Tonic for the Spirit
Laughter is an essential element of Resilience
The attribute of resilience is on my mind these days. As I’m sure is the case with many of you, I’m trying, with uneven results, to cultivate some mental space where I don’t feel anxious, angry, despondent or demoralized by the shit-storm I know is coming. To this end I’m taking frequent walks to Franceschi Park on Santa Barbara’s Riviera, walking the paths, pausing to listen to the breeze whistling through the eucalyptus trees. A couple of days ago I watched two turkey vultures soaring over the park, gliding upwards then diving down, dipping out of sight, then appearing again, with what appeared no effort at all. The park is peaceful and quiet, and I rarely encounter another person; when I look down at familiar landmarks -- the Courthouse, Arlington Theater, Granada Building, Peabody Stadium, Santa Barbara Junior High -- I regain some perspective, which stays with me at least until I return home, to my stack of books and periodicals, until I open my phone and allow the “news” to intrude.
I haven’t completely sunk my head in the sand. I’m aware, and not the least surprised, that Donald Trump is putting forward ill-qualified, compromised, and pliable people for key positions in his Cabinet. Matt Gaetz* for Attorney General, Tulsi Gabbard for Director of National Intelligence, Pete Hegseth for Secretary of Defense, Kristi Noem for Director of Homeland Security, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as head of Health and Human Services, and so forth, a cast of carnival freaks.
It’s all very predictable and textbook.
Autocrats always seek to consolidate their power over institutions, particularly those that might stand in their way: law enforcement, courts, intelligence agencies, and the military. By elevating people who consider their oath of office a mere suggestion rather than a solemn obligation, and who pose no threat to him, Trump is cementing his power. Through incompetence and malfeasance every Trump nominee will serve another important purpose, which is to degrade the institutions they lead; the more they do, the easier it will be for Trump and his cronies to bend the organs of government in their favor -- and in service of their authoritarian and kleptocratic project.
Another reason to scrape the bottom of the cesspool is more Trumpian. By appointing an obnoxious figure like Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, for example, Trump is sending a message to the thousands of career professionals in the Justice Department, broadcasting how little regard he holds for the institution and them. And because Trump is cruel and sadistic, he must revel in the idea that Gaetz will demoralize the DOJ and make the day-to-day work of staff so chaotic, stressful and futile that many quality people will resign. No doubt some will, taking their experience and expertise with them. This will not happen overnight, there will be internal resistance -- deliberate foot-dragging and slow-walking -- by people who have devoted their working lives to public service, but the objective will not change: hollow out the institution, corrupt its functions and processes, and render it impotent except in service of the ruling cabal.
Building a credible resistance not only requires time, it requires coherence and solidarity, and might be beyond our collective capacity at the moment. This was the idea I was getting at, perhaps too obliquely, in the piece I posted recently, “Can America Make Chutney Or Is It Too Late?” Building political consensus across divides of class, race, education level, gender, religion and region is an extraordinary feat, and maybe in the 21st century, when reality itself is pliable as putty, and can be ignored or discredited or flipped on its ear, well nigh impossible. The dynamics might change if Trump’s disastrous policies and incompetent leadership lead to deep and widespread suffering. Should this happen, and odds are good that it will, people may be more receptive to reason, competence, the rule of law, and basic decency.
We will see. But let’s not fool ourselves. The rot in the system is pervasive and we’re dealing with a cult of personality that worships at the altar of make-believe and magical thinking. I can easily imagine die-hard MAGA cult members demanding more pain, more suffering, more degradation, more victimhood.
As a bulwark against the chaos, cruelty, stupidity and criminality that tens of millions of Americans voted for, I admit that resilience seems like a tepid and insufficient response, but where else do we begin, at least in the short term? Perhaps in the years to come more Americans will wake up to reality and realize that our common foe isn’t one another, or immigrants, it’s the Billionaire Class, the One Percent, the corporate Fat Cats, the Oligarchs, call them what you will. Members of the BC believe the freedom one is entitled to derives from how much money one controls, and they’re contemptuous of democracy because what they might gain from it is less than what they stand to lose. Low taxes, lax regulation and public subsidies when they slip up serves them fine; they can purchase or build or commission whatever else they require.
The BC has already captured the Supreme Court, and one of their number, Elon Musk, is in Trump’s inner circle. J.D. “Shady” Vance owes his political rise to Peter Thiel, another member of the BC. Overreach fueled by hubris is practically guaranteed, and who stands to suffer when hubris produces ghastly consequences should be obvious.
As I was writing this I felt a sudden urge to read something by Henry Miller, a writer and person of resilient and capacious spirit, so I went to my library and pulled Tropic of Capricorn from the shelf. When I found the following passage I began laughing, at myself primarily, for my stubborn belief in reason and logic and morality, but also at my country men and women who voted for Trump, and all those who didn’t give a fuck and stayed home:
“I have walked the streets in many countries of the world but nowhere have I felt so degraded and humiliated as in America. I think of all the streets in America combined as forming a huge cesspool, a cesspool of the spirit in which everything is sucked down and drained away to everlasting shit.”
Laughter isn’t only tonic for the spirit; it’s also an essential element of resilience.
*This was written before Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration, but the premise is still correct. Trump will nominate another odious character with the same mission.