Dogs and Cats Unite!

Something light for a change. . . the Bidens are getting a cat.  We've already learned about their two German shepherds Champ and Major, delighting those of us who love animals.  The thought of three pets in the White House is almost dizzying considering how deprived we've been these last four years.

Would it have made a difference to watch Donald Trump head towards Air Force One with a golden retriever by his side?  Or see him in the Oval Office with a tabby cat curled at his feet?  Probably not, but we might have smiled now and then instead of feeling anxious every time he spoke.  After all, even Richard Nixon had Checkers (and, as it turns out, Vicky, Pasha, and King Timahoe).

But better days are ahead.  Joe's one of us, whether we prefer dogs or cats.  His choice of both echoes his calls for unity, and here's a way for us to get along.  For as George Eliot said, "Animals are such agreeable friends they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms."

Ordinary Courage

As the results of the presidential election became clear earlier this month, I knew that our president would seek to create chaos, but I never imagined that ordinary citizens would save us.  I thought that at least some Republican legislators, other than Mitt Romney, would object to these destructive attempts to override voters' wishes.  I wondered if Mitch McConnell would finally defend the Constitution.  I hoped that prominent generals would issue a joint statement of condemnation.

Silly me.

Instead, working people did their jobs, starting with postal employees who handled and delivered an unprecedented number of absentee ballots.  Despite efforts to hamper their work through the removal of mail-sorting machines and Louis DeJoy's attempted cost-cutting proposals, the United States Postal Service processed over 122 million ballots this year.

Elections officials at all levels followed the model of postal employees, working long hours on election day and beyond to ensure an accurate count.  Moreover, several workers reported not just harassment, but violent threats as well, for doing their jobs.  Al Schmidt, the Republican City Commissioner of Philadelphia, said that "his office [was] receiving death threats for counting votes in a democracy."  Poll workers in Michigan and Arizona reported similar intimidation, and in Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that both he and his wife had received death threats.  One text read, "You better not botch this recount.  Your life depends on it."

Yet despite the long hours, the insults, and the threats, elections officials have resisted intense pressure and begun to certify the results of this election.  Republican and Democratic officials both have fulfilled their oaths of office to ensure an accurate count.  Indeed, our fellow citizens are thwarting Donald Trump and his lawless attorneys.

Theirs is ordinary courage, in a way, if courage is ever ordinary.  

But what about Congressional Republicans and senior White House officials?  Where's their courage?  We are fortunate to have honest, hard-working postal workers and election officials who value integrity.  Were it equally true in Washington.

Delete Donald

When my mother Margaret George was running for office in Pennsylvania many years ago, the child of one of her volunteers grew weary of the campaign.  Riding in the back seat of her mother's car one day as they delivered flyers and yard signs, the little girl cried out, "No more Peggy George."

I know the feeling, not about my mom's campaigns, but about the one we've just been through.  "No more Donald Trump," I say.  He's taken us for a ride that's lasted too long and, like the little girl in the back seat, we've been mostly powerless to stop him.

Until now.  He's done, he's lost the election.  Lawsuits, protests, and bluster won't change the reality of the vote.

So what now?  Here's a proposal: stop talking about him, stop writing about him, stop analyzing him.  He's consumed our energy for four years.  As Michelle Goldberg writes in The New York Times, "The outrage Trump sparks leaves less room for many other things--joy, creativity, reflection. . . Living in Trump's panic-inducing eternal present is bad for art, but it's also bad for imagination more broadly."

Sidelining Donald Trump would mean that our leaders can focus on the challenges we face.  Consider the coronavirus as an example.  The drama of Trump's diagnosis and treatment last month shifted attention away from the pandemic's pernicious spread throughout the country.  Even now, we watch our president head to the golf course--wondering how he could be so irresponsible--as thousands more Americans die.  We'd all be better off if we didn't bother even to notice where he is.

Moving President Trump off the front page would have the added benefit of depriving a narcissist of the attention he craves.  We could all take this advice from Dan Neuharth of Psychology Today: "Recognizing that narcissists are caught in an endless quest for attention and approval can free you from false expectations and allow you to set healthy boundaries."  Imagine Trump-free days when we no longer fear his next dangerous move.  Imagine a president who won't intrude into our daily lives, who won't keep us awake at night.  Joe Biden will be that president.  By turning our attention to him, we deny Donald Trump the ongoing power that he doesn't deserve.  

Trump's a lame duck now.  It's time to treat him like one.

Don't Let the Baby Have His Bottle

As the youngest in my family with two brothers who sometimes saw me as spoiled, I took my share of derision when we were kids.  If I whined about something or made a request that they deemed excessive, they would chant, "Let the baby have her bottle."  

Their sing-song duet came back to me this week as Donald Trump reacted to the news of his coming defeat.  Just as you might expect from a child, he tweeted in defiance on Saturday morning, "I WON THIS ELECTION BY A LOT!"  Later that morning when the networks announced Joe Biden's victory, Trump declared, "The simple fact is this election is far from over."

No, the simple fact is that Donald Trump shouldn't get away with his baseless, immature charges of a stolen election.  Until he produces evidence substantiating his claims, he should be called out repeatedly for lying.  But as has been the case with his presidency, only a few--like Senators Mitt Romney and Pat Toomey, and former governor Chris Christie--have chastised Trump.  The usual lackeys (Kevin McCarthy, Lindsey Graham, and Ted Cruz) have defended him, and the rest remain silent.

To remain silent is to become complicit, enabling Trump's reckless behavior.  What are Republicans afraid of?  They're like new parents who dance around their toddler's temper tantrums and don't know what to do.

Perhaps this has been the problem all along.  We've had a big baby in the White House for four years, and instead of confronting his outrages, his colleagues and staff repeatedly gave up.  They stuck a bottle in his mouth and in so doing, stuck it to all of us.  

We kept hearing about the supposed "grownups in the room," like Rex Tillerson and John Kelly, but they never took meaningful action.  The baby got his way no matter what.

It's time to throw away the bottle.  Donald Trump lost the election.  The grownups have arrived, and the baby must finally go to bed.

Not Really a Choice

Is there anyone left who hasn't voted and who remains undecided?  If so, I can't imagine why: the choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden couldn't be more clear.  But if by chance we've got voters still making up their minds, I'd ask them to consider these questions:

Do you want a president who lies, or one who tells the truth?

Do you want a president who incites violence, or one who seeks peace?

Do you want a president who favors dictatorships, or one who values democracies?

Do you want a president who mocks his constituents, or one who respects them?

Do you want a president who cares about himself, or one who cares about his country?

Simply answered, Donald Trump lacks the moral character necessary for the job.  He has shown himself to be dishonest, imperious, and vicious.  He appeals to the most vile instincts in human nature.

Joe Biden, on the other hand, exemplifies virtue.  He's not perfect, but he pursues a fair and just course.  Honest, thoughtful, and kind to others, he has the moral character necessary for the job.

We may wish this election to be solely about policy; certainly immigration, climate change, racial justice, income equality--all of these and more--are on the ballot.  But what matters most of all is character.

Donald Trump is destroying our country.  Joe Biden will build it back.  There's not really a choice.