It's a moral issue.
I was brought up with the notion that people knew, if they were elected to top positions, if they ran the corporation, they were skilled with insight.
This has not turned out to be true.
This is what Washington has wrought. We've now learned that everybody is human, everybody screws up, and even the most educated and talented have blind spots and those with blind spots can often supersede those who know.
It's inspiring and disillusioning. It's inspiring because it demonstrates I can compete, the playing field is level, those in power, those with status positions, are truly no better than me. But it's disillusioning because chaos reigns, there is truly no there there, what holds America together is a very thin thread. We've been living under the fallacy that we're all connected through a moral fabric, we're all in it for the common good, that truth and justice will out.
That's no longer true.
Let's start with Clinton. Hell, let's start with Gary Hart. Rumor was he was having an affair. He said no, to follow him, and then they caught him in the act. What was Hart thinking, that he was truly immune? Clinton had a reputation as a playboy. A reasonable person would keep his penis in his pants for his term. But it turns out Clinton couldn't, he was no different from the guy running the local machine shop or manufacturing plant, taking advantage of his position, not worrying about social mores. But was Clinton's behavior so egregious that he should be kicked out of office? I won't walk you through the details, but it's clear the Republicans were out to get him, and if getting a blow job and lying about it means you lose your job...women would run the Fortune 500.
And Clinton's election coincided with the rise of Newt Gingrich, who turned politics into a zero sum game. Either you win or I win. No different from Monopoly, or Careers. Compromise was out the window.
And then Roger Stone got Bush elected via the Brooks Brothers riot.
A black man became president.
And then it all imploded.
Now I get the Republican position, they're playing a team sport. But this is not what everybody was taught about politics growing up. Politics was for the greater good. And if someone crossed the line, they were excised. Now you can break the law, brag about it, and keep on ruling, more powerful than ever, can you say "Ukraine"?
Don't argue with me. That's not the point. Don't quote Fox talking points. Yesterday, they cut away from the impeachment process. Their talking heads were more important, after all, ratings are everything, and what someone is not exposed to they do not know. This would have never happened in the three network era. But that era is long gone.
Later I listened to Mark Levin spew his inanities on Sean Hannity's show. The Democrats were stupid and laughable. There was no respect, no decency. And sure, those concepts went out the window eons ago, but my point is what impact does this have on Fox fans?
Oh, don't quote the false equivalencies, Russian collusion, Benghazi... As for Russian collusion, turns out Bill Barr got out ahead of the Mueller Report and Robert Mueller himself punted.
But let's not get caught up in the past.
Now we have video evidence. Of a Capitol riot. What we're hearing from the right is no one is responsible but the rioters themselves, they operated in a vacuum and Trump is not culpable. So, you tell me my eyes are lying?
As for the legal defense of the ex-president... The founder of the Federalist Society said the impeachment was legal, and those who haven't gone to law school don't realize that everybody, every criminal, is entitled to a defense...but that does not make them innocent.
Come on, you see it in the news every day. Outrageous claims that should exculpate behavior.
But what stresses me out, has me wondering, is the future. Yes, if those at the top lie and get away with it, WHY SHOULD I TELL THE TRUTH!
This is the America we now live in. Only the poor get caught and get incarcerated because there are security cameras everywhere and they can't afford good lawyers. As for white collar criminals? Hire good enough attorneys and you can delay to the point where the prosecutor at the government leaves his post, and maybe a friend of yours gets elected and can make it all go away.
It's all about gangs and who you know. Is there any wonder we've got gangs in the inner cities? There's no future for these people, no money for training, many join the gang just to survive. And if you're a rapper, you may get shot. We don't live in the wild west anymore, but maybe we do! Westerns used to be fantasies, now they're realities.
So what do these senators who refuse to convict Trump say to their friends, their families, their heirs? Well, it's not radically different from what a member of the Crips or the Bloods would say... I was forced into it, if I went against the gang I'd lose my job, maybe even worse. And without money and power you become a second-class citizen who is forgotten.
So what lesson are we teaching further generations?
You're on your own baby. Do not trust institutions. Everybody is out to get you if you raise your head above the fray, and it's important to build your team to fight them. Loyalty is everything, truth is out the window.
Lying in court? EVERYBODY DOES IT! Used to be taboo, now it's de rigueur.
"Nearly 140 police officers were injured in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to the Capitol Police union. Officers suffered brain injuries, smashed spinal discs, and cracked ribs, and one is likely to lose his eye. Two officers have committed suicide."
NBCNews.com via "The Week"
I thought the right was the party of the police. But what do you say to the injured, the dead and their families? That their efforts were in vain? That it was nobody's fault and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong day and these are the risks you take?
When a building collapses we hold the contractors accountable. But when it comes to politicians, everything's up for grabs, how good a team do you have, one as good as the Yankees, the Buccaneers?
Accountability itself is up for grabs.
And the truth is that Trump lied incessantly during his tenure, loyal news outlets refused to correct him and people are completely misinformed as to what went on. But ignorance is a badge of honor these days. You're not from some highfalutin' family, you didn't go to college, no, you stay at home and drink beer and...how exactly do you pay the bills, wages are so damn low! Or else you're a Christian conservative, an upper middle class nitwit protecting your right not to sacrifice, not to lose anything in this game we call life. But there are no guarantees, nothing is future-proof. They make no more Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles either. Kodak is a shell of itself. What, are we supposed to hold back progress so some people don't get hurt? YES! You hear this argument again and again, in life, in business, give me protection from the future, hold the ingrates back, it's not only white supremacists who rig the game. What do you think all those lobbyists are about?
And the establishment media tells us to lionize Sheryl Sandberg when she's a fount of misinformation and misdirection. Facebook was an insignificant driver of the January 6th insurrection. OH YEAH? They expect us to buy all this crap. They know they're lying when their lips move. But since they're so rich and powerful they can get away with it. Hell, Zuckerberg himself is willing to throw our privacy under the bus to save small businesses, even though this in itself is a falsehood. Turns out small businesses are a very small part of Facebook's advertising base. But Apple wants to protect people and this just can't happen, Facebook must survive, operate unfettered.
And then there's the case of Twitter. Wall Street is down on the company because it's just not growing fast enough, as if that was the only criterion, the only measure of success. And then the naysayers say Twitter is not America...then why was Trump on it? During the window between the inauguration and the impeachment trial did you notice Trump was nearly completely out of the news? And you wonder why...he couldn't spew his falsehoods on social media!
Today they shut down Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for spewing vaccine falsehoods, debunked evidence, on Instagram. But we're supposed to respect this idiot, because he's a Kennedy! Like Bush got elected president because his father was president.
America is truly rotten at the core. No one is interested in doing the right thing, sacrificing their own self-interest, putting themselves at the end of the line. And when senators do this in plain sight, with the cameras on, the fabric of America frays. And rust never sleeps. We can't teach evolution in schools, it's like we're pulling the hood over America, to keep it in darkness, as it isolates itself from the rest of the world believing it can go it alone when the truth today is NO country in the world can go it alone.
One could hope that Republican senators will wake up and do the right thing, but hope is now hopeless. The game is rigged before you start. Yes, the evidence the House managers are giving is irrelevant. The Republicans don't want their faces shown on camera, a slew are not even paying attention, their minds were made up before the trial even began!
Expand upon that. You were arrested and when you get to court you realize it doesn't matter what the evidence is, you're gonna get convicted.
And then there are people like Springsteen, who gets drunk and drives. So let me get this straight, everybody in these United States is perfect and if you commit a faux pas you're history forever? You can't learn from your mistakes? As for Morgan Wallen...he's in the penalty box, we've got to let him out at some point, otherwise it just demonstrates cancel culture knows no limits, no boundaries, never mind none of the focus on Wallen's behavior was why the country star was out partying with his boys during Covid anyway! No, that's not sexy, but that's bad behavior!
But science is no longer facts. The virus leaked out of a lab in Wuhan. Masks and vaccines don't work. Just go on about your business, you're safe. And if it turns out you weren't, well, too bad. Scientists say if everybody in America wore a mask the virus would be gone in two weeks. But no, we'd rather argue about freedom for two years.
But if your parents defended you against the principal...
If your daddy got you your job...
If your bros covered up your bad behavior...
WHY SHOULD THINGS CHANGE NOW!
Almost fifty years ago, John Dean claimed there was a cancer on the presidency. Nixon resigned? BECAUSE REPUBLICAN SENATORS TOLD HIM TO!
But now everything is topsy-turvy. And we've let things fester and slide for so long that the cancer has spread throughout our nation. But just like climate change, it cannot be addressed. Government is a team sport, there is no such thing as the common good.
Actions have consequences.
Don't parrot legal mumbo-jumbo. If Trump gets off, our nation will be the worse for it. Truth and justice will be gone, the American Way completely eviscerated. BUT WE'VE GOT OUR FREEDOM!
--
Visit the archive:
lefsetz.com/wordpress/ --
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart:
ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj -Apple:
apple.co/2ndmpvp --
www.twitter.com/lefsetz --
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1 If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters,
Unsubscribe To change your email address
this link
