Go out and touch grass,
Seriously
So, news came out recently regarding the Smithsonian taking down a sign on an exhibit listing the impeachments of Donald Trump. Of course this was immediately followed by The Usual Suspects spittling, “Tyranny! Downfall of the Republic! Rewriting History! Orwell! WHAAAR-GARBL!”
I sighed, turned off social media, and went for a cup of coffee.
Yesterday, the official Twix of the Smithsonian released this:
Huh. Turns out that the placard — which was apparently put up in 2020 — was only supposed to be temporary1, didn’t meet museum standards, was blocking the view of the exhibit, and since the exhibit is going to be updated in the “coming weeks” they … just pulled it down.
The important part is this: “We were not asked by any Administration or other government official to remove content from the exhibit.” Read that sentence again. It’s the last one of the second paragraph.
All of this will be conveniently ignored by the Whaar-Gerbils. Oh, they’ll stop talking about it, but they won’t take down their inflammatory initial talking points — which means that everyone will remember that “Donald Trump was rewriting his impeachments!”, but no-one will remember, “Oh, yeah, that was BS.”
Sigh.
He’s just the President, folks. That’s it. Not “King”, not “God-Emperor”, just … President. There is very little he can do that Congress can’t overturn. There is absolutely nothing he can do that a future holder of the Oval Office can’t overturn.
If he does something that has the Whaar-Gerbils all in an uproar, but Congress isn’t slapping him down — well, either there isn’t actually any “there” there, or you need to vigorously apply your boot to the butt of your Congress-critters2. Or (and keep up with me here) what he’s doing is actually following the law as written and passed by Congress, and the Congress-critters are hoping you won’t notice3.
Is he a good President? I didn’t say that. He’s not the best President we’ve ever had; and he’s not the worst President we’ve ever had. He’s just on the Presidential spectrum somewhere.
Thing is: the man does some idiot stuff4 — but when you have a public spittle-flecked rager about something that turns out to be nothing, then conveniently ignore the update, it gets harder and harder for me to give a damn about his peccadillos.
If you are worked up about who sits in the Oval Office, you have given that person way too much power — either figuratively or literally. Or both, come to think.
If you are a Whaar-Gerbil busily losing your poo over actions Trump has either done, or is accused of doing, whilst keeping curiously mum about previous Presidents who did far, far worse … wow5.
Unkink your sphincters, people. Go outside and touch grass. We survived eight years of Obama using Executive Orders as Public Law6. We survived four years of a dementia-riddled Biden and his auto-pen. Hell, we survived twelve years of FDR actually tossing people into concentration camps, expanding the welfare state, vastly expanding Federal powers, suppressing civil liberties, and making the Great Depression ever so much worse7.
On 20 JAN 2029 a different lizard will be sworn into the Oval Office — and if historical patterns hold the other side can clock-in to start losing their poo every ten minutes, while the current crop of Whaar-Gerbils can go back to genteely ignoring issues.
Ian
Five years is an odd example of “temporary”, but it is the District of Cockwombles Columbia, after all.
Which — honestly — you should be doing on the regular anyway.
Hello, “expedited removals”. Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, written by, debated, and passed by Congress; signed into law by President Bill Clinton 30 SEP 1996.
Also — for God’s sake will someone take away his keys to Social Media? Please?
“Ian, we’re not going to engage in Whataboutism” now translates as “Why, yes, I am a hypocrite, thanks for noticing”, by the way.
You do realize that DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) is an Presidential Executive Order, not a Congressionally-passed law, right?
And, yet, still consistently ranks as one of the top three Presidents in US history. I … got nothin’.
Pretty much every time I've seen the "whataboutism" allegation slung, it translates as "yes I'm a hypocrite and you aren't allowed to point it out."
"Thing is: the man does some idiot stuff — but when you have a public spittle-flecked rager about something that turns out to be nothing, then conveniently ignore the update, it gets harder and harder for me to give a damn about his peccadillos [sic]."
The public spittle-flecked ragers also make it harder and harder to NOTICE his peccadilloes. The media and the Left (but I repeat myself) "crying wolf" every time they keep finding/making Trump-shaped boogeymen all over the place, is only going to make dealing with the (proverbial) real wolves more difficult. The real problems get lost in the noise.
No wonder trust in the media is at historic lows; nobody wants to listen to them anymore.