One of our neighbors celebrates Christmastime by hanging a large plywood plank just below the eaves of their barn. The electric lights on it spell out the word JESUS. Others acknowledge the season with strings of lights on their fences or strung over a couple outdoor trees. Of course, non-Christians do their thing too. I’d like to believe we all celebrate the sacred, festive, life-giving, hopeful wish for world peace during Christmastime.
Others celebrate it differently.
For the Grand Poobah of Mar-a-Lago, Christmastime saw the introduction of his NFTs or non-fungible tokens. As he described them, they’re kind of like baseball trading cards. Introducing the cards by video, he said he’s “Hopefully your favorite president of all time, better than Lincoln, better than Washington….” (Better than Reagan? Really?) He ends the video by saying, “And remember, Christmas is coming, and this makes a great Christmas gift.”
If you don’t know, NFTs are part of the cryptocurrency arena. They are unique digital impressions embedded in blockchain technology. Over time they can increase or decrease in value. In all, 45,000 of Trump’s were offered for sale at $99 each. They sold out in twelve hours. The Big Lie Bloviator and whoever else got a piece of the pie raked in about $4.5 million. Imagine that.
The trading cards show Trump superimposed into several scenes. First, there’s Captain America with a cape and x-ray eyes. He stands in front of Mount Rushmore, his likeness chiseled next to Lincoln’s. He holds a torch just like Lady Liberty, the lovely lady behind him. There are others, but you get the idea.
“And remember, Christmas is coming, and this makes a great Christmas gift.”
Regardless of what anyone believes about Trump’s policies during his reign, um, term, can’t we all agree this guy’s con is impressive? Impressive because so many bought and are still buying into it. MAGA sentiment is embraced as biblically infallible. (Dave Wissel’s District 3 Commissioner victory party included a poster showing an orange-faced fellow with his thumb raised, wearing a MAGA baseball cap. It read: “Dave Wissel Won! Congratulations.” Even Commissioner Amy Mitchell attended.)
The liberals, the woke, and even some Republicans among us decry this NFT offering as absurd, silly, and Trump debasing himself. But think about it. The MAGA folks don’t care. They think riling the woke is their job. So they’re ecstatic when the Bloviator does it himself. They spent $99 or much more on this con, believing they struck a blow for the Constitution, the Founders, the Framers, the Flag, God, Guns, and apple pie. And no one can convince them otherwise. Besides that, the Bloviator captured another news cycle.
That’s the genius of Trump’s con. If you believe the Big Lie, you’ll believe anything. You’ll even spend the money you’d set aside for little Billy’s new Nikes for a digital image of the promised one. One less package under the tree won’t bother Billy at all.
Christmastime does not evoke the same emotions from everybody. Some of us hate it, others are indifferent, and most love it. Some acknowledge the sacredness of the season, and some abhor the commercialism of it all. Still, others treat the season and Christmas day as nothing special, just another sunrise in the daily grind.
Christmas was never very special for me. It still isn’t. But, somewhere along the line, I concluded it is a time for celebrating children, especially those who still believe reindeer can fly. So too, perhaps because their parents told them so, it is also a time to honor the ideal that goodness overtakes evil. Maybe even the evil of a con who exploits otherwise decent people into believing that truth isn’t truth.
There is always Christmas dinner at our house. We will have lasagna this Sunday. No presents will be exchanged. Oh, perhaps a couple bottles of wine will change hands from our guests to us and vice versa. We are not needful. We have everything we need or want at this time in our lives. (I do, at times, muse as Janis Joplin did so many years ago: “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz….”)
So, I’ll celebrate Christmas as I have for so many years. After our guests have left, I’ll watch the video of Dylan Thomas reading “A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” Then we’ll cue up Georg Solti conducting Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, performed by the London Philharmonic with Jessye Norman singing soprano. The voices in the final movement soar from a mere slice of humanity to God’s ears.
However you celebrate Christmas, or if you don’t celebrate it, from our house to yours, be well. Live long and prosper. We’ll all be hoping for a better new year. Right?
If your Christmas was enriched by the Grand Poobah’s NFTs, I don’t know what to say about that.
