Another Brick in the Wall
AJ Robinson

I was going to title this column Another Nail in the Coffin, but somehow brick and wall seem more appropriate, for several reasons. First off, there’s the pledge by the Great Orange concerning his “Great Wall of Mexico.” He continues to misappropriate funds from programmes that result in meaningful accomplishments to, instead, use the money to build his great boondoggle.

The wall will rise again and dramatically as we near the election.

I imagine Trump announcing completion of the wall, just before the election, to gin up his base. Mind you, it will not be finished. Heck, it’s not even half or a third started, but that won’t matter to his minions; they swallow everything he spews as if it were gospel. Oh, and count on his to talk about another caravan of criminals, terrorists and diseased sub-humans to be attacking our southern border.

Another reason for the brick and wall title is the symbolism of many small bricks coming together to form a large wall. Let’s face it, Trump is without a doubt the most corrupt and incompetent president in the history of our nation. Yet, he couldn’t possibly get away with all the crap he does if he didn’t have a plethora of enablers and sycophants.

When Nixon was ready to be impeached, the Republicans in the Senate took their oath of office seriously and were devoted to the Constitution. They marched on down the road to the White House. They told Nixon they would vote to remove him from office if he didn’t resign.

Does anyone remotely think that’s going to happen this time? We know Trump has no integrity, knows no dignity and cares not for rendering America wide open. No, he won’t resign.

Mind you, the case against Trump is far stronger than the case against Nixon and, yet, look at how different America has grown. I’m not merely thinking of the Senate, where Republicans openly state that they will ignore the facts, ignore Trump’s own damning statements and not vote to kick him out of office. The Senate where Republicans will join Trump in lying, cheating and, if possible, stealing.

I’m also considering the state of the general public, which is again a reference to bricks and walls. I’ve seen interviews with people that make me shake my head in awe and sadness. A dear little old lady saying she loves Trump because he doesn’t lie.

Say what? Talk about a wall around her. She’s sealed off from facts. A guy in a MAGA hat chiding Obama for not doing more on 9/11, saying he should have been in the Oval Office defending the country.

Tunnel vision in the extreme.

I say the man has tunnel vision, he’s obsessed with hating Obama, for example, but that doesn’t begin to explain his total lack of knowledge on history. Ignorance is bliss.

Mind you, we’re talking recent history. I’m okay if he can’t recall the details of the Battle of Hastings. If, however, his mind is so walled off as to prevent him knowing the truth, regarding recent events, what hope is there for America?

When I see people like that, when I see polls that show support for Trump among republicans typically above 80%, I despair. I realise that, yes, we do have a wall in this country. A wall around the Constitution.

We’ve sealed off our most sacred document and all that it means for our nation; I truly don’t know how we get back to where we once were. In the comic strip Doonesbury, the artist Gary Trudeau symbolized the Nixon White House efforts to fight impeachment by showing a brick wall built to seal off the building. Then, when Nixon resigned, Trudeau published a comic depicting the wall coming down. It was powerful.

Here’s the point, we’re not going to get that this time. Part of the reason is the Republicans, in the Nixon era, had the guts to stand up to him when they saw the nation, even the Republican base, had turned against him. My dad, a lifelong republican and ardent Nixon supporter, finally had to admit that the man needed to go. We don’t have that today; the Trump base doesn’t care for America.

Now we have walls. We seal ourselves off from people of different beliefs. The politicians block themselves from “We the People,” literally and figuratively. Trump isolates himself in his bubble of self-delusion.

How do we tear down the walls? One step would be to hold those politicians accountable come this November, but, again, I must wonder, will we? Can we?

I’m reminded of another story concerning a wall, “The Little Dutch Boy.” It’s a fable of a young boy who comes across a dyke, intended to hold back flood waters, with a tiny crack in it. He stops the damage from growing by sticking his finger in the hole. People are talking about a Blue Tsunami cleansing Washington in the coming election. Where is the little Dutch boy America needs?

Who among us will act first?

Maybe that’s all it’ll take, one person, one group of people, pulling away from that wall, withdrawing their support from the Great Orange to allow that clear blue water to bring the wall crashing down. I’d like to think so, but, again, I ask: who, among his supporters, has that kind of strength and devotion to our nation? Anyone have any ideas? I sure don’t.