Courage is often difficult to muster. I have witnessed courageous people throughout my lifetime and wondered what I might do in a moment that demanded me to find the integrity to step forward. I think of the people who provided me with examples of how to be in difficult moments. There was the woman who rescued the screaming children begging for help after there father had killed their mother. While the rest of the adults waited for the police to arrive she demanded the father to surrender the little ones even as he threatened to hurt her like he had done to his wife.
There was the woman in my apartment project who seemed to be a kind of rebel in the way she spoke and dressed. She too endured the wrath of a brutal man who was beating a woman whose screams echoed across the area where we all sat frozen in silence. I can still see her bounding up the stairs and banging on the door using the kind of language that I was unaccustomed to hearing. She won and managed to stop the savagery even before the police arrived.
There was a student who demonstrated her integrity by stepping forward to urge her fellow classmates to be honest about a cheating scheme. Even as they gave her a cold reception she spoke the truth because it was the right thing to do.
Ironically everyone of these women were small in size. The men and people they were willing to overcome might have easily broken them in half but honor was more important to them that safety in those moments. They are forever etched in my mind as people of incredible character. My admiration for them has never faded.
So it is with Jack Smith, the man who investigated Donald Trump’s attempts to overthrow the 2020 election results as well as looking into Trump’s illegal determination to keep security documents that should never have left the White House. In each case he took his time to learn the facts and to decide what if any laws had been broken. His ultimate belief backed by an incredible amount of evidence was that Donald Trump had indeed broken the law. As such he should have been prosecuted and never again allowed to run for office but sadly Trump was protected from responsibility because he audaciously ran for president once again and won.
Jack Smith revealed that he had been threatened by Trump and his followers. This is believable because the same thing has happened to others who dared to stand up to Trump or disagree with him. People speaking the truth have lost their jobs and in many cares feared that they would be imprisoned. We saw the same kind of thing with Dr. Anthony Fauci. We saw Liz Cheney being shunned for her participation with the January 6 investigative committee.
This time around the committee attempted to demean Jack Smith with phony evidence and often with no evidence at all. They let us see how grotesque much of the Republican party has become in bowing to Donald Trump even when it is evident that he has committed many crimes. It is stunning to watch the once Grand Old Party throw all sense of integrity to the wind simply to retain their power and influence with a man who is rapidly destroying decades of progress in our nation. At times they even support the flaunting of the Constitution itself.
There are former Republicans who have found the backbone to point out the rot of the Trump administration but they are far too few. Somehow Trump is surrounded by a cult-like support that overlooks his many flaws as though they are afraid. I keep waiting for that one person in the Republican party who will march forward and finally demand truth and decency.
We are on the cusp of a midterm election. Nobody knows at this point how it will evolve. We do not know if Trump will be unwilling to accept the results just as he was in 2020. There are threats of ICE officers being sent to the polls. We hear of the possibility that Trump will declare martial law. Trump is offering to pay Americans if Republicans win. All of it is so dirty and so vile and yet all we can do is hope that other citizens will emerge as patriots willing to stand up to such authoritarian ideas. We need to send a message that we the American people will not accept such lawlessness. If Trump keeps his cover and finds ways to win again I fear for what will happen to the future of our nation.
Things are already falling apart. We have lost our status with the rest of the world. Our economy is shaky and the fact that we are even worried about dirty tricks is an anomaly that never should have happened. God bless the patriots who bravely call out the vile actions of our president and his enablers. They are the best hope that we have for keeping our republic.
