How Long?

²"O, Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and thou will not hear? Or cry to thee 'Violence!' and thou wilt not save? ³Why dost thou make me see wrongs and look upon trouble? Destruction and violence are upon me; strife and contention arise. ⁴So the law is slacked and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted." (The Book of Habakkuk, 1:2-4).

Sound familiar? Haven't many of us said something similar in the past four years, and maybe especially in the past few months? These are the words of the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk, taking God to task for ignoring the plight of Israel, where the wicked lord it over the righteous, the law is slack, and justice perverted.

Even prophets get frustrated. 

Habakkuk is the only prophet to actually criticize the deity and question his motives. I sympathize. The entire nation has witnessed the president of this once proud nation attempt to dismantle its fundamental structure and make it into an autocracy. And done nothing.

To our everlasting shame, Donald J. Trump still holds the title of president when he should have been put down long ago. He has, to all intents and purposes, transformed the Republican Party, which once prided itself as the party of Lincoln, into a cult of those who would undo the liberating work of Lincoln and his successors in favor of white supremacists, bigots and xenophobes.

Trump has proved the adage that anyone can become president, and his presidency has also proved that the people we elect to Congress to represent us have no time for us, and we the people certainly don't have their ears.

Perhaps we shouldn't feel bad. We're not alone there. The media, who thank God still have free voices, have documented, revealed, and broadcast the president's malfeasance, and every ear in Washington appears to be deaf to them.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has issued an Interpol red notice against Trump; but in this country neither the attorneys general of the several states, the various U. S. attorneys, the FBI, nor the Department of Justice have lifted a finger to bring him to justice for his crimes. Nor has the Cabinet, which has the authority to relieve him from duty via the 25th Amendment, acted. 

Fools, cretins, cowards, and toadies the lot of them.

And Trump's crimes? How shall I count them? Well--just off the top of my head: 

•  fraud; 
•  tax evasion; 
•  incitement to violence; 
•  conspiracy to overthrow the Constitution; 
•  obstruction of justice; 
•  violations of the Hatch Act; 
•  perjury; 
•  attempts to suborn foreign government personnel;
•  attempted intimidation of elected officials; 
•  attempted electoral fraud; 
•  conspiracy to disrupt the electoral process;
•  bribery; 
•  sedition; 
•  conspiracy to defraud the United States; 
•  sexual misconduct; 
•  violations of the 1st, 15th, and 26th Amendments; 
•  violation of the Foreign and Domestic Emoluments Clauses; 
•  endangered the public health by withholding information about COVID-19;
•  false declaration of a state of emergency to get money for the border wall;
•  responsibility for 354,000 American deaths from COVID-19.
  

Incumbent presidents are not immune from criminal prosecution.

 

How long, O Lord? How long?

 

---Diogenes, 1/5/2021