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Many years ago I swam in a glacial-blue stream in the foothills below Ciudad Victoria in Mexico. We were dirty, sweat-soaked and tired. Nothing could have kept us from that water. It was very deep and cold, and the moment I left my feet, I felt the current take me and then whirl me out of sight of my friends along its narrow thread. It was so fast and so cold. I knew I was in trouble, and yet in my youthful confidence, I knew I would be fine. I floated, angled toward the opposite bank and snagged a branch ….. which held …. In my mind at the time, this seemed the only proper outcome: “Poor Michael, sweet Mike, Happy Michael, drowned? No no no, not skinny, long haired Michael. It could never happen.” Of course, it could easily have happened.
My belief that all will be well guarantees nothing.
The news of this past week felt like that swim in Mexican waters — the current accelerating, a wire of fear curling inside me, but my naive assumption asserting itself that all would be well. This past week Trump caused Andrew McCabe to be fired, his lawyer called for an end to Mueller’s Russian investigation and this morning Trump attacked Mueller by name. All of this feels like the run-up to Trump firing Mueller in an attempt to end the Russia investigation. Do you too not feel the strength of this current? My betting is he will do so very soon.
Should he do so, we will face an existential question: will we adhere to the belief that we are a nation of laws, not a nation of men? It is that simple.
If Trump gets away with firing Mueller — if Mueller is not reinstated, if another special prosecutor is not appointed, if the Republican Congress takes no meaningful action, then we will have our answer from one enormous group of citizens and their representatives. At least until the 2018 midterms, Trump will be free to do anything he pleases. Lawful constraints will mean nothing because he will have smashed them with the active cooperation of Republicans. The current will roar on capturing anything that ventures into the stream.
Trump will fire Mueller. All that matters to Trump is his well being, his desires, his impulses. Mueller represents the iron judgment of evidence, the methodical gathering of facts, and the implacable weaving of stories that may tell of obstruction, financial corruption and treason.
Trump is desperate, impulsive, paranoid and filled to the brim of his wretched frame with hubris — he believes that he can beat anyone, survive anything. He will fire Mueller. When he does so, every voter and every person old enough to be able to follow what has happened will again have a choice. Stand with the law and Mueller or stand with tyranny and Trump.
The current is picking up speed. We are washing downstream toward a great sound. We have little time left to push for the bank and safety, to reach out for the branches passing by at such speed.
