing memory of Trump’s Inaugural address last year, which presented his dystopian view of America and, in hindsight, gave us a glimpse of the political year he would bring us: blustering lies and bold attempts to turn back every piece of progress that the Obama Administration had managed to secure from the last eight years of a begrudging and polarized Republican party.

In the days immediately after Trump’s ugly January 2017 speech, my students and I studied Jefferson’s inaugural address in 1801, the product of another election that bitterly divided the nation.  In his address, President Jefferson emphasized all the things that bound the nation together and he organized a vision of continued unity, with both political parties, the Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans, working together in the national interest.  Sparks between the two sides would still fly, but with a measured, thoughtful leader at the helm, the nation didn’t just survive.  It endured.

I keep thinking of 1801 as I assess the year that was 2017 and the year that 2018 is shaping up to be.  I continue to believe that we are living in an era of party change; I think that the Republican party is in the midst of a spectacular smash-up.  But as the party crashes, the nation is experiencing collateral damage that may endure far longer than I anticipated when Trump won the presidency in 2016.  His first year was a wake-up call to the notion that though the presidency isn’t particularly powerful as conceived in the Constitution, it has become very powerful indeed.  It was a reminder that checks and balances in the form of legislative power only work when the legislature is prepared to fulfill its responsibilities.

We don’t have that kind of Congress right now.  Republicans, so polarized that the only thing that unites them is their fear of losing power, have yielded authority to a president that they know to be ill-informed, racist, and self-absorbed.  The current shutdown, an unprecedented event when one party has control of both the executive and legislative branch, is evidence that the GOP has boarded the Trump Train and won’t get off even as it derails.

A party willing to jam through a tax plan that only 30% of the nation approved of can’t pull together a budget plan.  Why?  Because they are torn apart on what to do for the Dreamers and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.  This, even as DACA and CHIP enjoy the support of north of 80% of the American public.  The only thing more irrational than that sentence is today’s Republican party.  

If there is hope for a future it’s got to come from within ourselves.  In a government built upon the nation of “We the people,” it’s well-past time for the people to suit up and require our government to govern in our interests and to do it well.  It’s not easy because we are often an ill-informed citizenry, taking greater joy in name-calling and the news of Kardashians, when we should be doing the hard work of asking difficult questions and informing ourselves.  I have long believed that the people get the government that they deserve.  I believe that the current mess reflects that painful reality.  We must demand better of ourselves as citizens so that we can demand more of our government and leaders.  It won’t be easy but it is not impossible and it is the only path forward.  Greatness must lie within the people; only then can we find the leaders we deserve.

Republic of Falsehoods

By now, the world has read the NYT’s unexpected “get” with the president.  The interview revealed Donald Trump to be self-absorbed and ignorant.  This isn’t breaking news, it’s the standard operating mode of our president.  What has emerged is a Twitter discussion of the journalist’s approach to the interview, which seemed to be like an open-mic interview, with few challenges to the president’s incoherent claims.

While I appreciate Maggie Haberman’s argument that a reporter like Michael Schmidt, who gets an unexpected interview with the president, should just let the commentary flow so that Trump’s incoherence is on full display, I respectfully disagree with her point of view.

We are no longer in the realm of the regular and typical and our president’s ego has seemingly taken control of  the republic.  Trump challenges news coverage he dislikes, accusing it of being “false news” even as he regularly tells lies and falsehoods with impunity.  When responsible journalists fail to challenge the president, for example asking what Trump means by “big bills” and asking specifics about his knowledge of health care or tax policy, the nation loses.  When Trump asserts that he knows more “about the big bills….than any president that’s ever been in office” make him demonstrate the truth of that claim.  Journalists must push back against a president who claims that Democrats refused to work on a bipartisan basis by pointing out the tax bill was negotiated behind closed doors, outside regular procedures, without hearings and markup, in order to exclude Democrats and the prospect of bipartisanship.  Make the president explain that assertion.  When he mentions his infrastructure bill, ask him for specifics.  Don’t let Trump’s lies and braggadocio be the regular order.  

When Donald Trump gets a pass from the responsible media, we all lose.  This isn’t about the occasional political victory or loss, it’s about the longterm vitality and health of our republic.  We cannot  be a nation where truth is in the eye of the beholder.  

What I Learned in 2017

One of the blogs that I regularly read, Cup of Jo, had a post entitled  “What I learned in 2017” and reading it got me thinking about what I learned in this past year.  I’m not always able to separate the personal from the political and 2017 has often been difficult and disheartening.   So I’m not sad to see the backside of 2017, though I did learn some things:

1.  That I don’t need to try and understand Trump voters…..they aren’t complicated.  Though I believe they have a right to an opinion and to participate in our political system, I do not believe them to be people of good will.  In their ignorance, they supported a racist, sexist, self-absorbed, stupid man and we are all reaping the consequences of the danger he presents to the world, to our environment, and to our republic.

2.  That a tidy house is lovely.  In June, when the downstairs floors were refinished, the house had to be emptied out for the job.  As a result, everything downstairs got sorted and cleaned out.  When we moved back in, there was markedly less junk downstairs.  It’s been nice and I’ve kept up with it, which is even better.

3.  That getting ready to send my only child to college is exhilarating and terrifying ; that I will cry when he goes but that I’ve raised a good boy, one who is kind and hard-working; loyal and true.  Preparing for myself and my son to launch out of the nest is my 2018 challenge.

Any thought I had that Trump might be less than a disaster ended abruptly with his inaugural speech, which offered his dystopian view of our nation and scared the hell out of me.  I often say that I live in hope but 2017 has sometimes made it hard to find that hope.  Doug Jones' Alabama victory was a bright and sustaining moment and I’m working for a 2018 that features many, many more Alabama moments.  

Amaryllis Tuesday: Week One, December 27

I received an amaryllis bulb for Christmas.  Planting the bulb is among my most favorite Winter traditions.  I am excited to watch it grow and I expect to be pleased and impressed with the flowers the bulb will generate.   This bulb is named "Aphrodite Double" which sounds impressive.

Watching my amaryllis bulb is both a celebration of Winter and a reminder of what the next season will bring.  For the next few weeks, as the bulb gets ready to flower, I'll be sharing a photo of the changing bulb each week.  That’s happy!