It has been an extraordinary few days. Let us start with the memorial service for Aretha Franklin. It was a glorious feast of music, reminding us of one of the things that makes life worthwhile.
Then today at the memorial service for John McCain. It was magnificently choreographed, apparently largely by McCain himself, and I found it riveting. There is an old show business saying about a" tough act to follow". Those who followed Megan McCain we're terrific but they had no chance to compete. Hurt 18 minutes eulogy was an incredible combination of emotion, raw power and acute intelligence. She was the first, but not the last, to make it clear that Donald Trump shares none of the qualities praised in John McCain–heroism, service, patriotism, dignity and fairness. The governor of Arizona will appoint someone to fill out John McCain's term. After today, there is no question who that person should be.
I pretty much suffer from stage-four cynicism these days but tears came to my eyes when Renée Fleming sang Danny Boy. There may be no other song that can equally express a sense of loss. And it was clear that what is lost is not one man, but a sense that the country we all love and believe in appears to be disappearing. Clearly, the elephant-or more properly the jackass-in the room was Donald Trump. Will this be enough to convince republican congressman and senators to confront publicly Donald Trump and shut his nonsensical behavior down ? Lindsey Graham, who has been real disappointment lately was visibly affected. Maybe he will reverse his bad behavior of late . It would be fitting should this service come to be recognized as the beginning of the political internment of Donald Trump.
Too often the feelings and emotions provoked by a moment such as this service swiftly fade away. Let us hope that today will have a lasting effect.
