Sometimes Sea Changes Start in Rivers

 

(From the office of Cyril Blubberpuss, Conservative-American)

I'll always remember a talk I had with my friend Donald Trump during the inaugural lunch on Inauguration Day. We sat next to each other at the table and he began idly musing about the executive orders he was going to sign later that day. He mentioned firing over 100 high-ranking officials at the FAA. This took me aback.

     "Well, Mr. President, that's all good and well but what if an accident happens?"

     "I'll just find a way to blame Obama or Biden for it. And there's always DEI," he added with a wink.

     I myself had just landed at Reagan National Airport the night before and was about to board another plane at Reagan later that day and my stomach turned. Today, in light of last night's event, my stomach can't stop turning.

     Last night, an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter, killing all 67 on board both craft, We lost three soldiers, many members of the ice figure skating community and 14 children. At least one was as young as 13. As of this writing, they're still pulling the bodies from the frigid Potomac River.

     Just hours after the disaster, Trump got on his Truth Social and blamed the tragedy on DEI, basically, anything and everyone but himself. He did, indeed, make good on his promise to purge the FAA of many high-ranking officials, including its administrator, Michael Whitaker. Even more horrifying, he did it at the behest of Elon Musk because Whitaker had suggested SpaceX should pay $600,000 in fines because of safety violations.

     It made me question for the first time who's really in charge of the West Wing and the White House in general. And that makes my stomach turn even more.

     Then there was the press conference at the Briefing Room this morning where he once again blamed Democrats and DEI driving out qualified white men from the FAA and traffic control towers. And the ironic thing is, many of the people purged because of Trump and Musk were white men, many of whom I assume were very good at their jobs.

     Then he kept digging the hole deeper back at the Oval Office. When a reporter asked him if he was going to go to the crash site, he churlishly asked, "Do you want me to go swimming?"

     Over the years, I'd overlooked my friend Donald's lapses in judgment and even basic humanity after floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, a pandemic and the like. And, over time, I had to confront the reality that at no time did Donald accept blame for anything. Every time, instead, he would thrash about and cast blame where it didn't belong.

     And, at some point, one has to accept that his niece, Dr. Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist, may be onto something when she calls her uncle a textbook sociopath.

     Now, God knows I've always defended Mr. Trump through thick and thin. But many were the times when I'd ask myself, "How can I blame liberals for what's going to happen today?" It got to a point long before last night's disaster when I realized that intellectual and emotional burden is getting harder and harder to assume.

     To my dawning horror, it occurred to me that Donald happily accepts that burden without even realizing it's a burden. And the same could easily be said for those who choose to surround him.

     And what happened in the freezing waters of the historic Potomac River last night at an airport just a 15 minute drive from the nation's Capitol started a sea change within me. Children were killed last night along with some of their parents. We'd lost three soldiers. But at no time did the president show any sense of mourning at the loss of human life. All he could do was to assign blame elsewhere.

     And that makes my stomach turn even more, as the realization dawns that perhaps we'd made a tragic mistake and placed control of the government in exactly the wrong hands. Presidents in the face of unspeakable tragedy, even if they were also sociopaths with poor bedside manner, at least faked empathy and sympathy. They were there when and where they needed to be. And it doesn't even matter much whether or not you believe your bromides. Sometimes just saying the right words is enough because people still need to hear them.

     Donald couldn't even be bothered to do that nor did he seem to care how small and petty not doing so made him look. We deserve better as a nation, regardless of whatever party is in charge. We re all Americans. We're all human. Death is the ultimate nonpartisan. Now's the time to soberly seek answers and grieve, not to mindlessly assign blame for political brownie points.

     And I think my conservative Republican worldview needs reexamination.