McConnell shows that legacies don't matter when facts no longer do

[Judi Lynn]

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tends to his power, not his legacy. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

By
Robin Givhan
Senior critic-at-large
Feb. 16, 2021 at 6:38 p.m. CST

It’s easier to rewrite history than reckon with it.

So that’s what more than a few Republicans have decided to do. They have been loose with facts and impenetrable to truth. And they have been unconcerned with their legacy. Reverence for one’s legacy was supposed to be the safety valve, the narcissistic self-defense mechanism that also has the effect of offering salvation to others. The guardrails are gone.

The country has been at war with the truth for some time. So in many ways, it’s not surprising that Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) has begun to peddle the false notion that the would-be insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 wasn’t actually an “armed” attempt to stop the certification of the presidential election. He apparently requires a full arsenal of confiscated artillery — rather than an assortment of bats, metal poles, bear spray and various projectiles — before being willing to acquiesce to the accuracy of the term. And it was inevitable that some supporters of the former president would argue without evidence that antifa — a loosely knit group of far-left activists — was behind the Capitol riot, rather than his followers.

But Americans tend to be creatures of both optimism and habit, and so when their public officials are faced with difficult decisions, they tend to reflexively believe — hope, pray — that their leaders’ choices will be driven by concern for their personal legacy. They rely on the notion that people care about the way in which future generations will remember them and so, rather than allow their name to be inscribed on the pages of time as a coward or an autocrat or a racist, they will respond with integrity, enlightenment and kindness.

But like so many parts of the culture that have been beaten down and left for dead during the Trump era, the reverence many people once had for personal legacies has passed away. There it lies, alongside the culture’s respect for facts and truth. In some quarters, it’s all over except the burying.

To care about the one’s legacy means concerning oneself with the future. It means being able to step outside of oneself and walk in someone else’s shoes — to allow someone else’s gaze to become your own so that you can see yourself the way others do.

More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/02/16/mcconnell-shows-that-legacies-dont-matter-when-facts-no-longer-do/

[dweller]

1. good read

but that pic is worthy of “Amphibian at the Opera” status 😱

✌🏻

[Judi Lynn]

2. He was a mutant even as a young whatever he is.

or, even



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