Week Seven: No Time For Weakness

Week Seven: No Time For Weakness

—- David Eugene Perry

Lenin was right (at least on this): “There are decades when nothing happens, and there are weeks when decades happen.”

In seven weeks, our 47th president has undone seven decades of the world order: a world order that frankly has greatly benefited not only Democracy but also the U.S. economy. One would think that DJT would at least appreciate the latter. However, unlike Dolly Levi, Donny Lemme’ has not a talent for arranging things: his is a talent for breaking things. To quote one of his fave’s, Hannibal Lecter, “it’s in his nature.”

Make no mistake (although I certainly did), his is a natural talent, a charism, a gift. His entire life has been a vacuum hoovering up attention and then vomiting it back out on tabloids, TV and now through a new testament of daily TikTok tyrannies — large and small — designed to torture a so-far-tenuous and terrified opposition. He’s good at breaking things. He lives up to Winston Churchill’s adage about former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles: “the only bull who brings his own china shop with him.”

Eventually, the U.S. electorate will remember they still like unbroken china, and the ability to afford eggs that are the same.

I say “why are we tenuous and terrified?” We are at least half the country, in likelihood a good deal more than that.  40% of eligible Americans didn’t vote in last year’s election. The current administration’s fetishistic obsession with MAWA (Make America White Again) ignores present and future demographics. The U.S. is on track to become a “majority-minority” nation by around 2045, meaning no single racial or ethnic group will be the majority. Hispanic and Asian populations will see the fastest growth due to immigration and higher birth rates. The non-Hispanic White population is expected to decline in both percentage and absolute numbers over the coming decades.

Mean spirited and moronic gestures such as “The Gulf of America”, “Mount McKinley” and the Kennedy Center purge are designed to upset us and drive internal dissension. Don’t let it. No matter legitimate views about transgender athletes, Trump’s punching down on a tiny, terrified and disenfranchised micro-minority is not only mendacious; it’s meant to minimize the greater LGBTQ community’s hard fought struggle for equality. Focus. Take a cue from actress turned AIDS activist Liz Taylor: “Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together.” 

Above all, keep on keeping on and DO keep on keeping track of Trump’s continuing and continuous assault on our values, our Constitutional separation of powers, our allies (please forgive us Canada, Mexico, Europe and Ukraine) and our peace of mind. Use it as ammunition for the fight ahead — the fight that is here.

Now is not the time for surrender. There are 201 weeks left of this dis-administration. Use them all, and remember: a country’s government is not the same as its people. We the People, WILL overcome. Make that drink a double, and the lipstick jungle red.

David Eugene Perry is the best-selling author of the award-winning mystery thriller Upon This Rock, currently being developed as a screenplay, in addition to being a journalist with over 100 articles in print. He and his husband, Alfredo Casuso, run a PR/design firm. Frequently travelers, they have visited over 70 countries.