It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. But really, though. If I had to pick a word that I felt has summed up 2017, “dichotomy” is the first one that comes to mind.
Like many folks, I entered 2017 with a sense of dread. We — well, the Electoral College — had just elected a lunatic. I was certain this was going to be a lesson we were going to learn the hard way. It wasn’t entirely clear how Donald Trump was going to ruin the world, just that he would.
As it turns out, “lunatic” may have been too kind a word for Trump. Lunatics are crazy, but they tend to get things done. In contrast, Trump has gotten almost nothing done. We’ll see what happens with tax reform, but so far it has been nothing but big promises and zero deliveries. The level of incompetence is actually quite amazing, to be honest. Even more amazing is that I take solace in this fact.
Trump is not a lunatic but a buffoon. And it’s his buffoonery that has thus far saved us from any immediate pain.
But let’s be clear: It absolutely sucks to have a buffoon in office. Our highest office, no less. Again, because we’re getting nothing done. It feels like America is in a state of stasis. It’s becoming more and more clear that we’re going to have four “lost years” where the only takeaway was distraction after distraction. It’s extremely depressing.
