You might dismiss these warnings, counting on a repeat of your success in spinning the truth with "alternative facts." Or you might believe that Americans have short memories for historical truth, which will allow you to dodge the bullets of condemnation.
Yes, many people forget--or never knew--historical facts. There are American citizens who think Dwight Eisenhower was a general during the Civil War. Others who can't name which continent Benghazi is on, let alone the details of what happened there. Or those who remember "lock her up" but can't say what Hillary allegedly did to warrant that chant. The lapses of memory are legion. But some events we never forget.
Some historical moments are so horrific and painfully consequential that memory of them haunts us forever: the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King; the Holocaust; the 911 destruction of the Twin Towers. So it will be with the Trump presidency.
The egregious acts of his administration and the congressional sycophants who enabled him, which brought us to the brink of monarchy and dictatorship ("I can do whatever I want") are likely to leave our country traumatized. Americans will not be able to forget this ugly chapter in United States history. Furthermore, historians, novelists, playwrights, filmmakers, textbook writers, journalists, and victims will guarantee that we don't forget. The scripts, book drafts, and textbook revisions may already be in development with more to roll out for generations.
We are likely to go through years of post-traumatic stress, questioning how we allowed one man and his sycophants--YOU--to tear down in just a few years what took more than 200 years to build: the world's most respected democracy and a beacon of hope for the tired, the poor, and others longing for tolerance and freedom.
For the debacle of the Trump presidency, the j'accuse fingers will surprisingly not point at Donald Trump--who many mental health experts said could not help himself--but at YOU, the enablers who knew exactly who Trump was and lied to yourselves and the public. Indeed, in the face of your worship of the president's every deplorable act and utterance, it's embarrassingly unconvincing to take back your earlier and thoroughly convincing assessments of Donald Trump: "a piece of dirt is more qualified to be president [than Donald Trump]" (Senator Rand Paul), or "He is a pathological liar--The man [Trump] is utterly amoral" (Senator Ted Cruz ), or "I think he's crazy--He is unfit to be president" (Senator Lindsey Graham).
With your support context gone you sycophant enablers will find yourselves standing alone with your hypocrisies and misdeeds fully exposed to an angry public still reeling from Trump era trauma. How long that will last will depend on how fast we restore a civil society and the compassionate democratic policies that America always stood for. One legacy, though, will endure: The fact that all Republicans--after the passing of John McCain--acted and voted in a solid block to shield Donald Trump, regardless of his behavior, will forever testify to the abomination of placing party allegiance and self-interest over patriotism, law, the Constitution, and democracy.
If you still think you will talk your way out of complicity with Trumpism, lots of luck. But don't be surprised to discover that you have rolled the dice on a very bad bet. A better gamble--and a sure winner--is to take courageous action now in the name of patriotism and the Constitution that you swore to defend.
Finally, if you hope to leave a praiseworthy legacy for the good things you may have done, you should heed the warning words of William Shakespeare:
"The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones."
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