Eighty-Three Million Reasons Why Not

 The headline read: Defamation defeat a double-edged sword for Trump. The jury's decision to award E. Jean Carroll more than eighty-three million dollars in damages from the account of her rapist "have been both a boon and a bane" for the presumptive Republican candidate for President. 

When I read this, my skin began to crawl. Mostly because this report from the BBC landed squarely on the dynamic that makes the entire experience of dealing with the former game show host so infuriating. While every additional horrible thing he says and does makes the general populace groan and wish for him to simply disappear, his "Base" laps it up. Unconcerned with the circumstances or the way things actually exist outside the rallies, the red-capped legions will most certainly continue to donate their mad money to pay off their demagogue's fines and fees. In for a penny, in for a pound. 

Of flesh. 

The message for most of us could not be more clear: This is a bad man making bad choices, with the expectation that he should be forgiven because he continues to surround himself with those who will do just that. And as this swirling mass of borderline humanity continues to gain any sort of momentum, they become more and more difficult to stop. An object of that size tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Sadly, the combined forces of truth and justice do not have the kind of stopping power that one might think. Instead, the principle of gravity takes over, with this black hole continuing to suck innocents by the auditorium full into its gaping maw. 

But hope springs eternal. Bear witness to the story of Dylan Quattrucci, a former staffer for the loser of the 2020 election. Mister Quattrucci was hustled out of the former president’s victory party in New Hampshire. It seems Dylan posted a photo with the multi-indicted one's attorney Alina Habba. Except she had excused herself from court claiming to be ill. Just not ill enough to skip the shindig celebrating her boss' essentially empty victory in the Granite State's primary. This is a guy who knocked on doors for weeks, raised thousands of dollars for the man who bankrupted four casinos, and proudly followed his master's order to march on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. 

When Dylan sobers up, do you suppose he'll contribute to the defense fund for this documented failure of a human being? Or is the best place for a double edged sword to be plunged into the heart of the tangerine colored puss-filled piñata? 

Stay tuned.