SEPT 2026. Blues Vol 42 No.9

READERS SPEAK OUT Y WE

READERS SPEAK OUT Y WE HEAR YOU TRUMP DID SOMETHING AGAIN The press has officially entered the “Trump did something again, and we hate that people are enjoying it” phase of its coverage. You know the routine by now. Trump cleans up a park, and the headline screams DICTATOR. Trump brings a factory back to an American town, and the chyron reads DANGER TO DE- MOCRACY. Trump puts on an event that regular people line up to see, and the Sunday panel calls it a THREAT TO THE REPUBLIC. This weekend gave us the latest example. IndyCars tore around the National Mall at close to 180 miles an hour. The start line sat right in front of the Capitol. The course ran down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the National Archives, past the museums, and back again. Admission was free. The president waved the green flag. Tens of thousands of fans packed the grandstands and lined the fences to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, and the whole thing aired live on national television. It was the first auto race ever held in the nation’s capital. The organizers say it was a one-time deal because the country only turns 250 once. Kids sat on their dads’ shoulders. Families drove in from 18 The BLUES SEPTEMBER ‘26 Baltimore and Virginia and Pennsylvania. People who had never watched a race in their lives stood on the Mall and cheered. Somewhere in a newsroom in Atlanta, a producer is still trying to work out how a checkered flag threatens democracy. That is what is eating them alive. Every single week brings a fresh prophecy of doom. Trump is going to destroy the country, start World War III, bankrupt the middle class, insult another monument, wreck another tradition, and probably melt the polar ice caps with his bare hands. The experts line up on cable to explain why this time, for real, the sky is falling. And then the actual day arrives. Families show up with coolers and lawn chairs, companies write the checks to make it happen, the race runs on time, and Americans have a good time in their own capital city. Nobody gets hurt. Nothing burns down. The republic survives another weekend. The same people predicted that the military parade would be a disaster. It wasn’t. They predicted the Fourth of July celebrations would fall flat. They didn’t. They predicted the country would be too divided to enjoy its own birthday. Then the country showed up and enjoyed it anyway. Meanwhile the media stands in the corner of the picnic like the kid who prayed for rain, glaring at the sunshine, furious that everybody else remembered to bring potato salad. Here is the part they will never admit. Americans like to have fun. They like fast cars and fireworks and big crowds and a reason to wave the flag. They do not need a cable anchor’s permission to enjoy a Sunday afternoon, and they are tired of being told that a good time is secretly a crisis. At this point, Trump’s greatest accomplishment may be forcing the people who despise him to sit still and watch America enjoy itself. They cannot look away, because their ratings depend on it. So they cover the crowds, they show the cars, they run the footage of the green flag, and then they go back to the studio and try to explain why you should feel bad about it. So what comes next? NASCAR through Times Square? A UFC card on the South Lawn? A rodeo at the Lincoln Memorial? Maybe a fireworks show where MSNOW has to broadcast live from a safe space? KEN BLACKWELL

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