Civil Discourse

c/o telefactorydeviantart.com

            When Supreme Court Justices can't keep silent you know something's really rotten in Denmark. And so, according to CNN about Ruth Bader Ginsburg's criticism of The Donald:
"'He is a faker,'" she said of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, going point by point, as if presenting a legal brief. "'He has no consistency about him. He says whatever comes into his head at the moment. He really has an ego. ... How has he gotten away with not turning over his tax returns? The press seems to be very gentle with him on that.'" 
       And The Donald, of course, calls her "an embarrassment," and that she "should resign." 
       I am not saying times have never been this divisive. Even Abe Lincoln when stumping for Whig candidates in Illinois in the 1840s was known to stop in mid-speech if a fight was breaking out, go over and knock a few people around, and then get back on the stump and finish his speech. And of course a bit earlier than that Brutus, Cassius and company buried daggers in Julius Caesar to express their displeasure with the job he was doing.
     But it does seem that the rise of Donald J. Trump polluted the air. And the miasmas have unleashed the worser angels of our nature. Fistfights at rallies now. Name calling instead of substance at debates. High ratings and low language, taunts and tantrums. 
      And it would be one thing if this was in service of some kind of classic demagoguery that can be defined. Huey Long robbing the rich to give to the poor. Adolf Hitler scapegoating the circumcised. But His Royal Hairness doesn't really even have a platform to stand on. He is all bark for the love of the sound, it seems, and the extra attention it gets him. 
      It is as if he is some kind of discordant genii sprung out of a bottle. For God's sake, how do we get him back in there?
       Never thought I'd ever be rooting for Ted Cruz, but if he is able to pull a fast one here in Cleveland, it might not be for the good of the country but, in the spirit of the times, I'd love to see the sucker punch draw blood. Let's see if he and his followers behave themselves, and hope they don't.
      How far will this joke go, we all wonder, while the comedians are having a heyday. One thing is for sure, it gives new meaning to the word "punchline."