Trump's 'Gifts' to America could spell impeachment

One great “gift” that Donald Trump has given "We the People" forces us to break the mold on how we think about political divisions in this country.

In the weeks ahead we will forget Republicans and Democrats and the seemingly rigid divide between the two, particularly in Congress.

We will forget Liberals and Conservatives.

And yes, with time, we will even be able to put aside “Red” and “Blue” states.

The last to fall will be our growing class, racial and educational divisions although our history tells us that those will be a long, long time coming.

(Note in passing: we have already forgotten Hillary Clinton. That clears the air and leaves Trump to be judged free of Clinton baggage and fake news “distractions.” )

So what will end these divisions?

Two words: Donald Trump — but not in the dictatorial way he would imagine.

The answer to the question brings us to Trump’s greatest gift. The realignment is going to be over the values of Trump (if they can be called that) versus the bed-rock values of the large majority of Americans.

Trump and initially his Russian friends are forcing us to rediscover and defend our values.

Welcome to a world divided into pro-Trump versus pro-democracy. Pro-dictatorship versus Pro-Freedom.

And finally: Pro-Lies and pro-Truth.

The first place the divide will become obvious will be in the confirmation hearings in the Senate. The Senate is packed with people with very large egos who have been deeply and personally offended by the President-elect. One does not forget insults to one’s military service, to one’s wife or father or the size of one’s privates.

Those senators, all of them Republicans, have not forgotten.

And so we have Lindsay Graham and John McCain stepping up.  Can Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio be far behind? If they and a few of others join in, initially on concerns about national security and Russian subterfuge, we suddenly have an anti-Trump majority in the Senate.

Knowing Trump, he will proceed with further ad hominem attacks. Expect the anti-Trump Senate majority to grow and solidify, possibly killing the whole Trump agenda and rejecting virtually all of his cabinet nominees.

That will only infuriate the self-obsessed Trump more. He will dig his hole deeper and deeper.

Did anyone say “Impeachment”?

Faust, Pandora, John McCain and us

I watched last night as John McCain publicly confronted the hatred unleashed by his campaign. He seemedly like a solitary, tragic figure trying to hold back a flood.

And it was tragic — not just for him and his beleaguered, conflicted campaign but for us.

Isn’t this the stuff of the Greek legend of Pandora and the tragedy of Faust?

Pandora’s box, once opened, loosed upon the world the furies of evil. Sarah Palin doesn’t fit the role of Pandora in the legend, but certainly her elevation to vice presidential candidate has opened a box of anger, racism, hypocrisy, deceit, ignorance and lust for power at any cost.

In these times, it may help us to know that Pandora managed to close the box at last and save a single human quality — hope.

In the medieval version of the Faust legend made famous by Christopher Marlowe’s play, Faust forms his infamous compact with the devil and in so doing condemns himself. At one point, a good and evil angel battle for Faust’s soul. Each vies to win him over, but he is too far gone to save himself.

Cut to a Faustian McCain, pacing on stage, surrounded by angry, agitated, hateful supporters. Clutching the microphone, a magical wand of power if wisely used, McCain clenches his teeth and brings himself to describe his opponent, not as a terrorist or evil incarnate, but as a good and admirable man.

No longer is Barack Obama an objectified alien, the “that one” of the last debate.

But the furies in the crowd have none of it. They will not return to the box. They boo and hiss McCain’s attempts to contain their gall.

As detached viewers, we witness McCain, a seemingly decent, though deeply flawed, man, and wonder whether he can save his soul and those of his supporters, even if he and they lose this election — and especially if they win.

It makes for remarkable theater, but politics is not the stage the media have made it seem. It is not a performance to witness. It is not “other;” it is us.

It defines and informs who we are. It is our mirror, our window, our door and even our path.

With our own good and evil angels on our shoulders, we are linked to John McCain, and we must ask whether we can save ourselves.