As the Republicans take their place to defend this craven fraud, this criminal beyond all defense, I am reminded that JFK loved Dante as much as Dr. King. Both cite the poet to remind us that courage takes its stand and that there is no neutrality in the face of evil. This is lesson lost on these debased “leaders.”
There is particularly a section in the Inferno that speaks of those who will languish in the hell of their own making. We can only hope that fate befalls these incorrigible toadies as they cast off any last shard of decency and integrity for this small, callow man to whom they bow.
As they enter the gates of their own self-made hell, we must endure their slander and sycophancy because the Republic might only endure if their feckless calumny is plain for all to see. May they burn in their own falsehoods and self-deceptions. And as hard as it is to understand how far they are willing to go into a bottomless hell of imbecility and servility, I think we can let Dante do the rest,
“And I: “What is it, master, that oppresses
these souls, compelling them to wail so loud?”
He answered: “I shall tell you in few words.
Those who are here can place no hope in death,
and their blind life is so abject that they
are envious of every other fate.
The world will let no fame of theirs endure;
both justice and compassion must disdain them;
let us not talk of them, but look and pass.””
—Dante, Canto 3