Searching For Answers

In the terrifying Trump world

A recent drawing done for a series of cloud gazing ideas

We are sitting with a bunch of outrageous nominations from Trump for his administration, and wait for shoes to drop. Trump is making noises about making appointments as recess appointments, which means he doesn’t need Senate confirmation. It’s unclear who could stop him from doing that. The latest nomination is his personal attorney, Todd Blanche, as Deputy Attorney General. Some find relief in this because at least Blanche has relevant experience as a lawyer; others find it concerning that Trump appoints his personal lawyer to the government and erodes independence. Of course it does. Both nominees Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth both have been accused of sexual misconduct in the past (they deny wrong-doing) and RFK, Jr was accused of sexual assualt (he apologized)— and we await more information about those.

There is an excellent opinion piece in the NY Times today by Roxanne Gay, I recommend reading the entire thing. She questions Americans who voted for Trump and wonders if they are ignorant or do they willingly embrace the idea that children are getting sex change operations in schools, immigrants are eating pets or babies are aborted after birth? She challenges us to think about whether or not these Americans have really “just been misunderstood” and need coddling, or can we treat them as adults, because they are adults? Her words are harsh and realistic, Gay does not offer hope much. But she says: what’s the alternative, do we not fight for those who are at risk? She ends with this:

“The biggest challenge of our lifetime will be figuring out how to combat the American willingness to embrace flagrant misinformation and bigotry.”

I wrote about that before, that our biggest challenge is misinformation. The right will try to continue to control information, and they have done better than the left. I hate calling us “left and right,” but I don’t know how else to describe our divide.

Maybe we need our own Fox News, but then I don’t suggest making stuff up.

Someone wrote recently (I can’t recall where) that liberals hate to be wrong. I am offended by that, I don’t think its true. Media often characterizes liberals as a group that feels superior, and again, I say that’s not true. Frankly it could be said of both sides, and perhaps that is where we have gone wrong: no one is better than anyone else. We are all trying to live our lives and perhaps the most helpful thing to do is to assume that others are good. Choose to believe that other people are not trying to stop you from living your best life. If we operate on the idea that it’s us against those “other people,” then hate leads.

But how does that help us in the practical situation we are in now? I don’t know. This newsletter will be a lot of this: me trying to sort stuff out as I give you snippets of news and silly cartoons. I keep searching for answers.

One final thing: I read another NY Times essay that suggested all trials agains Trump be dropped. If I understand the author’s reasoning, he basically says for the good of the country. I don’t agree. The federal cases have to be dropped, but the two state ones—New York and Georgia— could still continue. I think we have to hold him accountable. What do you think? The author is Thomas Goldstein, who was Al Gore’s attorney in the 2000 election disputes.

Today was a beautiful day in New York. I hope you had a good Sunday. See you tomorrow, thanks again for being here.