You look at it, a copy of “The Scream,” the famous 1893 expressionist painting by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, and you ask yourself whether this is America today, a scene that sizzles with human anxiety. There is a hand on each side of a large, mesmerizing, petrified face, waters for drowning purposes nearby and a sunset of blood above.
No, we don’t go around looking like the screamer, but there’s ongoing peril in the pandemic, a distraught economy, widespread disruption in violent riots, high racial tensions, the demolition of the family, the decline of faith, the decay of norms, intellectualism gone awry and an election dangerous to talk about.
You are in real trouble if you point out, for instance, that President Donald Trump has some exceptional achievements to his name, varied foreign policies far superior to those of his predecessor, for instance.
Yes, he does remain a constant embarrassment, someone who recently called his initially appointed virus chief an idiot, for instance. He at one point wanted to delay help to virus victims and their communities until after the election, and now wants to outspend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose political ends know no end.
