Once again the north must be the moral authority, the south doesn't stand up to mendacity. The biggest case against Trump is in Georgia, where he's on tape saying, "get me votes." But no, New York has to hold him accountable. Not sure about the laws he broke. I want to see him get a gag order, and break that and see what they do.
The norm in the USA is that former presidents aren't prosecuted. Mayors and governors, sure, but not presidents. But when you're a president who breaks norms, well, you can't complain when norms are broken.
With the indictment, the flip is switched. He's not special and he's not getting away with anything. He's being held accountable in a democracy. Whatever the outcome, whatever wrinkles and complications come up. A giant step has been taken for those who feel like he was wrong for america when he made fun of a disabled reporter or said you should just grab women by the pussy. That right there told you all you needed to know about him.
I'm not even into the schadenfreude of meltdowns on Fox. Supposedly Stormy Daniels isn't happy about it. It's a grim business that America took so long to get here, it's just relief we're not as bad as we thought we were. There are memes where people celebrate. People can use it as an excuse to drink.
I've noticed how high school American politics is. DeSantis doesn't have cool. He's a plodding nerd, too negative, too megalomaniac (narcissism). Conservatives are onto him, they're not into him. He thought he had Disney taken advantage of, but Disney turned the tables. It looks like the tide of authoritarianism might be waning. Trashing things up, enriching yourself with emoluments, and cringe transparent treason seems to be over. One can hope.
I see art as trying to nudge culture in that direction. The song "We don't talk about Bruno" from Encanto is about shunning a guy who can think ahead a little, and imagine consequences. Someone loses his hair, someone gets fat, and sometimes it rains on your wedding. Shielding yourself from unwanted things isn't dealing with life on life's terms.
Poker Face is about a woman who can read when people are lying. How dangerous it is to be able to see through liars.
In Altered Carbon (season one), which came out in 2018, Trump was in office from 2017-2021. They quote Orwell in saying that in a corrupt society, telling the truth is radical revolutionary act. It turns out the quote isn't true (source). Maybe that's why they don't give him attribution for, “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” Even the quote from Orwell is made up. But in a way it's true in that that is something he could have said.
Those defending Trump, fail to realize that if he wasn’t running for president, then none of this is necessary. If at 76 he just rode off into the sunset, maybe his accountability isn’t as much of an issue. But we can’t afford another run for president. So really he’s brought this on himself. Never mind that his illegal accounting is illegal and anyone else would be held accountable and we imagine justice to be blind to rank and status.
The contradictions are endless but political bias is about what contradictions you don’t see.
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