Just when I thought I’d heard everything, I tuned into the news on Thursday and there was President Trump trying to put a positive spin on one of the major defeats of his administration. I speak, of course, of his bumbled attempt to persuade a very persuadable Supreme Court to allow the question of citizenship to be added to the 2020 census. And there was Attorney General William Barr, congratulating the president as if his failure was a huge success.
Watching the surreal display of fealty, I couldn’t help thinking about an equally surreal scene that is emblematic of this presidency. It’s an unforgettable Twilight Zone episode entitled It’s a Good Life that featured little Anthony Fremont, a six-year-old boy who possessed a godlike mental power of life and death over everyone in his village. If you rubbed Anthony the wrong way, he could finish you off by turning you into a scarecrow and wishing you into the cornfield.
As my mind wondered, instead of congratulations, I imagined AG Barr at the podium saying “It’s good that you did that, Donald. It’s real good” followed by forced smiles and nods of agreement from all those loyalist Republicans in attendance.
Certainly, the Twilight Zone episode is fiction and Donald Trump lacks the power to send his fellow Republicans into the cornfield. However, as the president continues to break the promises he made to voters in 2016, and as his fellow Republicans – yes you, Thom Tillis and David Rouzer - remain silent about the ineptitude and the daily barrage of outrages from his administration, the voters just might.
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