The good news: Few Republicans are in favor of Trump’s idea to terminate the Constitution so he can be president again. He “truthed” about throwing the 2020 results out and declaring the “RIGHTFUL WINNER,” or having a new election.
The bad news: The party still appears to want him to be its nominee for president in 2024.
“Suspending the Constitution is very wrong.”
“Let’s try to get the guy who wants to suspend the Constitution re-elected.”
I don’t understand how Trump thinks it would work. The thing that kept him from winning the 2020 election was the Constitution, he thinks, so getting rid of it would make him president again? There’s a little hitch. Getting rid of the Constitution now wouldn’t retroactively make him the winner of the 2020 election. That’s a done deal by 2021 rules.
All he could do is try to do again what he tried Jan. 6, 2021, namely another coup. This time find more, smarter and better armed insurrectionists. The point of suspending the Constitution would just be to make it harder to convict Trump and the insurrectionists for treason.
Andy Borowitz had a great take on all this. He said Trump wants to suspend the Constitution, except for the Fifth Amendment. Well, yeah. Duh.
Trump thinks he could get to be president again by first getting the Constitution dumped. This is the same kind of magical thinking that leads people to waste their lives trying to design perpetual motion engines.
Once a month there’s somebody on the internet who says they’ve figured out how to solve the world’s energy problems using a green energy source: hydrogen. We’ll get it from the ocean. Burning it doesn’t create greenhouse gasses, it just turns it back into water, which is good for the environment!
When I was too young to understand the basics of physics, I thought if I ran fast enough, the air wouldn’t be able to get out of the way of my feet and I could run upward to the sky. I didn’t think that the air couldn’t get out of the way of my head either.
Right after Raphael Warnock’s victory brought the Dem’s numbers in the Senate to 51, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema decided to declare herself an Independent. She should be praised for her honesty.
Since Sinema didn’t choose to switch to the Republicans, the whole move looks like a beg for attention to me. She’s snatching attention away from Warnock’s victory.
Meanwhile: And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? Why, Christmas 2022, that’s what! Who’s for Chinese?
Seriously, I kid. Christmas is a great holiday. It has great theme songs and great decorations. This year it started a week before Halloween, didn’t it? But that’s fantastic, because the longer Christmas lasts the better. I actually think Christmas should start July 3 (Fourth of July eve) and continue all the way to Groundhog Day, with fireworks the whole time. Every day starting 20 minutes after sundown. There can’t be enough fireworks. The noise will help drown out the little drummer boy.
My favorite part of Christmas used to be those letters from relatives I never paid any attention to the rest of the year who have to suddenly get me up to date with their dreary lives, including a family photo and the ages of all the kids. With the dog in the front. Everyone’s wearing matching Christmas pajamas. Sitting in front of a tree that must have been installed and decorated on Black Friday. The children all have that vacant POW stare, but I was sure they’d be alright.
My least favorite part of Christmas is fruitcake. It occurs to me that I may never have mentioned in this space that I swore off almost all sweets in the 1970s. There are some exceptions, like strawberries and little seedless Mandarin oranges, but no bananas, no milk, no chocolate (except unsweetened baking chocolate for cooking), no cakes, no pies (except meat pies), no ice cream, no sugar plums, no dried figs, no Fig Newtons.
This brings me to ask: After all these years since first hearing of the concept, what am I supposed to think a sugar plum fairy is? What sort of cryptid is that? If there can be sugar plum fairies, what next? Orange peel angels? Chicken pot pie leprechauns? Dessert mint selkies?
If there can be sugar plum fairies, can there be sugar plum pumpkins? How about a sugar plum Trump?
Dr. Wes is the Real Change Circulation Specialist, but, in addition to his skills with a spreadsheet, he writes this weekly column about whatever recent going-ons caught his attention. Dr. Wes has contributed to the paper since 1994. Curious about his process or have a response to one of his columns? Connect with him at [email protected].
Read more of the Dec. 14-20, 2022 issue.