Fifteen years ago, in early January 2011, about when the top picture was taken, a shooter shot Representative Gabrielle Giffords in the head and killed six bystanders. President Obama led a national moment of silence.
It is easy to compare that presidential reaction to President Trump’s reaction to Renee Good being publicly executed by ICE Agent Jonathan Ross. But I don’t want to do that. It won’t change anything any more than calling Trump names will change anything other than making me feel righteous. Trump was elected because a large portion of our population didn’t think our government – their government – was helping them or even paying attention to them (and I think they are right).
They voted for change and authenticity over talking points from a teleprompter and more of the same inaction because “it’s too soon” or “too expensive, and change and authenticity is what they got. Maybe some people are still thrilled with Trump, but I don’t think most Trump voters expected the change and authenticity to come with such assholery, and that assholery, especially without any of the promised financial relief, has soured a lot of people on Trump.
People haven’t wanted politics-as-usual for more than a while. In 2008, they wanted change so much that they even voted for a Black guy with a name that sounded like the most notorious terrorist of the day. When they didn’t get the promised change, they voted for Trump, a guy who said he was already rich, so, unlike other politicians, he wouldn’t need to steal their tax dollars. He said he would end our endless wars and even make his voters, if not rich, at least less poor. They got Trump, who, it turns out, does need to get even richer and is now talking about fighting wars in Venezuela and Greenland.
If that sounds hopeless, I don’t mean for it to be. Trump is a nasty, evil man and is doing a tremendous amount of damage to a lot of people as well as the country in general, but I am actually pretty optimistic about our future. First, Trump and his band of followers are inept and often sound like they are getting more done – or doing more damage, if you prefer – than they really are. Additionally, Trump’s manner of governing – for lack of a better word – makes for lots of headlines but results in relatively ephemeral changes, not the kind of long-term structural changes he would have gotten if he had run his stupid and fascist ideas through Congress and changed the actual laws. More importantly, or at least as importantly, our governmental and societal antibodies are waking up. Trump is losing legal challenges at higher levels of the court system, and his Congressional support is starting to weaken.
Most importantly, in my opinion, the people, the electorate, still don’t want politics as usual. Trump hasn’t delivered the economic change they are asking for, and they are still pissed and still looking for change. In New York, a city with a large Jewish population, they were even willing to vote for a Muslim with a beard. He is also a Democratic Socialist who says he’ll govern as a Democratic Socialist. Actually, there is a growing group of potential and already elected legislators who are willing to run from the left with the aim of actually bringing the change we so desperately need. Reactionary powerhouses like AIPAC are losing power, and their campaign money is even becoming toxic.
I’m not saying Trump isn’t dangerous and won’t continue to be dangerous and nasty, but I’m optimistic that the tide is turning. Just like the little Agave in the top picture has grown into the huge Agave in the picture below, and is getting ready to bloom.
Happy New Year.