Vengeance has been a primary motivator and objective of Trump’s second term in office. His list of political enemies dates back to a period prior to his first run for office.
While Trump builds monuments to enhance his ego and brutally pursues an anti-immigrant agenda, the obsessive pursuit of real and imagined enemies is constant as the Department of Justice lawyers file criminal complaints with frivolous and manufactured issues. Federal judges, many appointed by Trump, and grand juries have recognized the political and personal vendettas and have declined indictments or ruled against the administration.
The toll upon those falsely accused has been enormous financially as well as emotionally. And many Americans have vowed retribution for this, as well as the massive corruption and dismantling of constitutionally protected rights by Trump and his minions. But the majority of Americans, many who do not routinely follow the news, are more concerned about the rising cost of groceries, gas, medical insurance and utilities. Their votes are motivated by the hope that the newly elected Congress will concentrate on remedying the great financial imbalance and restoring prosperity for the working class.
Undoubtedly, there are candidates and voters who thirst for retribution in view of the unprecedented number of elected and appointed officials who have participated in the corruption and anti-democratic antics of this administration.
If the newly elected, and hopefully seated, majority of representatives and senators concentrate on vindictive committee investigations, they will squander an opportunity to rectify the destructive legislation, regulations and executive orders of the two Trump tenures. And if the time, resources and efforts of the new majority mimic their predecessors, on a crusade of punishment rather than improving the lives of their constituents, they will be as guilty of not fulfilling their promises as those they have replaced.
The cycle of destructive politics will be the real undoing of this once-aspiring democracy.
Betty Ussach-Schwartz
Southampton