Beyond the personal aspect of Jim’s comment (cited in yesterday’s post), the words he used to describe our current days are haunting: these times of leadership lost. Yes, that does describe the U.S. in October 2020. Those in power, Trump and the Republicans, don’t lead, they exploit. Witness forcing another conservative judge onto the Supreme Court on the eve of a national election. And it’s likely to get worse as Trump resists defeat in the election.
Yes, Americans now know what it is like to be without leaders at a time of great peril, a pandemic that has killed hundreds of thousands of us. We know what it means to live through a recession with brief financial assistance that favored the wealthy then ran out. We know what it feels like when those in power refuse to act in our behalf while acting in their own.
We can only hope that next month’s election will change the status of our country. But we still have to face the possibility that Trump will refuse to vacate the White House and give up the presidency if he is defeated in the election. And we will have to live through the lame-duck days of November, December, and January before Trump is replaced.
What kind of chicanery might we be facing?
Tom Glenn, Writer 