Here is a story about New Year's Eve and afterwards. My wife Jane and I weren't much taken with New Year's Eve as a holiday. It seemed superficial, unlike Christmas, where Jane had a tree ever since when she was a kid and her mother who immigrated from Odessa said that this was America and if her grandchild had a Christrmas tree, that was alright. I liked Passover, but I gave it up in my teens, and that was a sacrifice, when I became as secular as possible. Jane and I rarely stayed up late to watch the ball fall in Times Square, that holiday liturgy, turning in early. When my kids were little, one or the other got double hours for babysitting in the neighborhood coop and so had hours banked until March.
Last night, my son and daughter in law and myself had champagne and steak and by the time it was over, it was 9:45 pm and so I turned on my tv to see the ball drop from New York, two hours later in its time zone from me. I found it very touching: all those people being so cheerful, young couples kissing, small children on dad shoulders, animated and just being happy to be part of the crowd, amid the lights, with festooned lights and a lot of confetti, despite a ban on porta potties, backpacks, no containers of liquid, and police in abundance. Everyone was wishing one another a good new year, especially by the friendly Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen on CNN.
And then I thought about the sentiment. As I told you, things are going to be bad before they get even worse with the new administration. The debacle may occur as soon as Jan. 3rd, when Johnson may be ousted as Speaker because the deficit hawks don't think he is conservative enough even if Trump backs him. But chaos of weeks before a new Speaker is chosen is preferable to efficient Trump leadership that actually tries to pass money to build detention camps for 13 million people and jail political enemies and perogue the civil service. Drag events as long as possible until the 2026 midterms. Delay confirmations and defeat some of them.
Then, this morning, I heard about the New Orleans truck ramming which turned out to be by a native born American who had served honorably in the military, but had been declared by Trump to be an illegal alien. It is amazing to know that a President in three weeks is so fast and loose about facts rather than the government relied on to be careful to tell the truth except when it is deliberately lying, as happened when Cheney and company said that they were certain there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I thought the American people couldn't possibly re-elect George W. in 2004, but they did despite his betrayal of trust. Now we have elected a President who lies all the time, congenitally, and we of the press are in the awkward position of honoring a Presidential office while reporting his latest lies. Apparently, the uncooperative press people will be eliminated in the new White House Press Room.
Some people are suggesting to take a new tack and compromise with Trump rather than just oppose him. But his declaration of war is his stated attention and his past treasonable offenses to which he never answered in the court of public opinion, much less a trial. So he is a constitutional pariah and that is all that needs to be said.
These will be dark days and there is no reason to celebrate the just past New Year's Eve.