Last night, the country was again presented with the dichotomy that we have become in the time of Trump. This time it was Georgia, and this time the disparity was even clearer to anyone who honestly evaluated it.
As with most things in the last five years, the spotlight is on Mr. Trump first. In the almost hour-long call made to the Georgia Secretary of State, the bellicose occupant of the Oval Office again proved he has no scruples and no fear of repercussions when it comes to doing things that are not what US presidents should do. Having “gotten away with” a phone call that led to an impeachment, he has learned no lessons. He seems to think all is fair as long as he is the one doing it.
Juxtapose that sad situation with the portrait of a real US president. I speak of CNN’s documentary of Georgas’s own Jimmy Carter. The “rock and roll” president, as CNN dubbed him, presents multiple layers of a man so honorable that he gave up a second term to pursue what he saw as the right path to take to save the lives of some fifty odd US citizens held hostage by Iran in the ’70s.
While the comparison between the two should be clear, it will not be for the many millions who voted for Mr. Trump. They will minimize the characterization of Mr. Carter as a man of integrity, while simultaneously arguing that the current president is also a paragon of integrity, a man, like Mr. Carter, who has been misunderstood by those who would demonize him unjustly.
The thing is though that an example of the true comparison that is needed can be found in Charlie Daniel’s hit song “The Devil Went Down to Georgia. Listened to carefully, it is easy to discern when the devil is playing and when Johnny plays. The contest between them is a lesson in such discernment, and it is one that every citizen in the country must learn to do.
And if we can all do that, we will surely side with Johnny and help the devil to the door.
