The day after

I've come to recognize something I'm calling the Trump hangover. The day after some crazy *&$# goes down I wake up feeling groggy with an empty sour stomach feeling. Too much adrenaline, too little sleep. But I think it also comes from having borne witness to something really despicable, a feeling that there was a rip in the fabric of reality. But then in the cold harsh light of the new day there is a realization that, despite that rip, nothing is really going to change. 

The kids started back at online school on Monday and today both schools sent out emails about yesterday's events.

From Thing Two's middle school:

From Thing One's high school: 

Despite all this excellent advice, we haven't had any really deep heart-to-hearts with the kids as yet. We streamed ABC news all day yesterday and they would dip in and out, watch for a while, ask questions, and then go back to their homework or talking with friends. At first most of the footage was of people milling around outside waving flags. It didn't seem particularly menacing. But Thing Two was really struck by one reporter we watched, saying "She sounds really, really scared." That reporter later talked about how all the media were threatened, equipment taken and destroyed. They certainly were feeling the menace outside that later transpired inside. Gradually the shocking footage emerged from inside and we were all quiet and shocked when we heard people had died. And then later still Congress came back and continued their work. I realize now that was when both kids went to bed. They didn't need to know the outcome, they just were reassured seeing that order had been restored. 

But like most of us, and in some ways this is the scary thing, the kids weren't overly surprised that this happened. Late night comedian Stephen Colbert put it beautifully, "Who could have seen this coming? Everyone? Even dummies like me. This is the most shocking, most tragic, least surprising thing I’ve ever seen." I think that is what I find so sad for the kids. Their entire experience of living in America has been living in a Trump America where it really does seem that every few days the topic at dinner has been incredulity about his latest blunder or catastrophe. 

And then I almost forget sometimes that we have been living this really very odd, cloistered pandemic life for nearly a year now.  Our new normal is so strange. Today, for example, I had to go pick up some books and art materials from Thing Two's school. I followed the very specific directions sent out via email, put on my mask and went  at my allotted time slot to a small upper window in the wall of the school office. I passed a piece of paper with Alice's name and school ID# through the window to the masked school secretary who then lowered a box out of the window containing Thing Two's materials. None of this struck me as odd at the time. In some ways, footage of packed crowds of maskless people sharing air indoors is bizarre in and of itself, whether or not they are ransacking the seat of government. 

Today the mood in the newspapers and news shows is that people want to see definitive consequences. Consequences for the people who broke into the building, and consequences for those who incited and then appeared to support their actions. A friend of mine said, "I want them all tried for treason."

 So far there have been barely any arrests - I think 82 so far - which is really hard to understand. I  read a great New Yorker article by Masha Gessen that pointed out that "The Capitol Police made more arrests on each of the first three days of the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, in September, 2018, than they did Wednesday. The protesters at those hearings—most of them women, many self-identified survivors of sexual assault—were arrested for transgressions such as shouting out from the gallery, “Kavanaugh can’t be trusted!” 

The police chiefs have resigned, ostensibly for the failure to secure the building and safety of members of Congress, but also over the stark double standard regarding the treatment of Trump supporters vs. the recent Black Lives Matter protesters. 

Of course, the big one we are all wondering about is what will happen to the President. When asked if he thought impeachment or removal from office should be considered, Republican Senator, and former Presidential nominee in 2012, Mitt Romney suggested we should 'hold our breath' until January 20th. No! It feels like the Republican party has been holding its breath for four years and the time is up. Others, from both parties, want the President removed, saying that another day in office is too dangerous. Yet others say it may be too dangerous to take action, that this could bring about more violence.  

And what of the President today? He had a busy day giving the Presidential Medal of Freedom to three... professional golfers. And he also gave a speech that was a complete U-turn from his remarks at the rally yesterday -  no claims of election fraud, saying that he would now focus on a smooth transition of power, condemning the violence, calling for healing and reconciliation. 

 I read a good line from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar yesterday: "The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones." Whether we see Dr Jekyll or Mr Hyde for the next two weeks, I think Trump's legacy has been cemented by the events of yesterday.