BETRAYAL

The news that Rush Limbaugh has died and the results of the impeachment trial need to be addressed. First, Rush. Rush is famous for being a terrible person. He’s famous for playing a game called “Barack the Magic Negro” on his radio program. During the AIDS crisis he called out the names of those who’d died and celebrated it. He called a woman a slut for taking birth control pills. And he admitted in the early 90s that he did it because it paid well.

Betrayal.

Rush egged on Republicans to further and further monstrousness. He played a key role in their decades-long effort to stay in power through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and getting money into elections. Along with Fox News, he was the Republican party’s spokesman. As such, he had a duty to speak truth rather than spout the lies that drove Republicans further and further away from democracy. I had a university professor who said in a lecture, “Democracy seems nice, we should try it.” Rush was a part of the reason we still do not have a democracy.

Betrayal.

I don’t know what Rush thought about the impeachment and I’m not inclined to look it up. I’m gonna take a guess that he was against it, as most Republicans were. Which brings us to the other betrayal of the last week. Although it was always a long shot that the senate would vote to convict the former president, having a majority rather than a completely partisan vote on conviction makes me happy. I was not surprised to hear McConnell’s speech afterward. He is a coward of the highest order.

After voting to acquit Donnie, Mitch made an impassioned speech about how guilty he was and how he shouldn’t hold office again. He’s trying to eat his cake and have it too. (Look it up, the other way makes no sense.) This sends a terrible message to Donnie’s Q followers. He’s giving permission for them to try it again. In fact, remember March 4^th. That is the next date that some of his supporters have decided is the date to inaugurate Donnie. Some believe that there hasn’t been a legitimate president since the 18^th president, President Grant. They believe that on March 4^th, Donnie will be inaugurated as the 19^th president. If this makes no sense to you, congratulations, you live in reality. Trump’s hotels have already raised rates for that weekend. It would be great if our Republican leaders could look past their own lust for power in order to condemn these actions, but they agree with these actions. They would have been fine had it succeeded on January 6^th and they’ll be fine if they succeed on March 4^th.

Betrayal.

I’ve been reading James Baldwin’s The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings and in every essay, he writes the same thing. America has got to deal with its white supremacy problem. And it is even more of a problem now than when he wrote these essays over 50 years ago. We didn’t listen then. But we can start listening now. You may think I’m overreacting, but our democracy hangs in the balance. There are already 33 states working on passing 130 voter suppression laws. Republicans will keep doing what’s been working for them.

Betrayal.

And as we learned last week, Jesus’s response to betrayal is, “Woe to the one through whom the betrayal comes!”

B