A grain of wisdom in the cacophony

Asa Hutchinson

Asa Hutchinson seems like a warm-hearted Republican. I simply have an intuitive sense about this. Not that I'd vote for him, but he seems to see through the nasty stuff. He calls a spade a spade. He is too rare a creature in this regard. He made some recent remarks that might have seemed unremarkable, but included was this: "Let's wrap this up." 

He was referring to the documents issue with Trump, the FBI "raid" etc. We know with Trump that everything gets drawn out. As a deliberate strategy of course. It's a mirror to our legal system where white collar stuff gets lost so often in a fog. The common folks in their day-to-day wanderings get no such slack. So the suits on behalf of Donald Trump gum things up. So the end of another week arrives, then everyone goes home for the weekend. 

The media which ought to be pouncing on the sheer absurdity of this, bathes instead in far more eyeballs than they would ever get with boring government headed by the likes of Hillary Clinton. Or Jeb Bush on the other side. Bush vs. Clinton would have been a nightmare for the media in 2016. So the standard political campaign was replaced by a circus, no hyperbole intended. 

Trump complained about the big bad media while all the while bathing in its glow. He grew into this bigger-than-life figure as he spouted rhetoric from the political right. He attacks the so-called RINOs with the same ferocity as he might direct at anyone. So compromise is impossible. 

I began to wonder as Trump escaped one after another of his ridiculous situations, will this end anywhere? Can we "wrap this up," as Hutchinson of Arkansas might say? Asa might have been talking about the Mar-a-Lago thing, but I sensed a wider application. I felt he was stating the most obvious sentiment in the world: "Let's wrap up the whole Trump thing." 

So, enough already, which I felt way back during 2016. "Access Hollywood." That's just one of the countless absurdities. Maybe such stuff entertained us to a degree. We demand that our media deliver us entertainment. But I saw such a dark side to the Trump phenomenon, I closed my eyes and began to wonder if we might see bona fide "Nazi salutes" burgeoning at Trump rallies. I thought: "Is this really far-fetched?" 

For a time I really could not see it happening. Time has always been Trump's friend. Because nothing ever catches up to him. Is this talent on his part? Is it a dark intuitive sense about how to make people get out of the way? Is it unconscious? Talent can be a strange and inscrutable thing. Look how Hitler rose in Germany. 

So now in the last few days, we've seen crowds at Trump rallies in Pennsylvania make a gesture nearly identical to the "Sieg Heil." Such folks are rooting for Doug Mastriano, candidate for governor. Crowd members raised their right hands. So I thought "it's happening," just as I once feared in thoughts that were admittedly "out there." 

Would I have ruled it out? Well, no. But I, like so many others have felt the Trump phenomenon might just die for logical reasons. One after another those reasons have called for our attention. It's crazy how the media report that Trump faces so many legal threats. They seem all over the place. But he plods forward with lawyers and even judges who are prepared to do his bidding. 

And why? Why do these people wish to go down in history with such notoriety? They do know how history will portray them, don't they? Lindsay Graham will be remembered as literally crazy. We hear about this Gableman guy in Wisconsin. And Lara Logan who once was a host of "60 Minutes." It's as if a bizarre disease has infected so many people. It circulates like it's covid. Rudy Giuliani. 

 

Not like Nixon

We never would have seen such a thing in past times. My generation learned to ridicule Richard Nixon. But Nixon ultimately recognized that he had to behave within certain norms or parameters. He ultimately respected the framework of law. Barry Goldwater and others told Nixon what he had to do. 

Nixon did not man the barricades with lawyers as Trump would do. Obfuscating, confusing, appealing, using media acolytes to confuse things further. Nixon resigned. So the pleas to "Wrap this up" were heeded in Nixon's case. America as we've known it held together. There was an underlying conscience. 

So is that what is gone now? Now that we see the salute which to the unrefined eye looks exactly like the Nazi salute? The phenomenon that I once could only imagine, is here! It actually has arrived! 

There stands Trump as a wannabe Hitler who has actually spoken about how Hitler's generals were loyal to him. He actually invokes Hitler. Of course it wasn't really the generals who did that, it was the SS. The SS was brainwashed. Hitler had a great many of his own generals killed. So, I know world history better than Trump who just happens to be a former president. 

If Trump could get indicted for just one little thing, I predict his stature would immediately start to diminish. We'd be able to "wrap this up" as Hutchinson articulated, even though he was speaking specifically about the Mar-a-Lago thing. 

Hutchinson showed heart in another instance where he showed an understanding view about gay marriage. He said there were "generational differences" on the matter, a far more generous attitude than most Republicans had. So there's a heart there, there's a soul there. He's still a Republican at heart. I don't think he would outright condemn the RINOs. He simply would want what's best for the people. And to move forward with that objective, we'll have to "wrap this up." 

Will it happen? Frankly I cannot be optimistic. Let's pray to the same God who Trump thinks he represents. Or maybe Trump thinks he is God himself. His followers seem inclined to think that, as they have their right hands raised in loyalty to the orange one. My God. 

On many mornings there is a vehicle parked at DeToy's Restaurant in Morris with a color profile of Trump literally painted onto the side. You'll see other vehicles there with Trump stickers. Would these vehicle owners be enthused to do the "Sieg Heil" also (a variant of it)? Heaven help us all out here in Stevens County. Heaven help the majority of our churches where we might have heard "lock her up." 

No, let's "wrap this up." We might have to push the Christian faith aside.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com