Yowsa did the howls go up! Trump’s bond in the civil fraud case got reduced on appeal from $454 million to $175 million and he got a ten-day stay before he has to cough up the dough. If the intital judgment had been for $175 million instead of $454 million I’d bet we see this differently today if that amount had been upheld. But that’s fiction. In a werid Sartre-esque reality show of our own making. And it shouldn’t be surprising.
That’s how screwed up we’ve allowed this sad excuse of a man to warp most of the world around us. On every conceivable level. We can continue to pretend the institutions we’ve relied on will offer some protections from the likes of this decaying orange turd and someday after he’s gone the world returns to a better place. But he’s crushed any hopes of that. At least for a few generations. Besides it’s a fiction he’s exposed, not one he’s created. Most fairy tales don’t end with happily ever after.
Yes, this vedict is a lifeline. Yes, it seems like he’s getting a break. And you know what? He is. And he will continue to get them. He might one day be held accountable for all of this, but I’m betting not whle he’s still breathing. Life ain’t fair damnit, especially when you’re trying to play by the rules and the other side doesn’t give fuck all about rules.
One of these days we’ll learn that. It will be messy. But at least it’ll be more honest.
Meanwhile: The judge in the porn star hush money case that trial will begin jury selection on April 15th. And so it goes.
You can find more of my writings on a variety of topics on Medium at this link, including in the publications Ellemeno and Rome.
Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3 
Something I keep rolling around in my mind is how do we defend whatever level of democracy we still have? Over the past decades, with rulings like Citizens United, we’ve seen corporate/capital power grow against that of citizens. And now this, a significant percentage of the population seems to have abandoned reasoned, critical thinking and any notion of protecting democracy. If he should win in the fall, what then? On the one hand, should the election appear to have been fair, then the results should be respected. And yet, knowing what we know, what is to be done to defend democracy? If it is his intent to reduce democracy or eliminate it altogether, what is to be done? It’s a bizarre reality to be in. It seems to me that Americans, for decades, have shown themselves to be reliably passive and not likely to act or even know how to act to protect freedoms. A very tiny percentage have shown themselves willing to protest or otherwise engage in political action outside of elections. A contrast to other nations where a larger percentage of the citizenry seem more ready to take to the streets when needed.
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I think one of the differences you point out between here and other countries has to do with the fact that other populaces are much closer to more real turmoil and loss of freedom than we have been for most of today’s US population. To be honest, I don’t think we’ve ever had an abundance of critical thinkers on the issues that really matter.
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