I keep coming back to this phrase I first heard from former Secretary of State George Shultz in his admonishment of his fellow Republicans about their denial over climate change. Eventually you get “mugged by reality.” You can only bury the truth for so long before it can no longer be denied – whether it’s science, economic policy, or the law. The seas will rise. The economy will crash. Indictments will be handed down.
The lies, after lies, after lies emanating from the White House might currently be accepted by the President’s frothy base. The duplicity of rhetoric around such disingenuous efforts like the tax bill might be acting as an effective smokescreen to the truth in our polarized world. But eventually words become deeds, deeds become the subject of history, and history is watching. There is always a sizable percentage of people who will believe nonsense if it conforms to their biases. This instinct is not solely limited to one political ideology, but today the fever of ignorance is particularly afflicting President Trump’s followers.
“But eventually words become deeds, deeds become the subject of history, and history is watching.”
However, there is the rest of the nation who I sense are getting tired of the words and actions that seem more like the taunts and hijinks of a middle school play yard, than the official pronouncements of a President of the United States. The conspiracy theories, the sharing of inflammatory anti-Muslim content, the petty attacks on his political adversaries… these types of actions by President Trump, I am convinced, are not going to sit well with Americans of the future. They will be like the actions of McCarthyism. And those who have normalized it, condoned it, or played it for cynical benefit will be “mugged by reality.” The question is how much damage will be done in the meantime.
