Last Tuesday, my 4-year-old grandson, Jack, and I tried to make a snowman out of a sprinkling of dry snow and a giggle. It turned out like a snowman Picasso might have sculpted.
It reminded me of a similar Tuesday in January 2018, with better snowman conditions. Later in 2018, faced with President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpleasant tweets and rally rants, I wrote in these pages about 2-year-old Jack’s unsolicited observations of our president. These are precise quotes, recorded at the time.
Having finished our 2018 snowman, I mentioned Trump in the context of the snowman’s bright buttons.
My wife asked Jack, “Do you know who Donald Trump is?”
Jack said, “Yes. He doesn’t like people.”
Then he added, pointing at us, “He doesn’t like you guys.”
I asked, “Does he like you?” Jack said, “No, Donald Trump does not like me.”
I asked, “Does he like anyone?”
Jack replied, “Yes, he likes Donald Trump … and Donald Trump.”
Wise words from a 2-year-old. It was mostly funny at the time, but has become much less humorous two years later.
Our 2020 snowman was not accompanied by any Trump banter, but the stench of the certain Senate impeachment acquittal hung in the air as we stuck buttons in a pile of fluffy powder. Improbable as it may have seemed at the time, Donald Trump is even more indecent than we thought two years ago. It is painful to consider the world Jack and our two granddaughters may live in if he is reelected. By Wednesday the stench settled into a permanent stain. History will not treat this era kindly.
On Thursday we endured the beginning of Trump’s revenge tour. His remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast were crude, vengeful and disgusting, although I’m not a big fan of the event, a pandering violation of the Establishment Clause. His White House celebration event was even more breathtaking. Unrestrained and triumphant, the impeached president excoriated his “enemies.” They were “corrupt,” “evil,” “dirty,” “bad,” “vicious” and “horrible.” The impeachment process was all “bull—-.”
He then went on to praise his minions like they were employees at one of his soon-to-go-bankrupt businesses. Winks and nods, rhetorical slaps on the back. Good ol’ Mitch. Devin — what a guy! How ’bout that Jim Jordan, folks? He referred to recently elected representatives as though he had personally hired them after brief interviews. All that was missing were the souvenirs, “you’re a good boy” plaques, and gift certificates to Hobby Lobby for each member of his sales team to take home. And they sat there and grinned, so grateful to bask in the smarmy manager’s approval.
Incomprehensibly, Trump’s approval rating is spiking — not despite but because of his crude, childish, bullying behavior. It seems that shooting someone on 5th Avenue would indeed be just fine with his supporters.
But it’s not hopeless. The despair is understandable, but despair never saved anyone. The hole is not as deep as it looks. If significant numbers of us vote, implore our friends to vote and make small contributions to candidates in key states and districts, this nightmare will end.
The doomsayers fear that Trump will not step down, even if he loses. Trump has predicted that some combination of law enforcement, armed white nationalists and his favorite motorcycle gangs will rise up to keep him in office. Not a chance. He won’t be able to barricade himself in the White House. There are enough honest people working there who know better. Look at A Very Stable Genius, the great book by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post journalists Philip Rucker, the paper’s White House bureau chief, and national investigative reporter Carol Leonnig. They had 200 eager sources, albeit most of them off the record.
A few morons with assault weapons may occupy a Chick-fil-A franchise somewhere and hold out for a few weeks, but that’s about it.
If we do what we must, Bill Barr will slink back into private practice and irrelevance and Mick Mulvaney and Mike Pence will go on the B-level speaking circuit, drawing small crowds of faux Christians and unrepentant bigots.
Trump himself will be indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and reach a plea agreement that requires him to let his natural hair color come out and never cheat at golf again. Faced with those mandates, he will choose to go into exile at Mar-a-Lago, raising the Russian flag and proclaiming himself a sovereign nation.
A new day is coming. In January 2021, Jack and I will make a snowman in honor of a new president, whoever that might be.
Steve Nelson lives in Boulder, Colo., and Sharon. He can be reached at stevehutnelson@gmail.com.