This Other Pandemic

Headline: “Tensions flare in D.C. as thousands gather for pro-Trump demonstrations.” Follow-up headline: “Multiple people stabbed after thousands gather for pro-Trump protests in Washington.” 

What motivates these people, so reminiscent of the thuggish characters who rallied around and idolized Hitler during the years when he clawed his way to power? And what motivated those 18 state attorneys general and more than half of the Republican members of the House of Representatives to pursue their baseless and shameful petition to the Supreme Court seeking its complicity in a project to overturn the election and bring American democracy to an end? 

It’s as if, no less virulent than Covid-19, a virus infecting the brain is raging ithroughout the land. No vaccine  can end this other pandemic. It will take steadfastness, firmness, wisdom, and equanimity to manage it until it has run its course.