Letter from Chip Northrup

Be Grateful for Small Mercies

I met Ruth Bader Ginsberg at The Glimmerglass Festival. She was standing behind me at the bar. I turned to her and asked, “What’ll you have, Judge ?” She looked up, “White wine.” I turned to the bartender, got the wine and handed it to the judge while her bodyguards glared at me.

Years before, President Obama had attempted to get her to resign. The unfortunate political timing of her death helped pave the way for a red majority on the Supremes and the overturn of Roe, sending millions of American women back into the dark ages of reproductive rights. We all need to know when to exit stage left. We all need to learn when to yield the limelight to the next act.

We have seen the perils of the mental decline of leaders since Woodrow Wilson—who finished his term in the White House as a recluse. President Reagan ended up getting prompted by his wife, Nancy, at press conferences when he couldn’t think of anything to say. President Biden became speechless at times.

We now have a president who literally cannot stop talking nonsense. It’s even become part of his act. His buffoonery is a distraction from an insidious autocratic takeover of the government, the transition from a fantasy Deep State to a very real Me State. His pronoun is Absurd Person Singular.

It is standard operating procedure that when grandpa becomes a danger to himself, you take his keys away. When the “keys” are Executive Orders, the stakes are far higher—they include your health, our economy and the well-being of the environment. Despite rants to the contrary, this is his last term in office. Be grateful for small mercies. We all have something to look forward to.

Chip Northrup
Cooperstown