There's a classic tweet from the last eight years that goes something like this:
"Ah ha! Let's see Trump wiggle out of THIS!"
(Trump wriggles out)
"Ah, well...nevertheless."
For those of us who look at Trump and see the very worst of what America can offer the world, we have been waiting eight years for Trump to finally face justice. When he was convicted last June, it felt like - at last - he was going to face consequences for a lifetime of misdeeds.
"Ah, well, nevertheless."
As we embark upon Trumpistan 2.0, we will see corruption that would make a Gilded Age machine politician blush. We will see vindictiveness and pettiness straight from reality TV. Cruelty is on the menu again.
Yesterday's pardons of the January 6th insurrectionists is a good taste of what's to come. That brief window when Trump might have been held accountable and his movement dismantled has faltered on Merrick Garland's sclerotic sense of norms and the American people's short memory and moral bankruptcy.
If you want to survive this, you have to divest yourself of the hope that justice will prevail. Instead, endure what must be endured, point out the perversions of justice, point out the corruption. Work towards winning the House in 2026 to check Trump's power. Work towards winning in 2028, when Trump should be a spent force. Maybe at that point there will be some justice, but probably not. Trump will likely pardon anyone and everyone he can.
If you hold onto the idea that justice will one day prevail, then you will once again reap a bitter harvest. In the end, the only moral center is apparently the one you hold yourself to.
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