October 13, 2019
We have had a year’s worth of earth-shattering news in the last few days. In the Middle East, Trump’s stunning betrayal of our Kurdish allies has had depressingly predictable results. Civilian casualties are mounting; we have all seen the heartrending footage of the Kurdish mother cradling her dead child (trigger warning) and there are claims that Turkish backed militants were responsible for the murder yesterday of Hevrin Khalaf, the brave woman leader of the Syrian Future Party, (Source: “Kurdish politician and ten others killed by ‘Turkish backed militia’ in Syria, SDF claims,” by Kareem Khadder, Jennifer Deaton and Sharif Paget, CNN.com, 10/13/19). To add insult to injury, Turkish forces “launched multiple artillery rounds near a U.S. Special Operations outpost in northern Syria on Friday,” despite having known the location of U.S. troops for months, (Source: “U.S. forces say Turkey targeted them in Syria,” by Dan Lamothe, The Washington Post, 10/12/19). Most enraging of all is knowing that this chaos and carnage was unleashed for no more consequential reason than Trump’s avarice and ignorance.
Those same venal qualities were behind the savage sabotage of the 30 year career of committed diplomat, Marie L. Yovanovitch. As she laid out in a bitingly clear opening statement, she was attacked and abruptly removed from her post because she was working to stop corruption rather than enable it, (Source: “Ukraine Envoy Says She Was Told Trump Wanted Her Out Over Lack of Trust,” by Sharon LaFraniere, Nicholas Fandos and Andrew E. Kramer, The New York Times, 10/11/19).
Meanwhile, our country’s Attorney General used the occasion of an appearance at Notre Dame Law School to blame societal ills on a “campaign of organized destruction” being waged by “secularists” and “so-called progressives.” In an address to law students, Barr urged them to protect “religion and traditional values,” literally the polar opposite of his oath of office to “support and defend the Constitution,” which includes the First Amendment. Barr is doing nothing less than preaching dominionism, which seeks to establish a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in the United States. Pence and Pompeo are fellow travelers, (Source: “‘Brought to Jesus’: the evangelical grip on the Trump administration,” by Julian Berger, TheGuardian.com, 1/11/19).
We watch incredulously as those ruling this country abandon decades long alliances, further the goals of murderous autocrats and jeopardize national security to line the pockets of a lazy charlatan. We witness them trashing the Constitution and the Rule of Law and rigging the tax code to rob from the poor and middle class and enrich plutocrats. We wonder how so many of our fellow citizens can continue to support such a regime. We need look no further than the smiling Minnesota crowds who cheered lustily, not only at Trump’s attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar, but at his attack on the entire Somilian refugee community that has been in Minnesota for almost thirty years, (Source: “The five most un-Minnesota-like moments from Trump’s Minnesota rally,” by Christina Pignano, The Boston Globe, 10/11/19).
We need look no further than the case of Atatiana Jefferson, the 28 year old Black woman murdered in her house by a police officer responding to a wellness check requested by a neighbor. The Fort Worth cop shot Atatiana within four seconds of his arrival at her home, (Source: “‘They murdered this woman.’ Texans outraged after an officer shoots a black woman in her own home,” by P.R. Lockhart, Vox.com, 10/13/19). Misogyny and racism is the tie that binds 40% of America to Trump, no matter what. The ugly truth is that 40% of our countrymen would rather lash themselves to the mast of this sinking ship than give up on the myth of white supremacy that sustains them. We cannot hope to defeat them with half measures or feigned innocence. What they say is true— you’re either part of the solution…or part of the problem. You decide.