The Direction of Intention

Well, it is nothing short of Faustian.

In the tale, Faust makes a pact with Mephistopheles, the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited power and material gain. Nothing can touch him for the term of the bargain: the span of his lifetime.

We are living at a moment in time when truth is stranger than fiction, a time in which fiction has made a stranger of truth.

The despot-elect is currently scheduled to be sentenced for his 34 felony convictions on November 26. The opinion prior to the election:

“It’s 50/50” that he gets sentenced in November, said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former top official at the Manhattan district attorney’s office and a CNN legal analyst. “If he loses the election, I think he gets sentenced, and I think he gets sentenced to prison. If he wins, I don’t think this goes forward.” She added, “A victory on Election Day, she added, is “his get out of jail free card.”

A “get out of jail free card”. An appropriate analogy since it refers to the game of Monopoly, where money amassers gain dominance over the board and rise above the rules. Money in our real-world-game allows delays-to-justice to stretch into eternity.

In addition to being found guilty of 34 felonies in his Hush Money case, there are three other federal indictments: Federal Election Interference, Georgia Election Interference, and the Classified Documents case. What will happen to these indictments? Poof! The moment he steps into office, they go away. The “get out of jail free” card is the presidency.

We are learning that there is, in fact, not justice for all.

In literature there are two endings to the story of Faust. In the early version, the term of the bargain expires (he dies), Mephistopheles claims his soul and carts him off to hell. In the later version, Goethe’s version, scrubbed clean for those who like Hallmark happy endings, Faust is redeemed. Gretchen, the woman he used and abused, pleads with the divine to spare him. The eternal feminine redeems him. Plucked from the arms of Mephistopheles, the divine swoops in and saves Faust from himself, from fulfilling the terms of his bargain.

Faust got his cake and ate it, too. No lessons learned. No responsibility for choices or actions. No justice for all the people Faust used, exploited, ruined, and chucked away.

Redemption for a soulless man is a fine ending for an opera.

In real life, not so much.

Is there justice for all? Not according to the supreme court.

Is there justice for all? Not according to the voting public.

Is there justice for all? Not according to the republican party that twice refused to find him guilty when impeached. The evidence was clear for all to see and hear. It was broadcast across the world. And then, poof! Get out of jail free.

Is there justice for all? We’ll see on November 26 but I wouldn’t bet on it. I’m not a big believer in devils and gods but watching this horror-story-of-a-human-being repeatedly skate away from his crimes and ascend again to power is making me wonder. This time around, he can pillage with court-granted-immunity. Mephisto-Impunity.

It has made me wonder if Mephistopheles is giggling at the possibility of a much bigger score: the despot-elect might just help him walk away with the soul of our nation.* It is, I suspect, the terms of their bargain.

*We are a nation of laws. Justice for all is not simple rhetoric. It is the the north-star of our nation.

Or at least it used to be.

read Kerri’s blogpost about JUSTICE FOR ALL

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