Thursday, August 17, 2017

Does it look even crazier from here?

I realize I have been really quiet this week--and it's not just because I'm driving past fjords, looking for puffins, and hoisting Noz Jr. onto icebergs. It's just that every time I take a peek at the news from home, it feels like I'm looking at some nightmarish alternate fantasy of the country I grew up in.

Sure, the social media posts from friends marching in Philadelphia are reassuring, but as bad as the last 9 months have been, I didn't think the President would be able to openly sympathize with Nazis without, at the very least, suffering a cascade of resignations. I'm not just talking about CEOs on a non-binding advisory council. I mean actual cabinet members, or at least staffers. I mean, seriously. The Jewish treasury secretary is working for a guy who said there were good people marching for a cause that was overtly anti semitic. The CEOs know being associated with this guy is bad for business, but why don't cabinet members and staffers see that their reputation will forever be tainted by Trump unless they make a stink and resign.

None of this makes sense. Trump isn't popular. There is literally no up-side to standing with him and whichever insider is the first to publicly break with up could easily leverage their late-coming courage into a a narrative of national heroism, with book deals, national attention, and a possibly bright political future in their own right. Why isn't anyone in their situation seeing the amazing opportunity that awaits them if they are just the first to publicly turn on our deranged chief executive? Watching this continuously not happening is both mind-boggling and frustrating.

So instead, I put down the device, look up at the mountains and breath the clean icelandic air. It's not a total escape but it will do. And where the fuck are all the puffins hiding?!?!?