top of page

the heart of the suck

  • Writer: Joshua Shelov
    Joshua Shelov
  • Dec 7, 2017
  • 3 min read

The toughest part of this whole Russia story is the way in which we agree with Donald Trump.

It’s not the stuff he said that we just can't believe. It’s the stuff we can believe, and do believe. It’s that stubbornly persistent core principle that Trump truly believes in…and that we, deep down, believe in too.

Which is this:

Russia doesn’t really matter.

My friend Dave and I have been texting each other this week, looking at this Flynn thing, rooting for it to be seismic, and instead, thinking…

...meh.

Because let’s face it, grand scheme of things.

So what if Mike Flynn called the Russians in the middle of the campaign and told them not to sweat the sanctions.

So what if it goes higher than Flynn. Which of course it did, let’s not bullshit ourselves. So what if Flynn’s boss, the Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump, told Flynn to call the Russians and tell them to chill. We got this.

Even if the crime goes deeper - which, in all likelihood, it does - is it really what bothers us about Donald Trump?

Because so what if Trump willingly accepted Russia’s criminal cyber-hackery in order to get elected. Which he obviously did, let’s not act like this is in question either. But let’s not act like Trump taking the cyber-handout is the ish here.

Let’s go deeper still. What if he’s owned by them. And I mean owned now. Not just owned back then, back in the go-go Marla Maples days. I mean what if today’s President of these United States is hundreds of millions of dollars in hock to the Russians. Today. And that said measure of hock puts him in the position of being Russia’s lock-stock-and-barrel bitch.

He is their bitch. Let’s just say it. It feels accurate, right? I’m not just saying this stuff to throw naughty little cusswords around. In my opinion, this is not up for debate. The 45th President of the United States reports to Vladimir Putin.

Now…I’m not saying that this stuff doesn’t matter at all.

This does in fact suck somewhat.

But it’s not what sucks the most about living under President Donald J. Trump.

What sucks the most about Trump isn’t who owns him.

It’s who he is.

What sucks the most by far is that the really sickening part - who he is - is never, ever going to get him impeached. On the contrary, who he is will shield him from being impeached.

Who he is, above all else, is a white supremacist. More specifically, he is a believer in, and advocate for, the supremacy of wealthy straight white males.

At the heart of this nauseating moment of truth is our dawning understanding that in the United States of America in 2017, belief in and advocacy for the supremacy of wealthy straight white males is a bona fide governing principle.

And a viable electoral strategy. Roy Moore is going to win a United States Senate seat on that platform, with the full-throated support of his President and Party.

The supremacy of wealthy straight white males is one of the most important principles our nation was founded upon. It is a pillar upon which a massive chunk of our society rests: financially, emotionally, and psychologically. And what we are looking upon, when we look upon Donald Trump, is the staggering, load-bearing strength of that pillar. It can no more be dynamited out of our country’s constitution than a spinal cord from a man.

There's a reason why the mirror is such a potent talisman in all those fairy tales, why all those witches and queens and vampires constantly wield mirrors like weapons, casting spells in front of them, or avoiding them at all costs.

We hate Donald Trump because we hate ourselves. Not all of ourselves, mind you. But the part of ourselves that we are stuck with: he’s the poison pill of our national backstory. He's the unalienable alien that got baked in with the deal.

One nation. Under God. Except you.

[to subscribe to this blog, enter your email address in the form below]

 
 
 

Comments


bottom of page