Lock Him Down!

Does anybody remember the helicopter pressers? So obviously ridiculous, an old lunatic screaming at a gaggle of invisible and inaudible reporters over the roar of propellers? They seem so quaint and harmless now, those sham news conferences, those facsimiles of transparency. 

As he did from the moment he staged the escalator ride that ushered in our descent into hell, he has availed himself of the media to spew whatever it is he spews, and the media has obliged. It's been infuriating, sometimes even hilarious, and, yes, dangerous. Now, it is lethal. 

With the imprimatur of American flags and medical experts and government officials standing mute behind him, he lies. About what has befallen us, about what might befall us, about all he has done and will do to save us. He responds to questions asked of others, and allows them to speak only if they kiss the ring, pay homage. With a straight face and a telltale sniff, he denies what he has said before, even though it has all been preserved. For anyone naive enough to still buy into it, caveat emptor. Most of us know better. 

But here's the thing. He attacks the press, he attacks free speech, and he shouts down any question bearing a hint of challenge. And the press continues to show up, continues to give voice to his lies, and continues to allow him to attack democracy while he misappropriates legitimacy from the flags behind him. He desecrates those flags, and he desecrates all of us. And now, people are dying. 

As I walked my dog yesterday, we ran into some old friends, a woman and her dog whom we had met at a neighborhood dog park last summer. The woman told me nothing much has changed for her, because she is retired, and she is home a lot anyway. Not much, except she had trouble finding things on the grocery shelves. I nodded. I had to go to three stores the other day to find an onion.

Not much has changed for me and Eli either, I suppose. I still work from home. He still does his business outside. I wash my hands more, but his hygiene remains the same, such as it is. Yet, as a mother, and a daughter, and a sister, and a friend, I worry more. One daughter is in lock down not far away in Chicago; my other daughter is in New York, ground zero; my son is in Japan. My mother lives alone in Brooklyn, and she is elderly. My brother is a doctor in a busy New York hospital. I have no control over their welfare, not that I ever did. But these days, it weighs heavily. 

The president's behavior weighs more heavily too, though I hadn't thought that possible. I still wonder why -- though a bit more desperately -- in a democracy, we have relinquished our control, our voice. He will do what he wants, and say what he wants, but should it be aired as news? With the trappings of truth standing at attention behind him? I think not.