Two Really Important Things February 15, 2021February 16, 2021 THE FIRST REALLY IMPORTANT THING is that we now all, always, and in every instance label “the forty-fifth president” (as he wants to be known) “the disgraced former president.” Even in the eyes of Mitch McConnell — though not in the eyes of the guy wearing the Camp Auschwitz sweatshirt — he is disgraced. That would have been true even before January 6. But his gleefully watching Congress under attack? And doing nothing? Claiming it was Antifa doing the attacking??? Whether you’re liberal or conservative, if you believe in decency and integrity and sanity and democracy — as I have zero doubt you do — your children and grandchildren need to know Trump as the disgraced former president. Just as they know “Lincoln freed the slaves” and Kennedy “asked not” and Paul Revere was a patriot and Benedict Arnold was a traitor, they need to know Trump was an autocratic sociopath who disgraced his country. News media should introduce clips: > Disgraced former president Donald Trump [arrived in Georgia today to again endorse Q-Anon Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene in advance of the 2022 mid-terms]. > Disgraced former president Donald Trump [was snubbed last month in his attempt to visit Vladimir Putin, sources have learned]. > Disgraced former president Donald Trump [lost his bid to re-zone Mar-A-Lago as a private residence yesterday]. > Disgraced former president Donald Trump’s [secret self-pardon, first revealed upon his conviction last month, was ruled unconstitutional by a vote of 8-1 moments ago.]” You get the idea. Historians, likewise; but with room to be wordier: > The twice-impeached, disgraced 45th president . . . whom fellow Republicans prior to his election had publicly labeled a national disgrace, a con man, and a pathological liar who would be an utter disaster for the Republican party . . . was the first and only president in modern American history willfully to eschew his successor’s inauguration; the first and only sentenced to prison; the first and only to have his sentence commuted by his successor. (“Shame may or may not be punishment enough for my disgraced predecessor,” Biden told the nation, “but I want to make a larger point with this commutation. It was important for the America people to learn the truth, which is why the investigations and legal proceedings needed to take their course. But that’s behind us now. The truth is out. Now it is time to remind the world — and those of my predecessor’s supporters who chanted ‘lock her up’ or ‘lock him up’ — that America is not a country that locks up — or, for that matter, poisons — its political opponents. That’s Russia. That’s North Korea. My predecessor loved the leaders of those countries. I do not. It is simply not who we are.”) THE SECOND REALLY IMPORTANT THING is Nick Kristof’s column (thanks, Lev): Can Biden Save Americans Like My Old Pal Mike? . . . It is easy for Democrats to blame Republicans for failings like America’s lack of universal health care. But that lets too many of us off the hook. Mike was the kind of person that both political parties claim to speak up for, yet whom both parties betrayed over the decades. . . . So worth five minutes. [In case you missed Saturday’s post on PRKR and SCHOOLS (as I don’t usually post on Saturday), it’s here.] Have a great week.