January 8th, 2021
In the card game of bridge playing a trump card means you win the round, often the game and for a few, the world championship. This person will be be admired and envied until sometimes, as he ages he loses his memory and eventually retires -- only faintly recalling how important he once was.
Donald J. Trump, is the 45th President of the United States of America, from January 20, 2017. (The date of this presidency ending is the subject of this essay.) This is only important in the annals of future-history, as it will mark him as an either a malevolent failure or place him among those few who have achieved a full term of President of the United States.
This is written by someone who is more like Donald Trump's brother Freddy, who drank himself to an early death. I'm among the teaming masses of humanity who struggle to get by --- to make it to the finish line. One thing that banishes such pain is belonging, whether to a religion, a political party, or even a club with a closed membership. Most people in our country have taken sides, immersing themselves in the issue of the moment, which is whether Trump will be allowed to finish his term or to be banished with a stigma that will tar him throughout history.
Serious scholars and pundits are debating whether he should be impeached or removed by another method, the 25th amendment. Very few acknowledge that neither method can possibly be utilized to force his removal in the few days remaining until his term ends. There is a fevered rush to erase him from history, that denying him a respectful exit will diminish him, that his being shamed will be a lasting message to others who attempt to follow his political path. In the words of another one of his acolytes, "This is a high tech lynching..." which will be as counter productive as it was against Clarence Thomas who now is the senior member of the Supreme Court.
We are now writing the first draft of the Donald J. Trump story, which is about to have a first chapter describing how his political opponents attempted to negate the legitimacy, not only the individual himself, but of the one third of the American population, his admiring base who have the absolute opposite view. The distortion is so profound that of the hundreds of leaders of his opposition, pundits and politicians alike, none have explored the actual function of the 25th Amendment that differentiates it from impeachment. This amendment is a procedure for a president who is expected by all parties to recover from a temporary disability as described in this authoritative article.
The assassination of Lincoln had the effect of deifying him; a limited human becoming a distorted idol that negated the harsh realities of existence. There are divides in America now, but the central one, faith in the Judeo Christian God, is never a discussion in the national political arena. This results in the two parties both claiming to rest on belief in the reality of "God Almighty." The presidential candidates of both parties will not end a public speech with out affirming their fealty, usually several times.
The "God" in our Pledge of Allegiance and our national motto, did not come from God himself, but from a single individual, President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954; his thinking it would be good if children became more religious. If the Congress that approved it had any idea how this would become a central part of our country in generations to come they might have at least had some debate. They could have foreseen the danger of our country, citizens all indoctrinated by the daily pledge, might believe that God and Country were inherently intertwined.
Liberals, this essay is a plea to cease hating Donald J. Trump, soon to be another citizen just like the rest of us. Presidents make decisions that inherently favor some to the detriment of others. Politics requires alliances to obtain and then sustain power. With less than two weeks remaining in Trump's presidency, we should consider how meaningless would be his being removed from office a few short days before he will be just another citizen.
Rather than the attempt to nail shut the coffin of a defeated enemy, it would be better to use this pivotal moment to go beyond the players, the leaders of the political parties. Only the old can grasp the shortness of life, and when the end is in sight, we can only hope to convey the appreciation to have taken the trip, whether in the Captain's quarters or steerage.
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