SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 – The Sham Man has now been called out in the most definitive way possible—for all of us who pay income taxes.
For us who’ve always seen the emperor’s nakedness, news of Trump’s zero tax bill in 10 of the last 15 years and such details as his $70,000 deduction for hair care come as no surprise. What’s new is the “gotcha” nature of the revelation.
Sure, Trump glibly dismisses the crushing news in his usual fashion: he calls it “fake news.” His lock-step supporters reflexively repeat the denial, and their go-to source of propaganda barely touches the report before changing the subject. For Trump’s followers, life—as depicted by FoxNews—goes on.
But it shouldn’t. Trump himself is the patent essence of “fake news.”
None of this has anything to do with “politics” despite Republican attempts to make it so. This is about something bigger than an emperor’s nakedness. It’s about a sham artist whose unlawful and un-American behavior has long been evident but whose fat hand has finally been caught in the full, gigantic, clear-glass cookie jar sitting atop the check-out counter of The American General Store.
Sadly, around 40% of patrons of our store don’t, won’t, or can’t see it this way. Even those who must dig deep for spare change will excuse the line-butting thief who steals a bunch as he bird-flips at the sign, “15¢ A COOKIE; 2 FOR A QUARTER; LIMIT OF 4 PER CUSTOMER.” Patrons in MAGA caps even cheer him.
Which jeopardizes “law and order” far more than does the exercise of First Amendment rights by demonstrators calling attention to systemic injustice, to the parenthetical sign, which reads, “(If you’re Black, 25¢ a cookie; limit of 1 per customer.)” If the mob shamster grabs as many cookies as he wants—for free—how long before the rest of us become . . . an unruly mob?
If the sign now reads, “GRAB ’EM WHILE YA CAN!” soon all will be up for the taking. With nothing to lose, the underprivileged will use bricks-at-glass to gain entry and snatch from whites who use the doorway to haul their loot. A place called The General Store of Anything Goes will last only until everything’s gone.
What’s now at stake is the viability of The American General Store. Yet all of us—right, left, center, and confused; white, Black, and brown; rich, poor, and middle class; Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and This-That-Or-The-Other; smart, dumb and average; old, young, and middle-age; selfish, selfless, and “not consistent”—depend on the wares of the imperfect store, priced as they are. Accordingly, it’s up to all of us to stop the Sham Man from stealing.
If we don’t hold him accountable; if by greed, myopia, silence, ignorance, exhaustion, inconvenience, cynicism, or surrender we fail to hold ourselves accountable, the store will perish. Wear nose plugs if you must, but vote and help save the store.
If we are to improve our store, we need first to prevent its destruction.
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© 2020 by Eric Nilsson
