Freak Out Friday – December 29, 2017

First, an update on pain: I am somewhat on the mend. I am now able to walk with a cane as opposed to a walker. Also my neurologist’s office called yesterday and confirmed that I have several pinched nerves on my spine. So now it’s just a matter of finding a way to make it relax. Thanks all of you for your patience as my body, for the third time in five years, selected the holidays as the perfect time to fall apart.

As for Trump:

He has actually been somewhat quiet recently, although the lies keep coming.

1) Give ‘em Hell, Dumbass: Trump, along with his people, has claimed that he signed more legislation into law than Harry Truman. This is, of course, a lie. Trump has actually signed less legislation than any president since Dwight Eisenhower. But in his mind, he has surpassed Truman. And his followers believe him, and Fox News parrots him, and once again the concept of truth takes a beating.

2) Just the facts. Credit Trump with achieving a major accomplishment. The non-Partisan, Pulitzer winning site PolitiFact.com presented their annual award for Lie of the Year. The winner, of course, was Trump, who told Lester Holt of NBC that “This Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story.” Along with other whoppers such as “I am not a crook” and “I did not have sex with that woman,” I’m reasonably sure that statement will come back to haunt him.

The thing is, I’ve been pretty depressed about Trump over the past year. Depressed about him, worried about the country falling apart. But recently I saw something that buoyed me somewhat.

A great movie was on TCM the other day: “The Front.” Starring Woody Allen and Zero Mostel, it’s set during the 1950s when the government was obsessed with Communists (much the same way that Trump is obsessed with Muslims.) Allen’s character is friends with a television writer who has been blacklisted, so Allen puts his name on the scripts and the guy can earn a living while Allen makes ten percent off each sale. It’s a terrific film, and it presents an America that seems to be a completely alien world. People are prosecuted for what they think and say. They are driven into hiding and sometimes even kill themselves because they can’t stand what their lives have become.

When I first saw the film in the theaters decades ago, I felt like I was watching an alien country. But when I watched it a couple days ago, I saw a lot of what’s going on now. Good and decent people being treated like criminals simply because of their beliefs. The First Amendment being readily tossed aside. A bullying politician throwing his weight around and people quivering with fear over what he’ll say or who he’ll next target.

But you know what? It got better.

The evil leader of the movement was brought down. The country remembered what it was supposed to be about. America recaptured its soul.

We’ve done it before. We can do it again.

PAD