Your bag is empty.
It is said by some we live in dark times. The president of the United States, embroiled in scandal, is rumored to be spoiling for a war with Iran so he can try to bolster his sagging poll numbers and get re-elected next year. Last week, Trump had myriad opportunities to talk to the media about Iran and a dozen other issues, including immigration, which he should have discussed since he seemingly had a “big and bold” new plan for it. But he shut down every access point and kept anyone from asking him any questions—save one.
Trump walked out of the West Wing, breathed in and assembled himself quietly about six feet behind his Marine Corps guard. He seemed to mutter something to himself but was otherwise quiet under the shaded portico as he awaited the Swiss president’s formal arrival to the White House.
The reporters, photographers, videographers and technicians on site stood about 50 feet away in the glare of the sun and watched. In this atypical moment of silence, I raised my voice to ask a question.
“Mr. President, are we going to war with Iran?” I asked.
“I hope not,” Trump responded.
Other reporters, sensing an opening, peppered Trump with questions. But he said nothing more. A nine-word question. A three-word response. That was Trump’s entire interaction that day with the people he represents.
David Nakamura of The Washington Post described a similar situation he had found himself wherein he got a short response to a quick question. But the question was aimed at the despotic leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un.
The similarities do not end there.
Which country promises “Citizens are guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, demonstration and association. The State shall guarantee conditions for the free activity of democratic political parties and social organizations”?
Which country, by promising the former, then sequesters scientists who produce material contrary to the ruler’s official policies, threatens reporters who produce news contrary to the ruler’s liking and promotes the prosecution of foreigners and immigrants?
The first country mentioned is North Korea. The second is the United States. Floyd Abrams, perhaps the most well-known legal defender of the First Amendment, says free speech is more than just words. Dr. George E. Luber, a Centers for Disease Control scientist who formerly headed the agency’s climate change research, and who is now banned from working on the CDC campus, is the scientist marginalized and threatened by the current U.S. government.
Last week, when he appeared in the Rose Garden to present his “big and bold” immigration plan, Trump appeared listless, tired and often slurred his words.
They are both actively fighting Donald Trump and his administration’s continuing opacity in government policy. The Pentagon hasn’t held a briefing in nearly a year. The White House has only briefed reporters twice this year. Trump spews words incessantly via Twitter or in tightly controlled settings that limit or make impossible a question-and-answer session with reporters.
He prefers rallies where he has been known to spew word vomit for an hour and a half, searching for one-liners and applause to feed his failing ego. Last week, when he appeared in the Rose Garden to present his “big and bold” immigration plan, Trump appeared listless, tired and often slurred his words. His speech rambled; if you could watch him speak and compare it to the teleprompter he was following, you’d notice that he lost his place several times, went off script and muddled through various parts, seemingly unable to complete a thought.
Most critics of the administration think Trump never had a firm grasp on any reality. He was a man limited in abilities whose greatest attribute is in swaying the great unwashed of the Republic; the same people who speak in tongues and claim Christian values while threatening to hold down anyone who doesn’t think as they do.
Racists, nationalists and those who see portraits of Jesus in their pancakes still love the guy. After all, Trump wants to build a border wall painted black with spikes on top to symbolize the U.S.’s long-held belief that “all men are created equal.” But for many, the ruse is over. For them, Trump’s speech in the Rose Garden was evidence of a president in need of the medical attention his critics have claimed that he’s needed it for years. Others are more dire. They say every action the president takes proves the country is beyond a constitutional crisis.
“The Democrats are in the majority in the House and they still act like they’re in the minority. They have no courage. Our party impeached a president because he lied about a blowjob. The Democrats have a 400-page report outlining multiple accounts of obstruction of justice and they’re too scared to do anything,” says a former Trump senior official. “What does it take?”
For many members of the GOP and the Democratic party who still retain a modicum of sanity, the Trump regime has erased the thin veneer of respectability this country once had and shown it to be the greedy, inept, ignorant and hateful state others have always said we were.
“Who are we? What do we represent?” Such questions are often heard in the halls of Congress, but usually only from the visitors. Members of Congress are not known for such deep thought—though they are often considered mental giants when compared to those in the Executive branch.
America is in an existential crisis that extends far beyond the words of the constitution.
America is in an existential crisis that extends far beyond the words of the constitution—a constitution Abrams says cannot be upheld by merely speaking the words. We live in a nation that marginalizes scientists like Dr. Luber just because they are reporting information that makes us uncomfortable. How is this any different than what the Church did to Galileo? How medieval are we?
Scientists are waving a warning flag unlike any I’ve seen in my lifetime. Our population numbers are unsustainable. Our environment is becoming toxic. Our answer? We want to force women who are raped to give birth to their rapist’s child. Futurists and science-fiction fans of Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and Joe Haldeman say that ultimately, the only way the human race can survive is for a sizable portion of the population to leave the planet. Those who are forced into a day-to-day existence are left wondering where their next meal is coming from as well as how to get adequate shelter, education, transportation and health care.
Donald Trump’s dangerous, archaic and ultimately inept attempts to thwart immigration are a symptom of these times. Trump doesn’t want the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. He never did. He wants the accomplished foreign nationals who have no incentive to immigrate to the United States. That’s because those people probably live in a country that already eclipses our accomplishments in healthcare, transportation, education and press freedom.
What possible incentive could the United States give to well-educated professionals elsewhere? We don’t do soccer right. We also marginalize scientists who report on climate change. We left the Paris Accords when every other intelligent human on the planet acknowledges, without question, that our environment is in peril.
An open invitation from the United States has all the appeal of visiting Clark Griswald’s in-laws in a bad Chevy Chase Vacation comedy wherein Randy Quaid’s character represents the United States.
What Trump and those who speak in tongues while beating on each other to prove their piety forget is the United States was built by the “wretched refuse” of humanity. As Bill Murray’s character in Stripes notes, we are the mutts. My recent commercial DNA test results showed my family was the most indiscriminate group of people on the planet. My forefathers and mothers never met a race, creed or color they couldn’t mate with, to the point that somewhere in my family tree a man or woman in my family spied a passing Neanderthal and said, “Hey, I’d hit that.” I am hardly unique in that regard.
The United States has always been a haven for the mutt. It was this atmosphere, culture and political system that gave our ancestors a personal freedom few outside of the idly rich had previously experienced. With that came great science, great arts and entertainment. That powerful aphrodisiac has sustained our country for more than two centuries.
Our future remains what we chose to make of it and enough people wanting knowledge, wisdom and common sense cannot be denied unless they are not wise enough to stand up and be counted.
Today, reporters asking questions are “enemies of the people.” The politicians destroying lives with either inaction or insane action are not held accountable. Scientists are shunned. Our founding principles reduced to words and not actions. Meanwhile, the people who are suffering the most are more likely to support this regime. They do this without knowing they are in the most pain.
Such a formula, fortunately, is never sustainable. Greed in the end destroys itself. The United States should not destroy itself because of the greed of a very few. Our future remains what we chose to make of it and enough people wanting knowledge, wisdom and common sense cannot be denied unless they are not wise enough to stand up and be counted.
The cliché “it is always darkest before the dawn” may seem worn, but perhaps it is a better cliché to shout than “Lock her up!” After all, dark times can give birth to enlightenment.