How will it end, and more importantly, how did we get here?

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a campaign event on Dec. 19, 2023 in Waterloo, Iowa. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Like much of America, I have spent the past seven plus years wondering what it’s going to take to put a stop to the seemingly unstoppable force that is Donald Trump.

After growing up during a time when politicians resigned from office or dropped out of political races for such small indiscretions as admitting to having gone to a psychologist, or being photographed with a woman other than one’s wife on their lap, I find it endlessly baffling that a man who has been found guilty of paying off a porn star, raping another woman, and admitting on tape that he delights in grabbing women by their genitals, still continues to appeal to such a large segment of the American public. 

And the main question I have about this is what happened to women wanting to be treated with more respect? I was a teenager during the ‘70s, and I remember, even though I was sometimes embarrassed by my mother’s tendency to voice an opinion that created an awkward situation for everyone present, there was also part of me that experienced some pride in her courage to speak out. Although there was obviously a lot of backlash against the women’s movement during that time, there also seemed to be an overwhelming sense that this kind of change was a positive thing. That it would make us all just a little bit better. 

The other night we saw the current version of what the Republicans consider the ideal woman when Sen. Katie Britt, who appeared to have just completed her indoctrination for Aryan Nation, smiled her way through an extremely bitter rebuttal to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. The effort that her speech seemed to require was more than painful.

The story of Donald Trump appears to be one of those adventures that we can’t stop reading, as much as we despise the main character. It seems almost impossible that this story is not going to come to an ending that is horrific in some way, whether it’s a dramatic fall from grace for the man himself, or the climax that many people fear most, where he takes us all down with him. Many of us have just assumed that there will inevitably be a significant turning point, where he does something that simply can’t be overlooked or dismissed, even by his most devoted followers. But the longer this nightmare goes on, the more apparent it is that he really can’t do anything that’s too awful for some of these people. Maybe part of what they admire most about him is that he can get away with anything. Maybe it gives them a small measure of hope that they too can get away with anything. 

But of course the reality is that nobody in the history of our country has gotten away with as many egregious acts as this man. For whatever reason, the people who have the power to stop him have always either caved or fallen short of being able to hold him accountable, from Robert Muller, the square-jawed savior we all clung to for months, to many of the people in his own inner circle, including his niece, his own personal lawyer and many of his former cabinet members. None of these people have been able to convince the general public that he really is as awful as he seems. 

It appears that we are stuck with this narrative and that we just have to read it until the bitter end, and that’s a depressing thought. Especially considering how history tells us that these stories never end well. I’m reminded of the old Faulkner line that history doesn’t exactly repeat itself, but it certainly rhymes. The biggest question about this particular poem might just be how awful the last stanza is going to be. 

And on another note, how ironic is it that Matt Rosendale, who has done more to spread anger and paranoia among the citizens of Montana since he moved here from Maryland and bought himself a Congressional seat, has withdrawn from this year’s congressional race because he claims his family has been harassed? And although I would never endorse harassment of any kind, we do reap what we sow in life. 

In an age when having an “R” next to your name pretty much absolves you from any wrong-doing from your fellow party members, Rosendale must be very unpopular with the rest of the Montana Republican delegation to not get a single endorsement from the major office holders. He might have done well to explore the fact that when you move to Montana, people are willing to forgive a lot if you treat them with the respect they deserve. That approach never seemed to occur to Rosendale, who like so many of his fellow transplants, has viewed Montana as his own personal playground. 

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