What’s happening here is not normal

When my three-year-old granddaughter and I took walks, she’d suddenly stop and stare at a long narrow stick, an uncoiled hose, or a piece of rope. Her hand would tighten in mine, as she crouched for a better look. After a minute or so she’d solemnly pronounce, “not a snake.”

She wasn’t sure what she was looking at, but after careful study, she knew what it wasn’t. We can learn a lesson from a tiny granddaughter looking at life on a walk. She didn’t try to make the new object fit into her understanding, but she needed assurance about what it wasn’t.

It’s difficult making sense of the political chaos engulfing America. It’s hard to name it. It’s easier to look and say, “not normal.”

Granted, the definition of “normal” might be different depending on your viewpoint. Here’s how the dictionary defines it. “ Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected.” But for a lot of people “normal” is best defined the way Justice Potter Stewart described pornography. “ You’ll know it when you see it.”

Things aren’t normal now.

Most voting for Donald Trump didn’t have a burning desire to rename the Gulf of Mexico, turn Canada into the 51 st state, invade Greenland, or deport people to countries where they never lived without due process.

A Newsweek poll showed only 20% of Americans support pardons for the violent insurrectionists who attempted to kill police and lawmakers at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. But it happened.

I didn’t hear anyone mention Air Force One was puny and needed to be replaced with a “flying palace.” First it was a personal gift to Donald Trump, but blowback changed it to a temporary gift from Qatar to America, with Trump keeping it after his Presidency. Taxpayers are on the hook for an estimated $1 billion to retrofit Trump’s gift.

All Presidents have a love-hate relationship with the press. But no President has ever sued news networks because of their coverage and then bullied them into settlement. Trump did.

World leaders are now fearful of visiting America because the Oval Office has become an ambush spot. They’ve seen what happened to the presidents of Ukraine, South Africa and Canada’s prime minister.

Since becoming President for the second time, the Trump family, according to the New Republic, have become $3 billion wealthier. It’s corruption in the open. That’s never happened before.

Kevin Stephens said it best.“The last time the national guard was ordered to a state without the governor requesting it was in 1965, when LBJ did it to protect civil rights protesters in Alabama. Trump did it to intimidate civil rights protesters in Los Angeles.” Trump didn’t provide housing, food or water for their deployment.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just fired 17 scientists and doctors on the CDC advisory panel because they wouldn’t agree with his unproven anti vaccine theories. Another appointee, Linda McMann, secretary of education, may understand headlocks and pratfalls, but seems to understand little about education.

Trump was elected because he promised to cut the cost of living, end America’s involvement in never ending wars, and protect people from the sinister “others,” he goaded his base to fear. In short, he campaigned like the bully at the bar shouting loud, easy answers after downing four cocktails.

Trump imposes blanket tariffs one day and then lowers them the next, only to raise them again. It doesn’t take a Nobel economist to see uncertainty causes business collapse and market chaos.

When we see the fire hose of chaos blasting from the White House, we need to resist drinking. It’s not business, as usual. Let lawmakers know we’re drowning in Trump “not normal.”

Bruce Lear of Sioux City has been connected to public schools for 38 years. He taught for 11 years and represented educators as an Iowa State Education Association Regional Director for 27 years until he retired. BruceLear2419@gmail.com