On The Verdict
Howdy,
I’ve been much too upbeat and positive lately. Spinning yarns of love and happiness might feel good, but that’s not our reality.
So, let’s return to the darkness, my friends.
We’re still fucked, people. If you think that a Trump verdict will finally be the thing that knocks him down, then whoever your dealer is should really think about branching out because that’s some mighty fine hopium you’re puffing.
My mentor, JVL, had a tour de force today. Here’s a mere sampling.
Why will this be different than insulting John McCain, or praising very fine people on both sides, or injecting yourselves with bleach, or hanging Mike Pence?
Maybe it will make a difference at the margins. Maybe Trump’s conviction moves the polls 2 points and allows Joe Biden to squeeze out a victory in the Electoral College. But do you think it could make a substantial difference? I do not.
To put it starkly: I believe that the state of the American voter is such that a felony conviction is unlikely to move the polls even by 5 percentage points.
This is exactly correct.
It won’t matter, really. I know, I know, the election will be decided at the margins. Sure. Yeah, this might help Biden win this election — might!
Read that back to yourself: A twice-impeached president who is now a convicted felon MIGHT lose the election against an incumbent.
LOL.
Here’s something you haven’t heard today: Donald Trump would never bang out a porn star while his wife was away!
LOL.
The thing I love about JVL is that he’s been calling this stuff flawlessly for nearly eight years. And we disagree on almost everything under the sun: race, guns, taxes, capitalism, drugs, etc. But, boy, he’s got this movement dead to rights. He predicted Trump would be the nominee in 2021. I mean, I didn’t even think that would happen back then.
Although JVL is much better at this stuff than me, I’ve been calling this —points broadly—out for nearly a decade, even before Trump came down that escalator.
For years now, I’ve written (mostly in my journal, unfortunately) that a country that is so detached from the wars fought in its name is a very sick country indeed.
Case in point. Last week, I had a rather revealing conversation with one of my neighbors.
Here are some of my favorite moments:
“Afghanistan — is that where we left all the people?”
“You think somebody did that on purpose? Like, it was orchestrated from above?”
“I don’t know. Let’s nuke them next time.”
“You get to kill anyone?”
LOL.
To my credit, I didn’t lose my shit. I just smiled and nodded.
This is not a one-off, people. I could write a month’s worth of posts about my silly conversations with people about the war.
“We’re still in Afghanistan?”
“Well, we didn’t find WMDs, so the whole invasion of AFGHANISTAN was unjust.”
“We invaded Afghanistan for oil.”
You might respond that this is all anecdotal and not indicative of the entire population. Fair enough. Maybe I’ve had bad luck.
Here’s something I’ve yet to hear anyone say to me in the past twenty years.
“Will, why the fuck did we give Pakistan hundreds of billions of dollars if they murdered our sons and daughter?”
You know why? Because most people don’t have a fucking clue! Why? Because they don’t have skin in the game (partly because of the All-Volunteer Force). But it’s not some Rubik’s cube. People could pay attention if they weren’t amusing themselves to death.
My point (I think) in all of this is that a country that doesn’t give a shit about its government losing a war that started with an attack on the homeland isn’t going to mind electing a felon.
Have a great weekend!
We published our second episode of Stories From My Brothers: Tales of the Afghan Security Forces. I got to speak with one of America’s newest heroes, Colonel Abdul Rahman Rahmani.
You can also find it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Next week, on Shoulder to Shoulder, we will publish a great interview with my former boss, Matt Norton.
Here’s a clip:
As always, thank you, and please share our stuff with all your friends and families — hell, even with people you hate!
Until Next Time
We are in a dangerous time in this country. When Mike Johnson says that this verdict and trial and judge should be brought before the Supreme Court, and adds that he knows a few of them "personally" and that they aren't happy, too, then I think that we should all be scared. SCOTUS will be ruling on presidential immunity soon.
An unsettling number of citizens don't know about the U.S. involvement in wars, in other countries, the sacrifices of the men and women serving our country, or that Mike Johnson is second in line to the Presidency. I am, however, not a passive person so I will continue to do what I can to preserve our democracy and not let Trump and Trumpers take over.
You continue to do good work, Will. Thank you. And to add to Kathleen's note, take time to enjoy the love in your life. :)
At the core of this is Will’s reference to the all volunteer force. Crucial step in the American erosion, because it made sure wars were not fought by the children of decision-makers, but people the children of decision-makers could not possibly have known due to social distance. I’m a hypocrite, because I personally was very happy to miss the draft for Vietnam. Had I been a little older I would have benefited presumably from a student deferment. But it was clear by the end of the 70s, when Carter sought to re-introduce draft registration, that the privileged young people At the University where I was doing graduate work had happily internalized the idea that war was for other people who did not have their brilliant career prospects.