The Fear
I’d really like to overcome it.
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I’ve had difficulty accepting what the Supreme Court has just done. I was angry because I naively believed they would not essentially make the presidency a de facto king. I was furious because I wanted Joe Biden to do something… anything to upend this ruling that effectively gives him so much power to do pretty much anything he likes. But that isn’t going to happen.
After sleeping on it and not having a very good conversation with my wife in the morning, during which I started yelling slightly incoherently, I have a somewhat better take. I need to hear more analysis from legal scholars who’ve had more than a few hours to read the decision. Reading randos on Twitter and pundits on MSNBC fill the universe with unhinged musings is not worthwhile.
My goal until we know who will be President is to avoid panic over political matters, especially this year. A catatonic Joe Biden would be a better president than Donald Trump, and I think there’s plenty of time for the roller coaster of American politics to go up and down, upside down, and round and round.
This is uncharted territory. So many things can change. Millions of possible scenarios are on the table. Things changed a lot the day Trump was convicted of 34 felonies. It changed a great deal the night Joe Biden seemed lost at the first debate. There will be more of these moments.
Most importantly, I’ve figured out what has been gnawing at the edges of my brain that I could not correctly articulate earlier. Since the decision, I’ve read a few articles on how terrible this Supreme Court ruling is and listened to a podcast that calmly asks Biden to pack the court and dare someone to say no.
However, after reading Wil Wheaton’s recent writing about the decision, it became crystal clear to me what this dark, wet blanket feeling wrapped around my soul is.
In the pointless parlor game of ‘What can Joe Biden Do, Now That He’s Above The Law’ (as if he ever would), everyone is missing the central message I took from yesterday’s ruling: SCOTUS is going to install Trump as dictator for life, by any means necessary. Somehow, after he loses the popular vote again, and after he’s even lost the Electoral College again, these six Fascists will invent a reason to overturn the will of the electorate, again, even if they have to invent law to do so. Every single one of their rulings this term have been part of their coup. Now, just line them all up and connect the dots.
This is what I fear.
I don’t know what Joe Biden can do with his newfound powers to ensure a safe, accurate, and protected election, but he should immediately gather the most brilliant people in a room and discuss it.
Because if Donald Trump wins, we won’t have a democracy.
Originally published at https://containingmultitudes.com.
