Trumpgate?

For nearly half century the gate suffix has been a convenient shorthand for scandal. Any scandal, from mild to extreme.

It began, of course, with Nixon and Watergate, but rapidly entered the popular lexicon. Here is a small sampling of -gates, from vintage to more recent:

• Iran-contragate
• Deflategate
• Bridgegate
• Billygate
• Nipplegate
• Penisgate
• Pussygate

That last, one in a trio of body part-gates, relates of course to the Dumper’s “You can ... grab ’em by the ...” remark.

I thought of a few of these, then googled it for a more thorough accounting. There are some I never even heard of. Wikipedia has an extensive list.

But the gate suffix is obsolete. Not even Trumpgate encompasses the vileness, the malignancy and corruption and moral rot of Donald J. Trump, so-called president.

“Scandalous” is too kind a word, too soft, to apply to him. Dishonest is too kind, as is venal. The present Ukraine (et al) scandal far surpasses anything that could be summed up with a word ending in gate.

Everything about trump is wrong, and always has been. Even as he blusters and spouts increasingly bizarre shit, he remains what he always has been: a transparently corrupt fraud, and a grotesque parody of a politician.

Early in his term I wrote here that this will not end well. That has been patently obvious all along, of course.

I think trump is nuts, and there are times when I look at him with pity. You don’t blame someone for getting cancer. But he is dangerous, and should never have been elevated to the presidency (he was not elected). Impeachment is long overdue. Conviction in the senate, of course, is highly unlikely.

He may wiggle out of this somehow. There is nothing this cornered rat will not do to save himself. He may even win reelection, and heaven help us if he does. But he deserves heavy-handed retribution.