Ship of Fools About to Dock

Those of you who know me personally know how hard it is for me to hold my tongue, but for the past month I’ve kept my powder dry and will continue to do so until after January 20th. Tempting as it might be to wade into the pool of predictions what will or won’t happen during Trump II, in truth no one knows, and I think the guessing game is fruitless and frustrating. With the exception of his theme song — “I’m going to pardon the January 6 martyrs and deport all the evil foreigners before Valentines Day” — Donald is such a shoot-from-the-hip blatherer that I see his daily attempts at headline grabbing as worthless political gas-passing. We’ve heard it all already and in most cases both sides of the token from him: Before the election he swore it would be easy to reduce prices across the board but now concedes it is virtually impossible. He was going to use the army to round up immigrants but now will just call upon the National Guard to build border fences and internment camps. Today he actually vowed to abolish Daylight Savings Time (personally as someone who prefers his sunlight in the morning I would be delighted) but isn’t in charge of the nation’s clocks. So I’m holding my prognostications until we see what he actually does and what the MAGA-fearing Senate goes along with.

In the meantime join me in relishing the new word of the year, resurrected courtesy of The Economist magazine and the New York Times: “kakistocracy,” meaning rule by the least competent and worst elements of society, a word coined in an 1829 novel by a long-forgotten author of little fame but aptly resuscitated this year as each proposed appointment to the Trump government is announced. In 1989 a history of public drunkenness on the job and sexual predation sank the nomination of Texas Senator John Tower to be Secretary of Defense, the first time in American history the Senate had rejected a cabinet nominee in the first three months of a new administration and only the ninth time a Secretary nominee was not confirmed; this year it seems that these characteristics will be glossed over so a pretty-boy second rate news reader with no experience in government or running a business or being responsible to the general public can mismanage the largest department in the U.S. government. The designated FBI director wants to sell off the headquarters building and sic his minions on the evil press. The proposed health boss claims fat people should shut up and just eat healthy and lose all that excess weight easy-peasy and stop asking for affordable access to the new miracle weight management drugs, promotes every quack medical practice in sight, and his lawyer actually is trying to outlaw the polio vaccine! He wants to put a woman who likely could not even get a security clearance in charge of American intelligence. I could go on — and on and on — but why aggravate ourselves even more before the shoes actually hit the floor.

So why do we suppose we are watching the manning of this ship of fools (another reference to government by stupid or misguided individuals, this time from Plato). My personal feeling is that Trump is indeed moving forward with his announced (but then denied) malicious plan to get even with his enemies, but is actually including all 78 million Americans who voted against him last month along with a huge batch of his own voters — since he cares not much for anyone whose initials are not “Donald Trump.” I believe he would actually risk sinking the entire ship of state to get even. Take the fluoride out of drinking water and damn the kids to 1950s era tooth decay; impose huge tariffs on virtually all imports and the hell with the resulting price increases domestically; and of course round up literally millions of Brown folk including their U.S. born citizen children and ship them off to concentration camps in Texas to be sorted out — maybe. At this point we don’t know how much of this is just running off of a mouth disconnect from any brain and how much is indeed to become reality. It is hard to fathom the depth of such an evil spirit in such a powerful position, this is all so unprecedented. But the one prediction I will venture is that we better buckle up.

So enough of my Christmas cheer for now. I think one thing is clear: we’ll have lots to talk about next year, and I hope to continue these little chats. If you feel they are at all enjoyable or worthwhile, I’d ask you to give me a modest Christmas present: please please pass this brief essay along and invite one or two like-minded people to join our conversation circle so we can expand the discussion as our tiny contribution to keeping the lamp lit. At least for the foreseeable future, our little group fortunately doesn’t seem to be part of the crowd that’s thinking of ducking for cover or maybe even debarking for new ports. In the meantime, I do hope that you all can and will enjoy a very happy Holiday Season — and please be sure to get fully vaccinated while the meds are still available and government subsidized so we can continue to enjoy these meetings next year.

Arne Werchick, after fifty years as a litigation attorney with emphasis on medical-legal issues, a pro tem judge, law writer and lecturer, former Presiding Arbitrator of the State Bar of California, and past president of the California Trial Lawyers Association, moved to Hawaii and lives with his wife Ruth and their rescue dog Topaz. He can be contacted at liberalmind@werchick.com.