There Can Be No Peace
As we look forward to the day Trump leaves office, we also recognize that the division he and his party have so carefully and deliberately crafted will sadly always be with us.
With the election of a new president, wounds will begin to heal. Neighbours will once again chat over the back fence about mundane things. News headlines will return to the usual pre-Trumpian fare; political scandals will still happen, but won’t rise to the level of a president working to undermine our very democracy, and an entire administration aiding and abetting his treason.
Over time, the chasm between us will narrow. But it will still exist – and we will be ever mindful of it for many years to come.
As the memory of the disastrous Trump ‘pResidency” fades, we will approach each other with wariness, ever mindful of how quickly citizens can be pitted against each other, and how easily corruption can be sold to the masses as business-as-usual.
We will wonder if those who’d supported Trump did so because they believed he was who he pretended to be – a successful businessman who would Make America Great Again – or because they wholly embraced his racism and bigotry. We will wonder if they voted for him out of ignorance of his true nature – or because they knew who he was and were comfortable with it. We will wonder if those who yelled lock her up or send her back were simply the ill-informed and easily-led, or if they finally felt free to voice the hatred and bigotry they’d harboured for decades, but were too ashamed to openly express.
We will never look at a Republican voter without wondering if they supported Trump’s policies because the FOX-News version of their impact sounded benign and reasonable – or because they knew the truth about children locked in cages, and truly believed that black/brown people deserved whatever terrible fate awaited them should they dare to seek a better life in a country meant for ‘whites only’.
We will never again hear the words of an elected Republican without suspicion, even those who demonstrate a willingness to work ‘across the aisle’ for the good of the citizenry – because we will forever be sceptical of their ability to stand their ground when their party leaders beckon them to abandon their principles and put party over country, and political power over the betterment of the people they are meant to serve.
I do believe that there are good Republicans, and I believe that some of them will be deservedly elected to office. But the past three years have taught us how easily ‘good people’ can be manipulated, through fear and intimidation, into going-along-to-get-along, into accepting the unacceptable, into defending the indefensible for political influence and/or personal gain.
After years of lies, deceit, power-grabs, dark money, and the suppression of our rights at the hands of a party willing to betray their own countrymen, we can never go back to fully trusting that party or its adherents. We can never again look at them without remembering just how untrustworthy they’ve now proven themselves to be.
Perhaps some day we will again be able to stand united, two parties whose ideologies are different, but whose goals are the same. Perhaps we will once again be able to shake the hand of a Republican without checking to make sure their other hand isn’t gripping the knife they plan to use to stab us in the back. Perhaps someday the painful lesson will be learned about putting one’s faith in self-serving con-men, and the hypocritical ‘Christian leaders’ who shepherd their flocks to the voting booth in exchange for money and their own political influence.
Perhaps one day the truth will again be recognized for what it is, a day when facts are facts and not a matter of opinion, a day when civility and respect are the norm and not an aberration.
But that day is in the distant future, and will only dawn when people of courage and good character fight for it, and refuse to accept anything less.
This is the legacy of Trump and his followers: a nation that will lick its wounds and try to heal, but will wear its scars for decades to come.
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