Someone needs a time-out

 

When did we stop growing up?

In 1974, when Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, many Americans were dismayed but not really surprised.  We understood it as part of the deal negotiated by Nixon's lawyers to get him out of the White House.  We didn't quite believe that, as the new president told us, "our long national nightmare is over," but we got on with our lives.  We waited two years and voted him out.

In 1995, many people were surprised, even shocked, when O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder.  It seemed so obvious.  As one wit observed, "There's a bloody glove at the scene, there's a bloody glove at his house.  This is a ten-minute Columbo episode."  But the jury didn't think the prosecution had proved its case.  They didn't go into hiding, they gave interviews.  No one in Washington or elsewhere demanded an investigation of Judge Lance Ito and his family.  (Hadn't he suffered enough from the dumb jokes of Jay Leno?)  We had to be content when a subsequent civil trial found Simpson liable for the two deaths.  It was very satisfying when he eventually went to prison for an unrelated crime.

Nobody can face the slightest disappointment now without a major discharge of fecal matter.  What happened to us?  Was it the internet, where all opinions are right?  When did every disagreement escalate within minutes to threats of bloodshed, secession, a nuclear exchange?  Sometimes the legal system (human-made, imperfect) gets it wrong (Kyle Rittenhouse).  Throw it all away and resume trial by combat?  

We should have seen this coming when five young men were imprisoned for a hideous rape in Central Park in 1989.  Unasked, Donald Trump demanded the death penalty.  After they had served between five and thirteen years, all were exonerated when the real perpetrator was made known and DNA evidence proved his guilt.  And Trump continued to demand the death penalty, and the prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, maintains to this day that she did nothing wrong.  When one of the five was elected to the New York City Council last year, neither of them had any comment.  People who know they're right cannot be moved by facts or law.  Acknowledging mistakes is part of becoming an adult.  Asking forgiveness -- well, that's up to you.

Now the Trumpers accept neither election results nor jury verdicts unless they agree with them.  They have the same problem with science (vaccines, climate change, the shape of the earth).  People like Marco Rubio don't wait for election night.  They announce in advance that they won't necessarily acknowledge the results.  I'm not sure we can go on like this.  A nation that Lincoln described as half-slave and half-free is now half reality-based, half lost in fantasy.   Entire states now require that public schools wish away historical facts and libraries conceal the confusing reality of human sexuality.  I have no answers.

"Even though Donald Trump wanted us executed even when it was proved that we were innocent, I do not take pleasure in today's verdict.  We should be proud today that the system worked.  But we should be somber that we Americans have an ex-president who has been found guilty on 34 separate felony charges.  And while today might not be as shocking as January 6th, it is equally profound.  On January 7th a large majority of Americans agreed that Trump should never again lead this country.  Let us hope we wake up tomorrow with the same conviction.  We have to do better than this.  Because we are better than this."

I hope the councilman is right.  

  

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Before the verdict was announced Trump was desperately looking for a way to weasel out of the two debates with Joe Biden that he had demanded.  At one point he wanted to include Robert Kennedy, Jr., whose voice would doubtless drive viewers to hit MUTE or change the channel.  Now he's a felon, and no felon is allowed to be near the president.  (I saw that on The West Wing.)  If Trump wants to take that path, at least he will finally have to admit Biden's legitimacy.  I will be here for that.