Immigration has been a controversial topic here in the States recently, and it's brought out some bad actors from a myriad of dark corners. A popular refrain that's coming from this is that Trump is so far beyond the pale that he justifies in-civil behavior as a response.
"I wish you've stop making me punch you" the virtuous bully pleads...
I was thinking about that line of reasoning, though, and I remembered the Hollywood PSA to the Electoral College electors (I'm not sure of the proper title) urging them to refrain from casting their votes for Trump. Maybe that's fresher in other people's mind, but I had kind of forgotten about it.
I guess it struck me how some very mainstream icons (in terms of visibility, if not necessarily ideology) had decided from {before} Day One that Trump was so far beyond the pale that extraordinary means were justified and necessary to overcome him. In some ways, it seems, many folks made the decision to go "all-in" at that point.
I don't really see how people can gracefully back down from that, and human nature being what it is, I don't expect to see much backing down.
I guess my metaphors are not very good, though, because I would think losing the bet after going all-in would leave one without any chips. Maybe we're just reaching the point in this scene where the desperate gambler starts throwing his car keys and the deed to his house into the pot.
All that to say, I don't quite know where we're headed from here. All I see on the horizon is continued escalation, but due to the nature of hard-ball, high-stakes politics and human nature, neither side can reasonably be expected to fold on their own having reached this point.
And as I try to articulate all this, I think, maybe, I'm starting to understand my visceral appeal to Trump. I was an (almost)Never-Trumper, until it came down to a choice between him and Hillary. My Never-Clinton urges won out, and I held my nose and voted for Trump. As time has worn on, I'm still ambivalent towards the man (of whom I was never a big fan), but I've become more fond of the idea of him as President.
So I've found myself in a weird place, where I've felt very conflicted and confused. I think, maybe, what I like about his Presidency (aside from also feeling generally positive towards most of his actual policies and accomplishments, and I see #butGorsuch as a pretty good thing), is that he's willing to call the bluff. I don't quite know how all this will pan out -- maybe Trump will hurt conservationism in the long-run (though I kind of doubt he'll do much damage to the philosophical appeal; I think he does contribute to the coarsening of culture, which is very unfortunate, but maybe that's a necessary by-product of calling the bluff before us) -- but, for better or worse, I think the rivaling Powers That Be who control the machinations of Government will soon be forced to lay their cards on the table for the world to see.
Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, I still don't quite know how we, as a Nation, recover gracefully from whatever fallout that may entail.
