This is a story I wrote for the Village Voice in March of 2016, when Donald Trump was still a running joke on late-night television and our so-called democratic system had yet to suffer the possibly fatal insult of Mitch McConnell’s unprecedented refusal to even hold a hearing for Barack Obama’s appointment of Merrick Garland to replace Justice Scalia, who had died of a heart attack just two weeks before the piece was published. With the Supreme Court’s hearing of the affirmative action case yesterday, something for which I’m certain Scalia would have wished to be alive for — it is probable that Roberts would have chosen him to write the opinion sending his career-long bete noir to yet another precedent-ending grave — I thought the piece worth reprinting here.
Wow! You are the MOST prescient individual ever! One of my sisters sent this to all of our relatives and friends: on Sunday set your clock back one hour. On Tuesday, be careful that you don’t set the country back 50 years. I really am terrified.
This is all very well said.. my only quibble would be about your demographic theory.. I know plenty of people in their 30's and 40's who I'm guessing are not going to disappear all that soon, and whose attitudes are the following:
"One week from Election Day. What’s on the ballot?
- Your safety
- Your job
-Your cost of living
- Your individual freedom
Do NOT forget what they’ve taken from you and do NOT forget their boot remains on your neck with their hand in your pocket."
Nov 2, 2022·edited Nov 2, 2022Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
Scalia probably hadn't stopped spinning from the first time this ran, and here you come again. Ahead of your time then and now.
My own quibble about your observations back then about demographics is that they're trying bigtime to fix that by indoctrinating kids—the school boards and all that part of the agenda to compensate for the aging and dying off.
That's what it has really been - slow death by a thousand cuts. The problem for us all today is that they have succeeded all too well. They have so immiserated the rest of us that we now have a violent insurrection brewing. It looks like the populace will blame the Democrats, Republicans will win and democratic governance in the United Staes will end. If Democrats somehow win there will be another violent attempt to overthrow democratic governance.
LKT, I think your analysis is basically correct as far as it goes, particularly through 2016. But, things have only gotten much worse since then, and I don't think changing demographics will be enough to turn things around. Old MAGAs dying will not be enough either. Way too many young converts coming on board. Way too many examples (and pictorial evidence) of younger folks exhibiting more and more crazy, unhinged behavior. I continue to believe that we are divided and broken country, and it is likely we are beyond repair.
Brilliant, Lucian! I vacillated between admiring your command of the English language and writing skills and your cogent analysis of not only the scandal of politics in 2016, but also how that scandal mirrors politics of 2022. Unfortunately, we do not seem to have made much progress in ameliorating the dark forces that we face today.
I feel awfully provincial, but how could an exemplary person who must have known of Scalia's activities off the bench and certainly knew them on be such a darling friend? Just to be civil and congenial despite it all? Going further for outright friendship, spending New Year's Eve(s) together? Rising above it? I couldn't. Pleasant and polite always, but spending time away from work? No. Perhaps that's a short- sighted view, but where do we draw the line?
Did you read the handwriting on the wall or what?? I knew Scalia was disgusting but I didn't realize he was that disgusting. His only redeeming feature in my book was that he and RBG went to the opera together.
Well, the election of Trump seems to have catalyzed the mass movement you called for in March 2016. I only wish that between March and November, more white liberals and progressives could have read and taken to heart the same handwriting. Then they might have forgone their sulking and found it within themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton.
The upside of the Trump administration and its aftermath is that now we don't need any handwriting to tell us how deep and wide is the rot in the American system. The downside is that it's anyone's guess whether it can be fixed before irreparable damage is done.
Wow! You are the MOST prescient individual ever! One of my sisters sent this to all of our relatives and friends: on Sunday set your clock back one hour. On Tuesday, be careful that you don’t set the country back 50 years. I really am terrified.
This is all very well said.. my only quibble would be about your demographic theory.. I know plenty of people in their 30's and 40's who I'm guessing are not going to disappear all that soon, and whose attitudes are the following:
"One week from Election Day. What’s on the ballot?
- Your safety
- Your job
-Your cost of living
- Your individual freedom
Do NOT forget what they’ve taken from you and do NOT forget their boot remains on your neck with their hand in your pocket."
Scalia probably hadn't stopped spinning from the first time this ran, and here you come again. Ahead of your time then and now.
My own quibble about your observations back then about demographics is that they're trying bigtime to fix that by indoctrinating kids—the school boards and all that part of the agenda to compensate for the aging and dying off.
Prescient. So much so that with a few minor changes in tense (future to past), it is even more relevant than the day you wrote it.
Thanks for reprinting this brilliant piece.
Once again; ‘Thanks for taking notes and sharing them at the appropriate time.
I believe you’ve got a place in history laddie 🕊
Isn't it a bitch to be right all the time. Thanks IV.
That's what it has really been - slow death by a thousand cuts. The problem for us all today is that they have succeeded all too well. They have so immiserated the rest of us that we now have a violent insurrection brewing. It looks like the populace will blame the Democrats, Republicans will win and democratic governance in the United Staes will end. If Democrats somehow win there will be another violent attempt to overthrow democratic governance.
And so it came to pass ...
LKT, I think your analysis is basically correct as far as it goes, particularly through 2016. But, things have only gotten much worse since then, and I don't think changing demographics will be enough to turn things around. Old MAGAs dying will not be enough either. Way too many young converts coming on board. Way too many examples (and pictorial evidence) of younger folks exhibiting more and more crazy, unhinged behavior. I continue to believe that we are divided and broken country, and it is likely we are beyond repair.
The time may be coming along directly for a march on Washington, only this next time, it won't be by the crypto-fascists and neo-nazis.
Thanks for going to the wayback machine at this crucial moment
The time to march on Washington may be coming along directly, only this next time it won't be by the crypto-fascists.
Brilliant, Lucian! I vacillated between admiring your command of the English language and writing skills and your cogent analysis of not only the scandal of politics in 2016, but also how that scandal mirrors politics of 2022. Unfortunately, we do not seem to have made much progress in ameliorating the dark forces that we face today.
I feel awfully provincial, but how could an exemplary person who must have known of Scalia's activities off the bench and certainly knew them on be such a darling friend? Just to be civil and congenial despite it all? Going further for outright friendship, spending New Year's Eve(s) together? Rising above it? I couldn't. Pleasant and polite always, but spending time away from work? No. Perhaps that's a short- sighted view, but where do we draw the line?
Did you read the handwriting on the wall or what?? I knew Scalia was disgusting but I didn't realize he was that disgusting. His only redeeming feature in my book was that he and RBG went to the opera together.
Well, the election of Trump seems to have catalyzed the mass movement you called for in March 2016. I only wish that between March and November, more white liberals and progressives could have read and taken to heart the same handwriting. Then they might have forgone their sulking and found it within themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton.
The upside of the Trump administration and its aftermath is that now we don't need any handwriting to tell us how deep and wide is the rot in the American system. The downside is that it's anyone's guess whether it can be fixed before irreparable damage is done.