The Importance of Apologies

“Send lawyers, guns, and money

The shit has hit the fan”^[1]

Somebody in the White House created a revolting video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes. I didn’t see the video, just some screen grabs. It was supposed to be, mostly, according to the President, about the 2020 election, and how it was stolen. He claims to have missed the part about the Obamas.

In a move that surprised no one, Trump claims to have done nothing wrong and has refused to apologize. Specifically, he said he only watched the first part. which is a shame, I think he might have really enjoyed the piece mocking the ex-President. Apparently, he doesn’t feel the need to apologize for questioning the foundation of American democracy. He doesn’t need to say he’s sorry for casting doubt on the mechanism that put him in power.

At the very least, he should apologize because one of his employees took the time and computing cycles to create such a discordant, insulting video. Moreover, Trump should offer an apology, because without the consent or knowledge of the President, the White House flunky posted it on the President’s social media page. He certainly can’t be held responsible for every malcontent in the Office of Digital Strategy with a computer and free time.

What do you expect, he’s the president! He has things to do! For one, I wouldn’t have ever heard of Bad Bunny, or known he was performing at the Super Bowl, had it not been for the Trump Impending Disaster Network.

Someone should apologize. Maybe several somebodies. Maybe somebody should lose their job. At least suspension and some classes in introductory decency and tolerance. The very fact that it happened should make the responsible people, and their supervisors, want to apologize. I can’t imagine anybody thinking “well, that wasn’t so bad, what’s everybody so upset about?”

You don’t need imagination today, though.

“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.” Carolyn Leavitt demanded.

She explained the former President and First Lady were only extras in a heroic Lion King themed short starring the current President. A Lion King themed video exposing the corruption of election officials from Nevada to Georgia, and the theft of an election. It makes the casting choice a little suspect. Why Mr. and Mrs. Obama, and not the beneficiary of the alleged theft, Joe Biden, and his polite, demur and slightly shy wife, Dr. Biden?

I must confess, I’ve seen Lion King the movie dozens of times, possibly hundreds of times. Our oldest son was a child and we had a copy on VHS and he loved the movie, over and over again. I could lip-sync the dialogue. I missed the original release of the Trump Lion King saga, and have no desire to find a bootleg copy. I’m having trouble understanding how Simba, the King of the Lions, would manage to recover an election that was stolen over six years ago. I suspect the video was really just a display of hate, meanness, and the fragile nature of ego. Shameless, pointless self promotion wrapped in hate.

As bad as this was, and it was bad, the part I keep coming back to is why? Besides being an Ex-President, why would Trump want to attack him? He wasn’t a rival in an election. Obama didn’t “steal” the election from Trump.^[2] Obama has been, for the most part, a private person, who hasn’t meddled in the dirt and muck of Presidential politics since he was able to break free. He didn’t endorse or vote for Trump, Trump probably hates that. Maybe his golf handicap is better than the President’s, Trump would hate that. Obama did win a Nobel Prize, a real irritant for Trump. Further, he was the first black president, and maybe Trump grew up dreaming of someday being the first black president. God, who knows? Why would anybody create, or approve of something so vile? Nothing makes sense.

Humanity is evolving and the comfort offered by ignorance has become too expensive. As the world gets closer, society becomes more homogenous, it requires a recalibration of all of our metrics. Differences must be ignored, acceptance becomes mandatory. All of the groups that could sustain themselves by pretended, artificial “purity” must abandon their spurious beliefs of superiority and embrace the glorious diversity of the family of man. Our past is a guide to our future, a flicker of potential, possibility and failure, it’s our choice. Trump’s video, no matter who created it, demands an apology, and so should we.

^[1] Lawyers, Guns and Money, by Warren Zevon

^[2] Not that anybody did.

U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Cristian L. Ricardo on Wikimedia Public Domain