The Era of “Nothing Really Matters’
Remember when an act of terrorism, domestic or otherwise, would befall our nation and the President, regardless of party, would assuage our…
The Era of “Nothing Really Matters’
Remember when an act of terrorism, domestic or otherwise, would befall our nation and the President, regardless of party, would assuage our fears, mirror our feelings back to us, help us process our grief and would unite us as one people with common hopes and aspirations and a desire for justice to be rendered?
Remember when another nation would try to attack our democratic norms, institutions or systems of governance and our President would rally this country against our adversaries? Not against those patriots who uncovered the attack.
Remember when the suggestion of a leader’s infidelity was enough to imperil an administration? Remember when violence against a woman or taking the side of the violent perpetrator was more than enough to end one’s public life?
I’m an American. And I remember all those quaint remnants of a seemingly bygone era.
Because if this past week has revealed anything, the answer to all of the aforementioned questions is “not anymore.” We have entered an era where “nothing really matters.” There no longer appears to be any national consensus. There is no common set of core values that bind us American citizens.
Instead, we seem to have become, irreparable, two opposing tribes who can’t even ascribe to the same defintion of what the truth is.
And events and responses to event that once would have engendered nationwide and bipartisan outrage are met with shrugs and cheers on one side. And a beleaguered sense of hopelessness on the other. In fact, my alternate title for this piece was “Does Anything Matter Anymore: Our Week of Hopelessness.” The truth is I could have used any number of title that expressed an almost French level of existential dread and enni.
Yes, I know. Politics has always been partisan. There have forever been sharo-elbowed disagreements over policy and tone.
But I swear, this feels markedly different.
After 17 of our fellow citizens are massacred in yet another mass shooting, the President of the United States refused to even mention “guns” as a possible cause of “gun violence.” There was no national call to action by our leaders. There was no “enough is enough” demarcation of this being a threshold that can’t be crossed.
For chrissakes, the monthly murder of our children is no longer seen as reason enough to look for solition. Heck, people won’t even acknowledge that guns are a problem. Not as long as the NRA largesse continues to fill the reelection coffers of every GOP candidate up and down every ballot.
In any other democracy in the world, such carnage would demand action. It would be the undisputed national consensus. It has been in England. And Australia. And Canada. But in America, all we get is the GOP’s highest leaders reciting NRA talking points about mental illness. You know, it is possible that working on both guns AND mental illness could work better than pretending that AK-47s in the hands of the ill is a better solution. Even though it’s one the Republicans signed into law a year ago, making it significantly easier for the mentally ill to obtain weapons of domestic destruction.
And if Trump’s inaction after a mass shooting isn’t dispiriting enough, how about his response to the Mueller Probe’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 election?
Before this presidency, was there any topic more bilaterally agreed upon and sacrosanct than the legitimacy and validity of our electoral systems? And here we are, finally, with irrefutable proof of Russian meddling… and the President of the United States STILL refuses to admit that such tampering occurred. Because he believes that to admit the obvious would delegitimize his own election results.
But think about that. Could you imagine any other presidency in any other era, where our most nefarious adversary attacks the most cherished element of our democracy and the President of the United States won’t acknowledge it. Instead he claims “Russian hoax’ and “fake news” and “witch hunt.” He attacks the intelligence agencies who uncover it and the press who reports it. And half the country doesn’t care.
I’m old enough to remember a time when each party wrestled to prove who could be more virulently anti-Russia. So if you told me a time would come when we’d have incontrovertible evidence of Russia attacking our nation, virally or otherwise, and the GOP would go out of their way to defend it and discredit those bringing the charges, well I’d have assumed I was experiencing an incredibly bizarre, tequila generated nightmare.
Because trust me, there were lots of things I disagreed with Republicans about. But a love of country and and a desire to protect and safeguard our nation from the assault of enemies was never one of them.
But wait, that’s not all that happened last week. The New Yorker broke news of a second Trump affair since being married to Melania. And no one cared. Truth is, I’m not even sure I care, having become some inured to any unethical or salacious news coming out of the West Wing.
And yet, I’m outrageously appalled by Trump’s response to the news that Rob Porter is a violent and serial spouse abuser. Trump says “he says he didn’t do it.” If you look back at Trump’s history, there has never been a sexual predator or violent abuser whose side he didn’t take. Mike Tyson. Roy Moore. Rob Porter. Himself. The man admitted to sexual predation. On tape. And still believes he’s been falsely accused!
But how is Trump’s defense of a man repeatedly accused of violence towards women not politically perilous? How does it not disqualify he, Porter and John Kelly from public life? But when you’ve already come to the defense of White Supremacist marchers who killed a protester and a child molester who preys on girls in trig class, why would this suddenly matter?
Because nothing does! Nothing matters when it comes to this man. There is no rock bottom. There are only steps on the unending path to Hades.
He has mocked disabled journalists. He has questioned the credentials of a judge because of his “Mexican heritage.” He has disparaged Latino immigrants as “murderers” and “rapists.” He has sought to ban citizens of Muslim-majority nations strictly because of their religion. He has attacked Gold Star parents and questioned the veracity of Gold Star widows. He has mocked POW heroes like John McCain. For being POW heroes. And he has repeatedly and systematically sought to discredit the press and the courts and our system of checks and balances.
And for half the country, no one cares. Nothing really matters.
I am spent. I am dispirited. But I am not defeated. Because ALL OF THIS MATTERS. I may be old school and I’m sure I’m hopelessly naive, but there was a time when almost all of us adhered to roughly the same set of values. We could sit on opposite sides of a partisan divide and still recognize that attacks by an enemy on our electoral system is beyond the pale. As is the almost weekly loss of children’s lives at the hand of gun carnage. As is the defense of those who perpetrate violence against women.
The final takeaway from last week could be that in this era, none of these things matter.
Or it could be the crucial wake up call that we as Americans vitally need. It could be the reminder that these things, like democratic norms and decency and public safety, matter tremendously. And so does our need to relentlessly fight for them.