Sink Like a Stone

“Another one bites the dust Another one bites the dust And another one gone, and another one gone Another one bites the dust Hey, I'm gonna get you, too Another one bites the dust”

This could very well become Robert Mueller’s theme song. Or better yet, the theme to “Jaws” as he relentlessly moves closer and closer to the kill, tantalizing us, keeping us on the edge of our seats, poised with bated breath as the floundering swimmer senses his utter destruction…

This early morning’s breaking news of Roger Stone’s indictment and arrest by tactically-bedecked FBI agents is yet another domino falling in the inevitable progression that will eventually reach the Oval Office and its floundering occupant who is clearly in way over his head. Roger Stone has a decades-long rap sheet of political hit jobs that goes all the way back to his minor role in the long list of actors during Watergate. He has worked behind the scenes and in the shadows for several administrations, leaving his oily fingerprints all over some of the biggest attacks on our democratic form of government. He pops up from time to time on truth-challenged media to espouse some inanity or defend the indefensible, only to sink underneath the inky surface of the swamp to carry out another duplicitous task in the war to ensconce oligarchs in power. Let us hope that the Mueller investigation has done its due diligence in collecting solid evidence to finally sink Mr. Stone once and for all.

The news of Stone’s impending legal peril has stirred up the anti-Mueller, Trump-is-God sentiment on social media this morning as well. I don’t know how many times I’ve read the words “witch hunt” and “Hillary Clinton” and “Benghazi” today in a coordinated right-wing deflection. The Sarah Huckabee Sanders parroters are out in force today as well, repeating the mantra of “Stone’s indictment has nothing to do with the White House” when if clearly does to anyone with even a whit of understanding of political machinations. That and Stone’s own words in his claims of gleaning the Wikileaks dump and knowing Julian Assange.

As the aforementioned dominoes continue to fall, the strident vitriol of the pro-Trump set continues to increase, as does the lack of Executive acumen exhibited by Mr. Trump and the ridiculous claims of the right-wing corporate news echo chambers. The mainstream and left-leaning corporate media echo chambers are just as inept, reactively reporting to Mr. Trump’s latest Tweet or obsessing over what Mr. Trump’s chosen mouthpiece of the day has vomited out in front of the cameras instead of investigating and reporting on the root causes of our current morass. It’s all a convenient distraction to the ongoing duopolistic oligarchical takeover that is hollowing out our country, destroying the supporting structures and turning us against each other.

Given the current level of divisiveness present in the broken body politic, stoked by corporate media competition—ratings=$$$--where will it go when those even closer to Mr. Trump are caught up in Mr. Mueller’s dragnet? When Junior responds to an early morning knock on his door from the friendly neighborhood FBI agents after being indicted for pretty much the same things with which Mr. Stone is now contending, what will the response be? I’m sure even more invective and disingenuous name calling will ensue throughout the social media realm. I’m sure that Mr. Trump’s thumbs will be worn down past the knuckle with the incessant Tweeting that will commence. I’m sure that the right-wing media and White House spokespeople will espouse the propaganda of Mr. Mueller’s overreach ad nauseum. I’m sure that the left-leaning media will smugly congratulate the success of the process. In other words, the tensions will continue to ratchet up, the yelling will get louder, the posturing will become ever more rigid. But where is it leading? At this point, could there possibly be a non-contentious resolution? And, if and when Mr. Trump, himself, is finally found to have crossed some presently invisible legal line, what will the reaction be?

Judging by the current level of venom being spit by those continuing to hew to Mr. Trump and his party, they (I realize I’m painting with a very broad brush, here) will NEVER accept anything but the complete vindication of Mr. Trump despite any evidence, no matter how damning, that is made public. They have been trained to automatically cry “Fake News!” when any negative press hits the wires regarding their MAGA savior. If the final Mueller Report is released to the public and if it contains even a fraction of the proof that it is expected to, pointing a very bring spotlight on the expected corruption of Mr. Trump, his family and his enterprises, it will never be enough to convince his ardent followers that he is a criminal and should be indicted, impeached or removed from office.

Mr. Trump’s adherents, I fear, will not be able to deal with the acute cognitive dissonance that will be created when the proof will be laid out before them and the world. I don’t foresee most of Mr. Trump’s supporters shrugging their shoulders and acquiescing to what will most likely be the growing calls for impeachment and removal from office. To the contrary, I fear that many will follow the dictates of the far fringes of Trumpism, declare the Mueller findings as illegitimate (which most do already, even before released) and resort to threats of, if not commit actual physical violence.

We have dealt with profound political disagreement in our country on many previous occasions. We have been deeply divided before, facing seemingly insurmountable chasms in our worldviews. We even fought a war that threatened to permanently fracture our young state. Not having lived through any of these periods of unrest, I can’t begin to know what the populace was feeling. I do know, however, what I feel now. I feel as if the very foundations upon which our country was built are being sapped by the ineptitude of Mr. Trump and his coterie in a pointed attack upon the essence of liberal democracy with the objective of moving towards oligarchic authoritarianism. I hope, first of all, that I am totally wrong. If I am not incorrect, then, I hope that we can collectively wake up and change direction before the hour is too late.