Despite the worst efforts of Trump/Musk & Co., I remain optimistic that we can and will withstand the onslaught of skullduggery and outright stupidity that defines the current administration. The United States has endured a bloody civil war, the grave injustice of the Jim Crow era, two world wars, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, McCarthyism, political assassinations, deep divisions over civil rights and Vietnam, Nixon and Watergate, oil shocks and hyperinflation, the OKC bombing, the AIDS epidemic, the attacks of 9/11, the ill-advised war in Iraq, the sitcom “Friends,” countless school shootings, COVID-19, and the first Trump presidency. These yahoos, drunk on power and their homemade fake news, will ultimately collapse from the political and psychological dysentery that results from consuming one’s own bullshit. It will be grotesque and nasty in the extreme, but we will survive it. That you can count on.
I’m currently reading a good book called “Every Valley” by Charles King. It’s about the creation of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio “Messiah,” but it also delves into the philosophy of 18th century England. Jonathan Swift was a contemporary of Handel’s and, of course, became famous for his satirical tales that held a harsh mirror up to English society, including “Gulliver’s Travels” in 1726 (subsequently watered down as children’s fare). King paraphrases him with this wonderful flourish: “… the worst sin of all, Swift said through Gulliver, was not run-of-the-mill faults like blasphemy, avarice, or dishonesty; pickpockets, fools, and lawyers all had their backstories and maybe even their uses. The only truly shameful thing was to take pride in one’s worst qualities.” And, man, doesn’t that quote hit idiot Trump right between his lyin’ eyes…
Great Exudations 
Stephen, I wanted to write and say how much I appreciated your March 15 post. Oddly enough, I found it through a Google search. I too am currently reading “Every Valley” and just finished Chapter 5, where the Jonathan Swift quote about taking pride in one’s worst qualities was found. I was so struck by the application of that statement to so many of my fellow Americans, people who I assumed to be decent, rational and fair folks, I just had to locate the original quote to keep it. The only real link I found was to your blog post, which hit the whole ironic issue right on the money. Now I look forward to readinging on through your prior posts. FWIW, here are two others I found while searching: “I never wonder to see men wicked, but I often wonder to see them not ashamed.” – Jonathan Swift; “It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom.” – Jonathan Swift Many Thanks!
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