Happy Co-Dependence Day
America Approaches The Celebration Of It's Founding Divided, Despondent, And Dependent On Broken Systems and Horrible, Ineffective Politicians.
“What is codependency behavior?
It is an emotional and behavioral condition that affects an individual's ability to have a healthy, mutually satisfying relationship. It is also known as “relationship addiction” because people with codependency often form or maintain relationships that are one-sided, emotionally destructive, and/or abusive.”
America is a co-dependent victim.
To be fair, largely, an unwitting and unwilling one, trapped at an intersection in time within an economic and political system severely abused by the actions of the people who run it.
I don’t want to downplay the trauma and suffering of actual victims of physical or domestic abuse, and their tendency to become co-dependent, yet, it seems the only appropriate analogy to describe where the American people collectively are, and where we are headed.
Among the first steps to take, according to a plethora of articles available online, to recognize co-dependency, is to stop being agreeable and compliant, and to stop walking on eggshells and being afraid to upset others. A sign might be:
“Your physical, emotional, or financial health is negatively impacted by a toxic person in your life, and you continue to interact with them in a destructive way”.
Can there even be the smallest shred of doubt, that, in the case of the American people, (with the notable exception of the billionaire and donor class), and their continuing abuse by government, corporations, and morally corrupt politicians, especially over the last few years, ALL of the above categories are true?
If there was ever an example of a toxic individual, a person that personified gluttony, greed, narcissism, cruelty, and deception than Donald Trump, you would be hard-pressed to find them.
With the exception, of course, of the current and future candidates that apparently thrive as openly racist, openly fascist, right-leaning authoritarians in the current Republican party.
Specifically, an authoritarian in training in the person of future Presidential candidate Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis has so much money behind him that I can’t stop seeing his face on everything from YouTube Music videos to ads on my streaming TV networks. He has been touted as the more palatable alternative to Trump, should Trump go down to criminal liability.
Yet, DeSantis can’t seem to avoid being eclipsed by the looming shadow of Donald Trump, even at this late date.
Trump is, in fact, a co-dependent relationship that can’t be ended.
The problem is that everyone from Centrist Democrats, (AKA “Blue MAGA,”) to “liberal” corporate media, in the guise of CNN, New York Times, and MSNBC, still clings to Donald Trump. They can’t let him go. It’s co-dependency at its worst.
I feel comfortable going out on a limb and agreeing with the veteran journalist Ted Koppel, at least while Trump was still in office, that for corporate new outlets, Trump was very good for business. In fact, arguably, Trump is STILL good for business.
The negative, toxic, anger-inducing emotional and mental states that could be generated from just one controversial thing Trump did or said, an almost daily case of foot-in-mouth disease on Trump’s part, was the most profitable clickbait and ad revenue generation for corporate media in years. Profitable toxicity. Negativity as a ratings draw. Good for them and bad for the peace of mind of the voter.
Trump lost. It all seemed that the toxic co-dependency would end.
Then, of course, January 6th happened.
Like Father Karras, the hero/protagonist in the story of the horrible demonic possession of the character Reagan MacNeil in William Peter Blatty’s “The Exorcist,” Congressional Democrats took on the self-appointed role of exorcists themselves, trying to expel and destroy literal evil (at least in their minds) by TWICE impeaching Trump. Also, like Karras, who was inhabited by the demon in a last-second plea to the demon to take his soul instead of possessing the innocent girl, Congress effectively ended up lying in an expired heap at the bottom of the stairs.
17 months of relative inaction, and confusion, have at least resulted in criminal charges for lower-level individuals, duped into thinking they could literally overturn the legitimate presidential election results by force in a clumsy, violent, and deadly incident.
Unfortunately, the “demon,” in the form of Donald Trump, lives on, despite the elaborate and excruciatingly slow show trial/final exorcism that is trying to pass itself off as the “salvation of democracy”.
The testimony of Cassidy Hutchison, an aide to former Trump White House Chief Of Staff Mark Meadows, is an unforeseen, brand new twist in the climactic denouement of the story.
Yet, how could anyone paying attention be remotely surprised, as Hutchison related in testimony before Congress, that Trump was allegedly WAY inside the clumsily executed plot? It comes across less as the plan of a criminal mastermind and more as a cartoonish comedy of errors with a vile-tempered idiot. Did Trump, allegedly, violently lunge at a Secret Service agent and try to take control of the Presidential limousine to join his cult-like followers at the Capitol to install himself as President by force and mob rule? All against the wishes of his protectors? I saw numerous posts across social media proclaiming “Wow!” or “Boom!” as if Trump’s violent temper and bullying persona were a surprise.
As with all legal proceedings, or hearings that might lead to criminal prosecution, in the long run, it’s not what Hutchison knows, it’s what she can prove. While her seemingly credible testimony makes for more televised drama, we have, as I write this, not seen any indications that any of this will lead to prosecution or criminal liability on the part of Trump. That should be the goal and the practical end result. The American public is weary of bedtime stories. In a strange way, I think some Congressional Democrats prefer it that way. It gives legitimacy to failing to address the rapidly accelerating problems of the present in real-time and makes them appear relevant and valuable. In reality, all the grandiose posturing is nothing more than bloviation and performative political theater.
The very person that was, allegedly, the best, most qualified candidate for President, EVER, in HISTORY, is also in a co-dependent relationship with Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton is the nagging, braying, haunting voice of another political demon that can’t be exorcised out of our consciousness. Clinton lives frozen in time, narcissistic, desperate to be relevant, and in years-long denial of her defeat in 2016.
Clinton’s only hope is to perpetuate the illusion that she was right about Trump all along. She has grateful, but deceived supporters, more than willing to aid her. Even her Presidential hopes, long extinguished, are reignited as a possibility by a fawning, sycophantic corporate media. The centrist Democrats who think a new “Clintonism,” in 2024 is the answer, as much a cult as those loyally standing behind Trump, are also toxically co-dependent. Even after certain facts have been long disproven, from the dubious Steele dossier to the Alpha Bank connection, the co-dependent relationship with Trump (and the sub-variant with Clinton) continues on to our collective detriment.
I distinctly remember, exactly one year ago, the collective incredulity, skepticism, and pushback against Joe Biden ludicrously touting 16 cents savings on the median expense of the average July Fourth cookout as an economic “gain”. A literal example of elitists saying to the co-dependent plebians “let them eat cake.” As long as that cake costs 16 cents per pound of course.
No one could see it then, the large cracks in the facade of false economic prosperity created disingenuously by Biden and his sycophantic advisors. Anyone that can’t see it now, however, chooses denial as a response. You can almost smell the brain cells frying from collective cognitive dissonance and perceptual overload.
People want to renounce the toxicity of a co-dependent relationship with a government and its leaders, but they carefully toe the line, because the realization that no one is coming to our rescue, and in particular, the party in power, is terrifying. Rejecting years of indoctrination is psychologically damaging but in the long run, healthier than embracing illusion.
The Democrats, led by Biden, are choosing to bleed off what’s left of the decimated American petrodollar, sending billions for the perpetuation of war in Ukraine, resulting in certain economic ruin domestically, while enforcing suffering and austerity as the harsh reality that Americans must face, decidedly AGAINST their will. Not only here but in Europe as well.
Even more alarmingly, no one actually knows if these dictates are coming from Biden himself, or the handlers behind the scenes who write “cheat sheets” that literally tell him what to say and do. It isn’t traitorous, except among the slavishly devoted and simple-minded, to question, at this point, if Biden is fit to lead at all. American co-dependents, understandably, don’t want to rock the boat, and by proxy, affiliate themselves with a January 6th mob mentality. So insanity and incompetence are fine, as long as the July 4th Sale at Rooms To Go is still on, and Motley Crue can still slog through the Holiday weekend on their stadium tour.
Who knows if The Great Depression to end all Depression might be months, days, or hours away, but when the average knowledgeable person concurs with experts in the field and in power when they are all on the same page, it’s worth preparing at least on a mental level. We can’t seem to even muster that. Co-dependent people think that the government would never allow an across-the-board collapse of society. They would be wrong.
On the one hand:
On the other hand:
The Democrats are not only failing their constituents on an economic level but the feckless non-response by everyone from Biden to his Vice President, who watched with mock concern from the safety of Air Force Two as peaceful protestors spoke out against the Supreme Court decision overturning a woman’s right to abortion and bodily autonomy is stunning. The bar is low now, and pretense is rare, but a government that remains silent in the face of police tyranny is, in effect part of the same tyranny.
I sincerely hope that we can collectively help each other as some very difficult times lay ahead. Some months ago I would have been less confident in projecting that as anything but opinion. Now, not so much.
The best we can do is to remember that help is not coming from above, but only from those beside and around us. We must break with co-dependency to the best of our ability, although it may not be practically possible to fully do so.
If you are traveling especially please stay safe.
Update 07/02/2022 As I was scrolling through Twitter this morning I was struck by this “debate” by Republican candidates for Governor of Arizona as a perfect example of everything talked about here. Co-dependency on horrible people with bad ideas. It’s just astounding that this is the best we can do. Idiocracy indeed.