Send in the clowns

Judy Collins’ 1975 song, send in the clowns, is a classic. It speaks into the foolishness of humanity, ultimately acknowledging that the clowns are already present. We have clowns in spades!

Question is, will democracy survive the clown show of the Trump administration? Anne Applebaum, David French and Tim Snyder say, we will survive, but we will be forever altered.

The depth and breadth of the Trump administration’s damage will be hard to clean up.

The latest is punctuation on the problem that is Donald Trump. An unprovoked war in Iran is already raising oil and gas prices. American casualties are rising, and there will be more. American civilians in Iran are scrambling to get out. 

Tariffs have raised food costs. Programs for underserved populations have been cut. If that weren’t enough, the cruelty continues in our immigration crackdown.

What are we to do? We can work to elect people with common sense and moral conscience. Before that, we must mount a vocal, loud, bellicose resistance to wrongdoing we see with our own eyes.

The clowns distract attention from the main thing. They influence us to ignore what we see and instead believe what they tell us we see. We are so gullible!

Even the self-righteous piety of the MAGA Christians is nauseating. Nowhere in the Bible is exhortation to harm marginalized people in the ways they are being harmed today. Cutting social programs, deleting programs that feed the poor, serving up a false history is part and parcel of the clown show.

Midterm elections are ongoing and there are signs that Democrats are winning seats. If enough change comes to the congress, impeachment would be a viable option.

Autocracy is not a pretty thing. Yielding power to a mentally diminished leader is increasingly dangerous. Trump’s cognitive decline is hard to hide. Comprehension and communication skills are obviously impaired. Trump is a laughingstock to us and to the world who don’t take him seriously.

The question is, who are the adults in the room? Who are the loyal leaders who are finally admitting that Trump is leading us down a dangerous path?

There was a time in America when character mattered. Sadly, that is no longer the case.

Kash Patel partying and drinking with the men’s Olympic hockey team cost a lot of money. Kristi Noem has been a disaster from the beginning. Pam Bondi must have some damning information against Trump, information she is using as blackmail.

Righteous indignation is not enough. The pressure of resistance will eat at people who have been more interested in keeping a job than in doing it.

In Galatians, Paul tells us that we cannot fail in doing good. Keep up the good fight. Democracy is worth it. America is worth it. We may not be able to do everything, but all of us can do something.

Step it up, ye righteous. We are in this for the long haul.

Lib Campbell is a retired Methodist pastor, retreat leader, columnist and host of the blogsite www.avirtualchurch.com. She can be contacted at libcam05@gmail.com