Charles,
Keep remembering that there are two aspects to any struggle: a diagnosis of what is wrong, and then your response to it.
If you find that nothing seems to be working, then change your response, but not your diagnosis.
I've noted that, often, success in this sort of situation is gained by using humour, ridicule even, to oppose pomposity.
And remember that tyrants are often brought down by unexpected, not well-planned, events. There is always something that you would never have factored in, that suddenly changes everything.
Keep believing, Charles, "don't beat yourself up", but occasionally change your armour for a different garb.
33
The focus on Trump is misplaced, albeit understandable. The focus need to be on us. Americans need to be asking themselves how this creature could appeal to so many Americans. How was he not immediately recognized for what he was and shunned? That is what needs to be focused on. For the simple reason that as long as whatever it is that drew Americans to Trump exists, there will be Trumps.
Most especially now that a.) we've all discovered how many Americans have less than admirable value systems, and b.) Trump has revealed how easy it is to push their hot buttons and get them to believe any amount of unproven nonsense that happens to support their feelings of agrievement. These are people who loathe the last 60 years of what most of us consider positive societal evolution. There will be other, more subtle "Trumps" along to exploit that. (You can bet they're taking notes right now.)
The toothpaste is out of the tube, friends.
America is in for a very difficult period, the outcome of which is very uncertain. Your great grandchildren may grow up in a very different much diminished America. Especially after China becomes the new economic go-to country. The pressures that will eventuality exert on what will, by then, be a fragile America should pretty much render America unrecognizable. And likely not a place any of us would wish to live.
28
Supporters of this fraud on the American people know full well Donald Trump wouldn’t be in the White House without the support and votes of violent white supremacist, Klan leaders like David Duke and his followers, and neo-Nazis. That’s why neither Donald Trump nor his supporters ever denounce or reject them. Racists and antisemites are a critical part of the Trump base.
22
Maybe this nadir is necessary to help us identify those that would compromise, for political expediency, the values on which our country is founded, to identify and unite those with the courage and will to fight for those values, and to remind us all of what those values are.
Maybe it took Donald Trump to finally drive a stake through the heart of the senescent conservative political philosophy. These may all be its death throes. Maybe we needed a reminder of what hate looks like, how it appears, how it festers, and its consequences to inoculate us against it in the future.
The world is shrinking. We are in day-to-day contact with the entire globe and our cultures rub against one another, leaving none unchanged. Technology advances faster than we and even keep track of. The globe is warming and the climate is deteriorating. But there's no going backwards, no matter what we wish.
Conservative philosophy is not capable of explaining such a world.
19
Please train your considerable talent and brainpower to writing about possibilities and solutions. This administration is merely a symptom of the problems. These toxic failings were a pre-existing condition. This demagogue has just brazenly and shamelessly exploited those flaws. The country needs reform, correction, accountability, renewed energy, innovative and fresh ideas for a tech connected society for the future. Rest, and please come back with laser focus. All of us need to do better.
11
How interesting that after taking a post election break one of my first articles is by Charles Blow. I had to step away for my sanity! Things will hopefully improve with the new House and I'm holding out hope for yet uncalled Senate races. Meanwhile, I'm totally disgusted by 45 in Paris. He's remains a disgrace home and abroad.
10
Mr. Blow needs to spare some animus for the tiny faction of extremely wealthy people who have spent billions fanning the racism and xenophobia and misogyny of the people who now form Trump's base, so that they could manipulate these people to get what they want.
The Kochs, the Mercers, the Adelsons, aren't themselves particularly keen on misogyny and racism. But they're happy to cultivate and exploit such feelings in order enable their drive to plunder and dominate.
This doesn't excuse the anti-social and inhumane sentiments of Trump's voter base. But we need to be clear about whose interests their racism and misogyny is serving.
27
"(On 2 March 2018), The Intercept reported that in April 2017, Kushner’s father Charles, who runs the family’s real estate firm Kushner Companies, had made a direct appeal for financing to Qatari Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al Emadi, which was followed shortly afterwards by the Saudi-led blockade of Qatar:
"The 30-minute meeting, according to two sources in the financial industry who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the potential transaction, included aides to both parties, and was held at a suite at the St. Regis Hotel in New York.
"A follow-up meeting was held the next day in a glass-walled conference room at the Kushner property itself, though Al Emadi did not attend the second gathering in person.
"The failure to broker the deal would be followed only a month later by a Middle Eastern diplomatic row in which Jared Kushner provided critical support to Qatar’s neighbors."
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-kushner-qatar/
"Tillerson’s aides, I was told, were convinced that the true author of Trump’s statement was U.A.E. ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, a close friend of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner."
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2017/06/secretary-of-state-abandons-diplomacy-berates-white-house.html
5
From what Macron articulated to the Allies gathered in Paris taking a break from our democratic values is what happened before WWI. Perhaps a break from Trump and Bannon and their ilk is something our USA democracy can not afford, especially a break by journalists as history has taught us in WWI and again in WWII. A free press protects democracy. Carry on!
6
Yes. Mr. Blowe there is a reason to be worried about.
A big chunk of the American populace is almost illiterate--they do not care about what goes on in public life; they do not have the most elementary sense of history, they would be unable to read, much comprehend a lot of articles in the NYT.
And this populace wants to tell the rest of the country--how to live--it is almost obscene to me.
History repeats itself--like to Romans they care a lot about their enjoyment--200+ TV channels...and not read a newspaper, much less a book.
My advantage point of view is that I know personally people like the portrayal above--some just have a HS diploma, but others have a 4-yr degree. And still the latter is totally ignorant of what goes on in the world.. I have heard "I want to live in my fantasy world."
Most of these people--W. struck me in particular--they have not been out of the country and are totally unaware of the level of education in other parts of the world.
I find it just laughable the ignorant, incapable people try to tell knowledgeable, competent individuals how to organize their lives and the country.
Anyway, I am glad I do not have children or grandchildren that will suffer the consequences of this calamitous situation.
14
It's like waking up and finding yourself strapped to a bomb and a note that says someone else, a confirmed sadist, has the detonator. Well meaning friends tell you not to focus on the bomb, to try to just breathe. Maybe the bomb won't ever go off. Maybe it's not a real bomb. But no one dares to come close enough to find out. And it's true, every day that the bomb does not go off now qualifies as a "good" day. Not as good as a good day used to be, but better than being blown to smithereens. The economy is like that these days. I have this dreadful feeling that when it goes bad, the Sadist in the White House will make it much, much more catastrophic. So, every day that is not "Black Tuesday" is a good day. And that's as good as it gets.
13
Where have all the Republicans gone? The ones that supported our nation of laws and the Constitution?
Why have Republicans turned into lemmings?
Why are Democrats so timid on ?
We, me included are not perfect but at least I don’t take it out on those I don’t agree with.
Only “we the people” can start the work to remedi what is going on.
A nation divided can not survive.
7
As always I commiserate with Charles Blow; especially as a person of color.
The only thing that I can think of is instead of the newly elected Democratic Majority in the House of Representatives concentrating on any indictments or impeachments..., they should insist on using their power to Subpeona any and of ALL business records, dealings, and transactions, (including the Tax Returns) for ALL of Trump's entities of his of his alleged Empire.
That's all.
Even Capone, a reputed murderer and racketeer, was brought low by tax evasion.
8
Thank you Charles Blow. God bless you and your mother.
9
It is true, decency, integrity are not seasonal they are essential. Thank you so much Mr. Blow.
5
Your column was up to its usual cogent standards. I find that I frequently have to take a break from political news or I start allowing my political anger to bleed into other areas of my life. I am tired of the anger, fear and pessimism I have felt since Trump was elected. I am tired of the lies, half truths and racism that are constantly spewed by Trump and defended by Sarah Sanders and the Republicans in Congress. I lived thru the Watergate years, first in D.C.and then in the Midwest. There was a great deal of partisanship, anger and pessimism, but I don't remember this degree of hostility and hatred toward the opposite side. We are no longer arguing about purely political issues, we're arguing that the individual people on the opposite side are stupid or immoral. We are focusing our hatred on each other instead of simply hating policies. We are destroying our families and our neighborhoods and our friends with our vitriol. How are we going to recover as a nation once Trump is out of office. I hate his policies but I hate what he's doing to our country even more. That is his real sin.
10
Love the photo!
1
At the risk of sounding like an editor, I think the answer is to hit the road, get some mileage among the people and places that brought Trump to power. Many of them, amazingly, also voted for President Obama and little good work has been done on that phenomenon. While I suspect many of these people feel the downturn of 2008 exposed the bankers and other swells for what they were and yet no one truly brought them to task. At the same time the U.S. economy wandered away from unskilled labor and no one seemed to care. Hit the road sir. Do some reporting among these people and suggest a direction that can win them back to the rule of law and the niceties of Democracy. Good columns are seldom found at a desk.
8
Nothing on the face of the Earth is "so damning that some Senate Republicans [would] view it as unacceptable." We now know this, or if we don't we should.
Like the columnist, I continue to be shocked and dismayed at my own juvenile naïvité about the depth of angry bigotry in our country. The lesson is as unsettling as it is disgusting.
20
What we can do is simple - win the center. It's still up for grabs.
Go read the Democratic Party Platform. Cut it down to seven items. Not seven categories but seven items. Seven items that play well in every county. No more than seven so you can keep your focus. The platform as it stands is a promise to solve every problem known to mankind. Nobody believes all of it can be done. So keep it tight.
If you can't do that then you're playing into the Right's hands because you'll sound like a know it all that can't get anything done.
If you can do that then the center is yours for the asking. Everyone knows Trump is a blow hard. Nobody likes him, but they don't believe the Left.
11
I was very depressed by mostly everything last week and I don't get depressed; I tend to be optimistic. But the accumulation of bad and tragic news, fires, people dying from them, towns burned up, the shooting in Thousand Oaks and Trump's nasty treatment of some reporters last week and his outright lies made it a very depressing week. I know he lies all the time but he continued to add to the grief last week.
Only good news is that Democrats took The House and many women won. There may have been another shooting last week; I can't remember as all this awful news is too much to wrap your mind around. But there were good things too like all the people who donated blood for Thousand Oaks victims and the CA firefighters.
12
Isn't it now the case that Mitch McConnell could, essentially on his own, decide to have DST impeached?
Thank you for your column. Your words are helpful and comforting.
13
I'm weary at the thought of Hillary Clinton running yet again for President. I'm weary of the Clintons. I'm weary about the 2 year temper tantrum that has been thrown by Democrats. "You win some, you lose some" has always worked in the past; now we want to amend the Constitution to insure that liberal Democrats will always be elected everywhere.
I'm very weary...
7
As Benjamin Franklin put it, The price of freedom is eternal vigilence. People will arise who want to take advantage of an open system for private benefit. We just have to keep on opposing them and working for fairness and decency, as you say. Thank you for that.
15
Contrary to many, I don't consider every single Republican voter is an evangelical white supremacist, so I don't take for granted that Trump will be the Republican nominee in 2020.
If the Republicans also do their Math, a moderate Republican (yes there are some) is a guaranteed win in 2020 if his program is more appealing to the moderate Democrats than let's say a socialist platform aligned on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
1
I think the next 25 months will be more like a siege than a battle.
Trump and Republicans hold the White House, Executive Branch appointments, the Senate, the Supreme Court, most state legislatures, most governorships, the Supreme Court, and most other judgeships, and Fox News. The Democrats control the House.
The House and Senate must agree to pass legislation and the president must sign legislation into law. That will require the consent of the House.
Looks like a grand stalemate to me, and that would not be a terrible thing. Trump is a bully but he isn't very bright. A frustrated Trump in the White House would be preferable to a President Pence.
12
I always hear things like Democrats need to find ways to compromise with Republicans and the liberal elite needs to take time to listen to Trump voters.
But Mitch McConnell says just the opposite, oppose Democrats at every step possible.
Think of blocking Merrick Garland for almost a year, unheard of.
And I never hear Trump voters say they need to take time to listen to liberals.
60
@Independent, how right you are, but really, what is the definition of a liberal? One who can walk in another's shoes, who has empathy for those with a harder row to hoe. Conservatives do not possess that DNA on average, and if they do, and express it, they are condemned by the rest of their ideological brethren.
13
Thank you for this.
The headlines are so depressing and upsetting lately I think the only thing that would help me is a room full of puppies.
27
Dear Charles Blow,
Your words in this struggle for goodness and decency undergird the center holding fast and steady. Do not ever stop your writing, Mr. Blow. We need your columns, your words. Hope, resolution, the change for the better come with reading you, and, one's mind is lifted up, yes it is, in an appreciation of your precise thinking. The daily Trump show, the passivity and blind indifference of the Senate Republicans is mentally and physically hurtful and slaps us hard and down with wounding grief of the next thing in their playbook. But, I take the November 6 election as signals to remain steadfast to the ideals we the people believe and direly seek and defend with our votes. That 100 women are elected to positions, the House is now in their hands, along with Democrats, reinforces my belief that a newly seeded sanity is taking root to help us overcome this president. I believe too in our youth, in the suburbs of this country, where the people voting said NO! to Mr. Trump, and YES to fairness, justice, and democracy as we know it. Please write on and on Charles Blow: I with so many Americans hunger for your words, your thoughts, connections, and hopes. Thank you.
32
Black America knew that the previous eight years before Pres. Trump's miraculous economy were a disaster, with leadership determined to force the poor worker to become dependent on gov't assistance - to get the dependent to vote Democratic and STAY that way.
Today a third of black and Latino America considers Republican ideas to be worthy even as they are ordered to hate GOP people.
One solid reason these minority Americans did not panic when Trump came in is, quite clearly, the Democrats that Charles loves so much WERE the slaveowners, the lynchers, the church bombers and he guys with the firehoses trained on black civil rights workers.
The Civil War's end was a Dem defeat.
Charles knows the deadening effects of progressive hatred on people, and here we get an admission that he knows people are damaged by hate. He's paid to propagandize people to hate Trump AND America and the nationalism lived out by both Presidents Roosevelt, the Bushes, and Lincoln and Washington.
I've been an avid Dem liberal and a conservative, but no one was stupid or arrogant enough to ever tell me to hate anyone for my party.
2
@L'osservatore - "...the Democrats that Charles loves so much WERE the slaveowners, the lynchers, the church bombers and he guys with the firehoses trained on black civil rights workers."
Who converted to Republicans after the civil rights movement. Those southern Democrats did not want to stay in a party where the leader of the party (President Johnson) was responsible for the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights.
I believe you already know this, but just in case you didn't...
3
"People often ask me, “When will it end? What can we do to get him out of there?”
Don't feel too bad, Mr. Blow. I get asked the same thing. With a twist.
"When will the Leftist campaign of "resist" with no positive agenda for the country end? How can we assure that candidates like "we'll shut down your coal mines" Hillary will be out of here and not run again?
I tell folks it is a long battle to undo the damage done to this this country by Globalists who watched the hollowing out of the heartland in the name of "free trade," and turned away from the bankruptcies, deserted main streets, and the suicidal drug rates. These folks have no soul, and that's why they lost in 2016. Not because of "Russian collusion," which is only really "Russian Delusion."
But we have seen this path before. The elites at the turn of the last century owned the means of production and stuck it to workers across the country. It took a while, but the workers struck back. Perhaps in the next election, the Dems will remember that while transgender bathrooms have their place, you have to first take care of the tens of millions of workers who cannot all be signed up all at one time as "windmill and solar" energy "engineers" whose job it is to go door to door selling tax credits for industries which do not really yet exist, and which do not provide a living.
So have faith. Maybe the Dems will really not nominate a Hillary again, who tacks this way and that, depending on the Polls.
4
I have often thought that given the volatility, calamity, and unpredictability of the Trump admin, is there ever a day or a week that a journalist could take a vacation thinking they won’t miss a big Trump story or stories?
8
The battle for the soul of our country began long before Trump; when Reagan was elected. It was exacerbated by Gingrich, Cheney, McConnel, Limbaugh, Faux News and many others on the right. Trump took it to a new level and turned it into a war. Me. Blow is 100% correct. We must all take a break periodically, but keep fighting, because if we lose, we will be living in a theocratic kleptocracy/autocracy, not unlike Russia.
23
Your wisdom and that of your mother are just in time for the many who are indeed weary. Let's catch our breath and keep in touch with other such souls.
The civic value of columns like this one cannot be overstated. I've already shared your column with significant others.
Thank you, Charles Blow!
11
To quote Kafka, “The meaning of life is that it stops.”
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another.
5
@B. Granat Should the manner in which one’s life was lived determine the state of transition from life to dead, then Mr. Trump’s passing is guaranteed to be one characterized by pain and suffering.
3
"We the people..." can stand up to this corrupt man and his administration and we can do it with calm, and rational decision making. The FBI is not a paper tiger and Mr. Trump and his acolytes, family and hand picked hacks will sooner or later find this out.
8
People who obsess about impeaching Trump are completely missing the point, which is that his policies are bad, but Mike Pence would probably be a good deal worse, a genuine right-wing religious fanatic who would be impossible to get rid of. Please don't allow Trump's repellant words and personality blind you to the real danger--right-wing appointments and legislation!
15
Such wise words to sustain us in this-no-end-in-sight fight. How could we all have been so blind to the level of racism and misogyny in this country? Nevertheless, I do believe it is better for each of to be fully aware of its depth and tenacious hold on some . To see the hatred and bias out in the open gives me a clearer idea of the need for sustained effort. It also sharpens my focus, as Mr. Blow urges, on where I can individually make a difference.
9
"That is the root of people’s distress. How can Republicans in Congress abide this behavior and use it for political positioning? How can so many of our neighbors condone open hostility to minorities, the press and the truth?"
This so hits it on the head for me. Thanks for all you do.
16
Charles, in 2020, please do not support a candidate as corrupt and deceitful as Hillary. Only a candidate as bad as she was could lose to someone like Trump. You keep blaming voters as deplorable, when the reality is that your 2016 candidate was the real deplorable. The Trump nightmare will end in 2020, but only if the Democrats run a decent, honest candidate to challenge him. Please do not support a Hillary-Trump rematch.
5
@Tony
Hillary Clinton - 33,000 e-mails deleted from her private e-mail server.
W Bush White House - 22 Million e-mails deleted from the White House private server.
https://www.newsweek.com/2016/09/23/george-w-bush-white-house-lost-22-million-emails-497373.html
Hillary Clinton - 7 investigation into Benghazi and nothing.
W Bush - Iraq War over "weapons of mass destruction" that were never there. Great cost to the US, 3 million refugees from Syria and the rise of right-wing nationalism in Europe.
Hillary Clinton - $200,000 for a speech to Goldman Sachs.
Name me one Republican, including Trump, who wouldn't take the money if they could.
Name me one thing that Hillary did that Republicans haven't done the same or worse.
6
There are times when it does not matter whether a majority or a minority of people have the commanding ruling voice. If the ruling voice is indecent and immoral, selfish and sadistic....then the ruling few or the many......are totally wrong.
What's the difference between a Christian and an atheist.....and the difference between separation of church and state?
Blessed be those that believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Remember, trump's primary motivation is lucre. His interest in the presidency will fall to nothing when it's more trouble that it's worth to make money off of it. And he will quit it.
6
Mr. Blow - please know that although many of us are weary of it all, your thoughtful, reasoned insights and clarity give us succor as we re-energize to go back into the fight. Thank you.
16
Wow, in your first two paragraphs you have richly and eloquently described my internal struggle for the past 2 years. It’s important to name it. Thank you.
6
The latest report from Bizarro World indicates that Beto's support for NFL protesters "may have cost him Texas". Trump meanwhile has directly insulted war veterans on numerous occasions.
8
The more unhinged, the more vitriolic, the more despotic Trump becomes, the more people try to explain away his behavior. He’s fighting for his political life, he’s executing some grand strategy, he’s fortifying his base, he’s actually a very astute politician.
Sorry, no go. Donald Trump is a COWARD who stumbled into the biggest and best protected position this country has to offer. The presidency is the best opportunity his nasty self has ever seen, and seized.
It’s difficult for me to believe that anyone can view his behavior, both at home and abroad, as anything other than disgraceful. I don’t care what “promises” he has supposedly kept - if he has actually kept any. Other than running amok yelling a bunch of tripe, that is.
Yeah, I’m weary. I’m weary of listening to people try to justify the behavior of this monstrosity in the White House. And I’m afraid that his enablers all across the country will sardonically justify him into another four-year term.
17
Don't burn out-you have a genuine positive voice.
Look after yourself for a while -perhaps pray every day even if there is nothing out there -pray anyway -just chip away.
5
"Or maybe the questions are for us. How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny? How could we not remember that American progress has always been like a dance with a disagreeable partner, stumbling backward as well as moving forward?"
Well put. These are, indeed, the questions many of us are grappling with and to which there are no easy answers.
9
I appreciate your candor about our dilemmas. The answer is 2020 - vote him out. No sense in impeaching and giving Mike Pence a shot. Personally, I would wonder if you should take a serious vacation, and think of ways to answer the next Qs...2020 questions - yes, you too have a right to weariness....so rest up. 2020 is nigh.
4
I add my thanks to the numerous others here and salute your words here of truth.
Faulkner named it 'endurance' allowed oppressed blacks to survive as humans. Hope plays a part too; we WILL overcome.and it is not at some future time the meek shall thrive. The poor earn their dignity with decency, which material goods neither contain nor constrain. It can be hard to hang onto decency when you got so much 'stuff' in your arms to keep track of.
I think the idea that we are decent people is what 'American' really means, at bottom.
Regardless or party or circumstance, all those outside things, wealth, ethnicity, philosophy, location, religion, even gender. At bottom the thing we want most, sleep-fuzzed in the morning, it to see a decent person in the mirror. That's why you always see people help each other in tragedy. Regardless of our differences, we recognize and respond as decency directs.
Time to wield that decency. Time to remind our frightened and angry friends and family who have fallen for trump-lies. They are decent people.
They need to ask the person in the mirror about the red hat. Not to answer us, or say aught to us. For themself. Decent people have to come home. The bleachers behind the Orange Moron will empty when they start to ask themselves that question. Can a decent person follow trump?
8
Charles, you write:
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny?"
THIS is what keeps me up at night and haunts my waking hours every day. We thought the struggles of all marginalized Americans (blacks, gays, Hispanics, women, non-Christians, etc.) in the 60s and 70s had more or less been reconciled to the satisfaction of the vast majority of Americans (with the KKK and neo-nazis marginalized to a tiny fringe viewed with deep repugnance).
Then we elected an urbane, sophisticated, compassionate and (dare I say it?) intellectual president - who also happened to be a black man. While the GOP fought him tooth and nail, they claimed to do so on ideological grounds - continuing the scorched earth tactics of Gingrich, Rove and Norquist. Meanwhile, in little more than a decade, gay rights went from a potent, Rovian wedge issue that arguably won the 2004 election for Dubya to a "non-issue" that polls show are supported by the vast majority of Americans.
So who are these 63 million Americans who voted for a manifestly unqualified, unstable, bigoted, narcissistic, megalomaniacal, demagogic Second Coming of George Wallace crossed with Mussolini? And why do they still support him after two years of his 5,000 lies and vulgar, unbalanced and openly racist behavior?
"A house divided against itself, cannot stand."
- Abraham Lincoln.
9
"Don’t beat yourself up if you need to tune out every now and then and take a mental health break."
That's what I've been trying to do for the last several months, but it's so hard with Trump's onslaught of lies and attacks.
What should be worrisome for all, including his supporters, is that all world leaders, friends and foes alike, are on the same page. Whatever he says, if they don't join the fight, they basically go: "Yeah sure Donald, if you say so," followed by a soothing complement:" and your wife and daughter are soooo beautiful".
Everyone is just waiting him out.
2
Weariness is the new national anthem.
Oh, say can you see, by the gloomy, gastly light,
What so proudly we once hailed?
Oh, say does that lout in office just wave
O'er the land of the weary and the home of his crazed
2
Mr.Blow, you did not quote Jefferson or Curran. Here is Curran:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The condition upon which G-d hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt." (1790).
I think, in a way, Trump is doing the nation a great favor. He is testing our vigilance, every day.
The 2018 election was a test. Trump is being tested, but the nation needs to wake up to many threats. We have been asleep at the wheel for too long.
Politics is being revived. People are getting more concerned and involved. They are starting to wise up. And yes, we may see a "new birth of freedom" (Lincoln, Gettysburg Address)
1
Still re-litigating the 2016 election CB? Maybe it's time to move on. What you meant to say re the Mueller investigation was -- "The only hope is that the Mueller investigation will deliver something so damning that some Senate Republicans view it as unacceptable. BUT MUELLER HAS NOTHING."
See, that was easy.
Meanwhile, the progs can whine all they want and enjoy the pale blue baby wave that hardly made a ripple.
And keep up the whining. That will do you worlds of good in 2020.
I am relieved to know Charles Blow is alive and (I hope) well and in a position to write what I think and feel. I feel the same about Mr. Krugman, Mr Leonhardt, Mr. Kristof, Gail Collins, Bret Stephens and all the columnists and op ed contributors for the scope and depth of the experience they bring here in a civil forum. But I have special fondness for Mr. Blow’s passion in what can sometimes be a beige world.
8
I am certainly weary. My own antidote consists of 4 reminders to myself:
First, I can only do what I can do. This year I was more informed about my local candidates than ever. I did all I could to get others to vote and I cast my ballots as thoughtfully as I was able. That’s a solid start.
Second, I do not have to accept how issues are framed by both politicians and the media. I am becoming aware that others’ interests are served by inflammatory headlines, not mine. I try to step back and discern the real issues from the ones that drive clicks.
Third, I am trying — not always successfully — to focus more on the issues, not the personalities. I am very clear about my values and beliefs and I try to support policy issues that align with my views. I may find political leaders’ character to be atrocious, but I know that my rage will not change them.
Finally, I am making an effort not to lump everyone I disagree with into one bucket. I share common ground and concern with both my most conservative and liberal friends, and vilifying them does not help us find it. (In fact, it generally pisses people off.)
This might not work for everybody, but it’s my attempt to stay sane. Changing things requires playing the long game and I intend to keep both the focus and the effort.
8
@CharlesMBlow Would you post some of the books you've been reading that you reference in your column today?
2
CNN journalistic firebrand, Jim Acosta--actually in the arena confronting trump--dozens of times more admirable than pity partying Blow. Just days after being elected, trump invited several Times reporters including Blow for a chat. Blow declined. Much easier spitting out (justifiable) venom against hated Trump while comfortably ensconced in luxurious Times building.
1
Soldier on, Charles. You are a greatly needed champion of racial and gender equality and civic decency.
I thought I had a fair understanding of American civic life, but I am stunned by Trump's election, his presidency, GOP complicity and my neighbors' support of these disasters.
You are a great help. Thank you.
19
My wife and I came to America in 1971 and it was such a different America. The students and teachers we befriended were virtually all against the Vietnam War. But the end of the war was still two years away. There was an unselfish spirit in the year and those graduating that year - even from Ivy League colleagues - opted to protest the war outside the fences of Dow, Raytheon, Monsanto and other companies fueling the US war effort. Many shunned gilded corporate jobs and chose to live in communes and even start vegetarian restaurants. Earlier students at Kent State University had given their lives for a 'cause'.
We are two years away from 2020, and it is time to clearly identify a cause and mobilize action to win the cause. From my Gandhian experience and the spirit of Dr. King I suggest the following:
THE CAUSE: Find the Lost America
THE MEANS: Within limits, total non-cooperation with the Trump
administration. NEWS BLACKOUT of everything
about Trump and his toadies.
No cause is won without sacrifices.
8
@AG Trump craves media attention, he lives for it. Until the press stops giving him what he craves he will continue his current behavior and escalate his degradation of people of color, Muslims and women.
2
Bless you, Charles Blow, and your dear mother. I have come to rely on you for always saying just what I need to hear when I need to hear it. Thank you for sharing her words with us.
Trump’s term is half over, we’ve weathered it so far and now have some power back with the Congress and state houses we gained.
The way forward should be forged with hope, optimism and resolve to keep our eyes on preserving the best that is America.
22
All politicians are accountable to voters.
If you don’t like what they are doing, tell them, and don’t stop telling them until either their behavior changes or you vote them out of office.
I mean this is a Democracy politicians will do as much as they can get away with, and we determine that.
6
@Covert
I agree.
But we also need to realize that Republicans are very clever and use voter suppression and Gerrymandering to thwart being held accountable to voters.
In the Alabama special election for Senate, Democrat Doug Jones won 50% to 48%.
If those same votes had been counted for the House of Representatives, there would have been 6 Republican winners and 1 Democratic winner.
In addition, last Senate vote count I saw was:
45 million votes for Democrats
33 million votes for Republicans.
But Republicans still control the Senate because of small states.
Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh were confirmed by Senators representing a minority of the American people.
2
@Covert Unfortunately politicians no longer serve the people. They are owned by wealthy special interests.
4
@Covert
Trump is not like any other and the usual steps to discourage do not work. Surely you have noticed.
Let's not forget the likelihood that Trump's tax returns, when they're eventually revealed, will no doubt show his large debts to Russian oligarchs.
But, yes, I think we all need to stop time pointing out the obvious with Trump has party and his base. We need to figure out how to bring about compromise in our rhetoric as well as in our elected officials.
5
I think I’ll take a pass on being so nice that I can’t call greedheads greedheads, bigots bigots, bible thumpers bible thumpers, and neo-Nazis neo-Nazis. Also on not calling theft theft, and stupidity stupidity, and suckers suckers, thank you very much.
7
@Big Tony I used to believe ion compromise - not anymore (for now). The Republican Party sold it's soul to the devil when it refused to stand up to this insane, immateur amateur. They've shown repeatedly over the past 2 years that nothing matters except winning. The truth doesn't matter, never mind what is righteous, courageous, effective or compassionate. All our ideals have been tossed out the window - even the rule of law is being tested mightlity. I'm afraid the left must adopt the same tactics, for now (while sticking to facts and the truth) and do EVERYTHING in our power to assure tht we take back the WH and Senate and keep the House in 2020. It's Democracy's only hope. Then maybe the R's will learn and we can get back to the idea of compromise.
3
I have come to think we may be better off in the short term with Trump staying in office rather than Pence succeeding him. Pence looks more polished but is just as bad if not worse than Trump. Why give him a step up toward the 2020 election?
Rather than spending time on a much-deserved impeachment and an unlikely Senate conviction, we need to spend time and money on helping a good Democrat get elected in 2020.
Meanwhile, we can help the Democratic majority in the House stop the most outrageous of Trump's desires.
30
@Barbara I agree with you Barbara. Don't waste time and energy working to impeach Trump because it will never happen with a Republican Senate. And Pence shouldn't be given a head start on 2020 - he's more evil than Trump because he operates under the guise of respectability. Instead, the Democrats should neuter Trump, expose him as the criminal fraud that he is through a well orchestrated, targeted campaign of investigations. Open hearings in the House to publicly expose and humiliate him.
1
Re: "...with liberals winning control of the House of Representatives....it was also clear that Republican control of the Senate means..."
You refer, erroneously, I would suggest, to "liberals" taking control of the US House. More accurately, Democrats have. You then refer to Republican control of the Senate. Your comparison between "liberals" and "Republicans" might express your optimism (that Democrats will act like or be liberals in the House), but, still, the comparison of unlike terms is a distortion--one that requires correction to accurately reflect our post-midterm political reality.
6
The need is to transform the divisive conversation by declaring a state of environmental emergency and making it economically and politically possible for people of all persuasions to join together in fighting pollution.
11
Easy enough to ignore the dumpster fire in NYS now that we have a Democratic Senate. Also important because we need to spend our time and effort on pushing through legislation to protect us from the Retrograde Republican "greatness".
Enshrine women's rights to their reproductive selves into our law, move us off of fossil fuels toward renewables, get good health care, and a trading tax are good starters.
The Republicans now have all they need to push us back to colonial times and the Articles of Confederation and there's very little to nothing we can do about it. As long as they hold the Executive Branch, SCOTUS, and the Senate they can wreak havoc on our institutions and continue their march.
The House can stick their feet out and sometimes make someone trip, but as soon as it becomes clear to all that there's little the House can do alone the New Illiberal Left will once again blame the legislature and/or the system and go back to the self-destructiveness of either voting for a third party or not voting at all.
You have a great voice and a great platform Charles, turn your eyes to Albany now and again. We need to make our State great again.
7
The value of impeachment proceedings, like Democracy, is in the exercise, not the outcome.
15
Yes, political weariness is an upper-middle class luxury - and a consequence of exquisitely crafted strategies by the political and corporate over-lords. We are at least double-whammied: the exhausting and numbing effects of tech news and opinion delivery, and the degree that we live on our screens. (I iclude myself)
6
Thank you. Yes, it is an endless battle against corruption. And raw power doesn't give up..it asserts itself over and over as we see this president doing.
11
Thank you for speaking truth. I've become frustrated by the fact that so many people think this is all just a short term thing and soon we'll be back to "normal". We are not going back. We can only go forward. As for the Mueller investigation, IMHO the smartest thing the Dems could do is let go of that rope and the rope of impeachment. There are far more important things to do: medicare, medicaid, healthcare for all, social security. Tending to the infrastructure. It is just a few weeks shy of 2019. We've no time to waste in accomplishing what we can with what we have--not dither it away on endless investigations. I appreciate what Mr. Mueller has done. Trump operates in the realm of the unethical all the time---illegal? Not so much. It's a grey area hard to prove. Not worth our efforts at this point. Move on.
10
Once again Thank You!
I am exhausted from being in a constant state of agony, watching my beloved country destroyed by common criminals.
Eventually ( I fear) history will repeat itself and nothing but the use of deadly physical force will change things.
Unfortunately revolutions are usually more about revenge then they are about reform.
thanks again for being who you are.
Bob W
33
You make me weep, Mr. Blow. I know there are a million other things you would rather write about, but you know you also have a moral duty to address the demons Trump is releasing into the world. And I am thankful you are there to do so. We have all come to realize there IS no "shining city on a hill," but you and your words are a shining beacon for our un-United States, our slow sickening lurch toward Nazism. Einstein wrote in June 1918 that "Nationalism is an infantile disease, the measles of mankind." Our infantile president brags that he is a nationalist...45,000 Norwegians in occupied Norway during World War II joined the Nasjonal Samling (National Union), headed by the Nazis and Vidkum Quisling. We must remember!
24
Amen!
10
Agre d. Thank you, Charles blow.
9
One thing we can do is to stop referring to the Republican Party as a conservative party. They no longer are. They are a White Nationalist Party.
Let's see how comfortable everyone is with calling a spade a spade.
47
@Sam I Am Thank you. How about Straight White Homophobic Misogynistic Narcissist Party laughing all the way to the bank?
4
@sarah That welcomes the support of neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the Russians. You left that part out.
3
Many of us naively believed after President Obama's election that our country had moved past our historical racial and gender divides.
It is now clear that there is still a large percentage of Americans that will accept racism, misogyny, and hatred in their leaders if their agenda is advanced.
27
@Lionmark
Racism, misogyny, and hatred are part and parcel of their agenda.
2
@Lionmark
Especially among Democrats. Allegations of racism and misogyny are thrown around to demonize honest differences of opinion. And who can forget Bill Clinton and his treatment of women, which was supported by Democrats.
@Lionmark I agree 100%, I thought President Obama's election meant we were moving forward. I think it still does. However, what I failed to anticipate was how much time such a change will take, and the number of steps between President Obama and the future I expected. His election was a first step.
The 2nd step, the T-cell reaction that would result from my own group, old white people, I did not anticipate. I also did not think there would be so many young white people that would feel enabled to say things that should never be said, nor ever accepted in a society made up of nearly 300 million people.
I failed to anticipate that people's personal grievances would result in acceptance of such a tumor of a man as Trump to be president. I did not know the desire to hurt your fellow American was acceptable, and that so many were just waiting to do so.
I guess hatred is an agenda, too.
well, when george zimmerman got off for killing trayvon martin i clued myself into the trial, and immediately, seized on the fact that the prosecutors messed it up: they went for murder one i believe. had they gone for manslaughter, i believe a conviction would've been served for the murder of the boy. the prosecutors caught the vapors, they wanted it for themselves perhaps. they didn't do their job. they got puffed up. and zimmerman walked, shamefully.
i feel the new york times has done the same with trump. wanting to inflate themselves and condemn him as a racist, xeonophone, misogynist, etc. Had they just gone after him as a fraud or an archie bunker, they might've got him out. But he walked free. And the new york times is culpable. For their own excessive pride. Get in the game, bro.
3
@philip mitchell
I must disagree. You provide another example of false equivalency. The NYT is not responsible for Trump’s rise to power, and your reference to the Trayvon Martin case is essentially a non sequitur.
As geographically distant from New York as I am, I recognized Mr. Trump early on as the arrogant megalomaniac and con artist that he is, and most of my knowledge about him came to me via NYT reportage.
No, this whole Trump phenomenon cannot be attributed to a single entity or event. Willful ignorance, prejudice, propaganda streams (created by Russian operatives??), and partisan self-interest above country by Republicans, as well as other factors, have blended together to create the toxic atmosphere in which Trump was able to come to power.
Personally, I thank the NYT for being a beacon of light in the fog that this miserable man and his enablers have created, and that they continue to make even more challenging to see through.
4
I think it's also a issue of stamina. Many of the world's various conflicts (military, political, ideological) were won by the side that just outlasted their opponent.
The Republicans have been at this -- declaring Dems/liberals the Enemy and thus illegitimate governing partners (how conVENIENT)--since Gingrich's 1994 coup. They've been packing the federal courts since Reagan. They're tired.
We just are now waking up to the fact that democracy is hard work. We're just getting started.
6
@rwgreene, that is why we need to involve our youth who have fresh ideas and energy. Mr Charles Blow needs to talk to the youth, he misread them the last tie, rejected them, demeaned them, ridiculed them. They are our future, our legacy.
1
"...to realize that change is neither quick nor permanent."
We were so naive in the 60s, thinking that changes, victories against racism and repression, as we took to picket lines and freedom rides, would necessarily be permanent. What happened subsequent to Obama's presidency is the most dramatic proof of our cluelessness. The 50s and 60s also saw a promise of the levelling of the economic playing field, and now we're approaching Gilded Age levels of inequality. There is evidence that 60,000 year-old humans were every bit as smart as we are now. What arrogance to think that we could "improve" something in the space of 50 years! There is so much evidence to suggest that we've become a Third World country educationally and structurally that it's hard to resist. And yet who has a choice? Mass emigration is not an option.
6
Dear Charles: I too am trump-weary. However, may I propose a focus by you on the state of Kentucky. How is it that this state, population 4.4 million (10% of that of the great state of CA) has such out-sized power, by virtue of electing a scoundrel like Mitch McConnell to the senate six times. I note there are just two cities in this state, which together total around 1 million. Are they also in thrall to the GOP, or are they more like other metro US areas, and trending democratic? If the latter, why can't someone noteworthy from our team run and WIN, allowing the senate to return to something close to nation focused instead of the partisan disaster it has devolved into? And if the former, what is it that keeps them squarely in the hands of the GOP? Is it gerry-mandering, voter suppression? Next on the state reports, North Carolina. A state of 10 million, with just over 2 million of them residing in the 7 cities over 100K. A lot of those folks are migrants from other (more modern?) areas. How is it then that their two senators are right wing republicans? I mean this-- as a Californian, I know only dems or never-trumper, semi-republicans. I need help: I just can't understand how anyone with a stake in the future can be on that team so mired in the past. Please help, Mr. Blow.
8
@karen
A partial answer to your question: the power of incumbency, funded by corporations, with the pharamceutical industry (mostly liberal) and the Koch brothers (never Trumpers) paired at the hip. This is the case on both sides of the aisle. Cory Booker cast the deciding NO vote on a bill designed to give Medicare the ability to negotiate lower drug prices. Our system has been corrupted to the core by corporate money, Citizens United may go down as one of the worst Supreme Court decsions ever for our republic. Challengers on the left and the right cannot break through the stranglehold of incumbents. This is one of the reasons so many people voted for Trump; we knew that HRC was corrupted by Wall Street and while we knew Trump was and is distateful (his personal enrichment could never even being to compare with the level of corruption/pay to play of the Clinton Foundation) the hope was that he would drain the swamp. This is why the Establshment, and their lackeys including the DC press corps hate him so badly and other, very important issues go uncovered and unexposed.
Thank you, Charles Blow and fellow commenters. I value this form of community, where I am stimulated by new ideas, diverse opinions, and often comforted with shared feelings. I feel ready now to walk my weary body to the shower, then begin the day again doing what is needed. Cheers!
9
I needed that. Thank you, Mr Blow.
I am weary. But, I am getting increasing energized by Trump's losing his total (totalitarian) grip on the nation.
6
Great to review our daily outrage at a president who has an act to get attention by being insulting and racist. A president who is acting as an authoritarian with 40% support based on constant grievances and claims of being treated unfairly which he transfers to our country as if he is the state. Trump's act is not new he got his start as birther and being a racist and built his base on that act. Following the playbook of a wanna be dictator claiming the free press is the enemy of the people and he and Fox/News State TV alone have all truth and not to believe what you see and here(Orwellian). Allied with Alex Jones and conspiracy theories Trump distorts reality and hopes to dismiss facts and truth. This all lays the basis for his desired dictatorship with a complacent GOP who cower in fear of Trump's rabid base and tweets. This is soon to be revealed with a democrat controlled House and the Mueller report as they pull back the curtain on the lying blowhard carnival barker installed by Putin and owned by him thru decades of financial deals with Russians. Trump will have his day maybe sooner then he thinks no matter who he appoints or GOP loyalty that may fade with disclosures of malfeasance.
6
I'm an Army veteran. This is the first veteran's day in my career that I have the day off. I have been planning for days what to do with that time. Several things came to mind. Do the Sunday Times crossword, catch up on some reading, make a big pot of chili, listen to music, give my dog a bath, just enjoy the day. There was only one thing I wouldn't do. Read or listen to anything about you know who. Then I saw your column, Charles. I never miss it. The midterms give me hope, but I'm still exhausted at the festering boil that inundates everything. More than ever on this Veteran's Day I think of my dad serving in the Korean war, my two uncle's, both named Sam, who were part of the Normandy invasion, the guys I went to high school with who accepted being drafted to go to Vietnam (unlike you know who), my cousin's exposure to agent orange and his ultimate death, my husband's and my service in the 70s and 80s, the returning Iraq and Afghanistan warriors I met in my job at the VA, the hundreds of stories that make us the country we are today. All of these things have helped me to know that we are a country of greatness with patriots like no other. When I think I can take no more madness from you know who, I remember who we really are. This ignorance, hatred, negativity and devotion to a despot will end. This too will pass. I refuse to give in to the fear; we have all faced much worse. You know who will will not be treated kindly by historians. We will survive.
21
Please keep doing what you’re doing, Charles Blow. Your wisdom and insights are keeping people like me alive in ways you might not imagine. My sense is that your life is rich because you are a such a good and decent person, and also a person of deep joy informed by pain. Without voices like yours, we would be comfortless.
13
Don't give up. Take a little break to refresh your soul, then get back on the battle lines. The United States is facing daily assaults on our Democracy and our rights. We need every citizen to be involved. Ignorance is not bliss, it is supporting autocracy. Don't give up!
8
Thank you for the reminder that significant change happens over time and maybe not in our life time. Just finished reading An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. It’s grim, But hopeful. It made me realize the DNA of our country contains not only the enslavement of African Americans but also the genocide of indigenous Americans through policies begun by men we consider to be Founding Fathers, justified by the Christian coventnant with God and enforced by militias’ and US military’s search and destroy missions and ethnic cleansing. Yet progress has been made-slowly but surely.
6
You are correct when you say that it's just not the President but people that support him! White Rural and Evangelical voters believe that Trump is chosen from God to abolish Roe vs Wade and return White supremacy as God intended. They will forgive all his deceits, adultery, racism even treason to what U.S. stands for. They use the Bible to justify his behavior stating that the Old Testament is full of imperfect leaders like Abraham, Moses, King David ect.. in his name to do his bidding here on Earth. The Cult of Trump will forgive anything this President does! Especially when he continues to appoint Supreme Court Justices who oppose Roe vs. Wade.
I wish you would ask Sen. Rick Santorum when you are on CNN together if he believes Trump's election who ordained by God to overturn Roe vs. Wade? Before Trump was elected he had nothing good to say about him now he can do no wrong by him!
8
That Donald Trump is the most grotesque boil on democracy & decency in American history, not to mention a terminal cancer on the office of the US Presidency, a sentiment shared at least by half or more of Americans, does afford some comfort to those of sharing this nightmarish misery. The perpetual pathological lying, the hate spewing bile, the divisive comments, the jaw-dropping arrogance & ego, all makes for one tortuously vulgar individual seemingly devoid of any humanity. There is absolutely nothing subtle about Donald Trump as his crudeness, vulgarity & insecurities are always on full display. How any "forgotten man" or woman could believe for a moment that Donald Trump has either their best interests at heart or that of the entire United States is a mind blowing conundrum.
It feels as if Trump, his hired hands & the entire Republican party are gaslighting the citizens of America, creating a seismic reality distortion with every outrageous utterance. All fair criticism offered by a media "just doing their job" is branded as "fake news." No wonder crazy conspiracy theories thrive & even morph into more insane ones in the age of Trump. "Up" is "Down" and "Out" is "In" as America tumbles down the bottomless rabbit hole created by Trump. The ensuing head spinning disorientation, anger & hopelessness, one surmises, are intended to wear down the opposition "Resistance." It's mentally exhausting. Short respites from the news cycle are helpful but we can't stop fighting
6
@Jeff Can we please not forget a purchased soft-porn model who, as "First Lady" on the way to see imprisoned children, wore a jacket that said "I Don't Care. Do U?"
1
I read all manner of writing, and often look to the wisdom found in religious writings, nat that I'm religious, but because there is simple common sense to be found in religious writings, so with that said, I happened on the following description(s) about how one can tell if they are in the presence of real evil.
Personally, I believe Trump, and many in his inner circle, are genuinely evil, and irredeemable, even though I know I am not supposed to judge.
Excerpt and link -
"If week after week you hear the talk but there is no change in the walk, you have every reason to question someone’s relationship with God.
Part of our maturity as spiritual leaders is that we have been trained to discern between good and evil. Why is that so important? It’s important because evil usually pretends to be good, and without discernment we can be easily fooled.
When you confront evil, chances are good that the evil heart will stop counseling with you because the darkness hates the light and the foolish and evil heart reject correction But that outcome is far better than allowing the evil heart to believe you are on his or her side, or that “he’s not that bad” or “that he’s really sorry” or “that he’s changing” when, in fact, he is not.
Daniel says, “[T]he wicked will continue to be wicked”, which begs the question, do you think an evil person can really change?
https://www.biblestudytools.com/blogs/association-of-biblical-counselors/5-indicators-of-an-evil-and-wicked-heart.html
4
My grassroots group is wondering about a time-out as well. All have been engaged at full-throttle for almost two years. Reclaiming the House is a big win. However, this time of year is the natural time to relax and refresh -- set goals and objectives, reflect on lessons learned, etc. 2019 will be here soon enough with new battles and a president with at least one check him. Mueller investigation is in the background. Now is the time to reconnect with friends and family before going back to the fight.
5
Thank you for the message of support. How I yearn for the days when the victims of violence,extreme weather, and loss of life could depend on guidance, action, and empathy from our President and First Lady.They visited, comforted, and prayed with countless families after the Sikh Temple attack, shooting at Newtown, and Colorado movie theater massacre. As a country, we deserve to know that support and decency are important. Despite the fact that the seemy underbelly of our society has shown itself so prominently, decency and hope and respect still exist!
11
Sadly, Trump will be there until 2024 and there is no reason to believe he would abide by the "two term" rule given that there have been other presidents that have exceeded it ( e.g.FDR).
@MainstayThere was no two term rule until after FDR.
12
@Mainstay
Are you serious? Did you know the Constitution was amended after FDR to impose a two-term limit?
2
@Mainstay
The 22nd Amendment limits the president to two terms. But I take your point. Trump could very well think he could get away with suspending the constitution, citing concerns of national security. And those blackguard republicans in the Senate could try to accommodate him. All things are possible, even if we think them not probable.
Be ever vigilant.
Thank you, Mr. Blow. As a public high school teacher and a parent of a young child, I shudder at this world we are showing to our youngest minds. But young minds have seen struggle over centuries and your column helped to remind me of this. It's a forever fight...indeed. Peace and love to you and yours as we all try to make sense of this seemingly eternal horror.
12
Thank you, Mr. Blow, for the permission to relax and clear our heads. We can’t ignore what’s going on in the country but once in a while it doesn’t hurt to take break so we come back to the news with refreshed minds. Only then can we maintain our equilibrium and our sanity in these trying times.
7
@BWTNY
What he just told you is to come back later and hate more. Tell me ANY successful idea or population helped by hatred.
Always a struggle. We need a better electoral process while we still can have one.
Electoral reform looks like this: 1) Nonpartisan primaries, 2) Ranked choice voting, 3) Nonpartisan congressional districts.
3
"Or maybe the questions are for us. How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality?"
Rather than ask ONLY how the "other side" is wrong, some self-reflection is also in order.
How has the 30% of the country who have prospered for the past 30 years, the meritocracy-driven, education-is-the-answer, winner-take-all leadership of the Democratic Party been allowed to shown such indifference to inclusion and equality in areas such as the rust belt and rural America.
Our only answer for three decades was "if you want to get ahead, you need to move" and/or "get more education". Never mind a sense of place, family ties, fear of debt, or simply not being the type of person who makes for a good student.
We were inclusive of all those who acted like us and thought like us, and ignored everyone else. And now we are surprised that they are not on board with us.
5
@Erik
The Democrats are the guilty ones now?
Oh Lordy, they must have gerry-mannered like never before, pushed through Citizens United, suppressed the votes of minorities across the bank, didn't like women to run for office, didn't want healthcare for all, where anti LGBT, anti-abortion, for a gun in every pot instead of a chicken, etc., etc., etc.
Faux Noise watchers and Breitbart readers never astonish me in the least.
8
@Erik
Your comment is a scorcher, but I do agree with you. It was easy to believe we'd moved beyond belief-based racism and misogyny while the coasts hummed and prospered. But there in Middle America, land of WalMart business model devastation and religious politics, people clung to the idea that they were right and the rest of the country was wrong. Not sure what, if anything, would have enlightened them, but the point is they were deliberately left out. Now they are entrenched in their resentment, and it has replaced all their thinking.
5
@Sarah I don't watch any of that clap trap.
Who ever said there was ONE guilty party. The GOP has done FAR worse. All I am saying is that we need to examine the ways in which we have been complicity in their rise.
By the way, plenty of corporate Dems were more than happy to be friends with the bankers and the pharma execs in a post Citizens-United world, as long as "our team" won.
It just happens to be that global hyper-capitalism is finally catching up with those of us in our little blue islands in a sea of red. If it's not the rising cost of housing due to capital fluidity from China, Russia, and elsewhere, it's the rising cost of living due to the inequality arms race in places like New York and San Francisco, and if it's not that, it's having to cope with the results of the rest of the country's rage at both the Bushes and the Clintons for 30 years of being left behind.
We've had our chances to offer solutions, but every time we are so desperate to take back political power after time in the political wilderness that we retreat immediately. Then when we lose again, we vilify. Lather, rinse repeat.
That does not purge the sins of the other side in any way. It's just it's own hard truth. Those dying of thirst in the desert will drink sand.
The choice is not impeachment or nothing. Mueller now has a branch of the Federal government to work with and I want the Democrats to document the Trump administration's corruption for history and the present. It is not news that this is a long term fight and I am not the least bit weary.
17
I do not think Trump is the problem. He is just a guy who happened along at the right time (or wrong time) in history with a genius for winning favour with a whole lot of dissatisfied voters. And there are a lot more dissatisfied voters around than anyone ever thought. They are the problem. Focusing on Trump does not fix the problem.
5
Very on target. Day to day it's a bit overwhelming what Trump and the Republicans supporting him say. But I think there is little doubt that Charles Blow is correct.
I do think that there is some chance that a new reality will connect with Trump and he will moderate his behavior to some degree, but clearly this is nothing we can rely on at this point.
Another possibility is that Trump, with such constant opposition directed at him, may physically or mentally be incapable of continuing as president. Add to this the fact that he is obese, likely gets no physical activity and has a horrendous diet.
And the pressure must be daunting. Coupled with the Mueller report, which cannot be good from Trump's perspective, Is it possible he resigns?
11
@Peter Lobel
I wish you were right but I'd bet a lot of money that trump will NEVER moderate his behavior - certainly no more that the extremely brief stints that he has done to date - read from a script and then in the next breath say the opposite and throw gasoline on the fire.
As for the pressure, he's a sociopath and I believe he feels absolutely no stress, sympathy, guilt or remorse - things normal people feel as pressure and internal conflict and strife. He may get angry when things don't go his way or at bad press and lash out but in the next moment he's back to watching fox news hearing what an amazing president he is and how horrible -fill in the blank of his latest adversary or detractor. those around him have chosen to feed his ego to the extent it benefits them personally and promotes their own agendas, it's sickening - and while I'm not yet weary, if there's another 6 years, rather than 2, well, I'm pretty sure that'll be more than many of us can take.
5
The close to your article is quite optimistic. For example,
"Don’t beat yourself up if you need to tune out every now and then and take a mental health break. There is no shame in it. This is a forever fight. Once you have recharged, reapply your armor and rejoin the fight with even more vigor."
The vexing question I have, however, is can we pass a point of no return, a point at which irreparable harm will have been done to our system of governance?
16
Mr. Blow,
Trump isn't worth the paper he is written on. Please for your sake and ours, stop covering him. I hope daily that he and his ilk will be arrested and the key thrown away.
I very much miss your cogent insights into other matters of real import.
9
No Cary, we must always be ready to call out this truly evil creature, this pretender in the White House, seeking to create belief that he represents good.
He must be talked about constantly, his every atrocious act must be pointed out, until the blind who helped him into the Presidency, have the veil removed from before them, and they see their folly and become the leaders seeking his ouster.
When that occurs, then we will know we have found the way back home.
3
@cary
I disagree. Nothing matters more than the danger of having a completely vulgar, inapt, low IQ, fascist racist at the helm of our country.
He belongs in a closed facility before starting WWIII in order divert this nation from his crimes.
7
Lets be clear. The issue is not Trump. Its the folks who keep voting for him. This is a much larger issue than the election of one man to the presidency. What is the solution here? The rural voters continue to believe the yarn that is spun. Why? Are they unaware or is it something worse?
24
Trump will be defeated (electorally) by someone who offers an alternative vision of our national future — one that appeals to our desire to look forward. That's especially true right now because so many of us want to look anywhere but right here, because right here and right now are so ugly thanks to Trump.
Until that person comes along, we can lay the groundwork by rejecting Trump's undisputed talent for fomenting rage. Whether you support or oppose him, just stop letting him wind you up. It'll be better for you, and better for the country.
17
Since he loves to denigrate, threaten, and insult members of the press corps, why not start to ignore him? Reporters shouldn't go to his "press conferences" and shouldn't dignify the prairie vampire, Sara Sanders by tolerating her gross lies and godawful attitude.
Similarly, when reporting his latest emittance on TV, why accompany it with a picture of him? We know very well what he looks like and it's not pretty.
He'd hate it. He needs the spotlight so badly, he'd just hate getting no attention. Like leaving a baby to cry himself to sleep, leave him alone to scream and rail at all the uncountable injustices he suffers. He might just dry up and blow away.
23
What cowardly advice. I could not care less about politics or swaying Trump supporters. The House is obligated to exercise oversight by getting to the truth. That is independent of impeachment. I will not tolerate years of bogus Benghazi hearings only to have a commentator who railed about Trump for two years argue defeatism.
4
Been asking myself these same questions for a while now. I decided I cannot ever take my freedoms for granted. And I will raise my son with the same ideas. Maybe we needed a Trump to shake us out of our complacency.
85
@Marianna I think the argument that we needed Trump to wake/shake us up is an illogical and tired position. It is like saying One needs to be shot to wake up to a need for gun control or that the world needed a Hitler. I have never been complacent about the dangers facing our democracy. I was, however, quite hopeful when Obama was taking us in the right direction. Granting Trump any measure of usefulness is a crime to all that is decent.
8
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny?"
Perhaps we didn't register it because it isn't real. Just because Trump was elected, by the narrowest of possible margins, against a flawed candidate who campaigned badly, it does not follow that our country is filled with racists. I'm flabbergasted that so many Democrats still don't get why they lost in 2016 and continue to blame millions of "racists" that suddenly came out of the woodwork in states that went for Obama twice. People voted for Trump because they disliked Hillary and they wanted change, they wanted an outsider, and a tough guy. Now you have an economy that's done very well under Trump, and Democrats offering few convincing alternatives. It's quite possible for Americans to support Trump for other reasons than racism, the Left just doesn't want to see it.
3
@Samuel Russell Oh, Sam. It is indeed true that there are no lies more convincing than those we tell ourselves.
1
Charles: I love you! You’re persisted to the present day, and I’d give any takers 3-1 odds you’ll continue unabated. Here’s a thought to add into the hopper: our present political leadership is in place due to the anti-social, self-interested and bigoted views of a substantial portion of the electorate. Trump—sorry to tell him—is only a symptom of these flaws. It’s the electorate that needs a wake-up call. So, how to accomplish educating voters that Mr. Trump and the Republican Party will act against the common man’s interests? If I were in Nancy Pelosi’s ear, I ask her to lift the income ceiling against which payroll taxes are calculated. It won’t fix Social Security on its own, but it would help big time! I’d send the one-page bill to the Senate after holding a press conference announcing that the Democrats are going to perpetuate Social Security by, among other things, taxing the rich fairly. Let’s just see what the Senate does and what Mr. Trump has to say about my proposal when the bill is transmitted to the Republican-controlled body. My guess is that they’ll embarrass themselves protecting the rich to the exclusion of the vast majority of Americans. Is my suggestion a cure-all? No, but it would help demonstrate to Americans that the Democrat Party is interested in governing and in fairness, and that it is deserving of their votes in 2020.
13
The sickness that I feel is not going to go away while Trump is in office and the Republicans practice anti American hate speech. I view it as a permanent disease that has taken over our nation. I do not see a cure for it on the horizon.
7
"I have written almost exclusively about Donald Trump."
Indeed. To put it another way, for two or three years Trump has owned you. And in my opinion, your personal resentment of a terminally dishonest man has done far more harm to you than Mr. Trump. It is always that way with hatred.
Emmet Fox, a then-renown spiritual leader of the early 20th century, told this story to warn of the dangers of "justified" resentments:
"No Scientific Christian ever considers hatred or execration to be "justifiable" in any circumstances, but whatever your opinion about that might be, there is no question about its practical consequences to you. You might as well swallow a dose of prussic acid in two gulps, and think to protect yourself by saying, 'This one is for Robespierre [viz., Trump]; and this one for the Bristol murderer. You will hardly have any doubt as to who will receive the benefit of the poison.
4
Thank you Mr. Blow for your insight and pause for reflection. We can take some relief in the recent Mid terms but the real threat is to our democratic system under this administration. Their constant attack on the Press is so reminiscent of fascism of which trump so embodies. Also his questioning of elections and calling them fraudulent is undermining our very existent. As your Mom suggested things have been far worse but now is the time for all of us to stand together in our fight for our country.
4
Thank you, Charles, for expressing — so frequently — the feelings most Americans, me in particular, are experiencing with the wannabe, baby autocrat Trump in the White House. Like Capt. Blye, he only knows how to rant against, and torment, his critics. He has no perceptible skills at the helm of state. Rather, he keeps pointing the bow toward the heaviest seas and onto the reefs.
This is a ship of fools in charge of the Ship of State. And I am far beyond "weary" of it all. It has been my opinion that TeamMueller has a mountain of evidence against this petulent sociopath. His associates/advisors/cabinet sycophants who've been indicted, pleaded guilty, and/or been found guilty by a jury, will not go to prison quietly. If they can avoid prison by helping TeamMueller take down Trump — and his family — they will, or already have, given up a lot of convincing evidence to move that process along.
At that point, despite owning the Senate majority, there should be enough Republican senators to declare, like the great Sen. Howard Baker during Watergate, that enough is enough, for the sake of our nation.
Will every Republican senator be willing to enter the history books as cogs in the corruption that nearly took down our fragile democracy? Will they be willing to leave that dark and ugly stain upon the Constitution, and their families?
So far, however, the entire Republican Party in the House and Senate seems committed to power over country.
8
Mr. Blow, this is indeed a forever fight with Trump and his minions, and although a periodic respite is necessary in order to re-charge and assure continuity of perspective, this is a fight for the survival of our very democracy, so we must be indefatigable. We cannot accept any semblance of a "new normal", which is what he wants, and which is a kind of version of his constant lies which for some, too many, eventually become the truth after being told (reinforced) so many times. In my humble opinion, the next two years need to be about knowledge, the communication of knowledge and factual information, a "re-education" for those who perhaps did not learn about history or do not know reality outside of Fox News or illegitimate Internet sources. I am not sure one can fight evil, but rather one needs to rise above evil. The Republicans have always marketed themselves more effectively, and it is imperative that we improve our messaging. I think it is critical that we have a constant voice with gravitas that even a "deplorable" might pay attention to. We must make America care again, we must make America smart again.
4
As Blow points out, even the very framework itself for hope may now be in danger. I agree with him nevertheless, as "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." (MLK)
6
American history is full of failures and set backs. The idea that the US has marched into the future to the inevitable victory of progress is a mythology. People were denied their rights or wickedly exploited. But brave people wouldn't accept the status quo and would fight back. Howard Zinn's famous book, A People's History of the United States, is excellent place to read about it. The peculiar history of blacks in America is inspiring for the long road they have tread to a real place in the American polity. But one cannot forget the disgusting efforts by other Americans trying to drag them down.
6
@c harris, Thank you for the recommendation. I need perspective right now
Where men have tread, greed has found a footpath. So, I close my eyes to the sound of God's rain hammer upon God's man roof. And I hear God's wind cymbal shimmer through God's splattering trees. Torrential drippings patter and gush upon a renewed stream. I enter with the ever-smaller pitter. Becalmed I rest. Uprooted avarice sent slippery chutes.
Trump does not and cannot provide what the country needs most: leadership. A leader does not simply tell people what they want to hear; a leader looks ahead to see how conflict can be resolved and the country more united in preparing for a future that will be different from the past, no matter how many people wish they could go back to the 1950s. People need to consider that the US is fully committed to capitalism, which is always dynamic. Businesses, industries, and jobs arise, flourish, and then change or disappear. Effective leadership would take a longer view than the current quarter year, and work on plans for where we want to be in 10 or 20 years. I realize that Trump’s themes of demonizing immigrants, the poor, people of color, praising Neo-Nazis, and hating foreign countries, etc are appalling to me in probably the same way that some conservative people feel about gay marriage, abortion, empowerment of women, gun control, and other controversial issues. But conflict should not be used to get votes. Disagreement can be manageable in a country of over 300 million people, if everyone is committed to the true American principle that all citizens are politically equal.
4
So many of the comments here are in Trump attack mode and I appreciate that as absolutely necessary and inspiring.
But the welcome message from our friend Charles Blow concerns the long haul and how we can maintain our energy as we go forward. Let's face it. Hatred is tiring and in the end non productive.
As Democrats standing for justice and the good of society, we are many and different people may take the lead at different times. Sometimes we may rest in the slip stream of others at least for a moment with confidence that together we will lead our country to reclaim justice and the things we see as good for our nation.
Perhaps I am getting old, but the up coming youngsters will lead us.
6
Mr. Blow:
Thank you for this. A follow-on question (and one that I wonder has been discussed at the Times): as regards "... how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality," and "... the full depths of American racism and misogyny," how much of these factors were pre-existing, and to what degree were they/are they fanned by rhetoric? It seems to me as though the classic fascist demagogue's trick is to (for instance) create as much fear among the people as possible, and then declare the peoples' fear to be a cause for action. Is that dynamic not in play with the President? Whip up ethnic and gender-based resentments, and then cite those resentments as cause for action? I suppose there's no way to measure these things (pre-existing resentment versus that which is normalized and stoked) but it seems worthy of unpacking ...
4
The dilemma of the eternal struggle for equality and liberty, decency and respect—and the discouraged exhaustion it sometimes creates—might be understood this way;
“Do not be daunted
by the enormity
of the world’s grief.
Do justly, now.
Love mercy, now.
Walk humbly, now.
You are not obligated
to complete the work,
but neither are you are you free
to abandon it.”
—The Talmud
16
@SA Thank you for those uplifting and optimistic words. I needed that. After two years of incessant lies, the struggle to stay the course is daunting. I have a next door neighbor who voted for Trump - not so much because he liked Trump, but because he hated Hillary. Hate being the operative word. I commented that I did not see how I would be able to stand two more years of Trump. He looked at me in surprise - as if he did not have a clue what I was talking about. He did not understand how I could be so disheartened by Trump. "You really think he is that bad?" I don't believe he reads or listens to anything except Fox news. But we will keep on keeping on. We may not complete the work (in my lifetime - I am 76) but we will not abandon it.
Another excellent article from Charles. The mid-terms were one battle...yes, a large, important battle, but not the war. And we are at war. War not just with Trump, but with his followers...the deplorables. Deplorable because they are racist, misogynist, homophobic, evangelical fake Christians who derive pleasure from the pain of others.
So, yes. Rest up once all the votes are counted...and make no mistake, republicans don't want to count the votes from minority districts and neighborhoods. Republicans hate democracy. And Trump and his base hate the truth. And their hatred doesn't rest, but rest is what we need to recharge ourselves for the battles ahead...and there will be many.
I voted against every republican on my ballot. I hope you did too.
11
Great photo, highlighting his itty-bitty hands. Either that, or you'd think the guy could afford a better fitting suit.
3
@Francesca Yes, he does need a new tailor.
2
Yep. The hard thing to realize is that democracy is like mowing the lawn; doing it well never means that you’ll never have to mow it again.
I’ve been reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Red Mars,” and he cites Mao of all people, to point out that even after we get past our long history of stupid and crazy, we’ll still have to fight over what is true and what is not, and a whole lot of other things that really do come out of our still being people.
It’s a point I’d forgotten from Marx: history isn’t just the history of class struggle, it’s a fight to get out of a world in which classes fight, and into one where the important fights can start, between truth and lies, between old and new. From, “the realm of necessity to the realm of freedom.”
Sorry to anybody offended just by the names Mao and Marx (siddown already, I KNOW about the gulags, okay?), but it’s true. And it’s a darn useful admonition to anybody who thinks they’ll ever just build their Jerusalem, then go home and sit around. Utopianism may be the death of us, in fact.
But to stay science fictional, next time you watch “The Martian,” think about this: which fights would you rather have? Those, or the stupid ones we’re having now?
It’s STUPID to have to fight over global warming, over guns, over forcing kids to pray in school, over who’s got what in the next stall over, over a couple thousand desperate refugees we could figure out how to help without busting the bank. It’s just plain STUPID.
6
We ALL need to take time for self care every day. Meditate and exercise. Sleep.
Take a Sabbath once a week from Trump.
If people who call themselves Christians would withdraw their support from Trump who has told 6,000 lies and counting, he and the GOP would be in the rear view. Remember the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth: the devil is a liar and the father of lies.(John 8:44)
4
Mr. Blow,
"They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint."
If you grow consistently weary and discouraged in the fight, perhaps you should ask if it is your cause that depletes you.
You're a liar, Mr. Blow, and you work for an organization of liars as you accuse the kettle. You're fighting on the wrong side of history.
Donald Trump has many faults and failures, but he loves the freedoms and liberties of this country, and its people, and is warring against deeply-entrenched propaganda outlets like the New York Times to ensure people outside of the old-money, New York/Chicago/Los Angeles liberal political power structure have a voice in the future of America.
The rights of the people to self-determination apart from exhaustive government intervention and oversight, to necessary enforcement of our system of laws and the integrity of our national borders, to the protection of ours persons, families, and property through uninfringed gun rights, and to a free, many-voiced, and politically/corporately unmanipulated press are not negotiable.
We are not ignorant, we are not racist, we are not "homophobes" or "Islamaphobes"; we are the American people, and we elected Donald Trump to fight people like you, to keep organizations like yours from shouting down the truth. We will never stop, and God, who has established us, will aid in our endeavor.
It is truly pathetic the extremes some will go to to rationalize the depths the country has fallen in choosing such a disgrace as Trump to represent America. He does not believe in any of the” noble causes” you think he believes in.
You have been duped.
12
@BBHt Well said.
3
@Mike
" . . we elected Donald Trump to fight people like you . . ."
No, you didn't. The "American People" elected Hillary Clinton.
5
Charles Blow is my True North on political commentary. As usual in this column he is dead on about Trump fatigue and the necessity of not giving up the fight. Last week, I went to bed still absorbing the election and the news that Trump fired Jeff Sessions and then his appointment of a total toady to protect him from Mueller. That is a lot of news sleep on. Yet I awoke the next morning to news of the California shootings. Thought my brain would explode. No mas! I may as Blow suggests take break from the daily onslaught, but will not forgo his columns as they are a lifeline in a very dark time.
5
@Nancy hicks. Nancy, I am a news hound. Every morning, while I am having my toast and coffee, I read the internet version of the NYTimes and Washington Post. However, a few days prior to the election, I could not take it any more. So, for a couple of days I avoided reading or hearing any news about Trump, the election, etc. It was like a balm. I intend to do this on occasion from now on. I want to keep abreast of things, but also give my brain a rest from it as well. I recommend it!
3
@stb321
You are so right. At night I am starting to watch Netflix as a break in between news shows. It is like a palate cleanser that clears my brain and allows me to return to some late night news (love Lawrence O'Donnell). It is funny that crime shows and House of Cards are good "escapism". Says a lot about the news!
I love the photo
3
“Weariness” is exactly the term. Thank you, Charles Blow.
Quick shout-out to the astute photo editor for that headless shot! Please take every opportunity to crop out the president’s insolent expression, his water-menaced hair.
4
"Don’t beat yourself up if you need to tune out every now and then and take a mental health break. There is no shame in it. This is a forever fight. Once you have recharged, reapply your armor and rejoin the fight with even more vigor."
Inspiring words of wisdom, Mr. Blow.
Thank you.
5
Charles...Just reading your insightful posts every week helps me to "re-charge" and continue my efforts to battle Trump and his hateful, bigoted, selfish, and/or criminally ignorant enablers every inch of the way...Thank you!
5
The talking heads on television say that the outrages Trump cause are so constant that it is analogous to the boiling water/frog scenario and that we are being worn down by it all until we will tune out and lose hope.
I think the water had already been simmering for a long time more insidiously and unnoticed with the ever growing influence of big money, voter suppression and gerrymandering, all of which have been threatening our democracy for a long time.
What Trump has done is turn the heat up so the water is now at a raging boil that has exploded in the face of until now non attentive voters who turned out in very high numbers in last weeks midterm election. This is very empowering and can only encourage Americans to believe that change is possible. Young or first time voters are more likely to vote again in future elections and I believe that the results of investigations into the corruption of the current administration will only increase voter participation.
So take time off, rest up and regroup but know that this resistance is working and will continue. And thank you to everyone who made a difference and finally brought some accountability to this rogue Trump administration.
8
Here's how to get him out.
Vote him out. Too many Americans are suffering and still believe his remedies are the right ones. They are desperate for meaning and security in their lives.
So stop opposing Trump and start addressing that. Educate. Empathize. The loss of meaningful work is decaying your society.
Not every problem Trump points out is wrong. But how he addresses those problems often is.
I hope you succeed. The rest of the world depends on it.
Steve
7
Oh, what a wonderful article! I remember learning about the holocaust as a child and I remember thinking, how was this allowed to happen, how did the people accept such a thing? Too young to understand yet horrified. During the civil rights movement, the assassination of JFK the MLK, I was a child growing up in New England at the time, with Bobby Kennedy, I remember my mother crying in front of the television. I remember Kent State, trying to fathom how that happened at all, I remember the arguing between the young people in our family and the older folks over Vietnam.
I guess I became hopeful or despondent as I grew up started a family of my own and moved away from the US. Now, it seems as if we were sleep walking through what we hoped were better times, until now. With Brexit on this side of the Atlantic and what is happening in the US, with people once again full of hate and division I am very weary and worried for my children and grandchildren, when do we say, enough is enough. Thank you for this article.
9
Handsomely stated. It is past time to bring perspective to our current political landscape, as Mr. Blow (and his wise mother) advise. In addition to calibrating our actions to match our reality, Mr. Blow might further stress his admonition that the newly confected Democratic House majority prioritize the task they were put there to do: govern.
They now have a position and platform to introduce legislation, to articulate policy, and to reach compromise with the Senate and the White House that might mitigate what would have adversely impacted the country had they not taken back their majority. Whatever temptations there may be to "go after" the President now, the best way for the House to acquit its actions over the next two years under its new leadership will be to listen to the people who put them in office and take care of business. It is a skill the House needs to hone and hone quickly inasmuch as there is no knowing what may or may not come out of any investigations or, for that matter, whatever else may be coming down the road.
The Constitution provides for a critical and essential role for the House of Representatives in governing the nation irrespective of the political season. Mr. Blow is on point to remind us.
9
Until Trump installed an Acting Attorney General last Wednesday, I too, believed "The only hope is that the Robert Mueller investigation may deliver something so damning that some Senate Republicans view it as unacceptable." But with Matthew Whitaker, we are faced with a man of questionable qualification who is loyal to "the rule of Trump" and not "the rule of law" whose enforcement is the purpose of the Department of Justice. This is an existential, or Constitutional, crisis that imperils the Mueller investigation just as it appeared to be at the very door to the Oval Office.
Where is your outrage Charles? Where is the outrage by Democrats and even the few Republicans who claim to support the Constitution? We are in an emergency where we appear on the brink of autocracy. This cannot wait until 2020! It cannot wait until next January with a Congress with Democrats in control of the House. With reporters being muzzled by having their access to The White House removed, with the alt-right emboldened enough to send pipe bombs to leading Democrats and massacring 11 Jews in their synagogue, and with Trump threatening to tear up more of the Constitution that grants "birthright citizenship," who can feel safe? I know I, a Jewish-American from a Holocaust family, no longer can. If Donald Trump is not reined in with his apparently illegal appointment of a political crony and hack to administer justice, no one is safe as our Constitutional republic slides into autocracy.
21
WEARINESS Along with desensitization to dangerous violent speech--constant incitement to violence--must be realized for the threats they represent to our democracy. Yes, Trump's constant violence and lying are emotionally exhausting; hence limiting exposure to his illicit, vicious actions is important so we can conserve our strength. What Trump is doing is borrowing a very dangerous page from Hitler's playbook, Mein Kampf Vol. 1, where he describes the use of the colossal lie--a lie so enormous which, when repeated endlessly, becomes a dangerous, lethal truism. Or Trumpism! Hitler says that using such a technique in propaganda will cause even those who initiate the lying to end up believing their own lies. Trump knows this evil well and exploits it to levels of danger not seen since Hitler's reign of terror. He has been adjudicated of incitement to violence by Judge David Hale, when he told supporters at a rally to "get rid of protestors," and that he would pay for their legal expenses. Incitement to violence is NOT protected under the First Amendment. Yet Trump tramples on our freedom of expression daily, by spreading his 4.5 lies. Tell us this day your daily lies! Hitler used his great lies theory to stir up hatred and violence against the Jews in Germany. The result was the slaughter of 6 million Jews who were killed for the crime of being Jewish. Yes, Trump is sowing the seeds of a new Holocaust here in the US. So do whatever it takes to overcome the weariness!
14
Thank you for this writing. Thank you for the perspective. You articulated all I’ve been struggling with for two years ( 10 actually when I was appalled to witness the reaction to Obama’s election). I will rest for a few weeks but then, it’s time to start climbing the next hill to 2020.
18
I too am weary by all the anger, frustration, and bitterness around the land.
But your words have been consistently profound, illuminating, and darkly poetic. And even when you are damning a damn horrible man named Trump, you provide me with a succor and a vindication that there are still free and noble voices to fight for our country and our values.
22
With the economy humming along, Republicans were able to stave off losing the Senate. Corporations are human-made contraptions designed to maximize profit, with a bias toward quarterly returns. As long as the minority party--remember that many more Americans voted for Democrats in house races--controls the Senate and the economy remains strong, nothing is going to change.
Massive unemployment in rural areas? Republicans only offer tax incentives.
A planet reeling with mega-storms, droughts, and sea-level rise? Corporations can't find a profit motive in removing carbon, so Republicans *gleefully* withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords.
Obvious voter suppression in former slave states? Republicans only throw gas on the fire by recklessly claiming fraud without any supporting evidence. Dog whistles abound.
Massive corporate donations enable gargantuan ad campaigns clogging mailboxes and airwaves. (What happened to the caravan?) Republicans and Democrats need to step away from the trough.
As climate change and monopoly power continue to ravage our planet, a Republican Senate ensures a conservative Supreme Court that will continue on their current path of reactionary retrograde.
Damn Citizen's United as a vehicle of corporate greed. Damn Republicans for resurrecting Jim Crow.
Can this democracy survive under Republican minority rule?
17
Just what i needed to hear, Charles!
Ive been taking walks outdoors and reading novels that are positive and trying - with varied success - to keep up with the news, while not getting (too) sucked into despondency.
But some of us, myself included, while feeling happiness in our personal lives, are also feeling challenged by events we cannot control but which will leave a huge hole in our hearts. And that makes it all the harder to endure this terrible era. I speak of a coming death, after 51 years of marriage, and the growing weakness of my spouse, for whom every smallest event of living is a monumental struggle, I mean things like eating, walking several yards, using the toilet, taking a shower, dressing or undressing, etc.
We, thankfully, can discussn all this because he has his mental faculties, but he’s getting to the point where his will to live is flagging, where the struggle every day is becoming more than he has will or wherewithal for. It’s so painful, when you love someone. Made worse by the evil which surrounds us, flowing from a White House now dark and dank and dirtied.
My dear husband grew up under a Dictator. And it grieves me that he’ll die under a Despot.
Yes, I am weary, Charles. I will not give up the struggle for goodness and decency. But dang, it’s a long one!
27
What decent human being isn't sick of Trump? I remember thinking on Election Day 2016,"Thank God we will be rid of this toxic human being after today." Little did we know.
Trump did not fall from the sky (or emerge from the bowels of hell), walk into the White House and put his feet up on the desk. He has been around for a long time, but enough voters did not pay attention. They thought the "successful tycoon" he played in "The Apprentice" was something other than a TV fabrication. Spy, The New York Times and The Village Voice were not well read in red America.
We need to remember that Trump beat the other Republicans at their own game. Lies, smears, dog whistles and skulduggery have been their stock in trade since the days of Lee "Willie Horton" Atwater and Newt Gingrich. Meanwhile the religious right made loyalty to the GOP agenda an article of faith. For a generation of fundamentalists, Christianity and Republicanism are inseparable.
Trump traded in the GOP dog whistle for a bullhorn and proved you could catch more flies with feces than honey. He proved the extent to which Republicans could lie and conduct their sleaziest deals in broad daylight with impunity.
We are allowed to be sick of Trump. But to capitulate to despair and cynicism is to award victory to the forces that are destroying American democracy and fundamental human decency. Fight on.
18
Thank you, Mr. Blow! We take news-breaks at our house. The latest one, was for my birthday. We had been obsessed watching the election results, I was admittedly surpertious about watching. Felt the need to watch in other to support the Blue vote! Now, I am (my husband also) relaxing a little. Breathing a cautious sigh of relief. I agree with you....we need a break every now and then from the dysfunction of the so-called-President!
10
Amen dear brother. Years ago I learned that even Gandhi took a five year retreat! I also find it extremely helpful to have a daily spiritual practice. I heard a futurist in the early 90s say that spiritual practice then was a luxury but in the 21st century it will be a survival necessity. Spending some time each day being with that larger reality of The Absolute, by whatever name we give to the Presence of Love, I think sustained your people and mine through slavery, Holocausts and beyond. May the healing within and between us all deepen!
12
Weary? We are all exhausted.
But then imagine to be afraid for your life, or maybe your life is in danger and community or government is threatening you. You may have children or not, however to stay alive you decide to walk thousands of miles to a better place where you and your children will be safe. You know you will not be welcomed, you may be separated from your children but still one foot in front of the other.
HOPE/FAITH.
I am sleeping in my own bed tonight. I do not have to walk 13 miles tomw or need to figure out where my water is coming from, or what will happen to my children, or will my shoes make it. I am not that weary, I am not that tired. I am LUCKY. I got here before you.
My country, MY United States of America CAN NOT be weary or tired.
But I am. Oh baby, we all are.
So fellow citizens, while I take a quick power nap, can you watch out and make sure that everything is covered? Like the Constitution, checks and balances , fires in California , and welcoming new citizens. Ya know, these potential new people, they seem driven, determined, positive. Kind of like my great great great grandparents and more then likely like yours. ( Well, not yours Charles. That is a whole other issue which I can't even begin to address.)
Never mind. I will try to stay alert. No, it isn't that I don't trust you but I don't.
7
@Laurie Knoop
Thank you for that reminder of our blessings. The origins of my parents' families are diverse. My mother's side arrived in the Baltimore area from eastern France in 1718. Their purpose was to seek opportunities in the colonies, long before Jefferson but pen to paper to rough out the meantings of freedom and brotherhood. My father's family arrived from Sweden in 1897, thanks to the King's directive to my grandfather, a Swedish Lutheran minister, to build a new church in Connecticut.
The refugees walking from Central America are trying to leave behind a world of violence and corruption, much of that a product of ill-conceived American foreign policy in the region.
Yes, I am sleeping better since the Dems took back the House. But until the wannabe autocrat/boy-king Trump leaves the White House ASAP, I will still lose some sleep now and then.
7
I think the Resident is a gaudy, obscene, appalling distraction; the head of the boil. Yes, make note at the start of every article you write of whatever outrage he's committed lately, but go after those who have enabled him to crouch behind the Resolve desk: the Republican leadership, the Tea Party ghouls, big money and business and finance, and yes, even the Democrats most invested in retaining their power.
12
Voting Mr. Trump out of office is exactly what should happen. He needs to lose "bigly" to counter the "voting is rigged" belief that he's sure to scream about when he loses.
7
it's time to walk away from america and let her die alone. who wants to live in a country that would have donald trump as president anyway??
5
The fundamental problem is income inequality, Stupid.
Trump claimed the reasons are immigration, coastal elites and high taxes. That was always the GOP's lying story, but they couldn't get it across, because they tried to politely appeal to the whole population without losing the middle class . Trump just newly voiced it in a true com man's way that made it believable to the least educated and the not yet wealthy, but greedy to aspire to it. And Lo, there were enough votes and the Electoral College Bias, to make him Emperor.
The true reason for income inequality is of course unregulated globalization of capital, trade and wages. The ongoing support for that being the GOP as the totally owned tool of the large corporations and their Billionaire stockholders, who benefit exponentially as wages fall and markets swell.
Marx understood all this, wrote about it, and it founded Socialism. But Socialism has always been fought by the worst of human nature's appeal of capitalism's greed. And except for some of Europe, they have won their part of the world back.
I don't have hope. There is no historical evidence to support a permanent switch from Capitalism's ruthless law of the jungle. All experiments have only been temporary, including the supposed durability of the US Constitution.
Sad. . .
The picture accompanying the article was well-chosen. It is all we ever need to see of Big Orange.
7
They will tell their empty stories, send their dogs to bite our bodies. They will lock us up in prison... Carry it on...When you can't go on any longer, take the hand of your brother, every victory brings another, carry it on, carry it on.
6
Thank you Charles. Just about everyone I know is asking the questions you have put forth here.
5
Despite all the ignorance, lying, corruption and incompetence almost half the country still supports him. The United States we knew is dead.
7
"I would love nothing more than to write about other things, worthy things, more intellectually stimulating things."
Could you please do that, Mr. Blow? We need a break from all-things-Trump!
Write about how far Texas and Kansas have come, or how Florida still can't get their elections right or about Georgia's progressive outlook or about climate change or....
4
i'm weary of watching my blessed country sink into the ocean of deceit and corruption by this man. what i don't understand is why he is allowed to continue on his quest to out-tyrant all the other tyrants with arguably illegal acts. everything he does reeks of law-breaking, with his corporate cabinet picks, with his nastiness toward our allies, but mostly with his supporters of sub-education and idiocy. i would move in a heartbeat to croatia if i could.
7
If Charles Blow says it is nap time, I am on it. However, my time in service taught me how to sleep with one eye open. I am not so far gone that I surround my bed with crumpled newspaper so I can hear the approaching of Trump's lies. Instead, I use a frequency modulation detection system.
6
Thank you Charles Blow for giving me a good basis to turn off my guard and do something else for a short while.
3
When I saw that photo of a grinning Trump greeting Putin in France, I felt sick to my stomach. We live in sickening times. I always read your columns first because you make me realize our solidarity against the madness. Your mother was absolutely right.
9
"I doubt it will end soon, and there’s very little anyone can do to change that."
No, it won't end soon because the prejudice and cruelty of the right has been with us forever; it will take a long time to change it.
The right produced a system which not only allowed slavery but applauded it. It still reveres Confederate paraphernalia.
The right has always been complicit in the cruelty of discrimination, whether against people of color or women. It would jail people whose sexual behavior it fears or dislikes or doesn't understand.
The right hates poor people, despite the weak-soup Christianity it preaches. It demonizes the poor as lazy and stupid--Ryan's "takers", Romney's 47 percent, Reagan's welfare queens.
The right has always been against universal health care, though one would think as such brilliant businessmen they all are that they would let the government pay for employees' healthcare.
The right is against a minimum wage, which is still not enough to live on. It's against organized labor, yet hates immigrants who actually work for near sub-zero wages.
The right is the GOP in all its current glory. Like rats in a sinking sieve, they have clawed their way on to the back of a big, fat, orange alpha rat who has turned out to be nothing but another gas-filled mirage, who would let them drown. It won't end soon...enough.
8
Thank you Charles. I needed that.
5
I'll tell you one thing I'm very weary of, and that is the never-ending blind ambition of Hillary Clinton and her acolytes. Will God not rid us of this meddlesome woman?
I can think of no surer path to defeat than the nomination of Hillary Clinton to the presidency. Not just defeat for the Democratic Party, but for the nation and the world.
2
@rockyboy I suspect there is a lot of Clinton fatigue around the country.
1
Your mother was right, Mr. Blow. I suggest you let her help you with some of your columns. We could all use that kind of perspective to help us keep up the good fight.
4
Correction. There is zero chance the Republican Senate would ever vote to impeach Trump, no matter what Mueller came up with. They are cowards and traitors convinced their political survival depends on fealty to this odious man. And political survival is all they care about.
11
Is this the week that Mueller strikes? Please say it so.
8
Tune out? No no no no. Every morning at 5:00 I'm awake and paging through all the news sources before starting the working day. It's been that way since the day after the election. It seems clear that eight hours of sleep will remain elusive until at least 2020.
5
Mr. Blow writes:
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny?"
This has been my frustration for so long. The right wing movement reanimating bigotry, misogyny, fundamentalism, and fear of the "other" has been in full swing for decades.
In plain sight and sound.
All one had to do was turn on Fox or Limbaugh or radical right Evangelical radio for 10 minutes, or listen to their neighbors spout worse conspiracy theories every year.
Trump, for all that he is doing and has done, must be opposed.
But he is not behind the movement that is tryng to rip this country apart and remake America in its image. He is not bankrolling it.
He is just in front of it.
To defend against it we must understand those behind it and how they operate, then neutralize their appeal by presenting a stronger, more positive, more relevant vision of the future for everyone.
They want to undermine democracy - promote democracy to defeat them.
They want to promote bigotry and scapegoat "the other" - promote inclusion for all, decency, and generosity to defeat them.
They want to corrupt government - promote honest government to defeat them.
They want to undermine the rule of law - use the law to defeat them.
They want to promote fear - use courage and non-violence to defeat them.
Now is the time to get off their downbound train.
10
I agree with most of what you have written here, Charles, but I think that your focus on racism and misogyny misses another dynamic which Robert Kuttner gets right in "Can Democracy Survive Global Capitalism?."
I've never seem him write with more passion.
He strikes a different note in his very first chapter, which captures the thrust of what he is saying: "The Song of Angry Men," and he could have entitled it more specifically to the content, "The Song of Angry White Working Class Men."
Kuttner, as I am, is in a "minority" on the progressive left because he stresses economic alienation, not just on the material plane, when he writes that "In the past four decades, the economy has been turned viciously against ordinary working people." No, he takes it further and writes this:
"People had worked hard at jobs that were often hot and dirty. Someone had not only changed the game and taken away the jobs, but looked down on them for being losers. This was the injury that Trump understood and the message that he so effectively countered. It was not just about economics, but about dignity."
Long before this was written, or before the Times covered Anne Case and Angus Deaton's findings about "Death's of Despair," an obscure author, Joe Bageant, wrote "Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America's Class War" He understood, in about 2007, what was going on, especially the loss of dignity. Hillary never got that, nor Obama.
4
@William Neil
Great points...I actually thought both Obama and HRC got it well they just didn't do enough to address it. Obama's comments about guns and religion showed a depth of understanding but I think got really taken out of context and interpreted as elitist...but water under the bridge...we now have to reach across all sectors in conversation and to bring about policies that work for the 100%!
4
@REK
Thanks REK. It's not all one thing or another, and it is very difficult to separate race from class in America, and misogyny perhaps even more difficult. But both President Obama and Secretary Clinton were not from the working class, and their whole style was very cool, very upper middle class, stressing further education and new skills for the working class, something which Kuttner points out, was not required of them in the three "glorious decades" of 1945-1975...since then, the Democratic Party is the party of Wall Street, Silicon Valley, Hollywood and upper middle class professionals...
Kuttner senses the dangers of what excited Steve Bannon so much, that the Dems would count on winning a culture war based on race, gender and trans gender issues, and leave the economics to Trump. It didn't work for the Dems in rural red state America, whatever it did for them in the suburbs.
I would add that the economy right now is now working for Dems, is confusing in its structure of two good numbers, and continued precarity for the bottom 60-70%.
I liked John Judis in his book about the rise of the Populist Right pointing out that it is not the 1% vs the 99% but the bottom 70% vs the top 30%, even though amidst that 30% are the leaders of the various portions of the progressive "camps:" on race, gender, the environment, and yes, even the old AFL-CIO bureaucracy, which has been unable to speak effectively for or ignite a working class revolt - from the left.
@William Neil
that should have been "that the economy right now is not working for Dems...(as an issue) is confusing ...
The only thing that Trump and his administration have created is a narrative. The truth of his past 22 months is to be found in the details of the facts.
The question is why don't Trump supporters want to see reality. Perhaps because he doesn't hide his warts people assume he is honest?
The explanation underlying Trump's actions and words is a red flag of populist distraction to hide his self interest. No one's self interest is in the country's best interest. Always look for the truth inside the hard sell.
2
The Democrat's majority in the House should include mental exhaustion, confusion and bewilderment in the list of pre-existing exhaustion.
It would save a lot of money for those of us who need the input of a psychiatrist in order not to lose their mind as long as the self declared nationalist and very stable genius with the bigly best words is in office.
4
@Sarah
PS, confusion indeed, "pre-existing conditions".
1
It is a hard question, how do you get through a period when everything seems to have gone mad, when it seems like we are going backward? It is really hard, I am as fatigued and dismayed as others are at the state of this country. One thing, kind of like Mr. Blow's mom, is to look back at history and realize that what we are seeing is not necessarily unknown country, Trump and his minions represent the worst of us in so many ways, but this has been seen before, the farm "populists", the know nothings, these kind of movements were just as ugly in many ways. And yes, we have a political system, like the run up to the civil war, that favors a minority population wise (same problem, 2 senate seats for a state with 500,000 people).
You also have to look to the good, Yes Beto O'Rourke lost in Texas, but he lost by a relatively small margin. More importantly, while Trump is a blight on this country, he has an approval rating of 40%, and only the GOP base truly loves him. That means there is a lot of room for manuevering against his ugliness, it could mean supporting GOP candidates willing to stand up to him (few and far between), it can also mean going after those who vote for Trump or Trump policies with some real ideas. Instead of just blasting Trump's racist anti immigration hysteria, offer real immigration reform; ask people if the Trump tax cut has really made their lives better, or are they finding that the supposedly low unemployment is based around jobs that aren't 'real'.
3
Fully in agreement with you Charles. This struggle is also an allegory for life itself. Very few things come for free. True achievements need to be fought for, in a fair way. And then the satisfaction that comes with progress is incomparable.
Let's also remember to keep to the high road. There is no other way. We must "go high", not stoop to the level of those who continuously insult others with calls of snowflakes, whiners, socialists, crime lovers, etc.
History is primarily a long list of excesses. Balance is the hardest thing to find but is the most worthy thing to seek.
Trump's time will eventually come to an end. And history will not be kind to him, nor to his sponsors and devotees.
In the mean time it is important to speak out, participate in public life, support worthy causes, act as a responsible citizen, keep democracy alive wherever it is threatened.
4
Weariness yes but also depression and a feeling of helplessness. To see our nation day after day travel farther and farther down a very dark and treacherous path possibly to a point of no return. It seems inconceivable that Republicans in Congress could continue to treat our descent under this evil man as an opportunity to be exploited rather than the existential crisis that it so obviously is. The midterms were encouraging but in two more years under this madman I fear there will violence the likes of which we have not seen for a very long time and Trump will be the instigator.
6
“Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was
Same as it ever was”
Once in a Lifetime,
by Talking Heads (1980)
Democrats and Republicans need each other, as American politicians and Russian politicians (and, by extension, American defense contractors and Russian defense contractors) need each other as enemies to create the energy to manipulate people in a particular direction—although that direction will change tomorrow.
Fear is the biggest motivator in the human mind. Why else would we have thousands of active nuclear warheads in the world?
Without an enemy humans are incapable of defining themselves. If we have no Russians or Chinese to demonize then we will turn on our own countrymen (whatever that means nowadays).
But I am glad of the few out there—on both sides—who are perpetually maneuvering and talking, talking, talking. Meanwhile, I have to go out and get dirty working in my garden. Well, I don’t “have” to, I want to.
1
Thanks for the reminder Mr. Blow that saving this country from itself is a long game and that it is okay to pull back and sit on the bench for a bit. Please heed your mother and do that for yourself, your voice is needed.
3
I agree Charles but even today's news that Trump was conned by Kim regarding denuclearization won't dissuade his base from supporting him even though he's totally incompetent. They're the people whose energy seems limitless, perhaps because they're just not very bright and don't see the disaster Trump is creating.
2
How do you stop the infection of Trump, the alt-right, and the conspiracy theorists? I had a stunning moment of truth on Friday. I was working with a CPA on Friday. This is a man that I have known for 20+ years and I also knew that he was active in the Republican Party in his county.
We are in my conference room with two laptops and masses of paper strewn about, when he gets a notification on his iPhone and stops to read it. He then announced that Maxine Water's husband was causing the market to crash. I am wondering what is he talking about. I am a securities attorney and know a little bit about the market and how absurd that statement was.
So, I grab my iPad and hit the market app and indeed the market was going down and the news was China, oil and trade war. I showed my colleague and suggested that he get his market news elsewhere.
How do you combat that kind of ignorance, malice, and bias? This was not from some uneducated average Joe. The man is a CPA, with a longstanding subscription to the L.A. Phil. and the S.F. Opera.
6
@Fabienne Caneaux So glad you said something...I would also suggest engaging him in conversation about why he feels drawn to these sources of news...if he's intelligent he might be open to another path.
4
Thank you sir for another great column. Your words, and remarks by your many followers, provide a refugee in this political storm for this weary soul.
About that time out...it is another beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. To the ocean...for the salty air and sea stacks and the last leaf's falling from the trees before the onset of winter.
3
Mr. Blow, I don't know what we would do without you. You deserve our gratitude for your perseverance and for your careful and sensitive contemplation of these most serious issues.
3
I have always read your columns, but since the 2016 election I crave them. No one gets my thoughts and feelings as precisely as you do. Thank you for giving voice to our pain.
19
In addition to so many suggestions about what to do in the face of weariness, I'd like to add 2 more:
1. Make something, big or small. A video, a pie, a friendship, an essay. It will focus agency on the present and animate a sluggish mind.
2. Access the arts. A song, a play, a painting, a book, a comedian, can all release tensions that are hard to express, offering relief.
27
@Chris
Could not agree more about the soothing influence of the arts. Saw a moving opera at Kennedy Center, about the World War I Christmas truce. It lifted my spirits and reminded me that people can come together in even the most daunting circumstances.
4
yes. take up a new hobby. in the face if rejection and racism, I took up weaving, bread making, and spinning. I gave these hobbies my brainpower. To excell at hobbies will make you be proud of yourself. I recover from my depression. you will conquer other emotional hurdles.
read the poem. A masn in the mirror.
1
Weary indeed. Many days I just want to live in the woods. Oh, that's right: I already do.
Unplugging for a day or two works well. too.
Happy Veterans Day, everyone!
7
@GreenTech Steve I live in the Northern California woods which at the moment are burning a few hours north, smoke is heavy and hazy through the entire Bay Area. If this era is waking us up to anything maybe it's that there is no where to run and we really are in it together and have to pull together to heal!
3
As a person of hope and optimism I have long ached for those who speak of their depression. Yet, when it comes to our present administration and the state of our nation I find myself bordering on what some must know as depression. Mr Trump has so changed our condition that we seem to be in peril politically at home and abroad, economically at home and abroad, and, compassionately at total loss to human care and understanding. Thank you Mr. Blow for your continual thoughts on our peril.
24
The biggest problem we face today is the way in which people get their information. It's an enormous problem, larger than the media is communicating.
While fake news can be easily fostered by the common citizen or hostile foreign party, the stream of information is easily muddied. Because it's not just the fake news itself, but the distraction in facing it that could otherwise be serving a productive news cycle. The media is *surrounded* by this and if not handled appropriate, ends up held hostage. It's not just a fair and free media that is essential to a democracy -- it's a CLEAN one. Free of the noise of disinformation and spin rhetoric. Until this problem is solved, the struggle will be ongoing... and the weariness you speak of will be unrelenting.
5
To Charles M. Blow. Sir, your columns are a relief to many of us, an ethical touchstone in trying times, a voice of reason (and at times, much needed irony), an affirmation that our indignation is justified, our sadness shared, our resistance alive. Thank you.
46
Yes times have indeed been worse than they are now but I am not so sure that the threat to democracy and civility have ever been more challenged. For the first time in my 66 years I no longer feel that my so called rights and freedoms are impervious to attackers with ill intent. I no longer feel completely safe when leaving my home. Neighbors don't discuss politics for fear that it may be the last conversation they have. Comforts of freedoms that were once understood simply no longer exist and there is something very unsettling about that.
People of ill intent are literally attacking democracy with the intent to redefine it in their narrow view. The longer it manages to survive the more depressing it gets and I do need a break from it. But I fear that taking a break may allow the wall of democracy to be replaced by tyranny. If too many of us break at once odds are democracy will lose.
Soldiers only get breaks once the shooting stops, now is not the time.
11
Liberal to the bone, I have never been a flag waiver.
I do not put out political signs in my yard or on my bumper.
I have never in my life missed an opportunity to vote.
Yet, the last two years have helped me understand just how much I love this country, while grieving for its decline.
I used to devour the news, now it devours me.
Anxiety.
A significant uptick in my migraines.
A feeling of helplessness and uselessness.
I want to love all my neighbors, even those blindly supporting Trump.
What will my grandchildren think of this moment in history?
Are we not collectively better than this?
Volunteer.
Breath deep.
Hope.
40
It may be time for all of us to consider putting Mr. Blow's mother, and a cohort of her peers, in charge of our society. We could all benefit from their moral authority right now.
201
@Jane Hunt
Yes, the Strength of Black Women is exactly what we need!!!
As a white person, I extol the Strengh of Black Women I have learned from - as a therapisrt. Black Women who come from a LONG LINE OF SURVIVORS. Women equipped to deal with suffering, to inspire the courage and fortitude to SURVIVE.
Thank you, Jane! Thank you. Charles! Thanks to Charles’ MOM!
11
I smiled, near laughing when I read your comment - and then immediately thought, "She's right." Mr. Blow, how soon can your mother and partners get ready? It's certainly worth a try.
11
Well said Charles. Timely and so important - truth embedded in American history.
12
In a dark way I think Trump has shown that he does not let fatigue or burnout slow down his attacks on just about anyone and everything except dictators like Putin. It's hard to know what sustains him but I think fear may be what motivates him.
People have good reason to be weary and hopefully people take time away from the depressing yet necessary actions to restore goodness, decency and hope for America and the world.
6
First, Mr. Blow, everyone who works needs occasional time off -- if not a vacation, at least a respite. It goes without saying that that's a good way to rest and re-energize for the perennial work ahead of us.
Second, we're in this predicament because too many people thought they could ignore "politics," which is to say the direction and, indeed, the fabric, of our country.
Starting now, we all must participate in some way in civic life -- registering new voters, attracting those who say it's pointless, and making time to counter the multitude of minions who scurry about, jacking things out of shape, while we all go to work each day.
Encourage others to use critical thinking about a politician's claims, about a news source's arrangement of facts.
BTW, when is a person qualified to analyze body language going to review the endless litany of photos of Trump with his arms spread apart in that "believe you me" stance? Isn't it the obvious ploy of a pathological liar?
14
I agree with the op-ed, however we need to stay focused on 2020 instead of being smug which will not help. The election will come down to a handful of states and we need to continue to work on registering new voters and planning for the next election. Donate to organizations such as: https://www.vote.org/. The opposition is already running and we know that they (mostly he) will employ any and all tactics in their attempt to win.
10
Hopefully Robert Mueller can come out with his findings and end some of this weariness. And he can bypass this thug of an attorney general who has been appointed, most likely illegally, by Donald Trump and send his report directly to the House of Representatives in Congress . If that doesn’t work Congress can then subpoena the Mueller report. Either way there is a lot of illegality waiting to be unveiled , and while we might not be able to remove him from office immediately what we can do is wait until we get them out of office so that eventually if he is found guilty of these crimes he can be thrown in jail. And then , once and for all Donald Trump will not be the center of our national conversation.
In the meantime we must raise our voices in unison to show our fellow citizens that what is going on here is anything but normal and anything but safe and healthy for the sake of the country .
10
One a related note: I'm thinking, the reason my president didn't go to that first cemetery is because he was not going to be the center of attention. Just a thought.
Mr. Blow, thank you for all that you do. I always look forward to your thoughts on any issue you write about.
I have another thought. Your job of writing about our president, is much easier than mine and again I truly appreciate your work on this.
The thing is, most of us readers and commenters have other jobs and keeping up with our president's antics (and more) is exhausting, considering many of us are already exhausted by our efforts to get through our days.
In a way, this man has already won. Number one, by exhausting us. And then, he has stolen one freedom from us. I read this somewhere, the other day- "Our freedom to be left alone."
Never has a president been so prolific at being in our faces.
We are going to be stuck with this guy long after his presidency and even long after his death.
One day in the future, hopefully some one will mention his name and some other person will say, "Who?"
15
@ggallo - Honestly, I think it was about his hair. Weather like that gives him a bad (worse?) hair day. When the wind blows, his complete baldness is revealed and his intricate pompadour flattens. In addition, as you say, he was one among many and not the big reality tv star. I agree with your thoughts.
13
@ggallo
I think the tactic that all demagogues use is exactly this: exhaust and depress us, make us feel powerless. We still have a lot of power in this country as citizens and we saw some of that in the election. Not the tidal wave we hoped for but a very decent showing that there are millions more citizens who don't support the path we are on. That said, I want to say keep the faith: he can only win if we give him space in our heads and let him exhaust us. Find something that feels empowering to do in your community. We are not alone. Read Terry Patten's great new book A New Republic of the Heart about finding hope in these dark times.
5
@ggallo your president didn’t want his hair messed up by the rain.
2
Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Thomas Jefferson
5
Though the opening line is often misattributed to Jefferson, it nevertheless fits nicely into his philosophy of government. While the line was not original to Phillips, it is the rest of the quote that resonates with our current dilemma. “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few. The manna of popular liberty must be gathered each day or it is rotten. The living sap of today outgrows the dead rind of yesterday. The hand entrusted with power becomes, either from human depravity or esprit de corps, the necessary enemy of the people. Only by continued oversight can the democrat in office be prevented from hardening into a despot; only by unintermitted agitation can a people be sufficiently awake to principle not to let liberty be smothered in material prosperity.” Wendell Phillips in a speech to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society on January 28, 1852.
9
Amen, Charles! We all need a break now and then, but not from you and your thoughtful columns. I suspect we will survive this president, though it has not seemed so yet. Every time I think he can't possibly upset me anymore, he does the unthinkable -- the latest, his pouty, petulant, outrageous performance in France over the weekend. Apparently he's too good to honor our veterans now and feels he can insult leaders from around the world with no consequence to himself (always, it's about him). The man is damaged beyond belief, but hang in there, Charles. We are better than this.
9
I thought weariness was just a given.
I thought I didn't need to be given permission to be weary. I thought I didn't need to see this printed in the newspaper.
Boy was I wrong.
Thanks for writing this, Charles. It helps. It really does.
6
CHARLES BLOW AT FUKUSHIMA
I always think of those men who went into the Fukushima nuclear power plant after the earthquake and tidal wave set it on course to a nuclear meltdown. I imagine the fear that each man must have felt knowing that he was going into a situation of maximum danger with no certainty of success and with a good possibility of suffering health problems for the rest of their lives, if not immediate death while locked inside the beast of imminent meltdown. I thought: that’s what real heroism looks like, selflessness in the face of no certain success that still goes forward, courage transcending fear in the service of the larger cause, which each man must have known they may not even be around to benefit from. I thought: it must have come down to focus. Step by step. Steady as we go. One thing at a time. Get the job done.
And they got the job done.
Just like Charles Blow does, week after week.
The cause is democracy.
The enemy is the vile combination of ignorance, venality, selfishness, racism, bigotry, misogyny, hypocrisy, and autocracy known as Trumpism.
And Charles Blow is on the front lines.
His conscience is the first into the breach, and our consciences follow.
The men at Fukushima actually succeeded.
Charles Blow will succeed too.
And history will remember.
22
@H. A. Sappho Thank you! what a lovely column and reminder of the courage and vision it takes to live in hard times!
2
Building a wall is a tiresome thing. And building a wall against anti-intellectualism is even more arduous, because the wall is an ephemeral structure, almost Sisyphus in nature. Everyday the wall must be supported and nurtured. Mr. Blow, you’ve chosen a difficult task, but your readers are here to support you. Keep those bricks of knowledge coming.
12
As I see it, Democrats are wasting there time even thinking about impeachment. Mike Pence, while less flamboyant, is just as radical, incompetent, out of touch and mean spirited as Donald Trump. Better to investigate and contain Trump for now and send a very strong message at the polls in 2020.
14
To all these thoughtful -- and yes -- loving and appreciative respondents, THANK YOU. I too feel whittled down and exhausted by the never-ending absurdities / tragedies issuing forth from the Alice In the White House world of tRUMP and SHS, yet your reminders, prompted by Charles' fine column, have somewhat strengthened me this morning.
As a psychotherapist working with men, I often hear their anger, and as I challenge them to go deeper, to examine what lies under that anger and prompts it, the truth is often FEAR.
To your questions about how we could have so missed the levels of misogyny, racism, nationalism and other malignancies that supported and continue to support this foul bunch of criminals and their sociopath-in-chief, I remind you:
FEAR.
I say this not to excuse them, but to help us remember that what we are seeing is less hatred than FEAR.
9
@BldrHouse: People expect government to deliver fear reduction, not fear exacerbation.
1
Thank You Charles. I needed that.
NYC
Protesting (non paid) American Patriot
6
Maybe we could work in shifts? This week I binge drink and you wallow in despair and next week we change places.
140
@stan continople
Sign me up. please.
4
I can wallow Thurs-Sat if someone can partner with me for Sun-Weds.
5
@Katie
Katie: I’m in. Works get with MY schedule.
1
k seriously this is too funny; i'm starting to enjoy great photo journalism even more lately
"I, as much as anyone else, feel trapped by our current predicament. I would love nothing more than to write about other things, worthy things, more intellectually stimulating things. But for more than two years, I have written almost exclusively about Donald Trump."
I know, I know it's hard to focus on something positive and needs concentration, research, and reflection when Trumpgators are trying to drown you in the swamp. But. There are so many other matters that need our attention: Climate chaos preparation and mitigation, gun violence, resource stewardship instead of loot and plunder, education, and on and on and on. Would still be daunting even if we all agreed and were actively engaged.
Perhaps NYT could post a daily bullet point list of the egregious with no opinion of this so-called president and his minions and administration and give you and others a chance to do a column on something else? I'm not suggesting quitting writing on T.rump [Tyrant posterior] but confine him to a smaller space and not let us forget all the other challenges...
So appreciate your front line perspective, thank you for all you do. I'm a retired grandmother who wanted to participate with grandson, cook and sew and make flowers grow, and even I have battle fatigue. But I couldn't look grandson in the eye if I didn't do whatever little I can to help keep us out of the Trumpian swamp. (With apologies to real swamps everywhere, you do good work).
5
@JessiePearl: Trumpism is millenarianism. His fans believe that apocalypse is imminent and inevitable.
1
When David Letterman decided to leave late night Terry Gross of NPR said one of the things she would miss about him was how she always felt a bit better about the state of our country knowing people like him were watching and commenting on it. She indicated that it reminded her that she was not alone in her worry. That is exactly how I have felt about you, Mr.Blow as well as Paul Krugman of the NYT and Brian Lehrer of WNYC. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
11
Before he became president, Trump just polluted his family and business with his wild dysfunction. Now with a global platform, we see how easy it is for the dysfunction to spread. It's not just US citizens that are in a pit of worry over this person's behaviour.
In opposing, it's natural to want time-out to recharge batteries and gain perspective. We all need this. It's called looking at the long game and keeping on training for the marathon. Trump is the archetypal abusive parent. To remain sane we keep boundaries and limitations on how much personal access he has to our minds and emotions.
He will always be an irritating and nasty man. That won't change but like ourselves, Trump has no real control on future events. Sure he tries to engineer things to his own advantage but he is only a weak impotent bully who can't address problems face to face but sends his CEO memo in a tweet!
Keep resolute. Keep a healthy distance emotionally. Refuse to be offended by his monstrous conduct. Recognise his weaknesses and many mistakes. Lead a life of high personal integrity rooted in equality and social justice for all, oh and dream good dreams!
8
Mr. Blow's disgust with Donald Trump is certainly warranted. Unfortunately, I also share his pessimism that the current Republican party possesses enough integrity and courage to do anything about Trump.
Nonetheless, I cannot help but feel that his comments in this piece will do more harm than good. He rightly condemns those who have abetted Trump, but the worst criticism he can find for himself is the admission that he failed to recognize how thoroughly racist and misogynistic other people are?
I can only imagine that someone, somewhere, has read this commentary and remarked "And THAT'S why I support Donald Trump! At least he has the courage to talk back to those highbrows who always look down on me, and treat me like I'm ignorant, vulgar, and immoral, simply because I disagree with them."
1
@Observer How do you propose we address those who behave in ways that polite society would consider vulgar and immoral, and whose speech and written comments are bigoted and/or based on fictions?
If you or your ancestors never lifted a finger to end slavery or Jim Crow, if you or your ancestors never blinked when black people were bombed and lynched, if you or your ancestors believed the accusation against Emmett Till or the menace of Trayvon Martin’s hoodie, if you or your ancestors blamed black people for their condition as your wealth exploded due to government-subsidized mortgages, GI bills, and endless tax cuts . . . but now you’re quaking and whining about trump, then take a good, long look in the mirror.
The arc of history has been bending toward a trumpian demagogue all along. A country that accepted slavery, internment, lynchings, redlining will accept caged children, soldiers on the border, voter purges, mass killers.
Maybe it’s only fair that the privileged and unburdened are finally, at long last, shaken.
6
You can glance at a wreck, even take a good look. If you can help, do so. If you can't, call for help. In this case, in order to avoid developing an unhealthy level of rage, I suggest: Don't stare. Once you have heard him say that incredibly idiotic thing once, don't watch it eight times. Once you have heard Eric Swallwell or Adam Schiff rip him up for his latest malignant imbecility, take a break and rest assured that others are on the case, you don't have to personally counter every silly lie. And you don't have to be watching CNN when the press and the intelligence community splash enough truth on him that he melts like the Wicked Witch of the West. You will hear about it soon enough, and they will save the footage.
4
What a great and timely column, Mr. Blow. Yes, we're weary of fighting what is a worthwhile battle, but one that is often like now very Sisphyean. In an age of faux news with a trumpeter who has taken that very expression made so perfectly for him, yes, Mr. Donald J. Trump, those of us who oppose him must continue the good fight. Beto came closer than anyone has in recent time in Texas, and all that hard-won effort will encourage other candidates, and voters, too. New faces will appear in Congress, and just the facts will change our temporal landscape. KEEP THE EFFORT GOING. Get the rascals out.
6
"No hay mal por bien no venga" The Spanish saying means that out of horror comes something good. Trump may show us that we cannot allow politicians to make decisions that are technically beyond their competence.
4
Honestly I think it would help a lot if the press stopped covering Trump obsessively. Stop reporting on his Tweets or whatever outrageous thing he said at a rally. As you say, it's a given now that he is a liar and a crook. We don't need to hear the constant evidence of it. We get it. Stop going to the press daily briefings. They are all lies. Report on what's *actually* going on. Legislation, regulations, corruption in federal departments. By endlessly amplifying Trump's lies you are doing his work for him.
12
@kmcorby Totally agree. The constant coverage not only feeds his ego, but makes him want to do even more outrageous things to get more attention. Sad.
@kmcorby Well, I agree with you in theory. But I still want to know what he is doing while I am not looking. What you don't know can hurt you.
As much as I hate and loathe many members of the far right Republicans and their high priest Fake President Man Baby, one thing I give them credit for is the ability to constantly hammer the same message over and over and over again, even if that message is patently false and devoid of any real truth.
With the help of their far right propaganda machines, they can do this until the rest of us, as Mr Blow states, get weary and come close to throwing up our hands in resignation.
Well, as the Howard Beale charecter said in the movie Network, we shouldn't be left alone. First, he said, you've got to get mad. And we are, as judged by the results of the midterms.
Second, yes, rest is OK, but as sure as I'm posting this, the far right isnt resting. They're propaganda machine works 24-7.
So should ours.
3
Thank you Mr. Blow. I read your column when I need to restore myself for the road ahead. You don't fail, and this time, helped me gain perspective on how to continue. May these dark times somehow strengthen us to be better people and a better country in the end. I pray.
3
Impeachment would be a waste of time and money and an empty gesture since --given a Republican Senate -- there is no chance of removing Trump from office. It would be far better to hold hearings into his many crimes and misdemeanors and make them public while at the same time enacting meaningful legislation. To defeat him in 2020 one needs to understand the voters who continue to support him and change their hearts and minds. Trump is a scam artist -- one needs to expose this slowly and persuasively. His base understands promises not kept: where is the beautiful health care that he was going to replace Obamacare with? His base understands dollars and cents -- how much are THEY paying for security and other "improvements" at his golf courses. What does he do when he is not holding rallies or railing at the media? How much is he making from his hotels and how much has he used his office to enrich himself? Expose that -- without anger, rancor, or any appearance of vindictiveness. Expose these and his many other corruptions and leave "impeachment" to the electorate in 2020. They are being fleeced. Show them.
And one more thing: take a lesson from Trump's playbook: Go hammer and tongs after anybody who makes stupid statements to defend him -- e.g., Lindsey Graham saying the Democrats "will stop at nothing to win" about the Florida vote recount . Trump's base will not go crazy if Lindsey is attacked. Put such people on notice.
4
“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.”
― George Orwell
8
Those who fought and died for Trumps' right to be an inveterate liar, and for our right to question his lies, did not get a moment to rest. In all conscience, then, why should we?
2
This nightmare has resulted in a sea change in my life. I no longer remain silent when hearing others support Trump or his vermin. I speak up in explicit condemnation of their actions, no matter the cost. Evil must be confronted directly, immediately, and unequivocally. No more will I sit passively. Never again.
4
Like the "war on terror", this one seems not to end. The same old racist tropes are hoisted up the flag pole time and time again to dupe the dopes even as it threatens to destroy democracy.
Maybe Stacey Abrams and Andrew Gillum will ultimately lose their electoral bids to Brian Kemp and Ron Desantis, but a rainbow is coming soon and it will appear right outside everyone's front door.
5
"thanks...I needed that!"
2
Charles, what scares me is not the unholy corruption Trump has plunged much of the country into. It is what could be born out of it and after Trump will be impeached for good cause, which might surface soon.
What if armies of goons will start shooting believing his vicious and desperate calls?, what if we will see ourselves thrown into a civil war that will exacerbates the divide and spread like wildfire, not to be contained until damage is done on large scale?
There are plenty of signs that this scenario is not just plausible but to be expected given the excessive violence that has been planted into the feeble, ignorant minds who believe this monster of a president to be their Savior, hence a biblical mission to defend him and the "real America"... against liberals, 'invasions' of dark skinned people, scheming Jews, the Soroses and Macrons who declared war on America?
The present madness is the clear and present danger the country is facing and requires heighten attention and readiness. We must be vigil and engaged in the process of ridding the country of this debauched man and rotten usurper who is thoroughly despoiling everything democracy stands for while infecting vast swaths of the electorate with pernicious thoughts. Trump and his Republican sycophants must be fought with all resources and yes, with even more vigor!
4
I’m white and female and old and liberal. Like Charles Blow’s mother, I have found one way to survive our current abhorrent era is by reading about other bad, actually much worse, times in our country and being reminded how the human spirit survives. Most recently read “The Cross and the Lynching Tree” by black theologian James Cone. Powerful medicine for me.
5
Six years ago Chuck Norris and his wife tried to warn us that if Obama were to be re-elected it would usher in one-thousand years of darkness.
If only we had listened.
1
This seems like sound advice for the times. But I sure wish you had shown this much wisdom when you were exhorting and, frankly, belittling those of us who were reluctant to fall behind Hillary Clinton, and those of us who warned that the Democrats were heading for disaster in November 2016. Sure looks different now, in November 2018, doesn't it Charles?
3
"No rest for the 'wicked'", even if changed to 'no rest for the weary' may prod us a little, given that our brutus ignoramus in-chief was/is a superb demagogue we felt tempted to support, and then did so, in spite of his decades' long history of defrauding any and all that came too close to him, and an 'excellent' liar to boot. And now, his 'base', unwilling to wake up, has fallen in a spell, a cult of personality where whatever Trump says, however false and fictitious, is the gospel truth. His and republican's 'white nationalism' is the beginning of fascism...which demands we stay active in stopping their misrule...and deny his re-election. Can't we see he thrives by dividing us, and by sowing fear and hate with 'gusto'? Unless we are suckers, his miserable stance must be fought with all our strength. Nothing less wiil do, weariness notwithstanding. Restoring our trust in each other depends on our participation and contribution. Now!
2
Pay attention, and vote.
Simple. Weariness is an option for the lazy.
1
Thank you, Charles and photo editor, for literally hearing my wish to not show us the face of the PotUS in every article on top of every column. ;-)
6
I would absolutely love for The Times to not report on anything relating to him for just one week, if not a month, a year. But a week would drive him absolutely insane. Personally I have decided that there is enough op eds, psychological evaluations, outrage, disbelief, books with proof that this person is severely and dangerously unqualified for this position. I was told that my only option is to vote, I did and now what? But I so admire your tenacity and your words of encouragement.
6
I think I've read this column, or at least its contents, many time before, Mr. Blow. In it, you give your excuse for why every one of your columns for the last two or so years has been about the terribleness of Mr. Trump and, of course, the terribleness of those who were so despicable as to vote for him. You proclaim how noble you and most of your readers are, for struggling against the man. And you remain totally oblivious to your own faults and to your own role in increasing the likelihood that Trump will be re-elected in 2020 and you will be writing the same column for another six years. My sympathies to your loyal readers.
1
Charles, there are very few Americans who actually can feel the depth of water that we're currently swimming in.
Everyday when Trump comes up with some outrageous lies, we all think maybe these lies will be his last.
Next day or the next moment, he comes up with another horrendously stupid lie and we again take a collective breath.
Next day our illegitimate president comes up with another lie saying "It's not just a caravan of only migrant children and women that the liberals are telling us, it has some very dangerous people from the"middle-east" who're going to blow up our buildings like they did on 9/11."
And his stooges on Fox Tv. even beams up the images of few well bodied south Americans among the 7,000 + migrants and say "See our president is right. Those men are not from Honduras or El Savador. They're I.S.I.S. soldiers from Syria, Iraq and Lebanon."
No wonder with the pronouncement of perpetual lies from the morning hosts of his favorite tv. channel, Trump told Gen. Mathis to send 15,000 soldiers to our southern border with Mexico.
Even now when the election is over, our fake commander-in-chief has no intention to send those brave men and women home for the Thanksgiving that he'll be celebrating with his equally crooked family members but these soldiers will be celebrating in dimly lit tents eating prepackaged meals.
So even after watching Trump's total abuse of power, if some of our citizens give him another chance in 2020, then only God can help us,not Trump.
3
If you are tired of talking about Trump, start digging up dirt about the individuals and corporations who are gleefully reaping benefits from his atrocious policies. Tell us so we can shame and boycott them. Go after his enablers. And keep up the good work.
6
Thank you, Charles, well said. And thank you for continuing to focus on Trump. It is tedious, I'm sure, but valuable.
Once I realized that Trump's insults and belligerence would keep on coming, I stopped reacting to them so much. As you say, we already know who and what he is. It's more important not to let him distract from what Congress is doing (and not doing) and on policy implementation. It's crucial to keep focused locally on what we can do to ease whatever suffering we can actually see close at hand.
It's also crucial to do things that make life worth living, whatever that is: time with family, reading, taking a walk or a hike, engaging in the arts, whatever. Wonderful things still exist, so don't ignore them or feel guilty for enjoying them. Far worse to ignore them, or deny them, because good things need nurturing, too.
5
Thank you, Mr. Blow. You are comforting me for being so weary and feeling frustrated and guilty for being oh so tired.
5
I am so weary....Mr. Blow nailed it! I am not alone
7
Thank you Charles Blow for keeping us going.
2
Listen to your mother.
4
This is by far, the most inhuman person that ever occupied the White House. His repulsive behavior is beyond words. I remember when we said it couldn't get worse. He truly is the know-nothing President. We must get rid of him and start to repair all the damage he has done and will continue to do until he is out of office.
9
Thank you, Charles.
1
Charles, I think we as a country hit a low point when we separated little kids form their moms. And caged them. This is present day Jim Crow. People who work for ICE have become the tools like Nazis, they capture innocent folks who are coming for their citizenship interviews, rounding them up and locking them up or deporting them, leaving their families in utter hardship. Turns out the citizenship agency and ICE are working together to single out eligible families then catching them with shock and surprise by locking them up. What kind of inhuman behavior is this. That too these folks who have lived here, studied here, earned their living, paid their taxes, all done dutifully, not like the Trumps and Kushners who have only found ways for decades and decades, to evade taxes, to live in obscene wealth, while the rest of the hard working country, rots. This is one country where the lawmakers sit on their hands watching gleefully as families are split apart, 3 and 10 year rules. How can Jews and African Americans watch this and condone it? After suffering for years themselves, being discriminated, being persecuted? They are still allowing our government to do this. What is the use of ACLU and such watch dogs? Where are they? The whole world is watching and saying today in 2018 America is as backwards as Nazi Germany was between WWI and WWII. Head slap.
5
We hit a low point separating moms and children. Tragically it is not the low point. Many more to follow.
5
@Petey Tonei
Being an ICE agent, like being a member of certain police departments, gives some people with very low self esteem incredible godlike power over the lives of others.
It's a strategy that, besting even the murderous Nazis, the Stalinist and Maoist dictatorships employed to perfection.
4
Mr. Blow, If it was your decision in choosing the cropped photo accompanying your article or someone elses I want to thank you or them immensely. The withering effect of seeing the face that goes with that suit and tie and coat over and over and over again in this newspaper has caused me to consider cancelling my subscription more than once !
There, that is my “2 cents”.
7
@John Taylor
John - I wrote the same comment, yet unpublished. I'm with you on that and I'm sure many other opinions.
3
To all you weary Democracy Warriors out there: Keep your eyes on the prize, not the obstacles, keep the fires burning in your belly and take a lesson from history, this has never been easy or for the faint at heart. We are in the mist of a world wide movement that in my judgement, is as crucial to the health and well being of all living things, most importantly our planet, Mother Earth. I can not imagine anything more worth a fight and giving up my little self absorbed life for.
Excellent piece Mr. Blow!
4
Two words, Sir : Walk on. And thank you, for encapsulating my thoughts, and feelings, in a polite and coherent manner. I am NOT so civil and polite, as I’m older and living in Kansas.
Seriously.
532
@Phyliss Dalmatian. I grew up and spent the first thirty years of my life near Wichita. With the rejection of Kobach, I might even consider moving back. Keep the faith!
36
Many of us are still ecstatic that President Trump was elected and would vote for him again tomorrow if given the opportunity. He has made America prosperous again, created more jobs than his predecessor where the employment rate is the highest for blacks and minorities then it has ever been. There are a fair number of blacks who are pleased and like Mr. Trump and approve of his progress. They are not complaining.
President Trump is concerned for all Americans not just those elites on both coasts and living in liberal enclaves. He turned the frustrations of those in mid America and rural areas into hopeful and positive ways. They have been coming to his rallies in droves and just as many watch from large TV screens outside. Do those people sound like dissatisfied and disgruntled Americans unhappy with their stations in life. Hardly. They could not be happier with the success our president has achieved in two years. He is trying to secure our borders and only wants legal people entering our country. Many of us approve of his actions.
The liberals and progressives are just upset and frustrated that President Trump is still in office and that they have not been able to remove him. The Mueller investigation will come up with no new evidence and Mr. Trump will remain in office until the end of his term. The Trump haters will just find more flimsy excuses to loathe our president but President Trump still has many admirers. I am one of those proud admirers.
18
@WPLMMT, everyone is entitled to their opinions and every coin has two sides. Shared enthusiasm works when everyone is equally happy which is hard when people are prickly about their pet topics. Many of us felt exhilarated during Obama’s 8 years but realized not everyone felt that way.
27
@WPLMMT If you take stock in the Bible, you might find some clues in 1 Corinthians 13 as to why so many people do not share your admiration for Trump. He clearly is the antithesis of love and, therefore, whatever powers he might appear to have are "as nothing," and his words are "as sounding brass." A few economic crumbs -- indeed, a big huge pot of gold -- will not outweigh or offset his dark heart for those of us who are looking for leaders of good faith and good will.
56
@WPLMMT I'm happy that you are happy. Many good German folks also attended mass rallies and swooned offer the figure of their venerated leader. They believed that supporting anti-Semitism, burning books, and the superiority of the Arian race will lead the world to be a better place. Those who objected to these cruel and horrific ideas were persecuted, imprisoned (does the chant in your rallies of "lock her up" ring a bell?) and ultimately killed. Now that the vision of MAGA and its leader Trump proclaims to be nationalist, the parallels are eerie and clear for those who wish to see.
133
I read this after watching Michelle Obama being interviewed, and seeing her stirred up some hope in me, hope which had been dormant under increasingly heavy sentiments of resignation and revulsion.
Mrs. Obama described how, despite the obstacles she faced all her life, any doubt about what she could do just made her that much more determined to succeed.
Mrs. Obama also acknowledged how she tried not to get her hopes up about her husband's prospects for winning the presidency, because the possibility felt too incredible; one can only imagine how powerful both his victories felt.
We are still in a difficult political environment and ever aware of the dark impulses among fellow citizens. But good has triumphed before, and will again. No one is powerful forever. We already made a significant dent in what looked like a formidable Republican fortress. Some tantalizingly close competitions indicate that changes are within reach, even if not this time.
We don't know what will unfold during the rest of Trump's presidency, or how 2020 will unfold. We can't predict any of it. But when the lies and vulgarities are too demoralizing, remember the glorious chorus of "Yes, we can!". We'll chant it again.
311
The problem is not Donald Trump. The problem is the 35 to 40% of the electorate who supports him. We must work to change our system so that this minority does not have political influence disproportionate to their numbers.
541
@DBman
That shift was seen in Wisconsin and we got a new Governor and an entire slate of Democrats except for the extrememly gerrymandered districts such as Paul Ryan’s. Another important factor was that a lot of the people who voted for Jill Stein or stayed home in a huff about Bernie, decided to get out and vote. We are blue again--or at least purple.
18
@Pundette -- Other important factors were that Democrats actually campaigned in Wisconsin, and did not insult its voters, and offered candidates voters there liked.
13
@Mark Thomason can we stop with the insulting voters bs about the DNC. If an adult turns their back on their civic duty and democracy they claim to care about, in a time where a candidate like Trump is running, because no one came to shake their hands then as a country we truly deserve the government we get.
17
Trump's daily acts of cruelty and depravity can make the strongest person weary. Besides working for and contributing to candidates and organizations that are working to rid us of this man and his party, I rely on three things to keep me strong.
A walk in nature. Contemplate trees, water, animals, flocks of birds, hills, mountains, or a fountain in the middle of the city. This serves to cleanse, renew and remind us of what is good in the world.
Encourage the enthusiasm of youth. I always stop to talk to those who are working for Planned Parenthood, ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, a good candidate, etc. I tell them I've gone before them to do this and in my 7th decade I am convinced of the importance of acting on the world for good causes. I tell them that they are doing good work and to keep it up. This reminds me that there are those of goodness who will replace us.
Last and most important, I try to do small things with great love, as a great saint once urged. Giving maybe more than I can afford to a homeless person. Telling a clerk how much I appreciated his help. Making a person who is looking glum and worn out laugh. Being respectful to someone who is working at a job where respect is sometimes at a premium. There are countless opportunities and they have a ripple effect.
We can't whisk this man away, nor can we likely reach those who continue to share his distorted view of the world. But I feel that we can and will outlast them.
356
@TM
This is the key to the whole thing: love through suffering. Our thoughts create our world. Send your meditative intentions of love (also known as prayers —yes, liberals and moderates are entitled to know God) to everyone, including those who persecute you, including Trump. Think love and create a just and beautiful world.
10
Thank you. Your ripple effect has begun.
13
@TM
Thank you.
10
It is ironic that while LBJ was making this speech for the 1966 midterm elections warning against white backlash as a response to the civil rights and voting rights acts, (it could have served as one of your columns about Trump) Trump was being "educated" at Penn.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/05/opinions/lyndon-b-johnson-warned-us-about-this-backlash-opinion-zelizer/index.html
21
@James Ricciardi
I'm glad you put "..." around the word educated.
4
Charles,
Please don't stop. You are writing history that will be read and referenced decades from now when none of us exist anymore.
Thank you for keeping up the good fight. As others have said, I need you, and I love you, Man!
12
You nailed it, Charles. I have been saying that it’s a choice between staying current on politics and monitoring my blood pressure! I do take breaks and watch old movies on TMC or read a good novel.
There are no more “best words” to describe what occurs on a daily basis in our beloved country. I don’t know how to care deeply about children on the border, asylum seekers, health care, relationships with other nations and stay silent about what I see as a degrading of all we hold dear. And, the open corruption is something astonishing. As much as I disagree with a great many Republican values, I DID think that open flouting of the laws of our country was off-limits and to be rooted out if discovered. But this guy, Trump, just gets to do and say whatever he wants with no checks and balances. I find that my heart aches and I wonder what we’re leaving for our children to clean up.
Watching him have a pity-party while surrounded by world leaders and avoiding attending an event honoring our fallen were two more examples of how unfit he is for the position he holds. Now, he comes back to criticize the tragedy in California and send unnecessary troops to our border to fend off desperate mothers and children. The outrages never cease and it is exhausting, but please don’t stop telling truth. It’s important to be the voice for so many of us who are heartsick about where this country is heading.
15
There is one huge disadvantage to an impeachment of Trump, by both hoses of congress (the House tries and convicts, the Senate executes or affirms the House conviction"): PENCE!
Better an "electoral Impeachment". VOTE Trump out in 2020.
13
The democrats responsibility is to protect us and this nation from Trump and the GOP for the next two years. They should not even mention "impeachment". They should do what they can effectively do and put forth sensible proposals for improvement and change. And don't be stupid as they were in 2009-10.
7
@Philip Currier
Oh, yeah, remember that stupid health care thing they did in 2009-10!
2
Watching Trump lie to the press over and over again is wearisome. Lying is a disgusting and reprehensible act. I thought that most Americans agreed that obsessive lying is a bad human trait. But that doesn't appear to be accurate. Millions of Americans are proud to have a pathological Liar as the President of the United States. We even let him have control over Nuclear Weapons which could end life on Earth. Trump is proof that humanity is not protected by some Higher Power. It is up to us to resist this dangerous man.
18
I try to go "Cold Jerky" one day a week. Sometimes I forget. I am so upset by the current state of affairs that I jump right in, reading, listening, watching, and writing about the evils of the world's most colossal jerk in hopes that something I say will help someone see that he is an existential threat to Truth, Justice and The American Way.
I am planning to go Cold Jerky starting Thanksgiving and lasting for an entire week. All he really, really wants is attention and it will feel very gratifying to not give it to him.
89
Trump keeps making America grate again. I grate my teeth every time he attacks the free press, non-existent election fraud, the Mueller investigation, our foreign allies, the FBI, the Justice Department and all the other enemies of his creation. By now, all I really want from this reality show president is for him to just shut up. I can't stand seeing his rants on TV and wish the media would boycott his non-stop bullying of journalists and "press conferences" that are nothing more than an endless series of lies.
13
Waiting for the republicans to find something unacceptable enough to get rid of trump is like waiting for Godot.
21
Be advised, Mr. Blow, for the 8 years under Obama, about 60 million American voters felt the same as you do now.
Those voters had to parse through 16 candidates, many, well qualified. Only one spoke to their hearts.
Less than 2 years to go and the Democrats are ready to roll out the first string. All, of who ever shows up, will fall into one of two groups. Very progressive and "centrist".
The 2020 club will star many well known politicos. It will head headlined by one. I fully think "she" will go crazy if she is not anointed.
The new deplorables will be the primary voting Democrats. The other candidates will be headed to Minnesota. The newest residents in Lake Wobegon.
2
@Mike
A yuge difference between Obama and Trump: One is intelligent and thoughtful, the other an impulsive criminal. Odd how so many are so blinded by group-think. Truth will out.
6
@Mike And yet for all your dislike of Obama, he handed over to Trump an economy far better than the one he inherited from GW Bush. I wish he had done it differently, but nevertheless, it was a great improvement.
Obama didn't demonize his opposition, either. I remember only one comment about people clinging to their guns, but that's about it. Meanwhile, he endured Trump's false birther claim, which I cannot see as motivated by a search for truth but for a nasty attempt to slime Obama.
If Trump still speaks to your heart . . . words fail me, but I find it appalling.
4
@Mike What I mean is, there's a difference between having disagreements over policy, even vehement ones, and character. When I look at Trump, I don't see someone whose character I would want children (or anyone else) to emulate. I'm curious about what you find admirable in his character -- not just "get things done," but in the way he behaves toward others.
2
US public policy is devoid of consideration for US public mental health.
7
Alas, you are quite correct: "...history, fundamental and consequential, [is] playing out right before me with nothing short of the life of the republic at stake. And yet, at a certain point, words begin to fail, or the obvious has already been stated."
Nothing like this ever has been seen in our republic. But it is worse: this monster undercuts the pillars of modernity itself. The Treaty of Westphalia loses to tribalism. The beneficiaries of the Atlantic Alliance laugh -- justifiably -- at Trump. Brexit, Orban, Golden Dawn, Identity Evropa -- all are marginal without this ghastly buffoon. Every despicable action, lie, and ignorant decision are superseded the next day by worse. Daily, journalists ask: 'Have we reached rock bottom yet?' No, we haven't. We never do.
And the endless threats continue: that 'something big' must happen to draw us together. We are on formal notice of a Reichsstag fire, and Kristallnacht has already started.
Mr. Blow, I hope your final column does not begin with "I told you so." Because you, and so many wise others, have.
8
“It is very likely that we are stuck with Trump until the 2020 election, and even then the Democrats can take nothing for granted if they wish to defeat him.”
This is the thing people need to keep in mind. It’s very unlikely that the Mueller investigation will turn up something so damning that Senate Republicans will have no choice but to convict should the House impeach Mr. Trump. And on top of that, remember how everyone knew that Mrs. Clinton was going to win in 2016, and the polls backed that up: 2020 cannot be taken for granted.
6
When I need clairty, I turn to Mr. Blow. I am a member of several functional majorities: male, white, old voter. I hope for a majority of my cohort to get woke to past advantages we have had. To acknowledge the courage needed to give up some of those to advance the defense of our planet and restore the defense of government for the people. Again, Mr. Blow centers me. Write on.
9
It’s exhausting. Trump is a stunningly awful human being. I cannot think of one redeeming quality that man has.....zero. He lies, cheats, cons, bullies, threatens, and demonstrates every day how ignorant he is. His overt racism is beyond shameful. What amazes me is that ANYONE supports him. Why? What are they seeing that I do not? I am more deeply disappointed in his supporters than ever. How can they embrace such evil? Such awfulness? I thought there would be a total repudiation of Trump during the midterms.....I thought the Democrats had a chance at both houses of Congress. I was wrong.
17
@Aquestionplse
Many are not paying close attention. Others have vested interests. Still others have been persuaded for decades that one cannot be a good Christian(!) without being a Republican.
If Trump has done one good thing as president, however, he has exposed for all time the utter ethical, moral and philosophical bankruptcy of the Republican party and the religious right.
7
what they see is a tv personality, a "star", who claims to hold them in esteem, who cares about their issues and concerns, and who is the antithesis of the "elite" they feel is getting ahead at their expense while looking down on them as subhuman in the process. they feel elevated and liberated that Trump appears to make their concerns his own, and validates their anger and animosities. he's a seducer and a conman with years of practice in targeting his marks and taking advantage of them, turning the weakness of others into his own strength.
that he is an odious oaf and the whole act is a sham doesn't matter to Trump voters because he is on a full time campaign to flatter them and soothe their bruised egos. that he's terrible at the job is an non-issue. it's a phony but a strong play, and, coupled with very professional voter supression and our unrepresentational election system, worked well enough to get him in office, where his main accomplishment is continued bluster.
meanwhile, the very few ultrawealthy who use him as a tool to achieve their own avaricious objectives laugh all the way to the bank.
there is really no chance Trump can be impeached in the remaining half of his first term, no matter what comes to light. look at the map, look at the campaign contribution vigorish.
if we can make it to 2020, this, too, shall pass.
but we'll be stuck with the Trump voters for years to come.
3
Perhaps a more significant problem rational people are left with in America is how do you understand let alone communicate with people who are simply close minded and brain washed by Trump's lies and behavior and approve of what he's doing to our Democracy?
8
In a word, Bravo.
7
Another possibility: what if fulfilling our democratic duty means, precisely, tuning out Trump's fake reality show? What if the purpose of the president's sleazy fascist clown act is precisely to keep us running around with our hair on fire about him, while ignoring the Republican's party's daily assault on judicial integrity, the environment, voting rights, clean government, & economic justice?
6
Thank you most of all for using the word LIES.
12
The problem is complicated by the fact that almost half of all American voters, and a majority in some small states with two senators still don’t recognize the reality and the global risk of trump. Undoubtedly some, perhaps even most never will, but if we turn off the truth bullhorn, their numbers will likely grow. Please don’t stop, Mr Blow.
10
Thanksgiving 1950.
“From the apprehensive present, from a future packed
With unknown dangers, monstrous, terrible and new—
Let us turn for comfort to this simple fact:
We have been in trouble before . . . and we came through.”
- Edna Saint Vincent Millay
6
Iam weary. I am weary because the country has a President who lies with impunity. And it is not necessarily the lies that make me weary, but the lies that are repeatied by his aides and his Cabinet members, and the Congressional Republicans, and, finally, his voters.
I am also scared. Scared that maybe somewhere on the high seas or in the airspace over someplace like Syria, a war ship's captain or an aviator will do something stupid. And the rush will be on to WWIII even as the President goes on live TV from the Oval Office and proclaims "I isn't my fault".
God, what a mess.
9
The lying distressed me because a day may come when, in the middle of a genuine crisis, we have to be able to believe what this administration says. At this point, we cannot. The lying, obfuscation and rhetorical gymnastics they all engage in these days means you can’t trust any of them as far as you can throw them. At this point, any one of them could go on television and claim we were under attack and that actual troops were marching toward our borders and I wouldn’t believe a word of it without at least two other reliable sources to back up the claim. That is pretty tragic - and terrifying.
1
@athenasowl Let the words of the most popularly voted for woman in the world ease your pain,
"I ain't no ways tarred."
Trump has phenomenal energy to create constant chaos. He thrives and succeeds with it.
We must join together to fight him on every turn. Support the ACLU, SPLC, Planned Parenthood and many others.
11
Change, as Charles writes, is, by experience if not by definition, constant, mercurial and not infrequently just as poisonous as the element. Shiny and pretty it can seem at times, as shown by Trump's empty promises of great sums of money flowing to the working class thanks to infrastructure projects such as the world has never seen, promises that died a-borning on the teleprompter screen. Those tremendous trade deals he promised changed into tariffs that are driving America's agriculture toward bankruptcy.
What did not change was the depth of the well of latent American racist hypocrisy. What did change was that Trump replaced the bucket and chain that dipped only from the surface of that brew with a submersible pump attached to a fire hose that spews straight through his vocal cords.
Recharge when you must, but be quick about it, the flood continues apace.
4
As a Navy Vietnam veteran ('65-'69) and retired federal prosecuting attorney (1995-2010), I state "Bravo Zulu" [translated as "well done" for those not familiar with Navy jargon] and thank you for this morale boosting column.
6
With all due respect to your mother, she may have been through far worse, but we haven't been through far worse. Nixon didn't encourage his supporters to help him flaunt the law, and disrespect the judicial system. They wouldn't have done so if he did, like Trump's supporters do. Nixon didn't personally want to dirty every one around him as a means to elevating himself. Granted the people around him were already dirty, but Nixon didn't flaunt that. So, yeah, this is pretty bad. But fight all enemies, foreign and domestic.
2
If you decide to take a break from writing about Trump, Mr. Blow, then would you consider writing about wonderful things people have done despite the venomous rhetoric and polarization we've witnessed? The soul needs more than borscht soup. It's time for some chicken soup. Otherwise I may have to take up the old hamburger icon adage: "You deserve a break today, so get up and get away." Which country will it be?
2
Charles, your words and observations are not disappearing into an empty vacuum. We must all remember that Trump did not win the Popular Vote. Hillary Clinton did. Daily, I am inspired by your words. In addition, your insights remind me that I am not crazy. Every one of us are human beings & we must take time to engage in humanity. we all need time and activity to celebrate the positive gifts life offers us. Gardening and cooking help me relax, focus and "stay the course". WE THE PEOPLE must not succumb to a relentless Bully. A spoiled-rotten, narcissistic Bully. I am energized by the outcomes of the election. WE ARE MOVING in the right direction. If it helps, sometimes I visually envision Mr. Trump melting into a puddle on the floor like one of the Wicked Witches in the Wizard of OZ. We must keep moving forward. The lives of our children and their children depend on it.
7
This piece really resonates with me. I am tired of reading all the horrors of the assault on knowledge by Trump and the GOP. I cannot stand listening the continuous support of Trump in my red area of the country, especially by people who I thought were decent. Everyday is disgusting. When will the bad dream end?
7
Thank for your words. They help me get through the day.
5
Trump's election, for the first time in my life, made me feel in the minority. As a white male, I don't profess to understand what what it is like to walk in American as a person of color. However, I was utterly struck and my sails deflated when I realized that 80% of my white male friends felt fundamentally different about what the US stands for. That we were so weak, so scared, and so uneducated to fall for his lies, racism, and poorly laid plains for what ails us. Now I walk this earth with anger at the white men I see but do not know. Only through interaction with white men I do know, realizing they are the same people as before, comfortable with their cognitive dissonance, have I been able to remain kind and engaged. The civil rights movement has provided us with an answer for this time, grace, exemplified by people of color living gracefully with the white unmoral majority.
10
Mr. Blow, you are absolutely right, especially in this:
"... How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny? How could we not remember that American progress has always been like a dance with a disagreeable partner, stumbling backward as well as moving forward?"
I think it is akin to finding out your uncle or friendly neighbor or priest has been abusing the local children in your neighborhood - it is so abhorrent and you find yourself trying to understand how you could not have known.
Now you have to let the slow arc of justice work - it is our way - yet something seems much too slow for such a crime.
6
The old white men of the GOP ply their dirty tricks, no longer under cloak of night, but right out in the open. Never before in my lifetime have I watched this level of skullduggery, whether it be their ridiculous approval of Kavanaugh, or Brian Kemp's conflict of interest in the Georgia race. What it has brought to the fore is that old white men have to cheat and lie to hold on to their place on pedestals. Even THEY can no longer pretend that their powers are part of a natural order of things. Their patriarchy is now vividly exposed as based on abuse of power.
7
We may have the odds stacked against us in removing trump but we must remain ever vigil and as stand as witnesses to his atrocities and treachery. The biggest thorn in trump's side is that vigilance, calling out his lies, investigating his history as well as his present actions. It is the one thing that seems to scare him as evidenced by his lashing out against the press and the Mueller investigation. We need to keep him frightened and off balance.
4
During the 2016 election we learned that a large portion of Republicans holding office are sheep with little backbone. They bend and reverse course easily.
The good news is they are like a willow tree. The willow tree will bend either way depending on which way the wind is blowing.
Once the wind of Trump starts blowing against him Republicans will go with the wind. Trump will make a critical error and other Republicans will quickly rejoice and pile on.
As Yogi Berra use to say "It'ain't over until it's over".
3
Is that really your best optimism, Mr. Blow? Whether it's R+0 or R+4 in the Senate really doesn't matter. You need 2/3rds to convict. McConnell would have to decide that it was better for the R's or at least for his own career to exchange Pence for Trump. For the Corporate Persons, that's pretty easy, Pence will not harm the corps, but Trump might and arguably has. If he does more, then Trump is out. And Pence might actually have a better chance in 2020 than Trump. That's my best optimism. Why is it too rose colored?
2
Your Mother's words, Charles Blow, when Trump was elected were wonderfully true, that "we've been through worse". An albatross named Trump is hung about our American necks for the foreseeable future. Maybe till 2020. We all desperately need a mental health break from our struggle for goodness and decency during Trump's malign presidency. Your words are a comfort in these frightening times. History and heartbreak are just the fundamental things that apply as time goes by.
3
We talk about an event and then tie it to trump's predictably despicable response and/or lie.
I think the press needs to ignore his lies. His tweets are not representative of the presidency and thusly do not carry the honor normally associated with that office.
@C Lee
The press needs to report Trump's lies, but it must never treat them as factual. They must be identified at every opportunity as LIES. Not alternative facts. Not misstatements. Not falsehoods. Not "this requires clarification." But LIES.
1
Charles, thank you again for supporting decency, justice, truth, and common sense in this age of the Liar-in-Chief at the helm of this country. We do need to take a break from his constant nonsensical rants and inappropriate non-scientific reasonings, and we also need to recharge our batteries, reinforce our armamentaria and gird for an epic battle in the upcoming 2020 contest. It will require all our strength and commitment to restore our country to the level of common decency we all deserve.
4
I wake up every morning vowing to take a break from the news. Yet like a moth drawn to the flame here I am reading the NYT. I can see by the comments my fatigue is shared by others. Charles keep writing your great columns we must keep informed.
2
I look forward to Mr. Blow's articles and the commenters here, it's become a sort of virtual support group where I know I will find nuggets of wisdom and pools of hope, during this horror of a nightmare that isn't ending but keeps getting worse. We do need to stick together, take breaks and it helps to remember we have been through bad things before. I am also constantly (still) sad that so many of my fellow Americans are apparently such racists, misogynists, and hate filled. It saddens and frightens me and makes me wonder how I did not know or see the depths of their amorality, hatred and fear. But now we know. And now we know how easy it is for the many to be manipulated. They are a sad fragile lot, dangerous, but sad.
Thankfully not everyone is this sad and demented, the majority did not vote for Trump. That is the one thingbthat gives me the most hope. Hope and truth will set us free.
2
Many Americans seem surprised at the level of racism, bigotry and hatred that has been brought to the surface by Trump and his dastardly band of sycophants. But those ugly attitudes have been here all along, part of our nation’s history #DNA. Denial of that truth enables some to sleep better at night and others to challenge folks on the receiving end to “just get over it.” Trump et al use fear of “other” is used as a bludgeon in current discourse. Nothing new there. But “other” is us. That reality was underscored during this election and in response to the naked embarrassment that is trumpism. Millions of Americans marched and knocked on doors and came out to vote in a referendum on this would be dictator because they actually value of our multicultural nation, and the richness of our diversity. They are Americans who do not want a return to 1950 but a move forward to a more united future. That’s what this election revealed. The change in the House includes more women, more people of different colors,cultures, sexual orientations, religious choices and definitely more people who know what economic struggle feels like. The discourse and decision making will reflect these changes. Progress is slow, slow, slow. We just need to rest up briefly so we can keep moving (forward).
3
I do take comfort in knowing there are many good people in this country who feel outrage fatigue, and yet also know “this too shall pass”. Thank you for your intelligence and insight, Charles.
3
Well put, Mr. Blow, and actually more hopeful than not hopeful. To remember that your mother said we have been through worse ... well, maybe not in MY lifetime (I am only 74, after all), but that change is constant and that constant changes, this is what I do to keep some bit of hold on my sanity and my hysteria for fear we are doomed, we are all doomed. I shall take your advice. I'll take a mental health break now and then, and then jump back into the fray. What else, after all, can I do?
2
I remind myself that we went through the Civil War and the horrible (for blacks in the South) Reconstruction that followed. Yes, we've been through worse, and yes, it's OK to take a break now and then from working against the evils of Trumpism, but we cannot give up and must not despair.
1
Remain well so that you may remain steadfast, honest, ethical, and outraged.
5
A right to weariness does not displace a duty to be an informed citizen.
3
Maybe it’s time to focus on other issues going on in America rather than the “fake president.” As noted, Trump lies all the time, so why bother calling him out, doing so has made no difference in his behavior.
How about focusing attention on the endless war. Next up, America’s opioid problem, that just keeps killing people. Forget gun control, that’s a lost cause in America. What about education, shine some light on Madam Betsy to see what she’s managed to destroy. Coverage of the dismantling of the EPA and other regulatory agencies will show America what is going on behind the curtain.
Get Trump off the front page for a while. He’s a bully who simply wants attention. Not putting him on page 1 will probably cause a temper tantrum, he will take to Twitter to vent. As long as he’s not tossing the nuclear football who cares. Give everyone including yourself a break. There will be plenty of time in 2020 to put Trump back on page 1.
3
Charles Blow, you are a treasure. I rely on you and your writing as much as I rely on my closest friends and allies in this fight. Like my fellow reader stated below, I will print this out and carry it with me. Thank you.
3
Enshrined in the Constitution is freedom of speech. In the age of Jefferson, it was a wonderful thing. In the modern age, this right can be easily abused by those without a moral compass.
When it is the President who is so liberated from the normal shackles of decency and shame, it is a huge problem.
This calls for creativity on the part of the press. When the President refuses to follow basic standards of truthfulness and decency, you have to change the game.
I have heard criticism of CNN's Acosta. Some claim he is a "showboat." Hmmm. Perhaps but from what I have seen, Mr. Acosta is asking the hard questions of the greatest fraud and showboat in history. Please tell me we are not holding one member of the press to a higher standard than the supposed leader of the free world?
No. Trump is a child who thrives on the attention of the press. We need new standards for Trump and his media machine.
The plain and obvious truth is that Trump and Sanders are liars. This isn't a one off thing. This is standard operating procedure.
So if it is the job of the media to report news, then this nonsense isn't something that should be reported.
Does anybody believe that attending a Whitehouse press briefing with Sarah Sanders is a news-worthy event? She creates propaganda films. She takes the Trump's lies and either recycles them or spins them.
It pollutes the marketplace of ideas.
Enough.
Don't go. Let fox "report" on the circus.
1
Of course I support the battle against bigotry, racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, misogyny and xenophobia, but there comes a time when one just cannot take any more of the hatred. The best solution is exile. There is nothing dishonourable about leaving a sinking ship.
2
Your point is well taken. This president has ground us to a halt with his daily barrage of lies, insults and lack of any understanding of history. Why turn on the news as, day after day, it is the same drivel? Only his choir finds him interesting.
Occasionally, some light filters through to recharge the system. This past week was just such a moment. The election was a reminder that our democracy can function and we can distinguish between the distorted politics that engulf us. We have not lost the ability to vote.
This past weekend was another wake up moment. Looking at how poorly he fares abroad with our closest allies and his total disrespect for our war dead got the juices going again. The warm greeting with Putin said it all.
Just like those who gave some or all in the great war, we need to be vigilant. We cannot let the daily droning from the White House bore us into complacency or this will no longer be OUR country.
2
"Do we have a right to weariness in an era of animus? "
Mr. Blow, you are 48 years old.
At some point in your life, if you are lucky, you will not ask if you have a right to weariness, but it will just happen: you will be weary, and it makes no difference regarding what.
So celebrate your energy now. Ar some point everything becomes a chore and not just churning out anti-Trump op-eds.
"Don’t beat yourself up if you need to tune out every now and then and take a mental health break. There is no shame in it. This is a forever fight. Once you have recharged, reapply your armor and rejoin the fight with even more vigor."
This is true about life in general. Skip a day. Don't read Opinion or make due with Ms. Renkl in Opinion on raking leaves (without looking for the hidden message).
2
When I feel weary and exhausted by all the relentless Republican corruption and mendacity I turn to Randy Rainbow: For his combination of true intelligence and creativity quickly revives me and allows me to return to the fray.
My heart sinks every time this despicable man represents America abroad, as he did this weekend in Paris for the 100th year anniversary of the First World War armistice. He scowled and swaggered through every event that he didn’t skip. The only time I saw him smile, was yesterday when the late-arriving Putin came over to shake his hand and give him a pat at the Arc de Triomphe. He glowered with shoulders hunched as Macron warned of the dangers of “nationalism” and “global warming” and the “betrayal of truth,” and at the end of the ceremony, while other world leaders mingled and chatted, he jutted out his chin and kept apart. Needless to say he will not participate in the Forum for World Peace being held over the next two days.
The contrast with Barack Obama, who represented us internationally with such grace, dignity and eloquence wherever he went, could not be starker. He made every expat like myself proud to be American.
Now I only feel ashamed.
4
I had hoped Trump was an anomaly. A racist, undereducated, insulated, misogynist who has the money to never have to deal with the consequences of his behavior. But what causes me the most distress are conservative friends, or should I say former friends, who have jumped right on the Trump bandwagon of white, straight only. I thought they were good decent people, albeit slower to accept changes that have come too rapidly for them. But there is a vileness that has been uncovered and it is not in Washington D.C. but down the street. That is harder to ignore. When Trump goes back to his gilded cage, the nastiness will still remain for us to deal with.
4
Angry, dysregulated, paranoid people take the scapegoats that are handed to them. The base would not be nearly as convinced by racism if racist tropes were not reinforced by Fox News and Breitbart 24/7 for the last decade.
People learn emotional self regulation or not in EARLY childhood. The base has been angry since first grade... Many of them were raised harshly (Evangelical spare the rod). Trump has validated their internal rage and told them lies about the causes of it, and the solutions.
We must spend the next two years addressing the base in a different way. We must let them know that they are being grifted.
We can let them know by the blue House passing piece after piece simple legislation that DOES what Trump claims to do. That protects the ACS. That protects the enviornment. That offers an infrastructure package.
We can let them know they are bring fooled, robbed, and humiliated by their pretend helper.
There is enough to go around in this country if we stop helping billionaires get richer. There is a false choice between us and them. We can help us AND them. But we have to stop catering to corporations and the ultra wealthy.
Take a few good deep breaths, read Margaret Renkl’s column this morning, then follow her advice as well as that here. Things have been worse and will most likely get worse again. Give thanks that the chief cause of your disturbance is on a different continent for the moment. Now, another few deep breaths, and on with your day!
After two years of a relentless onslaught of lies and corruption we're still standing. We finally won a battle. Looking around, the Republican carnage is massive. They stole a trillion dollars and they want more. They stole the presidency, the Supreme Court, voting rights, healthcare, environmental protections and they still want more.
Take a deep breath, count to ten, put down your phones, sing a song, do a dance, tell a joke. Then get back in the fight.
On my fridge a quote to read each morning:
“Action requires that we shed our cynicism. For when it comes to the pursuit of justice, we can afford neither complacency nor despair”
President Obama’s, 2015
Truer words were never spoken. A quote to live by as we traverse this perilous era.
3
"How can so many of our neighbors condone open hostility to minorities, the press and the truth?" The answer is obvious, Mr. Blow. It's because you have condoned and encouraged open hostility towards everybody who doesn't agree with you and your ideology, including those who voted Republican, every week in this newspaper. The way you've framed the debate, there is no such thing as a Republican or a populist. To you they're all just white supremacists or fascists, and they don't like being thought of that way. So even though some of them don't like Trump, they'll vote for him anyway.
You can argue that Republicans actually have an ideology. You can argue that they actually have policies worth pursuing. You can argue that they are pursuing something worthwhile in allowing themselves to become the party of Trump and giving their loyalty to him. You can even argue that not being “PC” (whatever that means) has some kind of rejuvenating effect in politics. You can even argue that there may be some kind of worthwhile method to Trump’s madness. What you can’t argue is that he uses power to hurt people personally and that he gets pleasure from it. Trump is a cruel man whose behavior doesn’t just exceed political norms. There is no justification for it. It would be unacceptable to any decent human being at any time in human history. You can’t let yourself get weary resisting gratuitous cruelty and evil or shining a light on it. Buy into whatever political agenda you think he is advancing if you want to but on a personal human level this man is an abomination, and anyone who is willing to overlook it to secure some political gain can never be excused and will someday have to answer for it.
I hear this. Why aren't we hearing about the extraordinary things NASA is accomplishing? The Hadron collider? Or the advancements in solar and wind power? Or the achievements of our MacArthur Award winners? Or the extraordinary advancements in cancer treatment? What about what the National Park Service is trying to do with huge money cuts? Or the NOAA, an agency critical to knowing weather impacts in our country?
Instead, we have to read over and over the weary muddy path of 45*'s idiotic antics, his distasteful and largely inarticulate surgery-enhanced current wife, his thieving children, and the political sycophants slobbering for this monster's approval. Somebody should notice that the crowds for the Nuremberg rallies are drying up. Or maybe we should just ignore them altogether.
I feel that Mr. Blow's calls for "goodness and decency" are specious and hypocritical. The daily accusations and hostility toward Trump and the right, the assigning of the most evil motives, no matter what they do, are dividing the country even further.
1
We must suffocate Donald J. Trump. No, not literally, but figuratively.
Whenever things do not go in his way in his self-referential world, he reaches into his magician's top hat and pulls out a new more attention-grabbing action, statement or executive order to reclaim our attention.
Do not give it to him.
Deny him the oxygen of attention he seeks and requires to continue to practice his confidence game. Get a large pickle jar and put in on the counter. Whenever Mr. Trump gets you ready to scream, put $5 into the jar. Then, turn off the television and go for a walk.
When the jar is laden with cash, count it out and send it to an Andrew, Stacey or Beto ready to put it to good use.
Pledge to have one day a week when you do not use the word Trump (except, perhaps, in playing bridge) in speaking or typing. Next month, make it two days a week. And so on.
Extrude him from your life. Spend some time at a food bank or Habitat for Humanity or wherever your interests lie. Give to your community and recharge yourself.
While we cannot bring down Mr. Trump by force of will, we can lift others up and deny him the preeminent role in our lives he craves only slightly more than money and power.
Just remember this mantra: Donald who?
2
"It is very likely that we are stuck with Trump until the 2020 election, and even then the Democrats can take nothing for granted if they wish to defeat him."
Dear Mr. Blow -
My attempts at correspondence with DNC results only in appeals to send more money.
Any chance you might seek and report an interview with Tom Perez, to find out whether his post as head of DNC is a paid position, and if so what he actually and concretely does and plans to do there toward 2020 to earn his keep?
Charles-- it is You, and those like you in the media, standing up for Reason and Freedom, and Justice, who should have the Medal of Freedom.
And. I believe, someday you will, metaphorically or not.
We shall overcome.
1
Charles, keep up the good fight. We need a 'witness' every week.
What I wanted to compliment the editors on for this piece is the 'headless' Trump photo. This is the way I'd like to see the man portrayed in every photo in the NYT. Seeing his face makes me ill, and I suspect I'm not alone in this. And besides, it's an accurate portrait. Cheers folks.........
1
After time a person like trump starts to get played out, to become background noise as people come to realize its all just hot air and move on. We saw that in Paris this weekend as the European leaders basically moved past trump and left him looking like a fool. We saw it in the midterms as many voters moved past his horrible talk and elected good people. Stand fast America as he will become just a breath of very bad air.
1
Charles, I'm most concerned with the immorality of both the Democrats and the Republicans. In 1959 Bertrand Russell said "... look only, and solely, at what are the facts ... love is wise, hatred is foolish."
Charles, Americans should end the 1%'s corrupt political duopoly. Of course, they should all vote. (Unfortunately, they don't.) But Americans should just stop voting for Democrats and Republicans because they are the problem and not the solution. Albert Einstein is frequently credited with this wisdom: "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." I don't think Americans are insane, Charles, but they have been duped by the corporate media into believing that the two-party system cannot be changed. We can change everything - except for the laws of mathematics and physics.
William Goldman wrote in the screenplay for "All the President's Men", "Follow the money." Who profits from promoting division and hatred among the 99%? Who profits from selling the means to destroy and kill? Americans should not be perplexed by the cause of the almost daily mass shootings. As James Carville might say, "It's the guns, stupid."
Charles, please rest briefly to recharge your batteries. But then continue your personal struggle for goodness and decency. Humanity needs your voice to be strong and clear.
Thanks Mr. Blow, your piece was uplifting. Weariness is a real personal feeling but knowing that other’s have that feeling too makes it less worrisome and thereby easier to balance. Isn’t it odd that Globalization is a better business promotional idea and not a human one? Whereas Nationslism is promoted as a better sovereign citizen ideal but is also not a human one! So please Mr. Blow began to write your larger brilliance more often not just Trump’s world—Re-Balance!
Thank you Charles. I always appreciate your thoughts. I especially value your latest thought about welcoming people like you and me to take a mental health break every once in a while. I need one right now.
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny?"
I feel exactly the same (as the above) ! But I thought it was because I don't live in the States. But how did so many people MISS the deep feelings of SO many others ??? How were so many people blind to the strength of the bigotry ??? I like to think of myself as caring and open-minded....but I was clueless. I never saw Trump and his discontented 'base' coming.
But I'm hopeful that the American House now belongs to the Democrats.
You know, maybe Trump is like a wake-up call to the whole world ! We need him to knock us all out of our complacency !
Well I'm glad he eventually brought up hope. The source? Those that had seen worse. Obama reminded us that things were not going to change overnite, but they would get better. We stopped the swing of the pendelum to the extreme right. We must celebrate that and re-double our efforts.
"Hope is the engine that drives faith."
Mr. Blow,
It has not been lost on your readers that you almost exclusively write about the horror that is the Trump presidency.
You must.
You are correct that he is an existential threat to our nation AND our planet. I’m sorry that, of all your colleagues, it had to be you to carry this burden in that you have such a wonderful mind and awesome way of articulating issues that’s it’s grear reading you on diverse topics but alas, it cannot be. Unlike some of your colleagues who chose to write about issues unrelated to the midterms just prior to the midterms (an Op-Ed sin at this point, as far as I’m concerned) you held the course.
I’m sorry if the blackness of Trump is wearing you out. We NEED you to remain inexhaustible. We MUST have your constant voice. You remind us all weekly that we MUST NOT allow this president’s behavior to ever feel normal or “ok”. You horror and disgust renew our own.
THANK YOU!
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Lets see if Whitaker recuses himself and gets himself fired by Trump, along with the next in line, Rosenstein and other officials in Justice. The ethics committee sent Whitaker a letter like they did Sessions. Mc Connell said that there was no chance Mueller's probe would be shut down. Will he keep his word or allow the same constitutional crisis that did Nixon in? One can only hope.
Thank you for this Charles. It's the first time I've made it past paragraph 1 of your column in 2 years! I appreciate your earnestness...and you even seem to have dialed back the sanctimony a bit. I have some experience here. I was beside my self for years during the Clinton/Lewinski scandal, hoping each iteration of the news cycle would deliver the fatal blow to his presidency. What a waste of time. What Bill Clinton did or didn't do in office ended up having zero impact on my life. The same will be true for DJT. The reality is it just doesn't matter that much who is president. HRC's loss in 2016 said nothing about her "qualifications." It was more of a referendum on her self-importance.
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I have been able to calm down and not get worked up by every racist awful thing he says by remembering one thing: as much as he makes those of us who hate him suffer, those who love him suffer, too. Trump supporters have lgbtq kids too. They will have a loved one who may want to choose an abortion. They will have a loved one who has been sexually assaulted. They will have friends and neighbors in danger of being deported. They will lose people they care about to gun violence. They will watch their beautiful natural spaces be marred by the oil industry. They will struggle to make ends meet despite working hard. They will have a child with a pre-existing condition. They are people, too. At some point this will get personal for them, and they will be forced to admit they made the wrong choice. I don't believe that they will suddenly vote for Democrats. But they will demand GOP candidates with morals and humanity. If the GOP wants to save itself, it needs to put up such a candidate to run against Trump et al. Not one person who has worked with him is immune to his rot, including St. Pence.
I agree. What needs to be said about Trump has already been said, primarily that he is greedy, ignorant and exceptionally dishonest, even by political standards. He needs to be largely ignored because his narcissism will cause him to wither if he is not fed a constant stream of attention.
Dreams of removing him for the office he does not deserve to occupy are just a distraction. Now is the time to work to elect more qualified and caring people to Congress and to focus on electing a better person as president in 2020.
My awakening to the “eternal struggle for justice” came on Nov. 8 2018. History teaches that progress ebbs and flows long side regression. We are in a black lash time. Reading history reminds us how bad things have been in the past, which can get discouraging or encouraging depending on which way you read it. Mr Blow’s advice to accept the need to step back and take a breath is spot on. And then get back in the fight. This moment is unlike any I have ever lived through. I suspect many feel this way also. Resilience, steadfastness and honest inquiry take a lot of energy in the face of daily outrage. Take a break when you must. Allow other to do the same. When you can, get back in the fight. No one soldier fights every battle in The Great War.
The country cannot tolerate another two years of his odious presence. We must rid ourselves of this curse by any means possible.
Charles, I hear you ... the temptation to succumb to exasperation and weariness sometimes overwhelms. How many times have I felt like Will Ferrell exclaiming “am I taking crazy pills here!” Keep lighting the way, brother. Your indignation is righteous
Trump is a loathesome person, but he’s not the problem. Trump is a racist, sexist bigot, but that’s not the problem either.
The problem is that for many too Americans, Trump seemed like the least worst option.
Changing bigotry is hard... it’s a generational struggle and one that has no quick wins. What you have to do is make it irrelevant.
Someone complains, for example, that blacks are taking all the good paying jobs?
Make sure that the number of good paying jobs increases.
Lower income whites haven’t had a raise in 45 years. If you think that kind of exasperation and, in many times, desperation, doesn’t bring out the worst in people, you don’t understand humans.
Obama proved this... he made his race irrelevant. He promised hope and change! Jobs! A better life! Health care! And all those white “racists” voted for him. Unfortunately, aside from the corporate giveaway of Obamacare (better than nothing, for sure), his positive message didn’t deliver. He even offered to cut Social Security and Medicare.
After Obama’s positive message failed, is it any surprise that people were willing to try Trump’s negative message? We did have the Sanders alternative message of positive change, but Democrats, in their wisdom, kneecapped that in favor of a candidate and a message that said “Same bad policies, different presidency.”
Stop moaning.
Look for ways to make lives better for all Americans. Do that and you make bigotry irrelevant.
Or just keep whining about it.
We, this country, have been through worse. We will survive Donald Trump.
Trump supporters are seeing the world around them change. Their vote is to bring back the America they knew and loved. What they don't realize, is the world will continue to change. This country always finds a way to correct itself. Occasionally, it loses focus, but it eventually corrects itself. Our institutions are stronger than Trumo. Matt Whitaker will be gone by Christmas. And, when Trump's kids start getting indicted, he will unravel. Patience is key.
My motto of life is "to keep the end in mind and focus on the things you can change". There are things we can do at the local level to make our slice of the world a better place. California is literally on fire. We have a homeless problem. An aging population that we cannot forget. I can go on and on. When you start going beyond the surface, Trump becomes less relevant, the bigger issue is what can I (and follow Californians) do to help our neighbors.
And, when we need a break, tune out. Instead of being "hands on", I am going through local charity Amazon wish lists and doing early holiday shopping. It is all I can do now. My brain hurts. I need to recharge. I decided to focus on my fixer upper house. I need to focus on me and go on a MSNBC sabbatical.
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Bravo. CB. Please keep on keeping on. Yes, we all need R&R--but not acquiescence. Those who say "this too shall pass" forget that we've never been here before. I repeat: since WW2, America added about 200 million to the population--in this century alone 10 times the population of Ireland. Who provided civics lessons to all those people? Gordon Gekko, Trump University, the NFL? Masterful works by Nancy McLean (Democracy in Chains) and Jane Meyer (Dark Money) revealed the extent of Koch Bros involvement in our affairs and their decades-long campaign to grab power. Such writers prompted inquiries at George Mason U where the nexus of Koch money and weaponized economics and law have been documented. And you’re right, CB. There are other things you might write about, as a firefighter might say were s/he not focused on deadly flames in California. For example: whither liberal democracy? Some optimistic signs: the man who was rewarded with a House seat following his refusal to indict Eric Garner’s killer has actually lost that seat. Scott Walker conceded defeat: the Koch puppeteers couldn’t fix him up. And 17 black women were elected to judgeships in Harris Co, TX.
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...from my coffee mug: "Peace...it does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."
Mr. Blow...thanks for your contribution to the calm. Carry on...peace. thm
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Charles,
You’re doing the right thing by calling out this obscene presidency.
Never forget this man is illegitimate. Not because he badly lost the popular vote or because of Russian interference (although both are relevant), but because he is unfit, unqualified, unprepared and uninterested in his enormous responsibility, which he doesn’t care about in the slightest. He ran for president and now occupies the office solely to feed his catastrophically damaged personality. His only “talent” is witlessly insulting other people, always his intellectual, moral and professional betters.
This is an entirely bad faith presidency, conducted in America’s worst interests, for the stupid and meretricious, but not even really *for* them with because they will be hurt by it too whether they grasp that or not.
Donald Trump will go down unquestionably as the worst president in American history, and the Republicans his criminal accomplices.
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I, for one, could use a day or two a week without any news about Trump, with just an empty space left on page one of the paper to remind us we once had real Presidents.
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Inspiring.
2
When I was nine, I finished “The Diary of Anne Frank” and came sobbing to the den where my father read to ask him about the truth of concentration camps. And he did, as a lieutenant with a division that liberated Auschwitz and as a Jew. When I was eleven, I crouched under a wooden desk during a drill so I could “protect” myself from nuclear missiles. I trembled at the hatred I saw in the south and wept at the deaths of our presidents as a teen. I screamed for days after my husband was killed on 9/11/01. And on 11/9/2016, I screamed again, because I knew that kleptocrats and oligarchs had installed a small-minded, narcissistic, eternally vengeful and petulant con in office. For all that, I wasn’t prepared for our craven Senate. Now I see them for the sell-outs they are. We have gerrymandering and voter suppression and authoritarianism worthy of a third-world country to contend with, along with a POTUS disinterested in unity and enamored of chaos. His followers love to call names, love to air grievances, love to blame and love to hate, just like their DL. Yes, I’m weary. But I’m no longer afraid; I’m furious. Fury “trumps” weary every time.
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@1 Womanii to 1 Woman This 81 Year Old Average man sends to You deep Gratitude for your Words and Your Heart’s Los in this tragic time with the self-centered Sociopathic “Leadership” under which we, the People,
“exist”. I am a long-retired Licensed Family Therapist and Lutheran Pastor who laments the presence of a”President” who facetiously “occupies” a, previously, cherished and
a usually honorable Office. Trump’s presumptive presence is a chronic Insult to any Goodness we have known in Public Service. Indeed, he know Nothing of “Service”
Beyond that absolute Service only to Himself.
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@1 Woman I assume that you and I are roughly the same age because my history is similar to your beautifully articulated comment. I cried at the end. But as weary as all of us who "struggle for goodness and decency," are, the weariness does not touch my resolve. Yes, I'm watching less cable news - Joe, Mika, Chuck, Nicole, and Rachel can carry on without me. I scan the headlines. I refuse to listen to conspiracy theories, hate speech, supremacist /nationalist crap and shun those sources. I cannot bear and will not listen to trump's voice. I cannot stomach one more lie. Yet I remain resolved. And as I continue to support the environmental and civil liberty causes important to me, I am heartened to read opinions, editorials, and comments that align with my own - and wait for the next opportunity to vote.
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trump intends to exhaust everyone into submission
buckle up and fight
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In a long string of Blow columns that are inspiring to a liberal like me, this is the most inspiring.
Charles, take a break, take a deep breath, and come back and inspire us some more. We'll be here.
14
Thank you Charles. This article has flown between friends all over this country and provided us with some comfort in these difficult times. We need now to support each other as we take turns resting and then returning to the fray. Our lives and our country depend upon this tactic. Thanks again.
5
First, Mr. Blow, thank you for your expressions of empathy for all of us suffering the daily trauma of Trump's contempt for law, his coarse bigotry, and his amorality. It has begun to feel like a predictable punch in the gut, felt viscerally, unrelenting, and truly oppressive.
Second, I ask the press to refrain from prophesying. I mean particularly calling a strikeout in advance on any attempt at impeachment. The press did the same with the electoral college vote, our last hope of rejection of a dangerously authoritarian, contemptuous-of-the-Constitution presidency. Too many wrote of the outcome they expected, rather than reminding the college of electors of their duty to reject Trump in favor of the popular vote as the last bulwark against so dangerous a surge of fear and resentment among a large segment of voters. I'm not asking you-all not to use statistics to predict; I'm asking that you not prophesy outcomes when there is a moral obligation at stake for elected officials to act in accord with constitutional principles.
Finally, I might survive another two years of this oppression if we turn our attention to this problem, which will outlive the current presidency: "How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality?" Dealing with this third or more of our population is the most formidable challenge that Trump has imposed on us. Let's get busy working on a strategy of adult civics re-education.
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Thank you for the encouragement. I am a liberal in a red state but am not giving up hope though very discouraged by the loss of every candidate I supported/voted for in the recent election. Giving up is not a choice but sure need a break from the stress.
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As always, Mr. Blow, you are spot on. Given Trump's daily disasters, never mind those of his henchmen, we do need a breather once in a while. But the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, so please keep contributing to the discussion.
The sad reality is that even after Trump is deposed, arrested or even just retires after four or more agonizing years, trumpism will still live on in +/-40% of the population. They will need some serious re-education in subjects like the social contract that makes or breaks a nation. They must relearn respect for facts as facts, not opinions, and how not to confuse the two. (Same with science and belief.)
The tragic California fires are a sad parallel to our current political situation: how quickly things can be destroyed, and how long it takes to (re)build them.
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On the downside history teaches us that it could always get worse. Trump could be elected again.
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Once again you've capture my thoughts and expressed them more eloquently than anyone else. Thank you.
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Mr. Blow has so eloquently reminded us that the struggle for real change is generational. I draw strength from my Buddhist faith and let it inform my work as an ally to the LGBTQ community...we can’t individually take this all on ourselves. It is overwhelming. Instead, it is imperative that we each find our piece of the mandala and work for justice with our whole hearts. When this presidency is over, the work will not be. It never is...It will enter a next phase, and we will need to adapt to it with vigilance and persistence. Because the goal of a diverse, inclusive and equitable America is a goal too important, indeed too precious, to loose.
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We have to have faith and hope in the future .
We have to keep a positive attitude, even though all the dishonesty, lies,corruption, deception in this White House and Senate push us in the opposite direction.
As an elderly reader I was appalled when Senator Susan Collins voted for justice Brett Kavanaugh, putting party lines before human ( women’s) rights .
We will digest all the poisoning that has been coming our way and we will be immunized and ready to counterbalance these iniquities and nonsense.
Thank you mr. Blow for being such an inspiration and a guiding light for the betterment of our Country.
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We can take juice breaks, but we can't stop the struggle. The world is worth it.
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A jewel of wisdom from your mother about overcoming worldly weariness with faith. Just when we finally woke up to some good news that we won back the House, Trump fires Sessions to replace him with sycophant Whitaker. But I have faith in Adam Schiff to be a relentless fighter for truth to end such corruption.
I have visited Verdun and the American cemeteries in France where young people died in both world wars and know how heart rending knowledge of their sacrifices is, but Trump couldn’t find the time nor could he walk with world leaders down the Champs Élysée or discuss with them how to bring about peace.
However, I also know that vast numbers of Americans share with Macron and Merkel a desire to be allied in the Paris Accords as well as strengthening NATO and having faith in a multicultural future.
In meditating upon the end of WWI one hundred years ago, I carefully handled an Adrian helmet purchased from Goodwill and found within its lining a hundred year old news clipping in French about the Armistice.
Imagine what it must have felt like to have that war end after the horrors endured. Your mother was right; there have been worse times. But we must endure in our struggle for goodness because you are absolutely right that it is an eternal battle.
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@Ichabod Aikem
It is a sad day to begin with, in which one has to lament the replacement of Jeff Session, whose only good deed ever was to recuse himself from supervising the Mueller investigation.
1
Charles,
Thank you for another brilliant column. I watched the PBS special yesterday on World War I and was heartbroken to see how the returning African-American soldiers were treated. So many of them were tortured and murdered after they had survived trench warfare and horrific injuries in Europe. The racism in this country is so deep and so prevalent. I found this piece of your column particular moving:
“.....maybe the questions are for us. How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny? How could we not remember that American progress has always been like a dance with a disagreeable partner, stumbling backward as well as moving forward?”
A CB fan
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You are right Mr. Blow. We all need to take a breather once in a while from all that is Trump - to tune it out and refresh for just a bit. I can only imagine how much you must need to do that as well. But please keep writing these columns, pointing out Trump and the Republicans' daily atrocities, until Trump is no longer in office and we have, hopefully, a better human being to take his place. Yours is a much needed constant and consistent voice. Keep beating that drum. People are listening.
24
I will print out this column and carry it like a talisman. It expresses exactly the thoughts and feelings that occur to me daily. And I am so, so tired. As a Canadian living in th US, I hear so many comments to the effect that at least I can "escape" to my safer, less crazy country. But these past few years have left a stain on every corner of the world - economically, politically, socially......There really is no place to "hide". And as the adult child of Holocaust survivors, I see how this thing can continue ie to go. Years ago I heard the line "we get the kind of government we deserve". These mid-term results have hinted that maybe more people are beginning to realize that, despite all the covert (and some shockingly overt!) political machinations, there really IS an opportunity for the electorate to take back some control. My mother would say, "from your lips to God's ears".
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M.L. King famously said: "the arc of the moral universe may be long, but it bends toward justice." That’s “how long” we have to wait. The arc of the moral universe "tends" toward justice
It's in the air, and all the decent people will fulfill that promise.
The enablers and our Con-man-in-Chief will pay for their lack of decency and moral transgressions. The monotonous lies of hypocrisy will bring them all to their day of reckoning.
Soon. Very soon.
The evil of monotony will not stand.
14
Indeed. Now and then I just need to watch a basketball game and cheer for my Celtics. For a few moments, I can leave politics behind. Yet I always return to the real world, where the insanity persists. I bless your mother for her ability to sustain herself despite the odds being stacked against her. Perhaps we white people can take some small comfort in understanding what it's like to be in that position....
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Things may not be as bad as many people think . Your Mother is right in that we have survived worse moments in our history . For one thing Trump is no evil genius . He is a very insecure man with a deep sense of inferiority and inadequacy . Because of that he is seething with anger , and used his TV popularity and wealth to connect with other angry people . Without any shame he told those followers whatever they wanted to hear . The other thing is the enablers , and even the true believers , are aware that he is damaged goods . If you believe the Bob Woodward book , most members of the administration know he is unfit for office . Most GOP politicians do not voice their concerns in public because they need the votes of the base . Add to that that he has no coherent ideas and frequently seems to be his own worse enemy . . So he has not great political skills and no grand evil design to finish our democracy like some of the worse tyrants of the 20th Century did in their own countries . He is going to lose and America is going to win . Do not bet against America .
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@Bernardo Izaguirre MD, Trump is no genius, agreed, but he has proven himself to be evil, crafty, devious, and self-aggrandizing at the expense of the country he allegedly serves. He has no sympathy or empathy for anyone but himself and perhaps his immediate family, and I have neither of those feelings for him or them as long as they conspire against the majority of our country. I wish I could be able to stand aside from the news for a while, since ignorance is bliss, but ignorance on the part of too many has landed us in our current predicament. The old line from the 60s, I love my country but it's the government I can't trust, is more applicable than ever. How sad is that? You'd think we would have learned by now....
Your words consistently resonate. Wish I was there to give you a big strenthening hug on behalf of all those folks who share your thoughts. There are minions! Always good to read your words. Thank you.
15
Bravo. Thank you. And please, don't stop writing about Trump until well after he is gone.
10
Trump is headless in the accompanying photo to Charles' column, near the headshot of his byline. I imagined Charles' head at the top of our presidents body, and thought to myself yes, that's a good look - I wish that were our president.
Charles, it's not that I think you are the best candidate for president, so much as I believe that almost any decent, educated person would be better than what we have now.
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Trump has revealed more about our structural deficiencies than he has concealed. An economy that rewards a person like him is morally corrupt. A political system that elevates him is likewise. These systems are what the GOP defends and they have become very adept at minority government. Liberals have to understand power, achieve it, and use it.
22
It is impossible to take a self imposed hiatus from the feelings of frustration and anger imposed on good people every day by Trump. Because of the understandably constant media coverage he generates with one outrageous criminal or indecent act after another, he might as well be sharing our households, our mealtimes, or the solitude of our daily exercise. We can not even be free of him when he travels to Europe because he does not even have the shred of dignity required to simply be silent and attentive while world leaders pay tribute to fallen soldiers from previous wars.
But, as long as he occupies the office which he disgraced and demeans every day, we can not afford the luxury of time off. If he has the energy to be corrupt, indecent, inhumane, incompetent, and dishonest 24/7, then we must register outrage with the same persistence. If he senses any weakness or exhaustion in the Resistance, then our Democracy is lost. We will go the way of Russia, Hungary, Turkey, China, etc. There is nothing exceptional about America except the complicity of Congress, the Supreme Court, and a large portion of the electorate in the evil that is Trump.
13
When I was younger, I never thought that living in a small town would prepare me for Trump. I had no idea. But I remember more and more that guys like him always abounded when I was a boy, and that I was getting nicely, though painfully, prepared for this day. I have no advice. But I always remember men like Trump. Thank you, Mr.Blow.
10
The relevance of your column, Mr. Blow (aside from its wonderful eloquence) is that is a reminder (and many - especially much of the media) that what we are seeing is NOT NORMAL (or kind, or decent). When a country (the sane half, anyway) has to endure the daily madness of trump and his party, it is as if we are all being subject to right wing hate radio or right wing hate TV - all lies, all the time.
What I've done for the sanity of myself and family...we turned TV off 10 years ago. We listen to music, watch great movies, read great books - we have wonderful hobbies, we have our pets. We know what is going on (it doesn't take long on the internet to get the gist). I only hope that the mindless cult - the sycophants - that have clearly lost their way, if not their minds, will come at some point to see their blatant hypocrisy.
Thanks, Mr. Blow. Our family does just what you suggest - but I have many friends that are too plugged in all the time and I fear for their health and well being. This is clearly a marathon, not a sprint - the election outcome is a start, but there is so much more work to do. Give us the strength to do it - for the future of not only our country, but the world.
8
"How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny?" It's called "classism" Charles. The Academic Left has taken over the Democratic Party, and they are insulated inside their own heads. Poverty Matters. Bodies Matter. We do not, in fact, "create our own reality". We don't need to have our "preferred pronouns" respected; we need to have our physical bodies respected. We need healthcare; we need safe dignified housing; we need living wages; we need universal pre-k;we need access to quality pre-natal care, quality abortion care, & effective birth control; we need a solid uncompromising fight against male sexual violence & exploitation. If the Democrats can manage to focus on caring for people with actual human bodies, they will win and keep on winning.
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@Penny White; Well said Penny White. I am a democrat and I believe that is where our solution lies. But, we must hold their feet to the fire to pay attention to what matters.
I wake up every morning, go to the computer, and check to see if something has happened that is so alarming and egregious that we are finally headed towards ending this presidents reign.
Sadly, it has not happened. I wonder why people are willing to look the other way when the lies, incompetence, and illegal acts take place? I want to believe that some members of my family are not horrible human beings for voting for him and then repeatedly excusing anything and everything he does just because they are wealthy and want a tax break. And as the holidays approach I ask myself if I would ever actually bother to spend any time with these folks if I weren't related to them. Sadly, no matter how hard I try, I cannot find a reason why I would. It might be the most wonderful time of the year for some, but for me I just want it to pass so I can have another eleven and a half months of getting up every morning and going to check my computer to see if it's finally over.
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Mr. Blow,
(1857) Frederick Douglass, “If There Is No Struggle, There Is No Progress”. America was born out of the mass slaughtering of American Indians, built on slavery, and we are the only country to dropped 2 atomic bombs. But through all that tragedy, I do believe that we must continue to fight for what we, as a people truly believe in. Trump is a product of this kharma that America has bestowed on the rest of the world. It will get worse before it gets better, but it will get better over time.
1
Hope is better than hate.
Love is better than hate.
The United States is much better with hope and love and not hate.
The minority of the United States would be so much more peaceful if they could only give up hate.
When?
8
Kirk: I take it the odds are against us and the situation is grim.
Picard: You could say that.
Kirk: Sounds like fun!
2
As always, the column made think, sigh, and nod my head in agreement. Thank you, Mr. Blow, for your inspirational words.
And then this comment actually made me laugh! Thank you, @DUDLEY—I needed that!
1
The weariness that cloaks Americans who know we're better than this isn't just from Trump.
For many this dark journey began with Nixon, Vietnam, Watergate and ran through Reagan, Earl "Loose shoes and tight..." Butz, Lester Maddox, George Wallace, Spiro Agnew, Jerry Falwell, Rush Limbaugh, Dan Quayle, Newt Gingrich, Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, Bush I and II, Alexander Haig, Dick Cheney, a silent and moral majority, 9/11, Rudy Giuliani and dozens of others who don't come to mind.
Despite the dark clouds that briefly abated with Carter, Clinton and Obama, the respite were fleeting and evanescent. Grief came without trigger warnings from James Earl Ray and Sirhan Sirhan. The murders of RFK and MLK plunged us to the depths of despair.
Activists of my time marched with Cesar Chavez and Jesse Jackson, we heard Neil Young's "Four Dead in Ohio" as we read Soul on Fire and suspended disbelief with The Greening of America, which faded into The Fate of the Earth, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Contras, the assassination of Orlando Letelier by a car bomb in Washington, DC.
A very selective list of personal signposts over the past 40 years, memory being kind enough not to be exhaustive and bleak.
The mythic environmentalist David Brower declared that the word compromise wasn't in our vocabulary. I remember telling frustrated peers that our job was damage control.
It wasn't about winning. It was about not losing everything.
But I wasn't ready for Trump. And I'm very tired.
18
@Yuri Asian, thank you, I think. Your comment has brought me to the edge of tears, shed for what this country could have been and still could be, and for how we lose sight of that just when we are on the verge of actual enlightenment. As good as Charles' column is today, it is your comment that I will copy and send to friends. Again, thank you.
1
After the majority of voters in the 9th district of North Carolina (and, yes, Union County, that’s you who are responsible) sent an avowed misogynist to the House of Representatives, I thought, why bother?
Why would anyone in this day and age, vote for someone who declared wives should be “servant lovers”, and daughters shouldn’t be educated because then they wouldn’t know how to sew on a button. Granted these are words from mark harris’s sermons from a half dozen years ago but the man is old enough that even like a leopard, he won’t change his spots.
I’ll walk around for the next few years wondering which one of my neighbors voted for a man who will likely do nothing to stop trump’s personal brand of vile behavior.
But despite this Stone Age setback by some of the voters of the 9th district that voted this man to represent me, I will bother. Because if we don’t bother we will have many more years of this horrible administration ahead of us.
And I hope that representative harris learns to sew on his own buttons.
5
I think the Press would ease alot of anxiety if it stopped parroting non-news, such as the administration's lies, Trump's twitter nonsense, and clap-trap that belongs on page 12. If the administration insists on lying to us, then stop attending their blab sessions at the Press Conferences. We are in an age where we are awash in media and opinion (aka. "fake news"), and its getting very hard for the average citizen to weed out fact from pure fiction. I think this would go a long way in getting back to civilized discourse.
5
I keep going only by thinking of the day when the voters — or Congress — ousts Trump from office. Our nation will soon see this man for the tyrant he is, the fever will break, and future generations will see this period as a horrible deviation from what America is.
The weariness that cloaks Americans who know we're better than this isn't just from Trump.
For many this dark journey began with Nixon, Vietnam, Watergate and ran through Reagan, Earl "Loose shoes and tight..." Butz, Lester Maddox, George Wallace, Spiro Agnew, Jerry Falwell, Rush Limbaugh, Dan Quayle, Newt Gingrich, Lee Atwater, Karl Rove, Bush I and II, Shock and Awe, Dick Cheney, a silent and a moral majority, 9/11, Rudy Giuliani and dozens of others who don't come immediately to mind.
Despite the dark clouds that briefly abated with Carter, Clinton and Obama, the respites were fleeting. Grief came without trigger warnings from James Earl Ray and Sirhan Sirhan. The murders of RFK and MLK plunged us to the depths of despair.
In my time we marched with Cesar Chavez and Jesse Jackson, we heard Neil Young's "Four Dead in Ohio" as we read Soul on Fire and suspended disbelief with The Greening of America, which faded into The Fate of the Earth, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Contras, the assassination of Orlando Letelier by a car bomb in Washington, DC. A very selective list of personal signposts over the past 40 years, memory being kind enough not to be exhaustive and bleak.
The mythic environmentalist David Brower told me that the word compromise wasn't in our vocabulary. I remember telling myself that our job was damage control.
It wasn't about winning. It was about not losing everything.
But I wasn't ready for Trump.
He's tired us down but also fired us up.
4
I appreciate that Mr. Blow and his fellow NYT journalists are the front lines in alerting the rest of us of the latest transgression by Trump. Keep it up. Also, consider, though, devoting more column inches to those progressive leaders who will matter in 2020 if Trump and his minions are to be shown the door. Who are they—or who will emerge? They need the exposure in your columns/articles, which otherwise are being rapaciously consumed by Trump. These people will be the antidotes to our weariness and despair.
6
The real america has been exposed . All of the soaring rhetoric and claims of exceptionalism have been shown to be hollow and false , ironically by the people who believed , and probably still
believe , it all !
4
Yes, that is the answer. An electoral "impeachment." The Democratic Party must start right now to spell out a program free of the hate and nastiness of Trumpism. It should include a wise healthcare agenda that will provide good medical care to everyone regardless of economic status. Democrats should work for improvements in urban areas, but also realize that rural communities have real problems too, and address those. Especially the opioid crisis and lack of jobs. Democrats will never win those parts of the country, but they need the votes they receive from there. If the Democrats want to win in 2020, they must work hard in cities small and large and in the counties that surround them. This way they will win in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa and even in the south. Georgia, North Carolina. And the west, Arizona and Nevada. The election of 2018 shows the way. Think local, win national. Do so, and Donald Trump will be spending all of his time hitting golf balls or sulking in jail.
2
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality?"
We were taught that the Great Society, War on Poverty, VRA and forced busing for school desegregation were just remedies to Jim Crow and racial discrimination. Being a white person who saw the disastrous results of those programs I wondered who would take responsibility for those disasters. And I should have known better but I just shake my head when I read Blow talking about the hostile feelings of a substantial portion of the US.
I've seen liberals self righteously say the that white residents of my near east side Detroit neighborhood has a police mentality when they formed neighborhood watch groups. We were trying to protect the few possessions lower middle class folks had. When the two major supermarkets (A&P and Kroger) were looted and burned and a single second tier store moved in I knew the end was near for the neighborhood. Imagine - the previous stores wouldn't move back in. And I also knew it was due to the actions of a sizable minority in the neighborhood.
So I said goodbye to it but I knew that above all the liberal and leftist rhetoric, the folks in that neighborhood brought the demise on by their actions. BTW, very few white liberals lived in the neighborhood after 1967.
This was long before Betsy DeVos.
Generations of real estate wealth from white privilege? I still own our house's lot - it's assessed at $102.
1
And at least half of the country feels just fine.
1
I disagree that half the country feels just fine. Trump may have a high approval rating among republicans, but republicans make up about 24% of registered voters. Of that 24%, one poll stated 20% actually vote. It’s a mistake to think that a high approval rating among republicans equates to half the people being just fine.
Trump makes a mockery of fundamental American principles and values which is bad enough. But what is truly disastrous is that Trump’s behavior hasn’t triggered an outcry among his Republican party. Instead, Republicans help polarize the nation. To be sure, there’s nothing new about America’s divided, poisonous political atmosphere.
What’s new is that the President is personally exacerbating the rift and inspiring Republicans to follow suit. There’s a huge chasm in the moderate and liberal center of American society. And no one, not even the Democrats, is trying to fill it. The increase polarization in American society will continue until it xplodes.
2
Events over the past two or three years have opened my eyes to this fact: the norm of human history is that power is wielded by an unworthy despot, usually one who inherited his position and uses it only for personal aggrandizement and profit. Such degenerates lacked talent for governance and were certainly bereft of empathy and integrity. For every Pericles and Obama there have been hundred of Caligulas and Trumps. Civilization has managed to scratch and climb its way through the ages and will probably continue to do so - unless of course climate change puts an end to this whole farce.
5
"She is an elderly black woman from the South"
I haven't read as moving a sentence as this one in a long time. It crystalizes everything I need to feel about the state of things, and thank you so much for that Mr. Blow.
When I think of the hundred and fifty years since the Civil War, and all that an "Elderly black woman from the South" must have seen, felt, endured, celebrated, and rememberers, I feel the spark of hope that I know you want people to feel reading your work.
I've been thinking a lot about the music of slaves and ex-slaves lately, of Paul Robeson, of Leadbelly, and Mississippi John Hurt, and how magic sprang from the greatest misery humans can imagine. I don't know about the arc of justice, I think the jury is still out on that one, but the joy of art, the Amazing Grace of the culture of the South, the culture of you and your 'Elderly Black woman', and all of the survivors of one of history's greatest crimes, I just forget all about what's his name, and his cohort, and his fetid family, and their tiny ambitions, and I feel saner and better.
4
Be of good cheer, Charles Blow.
I'm feeling optimistic for the first time since Election Night 2016. The people have spoken and we've spoken loud and clear, from sea to shining sea.
We have recaptured governorships and expanded the map. Dozens of women are going to the House. It looks like we're sending a woman from Arizona to join her Nevada colleagues in the Senate. We may yet, after all the nastiness and ranting, have elected two governors in the deep South - two African-American governors at that, though the GOP is doing its dirty best to suppress the vote and sling mud at the recounts. And even if they prevail in the end the fact that we're talking about this at all is mighty progress.
Trump is despair incarnate, it's true. His performance in Europe was despicable.
But we're going to endure and we're going to keep working, and hopefully we can turn the tide even in the most rural parts of America.
This will not stand.
5
Trump is special and different only in his combination of childishness and his willingness to expose his true intent (you'll hear it if your able to listen). I know he is bad but to me he is common and like so many others. In my life I have always known that we were controlled by people who are insane. Cults of all types, greed at all levels, and masses of people who ignore reality. I always knew we would get to this point because we were always close to it and heading in this direction. So, personally I have grown accustom to the insanity of my fellow humans and this time is not really that different to me. It seems like more of the same.
You are a model of creative, energized, energizing, mindful, clear-headed intelligence, Mr. Blow. If and when histories of this time are written, your name will be written in them as having a voice uncompromised and fearless, strong and righteous, and amplified by your good will to all people of good will. Please continue to be you and please remember your own advice in this column -- for the world will be better if we are blessed by your words of clear thinking, and your fundamental decency, for a long time yet. For the more people hear your voice and read your words, the greater is and will be the microscopic possibility of survival for all of life, and for a better world, with survival not merely as living on after the further implosion of this life world -- the only one we have or know -- but as living better in, and always for, a better world. In speaking with and for all of those whose fundamental rights in this society are constantly being trampled by the deadly convergence of capital and the state which is the very definition of fascism (according to voices as opposite as Mussolini and F.D.R.), you speak up for everyone. For despite the regnant state of denial, it remains that the social whole is judged by how it treats its most fragile members and groups of members. In the face of a ruling junta defined by the apparently endless enumeration of a list of groups it hates, you teach against hate, period. Again: thank you. You are one of the souls of justice.
2
Respectfully, I think this somewhat misses the point. Yes Trump will be in office, supported by a Republican Senate, until 2020. But if you want to "electorally impeach" in that year, then the Mueller investigation, Trump's outrageous affronts and all that are not your best path.
Right under our noses, the Trumpublican party has implemented a hardline agenda for the plutocrats while openly pandering to white nationalism. Guess what? The average heartland voter is neither. We're sitting here wondering, when will the Democrats condescend to speak to us, to the American that's not urban or suburban, respect us, hear us, and work with us?
What do we want? Peace, freedom, good jobs, education for our kids, a bit of budgetary common sense, a safety net for the less fortunate, respect for our farmers and soldiers, help with our health crises, and to live and let live - that would be a nice start. Sound familiar? It should. Because about half of that used to be in the Republican platforms, before they went off the rails to the right, about half used to be in Democratic rhetoric before they fell off the other side, and about half Trump promised but didn't deliver.
You want the Senate or the presidency? The road to that runs through rural states. Like it or not, dear Democrats, that's the Constitution for ya. So c'mon out, have a set with us, and let's talk. See you soon?
1
I have to confess that among the forces that have pushed me away from the left and toward the political center in the last couple of years Mr. Blow’s columns played a significant role. They offer a glimpse into the liberal consciousness - and it’s not a pretty view. The American liberal mind is self-righteous, puritanical, preachy, and worst of all, amazingly uninformed and incurious. I am used to the European-style political debate where the opposing sides quote Marx and Nietzsche, debate the social contract, and at the very least, know the history of the last two hundred years. Here all I hear is that Trump is a terrible human being and Republicans are bad people. Well, I don’t care. I am not going to marry Trump or even to hire him. He is a politician. I don’t like the job he is doing, though in some ways, he is a corrective to Obama whose foreign policy I also didn’t like. This is all that matters. I am happy with the election results. I am not weary. And I do know, as Mr. Blow does not, that casting politics in morally apocalyptic terms of good and evil is the first step toward fascism.
1
@Mor. Ignoring the evil of fascism is tantamount to accepting it.
1
What is this American tragedy trying to teach us?
What can we learn?
Charles Blow helps us here to recognize some of the answers. Tx.
1. This is a forever struggle;
2. There is no quick fix for our current predicament;
3. Our country is sicker than we had realized;
4. Focus: small gains are good gains;
5. We all need a break sometimes from fighting evil (see 1, above).
4
"...it becomes clear that the abnormal, outrageous and unacceptable have become a constant."
And I am instantly reminded of the president's (I use the title without reverence or respect) churlish performance in Paris this past weekend as an index to my weariness as reported by Peter Baker and Alissa Rubin: “Stone-faced and unmoved.”
This is not a description of an American president who, as a guest of a nation commemorating the centennial anniversary of the First World War, of whom we should be proud.
When Donald Trump eschewed a journey to one of the iconic battlefields of that first true global conflict, he acknowledged that his interest in others—especially those soldiers who made their country’s last sacrifice—does not even extend to history and the “globalism” that he so soundly detests.
His scathing scolding from French President Macron, who excoriated the “nationalism that is disguised as patriotism,”might, under an engaged, interested, invested American president, have aroused a defiant retort. He is who we have and we must work tirelessly for that better day that will finally bring our national nightmare to a satisfying conclusion.
The serpentine tenor of his uneven, sliding, slinking, sinuous, sly tenure has been one of an almost hopeless weariness. But it is a fatigue to which we should not--dare not--succumb. For in admitting to that same, we are fueling the race for his second term. No matter how tired we are of it and him, we must not yield to weariness.
4
Mitch McConnell and his merry band of corrupt republicans will ride Trump until he results in their own defeat. They simply care more about power and legislating for the 1 percent than our country and their own constituents.
One of the interesting facts to come out of this tyranny of the minority is that people are beginning to recognise this fact and at least a conversation has started about how will this be addressed in the future. Minority rule is unsustainable in a democracy beyond a decade or so, before the majority realises it is a rigged system and revolts.
2
When I start to believe there is no relief from the disease that occupies the White House and much of the Senate, I turn to the memories of Dr. King and his symbolic playbook. There can be no compromise with hate, there is no reaching across the aisle to accommodate bigotry, but we don't confront hate with like conduct: we offer love and reconciliation.
When corrupt institutions and leaders wield power ruthlessly, non-violent mass protests and boycotts will prevail, defeating the forces of evil.
Take heed America. If Mueller indicts Trump, Jr. or Kushner, the madman in the Oval Office will strike back like a rabid animal. That is a badge of weakness, a bellweather to mark the beginning of the end.
One advantage which Donald Trump has over the Democrats and other decent people who recognize the malignant narcissism of this President is the lofty stage Trump occupies for maximum inundation of the newsprint, airwaves and internet with his lowly, fear-mongering lies.
Unfortunately, there is another advantage Trump possesses, and it is an unintentional gift which we Democrats have bestowed upon him.
Donald Trump, unfettered by any principles and disinterested in any history other than his own, moves rapidly from topic to topic, relying upon his feral instinct at exploiting differences between people and stroking the victimhood felt by the undereducated white men and women who follow him without reservation.
We Democrats spend far too much time worrying about our next political step and the one after that.
We micromanage our responses to Donald Trump, and by the time we have a consensus, the madman already has moved on to his next attack on our democracy.
Our nation would do better if we would follow the truth doggedly wherever it takes us. Whether that means actual impeachment or electoral impeachment, let's just do it.
1
Dear Mr. Blow:
I admire you more than I can say. Reading Jill Lepore’s book: These Truths and the essays of Te-Nehisi Coates,
And now your column make me aware of how hard the struggle has been, always been for African-Americans.
Most Americans are just waking up to the gross injustice blacks have endured.
Thank you.
4
When will the president come to California to fulfill his leadership obligations to those suffering in the largest state in the union?
1
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality?" I'm gay, a female vet who spent four awful years immersed in misogyny, and I was raised in a bible-thumping town. Not all of us are surprised.
5
Charles, thank you for your wise and thoughtful message. There is so much that white Americans-- liberals especially-- can learn from the experience of African Americans. In one of his many brilliant speeches Martin Luther King observed "there comes a time when people grow tired... tired of being kicked about by the brutal feet of oppression." He said, "we've waited a long time for freedom."
Those of us who have grown weary of Tяцmp could take a page from Dr. King. We should remember that the rise of Tяцmp was largely a racist response to the years of racial inclusivity of Barack Obama and a misogynist response to the feminist identity of Hillary Clinton. Those of us who basked in the glow of that happy marriage of Barack as Mr. President and Hillary as Madam Secretary lost sight of the under-current of hatred cynically exploited by republicans happy to work as sycophnats for the hate-monger-in-chief we have now.
We have waited a long time for freedom but not nearly as long as some people have had to wait. As you have so correctly observed, once one has "recharged, reapply your armor and rejoin the fight with even more vigor." I keep remembering Dr. King's admonition that the "arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."
1
I keep reminding myself how wonderfully glorious and deeply fulfilling as an American citizen it will be when this dangerous, damaging Fake President is removed from office, either via the impeachment process or through the ballot box. Until then, the battle must be joined and the resistance must continue, unabated. As a corollary to Trump’s political demise, the fervent hope is that his totally co-opted and corrupted Republican Party will also duly perish, and with it as much racism, xenophobia, misogyny, white supremacy, and bigotry as possible that he and it promoted in their vile concert. Just think of the patriotic parades and jubilant demonstrations that will celebrate the vanquished Era of Trump, both here and beyond in the world.
1
"...is it permissible to retreat occasionally for one’s own mental and spiritual health?"
You have to take care of yourself first. Only then can you help others.
Think of it as being in an airplane when the cabin pressure falls and an oxygen mask drops down. You must put on the mask first, then help others, because if you pass out from lack of oxygen you're no use to anyone.
So from time to time read the comics page first, then the front page of the newspaper. And turn off the TV news for 24 hours.
"The struggle for goodness and decency is an eternal one, not a seasonal one." And I would add, neither is it geographically limited but rather universally applicable.
Thank you, Mr Blow, for your insight. I do agree with your mother: we've had it much worse, think only hundert years back, the WWI and WWII. As to Mr Trump, he is really not competent enough to lead a team of advisers, let alone such a great country as the US. His hate speech unfortunately has encouraged many weirdoes and "deplorables" to come out of hiding and march around, threaten people and promote ideas that we thought long overcome and meaningless. They make Mr Trump their idol and he does not understand -or does not want to understand - how serious the implications and consequences can be.
I hope you can enjoy the lovely automn colours in NY as we did visiting two years ago.
1
It would be a tactical error to treat Trump as the root of all evil. Far more correct is to blame, and hold accountable, his handlers, his lawyers, his cheerleaders, and his enablers, in and out of Congress. You supported Trump in the late 2010's? You can't work here. We will not do business with you. It's 2022 and you're reformed now? No. We remember what you said and what you did. We will label you and call you out and quote what you said and did to the world. And if anyone ever forgets that you were part of MAGA, we will ALWAYS be there to tell the truth of who you were. Take notes and take names, people. And never forget what you've been put through.
1
If at all possible go about your life by working around Trump.He has a way of absorbing all energy, like a black hole in the cosmos, so stay away from his influence. Do not let his self made chaos cause you to deviate from your goals. Turn him off and tune him out and the world around you will continue and you will be able to have some worth while affect on it and with it. Your success will counteract the huge negative force around Trump and your concentration on your own goals will reward you with positive energy that will spur you forward.
We in the conservative moment are tired too. We send our children to colleges and universities in good faith, only to have them come home saying that the First Amendment needs to be abridged because speech is the same thing as violence and if a person says something that makes someone else feel bad, that's akin to a punch in the face. They come home talking about how certain classes of people e.g. white men are not entitled to due process and the rule of law, while other groups e.g. women are entitled to be believed by virtue of their chromosomal makeup. They come home talking about about how it is healthy for children to be encouraged before puberty to adopt new gender identities, though the data shows that seventy percent of them will end up in their biological sex. They come home talking simultaneously about how there is no difference between men and women. They come home talking about how Jewish people are not entitled to a nation-state, and how America needs to open its borders to all comers. Yeah. We're tired too. But that's fine. There are worse things than being tired. We could all be living in Venezuela.
2
Thanks for the optimism!
It appears as if our "progressive" media and their democrat masters have embarked on a different strategy. It will be immensely interesting to see how this unfolds.
We have literally decades to go to dig ourselves out of the horrendous mess the right-wing has worked tirelessly to put us in. I dearly hope some of you are around to enjoy it.
3
We are a nation that is woke - Trump did that.
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny?"
Blacks, women, and many other "knew" all of this. None of it was a surprise to them. It was a surprise to me. I am (more) woke. I thought we had made sufficiently great progress over the past 30 years. Trump is the quintessential proof to the contrary.
3
Not to be facetious, but without the opposition, we'd have nothing to do. That's what activism is all about, to protect things perpetually under threat. The degree of threat varies; now it is huge. Brave warriors fight and die to protect their countries from corrupt tyrants. It's a crusade of a lifetime to get rid of trump and his minions from our government. In WWII the resistance never could rest, neither can we. Drive them out, then rest a bit.
1
Birdwatching this morning. Don’t worry. I’ll be back shortly to make signs and lace up my sneakers.
2
Thank you Mr. Blow. I. appreciate your thoughtfulness and wisdom, I'm in great need of this while we resist the madness that is swirling around us all at the moment.
2
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny?"
Yes, Charles, it's enough to make even the most stubborn among us--especially in the waning autumn light--want to retreat to the bedroom and pull the covers up over our heads.
But, as a certain Canadian reminded us a while back, rust never sleeps. We all know the forces of fascism never take a day, or even a minute, off, so we can't either. The price of freedom IS eternal vigilance.
Whenever I get weary, though, I remind myself that we are all charged with being Green Lanterns, and quietly recite the oath to myself:
In brightest day, in blackest night
No evil shall escape my sight.
Let's those who worship evil's might
Beware my power--Green Lantern's light.
A comic book story, yes. But in the end we are the stories we tell ourselves. If reactionary oligarchs can tell themselves they are worthy Calvinist Social Darwinists to justify their ridiculous greed, I can be part of the Green Lantern Corps.
Now, if only I had a ring . . .
5
Charles. You said that you have been writing about trump for two years. I suggest that you simply stop! Instead, write about all of the New Democrats going to Washington, especially the women. They have amazing stories to tell.
1
"How could we not have registered fully just how hostile a substantial portion of America is to inclusion and equality? How could we not have registered the full depths of American racism and misogyny?"
I don't know about other people, but I've been fully cognizant for more than 11 years about how deep and vile the hatred is that many Americans feel towards "us."
I learned this when I started reading Fox News during Obama's first candidacy, to learn about what the "other side" was thinking.
It was sickening. Underneath every article, hundreds of Fox bots spewed pure unadulterated hatred. Not just at Obama, but also Michelle, their kids, African-Americans in general, all people of color, Jews, LGBT people, Liberals, people who live in Blue states, people who live on the coasts, etc, etc, etc. Truly evil stuff, like saying that "those people" should be forced out of the US, shot on the street, etc. When a tragedy was reported in the news, they cheered, because those people deserve it; besides, that's fewer votes against their side.
Hillary Clinton was quite right; 35% of the country really ARE deplorable.
I've been baffled by the fact that so many people on the Left (and even "mainstream" Republicans) seemed shocked at the evil in our country that Trump "created." No, he didn't create it; he's merely the apotheosis of everything that the Right has been sowing since Gingrich and Limbaugh. All he did was give permission for the hatred to surface.
Welcome to wokeness.
2
If you impeach and remove Trump, you will get Mike Pence as President to 2020 and possibly to 2024. Is that desirable - or is it better for the nation to take a longer view, find credible Democrat contenders to defeat Trump in 2020 and save the nation from the GOP for at least eight years during which time decency is restored, and most importantly, climate change is addressed - otherwise, it won't matter who is in the White House controlling Congress, everyone will be burnt to a crisp. Just look at California - or doesn't that tragic conflagration carry any message - when even your celebrities can't escape mother nature's fury ...
1
Charles, The way I am looking at this is that we are in the middle of a war. I will continue to voice my objection to the Trump atrocities every day until he goes away. But it is painful to see our country's legacy eroded a little bit each day. Today, Trump disgraced us in Europe. Tomorrow it will be something new. It is beyond comprehension--if a proposed book ever contained such a pathetic lead character it would immediately be rejected due to inconceivability. Each morning I pick up my Iphone and I see the bizarre, inexplicable, unjustifiable things Trump has done--and it is not even noon on the east coast. The saddest thing is that he still has supporters. How can we ever reconcile wiht them?? They are beyond "deplorable"--they are degenerate. I, for one, can never forgive them, even after Trump has gone. Will the USA ever be the same?? I really loved this country, but it is getting harder each day as our systems and populous fail.
2
This political fatigue cuts across party lines, and of the roughly 70% of us who feel exhausted, it appears that Republicans may be feeling it even more than Democrats: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/05/almost-seven-in-ten-americans-have-news-fatigue-more-among-republicans/ ("Almost seven-in-ten Americans have news fatigue, more among Republicans," 5 June 2018).
The problem is perhaps even worse among those who do not follow news closely:
"Feeling overwhelmed by the news is more common among those who follow the news less closely than among those who are avid consumers."
And:
"Overall, 17% of Americans say national news organizations are doing very well at keeping the public informed of the most important national stories of the day, while 24% say they do not too or not at all well; the largest portion, 58%, say the news media do fairly well."
Much of the weariness now is in the waiting for something conclusive from Mueller, He Who Never Speaks, and the leaden fear that it will all simply come to naught for any number of reasons. We know what to expect from the Republicans and my own hope that the newly elected not-yet-in-place Democratic lead House will have a workable, realistic, agenda that at least offers effective triage, is based on nothing at all. Just dumb, baseless, hope. If it's even that.
It's just plain reckless to think that the Mueller Investigation is going to tie everything together and that long honored and established mechanisms of law and responsible governance will rise to the moment and bring about salvation. Democracy
is on its knees, driven there by ignorance, greed, the worst within us. Faith and Trust are not enough and meaningful action seems to be waiting for somebody else to do something.
We will run out of good options. Probably soon. We cannot endure much more of this insanity. Democracy will
either simply bleed out and we become something less, something awful, or there will be a civil war, or we will rise and find something right and noble and strong, still in us.
What's it going to be? Decide.
1
Surprised at the depth of racism and sexism in our country -- why? Anyone familiar with US history should not be surprised. Anyone who lived through the murderous war in Vietnam should not be surprised. Anyone who lived to see the US torture and kill its way through the Middle East should not be surprised. Look in the mirror, this is America.
1
Going forward and at least with the idea of setting the table for the next elections, the attempts to do positive things still have value.
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Jefferson had it right. The nation is being tested like it never has before. Sure, we are weary. I personally envision a time when I won't feel a compulsion to write these posts or compose almost daily letters to the editor.
Not since my opposition to the War in Vietnam (and I am a veteran of that conflict), and my anxiety during the Watergate scandal have I felt such a driving need to speak out and to get involved politically.
Rahm Emanuel said yesterday on This Week that Tuesday's election turned out to be a Blue Wave but with a Red Undertow. Aptly put. We might be weary as Charles Blow writes, but we are resolute in our desire to get this Ship of State back on its proper course.
12
dear charles blow
how well i understand your frustration. i am also tired and fed up reading about trump all the time and i switch channel immediately when he is on tv (same for his press secretary). constant negativity, untruthfulness, aggressiveness & hate are like black holes that suck up all the good vibes around them. i have even tried to go on a news diet but then i think ignoring is not the solution to the problem. we’d rather support each other - journalists and readers - in going through this period together. i am very grateful for columnists like you. you are much needed and appreciated. so please, charles blow, keep on writing your excellent articles and sharing your thought processes. sooner or later this presidency will come to an end. let us not get tired of being critical, truthful, questioning, corageous and confident.
7
While we have a "right" to weariness, we should not mistake being weary for privilege, status or wealth. Our responsibility is to be a positive transformational force for change and we cannot do that trying to pour from an empty cup.
Burning our own mental and physical resources in the name of progress (or vigilance) is as unsustainable as the view that we can burn through the environmental resources of our planet without destroying the climate.
It is the internalized voice of oppression that attempts to convince us that we are unworthy of the effort to stay strong for the long road ahead. Audre Lorde warned: "we must recognize the despair oppression plants within each of us ...And we must fight that inserted piece of self-destruction that lives and flourishes like a poison inside of us." To this end, burnout has been identified as the greatest impediment to the effectiveness of social movements.
If we flip this around, step outside our cultural conditioning, and consider our response*ability instead of our "rights"- we can conclude that our good health and a positive emotional state is a vitally important contribution.
Nor is the solution to this kind of existential weariness retreat, but rather it requires a revitalization of our sense of meaning by focusing on what we want to move towards. With meaning, we can find inner strength and resources we thought were lost to us while we despaired.
FB group on Unfracking from Burnout: https://slott.je/join
2
As the saying goes, "When you strike at a king..."
The Senate has the last word. Though I also thought they would refrain from confirming Kavanaugh given the giant unresolved issues aired on national TV, confirming him contributed to Rs getting their clocks cleaned by female voters on Tuesday.
If Mueller's report is damning, how many of them really want to go down with this un-American ship?
1
we can walk and chew gum. we can attend to the business of running the country AND investigate trump. the media may not be capable of covering both but that doesn't mean we can't do it. if we are properly prioritized and business like? our majority will grow.
5
Often people assume a modicum of good will- and comfort that what happens "outside"- can not happen "inside"- in ones family, personal relationships, community- and as Blow addresses here- society. Perhaps we know at some conscious level that this belief is an illusion, but we still cling to it- and leave ourselves vulnerable.
For some of us- from earliest childhood-the bonds of trust have been so deeply broken that we rarely fall into this trap. On the other hand, we have difficulty building trust and our lives are diminished not from our vulnerability- but from the certain knowledge that we will be betrayed.
Human reality is highly contextualized and men like Trump use this to full advantage. Their existential view of the universe is not a search for meaning- but the solidification of power. The only meaning they see is power. This is almost impossible for those schooled in accountability, responsible action and ethics to grasp. But the sooner they/we see this and fully recognize it for what it is- the sooner this leads to meaningful action.
3
I think the best message here is, "This is a forever fight." That's what we must all face as we recognize that it was apathy that allowed hate to flourish and rise. Apathy among good people who seemingly began to believe that democracy would care for itself.
And we must remember that this forever fight isn't a fight against each other, it's a fight against the immorality of allowing corporations to run our government and do such harm to us. It's a fight for oversight and regulations to curb the worst instincts of politicians and businesses. Never forget who the real enemy is, and it's not our neighbors; here or abroad.
6
I volunteered to canvass daily for months for my senate candidate, Jon Tester. I did this mostly because he is such a decent , caring , hard working senator. When Iidn’t feel like talking to strangers some days, though, I would think about Trump. Every time (4!) he came to Montana out of a vendetta against my senator, I did extra hours.
I was so happy Senator Tester got re-elected . I wish I had something so concrete that I could do now to counteract Trump. I liked your essay. I will go to rallies and write letters to editor and I will call state and federal representatives but I am also storing up energy for the 2020 elections. They are only 2 years away.
Maybe I am being grandiose but I crave more of those door to door conversations with undecided voters. I was amazed this election how many people do open their doors knowing that, due to my clipboard and the season, I am a canvasser. In my red city , it was one of the few times when I was able to chat with people who voted for Trump but are having qualms. I am eager for 2020 and inspired by the new diversity in Congress and how Native turnout in “Indian country” here was super high.
16
You write the truth and it is appreciated. Your column pricks the conscience of our society and a scan through your commentary is evidence that your truth stands for an intelligent path forward.
11
Fatigue indeed, and eminently understandable, but it must not give way to resignation, unless it is Donald Trump's.
There are too many fundamentals at stake. Certainly our country has its flaws, but allowing a semblance of permanency to the travesties visited upon us by the current administration, a complicit Senate and an increasingly stacked judiciary are not trivialities to be ignored, let alone tolerated.
Inspiration can be found in many places and derived from many events, large and small. They should not be ignored, lest the aberration become the norm. It is up to us to tip the scale in favor of morality and decency, and to be fueled by our outrage. Progress is being made, and we must find in it our inspiration to continue its march.
To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King's deservedly acclaimed admonition, in some respects given in similar circumstances, we must overcome. All that is good and right that our nation stands for hangs in the balance. We have not only seen the mountain; we have climbed it. We the people must do so, once again, and reclaim the noble vistas Americans can aspire to.
4
I look at the battle against Trump much as I did running races. My first competitive race was the 1/2 mile. I recall my coach telling me to pick up your pace at the 1/4 mile mark. Most runners unwittingly slow down at the half way point to gather for the push to the finish. This transmuted well to my marathon days - negative splits worked very well.
We are coming up on Trump's half way mark - time to pick up the pace and get the lead going into the final lap. It HAS been exhausting, but the race is still to be won!
8
My doctor didn't believe that my growing anxiety was due to the presidential election and all that came with it. But I know better and found I need to take steps to keep from imploding. Besides taking better care of myself, I am finding joy in people, animals and the beauty of the world. Also, learning another language and speaking out whenever I hear words that hurt, help me to counteract the vileness emanating from the White House. All suggestions are welcome as we carry on.
15
Thank You, Lee Del.
Every single positive action by every single one of us counts.
Hope you have a wonderful day!
2
Weariness is not an option right now - or anytime - for democracy in OUR United States of America, Mr. Blow.
Democracy is not a spectator sport. WE THE PEOPLE can never consider it "fixed" because it is ever-changing. WE must remain vigilant every single day to make sure 99.9% of us are being served by OUR hired/elected lawmakers.
There will always be the 0.01% of people - insatiably greedy, morally/ethically bankrupt, socially unconscious, fear-anger-hate mongering supposed human beings - who think they deserve it all. OUR government is to protect US from them.
However, every person cannot fight every battle. it's simply too exhausting. What we can - and must - do is find the one thing we value most about our democracy and fight like hell to preserve/restore/improve it. Make it fun. What could be more fun than creating the kind of world WE want to live in?
The battle has just started to get The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren OUT of OUR governments at every level and once we have won WE must stay vigilant to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Not now. Not ever.
8
njglea, I missed the part of Mr. Blow's piece where he was advocating a lack of vigilance and/or that we should treat democracy as a spectator sport. In fact, reading through his piece again, I still can't find anything in it that would trigger this scolding. But I would be curious to read of all that you have done that Mr. Blow and the rest of us have not done since Trump was elected. Maybe you have volunteered to get out the vote ten times as much as the rest of us. Maybe you've slept at your local Democratic headquarters since 2016 and haven't taken one evening away from the struggle. Let's hear about it.
1
On this Veterns’ Day weekend in the spirit of your column, I offer Gwendolyn Brook’s not in print sonnet cycle about African American soldier’s returning home from World War I.
The title escapes me but yes this is what she had to deal with in our country. Excellent poetic gifts and our country unknowing and uncaring. In sharp contrast to the British poet soldiers from that era whose works are still in print.
4
Yesterday, speaking to the latest gun violence and the CA fires, one of my church leaders reminded us that we cannot let ourselves become numb. Unspoken, but we all knew, was the current state of politics, too.
The last two paragraphs of this column are profound.
I also appreciate his observation that we can't be sure that we aren't seeing the end of Western democracy. I've been trying to make this point with friends. The Romans were probably sure that the changes in the empire, and the proximity of the barbarians were only temporary setbacks.
10
Mr Blow's mother and her generation obviously "survived and made progress against open hostility" because they largely prevailed in the end. The intolerable laws and practices that blighted their lives have largely ended. Now their self-appointed successors concern themselves with "microaggressions" and "dog whistles".
A call for combatants in a war that never ends will ultimately falter because most people must see the prospect of an end to it. Those who are eager to fight on forever have made it into a self-sustaining profession and will eventually find themselves battling alone.
2
@ERP
That's a really depressing thought.
But battle fatigue and arrogance felled the Roman Empire we cannot let that happen.
Thank you for your continued hope and inspiration mixed with dispare as all are required right now. But please continue your insightful columns as our darkness is shown light by your writing.
10
Remember it isn't the goal; it's the fight itself that makes it all worthwhile. The fact that we are inherently indominable is a glorious gift of spiritual resistance that overcomes all evil even unto death.
If we read the long hostory of Christian martyrs, we see that what may seem like losing can be transformed into wininng in the end. And look at those killed in action like Robert Kennedy and Matin Luther King. These heros have transcended death in a destiny that endures forever. Thus the devine aspect of the human spirit is to overcome all oppression and intolerance and fly free to our source afterall.
The "struggle for goodness and decency" is grounded in the natural laws of man that originate in a righteous union with a concept of one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.
In the resistance we all get weary and we have to remember as only humans we need to rest and recooperate. Prayer, meditation, communion with the world of nature, plants. animals, sky, water, rain, wind, fresh air; all these bring us home to where and who we are.
The greater fight is for the planet itself against the awful outcome of the loss of our home itself and the self destruction of our habitat. This eventuality looms more and more awesome on our horizon of horrors.
Thank You Mr. Blow, as we pause to reflect and gather our strength and burnish our dignity for the next round in the fight against the bad guys who would tear everything down and leave us all homeless.
Carry on.
12
@Discernie. Your words remind me of something Martin Buber wrote in his essay on "Biblical Leadership" in the collection entitled, if I recall correctly, 'On the Bible.' The Hebrew bible gives as many words to the history of failures of the ancient Israelites as to their successes. The point of that history was to teach us how to fail--how, in retreat, to re-imagine success, how to examine and re-form our goals and strategies, how to strengthen ourselves to watch the signs of the times for new possibilities of success. The path to the goal is not smooth. Success rises "rises from the deeps of failure," of sacrifice, discerned intelligently, together.
Thanks for the reminder that there is a valuable spiritual dimension to this weariness.
1
Make no mistake: Trump's depravity and incompetence, combined with the complicity of Congress, are taking a toll on the national health: talked to an orthopedist recently? Perpetual outrage has more than a mental and emotional cost. I've unsubscribed to almost everything and am keeping my head down for the next few months.
7
When Trump was elected, some friends and I agreed (even in despair) that there would be about two years of sacking the Treasury and after the mid-terms, the House would be able to marginalize Trump. So far, so good.
We feel that the institution of democracy is strong enough to ride through the rapids and get to the smoother waters downstream. The lame-duck congress will possibly pass a few bills that provide self-benefit and then be gone. The new Congress can then get to work. All this will lead to Trump as a one-term aberration, especially when people realize the big tax cut didn't do zip for them. Sadly, it just takes more time than we thought.
15
@John
We cannot just ride the rapids! We need to be paddling like made to go where we want. Passivity is washing back/forth on the shore at the beat of the waves. Others cannot do it all. Roll up your sleeves and show up!
Let's not forget the younger generation. We need to do more outreach to get 18-25 year olds to register to vote (vote.org). The younger generation are a natural fit for the Democratic Party - they believe in diversity and want practical solutions to their problems - not a massive tax cut for the rich.
9
@Mary
Right! Go to high schools and secondary education institutions and get those 18 year olds registered, educated and motivated!
@Mary, unlike us the youth are not weary. On the contrary they are highly highly energized highly inpsired and they have only got started. During the 2016 elections charles blow made the mistake of ignoring youth voices, ridiculing them at every opportunity, even his own son. It came at a heavy cost because when you deny your youth their future dreams you are left with exhaustion.
1
Hard as it is to comprehend, or accept, what we now have as president of the United States is one of the most appalling human beings in our history. His behavior in Europe over the weekend merely added to the bill of particulars.
There's plenty of blame to go around, of course, including all of his enablers from the get-go and the almost 63 million voters who ultimately embraced him. But the larger, more urgent issue we're facing is:
What are We the People, as a whole, going to do now about this grotesque perversion of the highest office in our land?
Our institutions of government are broken and, beyond that, hyperpoliticized to an alarming -- and ineffective -- extent. To make matters worse, we suddenly have a manifestly unqualified Trump hatchet man running the Justice Department and overseeing a historically crucial investigation that he is on the record as opposing.
Unless consensus can be reached -- soon -- that country is vastly more important than party and the rule of law kicks in through the checks and balances provided to us by the Constitution, this disease will be infecting our body politic for a minimum of 800 more days, which is the time remaining before the next inauguration.
That's much too long for our democracy to be in further peril.
The last time our system of justice was similarly threatened, circa 1972-74, it rose to the occasion, and the vital principle that no one is above the law was preserved. But this time, the outcome is far less certain.
26
@Dotconnector
If one must hand wringing, do it with bullet points. Stop whining and take positive steps so we have a strong foundation, deep bench and a broad field that is ready, willing and able before 2020.
Every day I take a sanity break and do things that give me pleasure, and I never feel ashamed about it. I figure anytime we're at peace, or feeling joyful, we're turning away from the soul crushing influences of this man Trump, and everyone who supports his kind of wickedness. Being calm or happy, improving ourselves, or helping someone else, seems a pretty powerful form of Resistance to me. And just as Charles says, it makes me sharper and stronger when I have to get back to work doing my small bit in this struggle. against the darkness.
21
@woodswoman
Exercise and get out into nature. Recharge and return with more vigor and sharper focus. But return and be present!
@mary
Thanks, maybe I should have written that "During" the day I take breaks, which do include walking by the way; the rest of the time I'm front and center.
I understand just what you and Charles mean about the importance of taking a break from watching this disaster unfold. I started making a Tartine style sourdough bread after Trump was elected and began assault on America. Making a good bread takes care, patience and knowledge. The "starter" (I call it my livestock) needs daily feeding. The breads vary with the weather, timing and flours. Some are really great and others are interesting but they are all thoroughly enjoyed. It's good to learn something new, get it right and share it with pride. Baking bread helps me stay connected to my values and to others.
2
I think those actively involved in the resistance - including the Democrats who ran for office in reaction to this soul-destroying Administration - are very elated and energized by last week's historic victory. The activism started the day after the Inauguration, and has been going strong for two solid years. Everyone who hates the anti-social Presidency with a passion must be, on some level, motivated to keep going by delightful visions of the Trump family walking to the helicopter that will whisk them way from the White House forever!
9
Blow is right - unless something really egregious crops up in the Mueller investigation, we are stuck with Trump.
The reason? Congress finds him useful. He is a lightning rod for criticism and they are spared the worst while they promote or allow a lot of truly awful things to happen. The tax cut that will reduce their services or raise their local taxes will be the Trump Cut. So will the attack on the environment and the decisions that come from the Court.
The other reason? While we are focused on the worst of Trmp's supporters, the nationalists, the people who really think it is OK to separate children from parents and put them in camps, the bulk of the people who support Trump do so because he has validated their position on healthcare, or religious liberty, or abortion, or guns,or taxes, or regulation, or the odd mix of isolationism and bully power that is our foreign policy, and don't believe the rest is that big a deal. They just get mad about being characterized as racist and dig in deeper.
Democrats are not going to win over the single issue GOP voter, nor are they going to win over the nastiest part of the base, even if Trump is impeached. That is the thing we need to focus on from now on.
What policy and ideas do we have to capture the heart of people who rarely vote, and the middle of the GOP who have more than one issue that they find important so that Trump is a one term fiasco.
6
We persevere in the fight for democracy and decency in the face of adversity because we simply cannot relent lest our opponents succeed. We weary of Trump because of his negative energy and his quest to destroy the ideas, ideals and creativity that define our nation and our place in the world. Further, he is quite boring so it is hard to sustain the fight against this unimaginative and self centered person. I just re read the Battle of Belleau Wood and the gallant fighting efforts of the US Marine Corps. It is appalling that our president would not visit this historic site because of a little rain. Perhaps his heel spurs are acting up. The point is that Trump dishonored our noble dead by ignoring their sacrifices to the cause of freedom and democracy. This is;however, his true nature whereby only his interests matter. This is all the more reason to sustain and reinvigorate the fight. We are making progress and we shall prevail to emerge as a stronger nation and people.
6
I cannot believe how long, in our history, African Americans had to endure racism. The history of Jim Crow shows that the North did not really win the war, at least as regards slavery, for a very long time after it formally ended. All wars, be it the Civil War, WW II, or our current war with Trump, start slowly and seem to gain a momentum that good people cannot fallow. We think that we can beat back Trump quickly, but as Charles Blow points out, racism has been simmering just below the surface, and now, for many, it is socially acceptable again. It will take time to create widely-held social norms that put racism back in the bottle again.
4
Yes, a forever fight. For even when Trump is gone, we will still have oppressors. There will still be the fight for those less fortunate. There is and will be for our lifetime and on, the real and true problem of humans and the environment, and how we plan to keep living here if we are actually destroying the very ground we walk upon. Yes indeed, Mr. Blow, you are so right. Perhaps it isn’t so much that we will get somewhere and we can then say the work is done. It is the journey and it is a long one. A lifetime. Many lifetimes.
11
You speak from the heart and from your head in balance, Mr. Blow. Thank you. I write a monthly column in our regional paper, and for the day after the election, writing a few days in advance, I wrote about empathy and happiness v. hate and unhappiness. I wrote not knowing the what the outcome of the mid-terms would be. I am somewhat relieved but not elated. What gives me the greatest hope, and what will allow me to continue to fight for justice and equality and civility, is the fact that two Muslim women from the mid-West won seats in Congress and that a Native American lesbian won in Kansas! I do not think that we as progressives would have imagined such demographics from these states.
I, too, underestimated the depth and breadth of racism and misogyny in the hearts of too many Americans. But I also underestimated the ability of some Americans to simply vote for the best candidate to represent them. And, as the numbers show, diversity is a moving train. The Mitch McConnells of the world will not stop it, and we must remain vigilant as they will continue to cheat and use fear to manipulate people.
And, me, I am going to the Azores in the winter for a week. Yes, we need to decompress, feel the weariness, and then carry on the good work. You, Mr. Blow, inspire me constantly. Your integrity is something else.
4
Hilary is smart, aware and very experienced in the problems of governing. She would make a fine president. Her only problem is that she is a woman which many people, both men and women, just cannot possibly get their heads around to accepting.
4
@joyce
As a democrat, I did/do not respect either Clinton. Morally flawed which pales with what is in WH now. I voted for Bernie, then held my nose and campaigned/voted for HRC. Now, more than ever, we need good decent people. It goes without saying, smart.
@joyce, Eww. My daughter her friends and I are all women and we believe might michelle Alexander when she said Hillary (or any Clinton) was not the right choice and why not.
1
I worry about our country. I am seeing disturbing similarities with Germany of the 1930's. Both had a popularly elected leader who held the rule of law in contempt. Both sought to distract the populace with threats from an external enemy. Both sought to shut down the press. Both used the military for domestic problems. Both committed atrocities in the name of security (family separation at the border and losing 1,000+ children). The most disturbing similarity, is that the population of both countries allowed their leader to do this.
Don't ever again ask "How could the people of Germany let this happen?" Look in the mirror, its happening here, its happening now.
7
@Bruce1253
Thank you! I have held the same perspective since the 2016 election. The people of Germany were no different than we are now with the exception of the humiliation of the reparations and the Versailles treaty. Of course, a lot of Trumpsters would think that the loss of American "greatness," is of similar national pain.
1
@Bruce1253
Folks need to start taking positive steps to correct this. Stop the woe and hand wringing. Do something.
In the year of his centennial, I’ve done a lot of reading and thinking about Frederick Douglass. He escaped to freedom, achieved nationwide emancipation in his late 40s, his life’s work—only to see the rise of Jim Crow as he approached old age. What a devastating blow this must have been to have progress go backward on his watch.
And I think, too, of John Lewis several generations later. Emerging from the world of sharecropping, Lewis became a civil rights icon as a young man, rising to power as a congressman, living to see the nation’s black president—only to see a president rise to power who summons our worst racial demons.
Makes you wonder if the arc of justice is an arc at all. And how much the arc boomerangs before it bends.
How many times must we be hit in the face? How many setbacks must we endure? In the words of Langston Hughes, “What happens to a dream deferred?”
I hope Charles Blow is right that we should keep in mind the long view. But it has been a long, disillusioning, enraging state of being, with no end in sight.
We are hanging on, outraged anew and exhausted.
Still, we will dream and explode, explode and dream. And reorient that arc, we must.
5
Thank you, Mr. Blow. I really needed this! You have spoken to me and for me over the past two years and I am deeply grateful for your articulate outrage, assessment, honor and integrity. You give me strength as I struggle to move from raging grief for our country to grieving rage, struggling to right the very grave wrongs afflicting us now.
7
My heartfelt thanks to the person who chose the photo here for cropping out the monster's face. A little relief.
3
@andy b
YES! Please stop giving him free press, media! It is nauseating to see his image or hear him voice. I turn away, delete and/or turn off the radio.
Good question for the centennial of November 11, 1918. Weariness is the condition of the soldier, and we're all soldiers in this effort. Take a few minutes off when needed, but don't forget the major effort . . . get back in the fray.
1
"Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts." Winston Churchill
Have courage, America.
10
@Paul
We will fight him on land and on the sea and in the air. Let the whole world show DJT his shame and downfall. Ban him.
1
I agree with you Charles. We know who Trump is, have seen and heard enough of his character. Let's concentrate on what he and his administration and doing, let's make a resistence list of the things we need to reverse; but also a list of the progressive things we want to accomplish, or at least, move forward. tell the newsroom to take away the megaphone they provide by repeating his every odious tweet and pronouncement. Stop feeding the beast the red meat of attention.
6
I like the way you chose a picture that crops out Trump's head, in the spirit of Doonesbury comics. I read Doonesbury every day, including the old strips available online, and the scrolling mudline banner at the website can provide helpful (and humorous) fodder for a daily comment or two.
A good laugh is a good antidote for weariness. It hasn't let me down yet.
And thank you for hanging in there and fighting the good fight, Charles Blow. You prove to be a man for all seasons.
9
It's okay to take time outs to recuperate from this never-ending battle. We must, though, recognize and accept that it IS, indeed, never-ending, like the "Never-ending Story." There will always be more chapters. Right now we are seeing massive shifts toward totalitarianism and Fascism in Europe, in the U.S. and elsewhere. In South America they call it "socialism." In the Middle East they call it "theocratic government." Yeah - socialism and theocratic government for the richest of the rich and what our so-called "Christians" are pushing (but it's just "my way or the highway"), just like we have here in the USA. The effect is the same. Destruction of individual rights, freedom, liberty, and human dignity for all but a chosen few.
2
I just completed reading Grant and These Truths: History of the United States, which as Mr. Blow points out, as help me understand and tolerate this administration. Historically, we have seen the same acrimony and the same know-nothingness we are witnessing today--and at times---even worse injustices to immigrants and minorities. I would say the one historical truth I have difficulty with, and forget with all those years of establishment rule, are significant numbers of our citizenry, who by nature, are racists, are misogynists, and are more than willing to turn their country over to a man on the balcony.
2
Eventually, this country needs to FORCE everybody to vote.
Before that we need to completely re-socialize people to realize that voting is a right - not a privilege, if we want to continue to be a democratic country.
I believe the majority is good and decent, and those who are not are a minority.
And Trump is an aberration, both as a political entity and as a person. Now everybody is able to see it as he is not hiding anything but his money and his treason.
The future is bright.
1
@Amos
No, no, no! Besides all the pragmatic and constitutitonal problems of mandatory voting, why in goddess's name would you want people who don't care enough to vote, vote?
Already, most voters are ignorant. Ignorant of how government works, of the civics lessons that every naturalized citizen has to know. But, Boy Howdy, they can tell you everything that they know is true from the Fox Ministry of Truth.
And you think we would be better off forcing even less knowledgeable and caring citizens to vote? Frankly, I think that even citizens need to pass a dumbed down civics test.
This election gives me hope. I hope the Democrats do not bother with Impeachment. I want the to focus on Health care, infrastructure programs, gun reform and overturning the Tax Reform bill in order to rid us of the enormous debt it has put us in.
But first the Mueller investigation must be saved. That is the road to rid us of Trump and the rest of his corrupt administration
3
There is some hope out there. I worked on a Democrat's campaign for state representative when the seat had been occupied by a Republican for decades. In prior election cycles (3), there was not even a Democratic opponent. This year, the election night tally had the Democrat losing by 1 (one!) vote. Of course, the mail in ballots had not been counted and the final result will not be known until 11/20/18.
Regardless, this election, win or lose, is a positive sign.
3
I thought this was a really positive and thoughtful column. We all have to take a break from politics and the constant, in your face, craziness that seems to have a grip on politics. It may be best for the Trump administration to unravel of its own accord. The fact is that the American people own this debacle, and they will get to fix it in 2020. I think the energy is on the Democratic side. Exciting candidates, a young, diverse and energetic electorate, and a Republican Party that simply lies and insults with no plan except militarizing our southern border, destroying Medicare and Social Security, depriving people of health care and destroying the environment. I think that schtick is wearing thin on everyone.
4
I agree with Charles. Time out. A nite off from commenting on Trump. Time to remember and mourn recent victims of mass shootings. And time to be grateful for the efforts and sacrifices of our military and first responders. We are blessed in that regard.
As one gets older, it becomes easier to accept how little control we have over life, even our own. This does not mean we no longer stand up against what is wrong. It is just that it keeps anger at bay - because it is anger that will burn us out.
Nevertheless, I do not believe the questions regarding the other half of the country are really the right ones. Instead, we should be asking how so many people came to believe the unbelievable? Conversely, how can so many people not believe what is true, even when obvious?
And now, when we face an existential battle of democracy vs. racial superiority we can't even agree on what the truth is, much less compromise on anything.
How did we ever get the ridiculously absurd notion that money is a measure of intelligence?
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Mr. Blow,
This was an excellent article but I hope you're wrong. America can't withstand another 2 years of maniacal leadership that appears to have the full backing of the GOP.
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Time outs as necessary but we the people must be as tireless in our defense of democracy as the republican party is in their zeal to destroy it. Above all we need to generate memes that act as inoculations against the decades old memes of the republicans.
"Tax and spend democrats?" has to be offset for example by "bankrupt and betray republicans." Never again do republicans get to claim the flag, lapel pins, that song, veterans, keeping us safe, a devotion to civil rights, freedom, our very Constitution as their personal and proprietary property.
Their stock in trade is lies, hypocrisy, and betrayal on the most foundational level.
"We ought to resist, resist, resist until we hurl the demagogues and tyrants from their imagined thrones." Alexander Hamilton
The struggle is perpetual. It was not won in Hamilton's day, it was not won in Lincoln's day, it will not be won in our lifetime. But as Martin Luther King observed, "the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. "
Two hundred plus years ago Americans freed themselves from a king. One hundred fifty plus years ago Americans freed blacks from slavery. In our lifetimes we have won greater recognition and respect for all human equality. Never perfect, never done. The struggle is perpetual.
Recently we have lost ground. New tyrants and demagogues appear. There will always be evil. Recently we have been shocked by how many of us are followers of demagogues. But the arc still bends towards justice and we must persevere, we must "resist, resist, resist"!
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Charles,
While I'm heartened by the taking back of the House, I see a long hard two years of trial and tribulation ahead, as good decent people here in America, and everywhere on our planet, try to deal with what Trump and Trumpism is trying to do, which in a nutshell is simply nothing good for all species, including humanity.
There is real rot at the core of America, apparently virulent, seemingly pushing it's way relentlessly to the surface, until it accomplishes what it is being designed to do, such being a nation fraught with division, anger, and a consequent desire for vengeance, and the purveyor of this disease sits in our White House, aided and abetted with great pleasure, by his minions, many we can see, and unfortunately many are hiding in plain sight in every village, town, community, and city throughout our dying democracy.
I meet them every day; they are abhorrent, and here's the thing; they are convinced they are right.
Can goodness and decency prevail ? I thought I could believe it eventually will, but I'm no longer optimistic.
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I am counting Trump's time in the White House in dog years. One year is like seven. I have battle fatigue. Every single day there is some new embarrassment. Saturday was certainly no exception with Trump failing to visit Aisne Marne American Cemetery because of rain. He stayed in his hotel room while other world leaders visited various other commemorative sites in the same inclement weather. Trump's disrespect for the fallen in service to this country, was palpable. I was so ashamed. Every time I think Trump has hit a new low, I find I am mistaken. However, weary as I am, you are right Mr. Blow, the fight for decency must continue. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and those who followed him did not give up even when faced with brutality and death. In the end they prevailed. Indecency gave way to justice
Last Tuesday the Democrats won the House, and that is at least a beginning point for reining in Trump's egregious use of power.
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Words are powerful but also inadequate. Words are linear but life is 3 dimensional. We live only in this present moment, but our minds and hearts know what has past and cannot know what lies ahead. No one and nothing is secure. Nothing lasts but that is no consolation if you are screaming in pain second by second. What, indeed, is to be done that will matter?
Trump and those who like and support him are to many, like you, like me, a nightmare come alive. My friends in Brazil are paralyzed with fear about their new "leader." What can we tell them when we are in almost the same situation?
The ONLY remedy is broad-based education of the general public. We have starved public education for decades and eliminated the arts and humanities, leaving us with sports ad nauseum. A illiterate, befuddled public cannot reason. We are in a perfect storm of manipulators. Tea Partiers, Trumpites, FOX bloviators, "religious" so-called "christians" and an army of bajillionaires who just want more money. All of them playing effectively on the profoundly frightened, duped citizens who are confused and therefore, angry. Sadly, they do not know how lost they are and are quick to seek solace in all the wrong places.
Write on, Mr. Blow, and right on! Your words, in particular, matter in this very caucasian paper and your insights and outrage are, to me anyway, consoling. Take a break as you need, but don't go away. Your words are still just words but good ones, necessary ones, always.
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The truth doesn't need much fuel to keep burning. Lies require a constant stoking to continue to burn. The inefficiency of living a lie leads to an early death for its carrier. The truth always wins in the end. American society may not be the same after this fire rages, but the lies will eventually be found to be untenable as they are deadly. The truth will be acknowledged, or the country will perish. If the country perishes, then the truth will still live on without us.
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I read this article after the disturbing lead story about missile development in North Korea. While we are coping with the very real weariness from so much Trump garbage, America is losing ground around the world. Charles Blow has looked honestly at our dilemma and shown that the concerns are shared. That helps to build strength and the willingness to fight. I am grateful.
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You have buoyed me up from sinking into despair. Your comparison of most of the country now to the struggles of the Black community, and their never ending hope and striving for a better life is perfect for all of us. Indeed, it is your statement, "The struggle for goodness and decency is an eternal one not a seasonal one," which puts me back in the fight. Thanks.
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Want to know what Chuck Schumer was talking about in his weekly press conference? That the airlines were deliberately ripping off consumers by making seats on planes way too small. As we're heading into Thanksgiving Schumer decided that this was the problem that had to be rectified immediately.
The resistance and revolution will have to be put on hold until after the holidays season is over.
Thank you for the thoughts. And I added a new word to my vocabulary.
Thank you, Mr. Blow. Please keep up your necessary and seemingly endless campaign. Trump obviously is hoping that eventually those who see who he is and what he is up to will tire and move on.
Of course it would help a lot if our country's would-be emperor understood or even wished to understand the very notions of goodness and decency. He's good AT lots of things--lying, posturing, trying to shout down reporters [especially African American female reporters]. But he decidedly is not and never has been a good person, and is reliably and profoundly indecent. [Thanks to those who decided to keep his snarling face out of the picture accompanying this article.]
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We have a right to weariness. But we don't have the luxury of it. This is an active civil war, albeit a cold one, so far.
On the one hand, we have Trump and the Trumpists, attacking every Constitutional norm, restriction, precedent, and tradition, attempting to overthrow our checks and balances, and, ultimately to violate our individual rights when they are inconvenient for Trump. And the Republican party has totally caved to him. THEY never take a break or a pause--less than 12 hours after a crushing defeat in the House, Trump was putting Sessions out to pasture and his own personal hitman stooge illegally as "Acting" AG.
On the other side, are the defenders of our Democratic Republic, and we cannot drop our vigilance for a split second or we might lose it all.
So, no, CB, we cannot afford the luxury of weariness or letting down our guard.
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Mr. Blow's challenge is a good one. What's to do in these times? I've found a measure of relief in reminding myself about America's greatness in books. Lately, I'm looking through the amazing window provided by "My Dear Hamilton" (Kamoie and Dray) a first person story of America's creation from the perspective of Elizabeth Hamilton, also known as Mrs. Alexander Hamilton. A moving testament from someone who seems to have known everyone and been everywhere during the early years of the country's founding. The second thing that occupies me is wondering, specifically, what can we do for *some* of the groups left behind by our economy that think they have found their savior in Trump. I'd like to find a way to stop this huckster from capitalizing on pain no one is willing to see, much less address.
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"How could we not remember that American progress has always been like a dance with a disagreeable partner, stumbling backward as well as moving forward?"
Hard to say given that President Obama himself referenced this exact same phenomena throughout his campaigns and during his time in office. Perhaps too many took his election to be too great a sign of progress and took their foot off the gas pedal on efforts to continue to create an America that works for all.
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@JBC "dancing with a disagreeable partner" is a GREAT image! And metaphor for these times.
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The root motivation for the obstruction during President Obama's terms, the outright theft of a supreme court nomination, the resistance to anything that might help the country if it was his idea, and ultimately the election of trump is, wait for it... racism! It was, and is still, straight up racism.
This is the other central fact that we Americans refuse to acknowledge. Just like the absolute flood of guns is the biggest correlating factor in our monstrous level of mass murders, racism by resentful poor working-class white people is the engine that the Republicans have harnessed in their continuing desperate bid to hang on to power to which they are no longer entitled.
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Thank you for these words. It's helpful to know that the undercurrent of anxiety is not just felt by me and my friends. Short term, this so-called president will be gone (one way or another), but long term, it's going to take a while to heal the many areas of damage that this depraved man-child has wrought.
I feel like we are collectively in an abusive relationship from which we cannot escape.
Those who struggle to achieve decency and equality for all must accept it may not happen in their lifetimes. A look at US history is proof. Our Declaration of Independence promises all people are created equal with inalienable rights, but our founding fathers, authors of our Constitution, were slave owners and only white men who owned property could vote. It took the loss of 500,000 American lives before the passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868, which granted citizenship to former slaves. Our entire history, from the beginning, has been a struggle for equality followed by a violent backlash by those who are against equality for all. The Civil War Amendments were followed by the passage of Jim Crow Laws. One step forward, 100 steps back.
It took 100 years after the Civil War to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which ended racial segregation in public places made into law with the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision. I was 14 when that law was passed and I remember the race riots of the 60s. One step forward, 100 steps back.
Progress for equality is glacially slow and never, ever certain. It is said Obama's election was the second Brown v. Board of Education and the white nationalist movement is the backlash to the election of a black man to the highest office in the land. One step forward, 100 steps back.
I am 68. I will not see full equality in my lifetime, but the fight must continue and never ever cease, no matter how exhausted we may become.
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One of the things Trump thrives on is wearing his opposition out. Don't play by his rules.
Taking time out from political developments is healthy and productive. So, yes, absolutely take time away to enjoy life. The holidays are coming up and, if that's your thing, it's a good time to step back and enjoy the season. Step back, too, from that crazy uncle or your brother-in-law who love Trump. You aren't going to change their mind and they won't change yours. Change the subject and talk about football or basketball. Anything but politics.
Getting rid of Trump will be hard and more difficult than many are thinking after Tuesday's election. Don't let Trump burn you out in 2019. Rest up and save your strength for 2020. Let Mueller and House Democrats carry the burden now. Iowa is 14 months away and there will be plenty of politics in about a year. If it takes sitting out for a whole year to be ready to put in some work in 2020, do it. The last thing we need are people burned out just when things start to matter. There is no shame at all in needing time to recharge.
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Charles, I have read your columns for years. Your outrage over Trump matched mine (matches mine), and I cheered as you very publicly roared, but I have lately come to realize that I am giving him too much of my time. I've realized that he is simply not worth it. He's not going to change, but I can change my focus from repeatedly stating the obvious (as you noted as well) to trying to do something beyond him to effect positive change. History will judge him. Meantime, we need to see that we get things done legislatively while we have an opportunity to. We don't know what 2020 will bring, or what or when Robert Mueller's finding will become public or what they may mean. We need to fight on--fight for the things that are worth it--social justice, the environment, voting rights. Let Trump wallow in his misery and corruption. We are far beyond him. We are glad we aren't him. And now we continue the GOOD work.
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You are an important voice in these perilous times. Thank you for continuing to write through it all. Reading your columns and following you on Twitter is keeping me sane when I feel close to giving up.
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What a downer of a column, especially after an important battle was just won.
Yes, Trump is incompetent, a scoundrel, and, possibly a traitor. And we suffer because of him. But we are stuck with him for the next two years.
Democrats have the opportunity to show the people how Congress is supposed to work. Legislation, purse strings, and oversight.
The House can act responsibly and, by so doing, reveal Trump and Senate Republicans for who they are.
Trump may still have the bully pulpit and he will use of it to vilify Democrats. And, of course, Trump will make the House the enemy of the people.
But there is nothing like a few public hearings to educate people about the Trump Swamp. With control of the House, Democrats will have an opportunity to shape the narrative and set the agenda.
And there is nothing like sound legislation that serves the concerns of the people instead of the dogma of the few.
Impeachment should not be a goal. Good governance is the goal and, if impeachment is a result, so be it.
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@Rita We do not need to accept this lout for the next two years. If as it appears there are "high crimes and misdemeanors and other abuses of office, impeach.
Thank you Charles. It's tough to be battle-weary from the constant struggle to try to make America a better place for everyone while our opponents argue and litigate against even counting the lawfully-cast votes. Thank you Charles, for offering up that it is OK to step back, take a deep breath and recharge our souls!
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A wonderful article and yes, we all need a break. However, we also need constant vigilance.
Much like the 1930s, we must fight every effort to create an autocracy led by a demigod - no matter the personal cost. That vigilance, as I see it, is the role of our free press and I honor their efforts.
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The biggest problem is not Trump. It is voting on another one just like him or voting to continue him. We need to build a democracy around citizens that can select leaders that serve us all, with whom we can unite to move our country forward together!
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@Mike Wilson
We also need to get rid of the Electoral College, Gerrymandering, and every other trick in the book Republicans have been using in order to maintain their control over the Executive, Judicial and Legislative branches of our government.
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"And yet, at a certain point, words begin to fail, or the obvious has already been stated."
Yes, Mr. Blow, this is precisely where I find myself. There is really nothing more to be said that hasn't already been said. This man, Trump, exhausts ones self. That, it seems, is his modus operandi...to wear you out. We can't let him. We must continue the fight until he is the one who finally gives in or is removed.
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I'm predicting a scenario both much worse and more hopeful. Pressured by a combination of Mueller's investigation and House oversight, the last competent members of trump's administration will start resigning. The President won't be able to replace them because capable managers won't want to sign up for an impending train wreck. In short, I believe Trump's government will begin to collapse. And that's scary.
We might be facing an unstable demagogue with access to a vast nuclear arsenal, a fanatic mob behind him and no one to impede him. Nothing in our past could have anticipated this. Nonetheless, I believe that at that point the adult leadership in Washington from both parties will step in and end it all through evoking the 25th amendment.
In other words it's going to get a lot uglier before it gets a little better. But if I'm wrong; good.
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This "forever fight" is indeed exhausting. Perhaps that is because some of us had forgotten that it is a forever fight, and were shocked to be confronted with issues and attitudes which we assumed had been resolved two decades ago. The lesson for our children and grandchildren is clear -- never, ever take democracy for granted.
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"Nor shall I ever forgive the world for having pushed me against the wall, for having turned me into a stranger, for having awakened in me the basest, most primitive instincts."
Keep these words, written by Elie Wiesel in the 2006 preface to the new translation of "Night," in your heart while we follow Mr. Blow's suggestion that we "figure out the proper posture to take" in these frightening days.
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Thanks, Charles. Your are right and your words are both comfort and encouragement. Here for the long haul.
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Removal from office after impeachment has never been an option. And even if it had been an option, it would be a bad political move. Why write about it? We need to beat Trump at the ballot box. Period. Full stop.
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@S Anne Johnson Impeachment has always been and still is an option. If the situation warrants impeachment it should be done. No it is not easy to impeach, intentionally. However, that is no reason to set the procedure aside. It is an integral part of the checks and balance process.
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Thank goodness for Charles Blow. This article addresses the daily concerns of a majority of Americans regarding the very real lack of social empathy and the failure of recognizing the need to act together for the common good that we are seeing in many of our fellow citizens. The cloud of doom can be overwhelming. This article gives me , my family and my friends hope and reassurance that with hard work, occasional rest, and strong support for the democratic ideals the majority of our citizenry still embrace that we can return to addressing common problems such as climate change effects, social welfare, health care ,etc.I view this article as coming from someone who can continue to lead us on our trip to return this nation to one that is a beacon of light for citizens of the world.
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Wise words. But I have to admit that climate change, or more accurately our lack of will to modify our comfortable habits to deal with it, frightens and depresses me far more than Trump or the GOP. Trump will one day be gone, hopefully sooner than later, and the GOP realizes that the demographic tide runs against it. I believe the nation and its institutions can survive both, although not without damage that will require precious time to repair. But all the while the doomsday clock is ticking in the background, in the form of a rapidly warming planet. And unless we immediately change our ways that will spell our end, sooner than we allow ourselves to admit.
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Considering the gerrymandering and dark money that worked very hard to keep the blue victory as small as possible, it is a miracle that dems took the house. We must rejoice and be glad in that and use the positive momentum to expel Trump in 2020.
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Yes, I'm weary, but I have developed strategies to manage, e.g., I never, ever listen to or look at Trump (I read about what he said/did later as I need to) so the news is often on mute. That said, I have two things which plague my soul more than others. First, I am confounded by the number of Americans whose support of Trump is far beyond ordinary politics into a kind of adulation and worship in which they seem to fully endorse his own belief that he is the most magnificent POTUS ever and is doing a "wonderful" job.
Second, I feel helpless. Voting is one act (I do), but I live in a thoroughly blue state. Contacting my Senators/Reps is another act (I do), but again they are already on the same page as I am so I'm not effecting anything really. Staying informed matters (I do), but that's not action. I don't march; it's not my thing. I'm a words person, I write - lots, still...
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@Anne-Marie Hislop
Ignoring the guy in the White House is not a viable strategy. The people who support him must continually be confronted with his lies. We have to keep a positive attitude.
The President will eventually go away, probably by the electorate rather than impeachment. The problem then will be how to undo the damage to OUR country.
If writing is your strength, write letters to newspapers, write letters to your reps (even those with your views) so they can see your written opposition on issues, There can not be too much "singing to the choir". Enough people expressing their views about the guy in the White House can change public attitudes.
I held signs this summer with messages such as: Do you share the President's values?; 2,500 children- who is next?; Where are those tax returns?; Why is the President surrounded by criminals?.
You get the picture- Do something, anything , to enlighten the masses to the ugly, pervasive effects this guy has... our country depends on you. And all others of similar ilk.
Don't give up, this is too important!
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Like Mr. Blow and I daresay most Americans, I reached the saturation point with Donald Trump a long time ago, not only because he never changes his tune, but because we had to deal with him here in New York City long before he decided to run for president.
That said, NOTHING can eliminate the sheer euphoria of the recent midterm elections --not even the probable reality that we'll be stuck with this administration until 2020.
Why?
Because the genie of Democracy has been let out of the bottle, and it's not going to be put back in!
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