Getting Involved

Keeping our attention heightened

It’s difficult (maybe even nauseating) to see Trump on the global stage, to watch world leaders shaking his hand and cheerfully acting as long lost buddies to him. I’m speaking specifically of President Macron, who looked so happy to see Trump. I understand France is having a lot of problems right now, economically and otherwise. But ugh.

On Meet The Press yesterday, Trump continued to lie and threaten. When asked about the tariffs he proposed and how experts claim they will increase inflation and prices and the grocery store, he responded. “I can’t guarantee” that prices won’t go up under his plan. And he claimed that tariffs “cost Americans nothing.” (Economists overwhelmingly agree that the costs of tariffs are passed on to consumers.)

He repeated his claim that crime is at an “all time high.” It is not.

He said he will pardon the January 6th insurrectionists. And he reiterates that he will go after Liz Cheney and others who were on the January 6th congressional investigation committee. Cheney immediately pushed back, saying he “lied about the Jan. 6 select committee” and that there would be “no conceivably appropriate factual or constitutional basis” to prosecute its members.

“Here is the truth: Donald Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election and seize power. He mobilized an angry mob and sent them to the United States Capitol, where they attacked police officers, invaded the building and halted the official counting of electoral votes. Trump watched on television as police officers were brutally beaten and the Capitol was assaulted, refusing for hours to tell the mob to leave. This was the worst breach of our Constitution by any president in our nation’s history. Donald Trump’s suggestion that members of Congress who later investigated his illegal and unconstitutional actions should be jailed is a continuation of his assault on the rule of law and the foundations of our republic.”

Trump said the members of the committee should “go to jail.” Cheney said that we need to make sure that the evidence collected by Jack Smith should be preserved, the Justice Department should make sure it is not destroyed. This needs to be done before Trump puts anyone at the helm of the Justice Department. If Biden decides to do a premptive pardon of some whom he feels are in danger, Cheney has not indicated if she will accept a pardon if given one.

Key members of the Democratic party are giving speeches in the last few days, online and at forums, that help keep these threats in our minds. Barack Obama, Gavin Newsome, Cory Booker, Hakeen Jeffries have all recently pushed back and I really hope they continue to be loud. We can’t wait for something to happen, we need to speak about Trump’s intentions (and actions when we get to that after he is innaugurated) on a daily basis.

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria is exciting, in all the different meanings of the word. It has elements of hope, that a dictator as horrid as Assad can be toppled by a mass of Syrians. The flip side of this is that we don’t know who the Syrian “rebels'“ are and what kind of new government they will install. In social media posts, Trump has sided with Russia, an ally of Assad, and where Assad escaped to. He wrote on Truth Social:

“Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”

As Thomas Friedman in the NY Times wrote, it’s ridiculous to think that the US should have nothing to do with what’s happening.

In an address, Biden spoke of the importance of Ukraine, Israel and the US in this regime fall. Biden said in response to the rebel takeover, “This is a direct result of the blows that Ukraine [and] Israel” have landed on them “with the unflagging support of the United States.”

There are amazing videos of the progress of the take-over, led by a Syrian leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani. He is quoted as saying “The future is ours.” One video shows Syrian families wandering through the palace, taking souveniers. It at once brings up the fall of other dictatorships in our modern times, but it also makes me think of images from the failed government take-over on January 6th at the US Capitol.

Scholar of autocracy Anne Applebaum (as reported by Heather Cox Richardson today), wrote this:

“The future of Syria is entirely unclear, but there is no doubt that “the end of the Assad regime creates something new, and not only in Syria. There is nothing worse than hopelessness, nothing more soul-destroying than pessimism, grief, and despair. The fall of a Russian- and Iranian-backed regime offers, suddenly, the possibility of change. The future might be different. And that possibility will inspire hope all around the world.”

Moments ago, we learned that the suspected killer of the health insurance executive has been caught. That’s all I know right now.

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I have made plans to go to Washington, DC in January to live-draw the Women’s March (1/18) and the Inauguration (1/20). I am solo, i.e. not being sent under the hire of a news organization—believe me, I have tried many of them to see if there is interest. I went to both events in 2017 with CBS, but times have changed and they don’t see it as a way of reporting that is useful to them anymore. Substack is where it’s at! If you would like to contribute to help pay my expenses for this reporting trip, you can send a donation to my paypal account. I would be so grateful for your help. Seeing Things will be the first place I share my reportage and drawings, and I will do regular live video drawing while on-site.

I am doing another zoom gathering soon, will let you know! Thanks for being here, as always.