Day 1464 – What is Wrong With You?

                    Or

                    Of Football and Politics 

Tuesday January 12, 2021 ( Electoral College Certification Day -6, 

                                           Insurrection Day -6,

                                          Georgia Senate Election  -7 )

Election Day -70

8 Days until the Inauguration on January 20, 2021

There is so much going on that it’s hard to know where to begin or what the major topic should be. Let’s start slow and build.

First, a quiz – When can you tell for sure that Mike Pence is lying?

Answer – When he gets that sanctimonious head nod going and begins by saying, “I can assure …” 

He’s lying. That or he has no idea what is actually going on. So then you have to have that little mini-debate with yourself, “If someone is actually clueless does what they say count as lying?” I remember being stunned to learn that Pence had replaced everyone on his staff with PR people. In other words he got rid of the doers and replaced them with talkers. Kind of like the old joke about the woman who went to bed with the ad-man. Her girlfriends asked her the next day how it was. She said he sat on the end of the bed the whole night and told her how great it was going to be.

Last night I watched the National Championship College Football game and when the game got out of hand I flipped between that and a recording of that night’s Rachel Maddow Show. She was talking about the article of impeachment against the president. This being the second time he will have been impeached. The article is entitled “Incitement of Insurrection.” There just happens to be a Federal statute of the same title. Hum. 

I’m watching a football game and thinking about how these kids don’t get paid, and yet they are generating all this money for their colleges. Yes, they get an education – hopefully, but let’s face it, that is secondary. I mean if you heard the Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback being interviewed after their win this weekend I’d say his education had a lot of holes in it. The whole of college sports has been upended by money and politics. 

Meanwhile, we’ve got a president who is being charged with insurrection. The facts are not in doubt. He did it openly on camera. What he caused is also on camera. There is no “oh they do it too” excuse. The only question is will he be removed from office? This will rest on the shoulders of Congress. Notably, the Senate, which currently the majority Senate leader is saying they can’t possibly meet before one hour after the new president is sworn in. Yeah, right. I’ll bet that if a Supreme Court Justice dropped dead ten minutes before the swearing in McConnell could get a judge pushed through.

What McConnell is betting on is that Trump will not have enough time to do anything more. Anything more terrible than what he has already done.

This is a terrible bet. I wouldn’t take it.

I would “move with alacrity” to get rid of the guy in the White House.

Oh and I love that Melania has put out a “be best” statement. Apparently, some people have said mean things about her. Remember when she stood up for all those other women who have been threatened and intimidated? No? Me neither. 

Now we get to the fin de siècle of the Trump presidency. The enablers are deserting, denying, and destroying. However, the damage he has wrought will live on. He has shown the way. The question is will people in this country be willing to face the truth en mass or not? 

PS Egyptian statue at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. There’s only a few days left to catch this show before it returns to Egypt for good.