Now the Day is Over

The president despoiled a day that honors those who gave the ultimate sacrifice

47 arriving at Arlington National Cemetery (ABC-7)

I could go on and on and on about the two cringeworthy speeches the President of the United States gave to military audiences over the weekend, the first to West Point cadets that rambled on about drag shows and “trophy wives,” the second today at Arlington National Cemetery where, steps from the grave of the Unknown Soldier, the commander-in-chief celebrated the World Cup and Olympics coming to America during his second term. “I have everything,” he crowed. “Amazing the way things work out. God did that.”

Yeah, amazing. Amazing, too, that God has worked it out that Donald Trump happens to be presiding over the greatest assault on democracy since the early days of World War Two, at home and abroad. If those endless rows of white headstones at Arlington could speak, they’d be roaring in outrage at Trump’s systematic dismantling of hard won Constitutional protections—the ones that millions of Americans have died for over the centuries—and giving Vladimir Putin a virtual green light to overrun Ukraine, whose brave folk are not just fighting for themselves, but for us. Neville Chamberlain thought he could buy peace by giving away Czechoslovakia to the Nazis. Trump is signing democracy’s death warrant by handing over Ukraine to Putin.

“Now the day is over,” we sang during the evening prayer service at church camp, when I was a teen. “Night is drawing nigh. Shadows of the evening, steal across the sky.”

In my childhood, that was a comforting line. No longer.

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Here’s a nice version of Now the Day is Over, by the Hastings College choir.