2021: Taking Stock 

Listening to Li’l Nas X and Jack Harlow’s “Industry Baby” from Nas’ bestselling ‘Montero’ album on the train to DC — and taking stock of the past ten months…

Beware Anti-Vaxxers and Anti-Maskers!

2021 has been a weirdly unsettling year. At first it was full of promise, despite the January 6 insurrection (attempted coup) and the second (failed) attempt to impeach Trump. There was a strong expectation of the incoming Biden Administration making good on it’s promises: of the Pfizer and Moderna shots ending the worst of the pandemic or at least providing some measure of “herd immunity’ — but, sadly, we’d reckoned without the idiocy of anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers who would rather be sick or dead!

I kid! I kid! There are those whose immune systems are too compromised for vaccination and others with legit medical (and perhaps religious reasons?) to not vax. But, the vast majority (70 million?) of America’s unvaxxed appear to lack the mental wherewithal to understand science and prefer instead to swallow conspiratorial nonsense on social media! Needless to say, they’re mainly Trump supporters! 

Don’t talk about personal freedom: when your freedoms risk the health of the community (especially seniors and children), they count far less than personal responsibility! Who hasn’t heard the heartrending stories of dying people on respirators begging hospital staff to give them the vaccine, only to be told it’s too late…

Orange Julius Caesar!  

“Orange Julius Caesar” — as he’s dubbed by MSNBC host Joy Reid — did not fade away after his presidential loss. Despite having dozens of legal cases being built against him: from subverting election results in Georgia to rape (yes, rape, pre-White House!) and other more complex cases of grift — he’s still hangin’ in there, hinting about running again in 2024, and continuing to perpetrate “The Big Lie” that he defeated Biden in 2020 but was deprived of the White House, courtesy a vast left-wing conspiracy! His latest threat to the GOP: fully embrace “The Big Lie” or MAGA nation will not vote in 2022 and 2024 makes even less sense!  

Does any sane person actually believe “The Big Lie?” Much of the Republican electorate pretends to, particularly those with legislative ambitions who are afraid of “getting primaried” or just because they hate the Dems! 

Biden’s Numbers Fall! 

Biden has seen his support dwindle since his big uptick last April-May. According to a recent poll, his rating is driven by low marks on the economy, taxes, and immigration. The chaos of the U.S. withdrawal from Kabul and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan remains a black mark, even though history is expected to judge Biden more favorably than we do!

While Biden-appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland (and other Democrat state prosecutors and district attorneys) appear to be taking their own time on the myriad legal cases piling up against the Trump Administration and Trump himself — pardon one’s impatience but the wheels of justice grind too slow — it may all be too late!  

The Dems are expected to lose the House in the 2022 midterms which would inevitably end current Congressional investigations! With Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, the January 6 Commission would likely grind to a halt! No more subpoenas that the other side ignores or slow walks! We’d be back to where we were in 2010 under Obama: total gridlock!  Forget substantive legislation; nothing will get done!  

But, worst of all for Biden — and  perhaps the main reason his numbers have fallen — is the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus causing more havoc — and accounting for another 200K deaths, mainly of the unvaccinated — just when we thought we could get back to some semblance of normalcy: say, patio dining in Midtown Manhattan, checking out “The Lehman Trilogy” on Broadway, and visiting the D.C. Southwest Waterfront!

Hate!

That four-letter word “hate” is how one might describe much of the atmosphere vitiating Washington: hate and fear!

Because of division in their ranks, the Dems are afraid they will fail to deliver on Biden’s key agenda: two senators — Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona who are reportedly in the pocket of corporate lobbyists (fossil fuels, pharmaceuticals) — are holding up voting rights, paid family leave, child care, and lower drug prices while they wrangle about the $3.5 trillion “build back better” social spending bill that Democrats are trying to pass under budget rules known as reconciliation. Or (where Sinema is concerned) ignoring it all to focus on running ‘Iron Man’ triathlons (for real)!  

With thin majorities and without GOP votes, Dems can only afford to lose three members in the House and need total unity among its 50-member Senate caucus to pass the spending bill. Worse still, Manchin has put the critical climate agenda at risk on the eve of Biden’s visit to the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Scotland. 

Brandishing Weapons!

GOP-led state legislatures have abandoned any and all pretense at legislation. They are focused on relitigating the 2020 election, conducting re-audits in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin while stacking local election boards with loyalists who — come what may in 2022 and 2024 — are gearing up to throw the results to MAGA candidates!  

Trump followers seem to care only about protesting mask and vaccination mandates, yelling at small kids and mothers going to school wearing masks, and disrupting school board meetings with hate-filled rhetoric while members of the Oath Keepers and other Neo Nazi groups are brandishing weapons to terrorize local school board officials! As described by those on the receiving end of threats: the hate is open, ugly, visceral!  

Insurrection 2.0? 

The next two years before the 2024 presidential elections are likely to be filled with more extremist threats: of Insurrection 2.0 and White Supremacist rallies on the one hand and pro-choice, voting rights, and gun control protests on the other — with the constant hair trigger menace of violence just under the surface…  

The cultural wars of decades ago — abortion, for instance — are gearing up again. There are new ones such as “critical race theory!” Now, a Texas school district wants educators to explore teaching an alternative history to the Holocaust! What next: White Replacement Theory as a serious subject? The GOP leadership in Texas has rushed headlong to put a bunch of racist, anti-voting, anti-transgender, and anti-abortion laws on the books, perhaps heralding a new wave of copycat Jim Crow legislation in other GOP-governed states. 

Coming up soon: an off year gubernatorial election in Virginia where Democrat Terry McAuliffe is seeing his lead dwindle against GOP candidate Glenn Youngkin. The loss of reliably blue Virginia could be a devastating blow to Biden but perhaps that catastrophe will be averted as Biden’s numbers climb again.  

Real Goblins and Ghouls!

Do we get a small break with a relatively quiet Thanksgiving or will Halloween bring new nastiness?  

Look out all you real goblins and ghouls!  

Your MAGA counterparts are scarier than you’ll!

My weak attempt at verse notwithstanding, another mention of gay Black 22-year-old rapper Li’l Nas X is timely: dead broke a couple years ago, living out of his sister’s basement, he put out the genre-bending “Old Town Road” (the longest-running Number 1 single), and the rest is history!  Nas has mastered the art of making music that pushes the right buttons while also pushing against crass homophobia (from Da Baby, Dave Chapelle, T.I.). Good for Nas who sings as well as he raps!  Better to focus on pop, rap, and ‘country trap’ than all the hate happening! Yay!

Ludi Joseph

Washington, D.C.

October 16, 2021

Li’l Nas X

Who’s the Scary Ghoul inside?

Family Lunch in Midtown Manhattan

D.C. Southwest Waterfront