Michael Jochum
I was on the road in Texas when the unthinkable happened. November 8, 2016. After a show, I sat in my under-inspiring motel room, staring at the TV in complete shock, feeling the same gut-punch of disbelief that swept across the country. A collective paralysis. A horror you could taste.
And then came the chorus: “Give him a chance.” That sanctimonious chant from his wide-eyed followers, desperate to normalize the circus. As if a chance was what he needed. As if he hadn’t already shown the world that he was a man with no brakes, no compass, no shame, no soul. Soon, the refrain hardened: “He’s the president. If he’s not YOUR president, maybe you should leave.” Blah, blah, blah. The smugness of the cult, mistaking ignorance for patriotism.
Let me be clear: trump is not just unfit for office. He is a disgrace to humanity. A bigot. A misogynist. A xenophobic carnival barker with the emotional maturity of a kindergartner on a sugar high who won the lottery. He lies reflexively, compulsively, even about his lies. He is the most unprepared, unqualified, and unhinged man ever to stand at a presidential podium. Mentally ill and morally bankrupt, he is everything a leader should not be.
And yet, here we are. Not only did he win once, but by some grotesque cocktail of Elon Musk’s billions, Putin’s meddling, a relic called the electoral college, and 78 Million glassy-eyed cultists who apparently speak for half the nation, he clawed his way back again. The nightmare renewed. Torture on repeat.
But let’s not kid ourselves. Trump is a symptom. The disease is deeper.
Too many humans are emotionally unwell, spiritually hollow, addicted to toxicity, to cruelty, to rage. They don’t just tolerate the fire and brimstone, they cheer it on, they dance around it, they throw more gasoline.
Trump is their mirror, their monster, their mouthpiece.
And that’s the true agony: not just that one man could rise so low and drag us all with him, but that millions looked at him, sneering, lying, flailing, and said, Yes. That’s our guy. He speaks for us.
Michael Jochum-Not Just a Drummer: Reflections on Art, Politics, Dogs and the Human Condition |
