In the city of Baltimore, in the memory of everyone alive today, overwhelming numbers of citizens tend to vote Democratic, no matter what. Some refer to this as “party loyalty.”
All over America, Republicans commit a similar act. They stand by Donald Trump, no matter what. But this goes beyond any “party loyalty.” It goes all the way to madness.
We’re witnessing this brand of madness as the former president — who appeared in court in Miami on Tuesday to answer a 37-count indictment alleging he retained classified documents after leaving office — makes his unique kind of malignant history once more. He’s charged with sneaking top secret government documents out of the White House and then lying about it, leaving America potentially vulnerable to foreign antagonists as we’ve never been before.
Yet, according to the latest polling, he’s losing little of his core support.
The documents were stored in such places as a bathroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate (which House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says is fine since the restroom doors have locks). Some of these government secrets were stacked neatly, others strewn openly across a floor. There’s a photo of this now in circulation.
The caption reads: “Donald J. Trump Presidential Library.”
This, while Trump faces the allegations of paying sexual hush money to a porn actress to help him win his 2016 election. This, after paying millions more for committing slander after an alleged rape. This, while Trump awaits possible indictment for trying to rig 2020 election results in Georgia.
And, oh yeah, all this while waiting to see if the government’s going to get serious about the Trump-induced attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, that could have crippled the great American experiment with democracy.
Yet millions of these Republicans are standing by their man, no matter what.
We do a variation of this in the city of Baltimore, though we’ve never had anyone — Democrat or otherwise — with a lifetime record even approaching Trump’s outrages. The last Republican mayor we had was Theodore McKeldin, whose time at City Hall ended nearly 60 years ago.
McKeldin was a Republican mainly in name. He was as liberal as any Democrat of his time. He’d have no place in today’s Republican Party, any more than Dwight Eisenhower or Ronald Reagan or George Bush would.
Since McKeldin, we’ve had some good mayors here, and some bad ones. No names are necessary at this time.
But these Baltimore mayors have all been Democrats. The city’s lost about one-third of its population over the past 60 years. There are neighborhood streets splattered with homicidal blood. Our public schools have turned out several generations of illiterates.
And yet the emotional hold of the city’s Democratic Party is everlasting.
Who can explain such a history, whether it’s 60 years of Democratic mayors or six years of Donald Trump?
We have our comfort zones. Like anything else, our loyalties are handed down through generations. Maybe we vote the way our parents did. Maybe, in the sanctity of the voting booth, to change parties is to violate family history.
I don’t question those kinds of emotional ties, any more than I question people voting for fundamental political beliefs.
But we’ve never seen anything like this loyalty to a man who has damaged his name — and America’s — so shamefully.
When does mass revulsion finally replace political madness?
Michael Olesker’s latest book, “Boogie: Life on A Merry-Go-Round,” was recently published by Apprentice House. It’s the life story of Baltimore legend Leonard “Boogie” Weinglass, an original “Diner” guy who grew up to create the Merry-Go-Round clothing chain and contribute millions to charity.
What does it mean to be fully present with each other and the sacred, asks Maryland-born cultural anthropologist Alanna E. Cooper.
As millions mourn the passing of Stephen Colbert from the airwaves, Michael Olesker looks back on the "institution" of late-night TV.
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