It has been exceedingly difficult to write about the Trump presidency seemingly crumbling before our eyes. In part, that’s because of the sheer pace of new revelations: scandals, superseded by new scandals, the inane utterances and tweets of the president, a daily cascade of craziness. Part of this is the new media, which rushes at us on a 24-hour clock with no sense of cessation.
Part of it is Trump’s sheer obsession with social media and his unique ability to undermine his own spokespersons with a tweet. We are in the midst of the latest reality show. The Trump show, featuring Donald J. Trump, a manic superstar who hasn’t decided whether to host a comedy or tragedy but has seemingly settled for farce.
One recent New York Times editorial mused about being a nation ruled by a child. A petulant, ill-mannered, tantrum-prone, six-year-old playing emperor of the world. In the space of a quarter of a year, Trump has led his administration into the morass of the Russia trap. His country, by the way, suffers from Trump induced exhaustion. His party, the Trump party, appears to be a union of maniacs, their central program to defend a president who seems unable or unwilling to defend himself. The corporate media, which fed from the Trump trough during the campaign has acquired the taste for Trump flank and now competes for the biggest bombshell to bring down USS Trump. Not since Watergate have we seen such a fevered fury for the hide of a president.
When I was a young college student at Goddard in Vermont, I bought a copy of the New York Times in the local general store. There was a very tiny article on the first page on the failed burglary at the Watergate hotel. Who knew that such a small thing would topple a president? It now looks quaint compared to the things we see before us now. This is bigger, bolder, uglier, more crass. This smells of corruption, of capitalist greed and excess, and of imperial arrogance on a grand global scale. This feels like the beginning of the end.
From prison nation, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noelle Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
